23. Cheering You On, Tweet!
The elf stood beside the toilet.
Rucia and I simply stared at her.
“...Uh, you know what? This place is a little... much, isn't it? Let's go somewhere else.”
Realizing the mood had turned strange, the elf tried to talk her way out of it.
And yet the longer I watched her squirm, the harder it became to speak the truth.
A full minute passed, and I still couldn't bring myself to open my mouth.
[...Hey.]
Summoning every ounce of resolve, I finally sent a telepathic message.
“Y-yes?”
[That's... not a drinking fountain...]
I spit out the truth.
And as the moments dragged on, my explanation only grew more detailed. The elf's green eyes trembled harder and harder.
“...”
Her pupils blown wide, she stared down at the open toilet bowl.
She gazed quietly at the water with an expression steeped in tangled emotions, and then—
“Aaah...”
She fainted, falling face-first.
—SPLASH!
The elf's head plunged with pinpoint accuracy into the standing water.
...Oh no.
My own mind was such a mess that I couldn't bring myself to catch her in time.
—Blooosh.
I lifted her body out with telekinesis and washed her off. Since I couldn't exactly strip her clothes off, casting purification magic over her again and again was the best I could do.
In fairness, the toilet water at the Academy wasn't all that dirty.
'Something about the way I phrased that bothers me.'
Anyway, contrary to what any normal person would assume, it maintained an extraordinary level of cleanliness thanks to a permanent purification enchantment.
But no matter how pristine the water might be, drinking straight from a toilet bowl was... profoundly bad for one's mental well-being.
'Elf. I'm so sorry...!'
Thankfully, it didn't take long for her to open her eyes.
“...I really can't tell whether anything happened just now.”
Waking up on the living room floor, she had apparently lost her memory.
Oh, she scrunched up her face whenever her eyes happened to drift toward the toilet.
Oh, she convulsed at the sight of water pooling in the sink...!
But she absolutely, positively did not remember drinking toilet water.
'...Hmm.'
Regardless.
“The wardrobe, was it? I think the portal should go here. It's out of the way, and easy to hide.”
[Okay.]
And so the elf's home evolved from a toilet into a wardrobe.
A meteoric rise in social standing.
“Then I'll draw the array.”
I shared my mana with the elf, and she created the portal inside the wardrobe.
[I'll come find you if I need you.]
“...Yes.”
She fled into the portal as if escaping, and I raised a wall of magic one layer thick in front of it.
A deep brown, the exact same shade as the wardrobe itself.
'No one would ever spot this.'
I even masked the faint ripple of mana the portal gave off. Even if a Grand Magus of a mother came sniffing around, she'd have a hard time finding a trace.
Flawless security.
[Rucia. Shall we go, then?]
—Click.
Rucia closed the wardrobe door and answered.
“...Yes, Master.”
Something about Rucia's expression was different from usual. Was she worried the elf might pull something?
To ease her mind, I added an explanation.
[The elf can't come out of there. And even if she did, the terms of her contract with me would leave her powerless to do anything.]
No matter how far apart we were, that elf would die on the spot if I told her to.
“I see.”
[Mm. So there's no need to worry.]
Rucia's expression as she kept staring at the wardrobe was hard to read, but there was nothing I could do about that.
'She's an elf, after all.'
A legendary creature living in your bedroom wardrobe — it would be stranger not to worry.
“...Confinement?”
[Hmm? Rucia, did you say something?]
“No, nothing. Just talking to myself.”
She had clearly murmured it under her breath, yet even the ears of a sword-deflecting sparrow hadn't caught it properly.
Well, it couldn't have been anything important.
After that day, we settled into a busy stretch of days.
There was only one subject tested on Friday: dueling.
For the swordsmanship students, it was a thrilling chance to bloody each other in glorious combat. For the Magic Department, it was nothing but a dog-tired, mind-numbingly boring WWE of mana bullet, block, mana bullet, block, on repeat.
'Still, a test is a test.'
Tedious and pedantic as it might be, there are times you simply have to do it.
Rucia and I spent the entire day practicing for the duel. And then, at last, the day of the exam arrived.
We set out for the arena in the early morning, just as the sun was beginning to rise.
A colossal building that brought the Olympics to mind.
'Why is the Academy so loaded?'
This enormous facility existed solely for the first-years, because each grade used entirely separate areas.
