The Innocent Study Machine and the Maiden Who Draws Her Sword Only to Find Herself at a Loss

Ever since that "blind men touching an elephant" style academic seminar, where she listened to Lokina's outrageous theory about Romance Can Drastically Increase Combat Power, an inextinguishable raging fire had been ignited in the heart of the eldest miss, Aria Norland.

"As long as you fall in love, you can get game-breaking buffs like permanent spellcasting acceleration, doubled power from hugs, and even full health and mana restoration from a kiss..."

In the training room of the Rose Courtyard, Aria waved the Nimbus 2000 Custom broomstick that Lynch had modified, muttering to herself.

Her eyes flickered with the fierce gleam of a berserker.

Over the past few days, although the Ice Wolf family had lost face in the martial arena, that old fox Viscount Moretti had not stopped there.

Rumor had it that they spent a fortune to hire a higher-tier mage tutor from the royal capital, preparing to ruthlessly trample the Norland family underfoot and regain their pride in the upcoming royal capital's young talents assessment.

"That damn Ice Wolf family! That dead peacock Claude, whom I hung on a tree, actually dared to spout nonsense, saying he would definitely freeze me into an ice sculpture next time?"

Aria gritted her teeth. "If I can stack the Romance Buff to the max, let alone one air cannon, I could blast out ten in one breath! When the time comes, I'll blow the roof off the entire Ice Wolf family! I'll let them know who the real boss of Shattered Gold Town is!"

The goal was clear: for the honor of the family, and to be invincible in the world, she had to immediately, right this second, find someone to have a romance with that could provide a massive magical boost!

However, a problem arose.

Who should she date? And how should she do it?

Aria sat on the floor of the training room, resting her chin in her hands with a distressed expression.

In her life, apart from waving a staff and eating, the concept of the opposite sex simply did not exist.

"Should I ask Brother Lynch and Sister Felsy?"

As soon as this thought popped up, Aria quickly shook her head and rejected it.

"No, no, Brother Lynch and Sister Felsy look too mature and too much in love. Experts of their caliber must have mastered the highest-tier profound mysteries of romance. I haven't even figured out the beginner's Joyful Mood Aura. If I go straight to them, I'll definitely be laughed at like a child."

Aria's cheeks flushed slightly red.

Although she was a battle maniac, she was still a sixteen-year-old girl after all, and she always found this kind of thing a bit hard to bring up.

"What about Teacher Lolo? No, although she has rich theoretical knowledge, she doesn't look like she has any practical combat experience."

After thinking it over and over, a figure with fiery red hair appeared in Aria's mind, someone who usually came and went like a ghost in the castle and looked very clever.

"That's right! Kuma!"

"Although Kuma is a maid, she can always gather all sorts of gossip in town. Plus, she's also a girl and looks very smart. Asking her will definitely be fine!"

...

Half an hour later, in a corner of the corridor outside the castle's back kitchen.

Kuma, who was secretly eating the dried little fish that Aunt Martha had just fried, was suddenly cornered against the wall by Aria.

"Cough, cough... cough!"

Kuma almost choked on a fishbone. She warily protected the dried fish in her hand and looked at the stern-faced Aria. "Eldest Miss, what are you doing? I stole... oh no, took these with my own skills. I'm not sharing them with you!"

"Who wants to eat your dried fish."

Aria looked left and right cautiously. After confirming there was no one around, she leaned into Kuma's ear, lowered her voice, and asked in a tone as if discussing a national secret:

"Kuma, let me ask you something. Do you... do you know where in town I can find a man to have a romance with?"

"Pfft!"

Kuma spat out the dried fish in her mouth.

This personal intelligence officer of the witch, a dignified high-level agent of the demon realm, now widened her fox-like eyes, looking at the noble daughter of the North with a face full of horror.

"Eldest Miss, do... do you have a fever?" Kuma reached out to touch Aria's forehead. "Aren't you thinking all day about how to blow people into the sky with air cannons? Why do you suddenly want to find a man? Could it be that Brother Lynch assigned you some special secret mission?"

"It wasn't Brother Lynch who assigned it. I want to find one myself!"

Aria got anxious and explained in all seriousness, "I'm going to the royal capital for the assessment. To completely crush that Claude from the Ice Wolf family, I must obtain the Romance Buff as soon as possible to enhance my magic output! Time is running out. Hurry up and help me think, who in town is suitable?"

Kuma: "..."

After listening to Aria's outrageous theory of romance equals buffing learned from Lokina, Kuma only felt a dull ache in her brainstem.

