"Can I refuse?" As soon as he heard those words coming out of this upperclassman’s mouth, those were Novus’ immediate reply, clenching his fist to stop the bleeding even when True Immortal Blood is already kicking in to completely regenerate the wound.

’Gone?? Is it healing magic? I heard he’s only able to use one spell, though, and its fireball?? Seeing such a quick recovery from the damage she had inflicted on him, the lady couldn’t help but feel baffled for a moment before she quickly regains her bearing, sheathing the blade she’s wielding as she reveals the scabbard hidden underneath her overcoat.

"No? Hey, don’t be too much in a rush to reject, junior. Do you even have any idea who I am? If you team up with big sister here, you won’t even break a sweat to get high grades during the exam!" The lady, finally realizing her junior’s reply, couldn’t help but raise her voice a bit, not expecting that she wouldn’t even get an answer from him, considering whether to accept or not, instead receiving an outright rejection from him.

Novus pauses, feeling troubled as the moment of their exchange, that sword alone already narrows down her possible identity, and the moment that those jet-black hair and dark amber eyes were revealed by the moonlight, he already knew full well who it was that he is standing in front of right now.

One dead giveaway is the light, robe-like coat that she’s wearing, that flowing wave pattern, something that is well known to be a pattern favored by a powerful family living in the east, that very family sending their eldest daughter to the academy three years ago.

Heavenblade Great Clan, Maris Medea Heavenblade.

A magic genius who came into contact with mana at a young age of four. When others are only learning how to run, how to play around in the ground, this girl is already playing around with mana, the very power that bends the surroundings according to one’s will, a never-before-seen genius in a family already filled to the brim with talents that can make anyone jealous.

At the age of seven, she picked up the sword.

At the age of twelve, she shows extreme mastery of her family’s unique magic, Blade Enchantment Magic.

At the age of fourteen, during a solo excursion, she was ambushed by a group of armed bandits trying to make money out of a prestigious clan’s beloved princess; all of them were split in half with clean, individual slashes for each one of them.

And at the age of fifteen, she was sent into the greatest nurturing ground in the world, the Galilea Magic Academy, her family wanting her to grow even more while she set legend after legend during her time in the academy, being one among the previous six, now seven, remarkable individuals who had already established themselves as mage before they even entered the academy.

One blade, unrivaled. The Sword Princess.

She would’ve been dubbed by the student body as the Sword Empress instead, but to that, her response is...

"Nah, Empress sounds too domineering, you know? I’m a peaceful girl, so let’s go with Sword Princess instead~~"

Those were words said by a second-year student with her beautiful face stained by blood as she so gracefully smiles, not her blood, but blood by upperclassmen, completely beaten to a pulp by her during a joint training exercise.

As for the reason for that, no one really dares say it at all, heads nodding as all of them agree to her suggestion, scared of what they might face should they deny her of what she wants.

And yet even then, knowing exactly who this senior is, Novus decided to outright reject her proposal, a decision that will probably put a death warrant, or at the very least, a beaten-up and brought to the hospital warrant, on his life.

If there’s anyone else in this place watching the exchange between the two, no matter whether they are a man or a woman, they will definitely think of Novus’ decision as extremely foolish, not only because rejecting this lady is an extremely dangerous choice, but also because teaming up with her will only bring benefit to a freshman, especially someone as "weak" as him.

"I know exactly who you are, Senior Medea," the young man replies to the lady’s question, making it known to her at the very least that he is aware not only of her identity, but her temperament as well.

"Heeh~ why reject my proposal knowing that then?" Once wrapped around the hilt of her blade, she begins tapping its pommel with her dainty fingers. Amidst the interest, she is starting to get a bit impatient, but she never lets it show on her face.

"Because it makes no sense, someone of the Sword Princess’ caliber teaming up with a nobody like me? I’d rather believe that the sun will rise in the west tomorrow than that" Novus replies while shrugging his shoulders, feeling awfully relaxed despite facing against who is possibly one of, if not outright the most dangerous student in the academy right now.

"Oh, come on~" as she heard his reply, she said with a bit of annoyance lacing her still melodious voice, but now that she finally gets an inkling of why he rejected her proposal, she finally has an idea of how he should approach this matter.

"It’s not like I am teaming up with you for nothing, you know, the old man back at home taught me about something that always needs to be maintained during cooperations, mutual benefits, he says," she continues, waiting for the freshman’s reply to her suggestion now that she explained it better.

"What do I even have that is worth trading with?" as he heard the words coming out of her, Novus changed as he turned a bit more serious, his first thought being the assumption that somehow, someone had already found out his improvements, and even worse, found out how he was capable of such.

It’s not even a moment later that he dismissed these thoughts, though, as even when the academy monitors students most of the time, anywhere that they can display or improve their own strength, the academy gives them absolute privacy.

Still, that possibility lingers on his mind, hence why he kept his guard up, prepared to deal with this lady, uncaring about the consequences, should she show any sign of being aware of his secrets.

"Now now, no need to be too serious about it, junior, big sister only wants one simple thing... well, not too simple, I guess, but if you want to, it’s something easy to give~" The vague way she talks is just making his assumption worse, a tinge of impatience in his tone as he asks once more.

"What do you want, Senior Medea?" The question stopped her rambling as her gaze was directed to him once again. All this time, despite the playful nature she acts, her body stood completely straight and unmoving, only letting her sharp posture collapse as she finally stated the side of her deal.

"Your body—"

She tensed, the next words barely leaving her lips before—

"I refuse."