Shini Yasui Kōshaku Reijō to Shichi-nin no Kikōshi

Chapter 163: The Night of Pursuit (part three)

The first information-sharing session was over with my confession.

Thanks to this gathering, I was able to hear the story of my brother and Brad and comprehend most of what happened in the past.

And I was able to share with others the possibility of saving Claude with Holle’s help, and the option to ask my friends Tirnanog and Palug for help.

Yup, this evening gathering has been very fruitful.

Having spoken about everything, I felt like a burden had been lifted off my shoulders.

“It’s already late, so let’s call it a day. I am certain we all need time to digest and organize everything we heard tonight.”

Eduard-oniisama gaze roamed across the room, observing everyone’s faces.

There were no objections at all.

Certainly, everyone was overloaded with too much information; any more than that would be too difficult to accept.

My brother laid out a plan for the evening gatherings from hereon.

Firstly, scrutinize the information so far from everyone’s perspective.

No matter how trivial it may be.

Also, we were to take into account the possibility that vampires have already found the Golden Wolf and have established a cooperative relationship.

Both the Golden Wolf and the vampires are under the control of the Mad King.

So there is even the possibility of a cooperation in the worst form.

There were no objections to this either.

Regarding the schedule, we are to meet up and assess available information for one to two hours every day until we reach a decision.

It has been decided that the meet up will be frequent and the duration of each session would be short.

After a decision is made, each member’s individual course of action will be prioritized, and everyone will meet up once a week.

Even if only a few people show up, the discussion would be recorded for the sake of other participants.

Everyone agreed with my brother’s proposal, and the evening gathering was disbanded for the day.

Various expressions crossed everyone’s face as they left one by one.

☆

Upon returning to my room, I flopped onto the bed.

“I feel so exhauuusted~~”

I felt so mentally drained for the first time in a long while.

I hadn’t expected that spilling all my secrets would be this tiring.

It was a mentally taxing process for both the speaker and the listener.

Tirnanog stroked my head as I groaned while idling about on the bed.

『Now I know why you kept me alive. The circumstances of your previous life are a little similar to mine.』

“Yes, I told you I sympathized with you a long time ago, remember?”

I also stroked Tirnanog’s head and back in return.

“I sympathized with your hatred. But I knew you wouldn’t believe it if I told you all that.”

『Umu, umu. I’m sure you were frustrated.』

“Yes, I was frustrated and sad … but I finally realized that I was really angry to the extent that I could sympathize with your feelings.”

As I said so, Palug started rubbing herself against me.

『Hey, Erica. I … do you think I made a wrong decision regarding that child?』

“Regarding Auguste-sama? If it’s still impossible for you, you don’t have to rush it.”

Palug meowed quietly.

She really doesn’t have to force herself if she feels uneasy about it.

『I didn’t think he would cry like that…』

“Someday, you should go and see him when the time is right.”

『Yes, you’re right…』

If you keep thinking about it, your concerns will never run out.

But I suppose right now, she can’t help thinking about it.

Having concluded that, after completing the minimum necessary personal care, I decided to hug both of them and sleep .

☆

The next day, we returned to our daily routine with peculiar expressions.

We continued working hard at our respective roles; us as students, my brother and his friends as teachers, and Harlan as an insurance healer.

The bell of our school building rang.

“Now, everyone, please lock your killer bee’s cage twice.”

Actorius-sensei looked around the classroom and said so.

Whew, it’s finally over.

The Magizoology class this time was as hard as ever.

Today’s magical beast was a killer bee.

With a total length of 30 cm, it is a cute magical beast that resembles a bumblebee.

It is also a commercially important magical beast because they can produce honey and beeswax.

However, as the name implies, it is also infamous for its deadly and potent poison.

In today’s class, after learning its ecology, we received a practical experience of its detoxification treatment method.

“For those who have been stung, please receive treatment at the infirmary as soon as possible while wearing the substitute runestone.”

After locking the cage as instructed, the students who were inadvertently stung left the classroom in a hurry.

I’m glad I didn’t get stung, even if I could substitute myself using magic.

I returned the runestone to Actorius-sensei and headed straight for the dining hall.

While walking down the corridor, I joined Tricia, Marquia, Chloe, and Beatrice for a casual chat.

“Thank you very much for protecting me from the killer bee.”

