CH 11

Warning: Milder than most, but one of the teenage characters is explicitly described as a “loli” and Makoto gushes over her and acts pervy as usual.

After being thoroughly interrogated by Estelle-senpai and the dormitory guards, Carol and I were released later in the night.

“Come on, everyone, let’s go to the bathhouse,” Yurisha-senpai said out of the blue.

“Huh?” I asked.

By the way, the Royal Appleton Academy of Magic is equipped with a bathhouse.

As expected, it’s an otome game, so it doesn’t seem to have adopted the real medieval style of not taking a bath for your entire life, just wiping your body with hot water. 1

Fine by me, fine by me.

“Well, if Carol is coming with–” I said.

“I’m sorry, Makoto, I’ll take a bath in my room,” Carol said.

“Huh?”

Betrayal from Carol.

“Yurisha, your penthouse will also have a bath, there’s no need for this,” Estelle-senpai said.

“But I wanted to have some naked skinship with Makoto-sama,” Yurisha-senpai said as she was pulled away by her ear.

Phew, I was able to avoid various dangers.

Yuri-Yuri-senpai is kind of like a very intense lesbian, and it’s troublesome.

When I was in Past-Makoto’s all girls school, I had a senpai like that.

“Well then, I’m going to take a bath,” I said. “Good night Carol, see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow, Makoto, good night,” Carol said.

Alone, I head to the large bath in the basement of the dormitory.

The upper-class aristocrats live in high-class apartment-like rooms equipped with baths, but the pitiful lower-class aristocrats live in business hotel-class rooms and use the underground large public bathhouse.

I open the door and step inside to the steam.

It’s late at night, so there’s only one other person in there besides me.

There was a single loli in the bathtub.

What the hell, she’s such a beautiful loli.

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I wondered where this cute girl came from.

I pour hot water over myself, wash my body, and slowly enter the hot water tub.

Phew, the bath is nice.

There are hot springs in this world, right?

On a school trip, let’s go to a northern country with hot springs.

“Fu, paradise, paradise,” I muttered.

“Makoto? You sound like an old man.”

“What the? Corinna-chan?” I asked.

Corinna-chan looked at me with the peculiar gaze of a short-sighted person.

“No way, Corinna-chan, you’re really cute without glasses,” I said.

“The most important thing for a lower-class aristocrat is to be able to work rather than being cute,” Corinna said.

“You’d be fine if you just became someone’s wife like usual,” I said.

“A poor baron’s daughter won’t get a good marriage proposal,” Corinna said.

“I find that crazy, you know?”

“Unlike you, the easy-going saint candidate, the impoverished nobles have a harder time,” Corinna said.

Everywhere in the world, things are difficult.

When I returned to Room 205 with Corinna-chan after she transformed into someone else, the maids were already asleep.

I’m tired today, I climb the ladder and crawl into the upper bunk.

I change into pajamas on my bed.

Good night.

I was awakened by someone making rustling noises.

When I pulled the privacy curtain aside and looked down, the maids were changing their clothes.

“Sorry for waking you up,” Margot said.

“A maid-san’s morning is really early, isn’t it?” I asked.

“We have to go wake up our young ladies, you girls can sleep for an hour more,” Karina said.

“Thanks, have a nice day,” I said.

“Yes, we’re leaving now,” Margot said.

“I’m going as well,” Karina said.

The pair of maids went to work.

Fuaah, sleepy, sleepy.

When I was dozing off, Corinna changed clothes.

Seeing a loli’s bare skin as she changes clothes~, uhihi.

“What’s with that weird look on your face? you’re going to be late for breakfast,” Corinna said.

What the?

I hurriedly washed my face and changed clothes.

No matter what, it’s unbecoming for a lady to get so caught up watching a loli change clothes that she’s late for breakfast.

I was the last to leave, so I locked the room and hurried down the corridor.

Phew, in the end, I managed to enter the large dormitory cafeteria.

It’s a system where you take breakfast on a tray and eat it at a suitable table.

Today’s menu is porridge and a mini salad.

Hmmm.

Open wide.

Porridge is a stew made from rolled barley, and I wonder what it tastes like.

It’s salty, like a cornflake that’s stretched all over the place.

It tastes really salty.

It’s bad, it’s bad.

The vegetables in the mini salad are also salty.

“Hmm, the poisoned soup was fine, but this terrible porridge is no good,” Corinna said.

“Bad things are bad, Corinna-chan,” I said.

“If you don’t eat well, you’ll collapse, even if it’s terrible, eat it all,” Corinna said.

“Alright,” I said.

Corinna-chan can bite hard but she’s surprisingly caring.

But no, this is salty clay or something.

Somehow, I managed to finish the terrible porridge, grab my bag, and head to the school building.

The distance between the school building and the girls’ dormitory is about five minutes on foot.

Kepuh, somehow the inside of my mouth tastes like salted porridge.

