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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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And with a mindset of “I’ll probably do well somehow,” I delegated about half of the books to Sylphia, and time passed by relentlessly as I read the remaining books.
“This was truly useless.”
Hmm, it was a waste of time.
I closed the book I had been focusing on reading to the end for about thirty minutes and rubbed my tired eyes.
Continuously focusing on the tiny text for almost a week had resulted in a level of eye fatigue that couldn’t be ignored.
And the fact that the books I had read so far weren’t very useful was one of the factors that exacerbated that fatigue.
“…I should have just browsed through some tabloid books to find something like a treasure.”
I grumbled unconsciously to that extent, indicating how lacking in substance they were.
Although I had gained magical knowledge that I wasn’t previously aware of, so it couldn’t be said that my time was completely wasted, the information I actually wanted wasn’t even in the Imperial Palace library.
“…I wonder if there’s a place with more books than here?”
I nibbled on the tip of my fingernail.
For now, there might be books I had missed in the Imperial Palace library, but I had already borrowed everything that seemed even remotely related.
The other candidates that came to mind were the Academy library or the collection owned by the Magic Tower.
If I wanted, I could easily request cooperation through my connections to read the Academy’s collection at any time, and if I borrowed the power of authority, I could also easily borrow the books owned by the Magic Tower, but…
It wasn’t easy.
What in the world is easy?
Although the fact that the world isn’t easy remains unchanged, it was disappointing that it wasn’t so simple that I could just get it for free.
Still, you can’t expect to succeed on the first try.
I realized that the world isn’t easy, so that was enough.
In the first place, I never had any expectations of finding a solution right away.
There was plenty of time.
“It’s not like I’ve been given a terminal diagnosis that I only have a few months or a year left to live. If that were the case, I might have been a bit flustered, but…”
I muttered while trailing off.
It wasn’t that I was composed in the face of the fear of death, but rather that it felt too distant in the future to easily grasp.
And my task was to find a solution before that distant future became the near future.
Arwen had also mentioned that there was a final method, even though she really didn’t want to use it, so it was like having an insurance policy.
As I closed the book I was reading and stretched out for a long time, the door to the research lab swung open and my mentor poked his head in.
“Rudrick, I’m sorry to bother you while you’re busy, but…”
“No, I just finished reading, so I’m not busy. Is there something going on?”
“A guest has come to see you. That day has arrived.”
As my mentor stepped aside with a displeased face, a new face with a grin appeared through the open door.
“Hey, how’s our Rudrick been doing?”
“Admiral Lassiel…?”
“That sounds too formal, and it also reminds me of the princess. It’s okay to just call me Lassiel. You can even call me Big Sis Lassiel.”
It was the Golden Sun Admiral.
No, although she had golden hair and a tan, she wasn’t a delinquent, so calling her that was strictly speaking rude.
But the feeling of it stuck so well that I was more used to calling her the Golden Sun Admiral than just Lassiel.
“Uh…”
“Ahahaha, if it’s burdensome, just call me whatever you want.”
“Then, Golden Sun Admiral…?”
“Ah.”
As soon as I carefully uttered those words, Lassiel’s laughter abruptly stopped.
It wasn’t an angry expression, but a complex and subtle expression that was difficult to describe in writing.
Soon, Lassiel spoke in a bitter tone.
“Rudrick… No, since I’m older, is it okay if I just call you Rudrick?”
[T/N: korean pronoun shit just ignore]
“…Yes, I don’t mind.”
“I’m sorry, but I also know what that means. They say golden-haired, tanned delinquents are abbreviated as golden sun.”
“I apologize.”
As soon as Lassiel finished speaking, I bowed my head deeply.
Come to think of it, there was a good chance that I had told her what it meant before I regressed, but I had thoughtlessly blurted it out without properly filtering it through my brain, and this mess had occurred.
Fortunately, Lassiel soon waved her hand and stopped me.
“No, it’s not that I’m offended… It’s just that seeing you say that again this time, it made me think, ‘Ah, it’s you.'”
Lassiel added with a bitter smile.
There was a strange sense of reminiscence in her voice and expression.
With an expression that seemed to long for something, the atmosphere naturally turned solemn, and I also fell silent.
It was a somewhat heavy topic to touch upon lightly, but for now, that was the case.
I was simply aware that they had regressed due to a system message that had flashed once, but I had no way of knowing what had happened in the past before the regression.
However, sometimes when I looked at Arwen, she would often be lost in thought, recalling memories of the past alone.
For them, the past that had gone by was a time that had scattered and disappeared, unable to share memories with anyone in this world.
“…Well, let’s stop the heavy talk here. It’ll only make the mood darker.”
“…”
“Ahahaha, there’s no need to make such a gloomy face. I was just reminded of the past for a moment. Anyway, so there’s no need to be discouraged, young man.”
