The Second Prince's Seclusion (4)
“It's not fair……. I can't be the only one to die……. It's not fair…….”
In the depths of dawn, an eerie sound, as if someone were muttering, emanated from Hillaise's Bakery.
James woke up.
‘What’s that sound…….’
Maybe a thief broke into the store. Or were those guys back?
James hesitated to wake his family.
‘If they make a fuss and those guys notice, it could be dangerous for the family.’
He tiptoed out of the bedroom, trying not to make a sound, to check the situation.
“Yes……. Then, here……. Add this……?”
Opening the door, he saw a dark silhouette in the dark kitchen.
James was too surprised to even scream.
‘Gasp!!! Uh……? This voice……. Sis, Sis Soi?’
James immediately returned to the bedroom and woke up his older sister.
“Sis!! Sis Celia, wake up. Hurry! Something’s wrong with Sis Soi!”
“Ugh, what is it? At this hour.”
Celia rubbed her eyes and yawned.
Pushed out by her little brother's insistence, she saw the same sight and her face hardened.
“R, Right. Calm down. Celia. James will take care of it somehow.”
James looked at his older sister with a dumbfounded expression at her words, but Celia just pushed James's back with her foot.
“……I can't be the only one to die. I'm the only one……. Yes. Everyone's going to die together…….”
The sight of their little sister giggling and fiddling with something was too scary to approach.
James looked back at his older sister with a pleading look in his eyes.
But Celia shook her head resolutely.
‘Ugh.’
James had no choice but to slowly approach Soi, like approaching a ferocious beast.
“Um, excuse me……? Sis Elise?”
He would have called her Sis Soi as usual, but James was quick to catch on.
“Yes? What is it, James?”
Soi replied in a casual voice and looked back at James.
Her eyes were shining brightly like a madman.
‘Gulp!’
She had been acting strange since she came back from the academy yesterday, groaning and all.
But this was too extreme, wasn't it?
James swallowed hard.
Then he asked in a bright voice he managed to muster.
“Uh, Sis Elise! What are you doing right now?”
“Oh, you silly boy, what else would I be doing in a bakery? I'm making bread, of course.”
“Th, That’s bread?”
The black lump being kneaded in Soi's hand even had a subtle sheen to it in the moonlight.
She grabbed a handful of black powder and sprinkled it on the lump.
“A, Are you putting that in the bread now? Ah~ Chocolate chips?”
“Yes, that's right! I saw the blacksmith from next door, so I got some from him!”
“The blacksmith……. gave you chocolate chips?”
Soi Spoon didn't answer and just smiled faintly.
“Th, Then! What’s that white, sticky stuff next to it, glue! It’s glue!”
“Yes, that's right! They say this can even bond metal firmly!”
“……That’s what glue is for……!?”
This is bad.
James, who had been opening and closing his mouth several times, hardened his expression.
He strode into the kitchen and grabbed a broom that was nearby.
“Yes! Work hard! I'll do the cleaning! I won't bother you since you look busy!”
“James!”
Celia shouted from behind.
“What!”
“I'll get the dustpan!”
Celia gave up too.
Thus, the two siblings, unable to say anything more, prepared to open the store while trying their best to ignore Soi Spoon.
Their mother woke up late and came out of the bedroom.
“You guys are up early today~ Hmm? Soi?”
“Mom.”
“What’s that?”
“Bread.”
“?”
Using her years of experience, their mother quickly looked around and grasped the situation.
And then she nodded.
“Celia, James! Where did you put the rags?”
Well. It seems like they decided to ignore it. As expected, adults knew better than to approach danger.
“Mom, let’s not sell baguettes today.”
“My son says some really smart things sometimes.”
And so dawned another peaceful morning at Hillaise's Bakery.
* * *
“Instructor, here’s today’s bread.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Zeke reached out unconsciously and freaked out.
“!”
He immediately pulled his hand back and jumped up.
Kwang!!!!
Whoosh!
The black bread, gleaming with a faint luster, soared through the air in an instant and disappeared, sparkling in the morning sunlight.
Zeke realized that he had just avoided a tremendous crisis and wiped the sweat off his brow.
If he hadn't noticed and caught it, a bloodbath might have occurred at the academy.
