"Our social standings are just too different, aren't they?"
Olivia murmured softly while reading a book in the library.
After a short pause, I voiced my agreement.
"Yeah. A duke's daughter and someone like me — we might as well be living in the clouds. Angie's a good person herself, but our worlds are just too different."
The book I was reading while agreeing was a surprisingly informative tome titled "A History of Tea Parties." Once the athletic festival was over, the school festival would be next — another chance to make an impression.
At the school festival, events were organized not by class but by individual or group.
I planned to rope in Daniel and Raymond to set up a tea shop.
If I were going to make my move... if I wanted to appeal to the girls, tea was the only card I had.
"Should I stick with the classic approach? But maybe a more creative twist would appeal to the girls more..."
"Leon, are you even listening to me?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. You were talking about Angie, right?"
"Th-that too, but it's something else entirely. More of a general thing — everyone at this academy, from my perspective, is either nobility or knights..."
Well, nobility came in all shapes and sizes. There were poor country nobles like me who actually did farm work, and then there were proper nobles like Angie who fit everyone's image.
"I can talk to you just fine, and country nobles do manual labor so they're easy to get along with, right? After graduation, our lifestyles will be pretty modest anyway, so there's nothing to worry about."
Not everyone was going to end up living a noble lifestyle.
People left home to work at the royal palace or for other families. Most would work at the family estate while living modestly.
My second brother planned to work at the palace for a while before returning home to help with the estate.
"Bu-but, everyone here is just so accomplished."
I glanced at the book Olivia was reading.
It was a thick, impossibly complex book on magic, and Olivia was breezing through it. How many students at this academy could even read something that difficult?
You're the impressive one here. You're the protagonist of this world, you know.
"You could just ask other people. You'll find that hardly anyone disagrees with me. You're overthinking this."
My words left Olivia looking puzzled.
"What's wrong?"
"Um, well... asking other people is a little..."
"Don't you have any acquaintances?"
"...No."
That was when it hit me. When I realized the full picture.
Olivia had almost no friends at the academy.
...Crap. She'd been with me or Angie practically the whole time, and she'd never made any other friends or acquaintances.
By being around us, we'd been robbing her of opportunities to form new friendships.
Angie was a duke's daughter that nobody could approach easily, and I was disliked at the academy so nobody came near me either.
If Olivia stayed with people like us, nobody would approach her either.
It was a blind spot. I'd assumed she was handling things fine since she was the protagonist and had just left her alone — and now she was in this terrible situation.
I closed my book and set it on the table.
"Leon?"
"Olivia... forget studying for now. Let's start by making some friends."
"Huh?"
◇
The place I dragged Olivia to was the boys' dormitory for the regular class.
The regular class rooms housed two students per room by default. Since my second brother Nick was in the regular class, I went to ask for his help.
"Bro, help me out."
My second brother regarded me with a thoroughly annoyed expression. He was a third-year student at the academy.
Final-year regular-class students were busy.
Nick, who wanted to pursue a career as a civil servant, had been studying for entrance exams.
Olivia bowed her head politely.
"P-please take care of me, Nick."
When his roommate tactfully stepped out, my second brother glared at me.
"You're... an absolute idiot, you know that?"
"Why?"
After I explained the situation, my second brother proceeded to tear apart my plan.
"At the very least, you should have thought about this at the start of the new semester. More than a month of the second term has already passed, and the school festival is coming up. Forming new relationships at this point? That's crazy difficult."
"That's exactly why I'm consulting you!"
"Are you snapping back at me? Wait, why are you the one getting angry? I'm the one who should be furious!"
My second brother turned his gaze away from me and toward Olivia.
"...Olivia isn't a stranger, so I'll take this seriously. But do you know that the regular class has different rules from the upper class?"
"Um, well... I don't."
He explained matter-of-factly to Olivia, who was looking down.
"The girls aren't as extreme as in the upper class. Everyone here comes from knight families — knight rank, baronet rank, and so on. Students from families with low court standing. There are even people like me from a baron's family who won't inherit the estate, so nobody can afford to be too proud."
The reason the regular class was relatively decent was that the girls simply weren't wealthy enough to purchase slaves.
Right... to put it simply, buying a slave was like buying a car in my previous life.
Even after purchasing one, there were maintenance costs.
