It's a Conspiracy, Not a Secret Meeting (2)
It's a Conspiracy, Not a Secret Meeting (2)
Angelica Totsfel, daughter of House Totsfel.
Though born into one of the Four Great Dukes, she had never once considered herself a member of the privileged class. The etiquette expected of a noble never took root in her body, no matter how many times she studied it, and above all, she found it tiresome.
Her family's nagging for her to study had sounded like nothing more than that—nagging. It wasn't that she was unintelligent, but she wasn't what anyone would call a genius either. She was exactly at the level where she could barely pass the Tillet entrance exam if she studied until she nearly died.
Angelica had no choice but to apply to Tillet under what amounted to coercion and persuasion from her family. And she passed.
The pride of having achieved something at the tail end of her teens was short-lived. House Totsfel took it as a matter of course. Most members of the Totsfel family were prodigies.
Her entrance scores were in the lower ranks. Even after that, her grades showed no sign of improving.
It was only natural. Angelica had no particular interest in academics. Her attention was solely on journals and the latest cameras.
She had no connection to those geniuses who aced every exam after a single glance at a book. Their way of thinking was not something she could comprehend, and she saw no need to.
Wasn't it the same with the elven exchange student and the girl from the Gold-Eye Tribe who had just entered this year?
In the case of the golden-eyed girl, she had heard that even wrote a tremendous paper, but academic topics held no interest for Angelica, who had built a wall between herself and scholarly pursuits.
What mattered more to her was interesting and stimulating gossip. Covering juicy issues, incidents, and accidents within the academy was a far more rewarding endeavor.
And wasn't it the same this time?
The midterm and final grades of this year's top-ranked and second-ranked incoming students weren't important. What was important was the topic that a love line might have formed between the two...!
"Ugh...!"
Her train of thought was forcibly cut off. Angelica, who had been in a sweet dream, grabbed her head, which felt like it would split, and jolted up from somewhere.
"This place is......."
It was a gloomy space walled in on all sides by iron plates. It looked like an interrogation room for criminals.
Angelica pushed herself up and sat upright. Unconsciously shrinking into herself under the chilling atmosphere, she clutched the hem of her skirt and pulled her legs in.
Where in the world was this?
"So you are awake, are you?"
"Heek...!"
Her head whipped around at the soft, gentle voice that sounded like a saint speaking. There, a pair of golden eyes glowed faintly.
Her shoulders flinched as if she had encountered a lantern ghost in a bamboo forest.
No, it was worse than a ghost—it was a magic beast. Her breath caught in her throat, as if she had been plunged into a sea of terror, like meeting a Calamity-class Magic Beast.
"It's me. Really. Aether. There's no need to be so startled."
What emerged from the dim darkness was a girl with black hair and golden eyes. A sigh of relief—"Ah..."—escaped her lips at the realization that it was neither a ghost nor a magic beast.
"Wh-where is this...?"
"This is the place you were so eager to report on, Angelica. You were eavesdropping on my conversation with Horde from beyond that wall just a moment ago, weren't you?"
"That's......."
Angelica stopped short as she tried to protest.
When she thought about it, there was no need to make excuses. She could just say outright that she had listened in, if she had. What was the point of telling Aether a lie she would see through immediately?
More importantly.
More importantly......!
"For a man and a woman to regularly come into such a cramped space...! So the two of you were having a secret rendezvous after all!"
The circumstantial evidence was too clear.
Anyone else, not just Angelica, would have seen it the same way. An empty hour. Two hot-blooded young people dating in an exclusive, private clubroom! It was material the Literature Club would love to get their hands on.
At Angelica's words, Aether and Vermel let out a sigh and shook their heads. Then the two of them began a conversation whose context she couldn't follow.
"As expected, it's come to this. What do we do now?"
"I knew it from the start. People like this don't listen no matter what you tell them."
"So you just hit her with your staff without warning...?"
"I applied a physical-damage mitigation spell, so shouldn't it be fine? I explained things well to Rote and Frey, so it'll probably be fine."
"Haah."
Hit her with his staff? What was that supposed to mean?
"Urgh...!"
Her head did hurt. Honestly, her memories from a little while ago were slightly hazy. Now that she thought about it, she felt like she might have been hit by a blunt weapon....
She had no idea.
Angelica's head tilted quizzically. Seeing this, Aether clicked her tongue and scratched her head. She seemed to have something to say.
"So, Angelica. Do you plan to put a story about how we're dating or whatever in the school newspaper?"
Aether's eyes shone faintly even in the darkness. Angelica had no time to discern whether it felt that way because of the atmosphere or because Gold-Eye Tribe eyes could actually emit light on their own in pitch blackness.
Honestly, she was a little scared stiff.
"...If that's the truth, yes."
"But it's not true."
"No, this is clear evidence! When a man and a woman gather in a cramped space like this every chance they get, what else would you call it but a secret rendezvous?"
