Side Story 2–2
After a simple lunch, the afternoon instructor arrived.
“Huh? What’s this, Adrian? Who are those guys?”
“Hello, Teacher Heinel! Well, you see…….”
Just like in the morning class, Adrian whispered something into Heinel’s ear. After hearing it, Heinel burst out laughing.
“Bwahaha! That sounds fun.”
“Right?”
Adrian laughed along beside him.
The two thieves, unable to understand the conversation, felt frustrated but held it in.
And then the afternoon lesson began. The afternoon class was even harder than the previous one.
That was only natural, since their opponent was Heinel from the Mage Tower. Still, Adrian followed along diligently.
Heinel looked at Adrian with an approving gaze, but the two thieves standing behind them felt like they were going to die.
‘When on earth does this end…….’
“Hey, you two there.”
At that moment, Heinel looked at them. Startled, the two answered without thinking.
“Y-Yes?”
“Isn’t it hard to just stand there?”
Were they finally being let out?
Thinking that, Charles and Ellen’s eyes lit up as they nodded eagerly.
“I-It’s hard!”
“A little, yes…….”
“Then come over here and take the lesson together.”
“What?”
When the words they expected didn’t come out, the two let out stunned sounds.
To make matters worse, even Adrian smiled and chimed in.
“What? Did you two want to take the lesson together? You should’ve said so earlier!”
“No, that’s not…….”
As if!
The shout rose to the back of their throats, but they swallowed it down. With no other option, the two ended up sitting beside Adrian.
Having gained an audience of three, Heinel pointed to the blackboard with a satisfied expression.
“Now then, shall we continue the lesson?”
Once again, alien language began pouring out. This time, however, since they were sitting in comfortable chairs, instead of suffering, drowsiness washed over them.
While Charles was nodding off against his will, a piece of chalk suddenly flew through the air and struck him squarely on the forehead.
“Ghk!”
“You there! Who said it was okay to fall asleep during class?”
Heinel, who had thrown the chalk, was grinning wickedly.
The spot where it hit turned red in the middle of Charles’s forehead. Holding back tears, Charles began to focus on the lesson.
But the real problem started now.
“Alright, Ellen. At a certain academy, the number of male students this year decreased by eight compared to last year, and the number of female students increased by 10%. Last year, the total number of students was 600, and this year the total increased by 4% overall. How many female students are there this year?”
“W-What? Uh, um…… what was the question again?”
“You weren’t even listening properly. What were you doing?”
Snap—
“Gah!”
“Then you, Charles. What is the area of the figure enclosed by the two straight lines y = 2x − 4, y = −x + 5, and x = 0?”
“Huh? Those are straight lines……?”
“Then what, are they curves?”
Snap—
“Ugh!”
It didn’t take long for Charles and Ellen’s foreheads to swell up like lumps.
Heinel clicked his tongue as he looked at the two clutching their foreheads.
“If you can’t solve problems Adrian can solve, what are you going to do? Fine, I’ll give you homework too.”
“H-Homework?”
“Yes. If you haven’t solved it by the next time I come…… you know what happens, right?”
They didn’t know, but somehow they really didn’t want to know. Seeing Heinel’s wicked grin, the two hurriedly nodded.
Soon, Heinel’s hellish lesson came to an end. Leaving Adrian with a single “Good work,” he disappeared.
But what he left behind for Charles and Ellen was a mountain of homework. The two looked at each other, asking with their eyes.
‘Can you solve this?’
‘Do you think I can?’
A sigh escaped from both of them at the same time.
Thinking that being a servant wasn’t as easy as it looked.
Meanwhile, Adrian, having gathered up his homework, spoke to them.
“Alright, then let’s go to the next lesson.”
“T-The next lesson?”
Charles and Ellen’s faces turned pale. Seeing them like that, Adrian smiled reassuringly.
“The next lesson is swordsmanship.”
“Swordsmanship……?”
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
Adrian led the way. The two exchanged uneasy looks and followed after the child.
❧ ❧ ❧
After the kidnapping incident, Adrian made a decision: to become someone who could protect his own body.
The additional lesson he chose was swordsmanship with Cain.
Of course, since he was still young, they practiced safely with wooden swords. And since it was the beginning, he needed to build muscle first, so they started with training that involved swinging the sword.
From afar, Charles and Ellen yawned as they watched Adrian practice swinging the sword up and down.
“Yaaawn…… Born a noble, yet he’s choosing to suffer like this.”
“Seriously. What’s that even going to change?”
The two mocked Adrian, snickering to themselves. But soon they faced a different problem.
“Hey…… shouldn’t we make a run for it soon?”
“So you’re thinking the same?”
“Yeah. Let’s infiltrate again another time if we get the chance. For today, let’s withdraw.”
“Sounds good. That kid’s in the middle of a lesson anyway—perfect timing to leave.”
Glancing toward Adrian, the two slowly got up, preparing to escape.
At that moment, something thud—stabbed into the ground right in front of them.
It was the wooden sword Adrian had been holding.
“Hiiik……!”
“S-Sorry! I asked Sir Cain to show a demonstration, and I accidentally sent the sword flying all the way over here.”
