Vol. 1 Chapter 10 – I Am Ozma

The day after orientation. The morning class was a classroom lecture on the very, very basics of spirit magic.

Almeida-sensei’s lecture had plenty of things that were new to me, but for most of the students, it was probably within the range of common knowledge. A lot of them looked bored.

And then, lunch break arrived.

When we stepped into the dining hall, which was noisy with chatter, I saw Her Highness Princess Arvin eating alone while gazing out the window.

In one corner of the crowded dining hall. Only the area around her was empty, as if some magic had been cast to keep people away, creating an unbearably chilly atmosphere.

“……That’s painful to look at.”

“It really is.”

At my unconscious mutter, Zaza, who was sitting beside me, nodded.

By the common sense of my era, the very idea of royalty eating lunch in the same dining hall as other students was impossible. But if, hypothetically, such a thing did happen, the seats around them would surely have become a battlefield for people trying to curry favor with the royal family.

Especially if the other party was a princess, then all the more so. The children of nobles should have launched a grand appeal competition, searching for any possibility of marrying into the royal family.

“It can’t be helped, right? Aruru-san got promoted……”

The one who said that was a girl who had apparently become friends with Chloe during the morning class. If I remembered correctly, her name was Myusha. She was a friendly-looking girl whose distinctive brown hair was tied on both sides of her head. Quite surprisingly, she was apparently the buddy of that slicked-back Kiko.

Right now, the four of us, Myusha, me, Zaza and Chloe, were sitting around one table.

“Aruru-san?”

When Chloe tilted her head, Myusha continued.

“The person who used to be Her Highness’s buddy. She got promoted in the last exam. Her attribute was different from Her Highness’s and her grades were good too but she was close friends with Her Highness, so it felt like she had deliberately stayed in the lowest class to keep her company.”

“Huh……So that’s why she’s all alone. Even so, you’d think the guys would fawn over her a little more.”

When I said that, Zaza swallowed the bread she had bitten and gave a wry smile.

“The royal family of this country is a little special, after all.”

“Special?”

“You know, marriage basically has nothing to do with the royal family, right? They make a pact with the Spirit King and leave descendants that way. Since there’s no possibility of marrying into the family, whether it’s for calculation or genuine love, there’s no point.”

Following Zaza’s words, Chloe added her own.

“The next queen will be Her Highness Princess Frederica, so if one were to think in terms of gain, even if you ingratiated yourself with Her Highness Princess Arvin, there would not be much benefit……”

“If anything, the risks might be bigger. If she glared at you or something, that would be a minus. Her Highness herself feels like she’s become a little self-destructive, so the atmosphere around her isn’t good either……”

As she said that, Myusha turned a pitying gaze toward Her Highness, and I found myself looking that way too.

“When you say she’s become self-destructive…… is it because she’s fire attribute?”

“That’s probably the biggest reason…… Like, no matter what she does, it’s pointless. And then there’s the fact that she gets compared to Her Highness Princess Frederica……”

A gentle, round face passed through my mind.

“Her Highness Princess Frederica is a genius at spirit magic, after all. In practice, the one deciding this academy’s management policies is also the student council president, Her Highness Princess Frederica……”

Honestly, I was surprised. I had the impression that Her Highness Princess Frederica was a sheltered, easygoing person.

Well, I also had a lewd image of her on top of that, though……

Once again, I turned my gaze toward Her Highness Princess Arvin.

Just as my first impression had suggested, she was an exceptionally beautiful woman. But the cold atmosphere around her, reminiscent of a sharp blade, made it feel even more as if she was keeping everyone away.

***

In the afternoon, we went out to the schoolyard for independent spirit magic training in buddy units.

Almeida-sensei was standing by nearby but basically, it seemed we were supposed to teach each other and raise our magic proficiency.

Starting with independent training right away……Isn’t that way too lazy, no matter how you look at it?

It was practical, if you wanted to call it practical, but since the students who could enroll in the academy were all fairly capable to begin with, this rough-and-ready method probably worked. As someone who was a complete beginner when it came to spirit magic, honestly, it was pretty tough.

I moved to one corner of the schoolyard and ended up alone with Her Highness Princess Arvin.

Her long black hair swayed in the wind and as she narrowed her slightly upturned eyes against the sunlight, she turned a gaze toward me that was clearly mixed with hostility.

……She’s openly on guard against me.

As for me, all I could do was smile wryly.

