Reunion in the Academy Town

「It’s gotten a lot colder…」

His breath was white. As soon as Hikaru disembarked from the carriage, he went straight home. He didn’t stop anywhere on his way back from the Empire’s capital. The warmth of summer still lingered in the Empire, but Scholarzard was already cold. I think a warm place is much more comfortable to live in, he thought.

The streets of Scholarzard looked the same as always. The battle in Borderzard and the unrest during the seven nations’ meeting didn’t have an effect on a mere provincial town. This only served to remind him that League’s plan of removing the barriers between the seven nations was quite a difficult endeavor. League knew that, of course. That’s why he said he’d devote his whole life to this goal.

「I’m back—」

When he returned to his home located on the top floor of a three-story building just beside the academy…

「Hikaru?」

「!!」

Lavia, who was drinking tea on the table, and Paula, cooking in the kitchen, responded.

「I’m sorry I took longer than expecte…」

「Hikaru-sama!!」

Paula immediately prostrated herself before Hikaru.

「I’m sooooooooo sorry!」

Confused, Hikaru eyed Lavia.

「Uh… Welcome home, Hikaru.」she greeted awkwardly.

Exhausted from the long trip, Hikaru changed out of his clothes first. When he returned to the living room, Paula was still on the floor, prostrating. He didn’t really care, but apparently prostration was the best method of asking for forgiveness in this world as well.

「What’s this about?」Hikaru asked.

Paula explained herself, still down on the floor.

「…Hmm, I see. I saved your life three times. Yet you broke your promise and used healing magic in front of people. And you couldn’t do anything when Lavia was kidnapped.」

When Hikaru returned to the guild after rescuing Lavia, she didn’t mention that she’d used her healing magic on strangers. On their way to Scholarzard, though, Paula told Lavia about it. The latter’s expression stiffened, “You broke your promise with Hikaru? You’re quite the daredevil”.

「I’m really, really sorry!」

「Hikaru. Paula doesn’t have anything to do with my kidnapping.」

「B-But if I didn’t do anything to draw attention, they wouldn’t have found you!」

「No one thought Ponsonia’s special forces would be there.」

「But still!」

「That’s enough.」Hikaru waved his hand, stopping the two’s argument.

「Paula, on your feet.」

「But…」

「It’s really hard to talk when you’re down on the floor like that.」

Paula slowly rose to her feet. She looked dejected at a closer look.

(She was worried you got into some trouble since you were taking so much time.) Lavia whispered.

(What about you?)

(Hmm?)

(You weren’t worried about me?)

(Hehe. I know little problems are nothing to my Hikaru.)

Her infinite faith in him made him happy, of course. But I would prefer if she worried about me sometimes. I wonder if that’s too much to ask.

Lavia sat beside Hikaru, and Paula across them.

「Hikaru-sama…」

「Paula.」Hikaru stopped her from apologizing again.「I said it’s enough. So please, say no more. You’re human, and humans make mistakes. Just learn from them and make sure they don’t happen again.」

「…Okay.」

「Wasn’t it hard parting with your friends? You did well.」

「Hikaru-sama…」Tears welled up in her eyes. For the record, she was two years older than him.「I, uhh… What should I do for you? You told me to offer my everything to you…」

「Well, I haven’t thought of anything yet.」

「…What?」

「I haven’t even thought about what I should do in this world. Until I make my decision, I’ll just ask you to do a few things from time to time. So you can live however you want for now. You can continue being an adventurer, or even enroll in the academy.」

「But, I… It’s kinda hard for me to say this, but I don’t have anything with me.」

「You mean money? I’ll give you some, so don’t worry about it.」

「No! I can’t always be on the receiving end!」

「But what can you do? You can’t use your healing magic unless I say so. Without it, I don’t think you have a lot of ways to make money. Since I’m the one preventing you from using your abilities, it’s only right that I shoulder your expenses. So don’t worry about it too much.」

「Okay…」Paula looked crestfallen, then came to a sudden realization.「I-I’ll work, then!」

「What?」

「I can read, write, and do math! I can work in a restaurant or something.」

「O-Oh… If you want to, go ahead.」

「I can’t always depend on your generosity!」

She was with Lavia the whole time Hikaru was away.

「I’d prefer it if Paula cooked for us. It’ll make things easier.」Lavia said.

「Oh. Are you a good cook, Paula?」

「She’s quite good actually.」

「Wow.」

「N-N-N-N-Not at all!」Paula was being extremely modest.

Since Lavia vouched for her, she must have some skill in cooking.

「Just to be sure, it’s not spicy food, is it?」Hikaru asked.

「Do you like spicy food?」Paula asked in return.

「If it’s not, then fine. Anyway, you can live wherever you want. I won’t force you or anything.」

「Okay!」

Hikaru planned to be a student for a while. He could just talk to her once he was ready to leave town.

We’re basically storing away her valuable healing magic, but it’s not like we have financial troubles. If she used her abilities, she could catch the attention of some nasty guys which will only cause more trouble. It’s better if she just get a part-time job.

「So, Hikaru. What took you so long?」Lavia asked.

「Ah, well…」Hikaru cast a glance at Paula.

「I-If you don’t want me to hear it, I’ll go to the balcony and cover my ears!」

「Ah no, you don’t have to do that. Let’s see… There are some things I can’t tell you, but since our fates are tied now in a way, we should share information.」

「Are you sure…?」

「Yes. So can you make more tea please?」

「Right away!」

Paula immediately rose from her seat and started making tea. In the meantime, Hikaru told Lavia about Paula’s Soul Board.

(Eight points on Healing Magic?! How powerful is it?!)

