CHAPTER 309: LIKE, AND LOVE, WERE TWO DIFFERENT FEELINGS [PART 1]

"I’m sorry, Alex," Vaan said softly. "My feet and legs suddenly feel like jelly."

"It’s fine," Alex replied as he lifted Vaan into a princess carry.

The young man decided to take the pretty boy to the infirmary, worried about his friend’s body.

Getting blessed by a Deity was a good thing, but right now, Vaan was only an Apostle Candidate.

Even so, Alex was certain that Vaan’s body would get some sort of power-up, making him stronger than ever.

It was a phase that all Apostle Candidates had to go through. With this, by the time they were finally chosen as Apostles, their bodies would be strong enough to contain the divine powers that were going to be bestowed upon them.

Alex wasn’t an Apostle despite inheriting the Legacy of the Oathkeeper.

He was merely recognized by The Lovers, who had given him their blessing, similar to what had happened to Vaan.

Technically, Alex had also become an Apostle Candidate. However, he was certain that the Lovers had no intention of making them their Apostle.

In any case, he shared a connection with the two Deities, so he believed there would be no hostility between him and the Apostle of The Lovers and The Chariot if he were to meet them.

At least, that was what Alex wanted to believe.

"Being carried like this is embarrassing," Vaan muttered, his face as red as a tomato. And yet, there was a faint smile on his face.

"You’re so light, Vaan," Alex said. "You’re just as heavy as my Guildmaster when I carried her. How much do you weigh?"

"It’s rude to ask someone their weight, Alex." Vaan pouted. "Who is this Guildmaster you are talking about? Are you part of a guild? Who is she? How did you meet? Do I know her?"

"Oh, look—we’re in the infirmary!" Alex immediately tried to change the subject and used his foot to knock on the door.

Vaan understood that Alex didn’t want to talk about it, so he didn’t pry any longer.

A few seconds later, the door opened, and one of the nurse twins who had silver-white hair with pastel streaks of blue, Lin, looked at Alex with a mischievous smile on her face.

"The Infirmary is empty right now, so you two can use it as much as you want," Lin said before Alex could even say anything.

"I’ll even hang the ’Sorry, We’re Closed’ sign, so don’t worry. No one will disturb you. The drawer in my table is unlocked, so if you need contraceptive potions, just take one without hesitation, okay?"

The corner of Alex’s lips twitched, while Vaan giggled after seeing the young man’s reaction.

"Please don’t tease me, Ms. Lin," Alex said. "You have a patient, so please take care of him."

Lin’s smile widened a bit as she opened the door wider to let Alex inside.

The moment the young man entered, the nurse summoned the ’Sorry, We’re Closed’ sign and hung it outside the door.

Alex, who had no idea that the Nurse had done exactly what she said earlier, gently lay Vaan on the bed.

"Please do a full-body check-up for Vaan," Alex said. "There might be something wrong with his body since he suddenly lost the ability to walk."

Of course, Alex didn’t say anything about the incident with the Deity. Even if he were to say it, he was certain that Lin would just make fun of him and tell him not to joke around with something like this.

"Vaan, is today your safe day?" Lin asked in a teasing tone.

"Every day is a safe day for me," Vaan answered with a smirk.

The two exchanged a knowing smile with each other before Lin lightly tapped Alex’s shoulder.

"Go outside, and make sure that no one bothers us," Lin ordered. "Don’t worry. I already know about Vaan’s secret. He is safe with me."

Alex nodded and did as he was told.

It would be troublesome if a student suddenly entered the infirmary while Lin was giving Vaan a full-body check-up.

A few minutes later, Lavinia arrived at the Infirmary and saw Alex standing in front of the door.

"What are you doing, Alex?" Lavinia asked. "Are you hurt?"

"No." Alex shook his head. "Ms. Lin is giving Vaan a checkup, and asked me to stand outside. How about you? Are you hurt?"

"Tis but a scratch," Lavinia replied. "But since I ran out of potions, I decided to go here and get medicine so it heals right away."

Lavinia showed her shoulder, where the bruise was located.

"I have a potion here," Alex didn’t hesitate to take out a healing potion and handed it over to Lavinia. "Please drink it."

The young lady’s gaze softened as she accepted Alex’s goodwill.

"Thank you," Lavinia said.

A part of her didn’t want to drink the potion because it was something given to her by Alex. But since he looked worried, she reluctantly took a sip and applied a few drops to the bruises that were on some parts of her body.

After she finished applying the potion to her injuries, Alex asked who she had fought against.

"I sparred with Prince Garen earlier," Lavinia admitted.

"Huh?" Alex blinked. "Why did you fight with the Prince of Solara? And who won?"

"It was a draw," Lavinia replied. "Neither of us was going all out, and it turned into a battle of attrition. In the end, Prince Garen proposed that our match be a draw. He was unwilling to go all-out in our fight since he still has a battle with you tomorrow."

Alex pieced the pieces of the puzzle and realized why Lavinia had challenged Prince Garen.

"Thank you," Alex said.

"Thank me for what?" Lavinia asked.

"You sparred with Prince Garen to study his fighting style and possibly injure him so that we won’t have to fight tomorrow, right?"

"..."

Lavinia didn’t answer, but her silence was enough to confirm Alex’s suspicion.

If not for the fact that she was his Master’s precious sister, Alex might have already hugged her due to how touched he was with her actions.

An awkward silence descended between the two for nearly a minute before Lavinia finally spoke up.

"You said that Vaan is having a check-up inside," Lavinia said. "Is he hurt badly?"

"I don’t think so," Alex answered. "But he temporarily lost the strength to walk right now."

"Huh?!" Lavinia immediately looked concerned. "What happened? Did the students from Solara Academy harass her?"

Alex couldn’t count the number of times when he tried to correct Lavinia’s way of referring to Vaan as him instead of her.

However, since this was a delicate subject, he decided it would be safer if his club members also refer to Vaan as ’her’ in public. Less slip-ups meant less chance for people to discover his secret.

"No," Alex replied and tried to make Lavinia calm down because her gaze looked like someone who would kill the person who hurt her friend. "Vaan is just too active lately, so the exhaustion might have finally caught up to him."

Lavinia pondered for a bit before leaning on the door as she stood beside Alex.

Although they were classmates, Alex was spending a lot of time as the guide of the delegation, so she couldn’t see him much as of late.

Since it was only the two of them, she decided to catch up a bit, and ask if he was having fun being a tour guide for the elves.