The Perfect Knight and the Illusionist (BL)
Chapter 12: Strong

Chapter 12: Strong

LEO

I really didn’t know what to make of the Mario Boy.

At first I was scared, then genuinely sorry. I mean, for him to hold a grudge like this, me bumping into him must have really bothered him. I wouldn’t have made a big deal of it if it happened to me, but it must have really triggered him to be like this for the entire day.

Or at least that’s what I thought when he came to confront me again at the dormitory stairs.

But somehow, when he literally screamed at me to stop, I saw in his eyes that he wasn’t mad. He was more like—worried?

Then it kind of made sense.

He saw that I was clumsy enough to trip and bump into him.

My introduction was a disaster.

And I fainted for no reason during the test.

So maybe, just maybe, he really thought I was about to roll down the stairs or something and was just trying to warn me about it.

The pebble thing was still pure spite, though.

As I was thinking this, waiting for Mario to leave, he asked me instead,

"Don’t you have any bags?"

"Dimitri is carrying them for me..."

I felt a little embarrassed saying this. The big, bulky boy insisted that he carry them for me as I might still feel weak after fainting earlier.

"Oh," Mario simply said.

I could read the sudden disappointment in his eyes, which made me feel worse.

Here I was, after all that messing up and falling and fainting, letting a classmate carry my luggage as I strolled with empty hands.

Everyone here was taller, bigger, better dressed, and spoke with more elegant accents. I didn’t feel like a fish out of water, more like a fish living in a mountain stream washed down to the sea and seeing the bigger fish.

I felt small and weak.

Pitiful.

Then Dad’s words echoed in my mind.

’Leo, maybe you were lucky to get in, yeah. But don’t put yourself down. You earned your luck and you deserve to be there. Keep your head up, son!’

That sparked a fire in my belly.

I was going to show him—Mario, of all people—that I, Leo Skylark, deserved to be here.

I was no weakling.

I took a deep breath, puffed out my chest, rolled up my sleeves, and flexed my biceps like those traveling circus strongmen do.

I stood triumphantly, looking directly into Mario’s eyes. And—

Yes!

He flinched!

He was taken aback!

One good thing about being skinny was that all your muscles were very visible. If I bent my arm and flexed my biceps, you could clearly see that I had very well-defined muscles.

Mario was left speechless, and the area under his eye was starting to twitch a little.

Wait.

Did I push too far?

Then, suddenly, he went ’Pfft,’ and exploded in laughter.

"Wha—what... why are you laughing?!"

I yapped.

"What are you even doing?" Mario asked, struggling to catch his breath as he continued to laugh.

But when he laughed, and the way he laughed—

It didn’t feel mean.

It didn’t quite sound like him when he gave the speech at the ceremony.

It felt different from when he stood up in the class and introduced himself as Mario Vayleencraft.

It was really weird to imagine, but it almost reminded me of a baby laughing when you tickled them on the tummy.

"What’s so funny, eh?" Thomas asked, appearing from behind Mario.

Mario immediately froze, let out a few rather exaggerated dry coughs, and said,

"My throat was dry. I think I will go and find something to drink. Take good care of your throat too, Thomas."

With that, he swiftly turned and walked down the hallway.

"He sure coughs funny, doesn’t he?" Thomas said after Mario left.

I was trying to understand what happened, but couldn’t. But I felt like I should respect Mario’s coughs.

"Maybe some flies got into his mouth."

"Flies that get into his mouth probably immediately leave and apologize once they realize it was Marius Valenkraft."

Thomas chuckled.

"How’s your room?" I asked him.

"It’s alright. I’m sharing a room with Marius, actually."

"Oh."

"He’s not so bad. Just a bit funny."

"I see."

"And then there’s Dorian."

I tried to remember who Dorian was but couldn’t. I was probably too nervous to pay much attention to everyone’s introductions back then.

"Who are your roommates?"

"Dimitri and Briant."

"Ah, the big guy, right?"

"Yeah."

"Where are your bags?"

"..."

"...?"

"Dimitri’s bringing them to the room for me."

"What did you bring from your village? Rocks?"

"How... how did you know...?"

"What?"

"I did bring my lucky rocks."

Then Thomas burst out laughing too.

"Oh dear. That’s just hilarious. Come, let’s check out your room."

On the way, I saw Mario standing around in the hallway by the window holding a mug of some steaming hot drink.

He really wanted to sell that ’dry throat’ story.

But a guy who laughed like that—

Maybe wasn’t too bad after all.