In a Female-Dominant World with a 5:1 Gender Ratio, I Saved a Girl as a Kid, and She Said She Wanted to Be My Bride—Who Would’ve Thought She Was a Princess… - 23

Chapter 23: The Secret Classroom and the Third Accomplice

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(Alto’s POV)

Within the cold, stagnant air of the underground archive, the strange “contract” between Princess Lilianna and me was concluded. The term was one year. I would lend her “knowledge,” and she would protect my “peace.” Saying it out loud was easy, but the other party was a princess who stood at the very pinnacle of this country. The weight of that reality pressed heavily down on my shoulders.

“……Then, the contract is concluded, is it not?”

Lilianna gently wiped away the tears that had been welling at the corners of her eyes with her fingertips, then shed the frail, vulnerable expression she had worn until just moments ago. What appeared in its place was the dignified face of a true “princess,” her eyes shining with intellectual curiosity. She lovingly picked up the forbidden book that had been placed at her side and turned to face me.

“Now then, Alto-sensei. We still have time. Let us begin right away with the continuation from yesterday.”

“……Are you serious?”

I stared at her in disbelief and checked my pocket watch. It was true that there was still time before the dormitory curfew. But time itself wasn’t the problem.

“Yesterday, you said you had an engagement you absolutely couldn’t miss, didn’t you? And yet, if you stay here like this for so long, won’t your attendants start to suspect something?”

My point should have been entirely reasonable.

If the princess disappeared on her own, it would cause a huge commotion. The maids and escort knights would begin a frantic search. If that happened, my so-called “peace” would be blown away in an instant. Over the past three days, the thought had crossed my mind, but she was still a student and a princess to the boot. I had assumed that spending a few days studying in the library wouldn’t raise any alarms.

However, if this was going to continue, that line of thinking wouldn’t hold up. In response to my concern, Lilianna smiled softly, like a child whose little prank had been discovered.

“Oh my. There is no need to worry about that.”

She rose gracefully, flicked the hem of her luxurious dress, and walked toward the far wall of the archive. That spot was a dead space—a gap between a crumbling bookshelf and the wall. On the floor was a geometric pattern I had assumed was nothing more than an old stain.

“I have deployed barriers of ‘cognitive interference’ and ‘physical isolation’ here of my own design. From the outside, it looks like nothing more than a wall, and I have also layered a suggestion spell so that people unconsciously avert their steps.”

…So that was it. No wonder we hadn’t been interrupted by anyone these past few days. But her “setup” didn’t end there.

“……And then.”

She touched the blue gemstone pendant hanging at her chest. A faint yet extremely dense wave of magical power rippled outward, and the pattern I had thought was a stain began to glow softly in a pale blue light. A complex and uncanny magical formula rose into the air.

“This is a short-range teleportation formula that directly connects to my room in the academy’s ‘detached palace.’”

“……Teleportation magic?”

I was struck speechless. Teleportation magic was among the highest-difficulty ancient magics, something close to a “lost technology” in modern magical studies. I had heard that the royal family possessed teleportation gates for emergencies, but those were supposed to require national-budget-level magic stones and rituals conducted by multiple high-ranking mages.

And yet she was operating one personally, here beneath the academy?

“Princess… Isn’t this an excessive waste of magical power? How much magic does a single activation even—”

“Hehe. With my amount of magic power, this much is nothing.”

She said it as if it were nothing. Watching her proudly puff out her chest, I was reminded all over again. This girl wasn’t merely of high status. The rumors that she possessed the greatest magical power in history were no exaggeration.

“Besides, this way I can return to my room in an instant without being seen by anyone, can I not? My alibi is flawless.”

“……I see. Well then.”

All I could do was let out a dry laugh. A princess using ancient magic on her commute. It was absurd beyond measure. And yet, that very absurdity felt strangely reassuring to me now. With this, we really could continue our secret meetings without being discovered.

“And also… There is something I absolutely wanted to ask you.”

