Crossed Intentions
“Haaahaaam….”
“…How long are you going to keep yawning? Honestly, it's been nonstop since this morning.”
“But I'm bored, my lady. It's not as if you're going anywhere in particular. You've been reading all day again today, so what am I supposed to do with myself?”
“…Well, I suppose that's true.”
Day two of seven.
Just like yesterday, we were spending our time in leisurely idleness inside the cave.
We hadn't set foot outside even once. Cecilia and I were simply… resting very, very quietly in the cave.
Sitting on the plush sleeping bag we'd used yesterday… sipping coffee, no less?
“Starting tomorrow, I imagine we'll wander around outside a bit.”
“…….”
“There's no point in going out now anyway—it would just be a bother. Running into students every time we turn around is tiresome, and frankly, it's far more efficient for me to acquire points through other students than to gather them myself at this stage.”
“I… suppose so. Yes, that's true.”
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
“…….”
It wasn't that I couldn't understand what Cecilia was saying.
But still, it was just a little—okay, a lot—annoying.
Granted, I was sleepy in every possible way after staying up all night, and the yawns kept coming, but that didn't change the fact that this was boring.
If anything, the boredom was only prolonging my drowsiness.
Right after Cecilia had gotten up, we'd used a magic scroll to clean ourselves completely, and today, just like yesterday, we were eating the food she'd prepared in advance.
Considering I'd spotted the occasional flicker of firelight outside yesterday, the other students seemed to be spending their time hunting animals and roasting them over flames….
Meanwhile, we were genuinely bored out of our minds, cooped up in the cave.
“I'll do some exploring tomorrow, so today you can just rest. Would you like to change out of your maid uniform into something else?”
“I didn't pack anything besides the maid uniform.”
“…Well then, just come sit next to me. I doubt you'd enjoy the book, so you might as well sleep.”
“Is that really all right?”
“…You've been yawning nonstop since earlier, and you're asking me that? The yawns have been going on all morning, and they keep getting longer. Weren't you practically staging a protest?”
“It's not like that, really….”
But Cecilia herself had given her permission, after all.
So I decided to do as she said and sleep.
After all, yesterday I'd already taken a short nap in the afternoon with her blessing, and staying awake like this might only cause problems come nightfall.
Anyone who came looking for us during the day would almost certainly be students, and Cecilia could handle the average student without any trouble.
And once I fell asleep… unlike Cecilia, who would sleep like the dead, I woke easily.
I'd learned in the assassin corps to snap awake instantly even mid-lesson naps with my seniors, and I'd trained hard in reacting to ambushes… so there probably wouldn't be any problem at all.
And so, just as Cecilia suggested, I slipped into the sleeping bag beside hers and settled in to sleep.
“…You're really going to sleep?”
“You said it was fine, my lady.”
“I did, but I didn't expect you to actually do it. You've always been like this… honestly, you're a strange one.”
“Uh… I'm sorry?”
…No, you're the one who said it was fine.
As I moved to climb into the sleeping bag, her exasperated look left me equally exasperated.
Of course, this could be some aristocratic… roundabout way of speaking.
But neither Cecilia nor I usually talked like that, so it wasn't worth dwelling on.
“Well, never mind. Just sleep.”
“Yes, my lady.”
I didn't quite follow, but she'd said it was fine, so…?
Just as Cecilia instructed, I went straight to sleep—even though I'd only eaten lunch a little while ago.
If I pushed myself, I could technically stay awake until tomorrow morning.
But doing so would only strain my body and wear down my condition, so sleeping properly now was clearly the better choice.
“…She's actually asleep.”
After Serena, still in her maid uniform, had curled her small body into a sleeping bag far larger than herself and drifted off—
Cecilia regarded her maid with an exasperated gaze.
At some point the book she'd been reading had slipped to the floor, and now, chin resting on her hand, she simply watched Serena in silence as countless thoughts crossed her mind.
“She's always been like this. It's truly remarkable how she almost never refuses anything I say. Ordinary maids would never dare—yet she simply does as she's told. Even the way she answers me. Honestly….”
Above all those thoughts, the largest one was simple curiosity.
Her maid was strikingly different from every archetype of person Cecilia had ever known.
Under normal circumstances, she would have struck up a conversation with the girl—but right now that girl was fast asleep in her sleeping bag, so all Cecilia could do was watch.
Though the tiny maid in question kept shifting her position now and then, the inside of the sleeping bag apparently not quite comfortable.
“…Well, she never listens to me anyway. There's no need to find every little thing about her fascinating.”
Such was the princess's conclusion, reached after roughly thirty minutes of watching nothing but Serena.
And so, her thoughts—hardly well-organized—concluded, Cecilia rose from her seat.
“Whew….”
Having stood, she began moving slowly toward the mouth of the cave.
After a light check of the magical devices she'd installed at the cave entrance the day before, she stepped out onto the soil outside and set off on a stroll through the forest.
