Joyful, the Savior Has Come (1)
After returning to the Academy, I settled back into my usual routine. Morning meetings, campus patrols, sticking my nose into every subject, grabbing snacks at the dessert café, then working out with the other professors in the afternoon.
Luckily, this Academy happened to have a well-maintained tennis court, so I often gathered the professors there for some high-stakes doubles.
Today, Anna and I teamed up against Linders—wait, no. Lina and Waiver. When I first learned Anna played tennis, I'd been more than a little skeptical. She was usually sluggish as molasses, and her build didn't exactly scream competitive sports.
The moment the match started, those doubts evaporated.
WHACK—!!
Anna put her full weight behind every swing, and her racket was downright destructive. Waiver and Lina had to scramble all over the court just to return balls that flew like bullets. On top of that, I'd been a decent tennis player in my previous life, so our team won by a crushing margin.
"Wow, this is... yeah, we never stood a chance."
Waiver planted his hands on his hips and clicked his tongue in defeat, while Lina fanned her chest, trying to cool off.
"Nice work, Anna."
"Thank you..."
Anna mumbled, hanging her head with her racket dangling at her side.
"So you two are buying snacks today, right? Come on, let's go. I'm thirsty!"
We all piled into the dessert café and ordered juices and other drinks.
"It's good..."
Anna said it gloomily, sucking her juice with agonizing slowness. Slurp... slurp...
"Professor, there's something I've been curious about."
Lina, sitting across from me, asked.
"Last time, during the battlefield tour, those veterans started crying the moment they saw you. Were they people you met during the recapture?"
"Yeah, that's right. Figured they'd have forgotten after ten years."
"How could they forget someone they met in a place like that? So you were in the same legion?"
"Not quite. I was on the attacking side. They were the ones trapped inside the fortress."
"Ah, I see. So you met them while rescuing them after Sir Linus recaptured the fortress. Wow. What are the odds of a connection like that?"
Lina stared at me with shining, moved eyes. I'd thought this before, but Lina was exactly like a golden retriever — the kind who'd wag her tail and greet anyone with open, cheerful warmth.
"Chief Professor. Look over there."
Waiver raised a hand and pointed toward the rear of the main building, where the faculty offices were clustered. Someone had been standing at a window, then hastily ducked out of sight. It was Ismera, the Theory Chief Professor.
"She's been watching us for a while. She's been doing that a lot since the battlefield tour."
Back then, Ismera had completely lost it because Kirlin and I had gone off on a leisurely stroll, leaving the students behind. It wasn't that she had a rotten personality so much as she felt a crushing sense of responsibility as Theory Chief Professor and acting Vice Principal. Not that Kirlin and I had actually been slacking off, but still.
Maybe that was why the look she gave me afterward had grown even more murderous. Before, she'd at least kept up that perpetual elf smile. These days, she wasn't even bothering to hide how she felt. Being a pureblood elf, even that look was still pretty — but getting glared at from behind all the time was getting old.
Well, she'd been eating herself alive over Kirlin before, and now it was me. I supposed I could cut her some slack. Next time I stopped by the Imperial Palace, I should talk to Her Highness about promoting Ismera to Academy Principal. The Academy had stabilized enough that I didn't really need to take the principal's seat myself. The ideal setup would be me staying on as Combat Chief Professor, Kirlin stepping down to assassination instructor, and Ismera taking over as Academy Principal.
The problem was the Emperor throwing a fit about it. What the hell kind of promise was it that he'd installed a turncoat dark elf's daughter as principal and forbidden anyone from touching her? If Her Highness was open to promoting Ismera, maybe I should sit down with that Nemara guy and have a talk. It wasn't urgent. I'd think about it later.
After washing up with Waiver at the shopping district bathhouse, I headed home at a leisurely pace. After a few spring rains, summer was starting to creep in. The sky had already bled into violet, stars nosing their way into the eastern heavens, and a lukewarm breeze rolling in from the unseen sea cooled the lingering heat of the bath on my skin.
This was the life.
I'd run myself ragged keeping Linus alive through the prologue, then followed the story, killed the Demon King, and reached the ending. I had no idea what came after the ending, so I'd planned to lie low and enjoy the rest of my days in peace — only to get dragged to the Academy against my will. And life here? I was more than satisfied.
They say there's no paradise in the place you run to — but that's only because people run somewhere that isn't paradise. If they'd just run somewhere good, like I did, they'd have been fine.
"Ah, right!"
