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All of a sudden, the Royal Grand Theatre crumbled as though something exploded within it. People on Nock Avenue were stunned as they watched the scene unfold.

Even Inglis, who was inside the building when the explosion took place, was just as stunned. She looked front, back, right, and left,——yeah, she couldn’t deny it. It was totally in ruins now.

「Th-, this might be kind of bad, ahaha…」

She never thought that Diego would absorb too much power and literally explode. She couldn’t even fight him in the end, so not only was it an utter disappointment, the damage she caused was more than enormous. There wasn’t even a silver lining to it.

Yoink!

Inglis’ ears were tugged from behind her.

「Don’t give me ‘ahaha,’ you Glis, youuuu!!! This is because you’re getting too carried away!! You could’ve stopped feeding him after he’s reasonably strong enough!」
「B-, but I wouldn’t be able to get stronger if I didn’t push him to the limits……Not to mention, he looked so happy all the while! He didn’t tell me he could explode or anything……」
「Excuses, excuses! What are you gonna do about this?!」

Rafinha was fuming. The once magnificent Royal Grand Theatre was not but an empty husk of its former self.

Just how much devastation is there, financially speaking…

The building was large and ornate, and would obviously cost many times more than the entire Knight Academy building.

「Wh-, what are we going to do if they send the reparation bill to us?! Who can say the Principal won’t revoke our all-you-can-eat privilege in the cafeteria as punishment?! We’re going to starve again! And I’m sure Count Weissmall won’t come to save us this time!」
「Ugh……Th-, that is bad!! Th-, then, we can just be upfront and say that it’s the assassin who targeted His Majesty who did it……can’t we? I’m sure we can weasel our way out if we just say the assassin blew himself up when he was cornered.」

Had the damage been minimal, they could have just covered it up and acted like nothing ever happened. They could have just said that Principal Miliera brought them all to the subspace as a security concern or maybe just a stage direction and then ad-libbed from there. The final scene was already over anyway, they just needed to bring the curtains down.

However, should the King know he was targeted by assassins affiliated with the neighboring country Alucard, the whole thing would surely elevate to an International Affair. If they had the choice, they would choose to hide the incident from ever getting to the public’s ear, but it seemed that it was impossible now.

「Yes, be upfront and say that you were having fun playing with the assassin, letting him absorb your power for your own games, and then the assassin exploded instead because he absorbed too much power.」
「That’s not true! It wasn’t for fun or games. It was because I wanted to fight a strong enemy in all seriousness.」
「That’s the only thing you could refute! My goodness, Glis, you’re just too much of a Glis! Aaaah, my head hurts!!」

Rafinha took a deep, deep sigh.

「I believe it’s important to have a code to live up by.」
「If you didn’t blow apart the entire theatre, that is! But, haah, I guess we have no other choice but to blame it on the assassin now……」
「Yeah. I’ll do the explanation in detail.」
「You should. Then, Leone, Liselotte, we’ll go with that story, okay?」
「S-, sure……If Inglis didn’t come, we would be in danger either way…」
「Be that as it may, at the end of the day, what I feared to happen really did happen……」

Ever since the start of the whole ordeal, Liselotte had feared that the whole theatre would break down due to Inglis’ shenanigans.

「Wow, you’re right! Ah, Alina. Are you okay? Are you hurt?」

At the moment of the explosion, Rafinha made sure that everyone was protected from flying debris and the blast. From the looks of it, Alina and the other children didn’t suffer any serious injury.

「I-, I’m okay……Big sis, thank you for protecting us……」
「I’m sorry, it was scary, wasn’t it? It’s all right now…」

Rafinha tightly hugged Alina who still looked frightened.

「Lahti, you might want to hide somewhere until the heat dies down.」
「Th-, that’s right! Inglis is correct, Lahti!」

Inglis’ words were met with affirmation, not from Lahti, but from Pullum who stood beside him. Lahti was a Prince of Alucard. Considering the assassins belonged to Alucard, as their prince, Lahti wouldn’t be in a safe position if his identity was revealed.

