Bonus Short Stories
Pitter-Patter on a Shared Umbrella
In the year 996 of the Holy Era...
It was after class at the Royal Academy of Beltrum, and most of the elementary school students had gone home. Rio, who had turned twelve that year, was taking advantage of the lack of people on the school grounds to take his training sword and practice alone in the square behind the library tower. He moved his limbs, swinging his sword and imitating the basic forms.
As long as he had the time, he made sure to never miss practice, and continued to fine-tune his body and techniques in silence, without emotion. Because of this, his movements were refined and extremely polished. A light sheen of sweat broke out on Rio’s forehead, and his breathing came out a bit roughly as he practiced.
Standing on the upper floors of the library tower was someone watching Rio. It was Flora. She had come to the library after class to study and just happened to catch sight of Rio’s figure practicing outside the window. He completely captured her gaze.
“May I ask what you are looking at, Princess Flora?”
Someone addressed Flora from behind her, making her turn around in a flurry. It was Christina and her attendant Roanna, both of whom had accompanied her to the library.
“A-Ah, no, it’s nothing. I was thinking about how the skies are cloudy, so it might rain on our way back,” Flora said with an uncomfortable smile pasted on her face. Christina slowly stepped forward and approached the window.
“S-Sister!”
Flora tried to stop her, but it was too late. Christina looked down and spotted Rio in the middle of his practice. Her brow furrowed in the slightest, and she let out a tired sigh.
“Flora, you...”
Roanna also approached the window in a casual manner. She immediately realized what Flora had been looking at, and a conflicted expression appeared on her face. Flora guiltily looked down at her feet.
Rio’s near-artistic movements had drawn all three of their gazes. They watched on silently for a few seconds.
“Oh my, is that... Professor Celia, by any chance?” Roanna said, pointing at a figure who walked up to Rio and started a conversation with him. Rio was replying to Celia’s words with a soft smile on his face.
Seeing a glimpse of that expression on Rio afar—an expression of his true self that he never showed in the Academy—made Flora and Roanna widen their eyes in surprise. Christina remained indifferent.
“Ah... Rain,” Flora murmured.
Drip, drip. Droplets of water began to fall from the sky.
“We should leave,” Christina said in a near-curt voice. She turned on her heel and walked away from the window.
“Yes, Your Highness,” Roanna said, immediately following after her.
But Flora appeared reluctant to do the same, remaining frozen at the window. Her gaze was fixed on Rio and Celia’s intimate conversation, following them as they started to walk out of the rain together.
“Come, Flora. You wanted us to help you with your studies, no?”
“Yes...”
Realizing that if the tone of her voice was any indication, Christina would not take no for an answer, Flora hesitantly dragged her feet over toward them. Seeing that made Roanna give a small, listless sigh.
Meanwhile, Rio had opened the umbrella he brought along after seeing the weather report and invited Celia to join him underneath it. The two walked side-by-side, their shoulders closely bumping into one another’s.
“I-It doesn’t seem like it’ll end anytime soon. How about a break in my research lab?” Celia asked in a rather high-pitched voice, a blush on her face.
“Okay, I’ll come visit after I’ve changed. But I’ll accompany you to the library tower first, Professor. Let’s go,” Rio nodded with a smile and began to walk at a leisurely pace.
The umbrella was a little too small to cover the both of them, so Rio adjusted the position of the umbrella to center above Celia.
“R-Rio, I don’t mind getting wet, so you can hold the umbrella in the middle. You’ll catch a cold otherwise.” Realizing Rio was getting wet, Celia faintly shifted her body to the side.
“I’ll be changing immediately, so it’s all right. A lady shouldn’t let her body or beautiful clothes get wet, Professor. Please come closer this way,” Rio said, stepping closer to Celia.
“I-I’m fine, this is nothing!”
At the light touch to her shoulder, Celia shook her head nervously. She maintained her distance from Rio with an embarrassed look.
“You shouldn’t do that.”
“A-Ahaha.”
Rio attempted to close the distance between them once more, but Celia continued to back away from him with awkward steps.
“I’m sorry, is it because I smell of sweat? I was exercising a lot before.”
