Volume 2 - CH 7

“…So to summarize: that nameless tribe overcame what should have been certain death and instead claimed a brilliant victory, and that victory laid the foundations of the future that was to come. Historians today agree that this was the beginning of what we now know as the Kingdom of Iltania.”

It was currently night time.

I was currently giving a lecture on the history of the Kingdom of Iltania to some of the girls.

Lately I had been holding study sessions in the dorm’s common room during my free time at night. It was a way to expand my network since I was teaching the other girls in the dorm, but it also helped me review the material for myself.

It was usually a one-to-one session where the girls would come to me asking questions they needed help with. Today, however, more girls had gathered, and now it was more like I was giving a lecture on the subject.

“Wow… So even a country as great as the Kingdom of Iltania had started out from a small group of people?”

“Your explanations were very help and easy to understand, Lady Mylene!”

Since we learned the history of each country in class today, I had chosen to review that lesson tonight.

Because there were so many countries, it was impossible to learn everything about each of them; instead, our classes on history focused mostly on the more powerful and influential countries.

And so there I was, with students gathered around me to hear my lecture as someone from Iltania, one of the five great powers.

Though to be honest, I didn’t really like talking about Iltania’s history…

“It is said that the reason that nameless tribe was able to overcome what should have been an insurmountable disadvantage was through the influence of a certain ‘God’. As you may have already guessed, this God of theirs was named Iltania, and it was that very same name they adopted for themselves. In other words, the Kingdom of Iltania as we know it today took its name from the God that had been key to the country’s beginnings.”

“Ah! Like from the teachings of the Iltanian faith!”

“Indeed. It seems you were familiar with it.”

I smiled at the girl who happily added to the lesson.

…because the history was rather closely intertwined with the Iltanian faith.

Or rather, it was impossible to separate the religion from the history since the Kingdom’s history began with adopting its name from its religion. Anyone who studied even a little bit of Iltania’s history should be aware of at least that.

This was made worse by the fact that history claimed things had been so dire at the time that the only way things could have played out the way they did was if a God had intervened.

And, well, I didn’t know how much of this recorded history I could trust — let alone calling it ‘history’, I would’ve dismissed it as the retelling of a popular myth.

“Oh, I see. It is quite interesting for a religion to have formed alongside the founding of a country.”

“Quite interesting indeed, and even more so when you take into account the Kingdom of Iltania’s long history.”

“And that is why Iltania, the god, is important to the Kingdom of Iltania, correct?”

“That is correct.”

Well, if you didn’t take them too seriously, they were pretty interesting little stories to enjoy on their own.

I noticed Colette nodding her head in admiration. She had seemed uninterested when the girls had gathered for the lecture at the start, but after listening in for a time, it seemed she had gotten interested.

Not that our wild princess was interested enough to stay still for long.

She had gotten tired of just listening at some point and was currently hugging me from behind. It was actually annoyingly uncomfortable since we were approaching the summer season, when the weather grew hotter.

“Ufufu, oh my, Lady Mylene. It looks like you and Princess Colette are so very close.”

Well, it was true that we got along well, but I’d heard it wasn’t uncommon for girls to be in ‘that’ kind of relationship with each other in this dormitory.

I tried to push Colette off before more misunderstandings about us started, but she, apparently in a better mood than ever, responded by holding on tighter.

Ugh, so annoying! I could have forced her off of me, but that would destroy the image I’d worked so hard to keep up. My only choice then was to bear with it.

“Was it that obvious? I must say, you have quite the discerning eye, umm…”

“Sarah, Princess Colette.”

“Ah, I see, Sarah. I will be sure to remember your name.”

While Colette proudly declared her affection for me — her mood skyhigh on account of hearing someone point out our relationship — I just wanted to close my eyes and pretend I had nothing to do with it all.

There wouldn’t be any harm in leaving things as they were, but it would be a problem if people began to wrongly think there was more to our relationship.

“…Ahem, well, I suppose this is as good of a time as any to wrap up our study session. Does anyone have any further questions on the Kingdom of Iltania? I will do my best to answer anything you may still have problems with.”

So the best thing to do now was to steer the conversation back on topic.

Since I was back to being serious, Colette regretfully pulled away from me. I didn’t like how clingy she could be, but I also didn’t dislike that she knew what lines she shouldn’t cross.

“…Um, I have a question.”

Another girl suddenly raised her hand.

“Of course, what is your question, Miss..?”

Something felt off.

I had been holding these study sessions almost every night as a way of building connections, so I should know almost every girl that lived in the dormitory.

And yet I didn’t recognize this girl, the one that raised her hand. Well, I didn’t recognize her, but she still seemed familiar… but I could almost say for certain I had never seen her in class either.

