[Carnivorous Capybara]
“Why are you doing that in my office?”
The Chancellor’s voice was thick with disbelief.
“It’s warmest here. And there’s an unlimited supply of snacks.”
“I received Her Majesty’s order to remain by Lord Lewis’s side.”
At our replies, the Chancellor pressed his fingers hard against his temples.
“Lewis, I can understand the dormitory arranged for the teaching assistants, but the residence provided to Inspector Hans should be plenty warm......”
“He’s a neat freak, so he doesn’t let anyone into his room.”
“If not the residence, there is an office used by the Inspector and Special Division 4.”
“Come on. There are people working there. How could I go?”
“I am working here too.”
Over the past few days, after writing incident reports together and touring the academy, the Chancellor and Hans had grown rather close.
But perhaps it was still a little uncomfortable.
The Chancellor was hinting for us to leave already.
“Hey. You’re making the Chancellor uncomfortable.”
“Do you truly not know who is making him uncomfortable?”
“Then could it be a mere teaching assistant? Hurry up, apologize, and leave.”
“Be quiet before I throw you both out. Please.”
There was no strength in the Chancellor’s voice as he worked through his papers.
I gave Hans a meaningful look and rummaged through the snack basket.
Common sense said the Chancellor would be uncomfortable with the Inspector, not a mere teaching assistant.
Of course, I had indeed been active on the battlefield in the past.
But this was the academy.
A place where brilliant intellect competed rather than martial strength.
‘Brilliant intellect...... Pfft!’
The Chancellor’s brilliant intellect suddenly came to mind, and I covered my mouth.
The brilliant intellect revealed when his wig slipped off.
“Seriously, this thing......”
Hans sighed as he shot me a look.
After I had been loafing on the sofa for some time, the Chancellor put down his pen.
“Fine. Since you are already here, let us discuss this.”
“Discuss what?”
“Did you not say you wanted a teaching assistant position? Naturally, we must discuss the professor you will be assigned to.”
The Chancellor’s words made Hans and me nod at the same time.
Once the semester began, the person I might spend more time with than Hans was the professor I would be assigned to.
I straightened my posture and listened attentively to the Chancellor.
“By chance, a professor who used to be a mercenary from Oper Kingdom applied to the academy.”
When the Chancellor handed over a document, Hans looked at it and gave a small nod.
“Let me see too. What’s her name?”
“It says ‘Katarina.’ No surname, and she retired from mercenary work less than two years ago.”
“A new professor who used to be a mercenary? She’d be perfect for teaching practical combat.”
The ferocity of mercenaries from the desert was enough to make even Imperial knights click their tongues.
But that was only in battle; people from the southern continent were generally free-spirited.
“She won’t make trouble for you as long as you do your work.”
“We will have to meet her to know that, but she does not seem to belong to any particular faction.”
No sooner had Hans finished speaking than the Chancellor cut in.
“That is why I had not thrown you out.”
“What? You were going to throw us out?”
“You do no work and only eat snacks. Why would I not throw you out?”
“I’m a patient, you know?”
“I am the one who is being driven mad. My image of heroes is shattering.”
The Chancellor pressed his temples as he continued.
“In any case, Professor Katarina is arriving today. There is an interview scheduled, so go and have a look.”
“If the Chancellor and the Inspector both recommend a teaching assistant, it may feel like undue pressure.”
“I feel sorry for Professor Katarina, but if the two of us step forward, she will not make your life needlessly difficult.”
Ah, I agreed with that.
How much did professors work teaching assistants to the bone?
It would be good to make it clear that I had the Chancellor and the Inspector backing me.
The Afernia Empire did not permit slaves.
However, as long as the name was not ‘slave,’ it did not violate the law.
In other words, graduate students were allowed.
“If annoyances disappear, I’d be happ—”
Just as I was about to say I would be happy.
------!
An ominous feeling suddenly sent a shiver up my spine.
Hans must have felt the same thing, because our eyes met.
‘But why does it feel familiar?’
It was frightening, yet familiar.
If I retraced my memories, I felt as though something might come to mind.
But before I could identify that strange sense of déjà vu.
Knock, knock.
“Chancellor, Professor Katarina has arrived.”
The staff member who had guided us into the Chancellor’s office on the first day opened the door and entered.
And behind him stood a tall woman with brown skin.
Despite the middle of winter, she wore only leather pants and a tank top: an outfit that seemed less breezy than likely to freeze someone to death.
Her blazing red hair and fiery eyes.
“Teruna above.”
“......!”
Much had changed, but there was no way I could fail to recognize that presence and atmosphere.
I immediately turned my head and began emergency evasion procedures.
“Cough! Cough! Cooough!”
I heaved my shoulders in violent coughs, pulled a blanket over my face, and hid it.
Hans helped me along.
“Oh dear. It is a fool-related seizure. I will take him to the infirmary. Chancellor, please speak with your guest.”
Hans swiftly helped me up and was about to leave the Chancellor’s office, passing Katarina.
“Hold it right there, you brats.”
