Tensei Shoujo no Rirekisho - Volume 3 - Chapter 75

75. Student Activities 3 – They Might Be Twins

After that… that bastard Henry was being rude to Melis, but after I called out to him at the personal referral site it was rough. After all, Henry went home without buying Melis. And because he didn’t buy her, that fat owner blamed me, and Mama Kou and I were kicked out. It seems I shut down one of Mama Kou’s jobs just by calling out.

But Mama Kou said, “Although it’s profitable, it wasn’t a very pleasant job, and it was really more like a favor to the one who introduced us. If the other party rejects it, I’m rather grateful.”

That may be true, but I’m still sorry, because I was so surprised that I didn’t think things through… Because Henry… He was pretentious, but I thought he had the makings of a good person… Ah, I’m depressed. Because my day off is over, I have to go back to school. When I go to school, I’ll probably see that bastard Henry. He better not give me an innocent look.

He said he wouldn’t buy Melis and went home right away… but I’m not sure, with him. I mean, I’m concerned that Sir Cain seems to be getting on well with that bastard Henry. Does Sir Cain even know? To be honest, I had expected a little help from Henry when I did the signing event, so this shocked me more than I imagined.

When I nervously entered the auditorium, Henry wasn’t there.

O-okay… I steadied myself and sat down next to Charlotte as usual to attend the magic history lesson. Anyway, it’s worthless to be afraid, or rather it’s silly to be so afraid!

“Hey, Chicky!”

I looked back at the sound to see Henry with his usual refreshing smile. He’d apparently just arrived, and that bastard walked all the way from the entrance to stand beside me. He had fair blond hair, amethyst eyes, and a gentle smile.

“Would you give me some time at lunch today?”

I-is he gonna shut me up… Well I w-won’t give in…

“Uh, I don’t have anything to say…”

“I just wanted to chat with you a little. Will you come have lunch with me?” He said, though there was an edge of force hiding in his voice.

I’m not confident in a verbal promise from that bastard Henry… Hmm, Henry’s silent presence is so scary I don’t think I can refuse the invitation. His face is smiling, but I don’t know what he’d do if I declined. For now, I’ll listen to what he has to say.

“…I accept.”

“Then, I’ll come pick you up at lunch time.”

Oh really, you’re picking me up… If it wasn’t for yesterday, I might have been excited about being picked up by a handsome guy, uh-huh.

And Henry left as suddenly as he had appeared. Refreshing. Even now he’s genuinely refreshing! I’m not open-minded enough to say that. Sorry.

“Ryou? Are you doing something with Prince Henry?”

Alan, who always sat behind me, said suspiciously. When you say ‘something’, there was something, but I can’t talk about it. If I said it, I don’t know what that bastard Henry will do to Alan and me.

“No, there’s nothing between us.”

“But he just invited to lunch.”

“Uh, well, that’s true. I had also talked to Henry about getting his signature, maybe that’s it.”

“Then I’ll go with you.”

“No, that’s a little… Ah! The teacher’s here! Alan, we have to stop talking. Class is starting!”

Thanks to the teacher’s good timing coming in, I managed to avoid Alan’s investigation. I felt a really cranky aura from Alan sitting behind me. Sorry, Alan. Forgive your lying boss. But this is also because I don’t want to involve my minion!

I managed to evade Alan’s questions and finally, during lunch break, that bastard Henry came as promised. I left the auditorium with Henry smartly escorting me. All the ladies looked at me with envious eyes, but it’s not enviable at all. I didn’t know what kind of development was waiting for me now, so with a cold sweat I checked my weapons through my skirt fabric and did mental simulations so that I could respond in an emergency. Compared to my pale face, Henry looked refreshing as always.

Hmm?

…What?

Could it be possible the person from yesterday was someone else? Because he’s so refreshing. Could they possibly be twins? And one of the twins is evil, and the one yesterday was the evil one, something like that! Seeing how refreshing Sir Henry was, I formed the Twin Theory.

Sir Henry, possibly the good twin, led me out of the school building and over to a place with a big waterfall. There was such a waterfall on campus… Thinking about that, I let myself be guided to a cave behind the waterfall. It’s kind of exciting, like a secret base.

“There are no light spirits here, and because of the waterfall, dry wind magic can’t be used to amplify voices. It’s a good place for a confidential talk.” Sir Henry said with a pure smile like a boy introducing his secret base.

Ah, they have to be twins. A person who can laugh so innocently couldn’t say such a nasty thing as, “If I buy you before that man, what would his face look like?” I’m sure the royal family has a taboo about twins being born. It’s common! I get it, Sir Henry. I understand! They’re twins! You don’t need to tell me about your twin! Instead, it’d be great if you could just help me with the signature event!

“Just to get this out there, don’t misunderstand about yesterday.”

Yeah, I know, you’ve got a twin. You’re identical, right. It’s hard being part of the royal family.

“Just because I like someone, doesn’t mean they’re special to me. I like cows, pigs, goats, and chickens just as much.”

…Huh? What’s this all of a sudden. What are you talking about… Cows and pigs? Wh-what about your twin?

I must have had a shocked look on my face. Sir Henry looked at it and chuckled before continuing.

