Turned Down?
The next day.
I was still keeping watch on Leo Epsilt.
Aside from his meeting with the swordsmanship professor the day before, nothing of particular note had happened.
I shoveled food into my mouth as quickly as I could.
It absolutely was not because the imperial princess sitting across from me made me uncomfortable.
I simply needed to finish eating and get back to watching Leo.
And then there was the white-haired thief I had only just noticed that morning—sitting cleverly behind a pillar in the dining hall, stealing glances at me. That was starting to bother me too.
In the middle of all that, the princess spoke to me.
Strangely, she lacked her usual self-assured air; there was a hint of hesitation about her.
“Is something the matter?”
I swallowed the food in my mouth and asked her.
“Ah, Louis…”
She cleared her throat once before continuing.
“Would you, by any chance, have time after the meal?”
Ah. That was going to be difficult.
There was no telling when Leo might make his move.
But this was the imperial princess speaking, not just anyone…
I asked her back,
“Is it something important?”
“No, nothing of the sort. Merely… a short walk, perhaps…”
The rest of it I couldn’t quite catch; she mumbled the ending in a way that was thoroughly unlike her.
Well, if it wasn’t important…
“Anyway, after dinner I was thinking we could—”
“My apologies, President. I have something I must attend to today.”
“Wh—what?”
Just then, I spotted Leo rising from his seat across the hall, finished with his meal.
I gave the princess a brief bow and rose from my seat at once.
Leaving the table first was normally poor manners.
But the situation was critical. I had no choice.
I left the dining hall and carefully made my way around to the back of the building.
Once I confirmed no one was nearby, I pulled the cat mask from my coat.
A real cat, of all things. A cat.
They could at least have given me a black panther or something with a little dignity.
Shuddering at the game developers’ pure, undiluted hatred for Wallenstein, I put on the mask.
Once the sun set, the chance of being spotted would drop even further.
As long as I didn’t space out and walk straight into someone the way I had last time, anyway.
Masked, I used my footwork to scale the outer wall of the dining hall.
From the rooftop I looked down.
Leo was moving alone—without even the Saintess he usually kept glued to his side.
My instincts flared.
This meant he was about to pull something again.
I swept the surroundings once more to locate the Saintess as well, then poured mana into my legs and resumed trailing him.
Imperial Princess Kalia Speltz had completely forgotten about finishing her meal.
She simply stared blankly at the empty seat across from her.
She had mustered what courage she had for that invitation.
Is this what the student council kids call getting turned down?
No, no—it absolutely hadn’t been that kind of invitation.
Still, she had believed she and Louis Wallenstein had built a decent rapport by now.
His reaction today stung more than a little.
The walk she had suggested had been refused.
And that wasn’t even the worst of it.
The moment she brought up a walk, Louis had leapt to his feet as if in a panic.
Almost as if he were avoiding her.
Why on earth…? No. He doesn’t dislike me. This woman is simply too magnificent a personage; he must have found her overwhelming.
That was how the princess consoled herself.
Just as the student council members had said—she was undeniably outstanding, yet when it came to approaching someone on a personal level, she was still a bit clumsy.
Leo moved his feet quickly.
No one was rushing him, yet his heart was in a hurry.
After all, once a duel had been issued, it was nearly impossible to take back.
Looking back on it, he admitted he might have been better off preparing everything thoroughly before challenging that man.
He had been a little emotional at the time. Leo could concede that much.
Still, it didn’t matter much.
It was only natural that he—the Hero candidate—would crush someone like Louis Wallenstein underfoot.
There was absolutely no chance of the plan going wrong.
Just like the day before, he met the professor behind a rarely used building.
The academy forest stood right beside them; almost no one ever came this way.
He asked the professor,
“How did it go?”
“Everything’s settled. I’ve been assigned as the duel’s observer.”
Leo’s lips curved into a satisfied smile.
With that, even the unforeseen variables were covered.
“And the item I asked for?”
“Right here.”
The professor produced something silver and gleaming from his pocket.
A key.
“Thank you.”
Leo accepted the key and slipped it into his own pocket.
“But what exactly do you intend to use that for…?”
“There’s no need for you to know, Professor.”