An excellent slave would demand appropriate compensation, and an ineffective one was pointless to keep around. The upper-class girls were essentially keeping luxury cars and foreign vehicles on hand.
"The girls in the regular class can't afford to go on about lovers and slaves, so they're pretty down-to-earth."
That "pretty" was relative to the upper class, of course.
As always, women held the stronger position. Within acceptable bounds, though. After seeing the upper class, the regular-class girls would look like celestial maidens or angels.
Goddesses? Olivia and Angie, maybe? Step back a little and Senior Clarice was hard to give up too.
Those five idiots who threw away those goddesses — they didn't understand a thing.
Sigh... but even so, I could never reach for those goddesses.
"If you want to make friends before the school festival... let's see. There's an idiot over there, right? Apparently she's opening a tea shop at the festival. You could get free tickets from her and hand them out — it'd be a chance to meet face-to-face and strike up a conversation. The regular-class girls enjoy the school festival too, and they look forward to events run by upper-class guys. They're dreaming of some forbidden cross-class romance or something. Hoping for something impossible — they look pretty foolish."
They apparently thought they might find love at the school festival.
Were the regular-class girls dreamers too?
How cute. I really wished the upper-class girls would take a page from their book.
Olivia was looking at me, so I decided to prepare those free tickets. I had the money.
"I'll prepare complimentary vouchers for a tea-and-pastry set."
"Oh, thank you!"
My second brother was rolling his neck around. He looked exhausted from studying. Typical for the studious Nick.
"After handing out the tickets, you could gradually build familiarity from there — greet them, that sort of thing. I'm afraid I can't come up with anything beyond that. It's more natural than just approaching someone out of the blue."
I tilted my head.
"What? You're not going to walk around the festival together on the day?"
"If you get the wrong distance too fast, it'll be a pain. Slow and steady is the way to go. Oh, and let me warn you about the girls you shouldn't get close to."
"I-if that's the case, then I'll help you on the day, Leon!"
The girls you shouldn't get close to were, well... the delinquents.
Apparently there were girls who frequented places like host clubs outside the academy and came home at dawn... Wait, wasn't that the same as upper-class girls?
Huh? In the regular class, that made you a delinquent?
"Girls who come home at dawn are no good. They don't even show up for class — who knows what they're thinking. Sigh, it's frustrating that even so, their path to marriage is still easier than ours."
I muttered under my breath.
"In the upper class, that'd just make you an average girl."
My second brother averted his eyes.
Olivia was smiling awkwardly too.
...Why was I even in the upper class?
While I was making a sad face, Olivia tugged at my sleeve.
"Leon, I'll help with the tea shop too. I'm always causing you trouble, so..."
My heart's cooling salve — Olivia's determined, "I'll do my best" expression soothed my frayed nerves.
...If this girl weren't a commoner, and if she weren't going to become a saint in the future, I might have proposed to her right then and there.
The world really was unfair.
◇
A few days before the school festival.
Our contribution was a tea shop — nothing original there — but the school festival featured an enormous number of events.
Since it was held over several days, the tea shop served as a popular rest spot.
That was why there were so many of them...
"Don't underestimate me — I learned tea-brewing from my master! I've set up an authentic tea shop for you!"
My friend Daniel stared at the room, which had been completely transformed.
"This used to be an empty classroom, right?"
Raymond, who wore glasses, nodded.
"Leon, you've spent way too much money. There's no way this will turn a profit."
Both of them were worried, but there was no problem at all.
"I never expected to turn a profit from the start. Besides, the money I spent on renovations came from winnings I took from everyone through bets. It's only right to give some of it back."
I'd hired professionals for the interior work.
The quality was on a completely different level from a student-run school festival tea shop!
While I was laughing triumphantly, Olivia approached me with tears in her eyes.
"Leon! The, the room next door is—"
◇
The four of us headed to the adjacent classroom, and there was none other than His Highness Julius.
He was handing out flyers to the sightseeing students.
"Come by if you have time. You're welcome."
The girls blushed at Julius's smile.
"Y-yes!"
"I'll be there! All three days of the school festival — I'll be there with everything I've got!"
"I-I'll spend lots of money too!"
Was this some kind of brainwashing?
Julius was beaming his refreshing smile at those girls.
"Tea shop 'Princess,' please support us."
