'Speaking of which, why were Master Lyle and Luna being tested in our mansion?

　In addition, I asked a light-hearted question to ask this as well, but Lady Caesar and the others were very reluctant to do so.

''Early on, it's because you've offended your mother. Well, we're angry too... but, by the way, Temma had a little something to do with it, too.

　When I asked him what was involved, he said that Lyle-sama was thinking about something nasty with me, Maria-sama and Luna. But since the accuser was with Luna, they decided that that in itself would be left out, but

''Those two were usually full of problems. We talked about punishing them once, and I had them clean out the royal castle's luggage storage area while we were there, and then we talked about carrying the trash from Tenma's mansion as well. I had Cliffe and Aina supervise them, and it seems that Luna had found a pair of gloves from somewhere and was using them. Luna said she found two pairs and gave them to Lyle as well.

　When I heard that they were gloves from the mansion, I had a bad feeling about it. Master Caesar continued.

'Nothing happened in Temma's mansion, but then a fire broke out in the garbage dump at the royal castle. The cause was the gloves Luna and Lyle were using.

　Fortunately, the fire was quickly extinguished, so there was little damage except for the trash burning, but for a time, the inside of the King's Castle was said to be in an uproar.

''Is that my fault?''
'No, it's probably Luna and Lyle, as well as Cliffe and Aina, who were overseeing them. And then there's me and Isabella, since we're Luna's parents.

　

'I'm sorry, but the glove that Luna and Lyle used without permission was damaged and impossible for us to repair. And I don't want to take the liberty of telling you that you can't give that glove to anyone or release the information. Those things can be quite dangerous, depending on how you use them.

　That glove can easily trigger magic if you let the magic power flow through it, so a terrorist act... I don't want to think about it too much, but it's also possible to use someone like a child, whose target is not very alert, to commit a terrorist act. Moreover, even if it's not gloves, it can be applied with a cloth like a handkerchief, so it's possible to make them into terrorist agents without knowing it. And most importantly, there is a high possibility that they will wear them unknowingly and cause an accident like Luna did.

''I understand. There should have been two to three more pairs of spares, so I'll get rid of them all.

　Master Caesar said that as long as he didn't spread it around or give it away, he didn't mind keeping it, but there was a chance that it could end up in someone's hands without their knowledge, as it did in this case, so it was safer to dispose of it if it wasn't going to be used.
　When I mentioned this, Master Caesar asked me why I wasn't using it.

'To put it bluntly, those gloves aren't very useful. At least, to me.

　I made these gloves for fun in a Seigen dungeon a long time ago, but I haven't used them since then. The reason for this is because it's not easy to use, and perhaps, but I think people with even a little bit of confidence in magic will have the same impression.

''That thing, anyone can use it if you flow magic power, but the magic itself can only be used to produce fire. Moreover, the procedure is to pour magic power into the glove, convert magic power into magic with the glove, and release the magic, but in the normal way, those three steps are two steps. And once you get used to it, you can release the magic in almost one step in time.

　If the magic power in the body is converted directly into magic, the first step is eliminated. Moreover, once you get used to it, you can progress from the conversion of magic power to the action of releasing it almost at the same time, or you can even shorten the time of conversion, so in terms of time, it's about a step of a glove. Well, when I say time, it's probably about zero tenths of a second, but that time can be fatal, so it's not foolproof. And most importantly.

With gloves, you can only release predetermined magic, so you don't have as much freedom.

　Due to the use of magic that can be used by flowing magic, it could also be triggered when you try to use other magic. It's still fine if you activate it at the same time, but if you're not good at it, both of them might fail due to failure, or worse, the magic might go out of control. It might seem convenient, but in reality, those gloves are a failure.

So it's better to get rid of them.

　I would rather get rid of it than be worried about having it. If it's something you won't use, it's even better.
　For that reason, Caesar-sama offered to compensate me for the cost of making it, but I refused, saying I didn't need it because it was a prototype made for fun, and the materials were commercially available gloves, goblins and other magic nuclei. If it were compensation from the royalty, it wouldn't be more than the cost of the materials plus a technical fee. That's exactly what they should be asking for, dozens of times that amount. As expected, I'm hesitant to be handed a large sum of money for a failed piece of work that I made just for fun. The more so when you know them, the better.
　Caesar-sama didn't seem to be convinced, but Isabella-sama intervened to persuade him, and in the end the conversation ended with Caesar-sama apologizing once again.
　We continued to chat for a while after that, but then I noticed that Maria-sama's sermon was on a loop, so we decided to break up there.