Impregnating her or not impregnating her, well, it was fair to say my first impression had been the worst. I had told Her Majesty the Queen that I would not allow anything to be forced on me but had that properly been conveyed to her too?

“Umm…… Your Highness? Since we’re both fire attribute, let’s try to get along.”

“No.”

I had been flatly rejected, but I could not afford to flinch over something like that. Compared to the time I was surrounded on all sides by the imperial army, this was nothing at all. I pretended I had not heard her and continued talking.

“So…… if possible, I’d be happy if you could teach me spirit magic, or something like that……”

Then she crossed her arms and turned away.

“Shut up, pervert.”

“…………”

There was no getting through to her.

What is this……I don’t think I’ve done anything to Her Highness Princess Arvin, though.

But emotions show in one’s attitude.

Crossing one’s arms is a sign of rejection. If the other person has their arms crossed during a discussion, most of the time, it is safe to assume they find the matter hard to accept.

Now then……what should I do?

I did not particularly care if she hated me, but if possible, I wanted to avoid falling behind in learning spirit magic.

If pushing doesn’t work, should I try pulling back? It feels like she’ll hate me even more, but…… well, it can’t be helped.

“Ah, to be honest, I’m not interested in you, Your Highness. If you just teach me the basics of spirit magic, I’ll handle the rest on my own.”

“Not……interested? Y-you’re saying you’re not interested in me!”

“Yeah. To put it bluntly, I don’t really like girls who are too self-conscious.”

“S-self…… conscious? T-too much?”

Her Highness’s cheek twitched.

“I mean, isn’t that right? When a girl I’m not interested in at all talks like I’m targeting her, from my point of view, I can only say it’s offensive.”

“……S-saying that just to get my attention……”

“See, that part right there is what I mean by self-conscious.”

“Muuuuuu……!”

In my previous life, I often used the children of nobles as subordinates but those who had been spoiled and praised to no end while growing up often overestimated their own abilities and acted arrogantly.

For people like that, if you treated them like roadside stones and showed them that you had no interest in them at all, they would immediately come snapping at you.

Then beating them down and drilling the hierarchy into them had been my usual method in my previous life.

Of course, I could hardly beat down Her Highness and even before that, I did think that speaking that way to royalty was questionable. But ever since I had openly challenged Her Majesty the Queen, honestly, I had stopped holding back.

In Her Highness’s case, it did not seem like she was overestimating her own ability, but in terms of dragging her into a conversation, it had worked.

“What? Do you want me to be interested in you?”

When I said that teasingly, Her Highness opened her slightly upturned eyes wide and raised her voice.

“D-don’t say something stupid! Fine! If you’re going to go that far, I’ll teach you! Be grateful!”

“If you teach me properly, then of course I’ll be grateful.”

“I-I won’t be happy at all even if you thank me!”

“Even though you told me to be grateful……”

As for me, all I could do was smile wryly.

But with a sullen look on her face, she muttered this in a half-hearted way.

“But no matter how much you do, it’s pointless. Because it’s fire attribute…… No matter how much you raise your spirit power or learn how to handle it, you’ll only ever stop at mid-rank spirits.”

‘Ahh……So that really is the problem……’

Once people convince themselves that they will never be rewarded, they lose their motivation. If they are trapped by a sense of helplessness, then continuing to make an effort becomes nothing but painful.

‘Well, giving hope to young people like that is also an adult’s role, isn’t it?’

I shrugged.

We looked about the same age, but inside, I was an old man. From my perspective, even Her Highness was like a child still wet behind the ears. Properly taking her hand and guiding her was probably an adult’s responsibility.

“Because it’s fire attribute, there’s no point, huh…… I think you already know this, but in my previous life, I spent all my time researching magic. And even with things people called impossible or hopeless, there was always a breakthrough somewhere. That’s not a platitude. It’s my experience.”

“A breakthrough? Are you stupid? There’s no way something like that exists! Upper-rank spirits don’t exist, you know?”

“That’s exactly it. Why don’t they exist? Why can you say that for sure? I doubt the claim that upper-rank spirits don’t exist and even if they really don’t, there are plenty of ways to handle it.”

“……You can say whatever you want with your mouth.”

Her Highness shrugged with an exasperated look.

She had gone cynical. She was sulking. She had given up. She truly believed that no matter what she did, it would be pointless.

When I was alive, I had seen faces like that more times than I could count.

Soldiers usually made that kind of face when the state of the war was bad.

But if you lose in spirit, then even battles you could have won become unwinnable.

So at times like that, I always made sure to say this with full confidence.

