117 – You Can Stop a Fight Between the Rich
Just one word.
That one careless word made every gaze in the hall snap to me.
Someone spilled the wine they were holding in their mouth,
Another showed an expression of utter shock,
And yet another widened eyes that were already long and narrow.
Someone who knew nothing would
not have reacted like this.
Just one curse word.
And from the mouth of a child, at that.
“Co..cough…cough…ah, this wine is strong today…”
“Y-yes, exactly.
I think I need to rest a bit.”
“Oh my goodness… Come to think of it, Mrs. Jenny, didn’t you say you had something to introduce me to?”
But they didn’t.
They didn’t want to, either.
They had thought building a connection with that child wouldn’t be so bad, but now it was different.
‘Crazy… Even if it’s the father who kicked him out… is he out of his mind?’
‘He seems to lack too much patience
to bring to our side.’
‘If we bring that child in now, we’ll earn the Duke’s hatred. We’ll have to aim for the next chance…’
If anything, the number of people who didn’t want to be involved with him
only increased.
Why are the people who were so eager just a moment ago
acting like this?
Isn’t it obvious?
They knew who that one word, spoken by a boy who wasn’t even an adult yet, was directed at.
“…Say it again.”
That man looked as though he would reach for
the hilt of his sword at any moment.
Duke Reinhardt, one of the few dukes in the Empire, and
the one called the Guardian of the North.
His expression twisted ever so slightly.
His expression, which was usually expressionless,
shifted, ever so subtly, but definitely.
‘This is a disaster, should I just
“Best be moving away before something happens…”
“At this rate, we might just see a real knife fight…”
“Say that again, Jennison.”
Ignoring the surrounding nobles who feared the aftershocks,
he took a heavy step forward.
Towards the boy, specifically.
“…Living away from home for so long
has made even your manners crude, has it?”
“….”
“Or do you simply think it’s acceptable now?”
His hand, with each heavy step, moved ever closer to the scabbard,
and his stride held no hesitation.
“I don’t rightly know just how strong you’ve become.”
“….”
“It seems you’ve gained a bit of confidence in your abilities.”
He didn’t draw his sword, in the end,
but his hand gripped it nonetheless.
A longsword forged of mana, tinged with blue.
Smaller than the one he’d manifested to face Melissa just moments before, but no less threatening.
The Duke’s mana was…
different in quality than others.
“If you return home, I might even assign you an etiquette tutor.”
“….”
“No matter what, using such
crude words to your own fa–”
That was the moment.
The boy’s expression changed.
Up until now, he’d listened silently
to everything the Duke said,
his face an unchanging mask
just like his father.
Now, a crease formed between the boy’s brows.
As if greatly annoyed.
“…Bullshit.”
“….”
“Ah.”
It was a situation that felt like a déjà vu.
*
Ah, I’m screwed.
Thoughts running wild again, as they always do.
But there was no stopping it, not this time.
Impossible to hold back, ever since that man
dared to utter the word “father” from his lips.
“…I trust my ears haven’t failed me.”
How can you speak to me so casually?
Guilt? I never expected it in the first place.
You were always *that* sort of person.
The kind who would sever their own arm
for the sake of that damned family’s honor.
Nor did I expect to hear any lamentations.
Lamentations can’t possibly flow from lips
that know no remorse.
“Say it again. Clearly, with your own voice.”
Still, I’d hoped, just a little.
Does even the slightest unease escape you?
Do you feel not a shred of apology?
You’re the kind of man who could abandon his son
and then, without a single proper word of regret,
suggest we become a family again.
“…I told you to go to hell.”
“Hrk…!”
“That… that madman!”
The moment those thoughts took shape,
my mouth took on a life of its own.
Spewing my feelings at that machine of a man,
raw and unfiltered.
I ignored the flinch of the nobles around me,
their hasty retreats to safer ground.
Their horrified gazes met only with unwavering disregard.
All my focus was centered on the Duke.
“…You’ve become audacious. To be able to curse at me
with a clear mind, I mean.”
His eyes, sharp and merciless, fixed on me,
and from his hand, a faint, blue mana began to leak.
As if he were about to strike me down then and there.
“It seems living outside this house, as you so aptly put it, has sullied my tongue, Duke.”
He answers only with a smile.
A silent declaration of my unwillingness to continue this charade and a clear message that he is entirely to blame for my transformation.
Besides, against such snide remarks, there was no expression more effective than a smile.
“…It seems I must hasten your return to the family.”
Just look at that.
Though ever so slight, a definite creasing of the Duke’s brow.
Proof that my smile had struck its mark.
Whether he truly grasped the meaning behind it, however, was another matter entirely.
“It would be best to rectify your manners as quickly as possible. For the sake of appearances, if nothing else.”
“Why would you trouble yourself with that, Duke? I am not, after all, a Reinhardt.”
