Sherry provided Hayate with a simple explanation of the Diaspell Royal Academy.
First of all, this academy had been established to train hexenritter.
There were only a few countries on the Frühling continent, most of them were operating National Hexenritter Training Academies.
Those so-called ‘princess knights’, the aforementioned hexenritter, certainly were mankind’s greatest force. Only they were able to stand up against the demonic beasts that were running rampant across the continent.
The power which the hexenritter provided had become indispensable to guard people, country, and virtually everything.
And so, many countries invested in the cultivation of hexenritter.
The Diaspell Royal Academy itself was administered by the Starfarm country. Its personnel, equipment, and location counted as the continent’s most famous.
That kind of high-end academy, of course, was attended by high-end students—— girls of n.o.bility that held a high apt.i.tude as hexenritter.
“I get it… Well, the gist of it at least. What I don’t quite get is what those ‘n.o.bels’ are.”
“Not knowing about n.o.bels… What period are you from?”
She said with her typical direct approach. Still, she was completely shocked.
The n.o.bility system had been rooted into society for a long time already. Times in which people hadn’t been distinguished by either being a n.o.ble or a commoner were hundreds of years in the past, it seemed.
Well, n.o.bles, commoners, or whatever, either’s fine…
I’ve got a bigger problem than that… With the exception of Hayate there was not a singleman to be seen in this academy.
“Haa…”
Hayate heaved a big sigh.
The sigh carried various meanings… ‘I want to get my memories back as fast as I can…’, or ‘I want to see my parents (though I can’t remember their faces)…’, or ‘I want to see my friends (that I probably had (?))…’ Really, a lot of meanings.
And on top of that… he had been put into this kind of situation right now.
“So basically… it’s like that? Sherry Scharlachrot…”
An anger-concealing voice resounded inside the room.
He was in a room with the plate ‘Chairman Office’ on its door. Standing next to Sherry, he was in an alerted stance. A woman past her middle age had called out Sherry’s name and she was—— Diaspell Royal Academy’s Chairman, Shanse Snipenir – owner of this room.
Having put her elbow on top of the office desk, she hid her mouth behind her clasped hands – they were shaking slightly.
“You didn’t use the summoning circles prepared by the teachers, without permission you drew your own in your room, conducted the ceremony, and summoned that boy over there by mistake?”
The chairman said and glared at Hayate.
Why does she have to glare at me…
In his opinion, he was the victim here.
Anyway, because of the summoning ceremony that Sherry had performed, he had suddenly been summoned under her as her contract beast, causing the memory loss.
Sherry said that Hayate was probably a human-type contract beast. Hayate himself, of course, had insisted with a loud voice that, ‘I am a human!’, but when she asked him, ‘Couldn’t it be that you’re just under the impression of being a human?’, he didn’t have any evidence to just brush it off. He lacked the memories, after all.
Was Hayate just an ordinary human who had been summoned by accident? Or was he a human-type contract beast? Both of those possibilities had been thoroughly discussed between them, but they had yet to come to a conclusion.
Be that as it may, even if a conclusion was still lacking, one thing had remained.
Namely, the pressing question of how to deal with Hayate.
Sherry had suggested, ‘Let’s ask the academy’s chairman for her judgement first’—— And thus, the two of them had visited the chairman office the next morning and now they were receiving a rebuke in there.
“I don’t make mistakes most of the time, chairman.”
Sherry nodded to the words of the chief with a voice as cold as ever.
When she was showing a grand att.i.tude like that, Hayate felt like misapprehending it as ‘Are you an idiot or what?’ while dwarfing next to her.
“I must apologize regarding that summon ritual I performed, however…”
“…What is it?”
The chairman briefly said, the intimidating sense of her voice increased.
Contrary to earlier, her angry gauge was clearly filling up… Sherry and the chairman seemed to have some kind of history together, but Hayate himself was very tense while listening to the conversation from the sideline.
Sherry kept talking in a composed manner nonetheless.
“I think you as the chairman might have heard about it already, but I’ve failed several contract beast summonings while generic summoning circles of this academy were being used.”
“…”
“As far as I know, ‘if a Hexenritter doesn’t have a contract beast, they may not perform duties of hexenritter’.”
If a hexenritter doesn’t have a contract beast…?
What does that mean?
He couldn’t afford to interrupt the conversation of those two at this point, even if it was just to ask a quick question.
It was a crucial moment which determined how they’d deal with him from now on.
He gulped down the questions that were boiling up inside him and decided to wait for another opportunity.
“I understand that you’re worrying about the summoning blunders. Certainly, if a hexenritter hasn’t got a contract beast, they must not pursue the duties of hexenritter… Still…”
The chairman heaved a long sigh and rubbed her temples as if to hold back her distress.
“…That’s the result? Primarily, the summoning ceremony’s sacred. Using a summoning circle of your own just like that and furthermore, out of all things, you summon a man. Were you perhaps accused to be a disgrace to all hexenritter? Even at the best of times, you’re…”
“I’ve gotten used to all the slander going on behind my back.”
That moment, the young girl said with a stubborn resolution whilst facing the elderly woman, who was sending her an anxious glance:
“——For the sake of my dream, I will become the strongest hexenritter by all means necessary. To not be able to summon a contract beast – not pa.s.sing even that requirement – that wouldn’t even be funny.”
“I understand your pain…”
However, the chairman continued:
“Already one month has pa.s.sed since you’ve enrolled in this academy. I’m trying to protect you in my own way after you’ve acted on your own this time, but… if you’re still unable to get a contract beast now, then sooner or later the higher-ups will order me to kick you out of this academy. If you don’t want to bear an unheard-of shame like that, or possibly before that…”
“Thank you very much for you concern, Chairman Shanse. However, if you would refrain from using ‘still’, that’d be wonderful. You see——”
Suddenly, *pull*, Hayate was being pulled on his right arm.
