Chapter 55
A holiday with no lectures.
Two people suddenly barged in.
Golden and black hair. I looked at the two of them with nothing but a question mark hovering between my brows.
“Eh···.”
Lanne, Alice.
The two girls looked up at me as though waiting for my answer.
When I tilted my head in bewilderment, Alice, who had been hiding behind Lanne, poked her head out.
“Lord Victor, th-that’s···.”
As always, the girl’s voice was timid.
The hand clutching her sleeve trembled.
“Because something like that happened yesterday···. Um, it’s not, not that I meant anything by it. I was just curious about what happened afterward···.”
“I’m curious too! I never imagined Sir Victor had feelings for Chief Investigator Jaber!”
“Feelings···.”
“I heard the news too! You confessed in front of everyone in the lecture hall!”
“And Professor Jaber accepted it, saying it was, was fine, so I didn’t know what happened afterward···.”
“It’s disappointing! I had no idea! I never imagined Sir Victor could harbor such passionate feelings.”
“Sniffle··· I-I’m sorry. I just wanted to know···.”
Lanne showed her disappointment, as though asking whether I couldn’t even tell a friend beforehand.
Alice mumbled incomprehensible words with her head bowed low.
Their reactions were utterly chaotic.
“Still, congratulations! I’m so happy your love has come to fruition!”
“Yes, ngh··· Congratulations. Be, be happy···.”
Only then did I realize what I had overlooked.
‘Come to think of it, I caused a scene yesterday and just left.’
The situation had ended without any explanation or clarification.
Afterward, I stopped by Jaber’s office, then went straight back to the dormitory and crashed.
From the perspective of the students who had witnessed the whole thing, it must have been terribly confusing.
I had suddenly stormed into the classroom and launched a confession attack, and Jaber had immediately countered with one of their own.
‘They must think I’m dating Jaber.’
Jaber had played along with my prank far too well.
Who could have known Jaber would nod at that point?
To be honest, even I—the one who had launched the confession attack—hadn’t expected things to unfold that way.
I let out a short, hollow laugh, then straightened my askew mask and pulled it back into place.
‘Did I··· start this without thinking it through?’
It felt like explaining this to everyone would take forever.
First, I explained the situation to the two people in front of me.
I invited them into the room.
“Um··· Shall we come in and talk?”
Lanne and Alice entered the room, though they were still fidgeting shyly.
After seating them, I prepared and set out some tea.
“Activation. Formalwear.”
Whish—.
As I murmured the words, the threads in the glove unraveled.
They then wrapped around my entire body and draped themselves over my shoulders.
A neat outfit was layered over my comfortable shirt.
‘Wriggles.’
That was the nickname I had given it.
Personally, I liked it much more than its true name, ‘Black Mist’; it felt much softer and cuter.
Having regained my usual neat appearance, I sat down on the sofa opposite them.
Lanne and Alice were looking around as though fascinated.
“Hmm! Sir Victor’s room is clean.”
“There really isn’t··· a, a speck of dust.”
“Hehe, not bad for a room occupied by a male student living alone, right?”
A few simple pleasantries passed between us.
I tilted my teacup a few times before speaking.
“Let’s see. Where should I start explaining···?”
I explained the general situation.
Including the fact that it had all been one ridiculously fun hidden-camera prank, and that I had afterward become Jaber’s direct assistant.
Naturally, I embellished things as needed, combining some parts and cutting others.
Once I finished, the two wore complicated expressions.
“I-I see···. So you, you weren’t actually dating···.”
Alice nodded as though she had only just realized it.
For some reason, her face was flushed, and the rims of her eyes were red as though she had been crying.
But her expression was far brighter now than it had been when she stood at the door.
It was as though her anxiety had vanished.
“······Thank goodness.”
A murmur so quiet it was barely audible.
Before I could wonder about it, Lanne sprang to her feet and cut in.
The girl’s violet eyes were sparkling.
“As expected of you, Sir Victor! I never imagined you’d be recruited as Chief Investigator Jaber’s direct assistant!”
“It’s not so much that I was recruited··· as that Professor Jaber simply indulged my unreasonable request.”
“Even so! I heard that Chief Investigator Jaber has never had a direct assistant since taking up a post at the academy. They say Jaber is that stubborn. Even with the promise made during the mole investigation, if you hadn’t met Jaber’s standards, Jaber would never have accepted you.”
“I’m happy you think so highly of me.”
“You need to think more highly of yourself, Sir Victor!”
As expected! Amazing!
Lanne tacked remarks like that onto practically every sentence.
Sometimes I wondered what exactly she took me for.
“I’ll have to work harder too! Even though I’m doing my best to keep up, Sir Victor, you only keep getting farther away···!”