...Tea shop "Princess"?!?!
Daniel's shoulders slumped.
"You've got to be kidding me. Setting up a tea shop right next to ours — that's got to be some kind of joke."
Raymond was shooting me glances.
"A jab at Leon, maybe? Some members of the organizing committee probably lost to him in duels or the airbike race. But still, this is pretty harsh."
When Julius spotted me, he directed a meaningful smirk my way.
Did this guy hate me that much? Sorry to say, the feeling's mutual. What a coincidence.
"Bartfort, I hear you're running a tea shop too. We're opening one as well. Come by if you like."
When I took the flyer, Olivia's eyes went wide.
"A tea-and-pastry set for one hundred dia?!"
I had to steady her before she collapsed.
That was an aggressive price point. No, not aggressive — was this straight-up robbery?
In my previous-life terms, this was like paying ten thousand yen for a cheap cup of tea and a few pastries. And with add-on options, the price would balloon further... A person could easily blow through twenty or thirty thousand yen in a matter of minutes.
Even host clubs weren't this bad!
Daniel and Raymond were equally dumbfounded.
I'd thought a customer average of ten to twenty dia would be respectable, but... I'd forgotten. This was an academy full of wealthy young nobles.
The price could have been even more aggressive.
Julius tilted his head as he looked at Olivia.
"Too cheap, you think? But Marie insisted on this range. I'd honestly like to charge more."
Olivia looked like she was about to crumble from the difference in financial sensibility.
"...I finally understand what Leon was saying. I don't think this gap can ever be bridged."
"Don't give up. You're someone who can do it if you try. Anyway, forget about Julius."
In no world were Julius and Jilk appropriate competition for Olivia.
If possible, I'd have liked to rely on the other three instead... but that was unlikely. Maybe I should just find replacements for the five of them?
Julius's expression soured.
"Ignoring me, are you? Fine. One day, I'll make you acknowledge me. Bartfort — I won't lose next time."
With that, Julius took his leave — but we followed him to scout out the competition.
By the way, what did he mean by "not losing" at the school festival? What was he even talking about?
What an interesting guy.
When we trailed after him in a cluster, Julius looked startled.
"H-hey, why are you guys coming along!"
"Well, thought we'd do some reconnaissance."
"You've got some nerve!"
"I'm just honest with myself. Come on, show us... what?"
The first thing I noticed upon entering was... this was no tea shop.
Round tables were lined with luxurious sofas, and the atmosphere was somewhat dim.
Inside the classroom, 【Chris Fia Arclight】 and 【Brad Fou Field】 were doing costume fittings.
They were clearly dressed in suits. With open collars at that... Black suits with colorful shirts underneath.
I couldn't help but scream.
"This is a host club!"
Chris, with his blue hair and glasses, noticed me and sharpened his already-sharp gaze even further.
"Bartfort, huh."
Brad, his long purple hair tied back, was dressed in a flashy suit and looked my way too.
"Scouting the competition? As always, you're a sneaky, underhanded man."
...You two are the underhanded ones.
Calling it a tea shop when it was actually a host club.
"You're despicable!"
When I said that, Chris wore a look of great delight.
"I never expected to hear those words from you. Marie's suggestion really was the right call. Just seeing your frustrated face makes it all worthwhile."
Her again! That woman really never did anything decent!
Julius made his declaration before us.
"This school festival — we're the ones winning. Bartfort, don't you dare run away just because you think you'll lose."
Julius was clearly enjoying himself as he taunted me.
...Are you people idiots? What were they even competing with — a tea shop versus a host club? They were in completely different leagues!
Olivia tilted her head.
"Um, is this also supposed to be a tea shop? It looks more like... a bar, honestly."
Brad approached Olivia.
"Even the special scholarship student has complaints? I'd appreciate it if you didn't criticize Marie's proposal. Besides, we're not serving alcohol — just pastries and tea. We do provide service, though. Marie's thinking is beyond your understanding."
"Um, well... but something just seems off."
I stepped between Olivia and Brad.
"Don't touch her. You'll dirty Olivia. Go away."
"...You really are an infuriating person."
Were these guys not embarrassed? They were heirs to prestigious noble families. Running a host club at the school festival — they were out of their minds.
Daniel, who had been curiously looking around the room, discovered the menu and nearly had a heart attack.
