Because of the soundproofing, Aristel couldn’t tell what was going on outside.
Alone in her dimly lit room, she sprawled herself across her king-sized canopy bed.
“Sigh… Why are Rizet and the others so forceful?”
Aristel believed Rizet was the latter type. Meaning, she probably intentionally left out information.
She could tell because she wasn’t incompetent enough to make the blunder the former type would.
Accidentally realizing that one of her closest servants did something that was essentially a betrayal caused her head to ache.
“…Well, it’s not like I’m a saint either.”
When she thought back to how she behaved in the past, she couldn’t help but make a sullen face and find her face grow hot.
In the past, she didn’t spare a second thought to show off her strength and make other people kneel.
Such behavior wasn’t just a matter-of-fact either, but something she was proud of; hence, she couldn’t even excuse her previous behavior by saying that she didn’t do it because she liked it.
“Fortunately, I changed before he came.
Still… Who would’ve thought he’d actually end up coming here…”
Naturally, the person she was referring to was none other than the person who changed her.
The nobleness and strength she saw that day, and that presence that could overwhelm others with words alone…
She wanted to meet him again, but now that she has, she wasn’t sure what to feel.
She was both happy and shocked.
His status was weak, he did everything on his own pace, and he was – for some reason – so ignorant.
It was enough to make her doubt if he was really the same person.
But even then…
Hey, who told you you could leave?
Aristel looked at the screen again, but she paused it there, then she watched the whole thing again.
She was sure of it. It’s him.
That may have been the weakest group from the special class, but that intimidating air… that overwhelming power…
That presence that could make her shiver despite the video having been taken from behind.
“If Rizet knew about this, I would probably never hear the end of it.”
After all, she was the biggest advocate for Garesto supremacy.
A defeat this big would ensure that Zaford and the others would purge them in the future.
When Aristel finally stopped watching, it was because she didn’t want to fan the hostility she had any further.
“Nothing just goes well, huh.
But even though you talk like that, your words can resound with the hearts of others and wake them up.”
She couldn’t even control a single servant, and it was one who has been serving her for so long.
Just what kind of trick did he use? She’d really like to learn it.
It was enough that she started to wonder if there was some sort of magic behind his words that forced others to obey.
Yes, even today, for example…
If this happens again, I can’t promise what’ll happen to you on your bed in the night.
“I-It was just my misunderstanding, though, right!?”
Yes, that was definitely what it was, she convinced herself, but the thought was enough to make her face go hot.
She knew after regaining her calm that it was just a translation error.
When she checked it herself, the literal translation was: ‘Not all nights have a moon.’
It was only a stereotypical threat, and knowing that allowed her to heave a breath of relief.
Unfortunately, she didn’t realize how odd it was for a person to feel relieved upon realizing they were being threatened.
“In the first place, what am I being so panicked about?
This is the highest floor of the female dorms, whose security is by no means lax. There’s no way a male student could find his way here.”
It was simply impossible.
But even as she thought that, his words resounded in her mind.
Should I creep into your bed for real tonight?
For a moment, she imagined what could be, and her face went beet red as she ended up running away.
She’d accidentally said those embarrassing words and fumbled through them.
“I-In any case, I’ll apologize to him in the morning, and then… Huh?”
As she blew away those words popping out in her mind and resolved herself what to do tomorrow, when she grasped her hands tightly before her chest, a small letter fell to her knees.
It was dark and the bed was soft, so she hadn’t noticed, but apparently, this letter was there before she lied down.
“Is this… paper!?
The so-called memo paper that Earth has so much of!?”
Curled Ringlets took that letter into her hands and looked at it curiously.
Garesto, being starved for resources as it was, no longer made paper, and with fosters having gone into circulation and replaced it, Aristel did not even know of paper until she came to Earth.
Despite that, though, she has yet to even touch one, causing her to become particularly excited.
“Wow, I’ve always wanted to touch one once.
It’s not like the cloth used in clothes or the leaf of plants. So this is paper!”
Just poking at it with her finger or holding it or waving it around was enough to amuse her.
But as she fiddled with it, she noted that something was written on it.
“These characters… I believe they should be Japanese.
If it were in English I might have been able to manage, but I can’t read Japanese at all.”
Earth languages were just too varied. Garesto had different dialects too, but languages with a completely different writing system and grammar were unheard of.
Plans for interacting with otherworlds started 45 years ago, but it wasn’t until 7 years later that it really started, so the actual time spent on improving translator technology was 38 years. The amount of time and effort Garesto had poured into translator tech was indeed frightening, and the fruit of all that was now inside the fosters.
“Text translation mode on. Target language: Japanese.”
Aristel turned on the camera of her foster and aimed her foster at the contents of the letter to translate it.
I won’t be creeping into your bed, so have a good night’s sleep, Curled Ringlets.
“Eh?”
For a moment, she had no idea what the translation meant.
No, her brain unconsciously told her it would be better if she didn’t understand.
But that was meaningless resistance on her part. She wasn’t the top of this school for show.
As smart as she was, she immediately understood what the letter was saying. She couldn’t help but understand.
“EHHHHHHHHHhhhh!?!?!?”
But if so, then who would scold her for screaming so loudly?
The masked figure in black clothing was truly at fault for wasting his teleport magic on something like this.
He had long left the premises of the female dorm, but unfortunately, Aristel did not know that.
Because of that she was greatly panicked.
—He actually found his way here?
“Ueh!? W-Wait a second!?
I’m sure I cleaned my body properly, right– Not!
Where are you!? You’re here, right!? Show yourself!!”
Aristel searched around her room in a panic.
Fortunately or unfortunately, her room was completely soundproofed, so none of the servants could hear all the fuss she was making, but there also wasn’t a single response from him.
There was no telling if someone had entered her room with how dimly lit it was.
She thought of making the room brighter, but doing so would surely cause others to notice.
That would cause a big mess if he had really sneaked his way here.
Which is why…
“Are you here!? Here!? Here!?
Here… no way, right…”
Aristel looked under the bed, turned over the sheets, opened the closet, turned over the garbage bin, but in the end, there wasn’t a trace of the man in the room, and she had no choice but to hug her pillow atop the bed, unable to sleep.
Or at least, until she found the second note, anyway.
Aww, were you expecting?
Too bad, sleep well.
“…He was teasing me again!?”
Actually, it would be more apt to say that he was toying with her.
As she understood what had happened, Aristel tore apart the letter while screaming from the top of her lungs.
Fortunately or unfortunately, because her room was fully soundproofed, no one heard even an eek from her.
As a result of this, she changed her plans to apologize tomorrow. And when she approached the young man, she instead asked, ‘What were you thinking?’ But because she couldn’t say the details out in public, she just ended up being teased again.
Tl Note: Wasn’t sure if it would make it, but here’s another chapter.