“Don’t lump me together with you.”

I puffed out my chest, stared straight into her eyes, fabricated baseless confidence inside myself, gave a thumbs-up, and pointed at my own chest.

“I am Ozma of the Crimson Lotus!”

For an instant, Her Highness looked utterly dumbfounded.

“Are you stupid or something……”

Yeah, I thought so too. This really did not suit me at all.

But despite that sharp-tongued remark, the corners of her mouth had faintly softened.

***

“Spirit magic is activated by drawing out a spirit’s power from the spirit world.”

Her Highness raised her index finger and began explaining.

Her attitude was still distant but for the time being, it seemed she had become willing to teach me the basics of spirit magic.

“You can basically think of the difference between lower-rank spirits and mid-rank spirits as nothing but power.”

“Power?”

“In the case of fire attribute, it means the firepower of the flame you draw out. If you only just received a spirit yesterday, then for today, I suppose you should practice drawing it out first?”

“Ah, that’s fine.”

When I drew out a flame above my palm, Her Highness’s eyes went round.

“Eh!? D-didn’t you receive it yesterday?”

“Yeah. I tried it right after the ritual ended and I could do it, so……”

At that, Her Highness’s mouth twitched.

“……You’re way too absurd.”

“No, I can still only make fire burn over my palm like this……So, what kinds of magic does fire attribute have?”

“Kinds?”

Her Highness tilted her head with a puzzled look.

“For example, even if you just say fire, there are various kinds of magic, like fireballs and stuff, right?”

“I don’t really understand what you’re talking about, but……the shape depends on your mental image, so there aren’t any particular distinctions. And the power changes depending on whether you borrow the power of a lower-rank spirit or a mid-rank spirit, so……”

As she said that, Her Highness transformed the flame she had drawn out from her palm into a ring shape and floated it in the air.

I see……So it isn’t like conventional magic, where 『Fireball』 and 『Flame Curtain』 are each separate spells. Is it fine to understand it as something that can become 『Fireball』 or 『Flame Curtain』 depending on the mental image……?

“Also, when handling spirit magic, one thing you should keep in mind is that the spirit dwelling inside you will absolutely never harm its host.”

As she said that, Her Highness grabbed the ring of flame floating in the air with her bare hand, and my eyes widened despite myself.

“Is-is that safe?”

“Yes, there’s nothing to worry about. But if you touch my flame, you’ll get burned, so don’t touch it.”

“I see.”

Now that I thought about it, the flame blazing above my own palm was not hot at all.

“Once you decide the shape of a flame, you can’t transform it any further. The same goes for once you decide its movement.”

Her Highness erased the ring of flame, then drew out another flame and wrapped it around her own fist.

“Since it isn’t hot, you can even wear it around yourself like this.”

“Ooh!? Amazing!”

A flame blazed around her fist. Seeing that, I could not help but raise my voice in excitement.

By a strange coincidence, magic that wrapped flame around one’s fist. That was exactly the magic I had tried to develop for close combat in my previous life, only to give up on it.

‘That easily……Then what was all my suffering for……’

Seeing how excited I was, Her Highness shrugged.

“Isn’t that a bit exaggerated……”

“No, I’m telling you, it’s seriously amazing! In my previous life, I tried to do the same thing over and over, and I failed again and again!”

“H-hmm…… Is that so?”

“Th-that! I want you to teach me how to do that!”

When I closed in on her with great enthusiasm, Her Highness leaned back slightly.

“Th-that’s, well, fine, but…… You’re too close! I said you’re too close!”

‘Even if you say that, of course I’m going to get excited! After all, this is every boy’s dream! In my previous life, I even decided on the name 『Burning Knuckle』, but I never managed to make it real!’

Her Highness hurriedly stepped back to put distance between us, then extinguished the flame and brushed up her hair.

“Phew……As for anything else I need to explain…… I suppose only upper-rank spirits are left.”

Her expression suddenly clouded over.

“So fire attribute supposedly has no upper-rank spirits, right? Has no one ever tried contacting one?”

At that, she shrugged dramatically.

“That’s a problem from even before that. My spirit power is four hundred fifty…… That’s enough if I’m only contacting mid-rank spirits, so……”

“I see…… It’s fine even if it’s about other attributes, but are upper-rank spirits also only different in terms of power?”

Her Highness quietly shook her head.

“They’re completely different. Up through mid-rank spirits, you draw out their power. In short, the idea is that you are making use of them. But with upper-rank spirits, you make a request and they grant you a portion of their power.”

