Chapter 61
Volume 2 Chapter 7 part3
It was the day of the field trip .
The airship prepared was quite luxurious .
After all, it was a luxury liner .
We were heading towards a warm floating island in the south .
It was summer over there, a different season . It was a popular island for a field trip destination .
“I suppose it’s like the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere . Even so──”
I heard that this would be a field trip, but all I could see were students playing around on the liner .
I was wandering around the casino with my third-year upperclassman, Rukul, who was in the same social group as me .
“They said that this would be a field trip, but the class is just messing around . The floating island we’re heading to is a tourist attraction, so it’ll be like experiencing a festival . There’s going to be a unique atmosphere, and it’ll be quite fun . ”
“A festival?”
“There’s this special aura you feel when in a foreign land . The girls wear yukatas and enjoy themselves in the festival . Boys who can escort those girls can shorten the distance with them considerably . You should do your best as well, Leon . ”
I see . If one was to get married, they would have to work their hardest on this occasion .
Even so, the popular girls already had boys surrounding them .
Other girls were surrounded by exclusive servants and were being pampered by them .
What caught my attention was Anjie talking at the counter . Her unreliable followers were frantically trying to entertain her, but seemed to have trouble .
Looking elsewhere, I could see Olivia, who seemed to be exiting, perhaps not enjoying the casino’s atmosphere .
Rukul spoke to me .
“You’ve picked some difficult partners . ”
“What are you talking about? I’m not in any position where I can go after them . ”
“Yeah, I guess so . We all have our own partners we need to be with . The same goes for the girls . Things get tough when choosing a partner you don’t match with . Though, I suppose I don’t need to explain for you to figure that out, right? Just look at his Highness and the others . ”
Speaking of them, the prince and the others were scattered all over the place .
Julian and Jilk were together, but Marie was with Brad and Greg .
Rukul spotted Chris .
“Oh, there’s the expert swordsman . ”
He was playing poker, and though he seemed to have won the game, he didn’t look happy .
He left his seat and went elsewhere .
He wasn’t with Marie and the others, and seemed bored being by himself .
“Is Chris alone?”
However, girls then swarmed around him .
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“Chris, what are you going to play this time?”
“Why don’t we swim together on the deck’s pool?”
“Forget her, let’s have a meal──”
Girls were approaching him, but he let out a single sigh . Even though he took that kind of attitude, the girls seemed very delighted .
If I was the one sighing, they would glare at me with a vein on their forehead .
Rukul asked me a question .
“You up for some roulette?”
“No, I have a doctrine against gambling . ”
Rukul was astonished .
“Huh?”
His face told me that he thought I was lying . However, I genuinely hated gambling . Why fight not knowing whether I would win or lose? It was idiotic .
──I was a guy who only entered matches I knew I would win .
There was a storehouse in the luxury liner heading towards the southern floating island .
Two girls were secretly speaking with each other .
“We’re in trouble if we don’t do this right!”
“This is the daughter of a duke household we’re talking about, so it can’t be helped, can it?”
The two were girls that had been Anjie’s followers .
After the uproar from the duel during the summer vacation, Anjie’s followers were desperate to regain trust .
However, among some followers, there were people who were making threatening movements .
These two were the same .
“My family gave up on the duke household . ”
“Same with mine . After all, his Highness the crown princes’ faction had collapsed . The Redgrave duke household is now on the decline . ”
Due to Julian losing his position, the duke household that had backed him had their faction breaking down .
It was a matter of course since Julian, the faction’s objective and backbone, had been disinherited .
Those who wanted benefits if Julian had become the king in the future naturally left the faction .
These two were among such people .
“How do you use this?”
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“You just pull the string and toss it outside . It stands out on the deck, so we were told to throw it from somewhere else . ”
They had some dubious object .
Once they tugged the string off of a cylindrical object, smoke came out of it, so they quickly tossed it to outside the airship .
“Do you think this will do?”
“Won’t it?”
Not knowing what just happened, the two left the storehouse and returned to where Anjie was .
The school field trip .
Once Livia arrived at the floating island and borrowed a yukata, she was walking along the evening streets .
That normally would have been dangerous, but today was the day of a festival in the floating island .
Stalls were lined up and the light from red paper lanterns made for a unique ambience .
“──How beautiful . ”
There were the sounds of drums and flutes .
