The Academy training field looked like a battlefield.
Every student of the knight department had collapsed, covered in dust.
Among them, only one old man in butler's clothes stood leisurely with a sword in hand.
"Hoho. As expected of the knight department, you are all quite outstanding."
The students all glared at Trine at once.
Because of him, they had all been beaten by Butler Elford under the pretense of training.
Trine spat out the dirt that had gotten into his mouth and murmured,
"It isn't my fault... This is all Prince Sirean's fault."
Prince Sirean, sprawled on the ground like a caterpillar, glared at Trine and replied,
"Don't be ridiculous. Leaving my sister aside, you are the one who brought that old man here."
As Trine and Prince Sirean stared each other down,
Butler Elford slammed his sword into the ground with a THUD and said,
"There are still students full of energy, I see. Please stand and continue attacking."
At that, for some reason, Instructor Eloy, who had also collapsed on the ground, cackled.
"Serves you right, you problem children."
"You still seem quite composed as well, Instructor. Please stand. I shall face you together with them."
In the end, the students and Instructor Eloy were enthusiastically beaten by Instructor Elford for quite some time afterward as well.
***
That evening.
Instructor Eloy, who had rented out an entire high-end restaurant outside the Academy, raised her glass high and shouted,
"Now! To celebrate our knight department becoming the true first place at the sports festival, everyone, cheers!"
At those words, everyone was so exhausted that they only weakly pretended to raise their glasses.
Some even seemed unable to lift their arms properly.
Only Butler Elford, beside Instructor Eloy, raised his arm with proper discipline.
Trine quietly asked Prince Sirean beside him,
"Did we really get first in shooting and magic too?"
"Second in magic. Well, we got first in two events, so we avoided the disgrace of being called fake first place."
"Impressive."
Prince Sirean glanced toward Butler Elford and asked,
"By the way, were you really the former knight commander's disciple?"
"It just ended up that way somehow."
"They said he ran off to the countryside as soon as he retired, so no one knew where he went."
Come to think of it, Trine knew almost nothing about Butler Elford.
Even when Elford had trained Trine in the forest, they had barely spoken.
And Trine had only learned today that he had been the knight commander before last.
Why had such an incredible person become Yuril's butler?
No, more importantly, why had he suddenly appeared, saying he would help Trine?
Just then, Instructor Eloy asked Prince Sirean,
"So what do you plan to do from here?"
At that, Prince Sirean crossed his arms and answered,
"I already know how to break the curse."
At that, Instructor Eloy asked Prince Sirean,
"Explain."
"Someone who has deciphered the Book of Walpurgis must perform a ritual using the flower of the Unfallen Cactus."
At those words, several students frowned.
The Book of Walpurgis, said to be extremely difficult to decipher.
The flower of the Unfallen Cactus, which bloomed once every thousand years.
Both were treasures they had only ever heard of in legends.
"As for the cactus flower, this happens to be the year it blooms, so we will go to the Romer Empire and pick it ourselves."
The Romer Empire was a nation adjacent to Altoria.
It seemed they had frequently gone to war with each other, but they were currently in a state of armistice.
Even so, their relationship was poor, so it would not be an easy journey.
After thinking for a moment, Instructor Eloy asked Prince Sirean again,
"The Book of Walpurgis is at least owned by the kingdom's grand library, correct?"
"The problem is that no one has succeeded in deciphering it so far."
"Then who will you entrust with deciphering it?"
"There is one guy here right now with a natural talent for grimoires, isn't there?"
At that, the gazes around them focused on Trine.
He spoke, somewhat flustered.
"No, wait. Are you seriously saying you're going to entrust me with deciphering that book?"
"If we are talking purely about speed reading grimoires, there probably isn't anyone in our kingdom faster than you."
Ordinarily, even a high scholar would take several months at the shortest to read one volume.
By contrast, Trine had instantly read through two volumes already.
In terms of possibility alone, pointing to him was by no means a bad gamble.
"Even so, there must be someone better at deciphering than me, right?"
"We searched for years, but there wasn't."
"I'm not exactly a grimoire expert. What are you going to do if I fail?"
"Then Sia's fate ends there."
Trine slammed his seat back and stood up without realizing it.
"Hey, you bastard. Is that something you can actually say?"
However, Prince Sirean replied without batting an eye.
"If you had not appeared in the first place, this plan would not even have begun."
The reason the book had been impossible to decipher until now was not only because the book was difficult.
