Even a Scoundrel Gets Tired

166 – How Rude!

The Spiritology Department.

As the name implies, it’s a kind of

club organized by students

studying Spiritology.

Though it’s called a department in name only,

the Spiritology Department’s reputation

among the students is

more akin to a learned society.

That place, where only students

who seem to want to do anything

related to spirits gather,

doesn’t even have much information

about what they research made publicly available,

but every time other students

go to visit, they’re told

the spirits are rejecting you, so

That is precisely why entry is denied.

Even when reporting research findings

to the professors in charge,

it was customary to do so always

outside the office, and

students who had been pushed out

by their hands, practically shoved,

would fill close to a truckload.

Of course, among the students

who were ousted, there were quite a few

who couldn’t grasp the reason

and protested immediately, shouting things like,

“Hey, hold on! You’re going to slam the door in *my* face?!”

“Uh, the Spirit doesn’t like you.”

“Who cares about those kinds of guys?! I’m currently…!”

“What’s all this commotion?”

Perhaps because the head

of the Spirit Studies Department wielded

considerable influence,

cases of people acting out

more than necessary were rarely seen,

and thanks to that,

the Spirit Studies Department

continues to exist within the Academy,

persistently carrying on its research.

Naturally, the complaints of some

professors and students could not be stifled, but

with the Academy’s Director

having granted his approval,

who would dare step forward

and openly voice their opposition?

Having survived for so long,

it seems the Spirit Studies Department

is quite popular even among

the recent freshmen,

likely due to the inherent

rarity of Spirits themselves.

Though, in reality, they refuse

entry or observation

to almost everyone, using

the excuse that the Spirit dislikes it,

only permitting a very select few.

“Why that face?

The Spirit Studies Department surely has

mountains of material like that, no?”

Of course, it wasn’t as if

I hadn’t considered it.

If I could just visit the Department of Elemental Studies, I wouldn’t even need to come to the library.

Why bother running around on foot,

searching,

when there’s a place where you can easily get the materials?

Besides, the last time

I visited the Great Woods, and

Sylvia, who had

the most outstanding talent for

handling the spirits, even among the elves,

had once mentioned it, that

I possess a more than ordinary affinity with nature.

What’s more, I’ve even met the

World Tree, the mother of all spirits, and

currently, I even have some

strange girl inside my body,

living there as a spirit, so…

Those guys, who endlessly devote themselves to elemental magic alone,

couldn’t possibly

fail to notice such things.

Besides, all the members of the Department of Elemental Studies

are just people with a slightly

better natural affinity

than ordinary folk,

creatures utterly devoid of any talent for freely manipulating spirits…

Naturally, their interest

would be piqued.

Maybe they’ll even

imprison me until

they’ve exhausted their questions and won’t let me go.

If others were to hear this,

they’d call it crazy talk,

wondering if they’d really go that far, but

judging from their rumored

behavior…

The reality is, I can’t guarantee anything, truly.

“Why that expression?

Is there something bad about the Department of Elemental Studies?”

“Do you at least *have* any memories?”

“..No, nothing specific, really.”

It wasn’t as if I harbored

personal animosity towards the place,

but the simple act of walking

there myself felt… unwieldy, somehow.

I preferred the method that allowed

me to rest comfortably, even if it meant

taking a bit longer, rather than

volunteering to get tangled in something bothersome.

“Hmm… Still, perhaps you ought to give it a try?”

“..I hardly think

it’s necessary, though…”

“Well, the books here are,

for the most part, those common titles

you’d likely find elsewhere…”

“…?”

“The more uncommon

the information you seek,

the more difficult it will be to find, no?”

She hid the corner of her mouth,

as if she’d discovered something amusing,

and offered a sly smile.

A smile entirely unsuited

to the Emperor’s daughter.

It seemed a smile better suited for a villainess, even.

For a moment, her smile

and bold assurance

caused my eyebrows to subtly twitch,

though I was quick to conceal

any sign of disquiet,

flipping through the pages of my book

with feigned disinterest.

It was a book written by

an elf, a famous one at that, whose name

was still spoken from time to time,

and I couldn’t imagine it wouldn’t hold

at least *one* piece of information I sought.

Besides, even if, as she suggested,

I couldn’t find the information here,

It wouldn’t be too late to rush to the Spirit Studies Department then.

To surrender my body recklessly like this…

The potential dangers held within the Spirit Studies Department

were simply too great.

‘Surely not…it’s just

a story about a single spirit stone…’

“Um, wouldn’t it be best to go now, instead of wasting time?”

“…It seems the Princess desires my quick departure from the library.”

