‘Hoo. There are only two days left to register for the Trelas Magic Tournament. ……Hmm?’
One morning, while Jaes was still worrying about the final person he needed for his team, he headed toward the classroom with a faint hope for the transfer student who was supposed to arrive that day. Suddenly, he felt a strange, prickling sense of unease.
‘……What is it? Is anything different from usual, Mir?’
[No. There is nothing particularly unusual, Master.]
‘Then what is this feeling?’
If he had to describe it, his nerves felt slightly sharper than usual.
It did not take long for Jaes to realize what it was.
The very next moment, he spotted someone approaching from the distance.
TAP TAP.
‘Hmm? What is that?’
A figure in the distance had suddenly begun running toward him.
At first, the person was so far away that Jaes could not identify them at all. However, the figure closed the distance far faster than he had expected, charging straight toward him.
Before long, Jaes recognized the figure, and the shock was so great that every nerve in his body stood on end.
‘That girl is……!’
That was because the approaching figure was the opponent from Jaes’s unforgettable first experience.
His first real battle, in which his life had truly been at stake.
‘……Miya?!’
She had short, slightly reddish hair and a freckled face that radiated an unmistakably formidable spirit.
There was no possibility that Jaes would fail to recognize her.
‘How is she here?!’
—First Tier.
—Haste(Haste).
Jaes reflexively began the incantation. At that moment, he realized that the strange sensation he had felt was his body warning him of danger.
While lamenting the fact that he was steadily becoming accustomed to situations like this, he naturally began incanting Magic Arrow at the same time.
WHOOSH.
—Acceleration(Acceleration).
—Compression(Compression).
Only a month and a half had passed since then, but Jaes was undeniably different from how he had been at the time.
‘I do not know how she escaped, but I will not be helpless against her like last time!’
—First Tier.
—Magic Arrow(Magic Arrow).
—Weighted…….
Jaes carefully and calmly took aim at Miya despite his tension, preparing to use the attack in which he currently had the greatest confidence.
SWISH, TAP!
“Good grief. You must not do this, Jaes. Casting offensive magic at another student on academy grounds is strictly forbidden~.”
“Aah?!”
Jaes had been so focused on the approaching Miya that he had failed to notice Sharan appearing beside him. When her hand intervened, he had no choice but to cancel the spell he had been casting.
“What are you doing?!”
“What do you mean? Did I not just tell you?”
“That is not what I meant! You do not know what kind of person she is! She is……! ……Wait? What did you just say? ……A student?”
“Yes. I know perfectly well, actually. Her name is Miya. She is the transfer student I brought to our class today.”
“What……?! A month and a half ago, she was at Duke Ailin’s estate and……!”
CLAMP.
“Mmph! Mmph, mmph!”
“Enough, enough. Are you planning to shout about that here? I told you that I already know everything. Now, please be still. You are usually so quiet, so why are you making such a commotion?”
GASP.
“If you know, how do you expect me not to react like this?! She nearly killed me……!”
“Hey, Jaes. I am really, really sorry about what happened then!!”
“Wha…… Huh?”
Miya had already reached him. She suddenly seized Jaes’s hand, making him recoil in horror and struggle against Sharan, who was still restraining him.
However, when Miya spoke with an expression of genuine remorse, Jaes could only stare at her blankly.
“You are…… sorry? After trying to kill me?”
“Yes. At the time, I had no choice because I needed to eliminate any possibility of being exposed. But that is no longer the case.”
“……What on earth are you talking about?”
Jaes considered himself fairly quick-witted, but he could not begin to comprehend the current situation. When he turned to ask Sharan, she calmly began explaining as though nothing were unusual.
“What do you think? It is exactly what you see. You already know who Miya is.”
“No, what I mean is…….”
“After we captured her for causing that commotion, Raiden asked me to examine her. There are many people in the Empire with secrets to hide, so they often place strange Suggestions on the spies they send out.”
“Suggestions……?”
“Yes. You know, the obvious sort of thing that prevents them from harboring different intentions after being dispatched, or stops them from revealing information about their own side. As expected, Miya was under that kind of Suggestion.”
“……And then?”
“Well, the genius that I am removed it and successfully turned her to our side♡”
“Turned her……?”
“Yes. I was only one of the countless disposable pawns sent to observe Duke Ailin anyway. Now that my identity has been exposed, there is no reason for me to overextend myself or remain loyal all on my own. Of course, I am only capable of thinking this way because Lady Sharan removed the Suggestion placed on me.”
“Then…… she is on our side now?”
“More or less. Of course, as she just said, she was merely one spy among countless others. She knows almost nothing and is not particularly useful to us. Perhaps because she is still young, Raiden entrusted her to me. He told me to enroll her in this academy and send her to you.”
“What…… did you say?!”
“I heard you agreed to help Raiden with his work. Apparently, you whined that it would be too difficult to do alone, so he assigned you an assistant.”
“I heard about it from Lord Raiden too. Most of my memories of the Empire have been erased, but I still know more than you do, Jaes. I will certainly be useful when it comes to identifying suspicious people.”
“So…… the assistant he said he would send me is…… you, Miya…….”
“Yes. I am sorry I tried to kill you back then. However, I have no reason to do that anymore. Let bygones be bygones, and let us get along.”
