Chapter 5: The Celebration
BECAUSE of the attack, the Combat Tournament was brought to a close without an award ceremony. It wasn’t like I cared about that anyway.
After the final round, they were also supposed to have a duel between Raymond and the guy Eric beat in the semifinals to determine third place, but that was postponed until the following day.
The students dispersed immediately after the tournament. Eric and the Intelligence Ministry went to extract information from the attacker, but that was outside my field of expertise.
The Ministry didn’t use torture. It brought out the full range of psychological manipulation spells like Enchant, Command, and Submission to procure a confession, so it was only a matter of time until the attacker broke. The problem was how much he actually knew.
“I’m glad you’re all right. I mean, I knew you’d be all right. You’re not hurt, are you?” Milia asked me.
After the other students had dispersed, she and Sophia ran over to me. So much had happened after the final match that I hadn’t talked to everyone yet.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry to make you worry,” I replied.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. In fact, you protected Prince Eric and even captured the attacker. I am so glad you’re not hurt,” said Sophia with an expression of relief. I’d made her worry too.
“Considering what’s happened, we need to cancel our after-tournament celebration. And I really wanted to do something to thank you for helping us practice…” admitted Milia, looking apologetic.
“I told you, you don’t have to thank me. Where were you planning on going for the celebration anyway?” I asked.
“We were going to go to the arcade, then get food afterward with everyone.”
The arcade had bowling, billiards, darts, and other sports and games, letting you have fun playing those things in their indoor courts. People might not feel like that fit the fantasy vibe of the world, but this was a game world with magic after all.
“There’re quite a few of us who took part in practice. Were you thinking of walking there?” I asked.
“I was planning for us to take carriages. I’d already booked them.”
“Well then, we should still go. The attacker is in custody. It’s probably actually safer right now because there’s so much security around.”
Whenever nobles like Sophia left their homes, they were accompanied by guards. Considering everything that was going on, I did feel a bit bad for their guards, but we’d be inside the arcade and restaurant, and inside carriages while traveling, which meant there wouldn’t be a significant burden on them.
“Are you sure it’s all right, Arius?” Milia wondered.
“If you’re that concerned, I don’t mind canceling, but you really wanted to do this. I’ll double-check with Eric if it’s okay.” I sent Eric a Message and he responded immediately that it was fine.
“Prince Eric sent me a Message too, asking me to enjoy the celebration in his place,” Sophia explained.
It was very like Eric to be that considerate. I sent Messages to everyone who took part in training practice, and they all said they’d come to the celebration. Which meant it was going forward as planned.
We agreed to meet at the Academy gates at four o’clock. I swung by my dorm room to change. I kept clothes in my Inventory, but it wasn’t like I could change outside. When I got back to the dorms, I found two small, silver-haired people outside my room.
“Alicia, Sirius, what are you doing here?” I asked.
“Welcome back, Master Arius! Heehee, we came to see you,” greeted Alicia.
“I’m sorry we came without telling you first, Master Arius, but Alicia really wanted to come see you,” reported Sirius.
My nine-year-old twin siblings. The reason they called me “Master Arius” was because they’d learned during their debut in high society that that was the proper way of addressing me. Some noble probably influenced them.
“Because he never comes home…” Alicia muttered. “And that’s unfair, blaming me. You said you wanted to see him too!”
“Uh-uh, I never said that…”
The last time I’d visited the Gilberto household, it was late, so the twins were asleep already. The time before that was…well. Yeah. I basically never went home.
“When did you two get here? And how?”
The Academy had tight security. People unaffiliated with the Academy couldn’t just walk in. And the grounds were huge; I hadn’t told the twins where my room was, so they shouldn’t have been able to find their way here.
“We got here an hour ago. A guard at the gate brought us here when we told them our name and said we wanted to see you,” answered Sirius.
“The guard said they owed Mother and Father. They brought us here and we were supposed to wait in the manager’s office, but we wanted to surprise you when you got back, so we decided to wait outside your room.”
If they got here about an hour ago, that meant they were at the gate before the attack, which would explain why the guard let them in. And the guard had meant for them to stay with the manager, but they never went to the manager, meaning no one knew they should be looking for the twins even after the attack.
“Alicia, Sirius, did you tell anyone you were going out?” I asked.
“…We left a note,” Alicia confessed.
Sirius went quiet.
Which meant they’d slipped out of the house without permission. When I was a kid, I’d leave the house to go monster hunting when Darius and Rhea were away, so I couldn’t exactly lecture the twins on that. Still.
“Everyone’s probably worried about you because you left without permission. For today, I’ll send Ms. Maia a message, but next time, make sure you let someone know you’re going out.”
Maia was the head housekeeper of the Gilberto household. She managed the home when Darius and Rhea were away. Being a former adventurer, she could use magic. I’d Messaged her plenty of times before when I needed something.
Darius and Rhea probably thought the twins had gone missing, so I sent Messages to all three telling them they were with me. Maia replied immediately, apologizing for being unable to stop the twins from sneaking out. It sounded like she’d heard about the attack. She wanted me to stay with them for now.
“Ms. Maia was very worried about you two,” I told the twins.
“I’m sorry…”
“Me too…”
“I don’t mind as long as you’ve learned from this. Just make sure to apologize to Ms. Maia later.”
I’d promised the others I’d go out to the celebration after this, but I couldn’t leave the twins on their own. In my previous life, before I reincarnated, I didn’t have any siblings. And once I was old enough, I was busy traveling the world as an adventurer. I really only saw the twins once a year on their birthday, so I didn’t know what it felt like to be a brother.
“I was planning on going out. Do you two want to come with me?” I offered.
If it were too inconvenient for everyone else, then I’d not join the celebration, but I might as well check first.
“Really?”
“Can we?”
The twins’ round eyes filled with excitement. Even if we didn’t go to the celebration, the three of us could get food somewhere or something.
“Yeah, really. I’m going to get changed. Wait here a sec.”
I entered my room, closed the door, and cast Instant Wardrobe Change. It was a Space-element spell that used your Inventory and took all the equipment, weapons, or armor on you and instantly swapped it out for things of the same type.
Selena taught me Instant Wardrobe Change, so it wasn’t in any magic books. Its uses were limited, so I hadn’t had much need to use it before now.
“Huh? You’re already changed?”
Alicia and Sirius were surprised when I quickly returned.
“Yeah. I hurried because I didn’t want to keep you two waiting,” I said, then picked them up in each arm.
“Whoa! Master Arius!” they both cried.
“Hold on tight.”
Still holding them, I set off at a run. Running while carrying two children was easy for someone with my stats.
“Look, it’s Master Arius!” a girl cried as I passed.
“Master Arius!” others shrieked when they turned to look.
“But…who are those children with him?”
“They look a bit like him…”
“You don’t know? That’s his little brother and sister, Master Sirius and Lady Alicia!”
There was even a girl going out of her way to give explanatory commentary, even though we’d be perfectly fine without it.
“M-Master Arius, this is embarrassing!” screamed Alicia.
“Y-Yeah, we’re not little kids anymore!” shouted Sirius.
They were turning bright red under all the attention from the people around us.
“Then I’ll run faster. It’ll be over sooner that way.”
“Wait, Master Arius!” they both cried.
I kicked it up a gear, and we arrived at the gathering point in only a minute. The twins, however, were pretty disturbed after that experience.