Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke: This Time I’m Gonna Tell Her How I Feel! Volume 3 E-Book

Rhythm Aida

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Serie: Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke: This Time I'm Gonna Tell Her How I Feel!
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Seitenzahl: 317

Beschreibung

Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke: This Time I’m Gonna Tell Her How I Feel! Volume 3

Leseprobe

“The Piggy Duke was intelligent, strong, kindhearted, and sadly, too stubborn for his own good. From another perspective, the story of Shuya Marionette can be interpreted as his tragedy.”

—Director of Shuya Marionette

Prologue: The Dawn of Upheaval

“Don’t come any closer, Master Slowe!”

“Oink! Oink, oiiink!”

Like a mouse caught red-handed making mischief, the girl retreated as I backed her into the corner of the room. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes as she hugged something close to her chest and shook her head.

“Master Slowe, how could you do something so cruel?!”

Let me make myself clear. The relationship between Charlotte and me has always gone off without a hitch.She always acts for my sake, as I always do for her in turn.

“Oink! Oink, oink! O-Oiiink!”

“And don’t make those orc sounds! I have no idea what you’re saying! Please speak properly!”

This was the case between us, even now. I was driving Charlotte into a corner because I wanted the best for her. To a bystander, though, it might have looked like a villain with malicious intentions closing in on a beautiful girl.

Okay, I’ll be honest. They absolutely would see me as a villain.But I have my reasons for doing this. Honestly, I do.

“Oiiink!”

“I said, I have no idea what you’re saying when you talk like that!”

“Oh, oops. Sorry about that. Whenever I get passionate about something, the orc sounds just spill out,” I mumbled. “But come on, Charlotte. Get over here and give me that wand!”

Despite being a klutz, Charlotte wanted nothing more than to become a mage worth her salt. I admired her spirit, but a wand falling into the hands of an inexperienced mage would only cause trouble. As a result, I’d asked Charlotte to hand over the potentially dangerous wand, but she was as stubborn as a mule and refused to budge.

“This wand is mine!!!” she exclaimed. “Just because I’m your retainer doesn’t mean that you can get away with doing a bad thing!”

“A bad thing?! I’m doing the right thing, I’ll have you know!”

“Are you saying that I’m in the wrong?!”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying! Charlotte, you’re the one who’s completely in the wrong here! So hand it oink oink!”

Shouldn’t a retainer obey all the orders their master gives them without question, you ask? Perhaps that was the norm in most cases, but it was different in House Denning.

In my family, retainers were taught to stop their master at all costs if they did something stupid, even if it meant going as far as punching them. Even if their master sustained grave injuries in the process, the retainer wouldn’t be held responsible in such a case. Such practices were probably what had earned my family the reputation of being warriors who talked with their fists.

“Charlotte, you are completely surrounded. Oink...” I cackled. “Now, hand it over.”

“I refuse! This is my spoils of war! I didn’t think you were such a cruel person, Master Slowe... It tears me apart to hear you say that!”

I sighed. Why did my morning have to start out like this? We’d been bickering like this for nearly ten minutes already, and Charlotte showed no signs of giving in.

I’d overslept this morning, which was a rare occasion for me. Since I wasn’t at my usual jogging course, Charlotte came to wake me up. I was fast asleep and didn’t hear her knocking on the door. Charlotte had to come in and force me awake. It was at that moment that I spotted the wand at Charlotte’s hip.

“Charlotte! Where did you get a wand?! Did you steal it from someone?!” I’d exclaimed.

It had all begun somewhere during the incident with Sepith. Charlotte claimed she’d defeated a bandit with a battle cry and then picked up his wand from the floor in the theater during that time. I’d been swarmed by a bunch of things in succession after the incident, so I’d completely forgotten about her picking up the wand.

“This wand is mine!”

Charlotte hugged the expensive-looking wand closer to her chest. The previous owner had some great stuff for a bandit, huh? That thing might be of a higher caliber than even Lord Pauper’s... No. It was definitely better quality.

