Chapter 178
Chapter 178
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 178
Chapter Title: Turmoil at the Francesca Mansion
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"No, my dear friend! Why is it that you only skip my classes so frequently?"
Carus raised his round glasses as he glared at his slightly late students.
"We haven't skipped today yet. And it just feels that way because you're teaching two subjects."
"This is too much!"
"Quiet."
"As an apology, please visit our mansion early!"
"……."
Nihil's eyes narrowed. Of course. This had been his intention from the start.
"Teacher."
"Yes!"
"Just teach the class."
"Too much! Don't you think so too, my secret friend Sir Evan?"
"Y-Yes? Ah, yes. The bobcat was a hundred times wrong. But, Marquis, that title is……."
"Teacher, earlier the puppy said……."
"Wait, what are you trying to say……!"
Nihil changed the subject by recounting how the puppy had once called the marquis a 'friend'.
The puppy turned beet red and threw a tantrum, but Carus, upon hearing the story, pretended to sob with joy, claiming his true feelings had finally gotten through.
"Sniff, sob, so my dear friend, when will you visit our mansion?"
"……."
"Kara is waiting."
Carus said this while handing over a postcard.
-Come quick, bunny!
In the end, unable to withstand Carus's urging, they arrived at the Francesca Mansion four days earlier than the birthday banquet.
In truth, with other guests crowding in, there would be all sorts of restrictions, so this might actually be a better choice for Nihil's work.
"Welcome, Your Highness, my dear friend, and my secret friend Sir Evan!"
"Welcome!"
"Mrewwoooow~"
The Francesca Mansion lived up to its name as a marquis's residence—light and airy, as if it might float away at any moment.
"Miss Kara, thank you for the invitation."
In his excitement, Lianus hopped down from the carriage.
"Your Highness, mind your dignity."
"Sergio nags too much……."
"It builds character."
Sergio followed, straightening Lianus's slightly disheveled clothes regardless of his pout.
Evan extended a hand to the little one still sitting dazedly in the carriage, with no intention of getting out.
"You're no princess, do I have to escort you too?"
"……."
Despite the sarcasm, the bobcat meekly took the offered hand. But that was it—she still showed no sign of standing.
"Nil, you okay?"
"…Yeah."
At least she responded when spoken to.
"What's wrong? Dear friend, are you carsick?"
"……."
To be precise, she only answered the prince.
"Dear friend, are you sick!? You can't be sick. We have to have a birthday party with Kara……."
"…No."
Ah, now he saw—she only responded to the kids.
"Haa……."
In the end, Evan sighed deeply and scooped Nihil up. Lianus glanced worriedly at Nihil before turning to Carus.
"Carus."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Sorry to ask right away, but do you have any mana stones?"
"First…, let's go inside."
Carus glanced at the somewhat dazed Nihil and, without a word, rummaged through the mansion to gather and hand over every mana stone he had.
The problem was…,
Bang, crash!
"Brother! What happened to my mana stones!"
…that they had a separate owner.
"……."
Somewhat recovered, Nihil paused while engraving a fire rune on the second mana stone and turned toward the source of the commotion. There stood a girl in her late teens, with the same pale turquoise hair as the teacher, fuming.
"Sis!"
"Kara~ my little darling~"
Kara, who had been feeding Lianus underbaked cookies, ran over the moment she saw her.
Lianus seized the chance to quickly rinse his mouth with tea, freed from the half-baked cookies.
"Rian, you don't have to eat them one by one."
"But…, she worked so hard to bake them for me. They're not that bad."
Lianus couldn't bring himself to refuse Kara, who was sparkling-eyed and shoving cookies at him. Especially since she'd insisted they were only for the prince and wouldn't let her family have any.
"Anyway, are you feeling better now?"
"A bit."
Nihil squinted one eye and scanned the surroundings.
Not even the spirit realm, yet how are there spirits swarming like this…….
The Francesca Mansion—no, the Francesca marquisate—was bizarrely dense with spirits compared to anywhere else.
