Chapter 65 – While I Was Away (7)

The busiest time of the year has arrived for second graders at Parencia Academy. Students must now seriously decide on their career path and set their destination after graduation.
Divided into the Ministry of Magic and the Ministry of Knights, they each submit a kind of ‘application book’ to the magic tower or knightly order they wish to join. There are no exceptions for those who return to their families after graduation and seek to prosper the territory.
This is because, among the graduation requirements, there is a provision that requires students to undergo magic training at least twice at the Magic Tower and the Knights’ Order and receive a certificate of completion.

Therefore, external organizations that wanted to recruit academy students would send invitations to those who wanted to join the academy en masse around this time.
A kind of scout.
They offer to receive training at their magic tower on the condition that they provide support for tuition and research until graduation.
Naturally, the higher the grades or the more well-versed a family member is in the magic arts, the more love calls they receive. Liv, a second-year senior, was no exception.

“Hey, Liv. Have you decided where to go for this training?”
“…”
“Liv~?”
“Uh, huh?”
“Soft water. “Where are you going?”
“… I do not know yet.”

Karen has often seen her friend sitting blankly with a very dark expression on her face lately.
There were also cases where students did not ask questions during class and instead struggled with problems raised by professors.
It was a sight rarely seen in Liv, who had always been intelligent.

The amount of food, which was originally small, was reduced to the point of skipping almost every meal, making me feel even more exhausted.
Karen had a point to point out.

“Oh, is it because the store is closed?”
“Tsk… !”
“Wow, that boss is too selfish. “No matter what, if you hire a part-time worker, don’t you have to tell me at least a week in advance if you can’t do business?”
“…”
“Live?”
“Wait a minute. “Please go to the bathroom.”
“Live? “Class starts soon!?”

Liv ran to her bathroom and immediately let her tears pour down into her sink. A hot liquid rose up her throat as Louise’s icy expression reflected beyond her shimmering water.

— What does that have to do with you, Baron?

Okay. It didn’t matter. Because there was no relationship in the first place.

When I buy bread at the store, I pretend not to know and put freshly baked bread in place of yesterday’s leftover bread.
Even when she mischievously teases herself for making her blush every time she calls him Baron.
When we sit side by side at the counter and answer words we don’t know, or when we drop people off at the dormitory late at night.

It was definitely wrong to destroy the store, but——

— What’s so amazing about a building like this? The Baron is also in them.

“I am more… You said she was precious… !”

Even the one word that told me not to go out to the dangerous front line and to stay by my side was something I didn’t even mean to say.
Was I the only one who was developing a shy love inside?

Liv, who cried in the bathroom cubicle, missed class for the first time.

After that day, I went to the store several times to apologize, but I couldn’t even get close to the building where the shutters were down.

While she was wandering in front of the closed store, time passed by, and it was time for her to decide where she would go to receive her training.
A story she was planning to tell at dinner with her boss. There was no need to tell her that she might soon have to quit her part-time job.

“Live. Where have you been… Oh my god! What’s wrong with my eyes!? “Did you cry?”
“Nothing.”

Despite her friend’s concern and her young words, Liv shook her head and took her notebook from the desk in her empty classroom.

The 12th Alliance was not an organization that accepted trainees, and the Alkaid Magic Tower was not even a consideration from the beginning. All the dangerous places that Lewis had told us not to go to were excluded, either voluntarily or unwillingly.
Now, I no longer have to be grabbed by him and pressed on my stomach… There won’t be.

“I’m going to Pecda Magic Tower.”
“What? Why all of a sudden?”

Liv looked away from his sore chest and the empty feeling in his lower abdomen and spoke with his usual expressionless expression.

“It was decided from the beginning. “It is a hotbed of the ideological magic shown in the last lecture, and more importantly, there is no tower owner in the Pekda Magic Tower.”
“So you won’t be forced to belong later?”
“Okay.”
“You could probably go to a higher place… “Are you serious?”

Perhaps Lewis did not view himself as the object of love from the beginning. He didn’t get an answer from him, but hadn’t he taken great care of Adela ever since they were together at the canteen?
They may have already formed a fairly deep relationship.

If so…

“Now… I do not know either…”

Liv tried to shake off her depression as she counted the price of the tram ticket to Vatudis.

***

“Princess, this is a breakdown of the academy’s public funds that will be used for magic training for second-year students.”
“Thank you, Petro. “But while you’re here, will you please call me Chairman?”
“Oh, sorry. A slip of the tongue…”
“Are you okay. You said some groups have already left, right? “Students leaving for Alkaid can be particularly dangerous, so please advise them to hire additional escorts from the Adventurer’s Guild.”
“All right.”

After being elected as student council president, Erzsebet was busy with a constant influx of work.
This is because there was a gap of several months after the previous student council was dismissed by the chairman, so a lot of work was pushed back.
She was almost exhausted from responding to the congratulatory messages pouring in from all walks of life in the kingdom and requesting thank-you notes to be delivered along with donations to the temples that had received help after the last vote.

Meanwhile, it was late afternoon when a report was received from the student council. It was a report that there was a flood in the dormitory.
Erzsebet dispatched workers to check the water pipes, but the only reply they received was that there was nothing wrong with the pipes.
She went to the dormitory herself countless times and saw that water was leaking from the second floor hallway.

