An endless silence swirled between the two. As Bellion, who had been outside the barrier, awkwardly stared at them, Merlin was the first to break the silence.
“Anyway, if Arthur’s condition is like that, I should visit sometime.”
“Arthur is waiting for you even now.”
“Waiting…? Your speech is rather curt.”
“What, aren’t we close now?”
Merlin looked at Kail with amusement, then lightly chuckled and stepped back. Thud, as his staff deactivated the barrier, Bellion, who had been watching their conversation from outside, quickly rushed over.
“What’s going on, you two? What were you talking about so intensely…?”
“Prince, you have quite an interesting friend.”
“Huh? Merlin, what do you mean by that…?”
“I’ll take my leave now. Please continue your conversation.”
Interrupting the prince mid-sentence, Merlin disappeared in the blink of an eye just as he had arrived.
Even Walter Grace, the Duke of the North, couldn’t use teleportation so casually, yet Merlin used it as easily as breathing. Watching this, Kail let out a dry laugh.
‘If we fought, I’d lose…’
Simply put, if a sorcerer could teleport far away every time a knight got close, the knight could never win. It was just that no sorcerer had ever existed who could use teleportation so effortlessly before.
The same went for when they faced the Apostle of Arrogance. And now too. Kail felt the need to devise a way to counter those with teleportation abilities.
“—Kail, Kail?”
“Huh, what?”
“What were you two talking about?”
“Hmm. Should I really say?”
After pondering for a moment, Kail decided it wouldn’t be a big deal and shared a filtered version of the story. He mentioned that he had helped Arthur.
He didn’t reveal that Arthur was a girl or that she had a dragon’s heart embedded within her. That was a secret.
However, even without those secrets, the mere fact that he had a connection with Merlin was astonishing.
“You have a connection with Lord Merlin… Does that mean you have exceptional magical talent? Then why did you choose the Knight Department instead of the Sorcerer Department…?”
“Hey?”
“Huh? Oh, sorry. I was lost in thought for a moment. Oh, right. You were close with Arthur, weren’t you?”
“Why do you ask?”
“When we get back, can I talk to her for a bit?”
Kail nodded, indicating there would be no problem. Bellion smiled gratefully at his response.
It was time to return to the Academy.
* * *
“Please fill out these documents and sign here and here….”
“Ah, yes.”
Upon returning to the Academy, Kail immediately went to the Academy’s General Affairs Office. He needed to get his attendance marked for the classes he had missed for several days.
Fortunately, Kail didn’t have to do much. Bellion, the Empire’s prince, had promised to ensure there would be no issues with his attendance, and he kept his word.
“It’s all here.”
“Yes, just a moment please….”
“Take your time.”
At Kail’s side, Bellion, who had been filling out various forms on his behalf, made the office staff nod nervously.
The staff member turned around and completed the paperwork at a speed they had never achieved in their life. Anyone could see they were rushing, but Kail didn’t bother pointing it out.
A moment later—the staff member returned with two sheets of paper.
“Submit these to the head of each department.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank you.”
“Ah, have a good day.”
Leaving the trembling employee behind, Bellion and Kail quickly departed from the scene.
As soon as they left the General Affairs Office, Kail stretched and loosened up while looking at the cadets running on the distant training grounds.
“After school, right?”
“Huh? What?”
“The appointment. You wanted to meet Arthur, right?”
“Oh, right. After school.”
“Then I’m heading off. My body feels a bit stiff, and I can’t stand it anymore.”
Saying that, Kail left Bellion behind and headed towards the training ground. Even though he didn’t have to attend class since his substitute duty was recognized until today, he still went.
In the middle of class, the professor, hearing the news that Kail was attending as part of his mission today, tilted his head in confusion.
“Kail Meyer? I thought you said you couldn’t come today…”
“Ah, I just finished that and came here.”
“But you could rest today too?”
“How could a knight be negligent and indulgent? I will train together.”
“Ka, Kail…!”
Touched by such a true knightly statement, the professor tearfully shouted at the cadets who were training.
“You all! Learn from Kail! Look at how he doesn’t slack off on training even though he could rest today! And what about you lot! Skipping training because you’re tired of class, you, you, and you!”
The professor started picking on some cadets who were running well for no reason. Kail felt a little sorry for the chosen cadets as he joined the ranks and began running.
Watching the cadets being punished in the distance, Kail resolved to treat them to something delicious later.
“Kail!”
“Ah, Arthur.”
