I Got Reincarnated as a Villainous Noble, and When I Tried to Create an All-Male Academy to Avoid a Bad Ending, for Some Reason the Gender Ratio Reversed? - Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Hidden Setting

The city was buzzing.

Lately the economy’s been doing pretty good, so the stalls never ran out of people crowding around them. Tons of tourists too—heard all kinds of unfamiliar dialects flying around.

There were only three years left until the witch came back, but honestly, most regular folks probably didn’t believe it at all.

Like, it just didn’t feel real or something. They probably thought it was straight-up fairy-tale stuff.

Sure, there were signs of the witch’s revival—monsters going berserk or multiplying—but unless you’re an adventurer, you wouldn’t really feel it in your daily life.
If it doesn’t hit your own pocket or routine, it doesn’t feel real.

Well, even I kinda figure the protagonist’s gonna handle it anyway, so yeah, normalcy bias is definitely kicking in for me too.

But still…

“Smells so good.”

Walking through the streets, the food stall smells just drag you in. No surprise my stomach started growling.

Lucina probably felt the same. She suddenly stopped dead in front of a skewer stall.

“……”

But then she glanced over at me all embarrassed-like and quickly walked past it.

“You don’t wanna eat?”

“I’m on a diet.”

“…Got it.”

She didn’t look fat at all from what I could see, but saying that out loud would probably just piss her off.

I’ve learned that lesson from Fran.

Still, even if you try to hold back, those smells keep tempting you.

Like, check out this sweet one right here.

“…A Bakery, huh.”

From this little shop wafted the smell of freshly baked bread. It smelled way too good.

And right at that moment—

The door opened and then someone stepped out.

“Hmm hmm hmm~”

Humming a little tune was a blonde woman dressed in pure white nun robes—it was Saintess Alenaria.

She was holding a bag of bread crusts, pulled one out, and straight-up chomped into it like it was nothing.

“…!”

The second I saw that, I reflexively grabbed Lucina’s arm and yanked her behind cover.

“What’re you doing?”

“Shh.”

I peeked out just my face to check on her.

Looked like she hadn’t noticed us at all. She was happily nodding with the crust still in her mouth.

“With this… I can save some money, right?”

It was just… too much. Couldn’t even describe it any other way.

“Two days? No… maybe three days’ worth?”

She muttered that under her breath, then skipped away looking super pleased with herself. Her back view kinda had this weird lonely vibe to it.

“What was that just now?”

“Ignore it.”

“I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before…”

“No way someone like that would be at the academy.”

“Yeah, true.”

Lucina seemed convinced and finally looked away from her.

Alenaria’s the type of saintess you do not wanna get involved with, so yeah—that was the right call.

But man…

“…I’m hungry.”

“Me too.”

Forget the crusts—after getting hit with all those food smells, no way we could hold out anymore.

“Wanna grab something?”

Let’s just hit up whatever restaurant’s closest.

We went into the nearest one and sat across from each other.

Looked like a family restaurant kinda place—had all the usual menu stuff.

Might as well go for stew and bread, I thought, and looked up—only to see Lucina shaking her head at the menu.

“Nah, I’m good. I’ll gain weight.”

“No need to hold back. I’m paying.”

“I said I don’t want any.”

“Controlling magic needs energy. You can’t keep it stable if you’re starving.”

“…………”

I said it straight like that, and after a quick second of thinking it over, she reluctantly nodded.

“…Just a little, okay?”

“Order whatever you want.”

“You sure?”

A bit later the plates started coming out.

“…………Huh?”

A mountain of them.

Meat, bread, soup, salad, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat.

It was seriously a ton. I said order whatever, but this was way overboard.

“More please.”

But she wasn’t stopping.

“You’re still eating?”

“You’re the one treating me, right?”

“Yeah, but…”

She kept that cool face on and just kept eating steadily.

Was she always this big of an eater in the original story?

Pretty sure no. ‘Cause if she ate like this, she would’ve 100% shown it off in front of the protagonist.

If this was some hidden setting, it was way too extra.

“…Damn.”

“Rude. I’m calculating it all so I don’t gain weight.”

“Where’s the calculation.”

“I actually have pretty good analysis skills, y’know.”

She was smirking all proud, but bottom line—it didn’t work.

“…I can’t move.”

Lucina was leaning back in the chair, hands pressing on her stomach. Even through her clothes you could see how bloated her belly was.

If Fran saw her like this, she’d get the wrong idea and overwrite me on the spot—that’s how bad it looked.

“You brought this on yourself.”

“You told me to eat.”

“Yeah I did, but there’s a limit.”

“I thought I could handle it.”

To be fair, she did finish every single dish she ordered. Gotta respect the stamina at least.

“Guess we head back for today.”

We didn’t end up meeting the protagonist anyway, so nothing left to do here.

I stood up thinking that, but Lucina didn’t budge.

“Hey… can I ask you one favor?”

She pressed her stomach while her cheeks went all red and embarrassed, then—

“…Carry me on your back.”

She said it super shamelessly.

“No way.”