‘A peaceful daily life arc with no special incidents, my foot!
Someone I really didn’t want to get close to for reasons different from Reysir has now been listed as a friend candidate.
At least the Original Protagonist is going to drop out after this semester, but I have no clue how to keep my distance from this Original Villain.
I silently lamented my headache-inducing situation and clicked my tongue…
“That was unexpected.”
Vigdis suddenly said something out of the blue.
So I decided to blurt out what I wanted to say, just as directly.
But not openly—a whisper in her ear.
“Just so you don’t misunderstand, let me say in advance, I haven’t broken Clause 3 of the contract promising not to meddle in your personal affairs.”
“Huh?”
“The only reason I drove that guy away was because he was bothering me, not because he approached you. Besides, didn’t you find him disagreeable too? So consider it help, not interference, and be grateful.”
“Ah, yes… I’ll be grateful…”
That wasn’t really the expression she had.
Vigdis looked bewildered.
Since I hadn’t said that expecting a genuine thank-you anyway, I let it slide without pointing it out.
“Anyway, what was so ‘unexpected’?”
“A stranger just casually dropped honorifics and spoke informally, and you just allowed it.”
“Allowed? I made it clear I didn’t like him talking to me so informally. He just chose to ignore my wishes.”
“But you didn’t get angry or anything, did you?”
Just as Vigdis said, I hadn’t strongly protested or shown obvious displeasure at Nidhr’s informal speech.
So it was only natural that she found it odd.
If this were the original Karvald Austri, he would have exploded in anger.
But if you think about it rationally…
“Not getting angry doesn’t mean you should take my silence for acceptance and ignore my rejection.”
“That’s true, but…”
“Wouldn’t it seem petty to get angry and mention my father’s status just because someone used informal speech?”
“Ah, hearing you say that, it really does make you sound like an utterly pathetic guy!”
“……”
Even though I was explaining that I wasn’t that kind of person, and Vigdis agreed, I was suddenly at a loss for words.
Because the original owner of this body I’ve possessed was exactly that ‘utterly pathetic guy.’
“…And judging by how he spoke, it felt like even if I acted high-handed and got angry, it would only be a waste of emotion. So I just let it go.”
“Ahh~, I think I get it. He kind of gave off that… impossible-to-describe, strange sort of feeling, didn’t he?”
It seemed Vigdis somewhat understood what I meant, but I couldn’t grasp what she meant at all.
Still, one thing was clear: Vigdis also sensed something off about Nidhr.
After hearing her so-called praise earlier, I’d been—worried… no, just concerned, so this was a relief.
‘This body is bound in an engagement with Vigdis. If she gets close to Nidhr, it’ll be trouble for me too, right?’
Yes, exactly.
Nidhr isn’t just after Vigdis—he’s set his sights on me too.
He’s even keeping an eye on Reysir and Liolikin.
‘Yesterday he barely made acquaintances with Vigdis, and today he’s already approaching me…!
If Vigdis ever opens her heart to Nidhr,
he’ll definitely use her as a bridge to sneak into our meal gatherings.
And, as if it were natural, he’ll try to take the leader’s role.
“I don’t know exactly what you mean by ‘something’—but if I can give you advice instead of meddling, I’d say it’s best to avoid him, but don’t outright ignore him. Otherwise, he’ll surely hold a grudge and try to get back at you someday.”
“And how do you know that?”
“When someone evaluates another to their face, it means they’re looking down on them. Imagine being ignored by someone you think is inferior—how much would it hurt your pride?”
“Is that from personal experience?”
“If it sounds that way, then maybe.”
Karvald Austri isn’t the type to go around evaluating others.
He’s the type who looks down on and disregards everyone so much, he doesn’t even see them as worth judging. Naturally, he can’t stand being ignored himself.
So I had to accept Vigdis bringing up ‘experience.’ Just then—
“Ah! Now that I think about it, maybe not.”
Vigdis suddenly changed her mind.
“…What do you mean, ‘not’?”
“I… avoided Karbaldr a lot last semester, didn’t I? That was pretty much ignoring you too, wasn’t it…?”
“You avoided me because you were scared of how obsessed I was with you, but even then, if I called you out, you still showed up, didn’t you? That can’t really be called ignoring me.”
“Even now, see? You don’t hold a grudge but try to understand. And come to think of it, you’ve never once asked why I avoided you.”
I stiffened my expression, worried I’d unconsciously look surprised if I didn’t.
I’d been certain Karvald Austri would have gotten angry and yelled at Vigdis over that, but apparently, he never even brought it up.
Maybe he had a shred of conscience after all.
“Instead, you kept repeating, like brainwashing, that I owed you for letting me learn swordsmanship at the Academy, and that I shouldn’t avoid you.”
