CHAPTER 3
THE MAGIC LOVERS’ CLUB
The day after she visited the sorcery research facility, Leticiel returned to her usual after-school routine of practicing sorcery at the magic training grounds with Mirandalette and Zeke. Since the training area on the roof of the research facility wasn’t complete yet, they would continue to use the magic training grounds for a while.
“Miss Mira, where did you get that bracelet?” Leticiel asked, noticing an unfamiliar bracelet on Mirandalette’s arm.
“My fiancé’s father gave it to me. He visited for the first time in a while yesterday.”
So it was a gift, and the reason she’d been busy yesterday was because she had visitors.
“Your fiancé? Miss Mira, you’re engaged?”
“Yes. Our families have always been close, and we often played together, so Leif… I mean, he’s my fiancé, but more than being fiancés, it’s like…we’re extremely close childhood friends!” For some reason, Mirandalette’s eyes were darting around nervously.
“It seems like many nobles end up engaged to their childhood friends.”
“It’s understandable because when you’ve been together since you were young, you have a bond already before taking the next step and getting engaged. Zeke, do you have a fiancée?”
“I’m a regular commoner, so that concept doesn’t even exist for me.”
“Oh, right.” The only commoners who got engaged were members of some of the wealthiest families. Between his good looks, smarts, and the fact that they were always with him, it was easy to forget that he was just a commoner.
“You’re amazing, Zeke. Despite not being a noble, you know more about them than I do.”
“You’re far too uninformed, Miss Drossell,” Zeke replied, exasperated. But it couldn’t be helped, because Leticiel had decided that she only needed to know the bare minimum about the aristocracy. Since they were on a break, she decided to ask Zeke about the world of the nobles.
“Apparently, nobles sometimes call each other by their middle names if they’re close,” he told her.
“Oh, is that so?”
“Yes. I heard it from a female teacher in the same research building as me. Her husband works in the same building as well. I often see them calling each other by their middle names.”
Furthermore, it didn’t just apply to close relationships like lovers or those who were engaged or married, but also friends of the same sex and siblings too.
Even though Leticiel had been engaged to the crown prince and had sisters at home, their relationships had been so twisted that they had always called her by her full name. She had assumed that was natural. Leticiel had learned something new.
Just then, she noticed Mirandalette had her head down, fingers clenched around the hem of her shirt as if she were enduring something.
Having also noticed and wondering if he had said something to offend her, Zeke timidly asked, “Oh, erm… Did I say something impolite?”
“N-No, please don’t mind me! I’m fine!” Mirandalette thrust both hands out and laughed. Had something they’d said earlier bothered her?
“Hey! Whoever’s in there, get out!”
Just as Leticiel was retracing their conversation in her head, someone pounded on the door to their booth. Again? Leticiel thought, immediately frowning.
“I’ll go see who it is,” she said, not bothering to hide her distaste.
“O-Okay…,” Mirandalette answered.
Leticiel always used sorcery to lock the booth’s entrance so no one could enter without their permission. Releasing the spell, she opened the door.
“Do you need something?” she asked.
“Don’t give me that! I refuse to forgive you today of all days!” a male student with dull orange hair spat in front of the door. He was wearing a peony badge, so he was likely an Intermediate student. Still, how could he say that he didn’t forgive her when this was their first time meeting?
“You seem to have the wrong person, so please leave.”
Leticiel tried to cut him off, but the schoolboy jabbed his finger at her face and shouted, “Wait! I’m not wrong! I’m here for you, Drossell Noa Filiaregis! I’m taking testimonies from many students. I already know that you’ve been violently chasing away the students who want to use the training grounds and monopolizing it for yourself!” When Leticiel didn’t respond, he continued, “Plus, you locked the door! How much more domineering can you get? There are students at the academy who want to use—”
“If you don’t have any business here, please leave.”
“Listen to me!” Leticiel tried to close the door, but the boy grabbed the doorknob before she could. Her expression turned into one of flat-out annoyance. Not noticing, the boy kept ranting. “This facility is to be used by students equally! Yet you’re monopolizing it without anyone’s permission!”
It wasn’t as if she was monopolizing it. Besides, there were plenty of other open booths. Why did he have to come and complain about them using the furthest booth?
“Permission, you say? I’ve received the headmaster’s permission, though.”
“Wha…?!” The boy was obviously taken aback, eyes wide. Everything about his face seemed to say, You’re kidding, right? “Th-That’s nonsense! Just one question with the headmaster will prove that you’re lying!”
“Then go and ask him. He’s probably still in his office.”
