Chapter 60 – More Than Half the Beginning
The irreverence of Leo Floyd, who has a corner of his own belief, was forgotten the moment he crossed the threshold of his office.
No break time.
No lunch break.
I didn’t even prepare the black tea I drank to find stability before starting work every time.
Eclair, who was sitting in the office that day, handled the piled up paperwork with a pen, to the point where it could be said to be possessed by a ghost.
It was to the extent that he went around carrying the papers himself without asking someone below him to make a quick payment, so it’s needless to say how nervous the officials of the empire handling administrative work were.
I heard that Eclair Dritna is directly attacking the supply and budget departments.
He doesn’t joke, and his expression changes little.
Even her rumors and saga that she has are beyond common human common sense.
A human who can kill all the officers here with one finger without a single sword.
Of course, everyone knows that won’t happen.
But even if she was swimming and was sure the shark didn’t bite, she was swimming and she wasn’t frightened by it, which was another story.
When Eclair moved herself, the payment continued so quickly that it was said to be the best ever, and she was able to finish all of her work before dinner time.
‘Do I have to deal with it this way in the future…’
Éclair excitedly hurried to get ready to leave, as the lower administrative staff screamed and thought of running away without any malice.
He wears the black uniform given to everyone who works for the empire and even wears a large hat.
Unlike her usual times, she didn’t get in her carriage, but she moved her feet and headed for the commercial district near her mansion.
Trying a great dish to take a step forward.
She hadn’t intended to make dinner for Chloe.
She is capable of light cooking, but she is not confident in cooking rich enough to replace the dinner prepared by her servants.
She had lost herself a little, especially after she ate Lady Skadi’s cooking.
After her meal, she walked the eclairs down the street, thinking of a dessert she could enjoy over a light tea time.
‘Something Chloe might like…’
Unlike herself, she loved sweets from a young age.
There were a dizzying number of her bakery and dessert shops dealing with chocolate and such, but she didn’t know where the hell to stretch her feet.
Choosing the store with the longest line around her, she blended in with the crowd and managed to get two slices of her cake.
–
As Eclair opens the mansion door and enters, her servants approach and Chloe quickly walks in, hurriedly tidying up her clothes.
As she was washing and tidying up her body, she felt the dampness on the ends of her gray hair, which had come out in a hurry.
“Chloe. Dry her hair completely so you don’t catch a cold.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Eclair smiled softly at Chloe, who seemed to have thought that she was scolding her.
Seeing her face, Chloe’s eyes widened to the size of a lantern.
“As far as your mind goes… Go dry it slowly and come to the restaurant when you’re ready.”
“Ah…? Yes, yes!”
Éclair, who was watching Chloe quickly disappear, stood blankly and handed the box to the attendant who was watching her.
“I’m going to eat this with Chloe after dinner, so keep it aside. Dinner?”
“… Can be served right away.”
“When Chloe comes down, she’ll call me then as she prepares dinner. I’ll be in the study.”
It’s not just Chloe.
Everyone was surprised by the change in the atmosphere of Eclair, the owner of the mansion, without knowing why.
*****
It was like that until the outdoor class right now.
Making more noise than necessary with tableware.
Forks and knives out of order, etc.
She was an older sister who always cared about educating her on the manners she lacked.
It wasn’t the etiquette part that I was always nervous and concerned about, but today it was Chloe who was extremely nervous in the other direction.
“It wouldn’t have been easy to live outdoors for the first time. Are there any spots where you’ve gotten sick?”
“Yes… It’s fine.”
“Actually, when I was in the academy, I was selected as a squire—”
She always had no conversation, but Chloe started to lose her mind at Eclair’s sudden barrage of questions.
First of all, the timing was too public.
She wondered if the driver she met during an outdoor class visited her sister and said something.
‘My sister suddenly changes…Lin.’
Chloe’s eyes turned to Eclair’s tableware.
And she said that she had changed, and stopped her careless thoughts.
The things you can see if you pay a little attention without avoiding them.
Answering somehow, leaving her ears open, Chloe slowly moved her gaze.
My sister opens her mouth at the start of her meal and has only held her spoon ever since.
I always empty a cup before a meal, but I haven’t taken a sip of the cold water, so water droplets form on the cup.
Her fingernails bore the marks of her fingernails, and she continued to move as if impatient.
The questions continue endlessly as if they had been prepared for a long time in advance.
No matter what anyone says, the two are the same Dritna and sisters who have been together since childhood.
Even if you pretend not to be Eclair, you are extremely nervous.
Chloe can feel it.
Regardless of her reason, her sister is overdoing it.
‘Sister didn’t suddenly change…’
It’s trying to somehow change into what it is now.