His elbow touched her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.
“O-Oi!”
“——It’s not yet decided that I’ve failed that contract beast summoning.”
The academy chairman raised her eyebrows at Sherry’s reb.u.t.tal.
“What do you mean?”
“That here’s proof.”
She picked up Hayate’s right hand and presented it to the chairman.
Just then, the eyes of the elderly woman opened wide.
“That’s… a contract mark?!”
“Eh?”
Tempted by the her voice, Hayate looked at his right hand too—— and then raised his voice in similar astonishment:
“Wh-What is this?!”
A blood-red crest had emerged on Hayate’s right hand.
It appeared that it represented a sword.
He hadn’t noticed it at all… Or more like, he seemed to not have noticed it with all the other abnormal circ.u.mstances around him.
“That’s a contract mark. It’s proof that we have a contract as hexenritter and contract beast.”
Sherry briefly whispered that the sword crest—— the contract mark was a proof.
He didn’t care whether it was a mark, a decoration, or whatever. What Hayate knew was that it was just too real that unusual phenomena were happening to his own ordinary body.
Neglecting the shaking Hayate, Sherry faced the chairman once more:
“There certainly is no precedent of a human-type contract beast being summoned. However, as a contract mark has emerged, he is my contract beast. Won’t you please let me observe this situation for a bit longer?”
“Oi, wait a sec. I’m humaaahaaa—!”
Towards the willfully continuing Sherry, Hayate attempted to object and was consequently pinched on his behind. Of course the chairman wasn’t able to see it from her angle.
After hearing Sherry’s request, the chairman was seemingly troubled and kept silent for a short while… but soon she nodded with a sigh:
“…Let’s see. I cannot bear the thought of having to have you, the granddaughter of Gloria-sama, drop out of school either. Well then, for the time being… temporarily, I’ll allow it, but… please treat that boy as your contract beast then.”
“Thank you very much, Chairman Shanse.”
Sherry elegantly bowed in thanks.
While she was at it, she forced Hayate to bow his head too.
“C’mon, you too!”
“Ouch, ouch, ouch!”
You’re ripping my hair out!
Seeing that sort of two-man skit, the chairman was still giving off an anxious look.
“Did you really understand? Treating him as your contract beast means that you as the summoner will bear the responsibilities of looking after and controlling him.”
“I’m aware of that, of course.”
She answered without a moment’s hesitation.
Shortly after that, both of them had received permission to take their leave.
“…Hey, looking after and controlling me, what does that mean?”
On the way to the dorm, Hayate asked about the last words the chairman had said.
“That’s simple.”
In front of him, Sherry stopped and turned around.
“From today on, you and I will be living together in my room.”
“Eh… EEEEEEHHHHHHHH?!”
It took him a few seconds to understand the significance of those words.
What the heck is happening to my body?
Since last night—— or more precisely since dawn, that had been the only question on Hayate’s mind. He wanted an answer, it was a serious problem, after all.
For now, Hayate took it out on her while they were heading back to the dorm.
“I’ve had enough already! No more! How the h.e.l.l did this even happen?!”
“You’re in high spirits, huh?”
“I’M IN LOW SPIRITS, ALRIGHT?!”
“Well, since you’ll be breathing the air of a room filled with my fragrance, it can’t be helped, I guess.”
“You think your body odor gets me going?!”
“Please don’t call it body odor. That’s unpleasant.”
“Then you stop spouting things as if I was some kind of hentai who gets off of a girl’s scent!”
“…Eh?”
“Don’t tilt your head! Or rather, I don’t care about your scent! Why do I have to live together with you?!”
By catching up to her pace, he forcefully put the totally derailed conversation back on track.
“…*sigh*, yare, yare.”
“See, why wouldn’t I be shocked by that?”
Be it memory loss or contract beasts… strange things like this and that kept happening to him, but living with a girl all of a sudden? How did that happen?
Sherry remained silent for a moment and watched the ranting Hayate, but suddenly she approached a chest of drawers as if remembering something and—— started to undress.
“Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh—?!”
In front of the dumbfounded Hayate, she dropped her skirt.
When she put her slender, long fingers on the strings of her panties, he panicked and turned his back to her.
“Why are you suddenly stripping?! And even starting from the bottom!”
“I want to change into a fresh uniform before we go to the dining hall. I was up all night yesterday and broke a sweat there. If there was more time, I’d also take a morning bath…”
“B-But I’m saying doing that in front of me…”
“It can’t be helped, right? This place is one-roomed and if you waited in the corridor alone in this girls-only dorm, I can’t even imagine what kind of uproar you’d cause.”
Certainly, he had been by Sherry’s side all the time during the walk to the chairman office earlier. Besides, because of Hayate’s presence, they had been flooded with impolite questions and subjected to inquisitive gazes. Perhaps he had been misunderstood as some kind of insolent intruder who trespa.s.sed upon the sanctum of women?
Still, if he went outside alone… he surely couldn’t tell what would happen.
Even though he had wanted to to say something, Hayate swallowed deeply because of the sound of rustling clothes coming from behind while he thought various things.
“Well then, let’s get to your question of why you’ll be living together with me from now on. It’s just as you heard from the chairman’s explanation earlier. Hexenritter have the responsibility to look after and control their contract beasts.”
“And that’s… I’ve been wanting to ask you this since yesterday already, but please teach me about this hexenritter and contract beast thing.”
“You really don’t know anything at all, do you? Or should I rather ask whether you just can’t remember anything?”
“…Beats me.”
He knew the words and letters—— or rather remembered them—— but when it came to hexenritter, contract beasts, and these kinds of things, then he couldn’t remember. If she was asked, then it seemed to be the most ordinary thing in this world.
Was he just unable to recall those things? Or did he never know them to begin with? For Hayate, someone without any memories, this was something impossible to judge.
“It could probably also be amnesia, but… whatever. I’ll give you a crash course while I’m changing, so be grateful.”
