The Princess Who Dreams of Kizen
After purchasing their outfits for the ball, Simon and Lorraine returned to Kizen together via the teleportation magic circle.
Neither of them had yet formally accepted the designated request, nor had they received the official commission papers.
And the moment they set foot back at Kizen, Vice Principal Jane summoned both of them at once.
The two made their way to the building where Jane's office was located.
"...So."
Lorraine, walking beside him, stared steadily at Simon's face.
"Everything was meant to pay off your debt to Serne, and sticking close to her in Langestin was just for show — putting on a display of closeness in front of the Ivory Tower people."
"Yes! Yes, exactly that!"
Simon protested eagerly, desperate to clear up the misunderstanding.
"Despicable."
Having heard the full explanation, Lorraine squeezed her eyes shut.
"She just didn't use her feathers this time. As far as I can tell, that girl is never satisfied unless she's twisting someone around her finger."
"...Haha."
And so, with Lorraine's commentary in his ears, Simon arrived at Jane's office. Lorraine stepped forward and knocked.
"Professor Jane. We're here to receive our mission."
Click!
Before she'd even finished speaking, the door swung open on its own, revealing Jane seated at her desk far across the room. Even though it was the weekend, she was buried beneath a mountain of paperwork.
"Come in."
The two walked over and stood at attention before her.
"This is the designated request addressed to the two of you. The client is Princess Molly of the Dresden Kingdom."
Jane's briefing was brief, but the contents were nothing they didn't already know. Both accepted the designated request and tucked the letter away.
"You will be attending a royal function as representatives of Kizen. Be exceptionally mindful of your conduct and your words, and under no circumstances are you to bring dishonor upon this academy. That is all."
The two bowed. As Lorraine turned to leave, her eyes fell on the towering stacks of documents, and she spoke quietly.
"Mother certainly works you hard, Professor."
"Nothing to be done about it."
Jane let out a small laugh.
"This was always going to be my lot from the moment Nephthys picked me up. And Simon Polentia."
Simon snapped to attention.
"Yes, Professor!"
"Your body."
She paused her quill and looked up.
"Is it all right?"
"!"
It caught him a little off guard. Cold, strict Professor Jane, worried about him?
A faint warmth rising in his chest, Simon answered.
"Yes, ma'am! Perfectly fine!"
"Good to hear. Look forward to the briefing for the next Basic Dark Magic class."
"...Pardon?"
"Dropping from first place to tenth — even accounting for a theme that favors students outside the Summoning track, that's far too steep a decline."
The corner of Jane's mouth curled upward.
"I intend to dissect your results thoroughly next week and tear them apart. Consider this your advance warning."
Despite being indoors, Simon felt a chill crawl down his spine.
"I-I promise I won't disappoint you next time!"
"See that you don't. You may go."
Jane picked up her quill again, and Simon and Lorraine filed out of the office.
...
Once the students were gone and the door had closed behind them, Jane set down her quill. She tapped the mana projector sitting on her desk, and the video she'd been watching resumed playback.
It was footage of Simon sweeping aside the cobalts with his 'Royal Guard' as he advanced. When the crowd's cheers rang out from the recording, a smile tugged at the corner of Jane's lips.
She had lost count of how many times she'd replayed it already.
This is a first.
She was Kizen's Vice Principal and a homeroom professor, yet for the first time in her career, she found herself envying the subject professors who were allowed to take direct disciples.
The following afternoon.
Simon, decked out in a tailored tuxedo for the ball, bow tie and dress shoes included, headed for the hill where the large teleportation magic circle stood. But having never experienced ordinary school life before, he had overlooked one crucial fact.
S-Someone's staring at me. A lot of someones.
The fact that wearing anything other than a uniform while everyone else was in theirs made you stand out like a sore thumb.
The stares had begun the moment he stepped into the dormitory hallway, and the instant he left the school grounds, countless eyes locked onto him.
"Wow, look at that freshman's necktie. So cute~"
"Heading to some kind of party?"
His face burned. If he'd known this would happen, he would have worn his uniform, teleported across, and changed on the other side.
He'd rushed through preparations without a single thought to spare, and now every murmuring voice around him sounded like it was about his clothes. Simon quickened his pace, escaped the school grounds, and climbed the hill.
I'm doomed.
He reached his destination. He'd assumed everyone would have departed yesterday for their mission assessments, but a fair number of students were still heading out for theirs today.
Naturally, their attention converged on Simon.
"Ooh! Off to a childhood friend's birthday party, are we?"
"Hey, country boy! Don't you know a pocket square goes around your head, not in your chest pocket?"
"BWAAAHAHAHA!"
The voices goading him so openly had a strangely familiar ring — Hector's faction. Hector himself was nowhere in sight.
"A tuxedo during mission assessment season? Must be nice."
"Well, he didn't become Special Admission No. 1 for nothing. Probably got personally requested again — off to run some noblewoman's errands and bring back a fat payout."
"Truly amaaazing. Guess you're just on a different level from the rest of us."
The faction kept escalating their provocations, and the gazes of a few onlooking students turned sharper and more hostile along with them.
Oh, come on.
Class A had never gotten this bad. He even caught himself wondering whether Hector had been the only thing holding these people back.
Just as Simon opened his mouth to speak—
"How lovely that you already know we're on a different level~"
A soft, honeyed voice drifted through the air. Every student who turned toward it went wide-eyed.
A girl had drifted to Simon's side and resting a hand casually on his arm, dressed in a beautiful ivory gown that matched her hair perfectly.
