Chapter 291: Chapter 255: School Festival (1)

In the end, I faced a different kind of difficulty than the ones I thought of when I first decided to meet with Eleanor.

At first, I thought she had plotted a very evil scheme—mainly related to my lower body—or would force me to do her biddings—mainly related to my lower body.

But, what actually happened, every single day, until the day before the School Festival was…

“…Today too?”

As I asked so, Beatrix, whom I had been meeting for a few days—giving us enough interaction to be familiar with each other—replied with a sigh.

“Yeah.”

“…”

“I’m sorry but she said she doesn’t want to meet anyone right now.”

This was also the same thing I heard from the helpless looking Beatrix when I first visited the Student Council Room to meet Eleanor.

Yes, this had been going on for several days.

Hearing what she said the first time, even though it sounded so lame of me, I couldn’t help but ask…

“…Am I included in that ‘anyone’ category?”

“Yeah. Actually, this is meant for you, since she knew that you’d come and visit her. That’s why she specifically requested me to tell you this if you were to come.”

“…”

Her answer to that lame question of mine only served to make me look even worse.

And as someone who knew how infatuated Eleanor was with me, Beatrix seemed to be flustered by the situation as well.

Her question proved it.

“…So, did you do something that made her angry or what?”

[Well, I can’t even think which one it would be this time.]

“…”

[But I’ll bet that she’s angry at you because of what you’ve done to the other women just a while ago. I mean, considering that you did all that after giving her a wedding ring.]

I ignored the unhelpful ghost’s rambling and mulled over the situation while scratching my head.

As Caliban said, the chances that she was angry at me because she found out about that wasn’t low.

When you do something wrong repeatedly for a long time, you’re bound to get caught. If anything, it was a miracle that she hadn’t caught me yet so far.

I mean, let’s get real. There was no way that she was unaware to some extent that I had been involved with all kinds of women here and there.

…But, I don’t think that’s the case.

[Why?]

Because if that’s what this is about, she would’ve come to kill me instead of locking herself up like this.

[…]

Caliban’s silence meant that he agreed with me.

Actually, even though Eleanor seemed intolerant, she was actually extremely tolerant.

That was why she had only been sighing whenever she saw me meeting another woman.

But, the moment someone else did ‘something she hadn’t done yet’ with me, she’d definitely come to kill me.

Actually, if that were to happen, I wouldn’t be the only one who’d get my neck chopped off, the woman I was doing with would end up like that too.

Of course I haven’t done anything like that so far…

That was true, I swear!

I did all my ‘first’ intimate contacts with women with Eleanor and no one else!

Though, it felt like I was now walking between fine lines with most of them…

“…”

Huh?

Wait.

“…What?”

When Beatrix saw the change in my expression, she narrowed her eyes.

“Something came to your mind?”

“…”

Yeah…

There was one…

Someone who took away something that even Eleanor hadn’t done yet…

Well, I didn’t know if I could call her ‘someone’, but anyway, she was inside Eleanor’s body, so there was a very high chance she had a ‘contact’ with her—

“…”

Oh no…

This is more dangerous than I thought—

“…Eleanor?”

As I thought so, Beatrix’s voice suddenly hit my ears.

At that moment, I could feel my face turning pale as I turned my head towards her—to be exact, toward the person whose name she had just called, who was standing next to her.

From the way she dressed, it seemed like she had just come out of the training center inside the Student Council Room.

She was wearing a tank top and pants made of practical materials. I could see traces of her working-out all over her body.

“…What the? I thought you said you don’t want to meet anyone.”

“…”

Beatrix asked her that, but Eleanor didn’t say anything.

Instead, she silently stared at me with an emotionless gaze that was hard for me to read.

Without saying anything.

This went on for quite a while.

To the point that I was actually getting terrified.

“…Um, Elanor?”

That was why…

I decided to greet her first with an awkward smile on my face.

“It’s been a long time since we saw each other, right? Have you been well—”

Before I could even finish my sentence, she already walked toward me, making my voice unknowingly trail off.

Her movements looked daring and there was no hesitation in her gait, making it look as if she was charging forwards to attack her enemy.

Uh-oh…

**

This might be really really dangerous…

**

“…Uh, Elean—”

Before I could even say anything, she already closed the distance between us and then…

She hugged me tightly.

