CH 12

While receiving cold gazes from the young noble ladies, I left the school gate with two handsome guys.

They’d later claim that even though Curtis-onii-chan and Elmer had been the ones to come rushing toward us, Carol and I had lured them in with erotic trickery.

I would like to denounce the young ladies, saying that their words are as knotholes: hollow.

It can’t be helped, because the gentlemen just approaching me have sent rumor mill spinning.

Goodness.

The four of us walk in the center of the royal capital under the clear blue sky.

“It seems there was another ruckus in the girls’ dormitory,” Curtis said.

“Well, there was a maid that tried to poison me,” I said.

“I heard you stood on the table and drank the poisoned bowl of soup in one go, saying, ‘I’m going to drink this poison! I’ll protect Caroline-sama!!’, and that you made a real impression on the culprit with that,” Curtis said.

“… Not quite like that, but you’re not wrong, either,” I said.

“Me, I don’t know if I’d have gone that far, you’re amazing, Makoto,” Curtis said.

“That was… cool, Makoto,” Elmer said.

“That’s not what happened!” I yelled.

The two gentlemen were so interested in yesterday’s incident, and so I set them straight.

“So did you expect your first-day rampage in the Academy to go that far, Makoto?” Curtis asked.

“It’s not like I wanted to do it,” I said.

“And poison doesn’t work on you… how convenient,” Elmer said.

“Kevin-ouji said the same thing,” I said.

“Poison… well, I’m always wary of poison,” Curtis said. “I’m a little relieved that poison in general doesn’t work on you. Caroline-sama is also an alchemist, so she should always have an antidote on hand,” Curtis said.

“I do have some,” Carol said. “Just in case, Curtis-sama and Elmer-sama, you two should take some, too.”

“Right, I was just thinking that,” Curtis said.

“I’ll take it… thank you, Caroline-sama,” Elmer said.

Carol gave Curtis and Elmer blue test tubes.

“If they know it doesn’t work, they won’t use poison,” Curtis said.

“Because if you aren’t careful with poison, you’re going to affect people who aren’t involved,” I added.

If the liquid spills, it will contaminate what it touches.

By the way, that soup had a concentration of deadly poison that would kill you in 2 hours if you drank a spoonful of it.

If that’s the case, even the gas that evaporates from spilling it will pose a health hazard to the surroundings.

“So, since that poison wouldn’t work… you showed it to their faces… you’re so impressive, Makoto,” Elmer said.

“Hehe, thank you, Elmer,” I said.

“That analysis magic, the area sensing magic, and the Light magic seemed so useful,” Curtis said.

“Right, all of them… so advanced,” Elmer said.

“They were spells devised by Holy Maria-sama,” I said.

“Hmm, was there no offensive magic in the mix?” Curtis asked.

“It seems that there is a forbidden Light art from when Holy Maria-sama defeated the Demon King, but there are almost none up to the intermediate level, only healing magic,” I said.

Well, for that matter, intermediate magic has a super-powerful healing spell that can regrow lost limbs.

“It must be a pain not to even have a simple projectile spell, Light magic suffers when it comes to magic battles,” Curtis said.

“Why are you three casually talking about such disturbing things while we’re passing through such wonderful scenery?” Carol muttered, amazed.

“Talking about magic… it’s fun,” Elmer said.

And while we were conversing, we arrived in front of Hiyoko-Do.

Wow, it’s really crowded.

About half are lower-class lower noble students and the other half are maids.

“Um, Makoto, what are you doing?” Carol asked.

Oops, Cliff-onii-chan is sorting out the line of customers in front of the store.

“I came here to buy lunch, Cliff-niichan,” I said. “It’s kind of weird to be a customer at my own home.”

“Right, right, you should know the saint’s bread is freshly baked,” Cliff said. “Are those… your friends?”

“Yeah, the friends I made yesterday, Carol, Curtis, and Elmer,” I said.

“Is that so? Please take care of my imouto,” Cliff said.

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“Yes, you can count on us, Cliff-san,” Carol said.

“That’s a relief, Carol-san,” Cliff said.

Suddenly, I understood that the atmosphere had grown tense due to the difference in social status.

The lower-class noble students and the maids lined up have now stopped moving.

“Nii-chan, you shouldn’t use nicknames for nobles you aren’t close with,” I said.

“Oooh, sorry about that,” Cliff said, dropping to his knees without hesitation.

“Caroline is an earl’s daughter,” Curtis said.

“N-No,” Carol said, “Makoto was the one who was at fault, don’t worry about it.”

“Even though I was ignorant, I was still rude, Hakushaku-reijou-sama, forgive me, forgive me~,” Cliff begged.

“Ah, please raise your head, Cliff-san, I’m not offended or anything. Do something about this, Makoto~,” Carol hissed.

“You’re bothering Carol, so raise your head, Onii-san,” I said.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. You’re being so casual with them, Makoto, so I thought they were only around knight’s children.”

“Curtis is the son of a margrave, and Elmer is the son of a marquis,” I said.

“…Makoto, is it alright if Onii-chan starts begging for mercy?”

“Hold on, Onii-chan,” I said.

“So that’s how commoners react, huh?” Curtis said.

“Makoto it’s… entertaining,” Elmer said.

Cliff-onii-chan has become a machine that bows at an angle of 90 degrees.

