The Moving Saintesses (1)
Very regrettably, the academy’s official schedule included a tour of the foreign city. It was a holiday, roughly once a week during their stay, meant to keep students from growing bored after rest and to encourage them to enjoy themselves rather than simply endure the academy’s curriculum.
The alchemy rioters, being broke, had planned to stay inside and focus on research, but unfortunately the first week came with a strict directive to force everyone outside. So they were all preparing to head out.
“What are we supposed to do out there with no money?”
“I heard the chimera side has a lot of high-ranking nobles, so they’ll probably go wild. They’ve been playing around the whole trip anyway.”
Grumbling voices could be heard. The academy’s intention was good—let students relieve stress through sightseeing while gaining experience—but the plan only appealed to those who enjoyed going out. For those who preferred relaxing indoors, it was torture. That was why he had prepared something.
“Rioters, come get your bonus.”
“One rioter reporting for duty, Master!!”
Playing along with the joke, the alchemy students and a few others who had actively participated in the research accepted the money pouches. The amount wasn’t large, but it was enough for a day of food and drink. One of them stared at the money, fidgeting, and asked cautiously.
“Um, is this okay? With this many people, it’ll run out pretty fast…”
“We still have plenty of funds.”
After all, the prince of this country had bought Cyclops units at ten times the price as the cost of his pointless provocation. There were also gifts, and the useless items Abathus had handed over as “alimony” in Guilford’s place, which Mina had taken and sold for cash.
Mina planned to invest more later, but even with just what had already come into his pocket, their finances were solid. Honestly, covering vacation expenses was nothing.
“Just know you might not get much sleep starting tomorrow.”
“We’ll rotate shifts, so it’s fine.”
“You can sleep in the grave for the rest of your life, but you can’t do research in a grave, right?”
They made an almost eerie remark while happily eyeing the money pouches. That was exactly why these guys were so useful.
“I’ll support the last outing too, so keep that in mind.”
A beast-like roar echoed as the rioters cheered and rushed outside. Watching the knight and magic students leave with slightly envious expressions, wondering if they should join tomorrow, he turned around.
“…Professor.”
“I think I deserve double—no, at least 1.5 times that amount.”
“I prepared triple, so use it for drinks today.”
“Yes! My dignity maintenance fund!!”
Professor Rodelini accepted the prepared pouch and danced her way out. Feeling a slight chill at the fact that she was now using the presence-concealing technique that he had thought only Professor Reina employed, he headed outside.
A light sandstorm blew as he walked through it, passing chimera-side students who also seemed to be heading out to play and golem-side students chattering over maps about where to go. He made his way to the meeting spot.
At the entrance, where an especially large number of chimera students had gathered, he approached and spoke.
“Looks like this is the pre-arranged spot. Would you mind stepping aside?”
“…Damn it. The baron is here.”
“Don’t say that. My apologies. I hope you have a pleasant time.”
Reactions varied—some clicked their tongues in disappointment, others spoke politely, perhaps trying to make a good impression. Since the vast majority of the chimera side were children of high-ranking nobles, some were accustomed to proper conduct, while others found him unpleasant precisely because of that. Still, his rank was higher than theirs. Even if they were heirs of high nobles, the actual titles belonged to their family heads, not them.
As he walked through the crowd, Noel, Mina, and Erica—already dressed in their outing clothes—waved at him cheerfully.
“Ah, Lord Eisen. You’re early.”
“I came out a bit early, but people kept swarming me asking to go out together, so it was awkward. This is perfect!”
“You’re late. Fine.”
Each expressed their welcome in their own way. The three of them had dressed up so nicely that the chimera boys had apparently been trying to talk to them in hopes of getting closer. There were no golem-side students around—they had already gathered yesterday, so there was no reason for them to come today, though quite a few had shown up before.
After all, from the nobles’ perspective, being close to the daughter of a duke, the daughter of a margrave, and the fifth saintess was something they absolutely wanted.
—“Baron, I’m from the Filiarnol barony… Gyah!”
“Please escort us quickly, Eisen. We have a lot to do, don’t we?”
The moment he heard someone calling for him, Noel smiled and spoke. The surrounding atmosphere felt slightly prickly, as if electricity were crackling, but he decided it was just his imagination.
“Let’s go.”
The three of them moved together, and the chimera students began to disperse. Watching them leave, he voiced his honest thoughts.
“Even though we’re divided into golem and chimera sides, there are still plenty of people who want to get close to you three.”
“It’s only a temporary team competition. The academy is also adjusting things so it doesn’t become a source of future conflict from overheating. Besides, we share the same dining hall, right? Some people are already thinking ahead.”
“Before the final week, there’ll probably be defectors or informants. Right now it’s the early stages, so they’re just picking the side they like more, but as time goes on they’ll start weighing the practical benefits.”
He nodded at Noel and Erica’s words. Soon Mina spoke after a brief moment of thought.
“Maybe the headmaster already anticipated this and made the first move to prevent dirty political fights.”
“That could be true too.”
As he had thought before, if it were just him and Abathus competing, all sorts of underhanded tactics could have emerged—Abathus sending assassins, for example. And the people around them wouldn’t have stayed still either.
Some might have tried to hinder him to curry favor with Abathus, while others might have tried to help him to get on Noel, Erica, and Mina’s good side… He had only just realized it, but the headmaster had probably been wary of students causing unnecessary trouble through political infighting and had instead turned it into a rule-bound competition with a team-versus-team atmosphere.