“Guys, quickly unpack!”
“Students on the third floor, please evacuate to the rooftop!”
“Evil! What!? It’s ice! Be careful! “There’s ice floating in the water!!”
“Ah, princess!”

As soon as Hergé Bett arrived, a female student approached her with her hair flying. And she said with a desperate expression.

“You’re in big trouble, princess! “My friend is still in there!”
“Friend? “Who are you?”
“Adela! “It’s room 207!”
“Adella… ?”

Now that I think about it, she hasn’t been to the barrel class lately. Hergé Bet, who was beginning to worry about her, held on tightly to the hem of her skirt and waded through her gentle current.
The cold stinging her skin made her toes tense up.

“Room 207, room 207… Ah, I found it. Adela! Are you there by any chance!?”

Thump thump. When I knocked on her door, there was no response from inside. However, Ergébet, standing in front of her door, noticed that cold water, several times colder than before, was gushing out from a small crack underneath her.
As I put my ear to her, I heard a whimper coming from beyond her door. She let out a sigh, and used her magic to shatter her door panel.

Kwasik!!

Then, the sight of Adela curled up and shivering on the bed in the double dormitory came into view.

“Oh my god, what is all this about!?”
“Huh, huh! Heh, wow, she’s a princess… ?”
“Did you do this? You blocked my way last time I voted, so why do you keep making things difficult for me? …”
“Heaaaaa!! “She’s a princess!!!”

As soon as I made eye contact with her, a soaking wet Adela came hanging out. Her body temperature was so cold that I thought she was a block of ice, and goosebumps appeared all over her body.
Her tears, which she thought were like dripping beads, turned out to be ice crystals that were closer to real beads.

“Kwaaaaah!? Ah, the car!! Now, wait! Get away, Adela! My body is so cold…”
“Sir, teacher… ! Hi! Get out, get out! “Sniff!”
“Oh, I understand, so don’t hug me!! Sigh, cow, don’t freeze your hands! “Don’t lock it!!”
“Destroy the canteen, ugh, teacher! I hate it, I hate it, I accept it… !”
“Kyaaaaa!!?”

***

‘Why do such a foolish thing?’

After hearing the whole story from Adela, Erzsebet was able to understand why Louis was so angry.
All of the items he saw on the second floor were made by him over a long period of time and with great care, while reminiscing about something.
Looking back on how much he loved the cafeteria, it was a good thing he didn’t get his hands on it.

“By the way… “I can’t go in at all.”

I went straight to the store without even having time to change out of my wet clothes, and it was already locked tightly, as if denying entry to anyone.
On the first floor, where the lights were usually off, it was impossible to look inside because the iron plate, which had a strange structure that I had never seen before, went all the way down to the floor.

Crumbling—!!

If you tried to get close, two wolf dogs made of steel bared their teeth and threatened you.
A flock of crows were floating ominously in the sky, so Erzsebet instinctively knew that it was dangerous to go there now.

But the fortunate thing for her was that she always had a reliable friend by her side.
A familiar who has been with me since I was young and is more trustworthy than anyone else.

He pointed to Pi on his shoulder to the second floor window leading to Lewis’ room.

“Pii, this is a very important time. “It’s something only you can do.”
“Pi—.”
“Go and see what Lewis is doing. “If you need to, you can call him by tapping on the window with your beak.”
“Pi—.”
“Yes? You don’t like it!? Why do I hate it! Hurry up! “Why are you so stubborn even at times like this!”
“Peeeee——!!”
“Kyaaaaa!? Pee! Stop it! Don’t peck my head!! “Ahh!”

Erzébet, who managed to persuade Piyi to enter the second floor, shared her vision using 〈 fairy tale 〉.
A dark interior seen through the window. There, seeing Lewis leaning dead against her body on the sofa, she swallowed in vain.
From what I heard, a long time had passed since the cafeteria was destroyed, and he had done nothing as he saw a hole in front of him the size of a large table used for banquets.

Knock knock. Knock knock.

Piyi’s beak rapped on the window, and her dark eyes, hidden through her shaggy hair, stared in this direction.
But that was all. He showed no reaction and looked at the ceiling again.

“Oh my god…”

I had no idea how to solve this problem. The current Lewis was like a bomb that would explode at the slightest touch.
Who among the people who know about him would be able to face that look in his eyes?
Even Baron Greenwood, who had come to apologize several times, was not allowed inside.

I got chills as the cold wind tickled my wet clothes.
Erzsebet, who was already busy and thought it would be difficult to delay any longer, was contemplating whether to throw Pii as bait for the iron dogs and go into the cafeteria, when someone spoke up from behind.

“Well, I came here after hearing the news and it turned out to be quite serious.”

Although they were not directly acquainted, Erzsebet knew who the owner of the voice was as soon as she saw her.

“Ruhilen… “Viscount?”
“Good evening, student council president. “Is His Majesty the King okay?”

Penheim’s richest man. Colossus, Darling Tokarev.

“What business do you have here?”
“Wouldn’t it be the same as you? I came to take Lewis out of the world. “According to her own experience, such a situation is not good.”
“What… “What?”

What on earth can she do? Without being much different from her stomping self.

“Be at ease.”

However, Darling received some items from a servant in the carriage that followed, and looked pitiful as he watched the students leaving the dormitory building.

“This is the store you guys frequent so much, but the person who knows him best is you, not anyone else.”