The Night Before Enrollment Is Exciting
The night before enrollment is supposed to be an exciting one.
What am I supposed to do?
Faced with this sudden situation, I could barely think straight.
"I merely asked if you had seen a beastman around these parts."
The man before me wore his robe pulled low, revealing only the lower half of his face.
Honestly, he was intimidating.
His polite speech suggested he wasn't some low-life thug, but still…
From his solid build to the thick, corded muscle peeking out from under the robe, one glance was enough to tell he was a trained fighter.
Could I win if it came to a fight? Probably not.
Gulp.
I was suddenly faced with a choice.
Hand Luca over quietly, or hide him.
Either way, hesitating too long would be unwise. He might suspect I was concealing something.
In that case, I should at least dig up some grounds for a decision…
Hearing the man's circumstances first and then deciding would be better than choosing blindly.
With that in mind, I swallowed my trembling and prepared to ask calmly.
Or rather, I meant to ask.
"Hah! What utter nonsense is this, at such a late hour?"
A high-handed voice burst out of me, completely against my will.
I was flustered. Yet it did not take long to grasp the reason.
Dignity of a Noblewoman Lv.EX
Regardless of the user's will, every linguistic act is corrected into elegant, archaic standard young-lady speech.
No doubt the trait I had seen on my status window—Dignity of a Noblewoman—was rewriting every word that left my mouth.
"Well… there are certain circumstances that make it difficult to explain."
"You barge in uninvited and cannot even state your reason! You have been thoroughly irksome from the start!"
Yet something still puzzled me.
Ever since I had been reborn into this world, every conversation of mine had clearly been converted into standard young-lady speech. That much was fact.
Whether from the trait or not, every sentence became "it is so," "I daresay," "such is the case," and so on—the refined diction a proper young noblewoman would use.
But the words emerging now were not merely a matter of register.
I had only intended to ask something as simple as "What business brings you looking for him?" Yet somehow I had become a fiery young lady scolding an unwelcome guest.
As if the very act of yielding to anyone were an affront her lofty dignity could not tolerate.
"I apologize for that. However, this is a rather serious matter, so if you would kindly cooperate—"
"My name is Carmilla de Valin."
The moment that thought struck me, I understood the situation.
The mere fact that I had hesitated over the choice of protecting a guest under my roof had already offended that dignity.
So was this its way of showing me the proper example and demanding I reflect?
"In the dead of night, you approach a young lady walking alone, refuse even to state your identity—such a ruffian deserves not a single word from me…"
I laid my hand on the door handle.
Wearing a twisted smile, I hurled the words at him.
"Begone this instant—!"
Slam—!
The door I had shut so roughly made my whole body vibrate.
A brief silence followed, then a sigh drifted from the other side.
Thud, thud…
Only after the retreating footsteps had faded did I finally let the tension leave me.
My legs felt ready to give out, so I slid down with my back against the door.
Only then could I properly take stock of my situation.
"What on earth am I doing…"
As the tension drained away, anger rose in its place.
More than the fact that I myself had been in some danger, it was the fact that I had almost failed to protect Luca—my guest—that made me clench my fists.
I can't just send away a customer who hasn't even paid for his meal yet…!
I had to admit it. I had been careless.
Even if this was inside a game, this place was still a political chessboard where three great nations constantly schemed against one another.
No matter how tight the security, if any side put its mind to it, one could easily be dragged into political strife.
In such a contested zone, everyone carried some form of insurance.
Some relied on the backing of their house, some on their own martial prowess, some on their bond with spirits.
In a place where the basic rule was to keep at least one hidden trump card so that no one could touch you without consequence…
Carmilla de Valin was standing there essentially empty-handed.
The noble surname de Valin was the thin shield that had just protected me, yet unfortunately I had been disowned by the family, so even that would soon become common knowledge.
In other words, a time limit had been set.
Until the day someone realized I was nothing more than a fallen young lady little better than a commoner, I had to forge some kind of card of my own.
Haa… just imagining it is exhausting.
I had thought that once food, clothing, and shelter were secured I could somehow get by, but it seemed I would have no choice but to work myself to the bone.
"Carmilla… okay?"
Apparently my complexion looked poor, for Luca, who had been hiding in the corner, crept out and asked after me.
"Yes, I am quite all right."
"Luca thanks for hiding. If go back, hurt. Don't want go."
