The next day.
It became a weekday. I'm sorry for ruining Victoria's plan to rest on the weekend.
Let's say Merriwather is at fault.
In the classroom.
Unlike usual, today Victoria and I sat far apart. And Merriwather sat next to me.
It's funny how she's completely beaming.
It's interesting to watch someone who knows nothing. Although I always have to be careful not to become the one being laughed at.
It's easy to be wary of people smarter than you, but it's difficult to be wary of people dumber than you.
By the way, last night.
Victoria reached the realization that Merriwather's existence was strange.
It was strange that she seemed like someone she had been close with since the first day they met, and also that no one paid any special attention to her.
She even muttered that she still feels like they're very close friends.
But I'm worried that she hit her head hard against the wall because of that.
Of course, it's common to hit your head to wake up when under some strange hypnosis, but isn't it a bit much for a girl to hit the wall like that...
Anyway, on the surface, the relationship between Victoria and me has become a mess.
I eat lunch after morning classes end, then attend afternoon classes again. And when classes end, I go straight to the lodging.
I repeated the same day for several days.
Since there was no change in me, Merriwather sometimes makes a dissatisfied expression as if feeling that something isn't progressing well.
Should I consult about the strained relationship with Victoria to go along with Merriwather's rhythm?
But if I stick to my standards, I can't consult about something that doesn't exist. I can only tell part of the truth or not answer at all, but I don't lie.
So I decided to just do nothing. How will Merriwather take this? I'm looking forward to when she can't stand waiting anymore and speaks to me.
When that time comes, I'll be able to know what Merriwather, and further, what the royal family wants.
Meanwhile, something interesting happened to Victoria.
Polaris Valuin Bearington. A girl in the position of a marquis's daughter called Victoria separately. Surprisingly, Merriwather doesn't seem to care much about Victoria herself, as if she's not very interested.
This country has sufficiently investigated Harvesters.
They've done experiments that completely disregard human rights, not just human experiments that guarantee human rights. Since there have been no biological experiments after that, they probably think they know enough.
Going back to what I was saying, after class ended, Polaris took Victoria away. To the right when looking at the school from the main gate. It's an area that stretches long to the east.
This time too, Polaris took Victoria into a park inside the Royal Academy.
* * *
"This is the first time we're talking like this, right?"
"Yeah. Pola. Are you going to break trees this time too?"
Polaris giggled at Victoria's joke.
'We've only talked once before, I didn't think she'd really call me by a nickname.'
Polaris thought this while looking at the girl in front of her who was the very image of boldness.
Victoria Bete.
Completely from a commoner background, originally from a fairly well-off family but falling short of the standards in terms of history and wealth, making it impossible for her to enter the Royal Academy normally. It's not that her parents were good at music or art, so she didn't enter through a special admission in those fields either.
In other words, since she entered because she herself had some achievements, Victoria was someone Polaris, who likes talented people, could treat favorably from that point.
And those achievements were excellent.
In a city where a disaster occurred that made it impossible to use magic, she helped many people.
Not only strength but also character passed.
Polaris already had a lot of goodwill towards Victoria.
Of course, Polaris didn't overestimate Victoria too much. Because she wasn't someone worth bringing in through a transfer to the Royal Academy just for that.
The threshold of the Royal Academy was high, and the standards were extremely strict.
From Polaris's perspective, Victoria barely met those standards. That means there must be another reason.
'Then that thing beside her must be the reason.'
Polaris recalled the small girl who was always next to Victoria, smaller than herself.
Belle.
Although Victoria also has porcelain-like white skin, she looks beautiful because it has a luster and a faint reddish glow, but this one is a girl with a pale white skin that's unpleasant to the degree of being sickly.
Not just her appearance, but her behavior too. She moves in an unpleasant way that feels like watching something that's not human pretending to be human.
And when combined with her inhuman-like skin, it's not just unpleasant but scary.
So when they first heard that transfer students were coming in, the worries about kids with only class doing bad things out of jealousy didn't happen. Because the transfer student named Belle was too ominous for those with only class to do anything.
And Victoria's situation is intertwined with serious stories about Belle. Guessing this, Polaris opened her mouth.
"I won't break anything this time. Since Tori doesn't need to beat around the bush, I'll ask directly. That woman named Merriwather Olcott. Do you know something's strange?"
Polaris asked Victoria, thinking that if Victoria had been a noble, it would have taken ages to proceed with the conversation through annoying procedures.
"Yeah. She suddenly appeared but strangely felt like we had been close from the beginning. It was like talking to my mom, words that I wouldn't normally say flowed out strangely."
