Cliffman did not return to the study room, having exhausted his social skills and mental energy for the day. Perhaps it was more accurate to say he couldn’t return. 0

Harriet was glaring at me.0

“What exactly are you up to?” she asked.0

“Nothing! It’s just what it seems.”0

“Now you’re not just causing trouble yourself, but pushing others into it as well?”0

“Why is entering Mister Temple a problem?”0

“If you force someone to do something they would never do on their own, that’s causing trouble.”0

“I did it with good intentions.”0

‘Um… it wasn’t entirely good intentions…’0

In fact, I had begun to think that maybe I should stop Cliffman from entering. His talent for combat was great, but if things went wrong, he would gain nothing and would be scarred forever. He was a good kid despite his nervousness, and I didn’t want to put him through that.0

While I didn’t agree with Harriet’s accusation that I was making him cause trouble, suggesting that Cliffman enter the Mister Temple contest might in itself have been a mistake.0

“This guy does the most unexpected things and confuses others, doesn’t he? Right, Ellen?”0

Ellen nodded.0

Even I thought that suggesting such a thing to Cliffman out of the blue was pretty random. I would normally never do something like that. Unfortunately, the unpredictable events had been forced upon me at...0