CH 145

Characters in this chapter:

Sapphiras Perfectio, 2nd son of the Earl of Aldridge

Percival Belisario, 3rd son of Margrave of Vanderwall on the Eastern Frontier

Aurora Steinfeld, daughter of the Duke of Bloomfield

Clawis Omnibus Worstitters/Clawis Garcia, Crown Prince of Worstitters

Rivera Hernández, Clawis’ aide/escort

Adeline, Margravine of Vanderwall, Percival’s mother

Sandrion Timberlake, daughter of Earl Timberlake, Theodore’s fiancée

“Clawis! Rivera! How are you!”

Percival and I went to the salon to which Aurora had invited us, and there we found not only Aurora but also Clawis and Rivera were there. It was the first time I had met them since that evening party. I’ve been wanting to meet them and talk to them, and I think Aurora has taken care of that for me.

“Sapphiras……is your arm…… okay?”

They both look somewhat listless. I guess they’re still worried about what happened to me when they turned into a beast. You must’ve heard from Aurora that I’m fine.

“Of course! Aurora-jyou healed me! See, as you can see, it’s completely beautiful.”

I roll up my sleeves and show them my scarless arm. Even so, my white arm is still thin and unreliable.

“I see……thank goodness……for that time……I’m really sorry.”

Clawis’ ears are completely down. He is pretty dispirited. I understand how you feel, but you can’t stay depressed forever when you’re the crown prince of the noble beastmen. In the first place, you are royalty, so you can’t apologise too readily 1安売り (yasuuri): bargain sale, to sell at a low price, handing out freely, to sell oneself short.. It’s something that is already done, just a ‘wahaha!’ is enough.

“I told you it wasn’t Clawis’ fault. Besides, there’s not even a scar left, so if you apologise any more, I’ll get angry. I didn’t care about it in the first place.”

“……That’s, right. I’m sorr-…….nnn,”

He started saying sorry when I told him not to apologise, so when I stared at him, Clawis swallowed his words of apology in a hurry.

“Come on, everyone. There will be more to talk about, so please sit down and take it easy.”

Aurora urged us to take our seats.

The sweets lined up on the table are probably those delivered from the ducal family. All of them are small enough to be eaten in one bite, and each one is very gorgeous. As my eyes sparkle, a servant from the ducal family takes one of every type of pastry on the plate and places it in front of me. As expected of a servant of the ducal household. They know me very well.

I immediately put the pastry I was most interested in, which was decorated with thin slices of fruit like flower petals, into my mouth, and the clean sourness of the fruit and the sweetness of the cream spread. I could eat any number of these.

“By the way. I heard from Steinfeld-jyou that you two are going to study in Sternkurst?”

“Yes. It’s an invitation from the other side, but I thought it sounded interesting, so I decided to go.”

“Interesting…….typical of Sapphiras. But is it safe? There are not many good rumours about their country.”

They may not have blindly kidnapped children of humans and beastmen like they used to, but slavery still remains. The sense of being chosen by the people is also somewhat strong. Discrimination against not only beastmen, but also those who used to be slaves is deeply rooted. From the point of view of Clawis and the others, it’s obviously not a trustworthy country. Of course, I also don’t trust a country that doesn’t look like fun.

In addition, the country of Sternkurst seems to be very ambitious, and from time to time I hear some nasty stories. Fortunately, His Majesty the King is a moderate man and has no intention of expanding our territory further, and His Highness the Crown Prince is not a man who has ambitions outside the country. Even if their country should try to provoke us, we will deal with it calmly.

Generally speaking, when a country grows too big, it is difficult to govern it. Naturally, the larger the country, the more people there are, and the further away from the centre, the more difficult it becomes to unify the will. Good times are good, but of course there are also bad times. There are things that can’t be helped by human power, such as magical beasts overflowing from the abyss, floods and droughts. Let that happen in every corner of the vast land and see what happens. It will obviously get out of hand.

“It’s okay, it’s okay! Don’t worry! Right, Percival?”

“Aah.”

When I looked at Percival sitting next to me, he nodded confidently.

“Certainly. If Percival is with you, it should be fine.”

“Yes. With Percival-sama with you, I’m not too worried.”

Rivera is also nodding his head.

……Everyone’s confidence in Percival is amazing. Certainly, if I were the only one, I might mess something up. After all, I have no patience. But it’s okay. I am fully aware of this.　

“However, it makes me a little sad to think that I won’t be able to have tea with everyone for the time being.”

Aurora says this and lowers her eyes.

“Eh? We can come back right away if I use transference, though? If I want, I can come back every rest day……”

When I said I was going to study abroad, everyone looked exaggeratedly lonely.

Redhead, in particular, had a face like the end of the world, and was making a fuss about going too. I can’t go to a foreign country and take care of the redhead, so it would be a problem if he followed along.

Putting the redhead aside. Everyone seems to have forgotten, but I can come back to Solmontana as soon as I want to. Even if I study abroad in another country, it’s not such an exaggerated thing. If anything, I can commute from Creare’s dormitory every day.

“Oh, yes, that’s right. I thought I wouldn’t see you for a while, but Sapphiras-sama would be able to come back right away no matter where you went.”

