episode_0042

“Just now… ”

Celdianne, who seemed to have lost her mind, asked me with her fan-holding arm hanging limply.

“What did you say?”

Today, he was unusually quiet.

It’s not like I said anything particularly difficult to understand.

I asked her the simplest question again and again.

“Why should I follow your orders, Miss Elconza?”

Never be rude and always speak politely.

This wasn’t meant to be a taunt to her. It was just a question.

Does a noble family, especially a prestigious one, have the right to order commoners around?

That can’t be happening, right?

Since it was just a class meeting between fellow students, I don’t think it would be a crime to not show up.

I just brought it up again because the crowd in front of me didn’t seem to understand even such basic common sense.

“Huh―”

Only then did Celdianne seem to understand what I was saying and took a deep breath.

And then, clutching the fur fan tightly, he shouted at me with a slightly reddened expression on his face with anger.

“Oh, how presumptuous! How dare a lowly commoner refuse this Elkonja’s call…!”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not in the mood to listen to your usual swearing right now. Let me excuse myself first.”

I cut off Celdianne from bringing up class theory as she always did, nodded once, and turned my back on her.

“What…?!”

Ignoring the voices coming from behind me, I strode briskly down the road toward home.

“Le, Leto! Come with me!”

“Wow, that’s merciless.”

Heidiera and Lucica also followed me with puzzled expressions.

But from the rear, cries of not giving up continued to be heard.

“Hey there, commoner! Are you going to ignore me?!”

“You’re so cocky!”

“I won’t leave you alone!”

I was a little curious about what they would do if we didn’t leave them alone.

“If you don’t come back here right now, I’ll get angry!”

“After.”

The laughter just came out naturally.

I’m going to get angry.

Yeah, I guess you can get mad. So what do you want me to do?

Are you planning to use violence against me because I didn’t listen to you?

Or will they make him a completely isolated and ignored being within the academy?

Of course, the latter is something we are already experiencing, so it won’t have any impact.

“Le, Lord Leto… Are you okay? If you bother me for no reason, unnecessary friction will arise… ”

Heidiera bent down and whispered in my ear, her hands clasped together.

“Hehe, leave him alone, Heidi. Erto isn’t the type to be afraid of such things. It’s strange that that girl is acting so proud when she’s done something wrong.”

On the other hand, Lucica giggled and patted Heidiera on the back.

“Hee, heeheet…! You look so happy, Lord Lapis.”

“Hmm~what should I say… I’ve only seen his sloppy side lately, so it’s nice to see him in his true form for the first time in a while?”

“Did Lord Erto originally have such a blunt personality…?”

In response to Heidiera’s question, Lucica nodded vigorously, her cherry-colored twintails fluttering.

“Hoohoo, Graeme♡ Ever since I had no strength, I’ve been going up to those punks all by myself!”

“Wow… So this is the energetic Erto-gong from a time I’ve never seen before…! I wonder…!”

“Ahahaha! I’ll be the only one who remembers that appearance♡ But from now on, we can see Erto’s manly side together♡”

“Why are you acting so awkward, Lucy… ”

The moment I was about to wave my hand at Lucica with a bitter smile,

“I told you to stop―!”

bang!

“Heeheet?!”

“Huh?”

“… story.”

As we walked, a huge, golden wall fell in front of us.

“Ahh… I guess so… ”

Heidiera, who was startled and stretched her back, looked back while stroking her head with both hands.

“Haa, that girl needs to fix her habit of throwing things at me whenever she gets in trouble. Should I just give it a go? I think I can win now.”

Lucica also opened her eyes wide and looked at the owner of the crystal structure with a murderous expression.

“… Well, that’s a completely expected reaction.”

I sighed and slowly turned around in my seat.

In the distance, I saw the trio standing in the same position as before.

An aura the same color as her hair was emanating from the girl in the middle with her golden bun hair.

Seldianne shouted at us with a rather serious and angry face.

“This kind of insult is quite refreshing! But I won’t let you go! The lady has something to tell you!”