I couldn’t say she wasn’t from another class since I didn’t quite know everyone, but… was that really it?

“It pertains to another important part of the Iltanian faith, I believe it is the ‘Hair of Sulberia’? Could you tell us more about that?”

The girl’s long blonde hair kept me from seeing her face.

Something still felt off.

So she wanted to hear more about the Hair of Sulberia, huh? Well, she did have the main part right: it was an important part of the faith.

According to one theory, the first bearer of the Hair of Sulberia had played a major part in the battles prior to the founding of the Kingdom of Iltania and had been a part of the Kingdom’s founding themselves.

I didn’t see a need to mention it, but that was the very same Hair of Sulberia atop my head… I wanted to avoid the topic because it felt like I would come off like I was showing off.

“…You are correct in that it is an important part of the faith. As you may know, the Hair of Sulberia takes its name from the Sulberia flower, due to the red and white colors the two have in common, and many consider the Hair a symbol of reverence.”

“Ah! I have heard about that! It is said that the bearer of the Hair of Sulberia is also called ‘God’s Blessed’ because of how naturally talented they turn out to be!”

“That is quite the fitting title, seeing as we have Lady Mylene for an example! Not only is she blessed with an unrivaled beauty, she is skilled with a blade, and her magical power has no equal! To say that she is ‘God’s Blessed’ would be no exaggeration!”

And to no surprise, the girls grew excited from hearing about it.

I didn’t like where the discussion was going, so I stayed quiet. It always felt strange to be complimented, but it felt twice as bad now since I had been the one to explain the Hair of Sulberia.

But if I had to pinpoint where the strange feeling came from, I would blame the girl who first asked. And she would only know to ask that question if she already knew about the Iltanian faith.

Was this some form of harassment? Had I unknowingly upset this girl, like what had happened with Melissa?

I cast a questioning glance toward Melissa, who had joined tonight’s lecture as well. I should add that she was even closer now than ever.

She responded by tilting her head and shrugging her shoulders; it seemed she had nothing to do with this, at least.

“Of course! In fact, one could even say Lady Mylene is the national treasure of Iltania!”

I mean, I was calling it harassment, but really…

…it was more like the opposite of that was coming from this mysterious girl, but not in a completely good way. It was like the feelings coming to me were strange and complicated — maybe even twisted.

The mysterious girl suddenly stood, disheveling her straight blonde hair in the process, and pointed at Colette.

“In other words, you have been getting ahead of yourself, so shamelessly touching and feeling Lady Mylene as you have been! It is simply unacceptable behavior!”

Raising her voice, the girl sent hostile words to Colette.

The sudden change in mood caused a stir among the gathered students as they began murmuring to one another.

Colette merely smiled at the girl’s accusation, seeing it as a challenge. It wasn’t surprising; Colette was the kind of person to get excited over that sort of provocation.

I caught myself before I sighed aloud in annoyance; it was becoming clear to me that this unknown intruder didn’t feel hate for me but rather the opposite.

But then…

“…Huh?!”

“Wha..?!”

It seemed Colette and I had the same realization as we sputtered in surprise.

The girl with the long blonde hair was still looking indignant and pointing straight at Colette.

Except her face, that was previously hidden behind a curtain of hair, was now clearly visible to us.

Her shapely face made her appear younger than the girls around her, and her large eyes were quite lovely. I would even say those eyes were the most feminine among the girls here.

“You! Alb–mgh, mph..!”

In fact, this mysterious student that looked more feminine than anyone else here wasn’t even a girl to begin with.

I instantly turned to clap a hand over Colette’s mouth, stopping her from naming the “girl”.

“O-ohoho..! You must be new around here! If it pleases you, I would like to spend sometime getting to know you better!”

“It would be an honor, Lady Mylene!”

With that long wig, framing sparkling eyes and clasped hands, “she” was the very model of a perfectly normal girl.

I say again: that was no girl.

And as far as I knew, there was only one person that could so perfectly transform into a girl, in both appearance and voice, that also happened to be our age..

I shot a glare at Colette, whose mouth I still covered, as I signaled to her with my eyes.

“You know what’ll happen if you just blurt that out, right?”

Colette answered with a small nod in affirmation, though she looked puzzled. I knew she was already unamused at this turn of events, and I took my hand off her.

I forced the biggest smile I could, and I could feel the veins on my face throbbing in exertion as I walked over to take “Lulu” by hand.

“Since there is still plenty of time before curfew, there is much we can discuss. In private, of course. Allow me to escort you to my room, Miss Lulu.”

“Of cours– eek?!”

Lulu accepted happily before suddenly squeaking in terror, seeming to have sensed my anger.

“Well then everyone, I do apologize for this abrupt adjournment of our session, but we shall be stopping here tonight. I bid you all a good night.”

