Boy And Elf Girl

Beyond the dimly lit back alley was a shop run by an old man who specialized in purchasing materials. Basil had gone there carrying the “boar tusk” she had obtained during her previous job. She had brought it in claiming it was top-quality material, and the old man had been examining it intently.

“…Where did you get this? Even I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“That’s a secret. …So, how much?”

The old man asked no further questions and merely sighed. He had known Basil for several years, and although her skills were certainly reliable, whether she was capable enough to bring in material of this caliber was another matter entirely.

“Its hardness, its magical properties… every aspect of it is impressive. Whoever ‘cut’ this must have been quite skilled.”

He casually slipped in that jab while placing money on the counter. Basil negotiated several times to drive up the price… but in the end, it settled at “exactly the amount the old man had intended to pay.”

“Is it really that amazing?”

“As material, yeah. If you can bring me a steady supply, I’ll gladly take it.”

Basil remembered Rudel. He had skill, money, and on top of that, he was the future Grand Duke… Should she seriously try to win him over? She began considering the idea in earnest.

“And be careful. You probably got back at those information brokers, but they’ve been sniffing around about you.”

“Huh? They gave me false information, so I only made them give my money back.”

The old man sighed again. He then explained a few things to her. Information about Basil—from her fighting style to her tastes and preferences—had begun being traded either for free or at bargain prices… and after that, they would spread damaging information about her until nobody would agree to work with her… Once he explained that much, even Basil began to realize she might be in serious trouble.

Basil had been at fault for underestimating information brokers.

“You went too far. Didn’t anyone ever teach you that if you stir up trouble and give them a reason to investigate you, it’ll only make your life harder later? Underestimate those people and you’ll regret it… Take my advice and get out of this line of work. There’s still time… in more ways than one.”

Basil had already noticed the atmosphere around her growing somewhat hostile. She concluded that continuing this line of work as things stood would be dangerous.

“My whole body hurts.”

Several days had passed since the incident in the forest, and Rudel was lying in a bed in the academy infirmary… though calling it an infirmary was somewhat misleading, as the facility was closer to a small hospital. Pain racked his entire body, and while healing magic had helped, it apparently was not omnipotent.

“That’s because you overdid it. Without healing magic, you’d be bedridden for a month.”

Izumi remained at Rudel’s side, sitting in a chair beside the bed as she peeled a piece of fruit. She was neither particularly skilled nor especially clumsy at it. With that sort of average result, she handed the fruit to Rudel.

“I’ll be discharged in another two or three days. Once that happens, I’m going to start training again from scratch…”

“That’s the spirit. But for now, you need to rest.”

As they spoke, the door to the hospital room suddenly opened.

“It has been some time, Rudel-sama.”

The person who entered saying that was Basil. She was carrying a get-well gift… Rudel thought she was surprisingly conscientious. Izumi, however, immediately became strangely wary. She apparently did not like Basil getting close to Rudel.

“Aren’t people unrelated to the academy prohibited from entering?”

The barbs in Izumi’s words were obvious, but

“I came to give several reports concerning the bodyguard assignment, little lady. More importantly, are you all right, Rudel-sama? I’ve been terribly worried, thinking I should have saved you sooner back then.”

Basil gave an obviously insincere excuse. She barely reacted to Izumi’s sarcasm. Izumi grew even more suspicious… but Rudel merely said,

“I-I see…”

His gaze had been captured by Basil’s more revealing and provocative outfit, which exposed even more skin than what she had worn during the escort mission. Izumi could only stare at Rudel in exasperation. Finding Rudel’s reaction amusing, Basil moved closer and brought her face near his.

“Wha—!”

“H-Hey…”

Rudel’s gaze darted all over the place. Then Basil said,

“If this body happens to please you… you may do whatever you like with it.”

Rudel reacted more strongly to those words than even he could have imagined. His body moved on its own, trying to leap at Basil… but Rudel’s entire body was still in pain. If he suddenly moved like that in his condition…

“GYAAAAAAH!!!”

Naturally, it hurt, and even writhing in agony hurt. Basil was startled by his reaction and backed away from Rudel. Watching him, Izumi said,

“You brought that on yourself.”

Then she began rubbing his body to ease the pain.

“You want me to hire you? Even if you say that while I’m still at the academy… Besides, the academy’s knights and soldiers are already enough for protection.”

After Rudel finally managed to calm the pain, Basil began discussing her real purpose: selling him on the idea of hiring her. Rudel had already witnessed her abilities as an adventurer, and she was well aware of her own charms… yet Rudel remained reluctant.