　Before returning to the mansion, I nailed Grandpa and Jeanne to not talk about 'marriage talk with Primera' in the future...

Big brother!　I'm really going to marry Primera!

　The story that he wanted to keep secret was prematurely revealed by Luna, who was still in the mansion.
　The commotion in the mansion afterwards was amazing. What was amazing was the persistent pursuit of Amour and Aura, who were waiting at the mansion (the one that said the reason they took only Jeanne was because they wanted to marry her as well), as well as the arrival of Uncle Mark and the others who had heard about our return. I had to run away from two groups, the Amur-Aura group and the Kukri Village group. Well, since the place I escaped to is my room, I had to make a lot of noise at the door... I ran into a dimension bag, got my carriage out there and got away with it for a day or so.
　However, my hopes that after a day or so, I would become somewhat more docile, and as soon as I came out, Amur caught me, and Aura contacted Uncle Mark and the others, and we ended up being surrounded by everyone to explain what was going on. Well, the uncles were just teasing me all over the place (though it was still annoying), as my grandfather had explained to them during the day that the marriage story was a set up by Maria to warn me, so I just handed them a drink and they moved away... ...Amur was quite persistent. Even if it was just to warn him, he seemed to be trapped by the fact that he couldn't be present at the scene. However, usually it would take a long time for his mood to recover, but this time, since Leni-san was there, he returned to normal rather quickly, which was a relief.


　Two weeks after the commotion of the "marriage story", the day of the school party arrived.
　From the mansion, my grandfather and I would be attending as Amy's guardian's deputy and those involved. At first, there was some talk of Amour joining in under the guise of being Amy's guardian, but it was decided that it was strange for the Viscountess to be called a commoner's guard, so the talk went away. Amur seemed very disappointed, but since it was Maria-sama who had pointed out that it was strange, she had quietly backed down. Incidentally, Leni said that she could make it just in time and returned to the south a few days after the commotion. There were days when it snowed lightly in the royal capital, but even if it started to fall harder, the snowfall would decrease as we got closer to the south, so they said it would be fine.

Then let's get going. Let's go then, Uncle, please.
I'm on it.

　We would be traveling to the academy by carriage, but I decided to take Raiden as usual for this one. However, at first I was going to be the coachman, but Aina advised me not to participate as the head of the Otori family, even if only as an adventurer, since I would be participating as the head of the Otori family, so I hastily decided to ask Uncle Mark to do it.
　At first, Amur said he would do this, and there was some talk of sending one of his kinsmen from Maria-sama, but for the same reason as the guards, Amur was not a good choice, and furthermore, the other noble families would criticize a kinsman playing the role of a guard, so this was also not a good idea, and no one involved in the Otori family complained Uncle Mark was chosen because he was the one who didn't have to leave.
　However, Uncle Mark is also busy with his work at the inn (a lot of party participants and other related people came to the capital, which caused him to have more guests at the inn), so after he was escorted to the academy, Raiden and the carriage were put in a dimension bag and magic bag, and Uncle Mark had to go back to his work. There are.

　As we approached the academy, the number of carriages that were supposed to be participants increased considerably, but we were able to get to the academy sooner than we expected because the other participants' horses had to give way several times because they were afraid of Lyden.
　When we arrived at the academy, the first thing we were supposed to do was to get our invitations verified before the gates and be led straight to the carriage yard, but before we could do that, we put Lyden in our bags, so we were redirected to the waiting room. We parted from the uncle there, and the usher, who came in his place, asked us to take precautions in the waiting room while we were moving. It seems that the rooms are divided according to the order of the students' grades, and the Amy's people with the highest grades will be in the room closest to the venue. The room will be used by the officials of the tenth highest scoring students, but no one but us has come to the room yet. The second best student is Tida, but it seems that royalty often have their own room, and this year Luna will be there, so she won't be coming to this room.
　As I waited in the room I was led to, Amy came quickly. She had never been the top commoner and top performer before, and she had been yanked before the party, but thanks to Tida, who was the next in line, and other friends in her class, she was rarely directly harmed. Also, he said that the lack of elected officials made him well-received by the teachers and the influence of the three idiots went in the right direction.

