Touring the Old Battlefields (1)
"Hey, Linus."
I jabbed a finger at him.
"This guy. You yank me out of a perfectly good life in Brunswell, dump me in the Academy, and now you want me playing event helper?"
"Not a helper. I want you to be the protagonist."
Linus answered with that earnest look of his.
"Why do you think every citation on our medals has the words Battle Buddy written on it? And why do I keep those medals in pairs? Because we accomplished all of it together."
He drew himself up even straighter and went on.
"I'm not the Hero of the Continent. I'm just someone who stood alongside heroes. If it hadn't been for you, Dian, I probably would have died in a trench in the Kingdom of Avoca before I ever got the chance to do a thing."
Celine nodded in silent agreement.
"Dian. For a whole tangle of reasons — some of your choosing, some not — the world forgot you. That doesn't mean the things you've done just vanish. They may have been erased from the records, but they live on in the hearts of everyone you saved."
Linus pressed a fist to his chest.
This guy. No wonder he was the original protagonist Hero — he's got a real gift for the romantic speech.
I fell for one of those speeches back when we went to save Tatanok Village, too.
"Fine, fine. I'll go, all right?"
"Thank you, Dian."
"Oh, knock it off."
I flicked a fork at him as a joke, and Linus plucked it out of the air with a twitch of his fingers.
Ten years later and he hasn't rusted a bit.
"Oh, right. Linus. There's one place I'm absolutely not going, though."
"Where?"
"Victory Memorial Day. You're not thinking of dragging me to that, are you? I'd have to see the Emperor, plus a whole crowd of people I'd rather not deal with."
"Victory Memorial Day isn't an event I can just tell people to attend. I can't give you a definite answer on that."
Victory Memorial Day was, as the name suggested, a national holiday celebrating the Human Alliance's victory over the Demon Tribe in the great clash of the Four-Year War. When the day came, the Emperor and every high official of note gathered at the Victory Monument to exchange solemn words, watch performances depicting the major battles, and hold a memorial service for the fallen.
It was almost identical to Memorial Day — except that as a national holiday it fell under the Emperor's authority, which meant Linus wasn't in a position to tell me to come or stay home.
"That said... there's a good chance you'll be invited starting this year."
Linus took a sip of wine.
"Every member of the special task force except you has received an invitation from the Imperial Palace and attended the ceremony every year. They didn't know where you were before, but now you're a public figure — a professor at the Academy."
"That so. I don't know about that. Would the Emperor actually invite me? That guy's ridiculously petty. He got all sulky because I left without taking the gifts he gave me, right? I heard that's why he had my records wiped clean."
"You've got a point."
Linus nodded, rubbing his chin.
"It's not as if I can just go ask His Majesty myself, so I suppose we'll wait and see."
"He probably won't. He might have a fit just looking at my face. He's old enough now that if he gets too worked up, he could drop dead of a heart attack."
I had a pretty good idea of how things were going at the Imperial Palace these days. His Majesty was a timid, petty man — when I bolted for Brunswell, he would have taken it as a personal slight and been thoroughly offended. That same temperament was exactly why he and the Second Princess got along so terribly.
Unlike the other princes and princesses, the Second Princess had earned enormous merit during the war, but she was a concubine's daughter, and the imperial family refused to recognize her as legitimate. The only people who wouldn't acknowledge her, however, were the Emperor and the rest of the imperial clan. Every officer who'd actually served on the front lines supported her. Those "front-line officers" were the war heroes of the Third Corps, the ones who had ranged across the battlefields at her side.
How jealous must the Emperor be of a Second Princess backed by the entire Post-War Power Faction? And now the last missing member of the special task force — whose whereabouts had been a mystery all this time — had been appointed as a professor at the Special Operations Academy, which answered directly to her. The Post-War Power Faction, Linus, and now me: all of us had become cards in the Second Princess's hand. From the Emperor's point of view, that had to be enough to make him blow a gasket.
So no. An invitation probably wasn't coming my way.
With breakfast finally finished, the moment Hindrastar had been waiting and waiting for at last arrived: the moment we had to leave Linus's house.
"We live close by now, so let's see each other often, Dian."
Linus shook my hand and clapped me on the shoulder.
"We've still got a lot to talk about."
"Sure. I'll drop by now and then when I'm not busy."
"When you get back to the Academy, keep a close eye on the people around you."
Celine said it with a hint of worry in her voice, Lumien nestled in her arms.
"Don't give that Oracle Priest Maya anything she can write you up for. She's definitely reporting everything to Rormane."
"Got it. I haven't done anything that would actually be a problem so far, but I'll be careful."
"And the same goes for Principal Kirlin."
"Kirlin? Why her? If anything, I'm the one who has to look out for her."
