Zero no Tsukaima:Volume12 Full Text

Novel Illustrations

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Prologue

Magic academy, Alviss dining hall.

It was customary for young nobles studying in the Tristain Magic Academy, to eat all three meals there.

A week had passed since the day Henrietta requested Tiffania to be brought from Albion.

Today, as like any other, Saito's group ate their breakfast at the table for third years as usual.

The three long dining tables were placed in parallel to each other, as seen from the entrance. The one on the far left was for the third years, while the middle one was for the second years, and the right was for the first years.

"She's really popular, you know."

Saito mumbled lightly as he stopped cutting meat with the knife. A light, ignorant voice replied,

“What? Popular?”

Guiche, who was sitting in front of him, asked back with his eyes wide open. Around Saito and Guiche, was the usual gang of the Knight Corps of the Water Spirit. Already drunk in broad daylight, all of them turned their eyes to look in the direction Saito and Guiche were looking.

In that direction was the figure of a dazzling fairy with golden hair and a slender, charming body. However, her facial expression suggested that she was quite bewildered.

It was Tiffania.

With Henrietta acting as mediator, even though she was late by a month, Tiffania was enlisted as a first year and immediately became the topic of discussion for everyone.

Not to mention, the result of the mixing of elf and Albion royal blood made her beautiful face more dazzling than fine art.

Of course, both of her bloodlines were concealed. The few who knew her true colors were Henrietta, Principal Osman, Saito, and Louise. Plus Tabitha, Kirche, and Guiche. Outside this circle, no one knew about her secrets.

Of the two secrets Tiffania concealed, one could be figured out just by seeing her. So in order to conceal that, she wore a hat to cover her ears.

Normally, she would be forbidden from participating in class dressed like that. But with the ostensible reason that “her body is extremely weak to the sun's rays,” Tiffania had been permitted to wear a hat indoors. “If sunlight reached her fragile skin from the window, she would be sunburned,” was the reason Henrietta, as Tiffania's guardian, came up with in front of Principal Osman, the teaching staff, and the students.

Normally, nobody would have believed this reason.

However, Tiffania's skin was so pale that no other noble girl in the school, even those who hated going out under the sun, could be compared to her. Everyone who saw her skin believed that she could not stand the sunlight.

She was a being as ethereal as the faint glow of the blue moon. A figure that betrayed any ethereality she had, her reason for coming here from Albion, and what she has gone through as a noble.

With those three characteristics, an unknown fascinating aura seemed to be emanating from her. Tiffania was surrounded by male students who had completely fallen for her.

Surrounding Tiffania, who was wearing the Academy Uniform, were around ten male students, like ants around a sugar block and were ogling her.

“She is popular, to be more precise, highly popular.”

Guiche muttered while absentmindedly opening his mouth and gazing at Tiffania.

“Those guys, what could be in their minds? Their actions seem more like those of servants towards a princess.”

Reynal replied while lifting his glasses. He sat to Guiche’s right, bearing the same duty as a member of Knight Corps of the Water Spirit.

I see, it's just like Reynal said.

Not only the brownish capes of 1st years, but dark blue capes of second years, and dark mantles of 3rd years could be seen around.

Immediately after Tiffania took a sip of her tea, they would pour it full. Immediately after she took a bite of her meal, they would give theirs to her. Immediately after Tiffania stretched to take a portion of something, they would deliver it to her, cut and served. Something like that.

Tiffania was troubled. No less than ten people of waiter-like attitude simultaneously offered their services to this golden haired beauty, competing bluntly by showing each one's special talents. It was a complicated situation where one couldn’t say a word carelessly, so the stalemate continued.

The crowded male students' eyes were focused at several visual points: her transparent white skin, her outrageously beautiful face, and one other point that was moving right then.

When that part moved, Guiche's feelings overflowed.

“You know, since the return from the Albion trip, I've always been thinking deeply. There's only one conclusion that can be made.”

Just left of Guiche was Malicorne, whose lips' outer edges were rising, beginning a nihilist smile.

“Now then, I, the Windward shall listen to your conclusion, Guiche.”

Like a class debate, full of confidence in his opinion and with an excellently polished voice, Guiche replied.

“Very well, the result of my conclusions. The two hemispherical objects on Miss Tiffania's chest are, in fact, magical weapons that can make half of the world's population mad over it.”

“So, half of world population meaning...”

“You are a man, aren't you?”

Malicorne, placing a finger on his chin, thought deeply. A few moments later, he seriously opened his mouth.

“Weapon. In other words, you mean lust for sex?”

“No doubt, it is lust for sex.”　

Saito, who was watching the two’s foolishness, also nodded as if agreeing “it is reasonable.”

“You are a genius, Guiche.”

“Even so, this is just a half-assed conclusion. My hypothesis still needs to be proven.”

Guiche swallowed a whole wine cup with a gulp.

“Now, come!”

*Bang* Guiche stood. Malicorne too made a grand gesture and rose. With a 'We are now granted an audience with her Majesty' kind of act. The two began arranging their appearance.

The two fools nodded to show their readiness, and slowly approached the table for the 1st year students. 　

Reynal asked Saito.

“Those two, what could be in their minds?”

“Intoxicated with stupidity. Leave them for the time being!”

All the members of the Knight Corps of the Water Spirit watched Guiche and Malicorne with worried faces.

Like drunken men, the two pushed through the 1st year students that were swarming around Tiffania. Not one of the first years were brave enough to resist Guiche and Malicorne, who were not only third years, but also part of the defense squad. The formation scattered, the path to Tiffania was open.

Guiche and Malicorne walked the path leading straight to the breasts.

Guiche stood beside Tiffania. Filled with nervousness and furthermore feeling inferior, she bowed deeply.

The next instant, “that” happened.

Without saying a word, Guiche's hand reached to the two ragingly magical weapons. He reached the breast. Feeling distortion, Tiffania's expression sharpened. At that instant, the dining hall's atmosphere froze.

“That idiot.”

Saito stood up.

But in the next few seconds, Guiche's body was wrapped in a huge waterspout that suddenly materialized like an underwater flower. In the middle of the waterspout, Guiche's body wriggled. Further behind, as usual, Montmorentcy stood expressionlessly swinging her wand.

*Zerrt*. The air inside the dining hall froze. Synchronizing the waterspout with the movements of her wand, she took it outside.

By the time they reached a corner, unseen by the crowd in the dining hall, the sound of the waterspout bursting open could be heard. Soon after, Guiche's yells echoed through the air.

“Wait, I just wanted to make sure, because I saw that thing my scientific curiosity grew, bigger, and bigger, and bigger until the point I couldn't resist it! I! Uaa! Whuarrgl!”

Saito heard the sound of a huge torrent assaulting Guiche.

The sounds of raging water continued, after a while, the hall turned silent.

Saito helped himself to the food while sighing. Reynal whispered to Saito,

“Incomprehensible, isn't it?”

“I think it's normal for them, getting drunk and going crazy... touching anything in front of them until they feel satisfied.”

“That's not what I mean, I'm talking about you.”

“Me?”

Saito looked blankly staring at Reynal.

“Usually, you would accompany them.”

“About making sure whether Tiffania breasts were real or not? Only an idiot would go to that extent. Don't put me in the same class as them.”

Reynal fixed his glasses, staring at Saito.

"Certainly, there is a possibility you were being shy, if we're feigning ignorance to your drunkenness' extent. In the middle of the day when there's something out of the ordinary, wouldn’t you want to make sure, like your hands were itching and you were being uncomfortable in your seat so you attempted to fix your waist, something like that?"

Reynal’s analysis was sharp.

“Even though you're like that, what's wrong? With that attitude of yours...”

“Whatever, just eat, it's going to get cold.”

Saito put on a calm face and started to eat his food. In the next instant, several girls gathered, surrounding him. The first was the 2nd-year Katie. The rest of them were a flock of first year girls.

“Sir Saito! Would you mind eating this pudding as your dessert?”.

The pudding was made from milk and fruits utilizing cold magic, making it appetizingly cool and delicious. With a clear, composed attitude, Saito nodded “Thank you,” and received the gift.

Each member of Knight Corps of the Water Spirit watched Saito, their faces filled with enviousness.

“Saito-sama, you looked so cool just now.”

“No, no, it's nothing.”

With a light, affectionate attitude, Saito mimicked Guiche and groped at his feet. But even that appearance created an oblate illusion in the girls' mind that made them cheer.

“Coool! After all, Sir Saito is really different than Sir Guiche.”

Katie, with cold eyes, threw a glance in Guiche's direction.

“That's not it. I'm no different at all. One might say that it's just them that turned into fools. Ahhahaha.”

As if in trance, the girls continued to stare at Saito.

“Really... Sir Saito is really a wonderful person.”

“It's not only that. But also super powerful.”

“That's right! A person who could somehow stop the Albion army by himself.”

Being fully absorbed, Katie said that.

“If it's Sir Saito, even those rascal Sky Armored Knight Corps would be beaten completely!.”

“I see, Katie, do you hate those knights from Kreudenhorve house, too?”

A question was asked to that girl, Katie.

“Of course, because that group always follow me whenever I take a stroll to the place I usually go! ‘Do you want to pick a flower?’ What a kind of talk is that!?“

“What a rascal!”

“I agree! That's a big difference from Sir Saito!”

“Kyaa kyaa” that was the commotion created by the crowd of girls.

Being stared at like that, Saito was thinking,

Composure is important after all.

Not guts, but composure and attitude - he felt like a flower being sucked by a bee.

Ahh, have I ever experienced this breezy mood before?

Siesta cheers “kyaa kyaa,” but... that's not too often.

Large numbers of girls yelling “kyaa kyaa.” This sensation, filling one with happiness...

Louise's magic, “The reason to stay in this world”. When I was under that influence, this kind of reality wouldn't make me feel joy. The encouragement from the flock of girls were like distant sounds. This could be a hallucination... But see, I'm a simple minded person...

However it may turn out, I better enjoy it to the fullest for now.

The sound of “kyaa” resounding from the girls' voices, the sweet endorphins permeating the brain.

While the sounds vibrated 'kyaa kyaa', Saito snuck a glance at Louise's table. There, Louise's face could be seen clearly. She continued to eat breakfast.

However, he knew... once in a while she peeked his way with glittering eyes. With those same glittering eyes, once in a while Louise boisterously used her fork on her plate.

Saito's nasal cavity widened, absorbing a lot of the sense of superiority in his chest.

Look, look.

The kitten couldn't take it much longer.

He whispered those words inside his mind.

Now let's stop for a moment, why was Saito feeling victorious like this?

What's with the real intention of “Composure is important” that Saito declared?.

What could be the meaning of the cat-like attitude that Louise presented?

The answer for all of that, laid in the return trip from Albion, because on that ship there existed the root of the misunderstanding.

During the journey from Albion, on that ship that Saito rode... inside that certain cabin, he pressed against Louise's lips.

Transmitting his feelings to Louise, it was a hot kiss.

Even that small heat was straining, they were exchanging a kiss with each other, naturally of course Saito's hand reached to Louise. He only did it because he felt that Louise was also filled with passion.

That was Saito's judgment.

But instead, when Louise was laid down looking embarrassed... she turned down Saito's reaching hand. And with a silent, vanishing tone muttered something.

“...so, I don't want to.”

Saito was hurt by that rejection. He couldn't believe it, even when she was in that heat, why? This was the inner Saito talking.

“W, wh, why?”

Louise reacted, shouting with anger,

“I won't repeat a second time.”

Actually, as Louise said that, Kirche slipped in from the adjacent room because of the noise.

“What's the matter, Louise?”

“No, nothing!”

Somehow, that indecisive situation was ended... the sweet atmosphere that was drifting along had gone somewhere. Both of them looked at each other before slipping into bed, their faces dyed red.

A moment later, they closed their eyes and fell asleep.

That time, Saito didn't notice... that Louise did not actually mean to reject Saito.

It was only the place that was unsuitable.

The words Louise uttered with a quiet voice before they were lost, the first part of the words did not reach Saito's ears.

“...so, I don't want to.”

Before this sentence was another sentence, “Because we're in a ship”.

“Because we're in a ship, so, I don't want to.”

Louise once said that.

It didn't really mean she was rejecting Saito.

However... Saito was feeling down already, he did not notice that, on the bed inside that cabin room, Louise's words were echoed several times, the obscure conclusion eluded him.

Our mutual love should be enough.

Certainly, Louise's feelings were directed towards me.

But still... in the end her high pride did not permit it, I'm sure of it.

What am I supposed to do?

In that instant, an idea flashed in Saito's mind.

He recalled the time when Louise wore the black cat clothes.

I see now, Louise is a cat through and through.

Her large eyes, round and round, made him excited. Her way of flirting with Saito looked exactly like that of a cat.

Now, for a cat... to tame that animal, what am I supposed to do?

I know.

Cats, when they notice us drawing closer, they run.

And then they clearly disregard us.

That's totally Louise-like.

Then, what about if we ignored one, what would happen?

When that happens, the cat will first observe the situation... Even in this case if you continued to ignore it, eventually it will become impatient and draw closer.

In the end, saying 'meow meow', cuddling its face against me...

This is it, this is it!

In the middle of the bed it was the only conclusion that came to his mind. He nodded.

Heh, no licking, you insolent cheeky pink-haired girl... who makes fun of me on a whim... The moment when you cuddle your face against me, Huhuhu, I will catch the scruff of your neck. Huhu, I am looking forward to that moment.

The conclusion was one that was only reasonable to Saito's misconceived mindset.

For now, let's utterly ignore Saito and his paranoid misunderstanding. At midnight of the day after her return from Albion, Louise entered the bath looking charming and thoroughly washed her body. After that she proceeded to the altar room and did a long, long confession to Founder Brimir.

Founder Brimir... before marriage, that's, how should I say it, the thing that shouldn't be said, that's, what's it called, I mean, the thing I want to do, that's, please forgive me, but because it's not that I can't help it... that fellow for sure, he would absolutely do that with other girls, I mean, no seriously, helpless against the empty-brained maid, or, once acting strange with the respected princess, or lose himself to the strange breasts of the half-elf woman who's been here lately or maybe not... true, not only to the woman that have comparatively nice body, even to the small blue-haired princess of Galia, I mean, it's not he really has the feelings for that woman, but with the 1000 to 1 chance, it does not matter small or big anymore, just the dangerous elements have increased, in any case that's the situation, please forgive me. Amen.

After this strange and delusional confession, Louise's right hand and left foot that moved simultaneously entered the room.

What kind of expression Saito will show I wonder. I wonder if he is nervous, while thinking that she entered the room. However her familiar's attitude instead was quite calm, he was drinking tea.

Even though I'm greeting this special night with tenseness, his attitude hasn't changed. On the contrary, with eyes narrowed, “Yo, Louise. Isn't tonight a bright night”, he said those incomprehensible words.

What's with that? Louise entered the bed with that thought.

Next, followed by Saito.

Next, followed by the maid.

Unbeknownst to the three persons living in this room, sleeping together like three parallel logs, had already become something normal.

Louise was quite tense, as if being in trance. But, it's still too soon. Saito himself is not an idiot. Until Siesta falls asleep, I have to act, and after thinking that, she feigned sleep with all of her might.

Soon, Siesta's sleeping breath could be heard.

Louise's nervousness had reached its peak. She was quite tense, grasping the blanket tightly, biting it as if wanting it to rip.

Next calmly... Saito's hand placed itself on Louise's shoulder.

Shiver shiver, her whole body was trembling.

“...Idiot, Si-Siesta is still here, see? Despite that, you're re-reaching your hand out to your master. What could you be thinking!?”

Beyond doubt, Louise spoke with a small voice. I thought we would go to somewhere private like a warehouse. No, I mean I expected a good, ideal room. However, in this bed just next to Siesta who was sleeping. How could this familiar be so bold!?

She was surprised, but it's not about Siesta, it's about the overwhelming sense of superiority in Louise because his hand reached to her. Louise's heart was overflowing.

Even though it's just next to Siesta...

Even though the maid was just beside...

Despite this foolish maid was! Beside! here!

That's right, maid.

How dare you until now... well whatever... the victory... is mine? With this, this is my victory!

But, as I thought to do that in front of the other girl... somehow...

Haa.

That instant, Saito's hand slipped into the center of Louise negligee, her moaning voice leaked through her throat. Louise's mind was filled with white.

Although the maid is here! Even though the maid is here, despite the maid is here... pyun!

Saito's hand moved daringly, rolled the negligee and exposed Louise's thin breasts. Louise's eyes were closed, her face dyed red. Both her breath and her pulse ran ragged.

At this rate, I can't think straight much longer.

But I can still think one thing... the pulse beating fast in my heart, this is the first time I feel it.

Saito still hasn't said anything from his mouth but, many kinds of imaginative words drifted along in Louise's mind.

Could it be the orthodox one, “I will treat you gently.”

Or perhaps, “Don't be afraid?.”

What could it be? Hey you, what will you say at this time? I can't think. It must be the words he will say to me. “Let's forget ourselves in this moment.” The embarrassment, just don't forget the sensation. Ah, I can't think...

However... the first words that slipped from Saito mouth were...

“Gu.....”

That was leagues out of Louise's expectation, something that have soared past the fire dragon mountain.

What was just said?

Was that a sleeping breath?

No, that couldn't be...

“Guu guu.”

His natural sleeping breath could be heard. Louise turned impatient.

Did he fall asleep? Why?

She held Saito's hand that slipped on her breasts to make sure. No response at all. On the contrary, the hand swiftly fell from the center of her negligee.

“Uhh, uh.”

Louise turned with fearful anger.

In that direction she found Saito's sleeping face. His face filled with happiness, wasn't that drool that just dripped from his mouth?

Louise's face turned blue and at the same time reddened. The other side of her lips were raising. Leaking the sound “ku ku”.

Death sentence.

Normally this would deserve a death sentence.

What should it be?

Despite all the preparations that have been made, despite this cute master just lying beside him. Putting on a sleeping breath is really something.

She got her wand. For the time being let's convert him to ash. But after that though...

Hhhh. Perhaps he's really tired...

With the futon covering her, Louise closed her eyes. Quite a sleepless night began.

The next day, Louise was thinking. After all... doing that just beside the sleeping maid is unpleasant. Feels like being in another person's room... that kind of feeling. Of course that applies to nobles, too.

Therefore, Louise, when Saito muttered, “It's time to sleep,” and then fell to bed, stood awkwardly from the chair.

“W, wa, wa.”

“Wa?”

“Walk, I think I will take walk for sometime!”

“How refined. Tonight is quite cold, you'll catch a cold”.

Saito laughed, when he uttered that nonsense. Having gone too far to turn back, Louise slipped out wearing her negligee.

She waited for two hours, but Saito didn't come. When she came back to the room... he was sleeping and his mouth was opened wide. Today too, let's turn him to ash. She thought, instinctively holding her wand tightly, but her senses returned to her mind.

Perhaps he is really tired. For sure.

The next day, Louise once again took a stroll. This time she waited for four hours, but Saito still didn't come. When she returned to the room, Saito was crawling on the bed with a deep sleeping breath.

The same thing happened the next day.

For three consecutive days, Louise stubbornly took a stroll.

After waiting for a long time, Saito really didn't come. So, to kill time, Louise took a tree branch and sketched a drawing on the ground. The content of the drawing, the thickheaded Saito was kneeling before the wonderful noble Miss Vallière asking for forgiveness.

When the morning came, the drawing had turned into an artistic masterpiece.

Gradually this become a habit, and the next morning Louise took a stroll too.

Still, Saito didn't come.

Half crying, Louise began to draw some sketch, and the subject of the sketch was the idiot familiar being judged by the noble Miss Vallière herself, and he was swiftly being hanged. When the morning arrived, the sketch had become an epic tale.

This consecutive event, happened for one whole week.

Between these intervals, Louise added to the sketches day by day, Saito in the center of the sketch being whipped twenty two times, being hanged twenty times, being thrown to hell eight times, and being reincarnated four times as an insect to be trampled by Louise.

At this point Louise's rage reached its absolute peak. Finally, she came to a realization. After that, something cold enveloped her heart.

However, this is just something normal, so she shall not show her anger.

This is something that Louise, with pride tougher than diamond, would not permit.

Suppressing her anger as much as she could, Louise commented to Saito, with a trembling body and contorted face, that he could continue if he could do it.

However since Louise expressed the opposite reaction, Saito remained gleefully ignorant of her anger.

Saito is really thickheaded.

Story 1: New Student from the White Country (Albion)

Chapter 1

After classes in Tristain Magic Academy, it's a daily routine for most female students to hang out in the terrace drinking tea after leaving the dining hall.

Louise, Montmorency, and Kirche, the three of them were occupying a round table, chatting and enjoying the tea.

At that time, Kirche was leading the conversation, while Montmorency was acting the listener's part. Meanwhile, Louise, her eyes bloodshot, was concentrating on writing something. Sometimes she was yawning with a sleepy "Fuaaah."

“Hey Louise, while I'm talking, it's impolite to yawn, isn't it?”

“You're being annoying.”

Kirche was talking about the adventure they had one week before.

“By the way Louise, seriously, that gigantic Golem was super sturdy, wasn't it?”

Kirche's tone of voice indicated that she was enjoying this from the bottom of her heart, but Louise was knitting her eyebrows instead.

Watching the two of them, Montmorentcy continued to stare.

“Hey, what are you talking about? What do you mean by 'golem?' I wonder what kind of adventure you were having in Albion.”

Montmorency, who did not accompany them during the the trip to Albion, obviously didn't know anything. Of course that included the true appearance of Tiffania.

“That I can't tell you in detail... because it is highly classified information.”

Kirche was being more and more superior, Montmorency's face turned a bit sullen.

“It's okay, it doesn't mean I want to know. I don't want to be involved in a government-related concern.”

She was bluffing.

Following, by swinging her long curly hair, her vision shifted to the direction of the wide courtyard past the terrace. The timing just right, she saw the golden-haired Tiffania as she passed.

Tiffania was walking restlessly, as just behind her countless numbers of male students were following in succession. In the middle of those followers, Guiche could be seen, Montmorency's expression grew unpleasant.

“That guy! Even though I hurt him to such an extent! It seems he hasn't learned anything!”

With those words, at once, Louise's expression changed from sleepy to a face with sparkling eyes. When she saw that Saito was not among the Tiffania stalkers, she sat pondering for a bit with her eyes closed.

And then her eyes returned to the notes for the second time.

“Hey Louise, who actually is the girl that your companion brought here? I don't have any interest in politic matters, but I have interest in that girl! Not removing her hat while indoors, I absolutely want to conduct an investigation about her!”

“About why her breasts are so big?”

Kirche was trying to provoke Montmorency with an enticing tone.

“Screw that! It must be a counterfeit! More over, it's vulgar! Using such techniques to get the boys is cowardice!”

Just when Montmorency was giving her opinion, Louise stood up.

“Eh, is something wrong Louise?”

“I'm returning to my room.”

Louise was murmuring with her eyes both blazing and glittering. Inside those eyes she kept a chilled anger of a water tempest with a whirlpool.

Kirche was smiling with narrowed eyes.

“Please take good care of Saito.”

With merely those words, Louise left, shoulder sounds clunking, moving slightly. At the same time, she barely moved her right shoulder as if having a cramp. This slight vibration gradually turned more frequent, until her whole body began to shake.

Awkwardly and clumsily walking away, she was heading to the dormitory tower. She was angry, but she stopped her movement not long after that.

Louise was in the courtyard, from here on out the boys from the Knight Corps of the Water Spirit will be practicing, they were heading here. It's not like she was expecting them, but Saito was among them of course.

Clamorous sound and the talking from the crowd become more apparent, they were drawing closer.

Louise halted. She didn't want to see Saito's face directly. That's why she peeked from the side. If she directly saw him, she would blow him up for sure. That's what she felt.

Apparently Saito also noticed Louise's presence. However, he was averting his gaze, that could be seen clearly on his face. When she realized it from the side glance that she was peeking at Saito's face from, that made her blood boil. She couldn't take anymore than this, she was completely trembling. But... she can't blow him up directly while everyone was watching ahead. That was because her nobles' pride won't permit it.

Louise took a deep breath, gash! She struck her butt. She was running intensely. A while later, when she was able to repress her anger, Louise once again returned to the clumsy walking manner.

Someone—not Saito, but Malicorne—beside him called for her.

“Yo, Louise! We're practicing right now, may we borrow your familiar?”

“P-Pe-PEPEPEPEPEPEPEPEPEPE—”

“Pe?”

Malicorne's face suddenly turned pale.

“Pepepepe, Please use as you wish.”

Louise replied with a shaking tone. Saito too, his clear face still took a glance at Louise.

Watching the two of them staring each other, Malicorne leaned his neck a bit.

“What's happened between you? Having a quarrel again?”

“Quarrel? Hahaha! That can't possibly happen! Now gentlemen, let's hurry up. The time for training is short!”

Saito was walking away, his mysterious gait called for Malicorne. Malicorne and each member of the knight corps followed Saito with crooked necks.

Louise was dumbfounded, her face was seeing off the back of him. Her face instantly turned red and she was trembling all over her body. Louise took a note from her pocket. (Sketch sketch), she was writing something. After that was finished, she put the note back in her pocket and walked away...

That night...

Inside one of the rooms in the female dormitory, Siesta served wine to Saito and Louise with modesty. Siesta poured wine to the two of them and spoke with a cheerful tone,

“The other day I received this wine from Marto. By all means, this wine is one that won the second prize in the Gallia wine fair. Too bad I forgot the name...”

However, both Saito and Louise were silent, their minds sunk to the wine.

Siesta watched the two with a face full of dubiousness.

Ever since returning from Albion, the two of them have had this mood. They're clearly not speaking to each other. Somehow, they were angry, so they kept the silence, even their eyes wouldn't meet.

