The Soft, Fluffy Bed
I spent class time worrying over my master’s living situation.
This period was History.
The history professor, Gladys Aisle, greeted us.
“Hello, everyone! It’s been a while! Since today’s the first day, let’s skip the lesson and just chat a little!”
The cadets cheered at her words.
Then she brought up the practical evaluation.
“Let’s see… You’ve already heard about the practical evaluation from Professor John, right?”
“Yes.”
A few students answered her question.
“Then instead of a proper lesson today, let’s take a quick look at the history of Beorn Island!”
At that, I felt a strange sense of unease.
Professor Gladys was famous even among the cadets as a hardcore history nerd.
Don’t panic, Louis! This is Professor Gladys’s trap!
She spoke again.
“All right, open your textbooks to page 192…”
If we were only going to chat, why open the textbooks at all?
“Beorn Island became part of the Lucia Empire’s territory during the era of the famous Emperor Karl…”
And so the lecture began.
In the end, she kept talking right up until the dismissal bell rang.
“Starting next period, we’ll get into the material properly!”
She left the classroom with a bright smile. Behind her, several students let out heavy sighs.
I understood exactly how they felt.
“Hnyaaa… Is it over?”
My master, sitting beside me, spoke in a voice thick with leftover drowsiness. She had clearly already taken a solid nap.
Tsk tsk. Keep that up and she’ll fail the year again.
Anyway, the morning classes passed without much incident.
For lunch today as well, I ate with the Chairman and my master.
The good part was that I no longer had to eat alone.
The bad part was that eating alone had actually been easier on the nerves.
It wasn’t that my master and the Chairman disliked each other.
The problem was that both of them seemed a little lacking in social skills.
As a result, our mealtimes were quiet.
These two chattered just fine when they were alone with me, but the three of us together made everything unbearably awkward.
They simply ate without saying a word, and I sat stuck between them…
Honestly, my own social skills were probably even worse than theirs—whether it was the original delinquent Louis before I possessed him, or the Louis I had become after.
And that wasn’t the end of it.
I hadn’t noticed properly yesterday, but Aine had started hovering around me again.
The gaze I could clearly feel from somewhere in the cafeteria made me feel like I was going to choke on my food.
That uncomfortable meal finally ended.
There were a few afternoon classes as well, but the one that stuck with me was Monster Studies.
We began learning about the ecology of Beorn Island—especially the Dark Forest inside it—and the kinds of monsters that lived there.
With the practical evaluation replacing the midterms, the lessons were already being tailored toward it.
Aside from those small things, though, my day was relatively peaceful.
After finishing every class and having dinner, I completed my daily training with my master and gave myself that evaluation.
Of course, I still had the constant feeling that someone was circling around me…
But at least there was no Veronica clinging to me. No Veronica, no Veronica of any kind.
“Disciple, see you tomorrow! Have a good night!”
As she said that and started to leave, I grabbed her by the scruff of the neck.
“Huh? What’s this supposed to mean?”
“Master, do you sleep in the cave?”
“I do.”
She nodded.
I hesitated for a moment.
I had already more or less made the decision while worrying through class earlier.
But deciding it and actually saying it out loud required a fair amount of courage.
No, this absolutely does not mean anything weird.
I repeated that to myself several times, then opened my mouth.
“Master, would you like to sleep in my room?”
“W-what is that supposed to mean…?”
For some reason, my master’s voice seemed to tremble a little.
Even in the dark, I could clearly see her face turn red.
The sun had set, but the moon was bright enough that it wasn’t completely dark…
No, that wasn’t the point.
To keep the situation from getting any more awkward—and to stop my master from getting any strange ideas—I hurriedly added an explanation.
“I mean, would you consider living with me in my dorm room?”
I may have gotten flustered and made the sentence longer than necessary.
“Y-you and me… together?”
My master fidgeted.
Damn it. This was going poorly.
The explanation just now didn’t seem to have helped at all.
I started explaining in more detail.
“I just thought it would be better if you could wash with warm water, do laundry, and sleep in a soft bed. There’s nothing weird about it, I swear…”
“Weird?! I-I never took it that way, disciple!”
She jumped in place.
That aside, as she thought over my offer, her eyes slowly went hazy.
