Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Oswell and I, having finished our final preparations, were heading towards the arena, where the test will be held, when we spied Leila.

The test may be open for the entire school to be able to watch, but there are no mandatory events. That means that students are free to come and watch whatever they’d like, and leave just as freely.

Even so, the arena that is being used for the test is very lively since a majority of the student body has opted to come and watch. For the most part, the only students absent are the second years who will be taking their test today. Instead of observing their classmates’ exams, most of them choose to practice their magic right up until it’s time for their own turn.

Since Leila is lingering just outside the entrance, that means it will probably be her turn very soon.

“Oswell, I’ll be right back,” I say, making a move to head off in her direction. Oswell, probably figuring that we’ve prepared well enough with our earlier practice, says nothing and just waves a hand at me, signalling his agreement.

“Miss Morton.”

“Cecile-san?” Leila calls out excitedly, turning towards me with a bright grin blooming on her face. “I’m so happy! You actually talked to me first. What’s up?”

Leila inquires, grabbing both of my hands in hers and giving them each a tight squeeze while bringing her face very close to mine. Although typically this would be an acceptable, friendly gesture, with my suspicions of her sexual orientation still being a bit dubious, this small distance between us quite scary. I quickly take a step back, already feeling my face start to spasm as I force a smile onto it.

But almost as soon as I manage a grin, I feel Leila’s hands, which are still clutching mine, start to shake and I can’t help but let the expression slip away again. I’m sure she must be quite nervous.

“Good luck!”

I had wanted to tell her to be careful…. That was the reason that I had originally called out to her. But I’m sure no matter how much I warn her, the events that are slated to happen will inevitably occur. It’s not like she is planning to make her magic go ballistic. There’s really nothing she can do to stop it. So before I could get the words out, I thought better of it. To warn her now would just be cruel. It would only serve to add more undue pressure on her.

Besides, no one is going to die during this event. In the game, basically none of the characters ever died except for me and Leila and, depending on the chosen route, Gray-Senpai. And if we ignore the hidden character’s route, then even the mob characters almost never die…. (Though, that could be a different story on the hidden character’s route…) Plus, even Leila herself won’t be badly harmed during this incident. I mean, the game couldn’t really start if the main character was in critical condition and lying unconscious in some hospital room, right? And there’s no point to her getting injured this early in the game, since it would have no affect on her love life, so that shouldn’t happen during this event either.

So, with all that in mind, instead of warning her, I feel like cheering her on is probably the right thing to do.

“You came over here just to tell me that?” Leila asks, looking even more happy than she had before, her cheeks turning a delighted shade of light pink. Why does she have to be so cute? On a normal basis, she’s already so cute that it’s agonizing, but then she has to smile like that and I can just barely hold myself back from hugging her! The only thing stopping me is that she is most probably attracted to girls… so it might get a bit… heated… if I were to initiate contact…. Well, that, and the fact that her choices in this game will basically determine my life and death. That’s also a rather great deterrent from wanting to get too close.

“You’re so nice, Cecile-san!”

Wow. Just how has she been living up until now that with just that tiny bit of genuine encouragement, Leila seems like she’s about to burst into tears. Though, I guess that makes sense. She hasn’t really had the chance to interact with anyone except for indifferent servants, upperclassmen with no sense of delicacy, classmates who only pretend to listen to you, and support characters that force you into troubling situations, none of which would be likely to bother with such things.

Seeing how touched she is, I can’t help but think that she really is just a genuinely nice girl. And if that’s true, her reputation was probably ruined from her coming into contact with truly bad people.

Pushing down my urge to hug her again, I settle for gently patting her head as she giggles in delight.

“I’ll be okay. Hugh and I have been practicing a ton.”

Hugh must be Leila’s partner’s name; Oswell’s friend.

“And since you’ve given me your encouragement as well, Cecile-san, I don’t feel as nervous now. Thank you. Let’s both do our best! I’ll be cheering for you as well!”

