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“ANNETTE… What on earth…happened here?”
They were in the reference materials room. Emma spoke to Annette, who stood stock still, on the verge of tears, amidst broken glass jars of chemicals and other magical resources.
“Emma…! The teacher told us we needed materials for tomorrow’s practical lesson, so I tried to reach them since they were so high up. But I couldn’t… So I thought, ‘What if I used magic to bring them down?’ but that didn’t work either… Because I ended up destroying so much that now the rest of the class won’t be able to use any either… What should I do… Ngh…”
She trailed off and started weeping. Emma had come to the reference room, worried about why Annette was taking so long to return after being sent on the errand by their teacher. It turned out that her concern hadn’t been misplaced.
“I’m sure things will turn out just fine. There should be more supplies in the storehouse. I’ll clean up here, so stop crying, won’t you?”
“Emmaaa! I’m sorry for always being so useless…”
She pulled out a handkerchief from one of the pockets lining the skirt of her dress uniform and handed it to Annette. A sight like this was nothing new for her. She shooed Annette to a corner of the materials room before snapping her fingers crisply. First, she carefully cleaned up the shattered pieces of the glass jars littering the floor. Next, utilizing the same life magic, she collected the magical materials that could still be salvaged and stored them back on the shelves.
“All we have to do now is replenish the unusable chemicals, powders, and other magical materials with stock from the storehouse.”
Emma nodded to herself, satisfied by the once-more pristine state of the reference room. From behind her, a voice intruded.
“What are you two doing?”
“Lord Bernard, hello.”
Emma curtsied lightly to him in greeting. Despite being her childhood friend and fiancé, at the Academy, he was the son of a higher-ranking noble house. Formalities needed to be observed at all times, and strictly.
“Emma was just helping me clean up! The teacher asked me to retrieve the materials we needed for tomorrow’s practical class, but I made a mess of things by botching my usage of life magic. Thank goodness Emma arrived when she did. I don’t know what I would have done without her.”
Bernard responded more to Annette’s innocent smile than her explanation. “Is that right? Then your errand is over? Because the rest of the class is gathered at the café in front of the dormitory. We’re all working on our assignments. Lady Frances and Lady Erina are also part of the group. I remembered you saying you wanted to become friends with them, Annette, so I thought this would be a good chance for you to join us. What do you say?”
“Truly?! But…”
Seeing the sparkle in Annette’s eyes dim just as quickly, Emma smiled cheerfully at her friend. “I can replace the supplies here from the storehouse. So go on and don’t worry about it, hm?”
Annette was the opposite of a dependable, grounded young lady. Soft. Dreamy. Flighty. All those words and more described her much, much more precisely than strong-willed or serious. She always stood out like a sore thumb among a crowd of well-bred, polished aristocratic daughters, which caused Emma to worry about her to no end.
“Emma… I don’t know how to thank you. Again, forgive me.”
“Annette, she said it’s fine, so enough groveling. We’re leaving now.”
“Have fun!”
Emma saw them off with a smile as they walked together back to the dormitory area. Right, I need to borrow the storehouse’s magical key from the faculty office. But she almost collapsed in shock at what she learned when she went to the teachers’ office.
“I beg your pardon…? The storehouse is currently empty…?”
“Correct. We moved the supplies from the storehouse into the reference materials room. The merchants won’t be coming again for another three days, I believe… Was the damage really so awful? Except there’s no possibility of you making such a colossal mistake… The perpetrator is Miss Annette, isn’t it?”
Emma smiled stiffly, uncomfortable with the sympathy in the teacher’s eyes. Everyone in school knew about the relationship between her and Annette. Childhood friends who lived next door to each other in their dormitory, where Emma ended up being Annette’s caretaker more often than not.
“There’s nothing left of the magical materials her class is supposed to use for their practical lesson tomorrow.”
“Well, that certainly is a problem, hm? Then please tell Miss Annette to go into town and buy the necessary supplies. She should be able to accomplish that much before the dormitory curfew.”
“I’ll go in her place instead.”
The image of Annette’s excitement and springy step at socializing with her classmates popped into Emma’s mind. It would be wrong of her to interfere when her friend finally had the opportunity to deepen her bonds with her classmates.
“Are you sure…? Then will you help her, too? You’re skilled at magic, and you would make the perfect escort for Emma.”
You who…?
The teacher’s gaze went straight past Emma to someone behind her. When she turned around, she saw an unfamiliar young man with silver hair and light purple eyes. His very presence engendered a unique atmosphere. She realized that he wasn’t a citizen of the Monarchy of Reauxvil. Oh… I know him. Well, I know of him. He’s the one all the girls were swooning and squealing over. His name… What was his name…
“I’m Glen Ray Bering. Pleased to meet you. How can I assist?”
Grasping the situation instantly, he amiably introduced himself to Emma. Regardless of the fact that this was a direct request from a teacher, she dearly wanted to avoid being in the awkward position of venturing outside alone with another male student. Not only did she have a fiancé, but she also already had a protector in the form of Ian. So she politely tried to refuse, hell-bent on going herself.
“Thank you, but I…”
“Glen. I’d like you to accompany Miss Emma on her shopping trip and help her carry everything back. She knows a lot about Reauxvil’s capital. It’ll be a good learning opportunity for you as well.”
“Truly?! Excellent. Please do allow me to escort you, Miss Emma.”
“Then… I thank you in advance.”