Chapter 259
Chapter 259:
With Lapin and Karin supporting me, I stepped out of the infirmary.
The elderly gentleman waiting outside in a neat suit bowed his head to me.
“Young Master, I’m glad to see you awake.”
“……Manager?”
A large truck was parked behind him.
It was clearly McGrim’s concert vehicle, but it had been painted over in plain gray, making it look like nothing more than an ordinary oversized vehicle.
“Don’t tell me you’ve been waiting outside this whole time?”
“I hurried over after receiving a call from Miss Karin.”
When I turned my gaze toward Karin, she hurriedly waved both hands and began making excuses.
“N-No. It’s not like I stubbornly demanded that he come……! I didn’t know he’d actually show up like this either. The Manager kept insisting that I contact him the moment you woke up…….”
“Ahaha, it seems I caused an unnecessary misunderstanding. The young lady is telling the truth. I was the one who earnestly asked her to do so.”
Even though I hadn’t blamed Karin in the first place, the Manager smiled and backed up her explanation.
“You really didn’t have to go this far. I feel bad.”
“Nonsense! It would be far too long a journey to make it all the way to the stable in your current condition, so of course I had to come pick you up. Now, everything is ready, so please get in.”
“……Thank you.”
Thanks to the Manager’s consideration, it didn’t take long to arrive.
After getting out of the vehicle, I was supported once again as I made my way toward home.
“It’ll be dinner time soon, so I’ll prepare the meal.”
The sunset was gradually fading, and I was the one responsible for everyone’s dinner, after all.
I tried to prepare dinner like usual, but…… Lapin and Karin shook their heads.
“It’s okay, Villead.”
“Yeah, what cooking in a situation like this? Get some proper rest today.”
The Manager also added his voice to theirs.
“Young Master, you’re a patient who only just woke up after collapsing. We can hardly ask a patient to cook.”
I only had some mild muscle aches, so cooking itself wouldn’t have been particularly difficult.
But they were firmly stopping me.
“……Still, everyone must be hungry. We can’t just go without dinner.”
“Haha, don’t worry about the meal. It’s already almost finished.”
When the Manager laughed heartily, I blinked.
“……Someone’s cooking instead of me?”
“Why don’t you go inside and see for yourself?”
Now that I paid attention, a delicious aroma was wafting from somewhere.
‘……What is this? Did the Manager cook everything beforehand and then come pick me up?’
Feeling puzzled, I opened the door.
A familiar voice came from the kitchen.
“Now we just sprinkle in the salt…… there, finished!”
“Wow, it’s pretty.”
I carefully peeked into the kitchen.
There were two unexpected people inside.
“……Ah, Senior!”
McGrim in a white beret and apron, and the freckled girl Hesty.
“Are you feeling better now?”
At their question after spotting me, I asked back in bewilderment.
“……What are you two doing here?”
Hesty put down the ladle she was holding and gave an awkward little hehe laugh. Beside her, McGrim fiddled with the hem of her apron and opened her mouth.
“It looked like you were badly hurt, Senior. So we were cooking in your place.”
“We originally only prepared enough for the residents, but then we heard that you woke up, Senior, so we just added another serving.”
As though they had only just finished cooking, steaming stew and dishes roasted to a golden brown were spread across the kitchen counter in appetizing fashion.
McGrim lightly patted Hesty on the shoulder as though proud on her behalf and continued.
“I tasted a little, and Hesty is really good at cooking. You’ll be surprised too once you try it, Senior.”
“……Ugh, no. Compared to Senior Villead’s cooking, I’m still nowhere close.”
“…….”
Without saying anything, I alternated my gaze between the food in the kitchen and Hesty and McGrim in their aprons.
Perhaps my silence lasted too long and frightened her a little, because Hesty cautiously watched my expression before speaking.
“Ah…… did we cause trouble by cooking in your kitchen without permission……?”
“No, of course not.”
I wasn’t angry.
I had simply been so surprised that they had come all the way here and prepared dinner for me that I had been left momentarily speechless.
“……Thanks.”
When I spoke with a faint smile, the eyes of the two who had been slightly tense lit up with relief.
“Yes……!”
“Ah, it tastes best while it’s still warm, so please sit down at the table quickly. We’ll carry everything over.”
“Fine, I’ll rely on you just for today.”
“Yes!”
As Hesty and McGrim carried over the plates, the large dining table was quickly filled with an appetizing feast.
I scooped up a spoonful of warm stew and put it into my mouth, and its deep flavor seemed to spread warmth all the way through my body.
I could understand why McGrim had praised it so enthusiastically.
‘Even when I stayed briefly at Kirchen Inn where Hesty worked, I thought she was pretty good at cooking.’
I had eaten Hesty’s cooking back then too.
“Does it…… suit your taste?”
“Yeah, it’s good.”
“……O-Oh! It tastes like something from an inn or hotel!”
“Excellent indeed.”
Lapin, Karin, and the Manager all gave positive reactions as well.
“If it suits your tastes, I’m glad……!”
Thanks to that, we were able to spend a warm and cheerful dinner together.
As time passed, the sky had already turned a pale violet.
“McGrim, we should probably get going.”
“Ah, right. Seniors, curfew is coming up soon, so we’ll be heading back now.”
“We’ll see you again next time, Seniors……!”
After seeing the two of them to the door and returning inside, the place felt a little quiet.
While Lapin and Karin cleared the table, I leaned back in my chair and finished off with some warm tea.
……The time I had spent unconscious.
Suddenly, I became curious about what had happened during that gap.
“Did anyone else come to visit me?”
It was a question I asked on impulse.
I assumed that aside from Karin and Lapin, there wouldn’t have been anyone else who would come…….
“Yeah, someone did.”
An unexpected answer came from Lapin.