“Right, right, thank you very much.”
“I can’t feel any sincerity here. Why don’t you at least kneel down on the ground?”
“Why does every last person have to kneel down to you?!”
“If that’s too much, how about you show your grat.i.tude and face this way?”
“Aah, enough!”
Such a troublesome woman!
Thinking that, he reluctantly turned his head—— As she was still in her underwear, he got fl.u.s.tered again and shut his eyes.
“Why are you still changing?!”
“I wonder, did I say I was done?”
“B-But that’s—!”
Sherry had told him to look her way. Hayate had a.s.sumed that since she had told him to, she’d already be done changing – no one could blame him.
They were black…
It’s not my fault that I saw the very adult-like design and that a whiff of her b.u.t.t was shining through… Even if it there’s a continuous loop of that in my head, it’s not my fault at all. Right, absolutely not!
“Well, the dining hall’s closed at this hour anyway, so I’ll give you some brief instruction… I wonder if I should go with different underwear after all. Which do you like better, plain or patterned?”
“I don’t wanna hear that—!”
“White or black, which do you prefer?”
“As if I’d know!”
“You won’t look and on top of that I can’t even ask you what color you like?”
“How are you answering my question with that?!”
Satisfied with ridiculing Hayate, Sherry finally started to talk about hexenritter and contract beasts.
“We already talked a bit before we went to the chairman office, but the ones called ‘hexenritter’ are the only existences in this world whose power can compare to those of demonic beasts.”
“If I remember correctly, demonic beasts are man-eating monsters that frequently appear on the Frühling continent, right?”
“That’s correct. n.o.body knows where they’ve been born or came from. But demonic beasts do appear on the continent. The strength necessary to protect people’s daily lives—— that are the hexenritter.”
“Hmph. But why girls?”
“Because only girls can become hexenritter.”
“Why? Men aren’t allowed to?”
“You’re saying strange things again. How could men become hexenritter, they can’t even become witches.”
“What are witches?”
“Women who’ve studied the art of magic. You asked before I got to explain it, but magic is the art of using energy, the magical power that exists within one’s body, needed to perform various phenomena. Furthermore, only girls hold this power.”
“Men don’t have magical power so they can’t use magic?”
“Basically, as long as it’s a girl, they’re holding magical power, so if they study magic, any of them can become a witch. From there on, those that have an even higher apt.i.tude—— In other words, witches that carry a sufficient amount of magical power, are able to bind a contract with a contract beast. A witch with said contract is called a hexenritter.”
“Hee—”
“To add onto things, the witches who’re endowed with enough magical power to form a contract are restricted to those born of n.o.bility. That’s due to the fact that those who had strong magical power were married into the same families for generations.”
To become a hexenritter, one had to form a contract with a contract beast.
And to be able to form said contract, one had to be a daughter of n.o.bility that already carried lots of magical power.
“Only n.o.ble daughters are skilled as hexenritter and with the exception of hexenritter, there’s no one who can protect people and country from demonic beasts… I see, is that why it’s so important to be a n.o.ble?”
“That isn’t always the case but that seems to be the official stance on it.”
It had been a bit of a long talk, but now he understood the main points of this country’s concepts and hexenritter.
“So then, what is the purpose of this essential contract beasts?”
“Manservants.”
…A single word.
“Can you please elaborate a bit more?”
“I guess it can’t be helped… Which reminds me, do you like them black or white now?”
“Are you still pulling off that joke?! Or wait, you still haven’t decided on your underwear?!”
“Yeah, soon I’ll grow cold down there.”
“Then put on some clothes already!”
“Don’t wanna. There’s no way I can compromise on something like this. A girl’s beauty is decided upon her ideals.”
“Aren’t you just deciding about what to wear under your skirt here?!”
And why did what she said almost sound cool there?
“That’s right, yep. Let’s go with white then.”
In the end, it seemed like she took the black ones from earlier off and then dressed herself again.
The sound of smooth cloth sliding over skin could be heard.
…Don’t picture it, me! Nothing must cross my mind…!
“So… I wonder, what did you say again?”
“Please tell me what contract beasts are. In detail.”
“Oh, that’s true, isn’t it? I think I just told you about the amount of magical power, but the truth is even if one has a lot of magical power inside their bodies, humans can’t use the biggest part effectively.”
“Eh? Why?”
“It’s due to output ability… Alright, would it be easier to understand if I compared the relationship between magical power and output to that between a reservoir and a flood gate?”
So the magical power within one’s body would be like the reservoir’s water and the human’s output ability would be the flood gate.
a.s.suming the amount of water the reservoir collected was 100 units, if the size of the flood gate would only allow five to pa.s.s through, then only those five could flow down the waterway at a time.
“The size of a human’s flood gate averages from five to eight, sine even have ten. But it’s not possible to use magic that could bring a demonic beast to its knees with this kind of output. Even if one’s magical power was 1000 or 10000, that alone doesn’t hold any meaning.”
The explanation was easy to understand.
“Whether you’re a n.o.ble or a commoner, regardless of which, the size of the flood gate stays limited. Hence, the contract beast’s are important.”
*pam*, she closed the drawer.
To make sure, he secretly took a glimpse over his shoulder and was relieved that Sherry was wearing the crisp uniform of Diaspell Royal Academy that lived up to its reputation, and so he finally turned around.
“Contract beasts are a special kind of beast that lives by using the magical power of young ladies as their nourishment.”
“I don’t intend to live off of something like magical power…”
“It’s not as if the ordinary contract beast just stabs their hexenritter with a straw and suck it out of them or anything. The hexenritter and contract beasts are bound together by an invisible thread, and magical power is transferred through that.”
And then Sherry suddenly compared her body with his…
“…When I think about it, I wonder whether you and I are one right now…”
“Stop inviting misunderstandings.”
“Pervert.”
“I’m not!”
