The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

Charlotte wasn’t the only familiar face.

The empire was vast. If I used my previous world’s Korea as a reference for the size of a country, then the empire was like several nations combined into one. And if I included its colonies, then its territory stretched beyond the sea as well.

No, actually, that wasn’t quite right. Lindborough had directly annexed part of those colonies, so the empire really did have a sea running through its lands.

There was Crowfield, which shared a border with another nation. Lindborough, where you had to cross the sea to reach its heartland. Winterfield, which was tucked away in the far north. And Northwood, which still took several hours by train to reach.

And it wasn’t just the dukes and counts—there were plenty of baronies located far from the capital. Even children from smaller noble houses often lived far away.

The closest students were the commoners who resided in the capital. But I didn’t have particularly strong ties with them.

And even if I did have acquaintances among them, the difference in status meant we couldn’t easily meet. The other side might not even want to. If they did, it would require a complicated bureaucratic process.

Because of all that, during the time I was absent from the academy, the only people I could regularly meet were Claire and Leo.

As I sat in the classroom, waiting, one by one, familiar faces entered.

“Good day.”

Lena greeted me plainly, without any flowery words, despite it being our first meeting in a long while.

“Ah, w-were you well?”

Mia, on the other hand, attempted a more refined noblewoman’s tone.

“Oh? Looks like things weren’t as chaotic as I expected.”

“...I apologize on behalf of the young master for his rudeness.”

Jake and Lottie—still as lively as ever.

And then—

“It’s been a while, everyone.”

Sophia, whose expression was still somewhat clouded but significantly brighter than the last time I had seen her.

Lily Baker was probably in the commoners’ class by now. She wouldn’t go out of her way to come here just to greet me.

Unexpectedly, my friends all seemed to be in high spirits. Even Sophia—whose very beliefs had been shaken—looked much better than before. That alone was a relief.

The ones who looked tense, however, were the other students in our class.

There were likely multiple reasons for that.

Some might be wary because Alice was now officially the Crown Princess. Others might have heard the rumors about the Gryphon.

And, of course, there were whispers in some noble circles that Alice had overthrown the Emperor.

...Which was particularly troublesome because, technically speaking, they weren’t wrong.

Not that it had been our intention.

Most students wouldn’t have heard the details of what had happened. But they would have at least heard who had been there. And they certainly knew the outcome.

While they had been away at their family estates, their parents had no doubt given them very clear instructions.

Listen carefully to every word they say.

And my noble friends understood this, which was why none of us mentioned that day in the classroom.

It would have been too much of a hassle if the wrong rumors started spreading.

...Not that we avoided talking about it entirely.

*

“I’ve lost quite a bit of weight over the past month.”

Sophia let out a deep sigh.

“I didn’t even lose this much weight when I was training in swordsmanship...”

It was ironic. A girl barely old enough to be considered a high school student worrying not about gaining weight, but losing it. That kind of concern was usually reserved for middle-aged people whose health was starting to decline.

“Well, that’s because you were actively /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ breaking Belvur’s laws.”

Charlotte shot her a pointed look, her eyes narrowing.

Sophia averted her gaze.

...Ah. So the reason she looked so gloomy was because she’d been under constant scrutiny this whole time.

“Identity fraud is a serious crime. You should be grateful you’re sitting here freely at all.”

Charlotte’s voice was firm as she stabbed her parfait with a small spoon.

We were sitting at the same café we had always visited when coming to the academy. Even our seats were the same—out on the terrace.

People walked past occasionally, but the street was noisy enough that our voices wouldn’t carry too far as long as we didn’t speak too loudly.

That didn’t mean we could discuss sensitive topics, but still.

“The process itself was technically legal...”

Sophia muttered in her defense, but Charlotte wasn’t having any of it.

“Even if you were legally a Belvurian citizen, if your true allegiance was to the Holy Nation, then you were committing a crime. If you had simply kept your feelings to yourself and not engaged in illegal activities, no one would have caught you. But if we follow your logic, then this would count as treason. Are you fine with that?”

“...I’m sorry.”

With no room to argue, Sophia lowered her head.

...Yeah. Losing weight made sense.

For an entire month, she had probably been berated like this—not just by Charlotte, but by every other official who had been questioning her.

Fortunately, she had ultimately fought on our side, and the place she had infiltrated had been the empire, not Belvur. More importantly, her mission’s objective had been me, an imperial princess—not Belvur.

Because of that, she hadn’t been classified as a high-level criminal worthy of a life sentence.

If the empire had found out, though, things would have gone very differently.

But we had collectively decided to keep Sophia’s true identity a secret.

Besides, the Holy Nation itself was on the verge of collapse. The country itself wouldn’t disappear, but its leadership had been completely wiped out. The Emperor, his children, and the Imperial Knights had cleaned house.

The only ones left were the cardinals stationed abroad—and even they were arguing over who should take the position of Pope.

Overnight, divine power had vanished completely. How was anyone supposed to prove their faith now?

There had been a Pope in my world, and massive religious institutions still existed, so eventually it would be rebuilt. But for the foreseeable future, that debate would drag on. And even if they did recover, they wouldn’t be able to act from the shadows like before. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

“How is the situation in Belvur?”

We had exchanged letters, but discussing things in person always had a different weight to it.

“Hmm...”

Charlotte’s pupils slightly lost focus as she processed my question.

“There have been repeated complaints about a stench rising from underground. Apparently, the underground structures beneath the capital are so vast that it’ll take decades just to investigate everything.”

“......”

That sounded like the Paris Catacombs.

Except, unlike real catacombs, this underground structure was massive. And that only made things even more complicated.

Up until now, the Holy Nation had controlled those underground passages. But now, their leadership was gone, and the general public had become aware of their existence.

If left unattended, those tunnels could become breeding grounds for crime.

Not to mention, when I destroyed the Cardinal’s artifact, it instantly killed all the creatures the Holy Nation had kept sealed below.

If their corpses were now rotting and filling the capital with stench... yeah, that was a nightmare for Belvur.

And the smell was the least of their concerns.

Rotting corpses were breeding grounds for disease.

This world had only just started to uncover concepts like bacteria and viruses, but the idea that “decaying bodies spread sickness” had been around for centuries.

Every time the stench rose, people had to track down the source, enter the tunnels, and remove the corpses. It was an exhausting and dangerous task.

“You don’t have to make that face.”

Charlotte, noticing my guilt-ridden expression, casually reassured me.

“If that underground mess hadn’t been cleared out, things would have been even worse down the line.”

Her words lifted some of the weight from my shoulders.

“......”

And then, I noticed something.

Two people were staring at me.

No, not just two people.

Two very specific people.

Mia.

And Lena.

Neither of them had particularly intense expressions, but their eyes had noticeably widened.

...Right.

These were the two people I had always made sure to maintain my emotionless act in front of.

I had been so caught up in everything that I momentarily forgot.

Now wasn’t the time to completely drop my mask.

...Great.

Just great.