Sword and Fist

The morning after I had a good night’s sleep stretching my legs towards Duke Imptia’s collapsed mansion.

Waking up from bed feeling even more refreshed than usual, I immediately finished washing up and prepared breakfast at the temple in Yeonhwa’s body, then returned to Aria’s body and headed to the academy with Morgan.

Unlike yesterday when I was briefly absent due to the audience with the king, I had to properly attend classes starting today.

Therefore, after arriving at the academy walking through the lively morning streets overflowing with vitality under the cloudless blue sky, I am currently.

Sitting face to face with Mira in the dean’s office.

“…So what did you say, Aria?”

“Did you not hear me properly? I said I killed Duke Imptia. Weren’t you worrying about that until just now?”

“No, that’s right… Haah…”

Mira lets out a deep sigh and crumples the paper she was holding at my words.

What was written on the paper Mira was holding was none other than the story about Duke Imptia who died yesterday.

She had been holding that since before I entered the dean’s office, and judging by the dark circles under her eyes, it seems she had been holding it since dawn today.

And because it was something she had been holding onto for so long, Mira asked again, not properly understanding what I said.

More precisely, Mira was making an expression of disbelief, but because she knew I wasn’t the type to joke around, Mira tapped the desk a few times and asked me:

“Since Aria isn’t the type to lie, I’ll ask this first instead of unnecessary things. What was the reason for killing Duke Imptia? Do you know how much chaos has spread in the noble circles now that he’s dead?!”

“Please calm down. I didn’t kill him without reason either.”

I immediately grabbed Mira’s shoulders and sat her down again as she stood up, slamming the desk.

However, Mira, who sat back down by my hand, narrowed her eyes looking at me and said:

“I’m asking just in case, but it’s not because that duke looked at you with strange eyes when you had an audience with His Majesty the King, is it?”

Bull’s-eye.

I flinched at Mira’s words that were very close to the correct answer.

Honestly, most of the reason for disposing of Duke Imptia was because of that. However, fortunately, I had a just cause to proudly present, so I rummaged around my waist and took out what I grabbed.

“Please look at this.”

Thud──!

I put down a stack of papers with Duke Imptia’s plan for usurping the throne written on them and documents stamped with his seal in front of Mira.

The stack of papers landed on the desk with a heavy sound commensurate with its weight.

Mira picked up the stack of papers I handed over with a puzzled look.

“This is…?”

“It’s evidence of what Duke Imptia was plotting. Enough to make my killing him justifiable.”

“Evidence… you say?”

At my words, Mira starts carefully reading and turning over the stack of papers she picked up.

Mira reading the contents written on the paper line by line carefully, like someone reading a book.

“……”

Flutter… Flutter… Flutter, flutterflutterflutter──

But soon Mira’s hand reading the contents began to speed up gradually, and when she started turning pages so quickly that one might wonder if she was actually reading, Mira closed the stack of papers she was holding and dropped it on the desk.

“…It’s unbelievable, but I have no choice but to believe the contents.”

Saying that, Mira rubs her face dry and ruffles her hair.

Mira stays still for a few more seconds like that, and eventually slowly removes her hands covering her face and mutters:

“To think Duke Imptia was aiming for His Majesty the King’s position…”

“Yes, I had the same reaction as you, Dean, when I first saw it. Anyway, I think that’s enough reason for me to have killed Duke Imptia.”

“Yes, if this is true, he certainly deserved to die. Moreover, His Majesty the King will surely reward you, Aria, for discovering this and eliminating him in advance. This is truly amazing, Aria. To achieve such a great merit again in just one day.”

Mira says that while clapping lightly as if truly impressed. And I couldn’t help but agree with her words.

Of course, this merit could be said to be a lucky break from something I did because I was annoyed, but a great merit was still a great merit.

How could one not be impressed when it looked like I would have an audience with the king twice in less than a month?

In fact, if we’re being strict, Morgan and Isolde who killed Duke Imptia should receive it together, but they would probably put it off saying it was troublesome. But I should ask just in case.

I made up my mind to ask the two during the academy’s break time and nodded to Mira, and Mira picked up the stack of papers I handed over and asked:

“If it’s alright, may I take these documents? If not, I could at least make a copy…”

“You can take them. I’ve already made copies of everything.”

I had already finished making copies using Mu. Since they were already copied to be no different from the originals, I gladly handed over the originals to Mira.

Mira bowed her head, expressing gratitude for my concession.

And along with that, Mira, who was smiling with a haggard face while muttering that she finally didn’t have to pull an all-nighter, suddenly turned her head towards me as if she had just remembered something.

“Come to think of it, I was planning to tell all the professors today, but since you came early, Aria, I’ll tell you first.”

“Tell me what?”

“As I mentioned before, we’re going there soon, right?”

“Pardon?”

How am I supposed to know when you just say ‘there’?

I tilted my head at Mira’s words vaguely designating something important, and Mira said to me, fidgeting:

“I mean the field trip. As I told you before, we’re going to the underwater kingdom, so please announce it to the students during the morning assembly today.”

Mira brings up the story of the underwater kingdom along with the mention of the field trip.

It seemed that the underwater kingdom quest, which I thought was still far off, had already come right up to my nose.

---

“So, there’s an important announcement today.”

“An announcement?”

“Did something happen again?”

“There have been a lot of unsettling events lately…”

After parting with Mira and coming out.

I briefly stopped by the professor’s office to tell Morgan to prepare for the swordsmanship class time, and then arrived at the classroom right at 9 o’clock.

And when I was about to bring up the story about the announcement I heard from Mira this morning, the students started murmuring.

It seemed that an uneasy atmosphere was circling due to the recent Sky Island incident, the deteriorated public safety because of it, and the news of Duke Imptia’s death just yesterday.

Well, it would be strange if they could think normally even after experiencing such events in succession, since they were students still at a young age.

But since this announcement was about a completely different matter, I continued speaking while tapping the podium:

“Don’t worry. This announcement is something you’ve all been looking forward to until now.”

Murmur murmur──

At my words “something you’ve all been looking forward to,” the students’ gloomy faces brightened, showing expectation.

Even Quarette, the representative character at the back, had a similar face, so I let out a small laugh.

It’s truly cute how they react sensitively to every word, as much as they had anxious feelings due to the events happening around them.

Thinking that this was a sight shown because they were still fresh 15-year-olds, I opened my mouth without delaying further to the students urging me with their eyes to speak quickly:

“I think everyone will be looking forward to this, but Lua Academy will be going on a field trip this time. The date is April 17th, two weeks from now. The location is the city of magic and history. The underwater kingdom.”

“””──!!!”””

At my words “field trip,” the students’ faces, which were full of expectation, bloomed with smiles. And when I finished saying that the underwater kingdom was the location of the field trip, the students jumped up from their seats and started cheering.

They cheer along with words of praise like “As expected of Lua Academy.”

And watching that scene, I rested my chin on the podium with a devilish smile on my lips.

Because it probably won’t be as pleasant a field trip as the students imagine.