Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers: Volume 15 (Light Novel) E-Book

Miya Kinojo

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Serie: Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers (Light Novel)
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 266

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Years have passed since Flio was summoned to the world of Klyrode, and quite a bit has changed since he first arrived. Over time, his house has grown from a small cottage where he lived alone with his wife Rys into a bustling community, complete with farmland and a mountain village. The Fli-o’-Rys General Store is now a mercantile giant, responsible for vital parts of the world’s infrastructure and economy. And his older children, Garyl and Elinàsze, have finally graduated from the Houghtow College of Magic, while the younger children in the house have just started attending school themselves.

Their busy daily lives are interrupted, however, by a sudden increase in Beast of Disaster attacks that has the Celestial Plane itself reaching out for aid. What became of the legendary nine-headed Hydrana? Has Wyne met her match in another dragonewt? Will Garyl’s flock of admirers ever take a hint? And how worried should we be about Elinàsze’s worsening daddy complex?

Leseprobe

Chapter 1: Flio’s House in the New World

The world of Klyrode is a world of swords and sorcery, home to magic beasts and demihumans of every shape and size. In this world, humans and demons had been at war since time immemorial, until at last the greatest of the human kingdoms, the Magical Kingdom of Klyrode, made peace with the Dark Army, the most significant institution among demonkind.

In the days since, humans and demons alike have begun to adapt to a life of peace. At first, the dangerous malicium particles produced by demon physiology were a major problem limiting the amount of exchange and intermingling that was possible between them and humans. Recently, however, the situation has begun to change with a new magic item introduced by the Magical Kingdom of Klyrode: the Malicium Neutralizer. This item had been in use on an experimental basis until recently, when the kingdom finally approved it for use by the general public.

The Malicium Neutralizer was able to counteract the harmful effects of malicium emission without purging the malicium that made up the bodies of the demons themselves, with a radius of effect that could encompass an entire city. With them in place across the land, relations between humans and demons have entered a period of rapid transformation.

As for Flio, the manager of the Fli-o’-Rys General Store—the very company responsible for the production of these remarkable devices—it has been one busy day after another for him, his wife Rys, and everyone lodging at his house. Between their work delivering Malicium Purifiers to cities across the land at the behest of the Magical Kingdom and Dark Army alike, they have had their hands full running not only the Fli-o’-Rys General Store itself but the newly opened Fli-o’-Rys Magic Beast Racing Hall as well. And in the midst of all that, Flio’s Household had been undergoing many a change as well...

And with that the stage is set. The curtains slowly rise...

◇Houghtow City—Flio’s House◇

It was nighttime in Houghtow City, a city of merchants located near the border of the Magical Kingdom of Klyrode, far to the west of Klyrode Castle, which stood at the center of the kingdom.

Flio’s house stood on a hill some distance outside of the city proper. Once upon a time, the building had been a cozy single-story cottage. It had been empty when Flio found it, the house’s original inhabitants having abandoned it to flee from an invasion of magic beasts back when the Magical Kingdom and Dark Army had still been at war. Flio had purchased the empty building initially to use it as a base for hunting the magic beasts that the Dark Army had released in the nearby forest.

At first, Flio and Rys had expected to be the only two people staying at the house, but they were soon joined by the knight Balirossa and her company when Flio saved them from a magic beast attack, and later by Sybe the psychobear, who surrendered to Rys rather than face the two of them in combat and became the family’s pet. Next came Hiya, the djinn who commands the origin of light and darkness, and Damalynas, the Grand Magus of Midnight. Later still, Ghozal, the Dark One at the time, abdicated his throne and came to join them as well, along with a number of his companions. And as the household grew in size, Flio began using his magic to expand the house.

Then there was Sleip, the former member of the Dark Army’s Infernal Four, as well as his entire elite guard; Wyne, Flio and Rys’s adopted first daughter, who had once been a warrior of the Dark Army’s strongest division, the Legion of Dragons; Tanya, who was originally an angel in service to the Celestial Plane; and Calsi’im, who served the Dark Army as Dark Regent and was eventually even made the Dark One; as well as his minion at the time, the magic doll Charun. By the time all of these people were living together at Flio’s house, it had grown to three stories tall, not counting the expansive basement. Moreover, Flio used his magic to expand the space inside the building as well, making the interior many times larger than it seemed from the outside.