With the glowing magic circle behind her, Lilianna gestured for me to come over to the desk. What she spread out wasn’t the history book we had been reading yesterday, but a modern grimoire. The pages were filled with diagrams of intricate magic circles.

“This formula… Holy Protection. According to the Church’s teachings, its power is said to vary depending on ‘the length of one’s prayer’ and ‘the depth of one’s faith.’ …However, no matter how I calculate it, the numbers simply do not add up.”

She furrowed her brow adorably and pointed at one part of the diagram with her quill pen.

“Even when the same amount of magical power is infused, the effectiveness varies far too much depending on the caster. If one says it is merely a difference in prayer, that would be the end of it, but… From your ‘physical’ perspective, how would you interpret this?”

I let out a sigh as I leaned over to examine the diagram. There it was again. Whenever knowledge was placed before me, the blood of my previous life began to stir. Hunger, caution, even my awe toward her—all of it was pushed aside. When I saw inefficiency, I couldn’t help but want to fix it.

“……Please, lend me the pen.”

Taking the quill from her, I began sketching swiftly in the margin of the parchment. Memories from my previous life. I mobilized everything I knew, fluid dynamics and electronic circuitry.

“Prayer has nothing to do with it. This is a problem of structural defects.”

“Defects…?”

“Yes. In this magic circle, the lines along which magical power flows bend at right angles far too often. Just like water flowing through a pipe, forcing magic to make sharp turns creates ‘resistance.’ Most of the energy is being lost as heat right here.”

Beside the existing angular magic circle, I drew a new diagram. I eliminated right angles, replacing them with smooth curves and spirals.

“By weaving the magic power into a spiral like this, you allow it to flow smoothly which in turn lowers the equivalent of resistance. That way, even with the same amount of magic power, the output increases, and you can reduce unnecessary heat loss by about thirty percent.”

Lilianna gasped softly as she stared at my drawing. Her blue eyes trembled with shock and then joy.

“…My! I see… Treating magical power as a ‘fluid’ and reducing resistance… Indeed, this would allow it to circulate smoothly! How beautiful… What a wonderfully rational form.”

She gazed at the diagram I had drawn as if it were a priceless work of art. Then she lifted her face and looked at me with burning enthusiasm.

“Alto-sensei, you truly are a genius!”

“…I told you to stop calling me ‘sensei.’ And besides, this is just an application of geometry—”

I looked away to hide my embarrassment. The real genius was her, the one who grasped my clumsy explanation instantly and saw through to its essence. It was her brilliance, her willingness to continually question the inefficient magical theories accepted as “common sense” in this world, that truly deserved praise.

In the dim underground archive, surrounded by the smell of mold and old books, our heated discussion continued. Forgetting the difference in our statuses, forgetting even the barrier between man and woman, we stood together as comrades facing a common enemy—“truth” itself.

I had to admit that this time, too, had become a form of salvation for me. The “logic” that no one had understood in my previous life was saving her here, making her smile. That felt unbearably good.

But….

Perhaps we became so absorbed that we let our guard down too much. Or perhaps it was complacency born from how excellent Lilianna’s barriers were. Suddenly…

The air in the underground archive felt like it changed.

“…?”

I stopped my pen and looked up. Lilianna, too, glanced around with a puzzled expression.

Silence.

No. There was a presence approaching. And it wasn’t coming from the iron door at the archive’s entrance. It was from behind Lilianna. To be precise, it was coming from that teleportation magic circle by the wall.

Buun…

A low, heavy sound reverberated. The magic circle, which had been emitting a faint glow, began to shine more intensely. Lilianna caught her breath.

“…No way.”

She hadn’t called for anyone.

If so, there was only one other person in the world who could use this teleportation circle. The individual to whom Lilianna had entrusted the “key,” someone she trusted absolutely. Particles of light danced upward, and space itself warped.

We still hadn’t realized it… That within this secret space, another “visitor” was approaching with quiet footsteps. And that this person would decisively change our “accomplice relationship.”

I swallowed hard and stared at the silhouette that was about to emerge from the light.

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