“Ahaha, yeah, that was a close call.”

Tricia thanked Chloe with teary eyes.

When she was attacked by a killer bee which she failed to catch, she was immediately rescued by Chloe.

“Here’s a balm made from the beeswax of those bees. Please try it.”

“Eeh, are you sure?”

“If you use it on your lips, they will be very plump and glossy, see?”

Marquia gave Beatrice a balm made of high-quality beeswax from the killer bee.

She also recommended it to me before class so I tried using it, it surely made my lips glossy.

Then, while talking about trivial things, we went to the table for the Central Dormitory together.

We were just enjoying our meal together; complaining about the saltiness of the dish, smacking our lips in appreciation over the taste of the bread, and so on.

In my opinion, today’s meal all in all tasted great.

“Hmm…?”

Beatrice had a rugged expression during the meal.

What happened?

I caught a glimpse of her hand and noticed a piece of paper in her torn bread.

Ah, is this how the Wynt family interferes?

It’s not that I didn’t believe it, but to think it’s something like this…

“No way, what is that!”

“That’s just gross!”

“Ahaha, it probably got mixed in unintentionally. I grew up in the countryside, so I’m fine with this kind of thing.”

After checking the piece of paper, Beatrice joined into the conversation as if nothing had happened.

Let’s ask about the contents secretly later.

“Erica, can I have a little bit of your time~~?”

Around the time when the turmoil about the food had subsided, Harold approached us with an unnatural demeanor while pretending to be natural.

“Do you need something, Harold?”

“No, you see, you had a class about killer bees, right? I was just worried if you got stung.”

For some reason Harold seems very restless and fidgety.

…Ah, so this is not the actual topic?

“You want to talk about something else, right?”

“Uwah, how did you know…?!”

“We have been friends for many years now, I can tell from your behavior.”

Harold sighed and then straightened his back.

After a preamble on how he wanted to talk about last night, he finally got to the main subject.

“Okay, so, why did you not use that modern knowledge of yours to make money?”

“Ha…?”

What in the world is he talking about all of a sudden?

No, I can only say I didn’t have that much free time to do something like that.

If I could earn by taking advantage of my modern knowledge, I would definitely have done that.

“I was busy. Besides, for the most part I was also bound by the laws of this world.”

“Hmmm… I see, well, I guess that can’t be helped. In that case, I want to ask your advice on something for real.”

Harold lowered his voice and whispered to me.

“Y’know, that oil tycoon you were talking about? I want to be that.”

This guy…! He wants to be an oil tycoon…!?

“You were talking about a civilization that uses oil and electricity, right? Doesn’t that sound amazing?”

“It wasn’t bad, I suppose.”

Well, as expected of Harold, his sense of smell for money is insanely good.

Wait, speaking of which.

“Hey, Harold, if I remember correctly, bitumen is mined in Nibelheim, right?”

“Yes!”

“You may be able to find oil if you dig around that area.”

“Seriously!? Hooraay~~~!”

Harold raised his arms and cheered.

Having said that, just digging oil doesn’t mean it will sell.

We have to create demand for it in proportion.

“We have to sell some useful tools that use oil. Harold, are you willing to rebuild the civilization?”

“Ah, it would be great if I could do that…!”

Harold ran to the Golem Studio with a satisfied smile.

I wonder if he will create a golem for mining from now on?

Since this is Harold, it seems that scientific civilization will develop in this world as well.

☆

At the end of the day, after the afternoon class finished.

I went to the alchemy preparation room.

There was something I wanted to ask Eduard-oniisama about last night.

“How did I know that you were a reincarnated person, you say?”

Eduard-oniisama put the materials for tomorrow’s lesson on the desk and then repeated my question.

“Yes.”

“Hmm, I don’t really know how to put it into words.”

Closing his eyes, my brother began to trace his memory lane.

“Well, the realization came to me just like that, I thought you were undoubtedly a reincarnated person.”

“Did father also notice?”

“Of course, he was aware of it as well.”

Speaking of which, in the layers of history of Aurelia’s religion, there were theories about reincarnation.

I see.

That is just like my brother.

I intended to hide it, but it turns out I was being left to my own discretion, huh?

“But your past life is yours only. We didn’t want to ask about it until you revealed it.”

Saying so, my brother laughed.

Everyone in my family is so kind.

It may be better to tell father about me to some extent.

