Since When Did You Have The Illusion That You Don’t Have Magical Powers?!

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Characters in this chapter:

Sapphiras Perfectio, former 2nd son of the Earl of Aldridge

Percival Belisario, 3rd son of Margrave of Vanderwall on the Eastern Frontier

Gideon Harvard, 2nd son of the Marquess of Wagner (redhead)

Harvard, Commander of the Second Order of Knights (redhead’s brother)

 

“……Nnn?”

When I woke up, what jumped into my field of vision was the beautiful white ceiling of the second dormitory building, which I thought I had finally gotten used to seeing just a little while ago.

Huh? That’s strange. I’m sure I was eating meat……but I don’t remember eating till the end. And on top of that, I don’t even remember the after-dinner dessert I was looking forward to?　

As I was pondering trying to remember what happened last night, someone knocked on the door of my room.

“Sapphiras……are you awake?”

“’Percival? Yes, I’m awake.”

I hurried down from my bed and opened the door to find Percival standing there with a wrinkled brow.

“How is you physical condition?”

“Eh? Physical condition?”

When a slightly rough hand brushed up my bangs, a well-shaped face loomed closer and our foreheads touched. My heart starts to race because he’s checking on my health so closely, but it’s strange that I’m weirdly shaken while Percival doesn’t care at all, so I try to stay calm.

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“……You don’t seem to have a fever.”

“Yeah, I’m feeling great. But I don’t remember anything from the middle of eating meat. Why?”

“Oh, you fell asleep during the meal. I didn’t forcibly wake you because you seemed tired.”

So that means I fell asleep without having eaten most of that meat.

“Oh my goodness……”

As I was gripped over this sudden blunder, Percival loosened the wrinkles between his eyebrows and loosened his mouth.

“If you look like that, it looks like you’re really feeling well. Are you ready to eat breakfast?”

“Of course! I’ll get ready right away, so please wait!”

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I quickly washed my face, got ready, and headed to the cafeteria with Percival.

In the cafeteria, injured knights and tired-looking magicians were also eating together with the academy students.

Although the threat of magical beasts has passed, the royal capital is still in turmoil. Neither the knights nor the magicians will have much time to rest. It’s a brief respite.

The cafeteria cooks have to deal not only with the knights and magicians but also with the evacuated residents of the capital, which is probably why they usually offer only soup and bread for breakfast. That said, it’s a high-quality soup with lots of ingredients.

“Could you please give me a little more meat?”

Last night I couldn’t eat meat to my satisfaction, so I secretly asked.

“That’s fine. Don’t tell anyone else.”

“Yatta! Thank you very much.”

In response to my selfishness, the cook added more meat.

Even if it doesn’t work, you should try asking!

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When I took an empty seat, I thanked the goddess briefly and tried to eat it quickly, but Percival scooped up some meat from his soup and put it in my bowl.

“Eh? Is it okay?”

“Yes. Sapphiras should eat well and be ready to move at any moment.”

“Thank you!”

I took some meat from Percival without hesitation. The meat is well-cooked and falls apart in the mouth. Since the meat was salted, it had a lot of flavour.

They probably expected that it would be difficult to secure food due to the outbreak of magical beasts, so they brought long-lasting ingredients to the academy. However, as expected from the school’s chef. Even though the soup uses preserved food, it is very delicious.

“Sapphiras! Percival! It’s been a long time! I heard you were very active yesterday! Ani-ue  says you were a great help!”

While I was enjoying the soup, a nostalgic loud voice came towards me.

“……Redhead.”

“What’s this? Even though it’s been a long time since we last met, you still give me such a disgusted look. Even I get hurt.”

It seems like he was unconsciously making a disgusted face. In other words, it’s a conditioned reflex.

“Ah, I’m sorry. It was unconscious. That’s my fault. If you don’t mind, take a seat?”

“Is that okay?”

“You were planning to sit together anyway.”

“What, did you find out? Well then, I won’t hesitate.”

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The redheaded man takes his seat.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other like this. Although I had been away from the academy for only a month or two, it felt like more than that had passed. After all, there were too many things going on.

However, for some reason, I feel calm here in Creare. Even if the redhead was annoying. Nowadays, I don’t think all this noise is that bad.

“What’s going on in the royal capital? Have you heard anything from your brother?”

After summoning the summoned beast, I mostly focused on the forest, so I’m curious about what happened in the capital.

“Oh, thanks to Sapphiras’ summoned beasts, who quickly defeated the magical beasts that entered the castle walls, we’ve been rescuing injured royal capital residents and recovering materials in cooperation with the Adventurers’ Guild since this morning.”

“I see. That’s good.”

“What’s with this soup?”

In the cafeteria where everyone was eating peacefully, a harsh voice echoed through the cafeteria, making the redhead’s voice seem cute. All eyes around turned to the source of the voice.

A slightly pompous-looking knight is complaining about something to a man who seems to be his subordinate.

“I’m working for the country, and you would serve me a soup that only has crappy ingredients like this! Are you making fun of me!”

“Huh? Crappy ingredients? That’s not something I can quietly listen to.

