Arc 29: Second Semester

It was already the middle of the night when we arrived at the Roah Estate.

Naturally, no one came out to greet me. That was more comfortable, if anything.

Now, though, I had another wall to get over.

“So, are you really going through with this?” I asked Selena beside me.

“Of course. As your bodyguard, it will be easier to do my job if I’m formally recognized.”

“I think you’d be better off staying in my room and bolting back to the Ten Thousand Capes whenever someone comes.”

“I don’t want to do that. It’s not as if I’m doing anything dangerous.”

Selena huffed as she spoke.

Strange. I thought just belonging to the Ten Thousand Capes was plenty dangerous.

“You’re not going to regret this? You’ll need my father’s approval. You do know who the head of the Roach family is, right?”

“Of course. It makes no difference who he is. I have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.”

You really should, though.

I let out a sigh.

Right. Selena had never actually faced Ampere before. She would have to meet him eventually.

“Fine. Just remember I warned you.”

I led Selena into the mansion and knocked lightly on Ampere’s door.

“Father, it’s Frondier. I’ve just arrived.”

The sounds inside briefly stopped at my words. Then a slow voice came through, as weighty as ever.

“Very well. Get some rest.”

He said to get some rest, but he meant get lost.

Apparently, he had no desire to see the face of the son he hadn’t seen in over a month.

“... Father, I’ve hired a bodyguard.”

“A bodyguard?”

“Yes. A skilled professional who protected my life in Teibeon. I would appreciate it if you allowed her to use a room in the mansion. I’ll cover all other expenses myself...”

Every word made me nervous, yet Selena stood behind me without a care.

Well, Ampere probably didn’t care whether I hired a bodyguard or not. I expected him to say, “Do as you see fit,” again—

‘Huh?’

Just then, I heard a scraping sound. Probably a chair being pushed back. Heavy footsteps approached us.

Then the door opened.

“...”

My eyes met Ampere’s. The exchange of looks was far too tense for a reunion between father and son.

I gazed into his stern eyes for a moment before speaking.

“I’m home, Father.”

I had already said that through the door. I should have brought up the bodyguard now. Yet somehow, I wanted to say it again.

“... Yes.”

Ampere answered again without adding anything. I didn’t know what that meant, or whether it meant anything at all.

“Is that girl your bodyguard?”

“Ah, yes. Her name is Selena—”

I turned to introduce Selena behind me, only to find her trembling like a leaf.

... What was wrong with her?

“Is she really your bodyguard? You say she protected you in Teibeon?”

Ampere’s brow furrowed. His gaze was deeply skeptical. Well, looking at Selena now, I couldn’t blame him.

“Ah, yes, she did. She saved my life several times. I think she’s just nervous right now.”

At this point, I needed to get his approval for Selena, so I defended her as best I could.

“Is that so.”

Ampere took a single light step forward. In that instant, his overpowering presence slammed into Selena.

TAP! SKRRR!

Selena instinctively leaped away to put distance between them, reaching inside her clothes as she slid backward.

By the time she stopped, she was already ready for combat.

Needles filled every gap between the fingers of both hands, and her face was drenched in cold sweat.

“... Hmm. Very well. Make your own arrangements for your bodyguard.”

Apparently losing interest, Ampere turned and went back into his room.

It had ended with “Do as you see fit,” just as I’d expected, but at least he’d seen Selena for himself and given his approval.

THUD.

Selena sank to the floor. She hadn’t fainted; her strength simply seemed to have given out.

I approached and crouched beside her.

“I warned you.”

“I-I didn’t know it would be that bad... The moment I saw him, it felt like a towering mountain was bearing down on me.”

That was a good way to put it.

“Frondier. There is something you should know.”

Ampere’s voice came from inside his room. Selena reflexively sucked in a frightened breath.

“Yes? What is it?”

“Atzier is away. His work as a substitute teacher at Constel has also been put on hold, so you won’t be seeing him for a while.”

“... Has something happened to Brother?”

Atzier was away? That meant private training would be difficult for a while, too. I needed to test my dual-sword technique using Neil Jacques’s Short Sword, but that would have to wait.

Ampere spoke.

“Atzier is currently on professional duty. A mission from the Imperial Palace.”

* * *

The next morning, Constel’s second semester finally began.

The students had each spent their vacation in their own way.

Some had enjoyed leisure and rest, but most had focused on building their strength through individual training and the like.

Their improved abilities showed in their faces and eyes, now brimming with greater confidence.

“Did you hear?”

And today, on their first day back, the students listened eagerly to the rumors that had emerged from all over during the break.

“Aster Evans apparently trained under Eden Hamerlot, the number-one pro.”

“What? I thought Elin was the one interning with him.”

“Both of them did. Apparently, Aster asked him. And get this.”

“Yeah?”

“He’s learned Aura. Mastered it so thoroughly he can use it anytime, too.”

As always, the rumors centered on the famous students.

Aster Evans was their most frequent subject, but a few others had equally impressive stories circulating about them.

“Inies managed to combine three elements.”

“What? Elodie? I heard she was tearing her hair out trying to control her output.”

