"Come to think of it, why were Lyle and Luna being made to take a test at our mansion?"
I figured I might as well ask about that too, so I posed the question casually, but Caesar-sama and the others all looked extremely grim.
"To put it simply, they angered my mother. Well, we're angry too, for that matter… and while I'm at it, Tenma is also somewhat involved."
When I asked what I had to do with it, it turned out Lyle had been harboring indecent thoughts about me, Maria, and Luna. However, since the accuser was Luna herself, they concluded the claim was probably fabricated —
"Those two have been nothing but trouble lately, so we decided to punish them by having them clean out the storage area in the royal palace… and while at it, they offered to haul away the trash from Tenma's mansion too. We had Kurif and Aina supervising them, and apparently Luna found a pair of gloves somewhere and started using them. She found two pairs, it seems, and gave one to Lyle as well."
Hearing about gloves being at the mansion gave me a bad feeling. Caesar-sama continued,
"Nothing happened at Tenma's mansion, but after that, a fire broke out at the royal palace's waste disposal area. The cause was the gloves Luna and Lyle had been using."
Fortunately, the fire was extinguished quickly, so apart from the burned trash there was almost no damage — but apparently the entire palace was in an uproar for a time.
"So… is that my responsibility?"
"No, it's Luna and Lyle's responsibility, along with Kurif and Aina who were supposed to be supervising. And then, as Luna's parents — that would be me and Isabella."
That's fair enough, I thought — and then Caesar-sama straightened up and,
"I'm sorry to ask this, but the gloves that Luna and Lyle used without permission have been damaged beyond our ability to repair. And forgive me for overstepping, but please don't give those gloves to anyone or make their existence public. Depending on how they're used, they can be extremely dangerous."
Those gloves could easily activate magic simply by channeling Magic Power through them, making them viable for criminal acts… not that I wanted to think about it, but it would be possible to use them for terrorism by having an unsuspecting child target someone who wasn't on guard. And it wasn't limited to gloves — the principle could be applied to any piece of cloth, like a handkerchief, meaning someone could unknowingly be turned into an unwitting terrorist. Most of all, there was a high risk of accidents caused by someone wearing them without understanding what they did, just like Luna had.
"Understood. I should have two or three more spare pairs, so I'll dispose of all of them."
Caesar-sama said it would be fine to keep them as long as they weren't distributed or given away, but given that they could end up in someone's hands without our knowledge — like this time — it was safer to dispose of them if I wasn't going to use them.
When I said that, Caesar-sama asked why I didn't just use them,
"To put it bluntly, those gloves are a pain to use. At least, they are for me."
They were gloves I'd made on a whim in Seigen's dungeon ages ago, but I'd never used them since. The reason was that they were awkward to use — and I suspected that anyone with even a bit of confidence in their magic would feel the same way.
"Sure, anyone can use them by channeling Magic Power through them, but the magic itself is limited to producing fire. Besides, the process goes: channel Magic Power into the gloves, convert the Magic Power into magic within the gloves, then release the spell — but with the normal method, those three steps are condensed into two. And once you get used to it, you can cast the spell in roughly the time it takes to perform a single step."
Converting the Magic Power inside your body directly into magic means skipping that first step entirely. Moreover, once you get used to it, you can perform the conversion and release almost simultaneously, or even shorten the conversion time — so time-wise, it's roughly equivalent to a single step of the glove process. Well, "time" here means some fraction of a second, but that fraction can be the difference between life and death, so you can't afford to be careless about it. And above all,
"With gloves, you can only cast pre-determined spells, so the degree of freedom is very limited."
Since the usage method involves simply channeling Magic Power to produce magic, there's a risk of activating the gloves even when you're trying to cast a different spell. If both spells trigger simultaneously, that's one thing, but in the worst case, both could fizzle out as failures — or the magic could even go haywire. They might look convenient, but in reality, those gloves are a failed product.
"That's why I think it would be better to dispose of them."
If keeping them is just going to cause worry, it's better to just get rid of them and be done with it. Especially since they're something I'm never going to use.
Caesar-sama offered to compensate me for the production costs, but I refused, saying they were just a prototype I'd made on a whim, using commercially available gloves and magic cores from Goblins and the like. If compensation was coming from royalty, it wouldn't be just material costs plus a bit for technical expertise — the offer would likely be some tens of times that amount. Even I would hesitate to accept a large sum of money for a failed product I'd made as a joke. And even more so when the other party was someone I knew.
Caesar-sama didn't seem convinced, but Isabella-sama stepped in to mediate, and in the end the matter was resolved with Caesar-sama offering one final apology.
After that, we continued chatting for a while, but I noticed that Maria-sama's lecture was starting to loop, so we called it a day there.
Before heading back to the mansion, I warned Grandpa and Jeanne not to bring up the talk about marrying Primera ever again, but...
