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nOtomege Volume 4 Chapter 7

n.

nA packet from Leon arrived to the academy in Hohlfahrt Kingdom.

nThe recipients for it were Ange and Livia.

n「That Leon, just when I wondered why he didn’t contact us for a while, he sent us souvenir like this instead.」

nWhen they happily opened the box, they found things like tea leaves or female-oriented products. It was just like Leon to send them this kind of things.

nThere were also letters inside. Livia got surprised when she read the letter for her.

n「Ange, it looks like Leon-san got into trouble there. He wrote that he wanted us to hand his letter to his majesty and the queen!」

n「What?」

nAnge read the letter too. There were a few words about how he loves the two of them before he wrote about there was a problem occurring in the commonwealth.

n

nIn order to deal with the problem, the letter asked them to hand some letters to Roland and Mylene.

nCreare was floating inside the room looking lonely. Ange turned her gaze toward it.

n『──There is no souvenir for me. Even though I’ve been working so hard for master’s sake.』

n「Creare, have you heard anything? Previously Leon would contact us with mail through you, why didn’t he do so this time?」

n『There is no word from Luxion so I also don’t know. Perhaps something happened?』

nAnge placed her hand on her mouth and fell into thought.

n「Something happened? What’s the reason Leon intentionally wrote two letters like this? I’m also curious why he isn’t giving us any more explanation.」

nLivia took the letters inside the packet with a troubled look.

n「Should we read them?」

n「I want to, but Leon intentionally prepared them separately. There must be meaning in it. I will deliver these letters right away.」

nCreare was spinning around in the air.

n『H~m, I wonder? This is master we’re talking about, so perhaps there isn’t any deep meaning to it. Surely master separated the letters into one that is full of complaints to Roland while the other is a love letter to Mylene where master is trying to act cool.』

nExpression vanished from Livia’s face while she looked at the two letters.

n「That’ll be a bit problematic if that’s the case.」

nAnge laughed.

n「I’ll want to praise him instead if he has the guts to write a love letter to the queen while he already has two fiancées. What’s more he is asking me to be the one delivering that letter. ──That’s very promising.」

nShe was laughing, but she was making a face that showed how she absolutely wasn’t amused at all in the inside.

nCreare tried to defend Leon a bit.

n『It’s impossible for that indecisive master to do something like that. In any case, perhaps I also should make some preparations just in case something happens over there.』

n「What do you mean by preparations?」

nLivia asked. Creare answered her in delight.

n『Do you want to know? Then I’ll tell you. Actually there are these spare parts for master’s Einhorn lying around. They can be used to create a second ship. The second ship of Einhorn class──let’s see, should I call it Licorne? Also, actually there is this interesting device among the things we collected. I want to install it into the airship too.』

n「I, is that so?」

nLivia couldn’t follow what Creare was talking about so happily. After Creare finished talking, Livia handed the two letters to Ange.

n「Let’s send them quickly. ──I hope nothing bad happens to Leon.」

n.

nI think the packet that I sent to the kingdom should have arrived around this time.

nAs for me, I was taking several days off from the academy.

nI had no interest to go there just to get bullied. The academy also wasn’t saying anything to me.

nI came to Marie’s mansion in one of those days off and talked with Brad.

n「Sorry. I’ve caused you a lot of trouble.」

n「You’re recovering quickly for someone so heavily injured.」

n「This is thanks to Marie healing me every night. I feel bad for everyone, but this is what they called side benefit.」

n「I don’t want to hear you going on about your love affair.」

n「Oh, that’s too bad.」

nHe must be feeling better already if he could make this kind of talk, but his current condition still cut a sorry figure.

nAccording to Marie, 「It was really dangerous. He only barely made it even with my healing magic」.

nIt made it clear just how merciless Pierre and his gang were.

n「──Brad, are the guys who did this to you strong?」

nWhen I broached the main topic, Brad made a slightly troubled face.

