Ch. 32

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"Then get some good rest."

"You too. See you next time."

That "see you next time" line again.

Haah... if I wanted to keep parking my butt in this academy, I'd have to get used to it.

More to the point, even though I'd gotten a little sleep earlier, I was still tired, and drowsiness came washing over me.

Washing up and then sleeping was a hassle, so maybe I should just crash like this.

"Hey, you there, wait a moment."

While I was heading toward the dormitory, thinking about how fast I could get to bed, a voice called out to me, and when I turned my head, there stood a small girl with orange-tinged brown hair tied tightly back.

"...Who are you?"

Judging by the brooch pinned to her chest, she seemed to be a first-year, but her speech was awfully curt.

"Let's talk for a moment."

She breezily ignored my question and said only what she wanted to say.

Then I guess I could just ask questions without answering, too.

"Josephine?"

"...I never told you my name."

"What, you acted like you knew me, so I thought we'd at least exchanged names."

"..."

"Then scram."

Maybe because I was so full of annoyance and exhaustion, I answered a little more sharply than usual.

Come to think of it, it was already past 11 PM, so why was she wandering around alone instead of sleeping?

"Please! Just give me a moment of your time!"

Even though I'd spoken bluntly, seeing her cling to me so desperately, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

What, does this kid like me?

Hiding my slightly reddening face, I turned back with a "what is it?" look, and the girl, looking horrified, hurriedly began to explain herself.

"It'll only take a moment! It's not like I want to look at a face like yours and talk for long, either!"

I couldn't tell whether she was trying to have a conversation or not.

"Hah, so what is it? Make sure you wrap up the whole beginning, development, twist, and conclusion within ten seconds."

"My name is Daisy... Daisy Tollek!"

Yeah, yeah, your name is Daisy Tollek.

So what about it...

What?!

"What did you say? Did you just say Tollek?"

I'd generously given her ten seconds, but she'd succeeded in grabbing my attention in a single one.

I was so shocked that I almost shouted, even though it was the middle of the night.

"That's right. I'm Hale Tollek's daughter, Daisy Tollek!"

I had no idea who Hale Tollek was; what mattered was whether this child had any connection to Obierd Tollek.

"Then your grandfather... no, great-grandfather? I don't know what the relation would be, but among the elders of your family, there wouldn't happen to be an Obierd Tollek, would there?"

"Right. He's our ancestor."

I had no choice but to slap my own forehead, hard enough to make a smack.

I'd just finished boldly running a con as if I were a Tollek descendant, and the person I ran into turned out to be an actual Tollek descendant.

"This is driving me crazy... fine, what is it you want to say?"

"I saw you sparring earlier. That sword you used, the one that turned black... that was our ancestor's sword, wasn't it?"

Had it been out during the match?

Hmm, anyway, the situation had taken a somewhat chilling turn.

She wasn't going to bring up her family and ask me for the sword, was she?

"Give that sword back to me. I don't know how you got it, but... it's a sword that our family absolutely must take back!"

Sure enough, the little brat was jumping up and down, demanding back the cursed sword I'd barely managed to get my hands on.

Watching her, I folded my arms and opened my mouth.

"Hey, though, your attitude is kind of off?"

"What?"

"Since when did you know me well enough to talk down to me? Is it just normal in this neighborhood to speak casually the first time you meet someone? Every dog and cow just spits out casual speech first and asks questions later?"

Conversation, as a rule, requires courtesy between both parties.

And that courtesy is completed by each side using honorifics toward the other.

...Yeah, right, it was just a kind of power play to seize the initiative.

"We've met before, though..."

"We've met? But you said you're not Josephine?"

"Who on earth is Josephine?"

What, had we met somewhere before?

Those round eyes, that short stature...

Hmm... she did look a little familiar, now that I thought about it.

"Don't you remember? On the rooftop garden, I got hit by a stone you kicked."

The rooftop garden... ah, was she the one who'd flatly ignored the hand I'd held out back then?

"You're that fiercely independent kid from back then?"

"What do you mean, fiercely independent... and I'm not a kid!"

"But didn't you use honorifics with me the last time we met?"

"Once I found out we were in the same year, why would I bother using honorifics! Don't tell me... d-did that upset you?"

"Whether it upsets me doesn't really matter. And you do have a point. But what do you think the situation is right now?"

Seeing her fail to understand what I meant, I couldn't help but sigh.

"You're the one asking for a favor, and I'm the one deciding whether or not to grant it. In a word, I'm Party A, and you're Party B. Getting it now?"

"Ah..."

"Alright, now try saying it again."

"P-please give the sword back..."

Satisfied with her honorifics, I smiled contentedly and opened my mouth.

"No."

"Why! What's the reason?!"

Did I really have to spell that out for her to understand?

"I don't even want to explain the reason. It's a hassle. To tell you only the result: I'm not giving it to you."

At my lazy attitude, her face began to turn bright red.

Wow, with just a bit of exaggeration, she looked like she was about to burst.

"No way!"

"Yes way."

When I turned to go on my way again, she dashed in front of me and even blocked the path with both arms spread wide.

"You're not going anywhere until you tell me!"

Of course, I could just slip around her and run off, but doing so would probably make things a real hassle.

Because, as is usually the case with nobles, they lose all reason when it comes to matters concerning their family.

"Hah, listen up, got it?"

At my words, the little brat even nodded and began to focus, so I decided to teach her one point at a time, pointing a finger at her.

"First, I can't tell whether you're really from the Tollek family or not."

"I have my father's token..."