In fact, Lucas had given Leticiel priority use of the booth, likely because she was practicing sorcery. But when someone else was already using it, she had never taken it from them.
“Urk! Wh-Whatever! I have nothing else to say to you!”
“Hm. I see.”
Clearly not liking Leticiel’s reaction, the boy’s face turned bright red, and he stomped off. Leticiel watched him leave with annoyance in her eyes; he was the one who had come, gotten angry, and then left without a word of notice.
“What’s with him?” she muttered out loud, closing the door. In the end, she couldn’t understand what he had been attempting to achieve. She felt like there were more people with troubling habits ever since the uproar at the academy. She fended them off easily enough, but it was starting to become a real pain.
“Who was it?” Mirandalette asked.
“Some boy I didn’t know. He was wearing a peony badge, so probably an Intermediate student.”
“So many people have been bombarding us lately…”
“Yes, this is the third time since classes resumed.”
After shooting the light spell he’d made in his hands at the target, Zeke placed one hand on his hip as he brought the other up to his chin in thought. “They have been coming often,” he agreed.
“I wonder why. Do they all want to practice their self-defense because of the com—”
“Excuse me! I heard that I could find Miss Drossell Noa Filiaregis if I came here after class!”
“Whoa!” Just as Leticiel was about to lock the door, it flew open with a loud bang. She narrowly avoided it hitting her face.
The boy who walked inside was wearing a lilac badge. He checked the door he’d kicked open for any warping while closing it. How well-mannered… Not.
The boy had light green, short hair and brown, rounded eyes that gave off a bright impression that he was full of energy. His lilac badge suggested that he was a Primary student, but she had never seen his face before. When she glanced at Zeke, she saw that he also had a puzzled look on his face. Leticiel was in Primary Class 2 and Zeke was in Primary Class 1. If neither of them recognized the boy, he must be in Primary Class 3.
“Erm…that’s correct, but how may I help you?” she asked, slightly cautious. Contrary to her expectations, the boy suddenly kneeled on the ground and beamed at her.
“May I join you after school here?! Please? I’m begging you! In fact, I won’t leave until you agree!”
Leticiel, Zeke, and Mirandalette all froze at the boy’s pushy request, which was quite outrageous when you considered that they’d never met him before.
Mirandalette was the first to shake herself out of it. “Uh, no way. How can you say something like that after forcing your way in here?!”
As Mirandalette was chewing into the boy, Leticiel snapped out of her shock as well. “Miss Mira is right. You should at least introduce yourself first.”
“Oh! I’m terribly sorry. I’m Hilmes Leif Guerre, eldest son of Viscount Guerre!” Coming back to his senses, the boy hurriedly straightened up and introduced himself properly.
Huh? I feel like I just heard the name Leif not too long ago…
“Leif, how did you sniff this place out?” Mirandalette asked Hilmes before Leticiel could open her mouth.
“Lulu! So you really were coming here too. Now I finally know why you stopped going home with me!” Hilmes teased. He seemed casual, but Mirandalette was restless, cycling between embarrassment, panic, and anger. Oh, right. Leif is the name of her fiancé.
“I see. He’s Miss Mirandalette’s fiancé,” Zeke commented, having come to the same conclusion.
“Yes, so it seems.”
Mirandalette’s middle name was Lulu. Since they were calling each other by their middle names, they seemed extremely close, even for an engaged couple. Perhaps that was why Mirandalette had been so flustered earlier.
“I’m surprised. I didn’t think we’d get to meet your fiancé this soon, Miss Mira,” Leticiel added.
“I-It’s nothing, really… I think it’s normal… Or rather, nothing special…,” Mirandalette murmured quietly. Was the afternoon sun tinting her cheeks? They seemed somewhat red. Hilmes stared at his shy fiancée with a worried gaze.
“L-Lulu? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Anxious, Hilmes tried to peek at Mirandalette’s face, but she whipped around and he followed, like a small animal chasing its own tail.
Is he a dullard? An image of a dog running in circles around its master was conjured in Leticiel’s mind and she hurriedly shook her head to get rid of it. Zeke shot her a suspicious look at the contextless movement.
“Oh, crap! We’re getting off topic.” Leticiel’s movement caught Hilmes’s eye as well and he turned to face her once more. She secretly thought that he seemed like a somewhat hectic person. “Miss Drossell, I shall ask again. Please allow me to practice with you!”
“Um…what made you want to join us in the first place?”
“I have many reasons!” Hilmes said proudly, putting both hands on his hips.