Ch.84Chapter 84. Goal Achieved (4)

“Mission accomplished.”

“… Yes. We’ve definitely caught him.”

“But you don’t seem pleased about it?”

“Hmm.”

Yuria’s question made me frown slightly.

The mission had certainly ended well.

None of the students were harmed, we captured Vice Chancellor Landgar, and our identities remained secret.

Yet something still felt off.

“Why? Is something bothering you?”

“Why was Landgar there?”

“Perhaps Chancellor Binuar noticed something suspicious and stopped him?”

Yuria calmly replied while taking a sip of tea.

Judging by the intense battle marks between the two, Yuria’s explanation made perfect sense.

Chancellor Binuar must have sensed something suspicious about Vice Chancellor Landgar and tried to stop him first.

Thanks to that, Landgar couldn’t reach the party hall where all the students were gathered.

Looking at the situation objectively, no explanation could be more reasonable.

‘Something feels wrong though.’

But I had seen Landgar at the battle scene myself.

Landgar was just standing there, staring blankly in front of the fallen Chancellor Binuar.

As if he had finished everything and was feeling satisfied.

“Hmm. I suppose so.”

“That must be it. And you arrived with perfect timing, Captain.”

Erika, who was sitting beside us, nodded in agreement with Yuria.

If both team leaders were saying this, I guess the mission really did end well.

“Something still bothers me though.”

“Well, we’ll probably find out more as we investigate. Landgar Bayer has definitely been captured by the Empire.”

“Right, and the Chancellor’s testimony confirms it.”

Yuria and Erika reassured me one after another, telling me not to worry.

Kassis Sinclair had handled things better than expected.

He took Landgar from me, thoroughly investigated the surroundings, and discovered the fallen Chancellor Binuar.

He didn’t ignore my words and didn’t give Landgar any chance to escape.

“Hmm. I guess so.”

“By the way, about that student Elaine from earlier…”

“Huh? Elaine?”

“She was cute, wasn’t she? The way she genuinely worried about you.”

“She did seem concerned.”

“Indeed. It seems you’re doing better at academy life than expected?”

“They were probably all worried when I suddenly disappeared. Cynthia probably worried less since she knows my identity.”

“Hmm.”

Yuria grinned at my response and continued.

“Emily didn’t seem that worried though?”

“Emily… well, she was with you, so that makes sense… Oh, by the way, what’s your relationship with Emily? You said you’d tell me after the mission.”

I suddenly remembered.

Before everything happened, I had asked several times about the suspicious relationship between Yuria and Emily, but she kept postponing her answer.

This time, Yuria didn’t avoid the question and continued.

“Hehe. Emily is my niece. My sister’s daughter.”

“Oh, really? You should have told me earlier. I would have taken better care of her…”

I was thinking that it made sense why she seemed to care about Emily, when I suddenly paused.

If she’s Yuria’s niece and Yuria’s sister’s daughter, then…

“Huh?”

Yuria smiled and took another sip of tea.

If she’s Yuria’s niece, that means they’re from the same family.

“Yuria, your niece?”

“Yes. Emily Phrysis. She changed her family name when she entered the academy.”

“What?!”

I thought there might be some connection between them, but I never expected them to be blood relatives.

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“I did think she was quite smart…”

“Emily has been smart since she was young. Just not suited for combat.”

“But why would she change her family name and enter the academy? Who deliberately hides being from one of the Six Great Families?”

“Well, many things must have happened.”

I could hear bitterness in Yuria’s voice.

There must really have been a lot going on.

“It’s family business. The Phrysis family isn’t as happy as it appears on the surface. Well, I suppose other families are the same.”

“Still, did the family allow that?”

“Hehe. I wonder.”

Yuria put down her teacup with a bitter smile.

Emily Franz, not Emily Phrysis.

Now that I knew Emily was from the Phrysis family, her genius made perfect sense.

Her introverted personality, yet ranking in the top 7 in the entrance exam, and her performance in the first competition test.

‘Their talent really is different.’

It reminded me that the Six Great Families weren’t called that for nothing.

Both Elaine and Emily proved that.

“Since she’s my niece, please look after her well?”

“Of course. Though I’m not sure how much help I can be.”

“Hehe. Well, I should get going now.”

“Going home?”

“No. I’m going to see Landgar. Now that we’ve caught the key person, we need to extract information as quickly as possible.”

“I see.”

I was going to offer to teleport her home if that’s where she was headed.

Yuria stood up from her seat as she spoke.