"Big brother! Is it really true that you're going to marry Primera?!"
Luna, who was still at the mansion, quickly blew the secret I'd wanted to keep under wraps.
The commotion that followed at the mansion was something else. The worst part was that Amour and Aura, who had been waiting at the mansion, kept pressing me — they kept implying that the reason I'd only taken Jeanne along was because I intended to marry her too — and on top of that, Mark and the others showed up after hearing we'd returned. So I ended up having to dodge both the Amour-Aura duo and the Kukuri Village group. I retreated to my own room, but that just meant they made a racket in front of the door — so I escaped into the Dimension Bag, summoned the carriage inside, and waited it out there for about a day.
But my hope that they'd calm down after a day or so was betrayed. The moment I came out, Amour caught me immediately, Aura contacted Mark and the others, and in the end I was surrounded by everyone and forced to explain. As it turned out, Mark and the guys had already heard from Grandpa during that day that the marriage talk had been set up by Maria-sama as a way to lecture me, so they were content to just tease me for a bit — annoying as that was — and left once I gave them some alcohol. But Amour was extremely persistent. Even if it had only been meant as a warning, she was hung up on the fact that she hadn't been able to be there in person. Usually she'd brood for a long time before her mood improved, but luckily Reni was around this time, so she bounced back relatively quickly.
Two weeks after the marriage-talk fiasco, the day of the academy's party arrived.
From the mansion, Grandpa and I would be attending in my capacity as Amy's guardian representative and as an interested party. At first, there was talk of Amour joining under the pretext of being Amy's bodyguard, but Maria-sama pointed out that it would be odd for a viscount's young lady to serve as a commoner's guard, so the idea was dropped. Amour looked extremely disappointed, but since it was Maria-sama who had raised the objection, she backed down quietly. As for Reni, she said she'd barely make it in time and headed back south a few days after the commotion. There had been light snowfall in the Royal Capital, but even if it got heavier, the snowfall would decrease as you got closer to the south, so she said it would be fine.
"Well then, let's head out. Mark, I'm counting on you."
"Leave it to me."
We'd be traveling to the academy by carriage, and as usual, we'd be going in the Raiden. However, I initially planned to drive myself, but Aina advised me that while it might be fine as an adventurer, it would be better not to do it as the head of the Ootori family, so I quickly asked Mark to take over instead.
This too had initially come up with Amour volunteering, and there was also talk of Maria-sama sending one of the royal guards, but for the same reason as with the bodyguard role, having Amour drive was deemed inappropriate. Furthermore, having a royal guard serve as a coachman would likely draw criticism from other nobles, so that was also a no-go. In the end, Mark was chosen as someone affiliated with the Ootori family whom no one could complain about.
That said, Mark was also busy with work at his inn — the influx of relatives and acquaintances of party attendees flooding into the Royal Capital had caused his inn's clientele to spike as well — so after driving us to the academy, he would stow both the Raiden and the carriage into the Dimension Bag and the Magic Bag, then head back to work.
As we drew closer to the academy, the number of carriages that appeared to be heading to the same event increased considerably. However, since the horses of other participants were spooked by Raiden, we were repeatedly waved ahead on the road, which actually got us to the academy faster than expected.
Upon arriving at the academy, we were supposed to first have our invitation verified at the gate and then be escorted to the carriage staging area. But since I'd already stowed Raiden in the bag beforehand, our destination was changed to the waiting room instead. I parted ways with my uncle there, and a guide who came in his place explained the rules and etiquette for the waiting room during the trip over. Apparently, the rooms were assigned based on the students' class rankings, and since Ammy had placed first, her party's relatives would be given the room closest to the venue. That room was reserved for the associates of the top ten students, but aside from us, no one else had arrived yet. Incidentally, the student who placed second was Tida. For royal family members, they typically prepared a separate private room, and since Luna was also in attendance this year, it was unlikely she'd be coming to this room.
While we waited in the assigned room, Ammy showed up quickly. I was told that a commoner achieving the top rank was unprecedented. Before joining the party, she'd had to deal with jealousy and harassment, but thanks to her classmates—starting with Tida, who placed second—and friends in her class, she'd avoided most of the direct fallout. She was also well-liked by the teachers because she had no sense of elitist entitlement, and even the influence of the Three Idiots had apparently been channeled in a positive direction.
