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Donovan Stolla Serwa.

He was the only child of Margrave Klein Stolla Serwa. He had inherited his elitist personality from his father. He was essentially a sarcastic and extremely haughty boy.

However, his skill with magic was first-class, and despite being in the elementary class, he could already use middle-grade fire magic.

At present, he was the top student of the elementary academy. He was two years above me… And had a history of getting into a quarrel with me before.

That same embodiment of elitism was currently prostrating before me with his head on the ground and begging to save him.

I was the daughter of prominent figures of the world, but I was not a noble. In other words, I was a mere commoner from his eyes.

Groveling at my feet like this would normally be an intolerable behavior for him. Not to mention, in the middle of an entire class. I could easily guess just how desperate he was to do something so humiliating.

“Please, no, I beg you, Lady Nicole! Please save me!”
“W-Wait…”
“I have no one but you to depend on anymore! Please…Please…!”
“Stop. I don’t know what’s going on, but raise your head for now.”
“I will not until I receive a positive answer. I need to obtain your strength even if I have to humiliate myself. This is currently my one and only sincere wish!”
“Okay, fine! I get it already, so let’s just discuss this somewhere else, okay!?”

This would attract too much attention otherwise.

My school life was strangely susceptible to attracting attention. That undue attention was getting in the way of my goal of focusing on plain and steady training while I was a feeble young girl.

If he did this on top of that, it was bound to spread some unwanted rumors around.

At any rate, I decided to get somewhere devoid of public eyes and ask for the details there. Hearing my words, Donovan finally lifted his face.

Though I said to change the location… We were inside the public Magic Academy. I didn’t have some secret place here that no one else visited.

Moreover, most classrooms had windows, so everyone could see the inside from the corridors and the courtyard.

Something like the cafeteria was out of the question. Even the music room that was famous for its lack of people was strangely popular whenever I was using it, so it wasn’t suitable for a private talk at all.

As a result, I had to take Donovan and slip into the student council room that we also called the sermon room.

There was a chair and a desk so they could talk with a student face to face. It wasn’t just that of course. There was also a table and a sofa in case they had to talk with the guardian.

They even had some tea equipment as minimal hospitality in case the conversation dragged out. In any case, I let Cortina know and asked her to borrow this room.

As it involved someone related to the Serwa household, Cortina requested to take part in the conversation but eventually gave up after Donovan’s strong opposition.

My one line of “If you don’t listen to me I’ll go and become a live-in disciple of Maxwell!” was enough to persuade her.

That being the case, she was currently standing by just outside the door. There were some students loitering outside of the windows but I dealt with that by pulling down the curtains.

And since Cortina was staying at the door, I didn’t have to worry about the students trying to listen in on us.

Donovan sat dejectedly on the reception sofa. For now, I prepared some tea for him and sat on the opposite side. It was good to have something to dampen your tongue with when it came to conversations like this.

It would be a bit problematic to go there with my usual conduct, so I switched to my lady mode. I put my feet together diagonally and sipped on my tea in an aloof manner. I acted a little indifferent due to imitating Letina’s habitual attitude.

“Hm. So then, what business does a senior have with me?”
“Y-Yeah… I, uh, I would like to apologize for my behavior from before the enrollment.”
“It has been three years already, so I have already let that matter pass.”
“I see… Umm…”
“If you are worried about eavesdropping, you don’t have to. Teacher Cortina is standing at the door, and she is not someone who would leak the information.”
“But what point was in avoiding people if she would listen anyway!?”
“Due to the fact that she is standing there, other students cannot approach us.”
“Is that so…?”

Seemingly convinced, he took a sip of his tea. This might have been an action people took when they were about to start talking.

I have heard that people who are being questioned always reach out to water before they start revealing information.

“Do you know, I mean, are you aware that the Six Heroes lot, I mean, esteemed Six Heroes have been visiting the Stolla domain?”
“You don’t have to force yourself to talk politely, you know? And yes, I heard that His Highness Elliot got involved in the kidnapping incident and they were investigating that.”
“Right. Of all things, my father is the one suspected to be involved in that kidnapping.”
“Board chairman Maxwell and teacher Cortina are not the types of people to act based on false suspicions.”

I answered his words with some rebuttal. He seemed to have taken my attitude as being offended and hurriedly waved his hands in denial.

“No, I have no intention of criticizing them! I… I just wanted to say that my problem is related to that…”
“And your problem is?”

I couldn’t understand what he was getting at, so I went and asked in a quizzical manner. My question made him once again hang his head in hesitation.

But after a bit, he seemed to have gathered his courage and spoke in a strong voice.

“I’m—I mean, I have been bestowed with the honor of becoming the lord of Stolla domain.”
“Say what?”

This time, I responded in genuine confusion to his statement.