“Since you happened to be there yesterday, I didn’t want you to think I was giving that person special treatment. I like people, just like I like livestock… Rather, I love them. I just wanted to convey that.”

No, I don’t understand the point he’s talking about. What are you saying? Huh? Your Twin? What happened to your twin?

“I, I don’t really understand what you mean…”

Seeing that I didn’t understand his meaning. Sir Henry tilted his head to the side.

“What do you not understand? Ah, I must have been too abrupt. You see… In the past, a female got the wrong idea that I liked her, and got all aroused. I managed to put her off… but it surprised me. I decided to make sure no one misunderstood me in the future.”

Sir Henry gave a refreshing, ha ha ha, but I still haven’t caught up with him?! A female? Aroused… You were attacked by a woman and are now afraid of women… Therefore you don’t want to be thought of as a womanizer just because you were in that store? No, I still don’t understand, what was that about pigs and cows? If you’re not good with women, what’s the point of going to that store? Could this person be…

“Sir Henry, do you think of people who can’t use magic as cows, pigs, and chickens… Do you think they’re livestock or something?”

He made a surprised look as if to say, what were you hearing just now.

“Ha ha! That’s not what I was thinking, but actually yeah?” He answered with his usual refreshing smile.

He called me out today not to try to silence me over his buying a woman, but so that I wouldn’t misunderstand her as special, since people are the same as livestock?

Do some magicians… Do the royal family think of everyone who can’t use magic as livestock? No, but it’s common for a magician to marry someone who can’t use magic. Nobody would think of their spouse that way… Probably. No, am I a dreamer? At least with the magicians I’ve seen… Irene loved her husband Cardine. Is it only the magicians of the royal family who think like that… or just that bastard Henry?

“…Magicians and people who can’t use magic are both people. There may be some differences in ability, but that’s it. Being able or unable to use magic is just a small part of someone’s personality.”

Shoot. I was so disgusted I stuck my neck out without thinking. I had originally meant not to resist no matter what he said. I understand that using magic is not a small advantage, but if you say it like that, even I—who’s known for having a calm mind—will get angry…! Yeah, the shock may be bigger than I expected. Just now, I was hoping he’d cooperate with the signature event.

Henry knit his brows a little. But he seemed to recover his temper at once, and the corners of his mouth lifted in a funny way.

“Do you know the kind of beef and pork we buy in this country?”

What’s this all of a sudden…

“I know… the cattle are brown cows, called the Cargick breed, that are disease resistant and produce a lot of milk.”

And pigs are raised to get fat eating anything. I learned about them studying livestock in Rubyfallen.

“Yes, you understand. Cargick cattle are by far the most numerous compared to the other breeds of wild cattle. That’s why we keep them. Likewise with pigs and chickens. The species we keep thrive in a wider range than the other wild breeds. You understand that we raise cows and pigs. You know that being more delicious and giving more milk results in our raising them, and the flourishing of their species. Therefore they aspire every day to become better food for us. Humans are the same. They can prosper by being more obedient and devoted to magicians. Magicians can make the best use of humans. In that sense, wouldn’t you say humans are livestock kept by us magicians?”

Right, he asked with his usual refreshing smile. Somehow, I started seeing red.

“You call yourself a farmer! Ultimately you throw up your hands and make things like pioneer villages and let them starve to death! If you’re going to call yourself a farmer and us your livestock, why don’t you say that after you’ve taken good care of us?!”

“Ha ha ha, you’re quite lively! You’ve hit a sore spot… But weren’t they abandoned not because we were negligent, but because our efforts were exhausted? Ho ho, it’s fine though. You’re interesting after all. I prefer obedient livestock, but it might be nice to tame a horse like this. You have glossy hair and a good complexion, and you’re clean and beautiful. You’re healthy and strong, I’m so happy it hurts. Will you give me some time on our next day off? I’ll take you to my farm.”

That bastard Henry doesn’t seem chastened, he gave me such an excellent proposal! Smiling so wide at me. I mean, stop praising me like you’re at an animal fair!

“No way.”

I’m not going on a farm date with that sleazebag.

“I’m surprised! You’re the first one to decline my invitation. But that’s a problem. I really want to go to my farm with you. It would make such a picture, you playing with the pigs and the cows… Right! Chicky, didn’t you have a request for the school? The principal asked me in a roundabout way to cooperate with you. If you go out with me, I’ll think about cooperating!”

Eh, principal, what are you asking without my permissions. He must have thought, “I’ll do my best!” and moved in the shadows… that’s too much!

“No, thank you.”

Having said that, I don’t even want to breathe the same air as him anymore, so I started walking briskly away.

“Now, now, don’t say that. If you don’t come, I might interfere rather than cooperate, right?”

Th-this guy! This damn bastard! Don’t think I’ll forgive you just because your face is so cool! I turned around and stared at the sleazebag. He was looking at me warmly as if to say, “Better cheer up!” The really scary thing about that bastard Henry is that he has nothing like malice. When he talked about humans as livestock, there was no trace of shame. He takes it for granted and doesn’t think it’s rude.

He was smiling purely, refreshingly, the whole time he was talking to me.