"For all I know, you might have stolen that from somewhere?"

If she'd had her own token, it could be verified through blood, but since a token was only issued once a person turned twenty and became an adult, without anything certain at the moment, she had no way to prove herself.

And the bigger reason I couldn't believe she was from the Tollek family was that I had never once heard anyone say there was a Tollek descendant at the academy.

How famous was that man? And his descendant's name wasn't known?

That was absurd.

On top of that, the fact that neither in my own previous life nor in Aden's had I ever heard the name 'Daisy Tollek' was one of the reasons I felt certain she wasn't from the Tollek family.

"Second, even if you really are from the Tollek family, isn't it a bit thuggish to ask for it without offering any compensation?"

Seriously, if a person had any conscience, would it make sense to ask for something as significant as a cursed sword back while offering no compensation whatsoever?

It occurred to me that this kid might need to go back and learn from scratch that when you buy something, you have to pay for it.

"W-well, the family is having a hard time right now... we can't even use the family name... and I have nothing to give you right now. If you want, I'll pay with my bod..."

Daisy suddenly stopped talking, glanced at me, and covered her body with both hands.

"Don't look at me so lecherously!"

What was she suddenly talking about?

Ah, maybe my dark circles had come out from the exhaustion.

I'd heard people say now and then that I looked lecherous when I was tired.

Still, this didn't seem like the time to be saying something like that.

"...Never mind, anyway, no. I'm not giving it back. I have no intention of giving it back. Hurry up and go home."

Her attitude was bad from the start.

Even if she'd asked politely, I wouldn't have given it to her anyway, but if I handed over this sword I'd have to find another one, so I didn't want to give it back.

"Then if there's a suitable compensation, will you give the sword back?"

At her question, I thought for a moment.

What would count as suitable compensation?

Normally cursed swords were either swapped for other cursed swords or traded for astronomical sums of money.

"But didn't you say your family is struggling right now? Can you even come up with the compensation?"

"Ugh... I'll earn it through hard work..."

"I don't know what you'd do to earn the money, but... just give up. You know cursed swords are really expensive, right?"

"Ugh..."

At my words, she chewed on her lower lip, looking mortified.

Tsk tsk, doing that only hurts her own lip.

"Why do you need this sword?"

"T-that's..."

I'd asked wondering if there was something special connected to this sword, and Daisy's lips trembled, as if there really was something.

"Is there something like a secret storeroom that you can only enter with this sword, in a place where a hidden location is?"

"Gasp!"

"And inside it, is there something like a secret manual that records the lost Tollek swordsmanship?"

"Gaaasp!"

What was with that reaction?

Apparently the offhand jokes I'd thrown out had hit the mark one after another.

"H-how do you know our family's secret?!"

"Huh? It's actually true?"

No, even if it was true, what was the point of being so obvious about it?

Was it because she was this careless that she'd died so early that I'd never seen her in my previous life?

"Whoa, whoa, calm down."

Come to think of it, if she really was from the Tollek family and the secret manual was real too...

In an instant, my mouth began to water.

"First of all, if you're really from the Tollek family, find some way to prove it. And even if it isn't money, prepare compensation that would make me happy to hand this sword over. How about you prepare at least those two things somehow, and then talk to me again?"

Just in case, it seemed best to leave some room.

If she was the real thing, she'd find a way to prepare, and if I was lucky, I might even get access to the manual.

"Ugh... but you really need to know about our family..."

"I'm really too tired, so if you've got more to say, let's talk next time. Once my body recovers a bit, I'll come find you and hear you out. So what do I do, go to the Knight Department and say, 'Could someone call Tollek for me~'?"

"No! Because we don't use the name Tollek at the academy!"

"...Why's that, again?"

"That's because our family is the Imp..."

Ah, this was going to take a while.

When Daisy tried to keep going, I hurriedly cut off the tail end of her words.

"Hold on. Let's talk about that next time too. Got it?"

"O-okay. Then just come to the Knight Department and say my name."

"Got it. By the way, what was your name again?"

"..."

"Josephine?"

"Haah..."

"Tsss."

Today, too, Luna hadn't come to the training room in the morning.

Having gone several days without Luna's nutrient juice, I felt as though my body just wasn't getting any power into it.

Why on earth wasn't she coming? Had I done something wrong?

Shaking off the unease, I took a big bite of my sandwich.

The reason I was eating a sandwich even though I had the Tower Master's token was nothing special.

You could call it a pull of sheer habit, I suppose?

Once it came down to actually eating expensive food, I'd found myself craving a sandwich, more or less.

But now, as I ate the sandwich, I was deeply regretting this choice.

"Benjamin, so do you know what I said?"

Because of Aria, who kept chattering on by herself even though I wasn't giving her any answer at all.

It felt less like I had no strength because I'd missed the nutrient juice and more like it was being drained out of me by her.

Anyway, today was a day with the Understanding Elements class.

It was also the day I'd finally meet Elin Creek.

The professor in charge, who had for some reason been going around talking about me nonstop.

I'd learned through Gary just how remarkable it had been to copy a talent, but there were things I wanted to discuss directly with the person involved.

"Benjamin, are you listening?"

"Aria, there's a spell I really want to learn."

"Hm? All of a sudden? What is it?"

"A spell that gets rid of mouths. One that makes it so you can never speak again."

"What?! Hahat! Benjamin, you really are silly sometimes."

That wasn't the important thing right now.

If it meant I could shut Aria's mouth, I felt like I'd sell my soul to a demon.

She was an incredibly noisy woman, chattering away like a sparrow.