With a short run, I jump into 1st year, Class A.

Carol had already arrived and was reading an open textbook.

“Good morning, Carol.”

“Good morning, Makoto.”

Hey? Is that a notebook on Carol’s desk?

“Do you have a notebook made of plant paper?” I asked.

“Recently, plant-based paper notebooks are popular in the royal capital.”

“Oh, it’s expensive, isn’t it?”

“It’s about three times as much as parchment,” Carol said. “They said it’d become cheaper once they can get mass production going.”

Three times as much as parchment, that’s a pretty good price.

But I’ll buy it, I’ll buy it even if I spend all my pocket money.

I’ll buy it even if I have to ask Kyoukou-sama!

If I have smooth plant paper, I can draw BL manga!

Is there a pencil somewhere?

I’ve already found charcoal and oil paint.

Let’s search for art supply stores in the royal capital.

However, my writing materials today are parchment, ink, and fountain pen.

It’s thick, heavy, and hard to write, and there’s no room for error.

Or rather, if I fail, I have to scratch the surface with a knife.

Anthony-sensei arrives and morning homeroom begins.

I don’t mind going outside the school during lunch break, but I have to be back by 1:00.

If you’re even one second late, you’ll be locked out of the building until evening.

So strict.

I have to be careful when I go to Hiyoko-Do to buy bread.

Anthony-sensei also mentioned the attempted poisoning at the girls’ dormitory.

Currently, the dormitory guards are earnestly investigating, so if there is any truth, they will announce it so as not to let speculation and rumors spread.

“And, Makoto Kimball-san,” Anhony-sensei said.

“Ah, yes?” I asked.

“Please, act with caution and keep your guard up,” Anthony-sensei said.

“Okay,” I said.

It’s not a terrible thing to say but I can’t figure out why I still feel that way.

Then the class started.

The national language, mathematics, history, magic theory, and lectures in the morning.

I’m an otaku, so I’m very good at language and history.

I can speak the history of this country without thinking, and there are many beloved historical power couples.

I’ve many favorites, but the best is the burning forbidden loves that go beyond the ties of master and servant!

“Forgive me, I can’t return your love for the cause, I’ll see you again in the afterlife!”

I love it.

Also, burning feelings for a strong enemy, ablaze on the battlefield!

“You are my arch-enemy, but for some reason, my heart only ever beats for you!”

So good, mmm~.

“Makoto, you’re making those weird faces again.”

Leave me alone, Carol.

This made me remember history.

Let’s call it a pairings mnemonic.

As for mathematics, the curriculum at the Magic Academy is about the middle school level in my previous life, so it’s an easy win.

Higher mathematics than this seems to be learned by professional bureaucrats who do surveying.

It seems that it is enough for aristocrats to have a level of being able to read and understand a territory’s ledger.

Magical Theory is also interesting to understand the logic of magic.

It seems that the details are unknown, such as why the magical power is generated, and why the magical power changes into a phenomenon by chanting.

For the time being, it seems that the theory is constructed empirically by experiment after experiment.

I wonder if it’s the same vague theories about brain activity in my previous life.

It’s like we don’t know how the mind is born from the electrical transmission between nerves.

That’s how it feels, long live classroom learning.

Oh, I enjoyed studying~.

Kin-kon-kan-kon, a familiar chime rang, and the morning class ended.

“What are you going do about lunch, Carol?” I asked.

“Let’s go to your parents’ bakery like you said yesterday,” Makoto said.

“Oh, that’s right, let’s go, let’s go,” I said.

Mmm, Elmer-sama, why are you following me?

“I wanted to… go to the bakery with you…” Elmer said.

“Alright, shall we go together then, Elmer-sama?” Carol asked.

“I’ll recommend you some good bread,” I said.

“I’ve never been to a bakery before… I’m looking forward to it,” Elmer said.

And when the 3 of us went out into the hallway, as expected, Curtis-onii-chan came by.

“Oh, what are you doing for lunch today?” he asked.

So, is it confirmed that we will eat together?

“We’re going to Hiyoko-Do, what about you, Curtis?” I asked.

“If that’s the bakery everyone’s been talking about, why don’t you let your maid go buy something for you?” Curtis asked.

“I don’t have a maid,” I replied.

“Ah, that’s right. Because you’re so arrogant, I keep mistaking you for an upper-class noble” Curtis said.

“Leave me alone,” I said.

Curtis-onii-chan is easy to talk to, so I can’t help but talk to him, but a margrave is actually a very important noble, below the duke, on the same level as a marquis, or a little higher.

They are nobles with a vast territory at the edge of the country and defend the border lines.

They’re mainly nobles with a strong military history.

So, when I was casually chatting with Curtis-onii-chan, a lady glared at us as she passed by.

Her gaze is freezing cold.

Well, that’s just expected for a saint candidate who came from the commoners.

Ohohohoho.