“A portion?”

“Yes. The upper-rank spirit grants that person a unique magic suited to them. A one-of-a-kind magic in the world, usable only by that person.”

A somewhat lonely air flickered in and out of her expression.

“For example, Frederica-nee-san has 『Splash Move』. It’s a magic that lets her move freely from water to water. Shirley’s was, if I remember right, 『Raiden』. I think it was magic that wraps violet lightning around a weapon……Thanks to that magic, she basically climbed all the way up to second seat. If you cross swords with her, you’ll be electrocuted and knocked unconscious, so an ordinary knight can hardly beat her.”

I recalled the magic Shirley had deployed in the town cafeteria.

I see…… So that was unique magic.

Lightning-type magic had never been compatible with me since my previous life, so I had not even thought of asking her to teach me. But apparently, it was not the sort of thing that could be taught and then somehow used anyway.

More than simply whether the power is strong or weak, whether you can contact an upper-rank spirit is what matters. After all, it’s about whether or not you can use a magic made exclusively for yourself.

As I was thinking that, I heard a voice from behind me.

“Ah, sorry, my hand slipped.”

When I hurriedly turned around, I saw a ring-shaped swirling blade of wind flying toward us, scattering fallen leaves as it came.

Is that 『Air Cutter』!?

There was no way I could dodge it in time. Even if I tried to leap out of the way, Her Highness was behind me, right in its line of fire.

‘No choice! I’ll blow it away!’

The instant I raised my arm to deploy 『Flame Curtain』, the ground in front of me suddenly swelled up and instantly formed a wall.

A dull sound rang out as the blade of wind struck the wall of earth.

“Wh-what?”

When I hurriedly looked around, I saw Thomas holding his hand out toward us.

So that was earth-type magic……

Apparently, he had saved us. Honestly, that helped. If I had used conventional magic here, it might have caused a huge commotion. The fact that I was Ozma absolutely had to remain a secret.

“You saved us! Thanks!”

When I raised my voice and shouted that, Thomas turned away.

‘……What a shy guy.’

Almost at the same time as I smiled wryly despite myself, the wall crumbled down. Beyond it, I could see Amanda closing in on Kiko.

“Excuse me, but even carelessness has its limits!”

Amanda pressed him with a shrill, high-pitched voice, while Kiko brushed her off with an annoyed,『Ah, my bad, my bad.』

“One wrong step and you could have injured Her Highness!”

When Amanda raised her voice at his bad attitude, Kiko snapped back angrily.

“I said I was sorry, didn’t I!”

The two of them glared at each other, almost pressing their foreheads together. Between them, Kiko’s buddy Myusha was flusteredly looking back and forth.

“S-stop…… C-calm down, both of you.”

While that was going on, Almeida-sensei hurriedly stepped between them and Amanda stamped her feet in indignation as she returned to Thomas’s side.

Kiko seemed to be getting scolded by the teacher but no matter how I looked at it, he was just letting it go in one ear and out the other.

Amanda is surprisingly strong-willed about justice, despite how she looks.

Yesterday, what stood out most was her strong awareness of social class, but today, I found her a little more likable.

Even so, it seemed Kiko was quite hostile toward me. I could more or less imagine the reason but I would need to be careful.

If he continued harassing me from here on, I would need to deal with him accordingly.

A child’s competitive spirit is charming, but once it goes too far, punishment becomes necessary.

For now, I should probably think of a way to deal with wind-type magic without using conventional magic.

“Hey, Your Highness.”

“Could you please stop calling me Your Highness already?”

“Then, Arvin.”

“Calling me by name without honorifics!? You’re too extreme! W-well…… fine. So, what is it?”

“If you were attacked by spirit magic like that just now, how would you deal with it, Arvin?”

At that, she crossed her arms and sank into thought.

“Let’s see…… Fire attribute really isn’t suited for defense at all. So……”

The next instant, flames burst violently from the soles of her boots, and she soared into the air.

“I suppose I’d avoid it like this.”

“……Y-you’re serious?”

I muttered in shock.

I had never heard of flying through the sky with magic. Flying without wings, and even staying suspended in midair, was far too revolutionary to me.

What the hell, fire attribute is the best!

Excited, I looked up at her again, and with a foolish “Ah』my expression stiffened despite myself.

“Umm…… uh, well…… Arvin. I-I get it now, so maybe you should come down quickly?”

“Why? It feels good. I like flying like this.”

