Extra's Path: The Eternal Frost Monarch

He kept walking, turning it over quietly in his mind as the evening settled across the campus around him.

Noah entered the shopping area on campus.

This was the same place where the incident had occurred roughly a week and a half ago. The attack had left a good portion of it destroyed.

But somehow, in just a few days, everything had been rebuilt and reopened as if nothing had happened at all.

Students had returned without much hesitation, filling the walkways and shops the same way they always had.

Noah slowed as he approached a familiar building.

The café. The same one he had been standing near when the attack broke out.

He looked at it for a moment. "Hah." He let out a quiet breath. "Well. It’s alright now."

He stepped forward, and the glass door slid open automatically, sensing him as he approached.

Inside, the café was warm and smelled of coffee and baked goods. Most of the tables were taken. First-year and second-year students filled the space, talking in small groups or sitting quietly over their drinks. The low hum of conversation filled the room.

Noah scanned the tables for somewhere to sit.

Then he stopped.

At a table near the side wall sat a young woman he recognized. She was alone, working through a pastry with quiet concentration. Her black hair was short, cut neatly. She wore round black-rimmed glasses, a grey t-shirt tucked into a black flowing skirt that fell just below her knees.

It was Mary.

Noah smiled to himself and walked over.

"Hey, Mary." He stopped beside her table.

"How have you been? I haven’t spoken to you in a while. Mind if I sit?"

His tone was easy and friendly.

Mary, who had been happily focused on her pastry, flinched at the sound of her name.

"Wh-who?" She looked up.

Her dark eyes went wide behind her glasses. "N–Noah! Why are you here? And why do you want to sit with me?"

Noah’s lips twitched slightly at her flustered reaction.

He kept his expression gentle and pulled out the chair across from her, sitting down without making a big deal of it.

"Why would I be here? For coffee, obviously." He set his elbows on the table lightly. "And I spotted you when I came in. We know each other, so I came to say hello. Is that strange?"

Mary blinked. Then she straightened up and gave a small nod, looking briefly embarrassed.

"Right. Of course. Everyone comes here for coffee. That was a silly thing for me to ask. Sorry." She let out a short breath and smiled.

A staff member came over to take his order. Noah asked for a cappuccino, and the staff member moved off. He turned back to Mary.

"So how are you doing? Settling in alright? Enjoying the academy so far?"

Mary considered the question for a moment, turning her fork idly against her plate.

"It’s good, I think. The academy itself is fine." She paused. "Though the incident was a terrible thing. Really dangerous and sad." She looked at him for a brief moment before continuing.

"I wasn’t involved in it directly, so I can’t really say what it was like for the people who were. You and the others who were actually there..." She trailed off slightly. "You’re the ones who know what it was really like. I’m just glad you came out of it okay."

Noah leaned back in his chair.

"It was dangerous," he said simply. "And frightening, honestly. But a lot of people made it through. And in the end, this is exactly the kind of situation we came here to learn how to face."

Mary nodded slowly, her voice quieter now. "That’s true."

Noah watched her for a moment. She had gone back to her pastry, picking at it gently, her expression soft and a little thoughtful.

He smiled to himself.

’She’s not like the main heroines in the stories. Not the kind of striking beauty that takes everyone’s attention.’ He rested his chin on his hand.

’But Mary is genuinely cute in her own way. I won’t pretend otherwise. If I ever thought about having a girlfriend, I think I’d want someone like her.’

No matter how much danger was ahead of him in the future, Noah was still a young man at an age where they were naturally curious about love and dating.

In his last life, he never tried dating someone because of studies and his future, while using his free time on playing games and other things. So dating was out of the question.

But that didn’t mean he was not interested.

Now he was in another world as a handsome young man. But once again, he needed to work hard to survive in this world.

Whenever he watched those beautiful female leads of the game, sometimes a thought always came to him. What if he could get them as his lovers, just like how it happens in novels?

But he also didn’t want to have main heroines as a girlfriend. Being a game where there was a harem in it, that simply meant there would be a lot of dangerous events related to the heroines. Where Damien would help them, save them, and through that get closer.

If he meddled and tried to get one of them, that meant he would have to face those events.

So if he ever wanted to have a girlfriend, he would choose someone like Mary. An extra who was not extremely beautiful, but still attractive. At least in Noah’s eyes.

While Noah was lost in his thoughts—

His cappuccino arrived at the table.

He wrapped both hands around the warm cup and took a slow sip.

"By the way, Mary." He looked at her. "I’ve noticed for a while... you are always alone. Don’t you have any friends?"

Mary, who had once again been focused on enjoying her sweet, stiffened.

Then, looking at Noah with a forced smile, she replied, "Wh-what do you mean I don’t have friends? I do have... just very few... who are very busy."

Noah caught her forced expression.

He put the cup of coffee on the table and said with a smile, "Then add me to your small friend list.. let me be your new friend."