Transfer Student (2)
Transfer Student (2)
The first day of the semester.
A fine rain was falling. Students holding umbrellas gathered one by one at the assembly venue, chatting idly to pass the time.
[Alright, everyone, pay attention!]
An instructor checking the microphone drew the current students' attention with a loud voice.
[There will be an important announcement shortly, so please prepare to listen carefully!]
An important announcement on the first day of the second semester. There probably weren't many students who could guess what it was.
In the first place, holding a general assembly at the start of the term was strange. What university in the world would gather students on the first day of classes to make an announcement? This wasn't even a high school.
Listening to an annoying announcement like this with half an ear and letting it slip out the other was good for your mental health. That approach suited my temperament as well.
But since I had already guessed why this assembly had been called, I couldn't just doze off.
Just after the dean of academic affairs' sermon-like remarks passed, a girl climbed onto the podium where a thread-thin drizzle was falling and revealed herself.
She was wearing an academy uniform that didn't quite fit her. Her build was slightly larger than Frey's.
Her perfectly straight navy-blue hair was a distinguishing feature. Her broad, uncluttered forehead and plump, round cheeks that made you want to pinch them were also charming points.
The girl bowed her head in greeting.
[Good day, students of the prestigious Tillet Academy. I am Rosemary, the daughter of Duke Blanton of the Empire's Four Great Dukes. By His Imperial Majesty's command, I have unexpectedly found myself attending classes here with all of you. If you should happen to see me on campus, I would be happy if you greeted me warmly.]
It was bizarre. Why this was being paraded as an important announcement at the opening general assembly was beyond me.
Glancing around, I saw almost no one else seemed to share my thoughts. Or perhaps they were simply choosing not to say so.
Behind Rosemary, who was bowing and withdrawing, I could see Chairman Robespierre. He walked her down, holding an umbrella over her. For a fleeting moment, I caught sight of him biting firmly down on his lower lip.
I see. So he was working his behind-the-scenes angle while I wasn't looking.
...Rosemary Blanton, she said.
I'd heard the name Rosemary from Vermel several times. The Calamity-class magic beast that had been secretly monitoring us from the imperial palace—that was her true identity.
I'd been consciously keeping a low profile to stay off her radar, but things had taken a decidedly bad turn. The fact that she had shown up here meant she'd caught some kind of scent and made a move herself.
[...That concludes the opening general assembly. Students, please move to your classrooms and attend the first classes you have each selected.]
With a ding of the bell, the crowd of students gathered at the grand stadium dispersed.
As I walked along the corridor, sorting out my thoughts on how to proceed with my plans, Rosemary came running over with short, pattering steps, umbrella in hand.
"What a coincidence. I heard from the Chairman that we're in the same class."
Even though she had sprinted over from a distance, Rosemary spoke in a flat tone, not even out of breath. Her human act, so lacking in detail, almost made me chuckle in disbelief.
With no other friends around at just the right moment, I decided to probe a little.
"Last time we met, why did you lie and say you were an exchange student?"
"I hedged and said it was something similar to an exchange student. I never said it was exactly that, did I?"
"Don't play dumb."
"Hmm. Don't you like me?"
Her eyes narrowed into thin slits. For a Calamity-class magic beast, she had a deceptively cute face.
"You must not like me."
Rosemary pouted her lips slightly, making a huffy, deflating sound.
"Why all of a sudden?"
"Ever since we first met, you've only ever been indifferent. When I told you about a good restaurant, you just reacted like 'oh, I see.' Thinking back, I was a little hurt by you then."
"When you put it like that, it really sounds like you're telling me to pay for the desserts...."
"No, you don't have to worry about paying me back. You heard me earlier, right? I'm the daughter of a great ducal house. Our capital resources are quite solid."
I wasn't so sure about that. Being a duke didn't seem to automatically mean having money. Haspelt, for one, was always badgering me about needing to save research funds.
"So, what I mean is.... You know, right?"
"...Follow me. The classroom is this way."
"Heh heh, thanks."
I stepped into the classroom for the first time in almost three months. When I opened the front door and walked in, the gazes of my classmates who had arrived earlier all turned this way at once.
"Hello."
At Rosemary's ambush-like greeting, everyone bowed their heads. Rote, who had arrived before us, also paid her respects by offering an imperial-style greeting.
"I never knew Duke Blanton had such a beautiful daughter."
"How can you be this cute...."
"But why did you come in with Aether? Are the two of you acquainted?"
Everyone was using formal speech with Rosemary. That was evidence that the other students didn't see her as a fully fledged member of Tillet.
