episode_0014

Without a moment’s hesitation at the appearance of Labilaa, who I had no clue about, I quickly made a courteous gesture.

“······I greet the princess.”

“Hmm. I’ve been feeling this since last time, but even when there’s no one else around, you still make an effort to show respect to me.”

Of course, Labilaa’s response was not very favorable.

It felt like she was ambiguously hinting, “Isn’t that a bit too much?” to me.

Thinking about it for a moment, it was only natural.

After all, Labilaa, the princess, despised the rigid courtly manners more than anyone else, even in the original work.

– I greet Princess Labilaa······.

– Haah, Elise Arkstra. I must have clearly told you to show some restraint in your courtesy.

The scene where she always scolded Elise Arkstra, who always showed her respect, was a memorable scene for fans of the original work.

As I reached that point in my thoughts, I slowly raised my head.

“···.”

“Now you raise your head.”

As soon as I raised my head, what I saw was a beauty with blonde hair against the wall.

Moreover, it was Labilaa, who was now smiling brightly as if everything had been resolved just as she wanted.

······Hmm.

She’s really stunningly beautiful.

If there’s a characteristic of “Sword of the Academy,” it’s that the heroines all have the setting of being beauties you might see once in a lifetime.

Of course, if you were to ask whether this is true for most academy-themed works, there wouldn’t be much to say.

Given the nature of this genre, which mainly targets male readers, it’s quite natural for heroines to be described as beautiful.

‘······If you look, there might be cases where the heroine is modest.’

At least, that wasn’t the case here.

At least, it meant that there were no heroines who used modesty and innocence as their weapons.

– It’s okay to call me Elise from now on.

Actually, if we’re going to be precise, Elise Arkstra, who initially acted as a purer girl than anyone else, did exist.

But that’s a scam.

Originally, dealing with cover-ups was an impossible task.

– What did you say? Would you like to say it again?

······Anyway.

I could hear a strange woman’s voice in my head, but anyway. What I wanted to say was that the princess in front of me was beautiful.

“Then, how about giving me an answer now? What kind of requests do you usually accept?”

“…”

“Is it difficult to answer? It shouldn’t be difficult to answer such a simple question.”

The beautiful princess was asking me a question that I absolutely couldn’t answer.

“I have never received a direct request connected through the academy until now.”

“…”

As she heard my response, Labilaa’s expression crumpled like a paper airplane falling to the ground. Watching that scene in real-time, I felt more fascinated than scared.

Her face changed so much. The human body is truly mysterious.

Expressing wonder at the mystery of the human body, Labilaa’s voice, which had significantly softened compared to before, reached my ears.

“Lian Trice. You’re not joking with me right now, are you?”

“No. It’s not a joke.”

“Phew, okay. Then why don’t you come to the library on weekends, when you always used to visit after classes?”

“Oh.”

“Is there a special reason? If what you just said is true, then it doesn’t seem like you would be taking requests every weekend.”

Labilaa spoke to me with a serious expression. And only after seeing her like that did I realize the intention behind her question.

“So, the person who always came to the library on weekdays not coming on weekends was a problem.”

That was the problem.

So she threw this unexpected question at me.

I finally understood.

Labilaa, as I knew, was someone who paid more attention to the surroundings than anyone else. In fact, there was a mention by Labilaa in the original work that caught my interest, given that the protagonist never missed a day at the training ground for swordsmanship. This should be self-explanatory. She is the heroine who starts taking an interest in the protagonist just because he comes out to the training ground every day. Of course, not all doubts were dispelled. ‘…But she’s interested in me?’ Even though the original protagonist hadn’t fully started his activities, it was hard to understand why she would take an interest in a mere idler who only occasionally visited the library. I felt it was difficult to comprehend this from a common-sense perspective. “Oh, by the way, don’t misunderstand. I was just curious about what you do on weekends.” “…” “If by any chance, you were doing something on weekends that you never did on weekdays, then I would have to reconsider my judgment of you as someone different from the rumors.” It didn’t take long for me to realize how foolish my thoughts were. Ah, so that’s what she was curious about. Not because she was interested in me, but because she couldn’t judge whether her own eyes were mistaken or not. Fortunately, what I was worried about turned out not to be true, but it still left a somewhat painful feeling in my heart. It was like rushing out of the house thinking I was late, only to arrive at the office and find the door closed because it was the weekend. It was a strange feeling, and just because of this feeling, I couldn’t ignore the princess’s question. So, I answered as truthfully as possible without mixing in too many lies. “…I couldn’t visit the library over the weekend because I was doing volunteer work.” Of course, it wasn’t entirely free of mixing, but I minimized it as much as possible. Volunteer work makes sense, right? If it’s cleaning up something that isn’t even my responsibility, then it counts as volunteer work, right? Victory of the mind. It was a kind of mental victory, or something similar. Upon hearing my words, Labilaa expressed quite a surprised expression.

“Volunteer work? Is it not the kind of volunteer work arranged by the academy, but rather something you do personally?”

“Yes. It’s something I do on my own, so probably no one has known about it until now.”

“I see. No wonder I couldn’t find out even with my information network.”

“···.”

“Of course, that was a joke, so relax your expression. What would the empire’s princess gain from investigating academy students?”

Labilaa, noticing my stiffening expression in real time, pats my shoulder, saying it was a joke.

‘······That was unexpected.’

I really thought my heart had stopped just now.

Even though she said it was a joke with her own mouth.

Because I knew it was entirely possible for Labilaa von Phellias, the imperial princess, to do such a thing.

From the start, she was a woman with the title of an imperial princess.

She was the woman already designated as the next empress to inherit the empire.

And interpreting this further.

It meant that she could handle even just one academy student however she pleased without anyone knowing.

‘······Terrifying.’

To me, who had resolved to live the rest of my life as comfortably as possible, she was someone I absolutely shouldn’t provoke.

It’s not that I’m afraid of death.

It’s not even that I’m afraid of the process leading up to death.

There was no intention at all to spend what little life I had left in the underground prison of the palace.

Realizing that her statement was more shocking than I had imagined, Labilaa seemed to be wearing a genuinely apologetic expression.

“It seems my statement was a bit rash, judging by how rigid your expression has become. I should apologize for this part.”

“······No, it’s fine. I was just a little taken aback.”

“Just consider my apology for causing your surprise as the apology itself, and let’s not dwell on this any further.”

“······Alright.”

In reality, it was a forced response. If we were to find a parallel in old sayings, it was akin to ‘crying and eating mustard,’ but unfortunately, Labilaa seemed to believe that I had truly accepted her apology.

“Thank you for accepting my apology. I’m still not used to apologizing to others.”

“···.”

“Or, how about this? As a form of apology, I could choose one of these many requests here and solve it with you.”

“······Excuse me? Did Her Highness just say she would personally take on a request?”

The response that had just popped out was reflexive, without passing through the filter in my head.

Because it was such a surprising remark.

In fact, it was an extremely shocking statement that the empire’s princess would take on someone else’s request and receive compensation.

“Yes. Also, this is helping as a form of apology, so you can take the compensation.”

“···.”

“What do you think? Isn’t this a sweet offer that you wouldn’t need to refuse even to hear?”

Labilaa spoke with a confident expression, as if daring anyone to argue against her opinion.

‘······Who in their right mind would refuse the princess’s proposal.’

I had to exert all my strength just to hold onto that sentence, which felt like it could burst out of my mouth at any moment.

And, quite naturally, it was a foregone conclusion that the request to be resolved then and there had been decided.