Chapter 93: Erica Aurelia’s Scandal

It’s the start of the new arc! And there is an announcement on the bottom of the chapter. Also, if you don’t read this story on starrynightnovels.com you probably missed the three interludes before this.

TL: clover

ED: xtostos, eristol

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Magic Academy City Lindis, the last day of summer vacation.

Inside a room at East Dormitory where students from Hafan are staying.

Four girls who had arrived at the academy as early as possible, were gossiping excitedly while taking out their baggage from their respective bags.

“Hey, hey, everyone, have you heard? About this year’s freshmen?”

“My, what are you talking about?”

“It seems the Aurelia who is reputed to be a wicked woman is going to enroll in this academy.”

A girl who seemed to have good knowledge of a certain matter began to speak unnaturally in an overdramatic voice.

Her older brother who liked rumors was said to regularly send letters containing gossip to his sister who was in the academy.

Of course, the other three girls also joined in the entertaining scandalous story.

“No way, the wicked woman from the recent rumors, it was actually the girl from Aurelia Ducal family?”

“Exactly her. A while ago, the teachers were talking about it with pale expression.”

In response to that comment, the other three girls exclaimed “Oh dear, how unpleasant!” while getting excited, and they seemed to be having fun.

“She’s an outrageously greedy woman, right?”

“It is said that she bought up a whole district of the warehouse town in its entirety in the north-west.”

“Isn’t she gathering treasures from all over the continent?”

“I heard she also pestered His Excellency the Duke to obtain many expensive jewels which were beyond what an individual should have.”

Everyone was imagining a young lady who is delighted to wear improper amounts of jewels and ornaments lasciviously.

She has to be shamelessly decorated and unsightly, they nodded to one another in agreement.

“I have heard of her too. She doesn’t even think of other people as human being and treats them in a high-handed manner.”

“She pushes a genius alchemist around as if he belongs to herself exclusively.”

“I’ve heard that she holds the weakness of the Turm family in her hand and makes them provide her with materials and human resources like hot water.”

“She also used her own influence to silence the Hunter Guild and turned the sea serpent suppression into her own achievement.”

While gossiping excitedly, the four girls unpacked their luggage promptly.

It seemed that a good scandal was good motivation for work.

“There are also rumors like this: That she is a heathen and is crazy about some pagan goddess so she doesn’t fear God.”

“It is said that she’s gathering pagan anecdotes. Not just from this continent, she even gathers those stories from that nasty Gigantia.”

“It seems that she muttered things like ‘I’m glad that the contamination in this place was burned off cleanly’ in front of a church which was destroyed by a lightning strike.”

“Oh dear! Perhaps, the criminal was Erica Aurelia?”

“Sshh! It will be a disaster if we’re heard by someone!”

A girl with mature atmosphere who had been turning around to listen, looked around with her index finger in front of her mouth.

As one would expect, treating her as the criminal who destroyed the churches would be a little too much.

“Not only that, but Erica Aurelia is an incredibly lascivious girl.”

“It is said that she seduces His Highness Auguste at every opportunity.”

“Well, how insolent! Is she after the Crown Princess position?”

The girl who was longing for Auguste raised her voice.

The Crown Princess has to be a virtuous girl who is suitable for him, so she seemed annoyed.

“There are rumors saying that Klaus-sama fell in love with that woman, right?”

“Isn’t that just a groundless rumor? Aah, Klaus-sama……how heartrending.”

“There are also rumors saying that men of unknown origins are serving her. There was someone who saw her with a big man with his face covered along with a beautiful young man with tanned skin coming and going out of dubious places.”

“Aah, how repulsive! So you’re saying that such an evil woman will come to our traditional magic academy?”

A girl whose male cousin planned to enroll starting from the new semester sighed.

Even Auguste and Klaus were in danger.

She was worried how the innocent boy who would become a classmate of such a woman would turn out.

“Like mother, like daughter. You know, her mother was also an equally wicked woman.”

“My, this is the first time I am hearing that.”

“It seems that His Excellency Duke Aurelia suppressed that information, so I don’t know the details, but she was referred to as the Poisonous Butterfly.”

“I’ve heard that there was a daughter of an Earl who died because of the Poisonous Butterfly.”

