“Elena, can you use it?”
“Only to activate it…”
“Understood. I’ll go ahead.”
After confirming that there were no signs of monsters around Elena, I rushed off to support the pair I had decided to help.
Normally, I, as the escort, shouldn’t leave Elena’s side. But I also know that Elena is working hard to escape this situation.
The Cruz and Dark Elf were being attacked by a dozen or so insect-type Monsters.
Judging by the looks of it, the battle situation was precarious. The Dark Elf seemed to have plenty of skill to spare, but the Cruz boy wasn’t as strong, and since he was fighting while protecting the injured boy, the Dark Elf probably couldn’t use any big Combat Arts that would leave him open.
The excited insects, lured by the scent bags, weren’t going to run away. That was exacerbating the current stalemate, but I wanted them to maintain that stalemate while I headed to eliminate the “root” that was creating the current situation.
I strained my “Eyes” as I rushed onto the battlefield.
They were hidden among the signs of the fighting pair and the insects, but I discovered them by the color of their Mana Particles. I climbed the ruined wall while wrapping the Pendulum’s thread around it, and leaped out in front of the two Cat Beastkin hiding there.
“Wh-!?”
The moment the two Beastkin tried to nock their bows with shocked expressions, the Blade Scythe Style Pendulum, which I had pulled back and spun, deeply tore one of their carotid arteries.
“D-Does this woman know who we a–”
“I don’t.”
But I can guess. From their actions of immediately trying to eliminate us, the witnesses, I can surmise that they are probably the Munza Society, a criminal organization (mafia) that unites the ruffians of the Beastkin.
I don’t know the relationship between the Munza Society and those two. But in order to trap those two, these guys tried to kill the witnesses as if it were an afterthought.
But it’s the same for us. Now that we’ve laid our hands on the Munza Society, there’s no point in letting these guys who saw us go back alive.
“You little brat!”
I slipped past the blade of the Beastkin who attacked me with a single-edged curved sword, and crushed the man’s throat with an elbow strike as I stepped in, then broke his neck by wrapping my arm around it.
There’s a reason I didn’t use a Blade. The thing the man I killed first had was tainted with the smell of blood, but when I examined the belongings of the man whose neck I broke, I found an unopened scent bag.
If they were going to eliminate the witnesses, I thought they might have a spare to use for another lure. As expected, I found a spare, and when I cut open the scent bag and threw it away, the several beetles that had been attacking the two of them became distracted and moved away from them.
But this is only a temporary measure. As time passes, the insect-attracting scent will spread, and more insects should gather, so I have to finish this before that happens.
“—High Heal—”
High Heal Magic flew from Elena, who had caught up with the two who had gained some breathing room after a few insects had moved away.
The Cruz boy showed a surprised expression as he received the High Heal, and two beetles, excited by the new prey, turned towards Elena.
“—Water Ball—”
Elena’s Water Magic, which was released next, stopped the beetles’ feet, and as a large amount of scattered water approached Elena’s feet, she concentrated her Mana even further and slammed both hands into the mud.
“—Lightning Strike (Digvolt)—”
“GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII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“Did I do something wrong?”
Ron gave a slight wry smile at Elena, who was feigning ignorance about the Munza Society.
“We just crushed one of their businesses. But you guys should be safe now… right? The ones who were left here seem to have been taken care of by that girl over there.”
Ron’s gaze turned to me, his eyes narrowing slightly.
“She’s pretty strong… it’s the first time I’ve seen a girl who can fight Camille on equal terms.”
“And the guy over there too.”
Camille is strong. Like me, his combat ability couldn’t be accurately measured because of his cloak, but I felt he was equal to or stronger than me.
I had no intention of fighting and losing as it was, but Camille probably felt the same way. From the feeling of our blades clashing, I felt like he was still hiding a trump card.
“Are there many skilled people like you in that town?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. If there were a bunch of guys as strong as Camille running around, I would have run away from that town already. But if you don’t know that, does that mean you guys came to that town recently?”
“Is that important?”
Elena replied coldly to the probing conversation and words, and Ron gave a thin smile as if shrugging.
“It’s not really relevant. I just thought you looked like some kind of young lady and her bodyguard…”
Elena returned his words with a cold laugh without changing her expression.
“Oh, like you guys?”
Elena and Ron stared at each other with cold smiles, while Camille and I glared at each other in silence next to them.
“That’s enough.”
