#57
“Me? What? What wealth and glory would I enjoy? Just living normally like others, you know? Like that. Graduate from the academy, then go to our home and say loudly to dad, ‘I’ll take over here now, so please enjoy the rest of your life happily with mom somewhere nice,’ like that. I have such a modest dream of remodeling the northern region to my taste. Really, because of those jerks.”
Noah moved his small lips incessantly, not caring who heard.
The punishments given to students who did wrong or violated school rules here were mostly related to their curriculum. Due to the social structure that couldn’t be equal despite all the calls for equality, they couldn’t assign harsh tasks to students.
In a place where one couldn’t even imagine a Grand Duke’s child pulling weeds or the Crown Prince or Princess cleaning toilets, Noah now had a dry cloth in his hand.
“I need to stay away from those people! Then I can live properly! It’s unfair enough that I was transmigrated… At this age, hanging out with kids. What am I doing?!”
Each time Noah emphasized a syllable, his hand moved, accompanied by small, clear “po-dok, po-dok” sounds. After focusing on cleaning the mirror for a while, Noah looked toward the door when he heard it open.
“…”
The moment Noah saw Raymond holding a long broom and Derik entering with something that looked bulkier than his already large frame, his lips, which had been chattering away just a moment ago, shrank.
“Haah— Is the Dean crazy or what?”
The words Noah was about to say came out of Raymond’s mouth. Yes, our Dean does seem crazy.
Noah, the son of a Grand Duke, was tasked with cleaning the auditorium windows. The huge windows, over 5 meters tall and facing the garden, were so daunting that Noah had been cleaning mirrors instead. He felt he needed to say he had properly cleaned at least something.
If window cleaning was Noah’s job, floor cleaning seemed to be Raymond’s responsibility.
“Derik?”
Noah called out to Derik, who was putting down the large bundle he was carrying and immediately leaving the auditorium, but he closed the door without answering.
“Alright, let’s try to finish this somehow within the time limit. The Dean seemed really angry.”
“Hey! This is all because of you. Derik and I were trying to sneak in quietly, but then you had to show up too.”
“But can you clean the windows?”
“Look. The auditorium caretaker brought a ladder earlier. If I fall from the ladder, I’ll just die, right? Send my regards to my parents.”
Noah pointed with his chin to the incredibly high three-tiered ladder on one side of the auditorium.
“Should I help you?”
“Help what? You have to clean the auditorium floor, right? That’s easier. What is Derik… Aaahhh!”
After briefly chatting, Noah, who was adjusting his cloth to diligently clean all the windows, instinctively flailed his arms in the air as his body suddenly floated up.
“I’m safer than a ladder. I’ll support you well, so clean.”
“Hey! Then just do everything with magic. Why make me clean?”
After struggling briefly, Noah quickly regained his composure and looked down at Raymond while floating in the air.
“Is the Dean an ordinary person?”
On Raymond’s wrist, who was heading toward one end with a broom after lifting Noah into the air, was a bracelet Noah had never seen before.
“Isn’t that a magic-sealing bracelet? But I…”
“I’m kind of exceptional, you know. Anyway, lifting you up in the air is nothing, so hurry up and clean the windows.”
At Raymond’s urging, Noah began cleaning the windows.
“But what is Derik doing?”
“Oh, he was told to replace all the curtains and such here, so he’s carrying those.”
That was true.
The punishment for the three who had gone out without permission late at night was cleaning the auditorium, the largest space in the academy.
“Hey~ a bit faster.”
What’s the point? Noah, who had been idly cleaning mirrors, was now flying freely around the spacious auditorium. When else would he get to fly like this?
Noah, who was grinning as if flying through the sky was such a joy, flew from one end of the auditorium to the other, and now he was lying down and floating, humming happily as if he was really enjoying himself.
—If you drop him, he’ll really die.—
Derik, who had no intention of revealing to Noah that he was a dragon, sent a mental message to Raymond while diligently climbing the ladder to take down the curtains.
—Just because I’m wearing this stupid thing doesn’t mean I’d drop him and make him say goodbye to the world.—
Raymond, who was sending a mental message back to Derik while sweeping the floor with a broom, couldn’t help but smirk. Apparently, students had never been punished with cleaning duties since the academy was established, yet such a decision was made, and they were even made to wear magic-sealing bracelets supposedly brought from the Tower.
It was unknown when the academy had started giving cleaning punishments to students and making them wear such bracelets to prevent them from using magic to do the job easily, but such a toy-like thing was only applicable to humans; to him, it was just a ridiculous object.