There is another thing, in the middle of the night, Miss Louise would go somewhere. I wonder what was she doing there? She always had heavy eyebags when she came back, but I didn't manage to ask her about it due to the fierce expression on her face. I once asked Saito about this matter. “Maybe Louise has some things she wants to think about,” he replied with a strange expression without looking back.

I'm troubled, I don't know the meaning of the attitude between the two of them at all.

Because of this atmosphere, Siesta especially, through hard work, obtained this wine... But even this good wine and pleasant mood set up could not bring much merit.

“It's time to sleep soon.”

Siesta prepared the bed and invited the two of them. It seems that today Louise won't take a stroll in the middle of the night. Squirming, Saito and Louise entered the bed. Their backs were facing each other; the two of them rolled up. Siesta was changing to pajamas, and after that, slid next to Saito.

Siesta was about to place her face onto Saito's back, but suddenly...she felt an odd aura. That aura was emitted from the back of Louise.

(Don don)...The aura of Louise's back was wriggling and accumulating, pressuring Siesta.

Siesta withdrew her hand that reached for Saito.

For some reason, she felt she shouldn't do that.

With her cheeks facing Saito's back, she was hesitating for a moment... Her body entrapped in fatigue because of the daily work... Siesta soon fell into slumber.

Noticing Siesta was fast asleep, Louise began to move her body.

She was rolling to Saito.

Saito was awake, glancing from aside, he was watching Louise.

With her voice expressing anger, Louise muttered.

“Why did you ignore me during the day? You have been ignoring me for a while now, what the heck is going on?”

She had many questions she wanted to ask, but she couldn't ask thoroughly. So for now, she charged him about his attitude during the day.

With a calm voice, Saito replied,

“Eh? Wasn't it because you ignored me?”

“Don't distract me from the subject that I'm talking with you about right now!”

A smile surfaced from Saito when Louise said that. Somehow, the smile felt lukewarm.

“Don't put reasoning to satisfy yourself. See, you are acting selfish now, Louise. Tomorrow we must wake early, now go to sleep.”

Saito was closing his eyes with his face facing Siesta's direction. As for Louise, she was mumbling with a declined face, fiercely struggling inside the blanket. Somehow, she was looking very pathetic.

“You are forbidden to face that way.”

She was unconsciously pulling Saito sleeve.

But, without any sympathy, Saito responded,

“Goodnight.”

“You have to face this way!”

However, Saito still pointed at Siesta's direction.

“Okay, if that's what you want... Fine. You are not my familiar anymore!”

Louise covered herself with the blanket. However... Soon she grew anxious. In secret, she examined the situation by showing half of her face from the blanket.

Even so, there was no indication of change from Saito's back.

Louise was half-crying, as if someone in a mortifying state. Uuuu, those were sounds of moaning from her. Nevertheless, whatever she did, Saito did not turn to face her.

Soon, Saito's sleeping breath could be heard. He was fast asleep.

Louise was trembling as if in fear.

What's wrong with you!? This whole week you have been keeping that attitude. Tell me about it!

What about the thing when we rode that ship, weren't you offering the palm of your hand to me?

I can't believe it!

Inside the blanket, Louise was rolling around with anger.

You always said you loved me before. Could it be a lie?

Was it possible that one hour event on that Albion ship was an Illusion?

For some interval of time, Louise, struggling inside the blanket, bit by bit grew more violent... But she knew she can't do that.

Why did he show a cold attitude? Thinking calmly, more or less, I pretty much understand it. Saito always said 'love' to me... But not once have I returned that feeling.

But, but, but... It can't be helped.

I have determined to return his feelings when he's about to return home!

That's why I hastened the action for finding him a way to go home; meanwhile, this idiot is always indecisive. Well, I can pretty much understand the reason, but still...

I'm a Void user who's being targeted by Gallia.

There is another concern with Tabitha's mother which hasn't been settled yet.

Besides, abandoning them to go home, Saito's sense of responsibility won't permit it.

He has been bestowed with Gandálfr's power, the reason he came here. That is a not a fake sense of responsibility. It is Saito's own feelings of responsibility...

But since you had come here, could you act a little gentle? Why did you neglect me all this time?

What's with 'insolent pink-haired girl!?' Wasn't it you who liked the pink-haired one!?

Those words were not even said, yet the next words had been drifting in her mind; being both in anger and in a confusing state, Louise was trembling. Now that it reached this state, it didn't matter anymore if the words had been said or not, it had already been in her head; Louise grew more irritated.

In the middle of her irritation, anxiously, gradually resurfacing in Louise.

The most foolish thing perhaps... is my feeling that says, “When a way to return home has been found, I will return his feelings.” It's okay to decide like this, but what if before that happens, Saito has a change of mind?

If by any chance he falls for another woman, not me... “I'm glad I came here,” what would I do if that's the case?

Each respective woman that she felt was charming was floating in her mind.

It's somehow tolerable for the Princess to be acting strange in past occasions... Currently, Saito and I are not close enough yet. I can't let my guard down, there are many other women like that.

For instance, the figure who was sleeping right there, the daring Siesta.

Another instance, the one who put so much devotion to Saito, Tabitha.

But whatever comes to me, not even once I will let my guard down...

The accident during the day was being recalled in Louise's mind. She's the one who was brought here from Albion, the one who had fascinating golden hair, that person right now was surfacing on the back of Louise eyelids.

The one that was seen with ridiculously big breasts.

Among her group of stalkers, my familiar was not among them, but that doesn't mean there's a guarantee. Saito always said 'love' to me, it's only his personality that acted based on his whim. I'm the most familiar with him, so I knew about that.

Now that I think about it, that fellow, previously he was always captivated with women that have big breasts.

Anxiety was being born within Louise, she was in a helpless situation.

Strange ones. Smaller than me! This is the best! Now feeling like in trance because of what I just said, the important thing is there is no certainty anymore.

What if before a way home has been found, that kind of possibility really happens?

What if before I can tell him my feelings, Saito has changed his?

If that's the case, my name will be engraved in the history of Halkeginia as the most block-headed person.

The more I think about this, it makes my mind closer to breaking.

Eventually, Louise grew tired of thinking... She couldn't defy drowsiness' temptation any longer... Louise's sleeping sounds began to be heard.

When he noticed Louise has fallen asleep, Saito opened his eyes.

To make certain if she was really asleep, cyun cyun, he poked her nose. Kyuuuu, a cute sleeping breath resounded. Seems like she was really asleep.

Saito sung a victory song in his mind.

Because Louise's behavior is close to a cat, if not the same, seems like I was not mistaken with my judgment.

When I draw closer, the manner Louise would behave... that will most likely be the attitude similar to an insolent angle, and staring at me with eyes full of passion, “No, being as cute as you is a sin.” I am pleased to say I'm fine with that (sarcasm).

But see... what about if we treat her a bit cold, what will happen?

First, she will respond by distancing herself while watching the situation. That's the time when she took a night stroll.

Even so, don't follow her... It will become impatient while still observing us, thereafter, it will draw closer eventually. Yes, this is exactly like that.

Wonderful, I'm really a genius...

Now I understand perfectly, composure is important after all. Saito was motivating his inner self. Because of my composure, Louise became the same as the fallen women who think of me as if I'm the core of the world.

Nevertheless, watching her sleeping face like this, Louise is looking really cute.

His nose grew longer... And his long eyelash bent up, the shape of his eyes were closing... His lips faintly switched to the kissing pose.

Unintentionally, his lips drew closer... But when it was close enough, Saito shook his head.

It's not yet time.

It's not the time yet, Saito.

Just a little longer, and Louise will completely fall to you. If you offer your hand right now, Louise will be victorious with a smile floating on her face.

'No, mole! After all, you want to touch me! I wonder what I should do? Aaaah! I know, if you want to touch me, go praise me until the quantity is enough to make one volume of a book. Just kidding! I won't give you anything. Ever.'

Looking all important, she would declare that.

Do you think I will lose? Saito strongly gripped his right wrist.

Bear with it, Saito. The sweetness of victory just lies ahead. If you were tempted here, you'll lose. What I did until now... For instance, I did my best to come home from Albion. All will be just like bubbles in water.

However, looking here and there, Louise was cute. Reach for her lips, retreat, reach for her lips, retreat, it's a repetitive event, until a voice could be heard from behind.

“What are you doing?”

It was Siesta's voice.

When he turned, she was grinning with a smile.

“Did I awaken you?”

“Because of a certain rustling sound, I awoke.”

Siesta tried to hold her laugh.

“So-Sorry...”

When Saito replied, Siesta shook her head.

“Why have you made no attempt to find a way to return?”

That sudden question startled Saito.

“...Eh?”

“Miss Valliere always says, 'That idiot, when will he take action to find a way home?' ”

There was a crunching sound in Saito's head.

“About that, I want to go home, of course.”

“Then why?”

Giuut, Siesta's body drew closer.

“The people that I was in the care of still have unsettled problems. If I move too rashly, it will only leave a bad aftertaste.”

When Saito answered with a serious tone, Siesta smiled.

“I was right about you after all, I have decided it will be you.”

“Eh?”

He responded by his whole face reddening.

“But surely someday you will go home...when that time comes, will we part?”

A solemn air instantly surrounded the two.

“About that....”

“I...don't want it, that kind of thing.”

Saito kept silent.

True, If someday I find a way home... Honestly speaking, it will be my parting with the people from here.

Can I bear to be parted with Louise?

Even if I think about how to find a way home, not much progress will occur. I want to return, but at the same time, I don't want to part with Louise.

Being torn between two wishes, Saito was being swayed.

When he was thinking that, Siesta showed a delicate smile.

“Please don't seriously think about it, when that times comes, we will think about it.”

Siesta was speaking like a breeze of wind... But because of it, a vortex that seemed to have been dwelling in his chest since he returned from Albion now vanished.

“Siesta, it's good to have a wise trait.”

That's really what I thought.

Don't even start thinking about it..

I'm sure I can give the proper answer when that time comes. For now, just think only of what lies ahead.

“For now, if I'm not happy, it will be a loss. That's why I will enjoy the present to the fullest. If there's a moment when such help is needed, no matter what lies ahead, no matter how many times, I will help.”

(Hug) Saito almost fainted when Siesta hugged him with mere strength equal to the situation, with her soft breasts pressed against him.

Siesta was staring Saito straight in the eyes with burning passion, without hesitation, she pressed her lips.

“Wa-Wait...”

“Shhh...Miss Valliere will awaken!”

She was surfacing a teasing smile. She had kissed Saito lightly and fixed her hot eyes on Saito. When she was finished, she said,

“It's okay to enjoy this, but don't do this with other women.”

“O...kay.”

“Well, with Miss Valliere, it can't be helped. For example, the girl you just brought here from Albion.”

“Tifa? It won't happen! We're just friends.”

“You might be thinking like that, but what if her feelings aren't the same?”

When Siesta said it, Saito made a pondering expression.

“Wha-What do you mean?”

However, Siesta did not answer. Covering herself in the blanket, she said goodnight and closed her eyes.

“Siesta, please wait for a moment, just now... What is it, damn!”

Received a shock to his head. Looking nervously, Saito inquired.

“Uuah...”

Still sleeping, Louise was opening both of her arms. Apparently, she was half asleep. She was unconsciously attacking Saito's head.

A hand in a spear shape struck Saito lips. The moment following that, he received continuous attacks from Louise on the head. The moment following that, with her voice sounding in an odd tune, Louise returned to the bed.

Placing both her arms on the back of his head above the pillow, Saito closed his eyes.

Siesta's words still resounded in his mind.

Now that I think about it, suddenly brought from Albion to a foreign place, she must be troubled.

Based on her circumstances during the day, will it be okay if I don't concern myself?

Apparently, she has become a pretty popular person....

Even he wanted to have a talk with her, but there was always a crowd around her. Even though he could find her in her room during the night, but she would also like some time alone, wouldn't she?

Anyway, it could not be denied that Tiffania holds too much secrets on her hands. Some of the secrets cannot be known to the public, and that's why he's restraining himself from contacting her too much. Saito, who had risen in ranks from a commoner to a noble, is still quite the famous person here. If he were to be too close to her, it would prompt people around them to raise the question, "what's this girl's background".

Nevertheless, I should visit her soon, that's what Saito thought. From Westwood Village suddenly living in a foreign country which Tiffania knew nothing about it. No doubt, this kind of situation would make her stressed. No matter how much her wish goes along with the promise from the person in question “I will show you the world past this boundary,” it doesn't correlate at all with stress.

Tomorrow I'll talk to her.

With the same thought, Saito embarked on a voyage to the dream world.

Chapter 2

In the morning, female students were seen traveling from dormitories in a separate section of the Academy of Magic to the main section where the dining hall was. Since the male dormitories were located in the main section, the guys gazed out at the arriving girls from the second floor balcony, while chattering about the breakfast menu.

Saito had his elbows propped up against the balcony. He, along with Guiche and Malicorne, were lazily gazing out at the girls as well. Saito spotted Tiffania amongst the girls and waved out at her. Noticing his wave, she waved back.

Guiche asked Saito,

“Even with those magical weapons there, you certainly are good at keeping a straight face.”

“You’re the strange ones. Boobs, boobs, boobs… you’re turning into boob fiends.”

“Well, one look at those things would certainly turn anyone into one as well.”

Guiche looked at Saito with a worried face.

“What now?”

“You… Don’t tell me that Louise’s magic is having an effect on you? Perhaps, you can’t see anyone but Louise because you are her familiar. Is something like that the case?

Malicorne also gave off a look of concern.

“Yeah. I don’t know about Louise’s magic, but it’s strange. This time, Saito, you didn’t join us. And it was a really good chance to check whether they were real or not…”

Guiche and Malicorne looked at each other, nodding in agreement at the thought.

“Don’t say stupid things. Look, I’ll teach you guys one thing.”

Saito crossed his arms with a look of pride.

“Please do.”

“Umm, for instance, pretend that we were dogs.”

“I don’t want to be a dog.”

“I agree.”

“This is only an example. Look, if we were dogs, we would have a bone in our mouth. That bone in your mouth took a lot of effort to get. But then, you see a brand new bone. What would you do?”

Guiche immediately answered.

“I’d pick it up.”

“Idiot. What would you do with the bone you had been using up to this point? Throw it away?”

Guiche’s face lit up in realization.

“Basically, you want to say this? The bone I have used up until now is Montmorency. The new bone laying around is that strangely large-chested Tiffania, Her Majesty the Queen, and Marianne from the first year Seger class, and another from that class with flowing locks of dazzling, marigold…”

“I don’t know how you have time to keep tabs on such things. Anyways, that’s what I mean. It’s impossible to keep both of the bones.”

Saito nodded his head in confirmation.

“Basically, you already have a bone in your mouth, is the idea?”

“Yep. The bone that I have now will get mad. That kind of attitude is what’s important now.”

“In other words, you…”

Guiche had a grin on his face as he poke Saito in the side.

“So you have properly caught that Louise in your mouth? You should tell us all the details of it.”

Saito shook his head “no,” but somehow he was still full of confidence.

“Not yet. But soon…it should only be a matter of time.”

“You’re really trying to tame that shrew of a girl, huh!”

“I’m seeing if acting a little cold at her will do anything…”

Saito stretched a hand up and looked up at the sky. He carried on,

“I-I, I’ve been unwillingly wagging my tail. Damn it, even now I keep going at it… Look… I’m going to return all the humiliation I’ve tasted until now and then some…”

Saito looked up at the sky trembling with resolution as he clenched his fist.

There’s the reliable Saito that Guiche is used to.

“That’s the assistant commander for you. That’s right, we can’t let the girls make fools of us. It offends my pride.”

“Pride aside, I think that this level of punishment is not enough. I probably need to reexamine her attitude.”

“Hey, you.”

Guiche narrowed his eyes as he turned to Saito.

“Hmm?”

“I’ve been wondering about this for a while…”

“About what?”

Amidst all of this mindless chatter, a strangely serious tone appeared.

“What if you stayed here for the rest of your life?”

“Eh?”

Guiche hung his head down, looking a little embarrassed.

“How should I put it… I really don’t know much about this country. There’re some cute girls here, but I don’t know if I can get used to being a noble. If Louise were to throw me aside, I’d get some land for myself. With only one person, I should be able to fend for myself.”

Being asked that all of a sudden, Saito became a little timid. Because of this, Saito turned his head away.

“What kind of atmosphere is this, asking me such a thing?”

“Sh-Shut up! It’s fine, right!”

Guiche also turned away.

Saito looked up at the sky.

Living his life in this world, huh…

Maybe due to Louise’s magic, the ‘I want to do what I can for this world’ spell holding him had lifted and a pang of homesickness was felt.

After all, it’s still hard to cut ties with his family.

But hearing Guiche’s remark just now, what was this feeling budding in his heart?

It was a different feeling than just a longing for Louise.

He wasn’t just feeling timid about it. The feeling was strange, but somewhat good.

Looking at Saito, Malicorne softly mumbled,

“Hey, Assistant Commander.”

“Huh? What is it?”

Returning to normal, Saito looked towards Malicorne.

“What about the ones that don’t have a bone? What do they do?”

Malicorne calmly asked. Saito and Guiche exchanged looks. Then, the both of them gave off comforting smiles.

“Wh-What should be done indeed.”

“Tell me please.”

Malicorne asked with a smile that beamed with grace, like that of a clergyman. Guiche pretending to know, dodged his plea,

“Well, gentlemen! It’s about time for the ladies to take their seats, as breakfast should be brought out shortly! Let’s head back to the dining hall!”

“Indeed!”

Saito also dodged his plea.

“Oh Sun, tell me please.”

Ignoring the two that left for the dining hall, Malicorne had turned towards the sun and cried out.

After breakfast at the Academy of Magic, there was a thirty minute break before classes began.

During that break, among the first year Suen class, a golden haired fairy was leaning on her elbows, giving off a listless sigh.

It was Tiffania.

While she thought it would be good to see the outside world, it was somewhat exhausting.

Those words were silently muttered.

Today was not the only day that she was this worn out.

With Saito's and everyone else’s guidance, she had arrived in Tristain. The various things that needed to be done started off small, but quickly grew to take days. Since the first day of this, Tiffania had been deadly tired.

Arriving in Tristain, she was greeted by Cardinal Mazarin and former queen Marianne, but she was unable to meet her cousin, Her Majesty Queen Henrietta. Henrietta’s absence was due to a goodwill visit to Romalia.

The toughest thing to cope with was parting with the orphans that she had taken care of. A Tristanian monastery had decided to take them in, but both Tiffania and the children had cried when it came time to part. Thinking back to when Tiffania asked if they should return to the village, the children shook their head ‘no.’

“We’ll be fine. Don’t worry about us.”

Said Jim, the oldest of them, as he rubbed his eyes and smiled.

However, there was little time to feel sad at the parting, since Tiffania had to arrive in Tristain within that day. With Agnes, the Commander of the Musketeer Corps, escorting her, Tiffania had to go to the Academy of Magic.

The situation was explained to Old Osman, who arranged a room for Tiffania. After a day of rest, Tiffania was introduced to her classmates.

About ten days had passed since then.

Since everything Tiffania saw and heard were new to her, each day was like a year’s worth of experiences. The environment of Tristain’s Academy of Magic was vastly different than that of Westwood Village. Instead of only children and little forest creatures in Westwood Village, there were hundreds of nobles around her age here. This was enough to make Tiffania’s eyes spin.

Her troubles didn’t stop there.

Due to her passive nature, she was hoping for a peaceful school life. However, her appearance wouldn’t allow for such a thing wherever she went.

But the worst part was that she was not aware of the cause of her mental exhaustion, which was actually due to the effect that her appearance had on others. This unintentionally caused a lot of jealousy and grudges.

That listless, sighing Tiffania was approached by three guys.

It was the same guys that had hovered around her since her admittance. Of the three, a tall, freckled guy bowed in front of Tiffania.

“Miss Westwood.”

Tiffania had temporarily used the name of the village where she grew up as her surname.

Tiffania Westwood.

While it was a peculiar name, she had to use a name uncommon to nobility in order to not unearth the disgrace surrounding her existence. By using such an uncommon surname, her true identity of being from a distinguished family would be hidden.

Well then, the freckled boy began to pull Tiffania out of her daze.

“Lady from the White Country. Your skin is as white as the name of that country, while your eyes dazzle like a burning sun! Well then, would my lady care for a drink? If you need anything, this Charlot will be at your service.”

Immediately, the boy named Charlot was pushed away by someone.

“Nonono! Please allow me this duty!”

Although the duty was simply fetching a drink, something of little importance, these Tristain nobles fought over it like it was a big deal. The troubled Tiffania gave an awkward laugh while waving a hand. Since arriving at the Academy of Magic, this gesture was used most of the time to deal with these situations.

“Thank you, but I’m not thirsty.”

With pleading grins, the three momentarily shook their heads. Charlot and the rest knit their eyebrows and continued trying to get her to open up.

“Well, would you like to accompany me to horse-riding this afternoon?”

As one of them said this, another group of five appeared.

“If it’s a ride, I shall invite you too.”

“I as well.”

“No no. I was here first…”

“My horses come from Albion!”

“Please pick which kind of horse you like. If you like speed, there is the Mecklenburger breed. Albionian horses have high stamina. I, of course, own horses of both breeds.”

These eight guys worshipping Tiffania were clamorously arguing. The topic was of course who Tiffania should go with.

The troubled Tiffania covered her face with the brim of her hat.

“Umm. I can’t be in the sun much… So I can’t really go on a ride.”

Using the excuse that hid her secret, Tiffania refused the offers. But she ended up digging herself into a bigger hole.

As if waiting for that reply, Charlot smiled widely.

“I thought so, but I have prepared just the hat for that problem. This white, feathered hat has a wide brim and is very fashionable in Tristania.”

He pulled out a large, white hat, composed of superb material. The brim was twice as wide as the brim on Tiffania’s hat.

“Please, try it on.”

Charlot reached for Tiffania’s hat. Tiffania quickly held onto her hat, shaking her head.

“It’s alright. Thank you.”

Holding onto her hat, she dashed towards the classroom. Charlot, being left behind, stood there dazed.

“Does she dislike my hat that much?”

The other guys began poking fun at Charlot.

“Hey Charlot! Because of you, the mood with our “Golden Fairy” has been wrecked!”

Among the girls nearby that overheard this clamor, one clicked her tongue in disgust.

She had long, golden hair in twin tails. While she was short, she wore an air of arrogance that bore down on those around her. Her strong-willed, blue eyes lit up with anger.

The girl turned towards the corridor where Tiffania had disappeared into and spat out venomously.

“That girl does not know how to attend to gentlemen. Well, since she seems to be from the countryside, it can’t be helped I guess.”

The girls around the golden haired, twin-tailed girl nodded in agreement.

“I agree! And on top of that, that girl still has not greeted her Highness Beatrice! That will not do even if she is a country bumpkin!”

The girl called Beatrice smiled with pride. It seemed that the surrounding girls were her followers.

Beatrice had noble, cute features that drew others’ attention. Before Tiffania’s arrival, she was the most popular girl of the first years. However, Tiffania had easily ended her reign. The guys who were previously worshiping Beatrice like she was their goddess were now crowding around Tiffania.

“While she may be raised in the country, calling her a ‘bumpkin’ seems rather rude.”

Beatrice said this with a belittling sneer.

“I apologize, your Highness!”

A brown-haired girl bowed repeatedly.

“It’s just that being born from the house of Duke of Guldenhorf, I am strongly connected to the present queen of Tristania, Henrietta."

“That is so, your Highness! The royal blood originated from the aunt of King Phillip the third that ruled 2 generations ago, who married the brother of the previous head of the Guldenhorf family.”

“Blood of the Tristania royal family!”

One of the girls shouted, which prompted the rest to join in.

“Blood of the Tristania royal family!”

“On top of that, while the lands of the Guldenhorf family are small, they are respected as an independent country!”

In regard to Beatrice’s homeland at the time of this decision, the king announced the Guldenhorf lands as an independent country. Well, it was a so-called independent country, but in actuality, it still followed the military and foreign affairs of Tristania, just like every other region.

However, if you got past this fact, it was like any other independent country. Beatrice included, it was proper etiquette to use “your Highness” to refer to a member of her family.

“Basically, making light of me is the same as making light of the Tristania royal family. That girl was brought up in Albion, so it is understandable that she knows nothing of Halkeginia, but not showing proper manners is inexcusable.”

“It’s as you say, your Highness!”

“Well, we just have to teach that ‘islander’ proper manners.”

Beatrice smiled deviously.

Coming out of the classroom, Tiffania held her hat tightly with both hands as she scurried down the hallway. Leaving the main hall, she arrived at the courtyard.

Finding a remote area of Vestri Square, Tiffania let out a deep sigh and sat down on the edge of a fountain near the Flame Hall.

The outside world that she had wanted to see was a lot more noisy, rowdy, and fast-paced than she had ever imagined.

She looked up at the sky.

Only the blue sky was the same here as in Westwood village, thought Tiffania. While the village may have been a bit boring, the days were fun and peaceful…

Thinking back to those days suddenly brought tears to her eyes. Tiffania hid her face under the brim of her hat.

Were the children doing well? Were they feeling anxious and uneasy like her? Worrying about her uncertain future, tears spilled from Tiffania’s eyes.

Crying with her head down for a while, suddenly a voice called out to her.

“Miss Westwood?”

Tiffania lifted her head up. Five girls from her class stood there looking down at her. Tiffania stood up in a panic.

“He-Hello.”

The brown-haired girl stretched out a hand to the golden, twin-tailed girl as if introducing her. She questioned Tiffania,

“Are you aware of who this person is?”

Uh, who was this?

She knew that this person was in the same class, but no name could be thought of.

“I-I’m sorry. I do not believe that I’ve learned your name.”