She is such a good kid….. Have I ever met such a sweet girl before? ….Nah, there’s no way.

“I’d love to talk to you some more after the test. I want us to become good friends, Cecile-san.”

To that statement, I can only force out a terribly vague reply. It would be taboo for us to become close friends, so I can’t readily agree to that request.

Instead, I see her off into the arena and only when she is out of sight do I sigh out in relief. Talking with her really isn’t good for my nerves.

“You went over there just to encourage her? Are you sure you don’t swing that way?” Oswell asks jokingly. He seems to have followed behind me when I went over to talk to Leila and therefore heard our entire conversation. I give a derisive smile. Even though I’ve said over and over again how that’s not true, he seems to insist on amusing himself with my reaction by pretending to doubt me on this subject on every possible occasion.

“I’ve already told you that I don’t, haven’t I?”

“Well, I suppose that would be rather unfortunate for me if that wasn’t the case. After all, the one to finally take the lovely Miss Alldington is going to be me.”

“Ugh, you flirt.”

At that, Oswell snorts and starts snickering at me.

“That guarded personality of yours is indeed the best.”

“Oswell, you….”

You’re just like those players in shoujo manga. Is what I want to say…….

He’s acting just like those super popular guys that you read about shoujo manga or romance novels that like to play around with women. They always end up getting bored of their life and that’s when bam! They meet a girl who doesn’t just throw herself at their feet like all the rest. And since she seems like a new toy, the guys end up being interested in her. And in the end, they always wear down the girl with some pitiful back-story, thus earning her compassion and regard.

In other words, he’s just another one of those characters that gets interested in a girl just because she isn’t interested in him.

“You know, I’m not your mother. I can’t concern myself in your affairs.”

“Huh?”

Oswell tilts his head to the side, having no idea what I was just talking about. Ignoring his confusion, I give him a proposition instead of an explanation.

“Since we’ve already prepared well enough already, shall we head in early and observe some of the other students’ performances?”

“Well don’t you seem rather confident.”

Isn’t that a given? As someone who has undergone Ashley’s Spartan-like training and lived to tell the tale, there is no longer even an ounce of anxiety left in me in regards to our performance. And this about a test that I can’t even take. When I think about all those days of pain I spent, it really feels like wasted effort….. No! I have to stay positive. Those days were spent in bettering my magic skills!

But my confidence aside, there’s plenty reasons to go and watch. I mean, Ashley is already observing in the stands. And although I highly doubt that Ashley, being one of the game’s fundamental characters, will be hurt during this event, I can’t stop myself from being worried. Plus, I went last year to watch the upperclassmans’ performances and it was really fun! So I wouldn’t mind going in a bit early just to see what everyone chose to do.

“Sure, sounds good to me. There’s still plenty of time before our turn anyway.”

Having come to an agreement, we head in to find some empty seats towards the back of the arena. One pair puts on a show of feathers dancing in the wind, another creates a stunning nymph out of water droplets, and then finally it is Leila’s turn next.

“So it’s Hugh and Leila Morton up next. They’re both pretty studious, so I’m sure their test will go well,” Oswell says, leaning forward in anticipation.

That reminds me: Oswell and Hugh seem to be on rather good terms with each other. Even in the classroom, the two of them always seem to be hanging around together.

I really wish Ashley would be able to make a ton of friends like Oswell…. though Rona Randolph is a different story entirely. He should definitely be off-limits.

On the stage, Leila and Hugh give a bow to the panel of teachers.

As I glance around, I spy Gray-Senpai standing just a bit away from the stage, readying himself for what is to come. It’s hard to tell, but he might even be preparing to cast a barrier spell around the stage. He seems to have an oddly particular sense of responsibility since when he found out about the disaster that would happen today, he declared to me that he would not condone anyone getting injured at this event in a rather uncharacteristically enthusiastic way.

“Hey…. Does something seem off to you?” Oswell asks me, arms crossed as he stares intently at the two on stage.

