Chapter 76 : Normalization of speech patterns

Time heals all wounds, they say.

The awkwardness that once felt eternal has somewhat faded, but now the silence feels even more uncomfortable.

At that moment, Alkine hesitantly called me.

“…Rudion.”

“Yes, President.”

“Can I speak casually when it’s just the two of us?”

“You’re already doing that.”

“Right. I’ll keep doing it then.”

…Suddenly acting like this?

Thanks to that, the awkwardness that had just been diluted thickened once again.

But if things continued this way, we wouldn’t get anything done, so I decided to change the subject before the conversation died.

“By the way, did you come here alone, President? What about Seria?”

“…You’re asking about another girl in front of someone who just confessed their feelings to you. Impressive.”

“What? No, hold on—”

“I’m joking. Seria went back first.”

That didn’t sound like a joke. Her eyes just looked dead for a second.

Seria, did you really come to an agreement with someone like this? Truly, sincerely? Are you sure you weren’t blackmailed or something?

Alkine isn’t the type to blackmail someone, and Seria isn’t someone who’d yield to blackmail, but… Ugh, I really can’t make sense of this.

I never expected this situation at all…

Well, whatever. At least the fact that Alkine felt comfortable speaking casually was a positive development.

Knowing her true personality and that her formal speech was just an act, her usual tone had always felt burdensome to me.

I mean, come on. Someone who debates which plushie to hug while sleeping insists on speaking like an old sage in public? That’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard.

Of course, societal image is a thing, so it’s not entirely unreasonable, but the problem is that I know her too well.

‘Understood.’, ‘I see.’, ‘I’ll think about it.’

Every time I hear her say such things, I can’t help but picture Alkine in bunny-patterned pajamas clutching a teddy bear plushie.

It’s always such a struggle to keep a straight face.

So her switching to a normal tone was very welcome news.

Of course, since she specified “when we’re alone,” it seems she plans to keep up the act in public…

But with the student council barely gathering these days unless there’s a rift raid, I wouldn’t have to hear her ‘sage speech’ as often.

Wait, or maybe not?

“Will you speak casually in front of Seria too?”

“…There you go again. Don’t make me repeat what I just said.”

“Oh dear. Sorry about that.”

“As long as you understand. In front of Seria… Hmm, maybe I will speak casually.”

That sounds… fun. Alkine said it with certainty.

I don’t know what exactly she finds fun about it, but… I felt an odd sense of unease.

Well, if she plans to speak casually around Seria, then that’s a good thing, right?

As I was lost in thought, Alkine subtly changed the topic.

“So, what do you think? About me talking like this. Doesn’t it feel awkward?”

“Not at all. I guess all the practice with your plushies paid off—it sounds natural.”

“Oh, good. Wait… What? Hold on. How do you know about that?”

“Ah.”

Maybe I felt too relaxed because of her casual tone. I ended up teasing her the same way I tease Seria.

If it were just teasing, it wouldn’t have been a problem. But what I revealed was one of her closely guarded secrets.

Of course, talking to plushies because there’s no one to practice casual speech with would be a pretty lonely thing.

“Answer me, Rudion. How do you know about that?”

I’ve made a similar mistake with Seria before, so I knew there was no way to dodge this.

The only way out was through.

I declared boldly:

“Actually, I know your secret, President.”

“…How much do you know?”

“That every night, you carefully select a few plushies from the ones you keep near your pillow, debating which one to hug while sleeping… but in the end, you can’t decide and end up hugging two or three at once.”

“W-Why… Why do you know that in such detail?”

Her sharp demeanor softened, probably because her secret had been exposed so vividly.

“You… Then do you also know why I usually speak in that formal tone?”

“…I’m sorry, President. I wasn’t trying to pry.”

“Ugh…!”

In the end, overwhelmed by embarrassment, Alkine began swinging her fists at me.

I’m sorry, President. Honestly, I’d let you hit me if it weren’t for the fact that I’d actually die from one of your punches.

“Stop dodging! Don’t dodge!”

I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!

After about eighty evasive maneuvers, Alkine finally stopped swinging her fists.

She took a few deep breaths, slowly calming herself down.

And then she said something completely unexpected:

“I’ll give you a plushie I made myself next time. Keep it by your pillow when you sleep.”

“…All of a sudden?”

Considering I had just exposed her secret, her calmness was surprising.

When I asked if she wasn’t embarrassed anymore, she averted her gaze and said:

“I am embarrassed. But… it’s kind of nice that you know me so well. Even if I don’t know how you found out.”

Wow. She has a way with words that can drive a person crazy. Did she practice this with her plushies too?

Whatever. I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that. Otherwise, I might get embarrassed too.

We wasted enough time as it was, but we still had work to do.

Report writing. It was something I should’ve done ages ago, but I’d put it off until today.

We couldn’t delay it any longer.

“Shall we finally get this done? Sit down. Are you writing it?”

At least Alkine had enough awareness to bring it up before I could.

In the end, I couldn’t escape writing it myself, but oh well.

Writing the report wasn’t exactly difficult.

All I had to do was record what had happened.

Of course, after I got involved, the reports usually included some embellishments…

But the conclusion was always the same, so it wasn’t a big deal.

Anyway, the process itself was just tedious.

But this time, writing the report was particularly challenging.

Because… what exactly happened during this rift incident?

Diggers, who had gone missing, appeared as a demon and kidnapped Alkine, trying to harm her. And in the end, we dealt with that very Diggers.

The fact that a synthetic rift appeared felt almost insignificant in comparison.

So, well, the academy might pass it off smoothly, but Diggers’ family would never let it slide.

“If the story gets out, it’ll be a mess.”

I said it flatly, but in reality, it was far from an exaggeration.

