The Princess's Invitation
They had arrived in Rochest.
Simon had borrowed a pair of pants from Rick and thrown on a plain white shirt to go with them.
Coming out this early in the morning had left him groggy. Hands buried in his pockets, he yawned once and looked around.
'This is insane.'
It was the weekend in Rochest, after all — couples everywhere he looked. Boys and girls clinging to each other, head-over-heels in love, so sickeningly sweet that merely watching them made a bystander's skin crawl.
And yet, no sign of Serne anywhere.
'Come to think of it, she never even told me where we were supposed to meet, did she?'
He fished out her letter and checked it again. Aside from a request to come down to Rochest by noon, there wasn't a word about where to meet up.
'...Why am I even standing here?'
Just as Simon was heaving sigh after sigh—
*Flutter!*
A pure-white feather came sailing down and landed at his feet.
A moment later another one fluttered down, dropping onto the tiled street.
'One of Serne's feathers. Is it telling me to come this way?'
Simon obediently followed the feathers. Wherever he walked, another one dropped, pointing the way forward.
That was how he passed through a narrow alley and emerged onto the wide main thoroughfare with its carriage road.
'They're gone.'
The feathers had stopped without warning. He halted at the edge of the road and was scanning the ground for more when a strange girl came sprinting toward him from across the street, wobbling, about to lose her balance.
It was far too dangerous to pretend he hadn't seen.
Simon caught her before she could fall.
"Are you okay?"
Her eyes were closed, as if she'd lost consciousness. Just as Simon opened his mouth to speak again, her head snapped up.
And then—
"Do you know what love is? ♪"
She burst into song, out of nowhere.
"You're always on my mind, my heart flutters all day long! ♬"
This person is completely insane.
Simon stared at her in bewilderment.
The girl twirled like a ballerina in an elaborate dance, then clasped hands with a boy who'd been walking up behind her.
"What is love? ♩"
"What is love~"
Now the two of them were singing a duet. Suddenly the people nearby began singing along as well.
"Sometimes love puts us to the test! ♬"
"It follows me everywhere, like a shadow! ♩"
An impromptu chorus had broken out in the middle of a Rochest street.
One by one, people doing their daily work joined in.
The song swelled louder and louder. Upstairs windows banged open, and a housewife folding laundry joined the melody; a couple in the middle of a marital spat opened their mouths as if nothing had ever happened.
"Where do we come from, and where do we go? ♪"
Snap. Snap. Snap.
Children, beggars, even the paperboy on his route — everyone was dancing to the beat.
Simon stood there dumbfounded, staring blankly, until someone suddenly shoved him in the back.
"Whoa—!"
He stumbled forward toward the carriage road, and with perfect timing a carriage rolled to a stop, its door swinging open.
"Love is what guides us! ♪"
A woman he'd never seen before, seated inside the carriage, took Simon's arm, pulled him up onto the seat beside her, and sang.
The driver set the carriage moving at once.
"Love is what polishes us bright! ♪"
The carriage stopped almost immediately.
The moment Simon stepped down, people dressed in matching clothes lined the mouth of the alley, playing instruments and dancing as they ushered him along.
Having finally grasped the situation, Simon followed them with a stone-faced expression. When a door opened and he stepped inside, people in restaurant uniforms were singing a chorus.
"Love is~ ♪"
A dazzling flourish of piano keys rang out. Simon followed the sound up to the second floor.
"Even if it's just my own sweet delusion, I don't mind! ♪"
A male staff member and a female staff member sang, clasping hands.
At the far end of the second floor, he spotted her — a girl playing the piano with showy, sweeping gestures.
"Love is~"
As she sang and played, everyone around her fell into step with the music.
"Mysterious, and beautiful! ♬"
Da-da-daaam-daaam-daaam.
Da-daaam.
Ta-raaan!
The instant the music stopped, every staff member in the room erupted into thunderous applause.
Amid that storm of clapping, the girl at the piano rose slowly from her bench, took hold of her skirt hem, and bowed her head. Then she gave a light *clap!* of her hands.
Flinch. Flinch.
Light gradually returned to the pupils of the employees' glazed eyes.
As if nothing at all had happened, they drifted back to their tasks — sweeping the floor with brooms, serving tables, heading into the kitchen to grill patties.