n「If I can be honest, I thought they were weak at first. They were weaker than even me in close-quarter combat, and even their skill in magic was crude. I thought that there is no way I’ll lose to them.」

nBrad’s specialty wasn’t in close-quarter combat. He was weaker than even me in that.

nFor them to be even weaker than Brad, was the nobles of Alzer alright?

n「They used magic in the middle, so I also used magic back. But midway I became unable to use magic.」

n「You couldn’t use magic? It wasn’t because of a blunder in your part?」

n「It felt like the magic reaction was suddenly gone. Even though the magic should activate without problem, at that time it felt like something forcefully stopped the process. In exchange the power from the magic of that guy called Pierre shot through the roof. He freely controlled plants that grew out from the ground. If he is a magician than he is very high leveled, but he didn’t look anything like that from his appearance. It was really puzzling.」

n「Was his right hand glowing?」

n「Right hand? Now that you mentioned it, there was some kind of glowing crest on his hand. It didn’t look like magic circle but──as I thought, is there some kind of secret there?」

nBrad didn’t seem to know about the divine protection of the sacred tree.

n「I see. Well, I’m glad I can ask you about all these. For now just focus on getting better.」

n「Bartfalt──are you perhaps, scheming something?」

nBrad asked me just when I was about to leave the room.

n「Why do you think that?」

n「It’s not like you to just accept this situation and stay quiet. If you’re really planning something, then the only thing I can say is that I have this feeling that they are still hiding something.」

n「──I’ll be careful. Get better quickly.」

nWhen I left the room, there was Marie standing in the corridor hugging a single notebook.

n.

nMarie got dark circles under her eyes. She handed me a single notebook.

nIt seemed she was writing in this notebook for the whole night. After handing the book to me, Marie talked without looking at my face.

n「I-I wrote everything that I can remember into that notebook.」

nI wanted to tell her that she should work this hard right from the start, but I found several interesting information when I took a brief look at the book.

n「──Seems like you’ve been working hard.」

n「I did my best!」

nThere was a lot of information here compared to before we arrived in Alzer. Looked like she went all out to make an appeal that she was doing her best.

nFor example, there was information regarding the oath to the sacred tree.

nBy swearing an oath to the sacred tree, one could draw out more power than usual from the sacred tree.

nThe practical application of that was for something like the unreasonable duel that Pierre forced on Marie and others.

nAnd then the notebook also mentioned about the crests that the sacred tree bestowed.

nThe guardian’s crest was the strongest, followed by the priestess. Then below them was the crest of the six great nobles.

nThe note kept mentioning other crests below that. The status of these crests also influenced the standing of the nobles that had them.

nThey were nobles because the sacred tree recognized them──it was really easy to understand.

n「──There are interesting information here.」

nThere was also information that could be used for taking revenge to Pierre written here.

n「B-big bro, what are you going to do now?」

nMarie asked me anxiously, so I answered her with a smile.

nI teased her too much that she became this fearful now, so I tried to reassure her.

n「What am I going to do? That’s obvious. I’ll make Pierre pay. I’ll also need to teach Alzer their place while I’m at it. I’ll tell them firmly, don’t keep getting cocky.」

nI couldn’t just run away home like this.

nAfter all the danger to the world was still remaining as before.

nBut, even though I was trying to reassure her, Marie was starting to tremble fiercely instead.

nTears gathered in her eyes and she kept repeating 「I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry」.

n──Why is she reacting like this!?

nJulius saw Marie trembling in front of me and ran toward us.

n「Marie, are you alright!?」

n「So you show up, you stupid prince.」

nAfter I said that with a weary expression, Julius pulled Marie to behind him.

n「Bartfalt, certainly this situation is also our responsibility. But, stop cornering Marie like this! If you have something to say then say it to me!」

nWhat a manly prince.

nIf I was a girl then surely my heart would throb──no, I guess it wouldn’t.

n「I see. Then I shall ask you to work.」

n「W-what?」

nNext it was Jilk who showed up.