“Squad leader Br-Bryant, you’d better not cause too much trouble here, or……you’ll be scolded by Commander Harvard again.”

“Shut up! What kind of a man would retreat in the face of a magical beast? Ha! That makes me laugh! That man is a coward! It’s pathetic that he’s the Commander of the Second Order! I’m better with a sword than that man! I could have easily defeated those magical beasts! Damn that damned young brat!”

Commander Harvard, could it be that he’s talking about redhead’s brother?

I felt the red-haired man next to me clenching his fist. I place my hand on the redhead’s fist, which is shaking slightly. Well, well, hold on a bit. I know how you feel, but if I let redhead do this, it’s not good for his brother’s position.

I stood up instead, and Percival got up from his seat with me. I’m happy for your feelings, but I want you to leave this to me.

“Percival, I’m sorry. Could you please wait here with redhead for a moment?”

“……Don’t do anything rash.”

“Of course.”

I walk up to the man who keeps complaining loudly about Harvard, the Commander of the Second Order of Knights. The subordinate who is quieting the man has been yelled at so much that he has become completely small. He’s a disaster, too, because he’s got a nasty guy for a boss.

“Hey, Uncle.”

“……What, you?”

The knight looked at me suspiciously as I came out of nowhere.

“No matter what you think about anyone, that’s your business, but I don’t think you should be ranting in a place like this, where you don’t know who’s going to hear you. Besides, I was just savouring the delicious soup, but it’s all ruined because uncle  is annoying.’”

“What did you say! In the royal capital where so many magical beasts have invaded, to whom do you think you can be alive now?”

“Who, isn’t that thanks to me?”

To be precise, it’s thanks to the summoned beasts. They’re really dependable friends.

“You! You’re just a student! I’m going to teach you some manners!”

At the same time as the man grabbed my chest, I transferred and took him out of the capital.

“!”

Surprised by the sudden change in his surroundings, the man looked around and gasped. There are magical beasts lying around waiting to be used as materials. It’s the ones I blasted out of the royal capital’s forest yesterday.

“What the hell is this place……?”

“It’s outside the royal capital. You can yell as much as you want here. You can say whatever you want.

“yo-you……can use transfer magic?”

“Well, yeah. More importantly, I know Commander Harvard of the Second Order of Knights, so let me just say that he is a fine man who cares about his subordinates. That’s why he decided to make a strategic retreat to protect his subordinates. It’s not enough to rush into everything like an idiot. If you don’t understand this, I recommend you to leave immediately. If there’s even one person like you, people who shouldn’t have to die end up dying. In the first place, are you strong enough to talk so high and mighty?”

“Nah! You! Who do you think I am?”

“Who knows?”

There’s no way I would know, and I have no interest in it at all.

“If you’re so strong, you can get back to the royal capital all by yourself from here, can’t you?”

The royal capital is in sight, albeit a long way off. If he walks hard, I think he’ll be back in the afternoon. The magical  beasts around here should have been annihilated, so I’m sure he’ll be fine even if he’s alone.

“……Ha? What do you mean?”

“Even if there are any magical beasts, it should be fine. After all, I’m sure you’re stronger than Commander Harvard. I’ll be going back first then. See you later.”

The man was shouting something, but the soup had already gotten cold, so I quickly returned to the cafeteria.

“I’m back!”

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m totally fine.”

“……Your tie is a bit distorted.”

When I returned to the cafeteria, Percival was waiting for me and quickly fixed my collar, which had collapsed due to the man’s grip on me.

“Thank you”

“……Oi, Sapphiras. What happened to that knight? You couldn’t have, killed him…….”

When the redhead saw me come back alone, his face turned pale for some reason. I wondered why he was so upset, but I hurriedly denied the words that almost came after ‘You couldn’t have’.

“No, no! I just left him outside the royal capital where he won’t bother anyone if he makes a fuss! He’ll be back in a couple of hours! There won’t be any more danger, and if he’s lucky, he’ll be picked up by a colleague who is cleaning up.”

“I see……sorry. I’ve given you a lot of trouble.”

“No, I just couldn’t stand it.”

I finally calmed down and had some soup. Good, it’s still warm enough.

“Yeah, it’s delicious.”

According to the redhead, that man is the fifth son of a decent family, and he was forced into joining the Knights just because he was a little good with the sword.

To put it simply, he was only capable of wielding a sword, and although he would have been unable to become a knight through the official entrance exam, he became a knight through the pressure of higher ups.

As expected, he is not only violent, but also has a problem with his personality. Because of this, he had been refused admission by all units, but apparently, Commander Harvard accepted him. Since he couldn’t give him any title, he made him a squad leader for the time being and gave him some subordinates, but apparently he wasn’t satisfied with that. And since Commander Harvard was younger than him, he was even more repulsed and was always at his heels. How annoying.

Redhead looks up to his brother, you know. There’s no way he would have remained calm after being told something like that. That said, if I had hit him or something, I would have been in trouble. 

However, it’s not so unusual to hear of troops being wiped out because of people like that. I’ve seen adventuring parties like that. So, before that happens, he should either be sent away or made to start over as a trainee soldier.

He’s 100 years too early to hold a sword.