First Impression (2)
First Impression (2)
Charlotte was a French name.
And the way it was pronounced in English was Charlotte.
Of course, for now there was no particular ill feeling between the Aetherna Empire and the Kingdom of Belbur—which was to say, at least on the surface there was none. But no matter how you looked at it, unilaterally pronouncing someone's name in your own country's fashion was still rude.
In the original story, it wasn't until much later that her friends started calling her Charlotte. After they'd become extremely close, and only once Charlotte herself told them to use the name casually.
Then, around the time the Aetherna Empire was preparing to invade the Kingdom of Belbur in earnest, Charlotte broke away from the group and asked them to stop calling her Charlotte.
So this present situation was surprising.
...... Could they really have grown this close after meeting just that one time?
"Are you Princess Sylvia? It is a pleasure to meet you for the first time."
Charlotte, having noticed me beside Alice, offered a courteous greeting.
I briefly considered whether I should stand, then decided against it. I had agreed with the notion that here, we were all fellow students. Even if that wasn't strictly true, treating things that way would make it easier to get along with the others going forward.
"My name is Sylvia Fangriffon."
"I have heard about you."
Charlotte spoke with a smile that suggested she was pleased.
"On that previous occasion, you attended as the Empire's representative in place of His Imperial Majesty. My father spoke of you with considerable praise."
So it hadn't been insults behind my back?
I'd behaved so rudely that it wouldn't have been strange if he'd turned around and sworn at me on the spot.
Besides, among those who knew of the Trilateral Summit's existence, that meeting was understood to be one where the Kingdom had been left holding the bag alone.
The Empire had sent a princess—me. The pope had sent a cardinal. Only the Kingdom had its king attend in person. Of course, from the Kingdom's perspective alone, it was a matter of, "The summit took place in the Kingdom, so His Majesty extended his consideration." But I had my doubts that high-ranking nobles saw it that way.
The Empire was a hegemonic power that could chew up and spit out other nations' military forces anyway, so that was one thing. As for the Holy State, although its territory was extremely small, its worldwide influence was immense. The Church of the Goddess wasn't quite a model for the world's religions, but among single faiths, it still had one of the largest followings.
On top of that, the cardinals and priests in the Church of the Goddess's cathedrals were all citizens of the Holy State as well. At a glance it might have seemed like a mere formality, but the more faithful a nation's populace, the harder it was to dismiss the Church's influence. Because the greater the number of believers, the higher the social standing of the clergy became.
The Holy State was right next door to... no. The Kingdom of Belbur, one of the nations that had ceded part of its territory when the Holy State was first established, had an extremely high proportion of adherents to the Church of the Goddess. It might not have been enough to call it a single-religion state, but as a single faction, their numbers were probably the largest.
So the Kingdom couldn't exactly ignore the Holy State's influence, either.
At the same time, they wouldn't have sent Charlotte in their place.
For the Kingdom of Belbur, it was something of a mercy that the summit's actual content had barely become known. If Charlotte was willing to bring up the summit in conversation and spread word of it to others, then Charlotte's mind must be a flower garden in more ways than one......
...... There was no way that was true.
She was kind, incapable of feigning virtue. Saying such things didn't directly mean she "wasn't clever."
Charlotte had a personality that allowed her to get along well with all sorts of people, but at the same time, she was someone who knew how to identify and draw close to the person who mattered most among them.
Charlotte was an existence that moved for the sake of her nation's people. Put another way, she was someone who, when necessary, could carry out an unpleasant task with her head held high. Though naturally, she wouldn't hide the fact that she disliked it.
"......I see."
In that sense, it seemed Charlotte hadn't yet harbored any openly negative feelings toward me.
But her expression when speaking with Alice and her expression when speaking with me were subtly different. Her clear, ash-gray eyes met mine without a single tremor, as if she intended to see straight through my motives.
"At that time, I had a great many conversations with Alisse. Sylvia's name came up several times."
Alisse.
The French pronunciation of Alice.
So that was how it was. It seemed that back then, the two of them had addressed each other in that fashion.
"......."
"I-I didn't say anything strange, you know?"
