Settlement of Fated Connection
*Bam!*
「What’s the meaning of this-!」
Clara was listening to a report inside Dandall’s mansion that was located within the sorcery academy. She hit the table in front of her maids Hilda and the others.
Clara too was aware that there was attack to the crown prince’s group in the field trip this time.
But, although she knew it, Clara who was a reincarnator only knew it as an otome game event. The event shouldn’t be anything like a scheme to assassinate the crown prince.
In the event, what the second knight order did was like a petition toward the royal family. But how did the assassin guild also got involved and things devolved into an assassination attempt?
The maids shrunk back with an awkward look from how grave Clara looked. Then Hilda who was like the leader among them opened her mouth.
「M-my apologies, Clara-sama. It looks like that woman was contacting the assassin guild under extreme secrecy……」
「That woman……you mean Tabatha-」
She heard that Hilda and Bibi who were wounded survivors of the assassin guild got their injury from a fight against that pink haired girl. They said that it was a miracle that they managed to live and escape alive.
In that situation, Tabatha who was the woman that the girls relied on and tried to sacrifice them in order to save herself also managed to survive even though as the end result her whole body got burnt injury.
Hilda and Bibi also had burnt injury, but Carla gave them treatment without any care about the cost, so their burn had been erased almost completely. But, Tabatha who had serious burn all over her body was still far away from complete recovery. Because of her appearance that was like that, she volunteered to work behind the scene.
In fact she was doing great work. And it would be difficult for Hilda and others who were still young to contact those people and negotiate with them.
「……I should, personally ascertain her characteristic a bit more thoroughly.」
「This isn’t Clara-sama’s fault-! If only we as her former comrades were more vigilant……」
Hilda and Bibi had gotten betrayed by Tabatha once, but they were unable to cut off relationship with her, partly because Bibi who was the youngest of them was attached to Tabatha. But as expected, even Bibi seemed unable to tolerate it anymore with what happened this time. She was looking down while biting her lips.
Clara’s Gift, Foresight also wasn’t perfect. In the end it was an ability that predicted the future based on the information that she knew. Clara was able to make more accurate prediction thanks to her game knowledge, but this time it was that knowledge that ended up making her slipped.
The events were already deviating from the content of the original game. Tabatha voluntarily working behind the scene also became a disaster because it limited her chance to come into contact with Clara.
「We can’t keep allowing her to do whatever she want like this. Do you all understand?」
「「「Yes.」」」
「……Yes.」
Hilda who didn’t have good impression of Tabatha, along with Doris and Haiji who didn’t have any close relationship with her nodded at Clara’s words. Even Bibi was properly accepting Clara’s words this time.
「But……what are we going to do? There is no guarantee that we will be able to win against Tabatha. In addition there is also that man……」
「That man……do you mean Grave?」
Grave was living under the roof of the organization that Clara wished to contact. He was a man with dangerous ideology. That was exactly why she was wondering if she could use him to harm the heroine who would degrade the country, but in this situation she couldn’t predict how he would move.
Clara performed Foresight using the current information. And then after several minutes of calculation, she derived a single choice.
「……Leak the information of those people to Elena-sama’s faction.」
「Clara-sama, that’s……」
Tabatha scattered bait in the form of the crown prince’s assassination just to take revenge to that girl. She even guided the noble faction to draw in the assassin guild and that girl.
Kidnapping, intimidation, assassination, switching the target, every irregularity that went different from expectation was the work of Tabatha who went made with grudge.
When Clara made prediction using that information, it seemed that organization was targeting the princess and not the crown prince, but the possibility that Grave still wanted Ervan to die was high.
If Clara leaked this information, everything she had done until now would become in vain and the aforementioned organization would turn into her enemy. But right now Clara herself also wasn’t calm. She was unable to forgive the people who was targeting the life of her beloved Ervan.
「We’re going to erase them by pointing the “Ash Crowned Princess” their way.」
***
The outdoor field trip that should be held this time by the sorcery academy was interrupted by the scheme of the noble faction that was in opposition against the royal family faction. Plans to kidnap Princess Elena and assassinate the crown prince Ervan were carried out simultaneously. At the end both plans ended up as failed attempt and the incident had been concluded on the surface.
Of course the new students’ field trip to observe a knight order’s exercises was cancelled. The students weren’t told about the reason of the cancellation.
The students inside the academy were also divided between the royal family faction and the noble faction. There was a worry that if the truth was known, it might become a cause for conflict between students. There was also thinking that the foreign countries mustn’t learn about the discord within the country.
Claydale Kingdom was the biggest country at the southern part of the continent, however it was gradually starting to lose its strength due to the internal situation.