“….”
“And never will be,
not ever. For all time.”
I wipe the smile clean from my face
and speak my truth.
Like a solemn vow,
leaving no room for even the faintest possibility.
Just as you abandoned me,
so too do I reject you.
The moment my words cease, a faint aura of menace emanates from the Duke.
Truly faint, almost imperceptible.
A threat akin to the drone of a mosquito on a deep night,
but when such an aura originates from a man of the Duke’s stature, it transcends the ordinary.
“..Ahem..hum.”
“Forgive me… If I may be excused for a moment?”
He clears his throat with great effort, yet cannot conceal the trembling of his aged hands.
And a young lady clutches at her arms, as if her very skin crawls, before fleeing in haste…
Countless souls have been exposed to that thin, almost transparent, wave of palpable dread,
myself included.
The sensation of every hair standing on end,
a familiar feeling, yet never welcome.
A sense of unease washes over my entire being.
Simultaneously, I draw my dagger.
Attuning it to his mana.
He glances at my blade,
and with an eyebrow arched in amusement,
focuses his killing intent solely on me.
Kuuung─
My body is crushed by something intangible, and at once
I grip my dagger tighter.
To shake off whatever is trying to pin me.
“…You intend to try?”
“….”
“Good… I shall correct your insolence─”
“What in the world is going on here?!”
As I said before, the killing intent unleashed at the start
was felt by everyone around, not just me,
and that included the Emperor.
Roaring his anger,
the Emperor strides quickly toward us.
His expression even more contorted than
Duke Reinhardt’s had been just moments before.
“Reinhardt, withdraw that killing intent at once.
This is not a request, but an order.”
“…Your, will, be done.”
The oppressive feeling vanished as soon as the words were spoken,
gone with startling speed.
The originator of that killing intent seemed displeased
that he hadn’t been able to overwhelm me,
but everyone else around us could only exhale in relief.
“…Now explain yourselves. Explain why you did this.”
“….”
“Clearly, without omitting a single detail.”
And still, the Emperor’s fury hadn’t subsided.
His interrogation continued.
*
“Haa…”
A sigh echoed through the academy corridor.
Neither too short nor too long,
but a sigh of just the right measure.
But the worry nestled within her heart,
it was anything but slight.
“When is he coming… to the Academy.”
From the girl muttering thus,
shone the ever-beautiful, water-hued hair,
and those mesmerizing emerald eyes.
“Whoa… hey, who’s that? She’s somethin’ else, huh?”
“Someone like that, even if she’s common… wouldn’t be so bad, right?”
“Name? What was it… Rianna… or something?”
“Oh… heheh, not a bad name at all.”
The murmuring of boys drifted from behind her,
but she didn’t bat an eyelash.
She’d heard it countless times before, besides,
she *was* a commoner, plain and simple.
It was only now, in fact, that realizing it
had come as a shock.
It was a bit much to say it herself, but…
she was, in her own way, a bit of a celebrity at the school.
Though, on the less than positive side of things.
‘Oh my… so *you’re* the one?
The one who managed to get intermediate mana beasts subjugation recognized by getting a team?’
‘Hmph, how disgraceful… trying to ride on
the coattails of someone else’s power.’
‘Really, you can’t take the commoner out of a commoner can you?’
Well, students who’d said things like that,
they didn’t exist anymore.
Thanks to someone’s help.
‘Hey, you lot… what are you doing?’
‘Ah… Albert? This girl here who passed the exam thanks to your favor, doesn’t understand her place─’
‘…Pathetic.’
‘Eek… EEEEE! What do you think you’re doing?!’
‘You lot were being so pathetic,
my hand just moved on its own, contain yourselves.’
The students who had tormented her,
they, too, could be said to come from reasonably well-off families,
but there was no house that could compare to the Iris Ducal House.
So, all they could do was, in the end,
spout dialogue like third-rate villains and
It was a mad dash, nothing more than escape.
“Th-thank you, Albert-nim.”
“You needn’t attach the ‘-nim’.”
“Ah… no, how could I…”
“I only aided a friend of a friend,
so there is no need to lower your head. Stand straight.”
A friend of a friend.
Who that friend was, could be gleaned
with agonizing ease.
Even now, she continued to think of him.
With hollow eyes and dark hair,
Perhaps a little brusque,
But kind, at times, that boy was.
‘What could he be doing? Right now..?
There’s so much I want to show him..’
What could he be doing.
She was truly curious.
He’d arrived in the Empire, supposedly,
Yet hadn’t come to the Academy.
Just what was he doing, and where, to keep him away?
“Are you going to continue to keep that mouth shut,
Duke Reinhardt?!”
“….”
‘…Am I allowed to leave?’
Completely unaware of what troubles
the person in question was currently grappling with.