Now that the first day of the school festival had ended, I sat down on the bed in my room.
Daniel, Raymond, and I had made a celebratory party for the success of the first day.
It was just us since Livia and Anjie had soon left back to their dorms.
As I was pondering, Luxon appeared in front of me.
What do you want?
[Those who are unfaithful are the worst.]
What are you saying?
[Those were words you yourself had said before. Now then, think back upon today’s behavior. I heard you were hitting on the queen, Master. Wasn’t your unfaithfulness a shameful display?]
──That’s not it. I just couldn’t hold back my emotions.
[Each of those words you had said really came back to bite you. Even I feel moved at how admirable it was. How about carrying a mirror?]
No wait, I mean, if I was asked whether or not it was possible for me to get on with her, then the answer would be yes, right?!
[This is the queen we’re talking about. If asked, you’re supposed to answer with a no.]
This AI really couldn’t understand my feelings with its sound arguments and whatnot.
[To start with, when the queen talked about memories at the academy, I’m confident that she was talking about attending a school festival with someone. Then you suddenly started hitting on her──I thought you were out of your mind. Ah, excuse my discourtesy. Perhaps that was your true character from the beginning.]
You’re being stupid. There’s no reason for the academy to exist other than for marriage. When she said she wanted memories, she meant that she wanted to get hit on. No, wait. If she wanted to attend the school festival together──perhaps she wanted a date? I overlooked that. Anyways, wouldn’t you agree that the reason for the academy’s existence is for marriage?
[That’s only for the boys. The academy is a place to learn.]
Oh really?! I knew that from the beginning!
[That’s a relief. Do strive to study from now on.]
That won’t do. I can’t abandon my marriage-searching.
[You didn’t give up searching for marriage? It would be bad if you did give up, wouldn’t it.]
I’m a man with an unyielding fighting spirit, even if I don’t like what I have to do.
I would have given up if I could, but no matter how tough I acted, I had to keep up with societal expectations. The trouble was that this problem wasn’t just mine alone. Not just me, but my family was also being talked about behind their backs. That was the unpleasant part. I didn’t want to cause trouble to my parents, my older brother, or my younger brother.
And the others? There were others? An older sister? A younger sister? I don’t know anyone like that.
[It’s not about what you say, it’s about how you say it, I suppose.]
As I continued this absurd conversation with Luxon, we swiftly began to talk about the main issue at hand.
[Master, are you really going to help that girl?]
I stared up into the ceiling.
There will be a few consecutive days off once the school festival ends. I plan to help her out then.
[There is no reason for you to help, Master.]
I thought that there weren’t any.
However, it was a request that had been made formally.
Furthermore, Livia had introduced her──meaning that she was acting as the agent. Her doing this really was foul play, but it meant that to any bystander, Livia was in charge of Cara’s request, and that she turned to me as a middleman.
In other words, the people around us would have seen the situation as Cara asking for help, Livia accepting it, and referring me to it.
Livia didn’t even know the contents of the matter.
If I refused, it meant that Livia wouldn’t be able to settle the request she received. It would also have made me seem like a person who wouldn’t accept a request from an acquaintance.
In other words, Livia and I had been dragged into Cara’s affairs.
However, in this case, it would have been fine even if I did reject.
It was foul play, after all. There was no sense of duty in having to help someone like this.
I could reject it, and I didn’t want to help, but I couldn’t afford not to lend my assistance.
Cara’s request was about the suppression of sky pirates.
The suppression of sky pirates was work that nobles would do.
Furthermore, there was the matter of the sky pirates themselves.
[Is it about the territory the sky pirates are causing distress to? Shouldn’t it be something to ask of the royal palace rather than you, Master?]
That’s right. In cases like these, appealing to the royal palace would be the proper choice. However, these sky pirates hold an indispensable item for the protagonist.
[You have to participate due to a game-like reason?]
In order for Livia, the protagonist, to display her talents as a saint, she needs three items. Before long, we’ll need to collect two of them. One of them belongs to the sky pirates, so I need to suppress them and retrieve it.
One of the items was the
Holy Bracelet
that was hidden within the dungeon in the royal capital.
The sky pirates, who Cara requested the suppression of, held the
Holy Necklace.
The last one was managed by a temple belonging to the largest religion in the kingdom──the
Saint’s Cane.
It was necessary for Livia to possess these three items in order to become a saint. Once she was recognized as a saint by the temple, the cane would automatically come into her hands.
The other two needed to be gathered through our efforts.
Furthermore, the three items were necessary for greatly raising Livia’s abilities.
The sky pirate event was originally supposed to be for the second year, though.
Originally, the sky pirate event was supposed to appear during the second year of the academy, at the middle of the climax.
In order to subjugate the sky pirates who appeared at the territory airspace of a certain earl household, the protagonist had to rely on the power of Julian and the others.
This was also a large crossroad where the player’s route would be finalized, determined by who would help.
[They can’t rely on the regular army of the kingdom? The Wein household are semi-barons, but they should be under the guardianship of an earl household, right?]
Ah, there are a couple of reasons for that. As a matter of fact, that household is of Brad’s former fiancee. This request is also from the the daughter of that earl household. Cara is one of her followers.
[A woman like Anjelica?]
No, a heap of trash.
Even for me, a pile of trash for a character, she was unsightly when getting to know her.
It would be futile to expect that she would be like Anjie, someone who wasn’t bad.
Their household rose into the ranks of an earl, and as a matter of fact, was the earl household that got involved with the sky pirates.
This was the groundwork for a war that would occur at the final stages of the game.
They would do bad things together with thieves.
When talking about it, Luxon asked me a question.
[Master, you seem to give priority to the progression of the game. You do take some consideration towards benefits to gain in real life, but what do you think about these circumstances?]
Julian and the others are unreliable, so I have to be the one to retrieve the item. At this rate, things will be bad once the war happens.
Right, things would get bad.
If Livia didn’t become a saint, then even though I had Luxon, I would still have to flee from the continent.
It wasn’t just a matter of winning or losing.
[Why did Cara──no, the earl daughter ask you for the subjugation?]
It’s a trap, a grand ol’ trap. I already said it before, she’s a heap of trash, even for me. It made me laugh in the game when seeing how much of a trash pile she was.
At any rate, she was angry about the protagonist entering the academy, so she planned to lure her into the suppression of the sky pirates. I never thought that this storyline would reach me.
Amongst the people that the daughter of the earl household looked down on, she was especially displeased with the protagonist being pampered, at least that was how it was according to the game.
Just what in the world had I done to incur the anger of that woman?
[Master, at this rate, are you going to be become Olivia’s partner?]
Me. It can’t happen. I’m just a mob, after all.
Luxon only replied with [Is that so?] towards what I had said.
[Is what you’re doing really okay? Based on what I heard, I think this is a matter that Olivia should settle. It would be better to have the saint herself collect the equipment, right?]
Since I’m the one that has you, wouldn’t it be unreasonable to have the current Livia do it? That being the case, it would be better if I did it. This is more efficient.
[You’re overprotective, aren’t you Master?]
After saying that, Luxon turned silent.