“You’re looking at young and tempting body and don’t have any desires?”
Young and tempting… I certainly did have a look at her b.u.t.t. It was so firm that… stop that!
“Listen up, please continue the story. Contract Beasts feed on the magical power within hexenritter and in exchange for that they fight demonic beasts?”
“You’re dodging the question, aren’t you? Well, it’s fine. I’ve got a generous heart so I. Will. Forgive. You.”
Even if he was told that in a s.e.xy voice, he wasn’t happy at all.
“I’ll return to the story, but a contract beast’s duty isn’t to kill the demonic beasts. It’s not like they’d never fight, but their main role is to a.s.sist the hexenritter until the last. They’re supporting them with their superior physical and special abilities. Furthermore, they’re absolutely obedient. Exactly like a manservant.”
“…Even if you say that, something like that is impossible for me, okay?”
I’m neither a contract beast nor a manservant. I’m just a human.
I don’t have the power to fight monsters or demonic beasts.
However, Sherry had said ‘a.s.sist’ just now.
In other words, the lead who’d fight until the end would be the hexenritter.
“Huh? Even if hexenritter… Even if they’re holding powerful magical power, can’t they only use weak magic? If a contract beast is just support, how could they even fight?”
“That’s related to the ‘certain ability’ a contract beast holds. They give form to the magical power, which they receive from hexenritter, within their bodies and——”
When Sherry tried to talk about that ‘certain ability’—— gigantic chimes resounded within the academy and made her fall silent.
“…The dining hall will close up if we don’t hurry. We’ll talk later.”
“Oi, oi, you’ve gotten to that point, postponing it now would be a bit…”
“You’re saying you want me to miss out on breakfast?”
Being told that in an almost pouting voice, he could only remain silent.
Well, I’ll have as many chances as I want to ask her about it.
Besides, it’s her problem too that there’s no proof of me being her contract beast and that I also don’t know a thing about what to do.
So because of the memory loss, I have to handle being a manservant and also gotta survive somehow?
He had to regain his memories fast and prove that he was just an ordinary human. If only his memories would return, he’d be able to remember his hometown and with that could go back home.
At that moment his eyes met the contract mark that had suddenly emerged on his right hand—— the sword crest.
“…”
Sherry had told the chairman that this was a contract mark, but… was she surely not mistaken?
“What are you doing? Hurry up and come, please.”
“Eh?”
Hayate had already been completely settled with seeing her off and was surprised that she told him to follow.
“Don’t you want to act as my contract beast? If you do, you’ll have to do as many things with your master as possible.”
“That’s, but…”
“Shut up already. At any rate, it’s not like you have anywhere to go, so just be obedient and listen to what I’m saying.”
She takes advantage of people’s weaknesses without mercy.
I don’t really want to enter this all-girls academy…
Hayate was fl.u.s.tered and before long Sherry heaved a sigh.
“…Well, if it’s just something like food, I’d be fine with bringing it to my room, but the amount I could take out would be limited, you know? Besides, every room in the dorm gets cleaned by a maid on a daily basis.”
He had a hard time imagining how it would feel to be watched as the only man in an all-girls dorm.
There were plenty of reasons to raise the white flag.
“…I’ll come with you.”
The desks inside Diaspell Royal Academy were set up like a staircase, and the desk from which the teacher taught was the lowest.
Behind said desk was a blackboard so large, no adult seemed to be able to reach its top. How could they write on it then, you might ask. With magic, of course.
Well, putting the cla.s.sroom’s structure and height of the blackboard aside…
The problem had started after they finished their meal in the dining hall and Hayate had entered the Rivaldi cla.s.sroom that Sherry belonged to.
The n.o.ble girls were refined and high cla.s.s ojousamas just as he had heard of. Their chatter before cla.s.ses started was just as elegant. Without loud voices, they put their hands up to their mouths and laughed sophisticatedly.
Then it got terribly noisy the second Hayate followed Sherry through the cla.s.sroom door.
“Oh my, a boy!”
“Eh? That’s a man? Don’t they grow beards like my father does…?”
“Why is there a male here?”
“He’s together with Scharlachrot-san, but I wonder what relationship they might have?”
“Relationship?”
“Isn’t he a servant?”
“He doesn’t seem to have an educated face… but I think I like this wild type as well.”
“Oh my! How improper that is!”
“Could he perhaps be Scharlachrot-san’s lover…?”
“””KYA—!”””
“And yet I haven’t even held hands with a gentleman.”
“Me neither.”
Shriek after shriek.
They had also drawn a fair amount of attention when they went into the dining hall, but that was when it was almost closing, so there hadn’t been a significant number of people in there and they only bore with a few whispers. However, in this cla.s.sroom were 20 people—— all girls of course. The gazes and pressure in the dining hall was nothing compared to this, it was so much that it almost made him turn and run.
Still, he somehow mustered some willpower and put strength in his steps. Together with Sherry, he went to the bottom-most desk and sat himself beside her at the window seat.
“Is it really okay for a contract beast to be seated here?”
“So you want to be alone in this completely foreign world?”
Her reply came fast and he broke into a cold sweat.
…This is harder than I had imagined.
The thing that exceeded his imagination was the attention they were drawing.
When he thought about how everyone in the cla.s.sroom was staring at him, he couldn’t help but to be overly self-conscious of himself.
The girls’ guessing of his true ident.i.ty and their gazes piercing his back, they carried various thoughts from favorable comments, simple questions, up to subtle hate.
The pressure sitting on him was horrible and he unconsciously turned his gaze downwards… Thenhe came back to himself as a deep-black dog began sniffing his leg.
“Hey, who’s this fellow?”
“It’s called ‘Black Beast’. If you touch it tactlessly, you’ll get shocked, you know?”
“OWA—!”
He unintentionally drew back his leg. At that moment, small sparks scattered from the black dog’s fur.
