Frondier and his companions returned to Atlas.
Since they had arrived to coincide with the end of vacation, Frondier had to prepare for the opening ceremony right away.
The rest hadn’t been sufficient, but from Frondier’s point of view, that was a good thing.
What Frondier was most curious about was the well-being of those he hadn’t been able to help.
Aster and Carla, Aegis. They were people indispensable to the fight in Palma, but he couldn’t bring them along. Each had a place to return to.
Carla worried him especially.
‘If Atena is still using Carla’s body......’
Of course the possibility was low. Ecleksis is not infinite.
But placing another curse, or injuring Carla’s body by something like self-harm, would be possible.
Even if not that, Carla had her body controlled. Wouldn’t the shock be considerable.
So the day before the opening ceremony, Frondier headed for the principal’s office of Atlas.
‘Let’s go to the principal’s office first.’
Carla wouldn’t be there. Even if Atena had let her go, she’d be at her own home.
But Frondier didn’t know where Carla’s home was. And among Atlas’s teachers there was no one who knew where Carla’s home was either. If he grabbed them one by one and pried, he’d be looked at strangely, so he couldn’t be sure, but still.
However, there might be some clue left in the principal’s office.
Frondier knocked on the office door.
“Principal, are you there?”
Naturally there was no answer, and just before Frondier tried to open the door,
“Yes. Come in.”
“.......”
A voice was heard from the other side of the door.
Carla’s voice.
Creak.
When Frondier opened the door and went in, Carla was there.
“......Mr. Frondier.”
The moment she saw Frondier, Carla’s eyes widened.
By contrast, Frondier froze as he looked at Carla.
Carla, who was a little more mentally prepared, spoke first.
“Uh, welcome?”
With an awkward smile.
“......How are you, here?”
Many questions welled up in Frondier, but the question was simple.
And it was a question that contained all of his doubts.
“Atena is gone.”
“......How can you be certain?”
“When she was controlling me, I could feel Atena’s emotions.”
Carla wore an abashed face.
“Atena is afraid of you, Frondier.”
“.......”
“So how could she know when she might meet you and still be here?”
Well, that’s true. Atena’s judgment was accurate.
If Atena were still controlling Carla now, Frondier would have invited Atena to Pandemonium immediately. What he would do after that, he hadn’t yet decided.
“Are you all right, Principal?”
“I’m fine.”
Carla slowly shook her head.
And then said,
“I’m sorry. Because of me, you got caught up in something strange.”
“......That wasn’t because of you.”
And in truth, not because of Atena either.
Frondier intended to interfere in the war anyway, and from the moment Atena took Carla’s body, Atena was also included in his operation. As the existence that would plant suspicion in Aphrodite.
So in fact Atena had helped Frondier. Not that it was what she wanted.
“But I didn’t expect you to be in the principal’s office. I thought you’d be at home even if Atena returned your body.”
“Ah, there are two reasons for this.”
Carla nodded as she spoke.
“One was to meet you, Mr. Frondier.”
“Me?”
“Yes. Since Atena took my body, I thought you would worry about me.”
There Carla smiled. It was the smile that had set so many men’s hearts aflutter.
“Didn’t you worry about me?”
She asked, lightly, in a slightly teasing tone.
Frondier, who watched her for a moment, said,
“I worried. Immensely.”
“.......”
“Why do you think I came here?”
Frondier had the look of someone asking why she was asking the obvious.
Carla’s pupils darted to the side.
“R-right. Thank you, Mr. Frondier.”
“I’m glad you’re safe.”
“Y-yes.”
Frondier let out a sigh of relief.
There was no exaggeration at all in his words.
‘Thank goodness.’
He hadn’t said it to anyone else.
Frondier had been considerably shocked by the fact that Atena had taken Carla’s body.
All the more so because, of all things, Vishnu had personally taken Elodie’s body.
‘But I don’t know when Atena might act up again. Especially when I’m not at her side, it’s dangerous.’
The only reason Atena wasn’t coming out now was Frondier. Because he could snipe her for certain, and Frondier would definitely win. A natural enemy in the flesh.
Conversely, if it were a situation where Frondier couldn’t deal with it immediately, Atena could control Carla again.
‘I’d like to keep her by my side all the time, but she’s Atlas’s principal, so I can’t.’
If she weren’t principal, he truly had thought to keep her by his side; Frondier’s way of thinking was very dangerous.
There Frondier suddenly asked,
“Come to think of it, what’s the second reason? The reason you’re here.”
“Ah, that is, there’s someone I’m supposed to meet today.”
So this was the real reason. As principal, she had someone to meet.
“It’s about time they arrived......”
“In that case, I’ll be going.”
“Ah, you’re leaving already?”
“Since I’ve confirmed you’re safe, that’s enough.”
Saying that, Frondier turned his body toward the door.
And his sixth sense reacted.
‘......Someone is coming.’
It wasn’t killing intent. Even though it wasn’t killing intent, Frondier’s sixth sense activated.
Footsteps heard from far away.
The moment he heard that sound, Frondier sensed something.
Knock knock—
At length there was a knock on the door,
and the man on the other side introduced himself with no room for doubt.
“This is Aster Evans.”
“Ah, come in.”
Carla, who didn’t know Frondier’s situation, naturally answered.
The door opened,
“I heard you were looking for me......”
And Aster met eyes with Frondier.
“.......”
“.......”
Frondier’s face crumpled.
It was Aster. Not a mistake, and not someone disguised as someone else—Aster Evans.
Questions even greater than when he saw Carla filled his head.
So he asked,
“What are you doing here?”
They asked each other at the same time.
Annoyingly enough.
“Uh, do you two, know each other?”
Sensing some serious mood, Carla carefully asked.