The fact that the teacher, who hadn't been deemed compatible, was from here was impressive in itself.
It just means he has zero talent.
Nihil eyed Carus, utterly talentless as a spiritist, with half-lidded eyes.
"Cayen! How dare you burst in like that when His Highness is here!"
"His Highness or whoever, those are special mana stones…! What? His Highness?"
The girl finally noticed Lianus and widened her eyes.
"Oh my! Your Highness, forgive my rudeness. Brother, you should have told me beforehand."
"I did say we had guests. And acting refined now won't help."
At that, Cayen stuck close to Carus and punched his side while whispering.
"Shut up, you firebrand. You didn't say the guest was the prince!"
"You should be careful regardless. Didn't the servants stop you?"
"…I thought it was one of your researcher friends since you said it was your guest."
She'd occasionally steal his mana stones for research, so he could use some. Do you know how hard it is to get them? The siblings poked each other's sides while muttering.
Nihil watched their bickering, then gathered the mana stones in front of him. No matter how urgent, using others' things without permission was rude.
"Ahem, ahem, Your Highness, I hope my brother wasn't too rude?"
"The rude one is you, Cayen."
"Shut it. Why are we still in the drawing room anyway?"
The siblings bickered again. How could they be so noisy even when whispering quietly?
Nihil had always thought this family was… lively at best, chaotic at worst.
No…, something's off…….
Noisy? He was tolerant of noise. Especially children's laughter and chatter—he found it delightful.
(Kyahahaha~)
(Catch me~)
(Kara, look here!)
(Play with us!)
(Contract! Contract!)
Realizing he was hearing voices he shouldn't, Nihil urgently called out to Lianus.
"Rian."
"Yeah?"
"My eyes…, what color are they now?"
"Huh? Hmm……."
Lianus tilted his head at the question but peered closely at Nihil's eyes.
"They're hard to pin to one color usually, but… they seem especially green or blue right now."
"……."
Nihil's face twisted.
Even while suppressing his heterochromia, they were forcing their way in. What kind of freak house was this?
Clap! All eyes turned as he clapped his hands. No time to dawdle. Spirits swarming like this was highly abnormal. One wrong move, and the balance could collapse.
Still, if a compatible one contracts with a spirit, things might improve a bit.
"Teacher, bring all your collected materials. Mana stones… sorry, but lend me one more. …No, two."
With that, Nihil engraved fire runes on two mana stones without waiting for the owner's permission.
Grumbles from dissatisfied spirits filled the air, but soon fell silent. More precisely, they stopped being audible.
"Kyaack!"
"……?!"
A sudden scream rang out. As Nihil turned in alarm, his body was suddenly lifted.
"Oh my god, you're insane! Brother, what's this kid?!"
"Cayen! Don't be rude to my dear friend!"
"No, no, no! Look! Using runes so naturally! A mage?!"
"Give him here!"
"Brother! I have questions for him!"
Cayen ran off hugging Nihil. His body shook this way and that.
Where had the refined girl from moments ago gone?
"Cayen!"
Carus snatched Nihil back and scolded her furiously.
"I saw him first!"
"……."
Ah, he wanted to go home.
"Kyahahaha~ Kara is a cat fairy!"
Evan watched the Francesca family's youngest miss run about hugging the black cat doll with jade eyes that the prince had gifted her.
Since she liked both cats and fairies, the bobcat had remodeled the magic tool, resulting in a winged cat fairy.
"Kara~ Can sis see it just a bit?"
"Nooo~ It's Kara's."
"Our pretty, lovely Kara~ Sis is just so curious. Lend it once~"
And Lady Cayen chased after the cat fairy.
A 4th-circle mage, she seemed curious about the bobcat's gifted magic tool.
Conclusion: Mages were a bit peculiar after all.
Evan turned to the bobcat rifling through papers covered in strange script. His eyes, scanning rapidly, looked unusually urgent.
"Over there!"
