CHAPTER 38: GIRL’S PARTY
I followed Marie-san through the Royal Palace corridors.
There were also two maids and knights accompanying us. Everyone gave way and lowered their heads when I wore the white robe I wore at my audience with the King.
What’s with this situation?
The people in the Royal Palace have become increasingly polite towards me ever since that happened.
Well, things that can’t be helped, can’t be helped.
The people working at the Royal Palace were completely convinced that I was the 【Saint】.
I’d already given up, but I still haven’t gotten used to the way they treated me.
I resisted the urge to sigh and walked quietly through the corridor.
We were heading to a room in the Royal Palace.
We arrived in front of the destination and Marie-san knocked on the door.
Someone answered and the door opened from the inside.
I pa.s.sed Marie-san and entered. There were two young ladies waiting inside.
One of the ladies bowed gracefully while the other one bowed a little clumsily.
That was the signal for the door to be closed.
The knights that had accompanied me waited outside of the room. The only ones inside of the room was the two ladies, myself, Marie-san and the maids.
A tea party was being prepared in that room filled with only females.
“How do you do, Sei?”
“Good afternoon, Liz. And……”
I turned towards the girl standing next to Liz.
Her lips were shut together, she seemed to be very nervous.
“I guess it would be better for me to say, nice to meet you?”
I asked and Airchan smiled awkwardly.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Misono Aira.”
“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Takanashi Sei.”
I must have been infected with Airchan’s nervousness because I felt like my smile was very stiff.
We had finished our greetings for now.
It feels awkward to stand like this so let’s sit down.
“Let’s sit down for now.”
“Yes, let’s.”
I urged the two and walked towards the round table that had been prepared.
Marie-san poured our tea and presented it to us when we sat down.
I sipped the tea and looked at Liz and Airchan again.
We gathered today to deepen our friendship with Airchan.
It was decided that the Crown Prince, His Highness Kyle, would be removed from any matters relating to the 【Saint】after that uproar.
Also, he had to take responsibility for causing the uproar, and was being held under house arrest.
His Highness Kyle would be graduating from the Royal Academy in a few months, so he would probably be released from house arrest just before the graduation ceremony.
The Second Prince, Rain-dono would be taking care of Airchan in place of His Highness, Kyle.
The King explained this to me after he had dealt with various things after the uproar.
Of course, this was because I was the person concerned.
His Highness Kyle’s followers were also under house arrest until the graduation ceremony.
Fortunately for them, they were all excellent students so their attendance wouldn’t affect their graduation results.
Airchan was the only one not placed under house arrest.
The reason was that she didn’t directly do anything during the uproar.
The problem was that she was put on a pedestal and acted as she was told to, but they couldn’t find fault in her, considering the environment she was in.
Well, that’s true.
Airchan and I were both summoned from j.a.pan by the 【Saint Summoning Ceremony】.
Moreover, if this was j.a.pan then she would still under the protection of adults.
I couldn’t blame her for relying on His Highness Kyle and his followers because she was suddenly summoned into this world and she was alone.
Well, there was also politics involved so they couldn’t just get rid of Airchan.
The problem was that all the children around her were put under house arrest.
According to Liz, no one else could get close to Airchan apart from His Highness Kyle and his aides, so she didn’t know anyone apart from them.
It was irresponsible of them to leave her like that, so it was decided that she would hang out with Liz.
His Highness Rain was responsible for her and there was also the thing that happened with His Highness Kyle, so they probably thought that Liz would be more suitable for her since they were both female.
This plan worked really well and Airchan was finally able to make some female friends.
Various misunderstandings were solved by Liz.
It was then possible for them to peacefully live their school lives, and they hosted this tea party after things had settled down.
After some time had pa.s.sed since she started getting along with Liz, Airchan told her that she wanted to meet me.
We were generally from the same hometown and she had always wanted to talk to me, ever since she saw me at the uproar.
She was also concerned about how I spent the past year.
That’s why we decided to talk about various things today.
“I heard that the Academy has calmed down a lot.”
“Yes. Things have finally settled down.”
“I heard that you influenced a lot of things Liz. Thanks for your hard work.”
“Thanks.”
Liz laughed bashfully when I thanked her.
I heard that it was really difficult to meditate between Airchan, who had acc.u.mulated so many misunderstandings, and the other girls.
There were still some who were discontent, but most of the girls were getting along with Airchan thanks to Liz’s efforts.
No one could openly defy Liz because she was the Crown Prince’s fiancée and the daughter of a Marquis.
There were rank differences even within the Academy.
Nonetheless, it wasn’t enforced. It probably went well because Liz was dealing with it.