With her hands completely still during her mealtime, she is caught in her eyes by Eclair, who is trying to somehow connect with herself.
Chloe pinched her thighs under her table to regain her senses and cautiously opened her mouth.
The blurry overlap between her older sister when she was young and the eclair now made her feel a little lighter.
“Uh, sister… Actually, I came to come in this class—-“
Maybe this mindset is thanks to outdoor classes.
Chloe boldly reached out to seize this opportunity that might come if not now.
*****
Upon arriving at the academy and dispersing the cadets who had completed the personnel check, they began to scatter to their respective destinations without looking back.
Whether it was because I was hungry or I wanted to take a shower out of embarrassment, it was all for the same reason.
I sent Rike, who said he would wait for the story to end, to her house, and I headed to the dean’s office to meet with Doran.
Knock-!
The window in the dean’s office must have been left open, and as soon as I finished knocking and opened the door, a cool breeze blew into the hallway.
“I wanted to clap and greet the instructor who finished the class perfectly, but can you understand my situation where I can’t?”
Doran, his empty sleeves fluttering in the wind, stood up with a joke.
“The person below me tells jokes that are hard to laugh at.”
Haha! Just smile!
As Doran moved away from her desk and sat down on the couch for her reception, I took a seat across from her.
“Did you know anything about the dead?”
They had put up a tent at the entrance of the camp and handed over all the corpses of the assassins to the instructors of the Faculty of Engineering, who were digging up the nogari, and even left them to dispose of them.
“There was one woman and one man whose face was known, but there is a limit to what I can find out… It’s the same these days even if you capture them without killing them.”
If the nobility gathered that much, it wasn’t just one or two straws.
I don’t know who they’re aiming for, but there’s nothing strange about who they’re aiming for.
It could be a trick for the succession of the next family, it might be a personal grudge, or it might be a challenge to undermine the status of the real academy.
That’s why it’s awkward
Will the academy’s superiority be packaged and advertised?
Covering up this fact, go outside and push the situation to the situation that the incident was a bad thing caused by a certain family who did not properly listen to the dean’s warning.
Doran Escaro is bouncing the abacus off her head nonstop.
“It’s a pity. If I had only one piece of evidence, I could have seen something interesting.”
“Huh-! It’s a pity, this friend! Rather, it’s better not to get involved by acting ignorance like this. It’s really the first time that nobles get into an emotional fight.”
Doran stood up from her seat, saying that the further he went behind her, the more he would frown upon her.
Click-!
Doran opened the dresser in her corner and brought out one of her bottles.
“An ignorant hunk is drinking my alcohol. This is the only thing I can give you. I hope you accept the sincerity of an old man who can’t do anything by himself.”
In fact, even if you have money, you can’t get this, Doran snorted.
I don’t know if it’s worthy of what I’ve done, but I didn’t refuse it because it was a gift.
“I don’t know what kind of alcohol this is because I don’t have enough knowledge because I only drink what I get at the tavern.”
It looks like ordinary water without any color, but whenever the sun shines through the window, a light rust color appears on the surface.
No matter how much you shake it, it’s amazing that there are no bubbles.
“There are so many names that it is called, so there is no exact name within the empire, but it is often called elven wine or olive wine.”
“Elf…? Do elves make wine?”
Smoking, alcohol, and sex life are not mentioned in detail in Akarite, a 15-year-old user, so I became interested.
“Of course. It’s something made by the few elven brewers in the Federation, and it’s something that’s hard to find even inside the Federation.”
“Hoo- I’m already curious about the taste.”
“As a collector, if you want to be a bit far-fetched… This drink has a set way to drink it. Eat dark chocolate with a strong bitter taste and take a sip when you feel a sweet and bitter taste in your mouth. Elves enjoy eating unripe fruits, but humans The majority opinion is that chocolate is better.”
Should I recommend Ricke?
Recalling that I had never had a drink with Rike, I decided to buy some fruit and chocolate on the way back.
As I was shaking the liquor around in the sun, Doran added that the business wasn’t over.
“To be honest, I have no intention of burying this incident with a bottle of alcohol. Alcohol is a luxury in the end, no matter how precious it is, but isn’t my face and life saved by the instructor not an entertainment?”
“…If you look at it that high, I’ll be grateful for anything.”
“Heh heh – that’s exciting! Where… If there’s anything you want, tell me first. I’ll try my best. This old man is greedy and the instructor… No, I want to get closer with Platinum.”
There is no need to throw away Doran’s hand, who is trying to form a relationship of mutual aid rather than just wiping his lips for profit.
I decided on a path after thinking about a few things that came to mind.
“Then… I would like to use the Academy Library outside of the first floor.”
