How to Turn the Worst into the Best - 1
He does look different somehow.
When she confirmed that the mysterious man really was Elden Raphelion, she had honestly been a little frightened — so much so that she regretted having blurted out a greeting simply because she was glad to run into someone she knew in such an unexpected place, so far from home.
It was enough to make her wonder why she had even pretended to know a classmate she had barely exchanged a handful of words with throughout their entire time at school. On top of that, Elden had always been the type who reeked of liquor, ran with a bad crowd, and occasionally bullied his fellow students. That realization had come to her far too late, after the damage was already done.
“I sat diagonally behind you in our senior year, remember?”
“Hmm.”
“You remember, right?”
“Can’t say I do.”
“…….”
When Elden failed to recognize her, Ariel had honestly been ready to say she must have been mistaken and walk away. That was the moment he spoke her name.
“Ariel… was it?”
At the time, she hadn’t known whether hearing her name from Elden’s lips was a stroke of luck or misfortune. The more time that passed, the more she decided it had been luck.
“Oh, right. I heard you made it all the way to the final candidates in the betrothal contest. Congratulations.”
Of course, there had been awkward moments.
“Ha, haha. Well, someone like you is fine, I think… no. I mean, not that you’re fine in a romantic sense or anything… just that, compared to the other candidates, you’re, uh… fine…?”
She had been completely unprepared for a reply when Elden mentioned his self-reflection and subsequent withdrawal from the contest, and she had weathered a storm of flustered nonsense as a result. It had only been a perfunctory, disinterested greeting on his part; she had simply wanted to ask about the seventh-floor book tower. For her, that storm had been a considerable ordeal to overcome.
“Never mind. The abstention vote is still on hold, so I’m still officially a final candidate.”
“Ah… I see.”
Fortunately the storm passed without disaster, and she promptly changed the subject.
“But you never used to care about novels, did you?”
“Figured I might try picking up a hobby, even this late.”
“Oh-ho… is that so?”
Her eyes lit up. It was a little disappointing that he didn’t seem particularly happy about it, but just being able to recommend books she had enjoyed was enough to make her glad. And Elden Raphelion looked so different that she began to wonder whether her hazy memories of him had been distorted somehow. It was as if his whole atmosphere had changed. The Elden in her memory had looked rather fierce. Of course, she decided it must be her imagination. And even if it wasn’t, what did it matter? Whether he had been a scoundrel in the past or not was none of her concern. In Ariel’s eyes, he was simply a beginner trying to open the door to pure literature — a baby just taking his first steps, as far as a novel-obsessed reader like her was concerned.
And so.
Slip.
A sidelong glance.
Slip.
Another sidelong glance.
She spent the whole time anxiously watching the beginner’s face as he read the book she had recommended. It was the first time she had ever recommended a book to someone and then watched them read it. The first time she had waited for an answer. The first thrill of having her own impressions put to the test — it was quite an exhilarating experience. Of course, the thrills came hand in hand with worry.
What if he doesn’t like it? If he says it’s boring, which book should I recommend next? What if he decides pure literature isn’t for him because my recommendation was dull?
Ghk.
Anything but that.
With every page Elden turned, the thrills and the worries multiplied on top of each other until her heart pounded as if it might burst. Fortunately—
“It’s good.”
“Wh-what?”
“This. It’s good. You looked worried, so.”
The answer she had been hoping for arrived.
Kyaaa—!
Successsss—!
Ariel very nearly let out a scream. She had to settle for whooping for joy on the inside and contenting herself with a smile, along with a long sigh of relief. And when Elden asked her to recommend books on the classics and mythology, her heart truly felt as if it were exploding like fireworks. It was a joy she had never felt before. Sharing a pleasure she had only ever known alone with someone else — Ariel kept grinning to herself, realizing for the first time just how happy that could make her.
On top of that, she had gained a friend to eat with. She no longer had to stuff herself at breakfast until she was ready to burst, bracing for the possibility of going hungry until dinner. She no longer had to listen to her stomach growling endlessly through the late afternoon.
“Well, I’d better get going. I’ve got training this evening.”
“Okay. Then I’ll be waiting here again tomorrow!”
That was probably why she had been the one to make the promise first. Even without any agreement from Elden, she had suddenly declared that she would wait for him in that very spot. It was an embarrassing thing for a young lady to do — and Ariel had done it anyway.
“See you.”
