CHAPTER 219: LATIFA’S TRIAL PERIOD

"Well, what do you think?" Alex asked as he showed the fox lady the special place he had prepared for her in the clock tower.

A luxurious circular bed was positioned by the wall of the main room of the club room, where the members of Endless Horizon gathered.

The young lady’s lips twitched when she saw a name tag—with her name in fancy calligraphy—resting on a frilly cushion positioned right at the centre of the mattress.

Alex had spent a considerable amount of Academy Points to purchase this bed and had to fight the strong urge to buy the heart-shaped bed instead of the round one.

The young man knew that the ladies of his club would give him judgemental stares if he bought such a thing, so he played it safe when he purchased the ultimate bed for the sleeping beauty of the academy.

"Go on, test it," Alex urged. "I guarantee that it will be better than your bed in the Vermillion Crest Dormitory."

The Vermilion Crest Dormitory housed students who were members of the Royalty or other Noble Families.

Latifa glanced at Alex and the little bun that was perched on top of his head. She still felt hesitant about joining Endless Horizon since she had no intention of participating in any club activities at this point in time.

But since Alex had promised that he would ask for her help just once during the Inter-Class Battle Royale, Latifa decided to agree to the "trial period" that the young man had suggested.

She would join the Endless Horizon Club as a provisional member.

If, after a month, she deemed that the club unsuitable for her, she was free to quit.

"Remember, I only agreed to help you this once because I owe you a favor for helping Lucius," Latifa reminded before walking toward the bed to sit on top of it.

Her eyes lit up with surprise and happiness as she immediately felt how soft yet firm the bed was.

It was as if the bed was adapting to her preferences and molding itself to her ideal of the perfect bed to sleep on.

Latifa then laid down her head on the pillow.

A few seconds later, she was fast asleep, catching her second consciousness—who was guarding her—by surprise.

Seeing this, Alex couldn’t help but smirk in self-satisfaction.

He had carefully chosen the best materials to create the most perfect bed in existence! In the game, there was an event where the player would assemble a bed for Latifa to sleep on.

It even had a grading system based on whether Latifa liked it or not.

After many trials and errors, Alex had managed to create a bed that earned a 99% compatibility rating. Naturally, it had increased Latifa’s affection meter in that playthrough.

For players, succeeding in the bed building event was crucial to developing a very good relationship with Latifa. In other words, this masterpiece had allowed him to progress further in her romance route.

"Strange..." the second Latifa muttered. "She’s sleeping so peacefully on an unfamiliar bed."

The young lady then started to sniff the bed, wondering if Alex had infused it with some kind of sleeping potion to affect her main body.

She didn’t find anything nefarious, but she wasn’t too shocked since she already knew that sleep, paralysis, charm, and other status debuffs didn’t work on her original body.

She was just wondering how Alex managed to get her main body to fall asleep so quickly.

"Well, at least you seem to understand how to get in our good graces," the second Latifa commented.

"That’s not all," Alex replied as he waved his hand, turning the walls beside Latifa’s bed into a transparent window.

This allowed the fading afternoon sunlight to seep inside the room and cast its glow on the sleeping beauty of the academy.

With a snap of his finger, a faint breeze blew into the room. The breeze came from outside the tower and was able to pass through it using the magical filters that were imbued in the walls.

While the glass window prevented Latifa from rolling over and falling to her death, it didn’t prevent good ventilation. The cooling breeze blowing in was relaxing and soothing, allowing the young lady to sleep much more comfortably.

Even the second Latifa was impressed. Not only did the clock tower offer her original body, who was always sleeping, a safe place to rest, it also had special functions such as this.

"Latifa, I hope you will help us in the Inter-Class Battle Royale," Alex said. "Can I count on you? And your other sister?"

This "sister" was Latifa’s third consciousness, who was currently wandering around who-knows-where.

The fox lady wasn’t exempted from the competition, so she had to participate no matter what.

Because of that, her two consciousnesses would be present in the Mistral Weave Forest. If they agreed to help Alex, he would gain the assistance of ethereal scouts who could go almost anywhere without fail.

"Very well," the second Latifa replied. "We will help you. Just make sure that you also keep your word."

Alex nodded before lightly patting Dim Dim’s head. "Dim Dim, remember, don’t poke Latifa when she’s sleeping, okay?"

Dim Dim didn’t answer right away. Instead, it looked at the sleeping young lady on the bed.

"...Dim!"

"There was a delay in your reply, Dim Dim. Remember, we have a deal with them, so you can’t break your promise, okay?"

"Dim!"

"Good."

The Dim Sum God sighed as it looked at the sleeping beauty who had been able to withstand its poking thousands of times before waking up.

Aside from throwing things, Dim Dim seemed to have developed the habit of poking people awake, which it found quite amusing.

Unfortunately, Latifa was now off-limits, so the Dim Sum God decided to channel its poking skills toward Alex and Chuck instead!

In the Common Room of Ironheart Dormitory...

"Huh?!" Chuck gasped as his body shuddered uncontrollably without rhyme or reason.

"What’s wrong?" Charles, who was currently playing a card game with him, asked.

"I just sensed something dangerous just now," Chuck replied with some uncertainty that he quickly disguised with self-love. "Maybe a beautiful girl has fallen in love with me and decided that she must kidnap me and lock me up to prevent other women from having me."

"Stop being delusional and pick a card already," ordered Nessia, who was also holding a few cards in her hands.

They were playing a game of old maid to pass the time until dinner.

Chuck sighed before picking a card from Nessia, which made the young lady smirk.

"Argh!" Chuck gritted his teeth after he pulled the Joker card. "Damn! Why do I always get this card?!"

Nessia giggled before glancing at Lavinia, who seemed to be out of sorts.

"Something on your mind?" Nessia inquired.

"I’m just wondering why Alex said we shouldn’t go to the clock tower today. He did say he plans to invite Latifa to become a club member, but I don’t know how it’s related." Lavinia replied.

"Maybe he doesn’t want her to be overwhelmed by strangers." Nessia shrugged.

It was impossible to not notice Latifa when their class had shared lessons with Class D.

The fox lady was always sleeping, so everyone was curious about her.

"But Alex will not do something without a good reason," Nessia stated. "You know that, right?"

Lavinia nodded before holding her cards out to Renard so he could pick one from her.

"Don’t think too deeply, Lavinia," Renard commented as he decided which card to take. "We just need to focus on the upcoming Inter-Class Battle Royale."

Alex had talked to the members of his club one by one and explained the things they should watch out for in the Battle Royale.

While he hadn’t told them about the project that he, Dim Dim, and Nessia were working on, he didn’t hide any details about the dangers that they would face during the biggest annual event for the First Years.

"I suppose you’re right," Lavinia said with a sigh. She could wait until tomorrow to meet the young lady currently sleeping in the clock tower.

What they didn’t know was that a few days later, Latifa would decide to permanently stay in the clock tower to sleep instead of going back to her dorm room.

This caused a little bit of trouble for Alex as it technically went against academy rules, even though it didn’t inconvenience anyone.

Luckily, the situation didn’t spiral out of control because Latifa mysteriously gained permission to remain in the clock tower and treat it as her permanent residence in the academy.