Reacting to Tiffania’s timid answer, the brown-haired girl opened her eyes wide in surprise.

“How can you possibly have not learned of the name of this person? Naturally, you should have already made your greetings upon arriving at the Academy."

“I’m really sorry, but I’m still not used to being here…”

In any case, the girl looked quite angry. Tiffania fumbled with her words.

“It’s fine.”

The twin-tailed girl ran her hand through the right lock. Her gesture gave off an air of satisfaction at cornering her prey.

The brown-haired girl continued the introduction.

“This esteemed person, is the great Beatrice Yvonne von Guldenhorf."

The brown-haired girl replied arrogantly as if inquiring her if she knew of Beatrice’s prestige. She gave off an air as if she herself was also the daughter of a Duke.

Having spent all her life in the forest, Tiffania was ignorant to worldly affairs. The name of the Guldenhorf family that carried across the nation wouldn’t be known to her.

Even so, she didn't want to upset her. While maintaining her smile, she said,

“Oh, is that so. Nice to meet you, Guldenhorf-san.”

There was a short pause.

Beatrice’s temple twitched. The brown-haired girl frantically shouted.

“Miss Westwood! You don’t know of the Guldenhorfs? The esteemed person standing here is none other than the daughter of Duke of Guldenhorf, her Highness Beatrice!”

“O-Ok…”

Tiffania had an embarrassed look. Tiffania’s understanding of the world’s rules was near non-existant. In other words, the concept of royalty and the class system was foreign to her, similar to the outlook that Saito had upon arriving here.

Well, she understood the words “Duke” and “your Highness” and about how these positions related to the world. She also was aware that special treatment were given to them.

However, this understanding was skin deep since she had no actual experience. Basically, Tiffania had little understanding of the language that needed to be used in these situations.

Your Highness?

Suddenly presented with these high societal terms, Tiffania was confused.

Uh, this was a place where everyone equally sits in the same desks, was it not?

Why was there a need to use such titles?

Even though she had questions of her own,she had just arrived here. For now, Tiffania obediently bowed her head in order to not further anger the girl.

“I’m really sorry. I grew up in the forests of Albion, so I am ignorant of the happenings of Halkeginia. I appear to have disrespected you, so I apologize, uh, your Highness.”

“Is that how you offer your apologies to your Highness? Ugh, you really grew up without proper manners!”

“I can’t believe they allowed such a girl into a prestigious Tristanian academy! What would others think!”

“…I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

Tiffania bowed her head many times. However, the girls in her class would not settle for such a country bumpkin robbing all the hearts of the guys.

“Miss Westwood. How can I take your apology seriously when you leave your hat on?”

The brown-haired girl exclaimed with a chuckle.

“That’s right! It’s as Lisette says!”

Tiffania held onto her hat.

She couldn’t let them take it away because it would show her long ears. That would reveal the elven blood that Tiffania had, which would cause a lot of trouble.

She would probably be chased out of this place.

No, it would not stop there. Tiffania was fully aware of how much the people of Halkeginia hated elves.

Tiffania’s face paled.

If her ears were seen… Would her Void spell “Oblivion” be enough to erase their memory?

Was five people at once too many?

While the task was not impossible, this place wasn’t isolated like in the forest. It was at the Academy in broad daylight.

Anyone could possibly see the spell. If a classmate were to see such a suspicious spell, she would definitely be chased out. Tiffania was in quite a pinch.

Her elven blood needed to be kept a secret.

Yet, her Void magic could not be used.

If that was the case, there was no way she would take off the hat.

“That hat, take it off.”

Tiffania shook her head.

“I’m sorry. I can’t take off this hat because…”

“Because you’ll get sunburnt, right?”

“Y-Yes. That’s right, so…”

Tiffania nodded a few times.

“We are not talking about being outside for the day. It’s just for a few seconds.”

Still, Tiffania continued to hold onto her hat, not moving an inch. Growing angry, Lisette, followed by Beatrice’s companions, reached out for Tiffania’s hat.

“Hey! Take it off now.”

“Pl-Please… Let me go.”

Grabbing ahold of the brim of the hat, they got into a scuffle.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

A guy’s voice called out, which caused the girls to turn around. A black-haired guy with a shocked expression was standing there.

“Saito!”

Tiffania ran up to Saito as if he were Buddha rescuing her from Hell. Latching onto his arm, her face hung down in embarrassment.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Were you being bullied?”

Tiffania didn’t reply.

Saito looked at the five girls that had surrounded Tiffania moments ago. Crossing their arms, they returned stern looks.

This is none of your business, right? Go away.

Feeling this kind of aura, Saito trembled.

Scary.

Saito was reminded of a particular group of high school girls that he saw back in Japan. The group was known for ganging up on other people and bullying them.

Tiffania was truly a very beautiful person, which infuriated other girls. Honestly, such trifling matters are the same even in Halkeginia.

He had once thought that, there shouldn't be that happening in this fantasy world, but as it seems, bullying among girls has no connection to what world you're in.

Saito was troubled, but for now, he couldn’t overlook this.

Furthermore, the one being bullied was Tiffania, who they had brought here. It was their responsibility. If he did not do something now, eventually they would have to deal with it anyways.

“What are you girls doing to Tiffania? Don’t you think that what you are doing is dirty? As people… Ah, or rather as nobles?

Saito was trying his best to maintain his dignity in front of the first year girls. Flipping her blue cloak back, the brown haired girl gave Saito a cold glare.

“You girls! You girls, you say! Did you all hear that?”

“We heard that! Using such crude words as ‘you girls!’”

The group of first year bullies looked at each other and shouted loudly. Saito’s head began to hurt.

“In any case, no bullying, ok?”

Lisette completely ignored Saito’s plea as she approached him.

“You! Do you know of this person?”

Lisette’s hand pointed towards the shortest girl in the group, a girl with blond twin tails and a look of arrogance.

“Nope. Not at all.”

Seeing Saito’s blank look, the girls immediately raised their voices in a chorus,

“Well! What a country bumpkin! She is her Highness, Beatrice Yvonne von Guldenhorf. She is upper nobility!”

Saito scratched his head with a troubled look.

“Well, even if she is upper nobility…”

The golden, twin-tailed girl called Beatrice examined Saito up and down. Then, she talked with a sneer,

“I’m not familiar with people around here, but are you a Halkeginian?”

Nope. He was an Earthling, but that couldn’t be said. Saito mumbled a response.

“No, I-I’m from Rub’ al Khali…”

In order to hide that Saito was from another world, he had been saying that he was born in Rub’ al Khali.

Beatrice narrowed her gaze at Saito. Then, she nodded in understanding.

“You are…Hirigaru Saiton of the Knight Corps of the Water Spirit, right?”

The first year girls looked back and forth at each other.

The fact that Saito’s name as a distinguished knight who had stopped an army of 70,000 was certainly known. Furthermore, he was the assistant commander of the Imperial Guards. The girls began looking at each other nervously.

It appeared that this group of girls who waved around authority were weak against higher authority. Saito threw out his chest, as he exclaimed boastfully,

“Yeah, I’m the assistant commander of the Knight Corps of the Water Spirit, Chevalier Hiraga. Her Majesty’s Imperial Guards. Upper nobility, upper nobility in-deed.”

His act was like something out of a Japanese drama.

However, Beatrice was not intimidated.

“So, what of it? Imperial Guard or what not, I do not bow down to a mere knight.”

Saito’s face paled. This brat… Isn’t scared of the Imperial Guards. Don’t tell me that she is someone important? Uh oh?

At that moment, a savior appeared.

“Oi, Saito! What the hell are you doing? Did you finish preparing the straw dummies for practice after classes?”

Nearby stood Guiche and Montmorency. Yes, the tide has turned! Without looking back, Saito yelled loudly to them.

“Hey Commander, good timing! I was scolding these first years a little. They are being a little cheeky here and there.”

“What is that! Outrageous!”

Enthusiastically, Guiche walked over.

Deep down, Saito shouted in triumph.

It’s too late even if you get scared and cry, Beatrice!

After all, Guiche’s father of the prestigious Gramont family was general of the army.

Furthermore, Montmorency apparently came from a time-honored lineage.

Well Miss Noble Girl, Duke or whatever, I’d like to see you bluff your way in front of nobles with ancient lineages. Saito proudly puffed his chest.

But… Beatrice’s face did not change when she saw Guiche and Montmorency approaching. Instead, Guiche’s face paled upon seeing Beatrice.

Beatrice casually lifted her chin up.

“It’s been a while. Guiche-dono.”

Dono?

“A-Ah… Well, well, your Highness Guldenhorf…”

Your Highness?

“How is your father?”

“W-Well. Thanks to you…”

Honorifics?

The situation was strange. Cold sweat dripped down Saito’s forehead. Guiche’s spirit had taken a trip somewhere, replaced by a strangely submissive attitude. Montmorency was also fidgeting uncomfortably.

“Well, well, Miss Montmorency is also here? I have started attending this academy this year. Please take care of me.”

With an attitude unimaginable of underclassmen, Beatrice addressed Guiche and Montmorency while they bowed their heads at her.

“Please take care of me as well. If you have any troubles, please let me know.”

“By the way, Guiche-dono.”

“Y-Yes!”

“I would like to congratulate you on your promotion to the commander of the Imperial Guards. However, could you please tend to the proper instruction of your subordinates? This discourteous knight is no different than a mercenary or thief.”

Beatrice inaudibly beckoned her followers to leave with her.

“Miss Westwood.”

As she was leaving, Beatrice addressed Tiffania, who had been ignored up to this point.

“Y-Yes!”

“Do you understand? At least when you are around me, you will take off that unsightly hat. Wearing that hat in my presence will be a serious insult to the Guldenhorf family. Oho-oho-ohoho!”

Laughing loudly, Beatrice left along with her followers.

As Guiche and Montmorency weakly waved goodbye, Saito bit his lip,

“Hey, Commander! Montmorency! What’s with that! Being looked down upon by underclassmen!”

“No, that girl is bad news.”

“Bad indeed.”

“Your families come from an ancient lineage of nobility, right!?”

“It’s just as you say, but the Gramont family has served the royal family for generations. Because of this connection, it is only natural that I set aside my dignity and be humble to the Duke’s family.”

“That is also the case with the Montmorency family.”

“Then why were you bowing so much?”

“Actually, the reason goes back to a long time ago.”

“Huh?”

“The Gramont family has been honored as military leaders of the nobility, but has been poor at managing territory.”

Saito had a bad feeling.

“Don’t tell me that your family borrowed money?”

Bingo. Guiche gazed out distantly.

Montmorency’s face also got red in embarrassment.

“Our family is also in a similar situation.”

Guiche smacked his chin to collect himself.

“Duke of Guldenhorf’s family has enough money to manage an entire country. You should also be on good terms with them.”

“Don’t be stupid! Like I can be on good terms with a girl like that!”

“Hey! Forget about that fuss with her! She has her own bodyguards that accompany her! If you get her angry, they will whisk you away!”

Her own bodyguards?

“What the hell is with that?”

“What, you didn’t know? Don’t be so indifferent to these things…”

Guiche drew Saito, Tiffania, and Montmorency’s attention to the main gate.

“Look over there.”

Saito scanned the area.

In front of the main gate of the Academy of Magic, a vast field of grass stretched out. Before anyone realized it, quite a few tents had been set up there!

On top of the tents were flags bearing the crest of a yellow dragon. Several armored wind dragons were hanging around the tents.

Guiche explained to Saito, whose jaw had dropped,

“Those are the bodyguards of the Guldenhorf family, the aerial armored brigade ‘Luftpanzer Ritter’.”

Saito vaguely recalled that name. Ah, hadn’t Kathy and the others gossiped about the same brigade at breakfast the other day?

They talked about how indecent they were, and how some of them came to flirt with them. But Saito didn't notice them at that time. So they were already present during that time, eh?

“During the last Albion war, Duke of Guldenhorf didn’t allow them to join the alliance, because it was their prized brigade. With the destruction of the Albion dragon knights, they are now said to be the strongest dragon knights in Halkeginia."

Right now, 24 dragons could be seen. At Tarbes, Saito, having fought in Albion, was fairly familiar with the abilities of dragon knights. Just a small troupe of them would be equivalent to thousands of ground units in battle ability.

“Ugh, why did she have to bring dragon knights to school?”

Saito’s statement dwelled on that point.

“The rich nobility probably like to show off.”

Guiche criticized, forgetting about his own nature.

Saito looked towards Tiffania.

Tiffania looked at Saito worriedly.

“Tiffa, don’t worry. Military brigade or whatever, I said that I would help you. Don’t let the hat ordeal shake you up.”

Tiffania bit her lip as she nodded.

“It’s alright. It would not be good to trouble you all… I appreciate the feeling, but I should take care of it myself.”

“Saito, it may be just as Miss Tiffania says. If we say anything about it, we may end up in a bad position, too.”

“Yeah.”

“Hey! These are the last words I would’ve expected to hear from heroes of the Gallia expedition. Compared to that time, the Duke’s daughter should be a cakewalk.”

“No, it’s not that simple.”

Guiche wrinkled up his forehead.

“During Tabatha’s rescue, we were under disguise when we entered Gallia, right? Actually at this academy, there is no one besides us that knows about that incident. Furthermore, Gallia did not give an official complaint, so her Majesty overlooked the incident.”

“At this academy, angering royalty of another country will certainly not be overlooked by her Majesty. You are part of her Imperial Guards, right? Angering the Duke’s daughter is unspeakable.”

Hearing this from the two of them, Saito was troubled.

At Saito’s present state, Tiffania gave a reassuring smile.

“Thank you, Saito. I’m happy for the thought.”

“…Tiffa.”

“It’s really alright. Wearing a hat during class is my fault. After all, it’s bad to lie about it.”

Drawing upon some determination, Tiffania nodded.

“I’m really sorry for worrying you.”

Tiffania pitter-pattered away. Saito continued to stare at her golden hair as it trailed in the wind.

After classes and practice, arriving at Louise’s room, Saito consulted Louise about today’s events.

“It seems that Tiffania is somehow being bullied by her classmates.”

Louise sat on her bed listening to Saito.

“Leave it alone.”

She nodded.

“How cold! You can’t be saying that. She’s being bullied. That timid Tiffania is going to get bullied to death. Hey Louise, your family also has the Duke title, right? Say something to that spoiled brat, please.”

However, Louise did not budge on the issue.

“It’s not our problem to be dealt with. It’s her class’s problem. If third years stick their head into this problem, it would unnecessarily put Tiffania in a worse position.”

Louise calmly replied, but Saito couldn’t accept it. He pressed on,

“While what you say may be correct… But Tiffania doesn’t really have anyone to rely on here. At least, we should be there to help her…”

“That’s why I’m saying that it’s unnecessary.”

“How dare you say that it's unnecessary! This is what we're supposed to do! Weren't us the ones who brought her here!”

Blood rushed to Saito’s head, as he raised his voice.

“You know, from now on that girl is a noble. And as a noble, she can’t live without being alone at times. Because of that, she needs to be independent. Becoming helpless at just a little bit of teasing, she won’t survive living in Halkeginia. She needs to pick up the pieces of herself afterwards. That’s what it means to be a noble.”

Louise said in a strict tone.

Looking at that face, Saito was reminded of what happened a year ago.

Louise was being made fun of by her class.

Saying things like ‘zero’ and ‘idiot,’ Louise didn’t have a single friend.

Holding onto her pride as a noble, Louise faced up to the golem…

Comparing with Louise, Tiffania was now in a similar position. This was definitely not something to not take seriously.

“Also…that girl like me is also a bearer of the “Void.” She has to shoulder the destiny of a special noble. Really, if she needs to rely on someone for such a little thing, someday she’ll be crushed by her own problems.”

Saito was completely speechless.

It was just as Louise said.

But, but…

Looking at Louise now, she had at some point, little by little, paddled across her river of problems.

“Hey you, when someone is trying to have a serious talk, don’t fall asleep.”

“…Who’s fault do you think it is that I’m losing sleep?”

“Huh?”

Louise leaned her head back and appeared to have fallen asleep. Having been completely ignored, Saito scratched his head in confusion.

In bed, Louise’s face blushed.

She felt embarrassed about her earlier behavior.

No matter what kind of bully, isn’t it better to say something? If it was said that the La Valliere family were Tiffania’s guardian, that would be a good warning.

Her earlier statement was certainly correct.

If you were to deal with every case of bullying, there would be no end. Being the bearer of the “Void” regardless of whether she wanted to or not, Tiffania had to be ready for any danger. Hostility, be it mean classmates or strong enemies, could be around any corner.

But… That was not her real intention.

She was actually a bit envious.

Lately, although she had been cold to Saito, she thought of him being stuck on Tiffania. That kind of thing made her furious.

But, of course she wouldn’t say a word about it.

She couldn’t forgive herself for being envious, thought Louise as she bit her lip under the covers.

Being envious, not reaching out to Saito when she should, ‘I’m… the worst,’ Louise thought.

Because she was like that, did Saito become cold to her?

As those thoughts began coming up endlessly… Sleep took over. Hidden under the covers, tears spilled down her face.

Chapter 3

The first class of the next day, the Suen class of first year students began lessons about the earth element.

The teacher of this class was Mrs. Chevreuse.

Known also as ‘Chevreuse the Red Clay,’ she unfolded a list of names to take attendance.

“Miss Westwood.”

Tiffania’s name was called.

Yet, there was no reply.

“Miss Westwood?”

The name was repeated, but the result was the same. Looking around the classroom, Tiffania’s trademark hat could not be seen anywhere.

“Miss Westwood seems to be absent…does anyone know the reason for this?”

No one in the classroom answered.

Sitting in the back row were Beatrice and her followers with spiteful grins plastered on their face as they watched Mrs. Chevreuse look around the room.

“Your Highness. It seems that that girl isn’t around today.”

“Instead of a hat, perhaps she is busy preparing a mask for herself?”

Giggles spread across Beatrice’s group at her wisecrack.

“Doesn’t anyone here know the reason for Miss Westwood’s absence?”

Going back to the original question, it still remained unanswered.

Mrs. Chevreuse shrugged her shoulders with a troubled look. Just arriving from Albion, was the missing student suffering from anxiety? It would appear that she had yet to make friends whom she could turn to. Because of a lack of exposure to society, her character must have made it hard for her to make friends. Mrs. Chevreuse decided to pay her a visit after class, but for now, the lesson would have to continue.

“Well everyone, let’s start where we left off last week on the topic of ‘alchemy’. Last week, we looked at synthesizing brass…”

At that moment, the door opened with a creak. The gaze of the entire room fell upon the girl standing there. It was Tiffania.

“What’s with that appearance?”

One of Beatrice’s followers remarked.

Tiffania’s appearance was certainly strange.

Instead of her normal academy uniform, Tiffania was enveloped with a tan-colored robe with long flowing sleeves. This particular design was rarely seen in Halkeginia. With her face shrouded by a hood, Tiffania hesitantly creeped into the classroom.

“Miss Westwood. You are late.”

Tiffania clasped her fist over her chest in order to gain some courage.

“What happened to your uniform? Take off that ridiculous robe. Now is not the time for a costume party.”

“Replacing that hat of yours with a strange robe? You look like a some kind of fool!”

Lisette chimed in. The girls that held ill feelings for Tiffania all laughed.

Amidst the laughter, Tiffania’s face peeked out from underneath the hood.

“Th-This is not the robe of some fool! This was my mother’s robe!”

The class was taken aback by Tiffania’s outburst.

Mrs. Chevreuse edged closer as she inspected Tiffania’s robe.

“It is a strange design indeed…the sewing method looks like that of the desert inhabitants and…hm? Hmm? Ah! Th-This is!”

Mrs. Chevreuse trembled slightly.

“This can’t be? Your mother was a…, if I’m correct, an e-e-el…”

Understanding Mrs. Chevreuse’s next words, Tiffania removed the hold covering her head.

Seeing her long ears appear from underneath the hood, the class got into an uproar.

“Elf!”

The students fell into a panic. Meanwhile, the students closer to the front moved away from Tiffania. Mrs. Chevreuse’s legs gave out as she dropped to the floor. Waddling away towards the wall, her large body weighed her down such that she hardly got anywhere.

Tiffania approached Mrs. Chevreuse as she was frantically crawling away on all fours.

“Ah! H-Help!”

“I-I won’t do anything to you! Please calm down!”

Tiffania told her with an assertive face. The sunlight beaming from the window illuminated Tiffania’s dazzling face. Her golden hair sparkled making her appearance shine with beauty like that of a fairy. Like a religious painting from ancient times, her divine appearance had struck the hearts of the students for a moment. But then, her long ears invoked fear as the scared faces returned.

“Everyone, please don’t be scared and listen to me. As you can see, I have the blood of an elf running through me. But I don’t have the slightest intention of causing harm to anyone! Rather, I left the forests of Albion so that I could learn here with everyone!”

“Don’t take us as fools!”

Lisette shouted. Many students nodded in agreement.

The boys in the class at this point were caught between worshipping and fearing Tiffania. These mixed feelings confused them such that they didn’t know what to do. Mrs. Chevreuse was still trembling.

Beatrice abruptly stood up.

Her face was trembling with anger.

“Everyone! Don’t let her fool you! Halkeginia has had a long history of dispute with elves! No matter what situation, her kind has been our sworn enemy!”

Drawing a deep breath, Tiffania shouted with a shaky voice.

“It’s true that Halkeginians have opposed the elves! My body flows with the blood of my mother who was an elf and my father who was a human, both of whom I loved!”

“What, you’re a half-elf? The daughter of a human who sold their soul to an elf? That kind of person is worse than any elf!”

Tiffania’s face paled, and then she started trembling. Never in her life had she held such strong anger before.

“Don’t insult my father!”

At that point, something happened.

Breaking through the classroom windows, around ten knights flew in from outside. The class was once again enveloped with screams. Faced with so many happenings, Mrs. Chevreuse finally passed out.

The knights were equipped with bulky, shining blue armor. Even in the military it was rare to see mages wearing armor. There was only one exception to this rule…

Seeing the shining breastplate and the crest of the yellow dragon, one boy in the class shouted.

“The aerial armored brigade ‘Luftpanzer Ritter’!”

Seeing that Halkeginia’s strongest brigade was here, the students gave a cheer.

One knight, assumed to be the commander, got in between Tiffania and Beatrice, as if to protect the latter. Pulling out a short, military-type wand from his side, he pointed it towards the surprised half-elf.

“Do not come any closer to her Highness.”

The rest of the brigade, with the appearance of being trained from head to toe, shuffled quickly to surround Tiffania.

Tiffania was hugging both of her arms to her chest, trembling slightly.

“It is better for you not to move. I wouldn’t want to have to cut those cursed ears off your head. I know that you elves can use ‘ancient’ magic. Even without a wand, they are able to cast that evil magic!”

“I-I don’t know how to use ‘ancient’ magic. I’m telling the truth. Also, ‘ancient’ magic is not evil. My mother told me so. Every magic is the same. Depending on the person’s intentions, magic can be used for good or evil.”

“Shut up! No one is going to be believe your delusions.”

“But, I…want to get along with everyone! It may be hard to believe me, but…”

“Ha. If you say that you ‘want to get along with everyone’ and prove that you aren’t a vile desert dweller, then you should believe in the same god as us, right?

Like that would really happen. Beatrice questioned with a very smug look on her face.

“When I was in Albion, there was an altar that I offered my blessings to every week. My mother did so as well. I don’t know whether she strongly believed in that religion though. For the sake of getting along with everyone, I am willing to convert.”

“Well then, you are going to need to provide some proof.”

“Proof?”

Beatrice’s face flashed as if saying, ‘this was her chance.’

“Like, like—Ah! Let’s have a heresy inquiry! I will represent the ancestor of Founder Brimir. For the day of the baptism, I will bear the role as a bishop from the Guldenhorf religious sect. The validity of the ceremony will be enough with that.

‘Heresy inquiry.’

At those words, a clamor started in the classroom.

At around the same time…

Saito was in the third-year class with his elbows on the desk thinking about what to do next. Louise was not around him. Because she said that she felt a little unwell, Louise was absent from class.

Saito was, however, not concerned about Louise’s condition, but rather that of Tiffania’s.

He was only worried about whether she was being bullied right now. He thought about some gossip he heard from a girl a while back.

It was about a skill called ‘wringing out your tea napkin.’

What that really meant was for a pretty girl to lift up her skirt tail, so that she can entice her prey.

Th-The image was not good…if Tiffania were to do that to me, I would…, Saito thought. Saito held his nose. This image naturally made blood trickle out his nose.

Crash! From a classroom on a lower level, the sound of glass breaking could be heard at that moment. The classroom got noisy.

‘What was going on?’ thought many of the students as they approached the window. Many wind dragons, equipped with breastplates and helmets, were hovering outside.

“That is Miss Guidenholf’s dragon knight squad isn’t it?”

One of the students said. Apparently, it was the dragons that were stationed in the field outside of the academy that Saito saw the other day. They had the same flags as seen on the tents, and the crests on their shining armor was the same.

Looking down, many knights were seen riding the dragons out of the window. Seeing that one of the knights was holding Tiffania, Saito’s eyes got wide.

“Tiffa!”

The dragons flapped their wings towards the direction of the tents. Saito chased after them. Growing tired of the dull class, the students also joined in the chase. They all seemed to value a good show over that of any food or drink.

Tiffania was thrown down harshly in front of the tents outside of the academy. The knights formed a circle around her, pointing their wands.

“…What do you plan to do with me?”

With a scared face, Tiffania looked around her. The scary looking knights clad in blue armor were all around her. Around the knights were even scarier looking wind dragons that were roaring threateningly. The situation was enough to make any normal person faint.

There was nothing that could be done in this situation.

