Ch.298Side Story: The End of Vacation

The winter break, which had stretched over two months, was already racing toward its end. Today was the last weekend of the vacation. In two days would be the opening ceremony, and a week after that would be the graduation ceremony.

“It was enjoyable.”

“Yeah, it was really great.”

“We didn’t miss out on anything, did we?”

“I believe we did not.”

“…”

I sat quietly beside my girlfriends who were laughing, chatting, and sharing their impressions, sipping magical elixir as if it were vitamin water. I had long since grown accustomed to the taste and scent of the elixir.

Erestica wasn’t exaggerating when she said she’d cleaned out the imperial treasury. I’d been drinking it six times a day for over two months, and nearly half of it still remained.

What scared me more was that she had initially planned to make me drink it all. If that had happened, I would have literally had to live drinking elixir instead of water.

“What about you, Mira? Did you enjoy it?”

Rosaria, who had been casually discussing things that would have horrified my past self from a year ago—like which position was best or which play was most enjoyable—suddenly turned her attention to me.

Everyone else’s eyes followed.

“Yeah, I enjoyed it too.”

“In what sense?”

“…In many senses.”

No matter how physically or mentally exhausting it might be, it couldn’t be bad from a man’s perspective. Moving between mansions every week and doing it to our heart’s content—how could I dislike it?

Though saying “to our heart’s content” has the flaw that we’ll continue doing it in the future.

“Once school starts again, we won’t be able to do it like we have been. It’s a bit disappointing that we’ll have to wait four months. I should tell the Emperor to refill the treasury.”

Erestica murmured regretfully as she hugged me and stroked my hair. I was thankful she wasn’t embracing me fully with my head nestled between her breasts as usual.

At this point, it would be absurd to think she was being considerate of others’ eyes; she probably just wanted to be able to talk.

“Umm… I don’t think it matters? Master will graduate in a week anyway, so we can keep seeing him in the club room.”

“Right. Just need to endure for a week. Then it’ll be fine, since you’ll live similarly to me.”

As Rosaria and Nika just said, nothing would change dramatically after graduation. More precisely, nothing would change dramatically compared to what we’d been doing during the break. We’d just be playing around all day.

Along with Laura, who would graduate with me, and Rosaria, who had already been doing this for a while with her status as a Saint.

“Still, it’s a shame we won’t be able to eat cafeteria food together.”

“Don’t worry. We’re discussing facility usage rights as well. You don’t think I’ve been visiting the academy multiple times for nothing, do you?”

There’s apparently a lot of debate about whether I can continue using Bellium Academy’s facilities after graduation.

Some argue that graduates shouldn’t be allowed to use them, while others say that as an early graduate, I should be allowed to use them until what would have been my third year. Some suggest treating me similar to Rosaria, while others insist I shouldn’t be compared to the Saint.

Rosaria snorted when she heard the last part.

“They know nothing. If they saw us in action, they’d know Mira is much stronger than me.”

“The Saint is symbolic. It has nothing to do with combat power.”

Though called humanity’s last hope, the Saint wasn’t particularly strong in terms of raw power. The fact that she alone pushed back the front line further than humans had managed in a hundred years proved how overpowered real-time healing was.

The morale boost that soldiers received from the Saint’s presence couldn’t be ignored either, but the core advantage was still real-time, wide-range, continuous healing.

“But Mira, you can tank, deal damage, and heal all by yourself. Oh, and you can also support and carry alone.”

“…”

That’s exactly what was expected of mages in the first world. While regular soldiers were treated as expendables, mages would handle everything—damage, healing, and support—by themselves.

Finding myself at a loss for words, I awkwardly averted my gaze. Rosaria looked triumphant. Laura, who had been quietly observing, spoke up.

“I’ve finished talking with Father. Reflecting our wishes, he will remain on the throne.”

“As expected. He even rejuvenated himself. By the way, how are you planning to announce this to the public?”

That was actually my biggest concern.

After declaring that Laura would be the next Emperor, even investigating all the imperial nobles to root out Astaroth’s influence, it would create all sorts of negative rumors if the current Emperor suddenly refused to step down.

People might say Laura was abandoned, or that she gave up the throne because she was obsessed with a man, or that the Empire was being manipulated by Mira Crate. None of these would be positive.

The latter two rumors would be especially damaging not just to me but to the entire Crate family. I couldn’t let that happen.

“The specifics haven’t been finalized yet, but the outline has been decided. We plan to hold a bit of a show.”

“A show?”

Laura nodded.

“We have the Saint, the Hero, and even a Goddess. With those three, there’s nothing we can’t make people accept. If we just set up the right context, the imperial citizens will fill in the rest themselves.”

“…I suppose so.”

With the authority of those three, people would believe even if the sun rose in the west. No, it’s beyond mere belief—they could label anyone who claimed the sun rises in the east as a heretic.

