“An order must be established.” (Isabelle)
Isabelle said with determined eyes scanning the audience. The resolute will shining in her eyes was as bright as the morning star. It was the persuasion of a warrior’s bloodline.
“Shall we decide by strength?” (Elpheira)
Elpheira, daughter of a great sorcerer with a legend of destroying three fortresses in just half a day, stood up, her eyes emitting purple magic sparks.
“Strength! How about arm wrestling then?” (Ecdysis)
Resembling Einar who piled mountains with corpses and dyed the seas with blood, Ecdysis raised her hand swiftly. The slender white fingers holding the iron rod snapped with a crack.
“Stop the nonsense and let’s roll the dice. I’ll throw the last one.” (Lucia)
While the disciple of the vampire queen, who killed Elder vampire with mere sleight of hand and claimed the throne in the back alleys of Frechenkaya, chuckled in response…
“No, I really want to go home now. Doesn’t this seem odd to you guys? The situation right now. Am I the only one who thinks it’s strange?” (Oscar)
“What’s odd?” (Isabelle)
“From a logical standpoint, if multiple individuals share an interest in the same person, it’s unlikely they would be gathered here having this conversation, correct?” (Oscar)
Oscar, who inadvertently became responsible for the hero party’s common sense, sighed deeply.
“I really don’t know why I’m fitting in here. Honestly. It would have been more constructive to hang out with my knight school friends (mostly girls) at this hour, or rather, to swing the sword once more.” (Oscar)
“That’s only logical in normal situations.”
“In emergencies, extraordinary measures are necessary.”
“We don’t even have hope in Uncle’s character right now.”
Isabelle scanned the audience. A deep sense of defeat loomed over the hero party like a dark cloud. They couldn’t just leave it like this.
They had to admit it. These guys were almost all competitors. Somehow, they had become cunning predators, sneaking in to target Ivan.
But competition, at least, had to start from the starting line to have any meaning, didn’t it?
“At least we have to hold hands until we reach a level of possibility.”
This was the only solution the hero party shared.
“Even if there’s room for concubinage…!”
“At least, whether it’s a concubine or a main wife, they should be able to drag them to the wedding venue first for it to have meaning!”
“Still, the main wife should be an elf, right?”
Even in pre-modern fantasy worlds, concubinage wasn’t something openly discussed. It was more like some high noble families sneaking in another concubine, being cautious, and then getting slapped by their main wife.
Marriage among high noble families naturally meant the union of nobles. In this era, noble marriages were often more equal than in the 21st century. The moment a concubine was introduced, one had to endure the cooling of the relationship with the main family.
Therefore, in the public eye, it was bizarre for several women to court one man simultaneously. Most often, it was met with condemnation.
However, even the capitalist hegemon, the United States, had no qualms about forming an alliance with the communist Soviet Union to defeat the demon (Facist).
Sometimes, for the sake of justice and macroscopic strategic goals, May-December romances become a rational choice. The Kettleshire hunters even adopted the 3-to-1 asymmetrical tactics as their standard manual.
According to the Lancaster law, a sufficient number overwhelms qualitative superiority.
“It’s not the time for us to fight amongst ourselves.”
“Let’s admit it, kids. I’ll go first.”
“Honestly, if we prioritize, I think I should go first. I heard humans have difficulty counting on the scale of years, but let’s decide this for sure.”
After intense arguments between Elpheira (encounter 12 years ago) and Ecdysis (encounter 8 years ago), the warrior (6 months after the first encounter) decided to resolve the party’s turmoil with external advice.
“Here we go….” (Eugene)
Eugene, the strategist who was dragged into the plan, sighed softly. Was this how Paris felt when he had to choose “Who is Miss Universe Greece?” in front of three goddesses?
At least the three goddesses brought gifts and made preemptive offers to choose, but the warrior party, unlike fate, didn’t compromise.
“Drovian, Kalion, Tylesse, and Krasilov, in that order.”
“Yeah!”
“Yes—!!”
“Why! What’s the criteria?!!”
Eugene quietly answered as he glanced over the heads of the women.
“Reverse order of levels.”
“Ah.”
*
“But come to think of it, don’t we have any students from Drovian at our school?” (Oscar)
The essence of this plan was to tie each student to their country of origin and then check the existence of spies one by one. However, there were no freshmen from Drovian.
Even if they were to call themselves freshmen from Drovian, Mord and Ecdysis were the only ones, and Mord was Huscal. Moreover, this Huscal had a career of being beaten by the Drovian rebels until he was on the brink of death.
It was a hurdle from the very beginning. When Oswald frowned, Eugene chuckled and replied.
“When did we try to capture spies? We’re just trying to set them up for a date. Just tell Big Brother to take Ecdysis out first, that’s it!”
“Well, isn’t that right?”
“Yeah! You’re worried about nothing.”
*
Ivan looked at Ecdysis with a somewhat perplexed expression. The plan was to have her come out separately to turn away his gaze, but Ecdysis’s reaction seemed too natural.
“So, what about me? By chance? Quite surprisingly! I accidentally made a reservation for a restaurant! I reserved for two! Isn’t it just perfect?!”
