In the room where Tesfia had left vigorously, Froese looked coldly at his back.
　It was Selva with a cup of tea who closed the open door.

''Frose-sama, you've been talking to me, haven't you?
Yeah, I didn't think it was going to be that bad.
I'm sure it is, too.

　With a familiar hand, he pours the tea into the cup and places it quietly in front of Froese.

'But I can't help it all,'

　In order to protect the family name, a nobleman must marry early and have children at an early age. Even for a man of great talent, if he misses his chance, he will be played by the nobility.
　Not marrying is synonymous with renouncing the family name.
　That is the only thing that even Froese could not do. So, at the very least, she chose the best partner for her daughter.
　At this point, the best of Flosé and Tesfia have produced exactly the opposite result.

''It was like looking at the young Flose-sama.
What does it mean?
I feel a little sorry for him.
You're so well rounded.

　Selva just smiled and listened with a huff.

'I've compromised quite a bit for that boy, though.
I suppose that would be wrong.

　Selva picks up the scattered materials of a potential engagement. Selva was the only one who noticed this discrepancy, which I don't know if I can call it a discrepancy.
　As a nobleman, marriage can be called karma in a sense. It is inevitable that Froese, the head of the family, will choose a good property in its own right.
　However, Froze thinks this is a mother's kindness to her children.
　That it's the best thing for Tesfia.

　Even if Selva is the only one who realizes this, she can't talk about it. It's obvious that this is a line that he shouldn't be involved in as a steward.

　Huffing and puffing out a sigh, he stacked the documents on his desk.

　Froese, who doesn't even dare to perceive such an old man's concern, shakes her head - no, it's not that she doesn't perceive it, it's that it's a decision in Froese's mind.

I don't have much time. I'm sorry to seem urgent, but I need that girl to make a decision while she's here.
Are you on my left?

　Selva doesn't object........but at least.

'If you're going to talk, Frose-sama, I think it would be better to wait until your daughter is a little calmer.
''Well yes. I guess I just need some time to sort things out.

　Froese glanced at the prospective fiancée's materials out of the corner of her eye, and she put her cheekbones to her cheek and lowered her eyes.
　Born and raised as a noblewoman, the best thing for her would be to have a stable ranking in the future and maintain the Fèvel name.


　♢ ♢ ♢


　I wipe my shaky vision.
　Still, a grain of grief flooding out.
　Tesfia ran into her room at a fast pace. That's exactly what she did without turning aside.

　The door, closed vigorously, echoes with a thumping sound, filling the deserted room with a sense of helplessness.
　Tesfia's thoughts circled the same circle like a crazy clock as she plopped down on the bed at a glance.

(Marriage was something I knew...)

　And yet the bitterness of abandonment tightens in my chest.
　Showing a respectable ranking as a mage. That had been her goal, and Tesfia felt that engagement and marriage made her feel like that path was halfway closed.
　The reality is that her mother made her feel like she had given up on her talents as a magician.

　There was no such thing as an engagement, Tesfia concluded. Instead, she would become a mage and achieve results.
　She was forced to present a path that would make that impossible to achieve. And that too from my mother, who had the power of compulsion.

　The head that comes up with the idea on its own, even when I'm lying in bed, leads me to a number of bad...and worst conclusions. Do I have to give up after doing that for minutes?　I started to ask myself, "What do you mean?" and then I looked up with a bang and shook my head from side to side.

'No, no, I definitely don't want to do that one.

　Tesfia decided to train herself not to think about it now that she'd heard the shocking story that had even blown her out of sleep. With swollen eyes and a tight knot of quivering lips.
　I want to be mindless now, and my body pulls the stick out of the bag.

　He grips it firmly in both hands as if he were holding a sword, closes his eyes, and regulates his breathing. His breath is snatched and his throat shakes as he exhales.
　I begin to feel the magic and give him instructions.
　You let it crawl across the entirety of your core as you press against it.

