Long-Awaited Reunion
As the female students retreated, he was finally able to climb the stairs to the second floor.
"Wait a minute!!"
Just as he was about to step onto the stairs, Tigaro was called out to stop.
Tigaro stopped in his tracks when he heard a familiar voice.
However, considering his social relationship, he doesn't want too many people to see him talking to her.
However, both the other party and him are from families of the three major noble families in the kingdom.
The way they behave can change the relationship between their families.
Unable to ignore her, he reluctantly turned around and saw a familiar woman standing proudly in front of Tigaro.
Long, blue hair that sways beautifully.
A soft, rounded skirt.
Her breasts have grown bigger than before, and they make her school uniform look bigger.
He's been keeping his distance from her, so he hasn't had a chance to meet her face to face for a while, although he sometimes sees her from a distance.
However, when they met after a long time and saw her face, which was as cute and dignified as ever, Tigaro felt a little happy and almost burst out into a smile.
He instantly changes his expression with a faint smile, and on the surface, he confronts her without incident.
"Hello, Aifietouka-jou."
"Hmph. That disgusting smile seems to be the same as always."
When he was returning the scornful gaze with a smile, Aifie's eyes rolled up and she angrily spoke to Tigaro.
From her gaze, he can tell that she is concerned about the female students from earlier.
"You were bullying the girl from earlier."
He thinks what Aifie is talking about is that female student who was frightened when she saw Tigaro.
"Haha, I didn't do anything. She just fell down on her own."
"In that case, why don't you at least pretend to extend your hand?"
Tigaro just responds to Aifie's scolding with a cheerful smile.
Aifie snorted in disgust and contempt at Tigaro, who showed no interest in seeing people cry.
"You weren't like that in the past."
"Well, you're still as beautiful as ever, and I'd be in trouble if you said that to me. Hahaha."
"Fuu. You're still a good talker, aren't you?"
Apparently, she didn't like Tigaro's behavior.
Even when he complimented her, she didn't blush as easily as she used to.
Aifie's beautiful hair sways as she looks away.
While Tigaro was looking at her profile, thinking how cute she was, Aifie turned toward him with her eyes widening, perhaps sensing that he was showing no remorse.
She stands tall with her arms crossed.
The large twin mounds pushed up on her arms lift the uniform even further.
"Next time, if you bully them the same way, you won't get away easily."
"Haha, I’ll keep that in mind."
After thinking about it, Tigaro obediently agreed.
Aifie recognized that Tigaro's attitude had gotten better, and her angry face softened.
Tigaro was scolded, but in his heart, he was enjoying the beautiful and cute appearance of Aifie, and in fact, his heart was at peace.
Tigaro's state of mind is not understood by the people around him.
The people around Tigaro, who has the blood of the Noros family, seemed to see Aifie, who spoke loudly, as a hero, and they began to praise her one after another.
"Wow, that's amazing, Aifietouka-sama..."
"Head-on to that Tigarokent-sama of the Noros family…!"
"And I heard that both the Wind Holy Knights and the Water Holy Knights have invited her to join them."
"I wonder which one Aifietouka-sama will choose."
Aifie could probably hear their praise, but she didn't pay any attention to it and stared straight at Tigaro.
"I had something I wanted to say to you today."
"...?"
Just the other day, the Noros family bought a slave from the empire's black marketer who trafficked people.
Or perhaps the existence of a member of the Asur family with whom Tigaro is secretly connected has been discovered?
Tigaro has many ideas of what Aifie is trying to say.
Realizing that it would be difficult to guess what she would say next, he waited for Aifie to continue speaking.
"The upcoming kingdom founding festival magic fighting tournament. You should also come and compete with me!!"
What Aifie said, going beyond Tigaro's expectations, was an offer to compete.
During the annual founding festival of the Kingdom of Shirsodi, several festivals are held throughout the capital.
One of them is a magic tournament where mages from the kingdom compete to see how strong their magic is.
Not knowing Aifie's purpose, Tigaro frowned inwardly, but decided to ask anyway.
"…Is there any reward for the winner?"
"The loser will listen to whatever the winner has to say. In this case, you will also benefit."
He couldn’t blame Aifie for puffing out her chest with confidence
Even if you look at it objectively, the winner will be rewarded with an extraordinary reward.
If you are a member of the Noros family who likes women, the reward is even better.
No matter how good his opponent is, Aifie, who is good at magic, Tigaro will have no choice but to accept this.
Aifie's face clearly showed such confidence.
Tigaro, on the other hand, was filled with the desire to frown, despite his peaceful smile.
Even though he wanted to cut ties with Aifie and the Noros family as much as possible, this was the first conversation after a long time.
If the members of the Noros family hear about this, they will no doubt be happy and ask Tigaro to accept the match.
After all, if he wins, they can do whatever they want with Aifie.
She grew up to be a beautiful woman, and is a promising member of the knight order which she planned to join, let alone her age when it comes to magic.
Even if you raise her as a mage or a magic knight, she will definitely have the ability of a leader class.
He was sure she would be a good pawn as a slave for the Noros family.
However, Tigaro does not want such a future.
He wants Aifie to live out of the reach of the Noros family.
"I reject."
"Why!!"
Aifie's once confident face suddenly became filled with surprise and dissatisfaction.
"Haha, the magic tournament is a kingdom-style duel―― in other words, it's a long-distance magic shootout, right? For me, that's too disadvantageous."
What Tigaro says is true.
The kingdom-style duel is a long-distance magic shootout, whereas the Noros family's manifestation magic, like Tigaro's [Spirit Tail], only shows its true value at close range.
