Otome Game no Heroine de Saikyou Survival [WN] - Chapter 128.2

***

“–one, two, three, … one, two, three. –“

At Princess Elena’s mansion late at night, the two girls, illuminated by the moonlight, danced lightly.

There was no music. No audience. The only sounds were Elena’s rhyming voice and the clacking of her heels on the floor, and not even a gasp or a clatter of footsteps could be heard from the other girl playing the role of her partner.

Tang–

“You’re getting pretty good at this, Aria.”

Elena, stopping to catch her breath lightly, looked up at the Peach Blonde Girl who was half a head taller than her, and Aria, who was playing the partner, smirked a little, making her pout without even showing a sign of exhaustion.

“Elena-sama has a good teaching style.”

“…It’s fine to call me ‘Elena’ for now. I don’t have to be “princess” in this house, do I? But Aria, you’ve been practicing with me so much that you’ve become so good with the male roles.”

Aria exhaled lightly without losing her expression as Elena giggled with a finger to her lips as she shook her golden hair.

“It’s all the same to me, since I don’t want to dance anyway.”

“I’m sure some of the gentlemen would like to invite you…”

Instead of the canceled inspection…not exactly a replacement for the canceled inspection, the school was going to hold a ball scheduled during the summer term, but it was going to be held ahead of schedule.

Although it was not a full-fledged party, the school regularly held a ball for students only as a practice for the social events that they would be qualified to participate in when they entered society.

If this were an annual event, it would be held regardless of grade, but since it was still early in the season and many of the students were unfamiliar with dancing, it was decided that this year’s event would be held only for first-year students.

Because of her height, Aria had to play the male part more often than the female part, and she herself seemed to be more comfortable with the male part than the female part, so she was making progress in that area.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go?”

“I’ve already decided.”

Elena asked unexpectedly as she regained her composure, and Aria gently pulled herself away from her as if to show her determination.

The attempted assassination of the Crown Prince by the nobles and the attempted kidnapping of the princess. The main culprits, the Viscounts and Barons, had already been eliminated, but they were still just the tails cut off from the high-ranking aristocrats.

However, the involvement of a senior aristocratic family was discovered by those whom Aria and Elena captured and made a plea bargain with.

The Kendras Marquis family. They were a large aristocratic family that held the concession of the Condo Mine, located along the northwestern border, and were a heavyweight in the kingdom both in terms of power and finances. 

Although they hold the mining rights of the Kondo Mine, which competes with other countries for the concession, the Kendras Marquis, located far from the royal capital, did not share blood with the royal family even before merging with the kingdom and had a weak voice in the kingdom affairs for a long time.

The royal family, however, could not overlook the situation in which the nobles, especially someone who owned a concession to the Kondo Mine, and would put other countries in favor first over the royal family, but since they harmed the royal family, it was decided the Marquis of Kendras would be punished.

However, reducing the power of the Marquise of Kendras would also result in the possibility that other countries would steal the Kondo Mine concession, which was established in a delicate balance. Therefore, it was decided to have the current Marquis of Kendras retire and be replaced by a royalist nobleman from his lineage, but to demonstrate this to the aristocratic faction, it was necessary to seize evidence of his connections to other countries.

To conduct an enforced investigation, the royal family turned to the Melrose family, which had the Prime Minister as its leader, and the Melrose family requested 100 elite members of the Dark Division and the adventurers “Rainbow-colored Sword” to conduct an enforced investigation.

Preliminary investigations by the dark knights revealed the whereabouts of Grave, a traitor to the dark side.

His presence in the area meant that if the dark side moved on a large scale, its movements would be detected and the evidence could be disposed of. Although it was unlikely that he would be that much in favor of the aristocrats, the “rainbow-colored sword” was to be used to defeat him again first, to destroy the uncertainties.

“But it would be too late. If Dalton and Feld move, Grave would disappear, but if it were just me, he would surely wait. He will definitely choose to fight me.”

“Well, I understand that, but…”

“Elena.”

Elena, still concerned for Aria’s safety, addressed her not as princess and escort but as “comrade”, and Elena looked straight into Aria’s jade green eyes.

“Believe in me, the one you have chosen.”

“…I understand. But you have to come back before the ball. I promise.”

***

After making a new “promise” to Elena, I quietly left the house early in the morning, not in my uniform but in my adventurer’s gear for the first time in a long time.

The first time we fought, I was no match for Grave. The second time we fought, Grave retreated, but it was not because of my strength.

I became stronger than I was then, but that thing would not be the same as it was then, either. It would probably be my deadliest fight to date. But this time, I would definitely finish him off. Defeating him will be my own personal vindication.

I left the mansion and headed for the forest, running.

It would take about three weeks to reach the territory of Marquis Kendras from the academy, even if I used a horse-drawn carriage. I think it would be quicker if I ran through the forest instead of going through the roads, but still, I did not want to take too much time considering my promise to Elena.

But now I had to find a way to save time.

“Nero.”

I muttered in the forest, and suddenly the magical element of the forest thickened, and the Coeurl, a phantom beast that appeared as if it were oozing out of the darkness, moved like the wind, leaned close to me, and licked me lightly on the cheek.

Nero, the phantom Coeurl, seemed to have decided to stay by my side and was now making the forest of the school its home. Rarely, there would be rumors of sightings at the school, but a student would not even be able to spot Nero lurking in the forest.

I still did not understand why Nero was staying by my side, but if Nero wanted to stay by my side, I would not reject him.

“Nero, it’s a battle.”

[Gurruuuu!]

Nero roared as if he were laughing, having read my will and my “enemy” with his electric thought wave.

I could save a lot of time in normal travel by having Nero ride with me. The difference in speed was one thing, but the most significant difference was that there were no monsters that might attempt to attack the phantom Coeurl.

I patted Nero’s fur and was about to let him carry me on his back when Nero’s whip-like antennae sent out sparks of electricity as if in alarm, and at that moment, I too, pulled out the knife strapped to my thigh and Throwing it behind me.

At first, there was no reaction. When you felt someone standing behind you, whether they were your friend or foe, they had it coming to them.

[Gaaah!]

Nero whipped his tentacles out like a whip.

The knife I threw was blocked by some kind of sorcery and bounced off.

I then blocked a [Fire Arrow] that flew towards me at that moment with my [Magic Shield], and then I hit the “enemy” hiding in the darkness with the blade from my heel, to which it danced and dodged my kick.

“…What are you doing?”

When I asked her that, she instantly lost her killing intent and turned her sickly, cheerful smile with dark circles on her face to me, her gorgeous black hair flowing in the air.

“I’m here to join you~?”

Hi, everyone. We have launched patreon for this novel. It will help us pay the translator-sama and hopefully hire an editor this novel.

Thanks for your time. See you in the next chapter.