"Welcome, Simon."
The piano girl rested her index finger against her lips and smiled brightly.
The official heiress of the Ivory Tower — a girl with the power of mind control through her feathers.
"...Serne."
The male waiter who had been dancing just moments ago approached and bowed to the two of them.
"How many in your party?"
He was speaking as though he had never seen Serne before in his life.
"Two, please~"
"Right this way. I'll show you to your table."
The two of them were led to the best seat in the house, just behind the piano. A simple pre-meal tea arrived, and Serne elegantly lifted her coffee cup.
"So? What did you think of the little event I prepared? Magnificent, isn't it?"
"Haaah."
Simon pressed a hand to his forehead, his expression a complicated mess.
"...You're one of the strangest people I know. And that's a competitive field."
"That's hardly the way to compliment a lady."
She winked.
"Don't worry yourself too much. I only controlled the people on the street for about a minute to put the event together. No lingering aftereffects, no risk of accidents."
"That's not the problem here."
"Anyway, anyway! What did you think of the event?"
...Well.
If he had to describe it, it had felt like a scene from a play — with himself as the lead who'd wandered into it.
But at the same time, it had frightened him.
Serne's power terrified him — the fact that she could stage something like this so casually. If she put her mind to it, drowning an entire city in a waking dream would be no trouble at all.
What exactly was she scheming, staying at Kizen like this?
"Consider it an honor."
At that, Serne stretched out her long legs, crossed one over the other, and smiled.
"There are very few people alive who've earned the right to sit across from me like this, just the two of us."
The poise in her voice and gestures, the sheer depth of her charisma — above all, that unique aura that only she seemed to carry.
If anyone in this world was born to sit as a queen above all others, surely it was her.
No wonder she'd taken over Class C. Kizen was packed with the children of staggeringly powerful figures, and dominating an entire class among them was no small feat. Simon was beginning to sense that she was something more than just mind control and the Ivory Tower pedigree.
In any case, the conclusion was clear:
'This woman is exhausting to be around.'
Simon took a sip of tea to match her and said, "So why did you call me out here?"
She didn't answer, pretending instead to groom her fingernails.
Just then a waiter approached, laid tablecloths over their laps one at a time, murmured, "Pardon me," and handed Simon a letter.
Once the waiter had gone, Simon frowned.
"I really wish you wouldn't pull this kind of thing — using other people without telling them."
She giggled.
"I didn't use a feather on him~ I just asked. Told him to hand a letter to the gentleman while laying the tablecloth."
"..."
She really does love playing with me.
Simon sighed inwardly and opened the letter.
"Huh?"
The instant a royal crest flashed into view from inside the envelope, Simon jolted in shock, accidentally knocking his teacup with his elbow — the tea nearly went spilling everywhere.
"Wh-what is this?"
Simon held the letter out in flustered disbelief.
"Why do *you* have a letter from the Dresden royal family?"
She tilted her head as if to say, *so what?*
"I was asked to deliver it."
"??"
The Ivory Tower was a self-governing dominion, a place beyond the reach of any kingdom's interference. This was the first he'd ever heard that the Tower and Dresden were on friendly terms.
"Princess Molly of Dresden. You know her, don't you?"
At the mention of someone he actually knew, some of the tension drained out of Simon's shoulders.
"I do."
The memory was still vivid.
He'd met her during the Duel Evaluation.
It had also been the debut match of the Overlord. The duel against Special Admission No. 10, Malcolm Randolph — the user of Doppelgänger magic.
Back then, Prince Andre — a second-year — had lent his opponent Malcolm a Black Knight's artifact, all because Simon had refused his invitation to join his club, Noble.
And Simon had knocked Malcolm — literally clad in the Black Knight's armor — flat, in front of a thousand spectators.
Enraged, Andre had summoned Simon to take it out on him, but Princess Molly had appeared and had the prince escorted away.
After that incident, every abuse of power Andre had committed under his princely authority came to light, and as far as Simon knew, Andre had been expelled from Kizen for it.
That was what she'd said to him at the end.
The letter in his hands connected to that same moment. It was a letter penned personally by Princess Molly herself, saying that she wished to make good on her apology from back then — and that she wanted to invite Simon to a ball being held at the royal court.
Serne added her own explanation.
