Chapter 319: Suspension of School

“You must take off the shoes you wore outside in my room and change into indoor slippers.”

I said this, opened the door, went inside, quickly changed into indoor slippers, and pointed to the spare slippers with my finger.

Then Valtraus frowned as if annoyed, but seeing the clean, shiny floor, he obediently changed into the slippers.

Nya, kyaong!

Meanwhile, Yor extended his paw toward Raskatul, gesturing for him to wait a moment.

He quickly flew into the bathroom, brought back a wet towel, and dropped it on the hallway floor right in front of the door.

Oh…?

For reference, that was not a sound made by Yor.

It was a sound made by Raskatul, the cheetah-type Familiar, as he tilted his head.

Seeing and hearing this, Yor took a handkerchief from his Yeouiju, mimed washing his own hands and feet, and explained something earnestly.

“Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow.”

“Nyah?”

“Oong, nyanyanyat, nyanya, nyaong!”

Raskatul rubbed his feet on the wet towel, then looked at Yor as if asking whether he had done it correctly.

My baby dragon immediately demonstrated again, making it clear that he should scrub thoroughly instead of doing it half-heartedly.

Only after Valtraus personally cleaned Raskatul’s feet was the cheetah-type Familiar allowed to enter.

“Tsk, so this is why you wanted to go to the café.”

Valtraus clicked his tongue in disapproval and plopped down onto one of the chairs at the table without even asking for my permission.

Raskatul lay down with his backside pressed against Valtraus’s leg.

The Familiar lying belly-down on the floor wasn’t particularly problematic, but Valtraus casually planting himself in someone else’s chair without permission was rather irritating.

Still, he hadn’t left any dirty footprints on the floor, so I decided to let it slide in appreciation of that.

“So, what is it you wanted to say to me?”

“When a guest comes to your room, don’t you even serve tea?”

“You have quite a lot of expectations for our relationship.”

“I went through the trouble of following your entry procedure, so you should at least endure that much inconvenience.”

He wasn’t wrong, but I had no desire to put in any effort for someone like Valtraus.

So I casually brewed a capsule coffee and handed it to him.

‘Originally, I was going to buy an Aether Espresso Machine, but when I looked it up, I found that there was also an Aether Capsule Coffee Machine.’

‘Since the main purpose was getting my caffeine fix anyway, I chose the latter because it was more convenient.’

‘The former had been such a hassle in so many ways back at my pre-possession home.’

“Using such a convenience-oriented item…”

Judging from Valtraus’s reaction, it seemed nobles didn’t particularly care for Aether Capsule Coffee Machines.

‘Well, they could always have their servants make coffee for them.’

Whenever I visited my possession body’s main house, I simply asked Yon for coffee, and he would always prepare it by hand drip right in front of me.

Ironically, though, the Aether machine cost incomparably more than one from the modern world I used to live in.

It was so absurdly expensive that unless you were wealthy enough to hire servants, buying one wasn’t even worth considering.

“Stop picking pointless fights. Just say what you came to say and leave.”

I brewed my own coffee as well, sat down, and made no effort to hide my annoyance.

Valtraus frowned, opened his mouth, hesitated, then let out a deep sigh.

“Haa… Fine. That’s probably for the best. I have no desire to drag this conversation out with you either.”

Since it was practically muttered under his breath, I didn’t bother responding.

I simply gave a light nod and took a sip of coffee.

Only then did the person sitting across from me finally get to the point.

“What you did today was nothing more than picking at a scab.”

‘He must be talking about how I provoked the Acid Villain into attacking me.’

‘I acted that way because that villain was bound to cause trouble someday, so I wanted to deal with the issue while I could still control the situation, but…’

‘Since he doesn’t know that, he probably thinks I caused the whole incident by provoking him for no reason.’

“But…”

“Are you still saying that after hearing the second son of the Offrausi Family was carrying a highly acidic solution and planned to throw it in Hailga’s face?”

“I’m saying you brought danger upon yourself.”

“I’m talking about the incident that would have happened if I hadn’t stepped in.”

“……”

“……”

Valtraus silently stared at my face, so I glared right back, unwilling to lose.

About ten seconds into what had turned into a staring contest, he slowly closed and opened his eyes before letting out a hollow laugh.

“Heh…”

“So you figured out that those worthless bastards were planning to harm the young lady of House Bitnir, and you deliberately stepped in?”

“If I said no, would you believe me?”

“No.”

‘His answer is remarkably firm.’

“According to the reports I read earlier this year, the young baron’s daughter you saved on Graduation Ceremony Day belongs to House Bitnir, correct?”

“I hope you’re not about to start claiming I like her too, Brother.”

“The young lady of House Stirkr said you’re very close with that young lady’s childhood friend.”

The “young lady of House Stirkr” he mentioned referred to Risi.

‘I guess they chatted while we were fighting the Boss Monster, since they couldn’t just stand around awkwardly doing nothing together…’

“No, why is Reysir suddenly being brought up now?!”

“I asked whether you were close with the young lady of House Bitnir. She said she didn’t know about that, but that you were very close with the young lord of House Daudabiner. So I simply asked how close ‘very close’ actually was.”