n「Your highness! Marie-san too, both of you are safe!」

n「Yosh, you come too green head.」

n「Eh?」

nAfter that Chris who didn’t wear anything above his waist peered into the corridor curiously after hearing the commotion.

nHe was sweaty. Perhaps he had just been practicing swinging.

n「What is going on?」

nI looked at Chris while thinking which would be better, Greg or him.

nI concluded to leave Greg behind because he wasn’t here anyway.

n「Yosh, I’ll take you too blue head. Marie, I’ll borrow these three.」

nAfter I said that, the three of them spoke angrily「Just what are you talking about!?」, but Marie nodded. She looked like she didn’t mind if that was all I’m asking.

n「I don’t mind but, what are you going to do?」

n「M-Marie!?」

nI ignored the shocked trio and tapped the rolled up notebook on my shoulder.

n「I’m going to raid the commonwealth’s dungeon. It’s treasure hunt.」

nMarie’s eyes brightened when I said that.

n「Treasure!」

nJulius and others also had the same reaction.

nEven rotten like this, they were still descendants of adventurers.

nTheir mood brightened when they heard the word treasure and they looked excited.

n「I don’t know what you’re planning but, there’s no way I can’t just stay quiet after hearing the word treasure.」

n「Your highness, let’s quickly prepare.」

nJilk was also looking really motivated unlike just now.

nEven Chris looked like a kid before an outing.

n「I’ll prepare the sword I have been keeping in secret. Bartfalt, when will we depart?」

n──These guys are looking excited. I envy them.

n「Wait for a bit. I’ll make some preparation in the academy. I also want to secure a guide for us from there.」

nMarie tilted her head and asked me.

n「Guide?」

n「There is this teacher who is an expert of Alzer’s dungeon right?」

n.

nWhen I came to the academy after not coming for several days, the students and even the teachers looked shocked before they averted their gazes from me.

nI understood well that the six great nobles were holding great influence in the academy.

nBecause of that I was walking right in the middle of the corridor.

nEveryone on my way stepped aside and opened the path. It made me felt a bit better.

n「Now then, where is this Mr. Narcisse?」

nMy objective for coming to the academy was to make a request to Mr. Narcisse.

nNarcisse was a capture target in the second game and the only teacher among the targets.

nHe was a teacher who loved to investigate dungeons and ruins. In the academy he had a class that put importance in field work.

nThe class was an optional special class. The person was more of a scholar than a teacher.

nHe wanted to live as an archeologist, but he was unable to live freely because he came from the six great nobles.

nHe was also a teacher who gave his help to the main character in that game.

nThen I should ask him to help me.

nI was walking toward the special classroom. Midway I accidentally came across Louise-san.

n「Leon-kun!?」

nI waved my hand to the surprised Louise-san.

n「Long time no see. It was a disaster~, my airship got taken by Pierre.」

nAfter I said that casually without much seriousness in my tone, Louise-san’s gaze turned sharp.

n「──Come over here.」

nShe grabbed my arm and led me to an empty classroom.

n「Just what happened? I wanted to ask about the story in detail, but none of you came to the academy. In addition even Noelle stopped coming. Are these two things related?」

nLouise-san asked me for explanation, so I explained it simply.

n「That scum Pierre stole my ship using this oath to the sacred tree thing. As for Noelle, apparently Loic came to her bringing a collar and blabbered about love or whatever, so she took refuge in my house.」

nLouise-san looked somewhat relieved knowing that Noelle was alright.

n「I see──then, I’ll talk to father. Just leave these matters of Noelle and Loic to me.」

nThis villainess was more caring than I thought.

nSetting that aside.

n「Please don’t. As things are we will keep getting underestimated. Even though I look like this I’m the hero of the kingdom, while Brad who was injured is the former heir of a prestigious noble house in the kingdom. ──There is also the former crown prince among the people who got marked with the crest among their neck by that scum Pierre.」

nWhen I remembered the crest collar that was engraved on Marie’s neck──I felt irritated.

