Chapter 44

Chapter : 44

Bishot was so busy developing the new alchemical cure that she didn’t even have the leisure to look elsewhere.

Navier, even without my interference, devoted herself to her studies and kept up her grades. Ian and Jefrin had left the Academy, and Agares and Kartea were moving exactly as I had hoped.

Just keep going like this. Just like this.

A great many things had strayed from the original plan, but in the end everything had worked out. It was excellent.

Before long, the Academy’s Final Exams would begin. Once the exams were over and the festival that closed out the term had ended, it would be vacation. There was not much time left until then.

I’d done well.

When I first fell into this place, everything before me had looked bleak.

Even while drawing up a plan for the future and setting my course, I had wondered whether I could really accomplish any of it. Sometimes I worried that I might die because of some mistake, because things failed to go the way I intended.

How much suffering had I put myself through all this time? All of it had been needless anxiety.

I had already made it this far. In just a few more weeks, I would be able to escape this dangerously chaotic Academy life.

Until it was time to return to my house and fulfill the promise I had made with Agares, I ought to rest a little. My younger siblings, who wanted to steal the family from me, were downright cute compared to the monsters I had met at the Academy.

I was almost at the level of an Expert, and I had achieved results in magic as well. The number of spells I could handle was still small, but I had reached a level where they were genuinely useful in real combat. My siblings were nothing much.

Thinking of it that way made the whole thing feel new.

When I had first fallen into this world and seen Jericho’s face, I had been terrified.

He had the sort of face that looked even more like a thug than the thugs in gangster films, and it had been hard even to meet his eyes. The fact that I now considered someone like that to be nothing much made me laugh for no reason.

There was not much time left before I had to return to the family. Until then, I needed to finish my life here well.

Telling myself that, I lowered my head to Kartea. Fine lines formed around his eyes as he said,

“It’s no more than a leisure activity. Even if she herself wishes it, ought you not to stop her? What if the injury worsens?”

“I apologize.”

“So you do understand that something is wrong, if you yield so readily. Then why, knowing that, did you not stop her?”

Kartea had appeared without warning first thing in the morning. It was improper in every possible sense, but to point that out would have been idiotic. Who would dare correct the Crown Prince, the man destined to inherit the imperial throne?

Anyone who was not remarkably upright, firm in conviction, and willing to spend his whole life at a loss would simply endure it first.

And I lowered my head even further.

He poured out his anger on me and rebuked me. Why hadn’t I stopped Navier?

It had been a mistake. I never should have pushed the injury angle onto Navier.

I had never imagined matters would grow this complicated.

What should I even say to excuse myself to Kartea?

In my heart, I wanted to dump the entire thing on Navier. I wanted to throw off this burden and say that she had stubbornly insisted on it, so if he had complaints, he ought to go make them to her.

But that would not do.

Everything I had done was for the purpose of bringing Navier and Kartea together. I could not afford to ruin the original objective by mishandling this now.

I had to endure it.

“The thing is... as Navier explained before, it was not a major injury. There is no functional problem at all. Navier only said that she felt a faint bit of pain, so I merely put the splint on it. It will almost certainly be healed very soon.”

“I see. Then she’ll be able to show her true skill when the tournament comes. Tell her I’ll be cheering for her. Tell her I intend to come watch the match as well.”

That got us through it.

But wait a moment.

Should I really just accept that?

The whole point had been to use her injury as an excuse even if she lost easily in the competition.

If I agreed here and let it pass, then that shield was gone. But it did not seem as though I could easily object, either. Nothing appropriate came to mind with which to contradict Kartea.

In the end, I answered reluctantly.

“Yes. I’ll pass that on.”

“Then you’ve worked hard as well.”

Only after Kartea waved his head lightly and went off did I finally let out a deep breath.

What kind of thing was this to be hit with first thing in the morning?

For a while, it seemed best to keep out of sight and move cautiously.

The problems created by this incident were twofold.

The Crown Prince now knew that Navier’s injury was not serious.

And the Crown Prince disliked me.

The first problem meant that Navier would now have to show a somewhat better result in the tournament.

It would be troublesome if she were eliminated in the first round. Her studies would already be busy enough with the Final Exams approaching, so she would have to train even harder.

“Haa...”

And then there was the second problem: the Crown Prince disliked me.

That was bleak.

For now, he was only the Crown Prince, but in time he would become Emperor. It was not as though I had to shake in fear just because he disliked me a little, but it was still a painful thing. You never knew how matters involving people would develop.

How was I supposed to deal with this?

I wrestled with it through my classes all day, and at last thought I had found a method.

Navier simply needed to explain things properly to Kartea. If Navier ended up with Kartea, and if she told him about the efforts I had poured into bringing them together, then the matter would resolve itself.

Then Kartea would probably look on me a little more kindly.

---

After all my classes were over that day, I went to find Navier. I told her what had happened that morning and explained a few things she would need to do after things progressed well with Kartea.