Even the humble vegetable garden to the side of the house had grown larger and larger thanks to the efforts of Blossom, who originally hailed from a farming family, with help from the former Dark Army goblin foot soldiers Maunty and Hokh’hokton among many others, until now it had become a vast and productive farm. Byleri, meanwhile, who excelled when it came to handling horses, had built a ranch in the space between the house and the farm, which she now ran alongside the lichsteed Sleip and his former Dark Army subordinates. And in the space at the far side of the farm, Flio had used his magic to transplant an entire mountain where the oni Ura, a former Dark Army partisan, had built a hidden village together with his band of demons fleeing the ravages of war. Now Ura and the other villagers spent their days cheerfully working on Blossom’s farm.

Finally, Flio and Rys had three children in their time living together: Elinàsze, Garyl, and Rylnàsze. Ghozal, Sleip, and even their pet, Sybe, had children of their own as well.

Flio sat in a chair in the living room of the house, staring in thought at the empty single-legged chair beside him.

Flio was a merchant from another world, originally summoned as one of the candidates for the role of Hero. He had been blessed with a powerful ability that gave him mastery over every magic spell and every skill to exist in the world he was in. Now he lived with his wife, Rys, a former demon soldier, and spent his days working as the manager of the Fli-o’-Rys General Store.

Rys, who had just finished setting the large table in the middle of the living room with food for the night’s supper, looked curiously over at her husband. “My lord husband?” she said. “Is something on your mind?”

Rys was a lupine demon, originally a soldier in the Dark Army. After her defeat at the hands of Flio, however, she had made the choice to walk alongside him as his wife. She was a doting wife who loved her husband more than anything in the world and a mother figure to everyone living at Flio’s house.

“Oh, you know...” Flio said, forcing a smile as he looked up at his wife. “It’s nothing, really...”

“I know what it is!” Rys said, her face breaking into a sudden beaming smile as she pressed her hands up against both sides of her face in adoration. “You’ve been thinking about our date this morning!” By date, of course, Rys meant that the two of them had gone hunting together in the nearby forest. Just remembering it sent her into a fit of joy—squeezing her hands together next to her cheek, she kicked at the floor in a happy little dance, color rising to her face. “We’ve been so busy lately that we’ve hardly been able to go out hunting together anymore, but that just makes the times we do all the sweeter! I’ve scarcely felt such ecstasy as the moment the two of us defeated that enormous serpent of a magic beast. It was a formidable creature to be sure, but that thing was no match for our combination clothesline of love! Yes—love, love, love!!!”

Flio smiled in fond amusement at his wife’s display of jubilation. “It has been a while since we’ve gone on a hunt like this morning’s,” he said. “And it was a successful one too. But what’s been on my mind is more...well... When we first came to this house it was just the two of us, you know? It feels like it grew to an entire crowd in the blink of an eye...”

“You’re right,” Rys said with a smile. “Our pack grew to be very large before we knew it. And we have a goodly amount of fighting strength at our disposal to boot! As your wife, it makes me very proud.” Rys, a lupine demon, thought of the people living in Flio’s house as a pack, with her husband in the center as the pack’s leader. It was, you could say, a natural proclivity of her species.

A goodly amount of fighting strength, hm...? Flio thought to himself, as Rys puffed out her chest proudly beside him. Well, I certainly can’t deny that. Between the former Dark One, Ghozal, the famous djinn, Hiya, and the Archmage of Midnight, Damalynas, to name just a few, this house is basically a collection of some of the top-class fighters in this entire world...

“And as the wife of the leader, making sure that none of these people go hungry is one of my most important duties!” Rys continued. “On that note, I must finish setting the table with all of this delicious food before the others arrive.” She turned, heading back towards the kitchen.