Of course, it was softer than a regular sword, but firmness wasn't the issue.
‘Soi Spoon!!! What, what did you make!!! This kind of assassination attempt is really troublesome!!!’
Even without using the Eyes of Judgment, the thick emotion of resentment that flickered within was evident.
“……Huh? My bread……. It’s gone? Where did it go?”
Soi Spoon looked down at her empty hand with a blank expression.
“I worked so hard on it……. Stayed up all night……. Ahaha……. Was it all a dream? Was everything that happened yesterday a dream too?”
She even started denying reality with a giggle.
Perhaps the excessive training he put her through yesterday was the cause.
‘She poured her emotions into the bread……! Crazy, does she have the talent of a berserker?’
To be able to imbue objects with emotions like anger and resentment is the realm of instinct, not reason.
It's an innate skill used only by beings like Orc Lords in dark fantasy worlds.
The reason the bread was so delicious might have been because of Soi's emotions embedded in it.
Then, as she trains and gets stronger, the taste of the bread will fluctuate as well.
‘……It's fortunate if it's just the taste that fluctuates……. It'll be affected by emotions too……. Isn't that a drug then?’
A bread made by a future drug offender.
The future of Hillaise's Bakery seemed bleak.
‘Is this romance fantasy really okay……?’
A drug offender Orc Lord female lead.
Zeke suddenly worried if the development of this romance fantasy was going down the drain, but it was too late to regret it now.
Zeke called Soi in a serious voice.
“Soi Spoon.”
“……My bread…….”
“Elise.”
“……M, My br, Yes!?”
“Never make that again. That's a dangerous talent.”
Soi looked puzzled.
“At least try to think happy thoughts when you're making bread.”
“What does that…….”
“Just answer me.”
“Ye, Yes……”
It seemed she didn't even realize what she had created.
‘Scary. Protagonist's buff. Once this blooms, it's unstoppable. I need to teach her how to handle mana quickly. As soon as the demo class is over, I need to get her a filter.’
And so, unfortunately, the ‘black(?) bread’ that Soi Spoon had painstakingly prepared from dawn with all her heart could not be used.
However, the small bread that Zeke had launched accidentally caused a butterfly effect, leading to the salvation of a nation, but that was something no one could have known at this point.
‘There will be a lot of students crowding in today…….’
With that, as the small but significant morning incident passed, he thought about the class.
“Elise, can you run and get me a new loaf of bread? Something normal.”
“……We’re not selling baguettes today.”
“……Is that so. I guess I'll have to do without bread.”
It was a golden opportunity to get rid of the bread that had been tormenting the students, but as if by a lie, no one showed up for Zeke's demonstration class.
‘Huh?’
Zeke peeked outside the training ground, looking for the students.
He could hear a group of students chatting as they passed by.
“Hey, didn't you have a swordsmanship elective class today? You were going there.”
“Uh……. I’m not going……”
“Why?”
“Well, my friend who went yesterday grabbed my pants and begged me not to go. He said he met his dead grandfather.”
Since he had crushed 200 elective students, not just a handful of dedicated ones, it was no surprise that bad rumors spread quickly.
‘Hmph, I don't need weaklings. I rejected them first. There's gotta be at least one or two who want to get stronger.’
Zeke started training alone.
Four days passed like this, and the last day of the demonstration class arrived.
‘Not a single one came!’
* * *
The evening of the last day of the demonstration class.
Students who wanted to register for Zeke's class gathered.
Major student. Princess Selena Yohaiden of the Duke's family.
Major student. The Second Prince, Rosnante Leonine.
Elective student. Commoner girl Soi Spoon from Hillaise's Bakery.
Elective student. A girl with black hair and black eyes?
He knew the first three, but not the last one.
She was a girl with an almost non-existent presence and an expressionless face.
Zeke looked at the girl and spoke.
“Who are you?”
“Yuri Gilbert.”
“Did you participate in my class?”
“……I experienced the first day of the elective demonstration class.”
She shuddered as if the pain of the pit came back to her.
But Zeke had no memory of her.
‘Hmm, if she had any skill, I would have remembered. But wait, she has black hair and black eyes. Is she also from the North or something?’
“Why did you join?”
