98 – Luden(5)

The streets of Luden, which are more colorful and spectacular than any other territory in the empire, are always crowded with many people.

Perhaps because the academy’s entrance season was approaching, even though it wasn’t the school district where the academy was built, the majority of the people in the downtown area were all kids my age.

The admission of new students was the sound of a bell announcing the end of a long vacation for current students, so it is probably a mixture of current students who want to enjoy the upcoming vacation and freshmen who have just come up to Luden and have a look around.

Estelia Academy was located inside the imperial castle, as the name of the imperial family was attached, which is not surprising.

It is not actually lined with walls, but it is an area that only those related to the imperial family can enter and exit. In fact, at the center of Luden, there is a huge castle where the emperor resides, but this is only a part of the castle, and the entire space with a radius of several tens of kilometers centered on the castle is called the imperial castle.

The imperial castle is so large that it can be called a small city within a city, and among these, excluding all the places where the imperial family actually lives, the largest share is the academic district built around the academy.

There were also many facilities arranged befitting a district that occupied a large share of the imperial castle, and it can be said that most of the lives of the academy cadets took place within this district.

Originally, it is said that the origin was that when the imperial family made the sons and daughters of the lords of each province enter the academy in the early days of the empire, they gathered them in one place and monitored them. There are rules.

That was the reason why children of aristocratic families like Elena and I had to live in boarding houses even though there was a building owned by the family.

As time passed, as in the past, ‘Why do you not leave your children in the school district and let them live in the following place?’ ‘What else does it mean?’ ‘Anyway, you treason. Nothing like ‘Tang-Tang!’ doesn’t happen, but the imperial family only behaved a little softer than in the past, but the fundamental meaning they put forward was still the same.

Although the school district is not the same area as the concentration camp, and the quality of the facilities in which it is located is such that it competes for ranking within the empire, so it is now regarded as one of the old customs.

Unlike in the past, the number of commoner cadets who have been recognized for their talents at other lower educational institutions is huge, so should I say that it has more meaning as a space for scouting talented people from each family?

Above all, in a situation where pagans came to the surface like now, parents also wanted their children to be protected under the protection of the imperial family.

It’s not that Luden’s security is bad, but it’s true that it’s worse than a place managed directly by the imperial family.

Still, isn’t it better to be a safe hostage than to die?

“It’s cold, but there are so many people outside. Well, it’s natural since vacation is over.”

I went into one of the teahouses along the boulevard, ordered a cup of coffee, and watched the people pass by through the window.

Although this place was quite far from the academic district, the reason why there are many students who seem to be students is probably because most of the shopping malls built around the Pension Society are doing entertainment-related businesses.

It was a school district where everything was available, but as it is a place that values academics, there are restrictions on things that interfere with it. In other words, it is said that there are relatively few things to play compared to other places.

Therefore, there is no choice but to increase the number of cadets playing outside like this during the vacation period when restrictions are lifted.

It’s not that I can’t go outside the school district, but it was a lot of time to come here and spend time playing, so vacation is the right time.

And now the end of the vacation.

This is the time when the desire to enjoy the short break is in full swing.

Even if it’s not necessarily for playing, there is an alchemy society here, so alchemy students buy items to use for classes here, so there is no choice but to have a lot of floating population either way.

I took a sip of the warm coffee and savored the aroma that lingered in my mouth.

If I had Elena, I would have eaten at least one of the caramel biscuits she recommended. Unfortunately, I was the only one sitting here right now.

She must be wandering around the shopping mall outside the window with Haley now.

I looked up at the clock tower visible through the window. On the first day I came to Luden, I was listening to the promise the two made in the carriage.

As you can see, I did not accompany them on their outing.

I was invited to go with them, but I had to refuse. This outing was always a promise between Elena and Hailey, and it seemed like the two of them could fully enjoy their time as friends only if I didn’t get involved.

It wasn’t even what I wanted for me to obsess over her every move like Damian in the original story.

If he had followed her this time, there was a point where he deliberately refused, fearing that he would develop a habit of trying to interfere with her, or that he would feel complacent about himself. Compared to the first meeting, although it has diminished a lot, there is still something like madness towards Elena in me.

Right now, I’m quiet as if I’ve reached an agreement with something inside of me, but sometimes I couldn’t be vigilant because there were times when I couldn’t be the subject when I stood in front of her.

At this point, I also decided to spend time with my friends.

Last time Orcus asked me to meet him when he came to Luden, so I sent someone to the imperial castle to call him. It was for this reason that I was now sitting in a teahouse near the Alchemy Society.

Quite coincidentally, Orcus made this the meeting place. I hinted that it would be nice to have a coffee shop with good coffee, but I didn’t know that I would be caught near where Elena and Haley were heading.

It’s a coincidence. really.

***

Just as I could see the bottom of the coffee cup, I heard the tinkling of a paper hanging on the door. Two warm auras that have now become accustomed to come inside.

Well? two?

“Ouch!! Is Damian drinking coffee again?!”

“Noel?”

Although the color of her hair has changed a little, she is definitely Noel.

He didn’t have to think long about why she was here.

Next to Noel is Orcus, who has dyed his hair the same way and wears a hat pressed down. There will be no other reason. It’s just that I called Orcus, so it must have come out accordingly. My coming to Luden meant that Elena was also in Luden, so it was probably because she wanted to see Elena’s face.

As if to prove this, Noel saw the empty seat next to me and was looking for Elena, shaking his head here and there.

Um, Elena isn’t here…

“hahahaha. You still like coffee. So, did you like the taste? I picked a place near Edelweiss Villa that had a decent reputation.”

“It’s okay if it’s bitter and slightly sweet at the end. It smells good. Why don’t you have a drink too?”