When I glanced toward Alice, she spoke with her face slightly flushed.
"Indeed. I swear, I said absolutely nothing that would insult Sylvia."
"I believe you."
I answered, looking up at Charlotte.
"It is rather late to be asking permission, but I understand it is academy regulation to set aside our respective ranks and converse as students while on campus. Would addressing you by name cause any offense?"
"It would not."
I answered once more.
If Charlotte had genuinely judged Alice worth befriending, getting close to me was the natural next step. Given the circumstances, Alice and I seemed likely to stick together quite often, and whenever she met up with Alice, she would inevitably run into me as well.
Charlotte, who had been quietly observing me, tilted her head slightly.
"Are you normally this quiet?"
"......I am."
In front of Alice, perhaps not, but in front of others, I did try to keep my words to a minimum.
Of course, since Charlotte was one of the original protagonist's party, she was on the list of people I did want to befriend. But if I broke my expressionless demeanor from the very first meeting, the mood would suffer.
...... Did thinking that way make me sound like too much of a concept-obsessed weirdo?
"Uh, excuse me."
While the three of us were still talking, someone else inserted herself into the conversation.
Even without looking at her face, I had a pretty good idea who it was.
It seemed Claire was already certain that I was the one she was looking for. She'd had a strangely persistent side in the original story, too, and it looked like that personality trait had carried over intact.
"Sylvia?"
When I turned my gaze, Claire was standing there.
And beside her stood Leo, with an expression of obvious unease.
...... The atmosphere made it look as though he was flustered by his sworn sister boldly striking up a conversation in a place where two imperial princesses and a royal princess were gathered, but come to think of it, wasn't this exactly the kind of atmosphere you'd expect from the opening of a harem story? A brash younger sister with no sense of her surroundings, and an older brother who tagged along trying to smooth things over, who gradually grew closer to his sister's friends...... When I tried to come up with a title that fit the description, I drew a blank.
"...... Claire."
I decided to just clear my mind completely.
"Ah, um, sorry. Were you in the middle of a conversation?"
"Not at all."
In response to Claire's question, Charlotte spoke while tucking a lock of shining silver hair behind her ear.
"We were merely building a friendly acquaintance. I happened to find someone I already knew and was exchanging greetings. But it is quite a predicament. This is a place where I know hardly anyone at all."
"Ah, did you come from a foreign country, then?"
"Yes, that is correct."
Charlotte lightly pinched the front of her skirt with both hands and gave a small demonstration. It closely resembled the gesture Claire had shown Alice and me earlier, but Charlotte's version was more graceful. That wasn't to say Claire had done poorly. It was simply the difference between someone for whom that gesture was genuinely ingrained in the body, and someone for whom it wasn't.
"My name is Charlotte de Belbur."
"Eep!"
A sudden choked sound rang out, and the gazes of all four of us gathered there snapped simultaneously in one direction.
The person at the receiving end of those stares was Leo.
Covering his own mouth with both hands, Leo wore an expression that made it look as though a scream would burst forth the instant he removed them.
"De Belbur, as in......."
"Yes. I am the princess of the Kingdom of Belbur."
Charlotte spoke in a playful voice. She seemed to have found Leo's reaction amusing.
Someone might ask how the child of a mere baronial house could not know the face of the neighboring kingdom's princess. I couldn't say what the actual twentieth century had been like, but in this world, in this era, at least, leaving behind a photograph instead of a painted portrait was considered a shabby practice.
Photographs were expensive, admittedly, but far cheaper than commissioning a painter for a portrait. And above all, photographs were black and white, whereas portraits were in color.
That wasn't to say photographs were never taken in daily life, but putting them into a newspaper was an entirely different matter.
If a photograph of yourself were printed large in a newspaper, someone could cut it out and use it for insulting purposes.
The era was just beginning to see words like freedom and democracy hover on the verge of appearing, but the Empire and the Kingdom were still close to absolute monarchies. Strict control over the press always existed. Another fifty years or so down the line, who knew how things might change.
And so, even as thin modern-style film and small portable cameras had been invented and marketed earlier that year, photographs of nobles or members of the imperial family were almost never printed in newspapers.