“Oh,” Flio said, rising from his seat to follow after Rys. “Here, let me help.”

Rys, however, held out her hand, stopping him in his tracks. “My lord husband, you are to sit right there and greet the others as they arrive for dinner. That is the role of the leader of the pack. Preparing the meal is my job, as your wife!” Smiling, she bowed deeply and hurried on towards the kitchen.

Just as Rys approached the kitchen door, Byleri appeared out of it carrying a large platter in both arms, piled high with stir-fried meat and vegetables.

Byleri had been an archer serving in Balirossa’s company of knights, but she had since quit the knighthood along with the others and now lived in Flio’s house, where she put her talent for tending to horses to use caring for equine magic beasts on the ranch outside. She and Sleip had ended up living as husband and wife, although they had never had a legal ceremony, and they had a daughter by the name of Rislei who filled their days with happiness.

“Oh, Byleri!” said Rys. “Set that platter right in front of my lord husband, would you please?”

“Like, right away, Lady Rys!” Byleri said, placing it on the table with a cheerful, “And there we go!”

At that very moment, Rislei entered the living room. “I’m home!” she declared, evidently in high spirits.

Rislei was the daughter of Sleip and Byleri, making her half lichsteed and half human. She was a serious-minded girl, and something of a leader for the younger children in Flio’s house.

“Rislei! Like, welcome home!” said Byleri. “How was your day at the races?”

“Well, there was only one race for those of us in the beginning racers category...” Rislei said, beaming with satisfaction. “But I took first place by a mile!”

“Attagirl, Ri—” Byleri began, smiling back at her daughter, but before she could finish, Sleip came bursting into the room from the same hallway that Rislei had just emerged from herself.

Sleip was a mighty lichsteed and a former member of the Dark Army’s Infernal Four from back when Ghozal had still reigned as Dark One. These days he lived at Flio’s house and ran the ranch outside along with his wife Byleri when he wasn’t running in the races over at the Fli-o’-Rys Magic Beast Racing Hall.

“P-Papa!” Rislei cried out in distress as her father made a beeline straight her way and picked her up in his muscular arms, holding her tight above his head. “W-Wait!”

“Attagirl, Rislei!” Sleip cheered as he lifted his daughter up into the air. “You were on fire in today’s race! And the way you took that corner at the very end—no ordinary racer could ever make a turn like that!”

“W-Wait! P-Papa, wait!” Rislei protested from within Sleip’s arms. “I-I’m glad you’re happy and everything, but this is super embarrassing!”

“Ha ha ha!” Sleip laughed, holding her high for all the living room to see. “No need to worry about something like that!” Looking at his face, it was hard to imagine that this was the demon who once struck terror into the hearts of the Klyrode Army as a member of the Infernal Four.

The next person to arrive in the room was the oni Ura, chief of the nearby village and proud father. He had been raising his daughter Kora as a single father since the death of her mother, a fairy folk, while also looking after a band of wayward demons he had taken under his wing. Ura was a man of unshakable principles and deep emotion, whose physical strength was great enough that he was considered a leading candidate for the Infernal Four back in the day of Dark One Gholl.

“Ah ha ha! You two are as close as ever, I see!” Ura said, laughing as he took in the sight of Sleip doting on his daughter.

“You’re one to talk!” Sleip shot back with a grin, pulling on Rislei’s cheeks without a care in the world. “The two of you are every bit as close, by the looks of things!” Sure enough, Kora was riding on her father’s shoulders.

Kora was Ura’s one and only daughter, whose heritage made her a hybrid of fairy from her mother’s side and oni from her father’s. She was an excruciatingly shy and self-conscious girl, but over time she had come to open herself up to the members of Flio’s household.

As Sleip turned his gaze her direction, Kora flushed bright red and shyly hid her face behind her long hair. “D-Don’t look...”

“Ha ha ha!” Ura laughed, patting his daughter on the head. “Come now, Kora! There’s nothing to be ashamed of!”

“That’s right!” Blossom concurred as she followed Ura and Kora into the living room. “After all, you like getting piggyback rides from your old man, don’t you, Kora?”

