NOVEL NEXT Chapter 154
During the sparring session, Yurasia dropped her sword and sprawled on the floor.
Gasp… Hic… Cough…
“Such dramatics.”
Seeing Yurasia like that, I chuckled and handed her the water I was drinking.
Huaaa… Th-thank you…
My conversation with Ashtar came to a neat conclusion.
The sparring session we had today.
Using a deity.
The history tied to the van Chaser family and my visit as the rightful heir to that history.
We decided to keep everything about our trio’s events to ourselves.
It was, of course, the best choice for both me and Ashtar.
But that last strange smile, the hand stroking her lower belly, and those whispered words felt off.
Of course, Ashtar wasn’t broken like Hilde.
Her eyes were sharp, clear, and bright.
She didn’t have that hazy and weird aura like Hilde. Still… something was… off.
It might have been unnecessary delusions caused by past memories, but still… I thought it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious.
“Everything will be fine, right…?”
Yurasia, savoring the water very slowly, wore a worried expression.
“What about?”
“…Well, the techniques the Young Lady used, the deity…”
“What’s there to worry about? Yurasia, you know I’ve been using deities since I was younger. No one taught me how. Even the Knight Order of the van Chaser family, including you, didn’t teach me how to wield a sword.”
“Uh, that’s true… Hehe.”
Yurasia averted her eyes under my sharp gaze.
“Still… It’s about the Duke’s family, and, um… I don’t think Duke Betias would say anything, but I’m worried that the elders of the van Chaser family might pressure you.”
Looking around with her blue eyes, Yurasia spoke very softly, nervously biting her lower lip as if genuinely concerned for me.
“Typically, elders of families, especially those above marquis, are firmly entrenched even after stepping down from leadership roles.”
That was true.
Elders who hadn’t been purged and sat on their seats, providing unsolicited advice to the head of the family, usually had enough power, knowledge, or influence to protect their own lives.
It might be a relief, or maybe not, but currently, there are no elders in Eustetia.
Dad and my uncle took care of them all. I have no idea why, but I believe it’s because they were involved in some shady business.
Anyway, the general perception of elders is that they are usually hiding and scheming something foul. I mean, aren’t there plenty of such stories in the novels these days?
And indeed, many such elders exist.
So it’s not odd for Yurasia to be worried.
“Moreover… Since it’s a matter the elders have long desired, I feel a bit… uneasy. Given the entanglements in Eustetia, um… I mean, you are the future head of Eustetia, right? So, if too much power centers on the Duke’s family, then the van Chaser elders might… well…”
“What? Yurasia can also worry about politics now? I thought you were just a child, but look at you growing up?”
“Y-Yes?! Ah… Young Lady! No matter how much I’m your knight, I’m still two years older than you, you know?! I’ll be an adult soon! I can drink alcohol too!”
Flustered, Yurasia’s face flushed red as she pouted.
“And… Rather than worrying about politics, I’m just worried about you, Young Lady. I can’t accompany you to that kind of place…”
“I’m not weak enough for you to worry about, you know? What, if I say I can take you along, will you jump in front of me like it’s life or death?”
“Yes.”
“Wow.”
That was a response without any hesitation.
It was both irritating and cute, and just a bit commendable, so I pinched Yurasia’s cheek hard.
“How can a girl who hasn’t even got the blood in her head talk about dying so nonchalantly?”
“Eeeek… Ah, that hurts…”
“Hurts? I almost yanked your cheek off instead. What are you talking about dying at will?”
“D-Don’t do that… I’m your knight…”
“That’s right. Yurasia belongs to me. So you should listen to me well. And I told you long ago. Don’t ever think of dying in my place.”
I released her cheek, but Yurasia didn’t say anything more.
Maybe because I pinched her? She just hid her reddened cheek and smiled faintly.
“Not going to answer me?”
“…But if Young Lady is in danger, I won’t hesitate.”
“Do you think I’m a pushover? You’ve become more stubborn than before.”
I grumbled at Yurasia, but I didn’t feel bad about it.
“If you don’t want to see me die, you’ll have to get stronger. Get up. Let’s spar.”
“Huh…? Why is that the conclusion?”
Yurasia asked in dissatisfaction, but she didn’t seem to feel that bad about it.
With a bright smile, she got up from her seat.
*
After the midterms, the report cards were released.
It was nice that I could spend more time at the training grounds compared to usual thanks to finishing early every day, but my scores on the exam weren’t that good…
“I barely scored enough to avoid supplementary class.”