A thought struck me and I stopped walking. Come to think of it, I still hadn't checked Priestess Maya's Patient Log. Should I go now? No. Olicia would have dinner waiting at home. I'd swing by in the morning. But what excuse was I even supposed to use to look at a Patient Log...?
I was walking along, mulling it over, when I suddenly sensed someone ahead. I looked up to find Kirlin leaning against a wall. She spotted me and jolted upright.
"D-Dian... heading home?"
"What are you doing here?"
"Uh, I was heading home too..."
What was this dark elf talking about? Her dorm was on the opposite side of campus.
"Did you need something?"
"Well... we ran into each other like this, and the timing's a bit awkward..."
Kirlin fidgeted, circling around whatever she actually wanted to say.
"Since we're already here... want to grab dinner together...?"
"You haven't eaten yet? Fine by me."
"G-great! Then let's go!"
Kirlin lit up, scurried over, and glued herself to my side.
And a little while later.
"Dian... I meant a restaurant in town... this is the opposite direction..."
As I kept walking toward my house, Kirlin grew visibly nervous, glancing around.
"I said dinner. I didn't mean anything else..."
"What are you even talking about? We're going to eat."
"But this place is so secluded, if something happened, no one would even know..."
"I don't know what you're imagining, but it's not that. We're here."
I stopped in front of my house, and Kirlin's eyes went wide.
"Th-this is...?!"
"Hey, Olicia! I'm home! We've got a guest!"
"Eek?!"
The moment she heard Olicia's footsteps, Kirlin recoiled in horror.
"See you tomorrow, Dian!"
With that, Kirlin vanished into the distance at the blistering speed unique to dark elves.
"Welcome home. But where's the guest? Why are you alone?"
"There was one. Then there wasn't."
"Huh? Are you joking? Come in. Dinner's ready."
I sat down with Olicia and brought up Kirlin over dinner. She clicked her tongue and nodded like she'd already figured it out.
"She wouldn't dare set foot in this house. Not after that."
"What happened?"
"I told you last time, remember? The principal came looking for you. The day you got back from Sir Linus's house."
"Ahhh! Right, right. I remember now."
That was when Kirlin had been caught burying her nose in my freshly laundered shirt. I'd completely forgotten. No wonder she'd panicked when I brought her to my house.
"Dian. What exactly is your relationship with the principal?"
"There isn't one."
"Does the principal think that too?"
"How should I know, you brat. More rice."
Olicia brought more food from the pot on the stove.
"I think the principal definitely likes you. Why else would she be sniffing someone else's clothes? If she didn't like you, that'd just make her a crazy woman."
"I know she has a thing for me. That's as far as it goes. Nothing else."
"Hmmm. I see."
Olicia stopped eating, puffed out her cheeks, and sank into thought. Of course I knew Kirlin liked me. I wasn't some clueless eunuch. But that really was as far as it went. Right now, I didn't feel anything for Kirlin beyond sympathy. Just because someone likes you doesn't mean you have to like them back.
Olicia, apparently, saw it differently.
"Dian."
She spoke with a deadly serious face and voice.
"You should give it a shot with the principal."
"Give what a shot?"
"Develop the relationship. In a good direction."
"And why would I do that?"
"Because you're getting to the age where you should be getting married? How long are you planning to live like this?"
"That's the plan. Being single is easier."
"That's ridiculous. People need a partner. And the principal is a perfectly decent woman."
I stayed quiet, curious where she was going with this.
"She's pretty, she's got a great figure, she's kind, and she's the principal of the Imperial Academy. The dark elf thing is a little iffy, but so what? It's not wartime anymore."
"So you're telling me to marry Kirlin?"
"If you did, I'd be fine with it."
"Why would you be fine with me getting married? Ah. I get it."
This little—
She thought if I married Principal Kirlin, I'd never get fired from the Academy and we could stay in the capital forever, didn't she? Smart as she was, a kid was still a kid.
"Invite the principal over sometime. I'll put out a huge spread and treat her properly. I'll even make up the master bedroom nice and clean."
"For a kid, you've got a filthy mouth."
I reached out to give her a forehead flick, but she dodged nimbly, then snapped her fingers as something occurred to her.
"Oh, right — and some mail came. Like an invitation."
"An invitation?"
Olicia brought over an envelope from the side table in the living room.
An Official Invitation
This was from that bastard Linus. Last time he'd mentioned going together to a festival in the village we'd saved from the Demon King's army. So this was it.