Vol 9 Chapter 22: In the Laboratory  【Part 1】

The Royal Capital, the Academy’s “Dracomancy” Tower.

Led by the Professor, it was a true monster’s den among monster’s dens — a place where only the kingdom’s most eccentric and exceptional talents were permitted to hold a laboratory.

During the Orgren rebellion, the Academy had fallen under occupation. Although the campus still bore the scars of being ransacked, this tower alone remained entirely unscathed.

The rebels likely deemed it “too sketchy” and decided against setting foot inside. A wise choice.

With those thoughts in mind, I sat on the sofa in the Professor’s laboratory. As I sipped the black tea brewed by my witch-girl kouhai, I gently wiped Atra’s mouth — she had gotten tea sweets all over herself. I glanced over at the small group of kouhai who had gone out of their way to don matching robes, pulling their chairs into a tight circle for a discussion.

They’d been whispering back and forth like that for a while now.

“So? Teto, what’s all the commotion about? I came because you messaged me saying, ‘Please come here!’, you know? I mean, Lidia and the others have all temporarily gone back to their own homes, so it works out… but still, if I don’t hurry back to the royal palace soon, my life might actually be in danger.”

“Senpai, please be quiet for a minute! We’re currently in the middle of a conference about our future!!”

“Hmm. Guess I’ll keep quiet, then. I have something I need to discuss later, too. But let me just say one thing first — this tea is delicious. Thanks. It’s a pretty rare blend, isn’t it?”

“Ah, I’m so glad♪ Recently, when Yen and I took a trip together to the deep western territories—…”

“Teto!?”

“—Well, there you have it, guys.”

“The verdict is… tell us every detail of that trip!!!!”

Four of my kouhai — two boys and two girls — immediately swarmed Teto Tiherina and Yen Checker, the pair exactly one term below me.

The group consisted of a gentle-looking human boy, a set of twins — one elf, one dwarf — with beauty practically carved from marble. And… a half-fairy, a minority among minorities that you’d rarely ever catch a glimpse of even in the royal capital.

—A few of the kouhai who should normally be here were missing.

I hadn’t heard anything about them getting dragged into the mess, so some of them were probably just staying back in their hometowns. After everything that had just gone down, it was only natural they’d make that choice.

Gil Orgren, who was in the same year as Teto and the others, gave a wry smile and sat down on the sofa across from me.

“Looks like they’re gonna be at that for a while — Allen-senpai, great work out there! Did you enjoy yourself last night?”

“………I’m exhausted. Honestly, so exhausted. I completely understand how the Professor feels now. I just want to take a vacation for the foreseeable future. Gil, how is the old duke holding up?”

“…His life isn’t in danger, but I don’t think he’ll be of any use to the kingdom anymore. Same goes for my family as a whole.”

“Your house will survive, don’t worry. If it comes down to it, you can just trade on my achievements. Actually, couldn’t you just take all the credit off my hands entirely? You know, something like, ‘Vast contributions to saving the Water Capital.’ ………You had a hand in what happened to me, didn’t you?”

“—… I-I-I-It was a group consensus! I-I-It wasn’t just me!!”

Right in front of me, Gil desperately scrambled to deny it.

I took a sip of my black tea, giving him an absolute deadpan stare.

“…Look here. Stop trying to force such a massive burden onto a mediocre guy like me. I don’t have a choice, so I’ll accept it for now, but as a general rule, I’m dissolving it afterward. Or I’ll just decentralize the power and hand it off to you guys, so you better be prepared for that. Teto is getting her own new laboratory, and Yen is inevitably going to be drafted into the Royal Guard — so the de facto leader is going to be you, Gil.”

“!? A-Allen-senpai, th-th-th-that’s taking it a bit too…”

“Oho… Teto-senpai is getting her own laboratory, is she! That is a momentous occasion indeed. My Lord, I demand you fetch me a tea sweet as well, and — owwwwchhh!”

I shot a crisp little bullet of wind magic directly into the forehead of the petite half-fairy girl who had spread the translucent wings on her back and fluttered over — Suse Clembiccy, my kouhai from two years below.

Clutching her forehead, the younger girl plummeted onto the sofa. She rolled back and forth, groaning in pain.

On the verge of tears, she shot me a glare of pure protest.

“M-My Lord, i-isn’t that a bit cruel? Treating the incredibly cute me like this when we haven’t seen each other in so long… I-I think you’ve gone too far!”

“It seems Clembiccy-san has been away so long that she’s forgotten the rules of this place, hmm?”

