Do Not Fear
The feeling Tiel Kelga harbored toward Professor Joseph was, honestly, nonexistent. After all, he was just like most adult men. In truth, they had only ever met in the official capacity of teacher and student, so she maintained a surface-level respect while keeping an emotionally distant attitude inside.
Of course, that didn’t mean she disputed his status as a hero. The Demon King Slayer. Or, as Ziekrinde called him, the Silent Sword Emperor. She knew this swordsman had once stood shoulder to shoulder with the hero Laval. And really, wasn’t that obvious? Whether in the arrogant capital or the provinces that wore their worth on their sleeves, there wasn’t a soul who didn’t recognize that name even if they had never seen his face.
She might have mentioned Sir Laval earlier, but everyone knew the man could be called the undisputed strongest in humanity without exaggeration. Even so, the reason she felt nothing toward him was simply Tiel’s inherent wariness of others. She carried many scars.
There was no room in her heart for the kind of “baseless admiration” her classmates seemed to feel for him—an emotion that might even be a misunderstanding. Yet lately, sincerity had begun to seep into the title Professor whenever she spoke it.
Because… our professor was… far warmer than she had imagined. Far warmer than anyone could have expected.
Usteria, who could make a person tremble with just a glance. Tiel still didn’t know how the elf had discovered her secret, but at the beginning of the semester, after realizing Tiel was a girl, Usteria had issued a single demand while deciding whether or not to expose her to everyone.
Tiel. I have properly concluded discussions with the saintess of the elf clerical order you had issues with. You will return soon, so do not worry yourself and keep the family in mind.
And no matter what happens, live in such a way that I never have to frown because of you again. Even these words are wasted on a failure like you, so focus quietly on your studies. You need not return to the county.
— Your Father
“Kill this bird for me, won’t you?”
“…Pardon?”
“It’s just a bird, it is. If you simply close your eyes tight, there’s no reason you couldn’t kill it.”
“B-but…”
“So, Cadet Tiel values the fate of this small, worthless bird more than preventing the complete destruction that would follow everyone learning you’re a girl? Oh my. Hehe… Ufufu… How adorable.”
It was exactly as it sounded. Usteria wanted her to kill the cute sparrow perched on the elf’s hand. And not just kill it—torture it as painfully as possible.
“If you can’t, then I suppose there’s nothing to be done. The Kelga family carries the blood of archmages, after all. You know better than anyone what kind of house that is, it is.”
“───.”
“Girls born there cannot inherit the family’s formula, can they? Because they are not born with the stigma required for it, I believe you said.”
“N-no. No…!”
“So I heard that any daughter is killed the moment she’s born. And yet here you are, alive and well. Someone must have hidden you, yes?”
“No. No. I said no!!”
“My, how pitiful. If you can’t do it, there’s only one solution, isn’t there? I already told you from the beginning, didn’t I?”
Crack.
“Good girl.”
And so, Tiel—who couldn’t even bring herself to kill an ant—committed her first act of killing. What came after… she couldn’t quite remember. When she regained consciousness, the only thing she recalled was waking up after being struck by Usteria’s magic and fainting.
Fortunately, the incident eventually came to light somehow. Usteria was suspended, the previous professor resigned, Professor Joseph arrived, and time somehow drifted on in a blur.
That was why simply seeing the girl who had blackmailed her sitting casually in the same class again felt like an unbearable catastrophe to Tiel.
Had that girl really wet herself in fear after looking at Sir Joseph? Part of Tiel felt refreshed that the filthy, demonic bitch from hell had shown such a pathetic sight. Yet at the same time, she was the one who truly needed to be afraid. The thought that the girl received sympathy for wetting herself and continued living comfortably filled Tiel with quiet rage.
After distancing herself from that creature—while still pretending to be a boy—Tiel had climbed to the rooftop only to see a sparrow with its wings broken. The nausea had risen so violently she nearly vomited everything in front of the professor.
A sparrow. Someone’s return. Wings broken. She couldn’t be certain, but the circumstantial evidence was painfully clear. No matter how much she feared Sir Joseph, Usteria’s true nature would not change. How was she supposed to live in the same space as that girl from now on?
But the professor had looked at the sparrow and said this:
“I don’t know what happened to break its wing so badly, but…”
He didn’t ask questions. Not of her, not of the bird. Instead, he reached out with his massive hand—big as a pot lid—and skillfully treated the creature. The sight had been magnificent.
“It’ll be fine soon.”
He made a promise. Even though, as Usteria had said, it was nothing but a worthless bird, his sincerity shone through.
“I’ll take it somewhere safe.”
And he offered it protection. If asked, he would seek out and guard anyone.
Being a hero was an abstract concept. Tiel had always thought of him that way—an abstract hero. But perhaps, in these small moments when the two of them were simply together, in the way he acted so naturally, she had finally felt the truth of it.
That was why Tiel found herself touching the bandages wrapped around her chest, which suddenly felt like broken wings. When had it started? Probably back in that empty warehouse, when the thing beneath her bandages had begun to throb and she’d been groaning in pain all alone.