“Yeah, that’s fine, but, uh…… flying while wearing a skirt is……”

The moment I said that, Arvin’s face turned red and she hurriedly pressed down her skirt. Then, after landing silently on the ground, she glared at me while her eyebrows twitched.

“Y-you saw, didn’t you……”

“I did not.”

And here I had thought we had finally managed to get along, but for the rest of that day, she would not speak to me at all.

Incidentally…… it was white.

***

“I somehow managed to get as far as firing a fireball, at least.”

“As expected of my husband. I have never heard of anyone who could give it a specific shape and fire it the day after receiving a spirit.”

While soaking in the bath together with Shirley, I talked about today’s lesson.

In the end, after that, Arvin kept looking away from me until the afternoon class ended. The atmosphere was such that if I tried to force a conversation, fire spirit magic might come flying at me.

I did feel that it was somewhat unreasonable but since I had ended up seeing beneath the skirt of a princess of a kingdom, that also felt like a sinful thing in its own way.

Left with no choice, I devoted myself to feeling things out through independent training, and as a result, I somehow managed to shape the flame I drew out into a fireball and shoot it.

That said, it had lower power than the conventional magic 『Fireball』, and its speed was slower too. If someone asked whether there was any meaning in learning it, I would be a little at a loss for words.

“I hope Arvin’s mood improves by tomorrow……”

“Ufufu.”

When Shirley suddenly laughed in a suggestive way, I tilted my head.

“What?”

“Why not simply take Her Highness Princess Arvin as your wife as well? If you did, you would be able to train together even outside the academy.”

“Don’t say something so unreasonable……”

Although she had softened somewhat yesterday, ever since we first met, her attitude had consistently been, 『Don’t come near me, don’t touch me, don’t approach me.』

It was true that she was an exceptionally beautiful woman and I did think that whoever took her as his wife in the future would surely be very happy. But even so, I had no intention of forcing her.

“Her Highness is probably simply not used to men. Rather, I feel as if she is extremely conscious of you……”

There were other male students at the academy too. Surely it was not that she had no resistance to men.

“No…… I have you, Shirley.”

“If you say something like that to me…… I will no longer be able to endure it.”

I stretched out with the rim of the bathtub as my pillow. Shirley pressed her cheek against my neck and leaned on me in a daze. The sight of water dripping down her wet white skin and soft curves sent an irresistible desire surging through me.

“Is there any need to endure it?”

“……No, there is not.”

The night I first held Shirley, that frenzy had certainly been because of the aphrodisiac. But even setting aside the matter of the aphrodisiac, freshly learned sex was far too addictive.

For both me and her.

Still wearing a bashful expression, Shirley rose from the bathwater and turned her body toward me. Her lower abdomen filled my field of vision and without the slightest hesitation, I stared fixedly at it.

But that lasted only an instant. With a shy smile, she straddled my waist and sank herself back into the bathwater. My heated, tense groin was touched at its tip by vagina flesh moistened with a liquid different from the bathwater and that sensation stirred me up intensely.

“Nn…… nn-ah……”

Along with a tightening sensation, her vagina opening swallowed my penis. And the instant she took my penis all the way to the base, her limbs jumped, as though an electric current had run through her, and the bathwater surged violently.

“Hiuu!? Th-this position, i-it’s hitting somewhere different than usual……”

Shirley clenched her teeth. A faint crease formed between her brows, and strength filled the arms she had wrapped around my neck. Contrary to her stiffened body the inside of her vagina was repeating small, abnormal contractions.

“Don’t tell me, Shirley, you’re about to cum just from me putting it in?”

“Y-yes. When I think that my husband’s strong dick is inside me……”

While worrying about the rippling bathwater, Shirley began moving her hip back and forth, repeating small in-and-out motions.

“Nn, nn, ah, ah, aan……Yaahn, the water is going to spill……”

Contrary to her words, Shirley’s hip movements gradually escalated. Before I knew it, she was moving her shapely boobs in large motions, creating big waves in the bathtub.

“Ah, ah, ah, it feels good, your dick, i-it feels so, s-so good.”

Each time she rocked her body, the surface of the bathwater swayed, and with loud splashes, water spilled out of the tub. Shirley had been worried about it at first, but before long, she no longer cared. She was moving her hips in a trance.

“My husband, more, thrust up into me more……”

Unable to stay still because of how adorable Shirley was as she begged me with a melting expression, I grabbed her slender waist and began thrusting up into her fiercely from below.

“Ahn, hiiin, y-yaahn!? My husband, amazing, ahn, aahn, aaahn!”