Even casting her ‘Oblivion’ spell would not work, due to being restrained by the knights. If she were to risk casting a spell, she would most likely be on the receiving end of a volley of magic.

Tiffania cursed her own carelessness.

She should not have revealed her true identity after all. She'd thought that they would accept her. Meeting Saito and his friends and they not becoming scared at the elfin blood in her, she had carelessly expected that other people of Tristania would be the same.

However, that was a misconception. Tiffania realized that elves were feared and hated by the people of Halkeginia.

The image of her mother’s death, just for being an elf, floated in the back of her mind.

Wanting to see the outside world, how foolish of a thought was that!

The image of these knights surrounding her now overlapped with memories of that day in the mansion at Saxe-Gotha, where her mother was killed by mages.

Was she also going to be killed like her mother simply for being an elf?

Tiffania trembled. The trembling got worse and wouldn’t stop.

Breaking through the circle of knights, Beatrice appeared. While playing with her locks of hair, Beatrice questioned Tiffania with an amused tone,

“Do you know what a heresy inquiry is?”

Tiffania nodded shakily through her trembling.

“You said that you would ‘believe in Founder Brimir.’ You, with the blood of an elf, say that you would believe, believe in the god of the people of Halkeginia. That’s why we will need proof. To prove that you are not a ‘heretic’, you will have to show that in front of the ancestors and agents of the church. That is what the ‘heretic inquiry’ is.”

Tiffania noticed the look in Beatrice’s eyes.

Even if she were an elf, there was no reason to torment her this much.

It was because she didn’t like her that she was tormenting her.

After all, those eyes did not hold any hatred. Those knights that killed her mother because ‘she was an elf’ had an unforgettable fire of hatred in their eyes.

However, the glow in Beatrice’s eyes was that of amusement.

Having found a reason to torment Tiffania, Beatrice was having fun.

Instead of being afraid, Tiffania was now enveloped with anger. With a firm look, Tiffania glared up at Beatrice.

“…What an unfortunate person.”

“What did you say?”

“If everything doesn’t go your way, you aren’t satisfied. You act like a child.”

Beatrice’s face flushed red.

A dry sound rang through the air.

Beatrice had slapped Tiffania’s cheek.

“Well then, let’s begin. You are going to have to get in a pot of hot water. If you are truly a servant of Founder Brimir, the water will feel just right to you. However, if you are a detestable non-believer, your body may end up roasted.”

One knight gave a signal and a large pot, that appeared to be used for cooking food, was brought over from a nearby tent and placed onto the fire. Using strong flame magic, the water inside the pot was quickly brought to a boil.

Of course, there was no way anyone could survive being in that boiling water regardless of being a believer or non-believer. This ‘heresy inquiry’ was simply another way for the church to carry out their executions.

At that time, the students who had followed after the earlier commotion had arrived. Not fearing the dragon knights, the students formed a large circle around Beatrice and them, glaring at them.

Having gathered an audience, Beatrice shouted with pride.

“In the name of the Guldenhorf family, the heresy inquiry will now commence! To all the devout followers of Founder Brimir, please witness this trial!”

‘Heresy inquiry!?’ many students murmured.

Breaking through the circle of students, a boy trembling with anger flew in.

It was Saito.

“What the heck are you doing, you guys!”

For a moment, Tiffania’s face brightened, but it soon returned to gloominess.

“Heresy inquiry.”

“I don’t know about heresy or what not, but let Tiffa go! Do you understand what you are doing?”

Saito stepped towards Tiffania, but was soon restrained from behind.

Looking around, the one holding Saito back was Malicorne. Behind him was Guiche, Reynal and the rest of the Knight Corps of the Water Spirit.

“What the hell are you doing!?”

“Stop it, Saito.”

“Stop what!”

“Doing this will put you in a really bad spot.”

Saito looked over to Guiche for support.

“What? You… just because your family borrowed money, you’re going to overlook this?”

“No…that’s not true.”

Guiche said with a serious face.

“Then, you’re afraid of those dragon knights? How despicable!”

“Do you really understand? It’s a heresy inquiry!”

Malicorne had suddenly shouted seriously.

“What about it?! Those guys are all picking on Tiffa! How can I not save her?!”

“If we protect her, we will also be treated as heretics! You can’t even joke about something like that! Not only us, but our entire family will get sucked into it!”

Saito’s face paled at those words.

“Seriously?”

“It’s the truth.”

Guiche said in a low voice.

“…Damn it.”

Saito dropped to his knees and pounded the ground with a fist.

Glancing at Saito’s reaction, Beatrice smiled widely. She once again turned towards Tiffania.

“Miss Westwood. I envy you. You have even won over those Undine knights. I’m going to be merciful and offer you one chance. Leave right now, and go back to the countryside you belong. If you do that, I’ll forget about all of your rudeness.”

A moment of silence passed.

Everyone, from the gathered students to the Undine knights, had their attention on Tiffania. It was unmistakable what everyone was thinking.

Accept the chance.

However, Tiffania did not agree to this.

Tiffania lifted her head with confidence, saying to Beatrice.

“No. I will not leave.”

“…Wha!”

“Seeing the outside world has always been my wish. Due to Saito and his friends, that dream has been granted. That’s why I won’t return. If I were to go back because of a cowardly person like you, I would never be able to face them again.”

At Tiffania’s words, the surrounding students erupted in cheers.

They had been really surprised at her long ears, but somehow they couldn’t see Tiffania being a vile desert elf that should be feared.

And as for what she'd said just now, how truthful that was!

On top of that, besides the boastful first-years who were hiding behind authority, there really were not many that had hostility towards Tiffania.

“Let her go!”

“That’s right! Let’s properly hear the situation from Old Osman!”

Being showered with these statements, Beatrice’s face twitched.

“Luftpanzer Ritter…! As you wished, I will start the inquiry!”

As the aerial brigade approached Tiffania, a hand stretched out.

At that moment, Saito had shaken free from Malicorne’s grasp and dove towards Tiffania. The aerial brigade quickly got in front of Beatrice, pointing their wands at Saito.

Again, cheers erupted from the students.

“Saito-sama! Beat up those lowly, dragon knights! After all, Saito-sama is the hero who stopped an army of 70,000!”

Saito was truly the man who stopped the advancing army of 70,000 during his side’s withdrawal at Albion.

Not only that.

Through rumors, he was also known to have many other accomplishments. Everyone had remembered when he, as a commoner, defeated Guiche in a duel. Saito would certainly be able to defeat this feared squadron by himself!

Everyone was expecting this outcome from Saito, who exploded with demonic rage.

However…Saito’s next action was completely different.

With both palms on the ground, he was bowing down all the way.

“Umm. Your Highness Guldenhorf. I beg you. I was the one who brought Tiffa. It is my responsibility, so please forgive her.”

“So you plan to oppose me?”

“Ha! I have no intention of opposing you! I’m just pleading to the devil. Just like this!”

With a pleasant smile, Saito bowed down deeply again.

“Even if I request like this, is it no good?”

“No.”

“Even with my head down?”

“You’re pestering me.”

Saito let out a quick, deep sigh. He should’ve been violent in the first place, he regretted. Saito reached for Derflinger on his back.

“Partner…too slow…”

‘That was completely reckless of me,’ Saito thought.

The wand welding knights reflexively let out a burst of magic. Saito had both arms pinned to the ground with ice arrows.

“Grr…”

“Hey, hey! What do you plan on doing with that sword? You fool!”

The surrounding students, all let out a sigh of disappointment. Hearing those sighs, Saito was at that moment quite occupied.

I couldn’t help it… If I got rough, then I would become a heretic, right?

If that happened, Guiche and the rest of the knights would be in trouble. Saito’s master, Louise, would be in the most trouble. That’s why he bowed down to them for now.

But, his arms hurt. First, he would need to stand up and somehow grip onto Derf. He would think about what to do after he dragged Tiffa away. While he was thinking about what his success rate would be, he drew some strength to his arm and…

Clank! Splash! The sound of the large pot flipping on its side could be heard.

As for the reason of the noise, a bronze valkyrie-shaped golem had overturned that large pot. The boiling water had washed over the fire, putting it out with a loud hiss.

A bronze valkyrie?

Struck dumb with astonishment, everyone turned their eyes toward Guiche. There stood a very nervous Guiche, trembling all over while still gripping his rose wand tightly.

“Guiche!”

All the students yelled at once.

“Mister Gramont, what is the meaning of this? Are you planning to oppose the Guldenhorf family?”

“No, well…”

“Well?”

“This hand just…moved on its own. Ha ha.”

Guiche smacked his hand loudly a few times.

“Don’t take me as a fool.”

“No, well…”

“Tell me clearly, already!”

Guiche let out a huge breath from the bottom of his heart. Then, he started mumbling incoherently.

“I’m at a loss… Even though it’s a heresy inquiry…ahhh, I’m at a loss. Even though my opponent is the Guldenhorf family…ahhh, ahhh, I’m at a loss. Not only that, but I would have liked to stay away from that aerial armored division…I’m done for… With such a large audience, I’m really done for. I couldn’t be satisfied if I didn’t do something cool. I’m an idiot. A big idiot.”

“Mister Gramont?”

Hearing his name being called, Guiche was gradually preparing for the worst.

When he was ready, his next actions went by quickly.

Guiche straightened his collar and stood up straight.

Bringing up a face bursting with energy, it was as if he just woke up now.

No matter what happened, Guiche was a noble of this world. He was a descendant of a military family who were trained with a mentality for giving and taking lives as an everyday incident.

“It shames me to ignore a lady and a friend. This heresy inquiry is a disgrace to my family’s honor. Because of this, it is clear that I have to settle this with my wand.”

There was no hesitation in his voice, as he pointed his imitation rose at the dragon knights, who were said to be the ‘strongest squad in Halkeginia.’

“Guiche, fourth son of the Gramont family, I respectfully accompany you.”

Seeing Guiche in such a manner, Malicorne shouted next to him.

“Gooooooo! Knights of the Water Spirit! Follow the Commander!”

All at once, the Undine knights had pulled out their wands. Truly, all of them were filled with confidence. Looking ready to fight, none of them carried fear on their faces.

Beatrice was shaking fiercely, her anger and frustration at its peak. With a loud cry, she gave her orders.

“Go, Luftpanzer Ritter!”

Clank! Loud sounds rang as the dragon knights stepped forward a step.

The largest knight then advanced forward first, pointing his wand at Guiche and the Undine knights. It seemed that this dragon knight was the leader. In the opening of the face mask, a Kaiser-style mustache stretched across his stern face. The dragon knight opened his mouth, making his mustache shake.

“Students playing knights. You’re only going to get hurt.”

A smirk floated on Guiche’s face. It was not his usual smirk. It was an atrociously heartless smirk, like the time when he unforgivably tormented Saito when he first got here.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Well then, tell me where you would like to be pierced by my valkyries.”

Under the face mask, the knight’s face turned red in anger.

Chanting a spell, several ice arrows were sent towards Guiche, but the bronze valkyrie crossed its short spears, blocking the ice arrows from hitting Guiche.

Clang! The spear made a noise, as it bounced the arrows back.

Quickly, Malicorne chanted and let out a wind spell. Lost in anger, the leader of the aerial brigade was hit squarely with Malicorne’s ‘air hammer,’ which promptly made him taste the ground as he was blown away. Under the weight of the armor impacting the ground, it was wrung with dents.

The leader gave out a cry.

The rest of the aerial brigade roared as they began to cast one spell after another, creating a chorus of incantations.

The Knight Corps of the Water Spirit also unyieldingly unleashed their magic.

Amongst the chaos of enemies, allies, and onlookers, a splendid battle of magic had started.

If the Luftpanzer Ritter had been any normal brigade, the Knight Corps of the Water Spirit would have overwhelmed them already. That goes to show that there was quite an ability gap between the two sides, the Luftpanzer Ritter supporting their claim as Halkeginia’s strongest dragon knight squadron. In contrast to these veterans, as the dragon knight leader said, the Undine knights may as well be students ‘playing knights’ as they haven’t been around long enough to ‘grow hair on their chins.’

However, if the dragon knights had actually ridden their dragons, their true abilities would be shown. By riding their dragons, they could make full use of the defensive ability of their heavy armor, while on land their armor only became boulders chaining them down and hindering their movement. Yet, to use dragons against school children was demeaning to the pride of the Luftpanzer Ritter, so this land battle made for a large disadvantage for them. Overall, the dragon knights weren’t even able to pull out half of their normal strength.

Looking at the other side, the Knight Corps of the Water Spirit was full of fighting spirit. Having used the field of this current battle as their normal training ground also worked as a bonus for them, as being the ‘home team’ was a great advantage.

However, the best aid to them was something else…

“Guiche-sama! Keep going!”

“Malicorne-sama! Right! To the Right!”

It was the cheering from the on-looking students. Being in a situation where one’s girlfriend or girl that he secretly liked, cheered him on, a man’s ability could become several times greater.

Combining all of these factors from both sides, the battle became fairly well matched.

Malicorne, who had blood trailing down his head, still kept a smile as he was blindly shooting blades of wind. Some of those blades managed to slip in between the crevices of the armor, slashing the legs of the dragon knights.

The usually calm Reynal was giving a beastly cry as he brandished his flame magic. The knights that were being roasted couldn’t bear it as they tossed and turned on the ground.

Guiche’s bronze valkyries were nimbly dancing around like the movements of Gandálfr as they speared into the slow-moving knights one after another.

Of course, the Undine knights were not without injury. Eventually, everyone on both sides began shouldering injuries as wounds and blood covered them.

One by one, members of each side fell down to the ground, unable to move. Quickly, the surrounding audience got into action, casting water spells to heal members of both sides.

As if possessed by the god of war, both sides continued the fierce battle with no end in sight. Whichever side’s troops fell, water magic would heal them, only for them to carelessly dive right back into battle.

It couldn’t be helped as both sides would not give in even an inch of their pride.

The audience comprised of nearly all students that accompanied them, the Knight Corps of the Water Spirit.

The protectors of their lord Beatrice, the Luftpanzer Ritter.

Saito, who had a very dark look on his face, lazily watched the seemingly endless battle between the two. Since both of his arms were injured, he couldn’t draw his sword, so he couldn’t join in the fight. Completely forgetting about Saito, no one cast any water magic on him. Even if his arms were somehow alright, he would still hesitate to dive into this dreadful battle because the area seemed to be engulfed in madness.

Not wanting to keep his eyes open, various magic spells whizzed above his head, hitting some unlucky noble who cried in pain. That cry was soon replaced by the sound of a roar from another person.

Besides the chanting of runes, there were cries of ‘There!’ ‘No, here!’ ‘Now you’ve really done it!’ ‘Idiot, that was an ally!’ ‘Firing from behind is cheating!’ ‘Shut up, you just popped in from the side!’ could be heard all around. Frankly speaking, the battle was a mess.

On top of that, fist fights began to occur here and there. With a demonic expression, Malicorne bit one knight on the head. At this, Saito got really sad.

One knight had finally noticed the inactively observing Saito and jumped over to him to fight without using magic. He had for some reason stopped his chanting.

Saito took a deep breath and vigorously made a fist with his injured arm. Although he was feeling quite tired, his fist flew out as he too joined the battlefield controlled by madness.

The battle continued for quite some time. While the commotion had already caused the teachers to gather around, none of them could do anything amongst the chaos. The teachers had informed Old Osman about the incident, but he only replied coldly to ‘leave them be…’

Chapter 4

At that same time…

Siesta, who was currently cleaning Louise’s room, heard violent sounds coming from outside.

“Hmm…I wonder what that could be?”

Siesta walked over to the window, taking a peek outside. However, the tower and the surrounding walls blocked the view of where the sounds came from.

The violent sounds continued for a while. Somehow, the sounds seemed to be explosions of magic. The sound of raging flames, the sound of ice spears smashing, the sound of lumps of earth collapsing, along with various other sounds reached her ears. In addition, cries and roars could be heard.

“I don’t like this. Did another war start again?”

At that time, the covers on the bed slowly shifted. Underneath was Louise clad in a negligee. She slowly got up, her eyes clearly red from crying. Her hair was all crumpled, and lines of tears had dried over her cheeks. Overall, she was a mess.

“Oh, Miss Vallière. Have you woken up?”

Without giving a reply, she turned towards the window, staring at the sounds of violence outside. With an irritated tone, she mumbled,

“It’s so loud… Even though someone is trying to wallow in sorrow here…”

“Hey, it sounds pretty serious out there. I wonder if a war has started…I don’t like it. Hm? Miss Vallière?”

Louise had wandered out of the room, still wearing her negligee. In her hand, she firmly grasped her wand.

Siesta was just about to chase after her, but a dark aura emitting from Louise’s back made her retreat back in fear.

“Hauu. Somehow, Miss Vallière right now is scarier than any dragon.”

Saito’s breathing was getting pretty ragged. His fists which had been used repeatedly were swollen red, warping their shape. Next to him was Guiche with his blond hair dyed with blood, who was still holding onto his rose wand. Waving his wand, he weakly muttered out,

“Va-valkyrie.”

However, the petals on the rose wand had finally all fallen off, leaving a bare stem.

“Finish them.”

Guiche said amongst his panting. The blown away foe revealed Malicorne behind him, who then came forward to breathlessly inform the commander and assistant commander,

“Our remaining troops are only the six of us.”

Beside Reynal, whose glasses were broken, stood only two people. The rest of the squad had fallen and were lying stretched out on the ground. There was no more water magic to heal them nor did they have the strength for powerful magic.

On the other side, the Luftpanzer Ritter squad still had ten people standing. They were the ones that had cast off their bulky armor. The remaining ten were looking pretty beat up as well. Some of them had blood running down their faces or a broken arm dangling to the side.

Around them, the students all watched holding their breath. Not just to the eyes of the supporting audience, but the Undine knights truly had done considerably well against the much more experienced dragon knights.

“The other side looks like they are also on their last leg.”

Guiche said.

“Ah. This will most likely end with the next attack…”

Malicorne replied. Perhaps…the remaining Undine knights would not be able to withstand the next attack. Since the battle had been long, it was a matter of experience and ability. This fact had become clear to the remaining few.

Saito looked feverishly at his worn down friends. Although his body screamed here and there with pain, he was still feeling bright.

In fact, he couldn’t help having fun.

“Ha…ha…, I can’t believe I’m saying this at a time like now.”

“What is it?”

“I can’t help but find this fun.”

Hearing this, Guiche laughed loudly. Malicorne also laughed. So did Reynal and the rest of the remaining boys.

“They’re coming.”

The commander ordering the dragon knights to line-up, they all charged forward.

Guiche waved his wand and commanded in a loud voice.

“Gentlemen! Advance forward!”

Using all of their last strength, the Undine knights dashed forward.

At that moment…

Between the two squadrons, a small ball of light formed.

“Wha?”

As soon as they all noticed it, the light swelled up into a large ball…and exploded.

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaa!”

“Higiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”

The flash of light blew away both sides as it gradually brought an end to the battle.

The ground on that spot was smoldering. Plowing her way through the audience of students, a pink-haired girl suddenly appeared. Although it was only a little girl, the aura wrapped around her spoke differently.

The veteran dragon knights and the courageous, high-spirited Undine knights were both sprawled on the ground in a daze as they stared at the girl slowly walking to them. To both of the squads, it was as if a dragon had blown away their fighting spirit.

It had been due to this one girl, that the battle had abruptly ended.

One of the dragon knights staggeringly got up.

“What the hell are you!?”

He shouted.

He only shot himself in the foot for that. The pink-haired girl waved her wand, and an explosion popped right in front of his eyes, blowing him away.

“…You’re noisy.”

Including Saito, the Knight Corps of the Water Spirit shouted.

“Louise!”

“You guys are really noisy, you understand? I’m losing sleep here. When I finally think I’ve fallen asleep, all I hear is boom, boom, boom, boom…”

With Louise’s own words, she was gradually getting more and more irritated.

“If it’s bb-booming you want… Do your ff-fireworks ss-somewhere else…cc-cause it’s keeping me up.”

Louise was clearly biting down on her lips and starting to fiercely tremble with anger. The anger was building up to the point where her body was spasming. An aura of anger floated all around her. The students got really scared. The dragon knights also got really scared. The wind dragons around them also got scared. Louise was really pissed.

“I can’t sleep at all!”

After Louise screamed out, she then began chanting another spell. The Undine knights and dragon knights both tried to escape in the meantime, but they were not able to make it in time.

Bringing down the wand like before, another bright ball of light formed…and with that the sound of another ear-deafening explosion rang in the ears of all the on-lookers.

After the dust from the explosion settled, the on-looking students that had witnessed Louise’s “Explosion” spell saw that all of the members of both squads had been cleared from the field and had lost consciousness.

The students that had been in the middle of the explosion looked dazedly at Louise who was still standing there half-asleep.

“Louise’s explosion has gotten pretty strong…”

“It has totally become a weapon.”

As to the students who didn’t know “Void” existed, they simultaneously let out their impressions. In no way did they suspect that a legend was unveiling so close at hand.

Beatrice, who had been watching outside of the explosion radius, trembled as she approached the negligee clad Louise standing around. Even still, she tried her best to maintain her pride as she called out.

“Y-You! What is the meaning of this?!”

“Huh? Who are you?”

Louise scratched her shoulder with her wand as she asked in a lazy voice. Beatrice answered with a tone implying that ‘you better listen.’

“I am Beatrice Yvonne von Guldenhorf! The Guldenhorf family that is connected to the Tristanian royal family and owner of a respectable, independent country! I will definitely report this rudeness to her Majesty Queen Henrietta!”

“Guldenhorf? That Germanian born, money grubbing clan is what you are muttering about in your sleep? You say you are going to report what to her Majesty? Don’t make me laugh. I’m telling you that I am in a really foul mood right now. If you keep griping, I’m going to crush that crappy family of yours.”

At Louise’s words, Beatrice’s face got completely red.

“Wha, wha, money-grubbers, you sayyyyy!”

“You bring up your family’s name so readily, which makes you one, right?”

“I haven’t heard your name yet! Tell me now!”

“Louise de La Vallière.”

Beatrice’s eyes opened wide.

“La Vallière? As in the Duke of La Vallière?”

“Is there any other Vallière out there?”

Shaken, Beatrice was biting her lip. The words she was told as she left her home popped up. Her father had told her that there were three opponents that they could not go against in Tristain.

One was the Tristain royal family.

Another was Cardinal Mazarin.

And the last one was the family prided with the greatest social status in the history of Tristain, the La Vallières. Other than those three, it was OK to pick a fight with anyone else, her father said.

But the blood had rushed up Beatrice’s head. Who the hell are the La Vallières? Her family also had duke status. History and social status aside, her family had more property and land hands down.

Furthermore, she was also holding a trump card.

Beatrice crossed her arms, continuing to call on her bluff.

“La Vallière-sempai. Do you realize what I am doing now? A heresy inquiry, got that? I was just now in the middle of that inquiry. Because you ruined the ceremony, shall I also consider you in cahoots with that group of heretics? The duke having a heretic for a daughter! What kind of scandal would that be!

But Louise was not affected at all.

“Heresy inquiry? Do you have permission from a bishop?”

Beatrice paled. She didn’t have such a thing. The qualification that her family supposedly had when she had told Tiffania was actually a blatant lie. She had thought that Tristainian nobles would not question the matter, but Louise was sharp.

“Uhhh, it’s at my family’s place!”

Louise’s eyes narrowed.

“You’re lying about having one.”

“Eh? It’s not a lie! I don’t know what you are saying…”

“To perform a heresy inquiry, not only do you need permission from a bishop, but you also need an approval form from the church of Romalia. Why is it that you don’t know of this?”

At Louise’s words, the surrounding students looked at the situation differently. With the cries of ‘heresy inquiry,’ many of them had blanked out, but what Louise said was definitely true. Most of Beatrice’s statements were far too suspicious.

“Oi! Beatrice! Using the Founder’s name to torment a girl you don’t like, is that how nobles do things!?”

“For impersonating a bishop of Tristain, you will get burnt at the stake, you know!”

The students sidled up to Beatrice. They were by nature highly-prided nobles of Tristania. Having her prided dragon knights blown away, the now defenseless Beatrice was being cornered.

Beatrice was trembling as she dropped to her knees. Her trusted Luftpanzer Ritter couldn’t be reached. It was a dire situation for her.

It was such an atmosphere that even if she were to be hung right there and then, it wouldn't be strange, but a golden-haired fairy scurried her way to Beatrice.

It was Tiffania.

One of the students called out to Tiffania.

“Miss Westwood. You have the right to judge this girl. Deal with her as you see fit.”

Tiffania walked right up to Beatrice. With a moan, Beatrice turned away while still on the ground. Behind her, the students formed a wall, blocking her retreat.

Biting her lip, Tiffania looked down at Beatrice. Then, as if she knew what to do, she looked up.

The blood drained from Beatrice’s face. Preparing for the worst, Beatrice shut her eyes.

Everyone present was waiting for Tiffania’s judgement. That would be the price Beatrice would have to pay. Normally for this kind of situation, Beatrice would not complain even if she were killed…

However, Tiffania’s next words were out of everyone’s expectations.

Tiffania had taken the hand of the kneeled down Beatrice.

“L-Let’s be friends.”

She said.

All the students there were speechless. Such an unexpected event was anti-climatic.

“Miss Westwood? You have the right to judge this girl, you know?”

One very shocked student said to Tiffania. They thought that there was something strange about her head. But, Tiffania shook her head.

“This is an academy, right? It’s strange to judge someone at a place of learning.”

“But…but still! No matter how you think of it, this is...!”

“Also, I…came here to make friends, not to make enemies.”

Tiffania said with a determined look.

With those words, no one could say anything further. What broke the silence was the sound of Beatrice crying,

“Hi…hick. Hick.”