nLouise-san’s expression stiffened slightly.

n「──I understand your feeling. But Pierre is also from the six great nobles. He isn’t an opponent that you can win against.」

nI listed a lot of reasons, but to be honest not one of them was my true reason.

n「Let me rephrase it. I can’t forgive that bastard for picking a fight with me. That’s why I’ll make him go through something horrible. To do that, can you help me a little?」

nI tried asking because I got nothing to lose, but Louise-san unexpectedly agreed after worrying for a while.

n「──I wish that you won’t do anything dangerous though.」

n「I’m used with fighting even though I look like this.」

n「──I see. Then, what do you want me to help with?」

n「Please introduce me to someone. Also──」

nLouise-san looked really surprised when she heard my second request.

n.

nI was shown to the building where the special classroom was located.

nThere, I found teacher Narcisse Calse Granze sleeping on a sofa inside a place that seemed to be a preparation room.

nThe preparation room was largely crammed with documents. There were few places to step on.

nLouise-san who brought me here looked exasperated and knocked the door loudly to wake up Mr. Narcisse.

n「Are you awake, Mr. Narcisse.」

nMr. Narcisse sat up hearing that sound. His hair style was a simple one where his gray hair was left to flow behind.

nHe got stubble on his face while his shirt was wrinkled and stained.

nHe was tall and slender but with muscles on his body.

nHis appearance was a bit worn out, but this teacher was handsome enough.

nHe put on the glasses that was placed on the low table before looking our way.

n「Oh, Louise. It’s unusual for you to come to this kind of place.」

nThe two of them were apparently acquainted.

n「I came bringing a guest today.」

n「A guest for me?」

nI greeted Mr. Narcisse.

n「Nice to meet you. I am Leon, an overseas student. Mr. Narcisse, actually I wish to consult you about dungeon──」

nMr. Narcisse suddenly got up from the sofa while I was talking and hugged me.

n「I’ve been waiting, adventurer!」

n「Ha? Eh?」

nMr. Narcisse who was reeking of alcohol strongly hugged me while I was in confusion.

nLouise-san forcefully separated me away from Mr. Narcisse.

n「Narcisse, what are you doing!?」

nLouise-san stopped treating him like a teacher, but Mr. Narcisse paid it no mind at all.

n「No, I apologize. I was looking forward to it when I heard that overseas students from the kingdom would come here this year. After all I heard that the students in the kingdom’s academy are all adventurer. I was hoping that you will be able to help me in exploring dungeons.」

nLooks like he was a person who would become high-tensioned when it was about his hobby.

n「More importantly Mr. Narcisse, you are going to have spare time for a while aren’t you?」

n「Hm? Well, I guess. I had just returned from a ruin after all. But the academy might be lecturing me if I don’t hold a class soon.」

n「──The number of student who wish to take your class is zero you know? You should take care of that problem first before figuring out when to hold a class.」

n「Eh, is that true? What a problem. Even though I could only continue being archaeologist because I’m a academy teacher」

nIt seemed he was a very easygoing person.

nHe also seemed uninformed about the situation in the academy.

n「Forget about that Mr. Narcisse. Can you listen to what I have to say?」

n「Ah, wait. I’ll prepare some tea first. If I remember right, there should be a tea set around here──」

nMr. Narcisse fell down inside the room after saying that. Then he got buried under a mountain of documents.

n「──H-help」

nI looked toward Louise-san.

n「This person, he is really from the six great nobles right?」

n「That’s right. The eccentric Narcisse. He often got made fun of among the young generations, but I heard that he excelled as a scholar.」

nWhen I looked at Mr. Narcisse who was buried under the documents, I could certainly see why he was called an eccentric.

nWe helped Mr. Narcisse out of the mountain of papers.

n.

nI explained about what had happened until now to Mr. Narcisse after digging him out.

nMr. Narcisse made a pained look when he heard about Pierre.

