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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Well, let’s think about it carefully.
At first, it was indeed absurd when the four of them suddenly barged in while he was changing clothes and got embarrassed about peeking on their own.
But these four couldn’t be more reliable allies now.
‘I don’t understand kids these days.’
He quietly thought to himself while watching them engage in a heated discussion among themselves.
Although crossing his arms and sitting with his legs crossed might seem quite arrogant, they were engaged in such a sharp debate as if they had no time to pay attention to his posture.
It was easy to guess why these four, who used to growl at each other whenever they met, had united with one heart and mind.
‘It’s obvious.’
He could easily deduce the reason as he swung his crossed leg.
It was the manifestation of the mentality that if I can’t do it, neither can you.
There were five people competing. But there was only one of him.
Rather than one person monopolizing him, they probably thought it would be more rational to interfere so that no one could have him.
He had unexpectedly found himself in a situation like the protagonist of an anime, where five pretty and well-proportioned women were growling at each other over him, but he had many things to think about on his end.
Although there was still plenty of time, he needed to start looking for a way to fix his constitution, and since he had started learning magic, it was his personal wish to see it through to the end.
Honestly, watching them engage in such a heated discussion made him wonder what he was doing at times.
‘…Even if Arwen and Sylphia are non-humans, their mental age doesn’t seem much different from the other three.’
If he only considered their mental age, not their physical age, and included his previous life, he was actually older than everyone except those two.
In that sense, he sometimes wondered why they were acting like this despite looking perfectly fine.
He also wondered if all young people these days were like this.
Oh, this is totally young and MZ-like.
“First of all, it’s unwise to make a move after attending. Unless we prevent him from attending at all from the beginning.”
“That seems right. If he attends even once, won’t it attract the attention of others?”
“Wow, so that’s how it is. Then let’s just make him avoid it altogether? It’s not a big deal to make an excuse and have him skip it.”
“It would be good to talk with the court mage.”
The four of them, who had put their heads together with fire in their eyes, determined not to let me become Princess Elena’s ball partner.
And perhaps it was worth the four of them putting their heads together, as the conclusion seemed to be gradually taking shape.
I was grateful that they were going to prevent me from being dragged to an event I didn’t want to attend, but…
This was completely nonsensical.
I also had doubts about whether this country, where they were fighting and scheming among themselves over one man, could function properly.
In fact, even though I had realized it was a world within a novel, it had already lost its meaning from the moment the genders of the main characters were reversed and various bizarre settings were attached.
And I couldn’t possibly remember all the details.
…I should have read it more carefully.
Regret always comes too late.
I opened my mouth, thinking of just quietly doing as I was told.
“So, what have you decided to do?”
“I’ll explain.”
Ahem.
With a fake cough, Sylphia calmly began to explain.
“First of all, no matter what, we can’t openly do anything in front of the princess. Rudrick, you understand what that means, right?”
“Of course.”
“So, we’re thinking of not sending Rudrick to the ball at all and having him avoid it!”
“…Avoid it?”
“We’re planning to package it as him being cooped up in the research lab, having found an important clue to something. For the entire 5 days of the festival.”
The corners of Sylphia’s mouth rose.
If they kept me inside the palace, there was no way to avoid Elena’s clutches anyway.
But there was only one way to avoid that, which was to take advantage of the closed-off nature and eccentric side of mages.
It was Eileen’s role to exert influence on Lorenzo and keep him quiet.
It wasn’t too difficult to silence Lorenzo, given that she had recently signed a sponsorship contract with an amount that made one’s mouth drop open.
It was the role of Sylphia and Arwen, who were skilled in magic, to use magic to disrupt the perception and manipulate the memories of the guards and knights who guarded the palace.
Lastly, it was Lassiel’s role to quietly take me out of the palace during the festival period.
After hearing the explanation of this grand plan, I muttered with a disgusted face.
“…What, is this the Avengers?”
“What’s that?”
“…There is such a thing.”
Is this the Avengers or some knock off Avengers?
It was a very labor-intensive and persistent operation to simply think of it as their determination not to send me as Princess Elena’s ball partner.
But there was still one important thing left, so I asked again.
“Then what will I be doing outside during that time?”
“Of course, you’ll have to stay outside until the festival is over. So, we’re planning to take turns staying with Rudrick for a day each.”
“Ah.”
