Academy Entrance Exam (3) - Her Knight
Louise smiled as she spoke.
“You’re home early today. Still looking like a drowned rat.”
Even if she didn’t mean it that way, anyone else would take that smile for pure mockery.
She lifted her chin, crossed her arms, and struck her signature villainess pose.
“You haven’t forgotten the Academy entrance exam is tomorrow, have you?”
I peeled off my soaked shoes as I answered.
“I told you not to worry.”
She hurriedly stopped me from taking them off indoors.
“Leave the wet shoes outside…! They’re a nightmare to clean.”
“Just have the Roengram maids handle it.”
Of course a fallen noble like Louise couldn’t afford high-class help like maids. I was only teasing her.
“That’s—! Th-they’re all on vacation…”
Her face flushed red from fluster, so I soothed her.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it today.”
“What’s gotten into you? You usually come home exhausted and collapse…”
“Like you said, the exam’s tomorrow. I took it easy today, so I’m fine.”
Pushing myself in training right up to the exam only to fail from mana depletion was not my style.
I gently pushed her back and stepped into the mansion.
“Alright, what’s for dinner tonight?”
“Ah… go dry off first, you mutt.”
A month had passed since I’d started living with her.
Was Louise’s attitude cold? Not really… but compared to the Louise from “that game” I’d played, her base affection was clearly higher.
More than anything, in the game she’d only ever been called by name… now she had a special nickname for me.
Mutt, huh… is that a good thing?
She looked at me with a somewhat confident expression.
“Hurry up and bathe. Today’s worth looking forward to…”
“If you put it that way… I’ll be looking forward to it.”
I sank into the warm bathtub.
Could you even call this a bathtub? Honestly, almost none of the facilities in her mansion worked properly except for Louise’s room, so I’d been fixing most of them while living here.
This tub was a wooden one I’d installed in a corner of the mansion’s yard.
Still, the water was already heated… Louise must have done that. For all her exterior, she was a considerate woman.
Could an ordinary noble daughter live so steadfastly after falling from grace? She’d never done anything with her own hands her whole life…
Honestly, I couldn’t have managed it.
“Haa…”
I dunked my face into the hot water.
Truth was, I wasn’t completely free of anxiety. I was using a route I already knew, but… could I pull it off? What if I made a mistake…
Still, anxiety had to be faked away. To others and to myself.
It made you hesitate, turned you passive, showed weakness to others.
As I was lost in those thoughts, Louise’s voice came from inside.
“If you don’t hurry, it’ll get cold!”
Oh… how to put it.
Louise stood before the dining table, chin raised in her pose, and asked.
“Well?”
At this point, wasn’t this her signature villainess pose? Setting that thought aside, I turned my eyes to the table.
On the long, massive dining table was the dinner she’d prepared. For nearly a month, neither of us had eaten anything that could properly be called “dinner” because of entrance exam prep.
At best, it had been the bread she lived on and rabbit meat I’d hunted, roasted…
It was a bit funny that the young lady of the Roengram Count family had potato bread as her staple…
“I asked how it is?”
A face expecting praise… honesty was the right call here.
“Warm potato soup, rabbit and potato stew, roasted potatoes… potato bread… potato pasta, is it…”
Potato potato potato potato potato…
“It’s the night before the exam, right? I made it myself.”
Honestly, the ingredients being the rabbit I’d caught and the potatoes she secretly grew… it was comedy, or was it a tearjerker?
Still, preparing this much cooking must have taken quite some time… even if it tasted bad, I’d eat it gratefully.
I lightly cut a piece of meat and potato from the potato-rabbit stew with a spoon and put it in my mouth.
? Why does this taste good?
“Is it bad?”
She seemed to misread my surprised expression and asked with a slightly stiff face.
This time I picked up a potato rice cake. This wasn’t a rice cake—it was closer to gnocchi.
As expected of an honor student, these were dishes that pushed the clearly limited ingredient of potatoes to the extreme.
I answered with a smile.
“It’s really… delicious…?”
Her expression brightened, and she quickly returned to her arrogant look.
“Right? After the maids disappeared, all the cooking was my—hup.”
She covered her mouth as if she’d made a mistake with what she said, then corrected herself.
“Ahem… after the maids all went on long-term business trips, I studied cooking hard…”
She still seemed to think she hadn’t been found out about that setting by me.
“You sit down and eat too. Why are you standing there waiting?”
“I was just about to sit.”
She sat in the chair across from me and fell into self-praise while eating the food she’d made.
