First Impressions (3)
“Huh?”
The Edwick heir glared at me instead.
“Fine, let’s say this really is your personal maid. Even so, where exactly is the family that’s demanding an apology from me?”
His eyes swept over my black hair and black eyes with blatant contempt.
“What, was I just unaware of it? There’s some eccentric family in this empire that uses black and black as its colors? Even if there were, do you really think it could compare to the House of Edwick?”
The fussy-looking student at his side chimed in, “Exactly! There are always idiots who take that kind of thing seriously. The ones who actually believe everyone is equal inside the Academy just because we’re all students!”
This kid doesn’t understand anything either.
People who fed on power and still had the nerve to prance around like this were exactly the sort everyone ought to despise.
Still.
“I think there’s been some misunderstanding.”
I smiled.
Because it was funny.
“You’re right about one thing—when it comes to family, I don’t have one. I’m an orphan, and not just familyless, but friendless too.”
In my last life, and in this one as well.
“But I’m not asking you to apologize because the Academy is some equal place where bloodlines don’t matter.”
“Huh…?”
“First, because you were in the wrong toward me—and toward someone under my protection.”
And then,
“Because I’m stronger than you.”
The simplest, most fundamental reason of all.
“If I wanted to, I’d have enough power to grind your face into the floor, which is why I’m asking for an apology.”
“Y-you little—!”
“How dare some orphan bitch speak to His Highness like that!!”
The lackeys on either side shouted, but my gaze remained fixed on the heir’s red eyes.
“Don’t believe me?”
It was understandable that he might find it hard to believe.
“Then try me. I’m about to challenge you to a duel.”
Still smiling, I shaped a ring of mana in my palm, and the heir of Edwick went crimson with fury.
“You insufferable—!”
He gritted his teeth so hard it looked painful, but he didn’t finish the sentence. He couldn’t.
A duel between two mages.
The formal challenge was made by hurling a ring-shaped knot of mana at the other’s feet.
And unless the challenge was flatly refused from the start, once it was accepted, canceling it unilaterally was an insult to magic and sorcery themselves. Even a person from the most distinguished house would see their honor sink into the dirt.
Of course, he could just refuse outright.
“What’s wrong?”
An orphan with nothing to lose was asking the legitimate son of a lofty noble house that question.
“Scared?”
“!!”
The heir clenched his jaw so hard his lips curled upward.
And yet he couldn’t tell me to issue the challenge. He couldn’t, because he was afraid of the slightest possibility that it might actually happen.
What if he fought before he’d even entered the Academy and lost?
What if his opponent was an orphan, and the whole thing had been caused by his own disgraceful behavior?
It was true that people from powerful families could get away with plenty, but this world still had at least the basics of morality.
Legitimacy came from morality, and without legitimacy, you lost honor.
Losing honor wouldn’t kill you.
But the fundamental reason you couldn’t afford to lose it was the same here as it was anywhere else.
It was humiliating.
And if he lost after he’d been the one to start the fight, it would be the kind of humiliation that made you want to die. Especially for a teenage boy in the thick of adolescence.
So the moment duels came up, he couldn’t speak carelessly anymore.
“Should I repeat the first option for you?”
I was still grinning. Because it was funny.
“All you have to do is apologize. You told Jaina to bow her head, but I’ll let you off with just a single ‘I’m sorry.’”
Or—
“If you don’t like that, then duel me.”
With the situation growing tense, the heir’s followers traded uneasy looks, not knowing what to do. And the heir himself—
“…Is that so?”
He sounded like a growl.
“If you’re going to say that much—”
“Everyone, please stop here.”
A clear voice rang out.
A girl walked over from the side and stopped at a respectful distance from both me and the heir.
Her hair was light blue, the color of clear water, and her eyes were a warm yellow like sunflowers. She was strikingly beautiful.
Oh. It’s her.
Separate from her face, she was one of the students I’d noticed when I’d been looking over the campus from the window earlier.
Because, like Philia, she’d been standing alone without any friends.
But the atmosphere around them was different.
It felt as though everyone found this watery-blue girl awkward to deal with. Not that they hated or despised her—more like they didn’t know how to approach her.
And yet—
I kind of like her.
I didn’t have any real reason for it, but now that I was looking at her face to face, there was something about her presence that pulled at me.
You’re selected.
The girl’s voice rang out calmly.
“Dane Edwick. Don’t you have an appointment to meet someone?”
“…Yeah. I do. I have an appointment.”
The situation that had been one breath away from exploding began to cool.
As expected, I don’t know what it is, but I like her.
If someone was stepping in to mediate, I’d let it go too.
“U, umm….”
I also had the feeling Jaina’s heart wouldn’t be able to take much more of this.
