154. Upheaval
154. Upheaval
Eurasia, having lost her sword mid-spar, lay sprawled on the floor.
"Hahh... hah... hck..."
"Quit being dramatic."
I snickered at Eurasia and handed her the water I'd been drinking.
"Hwahh... th-thank you..."
My conversation with Ashtar had ended cleanly.
Today's spar.
My use of Deceptive Body.
The history tied to House van Chaser, and my visiting as the rightful heir to that history.
We'd simply agreed to keep quiet about everything that had happened among the three of us.
Since that was better for both me and Ashtar, it was the obvious choice.
Still, that last peculiar eye-smile, the hand stroking her lower belly, and the whispered words left me uneasy.
Of course, Ashtar hadn't broken the way Hilde had.
Her eyes were intelligent, clear, and sharp.
She didn't have that dazed, strange heat Hilde had. But still, something... something was off.
Maybe it was just pointless delusions surfacing because of old memories, but still... there was no harm in being careful.
"It'll be fine, right...?"
Eurasia, who had savored the water very, very slowly, wore a worried expression.
"What will?"
"...Um, the technique you used, my lady. Deceptive Body... things about that."
"What's there to worry about? You know too, Eurasia. I've been using Deceptive Body since I was even younger than I am now. Nobody taught it to me. Hell, the family knight order, including you, wouldn't even teach me how to hold a sword."
"Oh, well, that's... true. Hehe."
Under my sharp glare, Eurasia quietly averted her eyes.
"Still... the grand ducal house might, like... hmm... I don't think Grand Duke Betias would do anything, but, um... I'm worried the elders of House van Chaser might apply pressure."
Eurasia, who had whispered very, very quietly while darting her blue eyes around, bit her lower lip as if genuinely worried about me.
"They say the elders of ordinary houses... especially those of marquis rank or higher, still hold firm positions even after stepping down as heads."
That was true.
Elders who survived purges and sat in their seats advising the family head often retained enough power, knowledge, or influence to at least preserve their own lives.
I'm not sure if it's fortunate or not, but House Eustetia currently has no elders.
Dad and Uncle killed them all. I don't know why, but I assume it was because those bastards did something rotten.
Anyway, the common perception of elders is that they're beings who hide in the shadows scheming something rotten. You know, like in those kids' novels that come out these days.
And in reality, there are plenty of elders like that.
So Eurasia's concern wasn't entirely strange.
"And besides... since it's about a wish those elders have cherished for a long time, I'm a little... uneasy. The things tied to Eustetia... and also, um... you're an outsider, and even more, my lady, you're the next head of Eustetia... right? So if they think too much power is gathering in the ducal house, the van Chaser elders might also... a little, uh..."
"What? Eurasia, you could worry about politics? I thought you were just a kid, but I guess you've grown up a bit now?"
"Whaaat?! Ah... my lady! I, umm... no matter how much I'm your knight, I'm still two years older than you, you know?! I'll be an adult soon! I can even drink alcohol!"
Eurasia, indignant, flushed red and pouted her lips.
"And... it's not so much political worry as just worrying about you. Because I won't be able to accompany you to a place like that..."
"I'm not so weak that I need you worrying about me. What, if you could accompany me, would you throw your life away to protect me when I'm in danger?"
"Yes."
"Well, well."
It was an immediate answer with no hesitation.
That answer was both infuriating and cute, and just a tiny bit admirable, so I pinched Eurasia's cheek hard.
"A brat who's still wet behind the ears talks about dying like it's nothing."
"Eueee... i-it hurths..."
"Hurts, my ass. I was about to just rip your cheek off and held back. Who do you think you are, deciding to die or not as you please?"
"S-stop iiit... I'm your knight, my lady..."
"Right. You're mine. So you need to listen to me. And I've told you before. Don't even think about dying in my place."
I let go of her cheek, but Eurasia didn't make another sound.
Was it because of the pinch? She just smiled softly, hiding her reddened cheek.
"No answer?"
"...Still, if you're ever in danger, my lady, I won't hesitate."
"Either I'm too easy on you, or you've gotten more stubborn than before."
I grumbled at Eurasia.
But it wasn't a bad feeling.
"Guess I'll have to get stronger if I don't want to see you die. Get up. Let's spar."
"Ngh... why does the conclusion end up like that?"
Eurasia asked with a grumble, but she didn't seem to feel too bad about it either.
She smiled brightly and got up.
*****
After midterms ended, the grade reports were released.
It was nice that classes ended early every day, letting me spend more time than usual in the training hall, but my answer sheet score wasn't great...