Having caught Landgar and cleared up her relationship with Emily, she looked quite relieved.

“Good work today, everyone. You too, Captain Erika.”

“… Just go already.”

“See you next time?”

“…”

Erika just frowned in response to Yuria’s greeting.

As soon as Yuria left, Erika sighed deeply and flopped down on the sofa.

“Thanks to you earlier, we found Landgar.”

“Ah. Don’t force yourself to praise me. I’m feeling down today.”

“…Huh?”

“Sigh. These naturally talented people, seriously.”

Erika looked quite displeased, her expression full of complaints.

“What is it?”

“Never mind. You’re one of those naturally talented people too, so you wouldn’t understand.”

“Huh?”

“I want to go too. Take me home. You know where I live, right?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Let’s go. And don’t forget to deposit the bonus when everything’s settled.”

Erika suddenly got up from the sofa and held out her hand to me.

I didn’t understand why Erika was acting this way, but I just went along with it.

I’d seen Erika like this several times before.

In these situations, it was best not to upset her further.

“Alright, alright. I’ll tell Addy to give you a hefty bonus.”

I nodded as I took Erika’s hand, who had already removed her black hair dye and returned to her silver hair.

I should quickly take Erika home before saying anything more.

‘At least the mission ended well.’

Though the uneasy feeling hadn’t disappeared, Yuria was right that we had achieved our goal.

**

Grip-

As soon as Elaine returned home, she grabbed the sword that was standing in the corner.

She gripped the sword so tightly that her hands trembled.

“Haaa.”

Elaine put the sword down again with a deep sigh.

From now on, she would never go anywhere without her sword.

If only she had her sword with her today, she could have moved around more confidently.

Not having a weapon to protect oneself was more debilitating than she had thought.

“Miss! Oh my, what happened to this beautiful dress!”

“Sigh…”

Elaine just watched as her maid Maria exclaimed in shock and tried to brush off the dust and stains on her dress.

Her clothes were a complete mess after frantically searching everywhere for Ryu.

“Sigh. Please take it off right away, Miss.”

“…Okay.”

‘I’m never wearing a dress like this again.’

She didn’t say this out loud, knowing it would just lead to an argument with Maria.

“My goodness. What on earth happened to you?”

Maria muttered to herself as she undid the dress strings behind Elaine’s back.

Though pretending to talk to herself, she was subtly scolding Elaine, but Elaine deliberately ignored it.

“There. Now take it off.”

Slip-

Elaine quickly shed the cumbersome dress as if shedding skin.

Without the dress, moving was definitely much easier.

Yes, from now on, she’d rather wear just her undergarments with a sword than wear a dress.

“Shall I prepare a bath?”

“Yes, please.”

“I’ll be right back then.”

Maria left the room, hugging the voluminous dress.

Elaine thought about changing into comfortable clothes but decided against it since she was going to take a bath anyway.

Instead, she jumped straight onto the bed.

Plop-

‘Ahhhh.’

As the soft blanket enveloped her body, her tension melted away.

At the same time, she felt embarrassed.

“Uggghhhh!”

Running around frantically looking for Ryu.

Getting half-angry at Cynthia and Professor Amillion.

And losing control of her emotions when she found Ryu.

Every single moment was embarrassing.

Had she ever been this embarrassed in the past few years?

Elaine felt her face burning just thinking about it again.

Not just her face, but her whole body felt hot.

“Hnnng…”

Elaine gripped the blanket so tightly she could have torn it and kicked her feet.

She felt like she was going crazy from embarrassment.

Especially that last moment when Ryu smiled at her, saying he preferred her speaking comfortably.

Thump- Thump-

Elaine’s kicks grew stronger.

‘Sigh, to lose control of my emotions like that in front of everyone.’

The more she thought about it, the more vividly she recalled each person’s expression.

Yuria Phrysis’s slight smile.

Cynthia and Emily’s surprised faces.

Ryu with just one corner of his mouth raised.

Thump-

‘Ah, I must have been crazy!!’

“Um, Miss?”

“Eek!”

“T-the bath…”

Elaine screamed in surprise at the sudden voice from behind.

She hadn’t even heard the door open, but Maria had already entered.

“The bath… is ready. Um, then.”

“Ah…”

Click-

Before Elaine could say anything, Maria quickly closed the door and left.

“Ughhh…”

Elaine buried her face in the blanket.

This was truly the worst.

To think she’d even shown her maid the sight of her in her underwear, lying face down and stomping her feet.

Elaine seriously considered running away from home for a few days.