Chapter 142 - Drenched Celebration

TL:SummerPeanut

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A certain day in November 2030.

Why am I called to the royal court...? Lately I have accomplished no credit. And why are these two even...is there some kind of scheme going on...?

I was given a royal decree to grace the king's presence. It was a very unexpected edict, but one that I could not accept. No matter how much I asked for it to be rescinded, the reply was the same. The alternative was 100 white gold coins.

If asked why this had happened, it had to be said that it’s because that the third prince, Doaho, had, of all things, injured Clarice at the Lister Imperial School.

Clarice's parents Grey and Erna, who were with her right now, were very upset. I shouldn’t have asked them at this point of time...

Still, I didn't expect Syrians to follow up with Regan. ...as expected, it might be because Ellie was involved? The threats from alliance of Regan, Syrians, and Fresvald are not something that our country can resolve alone. I must at least take our country's top adventurers and knights to Rimurgarde...

I… No, for the sake of our future children, I must make sure that only my plan succeed...

☆☆☆

10 November 2030, 15:00.

Finally, the Lister Festival is over. A lot has happened since the Doaho incident. There were two memorable events.

The first was Alice's great luck.

Every day she won the lottery for the maid café. Sofia and Alice must be the only ones who won the maid cafe lottery more than once.

And secondly, there was someone who were passed the fighting tournament against 5 people.

The fifth person to enter the competition was Garl, and Garl completely lost his confidence. Ike has been helping out at the maid cafe for a long time so he doesn't know how good his opponent really is.

Duval was also absent at the time, apparently. What we do know is that the one who beat the five people was ten years old and was the second prince of the Kingdom of Balkus. Unlike the prince of the Zarkham Kingdom, this one seemed to be skilled which is something fortunate.

“Good job everyone. I think we did well for the first time. Next year, I hope we can prepare earlier and do it with other classes and grades. Thank you too to my brother and sister-in-law for their help. You were very helpful."

When I thanked everyone for their hard work, Ike said.

“Good work. Apparently we've got some breaking news. This year's Miss Lister is Clarice. Edean also did well, coming in second, but I guess that's to be expected."

Huh? I thought they were supposed to decide the winner of this kind of thing? Then Clarice seemed to have the same question.

“But I shouldn’t have entered the Miss Contest...? Isn't there some kind of mistake?"

Clarice asked, puzzled.

“The Lister Festival's Miss Contest is voted for by individual. And they're voting for the men, too. By the way, the winner of the Miss Contest will have a lot of things imposed on them by the school so you should be prepared for that."

Wow, men are voted for too... But still, Clarice is in a tough spot. Maybe it's not so good to be a beautiful woman... Then Clarice said.

“Am I able to decline this? I'm not good at public appearances like this."

She's got a cute troubled face, too. When I'm grinning…

“Why are you acting like it’s none of your business? Mars, you are this year's Mr Lister Imperial School."

“What? Isn't that supposed to be brother Ike?”

I was surprised by the words of the senior glasses. No matter how you look at it, Ike is the face of Lister Imperial School.

“I heard that this year it was already almost decided in the second day. They said most of the girls who got in line to shake hands fell for Mars. For the girls, I heard the votes were a bit split but still over half of them went for Clarice."

I haven't seen any voting booths or ballot boxes or anything like that for the past week though...

“So good luck to Mars and Clarice. Mars has stopped me winning four times in a row, and Clarice has also stopped Ede winning her fourth times so make sure you do well."

Ike told me without any hint of regret. I'm sure he's happy inside that he no longer has to deal with the hassle. When I'm holding my head in my hands, Clarice whispered in my ear.

“Let's work hard together.”

She whispered to me cutely. I'm not good at this kind of thing, but if I'm with Clarice, I might be able to do my best... Clarice seems a little relieved to hear that she's with me.

“Speaking of which, how is senior Garl doing? I heard he's quite depressed...?"

Baron asked Ike, and Ike looked at him with a sullen expression.

“Oh...he’s not so good right now... Originally Garl came here undefeated among the same generation dwarves, apparently. He was very disappointed when he lost to me and it took him a while to recover. If he doesn't get over this on his own, there will probably be many more times like it in the future."

“Do you know what kind of fighting style the other second prince has?”

Karen asked Ike in a respectful tone.

“I heard he's a magic swordsman type like Mars and Baron…but then there's many different types of magic swordsman. The other 4 before Garl were defeated easily so there’s not much information to be gained.

The only one who knows is Garl but he's so depressed that he can't even talk. Also, it seems that the prince's purpose was to meet Mars.

It seems that the Balkus Kingdom got wind of his victory over Brad at the Freshman Combat Tournament, and the second prince, who was called a prodigy, said he wanted to fight Mars and came all the way here in spite of the little time he had.

