Chapter 45
***
A few days after the priestess and her daughter signed the scholarship recommendation letter.
Before the ink on the scholarship recommendation letter had even dried, an invitation arrived at the mother and daughter's home.
[You are cordially invited to the welcome dinner for scholarship students of the Mercure Merchant Guild Talent Development Foundation.]
The invited guests were the eldest daughter, Valeria, and Aila.
The sender was, of course, the scholarship benefactor, 'Shun Isa.'
The venue was <Au Temps Perdu>.
It was a luxury restaurant located in the bustling district of Civitas Square.
'Oh my gods....'
The priestess knew the restaurant too.
It was famous for charging enough for one meal to wipe out a mid-tier healer's weekly income.
The fact that they were summoning her daughters there just for a simple meal made the priestess's hand tremble slightly.
Too good a deal.
Too kind a treatment.
In her head, ominous fantasies kept chaining together.
'No way....'
She thought of the few reasons why nobles and rich people in this world sponsored the poor.
Either to make the child one of their servants in the future, or to claim the child's research results as their own.
If not that....
'No way... did he mean to keep them as concubines?!'
The priestess didn't know how old Shun Isa was.
He was a man whose every detail, aside from the fact that he was a genius, was shrouded in secrecy.
But judging from that genius and those achievements, he was probably at least in his thirties.
'A scholarship benefactor personally meets the girls regularly? And even rents out a top-class restaurant like this just for that?'
Before she knew it, Shun Isa had turned in the priestess's imagination into a greedy, potbellied old lecher who lusted after little girls.
A chill ran down the priestess's spine.
Powerful people never settle for just one target at a time.
On top of throwing around a huge scholarship to keep her quiet, he was definitely after her two pretty daughters too!
Without realizing it, the priestess brought a hand to her mouth.
Seeing her mother chewing on her nails from the side, the younger daughter, Aila, tilted her head.
'Why is Mom like that?'
*
And so the priestess's misunderstanding only deepened.
The day of the promised dinner arrived.
The priestess was straightening the clothes of her two daughters as they prepared to go out.
"Mom, it's fine."
The eldest daughter, Valeria, stepped back and dodged her mother's hand.
"Pull up your collar a bit. The restaurant might be cold."
"I can handle it."
A curt answer. But the priestess did not back down.
"And your belt is crooked. Come here."
"Ugh, seriously...."
Valeria sighed and reluctantly stepped closer.
Sixteen.
The eldest daughter had become noticeably more finicky with puberty's hormonal storm.
By contrast, the younger daughter, Aila, was obediently accepting her mother's touches.
"Mom, how do I look? Is anything weird?"
Fourteen years old, looking up at her with bright, sparkling eyes.
"Mm-hm. Our Aila is pretty."
"Hehe."
Aila spun around once in place.
The hem of the slightly worn but neatly pressed dress fluttered softly.
Having finished adjusting her two daughters' clothes,
the priestess silently stared at her treasures for a long while.
They were talented and beautiful daughters to begin with.
It was hard to believe they had come out of her own womb.
With pretty clothes on top of that, they looked like two angels had descended to the mortal realm. (At least, that was how they looked to their mother.)
'...'
But the more beautiful her daughters looked, the greater the priestess's unease became.
In the end, unable to bear the anxiety any longer, she gripped both daughters' hands tightly.
Then she spoke with a serious expression.
"Girls. Listen to your mother carefully."
"What are you getting all worked up about now?"
"Remember this. If that scholarship benefactor says anything strange to you, politely refuse. Understand?"
At those words, Valeria's expression twisted.
Aila tilted her head.
But the priestess continued with a grave expression.
"And no matter what excuse he makes, if he asks to meet you alone, never go along with it. Even when you go to the bathroom, make sure you go together, hand in hand."
"Uh, okay...."
"No matter what happens, do not drink any alcohol, like an aperitif. You must remember that."
At her mother's suffocating warnings, Aila only blinked, while Valeria let out a long, exasperated sigh.
Because she could kind of tell what her mother was worried about.
Of course, Valeria was a little worried about that too.
It wasn't uncommon to hear stories of a seemingly kind benefactor actually coveting a girl's innocence.
Shun Isa might have been that kind of person, too.
But Valeria didn't care.
She was sixteen.
Three years away from being a proper adult.
She was well past the age of being ignorant of the world and old enough to endure its storms.
(At least, Valeria herself was confident of that.)
Even if Shun Isa tried anything, Valeria was confident she could get herself and her younger sister out safely.
"I know, so let's go already. We don't want to be late."
"We'll be back, Mom!"
"We're off."
"Make sure you take good care of Aila!"
Leaving her worried mother behind, Valeria headed for the front door.
A glossy black carriage awaited them in front of the house.
The carriage door was emblazoned with the Mercure Guild's crest in gold leaf.