Moreover, the person who had been complaining non-stop until just now—about how they were supposed to clean such a large place, how it would be a problem whether they finished or not, how Lucas might take such punishment in stride but what about their parents—was now nowhere to be seen, replaced by Noah flying through the air with a bright smile.
Sometimes Noah acted like he was more adult than them, pretending to know everything and speaking and acting as if saying, “I’m an adult who understands you,” but he was just a young human after all. Moreover, after asking to fly faster and being given more speed, he was now screaming that he was scared and going to die.
—He’s really cute. Oh, by the way, it’s day 2 for me.—
—What are you talking about? Stop saying useless things and slow down the speed. He’s going to cry.—
Raymond, who had put a spell on the broom without Noah noticing, watched Noah zealously flying through the air. When he slowed down the speed as instructed, Noah said no and asked him to speed up again, making Raymond clench his molars. Indeed, there’s no animal as capricious as humans.
Wondering how long he had to play with Noah, Raymond sat in a chair and stretched lazily while looking at Derik, not caring if the broom moved on its own. Even after all this time, Derik’s inflexibility hadn’t changed. While they could have easily deceived Noah’s eyes and finished quickly with magic, Derik was diligently doing the work.
It was both pathetic and frustrating to see him meticulously taking down the dusty curtains while secretly using magic to eliminate the dust to prevent it from reaching Noah, who was playing excitedly.
Just watching because he’s cute? Staying until he becomes an adult because he’s concerned? Sorry, but it seems too late for that.
Derik had been constantly watching Noah since the moment he floated into the air. Only Derik himself was unaware that his usually cold, rigid expression had softened and was even wearing a smile.
Whenever Noah, who was lying down, standing up, and lying on his stomach in the air, doing whatever poses he wanted, wobbled even slightly, Derik’s magic would immediately intervene. Raymond had gradually withdrawn his magic, and now it was entirely Derik’s magic enveloping Noah.
—I told you, Noah and I decided to date yesterday, so yesterday was day 1, today is day 2—
Raymond, who wasn’t content with just sitting in a chair and had pulled another chair over with magic to lie down completely, twitched his fingertips. Each time he did, small lights sparkled in the air.
“Wow! That’s pretty. Raymond, did you do that?”
“Of course.”
“Can you make them like soap bubbles? Remona used to do that for me.”
Before Noah could finish speaking, Raymond swallowed the curse rising from within. Instantly, large and small soap bubbles with iridescent light surrounded Noah.
“Ah… I want to be a magician too. Derik, you don’t have magic, right? Raymond seems good at magic but not so good at physical stuff. I think you could be a magic swordsman.”
Noah, who had been popping the soap bubbles and waving his arms to send them away, approached the window. He thought he had played enough. Since he was up here, he took out the dry cloth he had hastily tucked into his waistband to clean the upper windows.
“Huh?”
Noah’s eyes, already large, grew even rounder as he saw the cloth slip from his hand and start cleaning the window by itself. Only then could he see the broom dancing and cleaning the auditorium on its own, and Raymond lying comfortably in a chair, whistling.
He definitely wore a magic-sealing bracelet, so how could he use magic?
“Not that way, this way.”
Noah, who had been staring blankly at Raymond, looked at Derik when called.
“Ack!”
The moment his eyes met Derik’s, Noah dropped with a whoosh and found himself sitting on a ladder, face-to-face with Derik.
“Do you want to be a magic swordsman? Or do you want to see a magic swordsman?”
“See?”
Since he didn’t like physical exertion anyway, Noah glanced sideways at Raymond while having Derik within arm’s reach. Was the magic-sealing bracelet defective?
“I said not that way, but this way.”
After maintaining balance for a moment, Noah’s body wobbled again, bringing him closer to Derik, and only then did he properly look at him.
“You?”
“Thanks to someone, I’m about to do several things I never planned to do.”
As Derik smiled, time seemed to stop.
The hanging curtains flowed down like they were dancing, and the new curtains piled on one side of the auditorium flew up. The dusty windows instantly became clear, and the chairs that Raymond had pushed around while cleaning quickly moved back to their proper places.
“…Why not me?”
A hollow voice escaped Noah’s lips as he watched the magical spectacle unfolding before his eyes. That guy has it, this guy has it, there are so many magic department students in this academy. Why am I the only one without magic?
They gave me the strange Omega trait or whatever, they could have given me magic as a bonus.
Noah, who had gently landed on a chair in the now clean auditorium, looked at Derik with a sulky expression.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