n「What should I say here, what happened was truly inexcusable. Let me apologize to you as a fellow six great nobles.」

n「Could nothing be done about Pierre? From what I heard, he has been a problem student like this from a long time ago.」

nMr. Narcisse looked troubled from my obvious question.

n「We introduced ourselves as six great nobles, but each of them is like a royal family of their respective domain. This might sound like exaggeration but, it might be perceived as interference to the affairs of another country if I give him a warning.」

nPerhaps it couldn’t be helped because the commonwealth was a gathering of countries that gathered under the sacred tree?

nWell, it wasn’t really my business.

n「I’ll take care of Pierre. Putting that aside, can you help with the other matter?」

n「──You mean about exploring the dungeon in Lespinasse territory? I’ll be happy to do so, but it will be very dangerous. In Alzer, the closer the dungeon is to the sacred tree, the more dangerous it tends to be. The dungeons in Lespinasse territory that is right beside the sacred tree are all dungeons with high difficulty.」

n「There is no problem.」

nLouise-san seemed to be worried for me.

n「I wish that you won’t do anything dangerous though. It seems you have confidence, but it’s not good to be overconfident.」

n──It would be great if this person was really my big sister.

nIf it was my big sister Jena or my little sister Finley here, the most they would say would be 「Don’t forget to bring back souvenir」.

nI felt like crying.

n「W-what’s wrong!? Why are you crying, Leon-kun?」

n「No, I just feel that it’s wonderful there is a girl who will give me such kind words.」

nRight now I had Ange and Livia, but that one year I spent in the kingdom’s academy was really horrible.

n──It was really horrible.

nI wiped my tears with my sleeve while asking Mr. Narcisse to be our guide in the dungeon.

n「Will you accept my request?」

nMr. Narcisse folded his arms and looked like he thought about various things──then he nodded.

n「Got it. I’ll be your guide. However, I’ll have you pay me the promised reward properly. Recently I’m troubled because I don’t have enough research fund.」

n「Please don’t worry. I will pay you the proper reward. After all the dungeons in the commonwealth is reputed to be profitable. I’m looking forward to it.」

nI was really looking forward to it.

nThis would be a good chance to secure a lot of resources, like the magic stones with exportable quality.

nI could also make those five idiots work with this.

n「Then let’s depart immediately.」

n「──Eh?」

nI grabbed Mr. Narcisse’s arm with a smile and made him stood. I then dragged him with me right away.

nBefore I left, I turned a smile toward the astonished Louise-san.

n「Please help me with that other thing too when we return.」

n「Y-yes.」

nThen I left the room with a faint smile on my lips.

n──Pierre, I’ll make you regret making me angry.

n.

nThe location was the academy’s courtyard.

nThere were many lovers who spent their lunch time there.

nLelia was having lunch together with her lover Emile, but from her expression she looked distracted.

nThe reason was her big sister Noelle.

n(Just where have she gone to)

nShe was worried for Noelle who didn’t come back. She was also annoyed at the same time.

n(Even though she just needs to go out with Loic immediately, what is she hesitating for?)

nEmile was worried seeing Lelia’s distracted look and talked to her.

n「Lelia, Noelle-san still haven’t returned home yet?」

nLelia smiled toward the kind Emile.

n「Ye, yeah. I think she is alright though. But I wish that she would tell me where she is staying at least.」

nThen Emile made a worried face.

n「There are many troubles recently after all. I want to believe that even Pierre won’t do anything horrible to Noelle-san in consideration of Loic.」

n「You’re right. This is because big sis is stubborn. Even though all the problems will go away if only she go out with Loic.」

nLelia was trying to get her big sister Noelle hitched with Loic.

nIn order to make that happened, she did various things like giving Loic advices. Emotionally she was Loic’s ally.

n「──But, recently Loic is somewhat strange. It feels like he has this scary aura around him.」

nEmile was feeling danger from Loic, but Lelia didn’t agree with him.