“Don’t worry too much about it, Cliff-nii,” I said.

“I don’t believe… there was a problem,” Elmer said.

“If there was, you’d have been decapitated by now,” Curtis said.

“Mmm,” Cliff gulped.

“You know what they’re talking about… Cliff-nii,” I said.

Don’t be intimidating, you two upper-class nobles.

“But it’s crowded, Onii-chan,” I said.

“Since it’s the new school year, there will be more word of mouth from students from now on,” Cliff said.

“You do realize that I’ve got the children of high-ranking nobles with me, right?” I said.

“Yeah, they’re people so far above the clouds I didn’t expect them, Onii-chan’s heart is about to explode,” Cliff said.

“That’s why you should give us a special treat and sell us some bread right away,” I said.

At that last part, Cliff-onii-san gave me a bright smile.

“Neither kings nor princes will receive special treatment, that is Hiyoko-Do’s way,” Cliff said.

“Tch,” I went.

By the way, that policy made me remember something I reinvented here, from my time in Comiket.

When I was at the bakery, I used my Comiket-inherited line-organizing skills to control the queue during lunch break.

“We’ll be in line for a while,” I said.

“I don’t mind,” Curtis said.

“A commoner’s bakery… how fascinating,” Elmer said.

“Makoto, you and Cliff-san are so alike,” Carol said. “I wonder if Hiyoko-Do is where all your merry-making comes from.”

Hiyoko-Do is 1/4th of me, the baron house’s etiquette is 1/4th of me, the saint’s education is 1/4th of me, and my past life otaku activities are 1/4th of me.

Or rather, I’m not a particularly interesting person.

I arrived at Hiyokodo relatively early, so even though I had to wait in line, it wasn’t that long, and it was a short walk to the glass case where my father was.

“Oh, Makoto, you’re here? The saint’s bread is freshly baked,” Otou-chan said.

“Five saint’s bread, an egg sandwich, and some honey bread, please wrap four of the saint’s bread separately,” I said.

“Got it,” Otou-chan said.

“What’s delicious here, Makoto?” Curtis said.

“Get some freshly baked saint’s bread, the rest is anything else that interests you,” I said.

“Hmm, then, Tenshu, saint’s bread, and that bacon bread, and the stew bread.”

“Yes, understood,”

“For me… saint bread, and mayo-corn bread…”

“Got it.”

“Hmm, saint’s bread and a ham egg sandwich, please.”

“Right, here you go.”

I leave the bakery after having my mother do the money counting.

“Makoto, here, to go with,” Cliff-onii-chan said, handing me four bottles of soda in a flax bag.

“Thank you, Onii-chan,” I said.

He’s so nice.

I’m thankful for him.

“It’s nice weather out today, so let’s eat in the school courtyard,” Carol said.

“I feel the same,” I said.

“It smells good. I want to eat it right away,” Curtis said.

“For the first time… I bought my own bread, it was surprisingly fun…” Elmer said.

Curtis, Elmer, and Carol all have nice smiles.

Carol laid a blanket on the lawn in the courtyard.

Where did it come from?

Carol should be carrying Chain-kun, and should have a lot of alchemicals beside him, too.

Alchemists must be truly ridiculous.

We sit on the lawn, hand out sodas, and bite into the bread.

Hmm, the freshly baked saint’s bread is crispy and irresistible.

“Wow, this texture is really sweet and delicious. The skin is crispy, but the inside is moist,” Carol said.

“Wahaha, what is this? There is stew in fried bread. This is interesting and delicious, wahahahaha,” Curtis said, chuckling.

“Mayo-corn… it’s a strange texture… but it’s so good,” Elmer muttered.

“That’s right, that’s right,” I said.

The mayonnaise and corn bread and the stew bread are things that I developed with knowledge from another world.

There was corn in this world, but I couldn’t get the spices for curry, so I used stew in the fried bread.

I wonder if it’s going to be more like a piroshki than curry bread.

I wanted to make a chocolate coronet, but chocolate is expensive in this world.

It’s ridiculously expensive for the bakery’s menu, so I gave up.

Since there is a Valentine’s Day event, maybe Hiyoko-Do will develop a chocolate chip cookie.

It looks like it will sell very well.

I’m proud and happy to see the storm of praise for the bread for everyone, while they’re going “sweet” and “delicious.”

“Haa, it was delicious. Let’s go buy it again,” Curtis said.

“It’s really good stuff,” Carol said, “let’s get Anne to buy some bread for us. Breakfast should also be bread from Hiyoko-do.”

“For three meals…mayo-corn bread would be fine,” Elmer said.

He wants to eat it again so much.

How much did he like this?

A feeling of relaxation after eating something delicious surrounds us.

The sky is clear and the sun is warm and shining.

A light breeze ruffles Carol’s hair.

I could hear the faint voices of the students in the distant school building.

“Now then, in the afternoon, it’s a magic practical class,” Curtis said.

“We’re divided into each attribute, and we’ll be in different classes, won’t we… What about Makoto?” Elmer asked.

“I wonder what will happen, you’re the lone Light magic user, aren’t you?” Curtis asked.

“Makoto’s… I want to study Light magic,” Elmer said.

“Even if it’s researched, it’s only 1 person in 100 years who can use it, right?” I said.

“That magic… it might bring us closer to its mysterious roots,” Elmer said.

Elmer really is a magic otaku.