“I won’t give it to anyone, not even you, Master Slowe!”

But I knew about how Charlotte had really gotten that wand. She insisted that this wand was her spoils of war, but how in the world would a clumsy mage like her have managed to claim it? Weeell...

“Silva told me that there was a stupid bandit who tripped over your foot and knocked himself out! Isn’t it too much of a stretch to call that wand your spoils of war?! You didn’t rightfully earn it!”

“It wasn’t a coincidence!” Charlotte argued. “Thinking back on it now, I’m pretty sure he fainted because of how intimidating I was!”

“You? Being intimidating? Do you hear yourself right now? ‘Charlotte’ and ‘intimidating’ don’t belong in the same sentence together. Definitely not.”

Charlotte groaned in frustration. “It doesn’t matter! I won this wand fair and square! Even you don’t have a say in my spoils of war, Master Slowe! It’s a rule of House Denning, and you know it!”

I gritted my teeth, unable to find a reply. “You’re sooo stubborn, Charlotte...”

Ugh, bringing up the House Denning rules? Here?! At this rate, we’d be stuck at an impasse until one of us relented. So...

“It can’t be helped,” I muttered at length. “I’ll let you keep it, Charlotte, but only on one condition.”

Yeah. I surrendered. I was always extremely lenient towards Charlotte; I had such a soft spot for her that I’d ended up throwing away a glorious future. Surrender was the only possible outcome of this debate. Besides, if we followed House Denning’s rules, the wand was indeed her spoils of war, and I had no right to deny her that.

“You absolutely have to give it to me before my father comes to Kirsch!”

“I know that! If the duke found out that I possessed a wand, he’d cut my salary again...” The clumsy mage shivered like a leaf in the wind, probably imagining my father scolding her in the future. “I can’t afford to live if it decreases any further...”

Though House Denning banned Charlotte from using magic, in all honesty, I’d have preferred for her to become proficient if at all possible. Since living as the blackhearted Piggy Duke hadn’t been an option anymore, I’d decided to change for the better. Charlotte would have to become an adept retainer to remain at my side.

However, sadly...the spirits that blessed us mages with magic just weren’t fond of Charlotte.

“A wand... My wand...” Charlotte heaved a long, relieved sigh. “I finally got my own wand...”

To make matters worse, even though Charlotte had an affinity for light magic, the light spirits pretended she didn’t exist.

“My wand...” Charlotte sighed. “Oh, right. I should carve my name into it so that anyone can see that it’s mine.”

At this rate, she might start rubbing it affectionately against her cheek. I thought about one of the theories I’d formed as I watched Tina recently. Tina was able to manifest magic by telling the spirits her true feelings, and her skills had only shot up from there despite her commoner blood. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think she’d be so successful just by telling the spirits how she felt.

“All righty, time to practice! I’m going to try my hardest, Master Slowe!” Charlotte exclaimed.

Charlotte had once been the princess of Huzak. She’d inherited the blood of one of the noblest families, and so ordinarily spirits would gladly lend her their power. But Charlotte hid her true identity, unwilling to break out of her shell. That might’ve been one reason why the light spirits didn’t think highly of her, meticulous creatures as they were.

This was all just speculation on my part, of course. My powers allowed me to see and hear spirits, but I still had no clue how they decided which people to lend their powers to.

“Charlotte, I’m sure you know this, but...” I called out to Charlotte, who had a spring in her step as she made her way from my room.

Even though I had that theory, I couldn’t just pressure Charlotte to reveal her secret to me or tell her that she might be able to use magic properly if she did. I would wait until the day she told me of her own volition. That was one rule I’d set for myself that I absolutely would not break, after all.

“I know, I know!” she said, counting on her fingers. “Don’t point my wand at people! Don’t try making up spells! And don’t get carried away! These three rules, right?!”

“Charlotte, I’m not finished talking yet! Hey, wait!”

