The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent – 75
EP.75 Back to Normal? (2)
Still, the afternoon felt refreshingly calm.
I felt as though half of my worries had been resolved. I had found a way to recover quickly, even when exhausted, through meditation, and the northern issue had been somewhat dealt with. Additionally, I had clearly demonstrated my abilities to those around me.
Even the emotional vulnerability that Mia Crowfield had witnessed might have been mitigated by my recent actions. After all, I had shown that I could single-handedly inflict serious damage on the enemy.
Perhaps, this could serve as a warning to Countess Crowfield, who was likely plotting revenge against the Emperor at this very moment. In the original story, Claire had transferred into the academy midway through the first year, and unlike me, she didn’t make her presence as obvious. That led the Crowfields to underestimate her to some extent.
Of course, back then, Claire hadn’t blown up the Count with a bomb either.
There’s a vast difference between facing off against an assassin and taking on a human weapon capable of annihilating entire squads of enemies.
“……”
I could understand why Mia Crowfield kept glancing at me.
Though it seems becoming friends with her will be even more difficult now.
“Sister!”
……And there was another person whose attitude towards me had changed.
Considering I had returned after performing like a human weapon, I expected more people to find it difficult to approach me. Yet, Claire had become even more casual in her interactions with me.
It seems what I said earlier—“I did it because I wanted to”—had a significant impact on her. I hadn’t even explained my reasons, and my act wasn’t about gaining or claiming anything. It was simply about crushing a mercenary group. But to Claire, the act itself didn’t seem to be a problem.
More than that, it appeared she had gained confidence that I still had genuine emotions left inside me.
“Claire.”
“I know, I know! But we’re outside the Academy right now!”
Before I could even say anything, Claire preempted me, patting my arm as she spoke.
…We might be outside the Academy, but the task we were doing still counted toward our attendance.
Plus, we were still in our uniforms. It wasn’t as if we were far removed from the Academy—it just wasn’t within the Academy’s buildings.
“But Claire has been calling you ‘Sister’ since earlier. Could you tell me why that is?”
Claire was walking on my left, while Alice was on my right. The situation left me feeling oddly uncomfortable. After all, both of them were like sisters to me in their own way.
Well, I didn’t exactly think of them as ‘sisters’ per se, but… you know that feeling, when you’ve spent enough time with someone that a sense of familial affection grows? Claire had followed me in that way, and Alice had been by my side for a long time, so I suppose I felt that way toward both of them.
“Oh, that.”
Claire responded confidently to Alice’s question.
“Sylvia just has this… sisterly vibe, you know? I had a younger brother, but I never had a sister. So I decided to call Sylvia ‘Sister’ instead.”
“……”
I glanced back and almost burst into laughter at the sight of Leo, who was staring at the back of Claire’s head with an expression of disbelief. It wasn’t just the reason Claire had given for calling me ‘Sister’—he also seemed baffled by her casually referring to him as her ‘younger brother.’
“……For that reason?”
Alice leaned forward slightly, peering at Claire beside me before shifting her gaze to my face. It was clear she didn’t believe a word of what Claire had said.
“……”
I silently glanced at Claire, but she merely averted her gaze, pretending not to notice.
I just realized that she hadn’t just started calling me “sister” now; she had been subtly doing it for a while.
Not that I particularly minded it or found it uncomfortable, but in this situation, it was only making things more complicated for me.
“…I’ll explain it to you later.”
I whispered quietly to Alice.
“…Alright.”
Since it was me saying it, Alice didn’t press further. She trusted me enough not to pry. Charlotte, who was close enough to hear my quiet voice, seemed interested but refrained from digging any further. Perhaps she thought it wouldn’t be appropriate for royalty to prod into secrets unnecessarily.
Jake, on the other hand, seemed entirely indifferent. He was glancing around, clearly not paying any attention to us. Still, I couldn’t let my guard down around him.
In the original story, there hadn’t been this much bustling activity. The characters had their set lines, and due to the limitations of the game’s programming, unless a character was central to the event, they would often become background noise. Without lines scripted for them, even if they appeared in cutscenes, they would just stand awkwardly in the back.
Typically, only the character selected as the player’s representative would actively move around the field, and occasionally one or two others would tag along during specific events. But for the most part, even though all the characters were supposedly traveling together, only one would be visible.
So, this current lively scene felt somewhat strange.
But at the same time, it was also somewhat enjoyable. Despite how odd it seemed when compared to the game, having friends around to hear and react to conversations reminded me of my high school days, hanging out with groups of friends.
“Alright, then.”
Claire stretched her arms above her head and spoke cheerfully.
“Let’s do our best this afternoon! We’re heading back tomorrow, after all.”
“…Are we going straight back to classes on Monday?”
Mia Crowfield asked in a worried tone, to which Charlotte responded with a matter-of-fact answer.
“Of course. Isn’t that obvious?”
At Charlotte’s words, Mia slumped her shoulders.
Tomorrow, we’d be heading back to the academy by train after finishing the morning’s practical session. However, given how far away we were from Runedarium, it would take several hours on the train to return. Though the interior was spacious and comfortable, it didn’t have beds, meaning we’d be sitting in seats for the entire journey.
I could understand why it seemed hard to believe we’d have to jump right back into classes without a break to recover from the trip.
…Of course, I planned on taking some time to rest by meditating through a few nights.
Still, it seemed the group task we had completed together that morning had been beneficial. Watching Mia Crowfield engage in conversation with the others so naturally now, it was clear they had all grown closer.
The blue Marmaros gemstone on Mia’s staff continued to shimmer softly as we walked.
*
“Impressive.”
Jennifer spoke, her expression genuinely surprised.
There wasn’t as much work to do that afternoon as expected. Thanks to the protagonist’s party completing most of the requests in the morning, the remaining tasks were few. The kids who woke up later—though not too late by normal standards, but relatively late—rushed into the request office, leaving only a handful of jobs for the afternoon.
In the original story, this sequence of events also served as a trigger to reveal a hidden quest.
If you cleared all the morning’s side quests, an event would pop up after completing the afternoon quests, saying, “You have time to spare.” Interestingly, finishing the morning quests didn’t reduce the number of afternoon side quests, though.
On the other hand, if you hadn’t completed all the morning side quests, you’d be too busy handling additional tasks to experience the conversation scene with Jennifer.
Anyway, after finishing the tasks before the afternoon ended, Jennifer said to the group—
“Looks like we have a lot of time left today. There’s still quite a while until dinner.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Leo nodded, and Jennifer, after a brief moment of thought, said,
“In that case, would you all be up for a rather interesting challenge?”
“A challenge… you say?”
Leo asked, and Jennifer nodded with a mischievous smile.
“Yes. If you succeed, it could be very beneficial for you all. Though, considering the time, it might be a bit tight.”
“……”
The kids exchanged glances, their eyes filled with curiosity.
Jennifer’s suggestion was half-joking, half-serious. Part of her wanted to surprise her master, and the other part genuinely wanted to reward her students, whom she had grown fond of.
She also kept a close eye on Leo, noting how he had inherited the swordsmanship of the Grace family.
She must have seen some potential in him.
“So, are you interested in hearing more?”
When the kids nodded, Jennifer smiled and began to speak.
“In that case—”