Considering there were four grades in total, that meant the Academy housed at least three more buildings just like it.
'Better than any university back on Earth.'
Truly, an absolute monarchy did things differently. An academy under the Imperial crown? Sure — just pump the commoners' tax money into making it absurdly huge.
“Cadet Rucia is... in Group C. I'll show you the way.”
Lost in such thoughts, I only noticed we'd arrived when Rucia reached the waiting room.
A door bearing a plaque that read {Group C Waiting Room}.
Rucia pressed down the handle with her wrist and stepped inside.
—Click.
The interior was spacious. Chairs lined the walls in an unbroken row, and several dozen students were seated there.
'So the preliminaries run within each group?'
On the first test day — Friday — students of the same department were divided into groups for the preliminary rounds.
Monday through Thursday, they took their other subjects. Then, on the following Friday, the finals determined their midterms.
'What a headache.'
Easiest way to think of it: a duel at the start, a duel at the end, and a pile of bizarre exams wedged in between.
[Shall we sit over in that corner? Plenty of empty seats.]
Rucia gave a small nod and started toward the corner —
“Cadet Rucia? Are you here?”
A woman called out to her from behind.
“...”
Rucia turned and looked the woman over.
A short red bob. Yellow eyes. A face that looked a touch young for her age.
'Who is this?'
And she was wearing a maid's uniform, which only deepened my confusion.
“Ah, forgive me. I haven't introduced myself. I am Seve, personal maid to Lady Ernel Ray.”
She bowed her head and presented herself.
“...And?”
Rucia replied as coolly as ever.
“Lady Ray very much wishes to meet you, Cadet Rucia. Might I trouble you for just a moment of your time?”
At her words, the students in the waiting room began to murmur.
“I did see them walking together a few times before, but... they're that close?”
“With a personality like hers? How on earth did they become friends?”
Most of them simply envied Rucia for being on good terms with the herb fanatic.
And then—
“...”
A black-haired boy was glaring at Rucia in silence.
'Oh, he's here.'
It was a familiar face, but I ignored him for now.
Rucia was gently stroking my back, waiting on my answer.
[Let's follow her. This Ray girl isn't a bad person, really.]
“Please take me to where Lady Ray is.”
“Thank you so much for sparing us your valuable time.”
The maid bowed and led the way.
We turned down corridor after corridor and climbed the stairs. And climbed. And climbed.
'Just how many flights are there?'
Right around the time that question formed—
“Here we are.”
The door where she stopped bore a plaque that read {VIP}.
'What is this.'
In the original story, she'd been practically a feral beast — skipping classes, never brewing elixirs, digging up herbs all day, and refusing to leave her room whenever she wasn't digging up herbs.
And she was apparently a VIP-grade personage at the Academy?
The herb fanatic was that important?
'...I mean, I did know, technically.'
But knowing something as information and seeing it with your own eyes were two very different things.
“...”
Rucia's gaze flicked back and forth between the plaque reading "VIP" and the maid. A lunatic who rejoiced at being insulted was a VIP? There was no way she could believe it.
And so we stood there for quite a while without so much as knocking—
—Click.
Someone flung the door open from inside and shouted.
“I can't take it anymore...!”
On reflex, I threw up a barrier.
—WHAM!
The golden-haired girl who crashed into it tumbled backward.
“L-Lady Ray!”
The maid rushed to the girl sprawled on the floor.
Oh. Right, the herb fanatic.
'A little warning before you charge out, maybe?'
Had I not blocked that, she would've landed right on Rucia. I'd call that perfectly justified self-defense.
“Ow... I'm fine, Seve. You may go.”
“Are you truly unharmed?”
“Yes.”
Only after the herb fanatic insisted she was fine several times over did the maid finally depart.
“I sincerely apologize for the delay... I shall take my leave now. Please, enjoy your conversation.”
What a truly devoted maid.
The moment the maid left, we stood talking for a short while.
“Whew... I couldn't hold back and burst out, but I never dreamed you'd be right here...”
The herb fanatic went on with a bright, innocent smile.
“But Lady Rucia, seeing you after so long puts me in such good spirits. Have you been well?”
“Yes.”
“Then I'm truly relieved...! Things have been so busy lately that I haven't been able to leave the house at all...”
“I see.”
As Rucia and Ray carried on something vaguely resembling a conversation, a question occurred to me.
'Why is she even here?'