“Now, where was it again?”
“Over there, so….”
The heir’s gang passed by as if we and Jaina weren’t even there. Their steps were especially hasty.
The light-blue-haired girl started off in a different direction from them, then suddenly looked back at me.
She gave a light wave. Then, before turning away again, she nodded once in my direction.
Heh.
Trying to hide how she felt, were you?
“H-huuuh…”
Maybe she’d been too tense for too long, because Jaina collapsed bonelessly like an overcooked rice cake.
“Ellieeeeee….”
“Mm, sorry.”
Maybe I’d been worse for Jaina than the heir had.
“Still, honestly, your chest must feel a lot better now, right?”
“It do— no, I didn’t say anything!”
“Pfft.”
She was like a trembling rabbit. Cute.
The first time I ran into that watery-blue girl again was that very evening.
“Oh?”
The place was the Academy garden. This time, both of us were alone.
“Hello?”
“…”
She glanced left and right, then headed somewhere with no people around.
I followed.
At last, in a quiet corner of the garden where no one could overhear us, she spoke to me.
“What happened this afternoon was reckless, taking it that far. You’d do well to be more careful in the future.”
Her voice was soft, but crisp enough that it slipped cleanly into the ear.
“You were right that someone would probably have stopped Edwick before he actually accepted the duel. Still, if you’re going to keep attending the Academy, you’ll have no choice but to keep crossing paths with him. It was a very dangerous gamble.”
“Thank you for your concern.”
“That’s not—”
“No, really. I said it because I knew you were genuinely worried about me. I mean that literally.”
Smiling faintly, I laid a hand over my chest.
“My name is Elia, and I’d prefer it if you’d call me Ellie. And once again, thank you for worrying about me.”
“…….”
“You’re probably thinking, what on earth is this girl doing?”
“I won’t answer that.”
“Fair enough. So what should I call you?”
“…Haah.”
A tiny sigh.
“Clea. From the Lacustrine marquis family.”
“May I call you Clea?”
“…Do as you please.”
“Then, Clea, since you’ve kindly given me advice, I suppose I should say a bit about what happened this afternoon too.”
“What do you mean?”
“I really did want Dane Edwick to accept the duel.”
“…!”
Clea’s eyes widened, and her shock showed plainly.
“Because what I said back then was the truth. Including the part about grabbing his head and grinding his face into the floor.”
“…Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that you really could do that.”
And yet—
“Even if you won that way, what would you have gained? In the end, all you’d do is incur the wrath of one of the imperial houses.”
“I’d leave behind the impression that no one should dare treat me lightly.”
“That’s—”
“If you’re an orphan with nothing at all, trying to get by in this world of nobles, the most efficient thing to do is keep your head down. Polishing my abilities so that one day I can serve a lord, and so that I can increase my own value.”
But—
“I’m not satisfied with merely getting by in this world.”
I stretched out both hands toward the vast sky, where nothing blocked my way.
“If that’s the case, then I must not bow my head. I’m your equal—no, I’m the one who ought to be looked up at by all of you. If you dare try to press me down, I’ll bury you instead. That’s what I have to make perfectly clear.”
“…If that’s your aim.”
Clea slowly gathered her words.
“Why are you telling me this?”
I smiled.
“Why do you think?”
The sky was a pale violet.
The hour when day and night exchanged places.
“I won’t answer that for now. It feels too early. But—”
In the fading light, I looked straight into the girl’s eyes and made my offer.
“If you answer one of my questions first, then maybe I’ll answer yours.”
“What question?”
“Why everyone at the Academy seems to keep their distance from someone like you.”
“…”
“It’s not even like they hate you outright. It feels more like they want to approach a rose, but because they might prick themselves on the thorns, they keep their distance from the start. Like a flower on a cliff—pretty, but too high up to touch, so they’re afraid of falling.”
“………….”
It was the longest silence so far.
The hesitation went on and on.
At last—
“It’s not really something I have to hide.”
“And yet you sound very much like you want to hide it.”
“…Just because everyone knows about something doesn’t mean it isn’t embarrassing.”
Another short sigh.
“There are some special circumstances surrounding the Lacustrine marquis family.”
“What kind of circumstances?”
“Why should I explain them in detail myself? I told you—it’s embarrassing.”
“Because you want to tell me, Clea.”
Clea stared at me, mouth slightly open, and I took a step back so she could see my whole face more clearly.
“It doesn’t have to be today.”
Time was on our side. More so if we were both freshmen at the Academy.
“If you come to me and admit that feeling, then I’ll listen anytime.”
Because—
“We’re going to be friends from now on.”
Clea Lacustrine, the marquis’s daughter, remained dumbly open-mouthed for a little while longer before asking,
“……Pardon?”