Chapter 15: Anyway, I will serve you well (4)

 

Dinner time. It had become a familiar routine. Prince Ellen, his “Daisy cooldown” apparently not yet over, joined me for dinner, his eyes sparkling as he recounted the day’s club activities.

“So, the Sword Emperor…”

The only difference from before was that Daisy’s share of the conversation had decreased slightly. Even a ropan male lead was still a swordsman at heart. About ten percent of his chatter now revolved around the Sword Emperor, who had become the club’s advisor.

“So, anyway!”

“I’m not going.”

“…You haven’t even heard me out yet.”

Prince Ellen looked disappointed, but it was no use. Unless flowers magically sprouted from my head, I wasn’t joining the Flower Arranging Club.

“By the way, Your Highness.”

“Ellen.”

“Prince Ellen.”

“Drop the ‘prince’ already.”

He looked even more dejected, but I’d been calling him “Prince Ellen” for over half his life. I’d known him since before he even knew I existed.

“It’s a royal command.”

He even invoked a royal command.

“Did you start a rebellion without me knowing?”

“I can just call my father and have him send an order.”

“No, that’s a bit…”

“It’s been over a month since I arrived at the academy! Even Esid, the imperial prince, is called ‘Esid-nim’!”

He had a point. According to academy regulations, even commoners were supposed to address Esid formally. And since those regulations were established by a previous emperor, Prince Esid, as a member of the imperial family, felt obligated to uphold them.

“But that’s an Imperial matter.”

“We’re attending the Imperial Academy now.”

“That’s true.”

After a long hesitation, I finally managed to utter the word:

“Ellen.”

“What?”

His smug grin was irritating, but what could I do? This ropan male lead was my charge.

“Why are you learning swordsmanship in the Flower Arranging Club?”

“W-Well… we arrange flowers too.”

“That’s the default activity.”

“Isn’t it okay to practice swordsmanship during breaks? Everyone enjoys it!”

“Really?”

The Margrave’s son would naturally enjoy it, and I’d heard that the imperial prince and the future merchant lord had some basic swordsmanship training for self-defense. They wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to learn from the Sword Emperor. However…

“Not the magic-user and the president, though, right?”

Magic users had no reason to wield swords instead of their staffs. And if the narrow-eyed president enjoyed swordsmanship, I would have labeled him a villain regardless of what Violet said.

“W-Well, about that…”

“Our president has been diligently maintaining the Flower Arranging Club throughout his academy life.”

“Since when was he *your* president?”

“And then these newcomers barge in and start swinging swords…”

“You make us sound like villains! The president said it was fine!”

“Ellen, if a prince and an imperial prince barged into your club and asked if it was ‘fine’…”

“…Why are you doing this?”

Why? Because if he learned from the Sword Emperor and became a Sword Master… They would expect me to become one too…

“Stop disturbing the club activities and go to a swordsmanship club if you want to practice swordsmanship.”

“Hmm…”

He poked at his salad, speechless.

“I-I’ll do it after club activities from tomorrow.”

“You’re still going?”

“Yes, definitely.”

An unusually firm statement from Prince Ellen. The power of a ropan heroine was terrifying. She could make even Prince Ellen this assertive.

“Because of Daisy?”

“Y-Yeah…”

I’d never seen Prince Ellen so fixated on something before. Was this the allure of a ropan heroine? Damn it, if he found out I was setting him up with someone else, he might actually stab me. And if he came after me with a sword, I’d be dead.

“So, any progress?”

“Yes!”

…What? He was supposed to be a dense, frustrating ropan male lead. I was speechless at his unexpected answer.

“We’re going to study together at the library for the midterms.”

“When?”

“Tomorrow!”

“Just the two of you?”

“I wish. Arwen, Hedric, the president, and Violet are coming too.”

Arwen was the magic user, and Hedric was the future merchant lord. The heroine, her reincarnated friend, and the narrow-eyed president… A typical slice-of-life group. Therefore…

“A quick match?”

After dinner, I approached Aslan, who was practicing alone in the training grounds.

“…Sure!”

Aslan readily agreed, a bright smile on his face, and I raised my sword.

“Gah!”

And then I forcefully dragged the oblivious loser, excluded from the study group, into their little slice-of-life scenario.

* * * *

I stealthily infiltrated the library and spotted the ropan group, attracting attention in the center.

“There they are.”

Seeing Aslan with them, I sighed in relief. I’d broken one of his fingers to prevent him from skipping the study session to practice with the Sword Emperor. I’d been contemplating breaking both his hands if he still skipped it, but it seemed unnecessary.

“Nothing will happen, right?”

At worst, some romantic developments, and even those would be minor, since it was still the early stages of the ropan. After confirming Aslan’s presence, I left the library to attend to my other duties.

“Is this the place?”