“Warm water… a soft bed…”
I had assumed she was perfectly content living as a nature person in a cave, but even she seemed to miss the taste of civilization.
Anyway, my master stood there with a dreamy expression, considering the proposal. Then she looked at me with a worried face.
“D-disciple. Wouldn’t that be too uncomfortable for you?”
I shook my head.
Honestly, it would be extremely uncomfortable.
“I’m fine. You’re teaching me so much—this is the least I can do.”
That part was true.
The techniques she taught me were incredibly precious.
And though I didn’t say it out loud, I never wanted to see other cadets calling my master filthy again, the way they had this morning.
Even so, she still hesitated, reading my expression, so I spoke with a bright smile.
“Come on, let’s head to the cave! We need to pack your things, Master!”
As I walked ahead, my master replied in an uncharacteristically small, shrinking voice.
“Th-thank you, disciple… truly…”
We soon reached the cave. She told me to wait a moment, then packed a cloth bundle and hung it from a wooden stick.
As always, she was thoroughly old-fashioned.
On the way to the dormitory, I gave her some warnings.
“You absolutely must not get caught. When you enter the dorm, either wait for a moment when no one’s around, or use your stealth technique…”
At my repeated instructions, she nodded.
“Don’t worry, disciple! Your master’s stealth is the best in the Academy!”
True to her word, she moved under stealth from the dorm entrance all the way to my room—so well that even I, walking right beside her, nearly lost track of her.
Once we were inside, we took turns washing up.
The problem arose in an unexpected place.
“That cannot be allowed!”
“Ha. The person whose eyes sparkled the second I mentioned a soft, fluffy bed is saying what now?”
“I-I did no such thing! I’ll sleep on the sofa! Disciple, you take the bed!”
As expected of the continent’s finest academy—even a regular cadet’s dorm room came with its own sofa.
I had thought sleeping arrangements wouldn’t be an issue, but my master was vehemently insisting on giving me the bed.
After a brief argument, she offered her first compromise.
“Then, disciple… it might be a little tight, but we could share…”
Her face was completely red as she said it.
Mine felt like it was heating up too, so I quickly face-planted onto the sofa.
“Ah, I already claimed this! Do as you like!”
“C-come out of there! I’m the guest—I can’t impose like that…!”
“The homeowner says it’s fine, so what’s the problem?”
“Technically the real owner of this place is the headmaster!”
“What kind of logic is that all of a sudden?!”
My master lunged at me, and we tussled back and forth on the sofa for a while.
In the end, we agreed to take turns using the bed, one day each.
Once the lights were out and I was lying on the sofa, a thought rose up.
Ah. I didn’t practice swordsmanship today either.
Leonhardt would probably throw another fit tomorrow.
Well, tomorrow’s problems could go to tomorrow’s me.
I closed my eyes.
“Hic…”
Veronica sniffled alone.
Every time she had seen Louis today, she had felt like she was going to cry.
She had barely held it in until evening. Only after returning to the dormitory by herself did the tears finally burst out.
She didn’t know exactly who it was, but watching the cat beastman cadet walking around with Louis only made her remember the times she used to walk with him, and that made her even sadder.
I-I did apologize…
Veronica had believed that if she just apologized—and if Louis accepted that apology—things could go back to the way they were.
She had even sworn she would treat him as well as she possibly could from now on.
She never expected that he would accept the apology only to tell her they should live as complete strangers.
How was she supposed to live as a stranger to Louis?
Just thinking about it made her mind go blank.
The idea of staying nothing more than strangers was too horrible.
The real problem was that no matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t figure out what else she needed to do to turn his heart around.
Still sniffling, Veronica returned to her room.
She checked the door, but there was still nothing there.
What she had been hoping for was a letter wedged in the doorframe, the way they used to arrive.
Sally and Veronica had originally exchanged letters regularly.
Sally had left for the Black Magic Tower before Veronica’s vacation even ended, claiming she was busy with work.
She had said she would send letters to the Academy as usual, so Veronica had naturally expected one to be waiting when the term started.
Yet a full day after the start of the semester, there was still no letter from her.
Sally had never once missed the day she normally sent them.
That was why Veronica felt uneasy.
Surely… nothing’s happened to her, right…?
She went inside and began writing a letter to her master, filled with worry—asking her to check whether anything had happened to Sally.