“Aha! So you’re an educator. A pleasure to meet you. I am Cosine
Silver, of the 4th-class of nobility. My father serves as an administrative
official right here in Creas. This may be presumptuous of me to
say this, but I have fallen
for you at first sight. It would be an infinite honor if you granted me the
fortune of escorting you home.”
Siena
sluggishly pulled herself
upright. However, instead of looking at Silver, she supported her forehead with
both hands and let out a long sigh.
Haaa, how annoying. I actually
wanted to get a little drunk today.
It seemed like nothing but bad luck followed her
today. She had shown her weak side to her students, been ignored by Keira, and
now even strange men were clinging to her.
A bitter smile played on Siena’s
lips at the thought. Perhaps
her current state was exactly that of a heartbroken woman.
Hehe.
At least there’s
someone who says they like me. A woman like me, with a vicious personality and
no heart.
She had never felt the emotion of love for anyone.
Even when Armin had appeared with Keira three years ago, she hadn’t felt betrayed. But there seemed to have been a
glimmer of expectation, a feeling of what it would be like if they met again.
But could that really be called love?
“I made my introduction far too grand. My apologies. I
suppose my desire to make a good impression was strong because I met a woman I
absolutely didn’t want to lose. Please forgive me if I was
disrespectful.”
“It’s fine. I’m tired, so please just leave.”
Siena
was truly exhausted. Of
course, with the mental strength of a 6th-class mage, sobering up wouldn’t be difficult, but she still felt the need for the
unrealistic haze that alcohol provided.
“Leaving a lady alone is not chivalrous. I will take
you in my carriage. Here, lean on me.”
As Silver reached out to grab Siena’s
shoulder to support her,
Shirone’s group immediately pushed back.
“What do you think you’re doing? Don’t you dare touch our teacher.”
“It seems there is a misunderstanding; I am merely trying
to escort her. This isn’t for kids to get involved in, so run along home. The
lady can take the carriage.”
Silver tried to force her to lean on him. At that,
Shirone firmly grabbed his wrist. Silver’s face, which had been as gentle as a lamb in front of
Siena, contorted in
an instant. He could tolerate being ignored by the woman for the sake of his
goal, but his pride would not allow such treatment from a child.
“Hey, you brat. Where did you learn such manners? Let
go while I’m
still being nice.”
“The Professor said she doesn’t want to. Please leave. We will take care of her.”
“These kids are way too bold. I saw it earlier,
you’re the ones who made her drink. Are you up to
something? What school do you go to? Do you all want to get expelled?”
Shirone’s expression turned cold. The only reason the man
brought up school was to pressure Siena. If a teacher caused trouble in a place like this, it
would inevitably lead to scandalous rumors.
Iruki spoke up.
“So you’ve been watching us this whole time. Then it’s even
more obvious you have no business interfering here. And let me tell you one
more thing: the Professor here isn’t someone a person like you should be hitting on.”
“A person like me? Did you just talk back to me?”
“What else should I call you? Should I call you a
pervert?”
“You insolent brat!”
Silver channeled his drunken anger into grabbing Iruki
by the collar. But immediately, a sharp sting in his side sapped the strength
from his hands. Grimacing, Silver clutched his stomach and backed away.
“Agh! What was that?”
Nade
was generating electricity
in the palm of his hand.
“Get lost. Next time, I’ll fry your lower half.”
The handsome man who had been waiting to use force if
necessary approached Silver with a serious look.
“Hey, those kids are magic academy students.”
“Magic academy? Alpheas Magic Academy?”
Silver’s expression soured. A magic academy held a different
status than schools for ordinary nobles. Furthermore, Alpheas Magic Academy was one of the Kingdom’s top five prestigious institutions, where only the
highest nobility gathered.
As Silver’s eyes darted around, trying to assess the situation,
Iruki sneered and stepped toward him.
“So I hear you’re going to get us expelled?”
“No, well...”
“I am Mercodine Iruki. If you can get me expelled, go right ahead and
try.”
“M-Mercodine?”
The alcohol seemed to vanish instantly. No matter how
much of a provincial city Creas was, no one among the nobility of the Kingdom
of Tormia was ignorant of the name Mercodine.
They were not only of the 1st-class
noble house, but also a
family of supreme scholars who had held the leadership of the king’s advisory body, Dragon’s Thunder, for centuries.
Silver’s pupils shook violently, and Iruki wore a look of
distaste, as if he had expected as much. So-called name-dropping nobles existed
everywhere. Even so, the reason he intimidated Silver in a manner he despised
was to protect Siena.
He knew the man lacked the spine to truly make a move, but he nipped the threat
in the bud just in case the man tried to exploit her position as a teacher to
cause trouble. Of course, it was unlikely that she, being of the Olipher
school, would be shaken by something like this.
“Let’s go, Silver. Hey, Silver!”
The handsome man tugged on Silver’s arm. Silver, grateful to his friend for giving him a
way to save face, fled with his tail between his legs. Even after they
disappeared, Shirone’s group could not contain their anger. Seeing how the
man had openly made a pass at Siena, it was clear he hadn’t considered them at all. Since they were small in
stature, they must have seemed all the more laughable.
“The crowd here is terrible. You really can’t judge a place by its sign. Let’s never come back.”
“Yeah. Anyway, let’s just get out of here. It’s getting dark.”
“Professor. Are you all right?”
“Mm. I’m fine. Let’s get going.”
Supported by Nade, Siena stood up with effort. The sudden swarm of gnats from
earlier had annoyed her, but she wasn’t in a bad mood. With her students protecting her,
what was there to fear? Even a 6th-class mage was, outside of magic, just a woman accustomed
to being escorted according to noble etiquette.