To a current student's eyes, it would be puzzling why Rosemary was attending classes with them for this semester. Only her status as a duke's daughter kept them from voicing it aloud.
There was probably no one in this classroom who would provoke Rosemary.
"Hey! Who are you?!"
...Except for one kid.
Frey adjusted her wide-brimmed hat and jumped out in front of the desk. The little runt, who had been circling around Rosemary like a fox scoping out its prey, continued.
"It's weird. No matter how I think about it, it's weird!"
"...What is?"
"You're not an exchange student, and you're not an outside observer here just once. Why do you have to attend classes in our section for a whole semester?"
Frey's words were more than enough to hit Rosemary's sore spot. All she could offer in reply was the principle of the matter.
"Why, because it is His Imperial Majesty's command. It must be his profound will that I study here at Tillet in advance, the better to lead the country someday. After all, I'll be formally sitting the exam and entering this academy next year anyway."
"Exactly! You can enroll next year and start attending classes then! Doesn't this mean we're the only ones getting a raw deal?!"
"It's only a difference of one semester. Just what is so unfair about that?"
Frey bristled even more and lunged forward. Why was she so full of fight today?
"This is a place where only the smartest people, noble or commoner, who are good at magic and studying get picked and gathered. While we got our skills recognized and paid expensive tuition just to attend the professors' classes, you just waltz right in here without even refusing because the Emperor said so? That's unfair!"
"If you want to debate fairness, go to Kaurelia. This is the Empire, isn't it?"
"They said there's no class discrimination at Tillet!"
At Frey's protest, Rosemary only sighed repeatedly as if at a loss. She had probably thought she could infiltrate comfortably using her status, but getting called out by an innocent kid seemed to have flustered her.
"Then isn't that side a little strange, too?"
"What's strange about me?!"
"Who brought a preschooler in here?"
Ah, she'd stepped on a landmine.
"Hey, you jerk! I'm older than you!!"
"Hah, someone please peel this insolent little squirt away from me."
"Little squirt? Little squirt?! Hey, you've said your piece!!"
Left with no choice, I asked Rote to pull Frey far away. If those two fought any more, only Vermel and I would suffer.
...Come to think of it, where had Vermel gone? I didn't see him.
"And as for not paying tuition, far from it. Do you have any idea how much my father has donated to this school? The reason we were able to rebuild the Central Library was because Duke Blanton's house provided the construction funds. Wouldn't that cover the fees for one semester's worth of classes in exchange?"
"Tch."
Back at her rear seat, Frey clicked her tongue and pulled out a book as thick as her arm, beginning to read. It was a relief that things had at least de-escalated to this level.
From the way she had first spoken to me on the day of the entrance ceremony to the way she had just started a fight with Rosemary now—I wondered if the fox beastmen had some hidden ability to distinguish the Gold-Eye Tribe.
"...Well, still, it wasn't quite as much money as the Imperial House donated, though."
Now Rosemary's gaze turned toward Prince Clion, who was staring at a distant mountain from his window seat in the corner. She'd switched targets.
"Isn't that right, Prince Clion?"
"......."
Clion's head turned stiffly. His complexion looked even more desperate than the expression he'd worn right before I'd smacked him on the head with my vernier calipers.
"Th-that's right. Still, you're a woman who knows your place, I see. Commendable."
What had gotten into him suddenly?
"Prince Clion."
"Wh-what is it?"
"I just felt like calling your name."
Rosemary approached Clion and waved her hand. A fan decorated with black feathers, radiating elegance, fluttered softly. His bangs began to dance nervously in response.
"Prince Clion?"
"What is it now...!"
"You look far paler than when I saw you in the palace. Is it hard adjusting to a new semester?"
"Cough, cough...!"
Clion coughed repeatedly like a man at death's door. While he covered his mouth with his hand, trying to calm his breathing, Rosemary called out 'Sis' and pulled me in.
"Now that I think of it, His Highness the Crown Prince used to occasionally talk about you, Sis. He used to be full of bravado, saying he'd ensnare you, Aether, someday."
I glared at Rosemary, my face scrunching into a frown. The prince's expression also turned into one of someone who'd just bitten into dung.
"Didn't you, Crown Prince Clion?"
"I-I did. What about it, Gold-Eye Tribe wench? Is living as a commoner tough these days with inflation? I'll give you another chance, so how about coming into our palace as a servant girl......."
"Not going."
"Still the same temper, I see."
"Heh-heh, Sis, you're so merciless. Still, you shouldn't use casual speech freely toward someone who'll soon become the head of state. It might be fine now, but it could harden into a bad habit later."
Rosemary smiled a faint, brazen smile and continued.