Like a drowning child, she hugged my head tightly, and her wet, soft swells pressed against both sides of my cheeks. Whether my head was spinning because I was overheated, or because of her, I could not tell.

Half-unconsciously, I latched onto her wet nipples. When I sucked on it chuu-chuu, she fell apart all at once.

“Hyaahn!? M-my breasts, no, you mustn’t suck them now!”

Even if she told me no, I could not stop. When I used my tongue lewdly to roll around her hardened nipples tip, she let out a desperate voice.

“Nn-ah, I-I’m cumming, I’m cumming! Yaahn, even though I wanted to make you cum, my husband! Yaahn, I’m cumming!”

“You can cum! I’m about to cum too!”

While tightly embracing each other’s bodies, we slammed our hips against one another. Our thrusting rapidly grew more intense, and my swollen erection on the verge of bursting sank especially deep into her hot, wet womb.

“Hiah!”

With the momentum, the head of my penis struck hard against her cervix and she opened her eyes wide, arching her body back greatly. The stimulation was too strong. For both me and her.

Byuru! Byurururu! Byuru!

My dick throbbed violently, leaving a sensation in my uterus as if my insides were being pulled out, and a scorching spurt overflowed into her womb.

“I-I’m cuumming, I’m cuumming!”

At the same time, Shirley arched her body back while letting out a beast-like cry, trembling in small spasms.

Her vagina flesh squeezed tightly around my penis, writhing as if trying to take every last drop of the semen released into her womb.

While holding her body tightly, I continued releasing my essence inside her and before long, I relaxed my body along with a troubled sigh.

Come to think of it, this was where Princess Frederica attacked me too, wasn’t it? Getting this excited, is it because my body temperature rises in the hot water after all? Last time, it felt like I was restrained by the water and forced into it, though……

The moment I thought that, something snagged in the corner of my mind.

Restrained by the hot water…… restrained? Huh? What does that mean?

When I unconsciously showed signs of sinking into thought, Shirley, with pleasure still lingering in her cheeks, peered into my face.

“Could it be…… that it did not feel good?”

“There’s no way that’s true.”

Smiling wryly, I kissed her. As we exchanged small pecking kisses, I whispered into her ear.

“The rest comes after we move to the bed.”

“Honestly…… my husband……”

Shirley looked embarrassed, but not at all displeased.

The warmth spreading through me came from her body heat and the hot water warming me…… but surely, that was not all.

‘This must be what people call happiness……’

In my previous life, where I had spent all my days on war and research, this was a warmth I could never have hoped for. Quietly, I let the corners of my mouth soften.

***

“Now then, Your Highness, I shall tend to your hair.”

“Yes, please.”

The maid Myumyu began carefully combing my hair.

The expression reflected in the mirror before me was gloomy. I had already changed into my nightclothes, and all that remained was to go to bed, but somehow, I felt restless.

Several days had already passed since I moved into this inner palace.

But today, even though there was a difference between the north wing and the east wing, I had become strangely conscious of the fact that that man was in the same grounds.

A lustful pervert who had no restraint whenever he saw a woman. The Ozma I had learned about in history could only be described that way.

Frederica-nee-san had called him the great hero she admired, but that was absurd.

In relations between men and women, emotional bonds are what matter. No matter how strong or great he may be, a man who is merely greedy is nothing but an object of contempt. That was what I had thought, and even now, that had not changed.

However, judging from my contact with him today, that man had a personality nothing like the legendary great hero I had been told about.

At first, I had suspected that he was simply pretending. I thought it was a common tactic to make women fall for him, but somehow, it did not seem that way. Or rather, to be honest, he was hard to pin down.

When he saw spirit magic and got excited, he was like an innocent child, but when he declared,『I am Ozma』 he also seemed like a reliable adult.

The moment I saw him getting excited and thought,『He might be cute』I denied that feeling with all my might. The moment I saw him declare that in a manly way and thought,『He might be cool』I hurriedly erased that feeling. I told myself that I must not be deceived.

And yet…… I was strangely bothered by him.

When I unconsciously let out a sigh, Myumyu smiled sweetly in the mirror with her childlike, baby-faced features.

“Your Highness, I heard from Shirley-sama that you have become Ozma-sama’s buddy……”

“Yes, unwillingly.”

“Unwillingly, you say? I believe it is a joyous thing, though.”

“What part of it is joyous…… Having a lustful pervert like that near me only makes me feel in danger.”

“Well, you may say that, but when one becomes buddies, it is almost the same as having already married into the family……”

“Haa!?”