And their cute prince waved his arms nearby. At empty air, but Evan didn't find it odd.
"Ugh……!"
For good reason—something invisible kept yanking the bobcat's hair.
Coming up the stairs, she'd nearly tumbled, so Evan had carried her himself.
"Rian, you're not seeing anything, right?"
Lianus shook his head vigorously, like seaweed flapping.
"No, I can't see. If I could, I'd protect you."
"No good comes from non-compatibles meeting their eyes."
"Why only torment you?"
"Because I carry something incompatible with them, so they're throwing a tantrum."
Nihil recalled the three fire mana stones in his pocket. Without them, he'd have been too busy suppressing his heterochromia to do anything.
But I didn't expect such blatant harassment…….
Normally, it'd just ruffle his hair lightly, but with their numbers, the force was considerable.
It was extremely rare for so many nature spirits to cluster in one place for so long….
"Your Highness's dear friend!"
As he pondered, Kara toddled over with cat ears and fairy wings.
Nihil chuckled at her appearance.
"Tired of it? Want me to change it?"
"Kara wants to fly in the sky!"
"Hm?"
Requesting a new magic tool?
"It has wings, so why can't I fly?"
"…That's……."
At a loss for words, Nihil quickly thought. Then he noticed the spirits' harassment had stopped and smiled.
"Kara can fly in the sky."
"Really?"
"Of course. But you have to contract with the wind."
The air stirred at 'contract'. Imperceptible to normals, but Evan sensed it and scooped up Lianus.
The cat fairy puzzled over the meaning for a while before answering energetically.
"You can't see or touch the wind! So no contract."
"But you can contract with wind spirits."
Spirits disliked humans speaking of them. In the past, humans had hunted their near-friends, the contractors, deeming spirit arts wicked.
But with a compatible right in front of them, that changed.
"Spirits?"
"Like fairies that control the wind."
"Can I contract?"
"If Kara wants."
"I do! Then I can fly?"
"Of course. But……."
Nihil tapped the stack of papers around him.
"First, there's a lot to learn. We need to find the contract method too."
"But Kara can't read these!"
"I'll find it for you. But……."
"What's wrong, dear friend?"
As Nihil hesitated with a pitiful expression, the innocent five-year-old squatted before him, looking up worriedly.
"I want to help Kara, but some meanies are tormenting me."
"Who bullied dear friend? Should Kara scold them?"
"Really? See, bad ones keep pulling my hair."
But…?
His words cut off midway.
"Dear friend, why aren't you talking?"
Kara tilted her head, but he couldn't answer. The air around him had vanished.
"Dear friend? What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
No, no.
Nihil calmly shook his head to avoid alarming the kids.
"…Nil? You okay?"
"Bobcat, what's wrong with you!"
But he couldn't hide his paling face, so it didn't take long for Lianus and Evan to notice.
Don't follow.
Nihil mouthed silently, abruptly standing to escape the airless zone. But whether it was too wide or the spirits pursued, it was tough.
It wasn't just inability to breathe. A pressure differential could lead to gruesome results.
Spirits meddling in the middle realm without a contractor is taboo…!
Sensing the anomaly but prioritizing escape, Nihil slapped away Evan's reaching hand and bolted outside.
Vibrations at his feet suggested the puppy was hot on his trail, but lacking breath, he couldn't shake him.
His vision blurred.
In desperation, Nihil ducked into a nearby room and locked it.
Bang bang! The door rattled.
In his fogging mind, he had no time to check if it was empty.
Faint chatter echoed.
(No, we're not bad.)
(We didn't do anything bad! Don't tattle!)
(Make him unable to speak!)
(Block his mouth.)
(He'll die if he can't breathe?)
(We can't let him die!)
(But he can't tattle!)
(What if he tattles and Kara doesn't want to contract?)
(Who said to pull his hair?)
(You did too!)
(He might die like this?)
(Then what?)
(What do we do?)
(What should we do?)
That was the dumbest conversation in the world that Nihil heard before losing consciousness.