Rudel had developed a desire not to keep servants around while he was at the academy. …His lack of good memories with servants played a large part in that, but more importantly, he had been managing perfectly well on his own.

“Th-Then… yes, magic! I can teach you how to use magic practically in real combat!”

Izumi immediately realized Basil had made a mistake when, in desperation, she blurted out the first idea that came to mind. Knowing Rudel’s personality, Izumi became certain that he was going to hire Basil now.

“Really?! The magic you used to burn that boar in the forest amazed me. It hardly seemed like the same kind of magic… Could I learn to do that as well?”

Having finally found an opening, Basil promoted herself as aggressively as she possibly could. She straightened her posture, bowed deeply, and said,

“Leave it to me. Magic, especially offensive magic, is my specialty. I swear I will train you until you possess skills that are genuinely useful in real combat, Rudel-sama.”

“Then I’ll hire you! No, in this case, I suppose I’m asking you to teach me. Once my body recovers, can you come to my training sessions every morning and evening?”

“…Huh? E-Every day? Morning and evening? …By morning, do you perhaps mean around the seventh bell?”

Basil suddenly made a displeased face. …She was bad with mornings. It was not so much that she was naturally nocturnal as that she tended to stay out partying until dawn…

“Probably the fifth bell? Depending on the season, sometimes the fourth… Is that impossible? In that case, unfortunately, this arrangement will have to—”

For Basil, the academy was a safe zone. With information brokers constantly able to pinpoint where she lived, being given protection, receiving a salary, and being regarded as a servant of a Grand Duke’s household would make her future life at the academy considerably more secure… She immediately weighed those advantages against the job requirements and made her decision.

“No, if that is what you desire, Rudel-sama, I will gladly instruct you at any hour.”

“That’s a huge help!”

“…”

Rudel was delighted, but Izumi did not look pleased at all. Basil was subsequently hired as one of Rudel’s servants. She was given lodging in the staff dormitory and would live there from then on.

Aleist had been thinking about the future in his room. Looking over the notebook written in Japanese that he had created when he was younger, he grinned to himself as he imagined what lay ahead.

“Next comes the third-term interclass tournament by year, and that’s where there’s an event where Izumi falls for me… Then next year, ‘Second Princess Fina’ and ‘Chlust’ enroll. Chlust is ‘going to become Grand Duke soon,’ so I need to raise his affection while I still can! He’ll be useful during the war event too.”

The notebook contained all sorts of information, extending all the way to the war arc of the final chapter. Rudel only appeared up to a certain point in its contents. …No, there was one final entry that vaguely described Rudel’s fate.

“Rudel, desperate to escape the war, causes casualties among his allies and flees… He begs the enemy general for mercy, but is killed. End.”

The title written above that entry was, “Friendship Event with Chlust.”

“But Milia’s a problem… I’ve had several chances to meet her, but she won’t even look me in the face.”

Believing that he had failed Milia’s event, Aleist crossed out the line in his notebook labeled “Romance Event with Milia.”

“Oh well.”

Meanwhile, the elf girl Milia had been thinking about Rudel, whom she had met when she first enrolled at the academy. A considerable amount of time had passed since then, yet she still could not get Rudel out of her mind. Since he had caused several incidents at the academy, Rudel had become quite famous.

Every time Milia heard another rumor about Rudel, she struggled desperately to keep her emotions under control. Rudel was unpopular among commoners and other races… it would not even be an exaggeration to say they hated him. After all, Rudel was the heir to the infamous Arses Family.

They looked down on other races and squeezed their subjects for everything they could take.

Yet Milia could not reconcile the Rudel from those rumors with the Rudel she had met. The rumors about him said… that on his very first day, he had propositioned an elf girl and then tried to sneak into the girls’ dormitory before the day was even over. After that, he had continued forcibly approaching female students around the academy… Whenever Milia thought about that, she became angry.

“He never came to talk to me…”

More rumors had spread afterward, and every one of them painted Rudel as a terrible person. Yet when she asked the people around him, she heard a completely different story.

Nobody in Rudel’s class spoke badly of him. His status was probably part of the reason, but there was not even any gossip behind his back. All Milia ever heard were things like how hard Rudel worked and how he never looked down on anyone.

“Which one is the real you, I wonder…”

Milia sighed… and upon seeing her like that, her roommate said only one thing.

“Milia… you’re in love.”