“Okay!”
And just like that, the chance encounter came to an end. The lingering regret she felt was probably just because they hadn’t talked about novels for longer. Still, he had said he would read everything she recommended that night, so by tomorrow there would be plenty to talk about, wouldn’t there? With that thought, Ariel withdrew her gaze from Elden’s receding back and returned to her reading. The way her toes tapped cheerfully beneath the desk was an instinctive reaction she herself didn’t even notice.
“I shall summon Lady Rachel to the training grounds, then.”
“…Think you can find your way to the annex all right? Want a hand?”
“Ahem-hem. I—I merely erred because the library is so labyrinthine, my lord.”
“If you get lost on the way, just stand still and wait for a grown-up to help—”
“I—I shall take my leave, my lord.”
Old Rendler had been dragged out of the library by security after being caught red-handed as an unauthorized intruder. Just how spectacularly lost did a man have to get to end up four floors underground? Even the librarians had said that place was hard for them to find. Come to think of it, it was a wonder that the head butler of a medieval noble household — a job that involved a great deal of guiding people around — was this directionally challenged and had still managed to survive long enough to rise to the position.
Anyway. I had sent Rendler off and arrived at the training grounds. Since it sat right between the library and the annex, there was no need for me to double back, so I had only sent him.
There were several training facilities inside the Grand Ducal Castle. The drill grounds where the guards practiced tactics, the training halls for individual practice, and the conditioning yards for physical exercise were the main ones. The place I was in now was a training hall reserved for nobles only. It wasn’t that I particularly wanted to flaunt any sense of class privilege. I simply didn’t want to impose on the commoners who were out there training for the fun of it.
Finish training, eat dinner, read a book — that’ll be the day done.
I looked around. The training grounds used by commoners were open spaces that got soaked in the rain and buried in snow, but the one prepared for nobles was an enclosed hall with a roof and walls — a space that laid bare the cross-section of a society that privileged the aristocracy. The empty training hall had a somewhat desolate air about it as I strolled through it, waiting for Rachel.
About ten minutes passed.
Creeeak.
The door to the training hall opened. Thinking it might be Rachel, I looked over — and in walked the three regret-route characters.
…Hmm.
Obviously they hadn’t come here to train. They were here to pressure or threaten the turncoat who was alone in a closed space. Especially now that Her Ladyship the Heroine had removed the evaluation committee’s shackles for them. It was a scene I had fully expected, one I had always assumed would play out, so instead of tension, a smile rose to my face.
Right. I’ve been wondering when you’d show up.
I slipped a hand into my pocket. I hadn’t lived so stupidly that I would fail to prepare a countermeasure for a scene I had already anticipated. As I had said before, an intelligent being like a human being ought to live with the worst in mind rather than the best, and ought to prepare for the moment they find themselves in that worst. And if you take that one step further, you don’t just prepare — you devise a clever way to flip the worst into the best.
As it happened, I had just the right insurance for people whose everyday lives consisted of schemes and smear campaigns. Having that insurance ready, I actually welcomed the secret visit from the three regret-route characters. I was also hoping for threats rather than pleas. It was the insurance that would save this pitiful abstainer from all the troublesome situations still to come.
And so I smiled as I greeted them.
“What an honor, to have three such distinguished personages grace me with their presence. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Her Ladyship the Heroine had cleared away the evaluation committee precisely to set up a situation like this. Of course the three regret-route characters would come looking for me with ugly expressions on their faces — it was the natural course of events for people who preferred punishment over repentance.
At my first audience with the Grand Duchess, I had drawn considerable attention. She had been trying to give me hope and stoke my will to compete, and as a result I had earned the envy and jealousy of the three regret-route characters. They probably thought my declaration of withdrawal had been some clever ploy to mock them and win the Grand Duchess’s favor. Their thoughts and decisions were none of my business — but if they intended to do direct harm to someone who had switched into spectator mode with a bucket of delicious popcorn, that was a different story. If they meant to splash fire onto the wrong place, it was only right that I snuff out the spark.
I had once lived a resentful life because I had nothing and could not even stand up against injustice. I had once lived a grinding life, cutting sleep short because I had so much to lose. No more. I would not live a resentful life, and I would not submit to injustice.
“Reading, then training… Elden, you truly are at ease, aren’t you?”
Of course. Naturally.
I shrugged and answered with a playful air.
“I’m an abstainer, after all.”