　While I listened to Amy's stories about the school and the dormitory for a while, one after another, the other students' officials came to my room. It was just as I expected, but it seemed that other than Aimee, there were no other students who were commoners and entered the top grades, and they were each dressed in luxurious clothes. I heard that the students are supposed to wear uniforms, but they don't seem to have any intention of honestly following the rules. On the contrary, there are some students who occasionally blatantly smile at Amy in her school uniform, perhaps they think that since they can't compete with her in terms of grades, they will compete with her in terms of financial power. Well, three out of the eight students who came in are looking at me in that way. All of them are girls. There's another female student, but she's chatting in a good mood with the boys who came in with her, so maybe she doesn't need to look at Amy as an enemy. I checked with Aimee to make sure that the other parties involved don't hear, and she said that the female student who feels like an enemy is aiming for Tida, and is competing with Aimee at every turn, and the rest of the boys who are chatting and laughing with her are her fiancé.

'Oh, by the way, I forgot I had a present for Amy!

　I purposely said it so that everyone around me could hear, and I could see that all eyes were on me at once. It's not a good idea to bring things into a place like this too often, but I asked the attendant to check with me beforehand to get permission.

'It's this cape. I'm sure it's roughly the right size, but just in case, try it on.

　What I had prepared was a black cloak with a hood and a button so it could be fastened around the front of my chest.

''Well it seems a bit big, but it's fine. Thank you.
''It's a growing season, so it'll be just fine soon. The front of that cloak is a running dragon leather and the back is a wyvern flying membrane, and the buttons are made from earth dragon scales, and although the buttons don't matter, the running dragon leather is useful because the running dragon leather makes it fireproof and water resistant, as well as being somewhat magic resistant. And while I was at it, I also put a small piece of the Otori family crest at the end.

　The family crest is on the bottom left of the front side, but it's about the size of your fist, so it might be hard to notice at a glance. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to put it on too big, so it's okay if you know it's me who sent it to you.
　The students and others involved were all surprised when they heard about the material used for the cape. At any rate, the total number of dragon species defeated in official records for the last few years, let alone a hundred years, was five in all. Among them, there were three earth dragons, one running dragon, and one dragon zombie. Among them, only the eighty year old earth dragon was the only one that was sold for a decent amount of material. The others were ones that my grandfather and I had defeated, and apart from the ones I sold or gave away to the royal family or people I knew, I made most of them my own. In other words, they're not on the market.
　In terms of demons close to the dragon species, the wyvern comes around a few times a year, but only my relations and the Haust Frontier Earl family have recently obtained the material, and the hydra is defeated once every few years or so, but since it's as rare as the dragon species, it's usually secured by the person who defeated it.
　That's why the cloak presented to Aimee is not something you can buy if you pay for it, and no matter how much the students in this room and their relations want it, it's an item that can never be obtained under the current circumstances.

''Grandpa, someone is coming. Maybe it's someone from the royal family.
It's like.

　Not many of the students involved seem to have noticed it, but we can hear the sound of armor approaching us in the distance for several people. It's probably the Kingsguard. Even the 'appraisal' I used to make sure is that they are the Kingsguard. However, as expected, the people protected by these guards are royalty, but there are more of them than I had expected. At the head of that royal family is the

Your Majesty!

　It was the king. According to what I had heard beforehand, the king and Maria-sama would not be attending this party, and the participants were the school students Tida and Luna, and their two parents, Caesar-sama and Isabella-sama, but something might have changed.

'No need to kneel. You're going to get your fine outfit dirty.

　When the parents noticed the king, they immediately kneeled down, followed by the students, who almost fell to their knees, but the king stopped them. By the way, me and my grandfather remained in our chairs. In case you're wondering, I floated my hips once when I saw that everyone was about to kneel, but I knew the king was going to make them stop, so I sat down the moment I was about to open my mouth.
　As for Amy, she was trying to kneel with the other officials and students, but the moment she stood up from the chair, I put my hand on Amy's shoulder and made her sit on the chair as well... but the moment I put my hand on Amy's shoulder, Tida's eyes were sharp and It became. When I let go of my hand, it went back to normal, so I did the same thing a few times for fun, but my grandfather and the kings found out and were disgusted, and Amy looked at me suspiciously.
　While I was doing this, the kings came up to me and

I don't mind teasing you if it's in moderation because Tida's funny, but Temma, I need a little favor from you.
Can I say no to that?
No, you can at least listen to me...