With the string of fear and anxiety cut, the moment Beatrice knew she was safe, tears spilled from her eyes. As if she were a child saved by a hair from falling off the edge of a cliff, Beatrice cried,

“Uu, uuu, uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunn.”

Only the sound of her defenseless crying rang across the now empty field. Turning towards her crying voice, the students scratched their heads. It was only the selfishness of a child after all, so they lost the will to further denounce her.

“Is it over?”

Squeezing through the wall of students, the headmaster, Old Osman, appeared. Old Osman rubbed his beard as he grinned.

Then, in front of just about all the students, he placed a hand on Tiffania’s shoulder and informed everyone.

“Ah. Just now this girl said that she would stake her life to learn here. There is a lot to learn from these words. Do you understand, everyone? Originally, the will to learn is not a matter of life or death. Sometimes though, sticking to one’s own beliefs will turn the world into your enemy…don’t forget that.”

The students had a look on their faces wondering just why Old Osman chose this time to come out, but they just nodded for now. Content with the nods, Old Osman continued,

“However, taking matters to the extreme every time is stifling. While a fight here or there is expected, when someone dies, it’s too late. Furthermore, it becomes very bothersome, so I would like for this bickering to end now. This girl is under my guardianship, understand? In addition to that, Miss Tiffania is a guest entrusted to me by her Majesty the Queen. From now on, if there are students that wish to insult this girl’s lineage, be prepared to make enemies with the monarchy, understand?”

Entrusted to him by her Majesty the Queen?

The students all became nervous at once. This transfer student who had elf blood was a person connected to her Majesty the Queen.

From these words, they came to the realization that even though it was rather peculiar, instead of being something feared, they felt that her elf blood could even be something most admirable.

On top of that, the students, for the most part, had never seen a descendant of an elf. Because of Old Osman’s statement, they became more curious than afraid. Soon, they were favoring her dazzling appearance, disregarding the ill-feelings for man’s supposed mortal enemy.

The students approached Tiffania, requesting to shake her hand.

“Pleasure to meet you. This is the first time I’ve met an elf, but you are quite pretty.”

“I had imagined that elves were something along the line of orcs.”

“You had such an earnest composition that thought only of how to look ahead. It makes you seem nobler than us human nobles.”

With a moved expression on her face, Tiffania shook hands with each person one by one. Looking at such a scene with satisfaction, Old Osman looked around and said.

“Well, now that you have made up, please transport the injured to the infirmary and clean up this area. It looks like a storm blew through here.”

The students face-faulted, and then proceeded to transport the all but forgotten Undine knights and dragon knights.

Old Osman nodded at this scene and turned towards Tiffania beside him,

“I apologize for helping you so late. If I had helped you normally, it would have been hard for you to make true friends. Especially since it’s you, a person descent from an elf.”

The shy Tiffania hung her head with an expression that implied, ‘not at all…’

Old Osman coughed as if clearing his throat, and then put on a serious face.

“Well then…one last thing. There is something that I want to ask you.”

“Yes?”

With an uncertain look, Tiffania tilted her head.

“It is a question of utmost importance. Understanding this is a matter of life and death… This is a question that I ask with all of my being, so properly answer me.”

“Ok.”

With a serious look, Tiffania nodded.

Old Osman pointed nobly.

Right at, for the lack of better description, Tiffania’s huge chest…

There wasn’t even a speck of hesitation. Even giving off a dignified, calm aura, Old Osman gave his question.

“Are those real?”

Tiffania’s face was completely dyed red. Since it had seemed to be such a serious question, Tiffania couldn’t help but answer it, yet weakly.

“…Yes. They are.”

Old Osman put his hand to his ear and got closer to her face.

“More clearly, please. Say it such that this old man can hear you. Being this old… well, my hearing is going.”

Tiffania’s face got even redder. Drooping her head, she bit her lip.

“Th-They are real!”

“O-Once more.”

Old Osman mumbled with a slightly flushed cheek. Mrs. Chevreuse, who approached them, gave Old Osman’s stomach a taste of her fist.

‘Guh!’ went Old Osman as he rolled his eyes back. With a teacher each lifting the unconscious, old headmaster by an arm, they dragged him away.

For the moment, Tiffania was still looking down with her face deep red. As the wind blew around the field, as if beckoning her, she lifted her head up.

The wide field stretched on endlessly. Looking back, many fine towers were seen, giving the location of the Academy of Magic. This was the place she would study for the next three years.

Tiffania touched her ears. They were the proof that her mother’s blood ran through her body. These long ears…

Somehow feeling really bright, a smile floated on Tiffania’s face.

The infirmary of the Academy of Magic was built on floors 3 through 6 of the Water Tower. On the fourth floor were the Luftpanzer Ritter members laying in bed side by side, while the Knight Corps of the Water Spirit were on the third floor beds.

Saito woke up from the voices of some girls.

“Guiche-sama! Will you allow me to change your bandages?”

“Nooooo! I’m in charge of taking care of Reynal-sama! Please let me take your glasses.”

‘Huh?’ Saito thought as he shifted the curtain to look. In the adjacent beds, Guiche, Reynal, and the rest of the Undine knights were being doted on by the ladies.

The reddish-brown haired Katie appeared and called out to the rest of the girls.

“You girls, the assistant commander over there is in need of care!”

Saito’s heart skipped, but the next statement made him depressed.

“Ehhhh, but Saito-sama was kind of pathetic. I was completely disillusioned.”

“That’s right. When he suddenly begged, I was really disappointed. The thing about him stopping an army of 70,000 must have been some kind of misunderstanding.”

“Yeah. Looking closely, he seemed rather weak…”

In any case, because he begged in front of Beatrice, it seems that Saito’s popularity had hit rock bottom. On the other hand, Guiche and the others that fought bravely went up in popularity. ‘Honestly, what a simple bunch of people,’ Saito thought.

Turning his eyes in the other direction, a completely wrapped up Malicorne was there with his index finger pointed right at Saito.

“Friend.”

Malicorne muttered happily. Apparently, the only presence around Malicorne was that of a cuckoo-ing clock. It was kind of sad that both of them were like this, but there was a slight warmth in his chest.

There was not really any deep meaning to it, but Malicorne’s simple utterance of ‘friend’ strangely made him happy.

Also, they had helped him by standing against the feared Luftpanzer Ritter squad. Although there was the simple reason that ‘everyone was watching,’ it wasn’t just that.

Ahh, at that time…, when Guiche asked him ‘what he would do if he stayed in this world?’ he noticed that the strange pang in his heart was the same as it was now.

Basically…they had become his friends.

Friends that he laughed with together, talked with about dumb things, and stuck his neck out for…that kind of touching feeling. Abruptly, the curtain was drawn back, and the golden-haired fairy poked her face in.

“Saito.”

“Tiffa.”

“I’m glad…it didn’t become too serious.”

Saying that with a relieved face, Tiffania sat on the bed.

“Thank you.”

Being thanked by such a beautiful girl like Tiffania made Saito blush awkwardly.

“No, I’m not the one you should be thanking. You should say that to Guiche or Malicorne over there. If they hadn’t got rough…”

“No, of course I am very grateful for that, so I plan to thank them properly later. But first, I wanted to thank Saito.”

“Why?”

“Because, Saito, you begged for my sake, didn’t you? Even though Saito had done nothing wrong… That was something very difficult. You know, that made me very happy.”

“Th-That’s a given! It’s because we’re friends.”

Tiffania was smiling widely, a smile that was gentle and warm like basking in the rays of the summer sun.

“But Tiffa, you surprised me.”

“I did?”

“Yeah. I mean, you suddenly gave away your secret.”

Then, Tiffania said shyly,

“Saito, you told me, right?”

“I did?”

“Yes. Saito, didn’t you tell me at Westwood Village? ‘To have more confidence.’ I remember those words. And when I do, I think about how embarrassing it was to hide the truth about the blood running through my body…”

‘I see,’ Saito mouthed. Recalling that, he had casually said those words. But Tiffania had treated his casual statement as something dear to her.

“But I still do not have enough confidence.”

Tiffania muttered, looking a little lonely.

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

Saito said surprised as Tiffania lowered her voice. Her cheeks were flushed as she timidly stared.

“There are still many things that seem strange.”

“Like what?”

Tiffania bit her lip as she pointed to her own chest. The material of her academy uniform top was stretched to its limit. Two humongous melons were pressing against the top button, which looked like it would pop off any moment. Ahh, Tiffania’s chest was truly frightening. Instinctively, Saito clamped a hand on his nose so that he would not lose any more blood, thereby endangering his life.

Certainly if one had a chest like that, it would be easy to monopolize the popularity of her class… As he wondered what she was thinking, Tiffania started talking in a sad tone.

“Just now, Old Osman had asked me, ‘Are those real?’ I must be strange after all. I mean, there is no one else in the academy with breasts like these.”

Saito panicked.

“Th-That’s…”

“Do these things seem that unreal?”

As Tiffania asked with worry on her face, Saito shook his head fiercely.

“N-No. I think they’re real…I mean, they look real. Yep, real.”

“Saito is a friend, so you’re just saying that.”

“No, not at all.”

Tiffania was still worrying for the moment, but then she looked like she decided on something. She grabbed Saito’s hand tightly.

“I think that there is certainly some reason as to why they don’t seem real. So can you check them a little for me?”

Saito didn’t really understand, as he replied with a ‘Huh?’

“I can only rely on a friend about this. So please, Saito.”

“Wh-What do you mean?”

In a faint voice, Tiffania muttered,

“…ch them and check.”

“Wha?”

Taking a deep breath, Tiffania said seriously,

“Touch them and check.”

Although Saito fully understood what she said, there was a pause. At the moment he understood, feelings of joy, confusion, and fear attacked him all at once, leaving him on the verge of tears. No, he was indeed in tears. As the tears flowed, he was left not knowing what to do next.

“Miss Tiffania?”

“You know? Because I was thinking that there was a reason that they didn’t seem real, I thought about asking you in this way. Since I don’t understand it myself, I was hoping you could check and tell me.”

“I-I can touch them?”

Tiffania nodded quickly looking embarrassed.

The Tiffania that would allow this simply because they were friends was dazzling. From the bottom of his heart, Saito was glad that he was alive. After all his patience and hard work, God had finally awarded him in this manner. If there was a god that threw him into a pit, another god was there to lift him out of it.

Saito’s whole body was trembling…trembling with excitement.

“W-Well, rather than anyone else, it’s better for me to check. Or rather, if it wasn’t me that was here…”

“I-I think so too.”

As if Tiffania had readied herself, she stuck out her chest. Having never seen any this big before, the superbly humongous melons were right in front of him. Saito raised his hands up, slowly reaching forward. His fingers touched her shirt. Then, he was not able to go any further… If he continued, he thought he would die. Tiffania moved a bit.

Gunyo…

The palms of his hands squished the melons.

They were soft, but firm. Due to the nervousness and joy he felt, the palms of his hands got numb, so Saito couldn’t fully enjoy the feeling. But this was enough. If he were to enjoy this feeling fully, Saito would most likely drop dead from shock.

“…H-How is it? Is there something strange?”

“I don’t know. In any case, I’m about to die.”

Saito’s prediction had hit the mark.

As he replied straightforwardly, the curtain was pulled back.

Turning his eyes in that direction, Saito saw Louise and Siesta standing there. Louise had changed into her academy uniform. Siesta was in her usual maid outfit.

Seeing Saito groping Tiffania’s melons with both of his hands, the two of them continued to stare with a blank expression. Louise then called out to the infirmary nurse.

“I would like permission to move the patient on this bed.”

Siesta then said to Louise in a slightly shaken voice.

“He needs treatment. What do you say, Miss Vallière?”

Louise replied with a tone that oozed with malice from her very core,

“There’s too much to deal with...I can’t begin to count them. For now, we’ll start with his…”

“Life.”

Both of their faces were stiff as the same word left their mouths.

Saito’s body ached in pain as he used the last of his energy to forcefully spring out of bed. As he jumped through the window next to the pillow, shattering the glass, he suddenly realized that he was on the third floor.

Due to the sound of glass breaking, the screams of the people in the infirmary resounded.

Although it was the third floor and he was heavily injured, Saito decided that it was much safer than staying in that room.

He thought this as he watched the ground quickly getting closer.

If he only broke a bone…

If he were to miraculously be able to greet tomorrow…

‘Tiffania, we just need to find a way to hide your ‘miracle’ (her chest), like finding a loose enough shirt for you to wear.’ This was what Saito thought about telling her.

Story 2: Knight Corps of the Water Spirit, Charge!

Chapter 1

“Remorse. I, the sub-commander of the Knight Corps of the Water Spirit and Her Majesty's administrating court lady De La Valliere’s familiar, Saito Chevalier De Hiraga, within the territory of the Tristain Academy of Magic infirmary, using both of my hands, massaged lady Tiffania's chest in an inappropriate manner. However, it was not done of my personal accord, but by the request ‘Do these things seem that unreal?‘ of the receiver; thus, the ulterior sexual motive was completely absent. In the year 6243 of the Brimir calendar, Ing’s week on Hemdall phase of the moon. Her Majesty's Saito Chevalier De Hiraga.”

Solemnly, Saito read out the remorse sentence. However, he looked miserable. He was stripped of his usual parka and was wearing just underpants. On his neck hung a wooden tablet.

There, in official Tristanian language, was written:

‘I don’t like big breasts.’

Next to Saito stood Siesta, with a broad smile on her face. Behind her… with her back turned to Saito, on a chair, Louise sat and listened to the remorse sentence.

Her back emanated a cool, lingering anger. Even though some time had passed since then, Louise's anger had not only not diminished, but in fact had grown only stronger. Maybe it was even toxic enough to kill a small birdie passing by? – he thought gloomily.

Three days had passed since Saito leapt through the infirmary window. When he was about to crash onto the ground, it was Tabitha’s familiar Sylphid who saved his hide.

And though Saito miraculously escaped major injuries… it was not possible to escape Louise without injuries, more so, injuries caused by magic. Since he could not move, he was captured easily and brought to the room, where for three straight days he had to endure repetitive violence and forced ‘remorse’.

Louise’s anger level exceeded all the ones before. Not only had he neglected her when she was resolved, he had also gone to the infirmary to grope the half-elf’s breasts.

It could not be helped since she has been made a complete fool. One should be grateful for not taking one’s life.

“How was Saito-san’s remorse now, Miss Vallière?”

Siesta asked Louise with a smile.

Louise was silent. With a loud sigh, Siesta shook her head.

“Rejected, I guess.”

The vein on Saito’s temple started to throb. Just how many times did he have to remorse till she’s satisfied?! No matter what he wrote, it never pleased Louise.

Saito was not aware of the reason behind Louise’s strolls last week. And because he did not understand how greatly his mistress's pride was hurt, anger over being treated like this accumulated within him.

Geez. Yeah, I was touching her chest, but only because I was asked by Tifa! Why is this over-jealous girl so self-centered – Saito trembled with anger.

What if one marries such a girl someday?

Saito became immersed in a fantasy.

Surely… when he would return from work, she would be sniffing his smell.

“What is this perfume?”

“Ah, I guess it rubbed off in the metro. It was crowded.”

“Didn’t I tell you that you cannot get closer to any other woman than a radius of two meters?!”

“That’s absurd.”

“That’s not absurd! If she gets closer - push her away!”

Probably common sense would not work…

Or perhaps… that’s why this girl never said she loved him – it was just a strong desire to monopolize. Saito watched Louise’s back.

Surely, Louise is still a child… Saito thought, looking at the back of the girl who was one year younger. In this world, one year was made of twelve months which consisted of four weeks, eight days each. In this world one year had 384 days.

Louise, at age sixteen, was one year younger than Saito, but since in Saito’s world a year had 365 days, the gap was smaller by 16x19, thus 304 days, making them almost identical in Earth age... Saito shook his head at the thought. Even though he was not bad at mathematics, it wasn’t something to think of at this moment.

Anyway, Louise was almost the same age as Saito.

And yet, how childish this girl was!

Saito, without noticing his own insensibility, held such impression of Louise.

While thinking so, cold anger surged up.

As for Louise, to prevent him from escaping, she seized all Saito’s clothes. And to make matters worse, he had to bow his head before her…

Hey Louise. Your chest is not the only childish thing about you…

Saito grabbed the wooden ‘I do not like big breasts’ tablet with such force that it cracked.

No, it’s not that I dislike her… it is love in any case, however, it’s not all… Saito narrowed his eyes and looked up, but there were no stars visible. There were ceilings. Yeah, I want to see a star. When he thought vaguely about the reason to see it, Siesta whispered.

“Umm… Saito-san. Can I ask you something?”

“Hm? What’s the matter?”

After seeing her face being grim, Saito became serious as well.

“Are Tiffania-san’s things truly real?”

“Yes. I think they are real.”

“Did they feel like this?”

Siesta grabbed Saito’s hands and pressed them against her chest.

Siesta’s breasts filled Saito’s palms and pushed them back a little. Though usually he got excited and had a nosebleed like this, because of Siesta’s casual attitude, Saito became nonchalant himself and kneaded Siesta’s breasts.

“Well it feels similar, but…”

“Was it bigger? Tell the truth, please.”

Saito nodded solemnly, Siesta nodded as well.

“Would you like to touch them directly? Only this way you can evaluate the real size correctly.”

Siesta whispered. Enticed, Saito nodded.

“Oh no, you won’t.”

Louise, with a riding crop in her hand, fiercely lashed the maid and familiar.

“It hurts, it hurts!”

“Stop it! Hey!”

Then, Louise’s face twitched and looking away, told Saito.

“What about remorse.”

Her voice was shallow and her body shivered. The anger was boiling behind her words – that was the aura she emanated.

However, Saito was at limit.

Didn't I save you so many times before?

Didn't I say that I loved you so many times before?

Louise not only does not return my feelings, but she also demands even more remorse.

This girl.

“… That’s enough!”

“Yes?”

Louise said, glaring at Saito. The courage that Saito had, vanished in an instant.

“That’s enough, please?”

From the beginning Louise was convinced that Saito’s words were lies.

“Do you think it’s enough? You touched only because you were asked – what a lie! Hey? Did it feel good? Were you happy to touch it? Surely, it must have felt great!”

The vein on Saito’s temple trembled.

“Yeah, it felt good! Better than a certain someone…”

“Certain someone, who?”

Saito honesty disappeared to the tiniest molecules and he decided to lie for now.

“Guiche.”

However, all words were useless against Louise today.

“Heeh, I see. So I am on the same level as Guiche. Is that what you are trying to say?”

“I-I didn’t say such a thing!”

“Sorry. Truly. Really sorry. I am honestly very sorry.”

However, Louise turned a deaf ear to all pleas. The two people, with their jaws clenched, stared at each other. After staring at each other for a while, Saito grabbed his jeans, parka and Derf from the corner of the room and sighed.

“Saito-san! Where are you going to?!”

Surprise was obvious on Siesta’s face.

“Out. I can’t take being treated like this forever.”

Saito turned straight to leave the room. Siesta tried to follow him, but was stopped by Louise.

“Leave him alone.”

“But, but…”

Siesta looked between Louise and Saito and sighed.

After Saito left the room, the first place he went to was Colbert‘s laboratory. It was built next to the Tower of Fire.

Seeing the light inside, Saito felt relief. The teacher could take him in for a night.

“Colbert-san…”

Saito’s hand about to knock froze.

“Hey Jean. It’s time to go to sleep.”

“Miss Zerbst, please return to your own room immediately. This is my laboratory and you are my student.”

“Ara? You are sending me off at such late hour?”

“H-hey, s-stop it, heyyy!”

Saito left Colbert’s laboratory. From the turn of events, it didn’t seem like there was enough room for him to spend a night in there.

Then Saito went to the men's dormitory tower. If it comes to this, I can ask Guiche to take me in, he thought.

When he stood before Guiche’s door and was about to knock…

“Come on, Montmorency! Don’t say never! I belong just for you!”

“Liar. What are those clothes then?”

“It’s a gift for you I got from Tristania.”

“Then why are all the sizes different?! To how many people were you planning to give those?!”

And Montmorency started to beat Guiche rapidly. Sounds of violent struggle came from inside. Guiche is in… trouble too as it seems.

Saito leaned against the wall, thinking of waiting for the turmoil to pass.

But Montmorency didn’t seem to be leaving any time soon. While putting an ear against the wall he heard Montmorency sobbing and Guiche’s voice trying to calm her down.

“I am worried. You are a commander of imperial guards now. Girls won’t leave you alone.”

“Don’t say foolish things. I do not need anyone but you. Now, my Perfume, turn your beautiful face to me.”

The modesty of Montmorency, that she hasn’t shown anyone, left Saito speechless. What, Monmon can be cute too?!

Someone with pink hair was not… muttering, Saito trudged away.

He’ll have to go to the Knight Corps of the Water Spirit hangout in the end. Though it turned into a hangout, originally it was not, as it was built with Saito’s chevalier annuity to store the Zero fighter.

I should have gone here from the beginning, he thought approaching the building. There were lights. Who could be still in there in the middle of the night? If they are boozing, then I will join in as well. When he peeped through the light window, an incredible spectacle played before him.

“Fantastic poem, Malicorne-sama.”

A neat-looking, black haired girl was sitting next to Malicorne! The color of the mantle showed that she was a first year. It was a rather cute girl. Two people were sitting in their seats and composing poems. Malicorne, with a pompous look on his face, pulled out another verse.

“My round belly is a fragment of the moon that illuminates your night…”

Belly huh? He thought but the girl was listening to that absent-mindedly. Seems like spring finally came to Malicorne’s yard too.

Malicorne asked the girl shyly.

“Hey, what do you think about my body?”

What Malicorne? His nervousness passed over Saito too.

For a moment, there was a worry in the girl’s eyes, before she smiled broadly at Malicorne.

“You are rather fat… But I do not mind that.”

Aah… such a nice girl – Saito almost cried.

Though the look was different from hers, she didn’t seem to mind Malicorne at all.

“… ‘Fat’ sounded like a strong word - could you say it again?”

In an excited voice of a man who found a mine of ore, Malicorne asked.

“Eh? F-fat…”

Embarrassed, the girl answered. Malicorne’s cheeks flushed.

“Repeat the words again.”

“F-Fat?”

“M-more. More!”

The girl was about to cry, but repeated the word again.

“Fat.”

“Haah haah. Great. Now stronger. Add some feeling of abuse.”

“Fat!”

“Naaa!”

Spring came indeed. Deciding not to bother them, Saito left the hideout.

Not having any other place to go, Saito went to Alviss Dinning Hall in the tower. When he entered the hall from the back door, a fantastic spectacle rose before him.

The alvisses that rested on the shelf at the wall during the daytime were dancing now. Combined with the moonlight falling through the window, it looked like a dream.

“When the night comes, they dance.”

He remembered Louise’s words from before.

Saito faced the shelf where the alvisses were placed. Since the occupants were dancing, he thought he could use it as a bed.

Saito lay down on the waist-height shelf. Except for the fact that it was hard, it was quite a suitable bed.

He rolled his parka up and placed it under his head as a pillow, trying to get some rest for now, and closed his eyes.

However, the thoughts about tomorrow were not letting him alone.

He could not return to that room again. Saito still recalled the cruelty of those three days. Compared to the amount of love, the amount of anger was too unjust.

Even if she cries or apologizes I won’t return, determined Saito thought.

The more he thought, the angrier he felt. To sleep like this was… Saito heard a strange clattering noise coming from the corner of the shelf.

Is it a rat? He thought while looking. An old vase fell down and something was slightly noisily moving underneath.

Saito reached out and lifted the vase.

“What the?”

Underneath it was a female figurine of an alviss. Because it lay in the corner it was covered in dust.

“My, you are pitch black.”

Saito took the handkerchief out of his pocket, and cleaned the alviss.

“Good now. Hey, go dance with your friends.”

Clattering, bit by bit, the doll turned around a few times before Saito.

“You want to thank me? Interesting.”

After that, giving a bow of gratitude, it dashed to the dining room where a lot of other alvisses were dancing. The figurine joined the circle of dancers and soon became indistinguishable.

The silent dance party continued under the light of two moons, the light that could be called mysterious.

Saito recalled the ball where he danced with Louise.

One year had passed since then… Louise’s character did not change. With a deep sigh, Saito shook his head and closed the eyes again.

Meanwhile, left alone in the room, rolled in sheets, Louise was lying silently in bed.

Tiffania asked him by herself?

Does he really think she would fall for such an obvious lie?

There has to be a limit of how much of a fool he held her to be.

I think you touched her by yourself. Yourself…

Louise firmly bit into the futon.

Chapter 2

The next day...

In the hangout of The Knight Corps of the Water Spirit, the conversation flitted. The content of the conversation ran like this....

“Oi, Guiche! What a wonderful bouquet!”

The one who shouted that was the big Gimli from The Knight Corps of the Water Spirit. Rather than a mage he looked more like a warrior and whenever he laughed ‘Ghahahaha’ the muscles on his shoulders bulged.

“Ah, isn't this nice! Being so popular!”

Saying so Guiche laughed, sinking within the presents from the girls. Being an attractive commander of imperial guards, Guiche was quite popular. And since Guiche was a handsome boy to begin with, his popularity was a given. Oh dear, there was a good reason for Montmorency’s tears after all.

However, it wasn’t just Guiche who was popular.

When you look around – there isn’t a single boy without a present. Not only that, the popularity of The Knight Corps of the Water Spirit rose significantly after the last fight against the dragon knights.

No, there was a sole boy without a present.

In the corner of the room, with his lips placed on an empty wine bottle neck, Saito played a sad tune.

When he got into the fight with Louise, Saito flew out of the room burning with anger… but as time passed, anger was replaced by tiredness and sadness.

Why was she so angry over a silly misunderstanding?

Except for kissing, all other things should not be a reason for such anger.

No, more than that, what does Louise see in me?

