CH 89

[Determination]

Astor Academy’s School Festival.

It was a student(student council)-organized event in which there would be a theatrical performance, chorus contest, and so on—that was how it was described in【The Rise of the Weakest Holy Swordsman】if I remembered correctly.

But while living here, I’d come to learn of a certain rumor that was never mentioned in the original novel.

It said that—couples who started going out during the festival would end up becoming lifelong companions.

…Well, there was no evidence proving that rumor to be true. It might be one thing if doing so cause the couple to be bound by some powerful magic that couldn’t be broken by force, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

In other words, it was just a baseless rumor.

It was just a baseless rumor, but…

“Apparently, couples who start dating during the school festival will become lifelong companions!”

…so my fiancée told me with sparkling eyes, I couldn’t bear to break the truth to her.

Tayte was looking at me as though she was expecting something from me, but… we had already past the stage of dating and were engaged, so how were we supposed to go out during the school festiva—Mm? Hang on.

Now that I thought about it… I never confessed to Tayte.

Since our engagement was decided by our parents, that wasn’t necessary, but I’d never properly told Tayte that I loved her.

This was a serious problem.

“…………”

“? Do you have something on your mind again?”

“-! N-no, not at all!”

I laughed off her question as usual.

I should refrain from thinking deeply in front of Tayte.

After all, she was good at seeing through me.

…But it was okay, because now I knew what I was going to do at the school festival.

During the school festival, I would—confess to Tayte!

◇◇◇

Having set a new goal for myself, we were led to a certain room in the research building where Eureka was.

“Eureka!”

“Y-Young Mistress Tayte?! And Lord Barrett, too?!”

Eureka was very surprised at our visit.

But more importantly… yeah. I was glad to see her having regained consciousness and looking fine.

“W-what brings you here?!”

“We were so worried about you, you know? We heard from Ms. Teixeira that you have woken up, so we came to visit you.”

“Uu… Young Mistress!”

Her mistress, Tayte, visited bringing her a bouquet.

At this, Eureka couldn’t stop herself from bursting into tears.

The two embraced each other, and before long Tayte’s eyes were filled with tears as well.

…Let’s give them some time alone for now.

I could fill the vase with water in the meantime.

I silently slipped out of the room and went out into the corridor.

“Err… where do I get water?”

As I was wandering around the corridor with a vase in hand…

“Huh? Who’s that…”

…I came across a male student standing by his lonesome.

The male student had his arms folded and eyes closed, seemingly contemplating something. He appeared to be facing an extremely difficult problem, and he wore an anguished look, as though he was going to scream at any moment.

Wait, wasn’t that…

“Raul?”

“Huh?! L-Lord Barrett?!” Raul stiffened up, having been found by me.

I could roughly guess what he was doing here.

He likely wanted to visit Eureka, but… considering how they had parted the last time, he was probably afraid of being turned another way at the door. That was why he was just standing around here, worrying.

“…Oh, right.”

At that moment, an idea came to my mind.

Rather than asking Eureka, it’d be better if I asked Raul. I mean, Eureka didn’t seem too fond of the idea of talking about her past.

But I could just get the information from Raul.

“Raul, there’s something I’d like to ask you about.”

“W-what may it be?”

“Your relationship with Eureka.”

“-?!” Raul was so surprised that he was at a loss for words.

No, there was no need for him to be that surprised.

“Can you tell me?”

“…I understand. I will tell you about me and Eureka.” Raul answered with a determined look, having made up his resolve.

…I didn’t think he had to make such a big deal out of it, though.

Anyway, with this, I’d get a clear picture of their relationship.

We decided to move to another place, and then we held a long talk.