#54
“I heard you’ve been busy lately. Are you doing alright?”
“What about you? I heard you suddenly took a job as a school teacher.”
“I’m in the process of discovering the joy of training future generations.”
I wish I could let our class students hear this statement. They’d all shake their heads with their mouths wide open. Anyone could see that Yaksi didn’t have a personality suited for teaching. She was good at instructing, but she lacked the patience to wait for students who performed below average, and she didn’t care about students’ character development. Moreover, she wasn’t the type to feel personal satisfaction from teaching others.
The Duke, seemingly familiar with Yaksi’s personality, snorted and dismissed her words.
“Did you come to see your son?”
“Just came for a brief inspection.”
“Ah, because of the entrance ceremony incident? I sent a report, but I guess you didn’t see it?”
I knew she was an impressive person, but not to this extent. To subtly mock the Duke like that. I could never do such a thing.
Ultimately, it worked in my favor. I had planned to ask him why he came to the school, but now that Yaksi had asked on my behalf, my work was reduced. I kept quiet and listened carefully to their conversation. Who would have thought that Yaksi’s burdensome appearance would become a good opportunity for me?
The Duke didn’t point out Yaksi’s precarious tone. He merely frowned slightly but didn’t say anything to Yaksi, who was gently pushing his buttons. However, he clearly had no intention of having dinner with Yaksi beside him.
“I saw it well. So why don’t you return to your place now?”
“I came to greet you since it’s been a while. Young Master has been attending my classes very diligently these days.”
You mean that class I was forced to attend? It was helpful, but facing Yaksi was always difficult.
“Coming to dinner with a sword—our Young Master is certainly well-prepared.”
“Stop talking nonsense and leave.”
I don’t know how she saw the sword that I was half-hiding with my body. Can she sense something even without seeing it directly? With concern, I leaned my body a bit more to the side. It would be problematic if she discovered the sword was a demon sword, but it was also possible that Yaksi, upon learning it was a demon sword, might report it to the temple or the palace.
That would be the easiest and most convenient way to take the sword from the Duke’s possession. However, this sword was no longer an embodiment of evil that would put the world in danger, at least not to me.
I don’t trust many things around me. I didn’t believe Yutis when he said he was protecting me, and even though the Duke hadn’t shown any intention of devouring this country until now, I didn’t believe he had no ambition. I even thought that Kara, whom I always relied on, could become the Duke’s ally and commit evil acts if things went wrong.
What I believed was that the Duke would eventually become the axis of evil, just like in the original story. The same applied to the sword.
This sword, above all, could turn its back on me someday. It could be a medium that might use me as a sacrifice to give new power to the Duke. Nevertheless, I couldn’t let go of this sword. I’m not sure when it became like this. I think I sensed it from the moment I heard the sword’s voice. Even if the sword betrays me, I would trust it until the end.
It’s a foolish choice. For Iria’s happiness, I shouldn’t have such selfish desires. But I am weak, a weak human being, and I couldn’t contain the emotions I had already poured out.
“Yes, I have company as well. Enjoy your dinner.”
After saying that, Yaksi turned away from us. Only then did my tensed heart relax a little. If the Duke hadn’t been there, I might have sighed in relief.
I saw Yaksi sitting at a slightly distant seat. Her company was the history teacher I had met once before. Recognizing my face, he smiled with a relaxed expression and bowed his head. Like when we first met, it seemed the two were closer than I had thought.
“You’re taking that mage’s class?”
“Ah, yes. I ended up taking it.”
“I heard the class is called ‘Demon Research’?”
“Yes.”
“So you’re interested in demons?”
I never expected the Duke to ask something like this. I held my breath and pondered what to say. Of course, I was interested. However, if I honestly said I was interested to the Duke, who would later receive the power of demons, I felt like I would unnecessarily draw attention.
“I have many academic interests.”
I spoke as vaguely as possible while enduring the Duke’s stare. I ended up looking like someone very interested in scholarship, but that seemed better than revealing that I was interested in demons.
