Noah sighed internally.
Nene's felt a bit similar to Stella's monstrous mother...
Though both Stella and her elder sister have tall, voluptuous figures, the Queen who gave birth to them is genuinely petite, possessing the body of a young girl.
Just like Nene Saikyo, the Queen looks like a loli elementary school student, at most a middle schooler.
When he first saw the Queen two years ago, he couldn't help but think that King Sirius Vermillion was really pushing the legal limits of morality.
While other men might say, "I'll trade three years in prison for a lifetime with you," the King wasn't satisfied with that—he went straight for the death penalty!
There are no fantasy dwarves in this universe.
Yet after giving birth to Stella and her elder sister, the Queen still looks like a loli, making Noah exclaim that genetics defy all logic.
"Here are your dorm keys. Room 405. They are yours now. You can handle the rest yourselves."
Kurono Shinguuji handed over the keys and physically dragged the struggling Nene away by her collar.
'Room 405'
Carrying all their luggage, Noah and Stella finally moved into the student dorms.
It had to be said, as expected of Hagun Academy—the dorm facilities were extremely well-equipped.
Basic furniture like desks and chairs were all provided, and even the mattresses and blankets were brand new and high quality.
The beds were sturdy bunk beds, and the room not only had a flat-screen TV but also a compact kitchenette and a private bathroom right by the entrance, covering about 400 square feet.
More than a cramped dorm, it felt like a standard comfortable Tokyo apartment.
About sixty percent of Japanese office workers rented this exact kind of apartment when working away from home, but Hagun Academy covered all tuition and accommodation fees, so they didn't have to pay a single Yen for it.
For a moment, Noah felt a nostalgic pang, like he was back on Earth when he had just graduated college.
He skillfully checked the circuit breaker, light switches, refrigerator compressor, bathroom plumbing and more, inspecting almost everything for faults.
After all, barring any dramatic accidents, he would be staying in this small room with Stella for a long time.
"Wow, it is just like a scene from a TV show!"
Stella looked around the small apartment, happily rushing into the main room.
For a royal princess, this ordinary, cramped apartment was something she had only seen in romantic TV dramas.
Having a bathroom, bunk beds, a study desk, a TV stand and even a kitchen all packed tightly into such a small space was truly the "art of poverty."
"I never thought it would turn out exactly like this," Noah sighed.
He turned to Stella. "I will arrange the toiletries in the bathroom. Open your luggage, Stella."
"Okay! I will help too!"
The girl opened her heavy suitcases and took out some soft towels, cups, and other daily items.
Noah's things were prepared together with hers by the palace maids, all shipped directly from the royal estate, so they were basically a matching set.
A blue toothbrush cup and a pink toothbrush cup placed side-by-side on the bathroom sink suddenly sparked a vivid thought in Stella's mind.
'Isn't this exactly like when young couples move in together in romance dramas?!'
Thinking this, her face grew redder and redder and she urgently wanted to change the subject before her brain short-circuited.
Suddenly, she remembered the duel from earlier.
"R-Right! That Ikki Kurogane guy earlier was really crazy! That explosive fighting style feels like it is physically shortening his lifespan!"
"It's not just a feeling," Noah replied from the kitchenette.
"Huh?"
"If that guy relies on that specific Noble Art all the way through this tournament, his body will likely reach its absolute physical limit by the time he is 30, at most. After that, he will grow weaker every single day until he can't even hold a wooden sword and he will die before he turns 35."
"Wh-What?! That move is that dangerous?!" Stella exclaimed in genuine surprise.
Noah nodded silently.
"Great power often comes with massive risks, let alone a power that defies human fate to such an extent. But I think he must have known that when he created it. After all, its his own body and his own developed Blazer technique."
Truth Seeker does not make mistakes.
Ittou Shura, while violently breaking the body's survival instinct, also irreparably damages his physiological structure.
Sooner or later, the micro-tears in his muscles and organs will become uncontrollable.
Moreover, pushing the body to its absolute limit each time causes irreversible cellular damage, gradually lowering the baseline of his physical ability.
Even advanced medical treatment would be useless against that kind of rapid self-inflicted aging.
'The path of the Asura.'
'It is too ruthless, whether for enemies or for oneself.'
Noah took off his ruined formal suit jacket, manipulated the water elements to cleanse the dust and sweat from his shirt, and hung the clothes neatly in the wardrobe.
Seeing him suddenly undress, Stella's eyes widened and she hurriedly covered her blushing face, "peeking" at the boy's body through the large gaps between her fingers.
Over two years, not only had his height changed dramatically... but also his muscles.
Due to his Orario ability values, even a child's physique surpassed that of most ordinary people.
Now, after two years of daily sword training, his torso was covered in well-proportioned dense muscle.
She had seen his body quite a few times during their sweaty morning training, but just changing the setting to a private, enclosed bedroom made it feel entirely different and dangerous.
Noah changed into his crisp white Hagun Academy uniform, checked himself in the mirror and found nothing amiss.
"Stella, I'm going out to buy some things."
"Huh? Right now?"
"Yeah."
Noah didn't explain.
In truth, he just wanted the girl to be able to comfortably change her clothes while he was away.
If he stayed in the small room, the situation would inevitably become awkward.
If King Sirius knew he was currently alone in a small bedroom with his precious daughter, who knew if he'd send royal assassins from their home country to eliminate him?
If it were that massive daughter-con, it was entirely possible!
He might seem like a proper King on the outside, but privately, he was a rather troublesome overprotective old man.
"Let me see... the student handbook."
Each person's student handbook was actually a sleek personal terminal capable of secure network operations, allowing downloads of various necessities from the campus network, such as class schedules or 3D campus maps.
Downloading map... 0.1% 25% 75% 100% Complete.
Noah opened the digital map on the terminal, found it perfectly equipped with a GPS navigation function and selected a nearby convenience store.
Although the dorm had clean drinking water, he still wanted to buy some beverages, along with a full carton of eggs, milk, bread and other staple breakfast items.
There was a massive student cafeteria on campus.
But... only one section was open in the early morning, and it tended to be highly crowded.
Having simple bread and milk in their own room would be much more convenient.
Most importantly, his princess was just too much of a heavy eater!
If you seriously calculated her daily caloric intake, an average girl would have ballooned long ago.
But she was uniquely genetically blessed—all her extra fat somehow gathered perfectly in her chest.
This was probably a magical physique most women in the world dreamed of!