After tidying up the alchemy workshop,
I checked to make sure Professor Georg who was slumped on the couch like a corpse was still breathing before stepping outside.
As expected, Yuna trailed behind me.
Then she stared at me with a smile that looked like she was definitely up to something.
What is wrong with this girl?
Is she just bored or something?
“So, what are you gonna do now?”
“Go back to the dorm and sleep.”
“You didn’t forget anything, did you?”
“Like what…?”
“What I gave you.”
“What did you give m—oh.”
I pulled out the tofu I had shoved into my bag earlier.
Come to think of it, she gave it to me when I was discharged today.
I was discharged, not released from prison.
Was this just a joke or was there some meaning behind it?
I paused to think about it.
“…Ah!”
And I managed to dig up a memory buried deep in the corner of my mind.
Tofu, release, prison.
The guy we locked up. Stan Robinhood.
I looked at Yuna with a horrified expression. She just smiled sweetly.
“He’s not still locked up down there, is he?”
“Mhmm!”
Apparently, the guy who attacked me was still rotting away in that underground prison.
How long had it been?
It’s probably been about a week already? Isn’t he dead by now?
“…We’d better go check.”
“Okay!”
***
When we arrived at the underground prison,
The first thing we saw was Stan Robinhood collapsed in the exact same position as when I left.
“Is he dead after all? Yuna, go check.”
“Huh? Me?”
“Then should I do it?”
“…Isn’t that how it usually goes?”
“No way. I hate touching dead bodies. You do it.”
“Jeez.”
Yuna grumbled but still went to check Stan’s body in my place.
Grumbling or not, she was reliable.
I figured I should buy her some ice cream on the way back.
“Hey, is he dead or…?”
It happened the moment Yuna reached out toward the collapsed Stan.
Stan, who had been lying still, suddenly twisted his body and grabbed Yuna’s arm.
That bastard. Was his restraint undone without us noticing since he was facing away?
Yuna, whose arm had been grabbed in an instant, lost her balance as if being dragged by Stan’s strength, and then—
Thud!
“Gah!”
She used that very momentum to slam a punch straight into Stan’s face.
A response as fluid and natural as water flowing.
Stan must’ve been planning a sneak attack of his own, but it was clear he picked the wrong opponent.
A surprise attack on Safe Clown, the so-called King of Assassins?
“…Looks like he’s dead? Johan, he’s dead.”
“You’re the one who killed him.”
“It was self-defense.”
“I’ll give you that.”
So you actually use the word “self-defense” huh?
I always thought, being an assassin, she wouldn’t hesitate to kill. But apparently, she still made sure to have proper justification.
Well, Yuna was more of a dark hero type anyway, so that made sense.
With the imperial law enforcement practically in shambles, someone like Yuna could be considered a highly capable vigilante.
“Ugh…”
“Never mind. Johan, he’s alive. He’s more stubborn than I thought.”
“Let’s restrain him again and create a situation where we can talk to him properly.”
“Tie both his arms behind the pillar and splash cold water on him to wake him up, right?”
“You don’t even need me to say it.”
Wait—do you torture people too?
Still, it was nice not having to explain everything step by step.
Splash!
Yuna restrained Stan again and splashed cold water onto his face.
She looked like she’d done this plenty of times.
“Ugh…”
“Oh my, Mr. Stan. You’ve really been through a lot, haven’t you?”
I couldn’t exactly ask Yuna to handle the negotiations too, so I stepped forward myself.
Like we planned beforehand, Yuna stepped back and put on her mask.
That creepy clown mask never failed to unsettle me.
One of these days, I needed to sit Yuna down and ask her why on earth she chose a clown of all things. How could anyone see that as a symbol of peace?
Anyway, the scene looked a bit off, but we were here to negotiate.
“Now then, Mr. Stan. You’ve got such a wonderful younger sister, haven’t you?”
“…Are you trying to threaten me or something?”
