Chapter 37

Chapter : 37

Because I spent each day so busily, I was almost never in the dormitory except when I slept.

Most of my time went to practicing magic in the Magic Tower, doing physical training on the drill ground, and receiving swordsmanship corrections from Katarina.

There was hardly anyone who would come looking for me, and even if there had been, if they were Academy students, they could simply find me during class hours, so up to now there had never been any real problem.

Today, after attending all my classes at the Academy, I practiced magic in the Magic Tower. There was a part where I got stuck, so I kept casting longer than usual.

After that, I stopped by the Swordsmanship Department’s training grounds and then went to the parade ground.

By the time I returned to the dormitory, it was around ten at night. A full six hours had passed since the final class of the day had ended.

Someone was crouching in front of my door.

At the sound of footsteps, she startled and jerked her head up.

It was Noel.

The moment our eyes met, her eyes, nose, and mouth all wriggled as though alive, and she shot to her feet.

Noel bowed so deeply it looked as though her forehead might touch her knees. As she slowly straightened from the waist, she said,

“I’m sorry! I never meant to make things complicated! It was only that Miss Bishot asked me what my dream had been, and I said it was to become a mage. I’m the sort of person who can’t lie about things like that... I’m sorry.”

Last night, Bishot had come to me and declared that she would make the cure again using a new method.

That was going to require a great deal of time, effort, and money. Noel seemed to understand that, and it looked as though she had come to apologize to me, the one who would bear much of the cost.

There was no need to go that far.

“No, it’s all right. It was her choice. I’m fine with it.”

“It’s just... I really am sorry. Honestly, it would be fine even if I could never use magic. No, I mean, it would be nice if I could, of course, but it’s not the sort of thing I should insist on while causing trouble for other people, is it? I’m not that shameless a person.”

“...”

“I really am sorry. I told Miss Bishot over and over that it was all right too... I never meant for it to turn out like this. I’m sorry.”

“I understand that you’re sorry, so you can stop now. I understand how you feel.”

“Yes...”

The moment her eyes met mine, she lowered her head again.

She must have worried herself sick before coming to see me, because she kept repeating in a choked voice that she was sorry, and somehow I ended up feeling guilty instead.

When I told her it was all right, I wasn’t trying to soothe her with empty words or put on a show.

I truly meant it.

If anything, I welcomed it, because it would only give Bishot more reason to bury herself in alchemy.

Bishot was like a walking bomb.

Left on her own, she was safe enough, but one never knew when she might run into the Crown Prince, or become acquainted with Agares.

From my perspective, it was a good thing if she devoted all her time to alchemy.

Noel scratched at her forehead with her index finger, then spoke again.

“I didn’t want things to turn out this way either. I mean, if you think about it, among people suffering from Elzenic Disease, how many would actually want to become a mage? I might be the only one in the world.”

“And?”

“It feels like such a waste, and I’m so sorry. I’m not stupid, so I know how hard it must be to develop a medicine from scratch. But because of me alone, you’re making it all over again.”

“I understand exactly what you mean. It’s fine, so please go back.”

I deliberately let some impatience show, and Noel forced a smile before saying,

“I’m really grateful that you say that, but... there’s no way you can actually be all right with it, is there? Could you maybe try talking Miss Bishot out of it?”

“All right. I’ll speak to her again, so for today, please go back.”

Only after hearing that answer did Noel finally nod.

“Thank you. Then I’ll go now. Ah, and if later, by any chance, you feel like getting angry at me, I’m staying at the inn just behind that way. You can find me there.”

“All right. If I have something to say, I’ll come find you. See you then.”

“Yes! I’ll see you then! I really am sorry about all this!”

---

It was time to move ahead with the plan I mentioned before: Crown-Charm, the Operation Charm the Crown Prince.

To come up with a plan that would bring Navier and the Crown Prince together, we gathered again at a nearby café.

As always, we ordered drinks and something to snack on, but this time we chose separately. I ordered the same slice of cake I always did, and the moment Navier saw it, she said,

“You must like sweet things.”

“Why? Because I always eat this?”

“Yes. You always order that.”

Now that she said it, that did seem to be true.

The cake here was quite good. I knew nothing about baking, but at the very least I could tell when bread that entered my mouth was incredibly soft and the cream was sweet.

Because of that, whenever I came to this café, I always ended up eating the same cake. Back in the modern world, I hadn’t particularly liked sweet things, but after falling into this place, my tastes had changed.

Even now, every so often I still found myself craving tofu with stir-fried kimchi, or ox-bone soup with salted squid, but my tongue had already adapted to the food here.

And among all that, it was sweet things that especially caught my hand.

When I thought about why that was, the answer was simple. There wasn’t much in this world that could be enjoyed freely.

Electronic devices were all but nonexistent, and every day was so busy that it was hard to carve out time for leisure.

So I ended up seeking things that gave the greatest satisfaction for the amount of time invested, and that meant food.

It wasn’t that I searched for delicious things every single day, but whenever the opportunity arose, I enjoyed them.