A voice unable to hide its amusement caught us by the napes.
“......?”
The Chancellor was half-risen, unable to understand what was happening.
Katarina—no, Kanibara—ignored the Chancellor and turned to us.
“Gloria Academy really was the right answer. Long time no see, Lewis.”
“I-I don’t know anyone like that.”
“It’s only been two years since you ran away from me, and you’re denying it again......”
Kanibara drew out the end of her sentence.
Not good.
That was Kanibara’s habit when her mood worsened sharply.
“It looks like you don’t want to die nicely.”
“......”
I looked desperately at Hans.
If I had any hope, it was Hans, who had Hildegard’s backing.
Only Hans could stand up to Kanibara!
“It has been a long time, Your Highness. I heard the news that you unified the desert and founded a kingdom—”
“I founded it, but I’m not its queen. I don’t have a mercenary company anymore, either, so just call me by my name.”
“......Yes.”
Hans looked between Kanibara and me, then shut his eyes tightly.
Then he let go of the arm that had been supporting me and stepped forward.
Yes! That was it! Step forward bravely! Fight Kanibara!
That was what it meant to be a knight of the Afernia Empire!
I cheered Hans on in my heart.
But.
“I have urgent business to handle...... Please take your time catching up with Lord Lewis.”
“Hey! You traitor! Hildegard told you to protect me!”
“She did not tell me to stand against natural disasters. I will be going, then.”
“No! You can’t go! Take me with you!”
I grabbed onto Hans’s trouser leg and clung to it.
But Hans shook me off and fled the Chancellor’s office.
CREAK. CLICK.
The Chancellor’s office door closed.
Now only the Chancellor, Kanibara, and I remained.
“I-It’s been a while?”
I forced my stiff neck to turn and greeted Kanibara.
“I was surprised to run into you at the academy.”
“Heh heh.”
Kanibara did not answer my greeting, merely holding a deep smile.
She only came closer and closer to me.
“C-Couldn’t we sit and talk first?”
I backed away cautiously.
But Kanibara did not stop.
“Why do you keep coming closer? Huh? There’s nowhere to run here.”
“......”
“Ch-Chancellor! Save me! This woman is trying to eat me! Really! I’m going to be eaten! Aaaagh!”
“Quiet.”
Kanibara had backed me against the wall and took hold of my chin.
The thick scent of alcohol mixed with the fragrance of fruit swept over me.
Had she been drinking before meeting the Chancellor?!
“Do you want me to really eat you?”
“......No. I’m sorry.”
“Heh heh heh.”
Kanibara looked into my eyes and smiled deeply before stepping back.
“Sorry. I was just too happy to see you after so long.”
She was not saying that to me.
Kanibara’s gaze was aimed at the Chancellor.
“......Could you perhaps be Kanibara, the Gray Storm, one of the Five-Colored Heroes?”
“You’re quick on the uptake. Or was I too excited?”
Kanibara gave a faint laugh and reached for the snack basket.
“Why are there only red ginseng candies? Your taste is old-fashioned.”
“Lord Lewis’s manner of speech resembles Lady Kanibara’s......”
“Really? Are we alike?”
The corners of Kanibara’s eyes stretched as though she were pleased.
Kanibara threw herself down onto the sofa.
Then she patted the empty seat beside her as she looked at me.
She was telling me to come sit there.
But I could not just let that predator catch and devour me!
I barely gathered the courage to speak to the Chancellor.
“Chancellor! Getting a job under a false identity at the academy is unacceptable, no matter if she is a hero! Cancel Kanibara’s appointment—!”
“W-Well, Lewis? You are doing the very same thing.”
“......”
“I did not say it because of Her Majesty’s order, but you do not even have a bachelor’s degree.”
Kanibara burst out laughing at that.
“Ahahahaha! Really?”
“Y-You don’t have a degree either!”
It had only been six years since she roamed the seas and mountains with her mercenary company.
Two years ago, we had stood on the same battlefield.
Naturally, I thought Kanibara would not have a degree either, but.
“I do.”
“What?”
“You talked about the academy a lot, didn’t you? So I earned everything up to a doctorate. Starting right after you ran away.”
Kanibara could do it, given her ability.
Earning a doctoral degree in swordsmanship, as well as practical combat doctrine, would have been easy for her.
“Now, who is really working under a false identity?”
Kanibara looked smug.
From beyond my fading mind came the Chancellor’s low lament.
“No. Both of you are working under false identities...... What am I supposed to tell Her Majesty about this......? Haa......”
***
The day after Kanibara swept through the Chancellor’s office like a storm.
I was sipping cocoa in the Inspector’s office.
“I went to the Chancellor’s office today and ate cookies.”
“Pardon?”
Hans gave me a strange look.
“The Chancellor is at the Imperial Palace today, so he is not there. Surely you did not trespass......?”
“Actually, I didn’t go to the Chancellor’s office. I just ate cookies while thinking about the Chancellor.”
“......?”
“Actually, I didn’t eat cookies either. I’m just being the Chancellor.”