The herb fanatic didn't take exams. She was simply a one-trick elixir prodigy admitted on special terms.
In the original story, she never even watched the duels...
“I originally meant to go searching for herbs in the forest, but I came to cheer for you instead, Lady Rucia. When your match comes, I shall cheer for you at the top of my lungs!”
...So it was because of Rucia.
“There's no need to cheer for me.”
“O-oh. Is that so?”
“Yes.”
Rucia rejected her coldly and flatly. Any ordinary person might have been a little hurt by that.
“My cheering is unnecessary, from someone like me...! Ahh, then I shall simply cheer for you silently, all by myself...!”
The herb fanatic twisted the words into something even crueler — and felt delighted by them.
'...That's terrifying?'
She was a person beyond anything my imagination could reach.
“And also — when I was blocked by your barrier just now... it felt a little... pleasant... You blocked me yourself, didn't you, Lady Rucia? Aaah... just thinking about it makes me so happy...”
That one was on me, though.
'Ugh.'
A shiver ran through me and my sparrow feathers went stiff.
“...Ray. Kindly restrain yourself from saying such things.”
Perhaps conscious of my reaction, Rucia stroked me calmly as she spoke.
“O-of course. Understood...!”
And so we chatted for a few more minutes.
“It was truly an honor to speak with you, however briefly...!”
The herb fanatic bowed her head and continued.
“I had meant to come to you directly, Lady Rucia, but I was told it would cause a commotion if I entered the waiting room myself... So, unforgivably, I asked you to come to me instead. Next time, I promise, I shall come to you...!”
“Mm.”
Rucia simply nodded and headed back to the waiting room.
'What an efficient conversationalist, though?'
Maybe I should try talking like that sometime.
That thought didn't stop even after we returned to the waiting room. I was perched on the shoulder of Rucia, seated in her chair, still weighing whether to adopt the Rucia method of conversation—
—Attention, students. Please be advised: the match brackets will now be displayed in the center of each waiting room. Kindly remain seated until they appear.
As the voice rang out, a hologram-like projection materialized in the middle of the room.
Group C — Preliminary Brackets
Match 2: Rucia vs. Drak
'This really is sci-fi, I'm telling you.'
Before I could even lodge a complaint, the waiting room burst into chatter. My grievances weren't all that serious to begin with, so I just got on with what I needed to do.
'Who's Rucia up against?'
Scanning the bracket, I found she was scheduled to fight a student named Drak.
Second match of the day, no less.
'Drak — oh, that's him, isn't it.'
The black-haired boy who'd been staring at Rucia just before we left the room.
I knew him well enough from the original story; he had a fairly substantial role.
'His skill was on par with Rucia's, or a hair below, if I remember right?'
This was a lucky draw.
A golden opportunity to see just how much Rucia had grown beyond her original-story self.
I was genuinely looking forward to witnessing what kind of overwhelming victory she'd deliver —
“Rucia, isn't it?”
The black-haired boy, Drak, approached.
Had he come over to talk before their match? Face-to-face, opponent to opponent?
'Stand down. For now.'
My ironclad rule was to attack immediately the moment a man spoke to Rucia, but this once, I let it slide.
“You just spoke with Lady Ray, didn't you?”
“...”
Rucia ignored him entirely.
“I don't care what sort of relationship you have with Lady Ray. However—”
The black-haired boy kept talking even as he was being brushed off.
“The winner of today's duel will be me.”
Utterly earnest gravity was written across his face as he said it.
“As it happens, she is coming to observe today, and her opponent — you — are second in the entrance rankings.”
“...”
Rucia apparently judged it all pointless noise, because by now she wasn't even glancing at him.
“This is fate.”
But then—
“To think I could prove my worth to Lady Ray, whom I have adored from afar for so long. Today, I will defeat you, no matter what it takes.”
“?”
Now this was a different story altogether.
“Second in the rankings. Today I shall defeat you — and with that victory, confess my heart to her.”
Rucia gave a light, noncommittal nod.
Even Rucia, with her near-total absence of emotion, seemed to find him a little pitiable.
'...I'm rooting for you too, buddy.'
Never mind that the woman you love already has someone she likes.
Never mind that the person she likes is Rucia — the very opponent you just declared you'd beat.
Never mind that Rucia is, from the start, an opponent you couldn't defeat even if you tried...!
'Godspeed on your quest for love, Drak!'
Drak. Fighting...!