I raised my voice despite myself.

“D-don’t say something ridiculous! We are only paired as buddies for convenience! Nothing more, and nothing less!”

“That may be true for now, but as you know, I hear that most nobles who marry for love choose someone who was their buddy at the academy. While supporting each other, it seems inevitable that affection eventually sprouts between them.”

Even though she said『as you know』this was the first time I had heard of such a thing.

‘The partners of nobles who marry for love are their buddies? Is that true?’

As I was bewildered, Myumyu whispered to me as if dealing a further blow.

“And on top of that, they say the two of you are the only fire-attribute students in the entire academy…… Something like that can only be called fate. It is truly romantic.”

Still holding the comb, Myumyu twisted her body in delight.

‘F-fate……I-is that so? R-romantic…… Is it, maybe……’

I could not stop feeling shaken. My heart was pounding strongly, and I felt short of breath.

“Myumyu is very wondering what kind of romantic love Your Highness and Ozma-sama will have.”

“S-stop that. Th-th-there will absolutely never be anything like that……”

This generation had been exempted from the pact with the Spirit King. If possible, I wanted to have a wonderful romance and a marriage with love. It was true that I thought that way, but Ozma alone was impossible. If that happened, it would be exactly what Mother wanted. I had already heard that he had taken Shirley as his wife, and being his second wife was absolutely no joke.

“Everyone says that at first. But please think about it carefully. The person you thought you hated becomes someone you love because of a single incident, or it turns out they were actually your destined partner…… That is a standard development in romance stories, after all.”

As I pressed my hand to my chest, trying to calm my palpitations, she smiled at me through the mirror and said that cheerfully.

***

The next morning, just like yesterday, the morning was a classroom lecture on the basics of spirit magic. In the afternoon as well, continuing from yesterday, we went out to the schoolyard for independent training.

It did seem somewhat lazy, but for the week after transfer students were welcomed in, this format was used every time.

I had heard from Frederica-nee-san that they deliberately did it this way in order to nurture the students’ independence and creativity, while also deepening their relationships with their buddies.

‘Does that relationship really matter that much……? Isn’t this period the reason buddies often end up marrying each other?’

I had never been paired with a boy as my buddy before, so I had never paid it any mind, but that was probably the case.

‘It’s because Myumyu started saying strange things…… honestly! I…… I’m not the kind of girl who would fall in love over something like that! Everyone is way too easy. True love is more, you know, more, something amazing!’

While thinking such things, I looked around and Ozma was surrounded by water-attribute girls, chatting with them in a friendly way.

‘That womanizer……’

It was not like I cared, but seeing him neglect me, his buddy and act all lovestruck with other girls was somehow irritating. Not that I cared!

When I lightly pouted, perhaps noticing my reaction, Ozma made a face like,『Ah, crap』and ran over to me.

“Sorry, kept you waiting.”

“I wasn’t waiting.”

When I turned my face away, he looked puzzled and moved around to stand in front of me.

“I said I’m sorry.”

“Shut up, die.”

The moment I allowed him to call me by name without honorifics, he became this overly familiar. More than that, the way he spoke as if he were treating me like a child was terribly irritating.

“You look kind of sleepy.”

“That has nothing to do with you!”

Just whose fault did he think it was that I had not gotten enough sleep?

It was true that this man was very different from the image of Ozma I had beforehand. So different that I almost thought he might be an impostor.

But I would not let myself be deceived. Men were all wolves. In particular, Ozma was a wolf among wolves.

This harmless-looking attitude had to be an act. If I let my guard down, he would immediately impregnate me.

Because of our attribute, becoming buddies with him could not be helped, even if I conceded that much, but that was that, and this was this. I had to keep a proper distance from him.

“Enough! Hurry up and start training already.”

When I said that as curtly as possible, Ozma opened his mouth cheerfully with a broad smile.

“Before that, look at this. I thought of it yesterday while I was taking a bath, and when I tried it this morning, I managed to do it……”

As he said that, he formed the flame he drew out from his palm into the shape of a staircase.

“A staircase?”

It was a staircase of about five steps. I did not know why he had shaped it like that, but if he had gone from the stage where, at the very end of yesterday’s training, he had finally managed to make it spherical and fire it, to being able to form something this complex overnight, then that was an outrageous amount of progress.

To begin with, normally, after receiving a spirit, it would take at least two weeks, no matter how fast, before one could form a fireball. In that respect, despite everything, perhaps he really was a great hero after all. His speed in learning spirit magic was astonishingly fast.