“N-No! That’s not it! If anything, you smell goo—wait, what am I saying?! I sound like a pervert! That’s not what I meant, Rio!” With her face flushed bright red, Celia shook her head furiously. Rio chuckled at her.
“Then will you please come under the umbrella? So you don’t get wet.”
“O-Okay... is this all right?”
Celia nodded to hide her scarlet cheeks. She stepped back under the umbrella and stuck closer to Rio, as though declaring he didn’t smell badly at all.
“Let’s go.”
While she was a little too close this time, Rio continued to escort her all the way to the library tower like a true gentleman.
Afternoon Tea Party
Scattered about the grounds of the Royal Academy of Beltrum were several tea rooms used for socializing. After their classes, many of the female students would gather within those rooms and host tea parties.
One day in the Year 996 of the Holy Era, several noble daughters had gathered in one of the tea rooms in the Academy. The host was a high ranking noble daughter in her fifth year, and there were around ten others in attendance—including Flora, who was given the seat of honor as the highest-ranked individual present.
Being that a tea party was a social gathering for daughters of nobility to socialize, stiff and formal conversations were generally avoided. Discussions usually started with a review of the desserts brought out, comments on accessories worn, and other such harmless chit-chat. They would each display their education and upbringing, commenting on each others’ clothing or trinkets, making the atmosphere warm and familiar before moving onto personal matters.
“So… Princess Flora. I’ve heard that you’ll be joining Her Highness, Princess Christina, for the upcoming outdoor drill. It’s been said that many outstanding students have gathered in that group, too.” After a while, the noble daughter acting as the host of the tea party brought up the topic of the outdoor drill.
“I’ve heard the same rumors. Lady Roanna from the House of Fontaine, Lord Stewart from the House of Huguenot, and Lord Alphonse from the House of Rodan will all be present.”
“Oh, my! If it isn’t a gathering of pure talent. I must say I am most envious.”
One after another, the other daughters latched onto the topic before Flora could even respond.
“Furthermore, I heard that person will be there too,” the host daughter said suggestively, hinting heavily at a certain person’s participation.
“Don’t tell me... by that person, do you mean that person?” a different noble daughter gasped in surprise and parroted back in question. The host daughter gave a single nod.
Meanwhile, Flora and the other girls were sporting rather confused expressions on their faces.
“Whom do you speak of?” Flora asked with her head tilted in question.
“The sixth-year student, Lord Rio, but of course.”
At the host daughter’s answer, all the other ladies at the table let out shrill sounds of delight.
“What is wrong with Lord Rio?” Flora asked with a slightly high-pitched voice, surprised by the reactions of the girls.
“It’s not that anything is wrong, but didn’t he have that superb fight at the tournament the other day? I was holding my breath and I didn’t even realize it.”
“Me too. It was as though I was witnessing a beautiful dance... He has a pretty and refined face, the type who draws peoples’ eyes to him even from afar.”
“Precisely. And his grades outside of his swordcraft are exceptional as well. Now that he has proved his worth at the tournament, his path to becoming a knight is all but secured, don’t you think?”
“Perhaps he has already received an invitation to do just that.”
The ladies continued to noisily praise and gossip about Rio for some time.
Since when did he become so highly esteemed...?
Not much attention had fallen upon Rio in these past five years, and she hadn’t heard many rumors of him, either. Stunned at how quickly the girls flipped their attitudes about Rio for their own self-interests, Flora widened her eyes.
“Come to think of it, wasn’t Lord Rio enrolled into this academy as a reward for saving Princess Flora?”
The host daughter looked towards the girl in question, and the other ladies all jumped onto the new topic.
“Oh my, how wonderful! That sounds almost like a fairytale.”
“Yes, I am most curious about how the two were fated to meet.”
“Princess Flora, would you please tell us more about the events that transpired?”
Sure enough, the daughters joyfully reacted to the words of the host and pressed Flora with more questions.
“The events that occurred back then...? Ah... I was unconscious for most of the time, so I cannot quite recall that much in detail. But if you are still interested, in spite of that...”
Flora looked back on her memories of that time and hesitantly began to speak about how she met Rio.
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