"Principal Kirlin is a different kind of problem from Rormane."
Celine shook her head.
"That dark elf is looking for every possible way to step down from a principal's job that's too much for her — without having to go back to the forest."
"What kind of ways, I wonder."
"I don't know exactly, but she's harboring feelings of a different kind, so be careful. From what I've heard, she doesn't seem like the thorough type. She might overreach on her own and cause a real disaster."
Celine wasn't wrong about a single thing. Kirlin did have a way of leaving a hole in everything she did.
"We should get going. Thanks for having us."
I shook Linus's hand one more time, gave Celine a light hug, and wiggled a finger at Lumien in her arms, cooing, "Hey there."
Lumien reached out with his tiny hand and clamped down on my finger like a vise.
"Ghk!"
What kind of baby has a grip like that?!
"Take care, Dian. You too, Hindrastar."
As we boarded the carriage, Linus and Celine waved. Hindrastar propped her chin on her hand and stared out the opposite window, as if she hadn't heard a word. But I could see it — the cold sweat beading on her forehead.
"Haaah..."
Only after we'd left Linus's house, passed through the wide stretch of farmland, and the buildings of the capital came into view did Hindrastar let out a long, shuddering breath.
"Goddammit, what the hell is this... He said he'd take me into the city, so I tagged along..."
She muttered it at the distant horizon.
"As if getting stuck in some Academy I was never meant for wasn't already enough to make me want to die... Fuck, fuck..."
And then, sure enough, her shoulders started to shake, and the tears came pattering down.
"That's what you get for stirring up trouble. You got wrecked during the war and you still haven't learned your lesson."
"I couldn't help it...! What am I supposed to do when my body just moves on its own?! I won't do it again, so... don't you ever take me to that blond bastard again...!"
"Good grief."
I sighed, watching Hindrastar start to bawl in earnest.
Meanwhile, in the faculty housing district of the Academy, at Dian's house.
"Dian? He's out at the moment."
"Oh... is he?"
Kirlin asked, a little flustered by Olicia's answer.
"Do you know where he went?"
"He went to a friend's house. I think he'll be back sometime after lunch?"
"I see..."
"Um..."
Olicia's eyes traveled over Kirlin's dark skin, her red eyes, and her long ears in turn.
"You're the Principal, right? Would you like to come in for a cup of tea?"
"Huh? N-no, no, I'm fine..."
"Don't be like that, come in!"
Figuring that treating Dian's superior well was the way to keep him safely employed as a professor, Olicia grabbed Kirlin by the wrist and pulled her inside.
"Have a seat right here. I'll bring the tea out in a moment."
"O-okay..."
Olicia set down the basket she'd been holding and scurried off to the kitchen.
So this is Dian's house... He's got it fixed up so cozy.
As Kirlin looked around the interior, her eyes landed on the basket Olicia had just set down. A basket stacked with clothes, freshly dried and neatly folded. Right on top sat the shirt Dian usually liked to wear.
Kirlin glanced toward the kitchen. Olicia had gone further in, and was nowhere in sight.
"Here's your tea, Principal. ...Huh?"
Olicia came out carrying a tray, then froze, eyes wide, and looked around. The Principal, who should have been sitting on the sofa, was nowhere to be seen.
After searching here and there, Olicia found Kirlin crouched in the corner by the front door — right where she'd set down the laundry basket.
"What are you doing?"
Kirlin had her back turned and didn't answer, so Olicia approached slowly.
"Snff... haaah..."
Kirlin had her eyes closed, Dian's shirt mashed against her face, drawing in a deep, deep breath.
"P-Principal...?"
"Eek?!"
Only then did Kirlin register Olicia's presence. She flung the shirt away in a panic and burst through the door.
"Where are you going?!"
"I'm sooooorryyy!!"
What was that?
Olicia watched Kirlin's retreating figure carefully as she vanished at an incredible speed. A sleeveless turtleneck, a short skirt, high heels. Earrings, even.
That's not her usual black-cloak look. She didn't just come because she was curious about where Dian went...
Hmmm...
A rather plausible theory began to take shape in Olicia's mind.
Kirlin cut across the married housing complex in a single burst, and despite the high heels, launched herself through the third-floor window of her dormitory room in one leap. She broke her fall with her whole body, tumbled inside in a roll, and peered out the window with terrified eyes.
Mercifully, there was no sign of Olicia charging after her yelling, "Catch the pervert dark elf!"
"Haaah..."
Kirlin sank to the floor with a sigh, and only then did the gravity of what she'd done hit her.
What... what did I just do... I'm the Principal of the Academy...
I'm not qualified... I already wasn't qualified, but this is the absolute worst...
"Uwaaaah..."
Writhing under a creeping wave of self-loathing, Kirlin clutched her head in her hands.