“I know the gist of what you’re going to say! After all, I’ve been a mage for over ten years, and I’ve been your retainer for a long time too!” my retainer said in high spirits, then thundered down the stairs. She reminded me of a kid who’d finally gotten a toy she’d been longing for.

I muttered to myself, “I really think it’s about time that she gave up on magic, though...”

No. Those are bad thoughts. I fervently shook my head. Charlotte’s wanted to become a magnificent mage ever since she was a little kid! I, of all people, shouldn’t be the one to deny her dream! I looked out over the campus from my window, and I spotted Charlotte sprinting from the male dorms.

Normally there wouldn’t be many people on campus this early in the morning at Kirsch. It was too early yet for students to start coming out of their dorms...but that hadn’t been the case lately.

“Look! A monster snuck into the campus!”

“It’s a foolish orc! Catch it!”

I watched on in silence. Students chased a monster around, accompanied by soldiers wearing Daryth’s colors. The soldiers scattered all over campus with lances and greatswords in hand. There were usually only twenty or so soldiers around campus at any given time, mainly stationed at the gates. But today, armed soldiers swarmed in droves over the school’s grounds. A quick count told me there were around a hundred of them just that I could see from my bedroom window.

Was this sudden influx of soldiers because Sepith had turned out to be a traitor? No. That wasn’t the case.

“Look at that beard! That’s a Baron Orc! It’s way smarter than your usual stupid orc, so it might be hiding weapons! Be careful!” one of the students shouted.

“Hey, stop right there!” a soldier barked. “How many times do I have to tell you that you mustn’t approach monsters?!”

“Yikes, that old man is Captain Heinz! Run for it!” the student yelped.

When Charlotte, Alicia, and I had returned from Yoram, we were all rendered speechless. News of Sepith’s betrayal and the subsequent cancellation of the Guardian Selection hadn’t reached the campus at all. Instead, a major incident was happening at the school that made Sepith’s actions pale in comparison: the existence of the dungeon in the Lost Woods that was supposed to be used in the Guardian Selection had become public knowledge.

“I wanna go into the dungeon as soon as possible! The dungeon, I said! I’ll definitely come back with a treasure as grand as Flamberge, the sword of flames!”

“Don’t be silly. You couldn’t find treasure in broad daylight, never mind down in the dungeon. A shovel’s the best you can do.”

They’d announced that my father would visit the school at the same time the dungeon had come to light.

“Have you handed in your Declaration of Participation for the dungeon expedition yet?”

“Of course I have. Still, Duke Denning really lives up to his house’s name; he doesn’t do things by halves. Who’d have thought that we’d be able to enter a dungeon without qualifying for an adventurer license? This is a super rare opportunity!”

At first, my father was only going to check on me while he was here. But from what I could gather, despite the Order’s best efforts to cover up the incident in Yoram, he’d found out both about that and about the existence of the dungeon.

Dungeons fell under the jurisdiction of the army in principle. I’d heard my father was outraged that the Order had dared to hide its discovery for their own convenience. Since he’d be coming to the mage institute anyway, rather than just assigning a new squadron of soldiers to the dungeon, he might as well let the students cooperate since the school was so remote anyway. It would be better for everyone in the long run.

Indeed, the dungeon was also a good place to test the skills of those who wished to join the army in the future. I was admittedly impressed by my father’s stroke of genius. He probably intended to directly approach promising students and invite them to enlist.

“Shuya, you’re practicing magic this early in the morning too?!” one student exclaimed, exasperated. “Oh yeah, I heard that you got an adventurer license. What’s it like inside a dungeon?”

“Ugh, I had kept that a secret all this time. How does everyone know that I am registered as an adventurer now?! This is all Professor Loco Moco’s fault! This is the worst!” Shuya yelled.

“Come on, Shuya! Tell me! ...Oh! The Baron Orc made a run for it! After it!”

“Hey!” the soldier shouted in warning. “I said, students shouldn’t approach the monsters!”