“Looks like she decided to increase her destructive power instead. Word is, there’s someone she ‘can’t afford to fall behind.’”

“What? Who’s ahead of Elodie?”

Rumors stir the air. Carried from mouth to mouth, that air gains weight and swirls like wind around those at the center of the rumors.

“Feels like it’s been a while.”

Aster Evans tasted that air himself as he headed to school that morning.

His hair had grown a little, and his expression was more relaxed than before. He had gained strength over the break, and that foundation had given him greater confidence.

Aster looked around. He had missed this sight: students around his own age walking together in their uniforms.

He could also feel the eyes of passing students on him. He’d more or less grown used to it before vacation, but today those looks held a different kind of intensity.

‘It’s because of the rumors.’

Naturally, Aster knew the rumors about himself. And they were true.

He could now wield Aura at will, thanks to the rigorous training he’d received from Eden Hamerlot and his older sister Elin. No, “thanks to” was too generous. “Because of” was more like it.

Most of the other rumors going around were probably true as well.

Their subjects were mostly people Aster knew, and from his perspective, the stories weren’t particularly outlandish.

... However.

“Did you hear?”

Rumors always tend toward fantasy and exaggeration.

Countless rumors are born in the wake of a momentous truth.

“They rebuilt the Teibeon Wall.”

“Apparently, it’s back to how it looked when it was first built.”

The Teibeon Wall had been rebuilt. That was indisputably true. Aster had even checked the news on a Wizerview.

There was something about the sight of that brilliantly restored wall that stirred his blood even through the Wizerview.

“But the guy who restored it...”

“Come on, no way. I heard that too, but it’s ridiculous.”

“Why else would he have gone to Teibeon over summer break?”

But rumors always contain a mixture of fantasy and exaggeration.

Aster reflected on that as he climbed the long hill toward Constel’s main building.

The restoration of the Teibeon Wall was a momentous truth, and countless rumors had swelled around it.

The most far-fetched and famous of them seemed to be the talk of Constel these days.

“Did you hear?”

Then Aster saw him.

“... Oh.”

The man whose name came up second only to Aster’s—or perhaps even more often, thanks to that outlandish story.

“That guy...”

“Oh, Aster. Hey.”

The subject of the rumors raised a hand in greeting, just as he always did. Aster raised his own hand in return.

“So you’re alive, Frondier.”

“Did you actually think I’d died?”

They exchanged lighthearted jokes, but Aster’s gaze inevitably drifted in a particular direction.

“Apparently, he’s got a woman hanging off his arm.”

Aster saw her. Now he had a chance to verify the most plausible of the rumors surrounding Frondier.

“Um, who’s that beside you?”

Aster asked Frondier, looking at the woman in a school uniform standing next to him.

“Oh, right. She’s my bodyguard. She’s starting at Constel today.”

The woman bowed her head and spoke in a lilting voice.

“Hello. My name is Selena. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

There was something seductive about her gestures and smile. And her figure was apparent even through her uniform—no, she seemed to have dressed specifically to make it apparent.

“... Oh, I see. Your bodyguard.”

A bodyguard who looked and dressed like that.

‘Frondier de Roach has a woman hanging off his arm.’

For now, at least, one of the more trivial rumors seemed to have proven true.

* * *

“... A bodyguard, you say.”

In the faculty office, Jane looked between Frondier and Selena with a cold gaze.

She had heard that someone was sweeping rumors along like the wind on the very first day of the semester.

But she’d never imagined that wind would blow her way.

“Yes. I was hoping we could be in the same class, if possible.”

“You say that, but it’s not something I can decide however I like.”

As a rule, students were assigned to whichever class had the fewest students. There would be no end to it if they accommodated every new student’s preferences.

Frondier glanced to the side as though considering something, then spoke.

“... Aten seemed to choose whatever class she wanted.”

“Hey, watch it. Don’t say dangerous things like that.”

Jane spoke in alarm. True, Aten had said she wanted to join Class Five, where Frondier was, and had indeed ended up there.

But Aten was a member of the imperial family. School rules became trivial in the face of that.

“Then which class will Selena be in?”

“Well, Class Two has the fewest students right now.”

Class Two. That was where Aster, Elodie, and the major Named Characters were gathered.

Frondier’s mind raced. Come to think of it, a bodyguard didn’t serve much purpose inside Constel. In that case, perhaps it would be better to send her to Class Two and have her pass along all sorts of information.

Besides, Aten was already in his class. Keeping someone as eye-catching as Selena beside him would smash his already poor reputation to hell.

... It seemed to be smashed to hell already, but he at least had to try gluing the pieces back together.

“Class Two is fine, too.”

“... All right. Frondier, go back to your classroom for now. Selena, come with me. I’ll introduce you to Class Two’s homeroom teacher.”

“Yes. Thank you for your help.”

I was the one who said that. I stood and waved to Selena to wish her luck, but her eyes darted between Jane and me.

“... Am I really going to a different class?”

“That’s what we said.”

“...”

I didn’t know why she was asking again, but when she said nothing more, I simply shrugged.

As I left the faculty office, Selena watched me with utterly anxious eyes.