The Battle of Nerves Begins
With his western excursion behind him, Kyle returned once more to ordinary life.
A few things had changed in the meantime. First among them was the way people looked at him.
The eyes that had followed him ever since he stopped the Academy attack had already been fairly positive. Now they had tipped into outright goodwill, and the old muttering and whispering had vanished completely.
Word that he had subdued the Three Heroes only sealed it. The ones who used to make a nuisance of themselves—begging him to teach them how to train, challenging him to spars—all disappeared overnight.
Beating the Three Heroes meant he was, at the very least, on the level of the Imperial 10 Strongest. Anyone with a realistic sense of their own strength understood that pestering a man like that was a losing game. They also seemed to have considered the possibility that hanging around him might end with some part of their body smashed into paste.
The other change was in Kyle himself—more precisely, in the way he thought about the Emperor.
Long live His Majesty the Emperor! Long live!! Oohhh, our great and glorious Emperor!
When he got back, he discovered that midterms had just ended. And, by imperial decree, every single one of his scores had been set at the Middle-Upper grade.
What on earth? He asked Yulika, and she told him the Emperor had taken a personal interest. Kyle had gone off to handle state affairs, so of course His Majesty ought to compensate him for it. Attendance guaranteed, assignments waived, and when exams rolled around, those were marked as taken too.
For a man who loathed tests with every fiber of his being, it was pure profit.
He had gone west and had a fantastic time. He had met a solid strong opponent. He had thoroughly re-educated a bunch of roiders, banned their drugs, and even come home with a medal. Now no one was bothering him, he had no absences on the books, and the single biggest source of stress in his life—midterms—had been waved through. At a Middle-Upper grade, no less!
To put it another way: he hadn't been handed a D or a C. He had been given a straight B!!
Now I get why they signed a truce with the Empire. An emperor like this? Yeah, I'd make peace with him too!
Barely a month ago—when the Schrelitz knights had suddenly hauled him off—Kyle had been thinking things like, What if I just flip the whole table? Emperor or not, maybe I should just wreck him?
Now he was in excellent spirits. Excellent enough to greet Princess Yulika with a smile when she showed up unannounced.
"…What's with you? You're acting different today."
Yulika tilted her head at the change. Only a few days earlier he had made no secret of how uncomfortable he was around her. Today he was beaming and practically inviting her in.
"I've received His Majesty's grace. I'm simply expressing my overflowing happiness."
"I have no idea what that means. Well—good for me, I guess."
She shrugged once and cut straight to why she had come.
"Spar with me."
"You haven't forgotten the condition I set, have you?"
"I remember. That's why I'm asking so politely."
Ah. So "Spar with me" counts as a polite request. Good to know. Damn it.
"That just now was not polite in the slightest, Your Highness."
"Then what?"
"Try saying, 'If you have a moment, would you be so kind as to spar with me?'"
"Really?"
"Yes. And while you're at it, kneeling would make it even more effective."
The Imperial 10 Strongest. The Emperor's own daughter. That was Yulika's station. For a woman of that rank to have to speak that way to a young man years her junior—and kneel, no less—was absurd enough that anyone would have been justified in calling it nonsense.
Anyone else would have turned away and given up on the spar rather than go through with it. At the very least they would have bitten their lip and agonized over it. Kyle had only made the ridiculous demand to tease her a little…
"Not a problem."
Thud.
…Wait. Wait just a second, Your Highness?
"If you have a moment, would you be so kind as to spar with me? I would be most grateful."
Yulika was actually on her knees, repeating his words exactly as he had said them. And as if that weren't enough, she was asking, "Should I bow my head too?"
"What are you doing right now!!!"
Kyle nearly jumped out of his skin and scrambled to haul her back to her feet. She only said "Why?" and the moment he got her up, she dropped to her knees again.
"What's the problem? I did what you told me."
"Who actually does it when you tell them to?! And do you not understand that a princess is a princess?!"
"I understand. I'm perfectly aware I'm a princess, and I make decent use of the position."
"You say that while literally kneeling because I told you to?!"
"Why are you shouting? You're the one who told me to."
That was just me wanting to mess with you a little!
What kind of royal—a direct imperial at that—kneels in front of some noble's son?! It was a blessing the imperial knights hadn't seen this. A true blessing. If they had, they might have charged him with their lives on the line for insulting the Imperial House—or blamed their own disloyalty and cut their own throats!
"So will you do it?"
"Excuse me?"
"The spar. I did everything you said. So spar with me."