The flames that Leila had called forth seem to be growing more and more in intensity. Leila also seems to look surprised as her own flames start to surround her.

“Everyone evacuate! Follow the marked evacuation routes!” Gray-Senpai’s voice calls out, resounding across the whole arena. Before the echoes could die out, clumps of students all begin moving at once, heading towards the exits as fast as they can. Seeing as the stands had yet to go up in flames, Senpai must have already created a barrier, hoping to prevent any of the students from getting injured while evacuating. As the arena devolves into chaos, the teachers all stand up as one to surround Leila, creating their own barriers to encompass the flames.

“Cecile, let’s get out of here.”

It’s very unlikely that the fire could reach as far back in the stands as we are, but it never hurts to be on the safe side. Beckoning me with his hand, he starts heading towards the exit with me following right behind him.

Once we get close though, we are forced to stop as the throngs of students all converge in front of the same gateway. Ironically, the exit is actually must closer to the flames than the back of the stands, so we would have actually been safer had we stayed where we were originally. To make matters worse, I end up losing Oswell in the crowd, and I had lost track of Ashley a long time ago so I have no idea if he is safe or not.

That aside though, I somehow have this feeling that I am getting pushed closer and closer to the flames.

“Huh…….–“

I am suddenly sent flying from behind. For a split second, I feel weightless, as if suspended in the air. It’s not the sort of sensation one would typically have after being pushed around in a crowd. It’s more like a strong force suddenly sent me flying.

And then, before I realize it, I am suddenly left stranded on the ground in between the teachers and the flames, no where near the exit.

“What….. happened…..?”

I’m at least 100 meters away from the way out now. It should be impossible for me to have moved that distance in only a moment. Especially considering it was against my will! Without magic, it would be a truly impossible feat.

The teachers who had been trying to contain the fire seem rather startled by my sudden appearance as well. After a split second of staring, they all start rushing to me at once, hands outstretched as if to pull me away from danger.

I’ve heard that in times of extreme peril, some people will remain completely calm and levelheaded against all odds. That unfortunately doesn’t seem to be the case for me though. Having just flown headlong into the scene of the fire, the flames coming so close that I can feel them uncomfortably hot on my face, my nose quickly clogging with smoke, I am absolutely certain of that fact now.

“……..!?”

Far from staying calm, I’m so scared that my mind is going blank, but then I see him.

And he’s laughing.

He’s watching me and laughing.

With a gleeful smile, his eyes meet mine and he gives a neat little flourish of his hand; a mock wave of acknowledgment.

Standing right in front of the exit, a step away from safety, Rona Randolph is wearing an angelic, guileless smile.

＊＊＊

“Ah…. Ugh-……”

“Ojousama…..!” Ashley cries, hearing my pained gasps as I try to sit up. With a grim face, he launches himself at me, enfolding me in his arms. “Were you trying to give me a heart attack….?”

The room smells of medicine. It seems like no matter what world you are in, be it the doctor’s office or the school infirmary, they all smell the exact same way, I think to myself fuzzily.

Lolling my head to look around the room, all I can see is white, white, and more white. It looks like I’ve been sleeping in a bed in the infirmary.

“I survived….?”

“According to the teachers, you were an inch away from being caught up in the flames when they suddenly disappeared. It seems like Morton-Senpai’s magic was finally exhausted right at that moment…..”

“Are you crying?”

“No.”

Having very carefully let go of me, I finally notice how haggard Ashley looks.

“How long have I been out for?”

“Around 3 hours.”

“It hasn’t even been that long then. How did you manage to look this worn out in such a short amount of time? You’re surprisingly frail, Ashley.”

“And who’s fault is that…..”

“I’m kidding. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

With a resentful glare, Ashley’s eyes stare into mine for another minute before he heaves a sigh and stands up.

“No….. This is my fault. It is my duty as your servant to always remain vigilant and protect you…. It’s my sole purpose in life and yet….”

This chapter is scrapped from readlightnovel.org

Umm, while I appreciate you wanting to protect me, I don’t think I ever said that you needed to take it that far, right?

