The Autumn Festival Begins
The day of the festival had dawned. At long last, the moment the entire Academy had been waiting for had arrived. With no less a guest than the Crown Prince in attendance, this festival was destined to go down as the grandest event in the Academy's history. From the gray hours before sunrise, students had been bustling about in a flurry of preparation.
"Everyone's going to do great, right?"
Bayul had woken earlier than usual to start his day. Partly it was for the Crown Prince's official schedule, but before that, he had something important to say to his spirits.
"This doesn't seem like a big deal,"
"No problems on my end either,"
Innocent and Tempesta answered as if they were competing with each other. These days, with nothing to do but play to their hearts' content, both of their faces had bloomed bright and healthy.
"You shouldn't just answer like that off the top of your heads. You need to think carefully and act carefully. This is a genuinely serious matter."
"So you summoned us while you're washing Quinn's hair because of that?"
"Because we can't let Quinn hear it?"
"Nobody knows the Death brothers are demons. It's a secret that only we share."
"We knew that already. You tell us everything else, but somehow you never mention that one, huh?"
Tempesta was remarkably perceptive. He waved a hand once, as if to say, don't worry about it.
"I've temporarily sealed the air so our conversation can't leak out. Quinn has sharp ears, after all — he might have overheard. You can relax now, Bayul."
"Thanks, Tempesta. You really are the best!"
At Bayul's praise, the boy's mouth stretched up into a grin that reached his ears.
"So if it gets desperate, can I dump a water bomb on someone?"
"No, Innocent! Absolutely not! That would be way too obvious!"
"Then what if Rita ends up meeting that priest while we're dawdling? Do we just leave them alone?"
"I'll blow them apart with a gust of wind, obviously."
"Tempesta, that's out too!"
"Can't do this, can't do that. What do you want us to do, then?"
At Innocent's complaint, Tempesta nodded as if in full agreement.
Of course. They only ever listen to me when it's something like this.
Bayul forced a smile and calmly explained once more.
"Rita is coming to the festival today. Spinel, you remember what happened when you came in then — how Priest Wagner took an interest in Rita."
"As I recall, it was attributed to her high affinity with demons,"
"Right. It happened because the Death brothers simply can't resist Rita's cooking. But Rita doesn't know any of that. At the time I think she just brushed it off as strange, but if Priest Wagner keeps bringing it up, she might start asking questions."
"Still, I doubt she'd ever guess that idiot Death is a demon."
"I'm more worried about my friends than about Rita. We could run into them on the way here, and if they overhear Priest Wagner talking about it — especially Rai, he won't let it go quietly."
He was the one who recoiled at the mere mention of demons. If he learned that not only Bayul but now Rita had an affinity for them, he would certainly find it strange and demand to know why.
And then there would inevitably come a moment when explanations couldn't be avoided — and the thought of cleaning up after that was more than Bayul cared to imagine.
"So we have to block it off completely, before it ever happens. Your mission is to make absolutely sure Rita and Priest Wagner never meet."
"Mission?"
"It means a task. A special assignment."
"Oh, a special assignment! Got it! I'll work super hard!"
The phrase seemed to please him enormously. Filled with resolve, Tempesta turned aerial somersaults in the cramped little room.
"Hey, you're making my head spin — hold still!"
"It's my hair!"
"Take this, for real!"
Innocent unleashed a water bomb on Tempesta without a moment's warning. But he was hardly the type to take it lying down. The window flew open with a bang, and the water sailed clean out into the open air.
"Ah, that's freezing! Which one of you brats did that?!"
"Tempesta!"
The indignant curse of some poor passerby who'd caught the water drifted up from below. Bayul's eyes went wide with alarm, and Tempesta hastily shut the window again — with all the grace of a criminal fleeing the scene.
Haah... can I really entrust Rita to these two?
The Crown Prince's sudden visit had meant that even Ian of the Full Moon Knight Order had been pulled away to serve in his escort. The Death brothers had departed as well, called back by some matter in the Demon Realm, leaving Rita to come to the Academy entirely alone. And with his own ceremonial duties to attend to, Bayul had precious little time to spare for her.
The potential meeting between Rita and Priest Wagner was worry enough, but what weighed on him more was that she would be alone in a place this crowded. That was why he'd asked the spirits to serve as her escorts — and her minders.
"I shall handle it smoothly and naturally, so that no one is startled,"
Spinel, seeming to understand his concerns, gazed at him with calm, steady eyes and reassured him.
Right. I have Spinel.
As the only Intermediate Spirit among them, she had a dependability the others lacked. Bayul couldn't predict exactly how a fire spirit would exercise her power, but he trusted that she wouldn't do anything reckless.
And Shame is down below, aren't you? I'm counting on you.
"As you command......"
Shame made the promise in his characteristically low, gravelly voice. Bayul said a silent prayer that the festival would pass without a single hitch.
"Did you sleep well, Your Highness?"
Quite a spectacle was unfolding before a secluded doorway in Stone Lion Hall. Imperial knights and the Full Moon Knight Order standing shoulder to shoulder down the narrow corridor — a sight one would struggle to find anywhere else in the Empire.
When else would the Empire's finest knights ever appear in an Academy dormitory?