“The ball will have been over long ago, so on the 5th day, you’ll return to the palace. And at that time, we can just say that according to the setting, the research you were focusing on has ended and you’ve finished your seclusion.”
There was not a single flaw in the plan that Sylphia had described, which the four of them had devised by putting their heads together.
At least in theory, it was a perfect plan.
However, there was the issue of me having to spend five days taking turns with them to avoid one problem, but it was still better than dancing an unknown dance in front of everyone’s focused attention.
There was one week left until the opening of the festival.
It was a tight schedule to prepare for such a grand festival as the Empress’ birthday, but the person who had arranged the schedule must have had a reason for making it so tight.
Then, these four would take care of the preparations during that time, and all I had to do was freeload…
“Ah, right.”
“…?”
A sudden thought occurred to me, and I unconsciously asked Sylphia a question.
“So, who will be with me on the first day?”
“…Ah.”
Exclamations were heard from here and there, as if they hadn’t thought about it.
At the same time, an ominous feeling began to creep up.
Surely these people hadn’t decided on the order yet, and they weren’t going to fight over who would be with me first—
“Ahem, since I’m the key to this plan, I’ll go first.”
“Of course, it should naturally be me first.”
“Huh? What are you all saying? Wasn’t it obvious that I would be first?”
“…Since I have the most important role, I naturally thought I would be first.”
As soon as they each blurted out a word, everyone’s eyes became sharp.
At the same time, the atmosphere that had been slightly relaxed and friendly quickly stiffened, and their hostility towards each other grew.
I thought to myself,
My mouth is a jinx.
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In conclusion, it took less than thirty minutes to come up with the plan, but it took an hour to decide on the order.
It took an hour until it was decided by rock-paper-scissors, where everything was left to chance, because everyone insisted that their role was more important.
“Ah…”
“…This is invalid. I clearly saw that you undoubtedly read my movement and belatedly chose rock—”
“If you’re old enough to be called a senior, is your dynamic visual acuity that poor?”
“You damn lizard, are you in a position to say such things now? How ridiculous.”
“Who are you calling a lizard, you bat?!”
There was no sign of the overheated atmosphere calming down.
Arwen, who had naturally been pushed to last place, and Sylphia, who had barely managed to hold onto 3rd place by catching up to Arwen, were growling.
Eileen, who had already won the rock-paper-scissors and secured 1st place, was completely in the mood of watching a fire across the river.
Lassiel also seemed satisfied with her 2nd place ranking, even though she was disappointed.
In the end,
‘I’m the only victim here?’
If you think about it, I was the only victim.
No matter how the order was decided, it wasn’t my business, but they had been making this fuss in my room for over an hour and a half.
“…Did you call me a bat?”
“Then should I call you a cat? It seems you can’t even distinguish whether you’re an animal or a True Ancestor anymore.”
Crack.
“…Just because you blurt out words with that open mouth doesn’t mean everything you say makes sense. I’ve learned that’s how the world works.”
“Who are you to say such things in front of whom? Ah, right. You’re not just a vampire, but a True Ancestor, aren’t you? Well, if you’ve lived that long, it’s understandable that you’ve become a stubborn old-timer.”
“…You immature girl.”
“It’s rare for someone to live longer than a dragon. It must be nice to have lived for so long, right?”
The heated argument continued.
One thing was certain: there must have been quite a few other issues besides my constitution being the reason for my death before their regression.
Just watching this scene for about a month now made me feel very angry, so if I had been watching this for nearly ten years, it would have been enough to develop an anger-induced illness.
Perhaps the me before the regression had been living with a chronic ulcer or something due to stress.
“It seems I’ve been too lenient with you.”
“Oh my. You’ve got it backwards. I’m the one who’s been lenient with you, right?”
And while I was grumbling, not really grumbling, their argument showed no signs of ending.
“…That’s enough.”
In the end, once again…
I had no choice but to intervene.
As soon as I finished speaking, Sylphia and Arwen simultaneously closed their mouths.
They listen well for no reason.
And apart from that, although it wasn’t my business whether they fought or not, I just wished they wouldn’t fight in front of me, so…
I pointed my finger at the door.
“I’m going to sleep now, so everyone, please leave.”
It’s already night, so it’s time to sleep.
I just hope I don’t see them fighting in my dreams.
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I can see him really running away with this opportunity if they annoy him hard enough