That created a gap in information, and led to cases of "nobles and royalty whose names you've heard but whose faces you wouldn't recognize."
"So you're called Charlotte, right?"
Should I praise Leo for managing not to let out a strangled noise at hearing Claire say that?
"My name's Claire. Claire Grace. I'm the eldest daughter of the Grace Barony."
Strictly speaking in terms of the setting, Claire was Leo's older sister. Her birthday came first. But there probably hadn't been anyone around to prove that. The only reason I knew that fact was because I'd read the Setting Guide so thoroughly I practically had it memorized.
"Is that so?"
There was no chance Charlotte would know the Grace Barony. She wouldn't have had the leisure to memorize the names of every aristocrat from the neighboring country. But she was by no means a character foolish enough to openly slight a neighboring nation's noble.
"I look forward to our acquaintance, Claire."
"Yeah!"
Claire wore an expression that said, "I've already made three friends!" whereas Leo, standing beside her, had a look that made me wonder whether the strain on his heart was starting to become a problem.
"...... So, may I ask what reason you had for approaching me?"
"Ah, right."
When I, who had been seated and quietly watching the two of them converse, asked Claire, she clapped her palms together and spoke.
"I was thinking, if you have time after class—"
But before Claire could finish her sentence,
BANG!
The classroom door flew open.
It seemed to have been opened with such force that the preceding "rattle" of the handle was skipped entirely.
And as for someone who would throw open a classroom door in that manner, I knew of exactly one person from the original game.
"Gentlemen!"
She looked to be a little past her mid-twenties. A woman with her black hair loosened in a wild fashion stood with her arms crossed, shouting that way.
Her clothes were, astonishingly enough, an imperial officer's dress uniform, though several buttons on the innermost shirt were undone. Over her shoulders, a coat was draped like a cape.
And on that cape, four medals were pinned.
"Outside!"
Even though the bell signaling the end of class hadn't rung yet, there was only one person in this academy who would say such a thing.
Jennifer Winterfield. The rebellious granddaughter of the headmaster.
And the homeroom instructor of Class B.
*
We couldn't even fully enjoy our break. The bell rang only when we had followed the instructor out to the training grounds.
Ding-dong-dang-dong. Hearing the hollow sound of the chime echoing, several students wore visibly irritated expressions. But I, knowing that a first meeting with Jennifer would go like this, wasn't particularly surprised.
There wasn't a single other soul on the training grounds. No matter how many physical subjects there were, practically no instructor gathered the students outside and made them train from the very first day.
She wore an imperial military uniform, and her speech was soldierly, but Jennifer wasn't the type to instruct students in a military-drill fashion. She didn't force us to stand in ranks or columns, and she didn't much care even when the students just clustered roughly together on the field.
"Proud gentlemen of the academy!"
Having gathered us into a loose group, Jennifer climbed onto the platform and shouted without a microphone.
Even so, her voice was loud enough to set our ears ringing.
In the game, during situations like this, Jennifer's dialogue font became massively enlarged. The other characters would cover their ears or look horrified.
It was the same now. Alice was frowning, and even Charlotte had furrows between her brows.
"My name is Jennifer, your tactical instructor! I am here to develop your practical combat capability!"
That was correct. Tactical instructor.
Because this place also functioned in part as a military academy, there were classes like this.
"But no matter how much you teach the tactics written in books, if the individual lacks the ability to carry them out, it is all completely useless. Moreover, on the battlefield, the required form of tactics changes depending on the weapon an individual soldier wields and their skill in handling it. Therefore!"
The students, who had begun to relax their shoulders in relief as her voice lowered slightly, flinched again when Jennifer suddenly raised it.
"I will confirm your level of ability here and now! What weapons you prefer, and in what manner you prefer to use them! Let us ascertain this in advance on the spot!"
Clap!
Jennifer struck her own hands together in a vigorous clap as she spoke.
"And the best way to measure skill and weapon-handling style is, of course, sparring!"
Grinning, Jennifer continued.
"Whatever form of weapon you desire, I will supply it without reservation, so do your utmost."