The First Letter (45)

It did not take long for me to speak again. Senior Delphine’s proposal had been unexpected, but her words were not so ambiguous that I could not discern her true intentions.

I answered her question cautiously.

“……It’s a sort of recruitment offer.”

Senior Delphine smiled, satisfied with my answer. Her snow-white hand tilted the wine bottle. Soon, wine filled the empty glass—the one she had drunk from.

Rather than take that glass herself, she nudged it toward me once more with a light tap.

With a soft slosh, another wineglass came sliding in front of me. I looked at Senior Delphine as if asking what she meant.

Senior Delphine had her chin propped up, gazing at me with languid eyes. A listless voice flowed from her lips.

“In the North, when we mean to join forces, we fill a great horn cup with liquor and share it. It’s a ceremony between comrades-in-arms. But, well, we can’t exactly do that in the middle of the Academy, can we?”

She added that it looked somewhat barbaric, gesturing toward the wineglass with her eyes.

“Don’t think too much of it. Just think of it as forming a slightly friendlier relationship. If I come to like you after that…… you know?”...