"This isn't the kind of secret rendezvous you're imagining, Angelica."
"What is it then?"
"It isn't a secret rendezvous. It's collusion."
"Collusion...? Are you saying you were plotting something?"
"Yes."
As if they had rehearsed it beforehand, the two of them nodded at the same time.
"Perhaps a second-generation plan...?"
Just as before, Vermel and Aether let out deep sighs that sounded like leaves rotting away.
"Is it because you're worried the committee might take issue if you date? Hey, that school rule has been lax for a long time now! As long as it doesn't interfere with your studies, the professors will look the other way, so there's no need to worry...!"
"......Angelica."
A heavy voice was tossed out, cutting her off.
It belonged to the golden-eyed girl.
Angelica's breath stopped for a moment. This was the first time she had heard a voice so sharp and venomous. Without exaggerating, she literally felt her heart stop.
"Angelica."
"......."
"Answer."
"...Yes?"
Aether continued in a low voice.
"It is the season of full-body paralysis."
What in the world did that mean?
"What is.... that supposed to mean......?"
It was ominous. She felt like she had made some kind of slip of the tongue.
"It means exactly what I said. The sky is high, and the season for academy students to suffer painfully under a bombardment of assignments is fast approaching."
"What.... Could it be that you misquoted the season of high sky and fat horses?"
"No, Angelica. Full-body paralysis is correct."
Aether released the hands she had clasped behind her back. In her left hand was what looked like a blunt weapon ground from steel.
No, it wasn't a blunt weapon.
It was the alter ego of mages, a staff that was like a second life. And a massive, iron staff two meters long at that.
"Ah...."
Now that she thought about it, there was something she had forgotten.
This girl was famous for having smashed the Second Prince's head in a personal duel. She had completely forgotten about it since it had been over half a year ago.
"I have to anesthetize the target to use the item. It's nothing scary, so just close your eyes for a moment. Ah, I'm going to strike with the flat side, not the pointy part, so you won't die."
Her breathing grew gradually labored. The room was so cramped there was nowhere to run. Any corner she backed into would be entirely within the staff's reach.
"Do you have any last words before you lose your memory?"
What was she supposed to do?
What was she supposed to say?
A mind clouded by fear impairs human judgment. As fast as she could, Angelica clasped her hands together and groveled abjectly.
"Wait, I was wrong......."
It was autumn.
**
"I can't go on like this because of you...!"
"That's not exactly wrong."
"Agh...."
It seemed that ever since I knocked out that prince, my fists had developed a tendency to fly whenever I saw these sorts of people.
Of course, both last time and this time, it wouldn't be a major issue. The match with the prince was OK because I had smashed his skull fair and square according to the academy's traditional rules, and in this case, I used a Magic Art that precisely caused unconsciousness without damaging the cranium.
So, what to do next. That was the problem.
"You pulled out a curious thing. Is that the Lantern of the Dead or whatever it's called?"
"Yeah."
The Lantern of the Dead.
I figured it out immediately from the name. If you were exposed to the light from this lantern, you got amnesia.
I was curious about the principle, but I decided to hold back for now. That wasn't what was important at the moment.
"You said it only works on unconscious people, right?"
"If you shove it in the face of someone walking around with their eyes open, would everyone in the world become a dementia patient? Anyway, we have to handle this carefully."
"Ah, yes. You do that."
Click, click. Vermel lit the lantern he took out from his Subspace. A faint light darted around like a newborn Flame Spirit.
"About 10 seconds is appropriate to erase a week's worth of memories."
"If you expose her for about 30 minutes, would she become a baby?"
"I don't know, I haven't tried."
The process of lighting and extinguishing it finished in a flash. Angelica's grimacing expression soon became peaceful. It seemed the memory of being struck by me had vanished.
"If we didn't have this, Duke Totsfel would have had it out for you."
I answered by giving a thumbs-up.
Thanks, Possessor!
"When you get back to Earth, contact me first. I'll buy you a drink at least."
"......."
Either way, this got rid of one annoying problem. Once Angelica woke up, I'd have to explain things nicely and make it as if the whole thing never happened.
"But there's no need to mess with the Literature Club, right?"
"Yeah."
"Hmm. They're accomplices too, though."
"It's an event that'll end as long as we handle Angelica properly."
"Still feels uneasy."
"Leave the future and stuff like that to me, and you.... just please, don't leave this place."
I reluctantly nodded.
I had no intention of leaving Tillet until I had learned all the Elemental Magic other than Air Magic anyway. On top of that, since there was a Possessor who knew the future, there was no need to live a life wandering in a strange land.
"That aside, won't this get caught by Rosemary or whatever her name is?"
"It probably has already been."
"No way. Is she going to be watching us all day?"
"That person is more than capable of it."
Oh. Is that so?
If we made a wrong move here, one more troublesome thing might spring up.