Adrian walked over and struggled as he pulled the wooden sword out. Charles and Ellen exchanged looks.
‘Is that even possible?’
‘I have no idea.’
After pulling the sword free, Adrian smiled and asked,
“Hm? But you two…… where are you going?”
“Ah, w-well…….”
“You weren’t thinking of going somewhere while leaving your master behind, were you?”
Charles and Ellen’s faces turned deathly pale as they hurriedly shook their heads.
“O-Of course not……!”
“How could we ever leave you behind, young master?”
“Right?”
Adrian beamed, then trotted back to Cain. The two let out a deep sigh, unsure whether it was relief or anxiety.
❧ ❧ ❧
“Viscount.”
“Yes, Sir Cain.”
Cain looked at the two men dressed like servants standing at a distance, then asked Adrian, who had returned to him,
“Who are those two?”
Having worked by Rihardt’s side for a long time, Cain instantly realized that those two were not servants of this estate.
Adrian scratched his cheek and answered,
“Um. I think they’re intruders. They kept calling me ‘young master’ instead of ‘Viscount,’ so I figured it out.”
“What?”
“Don’t worry! I’ve kept them stuck by my side so they can’t run away.”
“That’s not the issue. Doesn’t this mean you’re in danger right now, Viscount?”
With a stern expression, Cain walked toward the two thieves.
“I will take care of them—”
“Wait, Sir Cain!”
At that moment, Adrian grabbed him. When Cain turned his head, Adrian whined,
“Catch them later.”
“What?”
“Teacher Heinel and I are messing with them together.”
Adrian continued with a grin.
“They dared to break into this estate. Wouldn’t it be boring to just catch them right away? So let’s tease them a little more first. Okay?”
Standing there with a blank face, Cain nodded before he realized it. Adrian smiled brightly in response.
❧ ❧ ❧
It had already been a week since they had infiltrated the estate—and since they’d been following Adrian around.
The two thieves were utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally.
“Ugh, I’m dying…….”
“Did you finish the homework……?”
“As if. I don’t even know the answers…….”
The two, groaning in misery, let out deep sighs. Then Charles suddenly widened his eyes and sprang to his feet.
“This can’t go on. I’m getting out of this hellhole.”
As if sharing his resolve, Ellen nodded with a determined expression.
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
“But we can’t just leave like that…….”
Charles picked up a small piece of craftsmanship nearby and grinned.
“Let’s steal just this one thing before we go.”
“Good idea.”
Charles and Ellen exchanged wicked smiles. Escaping was the main goal, but their pride wouldn’t allow them to leave empty-handed.
It was late at night—perfect timing for an escape.
They slipped the craft into their pockets and began to move quietly. Then a familiar voice called out from behind them.
“Charles, Ellen. Where are you going?”
The two flinched and turned around. Adrian was standing there with a smile.
Unlike Ellen, whose face turned pale, Charles decided to go through with it boldly.
“Young master, we can’t do this anymore.”
“Hm?”
“As of today, we resign.”
Adrian’s eyes widened. Then he put on a regretful expression.
“I see. It can’t be helped. Alright.”
“Then…….”
Relieved, Charles and Ellen turned back around. But a stranger was standing there.
Cain, a knight of Olden.
In an instant, he subdued the two thieves. Startled by the sudden turn of events, they shouted,
“W-What are you doing?!”
“Catching thieves.”
“What did you say?!”
Adrian trotted over and picked up the pouch that had fallen to the floor. When he opened it, the stolen craft was revealed.
Looking at it, Adrian smiled.
“You stole someone else’s property, so you have to be punished.”
Charles and Ellen’s faces turned blue. Ignoring them, Adrian laughed cheerfully.
“I had fun, you two.”
“D-Don’t tell me you knew from the start……!”
“Yeah. I knew.”
“This—! Aaaah!”
Just as they were about to curse, Cain twisted their arms, to keep Adrian’s ears from being sullied.
Feeling wronged, Ellen muttered bitterly,
“If you knew from the beginning, why didn’t you just throw us out…….”
“I told you. Because I’d be bored, so I wanted you to play with me.”
With an innocent, childlike smile, Adrian gave them his final farewell.
“Goodbye.”
Charles and Ellen were dragged away by Cain with blank expressions. Shaking his head, Cain thought,
That Adrian was definitely not an innocent child either.
❧ ❧ ❧
“Big sister!”
A few days later, Aillen and Rihardt returned from their honeymoon.
As soon as they arrived, Aillen hugged Adrian tightly as he ran over, asking warmly,
“Adrian, have you been well?”
“Of course!”
“Weren’t you bored?”
“No! It was fun!”
“Fun?”
Aillen tilted her head with a smile, wondering what could have been so fun.
But Adrian only giggled and kept “that incident” to himself.
“Things happened.”
“I see. Oh, right—I bought lots of presents, just like I promised. Want to see them?”
“Yes!”
Adrian buried himself in the pile of gifts Aillen had brought. Her warm embrace was a bonus.
Thankfully, the honeymoon remained a happy memory—for Aillen and Rihardt, and for Adrian as well.
