The Lou Erz mansion.
The lawn on the grounds of this venerable castle was enclosed entirely by stone walls. The outdoor space was so expansive, one would not be remiss for thinking it a golf green.
“I suppose I do not need to explain.” Schwartz walked not toward the castle but in the direction of the woods past it. “We will train you in astral powers here at the villa.”
“…”
“The head of household is worried about you. She is concerned you do not want to become a fine princess. Your pickiness about your studies is one thing, but your frequent skipping of meetings is a major issue. Your mother is concerned you will not be able to earn the ministers’ trust at this rate.”
“…”
“The House of Lou has lost to the House of Zoa for two generations in the conclave. We would like to address what has long anguished us. In order to make you the queen, the head of house and I have determined that we must be tougher on you!”
“…”
“Your only route to becoming queen is military conquest. You must attain the glorious fruits of battle against the Imperial forces. That will surely be a great boon in the conclave. However, the battlefield always carries with it the danger of death. Though I could overlook your willfulness in your studies, when it comes to combat… Hmm?”
There was no reply.
When Schwartz turned around, he realized Mira, who had been walking behind him, had taken off in a different direction.
“I hate long speeches!” she yelled.
“My lady?!”
Mira leaped into the undergrowth without hesitation.
Schwartz also leaped into the bushes after her.
Twenty minutes passed.
“Haah… Haah… N-now, my lady… These woods are like my own backyard… Haah, whew… It seems I had the locational advantage…”
Schwartz was covered in leaves.
He was holding a very disappointed-looking Mira by the arm.
But she wasn’t disappointed because she had been caught. She was annoyed that her attendant was so focused on catching his breath, he hadn’t noticed anything.
“You’re so dense.”
“Haah… Haah… Huh? What was that, my lady?”
“Nothing at all.”
He hadn’t seemed to noticed she wasn’t out of breath in the slightest.
This was enough.
From the start, she had been uninterested in going along with the astral power training.
“Let’s go, my lady. Our route here was quite circuitous, thanks to all that running around, but our destination is just ahead.”
“…”
The attendant began to walk.
But Mira made no effort to move away from the trees.
“Schwartz, I don’t intend to participate in astral power training. Because—”
“Oh, please, my lady. Just wait. You don’t need to tell me any more.”
Her attendant turned around. Resignation was written all over his face, and it was clear he believed he had guessed what she was going to say.
“I know. I do not expect you to enthusiastically dive into training. I’m sure you’ll dismiss it at first, just as you did economics and sociology. But astral power is unlike any other field of study, my lady!”
“What I want to say is…”
“Astral power is our pride as astral mages. And you are an honorable Lou princess! Even if you’re not able to use your abilities yet—”
Creak.
A strange sound came from over Schwartz’s head.
“Hmm…?”
Creak.
Creak, creak, creak…
Instead of stopping, the sound grew louder and started coming from all around them.
“Wh-what is this?! Insects? But this noise is too loud for that…”
“It’s the atmosphere,” Mira said.
“Wha?!”
“My astral power is Ballistic. It allows me to interfere with the atmosphere and create shifts in the air.”
Mira was surrounded by trees. Schwartz doubted his ears and eyes as Mira seemed to waver, as though in the middle of a heat haze. He never could have imagined this.
“Is this what you would call an astral attack?”
Snap.
Mira snapped her fingers.
Like a tempest, the air swirling around her began to spin in the opposite direction.
As the wind violently twisted like a tornado, the gigantic tree trunks in the vicinity ripped in half like straws.
“I would crouch down if I were you,” Mira said.
“Wh-what?!”
Schwartz cautiously raised his head from where he had been lying on the ground to see the woods had been cleared in a radius of some nine meters around them.
The trees had been twisted apart halfway up their trunks. Mira had made a section of the woods disappear entirely.
“M-my lady…”
He was still on his knees, unable to stand.
Schwartz could only look up at the princess before him in shock, as though he had been bludgeoned over the head.
“You trained…your astral power…? But when…?”
No, that wasn’t it.
What he should have been focused on was the power and precision of the ability she had used to destroy the woods.
She had wielded the atmosphere as a blade to decimate the trees around them. But the meter or so of woods where Mira and Schwartz stood was completely untouched, as though nothing had occurred at all.
It was a miracle.
That was the only word that captured her deadly accurate precision.
If…
If the princess was driven by curiosity to try doing this in the Nebulis palace…
It would have been a terrible tragedy. Few purebred types or elites from the astral corps could have escaped this invisible scythe.
“My lady… Who…?”
“Hmm?”
“Who taught you to use your astral powers? The type of astral technique you just used is beyond someone as young as you. Someone must have taught you this.”
“I learned to do this while passing the time.”
“……Come again?”
“I was messing around between naps.”
The princess said this dispassionately, and Schwartz was at a loss for words.
She had taught herself? She had achieved this great feat without relying on the knowledge of great trailblazers of the past? At this young an age?
“You’re a prodigy, my lady!”
Schwartz stood up.
He forgot to even dust himself off as his voice rang throughout the woods.
“I was blind. Your great wit is the Sovereignty’s greatest asset. If you use this, the conclave will—”
“No.”
“…………Excuse me?”
“I’m tired of playing with my astral powers.”
What Mira meant was she had finished amusing herself. Since Schwartz had been her tutor for so long, he knew what Mira’s statement implied and shuddered at the thought.
Now their bouts of hide-and-seek and tag made sense, along with why Mira had disappeared so frequently.
She had been playing with her astral power on her own.
While the other princesses dedicated their time and efforts to their studies to become queen…
…Mira was playing with her astral power like it was a toy.
And now she said she was bored of it.
“But, my lady! What of your talents—?!”
His voice cut off.
For a knife had appeared at Schwartz’s throat.
A knife Mira was holding.
“M-my lady?”
“Schwartz, I’ve taken an interest in combat techniques.”
Mira pulled the blade from his throat.
Despite her claim, there was no emotion in her eyes, which glittered like jewels. They were the eyes of a doll.
“That’s a close-combat move. No one was around to teach me astral techniques, so I taught myself. But to learn combat, you need someone who knows more than you. Please make the arrangements for me.”
“…”
Schwartz couldn’t agree right away.
Princess Mirabella was interested in something. As her tutor, he should have been over the moon. On the other hand…
Was this really the right thing to do?
Mira wasn’t morally upright or possessed of good character; she lacked the fundamentals of what made a good person. Could he really only teach her astral techniques and combat when she lacked those qualities? Would she be able to grow into a decent person after everything was said and done?