“Ahem. I was merely curious.”
Once the conversation ended, Leo scanned the surroundings out of habit, then left with a look of contentment.
Once again, he failed to notice the pair of eyes watching him from between the trees.
A short while later, Leo met the Saintess who had been waiting for him as instructed.
If he had to choose the single most trustworthy person among his party members, it would be Saintess Esther Kalt.
Taking the Saintess who had been waiting for him, he headed somewhere.
“What about Louis Wallenstein?”
“I confirmed he’s heading toward the training grounds!”
“Ha. Idiot. As if a few days of practice will change anything.”
The Saintess asked him,
“Leo, what’s going on?”
“Esther, there’s something I need you to do.”
“Just give me the order!”
Their destination was the academy dormitory.
There were few people in the building.
The rare students they passed looked puzzled at the sight of a woman in the men’s wing, but with the duke’s heir and the Saintess involved, no one dared comment.
At last the two arrived near Louis’s room.
“What, is the lighting out? Why’s the hallway so dark?”
Leo said as much, but didn’t dwell on it. He instructed Esther,
“Esther, keep watch. If that Louis bastard shows up, knock on the door right away.”
“Yes, understood!”
Esther answered briskly and ran around the corner to stand lookout.
At the same time, Leo took out the key he had received from Professor Ian and slid it into the lock of Louis’s dorm room.
With a soft click, the door opened easily.
Leo stepped inside and began searching—starting with the bed, then the floor.
“Ah. Found it.”
Before long he picked a single strand of black hair from the floor.
He carefully placed the hair into the glass vial he had brought, then cracked the door open a sliver.
The way he poked his head out and checked the hallway was pure thief.
After confirming no one was around, Leo quickly slipped out of the room.
“All done, Leo?”
“Yeah. You should head back now.”
Leo urged Esther on.
If that Louis bastard happened to see the Saintess here, he might grow suspicious.
After sending her away, Leo made for his own dorm room.
Once the two of them were gone, the hallway fell silent again.
From behind a flowerpot set against the darkened wall, a human silhouette quietly stirred.
In exchange for walking out midway through a meal with the princess, I had managed to tail Leo.
Leo Epsilt headed for the same place he had met the professor yesterday.
The Saintess stood rooted in one spot, glancing around.
One could assume she was simply looking for Leo.
But something about her behavior struck me as odd.
Even if Leo intended to go somewhere alone, wouldn’t he at least tell the Saintess he was leaving?
Destination and purpose aside.
And if she really were searching for him, she wouldn’t just stand there looking around.
She would at least move while she looked, wouldn’t she?
Anyway, first priority was sticking with Leo.
I set the questions aside for later and began following him again.
In the exact same place as yesterday, Leo met the exact same person.
The academy’s swordsmanship professor, Ian Dexter.
Leo received a key from him.
A key… a key, huh.
I thought it over for a moment.
What Sasha had told me about the Curse Scroll and a piece of the target’s body.
A key handed over in secret by the professor.
The Saintess’s suspicious movements earlier.
They clicked together in my head like puzzle pieces.
Hmm. Don’t tell me…?
The instant their conversation ended, I used my footwork and sprinted for the place where the Saintess had been waiting.
I stuffed the mask into my coat and stepped back out among the crowd.
I confirmed that the Saintess, still glancing around, had spotted me for a moment.
I felt her gaze.
I made a show of heading roughly toward the training grounds.
From that position, the training grounds and the dormitory lay in opposite directions.
The moment I confirmed she had vanished, I turned and raced for the dormitory building.
I had to get there before they did.
I entered through the rear door of the dorm and hurried to my room.
Fortunately, they hadn’t arrived yet.
A hallway was an enclosed space, and with the lights on it was a little too exposed for hiding.
I quickly began smashing the hallway lights—only the insides, so it wouldn’t look deliberate…
Headmaster, I’m sorry! I pay a fortune in tuition, so please look the other way!
Once I had darkened the corridor around my room, I hid myself behind a flowerpot in the hall.
Thanks to the cat mask’s noise-dampening and perception-hindering magic, they wouldn’t find me easily.
I waited.
It didn’t take long before the two humans I had half-expected actually appeared.