　Slowly and sluggishly, magic power flows out of Tesfia's hands and covers the lurid, dark green rod.
　Sweat floats on his forehead and he maintains it.
　He was completely focused on the magic power now.
　That's why even the knocking sound of the door.........If a voice came from behind the door, it would not reach Tesfia's ears.
　Later on, Tesfia would chew on the importance of Ars's advice to not get distracted by focusing too much on granting magic power.

'Fia, I'm coming in,'

　Even the clattering sound did not reach Tesfia's ears.

''----!

　A dumbfounded look on her daughter's face as she looks at her daughter working on the training in front of her, and she quickly narrows her eyes.
　It was because of the unfamiliar stick in Tesfia's hand.
　For a while, Froese watched in silence.
　Tesfia, who was still meditating, noticed her mother when her concentration was broken and her magic power dispersed.

　She turned around, wondering at the gaze from behind her.

''Mother!　Since when....

　Tesfia, with her eyes peeled back with her bangs stuck to her forehead intact, let out a startled cry between her ragged breaths.

'It's been about three minutes, I think.'

　He put a finger to his chin and thought deliberately. 'It doesn't matter,' said Froese, his mouth drawing a solitary line.

'Fear, what is it?'

　He points to a point with interest.

'----'

　He hides it behind his back as quickly as he can, but it's already too late.
　Approaching gracefully, Froese approaches Tesfia and extends his palms as he approaches her.
　Show it to me, or else, give it to me, she tells him unspoken.

　There's no way she can refuse, and Tesfia shows her resignation by her actions. She puts the training stick in her mother's hand.

'Mother, this is ... well ...'

　Froese, who didn't care about her daughter's voice, let her gaze crawl carefully around the corner. Then, through her magic, she smiled as if she was tingling.

''Fia, who gave you this from?　Or did you borrow it?　It's made of the outer shell of a demon. Quite.........no, it's not something you can get for money.

　She couldn't take her gaze off her mother's bewitching smile as she approached Tesfia. Maybe ... no, I could say with absolute certainty.
　Even if she told a lie, my mother would mobilize all her military connections to find out.
　It wasn't Froese who couldn't see through a lie of the Tesfia level in the first place.

''It's a gift...''
Who told you that?
Our classmate...
What's your name?
A-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah.
Fear!

　Crimson eyes shot through Tesfia and rushed ahead.

''It's Ars Regin!
(Where have I heard of.................)

　For a moment, Froese thought, first of all, that he was a man, and then Regin, who was unfamiliar to him. In other words, he was not a nobleman. Even if he was a nobleman, he was a lower nobleman, a family name that couldn't even be called a nobleman that Froese couldn't hear.
　It was about engagement, after all. Nevertheless, Froze's interest was more in the student called Ars than in any other nobleman.

I wonder what his grades are at the top of his class.

　This is more like a soliloquy by Froese than a question.
　But--

'I think Al is a little below the middle.

　And Tesfia would offer the information just as an opportunity to cut down on her mother's interest. And called her by her abbreviation.
　My mother's face turned into a contained smile when she realized that she was shameless.

'Oh my, Fia is so close to him. I wonder what kind of relationship they have.

　And, as usual, Tesfia's bitter smile is directed at him again.
　She looked away from her gaze but looked at it, but an inescapable sense of pressure was slowly making drops of water float up her back.


'But he's not supposed to be getting very good grades, is he?
Uh, no...
'The fact that he gave you this means that he has something to do with your growth... right?

　Tesfia struggled to move her head, which couldn't turn, but each time she did, she was ragged. There were no more words to escape her mother's pursuit.
　She shut her mouth with a silent nod.

'So, where does he rank?'

　Tesfia is unprepared for the core, the question that would naturally come up, and the words are stuck in her throat.
　And from that point on, even the Chancellor has been muzzled by the Chancellor, so even his mother cannot say it.
　If her daughter, Tesfia, leaked information about the current number one, it might tarnish the name of the Fevel family. No, perhaps.........
　Considering Ars's character, I don't think that's possible, but that doesn't mean it's beyond acceptable to leak it.

''I'm sorry.''