Aster spoke first.
“We’re friends. He’s someone I respect.”
With eyes full of murderous spirit.
To that Frondier also answered.
“He’s also a comrade I trust.”
With a face that looked ready to smack him immediately.
“R-really......?”
The expressions and the words were so different that Carla could only read the two.
Frondier asked,
“Principal, why is this guy here?”
“Ah, to put it briefly, Mr. Aster will be serving as a temporary teacher at our Atlas.”
“......What subject?”
“Well....... Ah, Combat Theory......”
Combat Theory. Originally the subject Frondier handles.
Carla thought Frondier would feel displeased about this point. For some reason the air between the two was unusual.
And Frondier looked at Aster and said,
“If it’s you, I can entrust it with confidence.”
“Compared to you, I’m far lacking.”
The two spoke while their heavy killing intent clashed. Carla wondered if she wasn’t mishearing.
Aster tilted his head briefly and said,
“I’m staying with Mr. Ludovic right now.”
“Ludovic? You mean the Zodiac Ludovic?”
“Yeah. I crossed over to this continent together with him.”
Frondier more or less understood at that. He had heard Aster was carried and flown by someone; so that was Ludovic.
Aster continued,
“When I was heading for Palma’s capital, most of the gods had their eyes on me. In that gap, I heard Mr. Ludovic evacuated safely. I heard a few chased after him, but he said he escaped without much trouble.”
“......Ludovic is,”
“Mm?”
“Is he, all right?”
Frondier remembered Ludovic’s last look.
The look on his face when he was released from prison.
“......Pfft.”
Aster, seeing Frondier’s expression. His eyes widened as if in brief surprise, then he ended up laughing. The vigor aimed at Frondier vanished in an instant.
Aster said,
“He isn’t that weak a person, is he.”
“......Right. Yeah.”
“At any rate, Ludovic and I tried to return to the continent of Falind right away, but it seems it’ll be a bit difficult.”
“Why?”
“Because Poseidon is incredibly angry.”
Ah.
There Frondier nodded.
Aster had probably been caught by Poseidon. And he had gone past him all the way to Palma, so one could easily imagine that anger.
“Right now Poseidon’s power has gotten too big, so even if we want to go around, we can’t.”
“Truly the anger of the sea.”
Certainly in this situation returning to Falind would be difficult. They could only wait for Poseidon’s anger to subside.
“Then why Atlas?”
“I met the principal. In Palma.”
In Palma’s capital, Atena had left Carla.
The first thing Carla did when she came to her senses was to grasp the situation.
Carla held hazy memories of the time when Atena had taken her body. In those memories was included Aster’s martial achievement.
A swordsman who could fight Frondier head-on and cut off the neck of a possessed Zeus.
“I asked for help. To let me get out of Palma.”
“Asked for help?”
“Because Atena used my body to ask for participation in the vote, you know. That wouldn’t have looked good in the citizens’ eyes.”
Ah, I see.
Since Frondier knocked out the citizens after that, she had worried about when the citizens woke.
“So when I heard the story, it sounded like he was having trouble with where to stay, and I want talent for Atlas, so then.”
“......That’s quite convenient for both sides.”
Frondier was convinced.
He looked at Aster and asked,
“Then when do you start the teacher job?”
“Tomorrow.”
In other words, he would start right from the opening ceremony. He wouldn’t begin classes right away, but he would probably offer a simple greeting.
“Um.”
There Carla opened her mouth.
She scratched her cheek as if something troubled her.
“So I have a favor to ask of you, Mr. Frondier......”
***
Opening ceremony day.
“Nice to see you all. Did you spend your vacation well?”
“Hi, teach~!!”
“Vacation was too short!”
Frondier stood at the lectern for the first time in a while.
Looking around at the students in the classroom, they were all generally healthy.
If he had to say, Vasileo’s condition was the worst. His first time using Reservation and the experience of real combat, and even attempting combination magic with Elodie. He wasn’t injured anywhere, but the fatigue was severe.
Frondier said,
“Then everyone, submit your vacation homework.”
At those words all the students’ eyes went wide in surprise.
One student raised a hand.
“Teacher! We didn’t have vacation homework!”
“Hm? What are you talking about?”
“I mean, it was, what, like, ‘just grow up healthy!’ That kind of feeling.”
At that Frondier laughed.
“Which is why, I said to submit proof of that, didn’t I?”
“......Ah.”
“You all got your health checkups, right?”
To Frondier’s question, about half answered yes, and the remaining half subtly avoided his eyes.
They hadn’t imagined that was really the vacation homework.
“Hm,” Frondier said.
“If you haven’t gotten it yet, get it this week and submit it.”
“Are we really submitting it?”
“Would you prefer other vacation homework?”
The students frantically shook their heads. Frondier nodded.
“I told you the only thing I want is for you not to get hurt. I meant that. So a health checkup is also something I mean.”
Frondier’s eyes grew a little serious.
“There are many kinds of ‘getting hurt.’”
At those words the students’ eyes also grew serious.
Since Frondier had once spoken about war before, the students unwittingly ended up recalling Frondier at that time.
“Then we’ll check the vacation homework again next week.”
Frondier looked at the clock.
“Let’s keep homeroom short. If there’s time, prepare for the next class.”
Saying that, Frondier tidied the top of the lectern. He too had to go teach the next class.
Like Constel, Atlas has students move to different classes by field. Since Frondier handles both magic and combat, he has many places to be.
A dissatisfied voice was heard at that.
“Teacher. Are we having class on opening day?”
Frondier said to that,
“I won’t. I don’t know about the other teachers.”
It was a moment when the students who would take Frondier’s class felt jealous.
Frondier said,
“I’m only going to do the handover.”
