Alon stared blankly at Rine.
The way she looked at him was no different from before.
There was still a soft smile on her lips, and in the eyes looking at him, there was not so much embarrassment as overflowing composure.
“.......”
After looking for a moment at Rine as she waited for his answer, Alon came to one realization.
‘Is this acting?’
Once that thought occurred to him, Alon unconsciously gave a small nod.
Thinking about it, Alon and Rine were currently engaged.
Even if this was a relationship that would soon be broken, for now they were engaged, so this sort of behavior was not particularly strange.
And so, just as Alon was wondering, Wasn’t this a bit too much all at once? and Do I have to do the same too? and turned to look beside him—
“......Huh?”
Alon confirmed that Rine had disappeared at some point.
No, to be precise, he confirmed that Rine was caught at the very edge of his vision, and when he turned his gaze a little farther, Rine was standing there frozen with the same smiling expression.
And only then could Alon see her ears.
The ears that had definitely only had a very faint blush until just a moment ago were now dyed red enough to be clearly visible to the naked eye.
And the moment he confirmed that, Rine slowly raised both hands to cover her own face, then—
Thud—!
She crouched down on the spot and hid her face.
“.......”
Alon was flustered by the sight of Rine launching first and then putting herself into a groggy state, but soon, he cautiously opened his mouth.
“......Rina?”
“......Yes.”
Rine answered in an extremely quiet voice.
“......Are you feeling ill, by any chance?”
“No....... I just have something to think about for a moment.......”
“.......”
A person thinking while crouched down and covering her face with both hands.......
Alon had that thought for a moment.
Then, just as he was wondering what he should do about this—
“Alon!”
“......Penia.”
He greeted her by calling the disguise name of Penia, who was running over from afar.
She ran up with a smile on her lips.
But for some reason, her eyes looked somewhat frightening.
Then, when Rine saw her—
“Go on ahead. I left something behind in the dormitory—!”
With those words, still crouched, she turned her body and headed toward the dormitory.
Rine vanished like the wind.
While Alon was staring blankly after her—
“Now then, shall we go, Alon?”
Penia had naturally taken Alon’s arm at some point and opened her mouth.
“Uh, right—sure. Let’s do that.”
Soon, Alon headed toward the academy together with Penia.
####
Right after today’s classes ended.
At Yutia’s summons, Alon was able to gather with Penia and Rine in an empty classroom on the fifth floor of the academy.
In truth, this place was closer to an empty space than a classroom.
After all, everything inside this room consisted of only a few desks and chairs, and a blackboard large enough to cover one wall.
“.......”
Alon quietly turned his gaze toward Rine.
Unlike this morning, Rine had regained her composure again.
......He still did not understand why she had acted first and then knocked herself down, but in any case, just as Alon was feeling relieved to see that she had regained her calm—
Creak—!
Deus and Evan opened the door and came in.
“I’m here.”
“Me too...... wow, she’s really here.”
Deus entered with a calm greeting, while Evan was surprised to see Yutia.
Alon briefly recalled that he had told Evan at lunch today that Yutia had arrived.
Then Yutia, who gave Evan a small smile, spoke.
“First of all, I think we can gather here from now on.”
“Did you make a club?”
“Yes. It’s called the Northern Alliance.”
“The Northern Alliance?”
“Yes. I made it as a club only nobles from the North can join.”
“......Can a faction-style club like that be created?”
Alon asked, tilting his head.
“Yes. I got permission without much difficulty. Though it’s temporary, of course.”
“Temporary?”
“Yes. If I made it a magic club, I could have gotten permission right away, but for a club like this, they attach a temporary status to it. Of course—we don’t mind.”
At Yutia’s words, Alon nodded.
She was right.
To begin with, the people here, including Alon, would not be staying in the academy beyond the festival period anyway.
‘There are less than two months left until the festival either way.......’
As Alon nodded—
“Then I’ll roughly organize the situation for now.”
Yutia once again explained the story she had told Alon, Penia, and Rine yesterday.
“......So in the end, something happens during the festival. In the meantime, we need to find out where the ritual is taking place, and when the ritual starts, we stop the Apostles?”
“That’s right.”
When Yutia nodded in affirmation at Evan’s summary, Penia continued.
“Mmm—then since there’s about a month left, we’ll have to comb through the inside of the academy during that time.”
“That seems to be the case. But since we can’t all go around together like this, it would probably be better to split up the personnel.”
“I think so too. If we all move together, we’ll be more likely to stand out.”
“I agree.”
If it were a magic club, that might be one thing, but if this sort of social club stuck together every single day, it could draw attention in a different way. As they were considering what to do—
“Mmm—then why don’t we go around in pairs?”
Evan suggested.
“In pairs?”
“Yeah. Going around all together would be a little awkward, but two people walking around wouldn’t look strange. If we just switch people around by day and have two people go around together, I think that would be fine.”
Of course, going around alone was also possible, but in that case, it would be difficult to respond if any danger arose.
At Evan’s added words—
“Mmm—that’s not bad. I don’t think it would look awkward either.”
Penia agreed.
“I’m fine with it too.”
“Me too.”
“I’m fine with it as well.”
Listening to the others speak up as though they had been waiting for her agreement—
“......Then from now on, let’s roughly put together how we’ll rotate.”
Alon organized things.
And after another certain amount of time passed like that—
“I think this should be fine, roughly.”
“That’s true.”
They were able to decide a rotation for how they would pair up and patrol.
“Mmm, that means I’ll go around with Lord Alon?”
At Penia’s words, Alon nodded.