"With service charges included — one hundred dia!"
Raymond was equally shocked.
"A tea shop this expensive..."
As we stood there in further disbelief, Marie — who had apparently been in the middle of her own costume fitting — appeared on the scene. Kyle was standing beside her. ...Was this guy planning to participate as a hostess?
"Of course. Let me remind you — Julius and everyone else here may have lost their standing, but they were heirs to prestigious families. If you're getting personal service from them, this price is only natural."
Seeing Marie in her dress, I clicked my tongue.
"The 'princess' signboard — that's you, isn't it? You're the youngest daughter of a viscount family."
"My heart is always that of a princess!"
Brad jumped in to support Marie.
"Marie, you're always our princess. A real princess."
"Thank you, Brad. Meanwhile, you — acting like some half-baked side character mob — how rude of you."
"I just can't lie. I'm too pure."
"If you're pure, then a rascal like you would be a saint. Enough with the jokes."
I wanted to kick this woman square in the shin.
Marie flipped her wispy hair and addressed us.
"I'm looking forward to the school festival. Well, your tea shop looks awfully empty, so I suppose we'll use it as our rest spot. Ah, we'll pay properly, of course. So make sure you serve real tea."
...I didn't need to be told that. I wouldn't lie about tea.
That would be a disservice to my master.
Still, I never expected such a formidable rival to appear right next door...
◇
The day before the school festival.
Olivia was distributing free tea shop tickets to the girls of the regular class.
She told them where the shop was and handed out vouchers that entitled them to one free cup of tea and a small portion of pastries.
"Um, please come visit our tea shop."
The girls who received the tickets looked at Olivia with some confusion.
They took the tickets but promptly walked away.
"Who was that?"
"A special scholarship student."
"She's not upper class? I'm jealous."
"Don't be stupid. She doesn't even have a dedicated slave. She's just a scholarship student."
Standing in the school building corridor, Olivia's shoulders slumped.
She'd managed to hand out the tickets, but she couldn't even exchange proper greetings or conversations.
Feeling dejected, one girl approached her.
"Do you still have any tickets?"
"Y-yes!"
When Olivia handed her one, the girl had long dark-blue hair and was genuinely beautiful — a slender figure that Olivia envied, with a remarkably elegant posture.
"You're the special scholarship student, right?"
"Yes. I'm Olivia."
"I see. I'm Carla — Carla Fou Wayne. The second daughter of a baronet's family, enrolled in the regular class. We'd never normally have a chance to meet, would we?"
The upper class and regular class had completely different curricula.
They might interact during school events, but day to day, they kept separate.
Olivia was happy that the girl had introduced herself, and she carefully explained the tea shop's location.
Then —
"Isn't that where Julius's tea shop is located too?"
"Yes. Leon was troubled about it as well."
"Oh my, you're quite close with Baron Bartfort, aren't you?"
Being called "Baron Bartfort" made Olivia jolt.
(R-R-right. Leon is a noble from the clouds, so being close to me could cause problems...)
But Carla seemed pleased.
"I've heard all sorts of rumors, but maybe he really is a kind person."
"Huh?"
"Well, there's no benefit for a baron to be spending time with a special scholarship student. Ah, I'm not saying you're the problem. Just that he must be kinder than I expected."
Olivia's spirits lifted.
"Y-yes! Leon is a wonderful person. He's kind, strong, and truly dependable. He goes overboard sometimes, but everyone just misunderstands him."
Whether it was truly just misunderstanding was debatable, but to Olivia, Leon was an admirable knight and a noble.
Kind, strong, and someone who protected others — the ideal knight.
"I-I see. That's good then."
Carla seemed to pull back slightly, but Olivia smiled with satisfaction.
"Yes. The moment I truly felt glad I came to this academy was because of Leon — because of Leon."
She couldn't bring herself to mention the other person — Angie — whom she'd considered a friend.
(Mentioning her name here would only cause trouble.)
And so Carla said to Olivia:
"Hey, could I speak with the baron?"
"Yes, you can."
"Good. I'll definitely come."
With that, she left.
Olivia waved goodbye without thinking too deeply about it.
◇
On the day of the school festival.
Angie was completely overwhelmed by an unexpected visitor.
Straight long hair topped with a hat, and a white-based outfit.
