Chapter 42: The Long-awaited Three Days Off

“Let me go!”

“No way!”

Razé had made promise to meet Carna and the others at noon today. However, a woman in a lab coat was holding her hips tightly and wouldn’t let her go.

Razé: “Professor Yor～!”

Razé was deeply distressed by the situation. She had been caught by the ‘Devil in a Lab Coat’, Yor Carton Fedrick. Not sure where she got the strength from, but Prof Yor was holding onto her firmly. Normally, Prof Yor rarely left her lab. But when she heard Razé was in a building nearby, she rushed over and grabbed her, trying to dragged her back to her lab. Her obsession was quite terrifying.

Yor: “Razé, let’s get married. Then we can do experiment together forever.”

Razé: “Have you lost your mind?!”

No matter how Razé asked to be let go, Yor refused to listen. Razé wanted to ask for help from others, but everyone who saw her being dragged along the corridor just pretended not to see anything and walked away.

Razé: “I have an important appointment today!”

Yor: “I know～. You’re going to meet those golden eggs[1], right? If you insist on going, then I’ll follow you～.”

Razé: “That’s unacceptable!”

Razé was getting anxious as there was not much time left. She decided to resort to forcible mean. She prepared for a knifehand strike[2].

“Wa- Wait! Razé-san!” A young man ran towards them in a hurry. Razé’s eyes turned bright seeing a savior had appeared.

Razé: “Frey-kun!”

Frey: “I’m sorry, Razé-san. Professor is giving you trouble again.”

This young man was Prof Yor’s mother[3]…not really. He was Prof Yor’s assistant, Frey Kanzach.

“Stop it, professor. You’re upsetting Razé-san.” Frey knocked Prof Yor’s head. The ‘Devil in a Lab Coat’ looked a bit pathetic.

Yor: “But without Razé, my experiment won’t make any progress.”

Frey: “You’re an adult, don’t throw a tantrum. The sample analysis has already finished.”

Yor: “Really?!”

While Yor was baited with that piece of news, Frey sent a signal to Razé with his eyes. Razé nodded her head to thank him and immediately teleported back to her team.

Before she could leave for her day off, Razé needed to clear an urgent task. She said to her team, “I’m going to clear this job within 30 minutes! I can’t spare any extra time, so if anyone couldn’t catch up, I’ll deport you back immediately. Magenda experiment has made these poor monsters suffered, so let’s end it all today!”

“Yeah!!”

Razé had received a last-minute mission right before she could leave. Apparently, Magenda had done a secret experiment in Baruda and now she needed to dispose the failed experiment subjects. According to an information from Shadow’s Eye, Magenda tried to create a group of monsters that could be controlled by human. Now, the failed experiment subjects were causing havoc in Baruda.

The location was in Zone 5, so it should be easy. Razé activated physical strengthening and speed movement magic, and charged through the pack of monsters.

“Lieutenant Ducard, I’ve lost sight of Leader.”

Ducard laughed when he heard Victor sounded surprised.

Ducard: “Leader has lost her temper.”

Bonalt: “Yeah.”

Bonalt joined him and laughed.

Her fighting style, which was said like a ghost, was the culmination of movement magic that has been refined to the utmost limit. No one could stop her anymore. She was so powerful that Magenda had to use the forbidden time magic.

Ducard: “Listen carefully, Victor. If Leader left you behind, then don’t chase after her. You’ll get in her way.”

Victor: “Y- Yes.”

Victor had just joined this team. He nodded obediently to what his seniors said. In fact, he knew there was nothing he could help with when he saw the monsters dropped to the ground one after another.

Bonalt: “Alright then. We can’t let Leader’s friends waiting for her.”

Ducard: “Yeah.”

Bonalt and Ducard walked to the front.

“Huh? Captain? Lieutenant?” Victor was flustered not knowing what to do. His two seniors raised their eyebrows.

“Victor, that’s just 50% of her speed.”

Before Victor could understand what Bonalt was saying, his seniors had already left and joined the battle.

“…This is crazy.” Victor’s hands were shaking with excitement.

* * *

“This is bad!” Razé panicked when she saw the time.

Bonalt: “Leader, we’ll collect the stones. You should leave first.”

Razé: “Uh… Is it okay?”

She felt bad for leaving the clean-up to her subordinates. But she could save some time and rushed back to Ordiana and get herself ready.

“Thank you. I’ll buy something for you later!” She waved her hand and teleported to the base. As usual, she went through the body check first before boarding the teleporter machine.

