“This is far enough. The carriage picking up should arrive shortly.”
“Then I’ll slip away now, alright? To be honest… I don’t have the best opinion of the royal family, so I’d rather not run into them.”
“Leah-sensei, it’s just the coachman. That shouldn’t be a problem, right~?”
“Even the coachman… No, no, it’ll remind of certain armored vehicles I’d rather not think about…”
Will and Eir had escorted Treya and Leah to the school gate, maintaining the pretense that Treya had simply been touring the school. Leah had decided to accompany her back to the academy as well.
At this hour, the school was eerily empty, making it feel as though Treya had embarked on a ghost-hunting adventure through the campus and erged victorious.
“Haha, I understand. Alright then. But Treya, I can wait with you a little longer.”
“I’ll be fine on my own.”
True enough.
Even without her sword, Will had witnessed Treya’s sheer physical strength firsthand. She could knock out a grown man with a single punch.
Treya might be a half-elf princess, a cute half-elf princess, even a naive half-elf princess.
But she was definitely not a frail half-elf princess!
With her daily routine of running ten laps every morning and rigorous physical training, Treya was strong enough to take down several bulls on her own.
“Uh… as a man, my pride won’t let leave you, a girl, standing alone at the school gate.”
“Young Master is so responsible!”
“And besides… Eir is here too.”
“Huh?”
“Mm. Thank you both.”
Treya nodded, her faint smile showing a rare mont of happiness.
However…
Will wasn’t just staying because he couldn’t bear to leave the little princess alone at the gate.
There was sothing else on his mind, sothing that ca to him when he saw Treya in her uniform.
“By the way, Treya, about that thing I asked you to look into…”
The reason Treya had been able to so easily acquire a uniform—and even an enrollnt record—was because the royal family controlled all the “academies” in Entark, including the First and Second Academies.
For the royal family, getting soone into these prestigious schools, which others fought tooth and nail to enter, was as simple as using a backdoor system they fully controlled.
They could admit anyone they wanted or even change a perfect test score to a zero if they felt like it.
Will had only learned about this after being reincarnated here.
And…
If he rembered correctly, the protagonist of the original story, Hugh—who wouldn’t recruit his teammates until three years later—was currently attending Entark’s Second Academy.
At least, that was the case at this point in ti.
Over the years, Will hadn’t given up on investigating Hugh’s background. But as the protagonist, Hugh’s origins were incredibly complex. Even the parts Will knew from the original story hinted at layers of secrecy and involvent from various factions.
However…
His ti at the academy might be the perfect opportunity to uncover so information.
Unfortunately, Will was unfamiliar with the academy. The Hysterm family had limited connections to the royal family’s resources; otherwise, Carver wouldn’t have been so eager to curry favor with them.
He had previously asked Leah, but she had no ties to the other academies—let alone the Second Academy, which focused more on combat than research and was completely unrelated to her work.
So, as a last resort, he had asked Treya to see if she could find anything.
“You ntioned in your letter about looking into a male student nad Hugh Polror at the Second Academy?”
“Yes, that’s him. So? Did you find anything? Is he still enrolled? Or has he already gone off to practice in a dungeon?”
“No. There’s no such person at the Second Academy.”
“No… such person?”
Will was taken aback.
That was strange…
The royal family should have the highest authority when it ca to academy investigations.
Even if soone wanted to hide sothing, it shouldn’t be to the extent that even the royal family couldn’t find it.
Was he no longer at the academy?
If that were the case, why hadn’t he left any trace?
“And Polror is a common surna used by public orphanages, so it’s hard to trace through family records.”
“Yeah, I know that.”
Will sighed in frustration.
The protagonist was, after all, the protagonist.
There was only one plausible explanation: fate wasn’t ready for him to know about Hugh yet—so sothing always went wrong whenever he tried to investigate.
That was the only reasonable conclusion.
Fine. If he couldn’t find him now, so be it.
Fate wouldn’t change. Three years later, Hugh would inevitably join his team as their logistics specialist.
He’d just wait until then!
—
“Yawn…”
Will and Eir walked ho together.
He was feeling quite full from dinner, so a walk was the perfect way to digest.
However…
It had been a long ti since he’d enjoyed himself like this.
In his previous life, he didn’t have many friends, but he often went out for barbecue with colleagues. As a ga designer, his coworkers were all young and full of energy.
It was similar to today, where everyone worked together as a team, freely saying whatever ca to mind…
How to put it…
Before this, he had always been a bit afraid of these “loser heroines.”
With his mories of the original story, he knew each of them had their flaws—of course, that’s what made them “losers” in the first place.
The team Will had created, “Morning Star,” was riddled with problems, full of cracks and issues…
But now…
There was Leah, who would take the initiative to light the fire and, despite being the smallest, always acted like the eldest, looking out for everyone.
There was Treya, who, though quiet, was diligent and thoughtful, trying to express her emotions despite often being treated like a younger sister due to her height.
And then…
“Hehe, the Young Master had so much fun today. Leave the cleanup to Eir; you should head upstairs and rest.”
Eir wagged her tail and ears, looking quite pleased.
This cheerful, obedient little maid had been the glue holding everything together, tirelessly working from start to finish.
“You don’t seem tired at all.”
“This amount of work is nothing compared to what I used to do at the estate. It’s only half a day’s worth!”
“…I think our estate should reconsider its labor policies and prioritize worker health.”
For the first ti, Will realized just how capable Eir was.
Especially when he was utterly exhausted, and she was still bouncing around like it was nothing.
Damn it, could it be…
That as a beastman, Eir’s stamina was naturally superior to his weak human body?
“Hmm… well, thank you, Eir.”
He patted Eir on the head.
“Uhh… why… why are you patting my head all of a sudden…”
“I just thought your head, with those beast ears, would feel really nice to touch, hehe.”
And indeed, it did. Especially when his hand rubbed between her soft, fluffy ears.
Will smiled as he walked ho under the moonlight—tonight was a full moon, no less.
Days like this… if only they could last a little longer.
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