Chapter 141: I Came ♡
“Good morning, everyone!”
Idiot walked over to us. Behind him was Ryugu, who looked rather uncomfortable. He must have seen the exchange between Lily and the others, so I could somewhat guess how he felt.
“Morning, Idiot. And Ryugu, too.”
“Good morning, Hugh-san. Everyone. Again, I deeply apologize for my sister…”
As Ryugu bowed his head deeply, Rouge and Lily tilted their heads, asking, “Who is he?” When I explained he was an Adventurer accompanying us on this Off-Campus Training Exercise and Tina’s older brother, Lily nodded, saying, “I see.”
“I’m Lily Puridi. It seems your sister is causing quite a bit of trouble.”
“Ah, well. Ahaha…”
I sensed a hint of nervousness in Ryugu’s strained smile. It felt less like he was just apologetic about Tina, and more like he was particularly tense around Lily… No, surely that’s just my imagination…?
“I’ll have a stern word with my sister.”
“Please do.”
Lily didn’t blame Ryugu more than necessary, letting it go with a sigh. Her gaze shifted to where Tina was still clinging tightly to Lecty. Perhaps Lecty’s presence was even more significant to Lily than I had realized.
“By the way, things seem unusually tense. Have you heard anything?”
“Tense?”
What was he talking about? Asked by Idiot, I couldn’t help but parrot his word back. Idiot silently scanned our surroundings. Following his gaze, I saw adults in traveling clothes with swords at their waists, watching us from a distance.
They were standing inconspicuously, so I hadn’t noticed them until now. Observing closely, there were quite a few of them. No wonder Idiot called it tense.
“Adventurers, perhaps…?”
“No, there should only be five Adventurers coming here, including Tina and myself.”
“There are definitely more than five…”
A quick count revealed over a dozen. Perhaps there were more hidden from our view. Should I have set my Skill to
“Could it be… the Royal Knights Order?”
Rouge murmured softly.
Ah, that makes sense! I felt like I recognized a few faces. Faces I’d seen during the Lecherie incident and the Malicious incident.
They must have noticed us looking. A few of them gave friendly waves in our direction. Apparently, they weren’t hiding, just waiting off to the side.
“Mm, there’s no doubt. They’re all faces I’ve seen at the training grounds,” Idiot confirmed.
“Come to think of it, Idiot, you participate in the Royal Knights Order’s training, right? Have you heard why the Knights Order is here?”
“No… That’s why I came to ask you. I thought perhaps Alissa-joshi or Prince Lucas might have told you something.”
“No, I haven’t heard anything special…”
I glanced at Rouge and Lily, who were with Alissa-san yesterday, but they also shook their heads. It seemed they hadn’t been told anything either.
“I see… Though their numbers are small, those gathered there are elite Knights, possessing top-level skills within the Order. I wonder what business such esteemed individuals have at the Royal Academy. Surely they haven’t come merely to escort us.”
“Yeah…”
I couldn’t help but glance at Rouge, wondering if it was related to her, but she gave a small shake of her head. While Alissa-san and the Knights Order members who had already infiltrated the academy for protection made sense, adding over ten more elite members as guards seemed far too unnatural.
What on earth for…?
Suddenly, yesterday flashed through my mind. Roan-san, the Vice-Commander of the Royal Knights Order, who appeared at the hospital I visited to meet Malicious, had said this:
‘Oh yeah, I had a message from His Highness. Totally forgot. He said, ‘Looking forward to tomorrow,’ or something like that.’
…I’m starting to get a really bad feeling about this.
“Everyone gather ’round, ya fledglings!”
Alissa-san’s loud voice echoed. We cut off our conversation and gathered around Alissa-san. Lecty, freed from Tina, and Rosalie, who arrived flustered just before being late, joined us here.
“Looks like everyone’s here-ssu. Alrighty then, let me introduce the Adventurers accompanying us on the Off-Campus Training Exercise starting today-ssu yo!”
Alissa-san introduced the five Adventurers standing in line before us one by one. The three besides Ryugu and Tina were all C-rank mid-level Adventurers. Apparently, they take on the Off-Campus Training Exercise request every year, and their greetings seemed practiced.
When Ryugu was introduced, cheers erupted from the girls in the class, and when it was Tina’s turn, cheers came from the boys. They were close in age, Ryugu was quite handsome, and Tina was just as good-looking as Lecty, if not more so. It made sense that they’d be popular.
After introducing the accompanying Adventurers, Alissa-san cleared her throat once.
“Erm, and one more person. Let me introduce a troublesome friend who insisted on joining you guys, throwing a tantrum about it-ssu yo~”
The expression ‘biting down on a bitter bug’ probably described Alissa-san’s face right now. Placing a hand on her forehead and letting out an exaggerated sigh, Alissa-san looked towards the carriage behind her. The door opened, and a man appeared.
He swept back his long, beautiful blond hair, smooth as silk, and strode coolly to stand beside Alissa-san. Seeing the figure wearing a black blindfold, our classmates gasped and simultaneously dropped to one knee, bowing their heads.
My mind went blank from the sudden event, and I just stood there dumbfounded. Lily quickly grabbed my hand and Rouge’s, pulling us down into the same posture as the other classmates.
I had thought it was impossible. But he really came?!
“Hello, nice to meet you all. I am Lucas von Reese, the third prince of the Kingdom of Reese. Due to various circumstances, I’ll be accompanying you on your Off-Campus Training Exercise. I imagine I might cause you some trouble, but please bear with me, okay?”
Prince Lucas offered a smile, greeting us in a light tone, almost as if speaking to friends. “Okay, applause~” Prompted by Alissa-san’s incredibly perfunctory clapping, scattered applause rose from the classmates.
Could it be that Alissa-san didn’t know Prince Lucas was coming either?
In any case, the Off-Campus Training Exercise was already facing turbulent developments before we even departed.
I have nothing but anxiety about what lies ahead…