“Oh no, of course not. I’ve got a younger sibling too, you know, so I understand how you feel.”
There was common ground between us.
Right?
“Johan, you sound like a total villain.”
“Quiet.”
What do you even know?
“It must’ve been rough having that secret exposed. I get it; I would’ve reacted the same way. But from my perspective, I can’t help but feel like I’ve been wronged, too.”
Honestly, “can’t help but feel” was putting it lightly. I had been completely wronged.
What did I even do? But saying any of that would be pointless. It wasn’t like this blind idiot in front of me would actually understand.
So first, I had to make him feel at ease.
“I don’t have any intention of holding your sister’s secret over your head or anything like that. But I’m guessing you won’t believe me, will you?”
“……”
“So, let me introduce you. This here is my master. She’s more widely known as Safe Clown.”
“Ahem!”
I had become Yuna’s disciple under the condition that I could reveal her true identity.
Of course, I wasn’t a real disciple. Just in name.
There was no way I’d ever become an assassin.
Yuna probably knew that too, but she nodded in agreement, swayed by the occasional “Master” I threw her way.
Too easy.
“As you probably know, my master isn’t exactly the most upstanding figure.”
“What’s not upstanding about me?”
“She’s also… not exactly mentally stable. So you get that this could be used against me, right?”
Stan remained silently still.
Every noble house had its secrets, but if that secret happened to be someone like Safe Clown, the story changed entirely.
Yuna had already taken the lives of countless powerful figures. If that ever came to light, she’d make a mountain of enemies.
A small house like the Damus County would be crushed in an instant.
Of course, Stan could very well use this to bury my family and me completely.
But he didn’t strike me as the type to go that far. As long as his own family’s safety was ensured.
He was still a main character for now, after all.
So if we revealed each other’s secrets and established a kind of mutual non-aggression pact, there would be no reason for him to make the first move against me.
And once he returned to his house, Emily would likely explain things to him in more detail.
There was no need for us to be enemies.
“Master, let’s release him.”
“Ahem! Very well, let it be so!”
Yuna answered in a theatrical tone, then released Stan from his restraints.
Stan looked at us with a suspicious gaze but didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking.
He understood too.
If I meant to get rid of him, it would’ve been easier to kill him on the spot.
And yet, I went out of my way to reveal even my own secrets just to let him go.
By this point, he must’ve realized I wasn’t an enemy.
“Here, Stan. You must be hungry, so at least eat this.”
“……”
Stan ate the tofu I handed him with a face like he was chewing on bugs.
***
“Ah, it’s really over now.”
It was truly all over.
Ariel’s illness had been cured, and Stan’s issue was resolved too.
There was no longer any need to overextend myself. I could finally live quietly, tucked away in a corner.
With a light heart for the first time in a while, I lay down on my bed.
I wasn’t planning to leave it anytime soon.
I was even going to skip class. It’s hard to skip once, but twice? Not that big a deal.
As long as I didn’t flunk out, I could afford to miss a few.
“Haaam…”
Just as I was merging with the bed and reaching a state of perfect harmony…
Knock knock.
Someone knocked on the door.
There shouldn’t be anyone coming to see me… so who could it possibly be?
Thinking they might have mistaken the room, I simply ignored it and pulled the blanket over my head.
“Johan? Are you in there? Could you open the door?”
Ah, great. So it wasn’t a mistake after all.
Still, that wasn’t a good enough reason to open the door. Just let me rest, please.
I was really going to sleep now. No one could interrupt my sleep!
“I can sense someone’s in there…”
“Could it be that he can’t move right now?”
“Let’s break the door.”
“Alright.”
Bang!
The actions flowed naturally from the conversation.
It was so seamless and fast, I didn’t even have time to react.
I just wanted to quit the Cradle altogether.
The door was smashed open, and a group barged into my room.
Now that I looked more closely, their faces seemed familiar. They were probably classmates.
