The reason
Even if he was being held by Lute, Yui somehow managed to pilfer just one bottle of an eau de vie* from the dinner venue. Before he could get hold of the second one, he was dragged away by the drunkard and pulled along to the billiards hall of the count’s house. (*Eau de Vie (French for “Water of Life) is a fruit brandy, also see Wikipedia)
“Yui, let’s compete with these!”
“Even if you say ‘compete’, you know …. you can’t call it a competition playing billiards against a sorcerer, can you?”
In present days of magical culture’s high prosperity, the way billiards is played differs from its traditional form that was formerly popular among commoners in the capital city.
Previously it was a game where you simply hit the ball with a stick called cue, but in recent years it became common to play by adding accent to the ball and interfering with it by somewhat limited magic.
Therefore billiards became one of the most important games among sorcerers*. There were also quite a lot of people among fans of a more traditional billiards who have used the derogatory term ‘magic ball’ with the way sorcerers went about it, saying that using something like magic was heresy. (*魔法士 , for now I’ll use sorcerers, but I might change it after finally editing previous chapters )
“Whatever, I don’t think it makes any difference when you are the opponent, but well, I guess it’s alright. What kind of a match do you want then? ”
“Listen, Lute. Don’t you have a way of thinking where we don’t have to compete? Well whatever, as long as it’s a match that doesn’t involve magic, everything’s fine by me”
Lute’s sense of rivalry toward Yui was the thing that’s been going on ever since they entered the military academy.
That’s why Yui got completely used to being challenged for a match one way or another. And through that long past experience, Yui could easily imagine him continuing picking fights with him during this princess escort should he refuse it now. That’s why Yui has declared his acceptance of the match, though with conditions attached.
Meanwhile, Eins, who’s been listening to their exchange in the back, was as quiet as a lamb until then. However, when the two of them went silent thinking of the way of having a match, he suddenly stuck out his head between them and made a suggestion with a smile.
“How about cards? You can play them without using magic. Besides, since 3 people can play, I will be able to join in, too”
Accepting Eins’s suggestion and concluding that it won’t become too much of a hassle afterwards, Yui promptly expressed his agreement.
“Sounds good, I don’t mind if it’s cards, too. Well then, Lute, since you were the one who brought up the competition, won’t you be the one to go fetch the cards?”
“….alright. But listen, don’t you dare to run away”
Letting out a rough nasal breath, Lute quickly turned on his heels and went straight out of the room to find the servant of count’s household nearby.
And like that, when Lute left the room, Eins turned to face Yui and then uttered the following with a slightly nostalgic expression.
“Once again, Yui-senpai, long time no see.”
“Yeah, has it been about three years now? Haven’t you grown a little?”
“…I’m past 20 years now. I don’t grow taller anymore, unlike the time when I met you, Senpai.”
“Haha, that’s right. But you know, not in the wildest dreams have I ever dreamed that you would come here to Karin. If you were coming, you could’ve at least sent me a word about that”
Yui teased his kouhai with a slightly sulking tone and in a long while after their reunion, he has loosened his expression.
“It would’ve been unwise to reveal the highly classified information about the royal inspection to the outsider, you know, even if that outsider were you, senpai”
A bitter smile unconsciously appeared on Eins’s face to the fact that Yui, despite understanding his situation very well, still said that he should’ve contacted him on purpose.
“It is as you say, indeed. But I also have never imagined that you would come here accompanying her highness the princess herself”
“I was thinking of paying a visit to your new place of appointment for a while now…but I haven’t thought I would do it this way either”
“Well that’s that. But, you know, you are pretty tough. If it were me, who was accompanying the princess, I would’ve already gotten a stomach disease by now*. Of course, the fact that there was an assassin lurking among the royal guards goes without saying, but more than anything, her speech was what have left me petrified” (*because stress causes stomach disorders, duh )
Remembering all that have happened throughout the day, Eins gently put his right hand to his forehead as if trying to suppress the headache.
“The case of the royal guards was brought up perfectly. After arriving here, we’ve turned all of the documents upside down together with Lute-senpai and there were evident traces that just before departing from the royal capital, the decree was secretly switched. And regarding the princess’s speech…You should understand. She’s that kind of a person.”
“…and that’s why her life is being targeted, is it?”
Even if she’s a princess, her that kind of behavior of talking to the senior nobles boldly and without timidity was at first glance nothing more than just an insolent arrogance.
However, Yui, who knew the girl that was trembling when she was attacked by an assassin, perceived that behavior as pushing her limits with all her might.
//End of part 1 of 3
ErikaWalker 