“And then, Young Master pulled the dog out from the frozen lake, shook it a couple of tis, and only gave up after confirming it wasn’t moving anymore.”
“Pfft. So you basically shook it like a cocktail shaker?”
“Eir! I clearly checked its heartbeat and breathing before I picked up Sanqi!”
“Oh, and let tell you, little maid, Will here? He always sits in the farthest corner of the classroom. Every ti I peek in through the door to check on the class, he’s always daydreaming.”
“Young Master, that’s not good behavior.”
“That’s because I’ve already… already heard the lesson before. By the way, if you’re peeking into our classroom, don’t you need a stool to reach the window ledge?”
“You brat, careful or I’ll dock your allowance.”
“Do I look like soone who’s short on money?”
…
Will hadn’t expected that inviting Leah over for a al to et her future teammate, Eir, would go so smoothly.
Four years from now, they’d have to work together anyway.
That’s right!
He had already planned it all out!
The grand sche to drive the protagonist insane was well underway!
Thinking about it, Will found his food even tastier and took another sip of orange juice.
After the three of them ate their fill, drank enough, and chatted to their hearts’ content, they leaned back in their chairs, lost in thought.
The table was covered with the remains of their feast: licked-clean cake plates, a turkey carcass stripped to the bone, and utensils still bearing traces of salad leaves.
“Hey, Young Master… so this teacher is really a teacher, huh?”
Eir whispered quietly to him.
“What’s wrong? Oh, you an because she doesn’t look the part, especially in terms of height?”
Will even gestured across the table to compare Leah’s height.
“No, no, no, that’s not it. From the mont I t her, I felt… a dangerous aura, like the kind we’ve encountered before… once on the road, and once outside the Adventurer’s Guild…”
“Uh…”
Will hadn’t expected Eir to be so sharp about such things.
Since his relationship with Leah had shifted from adversarial to cooperative, and she had been incredibly helpful, he didn’t want to complicate things by explaining.
He hadn’t realized Eir had picked up on it.
Wait, outside the Adventurer’s Guild? Leah had been there too? Was she stalking him back then?!
Who would’ve thought Leah had a secret stalker side to her witch persona?
“It’s probably just my nose picking up on it!”
She figured it out by sll?!
Ah, the confidence of a canine beastkin’s instincts.
“Well…”
Will was still pondering how to respond when Eir continued:
“Now that I’ve seen her, it must’ve been my mistake. Miss Leah really is a great teacher. She helped so much in the cold storage and has been looking out for you, Young Master.”
“Yes, yes, exactly. Let’s go with that.”
Will wiped the sweat from his brow.
For a mont, he thought Eir had figured everything out and was about to start a fight.
“Thank you for the al. It’s been so long since I’ve eaten sothing this good. Not only was there such a variety, but everything tasted amazing… hic~”
“Take your ti; no need to rush.”
“And… um…”
Leah seed hesitant, glancing at Will across the table, then at Eir, and finally surveying the room on the second floor.
“What’s wrong?”
“Your house… it’s secure and private, right?”
“This is my house, not a vault.”
“Hmm, no eavesdropping magic, no surveillance magic, and no advanced control spells. Safe.”
Leah activated her magic eye, scanning the room with a spectral vision.
Will thought to himself, What are you, an automated scanning robot? He had always assud magic eyes were just tools for combat, but apparently, they had far more practical uses.
“She’s… one of your people, right?”
Leah pointed at Eir, her tone mysterious.
“My maid since childhood. Of course, she’s trustworthy.”
“No! I’m the Young Master’s dog!”
Eir wagged her tail happily, her ears perked up as she answered.
Leah gave Will a knowing look, as if to say, Classic Hysterm family, and even gave him a thumbs-up.
“Well then… I suppose I can explain. I brought you sothing you’ve been wanting as a gift.”
“Hmm? What have I been wanting?”
Leah pouted, clearly annoyed by his cluelessness.
“This!”
Smack.
She was so flustered she skipped her prepared mysterious opening and slapped the letter onto the table.
“A letter? Why are you suddenly giving a letter…”
Halfway through his sentence, Will rembered.
Oh, right. He’d been so caught up in playing teacher-student gas with Leah and recovering quickly thanks to S’s ointnt that he had completely forgotten about this important plot point from the original story.
As the saying goes, pain is the best teacher, and scars are history’s witnesses.
But when there’s no pain, no tears, and not even a scar left behind, it’s easy to forget.
“Ah, yes, I rember now. It’s that!”
“Exactly, it’s that!”
“Great, you finally brought it over.”
“Take a good look at this.”
Eir, sitting nearby, looked left and right, her ears twitching like a trono.
“What exactly are you two talking about?”
“The letter!”
On the table, amidst the remnants of their al, lay a delicate envelope that stood out starkly.
The most noticeable feature was the rose seal, missing a petal at the four o’clock position.
Anyone in the Entark Empire would recognize it—it was a seal used exclusively by the royal family.
“That’s right. This is the letter you were… oh—”
Will realized the gravity of the situation and quickly stopped Eir.
“Eir, why don’t you clean up the table? I… I need to have a quick chat with Leah upstairs.”
He grabbed the letter from the table and led Leah upstairs.
“Y-Young Master?!”
Watching his retreating figure, Eir felt like he had beco a stranger.
“It’s… it’s fine. A busy Young Master is a good thing…”
—
“Phew… you almost spilled the beans.”
“R-Right! I forgot I haven’t told your violent maid about my identity yet… I almost got punched through a wall, didn’t I?”
“I… I don’t think Eir could do that.”
Will glanced at the letter on the table.
“So things, just like how you don’t want getting too involved, I don’t want Eir knowing too much either.”
“Oh~ how considerate. And here I thought she said she was your dog.”
“You don’t get it. That’s not what she ant. Anyway, about this letter. Are you saying your backer is connected to the royal family?”
“Exactly. It’s pretty obvious, which is why I told you not to dig deeper.”
Leah nodded.
“No wonder… if that’s the case, this really is dangerous territory.”
Will had suspected as much. The Hysterm family and the royal family were in a tenuous relationship, teetering between alliance and conflict.
In the original story… four years later, the erging adventurer class led by the Hysterm family would clash irreconcilably with the old royal order.
For example…
A revolution to overthrow the Entark royal family.
Haha, but that’s four years away. By then, the main story will have started. No need to worry about it now.
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