Chapter 16: Homework
[You have acquired a new skill: "Lion of Cigarettes C."]
Hmm, didn't expect to get such an unexpected bonus?
His mood suddenly improved.
As expected, spending the money on two packs of cigarettes — not to mention the risk of being chased down by Mordred with a 'mammoth sword' all afternoon — was definitely worth it in exchange for gaining a Servant's skill.
Mordred suddenly slapped him hard on the back.
"What are you grinning like an idiot for? Did I say something weird just now? If I did, then forget it immediately!"
She said awkwardly, thinking the big stupid smile on his face from gaining the skill was actually him mocking her.
"You're overthinking it. I was just thinking about something else earlier."
"Wait, so you weren't listening to a word I said just now?"
"If I didn't listen, that's bad. But if I did listen, that's also bad. So what exactly do you want me to say…?"
The simulation timeline of life moved forward once again.
[8:50 PM — you two just made it back to Chaldea Academy before curfew.]
[You and Mordred exchanged contact information.]
[You now have Mordred's contact info and can reach out to her anytime. With your current level of rapport, you might even be able to ask her out.]
"So I finally remembered — this is still supposed to be a dating sim… Surrounded by musclehead Knights of the Round Table, or doing part-time jobs for robots and old men, I almost forgot what the original goal was."
"I nearly forgot too, but setting aside her tomboy personality, Mordred is actually a beautiful girl."
Walking down the dormitory corridor, Eikou scrolled through his phone contacts while muttering to himself.
As curfew approached, the hallway grew lively with students carrying washbasins and toothbrushes toward the communal bath, or hurrying back from evening classes with stacks of homework. He passed by other Servants and made his way straight to his room.
Opening the door, he saw Gawain sitting at the desk beneath the bunk bed, diligently working on his assignments.
Tristan's bed, however, was still empty.
"Poor Tristan… don't tell me he's stuck in the detention center for the whole semester…?"
Eikou looked genuinely pitiful for the red-haired friend, thinking he should find time to visit the detention facility sometime soon.
"Sir Eikou, you're finally back," Gawain looked up and glanced at him. "How was the part-time job today? Mordred didn't cause any trouble for you, did she?"
"It was fine."
Eikou thought for a moment before saying:
"Although there were some bumps, it felt a lot lighter than when Tristan almost killed Babbage-sensei yesterday."
"Ha ha, in that case, you two seem to get along well. That's good — I was worried she'd give you a hard time."
"It's fine. My heart is as vast as the cosmos."
Eikou cheerfully stepped into the room, but his eyes were quickly drawn to Gawain's notebook on the desk. He froze for a moment, then asked:
"What's this?"
"Homework."
Gawain calmly answered the completely obvious question.
Eikou was instantly shocked.
"Homework?! What the hell is that?!"
"Sir Eikou, surely I don't need to explain such basic knowledge to you. On the contrary, I have a question for you: since enrolling…"—Gawain's gaze suddenly sharpened—"have you ever done your homework even once?"
"..."
That question left Eikou speechless.
Just thinking back a little was enough — his first few days at school were all spent getting used to the environment. After class, he was always doing part-time jobs, and at night, he got harassed by ghost woman and Morgan. There was no time at all for homework.
Not just him — even someone as diligent as Gawain was cramming last-minute just before curfew, which showed how packed their schedules were at this academy.
He really needed to find time to get that stack of homework done. If not, he'd lose all his credits and hit Game Over way too early.
"Damn it… this is supposed to be a school dating game — why are things like this the most realistic part?! It's like I'm playing Persona 5 or something."
Eikou couldn't help but grumble aloud.
"They're going to check homework tomorrow. Hurry up and finish the backlog. You've got until midnight — should be enough time."
"We don't need that long! We'll just split it up and copy from each other!"
"Sir Eikou."
Gawain, in his mature big-brotherly tone, lectured: "You can get by with copying when dealing with teachers, but you'll never truly improve yourself that way."
"It's fine, I don't care about self-improvement. I live for the moment!!"
"A truly upright and consistent answer."
But Gawain still shook his head.
"However, I believe cheating and copying go against the spirit of knighthood. Let's do this — I'll teach you how to do the assignments. Let's try to finish them all tonight."
"Haizz…"
Although if he insisted a little more, Gawain might actually have let him copy.
But this knight of the sun was speaking so seriously that even Eikou felt guilty and couldn't bring himself to copy anymore.
"Also, I advise you to start now, or else you'll have to stay up late tonight."
Gawain said solemnly.
The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy.
"Because it was you yourself who said it last night — there are ghost women wandering the dorms… Are you really sure you want to be doing homework alone in the dead of night?"
Just thinking about that woman's voice from last night, the gloomy footsteps in the hallway, and the fear of hiding under the blanket in the darkness...
Eikou immediately felt a chill run through his body.
"You're right! I'm doing it now!"
Fortunately, he had already anticipated this situation and activated the skill "High-Speed Divine Words" — he should be able to finish the homework quickly.
"Let's do this!"
[You activated the skill "High-Speed Divine Words A."]
[Skill activated successfully — you've completed the Literature assignment.]
[You activated the skill "High-Speed Divine Words A" again.]
[Skill activated successfully — you've completed the History assignment.]
[Your pen raced across the paper nonstop, ideas flowing endlessly. At an incredible speed, you completed all your assignments in under a minute — clearly assisted by divine power!]
Eikou filled in the answers almost in the blink of an eye.
It was… incredibly fast!!
Seeing the densely packed answers,
Not only Eikou himself, but even Gawain next to him was stunned, completely amazed by the effectiveness of High-Speed Divine Words.
"That fast? Let me take a look…"
He checked Eikou's Literature assignment and frowned just from reading the classical poetry section.
It said:
["Docking the boat on the Euphrates River"]
[Egypt – Cleopatra VII]
[A human life of fifty years, like a dream, like an illusion; if the body does not move, can it escape the darkness, the flowers, and the water.]
"Sir Eikou, don't tell me you accidentally wrote your History answers into your Literature homework. When Queen Cleopatra of Egypt wrote this poem, not only had Uruk already fallen, but her dynasty had also come to an end, dragging down the fall of the Oda clan and Okita Souji's tuberculosis along with it. None of your answers are correct."
"Let's not argue about accuracy. Just admit I did it super fast, okay?"
"You should probably rewrite it…"
Gawain sighed.
"Although the High-Speed Divine Words skill helps you finish quickly, without sufficient academic knowledge, the quality of the answers won't be high."
[By 11 PM, you and Gawain finally finished the homework.]
[Nothing unexpected happened that night — you quickly fell into a peaceful sleep.]