“As expected of my cooking. Delicious.”
“For a count’s daughter to like potatoes this much… unexpected.”
She elegantly used her knife and chewed.
“Well, the crops I grew myself taste—hup.”
Oh, confessing the existence of the secretly grown potatoes?
“Ahem… ahem… high-quality potatoes airlifted from the northern Empire… they taste good.”
Flustered, she even answered in formal speech without realizing.
Today I’d let it slide without teasing.
She hurriedly changed the subject.
“Come to think of it, Aaron, do you think you can do well tomorrow?”
Ah… that was a nagging attack. Lightly deflect.
“Do you know about the Demonkin forces?”
Her expression darkened a little at my casual words.
“…Why all of a sudden?”
“Just, I’m in the dark about Empire affairs. Asking in case.”
“…I don’t know the recent situation accurately for personal reasons either… but Demonkin forces mean the intelligent monsters among the monsters, right…?”
Correct. Precisely, it referred to the high-intelligence monsters who followed the Demon King.
“Then do you know about the Demon King too?”
I carefully probed her.
“Demon King…? That’s just a story from legends.”
She said that, then seemed to ponder a bit before opening her mouth.
“I think it’s just a rumor, but I’ve heard that the monsters getting stronger is because the Demon King’s resurrection is drawing near.”
As expected, still at the stage of circulating as “rumors”…
“Right, just a rumor. Exactly.”
I agreed with her words.
“The Empire doesn’t have any regions leisurely enough to be wary of something like that either.”
That would be so. Louise not having entered the Academy yet meant, in “that game” terms, it was a point not even past the early prologue.
Louise spoke as if something had occurred to her.
“Come to think of it, some professors additionally… no, it’s a rumor that has nothing to do with us.”
It wasn’t a rumor. That was the key.
She seemed to believe I could enter the Academy, and her high evaluation was welcome, but honestly it was impossible.
Even if possible, better to avoid regular admission. The Empire Academy was a key facility of the Empire.
Entering normally would mean my identity getting searched. I didn’t want to do the stupid thing of revealing my Kingdom origin here.
She looked at me with a slightly suspicious gaze.
“Why so quiet?”
If this world really flowed similarly to the game… no country would yet recognize the Demon King as a threat… or even be aware of the existence.
But a few individuals with outstanding foresight for the future would be different.
For the safety of their nation, to protect themselves from the coming threat, they would recruit forces with outstanding combat ability.
“Recommended admission…”
Whether she heard my muttering, she spoke with sharp eyes.
“Recommended admission? That system isn’t being implemented, is it…”
“Did I say something like that?”
“You’ve been suspicious since earlier.”
Right. The only admission method I was aiming for. “Recommended admission.”
I’d just named it, but in the game it was called the “Special Class Route.” All the actions that had seemed like nonsense until now were blades I’d sharpened for this route.
Louise looked at me and, for once, gave me a sweet line.
“…Aaron, the time to judge a person was short, but the you I’ve seen doesn’t seem like someone who would lie. …I believe in you, Sir Knight.”
From mutt to knight… a drastic promotion.
“Oh… when did I get promoted all the way to knight?”
She smiled with a bright yet villainess-like wicked smile.
“Just kidding. You’ve got a long way to go, mutt.”
“So this is the Empire Academy…?”
“Hoo… I am Louise, eldest daughter of the Roengram family… I am Louise, eldest daughter of the Roengram family… I am Louise, eldest daughter of the Roengram family….”
Oh… can you even call this an Academy…?
The Empire Academy was on a far larger scale than the Hero Academy I’d attended in the Kingdom. At least ten times bigger, it seemed…
I was passing through the Academy’s main gate with her, who was extremely tense.
Applications for the exam were already done, and we had to go to the exam hall where examinees were gathered for the entrance exam.
“Hoo… I am Louise, eldest daughter of the Roengram family… I am Louise, eldest daughter of the Roengram family… I am Louise, eldest daughter of the Roengram family….”
“Louise, go on ahead. I have something to do for a moment…”
“Hoo… I am Louise, eldest daughter of the Roengram family… I am Louise, eldest daughter of the Roengram family… I am Louise, eldest daughter of the Roengram family….”
“Louise?”
“Ah… I understand… Don’t worry.”
She was in a bit of a bad state from nerves, but if it was the Louise from the game I’d seen, she’d be fine.