“Erica Aurelia’s lasciviousness and high-handedness are inherited from her mother, huh?”

“She is not just an ordinary pampered and willful lady, she is a true-born wicked woman. Aah, how terrible!”

While being completely immersed in the gossips of the wicked women, the four girls finished unpacking their luggage and dressing themselves properly.

“Now then everyone, what should we do after this?”

“We should go out to the city and shop.”

“My, well then, I wonder if I can join you?”

“Yes, of course you can.”

“Have you heard? A new product of that famous perfume store that opened a branch store in Lindis since last year—”

Their interests shifted to perfumes and accessories and Erica Aurelia was driven to the back of their minds.

While laughing loudly together, the young ladies walked away.

☆

Magic Academy City Lindis.

Students were supposed to live in a dormitory built within the academy premises.

East, West, South and North dormitories to match the students’ origins and the Central dormitory for the scholarship students enrolling as the King’s Scholar.

I, Erica Aurelia, arrived in my room at the girls’ wing of the West Dormitory before the entrance ceremony.

『Is this all the luggage you have, Erica?』

“Yes.”

Tirnanog, who is disguised as a small golem made of starsteel, carried the last luggage.

It was a large leather bag as big as his body.

I looked around the room where many bags of the same size were piled up.

This room is a single room in the corner of the top floor of the dormitory.

A large built-in closet.

A canopy bed, a writing desk and a chaise lounge.

In the small but clean built-in bathroom, there are a bathtub and a toilet.

It is an extravagant room of a privileged noble, which is likely to be an object of jealousy of the students who will live in the shared, large rooms.

But with this single room, I can talk with Tirnanog and Palug without worry.

I’m thankful for that.

『Ufufu~ this is nice. Since it’s a dorm I thought it would be cramped, but this is wi~de!』

『Umu, not bad.』

Palug, who was in her cat form, stretched herself out languidly on the canopy bed immediately.

Tirnanog who had finished his task sprawled on the couch, taking a short break.

I also sat down on the chair in front of the writing desk.

“It looks like this was formerly a room of a senior aristocratic girl. It’s very extravagant.”

It has been six and a half years since that spring when I recalled the memories of my previous life.

Finally, the day when the story of 『Liber Monstrorum ~Phantom Beasts and the Winter Princess~』 will start has arrived.

Tomorrow is the entrance ceremony of the magic academy.

“I will proceed cautiously for a year in order to escape the oracle starting from tomorrow. So, I might request even more troublesome things from both of you……”

I wonder how much Tirnanog and Palug have been helping me in recent years.

And we will be involved in even more difficult things when academy life begins.

『Don’t worry. You know there is no way I would feel bothered by the things I do for your sake.』

『Right, right. I wouldn’t unreasonably dislike them either, you know, Erica?』

“Yeah……thank you.”

While feeling the kindness of the two of them, I looked back on the events of the past six years.

Investigation of the personal information about the heroine and the capture targets.

Investigation about the extent of contamination of the underground altars of churches throughout the Ichthyes continent.

Subjugation of the krakens which increased abnormally in the north-western coastal waters.

After Palug’s power had recovered perfectly, the purification of the corrupted altars carried out on Ichthyes continent.

Investigation of the personal information of the teachers and students related to Lindis.

Investigation of the phantom beasts in the area around Lindis.

Investigating and cleaning up the corrupted altars of Ignitia’s territory in Karkinos by having Palug travel to the continent of Karkinos.

The subjugation of the hordes of sea serpents that were heading northward to Ichthyes.

A heavy cycle alternating between investigation, purification, and subjugation.

Tirnanog, Palug and Harold have helped me without complaint with the hard work that would have been impossible for me to do by myself.

Rather, there were many projects which were delegated to them completely.

In particular, I couldn’t help much in dealing with the corrupted altars and things like that.

I felt terribly guilty for being a friend who is like the useless boss of a black company.

I managed to get through it thanks to my excellent allies’ efforts.

Thanks to their help, the vampires’ conspiracy covering the continent has likely been messed up.

Which is nice.

As if I’d stand for them simply turning innocent people into offerings for those altars.

In case things turn for the worse and I am plunged into the vampires’ route, it is likely that I’d also be turned into a sacrifice, so it isn’t just someone else’s problem.