A Black Beast was a contract beast from whose body lightning sprang forth.
“…”
Hayate got nervous, but before long the Black Beast left, seemingly having lost interest in him.
“Was that one of the so-called usual contract beasts?”
“Well, kind of.”
Sherry nodded.
“…So, to you… that and I are the same?”
As a matter of course, he didn’t have anything one could call naturally given abilities.
And when he looked around in the cla.s.sroom again, he saw swarms of the most outrageous animals, like serpents with wings and lizards bursting into flames.
“You were summoned under me, right?”
“It was an accident, wasn’t it?”
“The contract mark also came forth.”
“That’s why I’m telling you that this must also be some kind of mistake.”
“To make sure of that we have to observe the situation, right?”
Sherry really wanted to treat Hayate as a contract beast… Speaking of that, the chairman had also mentioned that she’d have to drop out of the academy if she didn’t get one.
Wouldn’t it be troubling for her if I wasn’t her contract beast…?
“Haa…”
“Could you please not look at my face and sigh? It’s unpleasant.”
And whose fault is that? He thought.
When Hayate was going to sigh once more, the cla.s.sroom door opened and the teacher entered.
“Who’s that?”
“That’s the homeroom teacher. Her name’s Lela Schwartz-sensei.”
“Hee—”
Lela stood on the podium. She was a beautiful person covered in black clothes.
“Originally, she belonged to the country’s chivalric order and was lured to the academy when they were looking for and bought skillful people. She’s in charge of the subjects ‘Magic’ and ‘Practical Battle’. She’s rumored to do many secret things in private, but it’s a riddle among riddles. A fan of hers stalked her up to her home once, but… she never spoke again after that.”
“I don’t even want to imagine what has happened there.”
“By the way, her three sizes starting from top are 91 – 63 – 89.”
“Why did that kind of information leak?!”
“She must certainly be self-confident with that, right?”
Lela truly did have a magnificent body.
In her jet black clothes two big bulges were rising, twice as big as Sherry’s.
Furthermore, there was a slit in the cloth around the breast area from which one could peek at her cleavage.
I totally don’t get why someone would put a gap in that place…
I wonder whether I should call someone who deliberately wears something like that incredible or not…
Hayate was in awe in front of that unusual design.
Then—— Lela’s gaze turned into their direction.
“Scharlachrot. Who’s that person?”
With an unexpected low tone, Lela inquired Sherry about Hayate.
“That’s my manservant.”
“””””MANSERVANT?!”””””
everyone in the cla.s.sroom caused a commotion at the extreme words that Sherry had readily said.
“M-Manservant, how is that different from a normal servant?”
“If one lives in the dorm, the academy maids do everything for them, right? A male servant isn’t necessary, correct?”
“So a manservant does things that can’t be done by someone not being a man?”
“How filthy!”
Even more girls caused a horrible commotion.
“…Sherry Scharlachrot. I’ll ask once more. What’s that person?”
Only Lela kept calm, asking the same ordinary question once again.
“I made a slip. He’s not my manservant. He’s my contract beast.”
And Sherry returned an answer again.
“Eh?”
“A contract beast?”
“That’s absurd…”
“Impossible!”
The cla.s.sroom got even noisier.
Lela struck the teacher’s desk once and calmed the noise down, then she asked something again:
“Sherry Scharlachrot. How long have you been enrolled in this academy?”
“About a month, Schwartz-sensei.”
“And, how often have I been present at your summoning rituals?”
“It takes three to four days to retry a messed-up summoning, so… About eight times, right?”
“Nine.”
Lela corrected her flat-out.
“And you ought to recall that the tenth try was arranged to be today after school, correct?”
“That’s how it was arranged.”
“And yet you called that man your contract beast.”
“Yes.”
“Though he appears to be human?”
“We’re still investigating whether he’s a person or a human-type contract beast.”
“What about the ceremony?”
“I’ve retried it myself.”
“Without my permission?”
“Please excuse my arbitrary behavior.”
“Do you have proof that this man is your contract beast?”
“The contract mark has emerged on his right hand. And I’ve already got the chairman’s approval to treat him as my contract beast. If you need to validate it, I could accompany you to the chairman office.”
“No. That’d be too bothersome. If the chairman approved of it, it’s fine.”
The black-clothed teacher declared readily.
“If that person’s your contract beast, control him properly. Like other contract beasts, if that man disturbs the lessons, he’ll have to bear with the punishment.”
“Of course, Schwartz-sensei.”
“Well then, we’ll begin the lesson.”
With that, Lela started the lesson as if she had lost interest in Hayate.
However, only she could take on that dry att.i.tude.
The great majority of girls in this room handled it differently. Even now they were watching Hayate and Sherry with eyes full of curiosity.
“Is that even possible? A human and on top of that a man being summoned as a contract beast?”
“A human-type contract beast? I’ve never heard such a story.”
“I wonder whether she’ll treat that man as her contract beast?”
“Will he be put into the stables? Or… could he possibly be in her room?!”
“In other words, those two in a confined room?! Totally filthy!”
Yep, that feels creepy.
Being showered with all the girls’ attention made him feel embarra.s.sed.
While he had felt uncomfortable in all sorts of places, Lela’s lesson ended.
The black-clothed teacher quickly left the cla.s.sroom—— Simultaneously with her vanishing through the door, the girls rushed to Hayate all at once.
“Is it true that you’re Sherry Scharlachrot’s contract beast?”
“You look like an ordinary human… though you’re a bit harder.”
“KYAA! That’s the first time I’ve touched a boy’s body!”
“Young men don’t have b.r.e.a.s.t.s, right? My father has really imposing b.r.e.a.s.t.s, but…”
“Isn’t your father just… considerably well-rounded?”
To the oncoming flood of questions, Hayate did nothing more than to simply recoil back into his chair. I wonder if those ridiculously absurd questions about men are caused by all the girls being ojousamas?