‘……Am I the weird one?!’
There was Raiden, who had sent Jaes the person who had tried to kill him only a month and a half ago and called her an assistant.
Then there was Miya, who had deceived him and attempted to kill him, yet now brazenly took his hand and declared that they were on the same side.
Jaes could not begin to understand the common sense of this world, and his head felt as though it were beginning to throb.
“I heard from your friend Ian that you were looking for someone to enter Trelas with you. This works out well. It will make it easier for us to move around together in our daily lives. Of course, I will gladly join your team.”
THROB.
“……Is this really all right?!”
“Hmm? What is?”
“No, I mean…… everything about this situation.”
“You were searching for someone because you were one person short, were you not? Miya may still be young, but she was trained as a spy, so her physical abilities are quite impressive. This worked out well. You found the teammate you wanted.”
“No, but……! She could betray us and stab me in the back again at any moment……!”
“Do not worry. Raiden and I will be watching her for a while. Besides, the great Lady Sharan personally removed the Suggestion, remember? She was only one of the Empire’s expendable pawns, hardly anyone important. There is nothing to worry about.”
“Yes. Now that the Suggestion has been removed, even I find it strange that I tried so hard to remain loyal to the Empire. I know that Lord Raiden and Lady Sharan are powerful enough to protect me, and I have been promised forgiveness as long as I properly carry out the tasks I am given. Why would I turn against you again now? You were not even seriously injured, so stop being petty and let us get along as we did before.”
“Yes, exactly.”
“…….”
Both women looked perfectly normal(?) and attractive, yet neither had any intention of listening to Jaes. They were too busy doing whatever they pleased.
‘Haaaaah…….’
Jaes pressed a hand against his throbbing forehead and released a deep sigh.
“……I will go into the classroom for now. I need some time to organize my thoughts.”
“All right. There are still a few procedures I need to handle before Miya’s transfer is complete. I will bring her into the classroom later, so you can go ahead.”
“……Yeees.”
Jaes shuffled away like a walking corpse.
As they watched him leave,
Sharan and Miya each revealed an inexplicable smile.
“Hmm-hmm. Was that enough?”
“Yes. Thank you for going along with my request.”
“It was hardly difficult. Still, I am curious. Why did you go so far as to tell a lie merely to come here?”
“……I did not actually lie, did I?”
“Hmm. Broadly speaking, no. However, after deciding to join our side, you were the one who approached Raiden and volunteered to help Jaes here, were you not? Even though you knew it would inevitably invite needless suspicion. Hehe. I wonder why?”
GLANCE.
“……You did not ask because you genuinely expected an answer, did you?”
“No. I did not. You do not have to tell me. I already have a general idea.”
“Then why did you agree to play along with my request, Lady Sharan? To be honest, I made the request without expecting you to accept it.”
“Hehe. Because it seemed as though it would be more entertaining this way!”
“Ah…… As I expected, you are one of those people too, Lady Sharan.”
“Those people? Whatever could you mean by that?”
“Nothing. You are a mage of the famous ‘Mage Tower,’ Lady Sharan. I have long known that it is filled with eccentrics and oddities, regardless of their actual ability. Ah. I did not mean that in a negative way.”
Sharan laughed lightly at her words.
“That is fine. I already know that everyone familiar with us calls us that.”
“However, the students here seem to have a very favorable impression of you.”
“Oh, come now. It is not as though I deliberately behave like an eccentric. In ordinary situations, I act normally and sensibly. I am the children’s teacher here, after all.”
“……For some reason, that only makes me more concerned.”
“Hmm?”
“It means that you do not consider Jaes ‘ordinary’ either.”
Sharan smiled.
“Why? Does that bother you?”
“Hmm. A little.”
“Hehe. I appreciate your honesty. Since you were honest, I will say this even though it is probably unnecessary. You had better not entertain any foolish ideas.”
“Yes. I truly have no intention of doing so anymore.”
“Good. Then that is enough. I will not interfere with anything else, so you may do whatever you please.”
“Yes. That is what I intended to do anyway. Even if my opponent is Lady Sharan, I will not lose.”
TAP TAP.
“……Hmm. I did not say you could leave yet.”
Miya said everything she wished to say and walked away first.
As Sharan watched her retreating back, a mischievous and spiteful smile—the kind she only revealed when no one was watching—appeared on her lips.
“Well, I did not expect this development, but I think this could be entertaining too♡”
TINGLE.
“……Heh. So this is the power of the First-Tier Magic Arrow that Jaes was about to cast.”
A very faint tingling sensation still lingered in her palm.
Sharan stared at her hand with a smile.
At the same time,
CREAK.
“Ah. Jaes, you are here? A-actually, I went to ask Teacher Sharan a question today and happened to see the transfer student before everyone else. I mentioned Trelas to her, and she showed interest! She is a girl, but she moved so nimbly that I think she is skilled at the close combat role we have been looking for. We agreed that the three of us would discuss it once you arrived. I did well, did I not?”
The moment Jaes entered the classroom, Ian approached him with a slightly excited expression, plainly hoping to be praised.
“……Haaaaah.”
“……?”
Jaes responded by releasing yet another deep sigh.