She suddenly found her students adorable. After
settling the bill without a second thought, she staggered out the door.
The moon was high.
Moonlight poured from a cloudless sky, and Siena
let out a moan of pure
delight. She felt strangely good. It was likely the alcohol, but perhaps she
had taken a new leap forward. She felt that, for the first time, she could step
out of Armin’s shadow and live her own life. It was probably the alcohol,
though...
“Ah, I feel so good. Today is just wonderful.”
Siena
looked up at the moon like a
young girl and began to spin in circles. Shirone and the others, who had just
stepped out of the restaurant, watched with their mouths agape.
Had the alcohol temporarily melted her frozen heart?
With her purple hair flowing free, she was beautiful
under the moonlight. The sight of her trench coat fanning out like an umbrella
as she spun was also quite a sight. People wandering the night streets turned
to look, but no one clicked their tongues or frowned. She was simply that
lovely.
Shirone and his friends didn’t feel like stopping her. Instead, they watched with
fascination at this drunken side of her they had never seen before.
“So the Professor actually has a personality like that. Who
would’ve thought?”
“Could this be... a scoop?”
Iruki’s eyes glittered as he fell into thought.
“Hmm. This could be used as a weapon, couldn’t it? A weapon to stop the research group from being
disbanded.”
“If we frame it right, it could work. Professor Siena
isn’t the type to lie under oath. She’ll probably be
mortified once she remembers this, right?”
While Nade and Iruki were plotting, Shirone pointed at Siena
and shouted.
“Hey! Look!”
Siena’s
steps, spinning in the same
spot, were beginning to falter. Like a top losing its momentum, she looked
ready to collapse at any moment.
“Catch her!”
It would be a disaster if she fell in front of
everyone. Shirone supported her back while Nade and Iruki grabbed her arms from either side.
“Professor, pull yourself together. You need to be
sober for us to get back into the school.”
“Ugh. I’m dizzy.”
Siena
staggered in a zigzag.
Having drained a bottle of cognac in an hour and spun in circles dozens of
times, how could she be sober? It was less like drinking and more like
self-inflicted punishment.
“Hey, hey! This isn’t working. Shirone, you carry her.”
“What? Why me?”
“Because you’re the strongest out of the three of us.”
Shirone let out a sigh. Although they were three
eighteen-year-old boys, they spent so much time on magic training that they
lacked sleep and proper nutrition, leaving them with less stamina than their
peers.
However, Shirone had a history of climbing mountains
and chopping wood since he was a child, so he possessed more physical strength
than his friends.
“I guess I have no choice. Help her onto my back, then.”
“Don’t look so miserable about it. Do you think
opportunities to carry her come around often? I’m practically dying of envy.”
Nade’s expression showed no trace of envy. Instead, he was
smirking with a look of pure relief.
“Tch. If you’re so envious, stop talking.”
Shirone began to walk with Siena
on his back. As they left
the noble district, the number of people dropped noticeably. To commoners who
lived day to day, leisure activities were a luxury.
“But Professor Siena is surprisingly small. Now that I’m carrying her, she
feels quite petite. I always thought she was about my height.”
“It’s a psychological thing. Teachers
always seem bigger than they
are.”
“Is that it? But she’s also surprisingly heavy. It’s
getting harder.”
Iruki nodded and laughed.
“Keke. Of course she’s heavy, she’s a person. Even
women are made of bone, muscle, and flesh. You didn’t think she’d be as light as a feather, did you?”
Shirone hadn’t exactly thought that, but he had vaguely expected
her to be lighter. He couldn’t let it slip that he had never even held a woman’s
hand, let alone carried one.
“No! I knew that much. But this is really hard. I don’t think I can make it to the school.”
“If you can’t go, we can’t go. Just endure it and keep walking.”
“Can’t we use magic? We could lift her with Air magic.”
“That’s a bit much for Professor...”
Thinking about it, it would look quite strange.
Realizing he was stuck being a human palanquin, Shirone grumbled about the
unfairness of it all.
“There are three guys and we can’t even carry one woman. I envy Rian at times like
this. If it were Rian, he could carry me carrying Professor
Siena. I should have
learned Schema instead.”
Nade
and Iruki fell silent.
Honestly, it was a bit demoralizing to be unable to carry one slender woman.
But in truth, women were heavier creatures than they
looked, and since they only ever had their noses in books, they possessed zero
physical strength.
“What can we do? The only exercise we get is breathing.
Now, if it’s
a matter of using our heads, I’m confident.”
Iruki snapped his fingers.
“Then why don’t we use our heads? Let’s learn Schema right now. Shirone, what do you think?
Can you do it?”
“Does that even make sense? How can I learn Schema all
of a sudden?”
“You can at least try. I managed the Spirit Zone on my
first try, after all. Surely you guys did too?”
Nade
spoke up.
“Actually, I succeeded on my first try too. I just got
a feel for it and it happened. Shirone, how about you?”
Shirone, who had been huffing under Siena’s
weight, looked up.
“Huh? Oh, I did it on my first try as well. Though I
didn’t even know it was a Spirit Zone at the time.”
To enter a Spirit Zone without even knowing what it
was? Iruki chuckled, thinking that was very like Shirone.
“It is unusual. Anyway, that’s why I’m saying you
should try it right now. Isn’t the basic principle the same?”
Hearing that, Iruki’s words seemed plausible. Of
course, talent played a part, but there was no harm in trying.
“Should I? Should I really give it a shot? Honestly, my arms feel like they’re about to fall off.”