Chapter 124 – The Play

“Vice Headmaster.”

“Hmm…! Eliaernes! It’s been a while! Pina, Stella, Yurasia, long time no see! Hello, hello!”

Leona, avoiding my gaze, waved at my group who were still standing in shock behind me.

Judging by how dazed they still looked as they greeted Leona, they must have heard the Flame Empress’s final words.

“Nothing strange happened, right? That old lady didn’t do anything weird to you, did she? Hmph! You’re all looking perfectly fine and not even crying, so she didn’t do anything, huh! Good, good! Eliaernes, did the old lady say anything weird to you?”

“She did.”

Fist Demon. The First Pillar.

Of all beings other than us from 400 years ago, the one who killed the most humans and the most demons.

And, the only one who lived in the same era as us.

I approached Leona.

“The Flame Empress called you the Fist Demon, Vice Headmaster. Is it true?”

At my direct question, Leona’s ears perked up and her tail trembled.

“Nya haha… Yeah. I used to be, but now… I’ve thrown away that name. I never really liked it.”

“No way…”

“The First Pillar…”

Yurasia looked shocked, and Stella muttered blankly. Judging by her expression, Pina seemed to already know.

“Mm. No, I’ve given up that embarrassing name too. Now I’m just the vice headmaster of Karela Academy.”

Leona shook her head.

There was a sense in Leona’s voice that she wanted to change the subject.

I quietly watched her.

Fist Demon. I had so many questions for her if I ever met her.

The whereabouts of my comrades. The Holy Kingdom. The silent Gevihenum. The dormant demons. The resurrection of the legion commanders. The Demon King’s seal.

The whereabouts of my comrades, aside from Arisa, I’d figured out where the other three were, more or less.

About the Holy Kingdom, I still knew nothing.

But I figured, if I go there myself, I’ll learn plenty.

On the other hand, I knew nothing about the Demon World.

Why did the legion commanders come back, and why aren’t they invading the empire? If the demons move now, humanity will be wiped out.

The demons surely know this. They’d have to. Even here in the capital, Black Magicians walk around openly, so there are more than enough eyes and ears for the demons.

But the demons are quiet. Why? I don’t know.

That’s what I wanted to ask.

But I couldn’t, not right now.

Too many ears around, and Yurasia still had the sword I’d used hanging from her belt.

I immediately turned and went to Yurasia.

I quickly took the short sword from her right side and hid it away in my subspace pouch as fast as I could.

Yurasia didn’t question my action. She’d realized that openly displaying it would be risky.

I patted Yurasia’s shoulder, then turned back. Leona still hadn’t noticed.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I spoke.

“I heard the Fist Demon is over 400 years old. Is that true?”

Leona’s eyebrow twitched at that.

“…Nya haha! Isn’t it way cooler to just say I’m over triple digits instead of saying I’m ‘about ninety-seven’? Ninety-seven is just an old lady, but four hundred is something else entirely. And besides, I look way younger and prettier, right?”

“Hm… You’re such a showoff.”

“What?! A showoff?! I’m not! If you want to talk age, you have to count by Beastkin years!”

“Eh. Even in Beastkin years, aren’t you still almost a hundred? Total grandma.”

I snickered as obnoxiously as possible.

And before Leona could get riled up and throw a punch, I continued.

“Still, since you don’t seem to like it, I won’t ask anymore. But let’s postpone today’s supplementary lesson.”

At my words, Leona, whose face had turned bright red and who was grinding her teeth, tilted her head.

“Hmm? What’s with you? You always say there’s not enough time, and beg for just a little more every day.”

“Yeah… that’s true.”

Honestly, I still wanted to run to the training hall and try a bunch of things with Leona.

But today, that’s not possible.

I glanced behind me.

Stella and Pina, all dressed up beautifully.

They’d even put on makeup.

Yurasia, too. After her long trip, she hadn’t even unpacked, but she’d come out to hang out with us.

How could I ditch these girls?

I wanted to, but today is a day for fun.

“But I can’t today. We made this promise a week ago.”

“Hm, alright. That’s fine. I actually have a lot of places to visit anyway, so it works out.”

Leona smacked her lips and nodded, rummaging in her pocket.

Then she pulled out a crumpled piece of paper.

“Eliaernes. This is a letter for you.”

Leona’s expression was as crumpled as the letter she handed over.

“A letter? Ahaha.”

She didn’t say who it was from or why she had it, but I understood immediately.

It was a letter from Mom.

I ran over and took it right away.

A smile appeared on my face.

In a way, isn’t this Mom’s first letter to me?

And since it arrived like this… it must have made it to Gevihenum safely.

Thank goodness.

But, 

“Isn’t it a bit too crumpled?”

I hadn’t noticed from far away, but up close, it was a wonder it hadn’t been torn.

“Mmm. I ran so hard to deliver it, there was no other way!”

“You didn’t crumple it on purpose?”

“Hey… would I really do that?”

“Vice Headmaster. Are you on bad terms with the sender? Did you crumple it out of spite and then smooth it out again after seeing my name?”

“…No, that’s not it.”

Leona’s tail trembled and tapped the floor in agitation.

Even for a Beastkin as strong as the Fist Demon, she couldn’t seem to control the movement of her ears and tail at will.

Well, that’s that.

I clicked my tongue as indifferently as possible.

There’s something I need to confirm through Leona.

“Forget it. I’m disappointed in you.”

“Disappointed…? Hah! Eliaernes, what can you even do to me if you’re disappointed, huh? I’m the Vice… ”

“I’m not going to tell you what I talked about with the Flame Empress today.”

Leona flinched.

“I-I don’t care. I’ll just go find that old lady and ask her myself.”