“You’re early? I thought I wouldn’t see you today.”
“I came early because I wanted to see you.”
Hearing that, Arthur smiled bashfully. Witnessing this exchange, nearby cadets grimaced and began glaring at the two.
No matter how you looked at it, it wasn’t a conversation two men would normally have. Amidst suspicions of homosexuality surrounding Kail, the conversation continued without stopping.
“Arthur, do you have time after today’s session?”
“Yeah, I’m free. Why?”
“There’s somewhere I want to go with you.”
“Great! I’ll go anywhere with you, Kail!”
Suspicions also fell upon Arthur.
* * *
After school, I took Arthur to the meeting place with Bellion. An expensive café in the Academy Territory, exclusively reserved for VIPs among VIPs.
Entering the café, I glanced around casually to locate Bellion. There was no need to search hard; an employee approached us as soon as we entered.
“Welcome. Do you have a reservation?”
“Under the name Bellion.”
“—He’s waiting inside.”
Following the employee’s guidance, Arthur and I entered a private room where we found Bellion sipping coffee.
Bellion warmly greeted us, putting down his cup midway.
“Welcome.”
“Yeah.”
“What do you want to drink? Don’t worry about it, I’m paying.”
“Then I’ll have an iced vanilla latte.”
“Uh, me too.”
“Alright. Did you hear that?”
The employee nodded discreetly and stepped aside. Before the employee had fully disappeared, Bellion greeted Arthur.
“How are you? Doing well?”
“Yes, very well!”
“Why so formal? We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“F-friends? How could I be friends with Prince Bellion…?”
“Hmm… Arthur, you and Kail are friends, right?”
“Huh? Yes, we are.”
“And Kail and I are friends too. So, if Kail and I are friends and you and Kail are friends, then you and I are friends too, right? To keep things straight, this makes sense, doesn’t it?”
Hearing Bellion’s words, Arthur began stuttering, not knowing what to do. Seeing her flustered, I sighed and intervened.
“Stop teasing him. He’s about to cry.”
“Aww, how could a prestigious Knight Department student cry over this?”
“I said stop.”
“…I guess I went too far. Hey, Arthur, sorry? But I really meant it when I said let’s be friends.”
As Bellion lightly apologized, the employee returned with the coffee at just the right moment. Arthur and I received our drinks and sipped our cold lattes while looking at Bellion.
After pondering for a while, Arthur quietly nodded.
“Th-then, shall we be friends?”
“Haha, what do you mean ‘shall we’?”
“Shall we?”
“You’ve been saying that since earlier.”
Slowly, Arthur began speaking more casually to Bellion. Speaking casually signifies reducing psychological distance. Slowly, very slowly, her heart began opening up to Bellion.
As they spoke more casually, Bellion encouraged Arthur to talk more. He listened attentively to her stories, responding positively and making her feel comfortable.
“Oh, really?”
“Y-yeah. It’s tough in the countryside… I wish the lords understood.”
“Right. I’ll definitely keep that in mind.”
“Ah, ah! B-Bellion, I didn’t mean to imply anything about royalty…”
By the time they were joking about royalty, Bellion suddenly threw a question.
“By the way, do you know someone named Merlin?”
“Merlin…? Uncle Merlin?”
“He’s our Imperial Court Sorcerer. He mentioned you recently.”
“Really!? Uncle talked about me?”
“Yeah. What did he say again? Hmm… I don’t remember well.”
“It must be about my condition!”
“Condition?”
“Yeah! Uncle implanted a dragon’s heart into mine…”
Realizing belatedly that this was supposed to be a secret, Arthur flinched. However, even though Bellion noticed the secret, he acted as if he already knew and smoothly continued the conversation.
“Oh, that? He also mentioned other things.”
“Eh, eh? R-really? As expected of a prince, there are no secrets…?”
“Yeah. What else was there?”
“W-well, that is…”
“That’s enough. Bellion.”
Interrupting Arthur, I calmly watched Bellion. Bellion gave a questioning smile, and as I sighed looking at his smile, I turned to Arthur.
“Arthur, do you have no concept of secrets? What if you told everything?”
“Eh, what? But Bellion already knows everything…”
“Liar. How could he know that?”
“Huh? Really?”
“Yeah. So don’t tell him anything else.”
Bellion smirked in amusement, but I ignored him and focused on hiding Arthur’s secret.
I couldn’t reveal that a fellow cadet was actually a girl in disguise.
Not only for her honor, but also for my own sake.