“Eh…? No…I didn’t

mean it that way…?”

“…You might want to practice

your facial expressions a little more.”

“…”

“There’s no need to feel sorry, though…”

“W-who’s sorry?!

I’m not sorry at all, okay?!”

Not sorry my foot.

It’s written all over your face.

Even if to others it seemed

a perfectly normal expression,

to me, who had a habit of observing

and re-observing my targets,

deciphering something

from someone’s expression was easier

than eating cold porridge.

Especially if the other party wasn’t

a composed adult,

but a sensitive young woman, not yet fully grown.

Look at her now.

‘Ah, was I found out…? What to do…’

Her expression is practically shouting it.

Well, a normal person couldn’t

face someone they were practically engaged to

as if nothing had happened.

Since she was of the Imperial family, I’d thought

she would at least have learned

how to control her expressions.

But perhaps for her…

This much, perhaps,

was a little too much to bear.

“There’s really no need, honestly.”

“..Y-you really are!!”

I honestly thought I was alright,

told her there was no need to worry,

and yet she jumps up, furious.

I don’t know if I’ve always

felt this way,

but it seems she’s fundamentally

a little

uncomfortable around me.

How to put it…

Like a ten-year-old child

instinctively rejecting

a nameless old man of seventy?

In truth, judging by age alone,

the comparison wasn’t entirely

off the mark,

but it wasn’t quite that feeling either.

Just, plainly speaking, an extreme sort of awkwardness?

An utter awkwardness

that most people

couldn’t possibly possess,

was emanating from her.

“Hmph… Fine, I’m done. After I bothered to care…”

“Your Highness.”

“..What!”

“Am I awkward for you?”

“….”

“Ah, if it’s about what His Majesty

said back then… cough!”

“D-don’t say it, not in a place like this!!”

I got hit.

Honestly, it wasn’t entirely unexpected,

but the shock was greater than I thought,

almost making me drop the book I was holding.

Why didn’t I dodge?

Instinctively, I reacted and

tried to step back, but

Barred by something at my back… wait…

“…Your Highness.”

“Yes?”

“The two of you, may I… request that you leave?”

“Yes…yes? Me?”

“Chatting and…

fights are strictly prohibited… in the library.”

“…”

“If you intend to continue…please do so outside…”

Typical of the stern

Ron family, in all things.

Doing his job, alright.

*

“Ah, I was kicked out because of you!”

“…And how, pray tell, does that become my fault─”

“It’s because you started

spouting nonsense for no reason!”

“…My apologies.”

The academy library was,

strictly speaking, still within the academy’s bounds.

If we persisted in staying put,

who knows what sort of

punishment the student council might dish out.

So, in the end, we had no choice but to meekly comply.

Well, truthfully, rather than myself, it was

the Ron family fellow, the one guiding us out,

whose expression seemed the most grave,

so I quietly went along, too.

He was probably agonising now,

wondering if he’d caused any trouble

for his family by somehow offending a princess.

“…But why did Your Highness

so obediently leave?”

“Hm? What do you mean by that?”

“Even if no one else could,

Your Highness certainly possesses the power to…”

“Huh? Even so, I won’t

abuse my authority for

personal matters…”

“I am not one to abuse power, you know?!”

“..My apologies.”

“Honestly, if the one who heard

that remark was my brother,

you would already be in deep trouble, truly!”

“….”

“Perhaps your tongue would be cut off

for insulting the Imperial Family, wouldn’t it?”

“….”

“Even if we…

Even if we’re at a point where

such talk has even come up…”

Her pronunciation was growing increasingly slurred,

so I raised my lowered head to

look at her face.

The confident expression, with which she always carried herself,

had vanished, replaced by

a single beet-red tomato.

A particularly beautiful

beet-red tomato with crimson hair, at that.

Just then, a bright ray of light streamed in through the hallway’s glass,

creating a scene that

would be quite pleasing to onlookers.

“..I will be more careful with my words in the future, then.”

“Ugh..that so…w-wait, where are you going?!”

Unable to withstand her reaction and

expression any longer,

I decided to withdraw from the situation first.

Frankly, it’s a little hard

to say this, but

I wasn’t really used to seeing her like this.

Just continuing to stand there

was making me unbearably awkward.

“Y-you, if we run into each other later…!!”

“..Her luggage must be all unpacked by now.”

Even as I ran down the hallway,

ran and ran,

some kind of sound

continued to reach me from behind.

..But I stubbornly chose to ignore it.

“You are truly…impertinent!”

‘…Why is she only angry at *me*?’

Truly, I haven’t a clue.