Ten days after my friends and I left Rosenheim.
It was late March.
My friends and I were at a reasonably expensive restaurant in Academy City.
In a reasonably nice private room, we were having dinner.
"That's what happened."
"Well, it's roughly like this, but it doesn't deviate that much from your information, does it?"
"Yeah, my father was freaking out saying 'What do you mean, two million troops are going to attack us?'"
A slender boy was sitting in front of me.
This boy's name was Rifol, the legitimate son of the Earl of Hamilton.
After arriving back in the Academy City, I asked Rifol to have dinner with us.
My friends and I had to leave the Academy City in a hurry to go to Rosenheim and join the war.
We had less than a day to prepare for our departure.
While there was only so much I could do in that time, I had made one request to Rifol, who was sitting in front of me.
"Thank you, Rifol, for looking after my Family."
"Kiel, we're classmates. There is no need to put such distance."
Kiel bowed his head and thanked Rifol.
Kiel's sister and all the servants under his care stayed at Earl Hamilton's mansion when we were away.
When I had asked, Rifol agreed with two words.
The Hamilton Family of Rifol was a close relative of the old Carnell and Granvelle Families.
Kiel's sister wasn't a Noble, but they were willing to help.
And they welcomed her as the daughter of a Noble Family and their servants.
I called him up to thank him and share some information with him.
He also shared information he had from Earl Hamilton, who was a member of the military, about the situation on the side of the Latash Kingdom in this war.
According to Rifol, the battle against the Demon King's army was declared a victory in the Central Continent by the Giamut Empire.
The troops from the Latash Kingdom, who moved to one fortress to fight the 2 million troops during the war, had already started returning to their former posts.
It seems that even when the war was over, the soldiers weren't returning home.
(Rifol's information network is as impressive as ever. As for the Latash Kingdom, it's returning to normal.)
I looked at one of the plates piled up on the table.
On the plate were a number of things the size of a bun, somewhere between bread and cookies.
A flying squirrel took one of them in both of his small hands and frantically bit into it.
(What's going on here? Or does that mean that the contract has been switched from the Queen to Sophie? That's not the point. The Spirit Gods need food as well?)
The war in Rosenheim was over, and my friends and I returned home.
At that time, Sophie and Formar also decided to leave Rosenheim, as I had expected.
Sophie was a Princess with the right to inherit the throne, but the Queen allowed her to accompany us, saying, "Go fight alongside Master Allen for the sake of the world."
"Thank you, Rifol. Thanks to you, we now know what's going on in the Central Continent."
Sophie thanked Rifol for his help.
I was aware of the situation in the entire Central Continent through information from the Giamut Empire, but I wanted to thank him regardless.
"No, no, no, not at all."
"Well, Rifol, in one line the war is almost over in Rosenheim."
Then I explained the situation in Rosenheim to Rifol.
We defeated an army of 7 million magical beasts in the war that lasted nearly three months.
But our achievements were appropriately muddled.
Rifol looked at me with a question mark on his face that said, "How did you defeat an army of 7 million?"
But I didn't answer.
"Rifol, thanks to your willingness to take care of Kiel's Family, Kiel was able to fight without any worries in Rosenheim during this war. Formar."
"Eh?"
More question marks appeared on Rifol's face listening to me.
"Ha!"
Leaving Rifol behind, Formar carefully lifted a wooden box that he had placed on a corner of the table away from the table with both hands and came to Rifol's side.
"What's this?"
He looked at me to see what I meant, but I gave him a look that told him to take it.
"Rifol, it is a thank you from Rosenheim. You might want to open it."
"Uh-huh."
When he opened the top lid of the wooden box, he found about 10 red peach-like fruits neatly arranged in a row.
"These are Elven Elixirs. There are not many of them, but please accept them."
The words seemed to make sense to Rifol.
Elven Elixirs were made in Rosenheim, and the soldiers affected by it made miraculous recovery.
Its restorative effect surpassed that of a Saint's Recovery Magic, restoring both health and mana over a wide area.
It was truly a miraculous item, and it was said that thanks to it, the number of casualties was the lowest ever, despite the unprecedented number of troops that attacked.