“It tastes good.”

At my answer, Navier gave a faint laugh and said,

“You only say that because you’ve never tasted truly excellent cake. There’s a really remarkable place in my territory. If you ever have the time, you should come visit.”

“Sure. I’d love to try it sometime.”

Navier dabbed at the corner of her mouth with her handkerchief, then put on a solemn expression.

The corners of her mouth, which were always rushing toward her cheekbones, lowered, and the ends of her eyes, which usually curved, lifted sharply.

“Then let’s move on to the real topic. What shall we do?”

I closed my eyes and tilted my chin slightly.

The scheme of making Navier read a book at the ball in order to catch the Crown Prince’s attention had worked beautifully.

What had been the secret of that success?

Novelty.

Slapping someone across the face might have been a dead cliché, but its essential meaning still remained.

Be new and fresh.

Walk a road others had not taken.

Navier had to remain, in the Crown Prince’s eyes, someone different from the usual noble young ladies.

“Let’s go with breaking whatever preconception the Crown Prince currently has about you.”

“A preconception?”

“Ah, does that word sound a bit off? Then think of it as a first impression. You read a book at the ball. Why do you think His Highness the Crown Prince would believe you did that?”

“Hm... because I wanted to draw his attention?”

“That’s our interpretation. His Highness the Crown Prince probably thinks you’re the sort of person who studies so earnestly that you would read even at a ball. So now let’s show him a new side.”

“How?”

“Can you fence at all?”

For nobles, it was a sport one usually learned at least once, alongside riding, almost as a kind of cultured accomplishment, and there were quite a few students within the Academy who enjoyed it.

“I’m not good at it. I’m not particularly fond of exercise.”

“Really? Then you’ll have to learn this time. Learn fencing and enter one of the Academy’s internal tournaments. Even better if you win.”

“What?”

I knew it was absurd.

At this point, it was doubtful whether Navier even had the stamina to complete a single proper bout. To tell her to start training seriously from now on, enter an Academy tournament, and win it was ridiculous.

At most, it would be a tournament among undergraduates, and there would be a separate division for those who weren’t mana users, so it wasn’t that competition itself was impossible, but the gap between her and those who had enjoyed it steadily as a hobby would still be obvious.

Even so, I proposed it because I couldn’t think of any better method.

“If you don’t like it, then give me another idea. This is the only thing my head could come up with.”

“But... this really doesn’t seem right. It’s not exactly something to brag about, but I’m genuinely hopeless when it comes to anything athletic.”

“Yes, I know. No matter what happens, it would be impossible for you to win.”

“Then why?”

“I’m saying your mindset has to be like that.”

People enjoyed sports for all sorts of reasons.

Some simply liked moving their bodies.

Some used them as a means of mingling with others.

Some happened to find a particular sport especially fun.

Most of the young ladies at the Academy who enjoyed fencing likely fell into those categories.

But there were also those who shed blood and sweat for one reason alone: to become good at that sport and to win against others.

Navier had to belong to that category.

“If you say you’re competing, His Highness the Crown Prince will probably come to watch.”

“What? I don’t think so. We’re not that close.”

“Even if you’re not close, he’ll be incredibly curious. He’ll think something like, Wasn’t she that girl who just sat around reading books? She’s entering a fencing tournament? What’s going on? That kind of thing.”

“Ah.”

I cut off a piece of cake with my fork, put it into my mouth, chewed it, and took a drink.

There was something refreshing about the drink washing away the sweetness that almost made my skin crawl.

“What I mean is that your resolve in entering the tournament matters. If your opponent scores against you and you smile? Absolutely not. You don’t have to throw your foil down and snap it in half, but you do have to show your competitive spirit.”

Navier gave an awkward smile.

“Competitive spirit?”

It certainly wasn’t a word that suited Navier. She had probably had few real experiences of competing with others in her life, and if the field in question was something athletic, then even more so.

Navier murmured the words competitive spirit to herself several times, then took a deep breath. After emptying all the air from her lungs in a long exhale, she said,

“All right. Let’s try it.”

“Then let’s go right now. I want to see your skill for myself.”

---

The way I held the foil in my hand was different from the way I held the swords I normally used while practicing swordsmanship. A foil was controlled with the fingers rather than the wrist, and seeing how I held it, Navier said,

“You hold it rather strangely. Did Lady Katarina teach you fencing too? Is fencing among mana users a little different?”

“No, it’s not that.”

Every sport changed and developed over time.

In modern fencing, as the coupé became more prominent, the grip changed somewhat, and in particular the position of the wrist changed as well.

I stood facing Navier.

With anything of this sort, the best way to judge someone’s skill was simply to face them directly.

Navier and I saluted one another, and my head immediately began to ache.

“The direction of your foil is wrong.”

“Ah! It’s just been so long...”

To summarize Navier’s problems after only a brief test:

She lacked the arm strength to hold the foil properly throughout a match.

She lacked the lung capacity and muscular endurance necessary to complete an official bout.

And beyond that, her technique was lacking as well.

It was a disaster.