There were also girls among them that touched him all over the body.
He was almost treated like a rare animal.
And speaking of Sherry, ought to be his sole ally, she was forcefully pushed away by the crowd and by the time Hayate realized it, she had already been standing against a wall far away from him. She seemed to be pouting.
As you might expect, Hayate was also starting to get fed up by being jostled… At that time…
“Seriously! That you’re even lying about a man being your contract beast, what an utter scandal!”
…?
As he was wondering where that high voice came from all of a sudden, the cla.s.smates around Hayate divided.
“Victoria-san!”
Someone inside the divided crowd called the name of the girl that had appeared.
Victoria had vivid-blonde ringlet curls and was a bishoujo who could be proud of a body which rivaled Sherry’s. Her unyielding, almond-shaped eyes indicated a haughty character. Judging from the reaction of the surrounding people, she probably was this cla.s.s’ leader.
Ringlet curls are quite the amazing hair style, huh…
Her hairstyle was amazing, but so was the serpent that twined around her body. A big one. A big serpent. With wings even. It was probably her contract beast.
Victoria drew closer and said with a high-handed att.i.tude:
“What’s your name?”
“Hayate Mitsurugi.”
“Mitsurugi? I’ve never heard of such an family of n.o.bility. Where were you born?”
“…Sorry, but I don’t have any memories that date back…”
He honestly answered and Victoria laughed scornfully as if to make fun of him.
“I’ve already heard that commoner men were shameless good-for-nothings, but it’s absolutely true, isn’t it? If everyone keeps touching him so much, they’ll be infected with the commoner bacillus.”
Some people drew their distance from Hayate after Victoria’s comment.
Even if he hadn’t liked being touched all over, that it stopped because of this… A bacillus…
Victoria got more and more talkative, maybe because she saw Hayate dropping his shoulders, thus she moved into gear:
“In the current period, desired men are profoundly cultivated and gentlemen… However, commoners lack both, so I’ve heard. And your face definitely proves that you’re a commoner.”
“…Mu…”
Hayate, who had felt down at first, was, of course, offended by what had been said up until now and stood up from his seat without hesitation.
“W-What is it?”
Due to Hayate’s sudden movement, Victoria stopped the bad-mouthing.
“If you’re treating a person like a bacillus… I might as well really touch and infect you!”
He said something without thinking only a child would say.
Not caring about the reaction of the rest, Hayate tried to touch Victoria up and extended both hands—— but forgot about the stairs.
“OWA—!”
“KYA—!”
He enveloped Victoria before he fell down and fell on top of her.
That hu—— didn’t hurt?
On the contrary, something felt good.
Wondering about the reason, he moved his face, and felt a soft sensation on both cheeks.
“Hyan—!”
And on top of that, there was the voice of an embarra.s.sed girl.
Wh-What’s going on?!
He stood up to confirm the situation and—— when he put strength into his hands, his fingers sunk deeper into something that had an unexpected good feel to it.
“Nyooo—!”
More and more lovely shrieks leaked from the girl.
And while we’re at it, there was an unpleasant hunch that was expanding inversely proportional to the comfort felt by his face and hands inside him as well.
He timidly raised his face… and confirmed his current location.
“Wh… Wh… Wh—!”
Victoria’s face was in front of his own—— The moment Hayate had fallen, he had plunged his face into the valley of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Furthermore, he had grabbed those two summits with all his strength.
“””””KYAAAAAAA”””””
The cla.s.smates had been watching the whole matter and raised numerous girly screams.
Surprised by the uproar around her, Victoria came back to herself.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?!”
With all of her might, she kicked hayate off her while complaining.
“Gefu—!”
He leaked a m.u.f.fled shriek as the kick landed in his solar plexus.
However, as one might expect, he didn’t complain as he felt bad about the whole matter himself.
He held his stomach to bear with the pain and Victoria sat up in a girlish posture hugging her own body and began to quiver.
“You pervert… You pervert…!”
Her face turned pale for some reason.
Hayate, either from that unforeseeable turn of events or something else, forgot about his anger right away, panicked, and instead worried about her.
“O-Oi, are you alright?”
“Y-You…!”
The shivering Victoria raised her voice and stern eyes at him. Her expression was filled with serious hatred. However, there were also some tears in the corner of her eyes…
Hayate readied himself for whatever kind of abusive words would come flying.
But——
“What are you going to do if I got pregnant?!”
——The words Victoria threw at him greatly differed from his expectations.
Hayate and the noisy girls around him were speechless.
However, Victoria, the only person with teary eyes, raised her eyebrows and said with a shaking voice and blushed face:
“W-When a girl gets touched by a male commoner, they get pregnant, you know?! How on Earth do you plan to make up for that kind of responsibility?! No… something like making up for it would——”
She kept talking on and on.
It appeared that she was serious.
Of course, no matter whether they were commoner or n.o.ble men and women, touching alone wouldn’t get anyone pregnant.
When I’ve been bombarded with questions earlier… These quaint ojousamas seemed to more or less have a very narrow view of how men work too. Victoria’s thinking is also excessive… Is this here a case where people just talk about preconceptions without even having experienced the real thing themselves?
——In reality, Victoria had never seen any men except for her family, let alone touched or talked to. Even for the Diaspell Royal Academy she was an unusually sheltered, super-naive lady. She seemed to have been convinced that all her knowledge of men was fact, even though it was completely based on exaggerated rumors she had heard.
However, even though she was under the wrong impression, anybody would give up when faced with such a continuously shouting and sobbing appearance. Hayate was utterly perplexed…
“——Victoria-san. Could you please refrain from tormenting my contract beast?”
Before he knew it, Sherry, who should’ve been along the wall, was next to him and calmly talked to Victoria.
“Sherry Scharlachrot-san! It’s the fault of that commoner you took as your companion that my chast.i.ty has been soiled! How do you intend to take responsibility?!”