“You really are crying, aren’t you? Or, about to?”

“I’m not crying and I’m not going to. It’s just that up until a moment ago I had been contemplating Seppuku,1so I’m feeling a bit tense.”

“It’s fine even if you don’t go that far…..!”

“I will never allow anyone or anything to hurt you ever again.”

I really don’t think the situation earlier today was something you could have prevented…. It seems that the huge impact from my body striking the ground was what had knocked me out eariler. It’s no wonder my whole body feels like it’s been hit by a truck. Despite not having received any injuries from Leila’s rampant magic, I still managed to sustain quite the amount of damage.

The teachers seem to have deemed this an accident, that I merely fell after being pushed by the huge crowd that had been trying to escape the arena.

“But that can’t be what happened, right? There was too much space between the exit and the stage. You couldn’t possibly have been pushed that far.”

As Ashley said, that explanation isn’t physically possible. I would assume the school should know at least that much as well. But seeing as this is a school that caters to the children of only the richest and most powerful families in high society, they seem to be trying to cover up this incident entirely. Dealing with the feuds between powerful families is probably seen as a nuisance. And they certainly wouldn’t want to deal with the objections that such families would pose should they be suddenly implicated in a criminal case. Which is probably why they’ve decided not to investigate this incident further.

Even I can see that if the school actually did find the culprit, it would be a fruitless endeavor to prosecute them, so why bother? …..And, more likely than not, Rona Randolph somehow played a part in all of this. If it turns out the son of a Duke is the culprit behind a case like this, it’s obvious that the truth would be suppressed.

“Ojousama, wasn’t this accident planned? You really don’t have any more knowledge about what transpired?”

Of course I know some things, but I also know that I cannot let Ashley find out about any of it at all costs. Ashley is my servant through and through. And make no mistake, I would brag about that fact any chance that I get but…. The fact that he is desperate enough to ask me if I have any information on the culprit, I’m not so dense as to not know what that means. I can see it in his bloodshot eyes. And I already know from the game just what he could be capable of. If he finds out, then someone is going to die. That’s what his bloodthirsty, murderous aura is telling me.

“No, not really. Everything had happened so fast. Everyone had been in a state of panic; most likely someone had carelessly used magic in an attempt to escape faster and that magic just happened to hit me.”

“Just because it might have been an accident doesn’t absolve that person of their crimes. If just one thing had been different, had Leila-Senpai’s magic not run out or had you fallen even an inch closer to the flames, Ojousama, you…..”

“It was definitely dangerous, but thankfully nothing truly bad happened. Therefore you have nothing you need to be worried about. And likewise there are no people that need to be punished,” I say, trying to calm him, but Ashley looks as if he has no intention of giving up. His hands, which were balled into fists, clench even harder to the point that they are trembling.

“Oh, stop. Stop! Your nails are digging into your skin! Blood! You’re drawing blood!”

“Please don’t yell. I will make sure to properly disinfect it later. There is someone sleeping in the bed next to yours, so keep your voice down….”

It’s the first time I’ve ever seen someone clench their fists enough to draw blood.

What do you mean, later? What if some sort of bacteria gets in the wound? What if it gets infected with some rare disease that has no cure? I demand over and over until Ashley, with an irritated huff, finally stands up to go find some disinfectant to put on. He brings it back over to the bed and then very obviously, without hesitation or gentleness, rubs it onto the cuts on his palms. He had also brought over some bandages, which he roughly wraps around his hands.

“You’re quite wild today.”

“I’m a lot more on edge right now than you might think.”

Just then a groan sounds on the other side of the curtain that encompasses the space around my bed. I guess someone really is sleeping in the bed next to mine. And going off of the voice, it sounds like it’s probably Leila Morton.

I start to wonder if she was okay, so when I see Ashley glance towards the curtain, I can’t help but ask, “She wasn’t hurt, right?”