Blossom was another member of Balirossa’s old company, serving as a heavy knight. She and Balirossa were best friends, so naturally she quit the knighthood as well and came to live at Flio’s house alongside her. Blossom came from a farming family and was skilled in all kinds of agricultural work, which she now put to use managing the vast tracts of farmland outside Flio’s house.

“Yes...” Kora admitted, burying her head against Ura’s. “I do...”

Ura carried Kora over to their pair of seats, as Blossom went to take her own seat beside them as usual. Before she could sit down, however, Hiya appeared right behind her back.

Hiya, the djinn who commands the origin of light and darkness, was a being of enough magic power to destroy the entire world if they desired, but after their defeat at the hands of Flio they had come to worship the merchant as the so-called Exalted One and took up residence in his house.

“Exalted One,” Hiya said, “I have returned from my errand.”

“Hello, Hiya,” said Flio. “Were you out with Elinàsze again today?”

“Indeed,” Hiya intoned, bowing gravely. “I journeyed with your esteemed daughter to the north, at her request. Damalynas accompanied us as well.”

At this, Damalynas appeared, taking physical form beside Hiya. Damalynas, the Grand Magus of Midnight, was a master of the dark arts who had long since abandoned her corporeal body, living on as a psychic construct. Ever since she had been bested by none other than Hiya, she resided inside the djinn’s mindscape as their beloved training partner.

“She can be a demanding little princess, though, can’t she? Taking us from the very east end of the Magical Kingdom of Klyrode all the way to the very west on a single whim, I mean,” Damalynas complained, resting her head back against her hands with a sigh. “Of course, when you’re as good at Teleportation as I am, a trip like that’s no problem at all!”

“Hah,” Hiya laughed. “That only speaks to the faith the daughter of the Exalted One has in you, does it not? One such as her would be easily capable of casting the spell Teleportation on her own, and yet she entrusted this duty to you. You should take it as an honor, and hold your head high.”

“I-I guess you’re right...” Damalynas said, blushing despite herself and awkwardly rubbing the tip of her nose at Hiya’s praise. “When you put it like that, it doesn’t sound so bad, does it?”

As the two were talking, Elinàsze herself arrived on the scene. “Papa!” she said, bounding down the stairs. “I’m home!”

Elinàsze was one of Flio and Rys’s children, the older twin sister of Garyl. She had grown into a studious and committed magical researcher, although her love for her father—which had always been rather extreme—had developed into something truly pathological. Recently, she had been spending every free moment she had collecting magic grimoires in order to experiment with putting the magic spells she found to practical use.

At the moment, Elinàsze was dressed not in the unassuming full-length skirt and long-sleeved shirt she favored while she was busy researching in her room, but a gorgeous dress with an exposed back. The only time she dressed this way, in fact, was when her father, Flio, happened to be present. Elinàsze had almost no regard for anyone else’s opinion, but she did want her beloved father to think of her as at least a little bit pretty.

I had hoped the daughter of the Exalted One might show some improvement now that she has graduated from the Houghtow College of Magic... Hiya thought, frowning as they watched Elinàsze descend the stairs. But alas, her fixation on her father seems to be greater than ever before...

“By the way, Elinàsze,” Flio said as his daughter sat down at the table. “Miss Zofina is going to be arriving from the Celestial Plane tomorrow to pick up her usual shipment of medicine. Is everything ready to go?”

“Yes, it’s all set,” Elinàsze said. “But our stock of Beasts of Disaster materials is beginning to run rather low. I’ll have to ask her for permission to take another trip to Dogorogma when she comes to visit.”

“All right, I’ll leave that to you,” said Flio. “Although, we did happen to capture a Beast of Disaster just this morning. Could you use that one?”

“What was that?” Elinàsze blinked. “There was a Beast of Disaster after all? But I spent all day searching with Hiya and Damalynas, and we never sensed anything that seemed at all promising! How could we have overlooked it, I wonder...” she said, folding her arms in thought.

“It seems like this one was moving about underground,” Flio said with a reassuring smile. “It might have been hard to find if you were looking on the surface.”