When you think about it… sometimes Louise acts like she loves me, but she never puts that into words. Even when her behavior tells, she refuses to mouth it. Surely, there has to be some reason why Louise cannot take another step.

Saito did not know what.

Maybe because familiar relationship is lower than the one between lovers, she refuses to make me her lover…

In other words – I am not Louise’s lover yet.

The more his lips repeated, the more believable it seemed.

Maybe it’s because I am seventeen and thus one year older than her… No, since one year passed, I am eighteen now, right? Well, it doesn’t matter.

Anyway, because Saito convinced himself that Louise doesn’t like him, he became depressed.

The thought that ‘Louise loves me’ was just being caught up in the moment, felt like it pushed him into the bottomless pit. Saito felt like he was sinking in a swamp, in total darkness.

Aah, I’m so jealous of everyone here. Everyone has a sweetheart… except me. I have a selfish mistress… Saito sighed - it felt like there was an empty hole in his chest. Malicorne dressed in a blatant color shirt talked to him.

“Yo Saito. How is this? Does it suit me?”

Saito glanced at Malicorne. It didn’t suit by any means. He saw comedians do something like this in a punishment game on some old television show. Even his plump belly was sticking out through the gap of the shirt.

Still Saito gave a lukewarm smile. He was tired.

“Looks good. Suits you well.”

Malicorne’s nostrils widened and he tapped Saito’s shoulder.

“If you say so, then I will absolutely wear it! Noo, it’s so hard to be popular!”

Haha – Saito laughed dryly. Probably because some students already know that Saito had yet another quarrel with Louise and left the room, they tried to avoid him more, differently from Malicorne just now.

“Good for you, Malicorne! Now, go over there!”

“No, I want Saito to hear it. Listen, Saito. It is unbelievable - I am to escort TWO girls to the current ball! Even this belly is fine. No, in fact it was the girls who said that! The women really think I’m special. No, really, the word ‘special’ is not good enough to describe me. But I have to express somehow! Unbelievable, right? Now, Saito, tell me – which of the girls you find to be better? The neat brunette or the passionate girl with red-hair?”

Saito’s eyes became distant… and he started humming. Giving warning signs, Guiche approached Malicorne and tried to push him away.

“Hey, Malicorne. Saito now…”

Guiche whispered something into Malicorne’s ear. Then Malicorne started laughing loudly.

“What Saito?! You had another fight with Louise again? It can’t be helped, since you are so thick! Maybe I should teach you how to handle a girl? Naha, naha!”

Malicorne slapped Saito on the back while laughing. Guiche’s face turned blue, but Saito just gave abject smile said thanks and looked unaffected.

Not able to stand Saito being like this, Reynald looked at Guiche.

“Hey, Guiche. Say what you want, but Saito is in a bad shape.”

“Hm? Yeah, right…”

Guiche, who was high, had to consider the not so merry condition of his friend. Not having to bear the unhappiness of Knight Corps of the Water Spirit alone, he sympathized with Saito.

“Somehow, I'd like to make him to feel better.”

“There is not much we can do alone. Because this guy’s curse is love.”

Guiche nodded quickly. Meanwhile… the always lively Gimli, whispered to Guiche.

“Commander-dono. I have a good idea.”

“What is it?”

Wondering Guiche looked at Gimli’s face.

Normally, anything but ‘good idea’ comes to this fellows mind. Could it be that during the fight with dragon knights, the spell hit him straight into the head?

“Who can help a man who has troubles with a woman?”

Guiche answered in an instant. “A woman.”

“Exactly. A woman can comfort a man wounded by another woman… we, men, are sad creatures.”

“What are you suggesting?”

Urged by Guiche, Gimli narrowed his lids. This made him look unusually fiendish.

“You know that large indoors bath? Currently boys and girls sections are separated.”

“Right. Back in our grandparents' days there was no separation between women and men bathing.”

Back in those days, bathing together was a symbol of equality. But you had to wear swimsuits like in Saito’s world.

However, since Romalia’s orders became severe, that custom was forbidden for a religious reason. Since Guiche was born that custom was gone already, and he carried a deep grudge for that. It was changed so that after the bath one had to give bedtime prayers.

The bath in the present Tristain Academy of Magic, was a tower built under the ground, with a huge pool made from white marble. It had two similar passages – one for women and another for men.

“And what does it have to do with the bath?”

“How about using the women's bath as a theater? More so, nothing else would inspire man more. Right?”

Guiche’s eyes opened wide.

“Peeping into girls bath?!”

Gimli pressed his palm against Guiche’s mouth.

Following the insolent remark, boys from the Knight Corps started to gather around.

“Puaah!” When Guiche’s mouth was free he exhaled loudly, his face - crimson red.

“D-d-d-don’t you think it’s shameful for a noble?! To peep at girls bathing! Was there anything more shameful than this before? No, there was not!”

“But as a member you cannot overlook the falling of your troop’s morale. Moreover honestly, wouldn’t you like to have a peek? Nono! This is serious! ‘Frigg’s dance ball’ will take place soon. Which girl will you escort? There is nothing more important for a noble than this! And with them wearing clothes you will not be able to tell which girl is most excellent in dancing. You should properly examine all possibilities to decide with which girl you want to dance with. No, it's judging whether you should dance. One could say it is a noble’s obligation!”

Though the reasoning behind it was confusing, Guiche could slowly see a point in it. Well, it was a tempting proposal to begin with. Guiche started trembling.

“Can’t go! We can’t go! Girls bath is severely protected by spells!”

“Heeeh, is that so?”

Gimli gave a composed answer. Guiche looked like he was about to cry.

“It pains me to say, but the first time I entered the academy I investigated this. The girl’s bath takes pride in being defended like a fortress! Though one can do nothing but approach land route to peep into the structure of a half underground… firstly, you are denied to come closer by a Golem. And even if you bypass that, there are still difficulties remaining! There are magical glass windows! You can’t touch them! And you cannot peep from there as you cannot get a full view! To make the matters worse, because it has a strong ‘immobilization’ spell it makes alchemy helpless! Moreover, because it is equipped with magic detection devices, one cannot use spells!”

Seems like ideas like ‘Noble's pride’ was completely blown out of the minds, and nobody worried about it now. Everyone was occupied with one problem.

“Is it possible to peep?”

“It’s a dead end. For a mage it is useless!”

Guiche muttered in a tearful voice and cross-legged plumped down on the floor.

Between members regretful “Damn!” “What to do!” “It’s too much of a risk!” spread.

Gimli tapped his commander’s shoulder.

“Now, if the plans of the bath are same as old plans of the tower, then nobles are blessed with honorable sight.”

Guiche’s eyes sparkled.

“C-can’t be…”

“Lucky nobles.”

Everyone let out a loud ‘Uwoooo” so that windows almost cracked.

“The other day, when I went to the library… I examined the history of the school. The Tristain Academy of Magic takes pride in a long history. In other words, the shelf of the academy’s record books is very long too. What if during the centuries, there is a part that no one touched. When searching there… I found such copy. This paper.”

All members, holding their breaths stared at the paper pulled out by Gimli. On that parchment old plans of the tower were shown. The number of comments were written in faded black ink.

“How is this? The part of "Immobilization" placed on this tower is thoroughly recorded. Perhaps, the engineer who undertook the design or someone who saw it, copied it for keeping. However, it is enough for our plans.”

Gimli showed a fearless smile.

Guiche trembled.

“Once I become a general… I will give you a reward.”

Other members too, one after another, were trembling from excitement – one tearfully looked up into the sky, another grasped the fists and nodded many times..

Meanwhile, one boy, blushing furiously, said.

“Everyone! Aren’t you nobles everyone! Don’t you feel shame?!”

It was Reynald. As he always was a serious boy, he could not permit such a plan. Everybody looked embarrassed at each other. However, Malicorne said looking seriously at Reynald.

“We are nobles. Not to mention Imperial Guards. We are always ready to throw our lives away for the motherland and the Queen. Death is always next to us. Death is our friend, our second half.”

“That’s right! And for such nobles like us… to do peeping…”

“Well now, how can we die without knowing if Tiffania’s things are real or not?”

Facing Reynald, Malicorne continued in a serious tone.

“I can not.”

Reynald seemed to be fighting with himself for a while. But… not able to endure it anymore, kneeled down on one knee. Reynald squeezed the words out of his throat.

“I-I want to check it…”

Malicorne smiled like a saint, and stretched out his hand for kneeling Reynald.

“Let’s go. To our battlefield.”

Everyone crawled through the hole that Guiche‘s Verdandi dug. Following right behind the mole – commander Guiche himself. Gimli followed behind him. Then Malicorne. Saito at the end of the line. Since he was depressed, he considered it to be someone else‘s affair, not understanding where he is going and what for.

One said “I’ll show you something good” and Saito came along.

“The stone walls underneath do not have the ‘Immobilization’ spell placed under them. As far as the plan goes. You are sure right?.”

In an anxious voice Guiche asked Gimli, crawling behind him. Within the darkness, Gimli nodded.

“Yeah. In that plan, design chief of the time, marked the area permitted for the Earl of Elmon. Seems to be genuine. If you think about it, the underground was a blind spot! Indeed, the bath is a half-way underground structure. They only paid attention to the window and not the wall buried under the ground. They protected the head but not the buttocks, just like every living thing.”

The digging of Verdandi stopped and it turned around.

(Mumble)

Guiche’s face grew tensed. They seemed to have hit the wall. Then…

“Gentlemen, we reached our destination.”

Everyone let out the sigh of admiration.

“Seems like the earth Golem can sense underground. So keep quiet.”

Guiche lightly waved a wand and a magic light appeared on the very tip. The hazy light enlightened the hole that Verdandi dug.

There, where Verdandi’s nose pointed, they could see the grey stone of the wall.

“Verdandi, please make a hole through this wall, so that every member could fit.”

In the blink of an eye, Verdandi satisfied Guiche’s demand.

Meanwhile, the lovely voices of unsuspecting young maidens could be heard behind the wall.

The bathtub was roughly 25 mails in width and around 15 mails in length. So that all the schoolgirls of the academy could fit in together. Like in noble’s bathhouse, the hot water was mixed with perfume.

Louise placing her back against an arc wall, was soaking in the tub. She was casually swaying her slender arms and legs under water, watching the shivering surface of the water.

Tensed, she looked around. After seeing a familiar face she relaxed again. Kirche, as always showing off her body, sat crossing her legs on the bench, right under the stream coming from the wall.

Next to her, Tabitha who was reading book and brought a cane despite the baths. One could wonder why she always brought her cane with her, but considering her upbringings it was not that surprising. The way her life was, one could never know when and where she could be attacked by an enemy. Though she could be more relaxed now, she was still bringing the cane out of habit.

In front of the mirror, Montmorency was shamefully lifting her chest. Removing the ribbon, she let her hair fall freely across her back, making her look younger. Looking at her chest, she pouted unimpressed. Nothing wrong with that. I am better anyway.

Now, when Louise watched that view before her, her thoughts subconsciously brought her back to Saito again.

When she woke this morning, Saito was not besides her.

Just this thing alone was enough to depress Louise a lot. After their heated quarrel he left and did not return this morning. Though she could understand why, her feelings still sank nevertheless. Certainly she was too angry, she thought.

For three days, making him write a remorse sentence in only underwear and having him read it repeatedly – she honestly went overboard this time.

But… she just could not simply forgive.

She was prepared, going for a stroll every night… thus she could not forgive Saito, who did not notice it at all.

And when she went to infirmary worried, she found Saito groping Tiffania’s breasts – she could not forgive that.

Excited cheers from the entrance of the bath echoed, Louise lifted her face. There stood the blond, long-eared elf with massive breasts, shyly hiding her body behind the cloth.

However, the chest was just too large.

The size that peeked through the towel, jumped into Louise’s eyes. The size of the chest was unbelievable.

Worried Tiffania looked around, before seeing Louise staring at her and then smiled. A friend who she could rely on could make her more at ease.

But now, she could not tell such a thing to Tiffania. When she looked at that fairy like figure… she herself felt awfully tiny and inferior being.

Sulkily she submerged her half of her face into the water, blowing small bubbles through her mouth, while Tiffania timidly approached Louise.

“Umm, can I sit beside you?”

“Hot water everywhere anyway, your choice.”

Inadvertently, speaking harshly, Louise was embarrassed. Louise again buried her face under the water, blowing bubbles.

Tiffania scooped the hot water with her palm and looked at it weirdly. Then hesitantly opened her mouth to speak.

“Such a wide bath. I am surprised. The bath that we were using was greatly different.”

“What kind of bath did you use?”

“A steam bath… the bricks were laid out together, like the kitchen range, then sprinkled some water on the heated stone and bathed in the steam. I was bathing in the nearby fountain during summer.”

That’s why Tiffania smiled seeing such a great bath for the first time.

“I really want to thank you.”

Tiffania said abruptly.

“Eh?”

“To Saito and Louise… everyone who came to meet me. Her Majesty Henrietta and people of Tristain… I am grateful to everyone.”

“Why?”

“Because if it were not for everyone I would have never seen such great things. The outside world is wonderful. Like I could not even imagine for such a bath to exist.”

Tiffania lifted both her arms and looked around.

“…Even though bad things happen to you?”

Louise asked recalling the incident with Beatrice.

“It can’t be helped. I have such ears.”

Tiffania laughed touching her ears.

“And thus I could not take a bath with everyone. Secretly at night, when no one was around I used the opportunity. But now I am not scared anymore. I can show them proudly. Due to that accident.”

Louise looked at Tiffania giving a dazzling smile and with a slight sadness in her voice said.

“You are dangerous not only because of Elf blood. You are a “User”. At any moment, one cannot know how this power will be used.”

“You see Louise, there is no need to worry. You use your power by your will, so I will do with mine.”

Louise was touched by Tiffania’s carefree attitude.

And I feel like I am getting smaller and smaller, not only the chest, but my whole existence is small, I always felt tiny. Tiffania was allowed to grow up without interference.

On the other hand, as I grew up I was always bound by many things.

Tradition.

Pride.

Honor.

Those things that determine my behavior before myself. Because of that my and Saito’s opinions cross so much.

Some students saw Tiffania soaking in hot water and sighed. Tiffania looked like a fairy from one of the books she had read as a child, just as if she appeared straight out of the illustrations. While her chest, visible under the hot water… seeing her child-like body, the volume of difference was making Louise sad.

It’s only natural that Saito wanted to touch her.

It wasn’t just the body

Though Tiffania had a noble’s blood, she grew up as a commoner, thus she and Saito from another world could understand each other better…

There is nothing I could win against Tiffania. Such inferiority complex wrapped Louise.

“Hey, Tiffania.”

“Call me Tifa.”

“Tifa, Umm, forgive Saito.”

“Eh?”

“He, umm, is a helpless pervert, but he is not a bad person. You probably were surprised from having your chest groped all of a sudden… but he really didn’t mean any harm. I think his hand went out of control. I apologize for him as his mistress.”

Tiffania gave Louise, who suddenly started apologizing, a confused look. Then suddenly her face dyed red.

“I-it’s different. I asked him myself.”

Louise’s eyes opened wide.

“I… thought that not only my ears… but also my chest is weird. Because it is too big, no matter how you look at it.”

When other people could use the sentence as an ironic one, Tiffania was honestly wondering about it.

“Therefore I asked Saito to make sure.”

“Oh, didn’t you find it strange asking such a thing from a guy?”

With a dumbfounded look on her face, Louise asked. Then Tiffania blushed.

“T-true. I was thinking so myself.”

Louise was shocked. Tiffania’s naiveté was beyond Louise’s imagination. Maybe not as badly as a child’s, but the gap was rather significant still.

“Because Saito was first friend of the same age group… he did not feel as much as a boy. But if for example you were to become his girlfriend, you cannot allow that…”

Dejected Tiffania hugged her knees. Her breasts rose from the water just like two islands.

“It’s no good once you are touched. Such kind of thing.”

Louise coldly stared at Tiffania’s chest. Because her heart was wounded, she could not stop staring.

“Sorry, Louise… You are Saito’s lover.”

When Tiffania said that, Louise jumped up with a gush.

“I’m not his l-l-l-lover!”

Blushing violently, Louise trembled. Seeing Louise like this, Tiffania too dyed in red.

“L-Louise… umm…what are you doing? You are in a plain view….”

Louise face crimsoned even more. Indeed when she stood up her bath towel fell off and now she was standing completely naked before Tiffania. Louise sank herself in the hot water again.

While being embarrassed, thoughts about Saito crossed her mind again.

What Saito said was true.

Yet I… with my head filled with inferiority complex towards Tiffania, could not believe his words…

To that degree, Saito was fighting for himself…

Louise became very depressed. What to do if Saito won’t return.

Even so, if it happens, it’s only natural. She did not believe his words and just treated him cruelly.

Louise started shaking.

“What’s wrong? Are you cold?”

Worried Tiffania asked.

“I am not.”

Answered Louise. Tiffania leaned closer and her unbelievable chest and waist filled Louise's eyes again. If there were ten boys… between me and Tiffania, all ten of them would likely still choose Tiffania.

Though we are both Void users… I wonder why we are so different.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the bathroom wall, the men's plan was about to be completed.

Within the tunnel which Verdandi dug, boys from The Knight Corps of the Water Spirit lined up in a row, side by side lying on their bellies, all had their powers concentrated on the wand. And were chanting a spell of their lifetime.

“Alchemy”

A basic spell of earth element.

To make twenty small holes in the thick stone wall of the bathtub.

Tiny holes.

Diameter of one Santo.

All Knight boys concentrated to control the power of alchemy. So that they would not be exposed to the ‘Detection’ and the ‘Immobilization’ in the wall above.

Even though its effect didn’t reach under ground, it didn’t mean it cannot detect by a chance either. It would not only mean their plan failing, but also ruin for them as well.

That’s why such careful control of ‘Alchemy’ was demanded. Power should not be too strong. But not too weak either, to keep a hole in the solid stone wall.

It was tough and consumed a massive amount of willpower. A drop of sweat fell from one boys face and he coughed. Then he shook his head mortified.

“No good. I am at the limit. I cannot endure such delicate chant anymore…”

The boy next, scolded his companion.

“What are you saying? Our glorious moment soon will be here. Do you really want to lose in here?!”

He grasped his shoulder and cried out from pain.

“Just imagine! Imagine with your heroic mind! The wonderland that lies behind this wall! The Valhalla where soldiers souls are healed! A lot of holy women and legendary fairies wait for us on the other side of this wall! The glory is right here! Do not give up now!”

With tears in his eyes the boy nodded, picked up his wand and started chanting again.

Between the spells all Knights shouted in unison.

“Imagine the Valhalla!”

Saito watched his colleagues dumbfounded. He had no idea what was happening. Why did these guys go under ground and try so hard to make holes in the wall? Malicorne looked darkly behind, at Saito and gave a thumb down.

“Wait a moment, sub-commander. I’ll let you worship the spring of the world!”

Apparently the holes were directing to the ‘spring’. Just what kind of spring that was – Saito thought warily.

And why they keep on chanting the ‘alchemy’?

In a dark hole, the passage of time was hard to understand. It could be five minutes, or even one hour. No, it could be even longer.

Anyway, the efforts of The Knight Corps of the Water Spirit, in a moment came to fruition..

The darkness inside… was lit by the light pouting through the small hole that opened.

Though someone tried to shout from joy, someone else just held his mouth shut. Since opening the holes, loud noises were prohibited.

One after another small holes opened up.

“…can you see the holes from the other side?”

Concerned, Guiche asked. Gimli nodded.

“…unless something unusual happens, it should be ok. As you may know, the bathroom wall is decorated by the colored, curved sculptures. It is of a similar design as the men's bath, so the holes should be of this pattern.”

Guiche nodded.

“You know, I’m thinking about naming this hole a ‘Gimli fort’ The impenetrable fortress has been defeated – a wonderful fort. May your wonderful achievements be honored for ever.”

They both embraced each other.

Malicorne poked Guiche.

“A very level-headed commanding, commander. It was our first campaign.”

“O-of course.”

“G-glorious first lunge?”

“I’ve decided. It should be Saito here.”

Guiche pointed at Saito who was on his knees behind them.

“Huh? Me?”

Silent applause rang.

“Saito, I’m envious.”

“Do it well.”

Energetic voices came. What on earth is happening? Why are these fellows… giving their all for these small holes in the stone wall? For the light to come in? He could not understand the reason.

However because he was called, Saito crawling faced Guiche. Then Saito moved closer and brought his face to the hole.

“Show the spirit of men, Saito.”

“Y-yeah…”

The first thing he saw was… steam.

Cloud of steam… and steam across a white wall.

Where? Here?

The next moment, something skin-colored passed.

“Eh? Could it be a bath?”

The moment he muttered in an innocent tone, his mouth was pressed shut.

“Sh! You voice is too loud!”

“Y-you… could it possibly be the girl's bath?..”

“Because we wanted to cheer you up.”

“S-stupid. I won't be happy from peeping… hu...”

At that moment air was knocked out of Saito’s lungs. On the other end of the hole was paradise. Naked girls were taking their bath comfortably.

The only barrier was towels that girls wore like clothes, wrapped up around their bodies when they walked. They still seemed to be reluctant to get completely naked even around other girls. Well… the towels could roll down to the waist anyway – Saito thought.

“T-Tifa?”

Beyond the steam, on the other side of girls bath, Tiffania was facing Saito. Next to her was Louise. Both of them were using the hot water from the wall. He could not see down their breasts due to the steamy water surface.

The moment when Saito uttered that name, all knight corps rushed to the hole.

All rights and wrongs were in an instant forgotten when Saito watched the scene before him. Louise and Tiffania were friendly sitting side by side.

Except for clothes that didn’t cover much, Saito has never seen Louise completely naked before. He did see her underwear a lot, though…

When he was helping Louise to get dressed, she was wearing her underwear already.

The girl he loves was wearing nothing but a hot water steams. All morals were blown off.

But Tiffania.

Any reasons were not needed. Naked Tiffania could be described by a single word – ‘Absolute’. It was a spell that no man could resist.

Saito was glued to this theater play.

Every Tiffania’s word and act burned deep into Saito’s mind. He saw the top of her bust. A small hill slowly pushed out of the hot water surface.

When Tiffania pulled her knees together, the hill rose even more.

Ho-hoa-hoaaaa… every member of The Knight Corps of the Water Spirit found it difficult to breathe.

At that moment Saito, not only saw that spectacle but also recalled that feeling.

Everybody looked.

Though nearside Louise was floating on the water, wearing nothing at all, no one bothered to look at her…

Tiffania saw something and whispered to Louise. The next moment, Louise pushed her body under the water.

Saito did not understand what was the meaning behind Louise’s actions. Its like she was frustrated about something that had been said. Like…

Louise was about to stand up!

For a few seconds in his dizziness, Saito waited and then….

“Look over hereeeeeeeeee.”

Screaming Saito started to roll from left and right.

“W-what is it?!”

“Stop it, hey!”

The boys who lay on their stomachs, lined up shifted their eyes from the spy hole. That moment Louise stood up.

Annoyed by her inferiority complex, Louise kicked the water...

The girls who were bathing by the other wall, for some reason started to stir.

“Now, did you hear a boys voice?”

“I heard it!”

Tiffania’s face clouded with worry.

“Who is it?”

“Maybe someone from Gallia?”

However, apparently, it seemed to have been different. Montmorency who was washing her body, noticed a hole made in a wall.

“Hey guys! A hole opened in a wall!”

Though it was hard to see with all the steam, but it seemed like in a thick wall under the window small holes appeared with around one mail space between them.

And then from the other side of the wall a voice echoed… like from far away.

Schoolgirls who had been taking a bath shouted together.

“Peeping!”

Montmorency wrapped a towel around her body and ran out shouting.

“Hurry up! Wands!”

“There's a peeping tom” girls shouted loudly while running to grab their clothes.

“Peeping in this Academy of Magic?! What daredevils!”

“Everyone! Do not let them escape!”

Louise and Tiffania looked at each other and ran out too.

Like rats from poisoned nest, The Knight Corps of the Water Spirit were running away in a haste. The frantically crawled to the exit of the tunnel. There were bushes next to the fire tower.

“Gentlemen! If we stay like this together, they will catch us all at once! Spread out!”

The schoolgirls were reacting quickly – their angry shouts echoed in the courtyard already.

“Which way?”

“I heard a voice over there!”

The boys, with abrupt nods to each other, scattered around

At that time, Saito, who was lagging behind, was still in the hole. Because, once other boys with light spells left, the tunnel became pitch dark.

When he somehow found his way to the entrance, it was already too late.

“They went through this hole!”

“Is there still anyone inside?”

The entrance was completely surrounded by the enraged schoolgirls.

Saito sighed.

Aah, I will be the only one held responsible and probably will be beaten to a pulp…

Someone, using the light spell, entered the tunnel…

Then earth and sand around Saito were blown off.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaa!”

Girls screams soared.

Saito’s body, together with sand and pieces of earth were sucked in by a tornado… and Saito’s body was thrown into the air.

“Uwaaaaaaaa! What is this?!”

The moment Saito thought he was about to crash into the ground, he was caught by something. A shadow chanted spell.

“Window. Open up.”

The lock of the tower window was unlocked and the window was opened by ‘Psychokinesis’.

Saito’s falling direction was changed and the shadow caught him in its arms.

It was alviss dinning hall.

The shadow pulled Saito behind the pillar.

With much effort, after his eyes became accustomed to darkness, the outline of the person who secretly pulled him behind the pillar and pressed close against him became clear.

“Tabitha?”

The first thing that caught his eye was Tabitha’s blue hair.

“Shh. Close your eyes.”

Tabitha muttered and for some reason pushed her cane in front of Saito, blocking his view.

“W-why…”

He said and felt that his lids suddenly became very heavy.