Because Kirsch was isolated from the rest of the world by an enormous forest, it was a place where young nobles could enjoy their youth away from the mundane world, even if it was just for a few years.

Even though the incident with Sepith had happened in the not-so-distant Yoram, Kirsch Mage Institute was still so peaceful that I couldn’t help but shake my head.

“They’re all so noisy this early in the morning,” I muttered. “Just because some dungeon appeared, everyone’s getting up early even though they’re not used to it. My peaceful jogging life is no more, thanks to them...”

Everyone gathered at the training field early in the morning to train hard at magic so that they could perform well in the dungeon expedition. Charlotte probably had been so stubborn about giving up her wand because the sight of those students had motivated her to improve her own skills.

“Like always, Shuya’s friends are surrounding him even at this ungodly hour, what with him showing off that social prowess of his... I-It’s not like I’m jealous of him or anything. Not at all. I have friends too... Not nearly as many, but...”

Even taking all of that into account, it was noisier out there than usual today for some reason. I closed the window and flopped back down onto my chair with a thud.

I could guess why Charlotte was so obsessed with that wand and why she had wanted so badly to practice her magic. She wanted to prove my father wrong about being an unreliable mage when he came to the school.

My father didn’t approve of Charlotte. But if Charlotte showed her improvement, she might change his opinion of her. I could agree with that sentiment, but I still doubted how well that plan would go. Charlotte was quite a klutzy mage, after all.

“Hm?” Just then, someone knocked on the door. The knock was reserved, but loud enough to make its presence known. Very few people had the need to visit my room. Though it pained me to admit it, it was because I had few friends.

“Is it Charlotte?” I thought aloud. “No, the knock sounds different.” Charlotte’s knocks were a lot less polite. Sometimes, if I didn’t respond, she would even start banging on the door.

“Yes, yes, oink... I’m coming,” I muttered as I got up. If it’s a fishy salesperson, I’ll send them away immediately. With that scheme in mind, I opened the door.

What waited for me beyond the threshold wasn’t a salesman but a girl with rose-gold hair. Her large, downturned eyes blinked a few times as she stared right at me.

In contrast to Charlotte’s silver hair, hers was quite eye-catching. Even so, the girl’s aura was softer than every other part of her... She was rather mysterious.

She stood still as a statue, a slight smile tugging at the corner of her lips as she continued to stare.

“Oink?” My mind went blank, and we both stared at each other for a while.

Good grief. Was there always such a cute girl at this school?

No, if there was, she would be on the lips of every gossip in the school. Did she just enroll or something? But it’s not the right season for enrollment. More importantly, girls aren’t allowed to enter the male dorms. Very few girls are allowed to enter this building. So she’s either a maid or a male student’s retainer. But she’s not wearing the maid’s uniform, and she doesn’t look like a retainer either.

And on top of that, that gorgeous rack of hers you can see through her clothes... I observed her in silence.

If I had to describe her breasts...they had the power of a mother’s bosom. She hid a treasure of unparalleled power underneath her clothes, despite being a growing girl. Though she was still not old enough to be called a mature woman, my imagination filled in the blanks, picturing a body that contrasted her...

“Ahem!”

Someone cleared their throat.

Oh. Oops. Ugh, what was I thinking? I took another look at her, this time realizing that there were burly men wearing white capes standing behind the girl.

The girl had many Royal Knights—whose colleague had been quite the thorn in my side in Yoram—attending her, and she lifted her hand to the corner of her mouth as she began to chuckle. Clearly, she was finding something hilarious about this whole situation.

“I see you get an early start in the mornings,” she said in a soft voice that befitted her gentle aura. “That, and I wanted to express my gratitude to have been in your care in Yoram.”

I realized something. I’ve seen this girl somewhere recently... Yoram, she says?Wait a minute. No way.But...she looks exactly like the person I met briefly in Yoram.

Huh? Is this a prank? Is someone filming my reaction or something? My mind was in shambles, and she must have found my reaction funny because that smile remained on her face even as she bowed her head at me in deference. It was then that I finally managed to shut down my endless train of thoughts and reboot.