There had been swindlers who lied about deciphering the book just to extort the reward.
There had been thieves who stole the book and demanded several hundred million gold as ransom.
There had even been ruffians who tried to burn the book for political reasons.
"The only reason I entered the Academy was to find someone like you."
He had searched for someone who would properly decipher a single book.
Guilds, foreign countries, back alleys—he had wandered wherever he could.
After being deceived, betrayed, and suffering all kinds of humiliation, he had rolled his way here.
He had already half given up, feeling as though he were clutching even a rotten rope.
It was only that the rope had turned out to be light itself.
"I will say it once more. If you fail, Sia's fate ends there anyway."
Someone with a genius-level aptitude for deciphering grimoires, and someone who would never betray Princess Sia.
Trine was the one and only hope that could save Sia.
"Please."
Prince Sirean rose from his seat.
Then he abruptly bowed deeply to Trine.
"Save Princess Sia... Save my sister."
All the other students held their breath.
That prince was even bowing to someone else.
In the end, Trine steeled himself reluctantly and answered,
"Fine. I'll try."
At that, Lizbette rose from her seat and said,
"I, too, swear that I will lend what little strength I have to saving Princess Sia."
Perhaps because even Lizbette, whose family was not on good terms with the royal family, had declared it,
The other students began standing up one by one as well.
"I'll stay with you to the end too!"
"Saving the princess is exactly a knight's duty."
"Let's save her splendidly and all rise in status together."
In the end, when every member of the knight department rose from their seats,
Prince Sirean shouted while still bowing,
"Thank you all, truly!"
***
After that, the strategy meeting began immediately.
"Then shall we split into two teams and move separately?"
Instructor Eloy pointed at Trine and Prince Sirean and said,
"Trine's team will look for the Book of Walpurgis, and Prince Sirean's team will look for the flower of the Unfallen Cactus. No objections, right?"
At that, everyone nodded as if they understood.
"Good. Then let us decide who will join which team here and now. Hands up for Trine's team?"
At that, Lizbette was the first to raise her hand.
"I will accompany him."
Then most of the female students raised their hands with her.
After all, Lizbette was the leader of the female students and the object of their admiration.
Jize tried to raise his hand too.
But when several female students sent him sharp gazes, he quietly lowered it.
Instructor Eloy smiled in satisfaction and said,
"Then the rest are on Prince Sirean's team, right? It worked out nicely, with five people each."
"Wait, wait, wait!"
Trine sprang up from his seat and shouted,
"Our team is all women except for me!"
At that, Instructor Eloy frowned and replied,
"What is wrong with that?"
"No, no matter how you look at it..."
At that, Butler Elford, who had remained silent until now, opened his mouth.
"Then I shall also join Trine's team. Now there are two men, so there is no problem, correct?"
That was even more horrifying.
To be honest, Elford was the person in this place who made Trine the most uncomfortable.
Trine felt the area beneath his eye twitching without realizing it.
***
After the party ended, all the students returned to the dormitory.
In the middle of that, Instructor Eloy had gotten drunk alone, so Lizbette decided to escort her back.
That night as well, Trine stood alone in the dormitory backyard with a sword in hand.
"...Hup! ...Hup! ...Haaah!"
However, in the end, he could not swing it more than a few times before he dropped the sword.
When Trine bent down to pick up the sword, a voice came from behind him.
"It seems you have not neglected your training even after injuring your hand."
Trine was startled for a moment by the sudden presence.
But after confirming that it was Butler Elford, he soon let out a short sigh.
"At most, all I do is stand here in this stance for an hour or two every night."
"At any rate, you have gotten caught up in quite the troublesome affair."
"Tell me about it. This isn't why I came to the Academy."
"Is the one you want to save Lady Yuril, or Princess Sia?"
At that, Trine answered without hesitation.
"Both."
Because it was the request of Sirean, who was both royalty and a friend, he could not refuse.
Because Princess Sia was pitiful, so he wanted to do something for her.
Because breaking Princess Sia's curse might give him a hint about Yuril's curse.
None of those reasons mattered.
"Because at the very least, I can't have anyone around me be unhappy."
"You shamelessly use my lady's creed as an excuse to cheat."
"I suppose so. Maybe it is an excuse."
Trine gripped the sword again and took his stance.
"Even so, those words are the only thing I have."
Butler Elford smiled once in satisfaction.
Then he drew his own wooden sword.
"Come at me."
"Eh? Again? We sparred more than enough earlier."