Classes were over, and most students were heading to the old school building, where the club rooms were located. The new school building, used for lectures, was relatively empty.

“You’re late.”

Several people were gathered in a small, unmarked storage room in a corner of the new building.

“I was doing some reconnaissance.”

I offered an excuse, since I was apparently the last to arrive.

“Reconnaissance? Where?”

“The Flower Arranging Club.”

“I thought they weren’t meeting today.”

Slow on the uptake, huh?

“It’s a club off-day, so a few of them decided to study for the midterms at the library.”

Didn’t you know? I replied with a subtle hint of condescension, and everyone frowned.

“Who was there?”

“You and your charge.”

I nodded towards the magic user’s and merchant’s handlers.

Yes. Everyone gathered here was in a similar situation. We were the shadows, the handlers, cleaning up after the princes, and other ropan male leads.

“Arwen-nim didn’t mention anything about that.”

The fire mage from Dale eyed me suspiciously.

“That means ‘don’t interfere.’”

“How do you know that?”

“Difference in trust. Prince Ellen told me.”

“Ugh!”

The mage’s hair, matching the color of his magic, swayed wildly. He looked like a betrayed heroine in a tragic romance, but I had no reason to care about a mage.

“I see.”

The Elias Trading Company’s handler, on the other hand, simply nodded in understanding.

“Just those two?”

“The Little Sword Emperor, the club president, and Daisy’s friend were there too.”

No one here was responsible for those three, anyway.

“What were they doing?”

“What do you do in a library? Studying.”

They were attracting attention, but nothing significant would happen.

“Damn it. Why didn’t you stop them? We agreed not to interfere.”

The fire mage from Dale, whose situation mirrored mine, growled. They’d also agreed to prevent their prince’s romantic pursuits.

“As if they would listen. Why didn’t *you* stop them?”

“Ugh!”

“You didn’t even know about the meeting.”

“…”

“These mages…”

“You sword-swinging…”

He grumbled under his breath, clearly frustrated, but he’d already accepted defeat. Unlike the mage, ready to pounce like a wolf, I was a refined swordsman. I had to be magnanimous in victory.

“Your prince was sitting right next to Daisy.”

“Ugh!”

“Hearts were practically shooting out of his eyes. It was so…”

“Waaaaah!”

I magnanimously shared my observations, and the mage ran off crying.

“…Wasn’t that a bit harsh?”

“That’s how we roll in Leon and Dale.”

“Is that so?”

The imperial prince’s handler, exuding maturity, simply nodded, accepting my explanation. Or was it just his face? He claimed to be the same age as us, despite looking like he was in his thirties. He blamed it on a bad batch of elixirs he consumed as a child, causing premature aging. Even for the Imperial Academy, wasn’t this a bit much?

“Let’s get down to business.”

Aryn Clide, the shadow of Prince Esid, who looked like he was in his thirties but claimed to be nineteen, turned to me and initiated the meeting.

“You were right. Our agents found several traces near the academy.”

I hadn’t said anything special. Just the typical academy trope of a group planning to attack the academy around the midterm exams.

“Right?”

I was worried that the Empire’s intelligence agency might be incompetent and fail to find anything, just for the sake of the plot, but it seemed the Empire was still the Empire.

“It’s a good thing we caught them. We have guests from various nations; it would have been embarrassing to make such a mistake.”

He said that, but his eyes were asking, “How did you know? How many spies have you planted here?”

“I’m glad.”

I narrowed my eyes slightly, imitating the Flower Arranging Club president. It was my way of saying, “I’m suspicious as hell, but what are you going to do about it?”

“We’re grateful. We would like to reward those who assisted us.”

“It was nothing. Just give everything to me.”

I casually brushed off his offer, like those scam calls from my past life: “Congratulations, you’ve won a prize! Just give us your address!” It was true that I was the one who provided the information. Our intelligence department was too busy planning the Little Sword Emperor’s date course.

“If you insist. We’ll prepare a gift set for you.”

He handed out a few sheets of paper, like a teacher distributing worksheets.

“It seems to be a radical faction of the Eres Liberation Front.”

Eres was the name of a former kingdom, now part of the Empire, that had been destroyed over two hundred years ago.

“Were there even elves in Eres?”

Attacking the academy to liberate a kingdom that had been destroyed two hundred years ago… They had too much time on their hands. But according to Violet, this was just the first in a series of interconnected quests. The early villains were connected to dark mages, who were connected to a cult worshiping an evil god, who were connected to demons from the demon realm. And eventually, the gate to the demon realm would open, and the demon king would appear.

“So, anyone want to take down Eres?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

Why should we? At our silent pressure, Aryn sighed and nodded.

“We’ll handle this.”

Could Aryn, despite his assurances, stand against the forces of a ropan plot?

“We’re under attack!”

It seemed not.