“Liar. You can’t find her.”

Leona would never be able to find the Flame Empress.

It was just a simple guess based on the Flame Empress’s actions and Leona’s reaction, but I said it confidently.

If I’m wrong, so be it. But if I’m right, it means I’ll have an even broader scope for my wish.

“Hmm? Not true, not true! Of course I can find her! Don’t you know how amazing I am?”

Yeah. Leona can’t find her.

If someone as capable as Leona can’t track down the Flame Empress, then she must be extremely good at hiding.

That wish is going to be useful in a lot of ways. That thought made me smile.

“Hmph… Fine, then. I’m not telling you, so go ask the Flame Empress yourself.”

With that, I turned away.

“Eliaernes!”

“What?”

“Still, I… I did deliver the letter, right?”

Chuckling, I stuck my tongue out at her and kept walking.

“Just give me a proper supplementary lesson later.”

—

The play that Stella worked so hard to get tickets for was truly awful.

No, it was an unbelievably miserable piece of garbage.

“Hey. What’s the name of the bastard who made this?”

“Hic… sniff, hiccup…”

Despite how bad it was, the three who watched with me were bawling their eyes out. All the other audience members left in tears, too.

“You guys, seriously, you think this is sad? Huh?”

“Huuu… Th-then this, hic… isn’t sad?”

Stella glared at me, snot dripping down her nose.

“Bullshit. You think this is sad? That… that main character, Ronan, goddamn it. Ronan… And that idiot Rozan. You’re telling me it’s sad when Rozan gets confessed to by Irisa right before he dies? That sappy melodrama is sad? You think Ronan would ever have been like that?”

“Why are you yelling?! And that’s not the real Ronan anyway. He’s a fictional character. And… sniff… thinking about it again makes me sad all over…”

Stella blew her nose and continued.

“Not just Irisa confessing to Rozan before he died, Rena liked Rozan too. But… since she was already broken, she wanted him to end up with Irisa instead… sniff, hic… And in the end, Rozan died…”

“Hah. What a load of crap.”

Arisa and Luna, with me?

The thought alone gave me goosebumps all over. It even made me nauseous.

At the very least, they could have changed the names completely. Or, I don’t know, made it about totally different characters or something.

Rozan, Irisa, Rena, Pauli, what kind of names are those?

On top of that, 

Rozan isn’t a martial artist. He was a warrior who used many weapons. Irisa was the martial artist.

Which makes it even more annoying.

If you’re going to copy, copy it completely.

Or just don’t copy at all.

Doing it half-baked like this just made it weirdly realistic in a way.

My teeth ground together.

My insides were burning.

Just then, I locked eyes with Pina.

She was absolutely sobbing.

“Hey. Why are you crying?”

Why is Pina crying? After all the stories I’ve told her about me?

She cries at this?

I glared at Pina.

“Eek?!”

“Why are you crying. Is it sad? Huh? Is this sad?”

Breathing shakily, Pina burst into tears again and hid behind Yurasia.

Yurasia, with swollen eyes, looked at me.

“Sniff… Then, Miss, did you want Rozan to end up with Pauli instead of Irisa?”

“Of course not.”

“Then…? Did you maybe want Irisa and Rena… the two of them?”

“Uh, huh…?”

“Hee… hee…”

Yurasia’s face flushed bright red.

Stella’s face turned bright red.

Pina just looked terrified of me.

For a moment, my mind went blank.

Irisa and Rena, aren’t they both girls?

“…What are you even talking about?”

“You hesitated.”

“And your reaction… it’s different.”

“Hee… hee…?”

“What the hell, are you all losing it together or something? Get up, we’re going for dinner.”

As I turned to leave, Stella strode up to me.

“Hey, Eliaernes.”

“What, what is it. Why.”

“Is it true? Did you really want Irisa and Rezan to end up together?”

“What the hell are you talking about.”

“You, you! Are you… are you biased or something? Isn’t it weird? Two girls… being together… don’t you think that’s weird?”

“Cut the crap, ”

“Answer me.”

Stella’s voice was stiff.

“…You don’t think it’s weird?”

“You brat.”

Smack!

I flicked Stella on the forehead and turned away.

“It’s not weird or whatever. Stop talking nonsense and hurry up.”

I thought I hit her a little hard, but Stella didn’t even let out a peep.

“…You’re not answering…? Is that… okay?”

She only mumbled quietly.

So what’s supposed to be okay?

I didn’t have time to ask.

The moment I turned away, I met eyes with a woman with sky-blue hair.

Ophelia Blumin.

Wearing an academy uniform, no less.

Why is she here? I don’t care.

Actually, this is perfect. I was planning to visit her anyway.

While I was thinking that, Ophelia’s sky-blue eyes darted around.

She looked over me, Yurasia, Stella, and Pina. Her stiff expression relaxed, and she approached us.

“Oh my, junior! Nice to see you!”

I blinked in surprise at her friendly greeting.

She’s openly admitting she attends the academy?

But why act like she knows me?

…Is she trying to talk before I make a scene?

Or does she just want to hear me speak politely?

Both?

Whatever it is, it’s extremely cheeky.

I nodded stiffly with a sour look.

“…Hello, senior.”

“Mm-hmm. So you came to see the play too? It’s even nicer seeing you here.”

Speaking like the kind and gentle noble lady she’d never shown before, Ophelia opened a strange fan and covered her mouth.

“This is totally a secret, but… I wrote the script for this play. How was it? Did you enjoy it?”

“Ah.”

My mind blanked for a moment at Ophelia’s words.

But not for long. A bright smile instantly spread across my face.

“So you’re the bastard who made this play, senior?”