────
Naturally, Liese and I were the life of the event for the final song. She glared up at me a bit, but I didn’t mind. There were swaths of girls swooning over my fiancée’s attractive new outfit, and I wanted to show them all how perfect we were together.
“Whew, that was a feast for the eyes. Gosh, that was awesome... All right everyone, it’s about time.”
Lady Kobayashee’s satisfied voice led me to look around the dance hall and lock eyes with Fiene. Having heard the same message, she nodded and came over to us with Baldur in tow.
“It’s time, I take it?” Lieselotte said, still holding my hand. Her tone was utterly calm. “Fabian and Cecilie should already be posted in the garden with my father and eleven knights.”
General Riefenstahl had been adamant on not breaking the convention of outsiders staying away from academy affairs. Instead of meeting us here, he was to wait for us in the yard. However, not all was as planned.
“Huh?” I said. “Why is Fabian of the Oltenberg Viscounty already there?”
“Apparently,” Baldur said, “the girl he wanted to share his final dance with ‘is waiting for him in the garden,’ so he withdrew early. Or at least, that was the excited report I received from Cecilie.”
“For real? What a heartthrob.”
“Holy moly. I knew Fabby-boo would grow up to be awesome!”
It seemed the younger duo were getting along well. Secretly, I felt relieved. Thank the gods I don’t have to be on edge when he’s with Liese anymore.
“Ugh, I’m surrounded by lovebirds,” Art said. “Get me out!”
My best friend made his grumpiness easily known as he entered the scene. The Festival of Gratitude was also a sacred holiday, and he was wearing his white priest habit in honor of the heavens. The stoic clothes were at total odds with the gaudy pink-gold of his hair, especially with the red highlights running through his locks. His sulking frown only worsened the mismatch.
“Art, this is what you get for fooling around so much.”
As I spoke, I led our assembled team out of the hall and toward the garden. Art hurried to line up beside me for his refutation.
“Don’t say that—the world is just so full of cute girls! And hey, I don’t fool around, all right?! I’m the one getting dumped most of the time. Lady Lieselotte and Fiene are both prime examples!”
Liese glared at him like he was the scum of the earth. I heard an “Uhh...” from Fiene as she hid in Baldur’s shadow.
“Perhaps,” Liese spat, “your frivolity in sweet-talking me and my sister is the very reason you fail to find a partner?”
“After all, neither Liese nor I had eyes for anyone else since we first met ten years ago,” I added with a chuckle. My comment caused my fiancée to fall into bashful silence; in contrast, my best friend clutched at his chest and looked incredibly pained.
“Cheating bad! Never!” For whatever reason, Lord Endoh’s voice sounded both strangely robotic and peculiarly musical.
“Good job, Sieg. Flirting at every given opportunity is one of the major parts of defeating the witch! Giving up on Professor Leon was a tough blow, but Liese-tan is so stable now that there’s nothing to fear!”
The goddess fanned the flames of my courage. As we marched toward the climactic battle, I tightened my grip on my beloved’s hand.
────
At long last, we arrived. We showed up on site with only ten minutes to go before the gods’ prophesied battle. Fabian, General Riefenstahl, young Cecilie, and eleven other knights were waiting for us with their arms at the ready.
The five of us also scattered to the positions we’d agreed on beforehand while bearing our weapons of choice. Art still looked a bit upset, but everyone was ready to give it their all.
Slip.
“Ah, it looks like I’ve made it in time.”
Suddenly, a masked man literally slipped out of the darkness.
“What the— Where did he come from?!”
Lord Endoh was stupefied, and I had no hope of answering his question. The man had appeared out of thin air without any semblance of warning. He’d practically bubbled up from the veil of night.
“You!” a middle-aged soldier barked. “Identify yourself!”
“Ah, well... I wonder, who am I?”
The man tilted his head. His lanky frame stood at about 175 centimeters or so, and his hair was chestnut brown—but most distinctive of all was his bizarre mask. It was shaped like a snow white cat and only covered the upper half of his face.
He might have seemed alien to me at first glance, but he was more familiar than one might expect. The knights who didn’t recognize him were on full alert, but the younger soldiers—who had probably only graduated the academy a few years prior—joined me and the rest of the students in utter confusion.