I ended my lecture on the history of Iltania without hearing any more and quickly left the common room, pulling along the “girl” I had caught.

◆

“You. Little. Shit… The hell were you thinking?!”

As soon as we were safely back in my room, I confronted the “girl” — the crown prince of a certain country in disguise — and questioned him with anger in my voice.

With every word, his slender shoulders trembled like those of the fragile girl he pretended to be.

“Y-you see, Lady Mylene, I…”

“And is that the kind of thing the royal family does, keeping such a ridiculous thing on your head when you’re having a serious conversation?”

I interrupted Albert with more berating, cutting him off before he could stammer out any excuse he might have thought up.

His shoulder fell, making him seem to shrink even smaller, but Albert nevertheless removed the blonde wig he was wearing.

Standing before me now was a boy with short blonde hair and wearing a female uniform — a boy that looked more like a girl.

“Haa…”

Despite my best efforts, a sigh finally escaped me.

There was no way, absolutely no chance, that anyone would have predicted that the crown prince of one of the most powerful countries in the world would disguise himself as a girl to sneak into the female dormitory of the Academy.

…I still felt uncomfortable about wearing women’s clothes myself, but I didn’t think anyone would ever willingly do so, to say nothing of that “anyone” being a future ruler.

“Seriously, what the hell are you trying to pull? Did you even think, even for a second, about what you were doing…”

It almost would’ve been better if he had crossdressed because he didn’t want to be caught sneaking into a girl’s room for some nighttime fun. At least then, I could just kick him out and not worry further about it.

Even if that were the case, it wasn’t like I would judge his fetish. But really, I wished he paid better attention to his position and what he represented.

“Th-there, there… What use is there in getting so angry without allowing Prince Albert explain himself? I believe it would be best for us to hear him out first.”

And now for some reason, Colette was taking Albert’s side.

Though rather than doing so out of kindness, it was more likely she was trying to defuse the tension by making me aware of how angry I was.

She was right to do so; after all, browbeating someone in a rage was the way amateur lowlives handled interrogations, and doing things that way meant the one being interrogated would be quick to say anything, truth or otherwise, that could lessen that anger.

And so I took a step back and relaxed, giving Albert the chance to compose himself and explain what he was doing.

“So, um, you see… It is, well, um, because…”

He wasn’t able to give me a straight answer immediately, and the waffling was beginning to irritate me. I held myself back, keeping myself from getting angry so as not to cloud my own judgment.

Finally, after a little longer, Albert finally found the words he wanted to say.

“B-because I was worried! I was worried that if things continued as they were, Princess Colette would gain a lead over me!”

“…What?”

Albert went on to explain what he was afraid of: how Colette would somehow steal me away if he didn’t do anything to stop her.

This time, the disbelief was so shocking I could feel my strength evaporating away.

Did that really warrant crossdressing and sneaking into the female dormitory? What kind of person was he that, as soon as he imagined something so bizarre as “falling beind”, he just stopped thinking entirely?!

He was an idiot, but not just any ordinary idiot. He was like an unheard of, genius-level idiot.

“Oh? So you think yourself my rival, is it? How very daring of you.”

And the worst part? He wasn’t the only one of his kind.

Here was Colette, the type of person who held nothing back when trying to achieve a goal in mind — a shameless hedonist who did anything so long as it “looked fun”.

And right now the eyes of that same girl gleamed with a hungry enthusiasm. as though she finally found an opponent worth her attention.

Albert shivered in anticipation after hearing the provocation from the very nemesis that spurred him into his current predicament.

“…I will not be cowed by your words.”

Albert turned to face her head-on, with a fiery determination in his eyes.

I found myself unable to look away, when he put his pride as a man forward like this.

“After all, I see no reason to quit! ‘If there is something you can use, then you should use it!’ It was none other than Lady Mylene that taught me those words!”

I regretted believing it was worth listening to his reasoning.

“Haha, that was it? You were just desperately flailing about, because you were hoping she would pay attention to you? I say, if that is the best you can do, I will have no problem at all!”

“And you did this all because you were thinking of the Kingdom’s future? Or was this a whim of the crown prince, Your Highness?”

Colette let out a scornful laugh as Albert remained defiant.

But I didn’t find any of it amusing. Instead, I focused my resentment into a question and used a formal tone to ask it.

“Both!”

Colette instantly answered with enthusiasm. I pinched my forehead in exhaustion and held back the curses waiting on my tongue.

“That is… exactly how I feel.”

I felt my head grow heavier than ever before; where had this boy gone so wrong? No, wait, was this actually all my fault? All he had done was faithfully follow what I had taught him. And while he had perfectly disguised himself as a woman, I had been the one to show Albert that he had that card to play, which was how he had successfully sneaked into the female dormitory in the first place.