“Well, scolding him for groping some b.r.e.a.s.t.s might already be fine, but… is it alright if I told you something?”
“What is it?!”
“Just getting your b.r.e.a.s.t.s touched by a man doesn’t get you pregnant.”
“Eh…?”
For a short time, Victoria, who had thrown a tantrum seconds ago, was motionless, then she surveyed the faces of the cla.s.smates around her.
…After a short time, she got arrived at the realization that she might’ve been wrong, stood up in a totally awkward and slow manner, and cleared her throat with a cough.
“A-Ahem… T-To begin with, Scharlachrot-san, this commoner is worthless as a contract beast and companion! You’re always involved with the commoners in this town, something a n.o.ble must not do! This time, you got hold of a companion by paying him, right?!”
Victoria intended to make Sherry responsible for her awkward mistake just now. This gave off the feeling that she just took diversion to the extreme.
“What are you trying to say? He’s my contract beast. Chairman Shanse also approved of him as such. Do you intend to defy the chairman’s decision?”
Sherry didn’t care about Victoria’s intentions and flatly flicked the facts at her.
“…Th…”
Victoria felt ashamed as the chairman’s name came up… Her eyes teared up again.
“YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A LOW-CLa.s.s n.o.bLE AND YET YOU’RE SO INSOLEEEENT!”
Victoria gave up and ran right out of the cla.s.sroom shouting. After she disappeared, the girls’ crowd around Hayate broke up too for some reason.
“Yare, yare. She left at last, didn’t she?”
Sherry shrugged and sat down.
Hayate also heaved a totally exhausted sigh and sat down next to her.
Victoria ended up being absent for two periods but before the third period started, she returned with slightly red eyes.
When she entered the cla.s.sroom, she gave them a stern glare, but Hayate as well as Sherry ignored it.
Because of that, the att.i.tude of those two seemed to irritate Victoria even more, but when she returned to her seat, several people, seemingly her friends, went to and consoled her. When Victoria heard their voices, her expression softened up and she started to talk to them with a smiling face.
Which reminds me…
Suddenly he realized something.
Even though the third period was already about to start, n.o.body had come to Sherry and n.o.body had sat down by her. When Hayate had been bombarded with questions, she was also literally driven into a corner…
“Hey… could you perhaps be hated here?”
“*PIERCE*—”
“GYAA!”
He had been stabbed into the flank with a sharp pen.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”
“You’ve hurt my feelings just now. Learn to be more delicate.”
“Ngu—!”
Certainly, the way he asked that just now had lacked a bit of consideration.
“Then… why’s this treated as a deadzone?”
“*STABSTAB*—”
“GYAA!”
“Do you plan to poke my delicate heart full of holes?”
“Is that delicate thing taking revenge by poking holes into me?!”
Eventually, the lessons for the day ended and Hayate was woken up by the sound of the bell which signaled that school was over.
“Faa… It’s finally over, huh?”
“You slept quite well, didn’t you?”
“I’m not a student here, so it doesn’t really matter, right?”
“Well, today was all theory. There weren’t any practical lessons, so I don’t really mind. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t continue muttering perverted nonsense in your sleep while next to me, though.”
“Eh?!”
What’s she going on about? I can’t remember doing that. Well, I was sleeping, it’s only natural I can’t.
“It was a joke.”
“…”
I take back the feelings of shame and guilt I almost had.
“Now then, let’s go, shall we?”
“Ah, wait!”
He chased after Sherry who was walking off and brought himself beside her.
“You’re a bit close, aren’t you?”
“I’m not that close.”
“Can you please be a bit further away from me?”
“Why?”
“Would you be so kind as to separate yourself from me a little more?”
“You just said the same thing more politely!”
Does she dislike me that that much?! Am I really such a bother to be around?! I’m walking with a woman who’s taking advantage of someone’s shortcomings just to abuse them here! But I’ve got no other choice, do I…
In this sanctum of women, called Diaspell Royal Academy, a man had appeared. And to top it off, the rumor that he had been called here as a contract beast had already spread throughout the academy like a wildfire.
There was what had happened between Victoria and him, and although he had been making sure to keep his distance from her, no matter where he went, he always became the center of attention – just as if he was some rare species.
He absolutely didn’t want to wander around this place by himself.
“Are we going back to the dorm?”
He asked her such an obvious thing to break the ice.
“Yes, for now. I’ll be going out later, though.”
“Why?”
Going by what he had heard, the next day was a weekday too, so there’d be normal lessons.
Now that I think about it, didn’t Victoria say something like Sherry’d always be in town doing stuff…?
I also recall that something like a.s.sociating with commoners wouldn’t fit a n.o.ble…
“You’re coming as well.”
“You need me to carry stuff?”
“You’re mistaken.”
Sherry quickly rejected Hayate’s guess.
“It’s a part time job.”
“What?”
——A somewhat unexpected answer had appeared.
A part time job. In short, working for money.
This was Hayate’s first experience doing part time, though he didn’t know why he could recall that.
Sherry led him to a certain place named ‘Bury-In Café’, about twenty minutes by foot away from the academy.
He had been fine before arriving there. Although, to be honest, he did feel a little bit excited.
And now…
“SO BUSYYYYYYYYY!”
“If you’ve got time to complain, then you might as well keep your hands moving, greenhorn!”
He was currently in the middle of regretting his excitement.
As soon as he got there, he was thrown into the café’s kitchen.
In there, he was being subject to a storm of orders that swept across him minute after minute.
“Still haven’t got that parfait ready?!”
“Alright, coming!”
“You prepared that drink?!”
“Alright, coming!”
“The spaghetti’s late, what are you doing in there?!”
“SORRYYYYYY!”
The manager of the cafe gave off an ‘Ane-san’ kind of impression, like what one would get from a beautiful, energetic woman who had her sleeves rolled all the way up to her shoulders. That being said, just as her appearance indicated, her tone was stern. She wasn’t even trying to go easy on the cooking of the newcomer who had only just started in the kitchen.