Joseph had been the same back then. He had come running faster than anyone and found her. She had been terrified. It wasn’t the first time her whole body had shaken like that, so she had deliberately gone somewhere without people to endure it alone. Yet he had found her anyway, as if by some supernatural sense, and examined her.
Thinking about it now, that must have been the instinct of a veteran…
What had flustered her even more was that, even while she was writhing like that, Joseph had asked nothing of her. Instead, he had simply placed the bandages she hadn’t even been able to reach into her hands and said,
“Come out when you’re done. I’ll be waiting.”
Then he had left.
Why couldn’t she say anything? Not then. Not now.
…….
……
…
For some reason, the memory of that seizure in the warehouse brought back her father’s letter.
She remembered the cold words that had triggered the episode.
Her father had abandoned her. Because she lacked the stigma, he didn’t even treat her like a person. Of course she lacked it—she was a girl. That was only natural. Yet she hadn’t been able to say a single word. She had been terrified that the mother who had hidden and raised her until now would be punished. Terrified that she herself would be killed brutally by the family.
All this time, she had learned to swallow everything down.
So perhaps Tiel, who had accepted Joseph in an abstract way, might have been able to accept this problem in an equally abstract way. The fact that she couldn’t say anything to such a good person, a hero, an adult… was because she was repeating what she had learned from a father she hated enough to want to kill. The broken wings. The belief deep down that she could no longer fly. Those were the reasons.
If so, she only needed to say one thing.
“That person… before, to me……”
Don’t be afraid. This man is a hero. He can protect me. He will.
Then why—why was she still unable to say anything, even now?
Her fingers clenched the fabric of her uniform trousers. She squeezed her eyes shut, trembling, on the verge of speaking—
But at that exact moment, Sir Joseph held out a canned drink to her.
Where had that come from?
…Ah. Wait, why was there an icebox on the rooftop…?
“This is actually a spot I come to alone, so I secretly stashed an icebox up here and keep drinks in it.”
“Ah… you’re giving this to me? Thank you.”
“Tiel, if your chest ever feels tight, come up to the roof sometimes. You’re my student, so it’s fine if it’s you. Feel free to take whatever you want from over there and drink it.”
It was nothing particularly special. Yet the action loosened the tension that had been strangling Tiel.
The rooftop… She hadn’t known she would be allowed here. Well, coming up occasionally should be fine…
…Perhaps she might even be able to exchange a few more words with this hero.
But the moment Tiel accepted the can of coffee, Joseph gave her that characteristic worn-out smile.
“Tiel.”
It was practically the first time an adult had called her name in such a serious voice. Tiel whipped her head away, flustered.
“There’s no need to worry so much. I already understand everything.”
Those words only surprised her further.
“Yes…?”
“I’ll protect the forget-me-nots. It’s a secret from Ziekrinde, but she was quite the ferocious one too, wasn’t she?”
“Ah…”
“And yet I took her in. There’s no way I wouldn’t protect a model student like you, Tiel. No matter what happens, just trust this teacher.”
“That means…”
“I will protect Tiel. End of story.”
“───.”
“So stop worrying and square your shoulders. …Let’s act like a man.”
Only then did Tiel finally feel a sense of calm return.
As expected… So that was why all the young ladies in our class were so crazy about this man.
But… I’m not actually a man.
* * *
And Sion, who had no intention of helping with the aftermath of Usteria wetting herself, no intention of pitying her, and no intention of mocking her, was simply analyzing the situation. While the entire class scrambled to resolve the urination incident, she watched it all unfold with a fan spread open in true Sion fashion.
I want to help, but there’s no need. Why should I take in a crazy woman who saw my uncle and made a mistake a five-year-old would be ashamed of? There are limits to how ridiculous something can be.
From the very beginning, ever since the locker pigeon incident at the start of the semester, Sion had felt zero goodwill toward the girl named Usteria. And now she had suddenly appeared and done something so childish and humiliating to her uncle. Taking care of her would be a waste of energy.
Still, because she was observing so coldly, she managed to notice something.
“Ta-da! Look at what this young lady Valentina Rothschild has brought, everyone—?”
“Whoa, Valentina… What are all those clothes?”
“I didn’t expect something like this to happen, but as expected of a Rothschild young lady, I always keep spare uniforms on hand. Pyahang.”
“You brought them to lend us one…?”
“I’ll be charging you, of course.”
The young ladies were loud, boisterous, and incredibly noisy. Yet among them, there was exactly one person who, like Sion, was not participating in the conversation at all. Instead, she continued writing something with a truly suspicious air.
Rurua Feodosiya.
“How suspicious. It doesn’t look like she’s studying. The way she keeps glancing around, it seems like she’s recording this entire situation.”
Her intuition had been right. The strangest person here wasn’t Usteria or Tiel. It was her.
Sion had been curious about the girl since the beginning of the semester. That girl with no status and unclear origins—what exactly was she?
Sion closed her fan.