The Elven Elixir were basically priceless during the war.
"Oh, thank you."
"Take care of Kiel's Family."
I also reminded Rifol to take care of Kiel's sister and servants in the future.
"Ah, yes. But now that the war is over and the Academy is starting, aren't you going to live here in Academy City?"
Rifol asked why he would need to further take care of them.
Classes at the Academy were to resume next week.
Rifol also asked if it would be better to bring Kiel's sister and the servants back to Academy City to live with us.
We were called for war, but we were still sophomores at the Academy.
The Academy needed 3 years to graduate so we still had one more year left.
"No, I'm sorry, Rifol. We're going to graduate from the Academy now."
(We don't have time to go to the Academy.)
"What? What do you mean?"
"It means I'm going to talk to the Principal and get him to let us graduate."
Rifol looked at my friends, wondering how I could do such a thing after only attending two years of a three-year Academy, but none of my friends seemed to have a problem with it.
Shortly after, our conversation was over.
Rifol had asked what the little animal eating the food on the table was when the conversation was over, but none of us answered.
Not long after that, the dinner with Rifol came to an end.
After leaving the restaurant and parting ways with Rifol, I spoke to Sophie.
"Have you talked with him?"
"There will be no problem, Master Allen."
"Let's go to the Academy then."
With that, my friends and I headed for the Academy during spring break.
We traveled on a Magic Train and entered the Academy in plain clothes.
(I feel like a graduate.)
Entering the Academy without a uniform made me feel like I had experienced something similar in my previous life.
We entered a building and knocked on the door of the Principal's office.
"It's Allen."
"Mm, come on in."
The voice of someone different from the Principal told me that I could enter the Principal's office.
When I entered the room, the Principal was not in the Principal's seat. He was sitting at a table next to it.
In addition to the Principal, there were two other elves there.
The Principal gulped and gave Sophie a surprised look.
Maybe he couldn't believe that we made it back safely.
"Lucidral, are we on the same page?"
"Of course. Lady Sophiarone."
As he said so, the Elven general, Lucidral, took his seat and bowed his head.
"So graduation is not a problem?"
I reminded her to make sure that we could graduate.
"Of course not, it does not violate any of our agreements with the Five Continents Alliance. There are several precedents. I'll have your degree prepared in no time."
So said a wizened old elf who picked up a document on the table.
This old elf was one of the elders in charge of Rosenheim's internal affairs.
I had two people come from Rosenheim. We went to check the situation with Rifol and thanked him for his help with Kiel's Family while they checked on with the Academy.
(I don't really need to graduate.)
I was not concerned about graduating from the Academy. Dogora and Kurena probably didn't as well.
In fact, Sophie and Formar, who had already graduated from Rosenheim's Academy, didn't need to graduate twice.
However, that was not the case with Cecile and Kiel.
Cecile needed to graduate from the Academy as a Noble of the Latash Kingdom.
Kiel, who was planning to return to the Nobility, wanted to graduate from the Academy if possible as well.
I had asked the Queen of Rosenheim, one of the leaders of the Five Continents Alliance to help Cecile and Kiel in some way, to graduate.
So she sent General Lucidral and one of the elders as help.
The Principal did not seem to object to our graduation.
Maybe he thought there was nothing we had to learn already.
Thanks to the cooperation of the Principal of the Academy, my friends and I graduated without any problems.
"I apologize for the inconvenience. By the way, how was your audience with the King?"
"You can play politics as well, Mister Allen. Of course, there is no reason for the Latash Kingdom to deny you an audience when we are here."
The elder smilingly answered my question.
Two of Rosenheim's heavyweights had entered the Latash Kingdom.
And the Princess with the right to the throne was present as well.
I wanted an audience with the Latash Kingdom's King.
"So we can have an audience without any problems?"
"Of course."
"Well, let's go then."
In this way, Allen and his friends successfully graduated from the Academy and went to an audience with the King of Latash Kingdom.
Translator's Thoughts
I really like how the story isn't just jumping from one fighting arc to another and especially the political aspect.