Hayate was holding a book with instructions on how to cook each dish in one hand and was frantically said cooking with the other. But the pile of order slips seemed to rather multiply than decrease.
They say that the kitchen’s a chef’s battlefield, evidently, that was the case exactly.
“Get to work already!”
“I’M ON IIIIT!”
On the surface it was reputed for its fanciness, and yet behind the scenes it was almost like a hectic, living h.e.l.l.
Eventually, the number of new customers that came in decreased and Hayate was able to take a break for the first time since he had started six hours ago.
I should be thankful just for being given a break, but somehow this feels…
When the manager informed him that he could take a break, she’d said, ‘Well, today’s your first, so I think I can forgive this much.’ If so, what would happen from tomorrow onwards?
“If this keeps up I might collapse…”
He let out a sigh while he had his meal in the corner of the kitchen.
Mixing spices in with some of the leftover meat and then cooking it all together like crazy – something like that turned out to taste unreasonably good. He finally realized the reason for the success of this place.
It was honestly more suited to his tastes than the refined dishes which he had tried in the cafeteria of the ojousama school.
“Whew~”
After finishing up the bonus dessert that came with his meal, he finally let out a sigh.
He still had some free time left.
Now that I think of it, I wonder what Sherry has been up to the entire time?
She should’ve been waiting tables.
Sometimes he could hear her voice when an order came, but as he was too busy working and moving around, he hadn’t even gotten a single glimpse of her.
“…Alright.”
For once, lets observe how Sherry works.
If only she had enjoyable work, he’d surely take the opportunity to complain.
Deciding this in his heart, Hayate went to the pa.s.sage that lead from the kitchen to the hall.
Even if one could call it a path, it almost looked like a storage room. The utensils that were used in the hall and kitchen had been piled up here and there.
They were acting like a cushion by being piled up on either sides of the s.p.a.ce between hall and kitchen, no sounds could leak through from either sides.
He secretly took a peek into the hall from the other side of the path.
It was like a battlefield in there—— a completely different world compared to the kitchen.
There were about twenty tables, all filled, but not a man could be seen. The target group was female commoners and there were no n.o.ble ojousamas like from the Diaspell Royal Academy.
——The dominance of women on this continent had been taking root since ancient times.
Only hexenritter were able to stand up to the demonic beasts that threatened mankind.
And only women held the magical power necessary to become one.
That alone was reason enough to judge women superior to men, but the ‘women above men’ tendency was also affecting the commoners. Even if they didn’t hold as much magical power as n.o.bles, they could at least become witches as long as they properly studied magic.
Magic used by regular humans was weak and not suited for battle with a demonic beast, but it helped plenty with people’s daily lives. Be it either cultivating the fields or carrying heavy things, if one used magic, everything became a trivial matter.
Incidentally, magic-wielding women were much stronger than trained men.
Men or women, considering the duties of women, protecting the families they had been born into and bringing up the children, it was obvious which one had the upper hand in regards of social standing. One could say that it was only natural that men didn’t approach and even avoided a place like this café where women met up in.
——So, speaking of Sherry…
“Sherry-chan.”
“Sherry-chaaan, please come heeere.”
“Heeey, Sherry!”
This was a mature atmosphere.
When she was done taking orders from one table, she was immediately called from another. They were calling her with loud voices without caring about the distance. Even though some of them were closer to other employees, they went as far as to wait until she was free.
There were enough people coming and going that she certainly didn’t have the time to take a break now.
Or was she perhaps far more busier than he was a few moments ago and had just kept working?
But rather than her workload itself, the main reason that had drained the will to complain from Hayate was something else.
Ribbons in various colors were here and there on her body.
She was wearing a snow-white, thrilled Alice band.
And twintails that made the usual cool her look very childish.
All of that put together on a, in some areas dangerously short but nevertheless lovely, ap.r.o.n dress.
When one combined all the above mentioned factors, they’d get——
“——Just like a maid…”
Yes, currently Sherry totally looked like a maid.
I mean, she… she’s able to smile like that?
While Hayate was at a loss for words, he kept staring at her visiting table after table.
If one had to phrase it properly, then ‘fascinated’ would be the right word.
That Sherry… Even when she was threatened by the chairman or that ex-knight teacher, she didn’t falter. When she was bearing the slender, she stuck to arrogance. A girl with such a wicked tongue and nerves of steel, now her body was disguised like a waitress and he was touched to see her working bravely like this.
He heard afterwards that it was a ‘maid cafe’ that had been started by the manager. The waitresses here were only wearing maid outfits. However, they collected beautiful girls by paying good and picking strictly—— As a result, even though there were only a few other shops more expensive than them, they still managed to rake in the customers daily.
Hayate stood in the path staring blankly. Carrying orders that couldn’t be counted with two hands anymore, Sherry walked in his direction and came across him.
“What are you idling around for? I wonder if you’re asking for punishment?”
“I’m on break now.”
“Ara, is that so? Too bad.”
“What do you mean by ‘too bad’… Forget that, that’s some amazing dress you got.”
“This? I don’t like it too much, but I seem to have a good reputation in it. The manager also increases my pay for wearing it, you know?”
“Yeah…”
Without thinking, he started to voice his agreement but in the end, obediently agreeing to something like that was kind of vexing for him… He changed his mind and tried to change the topic.
“Or rather, aren’t all the people attending the academy rich ojousamas? Why are you doing this part time job?”
He had asked this without really thinking about it. He wanted to switch the topic after all, but it took her a few seconds to reply.
“…That’s not true.”
“Eh?”
He didn’t understand too well and reflexively asked again.
Sherry heaved a sigh.
“My family’s not rich. Our property was seized and everything collapsed. So I’m earning an income here to pay the school’s expenses.”
<>