“Yeah. But since it’s a rare opportunity, I want to have fun living there.”

There are many things I want to investigate, and I plan to use this opportunity to wander around that country and find targets2targets for transferring.

First, I’m going to explore the royal capital.

“But even though you’ll be back soon, it’s a tricky country. I want you both to be very careful. By the time you return from your studies, the conclusion of an alliance will be imminent. I look forward to our time at the academy together this time.”

“Yeah. I think both Clawis and Rivera will have a hard time for a while, but don’t overdo it.”

When I said it, Clawis told me he’d return the words to me as is. I’m not always overdoing it, though. Because I don’t do anything without a chance of winning.

Besides, I know that if I overdo it, I’ll push Percival into overdoing it too, so I think I’ll think about it a bit before I act.

A month after that tea party. Percival and I, who have completed the study abroad procedures, are finally heading to Sternkurst.

The school we will attend is the Ars Aristocratic Academy in Kelsas, the royal capital of Sternkurst. Unlike Solmontana, attending the school is apparently not an obligation for nobles. However, it is said that the sons and daughters of high-ranking nobles always enrol. In short, it’s pasting gold.3要するに箔付けって:  a metaphor, to increase one’s prestige. There’s also a similar Chinese saying, pasting gold on one’s own face.

Percival and I first moved to Vanderwall and spent about a week there. The reason why it took a week is because it would normally take that long to travel from the royal capital of Laetus to Vanderwall.

And from Vanderwall to Kelsas, the royal capital of Sternkurst, it takes about five days by carriage. It would probably take one or two days to get there by stepping-stone transfer on Unisus, but we deliberately went by carriage.

The Crown Prince of Sternkurst had his eye on me at that evening party, so he probably knows that I am a magician who can transfer. However, he probably doesn’t know the extent to which I can transfer. I’m not going to reveal my hand so easily to an opponent who is more of an enemy.

I spent quite a few fulfilling days in Vanderwall, having a mock battle with Kingsleigh-san’s squad after a long time and exploring the city of Oriens, but thankfully, while I was playing around, Madam Adeline and Sandrion-san prepared the daily necessities I would need while I was studying abroad.

And after stretching my wings to the full, I headed for the royal capital of Sternkurst with Percival in a carriage with the shining Vanderwall crest. I was accompanied by ten knights, whom Vanderwall-kyou had sent as my bodyguards to make sure I would not be underestimated. Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration? That’s what I thought, but according to Vanderwal-kyou, exaggerating it was just right.

So, after a rather enjoyable journey with the knights of Vanderwall, we set foot on a new stage.

“What? Separate building?”

“Yes. Sapphiras-san will be in the south wing and Belisario-san in the north wing.”

After a greeting in the principal’s office, we were told that Percival and I would have rooms in different dormitory buildings. Apparently they couldn’t arrange our rooms together because of the urgency of the situation.

I had already made a request to the school to have our rooms as close together as possible, but it was promptly rejected. We came here to study at the request of the Crown Prince of this country, and we get this from the get go.

I somehow guessed that the rooms were intentionally separated. In this situation, the classes are probably separated as well.

They probably wanted to separate Percival and I in an unfamiliar place to create a gap in my heart.

From this country’s point of view, they probably think that an underage magician who looks like he could be of some use and the son of a Margrave family who could be a bargaining chip in an emergency jumped into their bosom. If anything, they may be underestimating Solmontana as a country that was stupid enough to send us away so easily.

Naive! It’s naive! Sweeter4甘い (amai): sweet or naive  than fried pastries covered in sugar and dipped in honey!

In general, I don’t have the soft heart to be worried by such things anymore. I’ve been roaming around solo for a long time before I formed the Weathervane Party, and I’ve been left alone in this life since I was young. And for someone like me, who can transfer, there is no problem even if the rooms prepared for us is in the southernmost and northernmost parts of the country.

In addition, after anticipating various dangers, His Excellency the Duke allowed me to study in this country. If the Crown Prince and the people involved with us in this country don’t notice it, school life here is going to be quite enjoyable.

I arrived at the north wing hoping to know where Percival’s room was before I was shown to mine. If I go there even once, it’s within the scope of my transfer.

The room prepared for Percival was not bad, as it was well furnished and spacious. We looked around the room together, but there were no signs of anything being set up. I may have been a little over-cautious, but you can never be too careful.

I was then shown to my room in the south wing, and after confirming that the guide had left, I locked the door to my room and transferred to Percival’s room.

“Percival.”

“Sapphiras, is everything alright over there?”

When I transferred to the room in the north wing, Percival was waiting for me with a pot of tea. The long-lasting lemon sweets that Madam Adeline gave me are also on the table. I was hungry, so I’m grateful.

“Yes. The room was the same as here. It didn’t look like anything was being set up.”

The size of the room and the furniture in it were the same as Percival’s room, so at least there was nothing suspicious about it.

“I see. But just in case, it would be better to stay here at night.”

“Yeah, that’s right. I will.”

Me aside, even Percival doesn’t know what’s going on. It’s safer to be together as much as possible.

melon: Ohoho!! Sleeping in the same room?! and maybe even in the same bed?!?