Harvest Festival (4)

1.

A cafe in the academy.

Four people were by the window where the warm sunlight streamed in.

It was a leisurely scene, as if they were seeing out the end of spring, but the atmosphere was as cold as midwinter.

At the center of it all, Yohan shifted his gaze around, trying to read the room.

Yuriel was drinking her coffee with an indifferent expression.

Reine was glaring at her like an angry little dog, growling under her breath.

“Can I have a bite of that?”

Estel, who was eating pancakes with an innocent smile on her face in the midst of the tension, pointed her fork at the shortcake in front of Yohan.

“Sure, eat it all.”

Yohan pushed the plate toward Estel.

“Yay! Thanks, I will!”

Estel took a bite of the cake, which was topped with plenty of strawberry whipped cream.

A sticky sweetness spread across her tongue.

“Mmm~!”

Estel seemed pleased with the shortcake, and she cupped her cheeks and shivered.

It was a cute reaction.

Yohan took a breather, watching Estel eat, and then looked around again.

It had been like this from the start.

Reine had arrived late to the cafe after class.

As soon as she saw Yuriel in her seat, she frowned as if she were looking at something dirty and shouted, “Why is this loser here?!”

He didn’t know what the story was.

But he could tell they knew each other.

In the icy atmosphere, Reine was the first to speak.

“I came because I heard you were recruiting party members…”

Reine glared at Yohan.

“Not only that, but it’s all women again.”

One man and three women.

There were no restrictions on the gender ratio for participating in the Harvest festival.

But it seemed to be a serious matter for Reine.

“This loser, you say?”

At the word “loser,” Yuriel, who had been silently drinking her coffee, glared at Reine.

“What? You wanna fight?”

“……”

Yuriel just glared at Reine, her lips tightly shut.

If left like this, they really might fight.

Yohan stepped between them to mediate.

“You two… know each other?”

That was an obvious question.

Both of them were nobles of the Empire.

They were bound to have seen each other at least once.

“Know her? Of course, I know her. How could I forget the girl who ruined my birthday party?”

It was at Reine’s tenth birthday party.

A grand party.

The first time she had invited children from other families.

There, Reine had suffered the greatest humiliation of her life.

She had been covered in cake in front of everyone and had fallen into the fountain in the garden. And as soon as she came out of the fountain, she had collapsed and fallen to the ground.

All because of Yuriel.

“Do you know how embarrassed I was back then?!”

Some of the children had even laughed at Reine.

It had been almost ten years, but Reine still couldn’t forget the shame of that day.

“…I apologized.”

One of Reine’s eyebrows twitched.

It sounded like something was cracking.

“Is that something that can be solved with an apology?! And you didn’t even apologize properly! What apology?!”

She screamed, and the customers in the cafe looked over at them.

“Reine, calm down.”

Yohan calmed Reine, who was jumping up and down in her seat.

“Okay, so that’s what happened. But we’re going to be party members for the Harvest festival, so can’t we get along from now on?”

“No! Absolutely not! I’d rather die!”

“Don’t say that, okay?”

“It doesn’t have to be this loser, does it? There are students everywhere. Let’s just add anyone else. Anyone but this loser.”

This was really difficult.

He couldn’t give up Yuriel.

Yuriel was a great asset.

She was the runner-up in the first year and had surpassed the top student in the second year with her pure Swordsmanship Pouches skills.

With this much power, they could achieve high scores, if not win.

“What would it take for you to accept Yuriel?”

It was Estel who spoke, having neatly finished off the shortcake.

Estel sucked the whipped cream off her fork, dabbed her mouth with a napkin, and asked Reine.

“Huh?”

Reine glared at Estel.

The two of them were practically strangers.

Nevertheless, Reine snapped at Estel.

Was this equality?

“I’ll never accept her.”

“Absolutely?”

“Absolutely.”

Reine stated firmly.

She was stubborn.

How humiliating must her childhood experience have been for her to act like this?

However, Reine’s stubbornness was immediately cracked by Estel’s next words.

“If Yohan gives you a Wish Token?”

Reine, who had been growling in her throat, stopped.

“…A, a Wish Token?”

“One that grants you anything.”

“Anything…?!”

Yohan’s own opinion wasn’t asked.

Yohan looked at Estel, wondering what she was talking about.

Estel winked at Yohan, as if to say, let’s just get through this for now.

Reine pouted and glanced at Yohan.

Her eyes asked if he would really give her a Wish Token.

“Well… as long as it’s not an unreasonable request…”

Reine’s crumpled face instantly brightened.

“I can’t help it~ I’ll make an exception this time.”

Reine’s lips twitched.

What wish was she thinking of?

Yohan was a little worried.

“This is really just this once. It doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven her!”

“……”

“What? Why? You got a problem with that?”

“…No.”

And so, Yohan’s party was somehow completed.

But he was worried.

Their martial prowess seemed to be as good as any other party.

He just didn’t know if they could do well with this party.

2.

“To be a Hero, you must also know how to lead people.”

The Saintess said with a smile as he grumbled about what had happened during the day.

“Leading people is not easy. It’s really hard. It would be nice if they listened well, but reality isn’t always like that. If it were a battlefield, you could just control them with a sword.”

“A battlefield?”

“I’m just saying, haha.”

The Saintess, who was once again using Yohan, who was lying on the ground after sparring, as a chair, got up. When her plump flesh fell off his back, Yohan felt a little disappointed.