Navier smiled as though to say I should trust her and said,

“Oh, of course. Naturally, I’d do that for you. If things go well, that is.”

“They’ll go well. The problem now has appeared because things are going well. But the tournament preparations might get a little harder. I told him your injury was minor. Will you be all right?”

“Yes. I’ll be fine. I’m confident.”

For a moment I was taken aback by Navier’s answer. She was not at a level where confidence made sense, so hearing her say it made me doubt my own ears.

Navier grinned and said,

“When I looked over the list of participants for the tournament, quite a few of them seemed familiar to me. If I ask them to lose a little for me, they’ll probably agree.”

“Ah! So there was a clever way like that!”

“Yes... Even so, I am going to keep training. If I win with truly dreadful skill, it’ll be obvious, won’t it? I only mean that you don’t need to worry too much. The tournament itself won’t be a problem.”

So there had been a method like that.

I was impressed purely and sincerely.

Some of the participants would have approached the tournament seriously. They would have sweated and trained in order to win.

But even if they won the competition, the only thing they would truly gain was satisfaction.

For a very small number, that satisfaction might be something more precious than anything else in the world.

But for most of them, it wouldn’t be.

Navier was the daughter of a powerful noble house, and the student with the widest social reach in the Academy. If they could place Navier in their debt in exchange for losing a mere tournament match, it was an immensely profitable trade. There would not be many students who refused that bargain.

Why hadn’t I thought of something like this?

“That’s incredible. You’re the best! You’re a genius!”

“It’s nothing...”

---

Even with Kartea’s sudden air raid, life remained peaceful enough.

My ordinary days continued without incident. It was exactly the sort of calm life I had wanted. Lately, everything I did seemed to turn out well enough that my sense of crisis had begun to fade, to the point that I wanted to grow lazy.

That had been my goal from the moment I fell into this place.

Survive. And then free myself from the yoke of labor and live by eating and playing.

Every day, the desire to do nothing but eat and play kept welling up inside me.

Still, I decided to endure it just a little longer.

The value of sweat changed depending on when it was shed.

Right now was when sweat was most valuable. I would endure just a little longer.

A few more days passed like that, and the Academy’s Final Exams came right up to the doorstep. I maintained my usual routine and read books whenever I could steal the time. And so I faced my second round of Academy exams.

The results of my own exams weren’t what mattered, but I received perfect scores, or scores very close to perfect, in most subjects. If possible, wasn’t it better to receive good marks?

I checked my report card only roughly, then went to find Navier. With a calm expression, as though such a result were only natural, she nodded.

“You did it!”

“Yes. Full marks. My studying was worth it.”

“You did well. That’s amazing. You’re the best.”

“Yes, haha...”

Everything was proceeding perfectly. The only thing left was Navier’s fencing tournament. Even that had already been fixed thoroughly enough that there was almost nothing to worry about.

“The exams are finally over. But, you know, for the past few weeks, I think I’ve spent more time training than studying.”

“That’s even more incredible. And you still got perfect marks? Aren’t you the real genius here? Why not just go all the way with that?”

“Haha... I even woke up from the muscle pain while sleeping, and doing things I never used to do made me want to die during training. It was all quite painful.”

“You did well! And you endured all of that!”

“Yes, I did. But while I was enduring it, an absurd thought occurred to me. Am I suffering all this just to make match-fixing look more convincing?”

Navier seemed to be wavering.

But that was only momentary emotion. Navier was enduring pain and making effort not for the sake of making match-fixing convincing, but in order to become Empress. I had to correct that misunderstanding.

“No. That’s not it. I understand exactly what you’re thinking. But listen. Let’s not do anything we might regret later. I like words like fairness and honor too. But we ought to pick our moments. This isn’t even some great thing.”

“Yes. It isn’t some great thing.”

“So let’s just do it. If there’s a right answer and a wrong answer, then you choose the right one. Let’s keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

Navier grinned.

Was this really something to grin about? Did she not understand how serious this was?

As I stared at her in silent frustration, Navier finally spoke.

“I’m not saying it lightly. I don’t like setting impossible goals for myself either. It’s just... I think I can do it.”

“You think you can do it? And what if you fail?”

“Fail? You mean, if I lose my very first match?”

“Yes.”

Navier laughed again, for some reason delighted.

“You said it yourself before. That victory and defeat weren’t what mattered. That what matters is my resolve, my attitude.”

“Even so, it’s better if you win. Let’s make this certain.”

“I’ll do my best to win.”

I had felt for some time now that everything was going too smoothly. It had made me think that sooner or later, something somewhere would explode into a problem.

And here it was.

What should I do?

Until now, Navier had followed my words well enough. If I forced the matter, she would eventually take part in the match-fixing.

I thought for a long time, then said,

“If you lose, I’ll hate you.”

Navier grinned and answered,

“Then I absolutely can’t lose.”