Four Days
Four Days
It took exactly twenty minutes to reach the academy, just as I'd expected.
I'd fallen asleep with surprising ease, and in that short span I was still so groggy that I stumbled a little getting out of the carriage. I entered the academy with Ragnis, who laughed at the sight. The whole place was bustling from the main gate onward, unlike the day before, making me wonder if something was going on. Ragnis spoke to me as we started walking.
"You remember what I said yesterday?"
"I remember, but we'll just have to split up again once magic class rolls around anyway."
"...Eldmia? Where did you put the assignment sheet Jideulli handed out?"
"There was something like that...?"
I thought back and had a vague memory of being given something to read, maybe?
I also had a feeling I'd just shoved it into my pocket assuming it was some academy promotional pamphlet or something...
"It's in my pocket...isn't...it is."
It was inside a small pocket sewn into my half-cape, made to hold letters at most.
"So you never even looked at it..."
"Somehow it ended up that way. Who cares! As long as I didn't miss class and paid attention, that's what matters, right?"
"You missed class yesterday..."
"No, that one I would've skipped even if I'd known, so it doesn't count."
The truth was that the mistake started with me playing hooky, so Ragnis naturally stared at me like I was unbelievable. To dodge her gaze, I unfolded the scrap of paper I'd left untouched for four days... wait, what?
"Dungeon survey... team battle... friendly match? Isn't this an exam, not class?"
Everything written down starting today was that sort of thing. I looked at Ragnis with my honest reaction of 'what the hell is this,' but she was staring back at me with an expression of 'what the hell are you talking about.'
Don't look at me like that... now the cold stares from the Hero's party came to mind automatically, making me seriously anxious I'd blurted out something clueless again...
"Of course it's an exam. You didn't think gauging the Hero's accomplishments would end with a single sparring match and sitting in on a few classes, did you?"
"...What about us?"
"Ah... so that's where it starts. I keep telling you it's special treatment, but it seems like it never really sank in."
Listening to Ragnis explain with a nod as if she'd finally figured out my confusion, this event—practically a Hero PR festival—was supposed to run normally for three days starting today.
Even that required visitors from other nations to go through a process months in advance: finding their own lodging, adjusting their schedules, and securing visits. They even had to obtain an ID card just to enter the academy.
This was the moment where it became even clearer what an unimaginably insane bastard that Rudra's dog had been.
Why bring him up out of nowhere? Because that guy didn't even have the qualifications to visit the academy that day! No wonder I'd thought it was a bit odd back then when that professor had been so flustered, asking who the hell he was. The reason was truly beyond anything I could've imagined.
He was an unreported outsider, so of course no one knew who he was even if he was a noble!
"Wow, I killed that bastard for nothing. If I'd left him alive, he would've kept causing incidents that were a massive pain in the ass."
"Don't even talk about it. It still makes my teeth grind just thinking about it."
Still, Ragnis had been insulted to her face along with her entire house. I couldn't claim to fully grasp the sensibilities of the nobility, but I'd seen enough growing up around it to understand.
Even so... holy shit. Among all the lunatics I'd met in this other world, that guy was one of the most genuine noble nutjobs.
I felt truly fortunate that the nobles around me seemed to be only the decent, good ones. I'd never met the Lord of Ogwen, but even with the city's security in shambles from rapid growth, he still seemed like a good lord given the circumstances.
"So that's why you and Sir Radnelbandes were more on guard than I expected?"
"That's right. Thanks to that, I've had to send steady reports to the royal family, which has been anything but trivial."
Other nations had dispatched official state delegations, but Ragnis had simply been invited as an Itiselian margrave. Because of that, she apparently had to write fairly lengthy letters every single day to stop any grumbling from kingdoms that hadn't even received the opportunity to send their own envoys.
Thinking about it, wasn't that pretty damn impressive...?
"More than that, even if you are escorting me, I feel like maybe this is a little too close..."
She was definitely linking arms with me, but her chest was blatantly pressed against me.
She'd gotten way too bold in just one day! So uninhibited that I was the one getting embarrassed!
"Anyway, Esmue is going to steal you away soon, and I'm already unhappy about it. You want to annoy me?"
Even though she'd said 'all day,' it seemed she had no intention of insisting on the spot next to me to the point of openly defying public scrutiny. Ragnis was glaring at me with half-lidded eyes. It felt a bit uncanny, like she'd cut off the option of not getting hit at all and was making me choose between getting hit once or twice... but I couldn't bring myself to refuse.
When we arrived at the main building with steps full of tension like that, I unexpectedly spotted Esmue with Zeke's group.
