After taking a hot spring bath and resting at an inn for a day, I returned to the royal capital.
　This mission has refreshed my mind and body as if a demon had been lifted from me.
　Today is the start of another hectic workday.

　I was to work as a teacher at the Magical Academy.
　You'll be teaching your classes as usual, answering students' questions and dealing with your colleague Norman's rivalry, and then the day's work is over.
　You are in the staff room getting ready for your next class.

"Mr. Kaiser. Good evening. Is this ...... a good time?

　My colleague, Irene, came over to see me. A cool, intelligent, bespectacled beauty. But she looked extremely tense right now.

"Yes. It's fine. We're just finishing up. What do you want?
　And I went on with the conversation.
'Do you remember when I said I wanted to talk to you about education, Mr. Kaisel? And his voice was a little hoarse.
"I remember. What's it to you?
Then you can go to that ......

　At a loss for words, Irene tried to calm herself by pushing up the arch of her glasses with her fingers.
　This gesture was part of her routine.
　But her fingertips trembled under the strain, and the arches of her glasses were jiggling.
　After taking a deep breath, Irene said, "Su-ha-ha-ha.

"If you'd like, would you like to have dinner with me tonight?

　Maybe it was because I was in a tempest, but my voice was exceeding the right amount of dialogue content .
　The instructors in the staff room all looked at me at once to see what was going on .
　Exposed to a rain of unwanted stares, the prone Irene had turned bright red. I thought fire was going to come out of her ears.

'Food?' I muttered.
"Of course not by force!　I know you're busy, Kaiser.　You don't have enough time to go out to dinner with me, and--
Okay. Shall we go?
'Of course!　I knew you were going to share a meal with me--what? I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about this.
　Holding the frames of her glasses, she asks fearfully.

Mr. Kaiser. What did you just say?
I'll go with you if it's me.
'Yeah!

　Irene was so surprised that she almost sat up.

'?　What's going on?　Maybe it was a social call or something: ......
'No, no!　I wasn't expecting you to agree.　Just the two of us with Mr. Kaisel and dinner ......!

　Irene pressed her flushed cheeks and muttered to herself.

'I've heard that food is the best way to bring men and women together, and . Isn't this perhaps ......!
Miss Irene?
'It's nothing!　Anything!　Because we teachers sat down to discuss education with each other!　Yes!

　You'll be able to see that they have some other plans. I can't help but wonder if she has some other plans. 　

　We've come to a public tavern near the magical academy.
　It's crowded. We're seated in the back.

Irene. What would you like to drink?
Yeah, sure. I'll have the same one as Miss Kaiser.
'Waiter . 'Can I have two ales?' said the woman, and then ordered a combination of several dishes from the menu.
"Hmmm. I think I'll have the orange juice, then.
Okay. Orange juice.

　I asked the waiter for more orange juice.

"You're underage, Meryl.
Meryl always asks for this when she comes in here.
When you use your head, you crave sugar.

　The two glasses of ale that had been brought to us and the orange juice in Meryl's hand, we toasted after she had led the way.
　We tipped our mugs and drank the chilled ale in one gulp.
　There's nothing like a drink after a long day's work.
　You can't help but let out a breath of bliss.


　Just as I was getting pleasantly drunk, Irene and I were asking at the same time.

"No, why is Meryl here?
Why is Mr. Merrill here?

　It was so natural that I was slow to react .
　Merrill's little chin was resting on the cheekbones of his hands on the table, his legs swinging in the air with an amused smile on his face.

Papa said he's going to have dinner with Irene. I thought I'd like to follow him.

　After the lecture was over at the magic academy, Meryl came running home with me, but I refused to go home with her because I had something to do today.
　So you were following me after that: .......

'You know . Me and Irene are going to have a heart-to-heart talk now, teacher to teacher. It's going to be hard to do a lot of things with my student Meryl around, isn't it?
It's okay. I'll just cover my ears.
You're a stubborn one, aren't you? Are you really that desperate for bar food?　...... Well, I've been so busy lately that it's been a while since I've eaten out.

　Meryl has a habit of not listening to me when I say this.
　I scratched my neck and turned to Irene and said.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to let Meryl go home alone. Can I let him stay with you?
Yeah, yeah. Come in.

　Irene gave a mended smile, then

"Ugh. ....... I thought I'd be alone with Mr. Kaiser. ......

　He mumbled to himself with a downcast look on his face.
　And then I thought--.

'No, but isn't this an opportunity?　If we can win Mr. Merrill's trust here, we'll have a daughter-approved relationship ......
I knew you wouldn't let Miss Irene get her daddy.

　They were exchanging some kind of look at each other.
　Are there feuds between the two of them that I don't know about?　
　But there was no pretense of that.
　He seemed to be on good terms with the school.
　And if so, what's the trigger?　Did I cause this?　Is it because I brought Merrill into a discussion of education?
　As I was lost in thought, I could hear the buzzing of customers around me.

"Hey. Hey, man, what's up with that guy. How many have you had?
You've had more than ten. You've already had more than ten.
And I'll have three more for you.

　It seemed like there was a guest who had been drinking an absurd amount of alcohol.
　Most of these people are a pain in the ass. Not all of them, mind you.
　I don't want to get involved if I can help it--I glanced to the side and saw an acquaintance out of the corner of my eye.
　She looked at you like a bird of prey as she fueled her drink. She came toward me with an empty mug in her hand.
　Looking down at me with a flushed face, she-Regina said.

"Kaiser. I didn't know you were here.