"What kind of messy, heretical thoughts did that blonde charlatan instill in the Eldest Miss?!"

"Treating romance as farming status buffs? How did this human girl's brain circuitry end up like this?!"

Sure enough, the believers of the Three Radiance Church all have abnormal brains, right...

What exactly will our church (crying tone) turn into...

However, complaints aside, Kuma's smart brain as a high-level agent immediately began to spin rapidly.

"Wait, the Eldest Miss wants to find someone to have a romance with?"

"This is a great opportunity! If I can arrange the Eldest Miss's lifelong event clearly, wouldn't my position in the castle be even more secure? Maybe even the Witch Lady will praise me for being clever!"

"But, who should I find? The noble young masters in Shattered Gold Town are all blockheads; they aren't worthy of the Eldest Miss at all..."

Suddenly, a figure flashed through Kuma's mind.

That boy wearing black-framed glasses, always carrying a thick stack of magic books, who blushed like a monkey's butt the moment he saw Aria.

That super test-taker from Buena Village, Asik!

Kuma remembered very clearly. That commoner boy named Asik was a famous studious seed in the surrounding villages, with extremely solid knowledge of magical theory. Most importantly, the fact that the kid had a secret crush on Eldest Miss Aria was something even the dogs at the village entrance knew back in their hometown of Buena Village.

Moreover, when Kuma went to town to gather intelligence a few days ago, she happened to discover that Asik, in order to be closer to Aria living in the castle, actually gave up his young master life in Buena Village and ran to the only magic workshop in Shattered Gold Town to become an apprentice.

This was simply the perfect pure-hearted guinea pig... oh no, the perfect candidate!

"Eldest Miss, you've found the right person!"

Kuma wiped the oil stains from the corner of her mouth, revealing an extremely professional matchmaker smile on her face.

"There might not be much else in this town, but a man who can provide you with Buffs, I actually know one. And I guarantee he is safe, reliable, and absolutely obedient, most suitable for a... uh, beginner like you to practice on."

Aria's eyes lit up. "Really? Is he strong? Is his magic reserve enough for me to absorb... cough, enough for us to resonate?"

"As for his strength... his theory is invincible, but his practical combat is slightly lacking. But that doesn't matter!"

Kuma patted his chest and guaranteed, "The important thing is, he can absolutely provide you with the purest 'Mood Enhancement Aura'! Come, I'll take you to the workshop to 'pick up the goods'... oh no, to see him!"

...

In the afternoon, Broken Gold Town was bathed in warm sunlight.

The "Gear and Crystal" magic workshop at the east end of the town was filled with the sounds of clanking metal and the bubbling of boiling magic potions.

This was the only place in town that repaired low-level magical devices and sold basic enchanting materials.

In front of a workbench piled high with rough sketches in the furthest corner of the workshop.

A young man wearing a gray apprentice robe and thick black-framed glasses was burying his head in a pile of complex miniature rune arrays. There was a smudge of black ink on the tip of his nose, but his eyes were extremely focused as he muttered to himself:

"The compression ratio of the wind element is still not enough... If I add a magic buffer zone at the third node of the circuit... maybe it could increase the stability of the wind blade by fifteen percent..."

His name was Asik.

A dedicated student working desperately hard for the figure in his heart.

He knew that as a commoner, he was not worthy of the high and mighty count's daughter.

So he could only study theoretical knowledge desperately, hoping that one day he could obtain the qualifications of a high-level enchanter and stand proudly before her.

"Asik! Bring that box of low-level wind spirit stones over here!" the shop owner shouted from the front.

"Coming!"

Asik pushed up his glasses. Just as he turned around and picked up a heavy wooden box, the wind chime at the workshop door jingled.

Accompanied by the crisp ringing, an energetic voice drifted in.

"Excuse me, boss! Is Asik here?"

Clang!

The wooden box in Asik's hands dropped straight to the floor, and several low-quality wind spirit stones rolled out.

He froze in place, as if hit by an immobilization spell. Through his thick lenses, he stared in disbelief at the young girl standing at the doorway.

Vibrant curly green hair, neat leather armor, and those bright, flamboyant eyes he had seen in his dreams countless times.

Aria Norland.

The goddess he yearned for day and night, the goddess he hadn't had the chance to see again since their few meetings at Lynch's house during the time the heavy snow sealed the mountain.

She actually came to this dilapidated workshop filled with dust and the smell of machine oil on her own accord?!

"A-A-A..."