It was Camille, surprisingly, who broke the tense atmosphere. He placed his hand on Ron’s shoulder, who looked at him with some dissatisfaction, and flicked a coin towards me with his finger.
I caught it in the air and opened my hand to find a large gold coin I had never seen before.
“It’s a gold coin from the Calfaan Empire. There shouldn’t be any problems.”
“Isn’t it too much?”
If this was a gold coin of the same value as those in the Kingdom of Claydale, it would be quite a reward for saving them.
“It’s also an apology for Ron’s rudeness.”
“Camille, that’s not fair, is it?”
Ron gave Camille, who had put his own affairs aside, a half-hearted look with a pathetic face. In the somewhat relaxed atmosphere, Elena, who had snatched the large gold coin from my hand, gave them a slightly malicious smile.
“If it’s an apology for rudeness, isn’t it too little?”
“…………”
Ron smiled wryly again at Elena, who was giving a flower-like smile, and threw another small gold coin at me.
“It ended up being quite expensive, well, it’s cheap considering the price of our lives. Well then, shall we leave now? It looks like more bugs are coming.”
“Yes, let’s do that. Is it okay if we treat each other as strangers even in town?”
“That would be for the best… well then, just one word of advice.”
At Ron’s words, we stopped the feet that had started moving after finishing the conversation for a moment.
“Don’t trust anyone in that town. Even children or old people, even if they’re smiling today, they’ll be your enemies tomorrow. Of course, that includes us.”
Royal Magic Academy, Kingdom of Claydale.
In order to prevent Princess Elena’s attack and disappearance from becoming public, everyone except the upper nobility and their relatives were ordered to stay at home under the guise of repairing the academy.
Some of the students lived far from their territories or did not have a separate residence in the Royal Capital and could not move, but the current academy had been reduced to about 20% of its students.
The reason why the Crown Prince, who is an upper noble and royalty, remained at the academy was to calm the confusion of the remaining students and to control information.
That is why it is necessary to show the students that the academy’s daily life is continuing, such as by holding tea parties, rather than moving around busily, but an invisible and unusual tension drifted from those who gathered there, far from reassuring.
“Clara… I heard that you used harsh words to this Alicia-san. Why would you do such a thing…”
“…How strange you are, El-sama. I simply taught that person the ‘common sense’ of a noble lady.”
Clara Dandole, the Margrave of Dandole’s daughter and the Crown Prince’s first fiancée, gave a chilling sneer at Crown Prince Elvan’s words.
Five men and women surrounded a white marble table in the rose garden of the Seventh School Building, the newest building in the academy with offices for upper noble families.
Elvan and Clara, the two fiancés, sat not next to each other but across from each other, and Alicia Melsys, the Viscount Mercis’ daughter, a middle-ranking noble, sat next to Elvan.
On both sides of the two were not Mikhail and Rookwell, the Earl families who should have been the Crown Prince’s aides. But instead, Prince Amor and Nasanitaru, the grandson of the Temple leader, took their seats, and the two of them directed gazes at Clara as if they were looking at an enemy.
A little away from the table were their servants and guard knights, as well as maids dispatched from the Royal Palace, but among them, Theo, the Cruz butler with an impatient face, glanced at his “Ojou-sama” with a troubled face and shook his head with a bitter expression.
Alicia, the girl who called herself that, puffed out her cheeks slightly dissatisfied with the attitude of the young butler, and touched Elvan’s hand under the table with a frightened expression.
Clara, who shouldn’t have been able to see such a thing, glared at Alicia with a dark look, sensing something.
“You still don’t seem to understand.”
“Clara-sama, I’m not like that…”
Alicia looked down with a sorrowful face, as if calculating the angle at which she was being seen, and Elvan, who could no longer meet his fiancée’s gaze, tried to change the subject to do something.
“It’s about time the tea got warm. Let’s have it re-brewed. Someone.”
From Elvan’s hand, who was about to lift the completely cooled teacup placed in front of Alicia and urge the maids, white fingertips took the cup, and as it was, poured the contents over Alicia’s head.
“Well, everyone, what are you doing leaving me out?”
While everyone was stunned by the outrageousness of it all, Carla, who had done it as a matter of course, smiled with a terribly sunken pale face as if she was truly enjoying herself.
Next time, it’s an Otome Game (lol)
We will deliver the messy inside story of the academy.
A virtue that makes you think, “Ah, how kind,” even if you spill tea on the heroine’s head.