Currently a judiciary negotiation was being carried out with the captured knights of the noble faction. A purge of the noble faction from the knight order that was involved with the incident this time was being carried out under the command of supreme knight commander Dandall.
At the same time with that, the royal family was crushing the members of noble faction with rank of viscount and lower that were involved with the incident this time, while also hastening the investigation to the high ranked nobles in the noble faction who cut off those low ranked members like lizard’s tail.
One of those nobles was hiding the “enemy” of the adventurer──Aria of “Rainbow Sword” who thwarted the noble faction’s plan this time. The location was in a castle of that noble.
.
「You were reckless again……. It was something that I requested so I apologize for that but, leave the investigation of that man to me. You should treat yourself with a bit more care.」
Inside the princess’s mansion within the academy, its owner Elena was lecturing the girl who was her bodyguard. Aria who was sitting on the same table with her responded with a small nod.
(……Does she really understand?)
Elena was thinking like that while glaring lightly at Aria.
Normally Aria who was Elena’s bodyguard slash maid would never sit on the same table with her. But, it seemed that she had really overworked herself in the battle this time. Her legs still weren’t fully healed even after using Cure.
Based from a healer’s examination, apparently her nerves got affected by mana. It would recover better by taking a rest for several days rather than forcefully treating it with medicine, so Aria was ordered to take a break to recuperate.
Right now Aria was a young lady of a baronet house although only temporarily, but she who came from commoner background had the tendency to make light of her own life. Others would take from her if she didn’t take from them first. Such thinking might have seeped deeply into her that she was strict to herself and gave not a shred of mercy toward her enemy.
Elena herself was also saved only because Aria was like that, so a part of her could sympathize but, sometimes her heart would feel pained while she was looking at Aria who was risking her life in battle every time.
『We cannot become friends.』
Elena used that wording before.
Noble and commoner. Princess and adventurer. The difference in the environments where they were born and raised were just too big that Elena noticed the only way she could be together with her was if she tied her at her side. And so they went their separate way.
Even with Aria becoming a noble, in the end she could only tie her up so they could be in the same place. Even so Aria stayed at Elena’s side because of her “oath” to her.
What Elena wanted to protect wasn’t her own life. It was her pride as a noble……as a human. That [feeling] that she had never expressed even once until now was only understood by Aria alone in this world.
Aria too was living with pride in order to live for her own sake and not anybody else. That was why Elena swore to protect her no matter what the situation just once. Aria too swore to her that in order to protect Elena’s pride, she would kill just one of her enemies no matter who they were.
They put their “pride” on the line for that oath. Even if it would use up their life.
「…………」
The two were in such relationship that was hard to understand for other people, but with them being together like this made even Elena became able to see the part of Aria that she hadn’t noticed before.
Aria showed a way of fighting that should be called as fierce during the exchange of life, but in her daily life there was a part of her that somewhat absentminded.
The two of them were still twelve years old……granted they would turn thirteen years old in several months, but they were fundamentally still children.
The two’s body had grown up due to their mana. From a commoner’s perspective, they looked like women who had just become adult. Not only with that, with Aria’s mature way of talking and bearing, along with her appearance, it made many of the males who passed her turned around because of her charm.
No, it wasn’t just male. At academy, Aria was tall for a girl with a dignified atmosphere. There were some number of girls who would follow her with their gaze when she was nearby.
Aria looked like she was isolated at academy except when she was at Elena’s side, but it wasn’t only because she was clad in an atmosphere that didn’t allow other to approach, but also because there were people who were definitely captivated by her.
(I wonder what will those people think if they saw her hidden side……)
Aria wasn’t someone who talked a lot. That wasn’t because she was inarticulate or didn’t have a lot of vocabulary, but because she liked to omit anything pointless.
Aria became mature as though she had skipped over being a child and a girl, but sometimes she would show a childish side at strange times.
Few people could notice that, but the time when she replied just now too, sometimes she would end a talk with very short word of 『Yes』, but at such time perhaps because she nodded briefly like a little girl, she would look younger than her actual age only at such time. Her look at those times was terribly adorable.
Aria had been disciplined strictly by her adopted mother Sera to be a young lady from a baronet house to be the princess’s bodyguard maid. There was also the person’s own qualities that helped her reached the level of the average noble daughter in the matter of essential skill and conduct even in Elena’s eyes.
But, her pink hair didn’t have any curl from the start. Her hair was also glossy perhaps thanks to her mana. Aria’s hair could be tidied up prettily without needing too much effort. For Elena who had unruly hair, it was something to be jealous about, but perhaps that was why a part of Aria was indifferent with her own hair. Sometimes her hair on her back would look messy after her training or other activity.