Ecdysis chirped as she walked ahead briskly. The destination was a restaurant that was one of the top picks in Frechenkaya.
In this era, there was no concept of fine dining. However, with the rapid increase in economic population and the emergence of a wealthy middle class, restaurants selling noble dining culture were not uncommon.
“… “
Ivan silently ate the prepared dishes one by one. They were greasy and sweet. As usual with Krasilov cuisine, it consisted mainly of high-calorie diets typical of cold regions.
All the dishes that came out were familiar. Ivan had already experienced enough noble dishes of Krasilov. Mostly at victory banquets, among the oily lips of high nobles.
It was a menu reminiscent of those days. Ivan continued his meal silently, deftly moving the clinking upscale tableware.
“Oh no…!”
Ecdysis couldn’t hide her disappointed feelings.
Uncle only expressed intense emotions at mealtime, so the plan to lead him to the city’s best restaurant had completely collapsed.
Moreover, unlike Drovian, this country was a neighborhood with a highly developed dining culture. After studying abroad for half a year, Ecdysis had compiled a list of the city’s best restaurants.
Among them, it was a carefully selected restaurant, but it was a failure. Ecdysis put down her spoon with a sad expression.
It was a failure that was very Drovian-like, believing that if she liked it, others would too.
*
[Character: Likability towards Ecdysis Einarsdottir]
[25 (Neutral)]
“Why did the score drop in just half a day?” (Yuri)
“They went to a restaurant.” (Oswald)
“If big brother liked it, wouldn’t he have been eating that kind of food regularly?” (Eugene)
Eugene sighed deeply, clutching his forehead.
“Let’s not expect too much from the Viking…” (Eugene)
“Ecdysis is a second-year in the orchestra conducting department.” (Oswald)
“Let’s not even mention that the conducting department is worse than the Vikings.” (Yuri)
A conductor must be proficient in all instruments of the orchestra and be able to coordinate all parts simultaneously.
Naturally, for young freshmen who have just turned 20, it’s an absurd task. To outsiders, students in the conducting department at this age are nothing more than magicians waving batons.
Typically, in any industry, being a specialist who firmly follows one path is more advantageous than being a generalist proficient in various fields. For Eugene, who has firmly followed the path of theology, being in the conducting department is no better than being from Drovian.
Fortunately, there were no music students present, so they could quickly move on to the next topic.
“Let’s leave it to Elpheira. She said she went boating on the lake, right? How far did we check?” (Oswald)
“Kalion just finished, and Tylesse just started. But do we really need to take this so seriously? There’s no way there’s a real demon spy.” (Yuri)
“If we do it carelessly and get caught by big brother later, the relationship could become ‘hostile,’ couldn’t it?” (Eugene)
“Oh.”
Not wanting to die within 3 seconds, Yuri and Oswald silently acquiesced and left for the next students.
“Aah?! Who are you people! Let go of me!!”
“Shh, Mr. Patrick. From now on, you’ll be friends with this man from your hometown.”
“Who is he! Let me go! You don’t know who I am…!”
“Shh, quiet down. Focus on this coin.”
The kidnapped student nodded tearfully.
“Now, what’s the name of that man?”
“My… friend… Yevgeny… a childhood friend who liked me since we were young… it’s a mutual same-sex marriage in the country…”
“…Why do you keep making up such settings?” (Yuri)
“It’s more fun that way.” (Oswald)
Oswald, who had already become more than half an elf, chuckled as he shook the thread with the coin.
*
Peaceful times followed. The hero party went on daily dates, and in the meantime, they ‘got close’ with the students attending Ivan’s classes.
At the point when two weeks had passed.
Eugene, who was investigating the 13th student who had come aboard the ship, paused, raised his gaze, and looked into the void. As the intimacy increased, the status window began to glow green.
[Quest Added!]
[“??? Grade Quest” Shadow looming over Tylesse.]
[You have detected a conspiracy circulating among the Tylesse nobility. The seeds of a long-standing feud, dating back from the Eastern Front, are now beginning to ignite.]
[Objective: Prevent the civil war among the 3 Marquises of Tylesse.]
[Optional Objective: Ensure the survival of Jill Ber de Etacrique.]
[Optional Objective: Encounter Maximilian de Eutualle.]
[Additional Objective: Maintain the total number of destroyed territories to 15 or less.]
[Additional Objective: Survival of the Tylesse royal family.]
[Reward: Extension of the United Kingdom’s existence by 10 years.]
“Wow… Damn.”
Eugene chewed his lips and fell into silence.
A demon’s spy? It’s not even funny, but well, let’s assume it’s possible.
But what? The existence of the United Kingdom? Jill Ber and Maximilian are, well, members of the hero party, aren’t they?
A ??? Grade Quest? Isn’t this difficulty rating similar to the quest to kill your brother…?
“I don’t think this is a problem we can solve among ourselves.”
“Is it really serious?”
“More than I thought. Call big brother. This isn’t the time to be dating and having fun.”
Eugene sighed, clutching his forehead.
It started with such a light heart, why does everything have to get so complicated again? He wondered.
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