From questioning whether he truly became a demon to accusations about why he was killed, there would be all kinds of speculative and baseless criticism, like claiming he killed an innocent person and framed them as a demon to cover it up.

It’s understandable though. After all, it’s Diggers’ family, right? Where do you think his personality came from?

Personality problems often run in families, and Diggers was no exception.

Perhaps Alkine had similar thoughts, as she let out a long sigh.

“Yeah, probably. Haa… Can I ask a favor?”

“Do you want me to make some tea?”

“…How did you know… No, never mind. Yeah, please.”

I felt like she could just make it herself, but she had this strange habit of needing someone else to make the tea for her to truly relax.

I knew that, so I simply complied without saying much.

I quietly left her personal workshop and walked toward the shelf where the tea leaves were kept.

I put the kettle with water on the stove and took a moment to look at the tea leaves.

Let’s see… This is the tea from the north.

It’s tough enough to grow in such a cold place, yet it has a surprisingly soft taste when brewed… Anyway, it’s the kind Alkine likes. I tried it once, but I didn’t really care for the bitter taste, like watered-down milk.

Soon, the water began to boil, and after preparing the tea leaves, I brewed it to the exact proportions Alkine preferred.

I took the cup and returned to her workshop.

“Here, drink up.”

“Thanks.”

She took a sip, then looked at me with a somewhat surprised expression.

“…Did I ever teach you how to make this?”

“No.”

“Is this part of the secrets you know about me?”

“…I guess so?”

“Don’t tell me you can’t explain how you found out?”

“…Probably not.”

The story about the setting book was a secret I’d kept from Seria too.

It wasn’t that Seria was particularly curious, but even if I revealed everything else, I still planned to keep the fact that this world was a game a secret.

No matter what, I didn’t want to reveal that they were merely game characters, right?

I had no idea how they would react, but there was no reason to make them uneasy by telling them something like that.

Alkine paused for a moment, as if deep in thought, before asking another question.

“Wait. So you know all my food preferences too?”

“Yes.”

“…I thought so. You always pick out my favorites so well. You already knew, didn’t you?”

“Huh? What happened?”

“Don’t you remember? Last time when you went out with Seria, you lost the bet and went to buy dessert by yourself.”

Ah, now I remember. That time.

It was when Seria and I were visiting the student council from time to time, and I’d decided to buy something sweet for Alkine, who seemed stressed from schoolwork.

It was actually Seria’s idea, and the bet was her suggestion too. The result was also manipulated by Seria, so in the end, it turned into me running an errand.

But anyway, since I was going to the store, I thought it’d be nice to buy something that they liked.

Apparently, that event had become a bit of a mystery for Alkine.

“Now I get it.”

She said that, then drank the tea in her cup in one go and let out another sigh.

However, this time, her sigh was filled with relief.

“Maybe it’s because you uncovered my secret. Suddenly, I don’t feel afraid of anything. Rudion, write down everything that happened in the report.”

“Are you sure you want me to just write it?”

“Yeah, I’ll take the responsibility. You know who my dad is, right?”

“The great Black Wolf of the North.”

“My dad doesn’t like being called that, you know.”

“Oh.”

I didn’t know that.

“So, you only know about me, huh?”

Well, the setting book mostly describes the main characters, doesn’t it?

Of course, if we’re talking strictly about strength, Alkine’s father is one of the top-tier powerful figures in the world, but he wasn’t really a major character in the story.

But somehow, she seemed quite pleased with that thought.

“Anyway, just write it down. Don’t worry about any problems. Who’s my father?”

She looked pleased, so I didn’t want to disrupt her mood and just did as she asked.

After all, no matter how much the Diggers family struggles, they’re just a count family—what could they really do?

They wouldn’t be able to directly confront the academy, so they’d likely turn their attention to weaker students. And if one of those students happened to be the Duke’s daughter? They’d have to back off.

My prediction was mostly correct.

However, there was one thing I hadn’t considered…

“That commoner is completely unreliable! Arrest him immediately and interrogate him!”

Unlike Alkine, who was the Duke’s daughter, I was just a commoner.

Haha, this was quite refreshing since I’d never been treated this way before.

But don’t worry. Alkine, the Duke’s daughter and student council president, told me to trust her.

She’s smart, so she’s definitely prepared for a situation like this.

But when I looked at Alkine… oh, she didn’t look prepared at all.

She stared at me in a daze, clearly flustered.

I asked her,
“You said I didn’t have to worry, right?”

“…I wasn’t in my right mind back then, I just said whatever. You remember the atmosphere we had yesterday, right?”

Well, she wasn’t wrong. Although we tried to act normal, we couldn’t even look each other in the eye.

Still, this was too much. Even if she said it when she wasn’t thinking clearly, was she really going to let me get dragged away like this?

“I trusted you, the president… how could you betray my trust like this…”

“Don’t say that. I’m really hurt.”

“…Hold on. Alkine, what’s with that tone?”

In the end, I became the easiest target, and they started dragging me away.

What was funny, though, was that Seria didn’t seem interested in responding to the situation. Instead, she was only concerned about Alkine’s tone.

“Is my tone really that important? Rudion’s getting arrested here!”

“Isn’t it because you think before you act that he’s getting arrested? If not, Rudion wouldn’t just be going along with this so willingly.”

“…Wait, was that it? I’m sorry for feeling bad about it.”

“Seriously, what’s up with that tone?” So, it turns out that she just knew me too well.

At this point, it was almost a little scary.

“Still, help me out…”

“When?”

“The holiday’s over today, right? I still have to go to class tomorrow.”

“Got it. I’ll see you in a bit.”

Just before I was about to be dragged off, I had that last conversation, and soon enough, I found myself thrown into the back of a cart with my hands and feet bound.

Being treated like a commoner… really?