At such time, the bodyguard maid Chloe would gleefully combed Aria’s hair for her like a big sister who was playing around with her baby sister.
It seemed that Aria didn’t feel anything about other people touching her hair. At such time she would show a face of a little girl who was getting her hair fiddled around by her mother.
It should be fine just for time like this……Elena thought and stood up from her seat. She picked up her own comb and quietly circled behind Aria.
「Elena?」
「Stay still……Aria.」
Elena touched Aria’s hair and combed it.
She looked down on Aria from behind and found that her neck and shoulders looked graceful. Elena’s heart felt pained when she thought that she was making a girl like this shouldering the country’s important matter in the form of “fighting”.
That thought made Elena’s hand to become a bit hesitant. Aria noticed that and softly touched Elena’s hand with her finger.
「It’s alright……this is something that I chose on my own, Elena.」
「Right……Aria. ……Thank you.」
The two didn’t exchange any gaze and stayed silent after that while Elena continued combing Aria’s hair.
Chloe who came bringing a fresh batch of tea stared warmly at the two who were like that. Then she quietly left the room.
.
Two months passed since the attempt to assassinate the crown prince Ervan and kidnap Princess Elena was carried out by the noble faction. The season was now spring.
The noble houses and a part of the second knight order that were involved with that incident were dealt with by the royal family faction behind the scene. Right now there were different noble houses replacing them.
Some noble houses of noble faction were gone and some nobles of the royal family faction got promoted to take their places. If asked whether there was anything that happened close by because of this incident, then perhaps the matter of a baron who possessed a certain territory getting promoted to be a viscount had to be mentioned.
Even Aria had met that former baron once when he became Layton House’s adopted daughter. This former baron was an amicable character who was affiliated with the royal family faction and he had done his duty diligently for many years. The main topic wasn’t that, but how Layton House that was managing a town that was located in that baron’s territory also got promoted to be baron house thanks to all their achievements until now and Aria’s work in saving the crown prince and the princess. Because of that they became noble of a new territory.
Sera’s status rose from a baronet wife which was categorized as low ranked noble to be baron wife which was categorized as middle ranked noble that possessed a territory. Aria too had her status changed from a baronet daughter into baron daughter.
.
「──1 2 3, …1 2 3──」
The night grew late. At Princess Elena’s mansion, two girls were tracing dancing step lightly with the moonlight illuminating the two of them.
There was no music……there was also no audience. The only sound there came from Elena’s rhythmical voice and the sound of heel clicking on the floor. The other girl who was serving as the dancing partner wasn’t making any sound from her breathing or her foot step.
*Tan──*
「You have gotten a lot better, Aria.」
Elena stopped her step and lightly exhaled. She looked upward at the pink haired girl who was half a head taller than her. Aria who was acting as the dancing partner smiled just a little bit with her breathing staying completely even.
「It’s because Elena is good with teaching.」
「Thank you. I too am happy that there is something that I can teach you. More importantly, because Aria has only ever practice with me, you have only gotten better at the male role.」
Elena placed her finger over her lips and her golden hair shook as she chuckled. Aria lightly sighed without any change in expression seeing that.
「I’m not going to dance anyway so it’s all the same.」
「I think there will be gentlemen who wish to invite you to dance though……」
In exchange of the cancelled field trip……no, it wasn’t the case, but the dance event in the academy that was originally scheduled for summer was going to be held soon.
It was different from a genuine party, but all the students had also obtained the qualification to appear in high society with their enrollment into the academy, and so the academy was periodically holding a dance event for student only as practice for that.
Usually this event would be held for students of all years, but right now there were still a lot of students who lacked experience with dancing because the time was still too early, so this time the dance event would be held for the first years only.
Because of that Elena was teaching Aria who wasn’t used to dance, but the difference in height caused Aria to get slotted into the male role most of the time. And it seemed that Aria herself was also more suited to the male role rather than the female role, so she got skilled with only that part.
「……Are you really going on your own?」
「I have decided.」
Elena caught her breath and suddenly asked that question. Aria quietly stepped away from her as though to show her determination.
The incident of assassination attempt against the crown prince and kidnapping attempt against the princess that was caused by the noble faction. The viscount house and baron house that were the key culprits of this incident had been crushed, but in the end they were nothing more than the sacrificial pawns of the high ranked noble.
Elena too had tried to draw out information from the people that Aria captured through plea bargaining, but then “important information” landed on their lap from an unexpected place.
The source was unknown. Even so Elena and Aria didn’t think that the information that was passed to them through multiple proxies was false.