“Why did you do that at the birthday party?”

The Saintess approached Yuriel, who was crouching in the corner of the training grounds, and asked.

“Th, th, th-that’s…!”

Yuriel was startled by the sudden question and bit her tongue.

She looked cute like that.

He didn’t know why she was usually so cold.

“Ouch…”

Yuriel stuck out her tongue and winced in pain.

He thought about healing her, but it wasn’t serious enough, so he stopped.

“That’s… it’s not that I did it on purpose… it was a mistake…”

Yuriel had been very shy since she was a child.

She had been very excited about her first invitation to a birthday party.

And that excitement, combined with her shyness, had led to several mistakes.

She tripped over her own feet, hitting Reine with the cake she was holding, and then she ran to wipe off the whipped cream, only to push her into the fountain. And when Reine came out of the fountain, she tried to apologize, but she tripped over the hem of her dress and knocked her over.

To be clear, it was definitely not intentional.

“I, I even apologized…”

Yuriel hugged her knees.

At the time, she thought she would make a friend for the first time.

But what went wrong then had continued to this day.

“If there was a misunderstanding, you can slowly work it out. It may be difficult at first, but if you suffer together at the Harvest festival, you’ll get a little closer. There’s nothing better than sweating together to build friendship.”

The Saintess spoke like a passionate instructor.

“And how about smiling more often?”

The Saintess gently touched Yuriel’s cheeks.

“Try smiling. I think you’d be really pretty if you smiled, Yuriel.”

“L, like this? H, heeheehee.”

An awkward smile.

It was hard to move the facial muscles that had been frozen for so long.

Yuriel’s smile felt sinister.

“Um… good luck.”

All the Saintess could do was cheer her on.

“I’ll pray for you to do your best.”

The Saintess took Yuriel’s hand and shared a little Divinity with her.

She felt a warmth in her chest.

It was a languid feeling, like after a hot bath.

“Saintess, won’t you do it for me?”

Yohan scratched his cheek and asked.

“Yohan, you should do some push-ups.”

A master is strict with their disciple.

If you act spoiled, Elia would gladly kick you.

“Lightly fill 100.”

“…Saintess, you can’t even do two.”

“I can do four now!”

He muttered to himself, but she heard him clearly.

Even the smallest insults are heard loudly.

“Without using Magical power?”

“Of course. If I use Magical power, I can do over 1000.”

“Show me once. I want to see if you can really do it without using Magical power.”

“Okay. But if I really do four, you’re buying me alcohol.”

“Alcohol?”

“Ah… no, not alcohol, but buying me something delicious.”

Her old habits came out.

Whenever she made a bet, it was always about alcohol.

The loser would buy the drinks.

The Saintess cleared her throat.

“Watch closely.”

The Saintess got into a push-up position.

Her breasts were pulled down by gravity.

The Saintess started doing push-ups.

“One… two…”

She succeeded in doing two.

“Three…!”

She barely managed to do three.

The last one.

“Fouuuur…!”

Her arms trembled. It was the result of relying on Magical power and neglecting strength training, even though she was the type of person who didn’t gain muscle easily.

“Ugh…”

She secretly used Magical power to lift herself up at the end.

“Did you see?”

The Saintess straightened her back and stretched her shoulders.

Her breasts were proudly emphasized.

It was then.

“…You used Magical power at the end.”

Yuriel quietly accused her.

“Yuriel?”

The Saintess looked at Yuriel as if telling her to be quiet.

But it was already too late.

Yohan, who had heard Yuriel’s accusation, was grinning.

“Saintess, did you lie?”

His face was full of mischief.

“Quiet! Get ready for sparring right now. We’re going to do it one more time and then we’ll be done for today.”

To be caught lying at this age, ahem.

The Saintess felt her face burning.

3.

“Wish Token~ Wish Token~”

Reine was in a good mood.

It was because she had received a Wish Token from Yohan.

Since the entrance ceremony, Reine had been fond of Yohan, who had protected her from danger like a Prince.

But what was this?

Another woman, and another.

Yohan was surrounded by women.

Yohan’s friend Estel.

Yuriel, whom Yohan had brought.

And the Saintess, who was strangely close to Yohan.

It wasn’t that she had any ill feelings toward the Saintess, but of the three, the Saintess was the most dangerous person.

Those big breasts!

The best weapon to seduce a man.

And the worst enemy to a woman.

If she seduced Yohan with those bountiful Swordsmanship Pouches, he would fall for her in an instant.

The reason she was thinking this was, of course, because Reine’s chest was flat.

Pathetic to the point of being miserable.

Reine, who had just finished showering, massaged her meager chest and wished for it to grow.

She was getting sleepy.

Her mind was getting hazy.

Suddenly, it felt like the surroundings were filled with fog.

“…Hmm?”

Heavy eyelids.

A black figure could be seen between her closing eyes.

It was a suspicious figure, but Reine felt nothing as she looked at it.

“Jealousy is a good fertilizer for anger.”

A low voice.

The shadow spoke.

“Child of fire, I will make that fire even bigger.”

A dagger emerged from the shadow.

The dagger pierced Reine’s chest.

There was no pain.

The dagger seeped into Reine’s chest.

Reine fell asleep.

The shadow tapped Reine’s cheek a few times and then disappeared.