Asik's brain instantly crashed, and his tongue felt tied in knots. "Lady... Lady Aria! Why, why are you in a place like this? It's dusty here, don't get your clothes dirty..."

He frantically wiped a barely clean chair nearby with his sleeve, his face already as red as a ripe tomato.

"Oh, don't be a stranger. Just call me Aria like before. I heard from Kuma that you were apprenticing here, so I came specifically to see you."

Aria strode in, looking around curiously.

Kuma, who was following behind, tactfully pulled the workshop owner aside. "Boss, our young lady wants to consult Asik on some 'private' matters. Could you accommodate us?" Saying this, he discreetly slipped him a silver coin.

The owner's eyes lit up. He immediately smiled, took the silver coin, and went to the backyard to inventory the goods, leaving the space entirely to the two young people.

At this moment, Asik's heart rate was about to break two hundred beats per minute.

"The young lady came specifically to see me?!"

"Could it be... could it be that she discovered my feelings?"

"Or perhaps she felt bored in the castle and wanted to find me to relieve her boredom? No matter which it is... this is simply unfolding like a fairy tale!"

Asik was so nervous that his palms were sweating. He took a deep breath, trying hard to make himself look like a mature and steady enchanter.

"L-Lady, is there anything you need my help with? As long as it's a magic theory I know, I will definitely teach you everything!"

"Magic theory? No, no, no, I'm not asking about that today."

Aria waved her hand, her large eyes staring straight at Asik.

That gaze was extremely focused and fiery, as if trying to see through his soul.

Asik felt a chill all over from this undisguised, passionate stare, but at the same time, an indescribable ecstasy spread in his heart.

"Why... why is she looking at me like this?"

"This kind of possessive and longing look... Heavens! Could the young lady really be interested in me?!"

Asik felt his legs go weak. He shyly lowered his head, not daring to look directly into Aria's eyes, his voice as thin as a gossamer thread, "Lady... please, please don't look at me like that... I'll... I'll get embarrassed."

However, he didn't know that Aria's true inner monologue at this moment was like this:

"Teacher Lolo said that making eye contact is the first step to establishing the 'Mood Enhancement Aura'. As long as I stare at him, we can resonate, thereby increasing my casting speed!"

"Why is there no reaction? Am I not staring hard enough? Or is it because he is wearing glasses, which blocks the transmission of the 'line-of-sight magic'?"

Aria frowned and decided to increase her intensity.

She suddenly took a step forward, closing the distance between them. There was less than half a meter of space left between them, and Asik could even smell the fresh scent of mixed grass and sunlight on Aria.

"Asik."

Aria's voice was low and serious, as if issuing a combat command.

"Ah? H-Here!" Asik jerked his head up, his brain having turned to mush.

Right at that moment, with lightning speed, Aria grabbed both of Asik's hands!

"Hiss—"

Kuma, who was pretending to look at the scenery nearby, gasped.

"As expected of the young lady! This attack speed! This boldness to get straight to the point! She's simply fiercer than the wildest succubus in the Demon Realm!"

As the person involved, Asik had completely lost his ability to think.

The young lady... held my hand?

Those hands, which constantly held a staff and bore slight calluses yet remained soft and warm, tightly enveloped his fingers that were somewhat pale from constantly holding a pen.

A jolt of electricity rushed from his fingertips straight to the top of his head.

Asik's face instantly turned from tomato red to liver purple. He opened his mouth but couldn't make a sound, as if steam were about to erupt from the top of his head.

"Is... is this the electric shock of love? It's... it's too intense!"

Asik was so moved he was about to cry. He decided that even if he were asked to die right now, he would be willing!

"Asik, did you feel it?"

Aria held his hands tightly, closed her eyes, and asked with a face full of anticipation.

"F-Felt it..."

Asik stammered in reply, "Very warm... very soft... I... I..."

"Who asked you about that!"

Aria snapped her eyes open, looking disappointed and anxious. "I'm asking you, did you feel the resonance of magic?! Did you feel a continuous stream of power surging into your body?!"

"Ah?" Asik froze, his eyes full of confusion.

Aria refused to give up. Following Lokina's theory, she began to silently chant the incantation for a Wind Blade in her mind, attempting to test this so-called hand-holding double buff.

Ten seconds passed.

Nothing happened.

The flow of magic within Aria's body was no different from when she was swinging her staff alone in the training room. In fact, due to her being distracted, it was actually a tiny bit slower.

"How could this be?!"

Aria threw off Asik's hand and irritably scratched her curly green hair. "Could the posture be wrong? Or... do we have to engage in a more advanced level of contact?!"