Since I had been searching for books since childhood, the Duke probably thought I had a great interest in studying.
“So you’re interested in academics.”
“Ah, yes.”
I suddenly became a model student, but if this could let me off the hook, I was willing to play the role of a study-focused student any number of times.
The Duke seemed to firmly believe my words, nodding his head as he picked up and ate one of the dishes in front of him. His manner was so neat and precise that I found myself staring at him without realizing it.
“Andelion.”
Did he notice me staring? As soon as my name left his lips, I hastily turned my head away.
“If there’s something you want to do, do it freely. I can support that much.”
The Duke seemed to think I wanted to put down roots at the school. It was an absurd misunderstanding, but I couldn’t change his thinking.
As I expected, the Duke spoke to me more than usual. I couldn’t miss this moment, when the magic of mealtime was cast. Thanks to Yaksi just now, I realized that all investigations about the entrance ceremony incident had been reported to the Duke.
If so, the Duke must have noticed that the incident was related to demons. I had tried to find the person who used that magic circle, but the scattered magical power showed no sign of returning. Had the Duke come to find what I had failed to notice? Perhaps he intended to recruit the person who caused the incident as his subordinate.
“Did the inspection go well?”
“Yes. I heard everything is going on quite uneventfully.”
He sounded like someone hoping for something to happen. I nodded and lifted the water glass in front of me to moisten my throat. The Duke was already strong without possessing a demon sword, and if he brought in other subordinates, it would be truly disastrous.
It seemed like he was looking for the person who drew the magic circle to bring that power under his control. I would need to find the culprit before the Duke did. Since the Duke couldn’t come to the school often, it might be possible for me to find them first.
The list of things I had to do grew day by day. I had to prepare for the seminar while attending school, connect Iria and Persis while preparing for the danger approaching Persis, and find the culprit of the entrance ceremony incident.
Even as a child, I thought it would be nice to have multiple bodies, but I never imagined I’d still be thinking this as I grew up. As I listed all the things I had to do, a corner of my stomach started to prick, and it felt like everything I’d eaten would come back up.
Still, having come all this way with the Duke paying for the meal, I couldn’t just pick at my food. I stuffed the food in front of me into my mouth while contemplating what to handle first.
“Eat that meat too. The meat.”
The sword, which had been quiet, finally spoke up. Even though Yaksi had come and gone, it just stayed quiet. I followed the sword’s request and picked up the meat in front of me. Somehow, the dish containing the meat seemed a bit closer than before, but I hadn’t moved it, and the Duke certainly wouldn’t have either, so I must have misperceived it due to focusing too much on eating.
Each time I chewed what was in my mouth, the savory meat juice spread throughout. It was delicious, really. I would probably have to take digestive medicine as soon as I got back to the dormitory.
* * *
I looked around the hall where many people were moving about. Though it was still far from the seminar’s start, I had come early to check out the presentation venue and survey the surroundings.
Kara, who heard that I would be participating in the seminar, said she would come at the scheduled time, mentioning it had been a while since she had a chance to go out. She seemed to be planning to bring Yutis, who would still be at the dormitory. Initially, Yutis wanted to leave early with me, but I somehow blocked him, insisting he come separately later. In truth, I wished he wouldn’t come to the seminar at all, but Yutis adamantly expressed his desire to attend.
It was really just a minor presentation, yet it felt like the number of attendees kept growing.
People passing through the hall found it strange that I was standing blankly, glancing at me from time to time. I hoped the seminar staff member who had promised to guide me to the waiting room, but suddenly disappeared, would return soon. Or better yet, I wished other team members would come quickly to dissolve this awkward situation.
Currently, Persis, Rikin, and Iria had gone to greet people they knew. Iria had probably gone to meet a noble who had been secretly taking care of her, while Persis and Rikin had likely gone to meet those who formed the core of their faction.
They told me to wait in the waiting room, but the staff member who was supposed to show me there hadn’t arrived. I couldn’t keep standing here. I decided to look around and find the waiting room myself. The seminar venue wasn’t that large, so I thought I could find it quickly.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