Lassiel shrugged her shoulders and held out her hand.
As I stared at that hand blankly, Lassiel urged me as if asking what I was waiting for.
“It’s about time to escape from this Imperial Palace, Rudrick.”
“…Ah, right. In that plan, Lassiel had that role, didn’t she?”
“That’s right. So thanks to that, I had to check the shift times of the guards and the patrol times of the Imperial Knights, which wasn’t even in my fortune… Anyway! Today is the perfect time to escape. The knights won’t be on guard duty for the next two hours.”
As I unconsciously grabbed the hand she had extended, Lassiel passed by my mentor, who was standing there blankly, and led me to the corridor of the separate palace.
While being led by the hand and passing through the corridor in a daze, a cat and a dog that anyone would find unusual and suspicious poked their heads out from the corner of the corridor.
The cat was a familiar face that even I knew well.
“…Arwen?”
“Everything is going according to plan. I have temporarily taken control of the guards patrolling the left side. They won’t be suspicious even if you pass by them directly.”
“Great, nice advice.”
Lassiel, who had given a thumbs-up to Arwen, who was primly licking her front paw while speaking, turned the corner, and naturally, I turned the corner in a hurry.
And the dog with red fur like a bridge, who was running hard with its short legs to keep up with me, was…
“All the remaining guards up to the entrance have been put to sleep with a sleep spell. You can just pass by them straight.”
“Good work, lizard girl!”
“Who are you calling a lizard?!”
Along with the familiar voice, Lassiel and Sylphia exchanged banter-like conversations.
No, wait, that dog was Sylphia?
I clearly remembered passing by her a few times in the corridor…!
Before I could be surprised by the shocking truth, as Sylphia had said, I quickly left the Imperial Palace by passing the guards who had fallen asleep standing up. And quite leisurely at that.
Sylphia, who was standing far away near the entrance, shouted in a high-pitched voice,
“Make sure to keep your promise! It’s not your turn today anyway, so don’t get any funny ideas!”
“Come on, do you think I’d sneak around like you?”
“Who are you calling sneaky, you!”
As Sylphia’s shout was heard from behind, Lassiel giggled.
And only at this point was I able to end my Imperial Palace escape that rivaled The Shawshank Redemption.
As we walked down the promenade near the Imperial Palace, I asked Lassiel with a dumbfounded expression that I couldn’t hide.
“…So what is all this? Was this according to the plan?”
“Of course, of course. Our plan was like this from the beginning, wasn’t it? The Grand Duchess would use her power in various ways, I would take you and run away, and in the process, those two would use magic to divert attention so there would be no noise.”
“Didn’t we basically cause a huge commotion in the Imperial Palace and leave? This seems like something only a fool wouldn’t know…”
“Nah, don’t worry. We’ve been rolling around in the Imperial Palace for several years, so how could we not know that much? We’ve adjusted it well enough so that the disturbance won’t spread too much, so don’t worry and…”
“I don’t think so…”
Although I was led by Lassiel’s hand and emerged into the middle of the capital’s streets, I still had doubts.
If they had put the guards to sleep with magic and hypnotized them in the Imperial Palace of all places, it would be normal for a commotion to naturally occur.
However, since Arwen and Sylphia had magical abilities that were incomparable to human great mages, it was doubtful, but if it were anyone else, it wouldn’t be surprising to believe that a commotion had already broken out in the Imperial Palace by now.
As the feeling of unease, as if I had poked a hornet’s nest, still lingered, Lassiel, who saw my expression, shook her head as if there was no other choice.
“Really, you’re worrying unnecessarily. Anyway, my role ends here. Unfortunately, today is the Grand Duchess’s turn, and my turn is tomorrow.”
“…But I’m not a child, so if I’m alone-”
“Tsk tsk.”
Lassiel, who interrupted my words midway, clicked her tongue.
Although the average height difference between men and women hadn’t particularly changed in this world, Lassiel was tall and I was short, so the height difference felt somewhat intimidating at a glance.
Thanks to that, Lassiel, who clicked her tongue while looking down at me from above, crossed her fingers.
“What if something dangerous happens to you?”
“…Shouldn’t you be more concerned about the person who tries to do something dangerous to me first? I’m a mage, you know.”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
As Lassiel struggled to find words to say with a pondering expression, she brightened up as soon as she saw someone.
“Ah, she’s here.”
“Huh?”
“The Grand Duchess is over there. Today, go and have fun with Her Grace. If she tries to do something bad, don’t forget to say, ‘I don’t like it, you can’t, don’t do it,’ and reject her, okay?”
“…What did you say?”
“Then, I’m off!”
With those words, Lassiel quickly disappeared, and beyond her retreating figure, a familiar face appeared once again.
“…As planned.”
A small crack appeared in her usually expressionless face.
A slight smile that seemed to indicate satisfaction.
It was Eileen.
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