Kendras House. An influential noble house with marquis rank that was one of the top authorities in politic and also economy even in the kingdom from their grasp of the right over Condo Mine that was located along the northwest border. Even though that noble house had gotten into conflict with other country over the mining right of the mine and successfully took over the possession of it, they hadn’t gotten royal family blood infused into their house for a while, so the house’s influence over the kingdom was insubstantial.
That was why they joined the noble faction, but then it came to light that a traitor of the black ops who was known to possess a dangerous ideology, [Grave] was staying there.
Furthermore he was together with some people who were hostile against the kingdom. It was information with unknown source but, the black ops had investigated its veracity with the lives of their agents as the price and ascertained that the noble house there was almost certainly “guilty”.
With Grave there, a large scale movement from the black ops would get detected and there was a risk that the evidences would get disposed of. I couldn’t imagine that with his personality he would back up the noble faction until that far, but in order to crush the uncertain factors, it was decided that “Rainbow Sword” would go ahead once more to eliminate him…….
「But that will be too slow. If Dalton and Feld make a move, they will stand out and Grave will vanish. But if I go alone, he will definitely choose to fight me.」
「That’s……I understand that, but still」
「Elena.」
Elena couldn’t stop worrying for Aria even then. So Aria called her name not as a bodyguard addressing the princess but as a “kindred soul”. Elena stared straight into Aria’s jade green eyes.
「Believe in me.」
「……I understand. But, come back before the dance event. ……Promise me.」
***
I made a new [promise] with Elena and early at the morning I quietly left the mansion wearing not my uniform but my adventurer equipments after so long.
When we first fought, I was even less than insect compared to Grave. Even when we fought the second time, Grave retreated at the end but I didn’t actually win by my own strength.
I had gotten stronger than that time but, Grave too surely wouldn’t stay the same like that time. Most likely this battle would become the deathliest fight that I ever experienced until now. But this time I would settle this for sure. After all defeating Grave was one of my goals.
This wasn’t just a problem for Elena.
I swore to kill Grave no matter what. This was my battle.
.
▼ Aria (Alicia) Race : Human♀ – Rank 4
【Magic Power : 136/300】【Stamina : 98/250】
【Strength : 10 (14)】【Endurance : 10 (14)】【Agility : 17 (24)】△ 2 UP【Dexterity : 9】
《Short Sword Skill Level 4》《Martial Art Level 4》
《Throwing Level 4》《Archery Level 2》《Defense Level 4》《String Control Level 4》
《Light Magic Level 3》《Darkness Magic Level 4》《Non-Elemental Magic Level 4》
《Daily Life Magic×６》《Magic Power Control Level 4》《Pressure Level 4》
《Stealth Level 4》《Night Vision Level 2》《Search Level 4》
《Poison Resistance Level 3》《Abnormal Status Resistance Level 1》
《Simple Appraisal》
【Overall Combat Strength : 1339 (With Body Strengthening : 1576)】△ 43 UP
.
It would take three weeks for a one way trip from this academy to the territory of Marquis Kendras using horse carriage. I didn’t want to spend too much time for this so I could fulfill my promise with Elena.
But right now I had an idea of how to shorten the time needed for travel.
「Nero.」
I muttered toward the forest. Then the magic particles of the forest suddenly thickened and the mythical beast Coeurl appeared as though it was oozing out from the darkness. It moved like wind to approach my side and softly licked my cheek.
The mythical beast Coeurl, Nero seemed to have decided to be at my side. Right now it was using the academy’s forest as its dwelling. There was also rumor spreading through the academy about its rare sighting, but if Nero was wanting to be on my side then I also had no reason to reject it.
「Nero, it’s a fight.」
『Gururuu』
Nero read my thought using electricity and learned about my will and the “enemy”. It growled as though it was laughing.
If Nero allowed me to ride on its back, I would be able to save a lot of time for travel. The biggest cause of that was the difference if our moving speed, but other than there was also the fact that other monster wouldn’t come picking a fight with the mythical beast Coeurl.
I stroke Nero’s fur and just when I was about to ask it to ride on its back, Nero’s whip-like whisker sparked in alert. Instantly I also threw the knife that was fastened on my thigh to behind me.
I didn’t ask who was there. It was their fault for standing behind me regardless whether they were “enemy” or “ally”.
『Gaah!』
Nero swung its whisker like whip. I grabbed it and it threw me behind.
The knife that I threw had gotten deflected by something like sorcery.
Fire Arrow flew at me in that moment. I too knocked it off with Shield, then I clicked my heel to produce a blade and kicked at the “enemy” lurking in the darkness. In respond that fellow lightly leaped while dodging my kick.
「……Why are you here?」
When I asked that question, she erased her killing intent instantly and smiled bashfully while her ample black hair fluttered. Her eyes were still surrounded by dark circles and her complexion looked sickly as usual.
「I came♪」
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