“…I should go apologize to Lady Ariel later.”
Was this how Ariel felt when I broke down her door and barged in?
It really was a miserable feeling.
“Oh, he’s okay.”
“Hey, Johan.”
“…You’re going to fix the door before you leave, right?”
“Of course!”
Thank goodness.
In the end, I accepted that I couldn’t just ignore them and sat up in bed.
Ah, I really didn’t want to.
“What is it?”
“You didn’t show up to class again today.”
“I’ve been busy with a lot of things lately and I’ve been sick. I asked the administration to process it as a medical leave, didn’t I?”
I had an injury that would take at least a week to fully recover.
Even though the hospital kicked me out after just three days, I still needed time to rest.
“We know. We heard. But we thought we should still let you know about this.”
“Haah… So? What is it? What could possibly be important enough to break down my door?”
“Midterms start tomorrow.”
“Tch…”
Haah… Okay, yeah. That is important… I’m not sure if it’s door-breaking important, but still, important.
Attendance didn’t matter. If I skipped the exam, I’d be flunking straight away.
Even if I got a zero, I had to at least show up for the test. Good grief… Was I just destined never to rest?
I hated that it was already that time of year again.
It just meant I’d been so busy dragging myself through everything that I’d completely lost track of time.
“Yeah… Thanks for letting me know.”
“Sure, and I’m glad to see you’re looking healthy.”
“Thanks.”
They were good kids.
They were so kind, it made it even harder to get annoyed.
Of course, even among them, there were radicals like Melana or Jeff…
But when they were acting like this, what was I supposed to do?
“Don’t worry, I’ll be in class on time tomorrow.”
With that appropriate response, I decided to send them on their way. They said I had to be at school tomorrow, but couldn’t I at least rest for today?
“Hmm, no. Johan. We still have something else to tell you.”
“What now? The exam scope?”
“You don’t know the scope?”
“Uh… I don’t, actually.”
“Then we’ll tell you that too. But first, listen to what we have to say.”
The group continued with slightly more serious expressions.
“This midterm’s practical exam is a mock battle.”
“I see.”
“And you’re on our team!”
“Ah, right…”
I felt bad. I didn’t think I’d be much help…
What could I possibly do surrounded by monsters like them?
“The format is, five people act as one team. The goal is to build a base and destroy the enemy’s base.”
The concept seemed simple, but it was actually tricky.
You had to construct your own base within the time limit and then launch an attack on the opponent’s base.
That meant it would come down to a battle of time. How long it took to build your base and then locate and destroy the opponent’s base.
You could choose a defensive strategy by reinforcing your base thoroughly or go on the offense by aggressively attacking theirs.
It seemed the key to the exam was dividing roles among team members and making good use of tactics and strategy.
Honestly, for a student-level test, it didn’t seem too bad.
“So, we decided to pick a team leader, and that’s you, Johan.”
“Did I do something wrong?”
“No? It’s a reasonable choice.”
They weren’t just bullying me… right?
They might as well have just said it. Then I would’ve personally made sure to drag our team down with me.
“Johan, are you any good at scouting?”
“No.”
“Then can you break through enemy lines?”
“Not that either.”
“Sniping?”
“Can’t do it…”
“What about defense?”
“……”
“You understand now, right?”
“Perfectly.”
Since I couldn’t do anything properly, they were putting me in charge.
It was honestly a reasonable decision.
They weren’t just dumping the team leader role on me because it was annoying. There really wasn’t anything else I could contribute.
And technically, I was a noble, so maybe they figured I had an edge when it came to strategy.
“Alright, let’s do our best on tomorrow’s exam!”
“Y-Yeah.”
Even though they’d been grouped with someone as weak as me, instead of getting annoyed, they actually encouraged me to try my best.
“I’ll… do my best too.”
Facing those dazzling personalities, I just couldn’t bring myself to slack off.
I was just so exhausted…
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