However, it is troubling because the vampires don’t seem to have retreated as quietly as they look.

Speaking of troublesome things, there was the investigation of personal information of the people related to the game.

Regarding Chloe the heroine, her background couldn’t be traced at all as if someone was hiding her.

The same thing happened regarding the unconfirmed capture target, Claude.

About the other capture target, Brad, we were able to obtain information that is generally known with much difficulty.

Despite having met up with Eduard-oniisama and Actorius-sensei many times, the death flags related to them remain yet unknown.

That said, there were also unexpected benefits.

Since I have subjugated the dangerous marine animals, I ended up accumulating abundant assets before I knew it.

Oh, but there was also a failure regarding that.

My identity was exposed when I was on my way to collect the materials during a sea serpent subjugation.

After the rumors spread, I was nicknamed 「Abyss Killer」.

As a nickname for a 14-year-old girl, it feels terribly unsuitable.

Thinking such, I accidentally leaked a deep sigh of sorrow, “Haah~”

『Umu, you seem to be tired. Let me finish unpacking.』

“At this rate there will be no space to even tread on, huh~ Erica, you should rest.”

When Tirnanog was worrying about me, Palug descended from the bed and turned into her human form.

Splitting their labor, she promptly stored the luggage inside the closet and organized the everyday magic tools and accessories that were going to be used immediately.

The two of them were good at taking care of others and I unconsciously took advantage of that.

Putting up a fighting spirit, I got up and reached for my notebook.

“Jeez~ it’s fine to be idle, you know? This child doesn’t change at all~”

『Isn’t it fine? That’s just how Erica is.』

I checked the labels of the leather bags that were nearby while comparing them with my notebook.

“Since this has uniforms in it, this will go inside the closet and the documents……”

Clothing such as uniforms and dresses were put inside the closet.

Leather bags containing alchemy-related materials and wands should be placed next to the writing desk.

I hesitated on where to put them, but the documents were also moved into the closet after a moment of deliberation.

As we unpacked while dividing the labor, most of our luggage were also put into order one after another.

When the room was settled to a certain extent, Palug asked me with a curious expression.

“Mm, Erica. Can I ask something?”

“What is it?”

“This is an academy, right? Are there no textbooks?”

『Certainly, it seems we didn’t bring anything that are likely to be textbooks.』

Did I forget about them while packing the materials related to the death flags!?

……That wasn’t it.

“Well, it seems there will be an event called Magical Power Judgement after the entrance ceremony tomorrow. The textbooks will be distributed after checking the results of that.”

Magical Power Judgement seems to be an event to confirm things like the quality and amount of one’s magical power.

Depending on the results, some classes can’t be taken. So textbooks are to be handed over after the judgement.

“Aah~ that’s good. I thought that your head was filled with the oracle and you forgot about it.”

“Ah, but. Wait a minute! Maybe—”

Suddenly I felt uneasy and checked the mandatory list once more.

Because I didn’t have to worry about the textbooks, I neglected checking my study materials until this moment.

“I forgot a small sized athanor for class.”

It is an indispensable study material for the alchemy students, irrespective of the quality of magical power.

There is going to be a large athanor installed in this room, but I need a portable small athanor for use during lessons.

『Fumu, can we place an order for it now? Since the baggage has been put in order already.』

“I’m glad that it’s still bright outside~ Rather, there will still be spare time left even after we shop.”

“That’s true, let’s buy an athanor first and then explore Lindis.”

For precaution, the two phantom beasts put on a talisman that can repel Glam Sight.

With this, it wouldn’t be easy for the formidable true identities of the golden cat and the starsteel golem to be exposed.

It is an item that has been repurposed from the failed prototypes made by the new Weapon Development Department of the Turm Shipbuilding Company, instead of by Harold.

Since it is convenient, I also wanted to use it, but because it consumes an unusual amount of magical power, it is exclusively used by the phantom beasts.

『Do not speak unnecessarily, cat.』

『Fu~hnda¹, even I know that much.』

I took the two of them who were bickering as usual in low voices and headed out to the city of Lindis.

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¹ Imagine the gesture of sticking out her tongue and pulling down her eyelid – but vocally, rather than actually.

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