“I don’t know the standard of sweetness you’re talking about, so I’ll pass it today. Even if it’s not, I’ve been working hard for the past few days and I’ve just been out of coffee hell. How are you, Noel?”

“I’m with milk tea!”

At Noel’s refusal with a bright smile, Orcus grabbed a clerk passing by and ordered him a cup of milk tea and a cup of lemon tea.

When I said something sweet, neither of them seemed to believe it, but I accepted this sadly and calmly.

While those two are staying at the lord’s castle, I must have burned them once or twice. In particular, in the case of Noel, I don’t know why, but it seems that it has become very severe since the hunting competition. When they saw me drinking coffee, they were very surprised.

Still, this one seems really sweet, so I’ll try it once, but I’m not rejecting it like a knife.

Orcus, who was sitting across from me, saw Noel looking around and said to me.

“Unusually, Miss Elena is nowhere to be seen today. Is something going on?”

“Elena is like that because she had a prior appointment today. And just because she’s a fiancé doesn’t always stick around.”

“That’s right. Anyway, that’s right, Noel.”

“Yes? Oops! Damian! I’m not disappointed that I only saw Damian! It’s so nice to see Damian after a long time!! I just can’t see Elena…”

At Orcus’ words, Noel looked downcast for a moment, then looked at me quietly sipping coffee and waved his hand around, making excuses. It seems that he himself realized that he was too blatantly looking for Elena.

I know what a special friend Elena is to Noel, who grew up only in the royal castle and had no friends, so I can sympathize with her to some extent.

It’s not strange to think that you’re going to meet Elena when you hear that you’re meeting me. Noel would have taken this for granted. Wasn’t it because I was aware of this that I didn’t follow Hailey and Elena’s outing today?

Originally, I was just going to pass the time by talking about what we were doing when we exchanged letters before, but now that Noel is here, it’s hard to talk about it. It wasn’t really something to keep a secret from Noel, but Orcus didn’t like her being entangled in it.

It wasn’t that there wasn’t anything to talk about, so we talked about miscellaneous things that hadn’t been said in letters. After all, if you meet and talk about work, is it a business relationship or a friendship relationship?

The contents of the first conversation were an extension of the stories that were always written in letters, but after that, each of them took out the very trivial things they had experienced in their daily lives. It was just chattering according to the stream of consciousness, but everyone was laughing as if this was fun.

Looking at it like this, I was able to realize that I had been without friends in this world. It’s so much fun just chatting without thinking.

In my previous life, it was no different from everyday life, but why did it end up like this?

If you think about it, if you wanted to make friends, you already had several opportunities. Even so, I think the reason why he became like this is probably because he didn’t give himself room to think that he had to escape his fate after becoming Damian.

“Looks like you’ve been occupying your seat for too long. Let’s get up.”

“Already? Ah! There’s the board game that older brother bought last time. Play that! That!”

“I couldn’t even get it because you urged me to go so quickly. If I were there, I would have taken it out a long time ago.”

“Oh, come to think of it, you said you bought a new board game. Well, let’s meet again later and do it. Time isn’t limited to today.”

“Okay. Let’s go out first. Since we’ve been in one place for so long, I think some people recognize Noel’s voice and me.”

As Orcus said, quite a few people’s eyes were on us.

In an empire where faith and power are concentrated in the imperial family, these two are celebrities in many ways, so there was a good chance that even ordinary people would hear and recognize the voices of the two in Luden, where imperial executions often took place.

We casually got out of the teahouse, thought about what to do for a while, and decided to part after walking down the street for a while.

Like the Tower of Dawn in Merohim last time, and the stalls open around places like landmarks for wizards, there were a lot of strange things, so just looking around with your eyes was enough to feel the fun.

“That’s a specialty of the Alchemy Society. It’s a ‘gold-making cauldron’. They say that if you put anything in it, it will turn it into gold. The magical efficiency is so low that it costs more to operate it than to make gold, so I don’t operate it except for occasional events. … The one next to it is…”

Noel and I had no knowledge of magic, so when we saw something mysterious, Orcus volunteered to be our guide and explain it.

By the way, is it because the Alchemy Society was established here? Or is it because the guide leads to such a place?

If what we saw in Merohim are classic fantasy stalls that could only come out of Harry Potter, the stalls opened here give the impression of being at some kind of science fair.

The appearance of displaying various magic tools using magic engineering and demonstrating them is somehow very familiar.

Well, when I see autonomous golems using things like artificial spirits or things similar to technologies using the finished form of AI that mankind only came from the late 21st century and perfected in their previous lives, I can feel that this is a fantasy world.

‘Did Elena and Hailey have fun?’

It seems to me that there are many interesting and interesting things, but it seems very far from the interests of the two who came here to play.

I haven’t looked around the entire street yet, so it’s too early to conclude, but I think it’s better not to include this place as a candidate for places to visit Luden with Elena next time.

“uh?”

“uh!”

Was it a coincidence

As soon as I thought of Elena, my gut seized her. Noel must have felt this as well, and reacted at the same speed as me.

A smile blooms on Noel’s face as soon as he realizes that Elena is nearby.

She immediately started running in Elena’s direction. I thought about stopping it, but now that the day is drawing to a close and it seems like it’s time to go back to the mansion, I also followed Noel.

“That opened a new path in modern magic engineering… what is it? Where are you all going?”

Oh, I almost forgot.

At some point, I heard the explanation with one ear, and I forgot the existence of Orcus for a moment. I stopped halfway and signaled Orcus to follow me, then moved my feet relatively slowly so he wouldn’t miss.

Should it be said that he is a superman, but in the blink of an eye, the distance between Noel and Noel is invisible.

Well, since the destination is the same anyway, it shouldn’t matter.

I picked up Orcus, who had a face that I didn’t understand yet, and slowly moved towards where they were.