Once I was convinced, I bade my brother goodbye and headed to the grand dining hall of our school building.

“Erica-san.”

“Erica-sama! Are you also having dinner here?”

Just as I was looking for Chloe and Beatrice, I was called out by them first.

“Yes.”

I sat down next to Chloe and had a cup of tea together.

Alright, now I can ask about the Wynt family’s interference.

I’ve been curious about it since noon.

“Excuse me, Beatrice. The piece of paper you found during lunch, was that an instruction for you after all?”

“Y-yes, that’s correct, Erica-sama.”

Beatrice took a piece of paper out of her robe pocket and showed it to me.

I looked into the paper with Chloe.

—Train yourself for running anyhow, make sure your legs and loins are trained to face the upcoming day.

What does it mean?

“Is this a metaphor for something?”

“I think it’s exactly what it says. The term ‘causal interference’ may sound terrifying, but it usually just consists of instructions like this.”

Don’t neglect your discipline, keep a calm mind.

You can believe this person, but this other one is no good.

Make friends, and have at least two people whom you can trust and talk to.

Smile more, even an insincere smile is fine, so smile.

Find as many opportunities as you can to meet your parents, younger sister, and younger brother.

Eat lots of delicious food.

The last one is the message when she brought leftover sweets from the head house to her parents’ home.

“She’s annoying, but I think she loves Beatrice.”

Saying that, Chloe bit off a piece from the walnut bread with plenty of honey.

I agree.

I also reached out, picked a bread, and bit into it.

Very sweet and delicious.

“Hmm?”

Chloe pulled a piece of paper out of her bread.

At the same time, I found a similar piece of paper in the bread I broke in half.

“Don’t tell me—“

“No way.”

“Eh… Eeeeehhhh…??”

Our eyes met for a short instance.

What an unnatural turn of event!

It was as if someone was watching this place and interfered in real time.

If this is the work of the Wynt family, that would be too amazing.

I opened my piece of paper resolutely.

—You already know me

—You also have to run, so train with Beatrice, okay?

—I’ll have a talented coach ready.

Ooh, so I also need to train my legs?

I mean, why would she interfere with the causality just to tell us to do long training runs?

More importantly, who’s the coach?

Ah, don’t tell me…?

“This what mine says.”

Chloe spread open her piece of paper.

—I will leave their training to you.

—Train them to a level you are satisfied with.

Chloe, who is already well-trained, was asked to be a coach.

She had a broad grin on her face.

“I can only give you the training we do in the North, is that okay? I’ll do my best!”

“Eh… Chloe-chan’s best effort…?”

Beatrice quivered.

Is, is this the beginning of a terrifying grueling training…?

☆

“Yup, I think that’s all for today. Both of you seem to be at your limit.”

“Y-yes, it’s already the limit.”

Finally, finally, we have been released from Chloe’s torture—I mean, training.

My legs are a little wobbly and it feels like I’m floating off the ground.

“…Hh, ye, yes…”

Beatrice seemed to have difficulties to even quip out a sound.

After finishing Chloe’s running training, I sat down on the bench at the training ground.

I felt like I could still taste blood in my mouth.

“Yeah, let’s start with a light jog like this for a while.”

Eh, that was a light jog? Even though I ran for who-knows-how-long?

But, well, maybe it’s thanks to Chloe’s coaching that my legs aren’t stiff or sprained.

After the training, we stopped by the infirmary and both Beatrice and I took turns receiving a massage from Chloe.

“Yup, there shouldn’t be any lasting effect tomorrow.”

“Heeh, you started a good regimen.”

Margrave Harlan Lucanrant, disguised as the insurance healer Jack Citrouille, also had a nice smile on his face.

He was more than happy to prepare 3 types of pills and compresses that seem to have been requested by Chloe.

I wonder if they intend remake our body into one that forcibly runs using nutrients and massages.

What’s more, this whole thing will be repeated every day starting today…?

Isn’t it just a form of torture…?

Is this a new death flag…?

But this is a training to avoid some kind of crisis, so I will just go along with it.

With this training, I should be able to escape quickly and won’t lose, right?

“See you later tonight, Chloe, Beatrice.”

Then I parted ways with them.

After taking a shower in my room, I put on my uniform again.

By the time I finished my assignment, it was already midnight.

Now, it’s time for the evening meeting.