“H-humph!! You were lucky, Hiiro Sanjo! If my sister had been serious, you would have been nothing more than dead meat by now! I hope you’ve learned your lesson and will stop sticking your nose in other people’s business—”
“Mule!!”
Lily yelled at the dorm manager, making her jump.
“Say thank you to Mr. Hiiro! Right now!!”
“I—I never…asked him to do anything… Besides, he’s a male…”
“Mule!!”
“…Th-thanks,” she muttered. I saw that Lily was about to continue to give her a lecture, so I stopped her.
“Hey, I was the one who stuck my nose in her affairs. It was my doing, so there’s no need for you to be so mad at her. In fact, I’d like you to be angry at me and thank the dorm manager.”
“Whoa!! Hiiro Sanjo, what you’re saying makes no sense to me, but are you aware of your position—? Ngh!”
Lily glared at Mule, and she slumped in defeat.
“Mr. Sanjo.”
Lily gave me a deep bow.
“Thank you so much for coming to her aid. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t come.”
“It was a good way to pass the time. Please call me anytime.”
Lily smiled, and I smiled back at her and showed her the dorm paper.
“This welcome party for new students sounds like a lot of fun. It was easy to protect it from her evil hands. I am the god of welcome, after all. Ha-ha-ha. I guess even a girl the world calls a genius was blind to the broader world.”
“Thank you. All right, then, I’m accepting your application to participate in our welcome party.”
“Huh?!”
The petite dorm manager stiffened in surprise and then slapped me on the back with a laugh.
“Oh, yeah, right! That’s why you came here! Hiiro Sanjo, you’re the first to apply! Okay! It goes to show your loyalty to our dorm! You wanted so badly to be at our party that you even challenged my sister! To reward you, I will allow you to help with the preparations and serve as my assistant!”
“Oh, um… I…I…”
“Mule, I don’t think you should ask him all that… Besides, I don’t know about having someone being welcomed to the dorm to help with the preparations.”
“But he’s volunteering. See? The patron saint of welcoming parties is full of motivation.”
They both glanced at me.
I saw expectation in their eyes. I thought about the possibility of Chris trying to ruin the event, and I was concerned about what the dorm manager might do, considering her issues… With everything meshed together, I laughed, though I wanted to cry.
“Oh, I see it now… What I wanted to do…was help…!!”
Thus, I was appointed as Mule’s assistant to prepare for our welcome party for new students.
It was the second time for me to have my broken ribs fixed inside my body.
I greeted the doctor I saw in the university examination room whom I recognized from the luxury cruiser.
“Doctor. What are you doing here?”
“I can’t sail on a luxury liner every day of the year. As the sole doctor aboard a ship, I need a broad range of medical knowledge and experience in internal medicine, surgery, and psychiatry. Additionally, social and language skills are essential. When the ship isn’t at sea, there are times I spend time on land, caring for the foolish antics of the noble class.”
“Hmm, that sounds like hard work. I hope you can refresh yourself now and then by examining some smart nobles.”
“……”
She started examining me, and we went through a familiar routine.
The doctor put away her magic device and let out a loud sigh. The nurse beside her chuckled.
“How many ribs must you break to make yourself happy? Do you understand that it would be a major disaster if the bone pierces the lung?”
“I can understand that it isn’t a big deal if the bone doesn’t puncture the lung… Doctor?”
“Why is it that I don’t see any apparent external head injuries?”
The great doctor, who was more concerned about examining my head than my broken ribs, sent me home after lecturing me.
Even though I canceled practice with my master because I was advised to rest for the day, she told me to come, saying there was training I could participate in despite my injury.
And for some reason, we were at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant.
My master was waiting for me in front of the place. As far as looks went, she was a beauty. A rare elf with silver hair and blue eyes, she clearly stood out from the crowd and drew attention.
Perhaps unaware that people were watching her, she fidgeted nervously.
“Ah!!”
She started waving with enthusiasm as soon as she saw me.
“Hiiro! Over here! Your gorgeous, beloved master is right here!”
The stares that had been focused on her shifted over to me. I headed over, full of embarrassment, as my irritatingly cute master jumped up and down to let me know where she was.
“Master, I’m sneaking out during our lunch break. Please don’t be too conspicuous, or people will call my school and accuse me of being a delinquent.”
“But you get to eat sushi.”
“Besides, I’m having sashimi for dinner tonight. Snow would pack me in a bowl of vinegared rice and sink me in Tokyo Bay if I admitted to eating sushi for lunch.”
“But you get to eat sushi.”
W-was this four-hundred-and-twenty-year-old going to stick to that line, But you get to eat sushi, no matter what…?! She’s supposed to be of a mature age. She should be arguing, using convergence theory (like “It’s okay as long as you’re happy” or “It’s delicious, so you’ll be fine”). Doesn’t this make her a failure as an intellectual elf…?!
I was standing there appalled when I heard a pop, and a notice appeared on my screen.
I’d received a chat.
My master looked over my shoulder and grinned. It was a stamp of a penguin icon giving a thumbs-up.
“Ah. I see that my stamp has arrived safely.”