(According to the Four Stars, she’s one of the best healers in Ponsonia, able to restore missing limbs and cure petrifaction. It looks like she can do more than that, though, so I’d rank her even higher. But I don’t know how powerful she is in a worldwide scale.)

(Wow… Wait a second. The Four Stars? We ran away from them, remember? You didn’t meet them afterwards, did you?)

Hikaru told her about how the ladies called out to him after she left with Paula.

「………」

「Lavia?」

「Where did you talk?」

「At the inn where they were staying. Why?」

「……..」

「Lavia?」

「It’s nothing… So this is jealousy… Such a complicated feeling.」

「Hmm? Come again?」

「Here you go!」Paula said as she brought tea.

Lavia returned to her straight face. What did she say? Hikaru wondered. It didn’t look like she was going to tell him, though.

Paula poured tea into Hikaru’s cup, and he took a sip.

「Okay, where do I start? So first I headed to Margrave Grugschilt’s place.」

Hikaru told them about how he found a Quinbland spy at the Margrave’s mansion who then led him to Unken.

「Wh-What?! Old man Unken was the Pond guildmaster?! I thought he was just an assessor! So he’s a Quinbland spy?」

Paula was confused. It seemed she had experience asking Unken to assess monster materials back at Pond.

「I know there’s a lot to unpack here, but they’re not that important.」

「I’m pretty sure they are!」

「You might not have to worry about your pursuers anymore.」Hikaru told Lavia.「Unken said he’d go beat the king up, so I didn’t have to smack the guy myself.」

「So you really were serious about punching the king, huh?」Paula said.

Of course I was. He tried to lay a hand on Lavia. I had to pay him back. He only gave up on the idea out of respect for Unken, who was willing to throw his life away.

「So no one will come after me anymore?」

「I think so. Margrave Grugschilt and Gafrasti are making their move as well. Ponsonia will be in a state of chaos for a while. Also…」

The Four Stars of the East gave him information, albeit an unreliable one, which made him hesitate whether to tell the girls or not. As exchange for the information he provided, Selyse told him:

The king is apparently a drug addict.

In exchange for rare pleasure, he’d hallucinate and become obsessed. That’s why he invaded Quinbland. Selyse accordingly got the information from one of her contacts, a maid working the castle.

Neither Hikaru nor the Four Stars of the East knew that it was because of the drugs—provided by the Grand Chamberlain—that the king panicked when one of the members of the special forces returned. But since the king’s attending physician was under the patronage of the Chamberlain, the secret never went out.

「Also what?」

「Ah, no, it’s nothing important. Anyway, I think you’re safe now.」

「…I see.」

「That’s great!!」Paula exclaimed.

「Why are you more ecstatic than Lavia?」

Lavia and Paula exchanged looks and giggled. It looked like friendship between the girls deepened while he was away.

「What happened after that? If that was it, you would’ve made it back sooner.」

「Well actually, I went to Quinbland’s capital.」

「Quinbland?」

「Unken asked me to deliver a letter to the Emperor. That’s why it took me a while to get back.」

「You make it sound easy, but don’t tell me you actually snuck into the Emperor’s bedroom.」

「Huh? I did exactly that.」

Paula and Lavia looked dumbfounded.

「It would’ve taken too much time otherwise. I couldn’t prove that Unken’s letter was genuine, and I don’t even know how to make an appointment with the Emperor.」

「That’s true…」

「So this is what Hikaru-sama is like…」

「Yeah. Common sense doesn’t really apply to him.」

「I would prefer if you didn’t make it sound like I lack common sense.」

He was a little upset. Lavia should know he met with Forestia’s Queen even. He couldn’t say it out loud as Paula was around.

「That reminds me. I received a gift for delivering the letter and giving the Emperor some information.」

Hikaru took out a letter box tied with a string.

「What’s that? It looks like it’s made of fine quality leather.」

Lavia untied the string. Paula peered at it with great interest from across the table.

「Apparently it’s called a Dimension Dragon Letter Box or something.」

Lavia almost dropped the box, while Paula spat out her tea.

「Ugh, that’s disgusting…」Hikaru said.

Paula choked, trying to clear her throat.

「That was your fault, Hikaru!」Lavia rebuked.

「What? How?」

「I-Is this really a Dimension Dragon Letter Box?」

「That’s what the Emperor said.」

Lavia carefully place the box on the table, as though handling a bomb.

「I thought this thing only appeared in legends.」Lavia said.

「Same here…」Paula concurred.

「Wait a minute. Please explain.」Hikaru said.

Lavia sighed.「There’s a legend in the west about a hero who exterminated monsters. He got a Dimension Dragon Letter Box as loot.」

「I’ve heard about it in urban legends. When the item was put on auction, it fetched for an exceptionally high price rarely seen in history.」

Hikaru was always clueless. He was starting to suspect that his source of information, Roland, didn’t know much about anything else besides the art of crossing worlds.

「It’s not exactly a practical item, though.」He opened the box and flipped it over. A half-eaten bread came out of it.「Oh, it’s the bread I forgot to eat three days ago. It was inside all along.」

「Hikaru…」

「Hikaru-sama… What are you doing to a national treasure…」

The girls cringed. For Hikaru, the item was barely practical—if you turned it upside down, things inside would be flipped as well, and time passed all the same inside the box. Kaglai even said so himself.

Then the bell rang, announcing the arrival of a visitor.

「Looks like someone is here.」Paula said.

「League, I guess?」

「I don’t know.」Lavia replied.「No one had visited since Claude dropped by a few days ago.」

「I’ll check it out.」

Hikaru got up and headed down the stairs, yawning. A familiar face was standing on the main street.

『So you’re living in the academy town, huh? Ah, the springtime of youth.』Selica Tanoue said in Japanese.

Note:『』for when they speak in Japanese.