"It's a Designated Request from Her Highness~ The moment you get back to Kizen, the officials will come calling for you."
'A Designated Request!'
Unlike ordinary requests, where students picked up postings from the dormitory board themselves, a Designated Request was one where the client personally named the student they wanted. As far as Simon knew, only power brokers with real influence over Kizen could issue one.
And reading the letter, the official pretext was guarding the royal family — but in practice, it amounted to *come and have fun, and do us the honor of gracing the occasion.* The dress code was even spelled out in meticulous detail.
"Of course, I was invited too!"
Serne brandished a letter bearing the royal seal, pulled from her coat.
"An invitation for Kizen's most promising young man and woman! You can picture how this looks, can't you?"
Simon nodded.
An invitation from the royal family — worse, one sent directly by Princess Molly — effectively left him no room to refuse. There was nothing to gain from making an enemy of a kingdom.
They'd mostly be staying inside the palace, so there didn't seem to be any need to worry about Magnus, either.
Still, Simon felt vaguely uneasy about the whole thing.
He did owe Princess Molly a visit, to thank her for reining in the spoiled third prince. But calling in Kizen students yet again as a stage for displaying royal power left a slightly sour taste in his mouth...
"And this! They say the Designated Request fee alone is 2,000 gold."
Someone else might have found the arrangement distasteful. Simon was not that someone.
'Thank you, Your Highness!'
His allowance from Richard had been steadily running dry as it was.
He'd also just acquired Royal Guard, a powerful new spell — he wanted to pour more resources into purchasing skeletons.
The moment the fee came in, he'd head straight to Rochest, stock up on more Skeleton Archers, and even though it would be pricey, maybe prepare a Mage or two as well.
Summoning was a money-devouring hippo — the bigger the budget, the better. Simon was already deep in fantasy about how to spend money he hadn't even received yet when Serne spoke up abruptly.
"So — you'll do it, right?"
Simon gave a light nod and looked at her.
"One question, unrelated to the mission."
"Go ahead."
"Why go to all this trouble? Burning one of those debt coupons just to drag me down to Rochest to tell me this?"
If she'd simply let him keep studying at Kizen, the Designated Request would have found its way to him on its own.
At that, Serne dropped her elbow onto the table with a *thump*, propped her chin on her hand, and smiled slyly.
"Do you have anything to wear to a ball?"
"..."
Of course he didn't.
Serne caught his hesitation and laughed with her eyes.
"Which is why we're going shopping together~"
So *that* was the real purpose.
Simon eyed her with suspicion.
"...You're saying all I have to do is shop with you?"
She spread her palm and folded down one slender finger at a time.
"In exchange — you escort me for the whole day. Carry my bags. Tell me I look pretty during fittings. And don't frown when I get a little handsy."
Just hearing the list made him dizzy.
A powerful instinct told him this would be far more exhausting than any mission.
"I'll consider it for two debt coupons."
"Whaaat~! Spending one day humoring a girl counts the same as risking your life fighting a Saintess of Efnel? Have you no conscience, sir?"
He'd hoped, but of course there was no budging her.
"Buuut! In exchange, I'll pay for everything you buy while shopping — up to and including your ball attire! How about it?"
He'd heard ball attire was ruinously expensive.
And if they shopped together, he could probably slip in a few things he wanted under the radar, too. All things considered, this was not a losing deal for him.
"Fine. Deal."
"Get ready, then! We leave right now!"
The same hour.
Amid the bustle of students rushing off to enjoy their early morning or bury themselves in study, there was still one person sleeping the morning away without a care in the world.
The room was a design of cream and pink woven together. Frilled curtains hung on one side, and beside them stood a display shelf lined with charming little animal plushies.
And lying in the bed was a girl in pajamas.
Stirred awake by the vibration of a communication crystal ringing on her desk, she rubbed her eyes and sat up.
"...What is it, this early?"
She shuffled over on half-asleep legs and activated the crystal.
"Yes?"
-My lady Lorraine. Serne Aindark has begun to move.
The drowsiness in her ruby eyes vanished in an instant, replaced by sharp seriousness.
"Location?"
"Rochest. She has one companion with her — an active Kizen student."
'Brainwashed another one, I see. Who is it?'
A stiff voice came through the crystal.
"She is traveling with Simon Polentia."