“……The First Prince sent me.”
‘Ah.’
Zeke realized why she had joined the class.
‘But he said to send a few, and she’s the only one?’
“Are you the only one who joined?”
“Other students came with me, but they all betrayed me after listening to the demonstration class.”
Her voice was flat, devoid of any tone, but he could sense a hint of frustration.
“Huh? Instructor, does that mean there are only four of us?”
Selena interrupted.
“Don't worry.”
Zeke replied with a confident face.
‘Hmm, what should I do!?’
In reality, he had no clear solution.
At this rate, the class might not even open, and Zeke would be kicked out of the academy.
‘I made it really easy. If they can’t even handle this, how are they going to fight monsters?’
From Zeke's point of view, it was very unfair.
Of course, if he really wanted to find a way, he could just pick any student who didn't choose the elective and force them to register.
However, in that case, those students would be listed as participants in the class but wouldn't actually participate in the training.
That would give the First Prince or the principal an excuse to find fault with him.
Dios? That joke? He could always be called and beaten up whenever Zeke wanted.
‘Sigh, is that really the only way? The principal doesn't seem to like me very much right now either.’
Zeke thought that if there were other male protagonists besides the Second Prince, they would surely participate in the class to test his specialness, just like Rosnante.
So he searched with burning eyes but couldn't find a single student with even a slightly outstanding quality.
‘Maybe just the First Prince?’
As he was racking his brain and organizing his thoughts, a woman strode into the training ground from the entrance.
Selena was the first to spot her and her eyes widened.
“What!? She’s……. Why is she coming out of there?”
At her words, the other students' gazes turned towards the entrance as well.
“Th-That red hair is Iriel Eustia…….”
The Second Prince nodded in agreement.
“…….”
As Zeke turned his gaze, Iriel met his eyes with an impassive face.
She walked towards him, her gaze fixed on him.
“Zeke.”
“…….”
“You’re missing one person, right?”
“…….”
“Then add my name. My elective slot is still open.”
Zeke's eyebrows twitched.
‘What in the world is this woman thinking?’
The woman connected to his body’s past.
Or maybe even the woman who was his backer.
He was going to find out slowly after the demonstration class, but she walked right in.
‘Grudge? Revenge?’
It wasn’t the case when he checked before, but maybe she had developed such feelings in the meantime.
'No, that's not it.'
If that were the case, she would have tried to get him kicked out of the academy and found another way instead of joining the class.
“Hey. You, do you have any idea where you are right now?”
Selena glared at Iriel threateningly.
At that, she instantly erased the moist look in her eyes that were fixed on Zeke and turned to Selena with a vicious expression.
“Ha. Are you saying I can't come here?”
“Seriously, you’re going to take a knighthood class?”
“Well, if I don’t join, this class will be canceled, so do you have any other ideas?”
“The Instructor said he has a way.”
Selena glanced at Zeke with an expression that seemed to ask,
"You have a way, right?"
Zeke nodded.
“Yes. I’ll allow you to join our class.”
At his words, Selena looked betrayed, while Iriel's lips twitched slightly.
‘Right, it might be easier to keep an eye on her and figure things out.’
With that, the class was full.
“Alright, I’ll accept these five as students for the swordsmanship class.”
As Zeke declared, the Second Prince, who had been unable to meet Zeke’s eyes and kept his head down, looked at them and said,
“Then why don't we all have dinner together? We'll be together for at least four years.”
Zeke nodded at Rosante’s dinner invitation.
“That’s a good idea. Let’s have dinner together.”
“Uh……. Um. Are you coming too?”
Rosante’s question made Zeke frown slightly.
“……Me?”
Zeke nodded.
“Yes, I have something to discuss about the class, so I’ll join you.”
“Oh……. Okay…….”
“Good.”
“““…….”””
Selena, in a deadpan voice, accepted Iriel's presence.
Iriel replied in a nonchalant tone.
The rest remained silent.
Soi’s pupils trembled.
‘T-Two princess, a prince, a count’s daughter……. A-Am I……. the only commoner!?’
If there had been at least one more commoner besides her, it wouldn't have been this burdensome.
Soi didn't know what to do.
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how the fuck do you make bread only slightly softer than fucking metal
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