The male students who had been driven out of the shop immediately returned to the classroom.
Since the female students were still in the classroom too,
A meeting naturally began on the spot.
Lizbette stood before the lectern and said,
"It seems that after the owner of Quartz Apothecary changed, they began selling to Academy-related people at triple the price."
The Academy students and instructors had often used Quartz Apothecary for a long time.
After all, they often needed medicinal ingredients for classes or had to treat injured people after training.
The problem was that it was the only apothecary near the Academy.
Barbara twisted her face and murmured,
"Just how greedy for money do they have to be to do something like that?"
"I do not think it is because of money. It seems they are actually selling to the villagers at half price."
At that, Jize sprang to his feet and shouted,
"In any case, this is obvious discrimination! Let us appeal to everyone in the Academy and start a boycott."
At that, the other students nodded.
Even Cat and Muscle had quietly slipped in and were supporting the idea.
Only Trine spoke to everyone with a displeased face.
"Can we not just leave it alone? The Academy side will probably negotiate on its own later."
At that, Prince Sirean glared at Trine and said,
"Why do you keep subtly taking that shop clerk’s side?"
"Thanks to you people, I ended up being hated even more for no reason. I do not want to get on her bad side any further."
"Do not tell me you are planning to switch from Sia to that shop clerk."
"Please stop saying such utter nonsense."
While Prince Sirean glared at Trine for a moment,
Lizbette cleared her throat and spoke again.
"Let us request cooperation from the class representatives of the other departments right away. It is vacation, so if we are late, they may all leave."
***
That evening, it seemed most of the knight department students had headed to Quartz Apothecary.
Meanwhile, Trine did not follow them and remained in the dormitory, practicing a spell.
"Small, reliable, and lovely bird, please carry my words on your wings."
At that, a messenger bird appeared on Trine’s palm.
However, for some reason, it was seriously fat.
It flapped its wings diligently, but it could not take flight.
Cat, who was sitting on Trine’s bed, fell backward and laughed loudly.
"You are really bad at this! Master, you are the first person I have ever seen struggle this much with just one magic bird!"
At that, Muscle, who was beside her, looked at Trine with pity and said,
"No human can be perfect."
After dispelling the bird, Trine collapsed facedown onto the desk.
"Do I really have no talent for magic?"
His mana had rapidly decreased after his hand had been bitten by the wolf,
But even before that, he had been extremely slow at learning magic.
After five years of effort, all he had learned was a single magic sword spell.
At that, Cat sat up again and said,
"It is not that you have no talent. Rather, there is something strange about your mana circuits, Master."
"Strange how?"
"The amount of mana you have in your body is incredibly small, but the faucet that lets it out is too huge."
"That is one easy-to-understand comparison."
"It is probably partly because you abused mana potions, Master."
At those words, Trine flinched for a moment.
Come to think of it, the shop clerk had said something similar too.
"Is there no way to properly control that faucet?"
"Practice is the only answer. Still, thanks to that, you can use that difficult magic sword spell easily, right?"
That was not comforting at all.
If he had failed to do it even after practicing for five years, there was no way he could manage it now.
Taking a short break, Trine poured the tea in the teapot on the table into three paper cups.
"I received some tea that looks good, so let us drink it together."
"Tea from Master? That does not suit you at all."
Trine ignored Cat’s words and brought the paper cup to his mouth.
The tea leaves the clerk at Quartz Apothecary had recommended earlier.
Even if they supposedly made mana recovery somewhat faster, it did not seem like anything would change...
Cat brought her nose to the paper cup and smelled it.
"Is this Eklai tea? You are drinking something good. Does that not cost about ten gold coins a box?"
Trine spat out the tea he was drinking.
"H-How much?"
"That is filthy... Ten gold coins. Did you not know?"
"Liar! I bought this for thirty silver coins!"
"What? Where?"
"At Quartz Apothecary."
At that, Cat sprang up, opened the box, examined the tea leaves, and said,
"It does not seem to be fake... Did that bastard really sell this so cheaply?"
"Yeah..."
"Maybe that clerk likes you?"
Trine’s body froze for a moment.
But soon, as if he had heard an amusing joke, he laughed and replied,
"What nonsense is that? This whole mess happened because she hates me."
Muscle crossed his arms and said,
"No. Perhaps she said such a thing to Cat because she was jealous of Princess Sia."
"No, no, no. We met for the first time. There is absolutely no way."
"Master, you should start realizing how popular you are."
At that, Cat pressed her hand down on Trine’s head on her own and said,
"If one only gathers and reads the newspaper articles, you are the class representative of the knight department, a single-hearted knight, and the hero who saved Princess Sia, are you not?"
Trine clicked his tongue and murmured,
"I really should storm that newspaper company one of these days."
"Anyway, that means the Quartz Apothecary person is your fan."
At those words, Trine made a blank expression.
If that clerk really liked Trine, how was he supposed to react?
His head already hurt because of Princess Sia.
Should he just keep his distance, or would it be better to get along moderately well?
Just then, Hwaran spoke to Trine again.
'Have you perhaps not noticed?'
"What, all of a sudden?"
'...Nothing. This is something you should notice on your own.'
Trine thought over Hwaran’s words for a moment.
Then, as if having decided something, he sprang to his feet.
"I will go back and properly pay the price while thanking her. It is possible she just miscalculated by mistake."
"Sucker bastard."
"Leave him be."
