CH 140

Chapter 140 of “Mastering Magic in an Otome Game Part 4 (Eildart Castle During Winter Break)”

“Haagh!”

“Uwaaaah”

Alfred and Relic, who were sneaking around the entrance of the courtyard to watch Brother Oluris’ match, were kicked to the ground by Sister Thulite, who happily rushed in.

I hadn’t seen her since I arrived at the castle, because she had had some business to attend to…What’s with all this momentum?

With a terrifying pace, Sister Thulite suddenly came and stopped right in front of me.

“It’s been a while, everyone! I’ve heard that you’ve done a lot of things at the academy, Alice. Teaching magic to the Beastment, cooking meals, dueling with the prince…As expected of my disciple! Excellent!”

“Ah, thank you…?—Hyah!?”

Was I complimented??? Either way, I was lifted up and twirled around while my brain short-circuited.

“Mother, wait a minute!”

“Mother, Alice is losing oxygen…!!”

The Jaime siblings rushed to stop Sister Thulite, resulting in her calming down and apologizing. But in reality, she wasn’t calmed down at all. Her glasses began to shine.

“Then let’s have a duel to check your growth!”

“Thulite-sama!?”

The screams of the Virgil brothers echoed out.

Why are you doing this, Sister…?

I’m just a little girl???

Why is it like this?!?

As I was being lifted up, no longer about to pass out, Uncle Oedipus finally arrived a little late with widened eyes. He glanced at Sister Thulite, and then me, before turning away.

“………I’m sorry.”

No, you don’t have to apologize, so just stop it???

Uncle should be the only one who can stop this runaway master…!!!

Such desperation is probably useless.

I continued to be attacked the the over-powered magical storm known as Thulite, and ended up running around the courtyard to escape.

***

The hellish arrangement(?) finally came to an end with the arrival of the former lord and lady of Archelaus, and in the evening, we had a dinner party with all the relatives.

“It’s almost New Year’s Eve now, isn’t it?”

“Everything has all happened so fast. It’s been wonderful that we had so many opportunities to get together this year.”

The adults were happily conversing over a glass of wine.

Uncle Appicchio and Grandpa Richtlite were a bit of a surprise. The two men were quite different in rank, but it seems that they were not just relatives, but also had the opportunity to talk about commerce on a regular basis, and were having a rather rough exchange.

Father and Uncle also joined in, and continued a calm and mature conversation.

The women, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying themselves in an elegant yet lively manner. Right now, they were talking about their new winter clothes.

I thought it was a little surprising that Sister Thulite was so excited about it, but then I thought about it some more and realized that she might like that kind of talk since she had advanced the bob haircut in this country. She was not just a research geek, that’s for sure.

“This is delicious.”

“Yes, it is, Brother.”

On the other side of the table, Brother Oluris was eating a ginger-flavored modified lyuke.

This fermented bread that spread in a blink of an eye was reaching not only the academy, but also to the wealthy people in various places due to the merchants who did business with the Archelaus family.

It was said to be particularly popular in the Jaime territory, as my mother developed various flavors with Aunt Felicia like a mothers’ club.

“Speaking of fermenting lyuke, Alice, I hear you’ve been doing some interesting things in the academy cafeteria. They may or may not have hired a craftsman by your name…?”

Hmm, Sister Thulite turned to talk to me. It seems that these relatives knew almost everything about what I had done, and they were looking at me in various ways, some happy, and some grinning.

“I’ve heard that you’ve also become quite close to the high-ranking members of the Beastman tribes, of whom we’ve had little contact. It’s great that you’ve been able to build a network of contacts in your first year, and you seem to be studying hard with the rest of the faction.”

Uncle Oedipus nodded his head and praised me, so I replied with a bit of embarrassment…

It is a secret that for a moment I honestly thought, ‘Who are these high ranking people?’ My most prominent image of Ivan-sama was one of him begging me to pat his head, so…yeah.

“I’m not sure how you got through that duel on your own. I was not able to intervene because of my mother’s orders, but I was watching you with trepidation.”

“Thank you……orders?”

Then Onyx-sama (I still felt like calling him Brother…) also complimented me.

I thought that I just hadn’t seen him around much, but I didn’t realize that had anything to do with Sister Thulite’s orders.

When I looked at her, she winked at me and said, “If an older person messes with you, they’ll have no choice but to go through with everything. I trusted you, Alice.” It was a mysterious kind of trust.

“Even so, the prince is a little…no, I wonder if that can even be considered as simply immature. I think it’s a mistake to join that side.”

“Exactly. If I was asked to choose between Alice and Gabriella as allies at the same age, I would choose Alice first. I’m not entirely sure, but it’s also possible that the upper echelons of the government instructed him to approach the Edmunds for their financial power…”

Uncle Appicchio and Uncle Oedipus look at each other with difficult faces.

In response to that, Grandpa Richterite opened his mouth.

“There was not much movement in the Edmund faction at the Imperial Castle. Therefore, I think it is the prince’s own decision.”

“Is that true? Although, why Miss Gabriella…? Sure, Lady Alice was sick for a long time, but there was that whole fiasco when she entered the academy…”

The adults all groaned.

I had a general idea about this when I first entered the academy, but I had just brushed it off as ‘the protagonist’s plot armor’ at the time.

In a way, the Prince had even fought a duel for Gabriella. I now think that his infatuation was due to some kind of trauma that he had been through.

I don’t know how familiar Gabriella was with the scenario or the details of the game characters, but I’m pretty sure that she had approached Brother Oluris in a similar manner.

However, I wondered how to convey such impossible ‘previous life’ knowledge and predictions to the adults. I haven’t even told the Virgil brothers about this in detail yet…

As I was groaning inwardly, Sister Athena muttered to herself.

“…Oh, so that’s it.”

“Huh?”

Everyone who was chatting turned their gazes to Sister Athena.

Did I accidentally speak about my inner soliloquy out loud?

Sister Athena, who unexpectedly received a lot of attention after speaking, grabbed her glasses and shyly looked down as she became silent.

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T/N: Sooooo, anyone have any predictions about Athena here? Perhaps she’s another reincarnator? Who thinks Athena is an antagonist? Or a protagonist? I really hope she’s on Alice’s side…