Saikyou Mahoushi no Inton Keikaku (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter 31

Thirty-First Chapter 

Unsettling Departure 

The students participating in the Friendship Magical Tournament were staying in hotels. And before heading out on his mission, Alus quickly returned there. 

He briefly thought that it was around the time for the Second Magical Institute students to wake up, but looking at the clock, he saw that it was still relatively early. Only the ones with a very proper lifestyle would be awake at this hour. 

The first thing on his agenda was stopping by Felinella’s room. He wondered if she was still in bed, but after considering her personality, he didn’t hesitate to ring the bell. 

As expected, when she opened the door, there was no sign of tiredness in her face. She had loungewear on, but even then her clothing had an elegance to it. Perhaps because it was cold in the early morning, she also had a thin cape around her shoulders. It appeared her roommate was fast asleep. 

“Mr. Alus...” Upon seeing his clothes and expression, Felinella realized there was something going on right away. Her blushing expression soon turned serious as if her hunch had been right on the mark. 

Alus had actually spoken to Felinella the day before about this, so he cut it short. “It happened faster than expected. I’ll leave the rest to you, so put in Loki as planned. I can’t take her with me this time.” 

“I understand. Please be careful. I will await you with reports of our victory...” 

“I’m not worried, so I’ll listen to that report when we’re back at the Institute.” 

There had been a subtle pause before Alus answered. Felinella smiled and said, “Yes!” She didn’t add in anything unnecessary because she understood the situation in her own way. 

Alus quietly departed, as she saw him off. Her hand trembled from unease as she pressed it against her voluminous breasts. So it really came to this. He can’t fight alongside the other students until the end... I expected as much but it’s still vexing. I will definitely bring you reports of our victory, so please come back in one piece. 

She felt a prickly pain in her chest as her lonely gaze drifted across the hallway. Did her mother feel this way whenever her father Vizaist left for a mission in the Outer World? At the same time, she realized how much mental fortitude just waiting required.

Alus’ next stop was Loki and the other girls’ room. 

Of course, his business was primarily with Loki, but he wasn’t sure where to begin. He’d told Felinella that he was leaving Loki behind, but he couldn’t come up with a good way to persuade her. 

“—!!” However, the door opened before he could knock. He’d hesitated to peer into the girls’ room with his detection abilities, so he just resigned himself to being surprised. “So you noticed.” 

“Of course. I am always keeping an eye on you, Sir Alus.” 

Alus couldn’t quite be happy about that, and his cheeks twitched. Naturally he had no way of knowing the extent to which Loki did this on a daily basis. “Sorry, but I’ve got a sudden mission.” 

“Then I will get ready right away.” 

This wasn’t the kind of discussion to have by the door, but since Tesfia and Alice hadn’t shown up, they were probably still sleeping. 

Alus hesitated over whether or not to enter the room, as he recalled getting an earful after stepping into their room in the girls’ dorm. But they were pressed for time, and seeing the two girls asleep was an insignificant event given the bigger picture. He didn’t have the time to talk for long, but he didn’t think he could convince Loki at the door. Not to mention that he didn’t want her to get emotional and raise her voice or make a scene outside. 

“Well, let’s talk inside.” 

Loki nodded, and took a step to the side to let him in. 

The room had a lived-in feel to it, with things scattered about everywhere, though it appeared it was mostly Tesfia’s stuff making up the mess. 

As expected, Tesfia and Alice were carefreely sleeping in their beds. 

Alice was on her side, with half her face buried in the pillow, her honey-colored hair covering her face. 

Tesfia, on the other hand, didn’t betray expectations. She’d kicked away most of her blanket, with some of it just barely hanging on around her waist area. It wasn’t a completely unbecoming appearance, but her sleeping habits couldn’t be called good by any stretch of the imagination, and her disheveled crimson red hair spread out to cover the pillow and beyond. This was a failing grade for a noble lady, but at least she wasn’t snoring. 

Alus quietly walked over to a chair he spotted and slowly sat down. He had an unconscious habit of always walking silently. It wasn’t something he needed to focus to do. “The mission is more troublesome than I imagined, but I’ll have Lettie with me, so it won’t be a problem. So Loki... I want you to take my place in the tournament main stage.” 

“...” 

Loki needed time to answer. The sound of grinding teeth could be heard behind her firmly closed lips. Mission, mission, mission... there’s always a mission... A dark emotion took hold in her mind. She was hoping to finally be able to show her worth to Alus in this tournament. But that didn’t matter now. 

She felt resentment towards the top brass for forcing these difficult missions onto Alus with serious faces. And she felt a stinging pain in her chest over being helpless, not being able to go with him and help him. 

“... Again?” The word escaping from her mouth expressed her true feelings. 

Alus understood what Loki was trying to say. What point was there in a partner if she couldn’t accompany him on missions, after all? “We’ll need to split up our roles here. We need to complete this secret mission and win the tournament, so there’s no choice but to split up. Not to mention that the difficulty of this mission is higher than expected. It’s honestly too much for you.” 