***
Trine immediately took Cat and Muscle with him and headed to Quartz Apothecary.
However, the atmosphere made it impossible to enter the shop.
"Quartz Apothecary, stop discriminating against the Academy!"
"Stop it! Stop it!"
"We will keep protesting until you lower your prices!"
Around thirty students, including those from the knight department, were holding picket signs and shouting.
Trine stood some distance away so they would not notice him and murmured,
"Should I come back later?"
Just then, the clerk came out of the apothecary.
In her hands was a small flowerpot.
When Cat saw it, she covered her cat ears with both hands and shouted,
"Cover your ears!"
The clerk pulled out the plant growing in the flowerpot.
At that, the uprooted plant roots began screaming.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaak!"
It was a scream so loud it made his heart drop.
Trine and Muscle belatedly covered their ears too.
At the same time, the students scattered in all directions in panic.
Only then did the clerk put the plant back into the flowerpot and enter the shop.
Still covering her ears, Cat sank to the ground and grumbled,
"That damned bastard, using a mandrake like that..."
In any case, thanks to the crowd dispersing, they were now able to enter the shop.
Trine carefully opened the shop door.
At that, the clerk raised the flowerpot threateningly and said,
"Leave immediately."
"W-Wait! We did not come to fight."
"Then what did you come for?"
"Um, I heard the tea leaves you sold me were actually extremely expensive..."
At that, the clerk silently glared at Trine for a moment.
Trine flinched for no reason, paused briefly, then opened his mouth again.
"If you sold them by mistake, I wanted to pay the proper price."
"That is fine. Let us say it was my mistake. Is that all you came for?"
At that, Cat stepped in front of Trine and pressed her.
"Do you perhaps like our master?"
Without warning, the clerk pulled out the mandrake again.
Thanks to that, all three people in front of her fell to the floor while covering their ears.
"Aaaaaaaaaagh!"
"Hey, you bastard!"
"Uooaaaaaagh!"
Only after several seconds did the clerk put the mandrake away.
Cat sprang to her feet and grabbed the clerk by the collar.
"Do you really want to die? Will you take responsibility if my eardrums burst?"
"Then who told you to say something so ridiculous?"
"Fine. You want to go another round, do you?"
Trine and Muscle forcibly pulled Cat away from the clerk.
"Calm down! We did not come here to fight!"
"You are not even a match for that clerk in one punch."
"Let go! I really have to settle things with that bitch!"
After setting the flowerpot down, the clerk crossed her arms and said,
"Mr. Trine, do you not properly manage your servants?"
"S-Sorry... Muscle, I am sorry, but could you take Cat outside for a moment?"
After Muscle forcibly took Cat out,
Trine drew in a deep breath and said,
"We were in the wrong too, but there is no need for you to provoke her that much either."
"I think everything will be resolved if only you stop coming to our shop."
"Can we not just reconcile amicably?"
"I refuse strange advances."
"No, they are not advances-"
"I find it unpleasant that you are doing this kind of thing immediately after being abandoned by Princess Sia."
Trine stared intently at the clerk.
He could not tell what she was thinking at all.
If this clerk really was Trine’s fan,
And if she was doing this because she did not like the fact that he had broken off his engagement with Princess Sia...
It seemed better to make things clear to this person.
"I was the one who requested the broken engagement with Princess Sia first."
"...Why?"
"Because there is someone else I have decided to devote my entire life to."
"Who is that?"
"A friend from my hometown."
At those words, the clerk glared sideways and murmured in a small voice,
"Even though you ran away."
"Pardon?"
"I did not say anything."
Just then, Lizbette suddenly entered the shop.
"Class representative! I knew you would come too!"
"Eh... No..."
"You came to negotiate so she would lower the prices, right? If that was the case, you should have come with us."
"Um, I did not come for that-"
"Both of you, leave. It is time to close the shop."
The clerk pulled out the mandrake without warning.
***
Butler Elford met some familiar faces on his way back from shopping.
"Trine. Miss Lizbette."
However, for some reason, the two did not even look at Butler Elford.
With their ears covered,
They fled from Quartz Apothecary in a hurry.
"...Hmm."
Butler Elford entered Quartz Apothecary.
Then he set down a paper bag filled with medicinal herbs,
And asked the clerk, who was still holding the mandrake flowerpot,
"What happened?"
"I merely drove out troublesome customers."
The clerk answered while trying to sound calm, but the atmosphere did not seem that way at all.
For some reason, the clerk’s face was extremely red.
"Did Trine perhaps notice your identity, my lady?"
At that, the clerk untied her kerchief.
Beneath the kerchief enchanted with recognition-obscuring magic,
Yuril’s long black hair came loose.
"...He said he was the one who requested the broken engagement with Princess Sia first."
"Is that so?"
"You knew everything, did you not?"
At Yuril’s somewhat resentful expression, Elford answered calmly,
"I know nothing."
In truth, Butler Elford had not properly reported matters about Trine to Yuril.
That Princess Sia had unilaterally forced the engagement onto Trine.
That during the journey, Trine had never tried to give his heart to Princess Sia.
And especially, the fact that Trine still had not given up on Yuril.
That was why Yuril had believed Trine’s feelings had drifted away.
"...Well, it does not matter. Nothing will change."
Yuril began organizing the medicinal herbs Elford had bought.
After a brief pause, Butler Elford asked,
"Do you still intend to tell Trine to give up?"
At that, Yuril answered without hesitation.
"Of course."