"Wow!"
'Wow...'
Aila's eyes sparkled with pure wonder,
while Valeria tried her best to keep a straight face and act composed.
"Well then, we're off."
"Okay? Be careful and—"
"I said I know."
Valeria closed the door in disgust.
"We're leaving!"
Aila, poking her head out of the carriage, waved brightly.
Soon after, the luxurious wheels began to roll softly.
In an instant, the carriage left the alley and disappeared toward the splendid center of the capital.
An alleyway where acrid smog had settled.
Watching the dust left behind by the carriage, the priestess rubbed her hands together anxiously, alone.
"Please protect our children...."
Amid the great tide of events,
she was the priestess earnestly praying that the mysterious scholarship benefactor her daughters were about to meet, 'Shun Isa,' would please not be a lecher.
***
— Clop-clop, clop-clop. Swish.
On the way to the restaurant.
Riding in the ebony carriage, Valeria and Aila could only marvel at how smooth and luxurious the ride was.
'So this is the power of money...'
'Wow, maybe Shun Isa is rich.'
At last, the luxurious wheels came to a soft stop.
"We have arrived, young ladies. Please step out carefully."
The coachman opened the door with a formal bow.
Valeria carefully stuck out the tip of her shoe first.
Aila followed her sister and jumped down from the carriage after.
And once the sisters got out, they had no choice but to suck in a breath.
The bustling district of Civitas Square under the night sky.
Among all those countless buildings, a massive white structure stood out, its presence utterly overwhelming.
<Au Temps Perdu>
A top-class restaurant fit only for merchants of great guilds or knights.
The light from the ornate golden chandelier decorating the entrance shone so brilliantly it made the street look like midday.
On the steps covered in red carpet, doorkeepers in uniforms with gold trim stood guard at the entrance.
At the overwhelming display of grandeur, Valeria swallowed hard without realizing it.
The girl who had just moments ago thought herself grown up suddenly found herself impossibly small.
"Wow..."
Meanwhile, Aila had her mouth hanging open, too busy admiring the dazzling building as if it had come straight out of a fairy tale.
In front of the restaurant, luxury carriages similar to the one they had come in were arriving one after another.
Boys and girls their age stepped down from the carriages. They too seemed to be scholarship students supported by the Mercure Guild.
Most of them seemed to be commoners.
Standing in front of the flashy building, they were all thoroughly intimidated and only exchanged awkward greetings with one another.
Counting them, there were about ten in total.
"This way. The rest of your party is waiting in a private room."
After spotting the students, the manager approached them.
Led by the manager's courteous guidance, the ten students began walking down the marble-floored corridor.
"Our restaurant was founded 150 years ago by our first manager, Mr. Arlmond..."
On the way to see Shun Isa, the corridor was lined with numerous works of art.
A luxury restaurant was not simply a place where meals were served.
Before taking up utensils in earnest, the meal began with appreciating art and getting oneself in the right frame of mind.
The students, who didn't know that, could only feel that even the hallway of a fancy restaurant was on another level.
The manager slowly led them deeper into the restaurant, introducing each piece of art as they went.
After spending roughly thirty minutes on the art tour,
the manager glanced sidelong at the clock hanging on the wall.
"The time has come. I hope you have a pleasant time now."
When the door opened, polished silverware on the long table came into view.
The students sat stiffly in their assigned seats, unable even to breathe properly.
After the manager bowed politely and left, a suffocating silence settled inside the tightly shut private room.
The students could not bring themselves to speak first, and could only stare blankly at their crystal glasses while swallowing hard.
Valeria also kept a tight hold on Aila's hand, glancing toward the door as if ready to run at any moment.
How long had that suffocating silence lasted?
"Everyone seems way too stiff. How about we introduce ourselves to each other before Shun Isa gets here?"
Unable to stand it any longer, one boy broke the silence first.
A fifteen-year-old genius who was making a name for himself in the Academy Middle School's swordsmanship department, Karl.
At his suggestion, several students nodded cautiously.
"I’m Karl from the swordsmanship department. Nice to meet you."
Karl forced a relaxed smile and picked up the silver steak knife lying on the table.
"To loosen the mood, I’ll show you something fun."
The silver steak knife he was holding was wrapped in a red aura.
Battle aura.
A power for knights and warriors, distinct from magic and holy power.
An ability even less efficient than magic or holy power, to the point that even professors couldn't maintain it for more than a few minutes a day.
But battle aura did have one advantage.
Unlike magic or holy power, even fools could use it.
Because of that, another nickname for battle aura was the miracle of fools.
Anyway.
Karl intended to use that battle aura, which he could barely keep going for even a few seconds a day, right here and now.
"If you coat this dull dining knife in battle aura, it can slice even a falling napkin like a razor."
