As he watched her run away like a rabbit, he felt something rising in the lower part of his body. Noticing this, he cursed inwardly 'F.u.c.k.!' and closed his his and took deep breaths to calm down. However as he closed his eyes, Anna's charming figure in towel with her golden hair dripping wet appeared in his mind.
Trying to dispel his thoughts, he walked toward one corner of the room and took out the newly bought bed from his inventory.
He then looked toward the wooden bed and his eyes sparkled 'I should put this bed away.' However, Just as he thought this , Anna came out of the bathroom, dressed in white pyjamas.
"Huh, Max where did this bed come from?" Her eyes twinkled upon seeing such a comfortable looking bed in front of her.
"I bought this as the wooden bed wasn't comfortable to have a good sleep." Max replied.
"You bought this? Isn't furniture here too costly? Where did you get that many mana stones? Did you borrow from someone?" Hearing his reply, Anna's tone became serious all of a sudden.
Max didn't understand what caused this change and nodded "Yeah. I borrowed from Neer-" However he was cut off mid sentence.
"Why did you borrow? How will you pay back now? You only get enough for you to cultivate." She walked up to him and shouted in panic. Her face showing a worried expression.
Seeing her freaking out, Max took a step forward and embraced her in his arms to calm her down and said "Don't worry it wasn't expensive and Neer owed me a favor so he helped out. There is nothing to worry about." He realised that she was worried because he won't have enough stone to pay back the stones.
Anna was taken aback when he suddenly hugged her. She reflexively wanted move away from him but hearing his reply, her nerves calmed down and she stayed still.
The reason she became so anxious after hearing that he borrowed from someone, was because she had heard of many disciples who did the same and to earn and pay back the borrowed amount, they had to neglect their cultivation which caused their cultivation to stagnate for years. She didn't want to something similar happen to him.
Seeing that she had calmed down, Max let go of her and smiled "By the way, you look cute in these pyjamas."
Anna became self conscious and pouted "Because I was living alone previously, so I only wore pyjamas in my room. That's why I don't have anything else to wear. So don't you dare to make fun of me."
"Haha, I'm not making fun of you. You really do look cute." Max laughed. He was saying the truth. She looked just like a cute doll.
"..."
Max and Anna talked until night. When Max was going to take her out to eat, she told him not to and that she can make food here. So there was no need to waste mana stones on food.
Max agreed seeing that her expression that said 'I won't take a no for answer.' Moreover, he didn't have enough mana stones to eat daily in the inn. Academy would only give disciples monthly rations and they have to make their food by themselves or eat out where mana stones were needed.
After having dinner which was only boiled rice and one-star beast's meat soup, both of them looked at the bed. They both wanted to sleep on the comfortable bed rather than on the hard wooden bed.
Max sighed "You can sleep on it, I'll sleep-"
Anna shook her head and said "No. It's big enough for both of us to sleep comfortably, no need to sleep on that wooden bed."
"If you don't have any problem with it, I'll gladly do so." Max agreed in a heartbeat.
Afterwards, they both took one side of the bed and laid down. However, neither of them fell asleep until half an hour later.
*Rustle*
'Hmm?' In the middle of the night, he felt a soft feeling on his back.
As he turned around, he found that Anna had come to his side. He looked at her, their faces were only one feet away. She was sleeping soundly with a serene look on her face. Her hair falling over her her face. She looked very beautiful even in her sleep.
He reached out his hand and put the stray hair behind her ear. As he gazed at her beautiful visage, he once again fell asleep.
***
In the morning, Anna was the first one to wake up. As she woke up, she realised that a hand was on her waist.
'Huh?' she tilted her head upwards and saw Max sleeping soundly. She then realised that she was huddled in his embrace with her hands on his chest. She panicked but seeing that Max was sleeping peacefully, she calm down and didn't move.
'It's okay. We are siblings after all.' She thought and watched his sleeping face.
After a while, Max also woke up. He felt a soft body glued to his and he opened his eyes, he was greeted with a pair of beautiful eyes looking at him.
He greeted her without moving away "Good morning Anna".
Anna smiled "Good morning. Can I get up now?"
"Uh, yeah sure." Only then he moved his hand away from her waist.
They both washed up and got ready. Anna made breakfast for them and as they ate together, Max asked "Are you also going to the classes?" Normally only those who are new recruits, attend the classes while others like Anna cultivate and train by themselves utilising academy's resources.
"No, I'm going to train in the martial arena today. My fighting skills are still lacking so I have to work on them." Anna shook her head.
Max nodded. Academy also has martial arenas where disciples could spar to find out about their strengths and weaknesses and gain valuable combat experience.
"Okay, you take care of yourself and don't push yourself too hard. I'll join you after my classes are over." He said.
Although his way to gain strength was different from others and classes couldn't help him in this aspect, there were many things he needed to learn from them.
Moreover, from today onwards, their combat training was going to start where elders of academy will advise the disciples. It was very important for him as his combat experience was only basic.
"Oh so now you have become strong enough to advise me huh?" Anna pouted cutely. Just a few months ago, she was the one to train and advise him. However now their roles were reversed.
"Yep. So be careful okay." Max nodded, teasingly.
"Okay my lord. I'll be careful." Anna scoffed.
After they finished their meal, they went to different directions. Today Neer didn't come because he was going train in different area.
Like previous day, Max run into Flavia once again. After greeting each other, they walked together making people around them look on in envy.
....
Today they were in the open ground. A middle-aged woman in white robes told them that they were going to fight one on one so she can grade them and teach them accordingly.
"First fight, Wille and Haory. Come forward." She called out.
A boy with yellowish hair and average build and a simple looking girl walked in open area.
Max looked at the girl and muttered "So she also joined Cloud academy."
