The person I called was soone I had known for a long ti. Long enough that the silence between us didn’t feel awkward, even when it lingered for a few seconds too long.
Ella.
She stood there when she arrived, hands clasped together in front of her, shoulders slightly stiff like she wasn’t sure whether she should relax or brace herself. Her eyes flicked toward , then away, then back again.
"Um... why did you call ?" she asked.
Her voice was cautious, but familiar. The kind of voice that reminded of quieter days, back when everything felt simpler and nobody really expected much from anyone.
I looked at her for a mont longer than necessary, not because I was trying to make things awkward, but because the thought hit again—clear and undeniable.
She really was perfect for this.
Lately, Ella had been getting attention from boys. Not in a loud, dramatic way, but in subtle glances, whispered comnts, and heads turning just a second too late to pretend it wasn’t happening. It still surprised . Back then, she was painfully ordinary. The kind of girl who blended so seamlessly into the background that people forgot she was even there. Teachers would skip over her during roll call, classmates would walk past her without noticing, and she never seed to mind.
Or maybe she did, but she never said anything.
Now, though, sothing had shifted.
It wasn’t drastic. No sudden makeover, no dramatic change in personality. Just... growth. Confidence, maybe. Or the way she carried herself now, like she didn’t shrink into her own shadow anymore. She was becoming popular, little by little, and honestly, it felt inevitable in hindsight.
What made it even more amusing—almost cruelly ironic—was Kayla’s reaction to it.
Kayla was furious.
So furious that she had started bullying Ella even more openly than before. No subtle jabs, no fake smiles. Just sharp words, public humiliation, and that unmistakable look of resentnt every ti Ella was near.
Unfortunately for Kayla, that kind of behavior wasn’t going to slide anymore.
I had made my stance painfully clear.
I stayed close to Ella whenever I could. Walked with her. Sat near her. Made sure Kayla saw it. And when Kayla pushed too far, I didn’t mince words. I told her straight up that if she wanted the entire Leonamon breathing down her neck and biting her ass, she was welco to keep going. Otherwise, she’d stop.
She stopped.
And now, here I was, standing in front of Ella with sothing entirely different on my mind.
I was about to ask her for help. Not just a favor—but sothing that could change everything.
"Well," I said, breaking the quiet, "for starters, I don’t think this is going to work out well if I beat around the bush."
She stiffened slightly.
"So I’ll just say it," I continued. "Would you like to be the advertisent girl for the rcenary Group?"
"What?!"
Her reaction was imdiate and explosive. I barely had ti to register it before she was already staring at like I had just spoken in another language.
I explained what I had in mind, laying it out as simply as possible, but the shock didn’t fade. If anything, it intensified. Her eyes widened so much they looked like they might pop out of her face, and her mouth hung open, completely unguarded.
She looked stunned. Completely and utterly stunned.
Ignoring her overreaction, I asked her again.
"Would you like to be the advertisent girl for the rcenary Group?"
"I heard you the first ti," she said quickly, her tone sharp with disbelief. She looked genuinely appalled that I had repeated myself. "B-But... this is really sudden. I didn’t think you were going to recruit for sothing like that. I an—what am I even supposed to do? I don’t even know what an advertisent girl does."
She wasn’t wrong.
Advertisent girls were Leon’s specialty. He used them to make sure whatever he was selling actually sold. Lady Ayane, the Starry Knights—beautiful, charismatic girls who drew attention just by existing. People listened when they spoke. People watched when they smiled.
They were walking, talking magnets.
And it worked.
If I did sothing similar, even on a smaller scale, maybe people would start paying attention. Maybe they’d look at the rcenary Group and see sothing worth joining.
"You just have to do sothing similar to what Lady Ayane does," I told her. "That’s all. You’ll be fine."
"But..." She hesitated, fingers tightening around her sleeves. "I’m not that beautiful. I-I don’t think I’d be enough."
There it was. That familiar self-doubt.
"You don’t have to worry about that," I said firmly. "We’re already fourth years in the academy. And you don’t even know where you’re going after graduation, right? You probably won’t graduate as a magic knight."
She flinched slightly, but didn’t interrupt.
"And even if the Princess manages to convince the administrators to let all of us graduate as magic knights despite being in the Silver Class," I continued, "I don’t think you even like the idea of constant fighting. Am I wrong?"
"W-Well..." She exhaled softly. "I don’t really dream of becoming a magic knight in the first place. I only wanted to graduate so I could get a job. Sothing stable. Sothing that would support financially for the rest of my life."
That was it. That was her dream.
It sounded boring. Plain. Predictable.
And yet... it was so undeniably her that I couldn’t help but smile.
"Then isn’t this the way forward?" I asked. "You probably don’t realize it, but you’ve been getting popular lately. Maybe it’s because of how confident you’ve been holding yourself. Haven’t you noticed?"
"I-I have?" she asked, genuinely confused.
She looked like she was searching her own mories, trying to find proof that what I was saying was real.
"Yes," I said. "You have. And you’re getting cuter too. Honestly, I think you even have a chance to compete with the Starry Knights."
She stared at for a long mont, eyes unreadable. Doubt lingered there, thick and stubborn, but it wasn’t alone anymore. There was curiosity now. Maybe even a hint of hope.
Eventually, she nodded.
"I guess... I’ll do it."
"Yes!" I shouted without thinking. "You won’t regret this!"
"I’m already starting to doubt that," she replied flatly.
That made laugh.
She was thinking it through, weighing the risks like she always did. But to , this was simple. A transaction. Mutual benefit.
And I was confident it would work.
***
"Yup. This isn’t going to work."
That was my verdict after taking the picture.
I lowered the device and sighed, staring at the result. I had told Ella to stand there and hold the poster that said we were recruiting for the rcenary group. Simple. Straightforward.
Too straightforward.
Every photo ca out bland. Flat. Lifeless.
She stood stiffly, holding the poster with both hands, posture rigid and expression neutral. It wasn’t bad—but it wasn’t good either. There was no spark. No pull. Nothing that made soone stop and look twice.
Just... ordinary.
And the worst part?
I didn’t even know what to tell her to do differently.
I had no experience with this. No idea how to pose soone for an advertisent, no clue how to bring out whatever made people look. All I could do was stare at the screen and realize one uncomfortable truth.
This was going to be harder than I thought.
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