“Th-There is no need to bow to me, so please raise your head!” I stammered.

“Finally realized who I am, have you?”

“Yes, indeed, I have! So please raise your head, Your Highness!”

This was none other than the princess of Daryth, Carina Little Daryth.

Chapter 1: The Princess of Daryth

I knew the future of this world. On top of that, if it involved characters who appeared in the anime, I could roughly guess how they’d behave with some degree of accuracy.

And yet, even with all that knowledge going for me, a few things still managed to catch me off guard. The mercenary No Face sneaking into Kirsch or Sepith Pendragon the Traitor Knight going rogue early, for instance. Still, nothing had yet strayed too far from what I knew of the anime, and the characters continued to trace the same footsteps towards their futures. I had the advantage of knowing what made them tick.

In other words, there were things that I could prepare for in advance, and because of that, I knew I had to brace myself for them.

“It’s a little late for this greeting since we’ve spoken some already, but good morning, Slowe. Sorry for visiting this early in the morning. We’ve only just arrived at Kirsch, so I wanted to finish my business before people start making a fuss about us.”

This, on the other hand, was completely out of left field for me. The girl in front of me right now with a few knights attending to her never appeared in Shuya Marionette, but she was undoubtedly an important character, nonetheless.

Even Shuya Newkern, the main protagonist, never managed to get into contact with the princess of Daryth.

“I-It is no trouble, Your Highness. I do not mind at all.”

“I’m glad. I was worried that you might be still sleeping, so... I mean, you know, it would have been rude on my part to wake you up for this.” Princess Carina flashed a reserved smile as she finished speaking. At first glance, she gave off a glamorous impression, perhaps because of her soft rose-gold hair, but there was something ephemeral about her.

I was used to looking at pretty girls since I saw Charlotte in my everyday life, but even someone like me would be hard-pressed not to find themselves drawn to Princess Carina.

She smells nice too, and her proportions are a sight to behold... I cut off that train of thought as I saw her heave a sigh of relief. With her sudden appearance at Kirsch, I was now sure of one thing.

“Um, Princess Carina... May I ask what business you have here at Kirsch Mage Institute?”

The fate of the world had changed greatly from the plot of Shuya Marionette as I knew it.

A handful of fully armed Royal Knights stood in the corridor of the fourth-floor male dorm.

“Slowe Denning, do you understand what we are requesting of you?”

“I understand well enough, yes. You are not giving me any details, which can only mean one thing.”

The princess wasn’t here in the corridor with us. While the Royal Knights were explaining the situation to me, she was snooping about my room, as if everything about the dormitory was curious to her. It’s probably more accurate to say that she’s ransacking my room, by the looks of it.

“All you need to know is that you must take care of the princess while she is here at this school. Normally, the honor of being the princess’s companion would never fall to a mere student. There is nothing more you could possibly ask for.”

To sum up what the knight was telling me, while the Cardinal and his entourage finished up their business in Yoram, they wanted Princess Carina to take this opportunity to interact with youngsters her age since she had very few chances to go out in public.

And so it was decided that Princess Carina would stay at Kirsch in the interim. While she was here, she needed someone other than the Royal Knights to attend to her during classes and such.

I turned out to be their prime candidate for that. As a Denning, my house status was befitting of the task. Besides that, this was the Order’s way of thanking me for stopping the traitorous Sepith Pendragon in his tracks. Or so the knights had told me.

“I see,” I said at length. “In other words, you want me to be the princess’s toy when she’s bored.”

In the anime, however, Princess Carina had adamantly refused to go outside and become a key player. Would she really come to this school just because the Cardinal told her to?

“Watch your tongue, you scoundrel,” the knight spat. “I will cut you down if you dare say anything rude.”

“My apologies. I’m still half-asleep,” I replied, feigning innocence.

