Chapter 59
Aither casually slipped in between us.
"We meet again, young lady. And you too, slave knight."
For a moment, Renoa was startled by his sudden appearance, then bowed her head with perfect decorum.
"Renoa, the second daughter of Edelhide, greets Your Highness the Prince."
"You don't have to be so stiff. We're not in high society here. You and I are just students here."
"But..."
"I said I don't want you repeating yourself. I feel like I've already said this hundreds of times today."
Aither jerked his chin over his shoulder. Behind him, I could see countless students.
They were all noble sons and daughters who had enrolled in the academy to get acquainted with the prince.
It was only lunchtime, but Aither's face was already worn out.
It was obvious how much he had been put through by them.
"Understood, Your Highness."
"You can drop the 'Your Highness' too. My name is enough."
"Then, Lord Aither."
"That's more like it. Edelhide really is refreshing."
Aither nodded in satisfaction. His gaze shifted to me.
"Nice to meet you, slave knight. Your name was Leon, wasn't it?"
"Oh, right. Nice to meet you. Good to see you again."
"...Huh?"
For a moment, time seemed to stop.
Then Renoa snapped her head around at terrifying speed.
"Are you insane? He's the one who'll become emperor someday. The father of all his subjects."
"He was the one who told me to speak casually. And honestly, even if this man became emperor, he still wouldn't be my father."
"What?"
Renoa's eyes went wide in shock. Her green eyes, filled with both horror and anger, were frightening.
But my argument was still not wrong. Even if I got shot, I'd still run across the grasslands.
"I don't pay taxes."
"......What?"
"The obligations that every imperial citizen carries don't apply to me. In other words, as a slave, I'm not a subject."
"That's..."
Don't you know rights come from duties?
Likewise, duties only work properly when rights are granted too.
I was a slave with neither duties nor rights.
I couldn't even be treated like a person.
So I'm not a subject, and the emperor isn't my dad either. If anything, he's closer to my landlord.
"Well, of course, if His Majesty were to grant me emancipation by imperial decree, that would be a different story."
"Are you really crazy? Why are you doing this?"
Renoa kept glancing back and forth between Aither and me, fidgeting restlessly. She looked pretty cute, unable to stay still.
Who told you to keep me around in the first place? How about it, don't you want to let me go right now?
"I apologize, Your Highness. He sometimes goes crazy and spouts nonsense. But it wasn't this bad before; I didn't think he'd gone completely mad..."
Just as a flustered Renoa was desperately trying to explain herself in a machine-gun burst of words.
"Pffft. Puhuhuhuhu."
"...Your Highness?"
"Pwahahaha! Hahahahahahahahaha!"
Aither burst out laughing heartily.
"Right. That's true. If you don't pay taxes, you're not a subject! That's perfectly accurate. Isn't that right, young lady?"
"......"
"You don't need to look so serious. I have no intention of accusing you of lèse-majesté or anything. On the contrary, you made me laugh, so I should reward you. Is there anything you want?"
Aither said cheerfully, wiping away the tears at the corners of his eyes.
"Please let me go."
"So that's it. You want emancipation. Can you do that?"
"That..."
"Too difficult? Even as a request from the prince?"
Silence fell.
The air around us seemed to freeze cold in an instant.
A request from the prince was effectively a threat on par with a royal command—one that could not be refused.
"......Lord Aither."
After a brief silence, Renoa lifted her chin high. The flustered look was gone from her face.
"Didn't you just say that yourself?"
"Say what?"
"That this isn't high society, but the academy. That you and I are just the same students here."
Aither's eyes glittered with interest. Renoa continued without giving an inch.
"According to academy regulations, the seizure of property without just cause is strictly forbidden. I have no obligation to release my slave."
Aither blinked for a moment, as if caught off guard, then burst out laughing again.
"Hahaha! You got me. I can't believe I'd get tripped up by my own words."
Wow.
I was genuinely surprised too just now.
Is this really the same Renoa who used to beg and cling to the prince? This is seriously impressive.
If it were the Renoa I knew, she would have kicked out a slave like an insect, all for a chance to catch the prince's eye.
But now she's refusing to free me even if it means defying the prince's order.
'Should I be happy about this, or not?'
Hard to tell.
"Sorry about that, Leon. Your master is putting up such a solid wall that even I, as the prince, can't do anything about it."
"That's a pity. I'll wait for another chance."
"As for how you address me, use whatever feels comfortable. I'll give you special permission."
"I'll handle it as the situation calls for."
In any case, my plan to use the prince to escape had ended in failure.
I had to pay the price for trying to escape. Judging by Renoa's ferocious glare, I'd be getting a proper earful later.
"More importantly, why not introduce me to the young lady beside you? I think I remember seeing her in the classroom."
Aither's gaze passed over us and settled on Elody.
