My Beloved Princess ~The Boy Called Incompetent Rises with Only a Sword and the Princess's Devotion~ - Chapter 83: Determination Late at Night

The night wind was cold, seemingly stinging the skin. The white breath he exhaled spread and disappeared, as if blending into the academy night.

In the Residential District, student dormitories, teacher lodgings, special dormitories, and staff dormitories were lined up, housing close to eight hundred Dragonkin. Each lodging had an exterior reminiscent of a noble’s mansion, and the student dormitories alone were orders of magnitude larger than those at the Lower School.

It was less like an apartment complex and more like a small town.

Night training was conducted every day without fail.

Just because he had transferred to the Upper School, there was no reason to skip it.

Searching for an unpopular spot suitable for training, Kishō walked the night streets.

However, the site area was four times that of the Lower School. Just looking around once was a struggle.

Curfew had passed. He couldn’t afford to be nabbed for violating school rules on his first day at the Upper School. Carefully searching for signs of people, Kishō directed his steps toward the Commercial District.

On the way, he could confirm several unmanned factories with the lights off. Without entering the premises, his distant observation suggested they were likely textile factories. He had heard from the Princess that uniforms were produced within the academy.

While wandering aimlessly, he came out onto a familiar road—a junction leading to the shopping mall if he turned left, and to the Main School Building if he turned right. Just as he pondered which way to head, Kishō detected signs of people. He quickly moved his body into the shadows.

Someone was walking from the road leading to the shopping mall. Since streetlights were arranged firmly at equal intervals, visibility was good.

(Possibly, were some stores in the shopping mall still open?)

Even on the way here, several izakayas (pubs) were still operating with their lights on. If so, it was natural to assume the shopping mall was similar. The Upper School, where academy staff also lived, was active even past midnight, and seemed to be an environment where one still could not let their guard down.

(Quite a difference from the Lower School, where no one walked around after curfew.)

Kishō, with his back to a roadside tree, softly peeked his face from the shade.

It seemed to be a tall woman. Illuminated by the streetlight was a red and black dragon robe. The moment he recognized her as a student, a clear visual of the person entered his mind. Her spine was straight, her stride regular. A single strand of black hair swayed on her back. Confirming that spirited face, Kishō felt greatly relieved.

“What. Don’t surprise me.”

When he exposed himself from the shade of the tree, that person—Kōran—stopped abruptly. Folding her arms, she narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“What are you doing in a place like this?”

“That goes for both of us, right?”

“I have received permission from Mother.”

“Guh, seriously?”

He thought she was a fellow enthusiast who had committed the same school rule violation, but sadly the delinquent student was only Kishō. However, thinking carefully, she was the Headmaster’s daughter, so that much flexibility worked. While feeling an indescribable sense of societal disparity, his arm was grabbed by Kōran.

“Just right. Keep me company for a bit.”

“Just so you know, no kissing.”

Thinking the usual comedy routine would return at that joke, Kōran said with an extremely serious tone,

“I have an important story.”

Just that.

Guided by Kōran, they arrived at the cafe terrace attached to the Main School Building. If it were daytime, tea parties would be held here and it would become a place for interaction among noble young ladies, but now it was silent, sleeping in the darkness of the night.

Jumping over the fence and landing on the unmanned terrace, she sat down boldly on a table. The one-legged round table was built firmly and did not shake. Looking up at the starry sky, she said.

“You didn’t listen to my advice, huh.”

“Ah, my bad.”

Pulling a nearby chair closer, he sat down heavily. The backrest exposed to the winter outside air was chilly and cold. Breathing out white breath, Kishō asked.

“Do you think Kuroyō would oppose too?”

“Do you think Onee-sama would object to your decision?”

“No, as expected, if it becomes disadvantageous to the flock, wouldn’t she object?”

Without trembling at the cold wind of early winter, Kōran was looking up at the sky calmly.

“During the first semester, you see, the treatment toward slaves including Tsukino wasn’t that bad. But you see, from around the time summer passed, the situation started to change.”

“—Hmm? Tsukino also said something similar. Did something happen?”

“Then, a question here. What is something that existed in the Upper School during the first semester, but disappeared in the second semester?”

“What, a riddle?”

Crimson twin eyes looked straight at him. That sharply focused gaze did not look like she was joking.

Understanding it was a serious question, Kishō thought deeply.

(There was something in the Upper School in the first semester. However, that something was lost in the second semester. No, wait? If this riddle was connected to the matter of treatment toward slaves, the turning point should be summer—around the Summer Special Practice. The thing lost from the Upper School around that time.)

“Ah,” a loud voice escaped him.

The trees sleeping in the darkness of the night rustled as if annoyed.

“Don’t tell me, Kuroyō? She transferred to the Lower School chasing me.”

“Correct answer. While Onee-sama was in the Upper School, with overwhelming ability and charisma, she did not allow the oppression of slaves. ‘Oppressing the weak, are you still noble sons with that?’ she said. Sōsetsu and the others were afraid of that threatening attitude and scolding.”

At the beginning, when he met the Princess, he had received a similar scolding.