Hans’s face twisted.
His inner thought of, ‘What is wrong with this idiot?’ came through loud and clear.
Back then, he used to follow me around so well, always saying, ‘Lord Lewis, Lord Lewis.’
But I had a reason for this.
“The Chancellor went to the Imperial Palace with her, so we can enjoy this peace. Unlike some traitor who abandoned me.”
“......”
“So I should worship him.”
“That...... Yes. I suppose so.”
As Hans said, the Chancellor had gone to the Imperial Palace.
With Kanibara, who had been exposed as working under a false identity because she recognized me.
“Why did she leave Oper Kingdom and come to the academy anyway?”
“She has always demonstrated a degree of initiative beyond common sense.”
Hans furrowed his brow as though he had a headache.
“Until quite recently, I heard she would be made Queen of Oper Kingdom......”
“Your Special Affairs Bureau’s intelligence is slow. Do your job properly.”
“Division 4 specializes in domestic affairs. Foreign matters fall under the purview of Division 2, which works with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
“What about Division 0? You’re close with Division 0 too, aren’t you?”
“There is no such division.”
Oh. That just sounded like a Napoletana horror story.
Division 0 does not exist.
The moment you become aware of Division 0, disinfect your brain.
For brain disinfection, visit Special Division 0 of the Special Affairs Bureau, where you will be courteously assisted.
As I sipped cocoa, thinking such thoughts, Hans continued.
“Does she genuinely intend to remain at the academy?”
“Why are you asking me? Only she knows what’s in her heart.”
“You are the closest person to her, Lord Lewis.”
“Hassan would feel hurt if he heard that.”
Hassan, the taciturn desert warrior.
He was once the unit commander of Kanibara’s mercenary company.
He was surprisingly easy to talk to. I wondered where he was and what he was doing now.
After my thoughts drifted for a moment, I quickly focused and answered Hans’s question.
“Well, she’s not someone who acts unless she means it.”
“Haa......”
“Still, won’t Her Majesty resolve it somehow?”
Kanibara was not merely one of the Five-Colored Heroes.
After the Yggdrasil War ended, Kanibara was said to have united the desert tribes and founded a kingdom.
That was the newly formed Oper Kingdom.
But now she was suddenly an academy professor?
It was troubling for the Afernia Empire, troubling for Oper Kingdom, and troubling for the nations around the Afernia Empire.
The Golden Empress Hildegard and the Gray Storm Kanibara.
Two of the Five-Colored Heroes, weapons of strategic scale, would be permanently stationed in the Empire.
Of course it was troubling.
The only person who was not troubled was probably Kanibara herself.
“Hmm......”
Yet even my expectation came to nothing; Hans wore an ambiguous expression.
“No, think about it reasonably. Does it make sense for a king of another country to be a professor at an academy?”
“That is the thing.”
Hans’s brow narrowed further.
“I have long received information that Lady Kanibara unified the desert tribes and founded Oper Kingdom, but......”
“But?”
“Come to think of it, I have never received information that Lady Kanibara took the throne.”
“I heard Oper Kingdom was founded half a year ago?”
“The tribal council is powerful, so the country must be functioning somehow. It is not as though they have a royal family there, either.”
“What kind of......”
I nearly complained, asking what kind of place that was.
But when I thought about it.
‘The Afernia Empire is only in its second year too.’
Of course, the Afernia Empire boasted a long history.
It was a land that had become an empire after passing from the Afernia family to a kingdom.
If you went back to the era for which even faint records remained, you would reach the Age of Myth.
“Lady Kanibara herself said she was not a queen.”
“That gives me chills. With her, she might really have destroyed the throne with her own hands before coming here.”
“Exactly.”
“Can’t we take issue with her trying to work under a false identity? She hid her name and appearance.”
“That will be difficult too.”
I tilted my head at those words.
“Why?”
“I only remembered it a moment ago. Katarina is Lady Kanibara’s real name.”
“Ah. Right.”
“I can understand me forgetting it, but did Lord Lewis forget too?”
Hans stared at me as though I were unbelievable.
“If you tell her that......”
“No. I’ll really die. Not figuratively—I’ll physically die.”
My neck would get cut off by a curved sword, and I would become Lew/is.
Or I would become a lump of meat that used to be Lewis.
“W-Well, she did hide her appearance!”
“Did she hide it? She only put on makeup.”
“If someone who had never once worn makeup suddenly transformed herself like that, it counts as a disguise!”
I had never seen Kanibara put cosmetics on her face while I was with her.
What she put on her face was either mud or ointment.
She was often covered in blood too, but you did not call that putting something on.
“You must accept it. She may have intended to hide her identity, but under the regulations, there is no problem.”
“Then what happens? The Chancellor can’t refuse either?”
“For anyone to raise an objection, Her Majesty would have to step in, but......”
Hans trailed off, looking out the window.
“For some reason, I have the feeling that she will permit it.”
The sky in the direction of the Imperial Palace was strangely overcast.
An ominous feeling clung to my entire body like damp humidity.