"It seems you have changed, Trine. In the past, no matter how exhausted you were, you would continue until the very-"
"I haven't changed at all!"
Taking advantage of the moment Elford let his guard down, Trine attempted a cowardly surprise attack.
However, Elford swiftly struck Trine in the side with his sword.
Thanks to that, Trine collapsed pathetically.
"It seems coming to the Academy has only sharpened your useless tricks."
"I-I'll take that as praise."
"If this is all you can manage, it would be best for you to start giving up on Lady Yuril."
"Don't be ridiculous!"
Trine sprang to his feet and charged at the butler once more.
He charged, fell, stood again and charged, then fell.
He repeated only that for nearly several hours.
If someone had watched from the side, they might have been sickened by his persistence.
But this had once been nothing more than Trine's ordinary daily life.
"Before you search for an opening in me, think first about your own openings."
"Ugh! I know without you saying it!"
The five years of daily life he had lost.
Only now did he feel as though he had regained a little of it.
The next morning.
Prince Sirean poked Trine's arm with his finger and asked,
"Are you all right?"
"That hurts, damn it! Don't touch me!"
"Then who told you to secretly train like your life depended on it again?"
"Don't tell me you were watching last night too?"
"At this point, even students from other departments come to watch, you know?"
"Damn it. From now on, I should swing my sword somewhere farther away."
"Why worry about that now?"
Just then, Instructor Eloy and Butler Elford entered the classroom together.
Instructor Eloy struck the table with both hands and shouted,
"Starting today, the knight department has received permission to leave the school for the king's request instead of attending regular classes for the time being!"
At those words, the students cheered.
"Then, as planned, Prince Sirean's team will move with me, and Trine's team will move with Lord Elford! Dismissed!"
As if he had been waiting for it, Prince Sirean sprang to his feet.
Then he said to Trine,
"It seems we will have a hard time seeing each other for a while."
"Yeah."
"Then I will ask you once again."
Prince Sirean suddenly bent his waist ninety degrees.
Trine grabbed Prince Sirean by the shoulders and forced him upright as he said,
"A prince shouldn't do something this servile."
"I am asking you not as a prince, but as a friend."
"All the more if we're friends. You don't need to do this kind of thing for a friend to be a friend."
Trine held out his fist.
Prince Sirean grinned and bumped it with his own.
***
That afternoon, Trine's team boarded a train immediately.
On the train, Trine briefly explained the situation to the other five female students.
"We are going to the grand library in Riat Village, where the Book of Walpurgis is."
At that, one of them clapped, sounding somewhat excited.
Trine ignored the sound of her applause and said,
"Master Elford has business to handle, so he will depart separately tomorrow. Today, we only need to go and arrange lodging."
At that, the female student who had just clapped noisily said,
"I have reserved a decent restaurant for dinner, so let us all go together."
"As promised, I will decipher the book myself, but I cannot guarantee how long it will take."
"There is still a few months' time, so there is no need to be impatient."
"I will ask you all to research materials and guard Princess Sia."
"The director of the grand library is a slippery old snake, so all of you should be careful as well."
Trine let out a large sigh.
Then he glared at that female student and said,
"Princess Sia. I will explain everything myself, so could you please stay still?"
At that, Princess Sia, who had arbitrarily borrowed and put on an Academy uniform,
Gave Trine a bright smile and continued speaking.
"All of you are working hard for my sake, so I should offer at least this much help."
"I believe you agreed to stay quiet in exchange for being allowed to accompany us."
At that, Lizbette cleared her throat and said,
"Trine. She is a princess, and the two of you are engaged, so would it not be better to treat her a little more affectionately?"
Come to think of it, that was true.
Everyone else was mistaken, believing that Trine was passionately in love with Princess Sia.
But only Princess Sia knew the secret that the truth was different.
If he carelessly provoked Princess Sia's displeasure and she exposed that secret...
"That is right. As my fiancé, you have a duty to treat me more affectionately, Trine."
At Princess Sia's words, Trine fiercely contorted his face, then soon forced himself to smile again.
"That's true. Since we're engaged, I should act a little more familiar, shouldn't I?"
Then he pinched both of Sia's cheeks and pulled them hard.
"W-Wait, that hurts!"
"This much playing around is fine, isn't it? Since we're engaged."
"If you keep doing this, I will get angry."
"I will return those exact words to you."
And so, their journey began in an atmosphere that, on the surface, looked endlessly warm and harmonious.