“Sia came. I think she was worried about Villead.”
“……Really?”
Sia?
She didn’t seem like the type to go out of her way to visit someone in the infirmary.
As I briefly fell into thought, Karin spoke this time.
“Ah, and there was one more person. Someone really famous at the Academy.”
“Yeah, the professor with long black hair.”
“……Black hair?”
I slowly turned my gaze toward them.
“Since you’re her Scholar, I guess she was worried. From the moment you were brought in, she stayed here with Lapin and me the whole time.”
“……?”
At Karin’s words, I couldn’t bring myself to speak.
“Professor Hilda must be incredibly busy, but she sat beside you for a really long time.”
The moon shone brightly in the night sky.
This was Professor Pascal’s office for ‘Human Mana Studies.’
Three people were inside the dark room illuminated only by moonlight.
Professor Pascal, the brown-haired man sitting on the sofa with his fingers interlocked.
A female cadet leaning against the wall with a sword hanging at her waist.
And Lahan, the black-haired man whose red eyes gleamed.
“It was a good opportunity. A shame it failed.”
They had missed their objective right before their eyes, the ‘assassination of the Imperial Princess.’
The greatest obstacle, the Imperial Princess’s bodyguard, Luga, the former Empire’s Greatest Sword, had been held back by the witch.
Pascal and Lahan disrupted magical communication, and in the meantime, the Cleaner trapped the Imperial Princess inside a barrier and attempted to assassinate her.
The entire operation had been perfect.
But at that exact moment, the Black Knight appeared…….
Bang-!
At that moment, a sudden explosive sound rang out.
The grimy Academy Cleaner had kicked open the door and stormed into the office.
As though announcing an explosive situation, one of his eyes had turned into a pitch-black reversed eye.
“Hey, you guys knew, didn’t you? You knew my enemy was here. You knew the Black Knight was my enemy and kept me in the dark, didn’t you?”
He was utterly furious.
Lahan spoke first.
“Cleaner, that man is not your enemy.”
“You’re trying to fool me again. You think I’m going to believe that? That bastard knew everything about me! Everything! All of it!”
“……?”
Lahan was puzzled internally.
The Cleaner’s enemy was clearly not the Black Knight, but ‘Luga,’ who was pretending to be a student.
And yet the Black Knight…… knew about the Cleaner’s past?
How was that possible?
“Please calm down first, Cleaner.”
But the Cleaner continued glaring at Lahan as though he wanted to kill him.
“Lahan, I’m disappointed. I genuinely thought of you like my own little brother, and you betray me? Depending on your answer, I’ll tear your face apart first.”
“…….”
There was no longer any point trying to reason with him.
Lahan let out a deep sigh and turned his gaze elsewhere.
“Professor, please begin. And Miss, prepare for the contingency we discussed.”
“Understood.”
Professor Pascal, who had been sitting with the moonlight behind him, slowly darkened his hollow eyes.
“…….”
The female cadet leaning against the wall in the corner untouched by moonlight also placed a hand on the sword at her waist.
Looking at the three people in the room, the Cleaner began grinning.
“……Ah, so that’s how you’re going to play it? I should’ve noticed sooner. All of you were in on it, trying to use me.”
The Cleaner slowly approached Lahan with a hollow laugh of betrayal.
“That old bastard Forton, no, Duke Weinfeld, was trying to use me too. Now I finally get it, kuhaha…….”
Shrring-!
Before anyone knew it, daggers were in both of the Cleaner’s hands.
“I should cut the heads off every last one of you sons of bitches……!”
The moment both of the Cleaner’s eyes turned black.
In the blink of an eye, a ‘hand’ appeared from the darkness.
“What……!”
That hand seized the Cleaner by the throat.
“What the hell is this nowwww!”
A white-haired girl with a short bob wearing a patient gown, ‘Sia.’
But it wasn’t just one of her…….
Dozens of ‘Sias in patient gowns’ surrounded the Cleaner from head to toe and restrained him.
“Let go! I said let go, you fucking……!”
The Cleaner’s struggling was useless with all four limbs restrained.
Lahan smiled brightly and pulled out a syringe in front of the Cleaner.
“I’ll give it to you gently so it doesn’t hurt. Let’s go back to being close brothers again, Cleaner.”
Go back to being close brothers.
……Go back?
The Cleaner’s eyes gradually widened in shock.
“……Ah, so this is how you’ve been doing it to me for years.”
The Cleaner’s animal-like instincts were sharp, and he finally realized the truth.
But realizing it only now while all four limbs were restrained meant nothing.
Lahan merely smiled without saying anything else.
An unknown liquid was injected into the Cleaner’s vein, and he lost consciousness immediately.
The Cleaner slowly opened his eyes.
A man with neatly styled black hair and red eyes behind glasses looked down at him with a worried expression.
“Cleaner, are you all right?”
“Ah…….”
The Cleaner raised his upper body from the sofa.
His entire body was drenched in sweat.
“I think I had some kind of dream…….”
“You looked like you were suffering from a nightmare. Here, drink some water.”
The man who handed him cool water was Lahan.
An assistant who had entered the Academy at a young age and graduated at the top of his class.
A comrade gathered around the great Duke Forton’s family for the assassination of the Imperial Princess.
And the Cleaner’s benefactor, someone no different from a younger brother.
“Lahan, thanks…….”
“Not at all. What kind of nightmare did you have this time?”
“I don’t remember clearly, but I think it was a nightmare where I saw my enemy.”
“Your enemy.”
Lahan slowly nodded.
“I already promised you, but I will definitely find him. Your enemy is my enemy as well, Cleaner.”
Lahan spoke with a serious expression.
Moved by the sight, the Cleaner felt his nose sting slightly.
“……Lahan, just hearing you say that makes me happy. As expected, you’re the only one I’ve got.”