“I am...let me think...hm. Call me Karlchen. Such a shame that I’m a cat and not a rat.”
The man’s smile was so similar to his usual facial expression that I didn’t need to see his eyes, and his bored voice was completely unchanged from his ordinary lectures.
“No, no, no, wait!” Fiene exclaimed. “I can see your squinty eyes through the mask, Prof—”
“Wow! Gee! I wonder whoever this could possibly be!”
I summoned all the air in my gut to cut Fiene off with the loudest voice I could muster. All at once, everyone present turned toward me. The younger members of our task force all knew exactly who the mystery man was, and they all had the same look on their faces. If stares could talk, theirs would all say in unison: What the heck is this guy saying?
Those who did not recognize him were all utterly perplexed.
I knew. Of course I did. How could I not know that the man was Professor Leon in costume?
Why didn’t he at least choose to wear a full mask? Why did it look like a cat? What on earth was he on about with rats? There were so many questions I wanted to ask, but I fought the urge and elected to announce my ignorance of who he was.
Some time ago, Lady Kobayashee had said, “No one can find out about Professor Leon’s powers.” I knew of his family history, and his theatrical entrance alone was enough to see the bigger picture. If Leon Schach could do that, he would certainly disappear without a trace.
Thus, I chose to feign ignorance with all my might. As the highest authority present, I acted out my part.
“On my name as the crown prince, I declare that I do not recognize this man. My loyal subjects, are there any among you who dare claim that I have empty sockets for eyes? Let only those who wish to slander the heir to the throne speak of his identity!”
I made sure to lock eyes with every single person during my speech. The confused faces slowly turned into acceptance—or at the very least, no one looked like they would pry any further.
“Ah! Gee! I don’t have a clue who this man might be either!” Thankfully, Marquis Riefenstahl played along.
As both a general and the second-in-command tonight, his backing was vital. No matter what the so-called Mr. Karlchen decided to do, he would be written off as a cryptic stranger who nobody knew. If nothing else, I knew the knights would stay silent.
“Yes, indeed.” Relieved, I continued my charade. “I’m sure Mr. Karlchen must have sensed the Witch of Yore’s terrible presence and came running to help. That’s right, he must be some sort of mage of justice!”
“Of course!” the general said, nodding. “Although we have exactly zero hope of ever discerning his identity, I’m sure Sir Karlchen is an upstanding man of great skill, wholly worthy of our trust!”
While everyone else was petrified with bewilderment at our exchange, one person was smiling. In fact, he covered his unmasked lips and began trembling in laughter.
“Pft, pfffft, ha, aha ha! Oh, goodness. Your Highness, you are such a good lad.”
“I see. By using Sieg’s power as crown prince, we can place a gag order so Professor Leon can fight without worrying about his identity!”
Hearing Lady Kobayashee praise me in awe was wonderful, but being laughed at by “Mr. Karlchen” himself was excruciating. I was so embarrassed that my cheeks were about to catch on fire. As improvised as it was, my acting was woefully inept.
Gods, make it stop.
“Anyway, this means we have the whole reverse harem roster! Sweet!”
Lord Endoh’s excitement helped alleviate some of the shame. He reminded me that to defeat the witch was to protect Liese and our kingdom. That awful farce had been a small price to pay for victory.
...Yeah, let’s go with that.
“Hm... But why did he decide to come join us of his own free will?”
Lady Kobayashee’s question got me to start thinking as well. I couldn’t think of any reason for our teacher to put himself at such risk for us.
“Ha, aha...phew.” Finally done laughing, the man looked straight at Fiene and smiled. “As I said, I am Karlchen. Consider me a...friend, perhaps? Yes, a friend—a stand-in or disciple, even—to a certain princess who bid me to come help.”
When Fiene had arrived at the ball this evening in her new dress, some of the staff who knew her mother had praised her as the second coming of the Fae Princess. She’d flashed them an adorable smile then, but now her face was scrunched up in perplexity.
“We have the full reverse harem crew and they’re all stronger than in the game, plus Liese’s dad is leading the finest knights in the whole kingdom to boot! I can’t think of a way not to win!” Lord Endoh’s voice grew weaker. “...We really are just bullies, huh?”
“The crime of laying a hand on my Liese is grave. I would say we haven’t gone far enough!” I said, raising my sword with vigor.