“Have you also settled down, Misono-san?”
“Yes. Every day has become fun thanks to Liz.”
I brought up the topic with Airchan and she smiled happily.
She said that her female friends had increased and she could talk about girly things like she did in j.a.pan, so it was really fun.
“How about you Sei? Have things calmed down for you?”
“Well, it’s probably calmed down but……”
“It seems that it’s already been established that you’re the 【Saint】-sama.”
“Don’t say it……”
I felt down when she said that and Liz giggled.
Like Liz said, it was settled that I would be treated as the 【Saint】.
It was my own fault that I was recognised as the 【Saint】, so I resigned myself to that fact; but I was tired of being treated like a VIP.
Did they think that I, who was a commoner, could stand it when people bowed their heads at me just for walking through the corridor?
It’s impossible!
Liz understood my inner thoughts.
She was teasing me because she understood my thoughts.
“But, it seems like I’ll be busier from now on.”
“Will you?”
“I have to go to rural areas for a while.”
“That’s……”
My treatment had settled down, but from what I overheard from other people, I would be getting a bit busy from here on out.
The demons around the capital had settled down after the recent subjugation in the West Forest, but they were still overflowing in the rural areas.
They had sent requests to the civil officials to dispatch knights to the rural areas after things have settled down at the capital.
The swamp that we saw in the West Forest was being investigated and there was a high possibility that one had appeared at the rural areas because of the demon outbreak.
If that was true, then it would be up to me to purify it, so it was highly likely for me to go to a rural area.
Liz had heard that kind of story and noticed that I was only talking about light things.
Her smiling face took a complete turn and she now looked anxious and apologetic.
“Will you be resigning from the research inst.i.tute?”
“It looks like I don’t have to resign. The Director said he’ll do something about it.”
“Oh! I’m glad.”
“Yes. I have to be thankful to the Director.”
Liz smiled happily again when she heard that I didn’t need to quit the research inst.i.tute.
It looks like Liz was worried about it too.
Was it because she knew that I liked working at the research inst.i.tute?
I heard Airchan whisper, “Excuse me”, while Liz and I were laughing.
I tilted my head and looked at her wondering what was wrong and Airchan spoke while looking nervous.
“Have you been working in the Royal Palace ever since you came here, Takanashi-san?”
“Yes, I have. I’m working as a researcher at the Medicinal Herb Research Inst.i.tute.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure……”
I asked her what was wrong since she wanted to ask me something and she told me that she wanted to consult with me.
She had been living at the Royal Palace as the 【Saint】as instructed by His Highness Kyle, who had been looking after her.
But since that uproar, she had been separated from His Highness Kyle, so she thought about how she should live her life from here on out.
It didn’t mean that she couldn’t live as she had until now, but she wondered if it was alright for her to do so and was filled with anxiety.
She said, “Because I don’t have any achievements”, half way through the conversation. It seemed that having this pointed out to her in the middle of the uproar was the source of her uneasiness.
She was really worried about what would happen after she graduated from the Academy.
“Do you not have anything you want to do, Misono-san?”
“Well….. I wanted to study magic a bit more if I could.”
“Study magic, huh? Then why don’t you join the Court Mage Division?”
“That’s a great idea.”
Liz raised her voice and approved of my idea.
Of course there was an exam to join the Court Mage Division, but it shouldn’t be a problem with Airchan’s abilities.
Besides, Airchan had magic talent.
It was normally good to have apt.i.tude in a single attribute magic but to have three was really rare. Liz excitedly told me that it only happened once in a hundred years.
Airchan has only been raising her holy attribute magic so far, just because of His Highness Kyle’s plan, so her other attribute levels were still low.
Airchan wanted to study magic a bit more because of that.
“It would be better for you to join if you’re that talented in magic. The people at the Court Mage Division are experts in magic, so they can teach you a lot of things. I’m also receiving magic lectures from the Head Magician.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It’s better for you to reach out to them since you have great magic talent. Also, you can also go on subjugations if you join the Court Mage Division, that way your achievements will build up, you know?”
Airchan seemed like she wanted to join the Court Mage Division after listening to my story.
Liz constantly advising her might have also influenced her decision.
More than anything else, she liked that she would be able to meet me more because I went to the Court Mage Division a lot for my lectures.
Her eyes shone a lot when I told her that.
Was it rea.s.suring for her to be with someone from the same world as her?
Liz also talked about various things and Airchan decided that she would join the Court Mage Division after she graduated from the Academy.
At that time, Airchan’s expression changed for the first time since this conversation started, she was smiling cheerfully.