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That day, having returned to my home after so long, I decided to stay the night. I left Michelle and Cloud in Stollar, but Gadius was looking after them so there should be no problems.

Finia also followed me home this time, but she was trying not to stand out. This was because she knew my true identity, and she felt guilty toward Cortina. Since she couldn’t talk about my identity even with Maria and Cortina, her actions were lacking the usual assertiveness.

At night, I decided to head to Fina’s room in high spirits to play, but Maxwell captured me.

“What do you want? I was going to flirt with Fina, so don’t disturb me.”
“You are really all over her. Cortina would be sad if she heard it.”
“Ugh, this and that are different.”
“Oh well. More importantly, I have something to talk about so follow me for a bit.”

It wasn’t that rare for him to have something to discuss with me. It could be related to my identity, or it could be something regarding assassinations or spying. Maxwell guided me to the guest room given to him, and I got down to business.

“So, what is it?”
“Alright, well, this time it is not something complex. I wish to discuss your Interference Magic with you.”
“My magic? I think I’m learning it quite steadily.”
“I was also of the same opinion until now, but Cortina is too pitiful like this.”

Hearing that much, I had to reluctantly agree with his point. I could only meet Cortina once a month, and these two months we’ve been banned from meeting too. I was well aware that I was making her feel pitiful due to my own circumstances, so I couldn’t come up with a reply.

“So then, would you consider focusing on learning the essential Polymorph spell?”
“You say that but… Wouldn’t it be dangerous to go back to Raum now?”

Not just me, but Michelle was also targeted by nobles. Especially now when Elliot had married, I was officially free. I could see floods of nobles coming for marriages. Michelle would also be targeted due to her high combat skill. Even Cloud was practically elite, being the fourth rank at that age. As for Finia, neither her skill nor appearance or conduct left room for complaints.

The chances of us getting rolled up into some scheme were by no means low.

“I have to send Letina to Stollar anyway, so we can just do it in the capital. I can teach Finia too at the same time.”
“That would be great in the sense that we wouldn’t need to come ourselves, but would Letina remain quiet?”

When Letina would come to have fun with us, we’d be busy studying. And Maxwell would be joining us too. I felt that ignoring his fiancee and helping other girls study was somehow problematic. I didn’t want to become the target of Letina’s jealousy.

“I have my ideas regarding that.”
“I don’t remember any of your ideas ever ending well…”
“Stop making fun of me. I am genuinely thinking about it. In particular, I am thinking of putting Letina and Mateus in your party and sending them on errands.”
“So like replacing the composition huh?”
“Yes. Michelle and Cloud have only worked with you too. It would be good for them too, do you not agree?”
“Well, I guess.”

Only forming a party with me would affect their broad-mindedness as Adventurers too.

There was even a possibility that they would be too optimized for working with me and would fail to work with other Adventurers. In fact, Letina was apparently suffering from that quite heavily.

“Mateus still had abundant experience. Michelle and Cloud on the other hand lack adequate experience for their skill. They are like what Gadius pointed out about you in your previous life. It would not be bad to have them work with Mateus and Sullivan.”

Just before I died, I was pointed out to be overdoing everything when I teamed up with new people. It was a side-effect because I mostly acted solo, but even after I reincarnated, those bad habits remained.

I was too thorough when guiding Michelle and Cloud, so they were starting to become too specialized in partying up with me. That could be harmful to them when they would have to party up with other people.

“Mateus… would be fine, right?”
“Of course. Geass is also active.”

Mateus once had a deathmatch with Cloud. For that, Cloud still wasn’t very good at dealing with him. Mateus was quite an easygoing man in general, but I don’t think he would have no thoughts towards Cloud either.

When I imagine that they might act on their emotions and start killing each other somewhere I couldn’t see, I couldn’t help but worry. But with Mateus’ Geass still active, there should be no worries about that.

After all, this old man’s Geass would deal damage on par with average attack magic if one went against the given orders. It dealt enough pain to kill an amateur instantly, so even Mateus shouldn’t make any poor moves.

“Well, I guess it’s fine then? Okay, we’ll be in your care for a while.”

If I could learn to use Polymorph with my own strength, I would be free from the once-a-month limit too.

Besides, now that I earned a trump card where I could turn into Lyell and use my power, being able to transform with my own strength could even be called an urgent thing to learn.

“Alright. Then without wasting any time, let us start this evening.”
“Huh, wait, I was planning to play with Fina…”
“You’re not going to say you will start working from tomorrow, are you?”
“No no, it’s not like that, but look, I need my healing too.”
“You seem to have gotten used to slacking around. It would not be so bad to beat you into shape.”
“Give me a break!”

Ignoring my scream, Maxwell broke into a carnivorous smile.

Since what he said was on point, there was no way left for me to escape.