This was a form of intimidation and self-advertisement.
Battle aura was generally a power that only upper school graduates could handle freely.
Naturally, it was a power middle school students couldn't even hope to touch.
But Karl had awakened to it at an early age.
It wasn't for nothing that he held second place in the swordsmanship department.
'Let's save the battle aura for when Shun Isa can see it.'
With that thought, Karl picked up the white napkin with his other hand.
Then he tossed the napkin lightly into the air.
The napkin fluttered as it fell.
All the students' eyes turned at once to Karl's hand holding the knife.
Karl steeled himself and channeled battle aura into the knife.
'...Huh?'
But a problem arose.
The most important things in battle aura were focus and willpower.
However, Karl, already tense from the restaurant's imposing atmosphere and unfamiliar surroundings, found it hard to focus as usual.
Swish.
As a result, the steak knife, untouched by battle aura, passed helplessly through the napkin.
The students deliberately averted their eyes from Karl.
"Ahem."
Karl coughed awkwardly and picked up the napkin.
"A mistake. Maybe the battle aura didn't flow well because it's silver. I'll show you again."
This time, he couldn't make a mistake.
Growing flustered, Karl swung the knife with all his strength just before the napkin touched the table.
If no battle aura formed by some chance, then he intended to rip the napkin apart with brute force if he had to.
Fortunately, the battle aura formed on time around the knife.
"Yes!"
But unfortunately, Karl's palm was sweaty.
Whoosh-!
The knife, swung with all his might, slipped smoothly out of his sweat-slicked palm.
"Ah."
A dumbfounded cry slipped from Karl's mouth.
The silver knife, having left his hand, cut through the air at a terrifying speed and flew straight toward Ellie, the top student in the alchemy department sitting across the table.
At the suddenly flying blade, Ellie stiffened without even managing a scream.
Valeria also widened her eyes and held her breath.
Just as the horrific tragedy of a person being pierced by a knife was about to unfold before their eyes.
"Well, well. So this is how kids these days play."
...
...?
Everyone in the room rubbed their eyes in disbelief.
Right before it reached Ellie's forehead, a mere inch away.
In front of her face stood a red-haired woman whose appearance no one had noticed.
Erica, dressed neatly in a women's suit, had the steak knife that had been slicing through the air neatly pinched between her index and middle fingers.
'What the... who is that woman? When did she appear?'
Chills ran down Valeria's spine.
Karl was the same.
Even though he was only in middle school, his instincts had been trained by swordsmanship since childhood.
Yet he hadn't sensed the woman in front of him appearing.
The red-haired woman broke the knife trapped between her fingers with a battle-aura-clad hand and said,
"Is this how the Academy swordsmanship department welcomes people? Surely someone who lives by the sword wouldn't let one slip."
Karl stared at the red-haired woman—Erica—frozen solid.
"Y-you... who are you?"
"Me? I’m the director's assistant... just for today. I'm also acting as escort and secretary."
Erica tossed the broken blade into the trash and walked to the door.
Creak.
And when she opened it, a man appeared on the other side.
"You ran off so suddenly. Did something happen?"
"No. I just felt battle aura from where the kids were, so I rushed over first just in case, teacher."
"What happened?"
"Hmm...."
Erica glanced at Karl for a moment,
"Nothing. Just the welcome ceremony."
and shrugged, brushing it off.
At Erica's words, the man nodded.
After finishing his brief exchange with Erica, the man walked toward the students.
The first thing that caught the eye was a neat and sophisticated top-of-the-line suit.
And on his head was a wide-brimmed black top hat, pulled down low.
The students realized it was not merely a hat.
It seemed to be a magical tool under a perception-disrupting spell, for only the shadow beneath the brim could be seen, along with the tip of his nose, his sharp jawline, and lips curved in a faint smile.
The man entered the room with an easy stride and spoke.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
His low, gentle voice resonated softly throughout the entire room.
As if it were imbued with some strange magic.
The students, who had been trembling until just then, all straightened their backs and fixed their posture in unison.
Valeria's eyes widened slightly.
'He's not the greedy, potbellied old pervert Mom was talking about...?'
The shape of his jaw, his voice, even his gait made it obvious.
He was much younger than she had expected, and carried an overwhelming air of elegance.
He was nowhere near the ominous image her mother had conjured when she talked about concubines.
"His voice is really nice..."
Aila murmured softly, her cheeks faintly red.
This time, Valeria didn't bother to cover her sister's mouth.
The man in the suit — Julian — naturally took the seat of honor at the table and gave the children a gentle smile.
"There's no need to be nervous. Sit comfortably. Today, I'm not here as your benefactor, but because you are the stars of the show. Ah, I was late introducing myself."
— I am Shun Isa.
At the man's final introduction, the students except the sisters went wide-eyed.