The so-called “business” that the Cardinal and the rest of the Order were taking care of in Yoram...was, without a doubt, cleaning up after Sepith. If word got out that a Royal Knight was a traitor who’d defected to Dustour’s side, it would strain the relationship between Daryth and her allies.

As a result, they were going around and covering up any and all evidence that he had betrayed the Order. Judging from the exorbitant amount of spending Alicia had done lately, the Cardinal had obviously given her a handsome sum in exchange for her silence.

I, on the other hand, had received not a single word of appreciation or gratitude from anyone in the Order. In fact, the Royal Knights held a grudge against me for stopping Sepith. From their perspective, it was probably insulting that a Denning of all people had managed to outmaneuver a Royal Knight.

“What’s with that lineup of people?! The Piggy Duke’s talking to Sir Dalton, the One-Strike Knight, and that’s Sir Kushner, the Gemini Blades Knight, and there’s even Sir Delbane, the Berserker Knight!”

“There’s someone more important, though! The girl in the Piggy Duke’s room! That’s the princess herself! She’s still a Little Daryth right now, but it’s really her!”

“Hey, Sir Dalton is glaring our way!” a student hissed. “Be quiet, everyone!”

Further down the corridor, a crowd of students peered at us from the stairwell, eyeing our every move. Even Shuya was there. The students probably didn’t know what was being said in the tense exchange between me and the knights, though.

“So, which is it? Will you accept or not? Decide right here and now, Slowe Denning,” Sir Dalton demanded. “There are numerous other candidates aside from you.”

I mulled over it for a moment before making my decision. “I shall accept. It is a position of utmost honor.”

“You should’ve just agreed when we first asked instead of wasting our time...” the knight muttered. “That, and I’m sure you already know, but about the matter of Sepith—”

“I understand, Sir Dalton. I cannot say with certainty what my father would think of him, but personally, I hope that he will receive a second chance. I have no intentions of being thoughtless with this information.”

The knight paused. “I see. Then I shall say no more on the matter.”

My father already knew that the Order had invited me to join the Guardian Selection, and my mother had reprimanded me via a letter sent from back home. “What in the world were you thinking?!” she’d written. My mother had even scolded Charlotte for not fulfilling her duty as my retainer to stop me from going haywire. Charlotte had been quite down for a while after reading it.

Unlike me, my father would probably condemn Sepith for daring to do such an outrageous thing to Alicia. Looking back on it now, my father had doted on Alicia quite a bit when I was engaged to her, so that sort of reaction was likely. My father and the Cardinal would be having a conversation any time now in Yoram, and I could bet it wouldn’t be pretty.

I hope that I don’t get dragged into all of this for no reason, but like as not that’s what’ll happen... I sighed inwardly.

“Hey, have you finished the boring discussion?” The princess opened the door and poked her head out. Her soft rose-gold hair flowed behind her as she moved, and she was wearing a pleasant floral perfume. And...

Thinking about her well-endowed chest would be disrespectful, so I did my best to keep my attention away from there.

“It’s the Little Daryth!” a harsh whisper echoed down the corridor. “I’m from an earl house, but even I’ve never seen her until now!”

“Hey, don’t push me, Shuya! I said don’t push me! Oh wow, Sir Dalton’s looking at us!”

Sepith’s betrayal had been kept completely under wraps, likely due to Cardinal Maldini’s intervention. The people at school hadn’t heard a thing about it. They didn’t know I’d been a part of the Guardian Selection, nor that Alicia had nearly been kidnapped again, nor that there was a small connection between me and the princess of Daryth now.

“Sorry, Slowe. Though we caused you a lot of trouble, I didn’t get the chance to greet you properly back in Yoram. Not only that, but I’m staying at this school for a while, as I’m sure you’ve heard from Dalton already,” Princess Carina said, bowing her head.

Immediately, Sir Dalton gave me a death glare, and his lips turned down into a severe frown behind his black beard.

Yes, yes. I know.