His speech was clumsy, but I could roughly guess what had happened.
So I stroked Luca as he drew near and spoke.
"Now that you have come here, you are my customer. To turn away a guest who has yet to settle the bill—why, that would be utterly absurd."
At those words Luca looked up at me with a worried expression.
"Pay bill? Luca no money."
"Well then, you may simply work it off with your body."
He tilted his head; clearly he had not understood.
So I decided to explain slowly.
"In other words, you will learn dishwashing and serving, and work here. Tell me what you think of that."
"Mm… don't like bothersome. Just stay okay?"
"In exchange, I shall cook for you every single day. So you must work properly!"
"Oh, really? Carmilla good person!"
With a cheer, Luca flung himself into my arms.
Seeing how instantly his attitude changed at the mention of food, I could not help but chuckle.
With such a simple mind, he was going to be thoroughly used by me.
The more hands a restaurant has, the better.
Right now I desperately needed help.
First of all, tomorrow was the entrance ceremony.
Classes at the academy by day,
restaurant business in the evening…
and at night, catching up on assignments until I collapsed from exhaustion—that hellish schedule would begin tomorrow.
Just to carve out a little free time from such a dreadful timetable, I needed even a cat's help… no, a beastman's help.
"There is so much to do tomorrow… I must attend the entrance ceremony, move out of the dormitory room into this place, prepare ingredients… haah…"
My eyelids grew heavy.
If I was going to sleep, the bed in the attic would have been better, yet at some point Luca had fallen asleep purring on my lap.
It was rather warm, so a yawn escaped me of its own accord.
This was starting to feel like I was raising a puppy.
"Well, whatever will be, will be…"
Truthfully, I was not hoping for any great help.
Just being able to stroke this warm fur like this was already quite healing.
As I drifted in such carefree thoughts, drowsiness suddenly surged over me.
The excitement, the worries, the strange sense of anticipation for tomorrow—all of it was washed away by the sleep that came flooding in like a tide.
Soft breathing…
The night before the entrance ceremony passed as quietly as a gentle breath.
In a room where the acrid stench of reagents and the fragrance of expensive tea leaves mingled in a bizarre blend, a smothering darkness had settled.
There were no curtains to push the dark aside, nor even a window to air out the stifling atmosphere…
"…I have no excuse."
The man in the deep black robe pressed his forehead to the floor, thick beads of sweat rolling down.
"You let him slip."
The fingers of the man reclining on the luxurious sofa gave a small twitch.
That was the only light in the dim room.
Only the platinum ring on the finger that tapped the armrest in a steady rhythm—tap, tap—held a razor-sharp glint of mana.
"Is that what you call a report?"
A voice cold enough to freeze the blood echoed through the chamber, and the man hastily opened his mouth as if to offer an excuse.
"After combing every slum outside the barrier, we finally located him. However, during the pursuit the target entered the commercial district and barricaded himself inside some dilapidated restaurant, so—"
Fearing the matter would escalate, he had withdrawn.
That was what the man meant to say.
"Well, I was watching as well, so I know the situation. Had a fight broken out, it would certainly have caused a major disturbance. Luca… that one's power is considerable, after all."
Clink.
Cutting the man's words short, he set down his teacup.
Those pale fingers moved toward the documents lying on the table.
"We can take our time recovering him. How long can a starved beast that fled outside the barrier possibly last? More importantly…"
On the very first page of the rustling sheaf of papers was written the list of new students of St. Celestia Academy.
His finger slowly trailed down the countless names, then stopped upon one.
Carmilla de Valin.
"So a fallen young lady with nothing left to her name has presumptuously involved herself."
From the shadows, the man's lips curved into a line as soft and sinister as a serpent's.
"Ahh, this year a particularly amusing lot have enrolled."
Too pleasant to be called anger, too base to be called mere interest.
It was the smile of a predator that had just spotted its prey.
"Yes. The prince of the Pendragon Kingdom, the imperial prince of the Ignas Empire, and the heirs of the Libra Merchant Alliance are all scheduled to show their faces tomorrow."
"Heavyweights indeed. How many years has it been since the successors of the three great powers gathered like this…"
A dry laugh echoed through the gloom.
"Heh heh… I find myself greatly looking forward to tomorrow's entrance ceremony……"
As he spoke those words, the light of the ring faded.
And then only darkness remained.