“…I know.”
“If you had scored just 0.4 points lower, Lady Eliaernes, you would’ve had to attend supplementary class until the finals.”
“I know that very well, so please be quiet…”
“Sometimes, Lady Eliaernes can be surprisingly clumsy. Right, Yurasia?”
“I mean, the Young Lady does have her cute moments.”
“…Cute? My clumsiness?”
“It’s, uh, your gap moe.”
“If you keep talking, I might just tear your mouths apart, you two.”
Stella, with a very annoying smile, handed over the exam paper she was holding.
“Because I don’t want my mouth torn off, I guess I should be quiet now. Here’s the report card showing you’re ranked 30th from the bottom.”
In the Signia Class, I was the last.
Overall in the academy… not 30th from the bottom, but 43rd.
Of course, I didn’t say that out loud.
500th or 513th… it would look the same from above.
But… I feel wronged.
So wronged that it feels like I might explode.
Why? This answer sheet is actually top-tier, number 2 material.
But what was the result? I was 43rd from the bottom.
How did such a trivial result come out?
There’s no specific reason.
The answers got mixed up.
So… I wrote the answer for question 1 in question 2.
Why would I do something so idiotic?
I wasn’t used to it.
This answer sheet felt unfamiliar to me.
It wasn’t vastly different from the one I had used in the entrance exam.
Really, just slightly different.
Besides, I was trying to get used to new formats recently. So I thought there wouldn’t be any issues.
And yet… it got mixed up.
Before the report cards were released, Stella had a very displeased expression.
Based on her rough scoring, Yurasia got perfect scores, Stella got five wrong, and I barely edged out with four wrong.
So I teased her for quite a while.
For the entire five days of the midterm exam period, I teased her.
That made Stella grind her teeth and clench her fists every time she saw me.
But now?
She was in high spirits, bouncing around like a fish out of water, teasing and mocking me.
…I couldn’t strongly tell her to stop.
After all, I had teased her much worse than she did.
Sometimes I even called her at night to mock her.
“But I’m surprised. I thought Eliaernes wouldn’t care about scores like this, but you seem quite bothered?”
[It’s okay, Lady Eliaernes! I didn’t mix up my answers like you did, but I still ranked lower than you!]
“…You’re… no, that’s not it.”
“Pina. Is that something to be proud of? No way. Starting tomorrow, I have to make you study theory hard. You know I always said that theory is essential for magic.”
Yikes…
At Stella’s stern words, Pina trembled.
And beside Stella, Yurasia, who had been pretending to comfort me, intertwined her arm with mine.
“Young Lady, Young Lady. Since your mood isn’t great today, how about taking a full day off and playing with us instead?”
Noticing the floral scent was thicker than usual, it seemed she was filled with thoughts of playing since early morning.
“That’s not happening. You all can go play.”
Yet, today, I have no time.
“Uh… We go play on our own? But are you still going to the training grounds today?”
“No.”
But that doesn’t mean I’ll be spending time at the training grounds either.
“Huh…? Then, do you have something else to do? Didn’t you say you don’t have classes with the Vice Headmaster today…?”
“Yeah. Today is just a personal matter.”
Should I tell them? No, there’s really no need to explain right now.
They’ll all find out soon enough. It’ll be easier for everyone to know at that time.
So… I need to get busy today.
There are at least two people who want to summon me and interrogate me.
It could be three, or maybe four.
What kind of reactions will they have, I wonder.
It might be busy, but the excitement overwhelmingly makes my heart go thud-thud.
“What’s wrong? Why does your expression look so ominous, Eliaernes?”
“What’s wrong with my expression?”
“…You’re smiling in a very ominous way. Like a villain. You’re not planning to charge into the professors, throwing a fit over your awful scores, are you?”
“Would I do that?”
Actually, when I received the report card.
I had thought about it… just a tiny bit.
“Ugh! Why did you hit me?!”
I slapped Stella playfully for her silly remark and twirled around.
“Anyway, I’m going to be busy today, so you all go out and have fun.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Oh, by the way, Stella.”
“Yeah?”
“You should be grateful to me.”
“…Huh? Be grateful? I always do that…”
“Then, be twice as grateful as before.”
“…Ew?”
Stella blurted out in confusion.
Beside her, Yurasia whispered to Stella, asking what was wrong, and Stella, being Stella, replied that she didn’t understand what I was saying.
Two hours later.
Karela Academy, no, a commotion broke out across the entire Empire.