Leave a comment

Maxwell could use Teleportation magic. That meant that regardless of whether he was close or far, he could return back to the capital whenever he wanted. As such, he often preferred to return back to his mansion when he was about to sleep.

Cortina should also return by that time, so I had a feeling I’d be seeing everyone quite frequently.

Whenever I had some odd moments, I went to check on Cloud, and then to meet Maxwell. That latter was to get some information out of the old man about this incident.

Maria, Lyell, and Cortina wouldn’t let me know the details. Due to that, I had to resort to secretly visiting him instead.

That night, too, I snuck out without Maria or Cortina’s knowledge and visited Maxwell’s mansion. As I crawled into his house in the middle of the night, Maxwell greeted me with a smile on his face.

“You have quite a lot of years on you, old man, yet you are staying up so late.”
“It is alright. Is it not common decency to welcome your friends whenever they visit you?”
“You should be dropping and picking up Lyell and Gadius, too. Aren’t you tired?”
“This much is nothing.”

They were investigating the Stolla domain, which was basically an enemy territory. There was no knowing what kind of traps could be waiting there. For that reason, whenever night came, Maxwell sent them to their respective homes so they could rest without worries.

Most would call that a waste of magic power, but for Maxwell, it was within the margin of error.

“So, how’s it looking on that side?”
“It does not look good. Stolla domain is governed by Margrave Serwa, but he seems to have vanished without a trace.”
“Vanished? Did he go into hiding?”
“Quite so. And he seems to have taken all his private funds with him.”
“So… He fled.”
“There is a high possibility of that, yes.”

Margrave Serwa should not have known that we fought and captured his underlings yet. Yet he had taken his belongings and fled. This meant that he was prepared to flee before the fight even happened.

But why? Why did he judge that we would be able to sniff him out…?

“I wonder how did he find out about our investigation?”
“I do not know… However, it is clear that he has been preparing for it. This would mean, we made a mistake somewhere that made him suspicious.”
“Somewhere, huh… Wait, maybe…”

I suddenly remembered one man. The masked man that was present when I captured Count Tarkashire. If that person was Margrave Serwa, it would stand to reason for him to plan his escape right away.

Back then, Maxwell was involved in the incident, and he was seen by Maxwell’s familiar. He had hidden his face, but given that a Hero’s familiar saw him, perhaps he had assumed that his identity was revealed and started making preparations to flee.

“Now that I think about it, Tarkashire said something about Margrave Serwa’s son attending the academy, did he not?”
“Yeah, I know the kid. He’s called Donovan. He’s a kid that’s fully convinced of being the chosen one.”

The kid that bumped into me during the school inspection three years ago. I believe he introduced himself as the Margrave’s son, Donovan Stolla Serwa. Based on his name alone, he couldn’t be unrelated.

“His personality aside, his grades are not bad. He should be having the best academic year now.”
“He’s still the same? Can’t you just go ‘fix’ his attitude?”
“It would not look good if I go and meddle with other people’s personalities. I stop at telling them what is bad and what is not.”
“Wouldn’t that make the official ideology of the academy a big lie, then?”
“Brainwashing and education are delicate problems…”

Maxwell shrugged with a deep sigh. Thinking about it, his arrogant attitude was so big it even reached Maxwell’s ears, huh? I feel like that alone is quite a big problem. But his grades were excellent enough to make up for it.

“Setting that aside, he went into hiding despite his kid attending the academy?”
“Margrave Serwa always had a cruel personality. I would not be surprised if that is the case.”
“Huh.”

If he cast even his familiar love aside and fled, I might start to feel a little sorry for that Donovan kid. Then again, then it came to nobles, their family relationships were used for politics, so something like this happening was not so surprising.

Either way, we had the name of our target now.

“If you find him… And you need my help, please don’t hold back and let me know. My friend’s arm was cut, so I would be lying if I had no grudge on him.”
“Not a word about your own fist? I would suggest you be kinder to your own body.”
“That’s beside the point now.”

It wasn’t just Cloud. I worried Michelle and Finia to death because of him, so I had to return that debt back. Having a definite identity of the enemy made today a success.

The following day, I attended my lessons like a normal student. Of course, I did not skip it ever since the battle. Maria had already healed me, so I had to properly do my duties as a student.

Besides, Cortina hated the idea of me getting involved in this matter. She was very concerned that the assassin sect of the Hidden Blade Style made an appearance in the fight with the slave traders.

While I received the information through Maxwell, I couldn’t act publicly on it, so I had no choice but to keep attending the school normally. I couldn’t deny that it made me awfully bored, however.

I involuntarily heaved a bored sigh, having to spend days so stagnantly. And that seemed to have an unnecessary side-effect, gathering attention from the surroundings.

“There you go sighing again.”
“Oh, Letina. Well, I can’t help it…”
“Is Cloud on your mind?”
“It would be weird if he wasn’t.”

Our conversation caused the entire class to turn noisy. For some reason, everyone was looking at me in shock.

“Lady Nicole has someone on her mind…!?”
“Who is this Cloud fellow!”
“Look, it’s that Half-Demon friend of hers.”
“That guy? That damn harem master!”
“Isn’t he close to that girl Michelle from the Adventurer Academy? People have seen them on a date in the cafeteria.”
“You mean the girl with a big chest?”
“Yeah, they are so huge already. It’s wonderful.”
“I can’t forgive him for monopolizing those boobs!”
“Yeah, no mercy for him!”

It appeared that Cloud who was in a girl party like us was gathering some strange envy. Was I worrying about him something to make such a big deal about? Michelle seemed to be surprisingly popular, though, so I felt strangely proud of her.

Still, that unexpected uproar made me c̲o̲c̲k̲ my head a little in confusion. But it suddenly came to a stop.

One upperclassman pushed the crowd aside and appeared before me.

“Oh—Donovan, was it?”

I remembered his face. He was the same Donovan Stolla Serwa that has been a hot topic among us lately. After arriving in front of me, he stood still for a while with a nervous expression.

Seeing that, I secretly reached for my piano wire. He was the son of my enemy. There was enough possibility for him to attempt a surprise attack on me. It would naturally be a bad move with so many public eyes, however.

After some hesitation, Donovan suddenly started groveling at my feet. He was prostrating, in other words.

Ignoring the surrounding gazes, he rubbed his forehead on the floor and appealed to me in a voice big enough to spread through the entire class.

“Nicole—No, Lady Nicole, I beg you! Please save me!”