"Huh? Me?"
"Yes. You."
"My name is Elody."
"Elody. A beautiful name, just like your eyes. Are you perhaps a commoner?"
"Yes."
Wow, now I've seen everything—two protagonists talking right in front of me.
It feels like a scene from a game.
"Nobles, slaves, and commoners. That's quite the unusual combination. If you don't mind, wouldn't you let me join you?"
"No, I'd rather not."
I answered immediately.
It's not that I hate you, but not right now.
"A refusal, of all things. I didn't see that coming at all, but this is a new experience too, so it isn't bad. But why? Everyone wants to be with me, don't they?"
"That's why I don't. People are going to swarm over just to look at you. Like right now."
The year's hottest first-years—the prince and the noble lady—were together. And I had my own share of fame, too.
In terms of recognition alone, I was definitely the biggest name at the academy. Because of that, people were standing all around us, watching.
It felt like being a monkey at the zoo, and I didn't like it one bit.
More than anything, being with Aither could be dangerous in more ways than one.
"Sorry, but I wasn't asking you."
"Huh?"
"What does the young lady think? May I accompany you?"
"It's an honor to be with Lord Aither."
Aither nodded in satisfaction. He gave me a mocking grin.
"Since the master has given permission, the slave's opinion is utterly irrelevant. Right?"
"......"
And just like that, Aither joined the party.
Prince 1.
Noble 1.
Commoner 1.
Slave 1.
We were neatly distributed, with no overlapping positions.
Am I the Bremen Town Musicians or something?
I don't like this lineup.
In the Bremen Town Musicians, the one who has it hardest is the donkey, the one carrying the others on its back.
Here, that's me, the slave.
Renoa alone was already enough of a handful, and now I have to look after two more?
And those two are Aither and Elody, the key figures?
Nothing's going my way.
"Hmm, the cafeteria's crowded."
At lunchtime, we headed to the academy cafeteria.
Apparently everyone here had some experience sprinting, because the cafeteria was already packed with students.
"Please take a seat. I'll bring your share too, Lord Aither. Miss Elody?"
"I'll go! Lord Leon?"
"...Why?"
"Let's go together, just the two of us!"
"Oh, if we're going together, let's head out right away."
As expected, Elody is the only one I can count on.
In contrast, look at those two.
Ordering subordinates around like it's only natural.
"At the academy there should be no social rank! Making a classmate do your lunch-fetching..."
"Ahem. My legs are a bit weak, you see."
Even Aither seemed to hate waiting in line for food.
"Then the two of us will go, Miss Elody."
"Sure. I wanted to talk with Lord Leon a little more, anyway."
Still, I thought I'd get some private time with Elody thanks to that.
"Lord Aither, could you wait here for a moment?"
"Huh?"
"I'm uneasy about sending those two off alone. I should go with them and keep an eye on them."
"You're telling me to stay here by myself?"
"It won't take long. Let's go."
What an odd sight this was.
I thought only I, the slave, would be going, but in the end Prince Aither was the one left behind alone.
Aither, who had been staring blankly, quickly caught on and got to his feet with a cough.
"Ahem. Right. I should take care of my own share. Since this is also experience, I ought to try it myself."
"No. Why are you getting up when your legs hurt? Just sit there."
Sitting alone in a crowded cafeteria.
You should experience it at least once in your life, too.
We left Aither to keep our seats and went to get food.
The cafeteria was buffet-style.
Out of the many, many dishes, you just take whatever you want and put it on your plate.
Students enrolled at the academy get free meals, of course. I wasn't sure whether that applied to me as a familiar, though.
"Are you seriously telling me to serve myself? Does that even make sense?"
"Tell me about it. Why did Your Highness have to come to a place like this?"
The nobles who had been pampered like precious treasures all their lives grumbled one after another.
For people who had never even bathed or dressed themselves, it was a different kind of culture shock.
"Wow... There are so many dishes. You're saying I can eat everything here?"
By contrast, Elody...
She had the kind of heart that treasures even the smallest things. This is why commoners are better than nobles.
Elody happily wandered around, looking at what she wanted to eat. Then she bumped shoulders with someone.
The food on the other person's plate spilled, dirtying her uniform.
"Ah, sorry—"
"Where the fuck are you looking, asshole."
Before Elody could even finish apologizing, the boy spat out a vicious curse in a harsh voice.
At that moment, the air around them turned chillingly cold. Everyone stopped moving as if time itself had frozen.
What kind of bastard curses at Elody?
I was just about to see what his face looked like.
Crimson-red hair.
Eyes like molten lava.
And a fierce expression to match.
"Gerard?"
"...Slave?"
A former apprentice knight of Edelhide.
He had once been Renoa's bodyguard knight, Gerard.
Why the hell are you here too?