“……”
“Which isn’t exactly wrong, but…”
Correction.
Villains like the Original Villain don’t have a conscience after all.
If I hadn’t possessed this body, Karvald Austri would definitely have bullied Vigdis before the year was out for ‘ignoring’ him.
“Don’t try to excuse a perpetrator by desperately looking for a redeeming quality.”
“You do realize that ‘perpetrator’ is you, right?”
“……I do. That’s why I said it. The more you say things like that, the guiltier I feel.”
To be honest with just the readers—I’d forgotten for a moment.
Because Vigdis, the victim, was excusing the perpetrator, trying to find the fault in herself.
That irritated me, and before I knew it, I snapped.
“I guess Karbaldr really isn’t the type to hold a grudge. Sorry for asking if you were speaking from experience.”
“There’s no need to apologize for something like that.”
“You must think I’m so ungrateful for everything, but I’m always grateful you understand my circumstances.”
“There’s even less reason for that kind of thanks.”
While I was batting away Vigdis’s words with complicated feelings, she suddenly burst into laughter, “Pfft~!”
When I looked at her in confusion, tilting my head,
Vigdis spoke just like Reysir.
“Are you acting all shy because you’re embarrassed right now?”
“Ha… Unbelievable…! Who’s embarrassed, exactly?!”
“You, Karbaldr.”
“No, I’m not.”
“I think you are.”
“I said I’m not, really!”
“Puhuhut…!”
She wasn’t listening to me at all—so what’s the point in continuing the conversation?
I raised the book lying on my lap to hide my face.
It was a sign I wouldn’t bother with this pointless back-and-forth anymore.
“That’s what happened.”
Day 3 of the Swordsmanship Tournament, at breakfast.
Vigdis told everyone what Nidhr had said when he visited us yesterday.
She hadn’t brought it up herself—Reysir had asked if anything special had happened yesterday, so she answered.
“If even Karvald Austri felt that same discomfort, then it’s probably not just a ‘feeling.’”
“At the very least, he doesn’t seem to know proper manners. You’re older than him, and Karvald Austri is from a Dukedom family. Just wanting to get closer isn’t an excuse to ignore the other person’s feelings and act however you want.”
“Y-Yeah, he’s a bad person…!”
Reysir said he trusted Vigdis and my instincts, Hailga frowned at Nidhr’s rudeness,
and Liolikin seemed to just blurt something out because he felt he had to.
“You said his name was ‘Nidhr’? If I’ve never heard of him, he must never have stood out in any particular field, and he doesn’t seem very social either.”
“Never stood out? With that level of swordsmanship?”
Reysir couldn’t hide his surprise at the info provided by Hailga, the only social butterfly among us.
Which makes sense.
Who hides their skills to such an extent that they don’t even attend swordsmanship classes and train in secret?
“Should I ask my friends? See if they know anything about that student?”
“No, it’s fine. If what Vigdis said is true, and he’s interested in both me and Liolikin, then if we just go sit in the Stadium later, he’ll probably come talk to us first anyway.”
I agreed.
Yesterday, he’d used his acquaintance with Vigdis as a pretext to approach her and me.
Today, he’ll probably want to finish talking to me and use that as a reason to introduce himself to Reysir and Liolikin.
“Okay, then. We’ll save talk about that rude person for later—can I bring up something else?”
“Of course you can. What is it?”
“Well, I heard something really interesting yesterday~.”
Hailga deliberately drew out her words and squinted her eyes in a playful smile.
She shot me a glance—and I suddenly felt a strong sense of foreboding.
“Wa, wait a minute…”
“Come on~. I heard that Karvald Austri helped a certain couple get together!”
Is it because they’re childhood friends?
Just like Reysir, Hailga ignored my plea to stop and pressed on with her story.
“What?! Is that true?”
“Where did you hear that?”
“So it really is true??”
“I heard it from the girl who got confessed to—she’s a friend of a friend.”
“Wow… so it is true.”
“……”
For some reason, the Original Protagonist, now acting like a reaction bot, was more annoying than Hailga, who just wanted to tease me.
But this wasn’t the time to worry about that.
Whether it was Hailga or Reysir or anyone else, the priority was to clear things up before they could tease me outright.
So I repeated what I’d told Vigdis yesterday.
To sum it up: ‘I just shot back a few words at a sore loser who was whining, that’s all.’
After hearing that, Reysir looked at me with an expression I couldn’t quite describe.
“……”
“W-What? Do you have something to say to me…?”
“I do, but… I don’t think the middle of the cafeteria is the right place for it. Let’s talk in the carriage later.”
With that cryptic statement, Reysir quietly continued eating.
I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
Just how far are they planning to tease me that they have to set the mood like this?