‘……Is he used to visualizing things?’

Surely that was it. I did not know what ancient-language magic was like but if the process of forming it through visualization was the same as spirit magic, then this speed of learning made sense.

“Yes, yes, amazing, amazing. Enough already, hurry up and start.”

While hiding my inner surprise, I waved my hand as if uninterested and then Ozma suddenly began climbing those stairs.

I was left completely dumbfounded.

I could not properly process what had just happened before my eyes.

“Huh? Eh? Fueeeeeeehh!?”

And after a beat of silence, I let out an unintentionally ridiculous cry.

‘H-he’s standing on top of fire!? ……What is that? How does that work?’

As I stared wide-eyed and flustered, Ozma made a face like a child who had successfully pulled off a prank.

“Ahaha! Surprised? Actually, I managed to give mass to the flames.”

“M-mass……Wait, eeeeeh!? Th-th-that means, y-you can treat fire as a solid!?”

“Yeah.”

‘Do not just say『yeah』! What is that!?’

Of course, I had never seen or heard of anything like that.

“Look, yesterday, when Kiko attacked us. We talked about how fire attribute isn’t suited for defense, right? So I was thinking about whether there was some good way to defend with it…… and while I was in the bath, something occurred to me. If I form a shield with this method, it should be able to repel attacks perfectly.”

“Th…… that may be true, but……”

“I thought of this thanks to you, Arvin.”

“Th-thanks to me?”

“Yeah. Yesterday, you showed me how to wrap fire around your fist, right?”

“Yes…… But what about it?”

“I realized that maybe there are things magic…… uh, ancient-language magic can’t do, but spirit magic can. In my previous life, no matter what I did, I couldn’t give mass to fire, but I thought maybe I could do it with spirit magic……”

Seeing Ozma laugh carefreely with an ahaha, I felt a dull headache coming on.

‘Normally, you cannot do it……’

Magic is a world of imagination. But who could possibly imagine so easily something that should not exist in this world, fire turned solid?

‘This……would definitely cause a huge uproar in the magical society.’

This man did not realize that he was currently causing a revolution in spirit magic.

That was why he was talking about this with about the same level of excitement as when the shell of a boiled egg peeled off smoothly.

To put it plainly, I was completely weirded out.

“This is, like, pretty amazing even from your perspective, Arvin?”

“……This is beyond the level of amazing.”

At Ozma’s way of putting it, I shrugged.

‘But, well, if he shows this, Ozma should be able to get promoted in the next promotion exam……’

If that happened, our buddy relationship would be dissolved. I would return to my peaceful life as a failure, just like before.

Because there was no way I could get promoted.

“If you show that in the promotion exam, you’ll enter the highest class in one shot. Yes, congratulations. Good for you.”

When I said that sarcastically, Ozma smiled.

“Then if Arvin can do this too, that means you can pass the next promotion exam, right?”

“Eh…………?”

“The only reason it seems amazing is because no one else has done it before. Once you learn the trick, it’s pretty easy.”

Without thinking, I collapsed to my knees. The strength left my body.

‘No way…… I can…… get promoted……?’

Normally, if someone could not get promoted after about five years, they would give up on graduating and drop out, but because of my position as royalty, I was not allowed to do that. I had resigned myself to being put on display in the lowest class forever.

Yesterday, Ozma had said there was a breakthrough, and I had immediately denied it. But in just one day, this man had shoved the real thing, the actual breakthrough, right in front of me.

It could not be helped because I was fire attribute. I had done nothing wrong. That was what I had kept telling myself, so why did this man deny it so easily?

Right now, I did not really know what kind of face I was making.

Inside my chest was a dull gray marble pattern of emotions, happiness, frustration, anger, and the urge to cry, all mixed together.

Still sitting on the ground, I looked up, and in the backlight, Ozma was staring steadily at me.

“I won’t let anyone say fire attribute is a dud. I’ve raced across countless battlefields together with fire. I absolutely won’t let it end with us being looked down on.”

Then, he suddenly smiled.

“We’ll shove a『no』right in the faces of everyone who looked down on fire attribute, everyone who looked down on you. You and I, Arvin, the two of us with fire attribute, will overturn everything.”

“Th-there’s no way we can do something like……”

“We can.”

My cheeks grew hot, and tears gathered at the corners of my eyes. I could feel my emotions surging.

Staring straight at me, he repeated the same words he had said yesterday.

“Because I’m Ozma.”