The students had been stunned enough just learning that the Crown Prince would be eating and sleeping under the same roof as them, and yet every time they came face to face with the knights, it still failed to feel entirely real.
The inconvenience suffered by the boys on this floor was beyond all description, but since this was an experience none of them would ever have again, not a soul complained. Everyone was willingly embracing the situation.
"Maybe it's because it's my second night? I slept better than yesterday."
Crown Prince Lindemann greeted his party with a delighted smile at Bayul's morning greetings.
"I'm glad, since you turned in rather late last night."
"Hearing about the Crow's Nest is one thing — visiting it myself was quite another. What was that bird called? Sebastiano?"
"That's right, Your Highness. He's the master of the place."
Aidan answered the prince's question with impeccable courtesy. At the sight, a flash of displeasure crossed Eli's eyes, but fortunately no one noticed. Quinn and Logan, as they had from the very first day, simply kept to their posts, quiet as shadows.
"We should have a proper match there ourselves sometime."
"Should such an opportunity present itself, I would be honored."
The Crown Prince was referring to the drinking chess match Bayul had played against Jared.
Spotting a bird in flight, Lindemann had suddenly recalled the Crow's Nest. He hadn't managed to play any chess there, but he'd had the good fortune to exchange greetings with Sebastiano himself.
All of it had been thanks to Aidan, the Tamer — but the Crown Prince seemed to regard it only as a marvel, harboring no particular suspicion.
"Well then, shall we go get breakfast?"
Lindemann's first engagement of the day was a breakfast meeting — a meal with Chairman Rayegar and the Chancellor, along with the Academy's entire faculty.
As the Empire's Crown Prince, such gatherings were surely second nature to him, but the same could not be said for Bayul and his friends. For students, dining with the Chancellor and the professors was nothing short of an ordeal.
Worse still, there was the matter of what irreverent outburst Rayegar might let slip midway through. That, too, was a source of dread.
"I heard the chess tournament preliminaries start tomorrow, and the equestrian events begin today, yes? Aidan and Logan are competing, if I remember correctly."
The Crown Prince asked as they left the dormitory building and headed for the dining hall.
"Yes, they're both entered in the show jumping."
"Logan isn't competing in the swordsmanship tournament? With the Seymour family's name, that's a little unusual. Yours is a renowned house of the sword, after all."
Logan's family had produced courageous knights for generations. Moreover, Bayul had already heard that Logan's own achievements as the eldest son were nothing to sneeze at.
"He trains with the sword without fail, every single day,"
"Ah — so there's no need for him to prove himself in a tournament?"
That wasn't what Bayul had meant, but Logan could hardly presume to correct the Crown Prince. The truth was simply that a tournament would eat up too much of his time, and his ceremonial duties would surely suffer for it.
"Come to think of it, Eli — why aren't you entering the magic tournament?"
The question carried a clear undertone of bewilderment: surely the top student of the Magic Department ought to compete.
"I don't have the time."
"No time?"
"No, sir. My ceremonial duties alone are more than enough to keep me buried."
R-Rai!
He'd let his guard down for one moment. The fool should have remembered that when he was grumbling from breakfast about how his escort duties kept him from getting a decent night's sleep.
Bayul broke out in a cold sweat imagining how Eli — the Academy's paragon of a model student — had somehow been reduced to this delinquent (?).
"Oh dear. I've taken up a great deal of your time, haven't I. This must be your first festival since entering the Academy, and I'm afraid you'll hardly get to enjoy it properly on my account."
Oh, so you've finally noticed? Eli barely managed to swallow the words.
"But what can be done about it now? This is my first and last festival as a student, so I hope you'll understand."
The Crown Prince was not one to apologize outright. But this roundabout appeal was, in its way, his manner of doing so. Perhaps it had softened something in Eli, for his expression eased a little.
"We've arrived, it seems."
By the time a few words had been exchanged, they found themselves at the dining hall. The moment they stepped inside, Chairman Rayegar, the Chancellor, and the entire faculty rose from their seats and bowed to the Crown Prince.
The tension in the room was palpable. When, after all, would the men who served this Academy ever get the chance to lay eyes on the Crown Prince?
For them, today's meal was a glory to carry back to their families — a story they would be boasting of for years to come.
"Your Highness, allow me to show you to your seat."
Chancellor Reinhardt came forward personally to escort the Crown Prince. At the head of the long, sweeping table sat an enormous chair gilded in gold — hauled out from who knew where, or perhaps commissioned for the occasion. It had clearly been prepared specially for today.
"Everyone's turned out to greet me. Thank you for such warm hospitality this early in the morning."
Crown Prince Lindemann exchanged nods all around and took his seat first. Bayul and his friends sat near the Crown Prince, though they were scattered a seat or two apart from one another.
"My son! You're here."
Rayegar waved a hand in greeting at Eli, who was seated across from him. Where the Chairman beamed, even his eyes crinkling with delight, Eli's face twisted as though he'd bitten into a rotten radish.
"Your son?"
The Crown Prince had never heard anything about a relationship between Rayegar and Eli. His surprise was only natural.
Ah. This is going to go badly.
Despite holding the lofty office of Chairman, Rayegar was a person of interest who could go off in any direction at any moment. Would the breakfast meeting survive to its end unscathed? Bayul's unease grew by the minute.