Here, Tanya stepped up to offer her insight to the conversation. Tanya, whose original name was Tanyalina, was an angel and disciple of the Celestial Plane who had been sent to keep an eye on Flio due to his extraordinary magic power. On her way, though, she had suffered a freak midair collision with Wyne, resulting in the loss of much of her memory. Now she resided at Flio’s house, working as the household’s live-in maid.

“Pardon my interruption,” Tanya said, “but perhaps I can explain this. Beasts of Disaster are beings known to destroy planetoid worlds in their entirety. For that reason, the Celestial Plane uses their magic to detect them in their infancy and capture them before they grow large enough to present a threat. They transport these juveniles to the subterranean world of Dogorogma, which exists beneath the space occupied by the many planetoid worlds. I am certain the Celestial Plane must be in an uproar as well, for creatures they would go to such lengths to subdue to be appearing with such frequency...”

“I see...” Flio and Elinàsze said, nodding along to Tanya’s explanation. The two of them took a good long look at Tanya for a moment before sharing a glance.

“Papa...” Elinàsze said, sending her father a telepathic message. “Didn’tTanya lose her memories when she had that collision with big sis Wyne...?”

“So she did...” Flio replied. “But every now and then she’ll say something that makes it seem like she remembers things from before...”

“A-Ah!” Tanya exclaimed, interrupting Flio and Elinàsze’s telepathic conversation. “Th-This is just supposition, of course! I certainly haven’t regained my memories or any such thing, I assure you!” She held her head in her hands as if it were in pain, but something about the gesture seemed like a deliberate affectation. Flio and Elinàsze could only smirk in wry amusement.

“Dada! Eli-Eli!” cried Wyne, running up from behind with a great big grin on her face. “I’m home-home!”

Wyne was a young but extraordinarily powerful dragonewt, said to be the strongest warrior among all of dragonkind. Flio and Rys had once rescued her when they found her collapsed from hunger at the side of the road and adopted her into their family. She was a devoted older sister to Elinàsze and the rest.

“Welcome home, Wyne,” said Flio. “How far did you travel today?”

“Well...” Wyne began, hugging Flio tight around the shoulders and happily nuzzling her cheeks against his. “I flew-flew to the racing hall and watched some races from the sky...and then I followed along with some of the Enchanted Frigate flight-flights!”

In other words, Flio thought, smiling his usual easygoing smile, she did her job like I asked her to, providing security for the racing hall and the Enchanted Frigates... “You’ve become quite the hard worker, haven’t you?” he said. “Although you’d never guess from how you act in the mornings...” he added, his smile shifting to an amused smirk.

◇ ◇ ◇

That morning, the sun crested over the peak of the mountain, shining its light onto Flio’s house. In one of the rooms on the second floor, Wyne lay asleep, snoring in the middle of an oversized bed.

“Mr... Nghff...” the dragonewt moaned, a crease forming in her forehead as she thrashed her arms from side to side. It seemed she was having a lot of trouble sleeping.

Eventually, Wyne sat up in bed, looking groggily from left to right with heavy-lidded eyes. She frowned, the crease in her forehead growing even more pronounced. “Mrh...” she grumbled, pawing at the empty bed to her right. “Fol-Fol’s gone-gone...” She repeated the gesture to her left, adding, “And Gho-Gho’s gone-gone too...”

Years ago, Wyne used to sleep in the same bed as Garyl, Elinàsze, and Rislei. Now that those three had grown up she had taken to sharing a bed with Folmina and Ghoro instead...but now, her bedmates were nowhere to be found. Frowning, Wyne began to sniff at the air like a dog, looking all around the room.

Wyne pulled off the mattress to look under the bed. She searched every hidden nook and cranny. Finally, she heard the sound of the bedroom door creaking open. “Fol-Fol! Gho-Gho!” she cried, her face lighting up immediately. She leaped through the air, bounding towards the door.

“No,” said Tanya, as expressionless as always as she stepped into the room, holding a broom in her left hand. “It is Tanya.”