Since her body was soaked by her sweat, my clothes were also drenched by it. A fragrant aroma wafted into my nostrils.

Then…

[ Sensing a movement of ‘Demonic Aura’! ]

The Demonic Aura was charged.

Actually, describing it that way was a little inaccurate.

.

To be exact…

That single contact, fully charged the Gray Devil’s Demonic Aura in the Seal.

“…”

I could only speechlessly stare at Elanor, who was still hugging me tightly.

Demonic Aura was greatly influenced by the emotional state of the Vessel.

Based on the kinds of contacts I had with the other Vessels so far, the fact that her Demonic Aura was fully charged in one go by such a light contact meant that deep inside, she was dealing with a great torrent of emotions.

“…Eleanor?”

What is this?

Everything was so sudden, so I couldn’t keep up with it.

When I called out to her with wide eyes, she replied in her usual emotionless voice.

“Mm.”

“…Are you okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“…I thought you’d been avoiding me because you’re angry at me.”

“Mm, I was.”

She replied.

Then, while still hugging me, she slightly looked up.

Her eyes were still hard to read.

It was to the point that I felt puzzled while looking into her eyes.

She was someone who always expressed her feelings honestly in front of me. But what was this?

It was as if she was hiding something from me. As if there was ‘something she didn’t want me to see’.

That was how it felt when I saw her eyes.

“…But, I have seen something more important than that.”

“What did you—”

“Dowd.”

“Yeah?”

“Even if the whole world turns their back against you, I will stay by your side until the very end.”

“…”

“So, do not give up.”

That was quite the strange thing to say.

She just said that so suddenly, without context or prelude.

Of course I couldn’t understand what she was on about.

However…

The tone that she used to say such words were strangely ‘sincere’.

And I could feel the heartbreaking sorrow and lamentation in her voice.

“…”

That was why I could only speechlessly stare at her eyes. After a while, she let out a sigh before pulling away from me.

When she did that, the atmosphere she was exuding returned to ‘normal’.

To the lady that I knew; the woman whose face was expressionless, yet was showing her vibrant emotions.

“…The School Festival…will start tomorrow, right…?”

“…Yeah.”

“Best of luck.”

“…”

“If anything happens, make sure you call me.”

And that was the last thing she said to me.

After leaving such an encouragement, she left the Student Council Room.

As if that was all she had to say.

“…”

“…”

Leaving me and Beatrix staring at each other in confusion.

Anyway, that was… Uh…

Everything ended in a much more moderate way than I previously thought…

“…What was that?”

“…Beats me.”

But what the hell was this situation?

“Ah, also…”

Beatrix, who finally came back to her senses, suddenly said as if something came to her mind.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“…Can you two stop rubbing salt in my wound, please?”

“…”

“I’ve never been in a relationship before, you know that?”

“…”

My bad, I didn’t know.

●

‘Sword Saint’ Radu Varphon was considered very trustworthy and religious by many people, unfitting the fact that he was an important figure of the empire, who had a weird atmosphere going on with the holy land.

Anyway, he had a habit that whenever he was extremely stressed out, he’d spend quite a long time in the temple, venting his piled-up frustration.

Including now.

This was something almost necessary. After all, he was the guard of a certain ‘important person whose identity could not be disclosed’ in Elfante. Inspecting his own mental state every now and then was important.

Though it didn’t seem so, one could consider this a decent activity to relieve one’s stress. Even Lucia—the one he asked for the ‘counseling’—was glad to find out that the Sword Saint did such a thing.

Ever since she came to Elfante as a saintess, she had been going through all kinds of bizarre situations, because of Dowd. This was finally the time for her to live up to her title as a saintess—

“Sometimes, I want to beat the hell out of the immediate superior I’m serving.”

“…”

Or, that was what she thought, until she heard his violent sentence.

She could tell that the ‘avatar’ of the man across the confession room looked especially gloomy.

As a Saint, apparently he was able to demonstrate such a divine skill using only Magic Power to create an autonomous avatar. But, even the display of such an amazing technique couldn’t comfort Lucia’s mind that was about to fall apart.

There was only one person who could be his immediate superior; the empress herself. Which meant, what he said could make him lose his head for lèse majesté the moment it was out publicly.

“Whoops, forgive me, that came out a little strange. Please allow me to correct the part where I said I want to beat the hell out of her.”