“Well, as long as we do what we need to do, it’s fine.”
Having rules actually worked in their favor. There was no need for unnecessary analysis. They headed straight into the city. Following the surprisingly well-maintained roads, they soon began to hear the lively sounds of the market.
—“Honored guests from Vespia Academy! We have precious magical tools here…!”
—“Selling imperial-style tarts! Food knows no sin or borders! Come and try… What the hell is this crazy white crow?! Get lost!”
As befitting a nation through which countless goods flowed, all kinds of ornaments and the scents of various foods wafted through the air. There were shops that looked like Vespia-style restaurants and others baking bread in the imperial style.
“Even with war tensions between the empire and us, exchanges are still happening.”
“Money and goods themselves have no borders.”
Treating someone as a criminal just for handling goods from an enemy nation wasn’t right, apparently. He wanted to browse for a while, but unfortunately Erica and Mina were firmly blocking him from going that way.
“…It’s not like we’re in a rush to get to the library, so why are you so…”
“There’s definitely a shop dealing in rare minerals over there. If we let Lord Eisen go, he’ll head straight there.”
“As you can see, we agreed to go to the library first. It feels like things will somehow derail, so let’s just head to the library quietly this time.”
Words that sounded like they knew him too well, mixed with strangely calculated remarks, reached his ears. The way they glanced at each other was a little frightening.
Yesterday the three of them had suggested going out together, then suddenly went somewhere as a trio, and a little later coordinated to move together… If he pretended not to notice here, he had a feeling he would suffer greatly later on.
“It’d be a waste to come out together and not do anything, right? We can go on the way back from the library…”
When he made the slightly cautious suggestion, Noel, Mina, and Erica looked at one another for a moment. A faint chill seemed to pass between them. Then Noel smiled and spoke.
“You’re right. I was actually thinking I’d like to look at tea leaves or a tea set with you, Lord Eisen. Shall we go together?”
The moment those words ended, Mina and Erica stood behind Noel, smiling. Then Mina spoke with a rather scary smile.
“Agreement. Discard?”
“Who knows.”
Noel answered Mina’s words with a smile. But soon she let out a small sigh and spoke quietly.
“Lord Eisen’s words aren’t wrong either. Since it’s come to this, instead of not going at all, just going together might be the answer.”
It seemed like an impromptu compromise rather than the original plan. Mina and Erica looked at each other. Then they apparently decided to accept what sounded like a secondary compromise.
“Market. Price research. Thinking of buying clothes too.”
“I suppose I’ll go to the weapons shop.”
“You heard them, Lord Eisen? Once the investigation is over, we all have to go around together, okay? Once we’re done at the library, going straight to golem research is forbidden.”
Noel’s smile was a little scary. She clearly had no intention of letting him go today. Still, as the atmosphere itself felt a bit lighter, they arrived at the library before he knew it. Just as he was about to look around the building, which gave off a slightly unusual glow, Mina spoke quietly.
“By the way, I heard this place was built only with wood and stone.”
“…They’re thorough.”
They knew him too well. They had clearly done thorough prior research, anticipating that if there was any metal, he would immediately run over and start dismantling it. Resigned to having to explore boring books, his reluctance quickly faded.
The atmosphere exuded by the enormous collection of books was quite pleasant, after all. There might even be books describing techniques useful for golems, so it wasn’t a bad situation.
“Our goal is information related to past monster disasters that occurred here.”
“Also incidents where there were signs of monster movements. Remember that.”
Not simple monster attacks, but cases observed alongside large-scale monster migrations. If it was a fairly famous incident, there was a high chance records remained here. No matter what, searching wouldn’t be difficult. After roughly deciding on keywords, they immediately pulled out books and began reading.
“…Vespia’s Dancing Lightning… This case doesn’t seem to be it…”
It was a world with gigantic monsters, and perhaps because no one knew what kind of disaster they might bring, similar content was easy to find. Information about beings that were essentially natural disasters rather than just people fighting people was necessary for maintaining a nation.
There were many interesting cases, and some monsters made him wonder what would be needed to face them with golems. But what mattered now was information about the strange beasts that had caused specific incidents in this desert.
While flipping through pages in search of content, he noticed a torn-out page.
“…It’s been torn?”
Books were basically valuable items. Usually the managing entity was the state, and libraries were especially important places. Even now, this library was only open to academy students, and that was only because of their credibility—ordinary people weren’t allowed. For a page to be torn out in such a place?
“This is rather serious.”
The thought that someone had deliberately interfered to prevent information from being obtained immediately came to mind. And then—
“I knew you would come looking for this.”
A sudden voice came from beyond the bookshelves. Just as he was about to turn around, something shot out like a blade between the shelves. Recognizing the identity, he simply stayed still.
“…I know it’s just paper.”
“I was trying to scare you.”
Well, it wasn’t the kind of place where one would bring a real blade. There was a playful tone in the other’s voice. Still, if it had been a real blade, it would have been dangerous. He had no obligation to speak gently here.
“I’ll assume you have no hostile intentions. Who are you?”
“My, the baron gets sulky quite easily. Well, I suppose that’s natural.”
A person quietly emerged from behind the bookshelves. Tanned, copper-toned skin and glasses stood out. After smoothing her light golden hair, the woman lowered her posture slightly and spoke.
“Nice to meet you, Baron Aclight. I am Sirita, the eighth saintess of the Saras Order.”
The woman wearing glasses narrowed her eyes and said,
“I’m Prince Rial’s sister.”
Remember that, her voice added quietly.