“Fwagh! T-Tan-Tan?!” Wyne cried, her eyes going wide at the sight of the maid. She flailed her arms and legs in midair, trying desperately to reverse direction and return to the bed. It was too late, however—Tanya had already caught her by the leg.

“Honestly...” Tanya chided her. “I’ve told you, haven’t I? You must wear your nightclothes when you sleep, young mistress.”

Just as Tanya said, the dragonewt currently squirming in her arms was as naked as the day she was born.

As a wyvern dragonewt, Wyne had an organ in her body that enabled her to breathe fire. As a result, however, her body temperature was quite high, giving her an aversion to wearing clothing in her human form. Whenever she was given an opportunity, she would immediately strip out of her clothing entirely.

This was why Wyne was so upset to see Tanya—it was Tanya who would force Wyne to put her clothes back on each and every time.

Reaching into her skirt pockets, Tanya produced a pair of underwear and slid it up Wyne’s legs with astonishing speed. Next, she used her magic to manipulate the clothing that Wyne had left strewn all over the bedroom floor.

“No! Nooo!” Wyne wailed, contorting her body in a desperate attempt to escape.

“Young mistress, please stop that!” Tanya commanded, as she struggled to put the clothes on Wyne’s body.

Soon, the sound of their struggle echoed throughout the room and down the hall.

◇Meanwhile—Flio and Rys’s Room◇

“Wyne and Tanya are at it again...” Flio said, smirking as the sound of their wrestling match came from the second floor above them.

“They’ve been doing this every morning, lately, haven’t they...” Rys said, smirking as she looked up at the ceiling. “Well, I suppose there’s nothing we can do about it...”

“I guess not,” Flio said, nodding. “Now that Folmina and Ghoro are going to the Houghtow College of Magic, they’ve started sleeping in their own beds more often...leaving Wyne all alone after she got used to the three of them sleeping together every night...” She’s been working diligently at the jobs I’ve been giving her, he thought, smiling fondly, but in a lot of ways, she’s still a child, I suppose.

“She used to share a bed with Garyl from time to time...” Rys said. “Lately, though, he’s had his duties at Klyrode Castle...”

Flio nodded. “You know...I was surprised that it happened so soon. I thought he was going to enroll in the Klyrode Institute for Chivalric Education first...”

◇Klyrode Castle—Knight Dormitories◇

“Achoo!” Garyl rubbed his nose, startled by the sudden sneeze. “That’s strange... I don’t feel sick,” he said, before brushing it off just as quickly. “Oh well, no use worrying about it!” With that, he flipped himself upside down into an effortless handstand.

Garyl was the son of Flio and Rys, and Elinàsze’s younger twin brother. His easy smile and good humor along with his physical prowess, which could only be described as utterly outlandish, had made him a celebrity among the students of the Houghtow College of Magic.

At the moment, Garyl was wearing nothing but a pair of pajama pants with his upper body completely exposed as he began a set of one-handed handstand push-ups. By the looks of things, he had only just gotten out of bed himself.

As Garyl held his one-armed handstand, a cloud of mist appeared behind him, forming into a woman. This was Ben’ne, a legendary swordmaster from Hi Izuru, the Land of the Rising Sun, who had abandoned her flesh to live on as a psychic construct. Garyl had once defeated her in one-on-one combat and, impressed by his phenomenal strength, she resolved to serve him as his familiar.

“Beginning as soon as you awaken from bed?” Ben’ne said. “I see you are as devoted to your training as ever, my master.”

“Good morning, Miss B,” Garyl greeted her. “And, well, they accepted me into the Order of Klyrode, you know. Now that I’m a knight, I figure I’ve gotta train even harder than before.”

“I commend your spirit,” said Ben’ne. “Although I must say, none of the knights of this kingdom could hope to match you in combat as you are already...”

“Not at all!” Garyl insisted with a look of determination, continuing his push-ups even as he spoke. “Danger always strikes when you least expect it! And when it does, I want to be at my best. I can’t let myself be satisfied with where I am right now if I want to keep improving my mind and body!”