For a brief moment, I felt resentful toward Risi for telling Valtraus things he didn’t need to know, but…

‘Thinking about it rationally, she wasn’t at fault.’

‘Someone older and of much higher status asked her about her brother. She couldn’t exactly refuse to answer.’

‘Well… at least she didn’t mention the wink incident… Right? She didn’t, did she?’

Seeing that Valtraus hadn’t even mentioned the word wink, she probably hadn’t.

‘I couldn’t exactly ask, “Did this happen too? Did you hear about that as well?”‘

‘So I decided to believe what I wanted to believe.’

“Since when have you become so interested in me that you’d go around asking pointless questions like that, Brother?”

“I’m not interested. But Sister has recently taken an interest in you, and she forced me to read reports about you, saying it would be good for me to know. So I ended up learning things against my will.”

The conversation continued, but it kept drifting off track.

Valtraus still wasn’t answering my questions.

He just kept rambling about whatever he wanted to talk about.

I still had no idea why Reysir had suddenly become part of the discussion.

“What exactly are you trying to say?”

“I heard you bullied that young lord early last year.”

“So they say. I don’t remember it.”

“When the young lady of House Bitnir was kidnapped, you helped save her. After that, you and the young lord of House Daudabiner became close at a remarkable pace.”

“……”

‘No matter what I say, I never get a proper answer. I wonder if there’s any point in responding at all.’

So I simply kept my mouth shut.

Only then did he finally spit out the point he had been dancing around all this time.

“You seem rather pleased that he treats you kindly. So pleased that you’d even throw yourself into danger just to win his favor?”

‘That’s even worse than hearing nothing at all. I can’t imagine a more ridiculous conclusion.’

“Since we don’t love you, were you simply hoping that someone—anyone—would acknowledge you and care about you? If that’s the case, then why not stop this rebellion of yours? You could simply get along with Sister instead. Why take the long way around when there’s an easier path?”

Valtraus said all this with a genuinely puzzled expression.

But I was the one who couldn’t understand him.

‘Why is someone from a family whose symbol is a cat spouting such utter nonsense?’

“Let me give you a piece of advice.”

‘Who are you to be giving me advice?’

“If you absolutely must get close to someone in the Awakened Special Class, get close to the young lord of House Tremler. People like him become loyal dogs if you train them properly. They’ll obey any order.”

‘He started with nonsense, and now he’s literally talking about dogs.’

“I don’t know why you think Liolikin is somehow a better choice than Reysir, and I especially don’t know why you’re acting as if I have to choose between the two.”

“I’m not saying you have to choose only one. I’m saying that, for your own sake, it would be better if you kept your distance from the young lord of House Daudabiner.”

For the first time in a while, Valtraus actually answered my question.

Unfortunately, the answer itself was complete nonsense, and my brow furrowed on its own.

‘I once tried distancing myself from the Original Protagonist, and even now I still hesitate to acknowledge him as a true friend, but…’

‘This is incredibly irritating.’

‘Who is he to interfere? And what exactly is so wrong with Reysir that he’d say something like that…?’

“Reysir’s family may have fallen, but House Daudabiner is still a count’s house. On his birthday, his fief is scheduled to be returned, and the Imperial Family has already promised assistance with its reconstruction. Above all, Reysir himself is exceptionally capable, so I don’t think he’s someone who should be compared to the heir of a viscount’s family.”

“When did I ever mention his family or his abilities?”

“So that’s not your reason?”

“Not entirely. He might still try to use you for the reconstruction of his territory.”

‘If that’s what he believes, then he’s barking up the wrong tree.’

‘Reysir has never even tried to make me pay for a single meal.’

‘There’s no way he’d ever ask me to help rebuild his territory, and even if I offered, he’d definitely refuse.’

‘Most importantly…’

‘Reysir is the Original Protagonist. He’ll rebuild his territory magnificently without my help.’

‘That’s exactly how it happened in the pre-remake original story.’

‘Even when Lord Reysir himself was running around everywhere for other reasons, his territory still functioned perfectly.’

‘It developed steadily even though he only paid occasional attention to it while spending most of his time exploring Demonic Realms.’

Knowing all that, I couldn’t help letting out a hollow laugh.

‘But I can’t exactly start talking about protagonists or original novels out loud.’

‘So in the end… the only thing I could actually say was…’

“What do you know about him to say things like that, Brother?”

That was all.

“I don’t know what kind of person he is. But I do know about your past of bullying him.”

“I apologized to him, and Reysir forgave me. And now Reysir… um… well, he thinks I’m a good person.”

‘I knew it’d sound strange once I hesitated halfway through the sentence, so I somehow forced myself to finish it…’

‘Judging by the look of disbelief on his face, maybe I should have simply stayed quiet the moment I stumbled over my words.’

‘The best option would’ve been to leave out that last sentence entirely.’

‘But words can’t be taken back once they’re spoken.’

‘So I decided to forget about it as quickly as possible.’

“Ah, anyway! The past isn’t a problem at all!”