As I listened to Ammy talk about life at the academy and in the dormitories for a while, other students' associates gradually began filtering into the room. Just as I'd expected, Ammy was the only commoner among the top-ranked students, and each of the others was dressed in luxurious attire. Students were technically required to wear their uniforms, but they clearly had no intention of following the rules. Some of them were even openly smirking at Ammy in her uniform. Perhaps they figured that since they couldn't beat her academically, they'd win by flaunting their wealth instead. Well, out of the eight students who'd entered, three of them had that sort of look in their eyes. All three were girls. There was one other female student, but she was chatting pleasantly with a male student who'd come in with her, so she probably had no reason to view Ammy as a rival. I quietly asked Ammy to confirm without the others overhearing, and sure enough, the girls giving her hostile looks were targeting Tida. They competed with Ammy at every opportunity, and the remaining one had a fiancé among the chatting male students.
"Oh, that reminds me—I almost forgot I had a present for you, Ammy!"
I made sure to say it loud enough for everyone to hear, and I felt every pair of eyes in the room snap toward me. Bringing something like this into a setting like this wasn't exactly proper etiquette, but I'd checked with the staff in advance and gotten permission.
"This cloak. I think it's roughly the right size, but try it on just to be sure."
What I'd prepared was a black cloak with a hood. It also had buttons, so it could be fastened around the chest area.
"Um... it looks a little big, but I think it'll be fine. Thank you so much."
"You're still growing, so it'll fit perfectly before long. The outer layer of the cloak is made from Running Dragon leather, the lining is Wyvern wing membrane, and the buttons are fashioned from Earth Dragon scales. The buttons aren't really the point—what matters is that the Running Dragon leather gives it fire resistance and water resistance, and it even has a bit of magic resistance as a bonus, so it's quite practical. Oh, and I also had the Ootori family crest embroidered in small on the lower edge, just for good measure."
I'd had the crest placed in the bottom left corner on the front, but it was only about the size of a fist, so at a glance it might not be very noticeable. Then again, slapping a huge crest on there didn't feel right either. As long as people knew it was a gift from me, that was enough.
Every student and associate who heard about the materials used in the cloak was visibly stunned. After all, over the past hundred years—not just the last few years—the total number of dragon-type creatures recorded as having been slain was exactly five. Of those, three were Earth Dragons, one was a Running Dragon, and one was a Dragon Zombie. Of those five, the only one whose materials had properly made it to market was the Earth Dragon from eighty years ago. The others had been slain by me and my grandfather, and apart from those we'd sold or given away to the royal family or acquaintances, we'd kept almost everything for ourselves. In other words, none of those materials were circulating in the market.
Among monsters close to dragon-types, Wyverns appeared several times a year, but the only people who'd recently gotten their hands on Wyvern materials were my associates and the House of Haust, the border count. Hydras were also slain once every few years, but they had a rarity comparable to actual dragon-types, so whoever usually killed them secured the materials for themselves.
Because of this, the cloak I'd gifted Ammy wasn't something you could just buy with money. No matter how desperately the students and their associates in this room wanted it, there was absolutely no way for them to obtain it under current circumstances.
"Grandpa, someone's coming. Probably one of the royal family, I think."
"So it would seem."
Only a few of the students' associates seemed to have noticed, but from a distance, I could hear the sound of multiple sets of armored footsteps approaching. They were likely royal guards. As a precaution, I'd used Appraisal, and it confirmed them as guards. However, the person those guards were protecting was indeed royalty, just as I'd expected—but there were more of them than I'd anticipated. Leading the royal contingent was—
"Your Majesty!"
It was the King. According to what I'd been told beforehand, neither the King nor Maria-sama would be attending this party, and the participants were supposed to be the academy students Tida and Luna, along with their parents Caesar-sama and Isabella-sama. Something must have changed.
"There is no need to kneel. It would be a shame to soil such fine attire."
The parents who noticed the King immediately dropped to one knee, and the students began to follow suit, but the King stopped them. For the record, Grandpa and I remained seated in our chairs. When I saw everyone about to kneel, I half-rose from my seat too, but since I figured the King would tell us not to bother, the moment I opened my mouth to speak, I settled back down.
As for Amy, she was about to kneel as well, drawn along by the other officials and students, but the instant she stood up from her chair, I placed my hand on her shoulder and guided her back into her seat just like I'd done with myself... however, the moment my hand touched Amy's shoulder, Tida's gaze sharpened. When I let go, she relaxed, so I thought it was funny and did the same thing a few more times. That got me caught by Grandpa and the King, who looked at me with exasperation, and Amy regarded me with deep suspicion.
While I was busy with that nonsense, the King and his party made their way over to where I was sitting.
"Tida's amusing enough — teasing her is fine in moderation... but Tenma, I have a small favor to ask."
"May I decline before hearing it?"
"No, at least hear me out..."
I was about to refuse, since the King's request sounded like it couldn't lead to anything good, but —
"Tenma, this is a serious matter. Won't you at least listen to what we have to say?"
"Of course. This isn't the sort of conversation to have standing — please, have a seat."