The three of them had both the power and legitimacy to do so. Who would dare question something that the Saint and Hero jointly affirmed, and that the Goddess herself had confirmed through divine revelation?

“This is unfair. Why must only we continue studying here?”

Ellisier grumbled as she listened to the conversation. True to her words, only three people among those gathered here would need to continue their studies next semester.

Ellisier, Priscilla, and lastly, Carna.

“Haha… I don’t mind. It’s not like we’ll never see each other again.”

Carna, who had initially just stopped by but ended up joining the group when given the choice between leaving or staying, laughed awkwardly.

From Carna’s perspective, the situation might seem a bit unfair. After following me to the academy after being freed from being a murderous ghost, I ended up graduating just one semester later.

“I don’t care either. I just need to avoid failing, right?”

For Priscilla, the third year would be the real challenge. In the hundreds of time loops she had experienced, the third year never existed.

The academy would always be devastated by demon invasions before then, Erestica would disappear, Laura would die, and she would begin wandering the world, starting the second part of her journey.

“For transfer students like us, that failure threshold is set quite high.”

“Then just get expelled. It doesn’t matter since Mira won’t be there anyway, right?”

“Oh…”

As Ellisier began to seriously consider it, Leona gave her an incredulous look.

“What do you mean ‘oh’? You’re the first transfer cases—if you get expelled for poor grades, it’ll reflect badly on everyone. Do you want to damage Mira’s reputation too?”

“That’s what I think as well.”

Leona and Latina each added their thoughts. Ironically, neither of them needed to study anymore.

One had chosen graduation over deferment, while the other had entered as the Saint’s assistant from the beginning.

Moreover, Leona had struggled with theory even during the first semester. She would often doze off during lectures while Aria and I were paying attention.

“I agree about not wanting to damage Mira’s image. It’s probably best to finish properly. However, I don’t want to hear this from those who don’t need to study.”

Ellisier seemed aware of this and made a pointed comment. At her words, all the “those who don’t need to study” except Laura awkwardly averted their gazes.

“Can’t you just attend three graduation ceremonies, Mira?”

“Three graduation ceremonies?”

Priscilla clung to me whining, her position awkward because of Erestica.

“I’d be happy to watch as many as you want, but participating after already graduating is a bit…”

“Why? It doesn’t matter.”

“What do you mean it doesn’t matter? Of course it does.”

“That could be fun. Graduation ceremonies are chaotic anyway. If you conceal your presence with magic, no one would notice one extra person.”

Laura seriously picked up the thread.

“Oh, can I participate too?”

Nika raised her hand with sparkling eyes, and suddenly the situation escalated. While I was still processing with an “uh,” things progressed rapidly, and even Erestica showed interest.

Erestica joined the discussion while holding me like a mother kangaroo with her joey in her pouch, and a conclusion was quickly reached.

Everyone would graduate once according to their age, and then they would all have one more graduation ceremony together when Ellisier and Carna graduated.

“…?”

I wondered if this was really okay.

“Is that actually allowed?”

“I’m the chairman, so of course it’s allowed. I’ll just call in some mages from the association to set up perception-inhibiting barriers.”

I thought they were just joking, but they seemed surprisingly serious.

While I was still confused, everyone began discussing specific methods, and I took the opportunity to slip away. The atmosphere suggested they had all agreed anyway, so my presence would only be a hindrance.

“Young master. Excuse me.”

Beatrice approached as if she had been waiting. She was wearing a maid uniform with a skirt that reached only to her knees, unlike her usual uniform that covered her shoes completely.

The butterfly bow on the back of her shoes remained the same. I only learned this winter break that the bow had the exact meaning that Priscilla and Laura had mentioned.

And that she had been wearing it since being assigned as my personal maid.

“What is it?”

“Aria has requested an audience with you. She said there’s no need to force time if you’re busy, and she’ll leave if you decline. What would you like to do?”

“Aria did?”

That’s unexpected. Very unexpected. For the past two months, even as she followed us between mansions, we had only exchanged greetings when we occasionally ran into each other.

“Alright. I wasn’t doing anything anyway, so this works out. Where should I go?”

“She’s waiting in Reception Room 2, so please head there.”

After finishing her message, Beatrice was about to turn away as usual, but she hesitated and looked back at me. Her cheeks were slightly flushed.

“W-would you prefer the skirt to be even shorter…?”

“It’s been a while, Aria.”

“Mr. Mira…”

When I entered Reception Room 2, Aria, who had been waiting anxiously on the sofa, stood up energetically upon seeing me. There was even a hint of emotion in her blue eyes.

“What’s going on? I didn’t expect you to ask to see me first. You’ve been avoiding me until now.”

“…I’ve made up my mind.”

With those words, Aria knelt down.