"You barely scraped past remedial lectures."
"...I know."
"If you'd scored just 0.4 points lower here, Eliarnes, you would've had to attend remedial lectures until finals."
"I know perfectly well, so shut up..."
"Sometimes, Eliarnes, you have a surprisingly ditzy side. Isn't that right, Eurasia?"
"My lady does have a slightly cute side."
"...Cute? Her ditzy side?"
"It's my lady's gap moe."
"If you two keep yapping... my hands might just rip your mouths open."
Stella, wearing a very, very insufferable smile, handed over the exam paper she'd been holding in one hand.
"Having my mouth ripped open sounds scary, so I'll be quiet now. Here, a grade report ranked 30th from the bottom."
Dead last in Signia Class.
Across the whole academy...
Not 30th from the bottom, but 43rd from the bottom.
Of course, I didn't say that out loud.
Whether it's 500th or 513th... from the top, it'd look the same.
But... I feel wronged.
I felt so wronged that I thought I might burst.
Why? Because this answer sheet was actually a 2nd-place answer sheet.
But the result? 43rd from the bottom.
How did such a pathetic result come about?
There's no special reason.
The answer sheet got shifted.
I mean... I wrote the answer for question 1 in question 2.
Why would I do something so stupid?
I wasn't used to it.
I wasn't used to this answer sheet.
It was a different type of answer sheet from the one I'd used for the entrance exam.
Of course... the shape wasn't completely different.
It was just a tiny, slight difference.
And besides, I'm in the middle of trying to get used to new things these days. So I figured there'd be no problem.
But then... it got shifted.
Before the grade reports came out, Stella had been wearing a face like death.
After grading our own answers, Eurasia had gotten a perfect score, Stella had five wrong answers, and I had four wrong answers, so I'd barely won.
So I teased her for a long time.
I teased her for all five days of midterms.
So Stella would grind her teeth and clench her fists whenever she saw me.
But now?
She was having the time of her life. Like a fish in water, she was bouncing around teasing and needling me.
...I can't even strongly tell her to stop.
Because I teased her like that—no, maybe even worse than Stella.
Sometimes I even called her at night to tease her.
"But it's a bit unexpected. I thought you wouldn't care about scores like this, Eliarnes, but you're pretty bothered, huh?"
[It's okay, Eliarnes! I didn't even shift my answers like you did, and my rank is still lower than yours!]
"...You... no, never mind."
"Pina. Are you proud of that? This won't do. Starting tomorrow, Pina, I'm going to make you study theory hard too. I've always said that theory is important in magic, haven't I?"
"Eeek..."
Pina trembled at Stella's firm words.
And beside Stella, Eurasia, who had been pretending to comfort me while subtly teasing me, linked her arm with mine.
"My lady, my lady. Since you're not in a great mood today, how about taking a full day off and having fun in the Imperial Capital?"
Judging by the stronger-than-usual floral scent, she must have been full of plans to go out since early morning.
"That won't work. You guys go have fun without me today."
But I didn't have time today.
"Ugh... just us? Are you going to the training hall again today, my lady?"
"No."
But I wasn't going to spend time at the training hall either.
"Huh... then what? Do you have something else to do? Didn't you say you didn't have lessons with the Vice Dean...?"
"Yeah. Today's just a personal matter."
Should I tell them? No, there's no need to tell them right now.
Everyone will know soon enough. It'll be easier for everyone if they find out then.
So... today was going to be a very busy day.
At least two people would call me in to interrogate me today.
Maybe three, maybe four.
How would they react?
It would be busy, but the fun would be overwhelmingly greater, so my heart was pounding.
"What? Eliarnes, why does your face look like that?"
"What about my face?"
"...You're smiling really ominously. Like a villain. You... don't tell me you're going to go raise hell with the professors because your grades tanked?"
"Would I?"
Actually, when I received my grade report.
I did think about it a little... just a tiny bit.
"Ack! Why'd you hit me!"
I flicked Stella on the forehead—thwack—for saying something stupid, then spun around.
"Anyway, I'm going to be busy today, so you guys go out and have fun."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Oh, right. And Stella."
"Hm?"
"You should be grateful to me."
"...Huh? Be grateful? I'm always grateful, though..."
"Then be twice as grateful as before."
"...Huhh?"
Stella let out a dumb sound.
Beside her, Eurasia whispered to Stella asking what was going on, and Stella, being Stella, answered that she had no idea what I meant.
Two hours later.
All hell broke loose across Karelai Academy—no, across the entire Empire.