“Princess Carina, please raise your head,” I pleaded. “And it’s an honor to be your companion, Your Highness.”

The princess breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m glad to hear that. Then, I am in your care from now on, Slowe.”

My first impression of her was that she was quite modest, a stark contrast to her striking appearance. I’d heard from rumors that the princess was a very...difficult person, but to be honest, she seemed to be quite mature from what I’d seen so far.

Though I’d been a little snarky when I spoke to the Royal Knight earlier, it was a dream come true to be Princess Carina’s companion.

The girl smiling bashfully at me was completely different from Charlotte and Alicia. So far, I had mainly been dealing with dangerous opponents like mercenaries and traitors, so this was a breath of fresh air in my life.

“Open yer textbooks,” the professor said, scowling as he looked over the class. “How many times do I have to tell ye to pay attention, kiddos?!”

“Highland! How crass of you to speak in such a way before Her Highness! Take your job seriously!” Sir Dalton snapped.

I was Princess Carina’s companion during her stay at our school. I was sure people would complain about it, but surprisingly, nobody did. Apparently, everyone thought I was the obvious choice for the role. House Denning was undoubtedly the highest status you could get in this school, at least next to Alicia. I supposed it went unsaid that status meant everything to a school full of young nobles, huh?

“So, uh... Earth magic is especially useful in construction on the front lines, as well as when making simple army bases... Ah, oops, wrong thing. I mean—”

“Highland, can you not teach with more dignity?”

“Beardo over there is an outdated guy who looks down on earth magic,” the professor quipped. “So make sure none o’ you end up like him, all right?”

Good grief, class today sucks more than usual.

Sir Dalton, a man of large build and sporting a black beard, stood watch out in the corridor. He criticized Professor Loco Moco’s teaching style out loud from the hallway, and the professor dished it out in kind. From the looks of it, Sir Dalton was probably the professor’s superior from when he’d been in the Order. Though Sir Dalton’s reaction made sense, it was heinous to have Professor Loco Moco teach Magic Studies in the first place. Some rumors said that a handful of students had gone directly to the headmaster to protest the appointment. Others said the school was urgently looking for someone to take the post of Magic Studies professor, but who knew how long that would take?

“Why are you just standing around, Highland? Hurry up and carry on with class!”

“Damn it... Why did this epitome of a muscle head have to be the one to come to Kirsch?” the professor muttered under his breath. “Oliver’s more suitable for stuff like this, right? Someone like Dalton isn’t useful outside the battlefield...”

Professor Loco Moco was clearly done with the whole situation because after that, he did little more than read the textbook word for word aloud to the class like some kind of robot.

Still, it was hard to ignore the large number of people who were trying to get a furtive look at Princess Carina. Shuya, especially. I’d lost track of how many times he’d turned around. He did it so often that Alicia kicked his foot in annoyance.

Oh. Alicia looked this way too. They’re both princesses. Maybe she’s self-conscious because of Princess Carina? But that theory was quickly shot down because rather than staring at Carina, Alicia only glared at me. What?

Princess Carina called out to me. “Hey, Slowe.”

“Oink?”

“Oink?” the princess mimicked me, chuckling quietly. “You’re an interesting one.”

Oh, oops. Whenever I let my guard down, I ended up relapsing back into the habits of a human orc.

Princess Carina’s hand was light as a feather as she wrote on the blank parts of the textbook, brushing across the paper. I peered over; her handwriting was small and modest, matching the impression I’d gotten from her.

I cleared my throat. “What is it?”

“Is Loco Moco Highland behaving likethat because I’m around?”

“No, it is probably because Sir Dalton is intimidating the professor.”

“Oh, I see. Those two and their antics... They haven’t changed at all.”

Though I’d said that to the princess, the truth was her presence probably did affect him. I knew from the anime that Professor Loco Moco had left the Order before he could bid farewell to the princess he was duty bound to protect...almost as if he’d fled from it all. Perhaps that was why the professor had his eyes glued to the ground and seemed to have lost his composure.

