Leon, who was beaten by me in the mock battle, surprisingly showed up in the classroom after the lunch break.
He seems to have recovered easily, even though I beat him up pretty badly. It seems not only his ability but also his toughness is growing, which is good thing.
As Leon came into the classroom, he turned his face to me and silently made a clenched fist.
I don't know what such an action means... but I guess he meant it as a challenge.
He also seems to have tightened his loincloth again after witnessing my seriousness.
But I know that Leon will continue to grow.
It is a great honor for me to be able to contribute to his hero's progress and to play the villain.
And now, in the afternoon, the classes consisted entirely of classroom lectures.
Like before, I quietly doze off to sleep in a corner of the classroom.
"Goshujin-sama—, the class is over..."
"Hmm... Ah, is it that time already?"
Before I knew it, afternoon classes were over and it was time to leave for school.
Since I started working at night as the head of the Baskerville family, classes have been my only time to sleep. Except for the practical classes, I spent most of the time in bed.
Fortunately, 'Zenon Baskerville' is smart. He can get a high grade in a test by reading a textbook two or three times.
"As expected, 'dark magic' is useful... I can sleep without the teachers knowing."
I used my dark magic skill to disguise myself from the waist up with an illusion, and acted as if I was taking the class seriously.
Even if I had been sleeping without any hesitation, a teacher who is afraid of the Baskervilles would not have bothered to point it out. However, Wanko-sensei, my homeroom teacher, is not afraid of me and scolds me, so I have no choice but to use this method.
"...Are Nagisa and Aeris in a club?"
"Yes, desu~no. They said they would return before dinner, desu~no."
The Royal Sword and Magic Academy is a school, too. As a matter of course, clubs and extracurricular activities do exist.
Nagisa is a member of the Kenjutsu club and promotes her Seikai Itto-ryu style among the students of this school. She is vigilantly recruiting students of the school in order to revive the school, which had been driven to extinction by a traitorous evil swordsman.
Aeris is not strictly a sorority, but she frequents attending the salons held by the daughters of the nobility. In her own way, Aeris is trying to be useful to me. She gathers information on aristocratic society while promoting herself as the daughter of the Centorea family and the future wife of the Baskervilles.
"Urza... is Arisa good today?"
"Arisa-san is going shopping with Jean, desu~no! I'm so glad she's not being so noisy, desu~no!"
Urza's lips pouted and she made a sulky face.
Well, she is treated as a mascot by Arisa and the other girls in the class, and after school she is always treated with sweets at the cafeteria or coffee shop.
But, today, there is no such after-school girls' party because of Arisa's schedule. Urza must be happy that there are no noisy people and sad that she can't eat sweets... she must be having mixed feelings.
"Well then... I guess I'll go and take care of some business..."
"Urza want to go too, desu~no! It's an after-school date with Goshujin-sama, desu~no!"
I get up and walk out of the classroom, and Urza follows me with skipping steps.
Although we are not going to a romantic place... Urza looks as happy as a puppy following its owner. If she had a tail, it would have been wagging and whirling like a fan.
Now, we went to the school's club building. The room we visited is located in a corner of the building. At the entrance, there is a plaque that reads 'Newspaper Club and Fortune-telling Club'.
I knocked lightly, but there is no response from inside the room. So, I opened the side-opening door with a doubtful mind, but it is pitch black inside the room with the black curtains closed.
"...Welcome to the spiritual world. Poor, sad, yet lovely lamb."
"..."
A candle is lit in the darkness. A faint orange light illuminates a robed figure sitting in a chair in the center of the room. If I had encountered this person on the street, I would have turned right around and walked away.
When I try to see this person, I could not see the face because of the hood... but I could tell that this person is a woman from her dignified voice that sounded like a bell ringing.
"...Now, release your innermost feelings. Tell me your troubles without pretense. Let the stars and the gods guide your path, O lost lamb."
"...What a big welcome. Did you wait for me all this time dressed like that? And what were you going to do if it wasn't me who came to the room?"
No doubt, the person, who enter the room, is going to call the security guard.
As I said this to her in a calm tone like pouring cold water on her, the robed woman's lips twitched as if she was snickering.
"...Oh, you're not very flirty, are you? Why don't you at least enjoy my company a little bit? Our leader!"
With a complaint, the woman took off her robe.
From within the black robe, a woman with a short cut emerges. She has a bright and vivacious face, and her tomboy appearance seems to be more popular among the same gender than among the opposite gender. Judging from the color of the ribbon on her uniform, she is an upperclassman.
"Anyway... welcome to visit, Leader-dono. Thank you for coming. To the Sword and Demon Academy's newspaper club... or the fortune-telling Club."
Her large, curious eyes turn to me. The woman bows her head in a clownishly pretentious gesture.
She is the head of two seemingly unrelated clubs, the newspaper club and the fortune-telling club, and her name is Polaris Masquerade.
A third-year senior at Sword and Demon Academy, and a well-informed informant who knows everything there is to know about the school. In addition, she is trusted by the female students of the school as an excellent fortune teller.
"Come, sit down at the seat over there. I'd like to welcome you, our Leader."
Polaris says in a cheerful tone and opens the curtains that cover the window. Immediately, the light of the westerly sun streamed into the room.
Because of the darkness of the room, I did not notice that there were tea cups on the table at the back of the room, and even tea cakes were prepared for the guests. It seems that she is well prepared to entertain her guests.
Anyway, I sat down on a chair as I was told, and Urza sat down next to me as a matter of course. Naturally, Urza immediately puts her hand on the cake and puts it into her mouth, and her face instantly becomes happy.
"Munch, munch... Chomp, chomp... it's delicious, desu~no. It's a good cake, desu~no"
"Hey, hey, hey... the tea hasn't even been brewed yet..."
"Don't worry about it. Aren't you a cute little oni? I'm tempted to keep her myself."
Polaris smiles and takes the teapot as I try to correct Urza for her rudeness.
Then, she places a teacup in front of Urza and me. A green liquid is poured into the cup, and fine tea leaves are dancing softly in the teacup.
"Green tea... that's unusual."
I sipped the cup with deep emotion. The mellow taste of fine green tea fills my mouth.
It tastes just like the tea I drank in Japan. It tastes nostalgic. It has been a long time since I have had a cup of Japanese green tea, because this world is the same as the European one.
Although it was very incongruous that the cup was a teacup instead of a Yunomi. (*Note: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yunomi)
"...The tea was very well prepared..."
"I'm glad you liked it. It was worth ordering from the East."
"The East... Is it Zipangu? I'm sure Nagisa will be very happy to drink it." (*Note: Zipangu -> Japan in italy)
"If you like, you can bring some back as a souvenir. Give it to your lover to drink."
"That would be great... by the way, can we get down to business now?"
I take a breath and put my teacup on the table.
I turn to Polaris, watching Urza gobbling down her tea and the cakes next to me.
"I would like to receive the results of the investigation I asked you to do. Of course, you've done your job, right?"
"Yes, of course. It was an easy job with our intelligence."
Polaris says proudly and pulls out a thick stack of papers.
Polaris Masquerade.
She is the head of the newspaper club and the fortune-telling club, but her true nature is something else.
She is a member and a daughter of the leader of the Baskerville family's intelligence organization, the "Star Reader".
She is a female agent who joined the Baskerville family after I became the head of the family.