“Come back here right now!”

“Last chance!”

Looking at the noble ladies shouting in sharp voices, Heidiera whispered to me.

“What are you going to do? Lord Leto… If you ignore me this time, I’ll pick a fight with you.”

Then Lucica placed her hand on the dagger on her waist and puffed out her chest proudly.

“Yeah~ Go ahead and attack me. I’ll destroy them all by myself♡”

I put my hand on her shoulder and smiled faintly.

“No, there’s no need to get you involved. Since you have something you want to say, why don’t you hang out with me for a bit?”

“Really? What, Erto, do whatever you want♡”

“Cow, I’ll step aside for a moment… I feel like people like that are sucking my energy away… ”

“Ahahaha! Come here, Heidi. Come watch from behind with me.”

Leaving Lucica behind, who was linking arms with Heidiera and dragging her to the side of the road, I went back to the front of the Celdiane gang alone.

“Huh, I guess you finally get the hang of it.”

She snorted and glared at me with her crimson eyes.

“… What do you have to say? Miss Elconza.”

I crossed my arms and looked into her eyes.

“… Hmm, ahem.”

Seldianne, who had been staring at me for a moment, coughed in vain and looked away.

And then, he spread out his black fur fan and began to tell a story while covering his mouth.

“Well, it looks like you have a busy schedule, so let’s just keep it brief and end it here. Earlier… ”

“Before that, I would like to make a preliminary point. Is that okay? Miss Elconza.”

I held out my palm, stopping her from speaking again.

“… What else? You’ve interrupted the lady twice. I warn you, you’d better not test this Elkonja’s patience any longer. ”

Celdianne’s crimson eyes opened sharply and she spoke in a cold voice.

“Let me keep that in mind. Is it okay if I tell you first?”

“… That’s right.”

After asking permission, I spoke with a calm expression, trying my best not to show any emotion.

This story was important to me because it conveyed how utterly insensitive I was to Celdiane.

“First of all, I want you to know that I don’t want to talk to you anymore. I don’t want us to pretend to know each other. You are free to accept it or not, but I want to start by saying this is my position.”

“… Huh?”

Even though it was covered with debt, I could tell that confusion was spreading from beyond it.

But my story was just beginning.

“I don’t think of you as a friend anymore. I don’t think I ever was. You sided with the nobles who were against me, and you were their representative, so I don’t think my reaction is particularly strange.”

“… !”

The crimson eyes visible above the fan shook violently.

Whatever its meaning, it was a phenomenon that had no significance to me.

“And since you treat me like a commoner, I also think of you as a noble and a person of high status and speak to you respectfully. However, I hope you do not think that I will obediently comply with all your demands just because of my class. I am a commoner, but I have free will. Please understand that part.”

“I… I hear you’re so arrogant!”

“What an annoying way of speaking! Go back to normal!”

Miyu and Juri leaned forward and criticized my attitude.

I didn’t even spare them a glance, and just looked at Seldianne and gave her a dry warning.

“Excuse me, but I’m talking to Ms. Elconza right now, so I’d like you two to leave.”

“What…?!”

“Profit… !”

The two people tried to say something more,

“… ”

At Celdianne’s gesture of raising her palm, I immediately shut my mouth.

She also gave the two men an unspoken instruction not to interfere in the conversation.

“… Thank you. Let me finish the story.”

I remained polite on the outside, and after bowing my head once to Celdianne’s mediation, I opened my mouth again.

“As I said before, I don’t want any relationship with you anymore and I just want to live as someone else. I don’t expect anything from Ms. Elconza. I don’t want anything. I have nothing to say except to convey this premise.”

“… ”

For some reason, Celdianne remained silent and listened to me until the end.

“I will neither give nor receive any favors from you. Except for being students in the same academy, we are now complete strangers. Whatever perceptions we have had of each other so far, I hope they all come to nothing. I will also forget that you were hostile to me.”

“… Ah.”

A short voice flowed from beyond the debt.