If anyone passing by saw the woman walking beside her, they might have thought they were sisters.
Angie addressed the woman beside her, who was looking around with childlike curiosity — 【Mine Rafa Holfart】.
Her blue eyes sparkled, giving her the air of an innocent child.
"Your Majesty, please don't ask the impossible of me."
When Angie protested, Mine apologized with a "Sorry about that."
"But I usually put up with your impossible requests, so today you'll have to indulge my whims."
The Queen — Mine — was the Queen of the Holfart Kingdom.
Bodyguards were discreetly stationed around them, blending in with the festival crowd.
"Still, this academy is truly impressive. Nothing like this existed in my home country."
"Is that so?"
Mine had married into the kingdom from a foreign land.
Because of this, her position wasn't particularly powerful, and she held no special authority.
Being too powerful in position would only cause trouble anyway.
Angie had met Mine frequently since she had been engaged to Julius — in fact, she'd met with Mine more often than with Julius himself.
Mine spoke.
"You look more haggled than you did at the investiture ceremony. Did something happen? You seemed to be in better spirits back then."
Angie answered despite feeling outmatched.
(She looks carefree on the surface, but she notices everything. She's a scary person.)
"...It's separate from the matter involving His Highness."
Mine thought for a moment.
"Could it be about Leon, whom you're about to meet?"
"No. More importantly, are you really going to meet Leon incognito?"
Mine's expression darkened slightly.
"Of course I am. Julius was disinherited due to his own fault, but as a parent, I have some complaints of my own. The duel was one thing, but... it was the content that truly shocked me. It was so harsh that I was speechless."
"...My proxy was inexcusable."
Angie's apology said it all — Leon's duel content had been brutal.
He had crushed his opponents with overwhelming force and then proceeded to lecture them.
Julius at the time had been the Crown Prince. For someone of that standing, being lectured from above and taunted — that was unthinkable under normal circumstances.
"I've appointed him as a knight of the kingdom, so from now on, we bear some responsibility for his actions. I plan to tell him that in no uncertain terms."
At Mine's words, Angie rushed to defend him.
"Please go easy on the harsh words. He's... well, Leon's to be pitied."
"Angie, you've gotten softer. The old you would have said something like, 'I'll set him straight myself!' ...Or are you still hung up over the Julius affair?"
"...I can't say I'm not."
"As his mother, I apologize. I don't know how he was so thoroughly deceived. There was no sign of that behavior when he was at the palace."
At the palace, Julius had actually been wary of women who tried to get close to him.
"He said that as a student — in a more normal environment — things felt better."
Hearing this, Mine tilted her head.
"I don't really understand that student atmosphere. I never attended an academy. Still... this is rather cruel. I'd heard about it, but it's worse than I imagined."
What Mine found so cruel was the girls' behavior.
She watched the girls at a nearby stall.
"Hey, you actually think people will pay for something like this? Make it free."
"I-I'm sorry..."
A male student was running the stall, and a female customer simply walked away without paying.
On top of that, many girls were parading around with demi-human slaves.
From Mine's perspective, the sight was deeply disturbing.
"This is truly terrible."
"...It's shameful."
As they toured the festival, the two headed toward the tea shop that Leon was running.
When Mine spotted the tea shop, her expression hardened.
"Here we are — oh, the one next door is doing fantastic business."
The neighboring tea shop had a long line snaking out the door.
In contrast, Leon's tea shop had some customers but no queue to speak of.
Angie considered for a moment.
(Showing His Highness's event later would be... no, given that we're incognito, it's better to avoid it. If someone saw the Queen together with me, His Highness would be uncomfortable too.)
Mine took Angie's hand.
"Come on, let's go trouble young Leon. Angie, you help me too."
"No, well, I really shouldn't..."
"Just do it! Just do it! If the tea is lukewarm or something, you can complain about that."
Entertaining the thought that they were going to be thoroughly troublesome customers, the two entered the tea shop —
"The tea is lukewarm! Go brew it fresh!"
The cup was thrown, and Leon was drenched in tea.
His uniform was in tatters, and there were other signs of mistreatment. He stood in a truly wretched state.
His head was lowered, so his expression was hidden.
"...I sincerely apologize. I'll brew a fresh pot immediately."
As Leon bent down to pick up the fallen cup, the girl stood up and, grinning, stomped on the back of his head with her heel.
