Chapter 141: Milt’s Story

After school, it’s our student council time. At first, I planned to assign shifts to have someone pick up the training area’s key, but some of the more enthusiastic guys started to voluntarily pick the key up themselves. About five people would be scrambling for the key, but running on academy grounds is not too acceptable. I’ll caution them next time.

With that said, we’ll be heading to the training area with the remaining students, but as I stood up with my things neatly packed, a boy stood before my desk.

「…… Miss Lily, do you have a moment?」 「Oh? What is it? Mr. Milt?」 「Talking here is a bit… I’ve borrowed a lounge, so would you mind if we talk there?」

And sure enough, the one that talked to me was the first prince faction noble, Milt. I’m guessing that he came here either intending to hold me liable for Glen’s treatment or to break off with Glen. I still don’t know which it is, but even so, it’s too late for him to talk about that in my opinion. He should have come to talk to me this morning, and yet this.

Naturally, because of his action, Milt has attracted the class’ attention. Sola and Hermie are both glaring at him with clear hostility, and the students that were originally close to the first prince faction can’t hide their confusion. While only the members of group A know precisely what Glen has done, even the other members of the student council have at least guessed that something happened due to Glen.

「Lily……」

Sola called to me with a worrying tone, but I signaled her to stop and faced Milt directly. I have a rough idea of what Sola wants to say, but whether one’s faction is of the first prince or of the second prince doesn’t matter to me. If he wants to talk, then I won’t run away. I’ll take it up head-on.

「I don’t mind at all, Mr. Milt. Shall we go then?」 「Eh? Ah, yes. Follow me.」 「Miss Sola, I’ll leave Mr. Tebby and everybody else’s guidance to you. Everyone seems somewhat restless after all, so please have the dodgeball matches extended.」 「…… Understood. Still, I’ll be asking about this later, alright!」

Sola probably had a lot she wanted to say, but she swallowed her words and sent me off. It’s the same with Urania and Ces, but, for some reason, I feel like there’s a lot of kind and caring, perhaps even to a meddlesome extent, people around me. Moreover, the troublesome part is that some of these people have a somewhat high social standing.

Following Milt’s lead, we headed for a lounge room. Well, since I’ve already received a quick tour of the academy building thanks to Ces, I know exactly what and where we’re going. Even so, since I did learn that it’s a lady’s duty to be escorted by a gentleman, I quietly followed his lead.

「Would you like a cup of tea?」 「Please.」

While Milt’s attendant was preparing tea, he seemed to be fidgety and completely restless. Even as he opens his mouth to speak, his lips shut without any sound leaving him. And as this repeated again and again, his attendant arrived with tea.

In the end, I suppose Milt has decided to talk after getting a short break as he offered me tea, which I gladly obliged. Just to be sure, I checked if there was something mixed into it, but there was no drug or anything of that sort. Well, it’s too disadvantageous for them to do something against me in this situation anyway. After all, there were many students that witnessed Milt escorting me, and even before that, the incident is also well-known.

「Oh, the tea is delicious.」 「Is it to your taste? These are from the leaves grown in our territory.」 「Yes, very much so. 」 「Then I’d be glad if you could order through me. No matter how trivial, a connection with the Iglesio Household is really desirable after all.1」

The moment we came to the topic of tea, Milt suddenly became eloquent. Other than the tea, his territory seems to produce an abundance of wine as well, and I can hear from his tone that he has great pride in their products. He says that he and his parents inherited the use of earth attribute magic, and by the way of these, they can create amazing fields.

They hold great pride in protecting the land and traditions passed on from generation to generation, and this seems to be the exact reason why he and his household sided with the conservative first prince faction. I can understand this sentiment and I have high regard for what they stand for. I’m ashamed of myself for immediately lumping them together with their faction just because they’re a part of it. Really, I should judge people only after talking to them personally.

「…… In the past, Glen… wasn’t the type of person that could do something like that.」 「……」 「I know that it’s only a bother to be told about this. Still, Glen became strange some time before the enrollment. He turned awfully aggressive and wouldn’t even hide his hostility against the second prince faction. He…… he…… he was never the kind of person to think so lightly of people’s lives before……」

Seeing Milt say so with a pensive look, it doesn’t seem like he’s lying. And regarding this information, it reminds me of something.

『Arytte-』 『Present! If it’s about that matter, then yes.』 『Are you absolutely sure? I didn’t sense anything, you know?』 『There was only a tiny amount of it, those that can sense this are likely only us spirits.』

As I talk to Arytte in my mind, she replies with the information I wanted to know. Since I didn’t want to be the sort of cringy person that would talk to herself in public, I consulted with Arytte and we’re now capable of doing this. By the way, what’s on my mind isn’t being read or anything, to be precise, I’m sending her my thoughts through a string of magic power.2

As for what that said matter is, Arytte informed me that she felt traces of the black magic power from Glen. I couldn’t feel anything at all, but she said that it was because there was only a very tiny amount of it. Since Glen was a sorcerer to begin with, he has more magic power than the regular civilian, and this would be equivalent to having a drop of ink inside a glass full of water or so. That’s why it was no surprise that I didn’t notice it, it would be difficult to detect it unless one has an absolute sense of magic power like the spirits do.

Anyhow, with Arytte’s confirmation and Milt’s testimony, a certain individual’s participation in this is undeniable. That individual is Est’s master and the one that employed assassins targeting Adan. I could have never expected their shadow to pop out in this sort of place, but if they intend to scheme in this academy, then this is also a chance to seize them once and for all.

In the end, Milt only talked about his childhood with Glen and about their territories. He didn’t particularly demand me be responsible, and he didn’t cut off Glen or insist that Glen simply acted on his own.

「Miss Lily, when Glen wakes up, I’ll make sure to persuade him. When that happens, would you allow us to join the student council as well? 」 「Well, I wouldn’t mind but……」 「That’s a promise, alright? I’ll be sure to make Glen apologize!」

Lastly, we ended up making that promise, but I don’t really mind it at all. Well, the one he’ll be apologizing to won’t me but Urania, so I’ll have to talk with Urania about this later.

My chat with Milt ended up eating more time than I expected, so there’s only some time remaining before the end of the training session. It’ll be problematic if we end the training too late, while we don’t use the cafeteria ourselves, the students that do eat dinner at the cafeteria would end up missing their meal if they don’t make it in time.

「I’ll only be present for the farewell greetings today, huh……」

It looks like I don’t feel any aversion to the act of teaching people, as well as the act of making things. And I particularly seem to like making things for the sake of other people. While a part of why I made doujins in my past life might be because I like making those, I was also happy that there are people that are pleased with what I draw.3

I never would have expected that I would even please a god though.