More than that… ah, as expected, there it is. The good-luck charm for passing. In the game, it was an item that raised the pass rate. I didn’t need it, but for Louise…
From a bit of a distance, groups of nobles and their servants were visible.
According to Louise, nobles had a pass rate of over 70%… already clustering by factions, I supposed…
A story that had nothing to do with me.
Thinking that, as I approached Louise for the charm, a woman who looked like a noble young lady from one group seemed to be speaking to Louise…
Someone she knew?
A short-haired girl with a dumb look was addressing Louise in a loud voice.
“My, my? Who is this? Isn’t it Lady Louise of Roengram?”
Louise spoke awkwardly.
“You know me? I’ve never seen your face before.”
The short-haired girl answered a bit irritably to her reply.
“Is it because you weren’t invited to social parties… that you don’t know me?”
A companion in the group spoke as if restraining her.
“Hey… stop it… If it’s Roengram, that’s a count family…”
“…A count family in name only? The fallen noble Roengram family? Pfft…”
When the short-haired girl sneered and ignored her, Louise glared at her with sharp eyes and said.
“What did you just say…? If you want to die, keep going.”
Oh… I remembered. The third-rate villainess who foolishly picked a fight with Louise, got a retort, tried to lay hands on her, and got reverse-toured. That scene.
Getting to watch a game prologue scene right before my eyes felt fresh.
Thinking that, I was watching with interest, and at that moment, my eyes met Louise’s from where she stood apart.
“...”
“Roengram? What are you gonna do about it, fallen noble.”
Louise was stammering, her face flustered.
Why?
“Ha… stop it! If I’ve done anything wrong to you before, I’m sorry…”
Louise seemed to be apologizing to the short-haired girl?
The short-haired girl grabbed the arm of Louise who was trying to leave and said.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Realizing something was wrong, I approached the short-haired girl and intervened.
“What’s the issue with my companion?”
Louise could only avoid my gaze, unable to do anything.
The short-haired girl put on a third-rate smirk as if she’d figured something out.
“Ah! Is it because of this man? Pretending to be a count’s daughter and seducing him with your status?”
Saying that, the short-haired woman looked at me and said.
“This woman’s a noble from a fallen house with nothing to her name. You’d better quit on her too? I could tell she was full of herself from before.”
“The Roengrams are still standing strong! What do you know…”
Louise cut in to block her words.
Was Louise truly ashamed? She wasn’t the type to apologize herself, yet she wanted to get out of this place quickly even while apologizing.
“Th-that’s enough! I’m sorry. Let’s just go, Aaron…”
Ah… she hated showing me this side of her. So that concept was serious… the her in the game wouldn’t have cared at all.
“Let’s go… Aaron…”
Still, treating our Louise like that pisses me off a bit…
“Even a count family looks like nothing much up close. Are you running away like your father?”
The short-haired woman sneered and tried to grab Louise again as she shook off her hand.
Has this bitch gone crazy for real.
Tak— I grabbed the short-haired bitch’s wrist and twisted it lightly enough not to hurt her.
“Aaaah! What are you doing?! Do you want to die?”
“Aaron…?”
Louise looked a bit flustered.
“First, I am not her lover. I am her knight.”
A beastman who seemed to be the short-haired girl’s escort threw a punch at me.
Clumsy, so clumsy. I lightly dodged the fist and tripped him.
“Second, you have insulted the Roengram Count family.”
“D-do you think you’ll get away with doing this to me?”
“Third, the Roengram family is still standing strong.”
Louise looked flustered, then soon looked at me and smiled with her original villainess-like smile.
“Well done, Aaron. Want to try more? Young lady of some ‘viscount’ family somewhere.”
The short-haired girl raised her voice high.
“You still think you’re a count family? What knight for the likes of you…!”
Her companion restrained her.
“Celine, stop it… the surrounding gazes are too…”
“You. You’d better watch yourself.”
She glared at me with a third-rate line.
Why is she glaring at me?
Knowing it was embarrassing, the idiots left as if swallowing their anger.
Wow… a textbook extra villainess… completely different caliber from our real villainess Louise.
Surrounding people’s gazes were gathering.
Louise said with a triumphant face, smiling.
“Let’s head in too, Sir Knight.”
Seeing her face made me feel proud for no reason.
Seeing her smiling face made me want to do it here somehow.
Anyway, I had to do it to start the route…
I cleared my throat…
Alright, let’s shout it… the starting point of the Empire’s pinnacle route.
Murderous gazes stabbed into me.
Louise looked at me flustered.
“Wh-what are you doing?”