“No. Even though her magic had gone out of control, it seems that it had exploded away from her, so it avoided embroiling her in the aftermath. But since the rampage had only stopped once her magic power had been completely consumed, even though the flames never reached her, her strength had been exhausted so she ended up fainting. She’s just sleeping now. Rather than her, you’re the one who was most seriously affected by the blast, Ojousama.”

Apparently the flames had completely surrounded her within a two meter radius. Usually when someone invokes fire magic, the flames appear about a meter away from the caster, but since Leila’s flames appeared all around her, no one really knows how she managed to escape unscathed.

“After this, life here at school is probably going to get pretty tough for her.”

“Instead of worrying about others, please think more about yourself. You are in danger! Someone might be aiming for your life!”

While that may be true, I can’t exactly ignore Leila either. From this point on, my life will be in her hands. Depending on who’s route she ends up taking, if I make one false step then I’m basically signing my own death warrant! If I’m lucky, they may decide to exile me or imprison me instead.

If it was up to me, I would definitely try to aim for one of the happy endings where no one has to die, but that’s definitely easier said than done.

“But you are right. There’s no doubt that Morton-Senpai will face hardship from here on. Just from the fact that she showed such a huge amount of power is enough to send her to the forefront of gossip. Everyone in the school is already talking about her.”

“Has anyone come to visit her?”

“No. Just in case something else were to happen, the teachers decided to ban entrance to this infirmary.”

“But you’re here, aren’t you?”

“Since I’m your servant, I’ve been granted special permission to be here. Morton-Senpai doesn’t have any servants on campus, which is why I’m the only other person here.”

“Oh, I see,” I say, nodding my head in understanding.

Waking up to an empty room would probably be a bit sad.

“Since you’re awake now, let’s head back. I’ll go get your things.”

I had thought he had gone to get them while I was sleeping….. But he had probably stayed by my side the entire time.

“Okay. Thank you, Ashley.”

I wait a moment, making sure that Ashley had left the room, before I very quietly pull back the curtain. As I thought, just the act of standing up hurts, but step-by-aching-step I slowly manage to hobble over to where Leila is sleeping. Ashley was right, she doesn’t look like someone who has been through any sort of ordeal.

“Mmm……”

She’s breathing slow and steady breaths as if she was merely sleeping, though I’m sure she must have been terrified just a few hours ago. I don’t know who could manage to stay calm while being encircled by a raging, uncontrollable inferno.

There was nothing I could have done to help her, and I knew that she definitely wasn’t going to die… But I still can’t help but feel guilty since I knew what would happen and yet I didn’t do anything for her.

“I’m sorry…..” I whisper as I gently stroke her head.

I can’t exactly apologize to her when she is awake; that would only lead to her misunderstanding me at best. Plus, I really don’t want to get close to her, so it’s better not to interact with her at all.

“Nn…. Ce….cile…..?”

“Ah……”

Oh no. No no no. I didn’t mean to wake her up.

I immediately try to back away, but I was too slow. Leila grabs on to the hand that I had been caressing her head with and pulls me back towards the bed. Since it was so sudden, my pain spikes as I jerk forward so I can’t even try to resist let alone pull away from her.

My eyes, which I had clenched shut in surprise as I was pulled forward, slowly open a fraction to see the ceiling above me and Leila’s face looming over mine. Instantly, they fly open the rest of the way, widening in astonishment as I take in our current positions. And then, after another moment, Leila’s lips quirk up in a smile so lovely that I can’t help being captivated by it.

“Cecile Alldington…… Ahh, score!”

“Miss Morton?”

….Score? She’s not the type of person who would normally say that….

“Lookin’ atcha this close, you’re really smokin’ hot. Everything’s cool, don’t be scared. We’re just gonna have a bit of fun.”

Fun? The sort of fun that I probably won’t actually find fun?

“For now, won’t you take off your clothes? Cecile-san.”

For now? What does she mean, ‘for now’?? And does she think I’ll agree just because she said it in that angelically cute voice of hers?