His blunt words more than let Loki know that she didn’t have enough strength. If she was honest with her feelings, she had a ton of things she wanted to say, but she would simply be speaking out of emotion with no logic to it. 

Alus himself said it was too much for her. As his partner, she knew that she should accept his decision. But even then... even then I should at least be able to serve as a wall to protect him. Even if it costs me my life... 

“—!!” Alus picked up alarming signals from Loki and felt a tinge of unease. He didn’t know exactly what she was thinking, but he concluded that he should cut her off from that line of thought. 

After a short sigh, he put his hand on her small head. “Loki, I acknowledge your efforts, but this Fiend is just bad news... but yes, your detection range is gradually increasing, so...” He considered, then spoke again: “All right, first I want you to win this tournament. If you can complete that mission, I promise to bring you along on my missions.” 

“R-Really?!” 

He felt like he saw a small bud blossom into a large flower in an instant. 

With her eyes wide open, Loki brought her face closer to Alus’ face. As if to peer into the truth, she stared into his eyes. 

He felt like he was pinned down by her intense gaze, but returned the stare without looking away. 

“That’s not a lie, is it? You can’t take it back later, okay?” 

“Y-Yeah, I know. I won’t go back on my word.” 

“That’s a promise.” 

“I swear I am not lying, and that I won’t try to pretend it didn’t happen later. But it’s not going to be easy for you to win. That Fillic guy from Rusalca’s First Magical Institute seems like he’s pretty good.” 

“I am aware of that, and I know it won’t be easy... but I won’t lose.” Her declaration sounded as emotionless as usual, but deep within her eyes was an unwavering conviction that she would come out victorious. Or perhaps it would be better described as resolve. 

“I understand that you’re motivated, but don’t go too far,” Alus said, warning her not to use a taboo like back then. 

But Loki turned her head away as if she took offense at this. “The situation is different from then. Besides... I won’t have to rely on a taboo.” 

Alus didn’t say anything more after hearing her bold statement, and simply eased up on his stern expression. 

That’s when a spaced-out sounding “Whaaat?” came from the bed. 

Tesfia was on her way to waking up as she rubbed her eyes. Alice, following Tesfia’s lead, was also blinking repeatedly while stifling a yawn. 

After a quick glance at the two, Alus shrugged. “Then there’s nothing to worry about. I don’t have any time, so I’ll be leaving now.” 

“Yes! Please be careful. I’m sure nothing will happen, but please make sure you come back.” 

“Yeah, nothing will happen. But it will take two or three days at least. You take care of things here.” 

“Please leave it to me. There is nothing to worry about.” 

Seeing Alus off to the door, Loki held a small fist in front of her chest. 

Once he had fully disappeared from view, she spun around. 

Loki couldn’t go back to sleep now. Perhaps she should sharpen her knife AWRs, or lay some plans to win the tournament... 

She thought about it as she sat down on her bed. Suddenly she had a flash of brilliance, and decided she could do both of them. 

That was when— 

“Loki, did Al stop by? But why, when I was sleeping... You could have at least woken me up.” Tesfia must have realized he’d been here as she got her thoughts in order after waking up. Maybe she’d caught a glimpse of him and thought it was just a dream. 

“It just never crossed my mind. But that drooling was probably not very pleasant to see...” 

“Wha—! No way!” Tesfia wiped the area around her mouth with the sleeve of her nightwear. 

Alice was absentmindedly watching the two. She had a harder time waking up than Tesfia, and was still half-asleep. Shaking her head left and right, she finally spoke up with a drowsy look to her. “Loki deeaar, why did Al come here so early?” 

“He had a sudden mission. So he came here to say he would be missing the tournament, and left the rest to me, of course.” 

“He sure has it rough, getting a mission now of all times...” Tesfia said, but then she suddenly realized something. “Wait! B-But what about his match; that’s really going to be rough!” 

“That’s why I said he would be missing it,” Loki calmly responded to the panicking Tesfia. 

“R-Right, he asked us to take care of it for him. T-Then I’ll need to do my best!” 

“I was the only one he asked.” 

Perhaps she hadn’t heard Loki’s response, or maybe her brain wasn’t fully functional yet, but Tesfia shot out of her bed. “Oh, I suppose so... I guess I’ll help out and do some morning training to warm up.” 

“Whaaat? Can I help too?” 

“Could you, Alice?” Tesfia answered her. “Alus went out of his way to ask us, so we’ll need to pump ourselves up!” She had finally grasped the situation, but Alice was still out of it. 

“Ms. Alice will likely take Sir Alus’ vacated spot... so the first match will be between you two.” 

“Eh?!” 

“Wait, what is going on?!” Alice said. 

Loki had a mischievous smile, as she watched Tesfia panic and Alice try to figure out what was going on.