“That seems to be the case.”
“I’m with Rine. Since I’m a magic professor, I don’t think it will look that strange.”
“I don’t think the two of us will have much of a problem either. Right?”
“That’s true.”
After listening briefly to Yutia, Evan, and Deus, Evan, who soon seemed to be thinking about something, asked an additional question.
“But what exactly do we need to look for to know it’s the ritual site? This is—since there’s still time left, they might have only decided on the location and not started working on it yet, right?”
Evan’s question.
At that, Yutia answered as though telling him not to worry.
“You don’t need to worry about that. It’s probably already prepared.”
“......Already prepared?”
“Yes. It’s most likely going to be a large-scale ritual, after all. There should be traces left in some form. Of course, we’ll have to check in a little more detail to see what kind of traces they are.”
Yutia’s words.
Alon also nodded at that.
“It’s as Yutia says. If they aren’t preparing the ritual, there’s no way traces would be left behind.”
“Hm...... then let’s start looking carefully from tomorrow.”
With Evan nodding, the group’s full-scale search for the Church of War’s ritual site began.
And then.
“Then I’ll be counting on you tomorrow.”
“.......”
“......Penia?”
“Ah, yes?”
“......What are you thinking so hard about?”
“Ah, no, it’s nothing, ahaha.......”
Penia vaguely glossed over Alon’s words.
“I’ll be counting on you tomorrow......!”
“? ......Well, yes.”
She opened her mouth like that, her expression stiff.
As though she had resolved herself to do something.
####
“Anyway, so Tina—oh, I should get going soon. I have something to do at the dormitory today.”
“Ah, r-right? Ah, okay...... see you.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
A man sent off another man, who had been talking energetically, with a timid expression.
He was Baron Vizantana, a third-year student in the magic department of the Imperial Academy and the second son of Duke Vizantana’s family. He was an ordinary student with nothing particularly outstanding about him.
His grades were slightly below the middle.
And since the eldest son’s succession had already been decided, even though he was the second son of a ducal family, his power and authority were not very strong.
At the same time, his own personality was timid rather than bold, so his relationships with classmates were not especially broad either.
......No, in truth, the number of people he talked to could be counted on one hand.
But precisely because of that, Baron Vizantana drew attention.
From the Apostles of War who had to secretly infiltrate the academy, that was.
And Baron Vizantana, now a third-year student, was no longer the same person he had once been.
His grades were still the same.
Slightly below the middle.
At the same time, his relationships with classmates were about the same as before.
Even his appearance was perfectly identical.
And yet, despite that, Baron Vizantana was no longer himself, but one of the Apostles of the Church of War who had infiltrated the academy.
“Whew—”
Baron, who had been walking after exchanging a quiet goodbye with one of his few friends with a timid expression until just moments ago, gradually let his expression turn blank.
On that face, timidity could no longer be found.
And after changing his expression like that, he immediately moved into a patch of bushes where he would not be noticed and headed toward the shopping district.
Because he had work to do.
The work of watching someone.
“.......”
When he headed toward the shopping district, what came into view were countless academy students.
But the person he had to watch was not one of those students—
‘......There she is.’
It was a woman standing in front of the clock tower farthest from the shopping district, where there were no other students.
The young lady of Count Colana’s family.
‘Colana Penia.’
The reason he, one of the Apostles, had come to watch Penia was because she was suspicious.
Of course, it was not outward suspicion.
According to their investigation, there was nothing strange about her family at all.
And yet, despite that, the reason he had gone out of his way to watch Penia was precisely because of the strangeness she showed inside the academy.
Unlike her outward background, which had no problems or abnormalities, her behavior was strange.
After the academy ended, she always wandered around alone, exploring strange places other students did not go.
......As though she were trying to find traces of the Church of War.
And once he had noticed her suspiciousness, he was able to notice that not only she, but the students from the North who went around with her were behaving similarly.
‘......If they really are people who came to interfere with the ritual, like Number One said—’
He intended to obtain definite evidence and eliminate them.
......In truth, if he had his way, he wanted to eliminate them just for having drawn his suspicion, but he could not do that.
If even a minor problem arose because of that, causing an issue with carrying out the great plan and delaying or canceling the festival...... he could not ruin the work over one small matter for no reason.
In other words, they had to avoid causing any incidents as much as possible until the great plan, so he first intended to obtain information.
And as he watched Penia, who was diligently combing her hair with her hands and straightening her clothes—
“!”
He soon confirmed that a man was coming from beyond.
‘......That’s Taylor Alon.’
As soon as he confirmed the person was Penia’s fiancé and someone who, like her, had shown suspicious behavior, he smiled as though this had worked out well.
If they really were people who had come to interfere with the Church of War’s ritual, then they were undoubtedly acting according to their relationship.
In other words, that meant they would not act in a place without people like this.
‘......I’ll be able to check comfortably.’
He gave a deep smile as he looked at Penia.
And then, not long afterward—
“......?”
He wore a blank expression.
Because—
......the way the two looked—no, at least the way Penia looked—
Was far too real to be called acting.
He stared blankly at Penia and Alon as they walked past the clock tower.
Just in case, he could not use magic, so he could not hear their voices, but Penia was subtly flushed as she stole glances at Alon while pretending not to.
Her left hand twitched, then subtly moved toward Alon’s hand and retreated, over and over.
Along with it, what appeared on her face was anguish, resolve, and hesitation.
......Because to anyone watching, she looked very much like a girl in love.
“......Did I see it wrong?”
Baron’s certainty slowly began to weaken.
