Max had reported that they couldn't find Rima. This worried her because she knew if the academy were to send more search parties for her, their lie might be found out, and if that happened, the academy would surely punish them for their transgression.
Seeing Leticia's worried look, Max lightly sighed before he said, "Don't worry about it. This was the best choice."
"How?"
"Because Rima had told me she doesn't want to lose her cloud academy's disciple identity just yet."
"Hm?" Leticia raised her thin brows in confusion, but after thinking for a moment, she understood what he meant.
Every academy or institution had a rule which said that the disciples weren't allowed to stay outside of the academy for more than a day without academy's permission.
If anyone were to break this rule without a good enough reason, the academy would punish them by cutting their resources or fining Mana stones or, in worse cases, it would kick them out.
Therefore, if they had reported that Rima wouldn't be returning to the academy for months, there was a high chance that the academy would've revoked her disciple's status.
"If that's the case, wouldn't it have been better if we had just reported that a king ranked mage has taken her to be her disciple? I don't think the academy would dare to expel her then. They might have even tried to use her to curry favour with her master." Leticia asked.
"This is precisely why we didn't report it." Max smiled.
"Hm? What do you mean?" Leticia asked, puzzled by his response.
Belen, walking on Max's other side, couldn't help but shake her head and explained, "Just think about it. If we reported as you said, the academy would have done everything to curry favour with Rima's master, right?"
"Yes."
"Wouldn't Rima's peaceful life and her training have been affected by their efforts?" Belen asked again.
Hearing this, Leticia's eyes shone in understanding and she nodded. "You are right. It would have. Why didn't I think this?"
Belen chuckled lightly at her response and continued, "Not only that, because her master doesn't like humans as you also witnessed it, the academy's efforts would've only annoyed her and this could've also affected her relationship with Rima which is already very fragile to being with."
"Oh! I understand." Leticia nodded.
Then her face flushed red in embarrassment as she cursed herself in her mind, 'Damn it. Why am I such a slowpoke? Why couldn't I be smart like Belen? No wonder he seems to like her more than me.'
Max didn't notice her expression as he waved his hand, "Okay. You guys return to your dorms and rest." After a pause, he added, "I'll try to come visit you guys tonight. It will be better if you were together."
A tinge of crimson crept up on Belen's adorable cheeks for a split second when she heard this. Leticia reacted the same way before they nodded in unison, "Mhm."
Their expressions amused Max. He chuckled lightly before waving them goodbye and dashed toward his dorm. Belen and Leticia also returned to their respective dorms.
…
A while later, Max arrived in front of his dorm room. The door was closed.
Phew~!
He took a deep breath to calm down his breathing and his excitement of meeting Anna again after so many days.
Knock! Knock!
After that, he walked up to the door, knocked on it two times, took a step back, and waited.
Creak~
A few seconds later, the door creaked open, and a pale faced Anna with a light smile plastered on her face appeared in front of him, saying, "You're early to—"
Mid-sentence, she came to a stop and her body trembled when she saw the figure which she longed to see for the past few days.
"Huh? Am I seeing things again?" For a moment, she couldn't help but rub her eyes to check whether she was hallucinating right now.
When even after rubbing her eyes, Max's figure didn't vanish, she knew it wasn't her imagination, and he was really standing in front of her.
She became emotional and crystal-like tears welled up in her eyes before,
Whoosh!
Like a bolt of lightning, her lithe body flew into his arms and embraced him tightly as she sobbed, "Y-You are ba..ck. You really are back. Sniff! Sniff! I missed you, little Max. I really missed you."
Max felt his heart clench when he heard her sobs and felt her body shivering in his embrace. He wrapped his arms around her back and hugged her tightly.
Anna kept sobbing for a while before eventually calming down. However, she didn't loosen her hold on Max, as if worried he would go away if she did that.
Seeing this, Max sighed inwardly and whispered in her ear, "Should we go inside?"
"Mhm." Anna hummed in agreement but didn't move away from him.
Max smiled wryly at this. He then leaned down a little and gently lifted her in the princess carry before walking into the room.
Anna blushed a little but didn't resist. In fact, she felt happy to be carried like this.
Max closed the door behind him and walked to the bed before gently laying on her on it and sat down beside her. Caressing her head lovingly, he muttered, "I'm sorry, I didn't leave a message for you before lea—"
Swish!
Before he could complete his sentence, Anna swatted his hand away angrily and sat up, her back facing him as she harrumphed, "Hmph! I don't need your sorry."
Max smiled wryly and sat there awkwardly. He could see she was genuinely angry at him, and he needed to appease her somehow.
However, the problem was, he didn't know how he was supposed to do that because this was the first time he faced this kind of situation.
Suddenly, he remembered his classmates back on earth saying that girls liked gifts. His eyes sparkled, and he hurriedly took out a small, beautifully decorated wooden box.
Cough!
He coughed to clear to throat and hugged her from behind that made her shiver for a moment.
Just as she was about to push him away, he raised the wooden box in front of her and said, "Look, I brought you a gift."
Seeing the box, Anna stopped in her tracks, and her eyes flashed.
**
A/N: Sorry for the delayed update. I accidently cut my finger so it was difficult to write.