“I am protecting you. Whatever the situation is.”

Surprisingly blunt answer came.

“B-but… We peeped…”

“I do not care about the situation.”

Tabitha said plainly. It seemed that even though he peeped Tabitha was still on Saito’s side. Perhaps, she recognized Saito’s yell and correctly decided who was the last one left in the hole and helped him out. Indeed, a formidable warrior’s intuition.

“Thank you.”

Saito said in an emotional voice.

Despite peeping during the bathing… Tabitha still said that she will help him. He was moved by that.

“…Thank you. But why I am not allowed to open my eyes?”

“Because.”

“Why? Would something wrong happen if I were to open them?”

“Certainly.”

What on earth could that be?

“You avoid telling me. It makes me feel insecure.”

Tabitha said silently.

“I am not dressed.”

“Huh?”

Saito’s body suddenly grew tensed. Then, Tabitha’s body which now pressed tightly against me was…

“Naked?”

“Right.”

Tabitha said.

“W-why?!”

“There was no time to get dressed.”

Then… pursuers entered the room.

“How many people did you catch?”

“Approximately half. Surprisingly it was the members of The Knight Corps of the Water Spirit.”

Some boys apparently got caught. From the distance a few more screams echoed.

“…I yield!!!”

Then sounds of spells. And then sound of something heavy collapsing followed. And then screams again. And pleading voices. Saito trembled in the dark. If I get caught too… I won’t be able to get away with this. That he knew nothing about the plan until Saito went with them was a poor excuse.

The door of the dining room opened and the girls footsteps approached. Pursuers finally reached here as well.

Tabitha pressed Saito’s body firmly against the wall. The tiny body of Tabitha snuggled up to him, her bust rubbing against him. Behind his parka, Tabitha was in her birthday suit. Imagining Tabitha’s young body, Saito felt strangely excited.

Saito, if you're excited at Tabitha's body, you're not human anymore.

No, really?

Though Tabitha’s figure is very childish still, she is only two years younger than me.

Then… it is a safe zone?

Safe or not, such judgment is impure.

The girls got closer to the Saito behind the pillar. Saito’s pulse quickened. As if trying to calm him down, Tabitha placed her palm against his chest. But this, in addition to his thoughts, only made his heart race faster… Saito opened his mouth trying to catch his breath like a goldfish.

One girl came behind the pillar. Saito moved his face away from Tabitha’s cane but so that Tabitha would not be in his sight. The face lit by the moonlight belonged to Montmorency. Monmon, do not come here… forgive me… Saito prayed silently.

The prayer reached the heaven.

Outside a weak Guiche’s cry could be heard.

Seems like he was caught as well.

“…It was a sudden impulse”

Montmorency’s eyebrows lifted.

“I knew it.”

With a brutal smile of a person ready to kill on her lips, Montmorency ran out. The rest of the girls followed her.

“That was dangerous… n?”

When he sighed in relief, Saito felt something move behind him.

It was a sound of something coming closer. Saito’s head cooled off rapidly.

“…Tabitha, did you hear that sound?”

“Un.”

For some reason Tabitha’s voice trembled.

“What sound that could be?”

“Do not know.”

To relax the atmosphere, Saito made a joke with overly light voice.

“Maybe some kind of ghost, huh?”

“Stop it.”

Tabitha suddenly clung to Saito. On his chest and belly Saito could feel the slender lines of Tabitha’s body which occupied his thoughts.

Bit by bit, Tabitha started to tremble.

“C-could it be that you are scared of ghosts?”

Tabitha gave a small nod. Saito was surprised to see weakness in Tabitha. She was cute – he had an irresistible thought.

God-sama… would I be better off dead?

Then his shoulder was tapped.

Obviously not human. Saito thought.

“S-something hit my shoulder.”

Tabitha seemed to loose her strength. Her body became stiff as she fully leaned against Saito for support.

“T-Tabitha.”

Saito’s eyes opened. The first thing that entered his vision was the fainted Tabitha’s slender, white back. A gentle curve leading to the hips. Naked female back was surprisingly attractive and Saito had to force himself to tear his eyes away.

What the hell was that sound just now, he looked around…

A surprising thing was in there.

“You… you are the alviss from yesterday, right?”

The last night, when Saito was spending a night in the dining hall, he helped a female alviss that was trapped under the vase.

The alviss bowed many times. Seems like it was it’s way of expressing gratitude towards Saito.

“No, it’s alright… I helped you because I wanted to.”

Alviss disappeared in the dark again.

Because Tabitha’s naked situation had to be changed, Saito took off his parka and placed it on Tabitha’s body.

The couple’s eyes avoided looking at each other, as she lay down behind the pillar while he, as if guarding, sat down in front.

The Alviss dance party in the moonlight began.

Surrounded by the moonlight, the Alviss danced silently.

Such a fantastic spectacle brought back the memories in Saito's mind, on the ball in the past.

The one that happened one year ago.

Indeed, it was Frigg’s ball wasn’t it?

That day, when Saito was bored and alone, Louise came into the veranda. Dressed in a dazzling white dress, her hair tied in a pink bundle on her head, Louise looked like a beautiful goddess.

The girl alviss approached Saito, who was emerged in his past memories, again.

The alviss, as if asking Saito for a dance, bowed.

Saito smiled.

“You are going to take care of me? Haha, you are very kind… But my size differs from yours too much. Listen, find a companion to dance with among your friends.”

After a while, alviss turned from Saito, and disappeared into the crown of her dancing friends.

Louise too, asked me for a dance like this…

Blushing Louise was really cute back then.

“May I have this dance, sir?”

She said.

When you think about it, those were the words that made me fall in love with Louise.

And, one year later, those feelings still haven’t changed.

The proud, selfish, short-tempered mistress… but sometimes, Louise's sweet gestures spoke volumes to Saito.

Friendship with Guiche and Malicorne, the people he was indebted to take care of - various reasons were stopping Saito from leaving this world…

All in all, the strongest bonds he had, from the whole Halkeginia, were with Louise.

And when she asked Saito for a dance, Louise’s profile was glowing with embarrassment, almost like she was mad at him.

Until now, for this very profile, Saito leaped into various death jaws.

And yet, blinded by the temporary fury, I left Louise’s room.

Really… after all this time, we cannot fall apart just like this.

And when he hugged his knees thinking what to do…

“Saito.”

Having his name called, Saito stood up.

“Is that you? Come out. Just now I saw the moonlight with your eyes.”

“Louise…”

Accepting his fate, Saito pushed his body out of the shadow of the pillar.

Louise, who changed her clothes, was standing there and staring at Saito. It was this look of Louise’s eyes that made Saito to give up. Like Guiche, he might as well receive his punishment from Louise.

Even though he never intended to peep…

“Were you in that hole as well?”

In a tired voice Saito answered.

“Yeah. Do with me as you please. It’s pointless to run away and hide.”

However Louise pushed behind Saito’s shoulder, and faced the darkness.

“Louise?”

Standing alone, Louise said while looking away.

“If you have anything to say – then say so.”

Saito, with resignation on his face, explained the circumstances.

“They said they were taking me to the place to lift my spirits… and it turned out to be the girls bath. But honestly I didn’t notice until I had a peek.”

Louise said no word.

“Haha… even I do not believe it… But it’s alright – you would not believe me anyway. Whatever I would say…”

“I believe.”

Louise said, determination in her voice.

“Heh?”

Saito muttered at a loss.

“I hate it. Really, I hate it. I thought you were lying before, and was angry because how unbelievable it was. I…”

Louise said angrily.

For a moment he was doubtful. With a skeptical expression on his face, Saito opened his mouth.

“You are saying you trust me?”

“I do.”

Louise said.

Then Louise nodded, shocking Saito. Even if whole world shakes, it hardly can change the stubborn Louise, Saito thought.

“Therefore I do not think you were at a fault.”

“Me?”

Louise glared up at Saito with a scowl.

“Yes, you, so do not break my trust…”

Louise said emotionally.

It was mortifying. And sad. Though Saito left the room less than a day ago, she could not bear the thought of not being around him ever again.

With various feelings battling inside her, her eyes became wet with tears.

Louise hit Saito’s warm chest.

“Why are you always so mean? Why am I always so mad? Why? I hate it… waaah.”

Louise buried her face into his chest and burst into tears.

Helpless against crying like this, Saito was at a loss. He felt bad for being the reason for her tears.

When one thinks about it, I was as wrong as Louise.

Louise may still be a child… but she could at least admit her mistake just fine.

“I am sorry.”

“… Stop it. It is pointless now.”

Louise rubbed her eyes.

Not knowing what to do, Saito placed his palm on top of Louise’s head and patted her peach colored hair. Though Louise continued to cry for a while… after a few moments she stopped and glared at Saito, while pouting.

“What’s wrong?”

“We reconciled?”

“Yeah…”

Saito nodded.

“Wrong. If Saito doesn’t say it - it’s not good.”

“Lets make up. Wha-”

Saito held out his hand, but Louise brushed it away.

“Your apply for reconciliation was insufficient. More.”

“In that case, what do you want me to do?”

Louise murmured angrily.

“Kiss me.”

That moment, when Louise turned her face away angrily, she looked dazzling cute. Hesitantly, Saito’s trembling fingers touched Louise’s cheek. Louise’s eyelashes trembled as she slowly opened her mouth.

Pursing her lips, Louise slightly opened her eyes before closing them shut again, feeling his lips brush against hers.

After dozen of long moments, when their lips finally separated again, Louise started to complain again. Mainly, the center of her ramblings, was Saito’s behavior. Not really following her, Saito continued to nod his head. Finally, after a deep sight, Louise asked Saito.

“Tell me the truth.”

“Yeah?”

“After all, you like a girl like Tiffania more, right? You don’t like my child-like body…”

Saito looked deep into Louise’s eyes and said clearly.

“Because I am a man… I cannot deny that I do feel attraction. This is a basic instinct. But you…”

Looking straight into Louise’ eyes, Saito said.

“But you I love, Louise. No… more like I totally lost my head over you.”

That moment, Louise’s cheeks dyed scarlet.

“R-really?”

“Yeah.”

Saito said with a straight face. And gave a refreshing smile.

“So, sooooo…”

Bashfully, Louise’s slender fingers played with the neckline of her shirt. This gesture, for some reason, made Saito’s heart pound madly.

“’So’, what? ‘So’, what?”

Saito sucked in breath as Louise sidled up to him.

Louise took a deep breath. Then she looked up Saito into the eyes. Her cheeks burning red.

At that moment, a small shadow appeared from behind Saito’s back. And that small figures hands clung to Saito’s back.

“… scary.”

In a weak voice, figure muttered. That was… Tabitha, naked as the day she was born. Seems like she was still half-asleep and had a far-away look on her face.

Just because his parka fell – in one moment, hope turned into despair for Saito.

Louise’s eyes moved between the girl with short blue hair, the parka on the floor and Saito.

Every time, Louise’s sweet expression turned more and more grim.

Wide eyed, her shoulders, back, head and legs… started to tremble.

“It’s a misunderstanding.”

Saito said in a resigned voice.

“Hee, heeeeeh…. Sosososoooo…. I-I-I-I seee…. You really like child-like girls like me, huh?”

“Misunderstanding!”

Louise began to utter an incantation. Trying to protect Tabitha from harm, Saito tried to pull her away, but the still dreamy and scared Tabitha, clung to Saito like a child.

“A flaaaaaaaaaat! Giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirl! Like meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

The power of Louise’s spell was cracking in the air.

Haha, it may be my true fate to begin with.

With a wry smile, Saito stretched out his arms, accepting his fate.

Story 3: Right to Use Saito for a Day

Chapter 1

Tristania, the capital city of Tristain.

In the ‘Charming Faeries Inn’ facing Chicton Street, two black-haired girls were chatting.

“Hey Siesta, isn’t it about time you make Saito yours?”

The question was posed by Jessica, a hostess of the Charming Faeries Inn. Being asked that by her cousin, Siesta blushed.

Yesterday, Siesta had stopped by the Charming Faeries Inn to bring some springtime vegetables from her parent’s home. Scarron, who ran the bar, was Siesta’s uncle from her mother’s side.

“Making him mine… that way of putting it is bad, Jessica. First of all, Saito-san is not that kind of person to me. He is bound to me as my master."

Siesta was not wearing her usual maid attire from the magic academy. Her body wrapped in a light-green, one piece and wearing a straw hat with a white ribbon, Siesta fidgeted around embarrassedly.

“What are you saying? If he saw the Siesta back in Albion, it would become clear. Anyways, it looks like that’s not the case yet.”

Jessica grinned as she spoke.

“Really, I can’t believe that you are my cousin, seeing that you can’t even make the one guy you like turn towards you.”

Siesta gazed forward with a troubled look. Her cousin, being only a year younger, was by far the veteran, compared with herself, when it came to love issues.

“…but Saito-san already has someone he likes.”

Siesta said while fidgeting. In front of her relatives, her usual boldness was overshadowed by a neat and proper mannerism.

“Louise, right?”

Siesta’s eyebrows shot up. With a slightly stiff expression, Siesta drank her tea. Jessica stared up and down at Siesta’s present state.

“I’m not saying this as a favor to my cousin, but you haven’t lost yet.”

Having it said like that, a grin floated on Siesta’s face.

“But… Miss Vallière and Saito-san have a really strong bond connecting them together… it’s alright.”

“What’s alright?”

“Me being second place…”

At that statement, Jessica’s eyes widened.

“Wait a minute! Sie Sie! What are you saying?!”

“Sie?”

“That kind of thing is a no-no! Ahhhhh! What did this turn into! To think that my cousin turned out to be such a loser… it’s shameful!”

As if it were her that was in Siesta’s situation, Jessica stomped around with frustration.

“But, I have been fairly bold…, and uh… nevermind.”

Although she wanted to get it across that she was not a loser, Siesta started to blush with embarrassment. Although Siesta had been trying hard to be bold, her original personality was more restrained. Jessica got right in her face at that moment.

“Though Louise is an acquaintance, I am going to help you out today. You are my precious cousin, after all.”

“O-Ok…”

Siesta nodded, being completely drawn into her pace. Coming by just to bring some veggies, she didn’t think that she would be lectured like this.

“Well, Saito is certainly absent-minded and has a one-track mind… and he jokes around and meddles in other’s business. Still, you want him that much…”

At that time, Siesta shot a glare at her.

“Jessica?”

Leaning over, Siesta pinched her cousin’s ear.

“It-It was a joke! A joke!”

“You’re the one that I trust the least.”

Being glared at by such an expression, Jessica stuck her tongue out.

“But at that time, I didn’t know that you two were acquainted. Well, I said that I would cooperate with you now, so don’t get so angry.”

Jessica said this as she left and returned with something.

“What is this?”

It was a purple bottle in the shape of a heart. In any case, it looked suspicious.

“Yesterday, some idiot, noble customer said that he would let me take this. It looked suspicious, so when I asked him, he said it was a love potion. I laughed at that.”

“Ehhhh! That’s illegal, isn’t it!”

As Siesta shouted out, Jessica reached over and clamped a hand over her mouth.

“Shh! Don’t shout! In any case, this love potion is special. It only works for one day, so you don’t have to worry about being found out. But, isn’t one day enough to establish him as yours?”

Jessica’s teasing tone made Siesta's cheeks red.

“But… this kind of thing is unfair, after all.”

“It’s fine! You are competing with a mage, so you can’t say that using a potion isn’t fair. Don’t hold back and use it.”

Jessica slipped the love potion into Siesta’s bag.

The next evening…

Arriving back at Louise’s room at the Academy of Magic, Siesta was sitting at the desk with her elbows propped on it and staring intently at the love potion.

In her mind, two ideas were being tossed around.

‘Should she go ahead and use it?’

Siesta shook her head, as if clearing the thought.

‘You can’t, Siesta! You definitely can’t!’

‘Using this kind of magic to ensnare the heart of a person is an underhanded tactic!’

She remembered the Louise from a while back. The time that Montmorency prepared a love potion, Louise had become completely nuts for Saito when she took it.

‘Magic is really frightening!’

‘To think that Miss Vallière could show her repressed love in such a manner! Her feelings would be clear to anyone! Anyone but Saito that is! Wait, even Saito seemed to start noticing it lately… Ah, whatever!’

Siesta’s intuition told her just how much Louise was in love with Saito. She believed that it was quite considerable. Although Siesta loved him, it was possible that Louise loved him even more. However, Louise’s demonic sense of pride would never allow her to admit it in front of Saito. This much she knew. Magic that was able to overcome Louise’s pride in that way was truly amazing.

‘A Saito-san changed by a love potion would not be Saito-san at all…’

‘But having him proclaiming his love for her that fervently would feel good after all…’ Siesta was enchanted for a moment.

‘If it was only for a day…’ as her hand inched towards the bottle, she retracted it, thinking ‘No!’

That repeated several times.

On top of that, fantasies started floating around her mind.

Tactic number one: Using it during the time when Miss Vallière was asleep.

As Siesta imagined several situations of what would happen next, she began to squeal excitedly.

But Miss Vallière was right next to them! That would be too bold! Extremely bold!

As she flailed her head around, Siesta’s entire body shook with excitement.

Her right hand reached for the love potion as her left hand shot out at the same time to hold it back.

Tactic number two: Chapter 2 of ‘Count Butterfly’s Elegant Day’.

Siesta covered her face as she roared out her excitement.

“That is…bad. No, bad is too simply minor. It is scandalous! Extremely scandalous!”

As Siesta hugged herself, writhing in agony at her indecent thoughts, the door banged open and a stern-faced Louise entered. Holding onto a leash, she was dragging something that looked like a bunch of tattered rags.

“Miss Vallière! What is that?”

“The familiar.”

Looking closely, it was in fact what used to be Saito.

Saito had turned into a tattered mess that occasionally twitched.

“Oh my! What has he done now?”

Siesta crouched down and coldly poked at Saito as she said that.

Louise crossed her arms, not holding back her anger.

“The day before yesterday, when you were gone, he was peeping at the baths.”

“Oh.”

“On top of that, a s-s-small girl, smaller than me…”

“Oh my.”

As Siesta looked at the crumpled Saito, she started pitying him. Saito was always putting his life on the line for Louise’s sake… It wouldn’t hurt to look the other way once in a while…

She also had been acting more like Louise lately, so the both of them inflicting pain on him was just… Well, it would only be for a little longer. Siesta crossed her arms and nodded.

With all the things that she had done to him, there was no way that she could entrust Saito to Louise, right?

Clearing her throat, Siesta turned to Louise with a serious face.

“Miss Vallière.”

“What?”

“It is about time that you give me the right to use Saito-san for a day.”

Louise looked at Siesta and then Saito before saying ‘do whatever’ and turned around.

Siesta started untying the rope that bound Saito.

“Ah! Ou-ou-ouch!”

Siesta rubbed some medicine on the wailing Saito who was sitting on a bench in the courtyard.

“Are you okay? Really… as soon as I take my eyes off her, Miss Vallière starts doing whatever she wants.”

“…I’m not fine. What the hell is with that pink squirt and beating on me all the time?”

Saito muttered in an annoyed tone.

“Anyways, thanks for the help.”

Hearing his thanks, Siesta blushed.

“Um… You know about today… Miss Vallière has given me the right for today.”

“The right for today?”

“Ah, yes! Saito does not know about it. At one point, Miss Vallière and I made a wager, which resulted in being able to use Saito for one day however I wish, like going out and such.”

Siesta fidgeted around as she seemed thrilled.

“I see. It must have been quite some bet… If that’s the case, then I will happily go out with you.”

Siesta’s face lit up like the sun.

“Thank you so much!”

“So, what should we do?”

“Good question…”

Siesta started to worry. In this case, it would have been better if she had properly thought of a good plan to execute.

‘What exactly did she want to do?,’ thought Siesta.

Wait…, an idea suddenly flashed amidst her worrying.

“I know! Today, let’s pretend to be newlyweds!”

“Pretend to be newlyweds?”

Saito stared dumbly.

“Yes! That’s it! For today, the two of us are newlyweds!”

Without any warning, Siesta forcefully drew close to Saito. Being drawn into her intensity, Saito simply nodded.

The place in which the now invigorated Siesta was dragging Saito to was the servant’s quarters located in the Suðri courtyard. The building itself was cozy and made of brick. As Siesta dragged Saito inside, the young maids, who had finished their day of work, approached them.

“Oh my! Siesta has brought her lover!”

The girl, presently in the same room, that shouted was called Lola. This girl with dazzling, flowing, blonde hair patted her once roommate’s shoulder.

“So what’s up? What are you here for?”

They noticed that the maids that worked around the academy had clustered around them. These girls could be seen around the dining hall during the day. Their faces showed not the usual fake smiles for their work, but genuine grins. As each of them pointed at Saito in unison, giggles floated around hinting at some rumors.

It was as if Saito had become the main attraction, which made him embarrassed. Being showered with attention in this way was not something he could get used to.

“Hey Lola, I have a request.”

Feeling that this commotion was unnecessary, Siesta covered her cheeks with her hands as she asked Lola for a favor.

“Wha-at?”

“Um…, I want to borrow the room. Just for today is fine…”

“Sure. I’ll take care of it with the head maid for you”

Lola grinned widely, and cheers erupted all around. Siesta's face was dyed red as she scurried towards the room she used to occupy.

“Is that ok? Having a guy in here…”

Saito inquired with a slightly worried tone. Although Louise’s room was in the girl’s dormitory, Saito was considered a familiar so it was fine. But was that ok here?

Siesta grinned.

“Actually, it’s not.”

“Wha?”

“But everyone does it anyways… bringing their lover and such. The same goes for me, since I’ve been longing for this… I mean…”

Siesta started fidgeting.

Not since that day she left had Siesta made another decision this bold. The decision to leave this place that she used to live in was very rash. She hadn’t thought that she would possibly come back.

Going up to the second floor, there were many doors lined down the hall. The living quarters here was modeled very much like an inn.

“It’s here. This is the room I used to live in.”

Siesta opened the wooden door leading to a small room. It wasn’t even half the size of Louise’s room. Lined up next to the wall was a single bed. Although the bed itself was crude, freshly cleaned white sheets were placed on top. A whiff of incense drifted to their noses, giving the room a girly feel.

“Ah, this feels nostalgic.”

Siesta’s face was bubbly as she opened the window. The evening sun shone around the main building in the distance. Noticing that Saito stood around not knowing what to do, Siesta invited him to sit down.

“Well, please have a seat.”

As Saito sat down, Siesta picked up the water pitcher from the desk and poured him some water.

“Uh, what exactly do newlyweds do?”

At Saito’s question, Siesta turned completely red. Siesta started “kya-kya-ing” in excitement at the thought. Saito thought for a moment until one thing suddenly made his nose bleed. ‘But is that alright? We aren’t even going out…,’ he thought.

The excited Siesta suddenly put on a serious face and walked towards the door. Opening it, some girls spilled into the room with a thud. They had apparently been in the hallway listening in with their ears pressed against the door.

“Hey! What are you doing!”

Placing her hands on her hips, Siesta shouted at them. As Siesta yelled at them, they scattered away like a flock of spiderlings.

“S-sorry.”

“No, it’s okay… I was just surprised. The impressions that I got from everyone while seeing them work around the academy seemed to be rather different…”

Since he was in the girl’s dormitory most of the time, there were not many chances to see them. They were busy taking care of others, so he never got a chance to see this kind of friendly scene between them.

His perception of social interaction was limited to that of the noble girls, who chatted during the day in the hallways or the cafeteria. For that reason, a scenario with everyone in this kind of friendly atmosphere was something new to him.

“Well that’s because we work during the day. At night, we all come out.”

Saito laughed. A single, tomboyish girl was outside the window watching them. How did she get there?

Siesta shouted in frustration as she closed the curtains.

“Uh, about that newlywed thing again…”

Siesta slid into her chair and looked at Saito.

“Y-yes.”

They were both nervous, as she continued to look at him.

“I’m the wife. Saito-san is the husband.”

Siesta stated with a serious look.

“So this is like playing house?”

At that timid statement, Siesta’s blush deepened.

“Y-yes, only it is just me and Saito-san and there is no child…”

“Yeah.”

“Be an adult with a light feel to it.” [Translator’s Note: I think what Siesta wants here is a “gentle, romantic feel” but Saito does not understand the meaning of the phrase.]

What kind of adult is that supposed to be?

Saito started to get incredibly nervous.

“Well for now, I’ll try calling you ‘Honey’.”

“Go ahead.”

“Honey, Welcome home.”

“I’m home.”

Siesta was blushing fiercely as she looked to the side. Then, she let out the breath she had been holding.

“What’s wrong?”

“My-my breath stopped for a moment.”

Siesta acting in that manner seemed to be really cute. Cuter than normal anyways. Saito had no idea what to say, so they both started becoming bashful. S-so this is what being newlyweds is like…, is what drifted across his mind.

“U-uh, how about dinner? Or would you rather take a bath? Afterwards, we can um…., or maybe…”

Siesta squeaked out as she tightly grasped the buttons on her shirt. Saito was thinking, ‘Crap! Next would be ‘Her’?’ He was like a baited fish. Hearing those words, he could in no way get away now.

The two of them swallowed their nervousness. As Siesta stood up, the door opened. A bunch of girls stampeded in. Siesta yelled at them to ‘Get out now!,’ as she kicked her friends out. Then, she approached the wall and banged on it with a broom. On the other side of the thin walls, some girls could be heard tumbling around from the shock of the banging. Lastly, Siesta violently threw a chair in the direction of the window. A scream sounded out, as a girl retreated from the scene.

Like nothing ever happened, Siesta went back to her seat.

“Me?”

Saito then immediately replied to Siesta, who was cutely slanting her head to the side.

“Dinner.”

A smile floated on her lips saying, ‘Right away’, as Siesta left the room. Saito held his head. A bunch of pressure had been weighing him down.