Polaris carefully chose her words, worrying that Victoria might break down.
"Is it because of that woman that you've become estranged from Belle too?"
Victoria closed her mouth, not knowing how much to say to Polaris's question.
'Is this person on Merriwather's side... No. Pola wouldn't be. If she was on Merriwather's side, she wouldn't have reached out to us last time. If not, let's say my eyes were bad.'
Victoria started by saying it was a bit of a long story, then explained to Polaris everything that happened on the weekend yesterday from beginning to end.
While listening, Polaris felt displeasure and anger boiling up at Merriwather's words, but she suppressed it and listened intently to Victoria's story from beginning to end.
"What a bitch."
After hearing the story, Polaris summarized it in just one word.
"Is it okay to curse like that?"
"You think nobles don't curse? Heehee, we just elegantly throw dirty words on top of etiquette, but we're all the same human bastards."
Polaris pondered with her hand on her chin, then lifted her head to look at the sky.
'I don't have confidence in explaining this in words. I know someone who can explain this specifically, but honestly, I don't even want to see their face... Still, it would be right to go to an expert who knows these things well. But let's organize it before that.'
Polaris walked in front of Victoria.
"Tori. What do you want to do?"
"What do you mean, what do I want to do?"
"Do you want to make up with Belle, or do you want to report that human Merriwather?"
There's nothing but pure goodwill.
Victoria felt that in Polaris's words and smiled slightly.
"What, why are you smiling?"
"Because Pola is such a good person. And there's no need to make up with Belle."
"No, that. From listening to your story, Merriwather messed up your relationship, didn't she?"
When Victoria firmly refused, Polaris, thinking Victoria was sulking, opened her mouth trying to somehow change her mind while watching Victoria's reaction.
"I've never had a bad relationship with Belle."
"Huh? But for several days, you've been sitting separately and not talking, right? There's no one who doesn't know a rift has occurred. Or is pride getting in the way?"
Victoria recalled the day when the sense of discomfort turned into suspicion. The events that occurred when the child who tried to steal had his hand cut off by Merriwather.
At first glance, it seemed blatantly hostile towards Victoria, but it was consistently hostile towards Belle.
So Victoria asked Belle if she knew, without anyone knowing.
But Belle said she knew. And answered that she didn't need help.
If so, she believes Belle will come back on her own when it's over.
"You know what? Belle is very easy to understand."
"That's just you."
"No, it's really like that. Pola, you'd understand too if you got close? It's a bit annoying that she acts like a mom though."
Polaris blinked at the truly unexpected expression.
Belle is like a mom?
She looks like a doll in the shape of a child that's unpleasantly devoid of subjectivity.
She only shows the appearance of being dragged around by Victoria when doing things, so to Polaris, she only feels every day that Belle is not human. So Victoria's words were hard to understand.
Seeing her expression, Victoria continued talking with a knowing look.
"Belle might look like she has no thoughts, but she's not a fool. She probably pushed me away because she doesn't need me now. However..."
"However?"
Victoria looked at Polaris with a bitter smile.
"It's only been three months since I met her, but I feel quite lonely after not meeting for just a week."
Polaris inwardly revised her evaluation of Belle.
Thinking that someone this girl thinks of like this can't be bad.
But if she is a bad person, and if she's even deceiving this girl, then she revised her evaluation to say that would probably be a demon with evil wisdom.
'I don't want to leave a good child to become pitiful.'
Polaris smirked after looking at Victoria, who was blushing saying she had said something too embarrassing.
"Then, want to hang out with me for a while? You don't have friends, right?"
Polaris casually suggested hanging out together because she thought Victoria would be lonely without friends to hang out with now.
'Kyaaaa!'
However, it hit Victoria's heart directly. She was already being teased by her mom and Belle about not having friends, so it was a critical hit.
But Victoria is a girl with a heart of steel.
Honestly, like the protagonist of a horror game, starting with being suddenly dragged to an ominous place and then erasing that group from the world, rather than steel, a more ominous word like nuclear heat might be more fitting.
"Pola. Please take care of me."
"Why is your speech like that? Did I say something strange? Tori? You don't have friends, right? No, why are you gritting your teeth like that!"
As the flustered Polaris hurriedly approached, Victoria waved her hand saying it was fine.
'That's because Pola is kicking a dead body as if mocking it.'
Forcibly swallowing such grumbling, and feeling blood flowing from her heart, Victoria forced a smile.
Today.
Victoria made a new friend.