Foxes' Feeding Frenzy and the Traitor's Mark
The two who had been bickering like foxes for ages suddenly stopped fighting—who knew what wind had blown through them—and started chatting amiably.
"Sheera, here..."
"Yeah. No helping it."
With that, they belatedly dug into their food. Stella and Sheera, glancing at each other warily, exchanged some kind of signal before Stella spoke up first, lightly.
"...Ian, eat this."
Stella said as she speared some food from her plate with a fork and held it out to me. But the menu was the same anyway, and I'd already stuffed myself full, so I turned it down.
"I'm good."
"W-who said I want to feed you!? I'm full, so I'm just giving you a chance to clear my plate!"
"Just throw it out if you don't wanna eat it."
"T-throwing it away would be a waste."
"A waste?"
Honestly, the outfit she'd bought without haggling at all felt like more of a waste. They could've just gone to a cheap store or bargained a bit and saved enough for this course meal...
As I hesitated, puzzled by her contradictory behavior, Noah—who'd been scraping her plate clean beside me—suddenly shot up her hand.
"Then I'll eat it!"
"—What? Wa—"
"Yeah, Noah can have it."
I took the fork from Stella and handed it straight to Noah. She blushed faintly, staring at the fork before cautiously opening her mouth.
"Ah, aaaah... "
I slid the fork into her delicately parted lips, and she clamped them shut, munching away contentedly. She looked just like a cute little hamster, and I couldn't help but grin.
"Ah, Noah. Sauce on your cheek."
"Eh, huh?"
"Clumsy girl."
I spotted the sauce on her cheek and wiped it from the corner of her mouth with a napkin. Noah squeezed her eyes shut and puckered her lips to make it easier. Even with an expression that could've looked annoying on anyone else, her beauty shone through—as expected of the protagonist.
After cleaning her up, I picked up the fork and turned to Stella.
"Ah, Stella. Here's the fo—wait, what's wrong?"
"—Nothing."
"You look mad though..."
"I'm not mad."
Stella shot back, her face frozen in icy stiffness. For a split second, she looked like she'd seen a ghost lurking behind her.
Sheera, for some reason, let out an exclamation while staring at Noah. Utterly baffling behavior, all around.
* * *
Natural airhead.
Sheera thought of the word as she watched Noah. No woman had ever suited it better.
'Personality-wise, a genius. Acting-wise, a genius too.'
Watching her innocently wag her tail at Ian made Sheera's gut boil. Seeing Ian gradually fall into that natural airhead trap was not a pretty sight.
She wanted to carry out the Acacia family's role right then and there, but...
'Can't do that.'
The Acacia family's role: assassinating nobles who threatened humanity's future. Noah, on the other hand, was essential to humanity.
A 3-star summoner who could summon two summons solo. The second "child of the sun" since the founding emperor.
'If anything, she's someone we need to protect.'
There were occasional idiots who saw her existence as a threat to the empire's stability. Her family had always identified and dealt with those fools in advance.
Empire's stability? Peanuts compared to humanity's future.
'Couldn't figure out why Duchess Selene headed to the Iritz main estate, but...'
Didn't matter. Even if she hadn't, the family's spies would extract the info.
And it wasn't a total bust. She'd uncovered evidence of some incident between Ian and Stella in Iritz territory.
Sheera, having jotted down the intel on paper, flung open the window and whistled. A rhythmic trill.
She waited briefly by the open window before a pitch-black crow soared in from the night sky into her room.
—It's a dispatch.
"I know. Not my first rodeo."
She untied the note from the crow's ankle and attached her own paper in its place. Confirming receipt, the crow vanished.
'Intel, huh...'
The note contained info from the family spy. On Selene Rudolph Iritz.
[Confirmed receipt of dispatch: Iritz family in crisis]
[Confirmed info: High-rank demon raided Iritz main estate]
[Confirmed: Duke Iritz's expedition]
[Confirmed: No forces in territory capable of stopping high-rank demon]
『Frame the group that went to the territory with Stella Iritz for Level-2 humanity betrayal.』
"...What the hell."
Sheera read the note again. The contents didn't change.
'Ian, a traitor?'
* * *
Canopus Academy boasted countless facilities for its students. The student cafeteria offering free meals. Training grounds for casual practice. A library stocked with every book imaginable.