n「Really? I think he is just impatient because things don’t go that well with big sis, but he isn’t that scary. Though it’s a problem that her desire to monopolize is a bit strong.」

nEmile made a conflicted face at Lelia’s words.

n「It’ll be great if it’s really just a bit. ──Eh?」

nEmile took off his gaze from Lelia toward Leon who was pulling Narcisse’s arm at the distance.

n「It’s unusual to see the overseas student coming to school. Where is he planning to bring Mr. Narcisse?」

nEmile was looking puzzled. In contrast Lelia’s eyes widened and she stared at Leon in fixation.

nShe dropped the bread that was her lunch, but she didn’t even notice it.

n「──Those guys」

n.

nI dragged Mr. Narcisse to a cave in former Lespinasse territory that was also a dungeon.

nWe boarded a small ship to come here. When we arrived at the entrance, I removed the plank that had the writing ‘forbidden to enter’.

nI had properly asked for permission.

nYou could enter even the restricted dungeon if you brought up the name of a six great nobles. It was convenient.

nIt was what I brought Mr. Narcisse for.

n「What refreshing weather! This is the perfect day for an adventure!」

n「Indeed your highness!」

nJulius was high-tensioned from the morning. Agreeing with him was Jilk who had a rifle on his back.

nMr. Narcisse who was dragged here half forcefully looked up to the sky while carrying a large rucksack on his back.

n「No, today the sky is cloudy.」

nJulius kept smiling even after hearing Mr. Narcisse’s retort.

n「It’s the problem of feeling, teacher.」

n「No, you were talking about weather just now weren’t you!?」

nWhat a happy-go-lucky bunch.

nAs for Chris, he was comparing several swords that he brought here. He was hesitating to choose which sword to bring.

n「As I thought perhaps it should be this one? No, it’s hard to discard this one too. Eei! Then I’ll bring them both!」

n──Are these guys misunderstanding dungeon exploration as a picnic?

nI wished they would think about my feeling for having to lead this bunch of idiots.

n「Let’s go in already if you guys are finished with the equipment check.」

nI was bringing a device that looked like a smartphone with me. I used it to confirm the map of the area.

nThere was a bit of noise running on the screen. It might be due to the influence of the sacred tree.

n「Oh, the kingdom has some strange tool.」

nMr. Narcisse peered onto my device.

n「Aa~, this thing is a lost item. I’m using it because it’s handy.」

n「Lost item! That’s amazing. Please let me take a look at it.」

n「It’ll broke if you disassemble it so better not. Anyway, let’s get inside the dungeon already.」

nI was carrying a shotgun and a heavy rucksack.

nMr. Narcisse looked puzzled seeing that.

n「Leon-kun, why are you bringing explosive with you?」

nWe tilted our head hearing that question.

n「Eh, it’s necessary isn’t it?」

n「We also have the proper knowledge of explosive so please don’t worry. We won’t allow the treasure to be damaged.」

nThe one who agreed with me was Jilk who was also skilled in handling explosive.

n「No, the interior of a dungeon is also a part of the ruin! You must not use explosive inside such place!」

nChris laughed.

n「It’ll be fine. We will keep the destruction to the minimum. The value of the treasure will decrease if it got damaged after all.」

n「By value you mean the historical value right!? Do you guys really understand how important the ruin here!?」

nI laughed while persuading Mr. Narcisse.

n「Please leave it to me. I will stop them if they go too far. Besides, this time our objective is more of something else rather than the ruin.」

nMy objective was a key item that originally didn’t have any effect in the game.

nIt was a necessary item for the story progression. It had no value at all as a tool in the game.

nBut, it would become an item with absurd value when it was in reality.

n「Something else?」

nMr. Narcisse was confused, but I ignored him and entered the dungeon.

n「It’s dungeon exploration in Alzer. Put some spirit into it you guys!」

nAfter I raised my voice, Julius, Jilk, and Chris also raised a gallant yell in respond.

n「Will it really be fine?」

nMr. Narcisse hung his head down seeing us acting like that.

n