Theo’s identity and trap countermeasures

 
 
 ☆
 
 
 Theo fell for my words and admitted himself that he’s 『a member of another country’s royal family』.
 
 He covered his face with his hands, murmuring something like 『that was a foul just now』 while holding his head.
 
 Had it been him from my memory four years later, he would have laughed it off saying 『you’re exaggerating again, calling me a member of a royal family』, but ——— right now, the young boy in front of me doesn’t seem used to that kind of strategic techniques.
 
 
 
 (Well, putting that aside———)
 
 I put my index finger to my mouth, and thought for a bit.
 
 Guessing from the maids’ accent and Fabio’s speech and conduct, Theo is most likely royalty of the Elarion Kingdom, an island country to the south of Heielland.
 
 After receiving this time’s request from His Majesty, I investigated his origin by relying on my memories from before the redo, and finally narrowed down the possibilities to a single person.
 
 Theobald Yule Elarion.
 The third prince of the Elarion Kingdom.
 
 The Elarion Kingdom is an island country made up of the main island Elan and the attached islands, and due to their geographical conditions and excellent seamanship, they’ve prospered as the centre of intermarine trade since ancient times.
 
 Be that as it may, their territory is small, with a population only one third that of Heielland’s.
 And although it maintains a high-quality navy, if one looks at the entirety of their national power, it can’t be said to be quite that large.
 
 At the time when a hegemonic country from the southern continent attacked in conquest about a hundred years ago, Heielland, which was the closest, sent reinforcements from the north and drove them back in a united front.
 
 Since then, both countries have built extremely deep relations with one another, to the point where the phrase 『Heielland of the land, Elarion of the sea』 has become an expression.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 “These flying boots, though…”
 
 “Huh?”
 
 At my words, Theo looked up with a start.
 
 “As I said before, they’re still not finished. That’s why it’s a matter for once they’re done, but… I’ll have a chat with His Majesty, and see if I can’t ask to send you just one pair.”
 
 “Seriously?!”
 
 The troubles until now were nowhere to be seen.
 Prince Theobald’s eyes were sparkling.
 
 “Yes. I don’t know if I’ll get permission, but when I report this time’s matter, I’ll try asking His Majesty.”
 
 “I’m definitely… definitely counting on you for that!”
 
 Theo tightly squeezed my hand with his eyes sparkling.
 
 Be it Anna or Theo, I wonder why they bit so well at this?
 I guess it really must be that yearning for the sky is a dream everyone has.
 
 … no, well, I can’t talk of others when I’m the one making boots like this.
 
 That time, I thought of this and went 『Haha』 as I gave a cramped laugh.
 
 
 
 “So then, that means that until then, 『only I』 can use these boots, right?”
 
 Anna, who was watching mine and Theo’s exchange, emphasised the 『only I』 part for some reason.
 
 Almost as if she were insinuating something about Theo with those words, I turned around to face her, startled.
 
 “!”
 
 Standing there was Anna, whose smile had a black aura behind it, as if a 『Gogogogo』 sound effect were attached to it.
 
 “Theo-sama.”
 
 “Wh-, what…”
 
 Faced with Anna’s scary smile, Theo’s face stiffened.
 
 “Please get away from Leticia Ojou-sama’s hand. ——— Excuse me.”
 
 Saying so, Anna gripped Theo’s hand, and separated it from mine.
 
 “Wai-, what are you doing?!”
 
 When Theo protested while rubbing his gripped wrist, Anna spoke with an indifferent face.
 
 “It is not gentlemanly to grab a lady’s hand without her permission.”
 
 Ooh, so cooool!
 I unconsciously fell in love with my dearest attendant once more.
 
 … Well, I grabbed Theo’s hand a couple days back, so I’m not bothered by this much.
 
 When I was thinking that, this time Theo retorted.
 
 “And why do you have to be the one to tell me something like that?”
 
 “Because I am Leticia Ojou-sama’s attendant and guard. Protecting Ojou-sama from discourteous gentlemen is also part of my job.”
 
 “That, don’t talk like I’m some shameless man!”
 
 “Oh my, is that wrong?”
 
 “It’s wroong.”
 
 “Ufufufufufufufu.”
 
 The two of them glared at each other, as if sparks like fireworks flying everywhere.
 
 “Eeehm…”
 
 With those two in front of me, I was at my wits’ end thinking of how to arbitrate between them.
 
 Perhaps, is their chemistry terrible?!
 
 
 ——— in the end, I had Anna practice in the back garden, and settled the situation by physically pulling them apart.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 That night, I was troubled as I sat at my desk.
 
 On the page stuck to the drawing board beside me, the perspective drawing and circuit diagram of the venomous spider in question was drawn there.
 
 Right.
 I was thinking of how to deal with the venomous spider’s 『booby trap』.
 
 “Firstly, I wonder 『from where to attack』.”
 
 I looked at the diagram of the venomous spider again.
 
 The spider was stuck to Theo in ten spots: the eight legs, the head, and the abdomen.
 
 In those eight legs were the earthing sensors.
 In the head, there was a path for Theo’s magic power to be absorbed.
 The abdomen was where the turbulent magic power was spewed out, was the part that bit into Theo’s body the furthest.
 
 The booby trap in question is located in the abdomen’s channel.
 Of the eight leg sensors, if more than three of them are turned off, then the single small-type magic stone will start outputting its entire magic power in one go.
 
 
 
 “I can think of a couple ways in itself, but…”
 
 I keep writing them down as I think of them.
 
 ① With the legs grounded, I only lift up the abdomen.
 -> if the legs accidentally leave first, it’s the end of the road.
 
 ② Channel deceiving magic power into the leg sensors.
 -> It’s difficult to smoothly switch between Theo’s body surface’s magic power and the deceiving magic power. From the circuit analysis, it probably sees magic power level fluctuations from the normal state, so the trap probably activates when the level changes drastically in a short period of time.
 
 ③ First extend the leg sensors with Mistreel lines, then detach the abdomen from Theo.
 -> I expect this is the most likely to succeed.
 
 In addition, I also thought of drilling open a hole in the spider to create a channel to release the magic power from the abdominal channel, but because I don’t know the internal structure apart from the magic circuits, I came to the conclusion that it’d be difficult.
 
 
 
 “If we were to take method ③… the problem is, how to install the extension cables.”
 
 As mentioned above, the trap reacts to a change in the magic power level over a short period of time.
 
 Even though it’s not as bad as method ②, I can’t say there’s no chance that the switch will get turned on when the extension cable is installed and reground.
 
 “——— if that’s how it is, when it gets irregular, we’ll have no choice but to directly control the level, huh.”
 
 I collapsed on the desk, 『Haah』… and let out a huge sigh.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 And then again the next day.
 
 While having breakfast together with Theo, the moment we were done eating I stood before Theo, and made a declaration.
 
 “Hey, Theo.”
 
 “Hm? What’s up?”
 
 “Today we’re going to 『practice』 together!”
 
 “Huh???”
 
 The prince of the friendly nation greatly tilted his head at my words.