Ben’ne watched on, nodding in approval as Garyl performed his exercises.

“Still...” Garyl added with a frown. “It is kind of a pity how things went with the Klyrode Institute...”

◇Klyrode Institute for Chivalric Education—Headmaster’s Office◇

“I refuse to accept this!” Lulun, the president of the Klyrode Institute student council, burst into the room, storming with rage.

Lulun was part succubus, making her a human-demon hybrid. She had been invited to study at the Klyrode Institute for Chivalric Education as part of the project to deepen friendly relations between humans and demons. She was a gifted student and well-liked, so naturally enough she had been appointed president of the student council.

Right now, however, Lulun had begun pounding her fists on the table in the headmaster’s office, her long purple hair, which she wore done up in pigtails, in wild disarray.

“H-Hey now!” said Headmaster MacTaulo, smiling even as he leaned back from Lulun’s display of rage. “What’s gotten into you, Lulun? I can assure you, there’s no need for all these theatrics!”

In his day, MacTaulo was known as the greatest knight of the kingdom—a champion of humanity fighting the Dark Army on the front lines with scarcely a moment’s rest. Now that the Magical Kingdom of Klyrode had achieved peace with the Dark Army, he had retired from combat to become the first headmaster of the Klyrode Institute for Chivalric Education, devoting himself to passing on his wisdom to the next generation.

“No need for all these theatrics, he says... Hmph!” Lulun fumed, adjusting her false glasses and fixing the headmaster with a deadly glare. “How come Garyl won’t be joining us at the Klyrode Institute? I know for a fact that he finally graduated from the Houghtow College of Magic and took our school’s entrance examination!”

“Ah, well, no helping that one...” MacTaulo said, giving his student a knowing smile. “I’m sure you saw Garyl’s examination results, didn’t you, Lulun? His written exam was merely above average, but his performance on the practical test was absolutely perfect—so perfect, in fact, that in the mock battle, he faced off against no fewer than ten active duty knights and defeated the lot of them without breaking a sweat. With abilities like that, it was only natural that he’d be inducted into the knighthood on the spot.”

“I-I suppose I can understand your logic, Headmaster...but still!” Lulun said, gritting her teeth and scowling furiously. I-I thought Garyl and I would finally be classmates... she thought. This is simply unfair!

Yes—Lulun had fallen in love at first sight the moment she set eyes upon Garyl, and had been waiting patiently for him to join her at the Klyrode Institute for Chivalric Education.

“W-Well, in any event, it won’t help anything to lose your temper about it,” MacTaulo said. “Garyl will be sitting in on classes and lectures at the Institute between his knightly duties, at the boy’s own insistence. And I’ve asked him personally to join us as a special instructor for the occasional lesson in swordsmanship. So—”

“R-Really?” Lulun demanded, grabbing him by his lapels and interrupting the headmaster midsentence. “You aren’t lying to me, are you? That’s the absolute truth?”

“Y-Yes, absolutely!” MacTaulo said.

“Absolutely, positively, one hundred percent?!” Lulun said, questioning MacTaulo with desperate ferocity.

“Y-Yes! It’s absolutely, positively, one hundred percent true!” MacTaulo insisted. “Now, would you get your hands off my shirt?”

Lulun, however, wasn’t listening at all. Yes! she thought, lost in a feverish fantasy of her and Garyl enjoying school life together. I’ll have Garyl as a classmate after all! And if I play my cards right, perhaps I could even become his girlfriend...

◇Meanwhile—Outside the Headmaster’s Office◇

While MacTaulo and Lulun carried on with their loud conversation, Salina waited outside the door, listening in.

Salina had been one of Garyl’s classmates back at the Houghtow College of Magic. The daughter of a wealthy family, she had been an arrogant and high-handed girl when she first joined the class, but over time, her infatuation with Garyl had softened her personality considerably. Her specialty was infusing songs with magic power, which she could use to attack in combat.

As she listened to MacTaulo and Lulun speak, Salina couldn’t help but pump her fists in victory. Yes! she thought.