It was ridiculous—but he couldn't refuse anymore. She had actually knelt when he told her to. Adding more conditions now would make him the worst kind of person, and Kyle was not that kind of man.
"…I have a lot of lectures today. So after the afternoon classes are done, before evening."
"Hmm."
"If you can't wait that long, we can always do it another day."
"No. Today's spar is today. The next one can wait for next time. Pushing it back only costs me."
This is exactly why I can't stand a princess with good instincts.
"So I have to wait, then."
"If you're going to wait, then please, I'm begging you, stay put. If Your Highness starts wandering around the Academy, the students and professors will be so uncomfortable they'll want to die."
"I don't mind."
"You may not mind, but everyone else does."
Lecture time was approaching. Kyle stood, and Yulika rose with him.
"Could I sit in on a class? I could probably talk a professor into it."
"Don't even dream of it. If you audited, neither the professor nor the students would be able to function for the stress."
"Then where am I supposed to wait?"
"There's a café about a five-minute walk past the rear gate. Go sit there. And give your escorts a little room to breathe."
The idea of knights escorting her was funny in itself. The truth was closer to the reverse: Yulika was the one protecting the imperial knights.
To threaten one of the Imperial 10 Strongest, you needed another of the 10 Strongest, or someone on that level—or a John Nassen suddenly charging in with a "Whoo-hoo!" The palace had assigned her an escort detail because she was a princess, of course, but the imperial knights and the special agents all knew the reality. In a crisis they wouldn't be protecting the princess; the princess would be protecting them. More precisely, she wouldn't be "protecting" them so much as charging in first and making the problem go away.
"Recommend somewhere. I don't really know where to go."
"…There's a café about five minutes past the rear gate. Go wait there."
He felt a little bad for the café owner, but there was no helping it. He needed her close enough that he could at least half-relax.
And honestly, the café owner had said something once:
"If a famous person came by, left an autograph on the wall, and left? That'd be the best!"
Imperial 10 Strongest and a princess—she counted as famous either way. Yulika could kill some time, leave a signature, and everyone would be happy.
The one problem: she would have to wait at least three hours. Today happened to be packed with general-education lectures. If a bored princess suddenly stood up and marched back into the Academy, that would be a disaster.
So after a moment's thought, Kyle added one more condition to today's spar.
"Stay put there until I arrive. If you don't, today's spar is cancelled."
"Stay put there until I arrive. If you don't, today's spar is cancelled."
Too much. With a condition like that, I'm stuck here with nowhere to go.
Grumbling inwardly, Yulika drained the teacup in front of her.
"Ah—Your Highness. Shall I clear that?"
"Mm. And the next thing on the menu, please."
"Y-yes, of course!"
She had already been waiting more than an hour for Kyle. In that time Yulika had been working her way through the menu like a tour—coffee, tea, dessert, in rotation. No special reason. Sitting still for that long without ordering anything just felt wrong.
She had been an Academy student herself once, so she still remembered the basic café etiquette.
Brings back memories.
At first, because she was a princess, students of every kind had clustered around her. People who wanted even a thin connection to the Imperial House. People hoping to get their face remembered. And the ones who thought they could snatch a princess and set their whole life on fire.
Yulika had never given any of them a second glance.
Weak men didn't interest her. The only ones allowed near her were the strong ones she herself recognized.
In that sense, Lear John Nassen had come close to the man she dreamed of. The catch was that he was the same type she was. His strength fascinated her; the man himself never did.
After that she claimed a seat among the Imperial 10 Strongest and dueled strong fighters without number. None of them ever truly shook her heart. The strong ones bored her, and the ones who started to interest her were too weak. It was endlessly frustrating.
How much longer is he going to take?
Kyle, though—Kyle satisfied every condition. Strong. Strong, and yet gentle, and under that gentleness something fierce and intense.
"Your tea, Your Highness."
Yulika took the cup the server set down and stared blankly out the window. She wished time would hurry up, but today of all days it crawled.
Tinkle.
"Welcome! Oh—ah! My lady?"
My lady? Yulika casually craned her neck toward the entrance.
Standing there was the young lady who had just enrolled this term—Elga of Litorio.
The Litorio heiress. Perfect timing. I'll snag her and kill some time.
Kyle had made her swear not to make people uncomfortable. Yulika, however, did not for a second consider her current plan an imposition on anyone. Which was why she could raise her hand with total confidence and open her mouth.
"Lady Litorio."
Elga turned toward the voice that had called her, looking ready to ask who dared address her so freely—
"…Huh?"
She blinked in disbelief, a short sound of shock escaping her.
"Come sit with me a minute."
I'm bored. Keep me company.