Kays Translations

Chapter 22- Shortly before July

As July approaches, the preliminary selections for each competition have been completed.

Students begin to get more fidgety than ever before for the upcoming Lion King Grand Festival.

Private conversations begin to become noticeable even in class, which is also the case in this prestigious school.

It is inevitable when boys and girls of age gather together, even if there are many aristocrats, and the teachers seem to have no choice but to overlook it to a certain extent.

(Sounds like fun!)

During the lunch break, Ren also walked along the corridor in this situation.

Everywhere he looked, he saw students talking about the Lion King Festival. Even the students who were not participating in the competition were making promises to visit the competitions and the stalls on the day of the festival.

Suddenly, ---- a scene came to mind.

The scene overlapped with the corridor of the academy that Ren saw now.

"Good luck with that. I lost.”

"...Let's spar together next time. Ren was able to make it to the end of the qualifying round this time, and I'm sure you'll make the team next time. 』

“Thanks. I'll do my best again for that.”

The same lunch break as now, Ren Ashton and Vane exchanged words as they walked along the corridor.

The two, who have deepened their friendship to the point of being best friends in the legend of the seven heroes, often exchange words, and one of the events that took place was such an exchange.

"Hey, Vane!”

“Hey, Kaito-senpai!”

“I've been looking for you. I thought we were going to eat together. Is that Ashton over there, the one you fought with in the preliminary rounds? 』

“Nice to meet you. My name is Ren Ashton.”

“Oh, yeah! Nice to meet you! 』

Kaito said boldly, and then he and Ren Ashton started walking shoulder to shoulder.

“You were so strong! I've been wanting to see you again! How's it going? We can eat together if you want! 』

“How about you, Ren?”

“I'd love to Leonard-sama, if you don't mind.”

“Hahahaha! Don’t be so formal! I'm just a senior! 』

"Well, then, I’ll call you Leonardo-senpai."

“You go ahead and do that! Then let's go, you two! 』

The scene I remember is not that of my own Ren Ashton, but Ren, back in his reality.

Now, Ren and Vane talk enough to be friends, but they are not as close as in the legend of the Seven Heroes. Ren did not participate in the selection process for the Grand Festival of the Lion King, and there were differences on many fronts.

I sincerely hope that these differences will not eventually lead to the mysterious future that I was initially trying to avoid.

With the future already in the process of changing, Ren could not help but hope so.

Someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder from behind.

“Ren."

The person who called out was Vane, who Ren had just been thinking about.

“Vane, what's wrong?”

“I just happened to see you, so I called out to you. I thought I'd join you if you hadn't already had lunch.”

The two began talking about the Lion King Grand Festival after they started walking. They enjoyed the bustle of the students around them and talked about the day's events.

Then,

“Hey!"

A voice reached them from where they were walking.

It was Kaito Leonardo, a second-year student.

“I've been looking for you. I thought I was going to eat with you two!”

“Me and Vane were just about to go to the cafeteria, so why don't the three of us go?”

"Oh, okay! Let's go then, you two!”

Sometimes the same view appears at different times.

Ren found it amusing and smiled secretly.

After arriving at the cafeteria, Kaito filled his stomach with more than enough food than both Ren and Vane. It was pleasant to watch him eat with gusto.

However, after eating, Kaito suddenly stopped moving as if he had a flashback.

In front of the two of us who wondered what was wrong, he sat down in his chair and looked up at the high ceiling.

In the space, which was too luxurious and spacious for a school cafeteria, he revealed his pathetic appearance.

“What's wrong?"

Vane asked,

“I forgot about my afternoon class and I also forgot to do my assignment.”

“Oh...... that must be hard.”

“I don't know anything about herbology.... what you need this much of and why you can't have less of it..... there are so many formulas that don't make sense that my mind just evaporates..." .

Next to Vane, who chuckles, Ren thinks back to his second-year herbology class.

The classes at this institute are certainly advanced, but in Kaito's case, he was probably not good at studying to begin with.

“Leonardo-senpai.”

“N-oh? What's the matter, Ashton, does seeing my pathetic appearance make you want to laugh?"

“No, I still have about thirty minutes left of my lunch break, so I thought why not take it as far as I can.”

“Ha ha!"

Then Kaito reopens.

“I’m not proud of it either, but are you making fun of my poor grades?”

“No, I’m quite aware of that, but it's okay."

“Oh? Let's put aside for the moment what I was about to say, what's okay?"

“I'll help you.”

".....Are you serious?"

Kaito quietly leaned forward on the table.

Bringing his face closer to Ren, his eyes were wide open and he repeatedly blinked,

“Are you serious?"

He said, opening his mouth.