Imprisonment was only natural, being treated as a prisoner of war was still favorable, but he might even be entitled to execution. If not, he could be taken hostage and used as a negotiation pawn.

「Lahti, are you really an Alucard Prince?」

Lahti affirmed Rafinha’s question.

「Yea, here’s proof.」

He then displayed a pendant with Alucard’s coat of arms from under his clothes.

「So it’s true……It doesn’t really feel that way, though…」
「I agree. I don’t feel the dignity of a prince from mister Lahti……Aah, of course, I mean it as someone who is so friendly and easy to talk to!」

Leone and Liselotte said respectively.

「Excuse me then, for being a prince and all. I’ve got no Rune, and I’m scraping at the lowest standing as a Royalty……I was brought up poorly because of that.」

Lahti’s voice didn’t sound particularly sad.

「Well, I’m a Runeless and a failure, and that’s why I hid my identity and enrolled here to find the thing I can do by myself. But, if I knew such a thing would happen, I shouldn’t have left the country……Who can say, maybe I could’ve stopped this incident if I stayed…」
「I-, it was inevitable, Lahti. Don’t blame yourself! At any rate, we should go. Inglis and the others will take care of the aftermath……」
「No. Even if Inglis explained, they might not believe her without proof. I’ll reveal myself and testify for her. Only then will they believe…」
「Not you, Lahti! I’ll do it!」

A melodic voice of a young man rang.

「!!! Ian?! Y-, you’re alive?! I thought all of you have… wait, where are you?! Are you hiding from us?」

Ian’s voice was heard, but he was nowhere to be seen.

「I-, I’m here! At the pillar on the far right!」

There he was, Ian being carried under the arm of Yua, who herself was sneaking away.

「Senior Yua?! What are you doing?」
「Well, he said I can take one of him home so…everything’s over, right?」
「Y-, yes……But still, how come that one Mister Ian is fine?」
「G-, good question… I don’t know how she did it, but……」
「Simple. I punched the dangerous-looking pattern thing.」

She must mean the ‘Submittance Sign’. In other words, in that split second, Yua sensed something dangerous and completely destroyed the insignia alone. As expected, Yua was a superhuman when it came to manipulating the disposition and the flow of mana. She saved one Ian at pinpoint accuracy to ‘take him home’.

「See ya later then…」
「W-, wait a minute, Miss Yua! I still have a business to attend to!」
「Don’t listen to him, senior. Please bring him away. Sorry, Ian, but after what you’ve done, I can’t let you be in the presence of the King so easily!」

Lahti’s point made sense. Ian had plotted to assassinate King Charleas. If he was put right in front of his own target, who knows what he would do?

「B-, but still, Lahti……Don’t tell me, you’re planning to bear all of our sins by yourself?!」
「……Well, that’s the least a failure of a prince can do.」
「You-, you mustn’t Lahti! Don’t do that! You’re innocent, you did nothing wrong!　Right, Inglis?!」

Said Pullum, looking at Inglis as though asking for help.

「Yeah. Besides, I think it’s already too late to take the blame now.」
「Eh? What do you mean, Inglis?」
「I’m just saying that this incident won’t be concluded so neatly. There’s more that will follow.」
「Wh-, what will happen?」
「Well…」

Right when she said so…

「KYAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH?!!!!」

A high-pitched feminine shriek could be heard. It belonged to Principal Miliera who had just returned from the subspace that she used as an evacuation means.

「Th……this is awful, indeed…!」
「Y-, you’re right……So the evacuation was the correct course of action, after all?! However, by the gods……」

There were Redas, the Commander of the Imperial Guard Order, as well as King Charleas. There were also Selena, Irina, as well as Marquis Wilford.

「D-, do your thing, Glis!」
「Yeah!!」

Now, let’s put my mind into making some excuses! Not just to cover up my misdeed, but also to secure a bright future ahead!