…No, either way, it was so stupid of him to do it.

“However! I must admit, I quite like that spirit of yours! It takes a steely determination to see your goal to the end, to not give in to your enemies!”

And it wasn’t just Albert; Colette would do the same if it were her.

“Haa…”

I let out another sigh before burying my head in my hands.

Honestly, I was shocked — so shocked, that what all I wanted to do now was physically beat any sort of sense back into this idiot.

I wanted to do something about Colette as well, but I would have to settle for this since Albert and I were closer.

So first of all…

“Albert, listen up.”

“Y-yes, ma’am!”

I reached out and grabbed Albert’s head, turning him so he could see me staring daggers into him.

“You will be working even harder starting tomorrow. I’ll have the training beat into you so bad, you’ll wish you had died tonight.”

“Wh-what?! B-but I thought… I thought you would praise my determination!”

…first of all, dealing with Albert.

It seems the little boy has grown to be a rather impudent guy, so it was time for him to know his place and learn some common sense.

It was good that he has learned to take advantage of the things he has around him, but there was more he had to learn. For now, I would have him learn to conduct himself in a way that wouldn’t allow others to look down on him.

For example, he should be able to handle a certain empress that would launch an attack the moment his country is at its weakest… Though I suppose it would be to cruel to leave it all to him at that point.

…Though as much as I complain, I couldn’t deny that Albert had his own share of good points. I could already see how he would become the kind of king that was close to and beloved by his people — so long as certain bad women stayed away from him.

But after tonight, I was beginning to have doubts about it. Thankfully, there was an easy solution: I would just have to retrain him until I had no doubts. At the very least, I wanted to train him until I felt safe leaving the Kingdom of Iltania in his hands.

“B-but I suppose it would not be so bad if I think of this as special training Lady Mylene has thought up specifically for me…”

That being said, I could not ignore the fact our crown prince has become a perverted kind of deviant.

If he just liked crossdressing, then it wasn’t an issue I needed to address. But when he did it to sneak into the female dormitory? That was crossing the line. He was the crown prince; he needed to understand his place and what he represented, before he dragged down the people under him.

“…If that is how you feel, then I do hope you look forward to it.”

“Of course!”

I also hoped he would someday catch onto the sarcasm I used, but alas.

He had a pretty good head on his shoulders, but for some reason, if I was involved, he turned into a single-minded idiot.

Love is blind,’ or so the saying went… No, that was a stupid thing to consider. Maybe I needed to beat some sense back into myself as well, because what Albert felt was something that wasn’t quite love.

“…Tch, whatever. The nightwatch should have passed by now, so put that wig back on and get the hell back to your dormitory.”

“Understood! I shall be seeing you tomorrow then!”

Once the wig was back on Albert’s head, it was hard to tell he wasn’t a girl.

And after looking closely… was that make-up he had on? There was just the slightest hint of it, that I’d only noticed as I was turning around.

Albert gave one last bow before opening and leaving through the door.

There went the girlish boy, brazenly returning to the male dormitory after shamelessly infiltrating the female side… Where did he change into his disguise? No, more importantly, where did he even get the disguise in the first place?

But some things in this world were better left unknown, and with that conclusion, I put my remaining thoughts out of my mind.

“Hmm…”

“What’s wrong?”

Silence began to fill the room after the door closed when Colette looked at me and began to grumble.

“No, nothing important. I just felt you let Prince Albert off quite lightly. You said you would give him special training as punishment, but he accepted it happily, like it was a reward.”

Wearing a look of unconvinced doubt, Colette exhaled loudly through her nose.

You didn’t punish him at all for breaking into the female dormitory — was what she was trying to say.

But it didn’t seem like that was what troubled her; no, from the expression on her face, it seemed she was actually jealous that Albert, who should have been punished, received a reward.

“Are you… feeling envious?”

I couldn’t help but smile as I asked the pouting Colette.

Colette’s face twitched from hearing my change in tone and seeing the smile on my face.

“…Ah, no, never mind it. It was just my own naivete.”

As long as she understood, then that was fine by me. I snorted in response before preparing for bed.

It was almost time for lights out, and I wanted to be in bed before the next patrol came by.

Seriously, everyone just kept bringing me more problems to deal with and more stress. It’s because of all of them that I was losing more and more sleep every night.

“I’m going to sleep. Turn off the lights when you’re done.”

“Of course. Have a good night, Mylene.”

After hearing Colette’s answer, I pulled my blanket over myself.

Before I fell asleep, I could feel the corners of my mouth twitch upward as I realized all the little things that happened — things like tonight — could never have happened during my time as a mercenary.