　I was going to say no, because it didn't sound like a good idea, before I heard the king's request.

'Temma, I'm serious. Could you at least listen to what I have to say?
I understand. I can't just stand around and talk to you, so please sit down.

　As Maria asked, I brought three chairs that were nearby. They were for Maria, Caesar, and Isabella, respectively. I lightly pulled the chair I had prepared for Maria and she thanked me lightly and sat down. Isabella-sama's chair was the same for Caesar-sama. Tida and Luna were students at the school, so they brought themselves a nearby chair and sat down, as if they were used to doing it during recess. However, Tida was casually trying to sit next to Aimee, but Luna forcefully interrupted her to secure a seat next to Aimee. Then, as it was, she complimented the cloak Amy was wearing, and Amy also started talking about the cloak, so Tida was quietly talking to Amy over Luna.

'Here, Alex. Why don't you sit down and don't just stand there and be a blur?
'Huh... hmm?　Oh, I'm sorry.

　The king was about to get himself a chair when his grandfather told him to do so. When Amy saw this, she got up and went to get a chair, but soon after Amy got up, Tida got up too and sat Amy down in the chair and got herself a chair instead. Maria-sama, Caesar-sama and the others looked at her with satisfaction... but the moment Tida stood up and turned away from her seat, Luna moved Tida's chair away from her, so when she came back, Tida lost sight of her chair. Well, Luna laughed when she saw Tida looking flustered, so she immediately noticed the prank and put her chair back in place.
　

'Luna, we're not the only ones here. Come on.
I'm sorry...

　Luna could tell that Caesar-sama was really angry, and she was quite depressed.

'What I'm asking you to do is... no, this is something you'd better tell me from Caesar.
'Yes, mother the only thing we're asking for, Temma, is a game against this year's top performing students.
'Huh ... that's fine, but what about the rules?'

　

''Is it an irregular match of one versus ten........''
No?
'Not that I can't, but won't anyone get hurt?　No, I don't mean I can't go easy on you, I mean you're worried about the students fighting each other?

　The scary thing about group fights is the dragging of feet by those who aren't used to fighting in multiples. I confirmed with Amy and Tida that the students of the school do practice matches of one to five students with the same rules as martial arts tournaments, but they've never fought in groups of ten.
　With that thought in mind, I confirmed with Caesar-sama that this was taken as a provocation by a few students and officials, and the air in the waiting room began to tense up.

''Hmm. Certainly, Temma's concern is understandable. However, the students also have a good deal of experience in actual combat. Besides, by the looks of things, they are probably prepared to get injured. Well, I hope they take it as easy as possible.

We'll be as careful as we can, but let each of us prepare ourselves for the fact that the game is called a match, and we're all responsible for ourselves.　

　When I said that I would accept that condition, Caesar-sama confirmed with the students and their officials who were present and made them drink the condition on the spot. According to what I heard later, this match was originally mentioned by the officials of the top-performing students, and some teachers agreed with that, and the matter was discussed with the king early in the morning as a request from the school side. By the way, the story of the match is said to be known only to a few students, and more than half of the students in this room seemed to have just found out about it.

''By the way, Maria-sama. The people who brought this story to you are the reformed nobles and the nobles and school officials who don't have good feelings for me, right?

　When I asked Maria-sama in a whisper, she nodded with a small sigh. If he is a nobleman who can move the king, and even more so if he is a nobleman who is likely to turn against me, that person will naturally be limited.

''You're the Duke of Durham?''

　When I mentioned my name, Lady Maria nodded again. As the people learned that I was a royalist, support for the royals increased and the reformers decreased. Furthermore, because of my protection of Jeanne, I have formed a relationship with the aristocrats who are the core of the neutrals, and through me, the royalists and neutrals are on friendly terms with each other.
　Because of those circumstances, some of the nobles who belonged to the Reformed faction broke away and moved to other factions, the Reformed faction's voice was greatly reduced, and at the same time, the power of the Duke of Dalaam, the core of the Reformed faction, was also reduced.

''So, a match to harass...?''
'Yes, no matter how much Temma, he must have found it difficult to deal with the students without injuring them.

　If I injure a student, he plans to use that as an excuse to reduce the power of the royalists as much as possible. If the plan fails, there will be no damage to the Duke of Daraam's side. It's probably a low return, but it's a feeling of no risk.

'Well, I'll do my best for now.

　The other students were in high spirits, but they looked pale when they saw me smile.