Hearing that, a relieved smile formed on Lucia’s face.

Right! Those words were a little harsh to say, after all!

“Alright—”

“I want to put her on my lap and hit her cheeks until she has no tears left to cry.”

“…”

That’s even worse than before!

As Lucia’s face went pale, the Sword Saint continued with a sigh,

“I understand that her position is a little special, considering that the only person she could confide in ever since she was a child was Lady Tristan…”

“…Is that so…?”

She didn’t know what it was, but now she finally felt that he was about to say something normal.

After Lucia let out such a response, the Sword Saint continued to mutter with a gloomy look.

“Mm. She’s never shown it because of her position, but she’s someone who’s craving for love…”

This was something that Lucia had heard about before.

Apparently, Cecilia the 11th, the ruler of the empire, had a tough childhood from a very young age due to her political opponents.

Most of her family died when she was a little, so she grew up with almost no one on her side.

“That’s why I understand her feelings of wanting to find someone who can love her, I really do, but…”

The Sword Saint let out another deep sigh.

“…But why did she choose that damned playboy of all people?”

“…”

I can’t refute that.

Lucia thought as she barely managed to maintain her twitching smile.

Considering what that man did to her sister and her a few days ago—she meant no offense to Dowd—the Sword Saint was hitting the nail on the head.

“B-But still, that man has quite a lot of good things about him, you know?”

Lucia struggled to say while sweating profusely.

“He’s a much more considerate person than anyone thinks, also, he’s quite reliable! When he does something, he’d do it properly. In my eyes, there are quite a lot of things about him that make him popular with women—”

“With all due respect, Saintess.”

“Yes?”

“How the hell do you know all that…?”

“…”

“It feels like you’re telling me your personal feeling—”

**

Yes, yes I am!

**

Just think of it like that!

Lucia gritted her teeth while thinking so, but she couldn’t exactly say it out loud.

“T-Then!”

Instead, she did her best to change the subject while drawing Divine Power.

“I-I’ll show you the proof myself!”

The application of Divine Power was quite diverse, and one of its applications was the ability to show a ‘playback’ on certain events that had happened somewhere else.

Of course, even though she possessed strong enough Divine Power as a saintess, using such an absurd ability would dry her out of her Divine Power, but her desire to end this dangerous confession as soon as possible was way bigger than her worry of exhausting herself.

And so, she drew her Divine Power, trying to search for the most recent scene of ‘Dowd and the empress together, all while doing her best mentally calculate everything.

She figured that if the Sword Saint were to see that the empress was enjoying her academy life, he might be less worried about her.

After all, even the headmistress mentioned that the empress had been smiling more ever since she came to the Academy. As long as Dowd hadn’t lost his mind, there was no way that he’d do anything strange to the empress.

That was her intention.

And it was such a good and kind intention too.

But, inside the miraculous ‘scene’ Lucia had created, the empress, who was in another place now, was shown.

-In public, you always acted so elegantly, so pitiable, all while wearing the mask of benevolence…

-Look at you, being handled roughly by a lowlife like me. And look at your expression. It seems like you’re really ‘enjoying’ this, aren’t you?

- …Y-You—

To be exact…

The sight of Dowd, who was degrading the empress openly, and the empress, who was twisting her body around, as if not knowing what to do with him, was shown.

“…”

“…”

A heavy silence filled the chapel.

Ah.

I made a mistake.

When Lucia realized that…

“…This damn lowlife.”

She could hear the Sword Saint’s murderous voice from across the confession room.

“…Saintess.”

“…Yes?”

As Lucia replied in a stiff voice, he uttered his next words, still sounding like he was about to murder someone.

“When is the Elfante’s School Festival again?”

Uh-oh…

This is turning into an even bigger deal!

Lucia thought so while breaking out in a cold sweat inwardly.

●

Finally, the day of the School Festival.

“…”

[…]

“…”

[Say something.]

“I don’t know.”

[Look, I understand how you feel, but…]

“I. Don’t. Know.”

I stubbornly said so, trying hard to deny the reality in front of me.

You know, I never expected that things would go smoothly.

Because, it never had, ever since the first time I became Dowd Campbell.

But still…

[My sooooon—!]

“…”

[Why won’t you look at your moooom—!]

How was I supposed to accept that this five meter giant robot was my actual biological mother?!

…I wish this was all just a one big joke…!