Among them, Zeke noticed me first and waved. Esmue turned her gaze our way right after, and without even acknowledging Ragnis's presence, she offered a hand greeting with a radiant smile.
Aaaaaaah!! Stop staring at her lips! Eldmia!!
Esmue was surveying me with a smile that was bright but unmistakably fox-like. Finding it hard to meet her eyes, I kept turning my head away. My gaze landed on a very dissatisfied-looking Ragnis, Zeke with an expression like he'd figured something out, and Eselua staring at Esmue with a vaguely proud look.
What the hell, I thought you imperial sisters didn't get along? Oh, maybe Eselua was basically an exception, so perhaps that didn't apply to her?
"The lessons from today onward are largely practical, so you're bound to be quite tired. Yet you don't look at all like you had trouble sleeping?"
She'd committed an outrageous act that changed the course of Eldmia Ega's life, yet she looked as if nothing had happened. I could only click my tongue. I thought she was a hamster, but she turned out to be a fox!
"Indeed. I really wanted to get some good sleep, you know."
I tried to answer as if nothing was wrong, but it wasn't easy. My reaction alone tipped off Ragnis, who'd instantly noticed Esmue had pulled something behind her back on the way home yesterday—something I didn't know about. Ragnis's eyes started narrowing, and seized by the absolute certainty that I had to change the subject immediately, I opened my mouth.
"Now that I think of it, I didn't expect you to be with the Hero from the morning. Does this have to do with today's class?"
"Hehe. Indeed. Though it takes the form of a lesson, ultimately this is closer to the Hero demonstrating what he has learned in the Empire. Speaking through me is the quickest way."
Just because she'd entered the academy temporarily didn't mean she'd completely let go of her duties, it seemed. As Esmue approached and offered a greeting to Ragnis with renewed formality, Ragnis too naturally detached herself from me and returned the greeting.
"Though it is a 'brief' three-day period, I look forward to working with you, Esmue."
"Of course. I shall do my utmost to make it an 'unforgettable' visit."
It was chilling. A dagger flew straight into my chest and lodged there.
I could tell now. If words had physical form, theirs would undoubtedly be razor-edged blades.
I desperately fixed my wandering, helpless gaze onto Zeke... and saw a side of him I could never have imagined.
Zeke had come up beside me before I knew it, and he was actually sympathizing with me!
"Hero...?"
"You've finally traded those knotholes for actual eyes."
Zeke's touch as he patted my shoulder felt incredibly warm. This was... the warmth of human compassion...!
"Hang in there. I’ve been down this road too. I believe you’ll get through it just fine."
He really wasn't just toting those three women around for show after all!
Amazed by Zeke's truly heroic aura as it radiated a halo behind him, I hurriedly leaned in to whisper in his ear.
"H-Hero—no, my esteemed friend. Could you please give me some advice? I've felt like my blood's been drying up since morning."
"Nope, can’t. It’s your karma. The only advice I can give you is to be very, very careful when you talk to the person who gave you that earring."
"...Huh?"
"I trust you'll understand what I mean by now."
Wait, seriously? For real?
I asked with my face, but Zeke just nodded, patted my shoulder one more time, and then simply walked back over toward Eselua and the other women.
Had I really been running around raising romance flags in every direction without even realizing it...? Actually, maybe I had!
Just as my vision started going dark, I felt the familiar sensation of arms linking with mine and was yanked back to reality. The utterly composed Esmue came into view. Even with Ragnis right next to us, she made no effort whatsoever to hide her affection as she spoke.
"I look forward to this day with you as well."
"...Aren't you being way too calm after doing something that huge."
For a moment the sheer audacity was so infuriating that I accidentally let some casual speech slip out in a small voice, but Esmue wasn't particularly startled.
Instead, she smiled faintly.
"Do I look calm to you?"
Her tiny hand gently layered itself over mine, and an unmistakable tremor came through.
Ragnis, who had already been examining me with sharp eyes at the phrase 'something that huge,' opened her own eyes wide and began looking surprised, as though she'd figured something out.
"If you prepare yourself beforehand, you can at least hide it from your face. It was special for me too; of course I couldn't recover my composure in a single night."
This was so damn hard...! As I desperately prayed only that my face wasn't blazing bright red, Ragnis cut in.
"...I'm going to do it too."
It wasn't difficult to tell that she was making a tremendous effort to hide the change in her expression. But it was still hard to believe she'd precisely deduced the situation from this fragment of conversation alone, so I could only ask back with a dumbfounded look.
"What?"
"When we get back. I'm going to do it too."
"No, do you even know what it is you're saying..."
Ragnis answered with her eyes instead of words, and I understood.
Ah! Everyone except me had maxed-out perception!