And naturally, leisure spots too.
'...What the hell is this.'
I was at the swimming pool right now.
"Squirtle! Water Gun!"
Water Gun!
—Pshoooo!
"Can't lose! Whirlipede!"
Whirlwind!
—Whirrr!
Far off, summons kept spewing water. They whipped the geyser into waves with wind. Artificial wave pool complete.
Kids floated on tubes made from monster corpses buoyant in water, diving into the waves. The shy ones? They soaked in hot baths rooted by wood-affinity summons or scalding tubs boiled by fire summons.
This was a summon-made water park.
'Why the fuck does this place even exist?'
One facility that had no business being in an academy. An indoor pool was iffy enough— a full water park?
'Those developer bastards are insane.'
I grumbled at the absurd sight when someone snuck up.
"Hya!"
Squish—
Something pressed hard against my back, covering my eyes. From experience, I knew the soft mounds against me were bare breasts, unshielded by fabric.
"Who is it?"
"Sheera."
"Nuh-uh～."
"Quit messing around."
I grabbed her hands and yanked them off. Breaking her grip with brute force, I turned to see her sticking out her tongue, glaring like she hadn't expected that.
"What, breaking it by force? Rude!"
"My call."
"Fine? Then—ta-da～!"
Sheera clamped my mouth shut by stripping off her clothes in one go. She was down to her underwear in seconds.
"W-what the hell!?"
I hurriedly blocked her front. Sheera tilted her head like why?
"—Why cover up?"
"Why cover up? You're basically..."
"It's a swimsuit."
"...What?"
Sheera showed off her "underwear"—no, swimsuit—again. Right, this was a pool. Swimsuits were normal. And in this game-world isekai, bikinis were no big deal.
'...Thought it was legit underwear.'
She was such an unpredictable nutjob that showing up in undies wouldn't faze anyone. She'd probably strut around proudly, claiming it was a swimsuit, soaking up stares.
Her personality caused the mix-up, but the outfit looked way too much like lingerie.
"...No, what kinda swimsuit is that?"
"Weird?"
"Not weird, just..."
Sheera's swimsuit was a white bikini with frills at the chest. It amplified her cuteness. No wonder other guys were sneaking glances.
"...So, why'd you call me here?"
I ignored her outfit and asked why she'd dragged me to the pool.
True to her bratty nickname, Sheera didn't answer right away. She pressed a finger to her lips and hummed.
"Aw, that's it?"
"That's it? What?"
"Your impression! Impression!"
Sheera grinned and spun. Lace fluttered, subtly emphasizing her exposure.
Telling her it looked good would just inflate her ego, so I half-lied.
"It's alright."
"Alright!?"
"Yeah."
"Ugh... You can't say that about a lady's outfit! Penalty time. Follow me."
She grabbed my left hand, interlocking fingers instantly, and yanked me along, claiming we had somewhere to be.
Her freakish strength dragged me helplessly.
'What the hell does she want...'
Puzzled by her antics, I trailed after her.
* * *
Arriving at the ice cream shop with Ian, Sheera pointed and ordered.
"Here! Buy me this."
"No money."
"It's a penalty—no deductions!"
Not her place to say as a freeloader, but Sheera commanded shamelessly. Ian sighed lightly and went in to order.
Meanwhile, Sheera recalled Ian's hand from earlier.
'...It's changed.'
The telltale sign of humanity betrayers siding with demons: pattern shifts. Minor color changes, or major ones like vanishing or total overhaul.
Ian's pattern had morphed.
'Did Ian really betray humanity?'
Of course, just suspicion. Not proven, just possible. A hypothesis from big data analysis.
Reasonable guess: 3-star students couldn't beat a high-rank demon.
'No way.'
But inconsistencies nagged. Noah, Stella, Senior Dinua—all unchanged. Only Ian's different. And if he'd betrayed and looted Iritz, demons should've swarmed the south by now. Silence instead.
Those two points kept her family from ordering Ian's death.
'Time will tell.'
Her home likely sent envoys to Iritz alongside this dispatch. Her job: prepare for contingencies.
She watched Ian return with ice cream, praying it wouldn't come to that.
'Ian, please. Don't make me kill you.'
She watched Ian approach from the shop with the ice cream,