"Actually, never mind. It's not like the tea leaves are any good anyway. I'll be leaving as-is. You served us such awful tea and pastries — you wouldn't dare ask us to pay, right?"
Watching the girl grind her heel into Leon's skull, her friends and their dedicated slaves all laughed.
Leon was being stomped on, his body twisted into a position that looked like he was performing dogeza.
"I-I would like to receive payment..."
"Hah? Do you have any idea how much money you've taken from us? One girl even went into debt to sell her personal servant! Do you understand that?!"
Taken from them — well, they'd gone into debt thinking they could definitely win and bet against Leon. That wasn't Leon's fault, and it was the girls' own decision to sell their slaves.
Mine was stunned.
"Huh? ...What?"
She looked back and forth between Leon and Angie multiple times, wordlessly asking for an explanation of what was happening.
Angie felt fury rising in her chest.
Mine, sensing danger, stepped forward.
"Enough of this!"
When the eyes of everyone in the tea shop turned toward her, the girl who had been stomping on Leon looked over. Her face was not one you'd direct at a queen.
"What do you want, old lady?"
"O-old lady?!"
Angie wanted to clutch her own head.
(They don't even recognize their own country's queen... Well, I suppose no one would expect the Queen to be in a place like this.)
When Angie moved to intervene, Mine was enduring with a forced smile on her face.
"...I'll pretend I didn't hear that last remark. You two — settle your bill and leave immediately. Are you even students of this academy?!"
Even then, the girl didn't stop.
"Hah? Don't get full of yourself. Who do you think you're talking to? Someone grab this old hag."
The girl ordered her dedicated servants, and the demi-humans surrounded Mine.
Angie was incandescent with rage.
"You lot. Who do you think you're..."
Then, in her field of vision, she saw Leon's face — looking right at them.
Having seen both Mine and Angie, his face... was smiling. He'd been startled at first, but now he wore the expression of someone who had been granted righteous cause. His mouth curved into a crescent, and his eyes arched with joy.
(Th-this is bad. I need to do something about this situation—)
By the time Angie realized what was happening, Leon was already on his feet, having kicked one of the dedicated servants surrounding Mine into the air.
His magically enhanced body, attacking at full force, was enough to send even the physically tough demi-humans flying.
The reason boys normally never attacked dedicated servants was simple — it made the girls dislike you. That single point alone. That was the shield behind which the servants were protected.
However, in this situation... Leon had justification.
Leon knew the Queen's face.
He had seen Mine at the investiture ceremony. And with Angie standing beside her, he had apparently confirmed that she was indeed the Queen.
"Drop dead!"
He caught the second one with interlocked hands and swung downward like a hammer, slamming them into the hard floor.
There was not a shred of mercy.
A third servant who tried to tackle Leon was simply thrown and smashed into the floor just the same.
Having dispatched all three in an instant, Leon stepped forward to shield Mine —
"Kneel, you wretches! Do you have any idea who this is?! She is Mine — Queen of the Holfart Kingdom! Lower your heads at once!"
He laughed at the girls who had been stomping on him and laughing, and then he revealed Mine's true identity.
Mine was bewildered.
"Huh? Wait? Why?"
Watching the flustered Mine, Angie covered her face with both hands.
"Leon... you really are something."
Their cover was blown. Using the Queen as his justification to pound the servants and force the girls to their knees.
Leon was intimidating the girls.
"You'd better prepare yourselves! You'll answer for laying hands on the Queen!"
Draping himself in Queen Mine's authority, Leon was laughing triumphantly. The girls stood frozen, mouths agape, their faces drained of color.
Mine grabbed Leon's arm.
"Leon, stop! We're incognito! We can't cause a scene like this! So calm down. Be a good boy. Please?"
"Leave it to me, Queen Mine! This Leon... I intend to take the lead when punishing these wretches! Come, give me your orders! Extermination or total eradication — I'll carry them out! Just give the word! I, Leon, will personally eliminate every last enemy of the Queen!"
"I said stop!"
Mine was in tears. Angie let out a long sigh.
(He's gotten excited. I can imagine what he's been through up until now...)
Inside the tea shop, many of the girls who had been tormenting Leon were now hanging their heads and trembling.
To stop the overexcited Leon, Angie decided to call upon a certain someone.