He had passed the ‘right of using him’ off as an easygoing day, but how was he going to endure all these temptations? If he were to get cozy with Siesta, Louise would probably kill him. Why did he take this decision so lightly again?

Was this some kind of punishment?

Maybe? Siesta was difficult to handle today. Out of the blue, she gave out the three choices of dinner, bath, and me… It’s so unfair. Before, he would have gone through anything, like toting around a bomb, for a chance like this.

Saito looked at the darkening scenery outside the window as he held his head in anguish at the thought.

Chapter 2

Siesta stood in the kitchen of the women's servant quarters, as she was being constantly bombarded by her co-workers.

"Wait! Didn't I say I'm busy?"

"Hey, hey, Siesta, try these spices! He will certainly be delighted!"

It was a world with no TV, so the love of others was the best form of entertainment. The ladies, who didn't know how to dispose of their spare time in the long nights, were in a daze of romance.

"Hey, hey, are you deciding today? Are you deciding?"

They were questioning Siesta with such excitement and vigor that they couldn’t be more annoying. During that time, Siesta would momentarily stop her cooking and yell at her friends to get out of the way or that they were bothering her and such.

“But about Saito-sama, isn’t he a noble now? Siesta, you’re amazing… You’ve hit the jackpot!”

Her roommate, Lola, was brimming with curiosity as she drew closer.

Siesta shook her head.

“Not really. Being a noble is not why I adore him.”

“That’s right. Nobles are such prudes. Even if you go out with them, they are just so stiff to be around. On that note, Saito-sama is great. He's a noble but he used to be a commoner. Marrying him would be the best!”

“I’m telling you that his status doesn’t matter.”

Siesta’s expression grew a little sad as she stirred the stew in the pot. Lola seemed to detect something from her once roommate’s facial expression, as she peered into Siesta’s face.

“I see. Then he is a fine gentleman with many accomplishments. Lately his popularity seems to have dropped due to that incident with the aerial brigade. Even so, he is still wonderful. The noble ladies just won’t leave him alone.”

Siesta was slightly gloomy as she silently continued cooking.

“But Siesta, you haven’t given up at all, have you?”

“That’s exactly right!”

The other girls nodded in agreement.

“Yes yes. Anyways, I’m going to bring the food up, so move out of the way.”

Lola seemed to be the most experienced one. With a wink to the other girls, Siesta was surrounded by them.

“Wh-what?”

“Heave-ho.”

In one swoop, the girls grabbed Siesta and began undressing her.

“Wh-what are you doing! Hey!”

In no time, Siesta was completely stripped naked.

“Hey, Give me back my clothes!”

Siesta shouted while shielding the important places of her body. Lola handed over a single apron to her.

“…What is this?”

“An apron.”

“And the rest?”

“Just that.”

Siesta became red in the face.

“N-no matter how you look at it, it’s indecent.”

“You've already taken a bath with him, why are you still fussing?”

Being Siesta’s roommate, Lola knew exactly how to approach her. Siesta blushed.

“It’ll be fine. It’s only us girls here. You won’t be seen by any other men.”

“Th-that’s not the problem…”

“Isn’t your rival a noble? You won’t win if you don’t do this much. You have your own secret weapon.”

“My secret weapon?”

“Yep.”

Lola pointed up and down Siesta’s chest and stomach with a mischievous smile.

“That body. A body which always has a shockingly stunning texture. A body that cannot lose to that of a noble. If we don’t effectively use that, won’t it be a waste? Right?”

“Exactly! On top of that, a newlywed wife should wait on her husband in just an apron!”

Obviously over-exaggerating things, the girls kept blabbering away. Siesta draped the apron around her. Well, if you look from the front, her body was hidden… Though if you see it from the side, it was rather suspicious.

With her head still steaming, Siesta carried the food away on a tray. However, the dessert was nowhere to be seen.

“Where did I put that dessert cream puff?”

After asking that, Lola immediately smiled mischievously.

“The dessert is separate.”

A pastry bag filled with custard cream was grasped in Lola’s hand.

How long had he been waiting?

“So hungry…’ thought Saito as he propped an elbow up. Then, the door opened and Siesta came in. Seeing her, Saito eagerly popped out of his chair.

Siesta’s current appearance was impossible to forget, no matter how you looked at it.

“S-Siesta…, that’s… the legendary naked apron…”

The only place he had ever seen it was in fiction, the rumored naked apron. Seeing it in real life in front of him… he could drop dead in happiness. But, he could hardly contain the inexplicably blissful feeling of this arrangement.

Combined with the usual knee-socks that stretched over her knees and the maid headband properly placed on her head, her form was stunning.

“Why do you… look… look like that?”

As he asked her with tears shamelessly streaming down his eyes in joy, Siesta confidently replied.

“Because it was hot.”

“Ah, it’s not too hot… It’s still spring, isn’t it…”

“It is hot.”

Siesta said clearly. Delving into it no farther, Saito shut up. Still incredibly nervous, he sat back down, as Siesta started setting up the table for dinner. Whenever she extended her arms, her chest was just barely visible in the space under the apron. At the same time, the simple but tasty looking food was being placed in front of him.

To find herself a seat, Siesta turned away from Saito, giving him a taste of hell’s temptation. I see it, I can see it! That white, dazzling, but soft-looking butt could be seen. After seeing that, he could no longer be his normal self. Deciding this, Saito didn’t care anymore as he eagerly looked for a chance to pinch Siesta’s butt.

Siesta sat across the table from Saito.

“I-I think it’s quite delicious. Please help yourself.”

That phrase had a double meaning to him as Saito put some food in his mouth. Whether it was meat, or fish, or veggies, he had no idea what it was. His eyes were solely focused on Siesta in front of him.

“I-I will also eat.”

Siesta casually reached for the food. From that simple gesture, her apron flipped around, as if the superb melons underneath tried to shake free. If you stood at her side, you would definitely be able to see them. As Saito’s imagination ran wild with Siesta in his head, the real one suddenly said something unbelievable.

“…would you like to move your chair over here, next to me?”

Without a thought, Saito nodded, but then…

The curtain behind Siesta shook from the wind as a silhouette passed by.

“Huh?”

Then, the silhouette passed by slowly again. That was Sylphid riding by with Louise and Tabitha, wasn’t it? Louise’s eyes were blazing with an indescribable fire of anger while Tabitha was reading her book like usual.

Saito was really troubled. As Sylphid and Louise rode by several times, he could see her mouth out some words each time.

[If you get]

[any closer]

[I’ll kill you]

Saito trembled. In front of Siesta only clad in an apron, he would have to endure the entire night. It was torture. It was unmatchable torture. He had to get out of here now!

Siesta, who had no idea what was going on behind her, simply smiled and poured Saito some wine. Lastly, her face was bright red as she said, “I dropped the spoon, could you please pick it up?”

He was so done for. This day has done its toil on him, he thought. ‘He couldn’t pick up the spoon. If he did, there was no way he could stay human. But thanks.’ He feverishly mumbled.

“Toilet.”

Saito finally stood up and left the room. He felt like he couldn’t go on without cooling his head.

Back in the room, the left-behind Siesta realized that her time was running out. She took out the love potion that Jessica gave her from her bag.

The heart-shaped bottle containing purple liquid. With a shaky hand, she opened the lid. As the lid came off with a light pop, the peculiar and bitter scent of the potion drifted in the air.

She brought the potion closer to Saito’s wine cup, the bottle in her hand trembling.

What are you doing, Siesta?

Hurry up and pour it in!

If you do that, Saito will be all yours.

Siesta looked at the mirror next to the table, which showed the reflection of her appearance. Her figure in only the apron, didn’t that give off a considerable amount of appeal?

She knew it… the potion was just unfair. If she didn’t win on her own charms… then it would be inexcusable to Miss Vallière.

Looking up, Siesta popped the lid back on the bottle.

But… was Saito-san really looking at her? Coming up with all of this, if he wasn’t attracted to her…, she would feel like a hopeless fool.

Siesta’s worries continued to grow.

At that moment, the door opened with a bang. Saito, who had gone to the bathroom, was there.

“Kyaa!”

Siesta, instinctively chucked the bottle in her hand out the window.

“… What’s wrong?”

Saito, who had a towel wadded around his nose, asked.

“No-nothing… I saw one of my friends outside the window again… Ha Ha ♪”

Siesta secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, the love potion was really unfair.

Montmorency was in the Suðri courtyard, pacing back and forth in annoyance.

‘Guiche that jerk…’, she muttered to herself.

“I can’t believe he would peek in the bath!”

After that incident, the boys of the Knight Corp of the Water Spirit were beaten to a pulp by the furious girls.

The wounds that were inflicted were much worse than their scuffle with the aerial brigade. Once again, they had been sent to medical care. However, no one bothered to visit them this time.

At this moment, the Knight Corp of the Water Spirit was simply a troupe of perverts. Truly, their fame was short-lived.

There were requests from the instructors to expel them. However, due to various excuses such as the steam being too thick to see anything, or that however rotten they were they were still imperial guards, or that the queen really shouldn’t be involved in this, they somehow managed to escape expulsion. In the end, they were let off with just setting up a training period and doing community service once a month.

Montmorency’s anger was still not settled, however.

Today, she would give that pervert brigade a taste of their own medicine. She thought as she paced around… In front of her eyes, a heart-shaped bottle dropped down with a clink.

Montmorency picked up the bottle.

“This is a magic potion, isn’t it?”

Montmorency’s hobby, as you may know by now, was synthesizing potions. At this moment, she couldn’t help but be intrigued by what the nature of this potion that fell from the sky was.

She sniffed at the aroma from the potion.

With only that, she immediately recognized what it was.

Th-this fragrance is…

At that moment, Sylphid, who had been flying by several times to investigate Siesta’s room, swept past Montmorency, accidentally making her tip the bottle to her mouth.

“Geh!”

The purple liquid flowed down her throat as Montmorency choked.

“Oh no… I drank it.”

Sylphid flew down in front of Montmorency.

“Sorry Montmorency, are you ok?”

It was Louise who had dropped down.

Montmorency looked down. Uh oh, if my intuition is correct, then this potion will…

“That thing that dropped down just now, what was it?”

Louise asked.

“G-go away!”

Montmorency shouted. But disregarding her yell, Louise came closer, and took the bottle from Montmorency’s hand.

Montmorency promptly shut her eyes, but it was too late. Louise’s pinkish-blond hair and beautifully-formed face had already flown into her sight.

“What is this? Why did that girl throw something like this out the window? Hey, Montmorency, just what in the world do you think this is?... Eh?”

Louise noticed that Montmorency had been staring at her with an unusual facial expression. With her cheeks flushed and her eyes teary, she was apparently looking at her.

“What is with you…?”

Louise got a chill down her spine as she inched away from Montmorency.

“…Louise.”

Montmorency drew closer to her with a feverish look.

“Well, see you later. Bye.”

Louise turned to leave, but she was held back when Montmorency firmly clasped her hand.

“I’ve known this from a while back…, but you’re incredibly cute. It makes my heart pound…”

Montmorency reeled Louise closer and drew her small form into an enveloping embrace. This made Louise’s whole body quiver with chills.

“L-let me go! That’s disgusting! That’s disgusting, I said!”

“Don’t say that. Look, can you hear my heart throb? When I think of you, my hearts echoes like this. Every fiber of my being is flowing towards a single statement I want to tell you…”

“Stop it! Stop it!”

“That I love you…”

Montmorency pressed her lips onto Louise’s, as she fiercely embraced the struggling Louise. Montmorency had a larger stature. This made the powerless Louise struggle futilely, like a butterfly caught in a cloud as it was whisked away to another bush.

“Nooo! Montmorency! Please! You know, we’re both girls! This is wrong-gah!”

With her shirt having been partially-removed, Louise stuck her head out of the shrubbery and called out to Tabitha, who had been sitting on the bench for who knows how long.

“Hey! Tabitha! Help me, please! At this rate, I…!”

However, Tabitha didn’t even bat an eye in her direction.

“I helped with your scouting. The rest is not my business.”

She gave off the feeling that she would rather not stick her nose into any person’s love affairs.

“Hey! Montmorency! Not there! Don’t touch me there like that! Nooo! Noo! Noooooooooo!”

Louise was slowly dragged back into the bushes.

After enough time had passed, a messed-up Louise crawled out of the bushes. Still grasping onto Louise’s skirt, an unconscious Montmorency was sprawled on the ground. Both of them looked like a hurricane had hit them. Their clothes were torn here and there, and their prided golden and pink hair was all over the place.

“What the hell were you thinking!”

She yelled back towards the bushes. In order to protect some decency, Louise did all she could to resist. Both of their grappling ability was more or less equal. Her lack of strength was made up with the ferocity of when she disciplined Saito, so she somehow managed to protect some of her modesty.

But, Louise’s luck today seemed to get worse and worse.

Kirche came over to them.

Kirche noticed the messed up Louise and Montmorency, and was able to deduce what had just happened.

“You girls… what were you doing together? How could you go that far? No matter how hard it is to find a good lover… you finally decided to go after girls? I can’t believe this!”

Well, the love potion that Siesta received from Jessica was pretty poor quality. Since it was sold on the black market, it was a dubious item. The effect duration was a bit on the short side, but it also had another fatal flaw.

Its effect was “contagious.”

The love potion’s effects had now transferred to Louise’s lips, which had been seized by Montmorency. Without realizing that, she couldn’t help but look directly at Kirche, who was standing in front of her.

Louise’s cheeks gradually became flushed.

Kirche was embedded in her vision, while she pointed at Louise and preached about love.

“You hear me? The most important thing for your partner is passion. A passion like fire which will melt his heart. The two of you are…murh?!” Kirche was surprised. Suddenly, her lips had been shut up by something.

With a look of disbelief, Kirche stared at the pink-haired girl in front of her. Louise had ecstatically pressed her lips against hers.

Far from her expectations, even Kirche’s knees gave out. As she sunk down, she tried to peel Louise off her.

“L-Louise? Hey, what is the meaning…”

“Kirche. I really hate people like you!”

“I-I know that.”

“Don’t misunderstand! W-when I look at your face, it’s just that my heart beats like crazy!”

“H-Huh?”

“So take responsibility. Just a little while is fine and teach me about that passion!”

“Hey. Louise, hey…”

Kirche tried to brush Louise aside.

But, her panic was keeping her from doing that well. During the struggle, Louise slipped her small hand into the opening of Kirche’s shirt.

“What the heck… these feminine, plump breasts that I don’t have, but you have plenty of, I can’t forgive you for that. Aah, I can’t forgive you. Aah, the flaming Kirche…”

Louise’s hand was fiddling with her prideful bust. Kirche got goosebumps all over.

“St-stop it, I said!”

Strangely, a cute, girly moan escaped from Kirche’s throat. Hardly had she been in this kind of position where her head was all muddled.

“Louise..., look this way. Think carefully about who your most important person is.”

Montmorency, who had fainted, seemed to be awake and joined in, which made the situation more chaotic.

“Let go! Who needs a mutt like you! I like a big girl like Kirche!”

“What are you talking about? A small chest has much more charm. I love that washboard chest of yours…”

What’s with that? They couldn’t come to terms.

While Montmorency and Louise bickered, Kirche dropped down and crawl away as quickly as possible. Then, she saw Tabitha nearby.

“Tabitha! Help me!”

Tabitha was sitting on the bench, her face in a daze as she read her book. A sigh that blew by her ear brought her back to reality.

Was it Sylpid? No, her familiar had told her that it was hungry and had flown off somewhere after dropping Louise off.

“… Tabitha. My little Tabitha.”

Tabitha turned around.

Her best friend, Kirche, was standing there.

“?”

Her hands had been on Tabitha’s back the whole time. Her eyes also had a glint of something mischievous.

“You are my gr-eat-es-t fr-ie-nd.”

She couldn’t have been mistaken… Something was definitely wrong here.

It wasn’t the usual Kirche.

As if confirming her suspicions, Kirche suddenly slipped her hand under Tabitha’s skirt.

“??”

Tabitha watched her friend’s hand move, still expressionless. Slowly, Kirche’s hand inched up her thigh. It was as if Kirche was trying to get her attention.

There must be some reason for this behavior, thought Tabitha as she tilted her head. Was there a bug or something that got in her skirt?

Next, Kirche gently nibbled on her earlobe.

“???”

“You are truly cute…, my little Tabitha. I think that there is still much more for me to teach you about. Let’s go through them one by one, so that you can properly become an adult…”

As Kirche started to remove the underwear under Tabitha’s skirt, Tabitha stood up. At that time, Tabitha instantly understood the undeniable danger that she was in. Although she tried to make her escape, Kirche was constricting her movement, causing Tabitha to tumble to the ground. Soon after, her lips were stolen. Kirche’s tongue technique slipped past her lips and into her mouth. Tabitha’s entire body lost its energy. Tabitha waved the wand that she never let go of no matter when.

“Air Hammer.”

A mass of air blew Kirche’s body away. Kirche collided into Louise and then Montmorency, whisking them away as well.

She had no idea what had happened. Tabitha made her exit. Ahead of her was the servant’s quarters. For now, she could go there for a hiding place.

Tabitha was enveloped by all sorts of fear that she had not felt before. Strangely, Tabitha’s forehead was glistening with sweat.

“What do you think that noise was?”

Hearing the noise downstairs, Siesta tilted her head.

It’s really loud.

First, the door downstairs opened.

A short while after, a scream was heard.

It sounded like there was a bunch of struggling. Then, another scream, followed by another.

“Should I go take a look?”

As Saito got up, someone flew backwards into the room.

“Lola?”

It was apparently Siesta’s roommate.

With her back still facing away from Siesta and Saito, Lola was muttering something that they couldn’t understand.

“Stop… please. We’re all girls here, right?”

Automatically sensing danger, Siesta grabbed Saito’s hand and dove under the covers of the bed.

At the same time, a line of girls stampeded into the room.

What happened afterwards was a nightmare for any normal girl. But for men, it was the stuff of their dreams. However, the fact that only girls were involved was a bit of a waste… In any case, it was not something you see everyday.

“Louise! My lovely Louise! When I look at your pink locks, I somehow want to be just like you!”

“Kirche! Wait! You have me, don’t you!?”

“Tabitha! My little Tabitha! Let me teach you everything from the beginning!”

“…Cute.”

“Ah, Kamille! My Kamille!”

“Dominique! I won’t let you go tonight! Dominique!”

“Oh Lola, your golden hair causes me to go mad!”

From Montmorency to Louise to Kirche to Tabitha. Then most of the servant girls were thrown into this ordeal, turning the room into a state of pandemonium.

Saito and Siesta were hidden under covers trembling at the scene in front of them.

As suddenly as the commotion began, it ended.

The love potion that Jessica had obtained was indeed something cheap and crappy. The effect was crude and furthermore, the duration of the effect was something to complain about, with it being barely an hour.

But within that hour, the girls that were stretched out on the ground had been implanted with enough trauma for a lifetime.

Like a hangover the day after, Montmorency had a massive headache as she stood up. Noticing her torn-up shirt, she made to cover herself and then looked over at the face of a still half-asleep Louise, who was covering the yawn that escaped from her mouth.

Louise, whose hair and clothes were all shabby looking, also looked over at Kirche’s dark-skinned chest, which was covered in her kiss marks. Louise’s face drained of color and then became bright red.

Kirche looked over at Louise. Having somehow already returned to normal, Kirche whispered into her ear.

“Weren’t you quite passionate.”

In the room where all the girls had gathered, they started wondering what had caused this. Montmorency took out the heart-shaped bottle from her pocket.

“A love potion. And a crude one at that.”

“Who in the world would have such a thing…”

The girls all looked at each other. At that time…, Siesta squirmed around and popped her head out of the covers.

“It was me… I’m sorry.”

“Siesta!”

Everyone in the room turned to the suddenly revealed culprit.

“I see. It’s something that you got from Jessica.”

Louise said, mixed with a sigh.

In front of her, Siesta and Saito were sitting on top of the bed. Siesta, who was wrapped in a blanket, told them everything. That Jessica had given her the love potion, and about how she was supposed to have put it in Saito’s wine…

“While I did give you permission to use Saito for a day, I didn’t say that you could do something like that.”

As Siesta heard this, tears trickled down her face.

“I’m really sorry… I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble for everyone. Not only that, the item was illegal… I apologize to you too, Saito. I don’t deserve to be liked by you.”

The room suddenly became silent.

Saito was the one to break the silence.

“Siesta, it’s not your fault. You didn’t use it, after all. Didn’t you throw it outside because you had no intention to use it?”

“Saito-san…”

“Anyways, it was Mon Mon who picked it up and drank it. She did something so stupid despite being a noble.”

Montmorency’s face burned red in anger.

“Why is it my fault?! It was mostly due to Louise, who was flapping around on a dragon, which stirred up the wind and made me accidentally drink it!”

The girls began pointing fingers and cursing each other. Saito waved his arms as if telling them to shut up.

“It’s fine already. Besides, it looked like everyone had a good time anyways…”

Saito stopped himself there. All of the girls in the room glared at Saito full of anger.

‘Ah, why did I have to say that,’ he thought as he received a volley of magic, causing him to pass out.

After that, the girls left, leaving behind an unconscious Saito, Louise, and Siesta in the room.

“I’m truly sorry.”

Siesta said to Louise with tears in her eyes.

“I… was being unfair. For a moment, I really didn’t know what to do, whether to use it or not. Then, Saito suddenly came back in the room… Without thinking, I tossed it outside.”

Louise was staring intently at the apologizing Siesta… Then, she nodded.

“It’s fine already.”

Louise rustled through her pockets and handed over something to Siesta.

It was a single note.

“What… is this?”

“Read it and see.”

The note was written by Saito on the way back from Albion. It was apparently an entry from his secret diary, which seemed to talk only about Louise.

It was about how she was so cold to him, about how he hurt her pride. His entire thoughts dragged on and on in the written text.

After Siesta read it, she looked up at Louise.

“Miss Vallière…”

“Do you understand? This shows how he is the king of dimwits. So if you want to count on some strange potion, you should at least know something of his feelings first.”

Siesta nodded.

After that, Louise said to her in an angry voice.

“If you want to give up so easily, what am I supposed to say? It would be disappointing.”

Siesta tightly embraced Louise.

“Ah, Miss Vallière… If Saito-san were to ever disappear, I think that it would be fine to devote the rest of my life to you.”

“Well said, but I feel something akin to a friendship with you as well.”

“Being acknowledged as a friend by a person of nobitlity… makes me the happiest in all of Tristain.”

With a smile on her face, Louise picked up the bottle on top of the table and poured its contents into two glasses.

“Here, let’s toast with some wine.”

“Yes.”

“Siesta nodded as she took the glass.

“To friendship.”

They clinked glasses and downed the drink in the glass.

“Hey, Miss Vallière.”

“What?”

“Come to think of it, the food and wine on top of the table should have been scattered onto the floor during the ruckus.”

“What are you talking about? It’s right here, isn’t it?”

Louise was holding up the heart-shaped bottle. Light from the twin moons flooded through the window into the room, giving the liquid in the bottle a suspicious sparkle.

As Siesta saw the bottle, her eyes became cloudy.

“…I guess so. By the way, Miss Vallière.”

“…Wh-what?”

Louise’s eyes had also gained a strange hint of lust. Their faces gradually got closer and closer.

“Miss Vallière is the world’s cutest girl. I can’t believe it. It’s as if a god has come down just for me, like in a painting.”

“Heh, well said. But you’re also well, passable…. J-just a little bit cute. Only a little bit. Only a little, but looking at you makes my heart pound.”

Their lips got closer. Those lips pressed firmly together. As their breaths got ragged, they impatiently started stripping each other.

Louise’s shirt and Siesta’s apron fell on top of Saito, who was still sprawled on the ground.

Siesta grabbed the custard cream pastry bag from the ground.

“Hey, Miss Vallière.”

“What? Y-you can’t be seriously teasing me with that.”

“Don’t you want to have dessert?”

That had been originally for Saito. It was Lola’s final ultimate weapon. Siesta started peppering her own body with cream.

“The dessert is me… Have a good long taste and please savor every bit.”

Louise embraced Siesta tightly.

“Siesta, this kind of dessert is unforgivable! Unforgivable! I’ll eat you all up, but don’t think that I like you or anything!”

“Ah, I’m so happy, Miss Vallière!”

As the two were still embracing, they tumbled onto the bed.

Saito woke up from the ballad of wild and sweet moans between the two.

Under the moonlight, the blanket on top of the bed shifted wildly.

As the blanket flipped open, Saito’s eyes got huge.

Siesta and Louise were both naked as the day they were born. They were both embracing each other tightly and fiercely making out.

Saito couldn’t believe the scene in front of him.

These two fairies were confirming their love, but what the heck is this?

Quickly, he realized what this was.

Ah, it’s a dream.

It has to be a dream.

But what a wonderful dream, it was… If it was this dream, he could watch it everyday. Since it was a dream anyways… He would also join in. If he couldn’t find a way to join in before he woke up, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

The two “lovers” tangled on the bed soon noticed the presence of the shameless intruder. Their eyes fired up in anger.

Unfortunately, the effects of the potion had not extended to Saito. The infectious nature of the effects of the love potion only applied to ones that had been kissed by those that drank the potion. And since the two of them drank it at the same time, they only had eyes for each other.

“It’s the biggest request in my life. Please let me join…”

Saito, who was sitting on the ground, was quickly covered by the blanket. Before he had time to breath, the both of them flew out of the bed and kicked him away.

“What are you looking at!”

“Please go away!”

They had cleanly kicked him out of the window. As he fell towards the ground, Saito thought. If his life were to end when he crashed to the ground…

The scene that he saw today.

Was such blissful art.

That it would continue comforting his soul long afterwards.

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