‘You who are of commoner origin might not understand, but men of the noble class place hundreds and thousands of women under their own protection. Do you know why? Because that is the duty of an excellent man, and a mission. In that case, the same duty arises for you too.’

That threatening attitude was considerable, and Kishō remembered being overwhelmed. Since she came to hold affection for him, she became a wise wife supporting him with modesty, walking three steps behind, but originally she was a woman of high aspirations burning with a sense of mission.

Forgotten sensations revived, and Kishō groaned.

“I see. So Kuroyō’s existence was acting as a stopper. Because she came to the Lower School chasing me, that balance collapsed, huh.”

He didn’t think he was entirely responsible for that, but he didn’t think it was completely unrelated either. Kishō sighed complicatedly. Kōran laughed off Kishō’s melancholy with a snort.

“Do you still not understand? Onee-sama and your way of thinking, the direction is the same. Wanting to help the weak. So, let’s put them in the subordinates and protect them. At that time, Onee-sama had not yet found a master, so she could not choose to put them in her own flock. But you see, you made a decision today that even Onee-sama couldn’t make. Without a single hesitation.”

That was why the Princess could not possibly oppose, she asserted.

He felt he glimpsed an unknown side of the Princess. Even without consulting, the hearts of the two were connected. That fact gave Kishō courage. Dropping his gaze to his knees, he clenched his fist tightly.

“I think I was underestimating Dragonkin society somewhere. No matter how strict it is said to be, when push comes to shove, I can escape to human society. I was thinking like that.”

By witnessing the dark part of Dragonkin society called slavery, Kishō’s understanding was overturned from the foundation. He was made to realize that the story was not so simple.

“Defeat leads namely to death. That’s fine by itself. Since I was born a man, there might be times I lose my life on the battlefield. But you know, if I lose and die, the Kuroyō left behind will suffer. If dropped to a slave, painful days of not being treated as a human are waiting.”

“Yes, that’s right. The master’s defeat means the collapse of the flock. And the defeated flock is made subservient. Or even if escaping that, they become strays and eat cold rice (are treated coldly) for a lifetime.”

Keeping his gaze lowered, Kishō nodded.

“I thought I had to prove my ability. But that recognition wasn’t accurate, huh. If I don’t have corresponding ability, I shouldn’t marry Kuroyō in the first place. If there is even a 1% possibility of making her unhappy, I don’t have that qualification.”

“That is being too eager. Continuing to win 100% is impossible. No matter how strong a Dragonkin is, a time when they lose will absolutely come someday. It might be against a superior opponent, or maybe being overtaken by an up-and-coming young person. Or even if winning against all of that, one cannot resist weakening due to aging.”

“Ah, I know. But, this is a problem of mental attitude. Absolutely not losing. Winning 100%. It means it’s a problem I must challenge with that much resolution.”

When he exhaled, white smoke reminiscent of mist breath spread. Kōran stared straight at him, listening to his speech in silence.

“I thought. What will Ōka do after graduation? The relationship between me and her is best friends. Even by mistake, absolutely not lovers or anything. So after graduation, we will probably go our separate ways. But if so, I end up imagining it. The figure of Ōka’s flock being defeated and her being oppressed. If told it’s unrelated to me, that’s the end of it, but somehow my chest stirs and doesn’t settle down.”

The unpleasant feeling that stuck to his heart and didn’t leave ever since hearing Tsukino’s story. When he understood its true identity, the face of his best friend, to whom he owed a great debt, floated up.

If Ōka was in trouble, he decided in his heart to help her, setting aside everything else. But, if they graduate and go separate ways, days might pass without him even noticing she was in trouble. That was unbearably terrifying.

Dropped to a slave, and forced into harsh labor. If he saw such a figure of Ōka, would he be able to keep his sanity? Kishō had no confidence in that.

That was why he was thinking all the time. While going around the grounds of the Upper School after leaving the special dormitory, he was thinking about only that. He racked his brains desperately on what he should do.

At such a time, the Princess’s words suddenly flashed back in his mind.

—While possessing that much power, do you intend to abandon a life you should be able to save?

Those words that seemed like a violent argument at the time, now strangely entered as if permeating his head. Why did I rebel at that time? It fits naturally enough to think so.

“I don’t know if Ōka wants to be with the likes of me. But, I think I should prepare it as an option. Since Ōka has been by my side all the time, there are no male students she is close with other than me. There shouldn’t be any candidate flocks to rely on after graduation.”

That was why, Kishō voiced his determination.

“I intend to make a flock. But that is not a flock as a harem. A flock to fulfill the role of a protective shelter to accept people with nowhere to go, to help people who are troubled. Of course not just Ōka, but people like Alice-san who lost her relatives, or Tsukino who was forced into harsh circumstances as a slave; I want to make a flock that can protect such people.”

Perhaps that was a shallow dream story he just said on a whim. However, Kōran did not laugh at that determination. She stood up with a serious face, and with the moonlight on her back, took a pose emphasizing her chest with her arms folded.

“I feel like I understood the reason why Onee-sama fell in love with you.”