“It’s not that bad. Really.”
Even now, if not for that bug, I could finish you in one second.
I swallowed those words and instead gave them my remaining reminder.
“For now··· please keep what you heard today to yourselves.”
“Y-yes···?”
“Why?”
“Because we’ve decided not to announce it yet. The news of my appointment as Professor Jaber’s direct assistant will be released later.”
“Is it because of your conflict with the Class B top student?”
Lanne asked, seeming to have put the pieces together.
“It seems you intend to settle your conflict with Miss Kaitlyn once and for all, Sir Victor.”
“That’s right. If word spread now that I was being appointed a direct assistant, it would make it difficult for the Class B top student’s side to act rashly. No one would dare pick a fight with the direct assistant of Grandia Academy’s de facto second-in-command.”
“So you intend to delay the announcement until you’ve settled your conflict with Miss Kaitlyn··· Is that what you mean?”
“Exactly. It will make everything cleaner. In the first place, many students wouldn’t accept the Class E top student being appointed a direct assistant. Most direct assistants normally come from Class A, after all.”
“Certainly. I hear the competition is incredible!”
“It’s absurd to think that some mere Class E top student could become a direct assistant after beating those odds. But if that person also bore the title of being skilled enough to defeat the Class B top student···.”
“Then they might be able to accept it!”
“Exactly.”
Merely obtaining the position wasn’t enough.
What mattered was how widely that position was recognized.
To wield authority, one needed qualifications to match it.
‘When the time comes··· to use my authority effectively, I need enough recognition that no one will object.’
And.
My conflict with Class B would be the first step in building that foundation.
“Um···.”
Alice had been quietly listening to our conversation.
The girl cautiously opened her mouth.
“But couldn’t they just let it go···? I mean, what if the Class B top student’s side decided not to, not to clash with you···.”
“That doesn’t seem like their style.”
“That’s right! From what I’ve heard, something seems strange about the atmosphere in Class B.”
Lanne added an interesting tidbit.
I asked her about it.
“The atmosphere is strange?”
“Yes! I heard they seem to be plotting something ever since your speech, Sir Victor.”
“What, for example?”
“Hmm··· The Class B top student has been contacting several associate professors at the academy, while Class B students have been spreading nasty rumors about you, Sir Victor. I don’t know the details, but they seemed to be preparing something.”
“So it really is happening.”
“Do you have an idea what it might be, Sir Victor?”
“Who knows? But if they’re preparing something, I can’t imagine what else it would be.”
Contacting academy associate professors while waging a public-opinion campaign among the students···.
The only event that could follow was ‘that.’
If my prediction was right, it would provide a more perfect stage than I could ask for.
I needed to sit back and let the other side cause trouble as they pleased.
‘They’re even preparing the stage for me··· There’s no reason to turn that down.’
I smiled.
“In any case, I intend to handle this matter properly.”
“Hmm! Is there anything I can do to help?”
“There is one thing. What happened yesterday has probably spread among the students by now—rumors that Professor Jaber and I had started seeing each other, and so on. I’d appreciate it if you could dispel those rumors. It would be good if you corrected them and said they weren’t true at all.”
“Understood! If such a rumor is spreading, it would certainly make it difficult for the Class B top student to come after you, Sir Victor.”
“A clarification that it was merely a minor incident will be enough. In particular, Miss Lanne, you have connections throughout the upper-ranked classes, so I’d appreciate you lending me that influence.”
“That’s the least I can do for my lifesaver! Just leave it to me!”
“I-I’ll help too···! I’ll do whatever I can···!”
Alice had only been quietly listening to our conversation.
Perhaps feeling that she, too, ought to do something, she suddenly stepped forward.
Her blue eyes wavered unconsciously, and I tilted my head at my reflection in them.
“Hmm.”
Well.
I doubted Alice would be much help in something like this.
She was the sort of person who found it difficult to interact with others.
“Thank you. You’re both very dependable.”
Still, I thought it was sweet that they wanted to help.
Moved by her thoughtfulness, I patted the girl on the head.
“Heh, hehe···.”
Alice flinched in surprise, then smiled goofily.
The conversation was just about to wrap up.
I gauged the mood, then quietly opened my mouth.
‘Now?’
I had been thinking of finding the right time to tell them, and as luck would have it, the two had come all the way to my dormitory.
Since we’d gradually built up a relationship of trust, I thought I should reveal one of the things I’d been keeping to myself.
I carefully set down the teacup balanced on my fingertips.
Clatter—.
“Ahem··· That reminds me, there’s something I wanted to tell you two.”
“What is it?”
“To, to me···?”
The two of them looked puzzled.
“There’s someone I’ve been wanting to introduce to you for a while.”