Keithwood is Exposed to Waves of Attack
The Sunkland prince, Sion Sol Sunkland, had a great young man named Keithwood as his servant. As a swordsman, he could stand up to Sion, who was a genius. As a gentleman, his good manners and reserved smile made many young women secretly like him.
He was quick on his feet and in his mind, and he was a great balance for Sion, whose desire to do the right thing sometimes made him act in a dangerous way. With calmness, smarts, and a reliable sword, he’d kept his master safe through good times and bad. Even when things were bad, he usually faced problems with a calm smile.
In fact, it has never failed. That is, until he came to Saint-Noel.
How come these problems keep happening one after the other?
As he looked at the princess in front of him, he felt like his head was going to spin. The disaster smiled and said with a lot of excitement, “I’m thinking about making sandwiches like we did that other time. Could I ask you again for help?”
“I—But… Huh?” he stuttered, too upset to say anything clear. He only knew that trouble was cooking and that he was in the pot with it.
For some background, this conversation happened a few days after the mushroom hunting trip was set in stone. Keithwood went to the student council office because Mia asked him to. When he got there, he was told right away that Mia was making sandwiches and wanted him to help.
At first, he thought he had misunderstood. Then he wished he had made a mistake.
“M- I’m sorry, but I’m not sure I understand,” he said as he stared at her with a blank face.
She didn’t understand.
“Well, we’re going mushroom hunting soon, right? So I thought it would be fun to make sandwiches for lunch. I wanted you to come make them with us.”
Keithwood used his fingers to stop his head from hurting. Something wasn’t right about what was going on. It had to happen. But about half of his senses had been shocked away, leaving him to struggle through a fog of confusion with the few that were still there.
“I’m so sorry, but could you explain this idea to me in more detail? I can’t figure out which part is wrong.”
“How rude! There is nothing wrong with it. We decided to go mushroom hunting a few days ago, right?”
“Yes, which makes me very sad.”
He wished they hadn’t, but he couldn’t change what had happened. It was time for the mushroom trip.
“I’d rather have enough time to wander and just enjoy the forest, so I think we should go in the morning and come back in the afternoon. So, we won’t have to be in a hurry.”
“That actually sounds like a good idea.”
Using Rafina’s map, they carefully drew out a good plan for how to get there. It would be a slow enough pace that even Mia and Chloe, who aren’t very athletic, could enjoy themselves.
“We’ll spend most of the day in the forest. From this map, it looks like there’s a nice picnic spot in the middle of the forest. I think this is a good place to eat lunch.”
She showed where to go on the map.
“What is this place? The purpose of the trip is for everyone to learn more about each other. So, having lunch in a forest clearing seems like a good way to meet new people.”
It was a smart idea. There wasn’t anything wrong with it. He gave a nod of approval.
“So I decided to make sandwiches and bring them with me.”
Keithwood yelled “Bingo!” as he felt a sense of victory overtake his usual politeness.
“That’s it! That’s where it was!”
“Huh? Where’s what?”
“What’s wrong! I found it at last. I get why you want to bring sandwiches, though. But, you see, the question is: why do you have to make them yourself?”
“Well, I’m not the one making them. Anne and Chloe are going to help. I’ll also have Tiona and Liora help.”
Mia Rangers, get together! All of the actors who played the Floundering Five in the first season came back for the second. They weren’t exactly bad at what they did, but they weren’t as good as the sum of their parts either.
His headache got worse when he thought about the time he led the strange group of young women.
“Last time was our first try, and we all did such a great job,” Mia said, acting like she didn’t know how hard Keithwood had to work to connect the first and second sentences.
“We’ll do even better now that we have more experience. We could just ask the kitchen cooks to do it, but I bet they’ll taste better if we do it ourselves.”
Keithwood just about stopped himself from making a cutting remark. It was almost too much to handle how sure she looked without knowing anything.
“It gets even better, because guess what? This time, Miss Rafina will be with us!” she said with all the pomp of a divine decree.
He wheezed in amazement.
Well, Mia thought it was amazement, at least.
In reality, it was more of a “fight or flight” reaction to the sudden change from the Floundering Five to the Stress-Inducing Six.
“Lady…Rafina?” He stuttered as he tried to figure out what this new addition meant.
“Yes. I asked her to come along, and she said she would. I’m so glad that we’ll have someone so trustworthy with us.”
… Is that really the case? The Holy Lady of Belluga is wise, that much is clear. She looks pretty coordinated from what she does on the dance floor. I guess it’s not too far-fetched to think that she cooks sometimes.
He couldn’t say that it wasn’t possible. Still, that’s like throwing a dart at a beach and hoping it lands on a certain grain of sand.
I can’t believe something like that will happen.
The logical part of him was angry at the idea. It was a bet that was way too risky.
“Th-That’s…surely a good sign. But let’s not forget that these days, everyone is busy. Maybe it would be best to talk to the kitchen and, like, let the cooks do their job. I’m also pretty busy, so I might not be able to supervise…,” he said, assuming that her plan would fall apart without him.
He thought way too highly of himself. Or maybe she didn’t realise how foolish she was.
“Oh, that makes me sad. Well, don’t worry about it if you’re too busy. This time, we girls will handle it on our own.”
“…Never mind. I’ll show up. Don’t try anything without me there to watch.”
He quickly changed his mind. Mia being left alone to make food without being watched was too much to handle, let alone her being with five other girls who didn’t know what they were doing.
Suns that burn… I was worried that Sion would die because of some poisonous mushrooms.He might not even make it that far, it seems.
Keithwood was about to give up when he heard a new voice that gave him hope.
“Don’t worry, Keithwood. I’m here to help because I heard the story.”
Someone showed up at the door.
