A Degenerate's Tale

Eden made sure to check her appearance one last time before walking out the door. She had bright golden hair, and her pair of eyes were the same colour. Her uniform was properly ironed and creased. Overall, she looked very neat. As a lady, she was always taught to be prim and proper. It was especially so for a priestess like her from the Holy Church.

Her family at home was working hard to fight the demons, so she must do her part and take her education seriously. She couldn\'t help but let out a sigh.

"I wonder how they\'re doing..."

Entering the classroom, she assumed her usual position. She was someone who kept to herself. Despite the size of the class being minuscule, she did not stray from her goal and stayed true to her introverted nature.

The dynamic of the class was quite unusual. She found it fun to watch the interactions throughout the class.

There was a boisterous man in the back who seemed to be able to talk to anyone(Nolan).

A loud-mouthed prince(Mark) who appeared to be good friends with him who was accompanied by a bodyguard(Serena) who held feelings for him.

An unusual pair of friendships between a human(Earl) and an elf(Luka).

An elven girl(Alea) who kept to herself. Although, occasionally, her eyes would stray to the man who sat in front of her.

And finally, the pair she kept her eyes on the most. An awkward, budding love between two innocent friends! Oh, and there was a third wheel too. Every action from the girl would cause the boy to blush furiously like a virgin. Every action from the boy would leave the girl taken back, absolutely speechless. It was terribly cute and sugary.

Today was another day where she could watch them interact.

"G-good morning." Shin greeted Kayo, who was already seated. He still found it daunting to greet her every morning, but it was getting better.

"Good morning, Shin." Unlike Shin, Kayo had pretty high social stats. Conversations were as natural as breathing to her.

There was an awkward silence where the two only stared at each other.

"Oh right, I made us lunch today." Kayo held up a big lunch box.

"Woahh... I can\'t wait!"

"Don\'t raise your expectations too high."

"Since you made it, it must naturally be good." Shin blurted out.

Eden internally pumped her fist into the air. \'That was a great move, boy!\'

Kayo blushed as she stuttered. "T-that was a bit..."

Seeing the blush on her face, the embarrassment began to set in for Shin. "Sorry... That was too much, wasn\'t it?"

"N-no, actually, I don\'t mind."

"I really think it\'ll be good, though. You look like a good cook."

"Do I?" Kayo smiled with a red face.

Eden found herself covering her face with her hands from the overwhelmingly sweet scene she was watching. \'They\'re so innocent! So pure! I\'ll protect them!\'

The day continued in a blur. She found herself standing in the training field as she listened to the briefing instruction from their cute Combat Instructor.

\'Her ears, I want to touch them.\'

"Eden? Are you listening?"

"Hah? Yes. Yes I am."

"Anyways, as I was saying. We will begin one on one combat instruction today. We will start slow with the spells that you can use, being Novice-level spells only. One will do the attacking, and the other will do the defending with the Novice Spell: Mana Shield. We\'ve gone over how to use Mana Shield earlier, so this is just a practical application. I will start assigning pairs now."

"Nolan and Mark."

...

...

"Eden and Earl."

Eden was assigned Earl as her practice partner for the day.

\'Eh? Which one is Earl again.\'

Unfortunately, the young priestess was notoriously bad with names despite being in a class of 10 people. She stood in the same spot with a blank, clueless look.

"Eden? Nice to meet you."

Fortunately, Earl came straight to her. Eden took a closer look at the man before her.

\'He\'s well-groomed.\'

\'Nice hair, smells good, nice smile.\'

\'Clean shoes, nice and polished. His pants are creased really well. Is he using magic to prevent his clothes from getting wrinkled? This man is crazy, I can\'t trust him.\'

"Eden?"

"Ah, sorry, I tend to space out a little bit. Nice to meet you, Edward."

Meanwhile, Earl was silently making his own judgement. \'She\'s a complete airhead, but she\'s a rare beauty. She\'s strong too, Rank 3.\'

"It\'s Earl, but I don\'t mind being called Edward."

"Ahaha, sorry, I\'m a bit bad with names, Eric."

"No problem, we all have our vices."

Earl smiled at her antics. \'Is she crazy, or is she doing this on purpose?\'

\'Edward is crazy for sure, I just called him three different names, and he didn\'t bat an eye.\'

"Um, so who will do the attacking?"

"I don\'t hit ladies, so I\'ll do the defending."

"Oh? Quite old-fashioned."

"We like in an old-fashioned society. Although, I would argue that letting a lady attack me is not an old-fashioned experience."

"There is something about your speech that bothers me, Elijah, but it\'s probably just me. Here I come, though. I\'ll start attacking now."

That was Earl\'s first interaction with Eden that he would remember.