“If it’s Chaos we’re worried about, why don’t I handle patrol duty instead of Miss Alicia—”
“It’s okay, just go. Don’t worry about me. These kinds of events don’t happen every day, so you should take advantage of the opportunity. I’ve already experienced something like this back in my junior days, so I won’t be missing much. Besides, the battle expo is as much a festival as it is a tournament, so there’s plenty of fun to be had as a spectator, too. A lot of vendors will be setting up booths,” said Alicia.
Alicia’s encouragement elicited a reluctant nod from Melia, who still seemed to feel a little guilty. Sain, for his part, was glad that his maid was participating, and he mouthed a word of thanks in Alicia’s direction. As his attendant, Melia had been working for him since a tender age, and she’d never had the chance to just be a normal girl, never mind participating in school events.
“You... don’t really have to worry about me. I won’t feel left out,” Marni said, glancing at Alicia but quickly turning away to avoid meeting her gaze.
“Says the one who hides in the library tower whenever she’s by herself.” Alicia smirked. “It’s fine. Come with me and I’ll show you around. We’ll enjoy the tournament our own way.”
“...If you say so.”
Marni’s tone remained reserved, but a hint of a smile flashed across her lips. She didn’t show it, but she was probably looking forward to the battle expo, as well.
“Of course, I’ll keep an eye out for Chaos, too,” said Sain. “If I’m in the middle of a match and things really go south, I can just forfeit and run over. Plus, the holy knight’s power lets me instantly recover from wounds and fatigue.”
Alicia lifted an eyebrow.
“Huh. That’s convenient. Does that work for us attendants, too?”
“You can’t do it yourselves. As your master, I can make a conscious effort to push my power into you... but, unfortunately, doing that puts a lot of stress on your body. In fact, the recovery I just mentioned isn’t technically recovery; it’s using the Goddess’s power as a replacement for my own stamina. That’s fine for me, because I’m the holy knight and I’m attuned to accepting her blessings, but attendants aren’t fully attuned, and the excess power ends up stressing your bodies.”
That was why, if he was being honest, he much preferred for his attendants to stand by with their hands free.
“All right, I get you.” Alicia nodded, satisfied by his explanation. “You know, I’m actually starting to get used to this whole moonlighting as the holy knight’s attendant thing.”
Recently, she’d been living two different lives simultaneously. On one hand, she was a student enjoying a peaceful school routine; on the other, she was also an attendant of the holy knight, and had to leap into action at a moment’s notice when Chaos appeared. Even Marni had been helping them fend off Chaos lately, meaning that all four of them were currently wearing more hats than just those of a student.
“Sorry to be making you do this.”
“It’s fine. I’m doing it because I want to.”
Alicia smiled at him, and he felt a little better. He continued in a serious tone, however.
“Still, I’d like you to prioritize your student life. I know it’s hard, but it’s important. This... thing that we’re doing behind the scenes... It’s not normal, and there’s no need for it to be. Don’t focus too much on it. If you let it get to you, sooner or later, you’ll start falling apart.”
“...All right. Point taken,” Alicia said with a nod.
“He says that,” Melia whispered to her in a voice clearly meant to be overheard, “but I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Especially if you’re hanging around him all the time. He’s always acting like a weirdo, so pretty soon, you’ll have forgotten all about the holy knight business and just be rolling your eyes at him.”
Sain frowned.
“Uh... Is that supposed to be a compliment?”
Melia smiled politely at him. He sighed.
“I guess not.”
Soon after, they arrived at the first floor of the intermediate division’s school building.
“All right, let’s register, then,” he said as they approached the registration desk.
“Signing up for the battle expo? Please fill out this form.”
The student at the desk handed them some papers. Sain and Melia each took one and began filling it in.
“Yo, get a load of this. The Darkness Dork is signing up.”
“Who’re you calling Darkness Dork, damn it?!”
Sain reflexively bristled at the gibe and turned to find three male students he didn’t recognize. The brown-haired one who’d spoken snorted and looked down his nose at him.
“Just give it up, man. Losers like you have no place in the battle expo. You won’t stand a chance.”
“Yeah, you’re just gonna lose your first match.”
“Hell, you’ll end up being an embarrassment for the whole school.”
The three of them laughed among themselves.
“Hmph... Don’t get too full of yourselves. You’ll regret it.”
“What?”
Sain’s face was set in a defiant grin.
“Back when I first came to this school, I might have been a little incompetent. But now, my control over dark magic has matured, and I’ve mastered countless new spells! In fact, I’ll have you know that I made a name for myself during the field exercises last month!”
Melia and Alicia immediately chimed in.
“A little incompetent?”
“Also, countless new spells? What, did you fail first-grade math or something? Because it seems pretty countable to me.”
“Would you quit with the heckling, damn it?!”
The two girls giggled in response.
“The field exercises?” The brown-haired student paused for a moment. “All I remember hearing was that the other three members of your team were insanely strong.”
“Yeah, I heard that too. The Darkness Dork was just straight-up deadweight,” his friend added.
“No! That can’t be!” Sain let out a wail of agony at the crushing reality of the current gossip. “B-But... I’ve still gotten stronger... And I’ll prove it to you right here if you don’t believe me!”
He tried to sound confident, but there was just a little too much involuntary tremolo in his voice to sell it. The student called his bluff and scoffed.
“Hah, keep barking, loser. I know you got no bite to back it up.”
They glared at each other, and just when it seemed like things might take a violent turn, a girl stepped up beside them.
“Please cease this juvenile squabble.”
One glance at the newcomer was all it took for the trio’s belligerent attitude to wither.
“U-Uh, of course...”
The vice-president of the student council, Emilia, stood there with an air of authority, her fine purple hair cascading down to the small of her back.
“If you feel even a sliver of pride as students of Jenifa, then you should be competing with your skills instead of your words. Why don’t you gentlemen settle your dispute through a more appropriate avenue? Like, say, the battle expo?”
Her criticism was spot-on, and none of them could offer a rebuttal. Eventually, the brown-haired student turned away.
“...I was going to do that anyway,” he muttered before leaving with his friends.
With his opponent departed, Sain calmed down as well.
“Thank you... for, uh, defusing the situation.”
“No need to thank me. More importantly, break time is almost over. If you’re going to register, you should hurry up.”
“Good point.”
He went back to the form. After filling it all out, he and Melia both handed their forms in to the student at the desk.
“...Sain Fostess.” Emilia said in a soft voice. “Do you know the student council president?”
“You mean Cain? Uh... I know of him, but we haven’t really spoken much. Why?”
Emilia frowned.
“He... seems rather interested in you, lately.”
Her voice was pensive, almost as if she were speaking to herself. After that, she simply gave him a polite bow of her head and left. He watched her go. It wasn’t just him, then. Even Emilia, who assisted Cain on a daily basis, felt that the president’s recent behavior was unusual. The corner of his lips curled up in a confident smile.
“Heh, it looks like this battle expo is going to be an interesting one.”
“For everyone who gets tangled up with you, at least,” said Alicia with a sigh.
If there was going to be trouble, she figured that she was staring at the source of it.