　Tesfia didn't lie, but apologized and insisted that she couldn't say it out loud.
　Of course, Froese can guess. Fia knows, but she can't talk about it.
　It would be shallow to think that it's because it's about privacy.

　Froze smiles with an ecstatic smile that I've never seen before. It comes from pure curiosity, and when it comes to this, no one can stop it. Inwardly, Tesfia apologizes to Ars, to the extent that the Governor will have to chastise her in person if she is not good enough.

　He wondered if he could make a little excuse for the disrespect if he didn't know it was there.

(He was kept quiet in the first place, so there was nothing he could do about it, and if he did his best to apologize, he would forgive her, right?

　I'll plead to Ars, who doesn't even exist. All that remained was to see how far this mother would go. For that, Tesfia had no choice but to ask God for help.

'It's okay, Fia,'

　A supple hand placed on her shoulder with a pop.
　Tesfia looks back at her mother, unsure of the meaning of the hand.
　Followed by.

'Let me invite this Mr. Ars to your home.
...

　A wide-eyed Tesfia countered.

'I don't think he'll ever come. He's free-spirited, and I'm sure your mother would be offended.'
'Fear, that's good. You don't mind if I go to the Academy.
...!

　Ars's strategy of lowering his reputation and diminishing his interest in the game is kicked to the curb.
　Tesfia makes an inward struggle to get to that point. Still, as I recall, he's a character who refuses to waste his time, and he'll reject it decisively.

　Froese was also tempted to say something threatening, but such a thing would cause trouble for Sisti, who is the chancellor of the board of directors, and it would also be bad for publicity.
　So, Froze relents.

''Fia, you don't want to get engaged?''
"....!　Yes.

　Even with the abrupt question, this solution was already decided.

''I understand. But as an aristocrat, you know you have to get married early.''

　I bit my lip lightly and nodded at the bitterness that oozed from within because I knew that.

'I was actually going to ask you to decide who to get engaged to while you were here, but if you want to bring him with you, I'll give you a little more time.

　Of course, Froese didn't suggest it just to satisfy his own needs. There is no small amount of calculation.
　If a classmate named Ars, a classmate of his, made Tesfia grow so much in a short period of time, there's no way he's an ordinary magician.
　Froese would regret not meeting him once. It was with that kind of premonition in mind.

''I understand. I'll definitely bring Al along.

　Quick answer.
　The faintest glimmer of light left in Tesfia. If the engagement could be avoided, even for once, there was no trouble. A statement of determination to bring Ars to him at all costs.

　Froese looked at Tesfia like that and tasted the bitter taste of biting down on a bitter worm with his back teeth.

'I'm looking forward to it. Fia I wonder when it will be so.'
'I'll be back tomorrow. I'll get back to you after I hear about Al's plans.

　In any case, there were only a few days left in the planned stay, and Tesfia decided to leave early, saying that if she stayed any longer, she was really going to get ripped off.
　The plan in Tesfia's brain already includes a whole day of shopping and planning a countermeasure, a plan that seems to be no good from now on.

'I'll keep this stick, just in case.
'What!　But that would mean training...

　Smiling, Froese laughs.

'You just have to bring him in quickly, don't you?
..........

　This time there was a slight pause and Tesfia's cheeks twitched.
　She nodded with a mixture of guilt, wondering if it was a good thing that Ars would be forced to come as a result.


　♢ ♢ ♢　


　In the end, Tesfia's own plan was that he would be able to manage it if he begged tragically. Or rather, since they didn't have anything to offer him, they would have to ask for it from the start.

　He had no idea if he could actually make a face-to-face dent.
　It was because Tesfia's eyes had already switched to shopping mode when she landed on the middle level.

　So even if Tesfia's baggage looked low when she arrived at Ars's laboratory, all of the contents were just the fruits of the war that she had bought along the way.
　I'm not going to go into the details, but I liked the clothes in savoring mode and changed into them on the way.

　It's a good idea to have a good time with them.

　Of course, it was Froese who was beaten, and Tesfia's plan alone would have kicked him in the foot.