“Teach your classes seriously, Highland!”

“Oi, yer so noisy, Dalton! How many times are you plannin’ on lashin’ out at me?!”

Afterward, Princess Carina asked me about the professor’s reputation at school. She stared at the professor as she listened, seemingly intrigued. What was going on in that mind of hers? I had no idea.

Break time was meant to be just that: a brief respite, but...

“Your Highness! Please allow me to give you a tour around campus!”

“Hey, I was here first!” Shuya elbowed the boy away. “Your Highness, my name is Shuya Newkern! If there’s anything that you are unsure of during your stay at this school, please feel free to ask me!”

I couldn’t even count how many people had surrounded her, and the classroom buzzed with activity the moment class was dismissed.

Several times more boys surrounded Carina than last year when Alicia had first arrived. I wasn’t surprised, though, considering that this was Carina Little Daryth we were talking about. A princess that rarely showed herself in public was here at our school, of all places.

This was a rare opportunity, and if you could get close to her now, there was no telling what it might bring you in the long run. Or that was the reasoning, anyway. Look, I get why you’re all acting like this, but the desperation in your eyes is intimidating. You’re coming on so strong.

“Huh? Hmm... The princess smells really nice! What is it?” one boy wondered out loud.

“Your Highness! What perfume are you wearing?! Is that possibly a limited line of Noin Oula?!”

Princess Carina answered each and every inquiry from the barrage of questions fired at her sincerely. Alicia sulked at her from across the room, her elbow resting on the table. Though she wasn’t too obvious about it, Alicia seemed upset. Is she sulking because Shuya is so eager to try and get Princess Carina’s attention?

“It would be an honor to have lunch with you, Your Highness! Ah, if the dining hall is not to your liking, my room is very much available!” Shuya exclaimed.

“Your Highness, please refrain!” Shuya’s friend warned. “The guy keeps a giant snake in his room for fortune-telling purposes!”

If I were in Princess Carina’s position, I’d lose it and start firing off spells at them. I might even have yelled something like, “Ugh, do this later!” But the princess dealt with them all with grace. I wouldn’t have been able to keep my irritation off my face if I were in her shoes.

Once again, I observed our surroundings. Jeez, there are way more guys hanging around than when Alicia first came to school. Did her wondrous chest and her compassionate aura make her more approachable? The furtive glances at her chest from boys were endless.

“Your Highness!” they all exclaimed, one after another, echoing each other’s words.

Oh... Princess Carina was quickly lost in the sea of people, and I couldn’t spot her at all. I sent my best wishes silently to Princess Carina, who’d become the most popular person at school in the span of just a few hours.

“Lord Slowe,” a familiar voice muttered. “She’s very popular.”

“It can’t be helped. Here’s a princess that rarely shows herself,” I replied. “Aren’t you going to join them to try and make an impression on her, though? You’re aiming to become a Royal Knight, right? If she takes a liking to you, that’d be one giant step towards your dream.”

Though the student I was talking to sported blond hair just as Princess Carina did, his status fell right in the middle of the school hierarchy. Lord Pauper, the heir of Viscount Greatlorde, came right up next to me and looked towards where the princess was lost in the crowd. He didn’t seem like he planned on joining the fray.

“None of them have noticed that the princess’s expression is stiff,” Valjean said, sighing. “Those guys are idiots.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You can tell?”

“Remember, I was the one who immediately noticed your change, Lord Slowe.”

“True. You observe people keenly. I have a lot to learn from you in that regard.”

Sir Dalton was as still as a statue, not even a hair in his black beard twitching where he stood in the corridor. He didn’t seem to have any plans of saving the princess from the mountain of people she was buried under.

“Lord Slowe, the princess looked our way briefly. It seems that she is asking for help. I believe that it is your job as the Overlord of Kirsch to shine in a time like this.”

“Overlord? Bah. Who’re you talking about? But yeah, I guess you have a point. They did ask me to take care of her, after all.”