There were voices of people having fun .
It was a completely different atmosphere compared to the festivals at her hometown .
Livia, who felt as if she was experiencing a new culture, walked alone in the festival .
She had not spoken with Leon since the suppression of the sky pirates . Talking with Anjie was tough as well, and during that time, the distance between them had grown further .
Anjie was also participating in the festival, but was surrounded by her followers and couldn’t chat with her .
There was the fragrance of salty-sweet sauce .
There was also the scent of sugary candy .
There were various places to have a good time, including a location for target practice .
Livia stared at a goldfish catching game, and then was moved by fireworks exploding in the sky, also surprised by the soaring noises they made──but she felt deep in her heart that she wasn’t having fun
Her sight was once on Anjie──but as she wandered around looking for Leon, she could no longer find Anjie either .
Ever since that incident, she hadn’t thought about seeking her friends .
She felt menial after the matter with Cara .
“Should I even be here?”
She felt delighted when Leon told her before that it was fine for her to be at the academy .
She felt embarrassed and pathetic after saying extreme things to him .
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(Why did I even prioritize the opinions of an outsider?)
She didn’t understand it herself, but she hadn’t been having fun lately .
As she wandered aimlessly, she separated from the festival venue .
(Ah, if I don’t get back──)
However, she heard the voices of what sounded like people fighting .
The voices were arguing with each other .
“Listen up, hand them over!”
“N, no! I won’t give it to you! Not even if you’re a noble! Stop!”
Hearing that voice, Livia jumped out .
She had thought that a student in the academy was causing trouble to the locals .
“U, um──!”
“What are doing there?!”
However, Livia wasn’t the only one there, as Anjie had also rushed in with her yukata slightly disordered .
The two glanced at each other in surprise, and then awkwardly turned towards the person causing trouble .
“──Leon?”
“──What in the world are you doing?”
Yet unfortunately, the one causing trouble was Leon .
Leon glanced around .
“T, this is um──”
Thereupon, the local, a male wearing a mask, clung onto the two .
“H, help me . This noble told me to give him what I had . ”
The two looked at Leon while the local still clung onto them . it looked as if an evil noble was trying to steal goods from a weak person .
Of course, Leon explained himself .
“Y, you’ve got it wrong! I told him to give me what he had because I would buy his entire stock! I’ve got the money for it!”
The man shook his head .
“No . There are people in the festival who are looking forward to these! No matter how much money you have, I won’t let you deprive everyone of their fun!”
When looking at what the man had, there were small, unknown objects wrapped in white paper .
They were arranged in a box, ready to sell .
Anjie asked the man about them .
“What are these?”
Perhaps delighted by her interest, the man explained in a cheery voice .
“Look . They’re charms made by my grandmother from home . They’re blessed to make you popular . They’re covered up because they vary in type . What you get depends on your luck . ”
Leon soon approached the smiling man from behind .
He held a roll of bank notes .
“Then sell them . I’ll buy them all . Oh, I’ve got it . I’ll buy them at ten times the price . ”
The persistent Leon had prepared a lot of money while saying that he would buy everything .
On the contrary, the man became frightened .
“What’s with you?! This is not a matter that can be settled with money . This is for the sake of seeing everyone smile!”
He wanted to take pleasure in selling charms to the people enjoying the festival .
The man did not yield .
Leon took out a pouch containing gold coins .
“Look, how about this? Gold coins . There are twenty pieces inside . I’ll offer this as well . ”
The man thought for a moment, but shook his head .
“My grandmother made these in order to give everyone some joy . I will not back down on this!”
Leon made a telling smile .
“You’ve got some nerve . I like that! I’ll tell you what, I’ll prepare a white gold coin . How about that?”
Despite Leon steadily increasing the price, the masked man resisted .
“Like I said, no can do!”
Anjie grabbed Leon by the ear .
“Ouch . That hurts, Ms . Anjie!”
“You don’t need to address me formally . Drop the honorifics . Anyways, you can go . We’ll take care of this . ”
The man thanked them while clutching his important merchandise .
“T, thank you!”
The man left the scene and headed towards the festival venue, disappearing into the crowd . While his ear was still being pinched, Leon reached his hand out while lamenting .
“Wait! My item!”
Livia had no idea how to address Leon after he acted in that manner .