Once she reached home, she took a shower and then use the wind magic to dry her body. She didn’t know what kind of venue Ruben had prepared, but she knew she couldn’t dress shabbily. She wore a dress that she had bought in between her busy schedule. She braided her bangs and put on the hair clip she had received from Folia for her birthday present.

“Aa-… My dark circle is pretty bad.”

She looked at her terrible face in the mirror and hurriedly covered it with makeup. She packed up her luggage for the two nights and three days trip, and by the time she teleported to a location nearby the meeting place, it was already noon.

“Oh no! I’m late!” Razé ran to the meeting place as fast as she could.

“Huh? No one is here…”

They were supposed to meet under a clock tower but nobody was there. She started to panic thinking that they had left her behind. Then, she saw someone approaching her.

“Granoli-san.”

“Lesir-sama.”

She felt so relieved when she saw Claude was there.

Razé: “I’m sorry. Because I was late, everyone-”

Claude: “No. Adis has attracted a crowd, so we had to change the meeting place.”

Razé can easily imagined what Adis had done. Then, in a fluid movement, Claude took Razé’s luggage and led her to the meeting place.

As expected from a son of the Chief Steward![4]

Razé was deeply moved seeing him acting like a gentleman to a commoner like her.

Razé: “Thank you.”

Claude: “…Don’t mention it.”

There was an air of nonchalance about the way he treated her.

If only my subordinates can learn from him, they will definitely become popular with girls.

Soldiers were normally labelled as savage compared to Knights, so Razé really wanted to dispel this bad image.

Claude: “Were you working today?”

Razé: “Yes… The cleaning work took longer than expected.”

Claude: “I see.”

Razé: “I’m sorry…”

Razé thought that he was blaming her for being late, so she kept saying sorry. At that moment, her stomach started growling loudly. It made her felt so embarrassed.

Razé: “…I’m sorry. I haven’t eaten anything since this morning.”

Claude: “What kind of life are you living…”

He stopped by a stall with a concerned look on his face.

“Give me one of this.”

“Here you are.”

He took the meat bun and offered it to Razé.

Razé: “I’m sorry. I’ll pay-”

Claude: “No need to pay me.”

Razé: “B- But…”

Claude: “Do I look like someone who lack money?”

Razé: “… Thank you.”

Razé didn’t expected that he would give her a treat. She thought he was so cool. Well, this is the standard for a love interest from an otome game.

Looking at the meat bun in his hand, Razé noticed his glove and it reminded her of something.

According to the Book of Prophecies, Claude had some dilemmas about being Ruben’s personal attendant. But since Folia only had Zale on her mind, then wouldn’t that mean nobody was helping him to settle his worried heart? The same goes with Ian, Luca and Adis.

Then, Razé suddenly realized: Ian-kun was worried that he wasn’t suitable for swordsmanship…

Because it was not a life-threatening issue, Razé had totally forgotten that it was a plot from the otome game. But since Ian’s issue was solved anyway, Razé considered everything had turned out all right in the end.

Razé refocus her attention on Claude’s issue. As Ruben’s personal attendant, Claude also had to conduct assassination behind the scenes. He considered himself as filthy, so he always wore gloves.

By right, the heroine would say something like, “How can you be filthy? Your hands are such a gentle hand.” There was no way that Razé could say such a cheesy line.

Razé stared at the meat bun.

Claude: “You’re not going to eat it?”

Razé: “Of course, I’ll eat!”

She hurriedly took a bite and the taste whetted her appetite. The whole bun was gone in a few minutes.

Razé: “Working for a living is hard. But there’s always good things happening like this so it makes me feel worth it.”

Looking at Razé smiling cheerfully made Claude a bit surprise.

Claude: “Your work… is it hard?”

Razé: “Kind of. Many dirty stuffs. Oh! Of course, I cleaned myself before I came here.”

Claude let out a chuckle. “Yes, you’re very clean.”

Razé felt like there were flowers blooming in the background behind Claude, just like a scene from an otome game. “That’s good then. I thought the least I could do was to take good care of my appearance. I get myself ready with extra care before I came.” She spoke from her heart.

“Me too,” Clause said in a small voice. His words sounded a bit lonely.

[1] 金の卵(lit. golden egg) means youth with promising future. ↩

[2] Knifehand strike: Karate chop. ↩

[3] おかん: okan is kansai dialect for okaasan, which means mother. But it’s also a slang for someone who has the traits/qualities of a good mom regardless of their gender. ↩

[4] Chief Steward = Lord Steward = Chief of Royal Butler. Details here. ↩