"Sorry that all I get to do during mission assessment season is play errand girl for noblewomen."
As Serne let loose a chilling smile, the pupils of Hector's faction trembled violently.
...What the hell is this?!
H-He's going with Serne? SERNE Serne?
However mighty Hector's faction's umbrella might be, Serne Aindark was an eccentric on an entirely different plane. They had just made the worst possible human being their enemy.
"You're early."
Tap.
This time, a black-haired girl was walking toward them.
At the sight of her appearing in a dress like the night sky itself, every student — male and female alike — stood with their mouths hanging open.
Lorraine Archbold!
That's Nephthys's daughter, right?
...S-She's gorgeous.
Lorraine came to a stop at Simon's side.
"Simon, what's with the atmosphere here?"
"Ahh~"
Serne swept the hair back from her ear and answered in her place.
"Wellll, you see, some people over there are just sooo jealous that Simon gets to go on a designated request they could never receive~"
At those words, Lorraine turned a freezing glare on Hector's faction.
Ugh.
...I can hear my school life dying.
To have caught the eye of those two, of all people, in such a short span of time — the faction members were wearing expressions close to tears. As for the students who had half-heartedly joined in the heckling, they had long since scattered to the four winds.
"All right! We will now begin boarding!"
Just then, the teleportation attendant's call rang out.
"Students traveling to the Geron Territory, please enter first!"
"Yes!"
The teleportation circle had saved them at the perfect moment. Watching Hector's faction bolt away in a panicked scramble, not even daring to meet anyone's eyes, Serne laughed out loud.
"Don't let it bother you, Simon."
Lorraine said.
"Yeah."
Simon continued, looking over Lorraine's dress.
"...By the way, that dress really does suit you."
"Thank you. The tuxedo suits you too."
"Me? I've done nothing but get laughed at since I left my room."
"Hmm~"
Serne, standing beside them, let a sly smile slip.
"And was that really laughter, do you think?"
The three of them crossed through the teleportation magic circle and arrived directly at the royal palace of Dresden.
On one side, carriages were drawing up and lavishly dressed nobles were stepping down, while royal stewards escorted them with deep bows. Simon was leading the two gowned girls toward the entrance when a man in royal livery came running up.
"You would be the guests from Kizen? Her Highness the Princess is waiting for you."
The three were guided along a route separate from the ordinary guests.
Right — nominally, we're here as Princess Molly's security detail.
Simon looked around. As befit a palace housing royalty, it was vast and magnificent. A luxurious red carpet covered the floor, and the walls were entirely dressed in gilded ornamentation. There was not a bare space to be found anywhere — the very pinnacle of opulence.
Before long, the three came to a halt before a certain door. The instant the steward opened it, a girl in a white dress came bounding out, beaming.
"Welcome, welcome, all three of you!"
This was the client of the current designated assessment — Princess Molly, so devoted a lover of necromancers that some called her a necromancer scholar herself.
The three offered formal bows, and she hopped up and down in place with delight. The whole scene had the air of a fangirl meeting her favorite stage actor.
After exchanging greetings with Lorraine and then Serne, she stepped up to Simon.
"I owe you an apology for my brother's behavior last semester."
Simon flustered and waved his hands.
"N-Not at all, Your Highness!"
"And I hear you were simply magnificent in the recent BMAT! My mother placed me under house arrest, so I couldn't go watch in person — but I've been hearing all about it! Consider me your devoted supporter from the palace, at least in spirit!"
Princess Molly, visibly excited, talked a mile a minute. But Simon found her enthusiasm and passion far from unpleasant, and he chimed along with a smile.
"I was especially stunned to hear you passed the exam using a Blood Golem! Isn't that a third-year technique? Right? It's incredible! If someone as remarkable as you, Simon, were to come to our kingdom, how wonderful that would— oh! I'm so sorry! This is hardly the place for that kind of talk! Ahaha! Please pretend you didn't hear it!"
Behind her, the eyebrows of Serne and Lorraine — both standing there with smiling faces — twitched, once each.
These two were already hypersensitive to the matter of recruiting talent. Who could have guessed even the Dresden royal house would make a play for him?
Princess Molly's chatter flowed on and on.
"Actually, I'm sixteen now, and next year I'll be seventeen! I've been begging Mother and Mother to open my Core because I want to enroll at Kizen!"
Huh?
At the surprising revelation, Simon blinked. So royalty could enroll as a first-year junior, too.
"But Mother is firmly against it. She says that when a woman opens her Core, childbirth becomes difficult."
"Ha! And people still believe that nonsen—"
Serne caught herself mid-sentence and recovered smoothly.
"How unfortunate that such absurd old wives' tales still circulate~"
"Right? Right?!"
Princess Molly whirled back toward Simon again.
"I've already decided which classes I'll take and what I'll major in at Kizen! I was going to study Toxicology at first, but watching your Duel Evaluations changed my mind! I want to major in Summoning too!"
Simon grinned.
"It's a discipline worth studying. If you enroll at Kizen next year, I'll teach you everything I can."
Princess Molly clasped her hands together, overcome.
"I'll be in your care then, senpai!"
"!"
Simon's shoulders gave a small shudder.
He'd resigned himself to living out his days as a lowly freshman — hearing the word senpai out of nowhere set his heart fluttering for no good reason.
Of course, it was a distant-future concern for now. At the moment, all that occupied his mind was surviving the remainder of his first year.
"Ahem."
Then Lorraine cleared her throat.
"Your Highness. Shouldn't you be getting ready soon?"
"Oh! You're right! Come, I'll show you the way. Please follow me!"
