League"s Plan
It took an hour for Katy to ask Hikaru various things down to the smallest details. He was completely exhausted, the opposite of Katy, who was busy putting together any information relating to holy mana with bright eyes, after securely hiding the bullets.
The moment Hikaru stepped out of the laboratory, the a.s.sistants who were clinging to the walls all this time, collapsed on the floor.
Learning the hard way just how strenuous the short sword lessons were, Lavia didn"t mention attending cla.s.ses again. She did, however, decide to go to the magic item lectures with Hikaru.
Katy insisted he show up. Since he wasn"t really busy and League also asked him to come, he pretty much didn"t have any reason not to attend.
「Thank heavens, you"re here.」League said.
The next magic item cla.s.s. League looked happy as he was accompanied by three women. With them around, they couldn"t talk in private. Or so Hikaru thought. As soon as the cla.s.s started, the women were asleep. Their tenacity was, in a way, worthy of praise. They clearly didn"t care about the cla.s.s, but they still attended just so they could be near League.
「Hikaru.」League whispered.
Women were sleeping on both sides, so Hikaru and Lavia took their seats behind him. League wrote something down on a piece of paper and pa.s.sed it over.
『Let"s talk using paper. Can you burn them all afterwards?』
What are we, high school girls? Then again, League didn"t really have much freedom to move about. There probably wasn"t any other way to communicate than this.
『All right. So what did you want to talk about?』
『I want to be acquainted with powerful people from the other six nations before the start of winter next year. I"m talking about students here in the academy. I need your help for that.』
『Why me? You can do that yourself.』
『Those Jarazack students taking the great sword cla.s.s are among the elite in their own nation and they like you. They see you as a friend. It took months for Roy to be friends with them, but it only took you a day.』
『They"re just a bunch of muscle heads. I haven"t even considered being friends with them.』
『The result is what matters. I want to make use of that. I"ll pay as much as I can.』
『I don"t need money and I"m not obliged to help you with that. Besides, those Jarazack dudes are a bit special, I guess. I don"t know about the other students.』
『You already met Lord Silvester. He enrolled into the academy a few days ago after finding out you were a student here.』
Seriously? Hikaru thought as he studied the note. League handed over another one.
『It looks like Professor Katy is interested in you as well. She"s been watching our exchange for a while now. You can use her to get close to students from Kotobi. That"s four out of seven nations so far. See? How can I not possibly come to you for help? There"s something about you.』
『It"s just a coincidence.』
(I think it"s too much of a coincidence.) Lavia whispered from beside him.
(What do you mean? It can"t be anything but coincidence.)
(You get involved with all sorts of people too much.)
(I specialize in Stealth, you know.)
(You have to hide better, then. Maybe you should hide in the shadows of someone who stands out.)
Yes… That"s a good idea.
『Please don"t use me as camouflage.』
League wrote. It seemed he heard their conversation.
『League, since you"re the one who suggested this, you"re the head.』
『Let"s make Lord Silvester the head. It"s only natural since the princ.i.p.al is from Zubura as well.』
League immediately sold out his future comrade without hesitation.
『I"m not sure about this. Is it really a good idea to drag students into politics?』Hikaru wrote.
『We won"t know until we try and I think it"s worth a shot. We have to make a move or nothing will change.』
A positive outlook. League would surely do it even if he was under constant surveillance and it was hard for him to do anything.
(What are you going to do?) Lavia asked.
What if I refuse? Will Roy do it in my stead? Or that red-haired guy?
As Rumanians, it would take time for them to get close to students from other nations given their history. Which made Hikaru the best option. While him being from Ponsonia might be a disadvantage, the students would rather be with a Ponsonian than those from the allied nations.
What do I do? I don"t even know. Frankly, he couldn"t care less. At first.
But he started giving it some thought after hearing League"s proposition. The Green Ogre heir was facing forward, listening to Katy — rather, pretending to listen. What he really wanted to listen to was Hikaru"s conversation with Lavia, most likely. He wanted to know what Hikaru was thinking.
It"s kinda weird for a top clan of Rumania to ask help from me, a foreigner.
That just showed how desperate and cornered League was. Despite this, he was still chasing his dream of a united nation.
I guess it"s too late to turn back now.
Hikaru couldn"t deny being moved by League"s dedication. He was worried though, because it felt like League was being impatient.
He still planned to attend cla.s.ses for the time being, so helping out League on the side wasn"t that big a deal. And if he wished to live in peace in this world, it would be in his best interest that Forestia would unite too.
Though the biggest reason why he could concern himself with such childish dreams was because he had someone to share everything with.
This is your fault, Hikaru thought as he glanced at the girl beside him. Lavia c.o.c.ked her head slightly.
『I"ll help however I can.』Hikaru wrote on the paper and handed it to League.
For them to make progress, though, they had to get rid of the women monitoring League. In order to do that, League would borrow a laboratory from the academy. If approved, the women wouldn"t follow him in there. Hikaru was not all convinced, but seeing the ladies fell asleep in magic item cla.s.s, they might stay away from laboratories.
『I"m planning to buy plenty of foul-smelling materials.』League wrote on the paper.
Hikaru headed to Katy"s lab after cla.s.s. As usual, the a.s.sistants didn"t look too pleased to see him. But as soon as they saw Lavia, they realized he wasn"t really a compet.i.tion, and their expressions turned gentle.
「You don"t have to leave.」Hikaru said with a bright smile, of which Lavia later commented as "fake".
「What? We"re not going to talk about holy mana?」Katy asked, looking disappointed.
「I know this sounds shameless, but I have two favors to ask of you, Professor. They"re not that big of a deal, though.」
「Shoot.」
「First, I need permission to use a laboratory.」
「Oh, you"ve finally become a captive of magic item research!」
「Nope. League, a male student from Rumania, is the one requesting for it. I thought it would get approved fast with your support.」
「Rumania… League?」
Katy looked as if she had no idea who Hikaru was talking about. An a.s.sistant approached and whispered in her ear.
「Ah, that student who actually shows up to my cla.s.s despite being a member of the Rumania clan.」
「Is it that unusual?」
「Not really for regular students. But it is when they"re members of a legitimate clan. Anyway, I can help you with that. I"ll get in touch with the admin some time today.」
「B-But Professor! He"s a Rumanian student!」one of the a.s.sistants protested.
「What? You want your own lab too? I can arrange one for you right away—」
「N-No! I really like working with you, Professor!」
The a.s.sistant panicked, sensing he was about to get kicked out of the room. It was apparent that they were really just after Katy.
「Really? Okay, if you say so. So, Hikaru. What"s your second favor?」
「Please introduce me to a student from Kotobi.」
「Introduce you to a student?」
「I"m thinking of creating a place where students can exchange information with others about the things they"ve learned in their cla.s.ses, and I want someone from Kotobi to be a part of it as well.」
Katy"s face was clearly saying "I want to be a part of that", but Hikaru ignored it. He wouldn"t share any information about holy mana anyway.
「I don"t know a lot of people in the academy. I just thought it would be great to interact with others. I"m sure you will introduce me to a wonderful student. Right, everyone?」
「Of course!」
「I"m sure the Professor can do that.」the a.s.sistants replied.
「All right, then. I know just who you"re looking for.」Katy said.「My sister.」