Having slaves fight together with him is also not allowed in kingdom-style duels.
"...Hmm, that's right. The Noros family, one of the three greatest nobles in the kingdom, aren't that big of a deal after all."
Aifie deliberately blurts out those words and glances at him.
It was an easy-to-understand provocation to get Tigaro to accept.
There was no way Tigaro would take such a cheap provocation, so he dared to respond with mockery.
"Hahaha. Aifietouka-jou is afraid of fighting me unless you are in a situation where you can win."
"――Like I said!! Well then, you'll fight me no matter what! I'll accept anything!!"
"I won't compete. Even if I win and get you, I don't think there will be any benefit to me."
If Tigaro wins, he can do whatever he wants with Aifie, but Tigaro comments that he doesn't need that reward.
In other words, Tigaro doesn't care about Aifie.
"What's that!!?"
Aifie understood the meaning of Tigaro's words and expressed her anger.
"Haha, but isn't it unusual? I can't believe Aifietouka-jou would present such conditions."
He takes a step forward, brings his face closer to her, and lowers his voice as if to threaten her.
As Tigaro's face approaches, Aifie's expression, which should have been angry, changes to one of astonishment and surprise.
"Do you know who you're dealing with?"
If she loses, she will be at the mercy of Tigaro, the Noros family.
In other words, she would be treated harshly as a slave.
"I-I know!! But, if I don't do something like this, you won't accept the fight... Then you won't go back to being the old Tigaro..."
The ending words of Aifie become smaller and smaller.
Even though they were childhood friends, he wonders if Aifie didn't want Tigaro to do whatever he wanted with her body.
But that's not unreasonable.
Tigaro had stomped on a girl's head in front of Aifie in the past.
Of course, no one wants to receive that kind of treatment.
Anticipating Aifie's inner thoughts, Tigaro gave her a cheerful smile and decided to mislead her.
"Well, the lecture is about to start, so I'm going to go. Aifietouka-jou, you have a different class from me, but you also have a lecture to attend, right?"
"...Hmph. I'll let you off for today!!"
Although she speaks strongly, her behavior is that of an aristocratic lady.
Aifie bowed gracefully, then turned her back and started walking in the direction of the lecture room.
Aifie's long hair sways, and the scent of flowers tickles Tigaro's nose.
It was a soothing smell.
Tigaro finally took a step onto the stairs, thoroughly enjoying the view of Aifie's back as she left.
---
Standing on the stage was a man wearing a teacher's robe.
The teacher poked at the letters in the textbook that he had just read aloud.
"Now, what exactly are these monsters that appear here? If you don't have many opportunities to go out from the royal capital, you may have never seen them."
Listening to the lecture were the children of aristocrats attending the Royal Academy of Shirsodi Kingdom.
They wore the uniforms of the kingdom with the discipline of aristocrats, sat in seats in the staircase-like lecture room, and listened quietly to the words of the teacher.
The teacher who stood on the podium held up another book in his hand and showed it to the students.
The cover of the book features pictures of a wide variety of deformed creatures.
"According to Erepurkos' book [Monster Ecology Research Record], monsters are creatures that feed primarily on the mana of humans and other creatures."
Sitting in a high seat at the back of the spacious classroom, with her textbook open and listening intently to the lecture, was the young lady of the Asur family whom everyone recognized as having excellent grades―― Aifietouka Asur.
She aims to become an exemplary knight of the kingdom in both literary and martial arts, and will never cut corners in her studies, even if it is in an already-known field.
"Monsters are always hungry for mana, and when they sense the presence of other creatures or humans, they attack them and try to consume their mana."
In a kingdom where there are many users of wind and water magic, paper-making technology is also well-developed, and paper is more plentiful than in other countries.
As expected, it's not so much that it's disposable, but there are enough resources that there is no reason not to distribute some books to the sons and daughters of the nobility.
"As mentioned above, most monsters are more ferocious than other creatures. There is no doubt that they are dangerous if you encounter them."
The threatening lines create a slight sense of tension among the students listening to the lecture.
The teacher continued speaking in a gentle tone, not seeming to be suitable for the word [dangerous].
"But don't worry."
The teacher gestured to the flags on either side of the large lecture hall with their respective coats of arms painted on them.
One side is a crest depicting a dancing fairy with wings.
The other side was a crest depicting a fairy dripping with water, scooping up water with both hands.
"If its monsters, they are no match for the continent's greatest spear, the Wind Holy Knights, and the continent's greatest shield, the Water Holy Knights, which our kingdom is proud of."
When the name of the Knights came up, Aifie, who was listening to the lecture, shifted her gaze from the textbook to the emblem shown by the teacher.
"As proof of that, here in the 400 years that the capital of the Kingdom of Shirsodi has been, they have never allowed a monster to invade. Even if a monster were to approach, the Wind Holy Knights, who patrol the sky, would either shoot it down unilaterally, or will be subdued by the solid magic of the Water Holy Knights who have set up a barrier around the capital.''
The slight nervousness of the aristocratic students who heard this eased.
The two knightly orders that the kingdom is proud of protect the people from monsters and enemy countries, and have always played an important role in the history of the Shirsodi Kingdom.
They are the noble and cool guardians of the kingdom, famous even outside the country for their noble and graceful fighting style that makes full use of overwhelming magic.
And that is also Aifie's dream.
Invitations from the two knight orders have already arrived.
Whichever way she chooses to join, she will soon become a member of the Royal Knights.
――And I'll definitely make him turn around.
Thinking of her childhood friend, Aifie quietly became enthusiastic.
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