CH 8

Her Royal Highness, the Princess, is a Hard Worker

After school ended, the four of us left together as usual, and went back to our respective dorm rooms.

When I returned to my room in the boys’ dormitory, I immediately jumped out the window. After activating <Toughness> to soften the impact from landing, I headed to the girls’ dormitory where Mize was staying, making sure to avoid other people’s gazes on the way.

“Yes~ it is~, wait.” (Desudesu~, tto)

I noticed that I was subconsciously singing a certain song. I quickly shut my mouth and concentrated on my mission.

It seems that the song Mize was singing during lunch break was stuck in my head.

I take a quick glance at my surroundings, but I don’t see any enemies lurking around.

At this time of day, when school has just ended, the castle town is bustling with activity as students are returning home after classes; it is not a good time for any covert operations. The bandits who are targeting Mize probably have decided against taking any action at this time of day.

Before 10 minutes had passed, Mize came out of the girls’ dormitory.

Earlier, she was wearing the normal school uniform, but now she had changed into the school’s sportswear.

Mize headed straight towards the school, passing by other students on their way out.

She went towards the training grounds.

“Well, today…”

While hiding my presence, I observed Mize in the training grounds.

She was– practicing her magic.

“I’m already able to use <Rage> to some extent. It’s about time that I move on to learning some long-range shooting magic…Ah, but maybe I should learn some magic for self-defence first…”

As Mize continues to practice, she occasionally mumbles something to herself.

Magic is not something that can be learned overnight. The first step in learning magic is familiarizing yourself with the magic power circulating throughout your body, then practicing until you can manipulate it freely. Once you can manipulate your magic power, you need to accumulate knowledge about the magic that you want to master, and practice using that knowledge until you can activate the magic.

Only by repeating this process over and over again, can you finally master magic.

Mize was continuing to work hard, with immense concentration.

What Mize is practicing right now is the close-quarters combat magic, <Shield>.

It is a magic that uses magic power to create a hard shield in front of you, preventing your opponent’s attacks.

If the magic is successfully activated, the shield would have a clear outline, but the shield that Mize created was deformed. It wouldn’t be able to withstand the magic of an opponent, or even a bare-handed attack. Mize also realized that the magic failed, so she let the failed shield disappear and created a new one.

“…”

Over and over again, Mize kept on activating the same magic.

She was dripping with sweat, and her breathing became rough.

Alone, without asking anyone for help, she immersed herself in her practice.

I didn’t want to interrupt her, so I turned around.

I’ve already confirmed that there are no enemies on school grounds. It shouldn’t be a problem if I took my eyes off her surroundings for a while.

“Hey.”

As I was walking down the hallway, a male student in a white uniform called out to me.

His face is vaguely familiar to me.

“As I recall, you are from the Guards…”

“I’m glad that you remember me.”

He was that male student who seemed to be one of the paternalists of the Guards of Mize-chan.

I wonder if this guy is just using the name of the Guards as an excuse to stalk Mize…No, if you put it that way, then I’m no different.

“Why don’t you get a closer look? It’s hard to see into the training grounds from here.”

“I don’t want to distract her from her practice. Both the paternalists and the purists agree about this.”

Apparently, the Guard is capable of being considerate.

I’ve changed my view of them a bit.

“Does Mize always practice her magic like this?”

“That’s right. As far as I know, she practices like this five times a week.”

“Five times? Do you mean during school days?”

“She also comes here during the holidays. At those times, she practices all day long.”

The boy from the Guard says somewhat proudly.

I replied with a short “I see.” and left the school building.

— I had no idea.

I didn’t know that she always did this after school.

I had absolutely no idea.

She once said that she enrolled in the Bildarz Academy to become an adventurer.

In order to become an adventurer, you’ll need to have learned many different magics.

That’s probably why she’s working hard right now.

When I saw Mize determinately practicing her magic, I was reminded of my figure from the past.

When I had just been taken in by the Organization, I was like Mize is now, dripping with sweat whilst desperately practicing my magic.

But Mize and I are not the same.

I had no choice but to follow the instructor’s orders. I was only doing it for the sake of not receiving corporal punishment.

Mize is different.

She’s desperately practicing by her own volition.

She had found out what she wanted to do and is making efforts into being able to achieve that.

That is– she is living her own life.

“…Amazing.”

What she is doing right now, is something that I could never do.

Something that I am trying to do right now.

Feelings of both envy and respect intertwine.

The “freedom” that she showed me became “hope” to me, as I still wasn’t sure about what I wanted to do with my life.

That “freedom” should never be tainted.