In truth, it wasn't just today—yesterday too, while Serena slept, Cecilia had wandered the woods alone. Without even a map, she simply roamed outside the cave on her own.
“Still plenty of survivors. I suppose that's what happens when the forest is this large?”
All manner of students filled Cecilia's view.
Some chasing down monsters, some searching through tall grass for small fruits to gather.
And a few locked in combat with monsters somewhat smaller than an ordinary human.
“…Good thing the points are piling up nicely.”
Just as she'd already told Serena.
Cecilia's plan was a single one.
To strip other students of the points they'd worked so hard to accumulate, all at once, and secure a comfortable score.
She had no intention of pouring her all into this so-called Hunt of a special activity.
“…There do seem to be far too many survivors still. Honestly, I could rest another day and it would….”
As she gazed down at the other students from a relatively high vantage point in the forest, a thought—her maid's words—flashed through her mind.
I'm bored. This is dull. …All that nonsense.
Words that should never, ever have been said to a princess by a maid—yet Serena had spoken them with such emotional honesty.
“…Still, it would be better if we moved together tomorrow.”
Those words had influenced Cecilia's judgment.
Influence was far too weak a word—overturned her judgment outright would be more accurate, so powerful was their effect.
“No doubt other students are holding out thinking the same way. And among them will be some skilled in combat… yes, there will be women like Elizabeth. To secure a proper score, I'll need to be certain of that level of…….”
And so Cecilia walked on, thoughts and murmurs trailing behind her.
This activity wasn't particularly important, and naturally her motivation had been close to nil—yet merely entertaining a few thoughts made her participate in it with somewhat more energy.
The reason, of course, was the tiny maid who was even now sleeping the day away in blissful idleness back in the cave.
“…Hm?”
Cecilia, strolling slowly through the forest, came to an abrupt halt.
For some reason, four students had gathered around her.
And they were carrying several wooden swords and crudely made shields.
“…My lady, we apologize.”
“C-conflict between students is permitted activity, so…!”
“If you'd just hand over your bracelet! We'll withdraw at once. Or, simply giving us some points would be more than enough…!”
“…….”
From four directions, though keeping a careful distance… a group of students had encircled Cecilia.
Cecilia listened to their demands and looked down at her bracelet.
The number visible through the crystal orb on her wrist was simply….
600.
“How many points have you all gathered so far? You've been working hard since yesterday, haven't you? Gathered quite a lot?”
They all looked disheveled, as though they hadn't rested properly at all.
Having finished her assessment of their appearance, Cecilia posed the question.
“…About 800 points, all together.”
“800? I see.”
“We don't know how many points you've gathered, my lady, but if you gave us even half… we'd withdraw without any trouble.”
“Hmm… half, you say.”
The four students surrounding Cecilia never once considered that she might attack first.
They simply stood in their loose encirclement, each about five meters away, doing nothing at all.
They weren't even aiming their weapons, nor holding their shields up in any proper defensive stance.
“All right. I believe that will do nicely.”
Cecilia's design was complete.
And the other students had misread her intentions entirely.
“800 points or so… Serena will be quite pleased, I imagine.”
“…Pardon?”
“Ice—bind my foes.”
A very small utterance, followed by Cecilia's incantation.
Despite the brevity of the chant, the mana poured into the spell was extraordinary.
For Cecilia, whose mana reserves dwarfed those of ordinary people—indeed, of nearly every student at the Academy—it was an amount not even worth calling a speck of dust.
And yet even that speck was vast beyond measure….
“Wh….”
“…Huh?”
“Ghhhh…?”
“I—I can't move!”
The students, standing at their ambiguous distance in their half-hearted encirclement, found themselves bound in ice exactly where they stood.
Far beyond merely frozen feet—the ice had sealed them completely from the lower body up through their waists and around their shoulders.
Thus rendered utterly immobile….
“Your Hunt ends here. Thank you for gathering the points—and in the next activity, I'd appreciate it if you'd deliver them to me just like this again.”
Their bracelets had no choice but to be destroyed by Cecilia's hand.
And so the points in Cecilia's bracelet rose from 600 to 1,400.
“Once you've gathered a decent amount, you lot can carry on hunting on your own, I suppose.”
Muttering this to herself in a bored tone, Cecilia gazed at the ice left behind by the forcibly recalled students.
Having confirmed the points had transferred properly, she resumed her stroll.
Though she hadn't said a word to her maid yet, the truth was that Cecilia's 'hunt' had been underway since yesterday, and she had already amassed a considerable number of points.
In fact, Serena had wanted to see the 'scene' of Cecilia fighting other students and taking their points.
But Cecilia, thinking nothing of the sort, focused only on the hope that Serena would be pleased with how well she'd gathered points, wandering slowly outside.
“Fufu.”
And so, slowly hunting other students… Cecilia, focused on something entirely apart from her maid, simply smiled quietly to herself—making the truly divergent judgment that once Serena saw her score, she would surely light up with that adorable face and rejoice.