I offered a completely hollow smile to the girl with pale blonde-silver hair, who was somehow even more petite than Tina.

Suse immediately went pale. Hovering back into the air, she shook her head frantically.

“! …I-I haven’t forgotten! I haven’t!! ‘Addressing you as My Lord and such within the laboratory is strictly prohibited!’ That’s the rule!!”

“Do you really remember, though? I find that incredibly hard to believe.”

“Ugh… Alle — A-Allen-senpai, I-I still think you’re a tyrant… A-And on top of that, you show up out of nowhere with a little girl… Wh-What in the world happened to you??? I demand your perspective on this matter, Gil-senpai!”

“I definitely agree that Allen-senpai is a tyrant, but you really never learn your lesson, do you, Suse…? Ah, Senpai, are we allowed to talk about what happened in the Water Capital and about that kid?” Gil asked, flashing another wry smile.

Atra looked up with a blank expression.

“Me?”

I set the little girl down on my lap and gently patted her head.

“It’s fine, but — if you hear this, there’s no turning back, and there’s no backing out halfway through. You’d be better off just dropping it. That goes for Yuri, Val, and Will, too. Teto and Yen are going to be busy enough as it is, so I’d prefer if all of you stay as uninvolved as possible from here on out. Oh, but Gil is the exception. I’m going to work you to the bone.”

“Ugh. What a completely ruthless senpai you are.”

Silence…

Despite his complaints, the provisional Duke of Orgren looked awfully happy about it. I was going to have to make sure he racked up some solid achievements so he could clear his family’s tarnished name.

The rest of the kouhai just stared at me, their faces painted with blatant dissatisfaction.

One by one, they all sat back down on the sofa across from me, silently pouring themselves more black tea.

I addressed my stubborn kouhai.

“For starters — I’m just glad you’re all safe. It looks like none of the other kids got dragged into this mess, either. Oh, the Professor and Anko-san are safe, too. Though I expect the Professor is going to be half-dead from dealing with all the post-war administrative fallout, so I want Teto and Yen to take the lead in running the laboratory.”

“Y-Yes!”

“Understood!”

“Yuri, Val, Will. Make sure you pay very close attention to how Teto does her job, alright? Next term, those responsibilities are going to fall on you.”

“Understood.”

“Okaaay.”

“Senpai, what did you mean when you said Teto-senpai is getting her own laboratory?”

The boy with terrifyingly flawless features — Will Ucus, the elf-dwarf half-breed with incredibly pale green and brown hair — had spoken up.

“M-My name wasn’t included in that list!?”

I nodded.

“That’s right. Teto is going to be getting her own laboratory next term. It’s already been officially decided. I mean… if anyone let Teto run a magic item shop, she’d obsess over every single meticulous detail and bankrupt the store within a month… Ah, no, it’s pretty obvious she’d accidentally blow the place to bits with an experiment before she even got that far, right?”

“I see. That’s certainly true.”

“Senpai!? E-Even you, Will! A-Are you seriously shooting down my h-humble little dream!?”

“Teto, everyone has things they are naturally suited for, and things they absolutely aren’t. Yen, you agree, don’t you?”

“I have zero objections!”

“Yen!? Y-You’re betraying me, too! Th-That’s it, I’m withholding the rolled omelets from your breakfast tomorrow!!”

“Ngh… Well, that is a bit of a problem, but…”

“Ah, yeah, yeah. Save the flirting for later. Now then — Yuri, Will, Val, Suse… shall we have a slightly more serious talk?”

“—Yes, sir!”

My four adorable kouhai instantly straightened their posture.

I set my teacup down and made my request.

“As it stands right now, Lidia and I are… well, slightly caught up in some rather troublesome matters. The same goes for the Professor and Anko-san. Just like I mentioned earlier, I’m planning on having Gil help us out with it. It’d be great if we could wrap it all up quickly, but if we can’t, there is a very high probability that the Professor’s laboratory will be permanently shut down at the end of this term. Ah, I’m not worried about any of you, or the mischievous brats in the year below you. All of you already possess more than enough skill to graduate from the Academy with flying colors. I can personally guarantee that you’ll all do just fine stepping forward onto whatever path you take next. However… if it’s at all possible, I’d like you to assist Teto with her laboratory for a year. You know how it is, right? I’m not sure who she takes after, but she has a habit of pushing herself recklessly and doing the impossible. As her senpai, I honestly just can’t help but worry about her.”