I thought so.

That is why, I–

“— don’t get in her way.”

“Guh, ugh!?”

In the alleyway just past the school gate.

I had found an enemy and was taking care of it.

“Right now, Mize is working hard towards achieving her goals…I won’t let you make that hard work go to waste.”

I went behind the man and gripped his neck so he wouldn’t make a sound.

I continue to apply pressure to the carotid artery to stimulate the nerves. Eventually, the man fainted.

I point my index finger to the back of the man’s head, as he falls to his knees.

— <Bullet>.

Pan, the man’s brain matter scattered along with a faint sound.

It is already dark outside. This will be easy to camouflage. I’ve already contacted Chris via the [Communication Paper] and left the disposal of the body to her.

This man probably planned on attacking Mize on her way back to the dormitory.

These bandits seem to have some knowledge of Mize’s behavioural patterns.

This man also wore a red-brown cloak, just like the man I defeated last time.

The bandits who were after Mize seem to be well-organized, at least organized enough to have a uniform equipment. When I stripped off the man’s cloak and checked his equipment, I found multiple daggers and poisons. These are the kinds of tools that assassins would use. Perhaps these bandits have some experience with assassinations.

“…this might be a more formidable enemy than we originally thought.”

The enemy is undoubtedly a professional in this line of work.

Not only do they have the tools to kidnap Mize, but they also had the tools to slaughter anyone else in their way.

It might be better to act now, before they get serious.

I miniaturize my black cloak and put it in my pocket before leaving the alleyway.

Just as I returned to the street leading to the school, Mize came out of the school gates.

— Should I hide myself?

— No, I have some things I want to ask.

I should probably hide myself, but I don’t have all the information I need as an escort yet.

It may seem suspicious, since we’ll be encountering each other in the morning, noon, and evening, but this is probably the last time we’ll see each other like this. In the future, as long as we don’t interact too much, there won’t be any suspicions.

“Tweight-san?”

“What a coincidence, huh.”

I raised one hand to greet Mize, who looked at me in surprise.

“Um, what are you doing here at this hour?”

“A walk. What was Mize doing at school?”

“I was, uhm…doing a bit of studying.”

I guess you can consider practicing magic as a form of studying.

Apparently, it seems that she doesn’t have a habit of showcasing her efforts any more than necessary.

“It’s already dark outside, so allow me to accompany you to the girls’ dorms.”

“Eh? But wouldn’t that just be a bother to you, Tweight-san?”

“It’s just a continuation of my walk. It’s fine since I was planning on walking some more.”

“Is that so…then, please do!”

Although somewhat forcibly, I was able to get Mize to agree for me to accompany her to the girls’ dormitory.

“Come to think of it, we’ve seen each other a lot today.”

“That’s true. It must be some kind of coincidence.”

Truth be told, it’s because I wanted to know more about Mize’s daily routine in order to establish my schedule as an escort. But now I already have enough information about her daily routine. From tomorrow onwards, watching her from afar should be sufficient.

“Speaking of which, in the boys’ dormitories, you can see the school from your window if you’re on the fifth floor or higher, but is it the same for the girls’ dormitories?”

“Yes. I stay on the fourth floor, so I didn’t know about it first-hand. But I did hear about that from my acquaintance.”

“I see…But if your window is facing the school, that means that your room would be facing the main street. It gets a bit noisy in the morning, so it sometimes gets hard to sleep in a room like that. Do you ever feel that way, Mize?”

“My room faces opposite of the main street, so I can’t say I understand that sentiment. Ah, but a friend of mine said the same thing you said, Tweight-san. She said that in the morning on weekends, she is usually woken up by the sound of the fruit vendor’s voice.”

Mize says with a smile.

After engaging in such random talk, we arrive in front of the girls’ dormitory.

“Well then, I’m going in now.”

“Yeah. See you tomorrow.”

After seeing Mize enter the dormitory building, I immediately go and check the back of the girls’ dormitory, instead of heading back to the boys’ dormitory.

A room on the fourth floor, opposite the main street…it’s that area.

I hid myself, so as not to be seen, and observed the rooms on the back side of the fourth floor of the girls’ dormitory.

A few seconds later, a light came on in one of the rooms I was observing. I can’t say for sure, but that’s probably Mize’s room.

Just in case, I’ll wait until the lights in all the rooms on the back side of the fourth floor turn off.

A few hours later, I went back into the boys’ dormitory after making sure that the light in the last room was turned off.

Author’s Note:

28 used the conversational skills that he learnt for picking up girls to infer the location of Mize’s room.