Since it was Maria-sama's request, I fetched three nearby chairs — one each for Maria-sama, Caesar-sama, and Isabella-sama. I lightly pulled out the chair I'd prepared for Maria-sama, and she gave a slight nod of thanks before sitting down. Caesar-sama did the same for Isabella-sama's chair. Tida and Luna were academy students, so they smoothly grabbed chairs from nearby and sat down with practiced ease, the way they might during a break between classes. Tida, of course, was subtly angling to sit next to Amy, but Luna forcefully cut in and claimed the spot beside her. She then complimented the mantle Amy was wearing, and Amy began talking about the mantle in return, so Tida obediently carried on her conversation with Amy across Luna.
"Hey now, Alex. Don't just stand there spacing out — come take a seat."
"Y-yes... hmm? Oh, my apologies."
The King had been about to get his own chair after being told off by Grandpa. Amy noticed and stood up to fetch one for him, but right after she rose, Tida stood too, guided Amy back into her seat, and went to get the chair herself instead. Maria-sama and Caesar-sama watched this with evident satisfaction... but the moment Tida turned her back, Luna casually pushed Tida's chair away, so when Tida returned, she couldn't spot where she'd left it. Well, Tida looked so flustered that Luna burst out laughing, and Tida quickly realized it was a prank and moved the chair back to its original position.
Watching Tida go through all that, Luna laughed even harder... but judging by the looks on Tida's and Maria-sama's eyes, I knew that even if Luna didn't get scolded right now, she'd definitely be in for it once they returned to the palace.
"Luna, we are not the only ones here. Stop messing around."
"Sorry..."
Luna seemed to realize that Caesar-sama was genuinely angry, because she looked quite dejected.
"What we'd like to ask is... no, Caesar should be the one to explain this."
"Yes, Mother... Tenma, what we'd like to ask of you is to participate in matches against this year's top-performing students."
"Hmm... something like that should be fine, but what rules would we be using?"
Caesar-sama—or rather, the royal family's request. Since they'd been so kind to me day in and day out, something like this wasn't really a problem, but the rules were a bit of a hassle.
"A one-ten mismatch, you say…"
"That a no-go?"
"It's not that it's a no-go, but won't there be injuries? I don't mean I can't hold back—I'm worried about the students fighting among themselves."
What made group battles scary was the chaos of people who weren't used to fighting in a team getting in each other's way. I'd confirmed it with Amy and Tida as well: apparently the academy's students practiced one-on-one to five-on-five matches under the same rules as the martial tournament, but none of them had ever fought in a ten-person squad.
It was with that in mind that I raised my concerns with Caesar-sama, but it seemed a few of the students and their associates took it as a provocation. The atmosphere in the waiting room started to grow tense.
"Hmm. Indeed, Tenma's concern is perfectly valid. But the students do have a fair amount of real combat experience under their belts. And judging by how they look, they've already steeled themselves for a few bumps and bruises. Still, I'd appreciate it if you'd hold back as much as possible."
"I'll be as careful as I can… but since it's still a match, I need each of them to understand that they're doing this at their own risk."
When I said I'd accept under those conditions, Caesar-sama consulted with the students present and their associates, and got them to agree on the spot. I heard later that the proposal had originally come from the families of the top-performing students, with a few teachers backing it as well, and it had reached the King's ears early that morning as a request from the academy. Apparently only a handful of students had been told about the match beforehand, and more than half of the ones in this room had only just found out.
"By the way, Maria-sama. The ones who pushed for this were a noble from the Reformist Faction, plus some nobles and academy affiliates who don't exactly have warm feelings toward me, weren't they?"
I asked Maria-sama in a low voice, and she gave a small sigh before nodding. If you narrowed it down to nobles who could move the King and who also harbored hostility toward me, the list of candidates grew pretty short.
"The Duke of Dalarm?"
When I named him, Maria-sama nodded again. As word spread that I was aligned with the Royalist Faction, support for the royal family among the public grew while the Reformists' numbers dwindled. On top of that, I'd built connections with the nobles who formed the core of the Neutral Faction through my protection of Jeanne, and the Royalists and the Neutral Faction now enjoyed a friendly relationship through me.
Because of all this, some nobles who had belonged to the Reformist Faction defected to other factions, which drastically reduced the Reformists' influence. The Duke of Dalarm, who sat at the heart of the faction, saw his power decline as well.
"So they arranged this match as a form of harassment…?"
"Yes. Even for someone like Tenma, they probably figured it would be difficult to face the students without causing injuries."
If I hurt the students, they'd use that as a pretext to chip away at the Royalist Faction's power however they could. And even if their scheme failed, the Duke of Dalarm's side wouldn't take any damage. Low return, but zero risk—that about summed it up.
"Well, I'll just have to do my best. So with that said… Tida, Amy, go easy on them, will you?"
The other students were fired up and full of morale, but when the two of them saw my grin, they looked rather pale.