I ignored it and continued talking.

“From now on, I want you to approach the conversation with the understanding that I recognize you as the daughter of the noble Elkonja family, but at the same time, as someone who has no relation to me.”

“… ”

Charak—and the fan folded.

Celdianne’s hand holding it fell down weakly.

I took a deep breath, exhaled for a long time, and confirmed her intention one last time.

“That’s all I have to say first. Do you have anything else to say?”

“… ”

Seldianne remained silent at the dry question that was neither cold nor warm.

The crimson eyes kept going back and forth between my face, the floor, and the empty space.

“… That’s it.”

The words that finally flowed out of my lips that were trembling,

“… It’s nothing. You should go now.”

The conclusion was to give up on the conversation and let me go.

“Okay, let’s go.”

I bowed to her and immediately turned around and left.

As I moved away from the noble ladies, Lucica and Heidiera, who had been watching the whole situation from under the trees, came up to me and spoke.

“Wow, I can’t believe you can make me shut up just by saying it. This is a bit unexpected, isn’t it?”

Lucica giggled and seemed to enjoy Celdianne’s reaction.

“Eh, what Erto said is absolutely right… but I hope you don’t harbor any ill feelings because of this… ”

As always, Heidi put my well-being first.

“It’s okay, if you understand what I’m saying, then you won’t bother me anymore, even for the sake of your noble pride.”

I believed that Celdianne was not so mean-spirited as to continue to show ill will toward someone who had sincerely confessed that he did not want to be involved with her.

I’ll forget about the grudge you had for trying to expel me first, so I don’t think it’s too much to ask that we just be friends from now on.

Rather, from Celdiane’s perspective, it could be said that it is a positive situation because the person who did something wrong is taking care of it.

Although her tone was a little too businesslike, she never said anything that wasn’t sincere, and she must have understood my intentions because she let me go without a second thought.

Okay, this neatly concludes my relationship with Seldiane.

“But Erto, don’t let your guard down too much.”

“Huh?”

As I was walking down the street after leaving the square, Lucica said something next to me.

“That girl may not be a harbinger, but she’s incredibly stubborn. She can be annoying in a weird way, not to mention harassing you.”

“Um… I know that.”

“Anyway, it was funny to see him just standing there without saying anything♡ See you tomorrow, Erto!”

“Okay, go in.”

So I sent Lucica off at the crossroads,

“Oh, come to think of it, you didn’t hear what Elconja was trying to say… ”

Heidiera tilted her head and scratched her cheek.

“Well, I’m not really interested… I was wondering what that Heidi girl would say?”

“I was a little worried whether Elkonja wanted to meet privately or officially… But whatever. We are just strangers now.”

“Well, I guess I should have heard that much.”

“No, I always respect the choice of Lord Erto. I will now step aside… ”

Heidi, who was about to leave after bowing her head so modestly,

“… Hmm.”

For a moment, I stared blankly at the path we had walked.

“Why?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, Erto… ”

“Okay, go in.”

After Heidi also disappeared in another direction, I walked home alone.

The path I have walked with Tirisia for a long time.

Walking there alone felt a bit awkward, but I had no choice but to get used to it.

It’s not that I miss her, I just feel an empty space.

“How long will I be stuck at home…?”

If you really can’t get out, that would be a funny ending in its own right.

Not only me, but also Kelg Durakal is saying that he will not be able to meet her.

Of course, my personal prediction was that the Brewery family would lower the level of discipline at an appropriate time.

This is something that will only be known with time, so let’s not think too deeply about it now.

It was when I reached the alley in front of my house, thinking about my future training schedule and such.

―

I stopped walking at the point where I could see outside the house door.

“… Wow.”

Because there was a somewhat unexpected person standing in front of our house.

Someone I thought I had shaken off for sure a while ago.

In front of the front door of the house, there.

“… How are you?”

Seldianne Elconza, who had sent her men away and come to me alone, was standing there with her arms folded.

No, how did you know to come here? Seriously.