Ren, who heard the voice nearby, told him calmly, "So let's hurry up," and got up from his seat.

I was going to return the dishes and other things,

“I'll meet you in front of the library! I'll clean up after you two!"

He gathers up the dishes for the three of them and rushes out without hearing a reply, though Kaito doesn't so much as make use of the muscles he is so proud of.

Ren and Vane shrugged as they watched.

“Sorry, I can't go, I have an appointment with Sarah. Or rather, even if I come with you guys, I don't know much about herbology either, so I can't help you."

Ren told Vane not to worry about it and headed for the library.

As soon as they started walking, Kaito ran like the wind next to Ren saying, "Let's go right away!" There was nothing I could do about the teacher scolding us halfway through saying, "Don't run in the hallway!"

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

Just before the end of lunch break, Kaito left the library after successfully completing his assignment.

Unlike running down the hallway, he thanked Ren in a small voice, saying, "Thanks," in a whisper appropriate for the occasion.

“Surprisingly, I managed."

Ren was surprised and pleased that he was able to complete his second-year herbology assignment with his knowledge.

He was scheduled to work as a committee member in the afternoon, but his body was stiff from the effects of sitting for even a few minutes, so he left the library and headed for the institute's gardens. He wanted to take a short walk.

When he went to the garden of the institute, he found Radius sitting on the terrace in one of the corners.

"Huh? Radius?”

“Hm?---- Oh, it's you Ren.”

Just before Ren called out to him, Radius appeared to be thinking about something.

"Thinking?"

“Ah. I'm a little concerned about something.”

Radius didn't seem to be willing to explain what was bothering him.

For a moment, he looked at Ren and was about to say something, "...... hmm," but then closed his mouth and said nothing further.

“I'm going to meet up with Mirei and then head over there. I'm sorry, but could you tell them to wait a little while?"

“Mmm, okay.”

“I'm sorry. I'll try to be as quick as I can.”

Ren leaves Radius and turns away to go to the committee members' room.

Radius was still there, thinking about something, but after a few tens of seconds he began to walk.

He was heading for a corner of the garden, surrounded by hedges, when he heard the sound of the wind,

“It's me, Nya.”

Radius said, "I've been waiting for you," and joined Mirei in response to a voice coming from the shadows of one of the hedges.

She handed him a piece of paper with the information she had researched.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

When Ren arrived at the executive committee members' room, the two ladies were already there.

“Ren, you studied with an unusual person.”

“We saw you when we were coming here. I was surprised to see you studying with one of the heroic faction.”

“Ah.... Leonardo-senpai seemed to be going through a lot of trouble.”

With Kaito out of the way, Ren tells the story of the other night.

He had already shared it with Lessard, but had yet to go into detail with Licia and Fiona.

"Remember when we were talking about how I might be invited by Ulysses during the Lion King Grand Festival?"

Ren continued when he saw that they nodded.

Of all the things we talked about on the top floor of Arnea the other day, especially the latter part.

“It seems that this is the situation---- and I'm going to meet with the merchants of the sky continent, probably with Lessard-sama."

Licia and Fiona, who were listening to the conversation, looked at each other.

The two of them giggled and laughed, thinking that it was very typical of Ren.

“You know, when you are talking to the client, you’ll talk about what you do at Clausel, right?"

“I guess so. They want to hear about our village and so on.”

“I wonder if you guys will talk about what happened to Viscount Givens.”

"Maybe..... it's a little embarrassing."

“Fufu… that’s good. It's a story about Ren's success.”

While they were talking, the door of the room opened and Radius and Mirei appeared.

Radius who said he’ll come a little later asked Mirei to put a thick stack of papers on the table where everyone was working.

“Hi Nya.”

“Um...Mirei-san? I'm pretty sure this is...."

“This is the work we were all supposed to finish today.....”

When Fiona followed Licia and expressed her doubts, Mirei glanced at Radius.

"As everyone is aware, this is work that was supposed to be done today."

This time Licia and Fiona both look at Ren and ask him to ask.

“From the looks of it, it looks like it's already done.”

“No wonder, since I finished it at the castle. In the meantime, I want you to pay attention to this side of the room.”

Radius goes to the blackboard in this room and writes the upcoming schedule on it. He apparently has it all memorized, as he does not have a notepad in his hand.

“The Lion King Festival will begin soon. As you can see, we, the executive committee members, have a lot of troublesome work to do until the day of the festival. I will submit a proposal for improvement of the work system on the faculty side to the institute, but that aside----"

The schedule is marked with a cross.

These are the days that Radius thinks will be absolutely busy. After today, it was clear that there would be no time to spare until the Lion King's Grand Festival.

However, today seems to be different, and a round mark was mysteriously added.

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