Unlike some third prince who has a lot of free time on his hands, I heard he has a pretty good reputation. I heard that wherever the king goes, the second prince is taken around with him."

So he came to meet me... It's a good thing we didn't meet. I'm sure there will be some trouble if I meet him. I've had enough of royalty.

We went to town to celebrate the wrapping of the Lister Festival. The members were members of the 1st year S class and Red Lotus. Naturally, we forcibly invited Garl too. It was also a consolation or rather a pep party.

Until a little while ago, I had been partying so much that I thought I'd had enough of parties, but after all, it's really fun to have a party for the first time in a while.

Garl has been drinking a lot, but he's not quite his usual jovial self. That doesn't mean he doesn't get involved… It's kind of lonely...

In contrast, the girls were drinking a lot and letting off stress. After all, they all seemed to be quite stressed out about the Doaho incident.

Karen, who normally doesn't get drunk much, seemed to be very drunk and was breathing hard, saying she would turn them to dust the next time she saw them. At this point, I didn't expect to only see her again in a few months' time.

Clarice and Ellie were also drinking next to each other, snacking on Doaho stories. Misha is already donating to the toilet after drinking too vigorously. She was firmly fulfilling her two names as a runaway elf. Admirable behavior I guess...?

Baron and Minerva were having a nice talk together. I quietly eavesdropped on them....

“I learned how to tie you up in a way that suits Baron so let's stay together this coming holiday.”

“Oh. I'm looking forward to it.”

Baron seems to have been tamed? Apparently, Ike also heard this conversation and was surprised. Ike was also drinking next to senior glasses. I approached them and asked.

“What are you planning for this holiday, brother Ike?”

I asked, and Ike said.

“I think I'm going home this year. It's been a while since I've been back and I'm a bit nervous. ...I'm going to talk to him about Ede and get his approval. Things have been a bit awkward with father but..."

Come to think of it, Zeke didn't seem to trust Ike very much. And Ike had also changed the way he referred to Zeke from esteemed father to father*1. Well, he's almost an adult now so that's normal I guess...

“Did something happen with father...? Please tell me if you don't mind."

Hearing that, Ike hesitated a bit but gave in.

“Actually... I turned down the marriage proposal father brought to me... What I wanted to do, which was to become a A-rank adventurer, and I was already thinking of marrying Ede.

Then father got very angry... I wanted to have a good discussion but I didn't have much time on my side... and I'm sure you will understand when you officially become the Mr Lister Imperial School.

Every December we have to entertain the parents of the children of the nobility who come to take the exams, and in January we have to entertain the nobility who attend the entrance ceremony of their children, and it's a lot of work, you know? Well, I said all that, but I was with Ede and so it was fun..."

He ended his explanation with a solid PDA. Nevertheless, I was surprised about the marriage proposal for Ike. I think Zeke's style was basically to tell me to get married or whatever...even though he didn't talk about it at all when I was in Almeria...

Ike didn't come back to Almeria so I guess Zeke came over here. The senior glasses next to him looks like she's about to cry.

That's what happens when the parents of the person you love are against your marriage. ...I don't want to see this kind of face from my senior either.

“Brother Ike! I'm going home with you! Let's convince Dad!"

Ike looked happy for a moment when I said that.

“Mars, I'm very happy with your feelings. I'd appreciate it if you did. But as I said before, Mars and Clarice probably won't be able to go home. There's an event at the Lister Imperial School...”

Oh, I forgot what was just said.

“Nah, I'll make it happen somehow. Clarice... can we go back to the Zarkham Kingdom after this is all sorted out?"

I asked Clarice.

“Of course. I don’t have the rights to say anything but I'll always treat Senior Ede as my sister-in-law in front of Zeke. Ellie, too, please.”

Ellie tapped her chest when the conversation went her way.

“...sister-in-law...”

The senior glasses was full of tears unknown whether it was because she’s happy with our words or because she’s happy that Ellie had called her sister-in-law.

“If I marry Ike, I'll have two sisters-in-law instantly...”

Then Karen.

“No, you’ll have four. I hope you haven't forgotten about me and Misha. Sister-in-law."

Karen, who usually calls her Ede, is now calling her sister-in-law. ...and aren't you all forgetting about Leena? I didn't dare to say anything as it would have ruined the good mood.

And so our eventful Lister Festival was over.

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Author’s note:

Baron has finally...

The next one is the end of the Lister Festival arc.

It's not from Mars's point of view, but please read it if you don’t mind.

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TL’s note:

1. I usually don’t differentiate the very respectful honorific for father unless it’s like king and prince. Ike used to use -sama honorific toward Zeke but not now. Btw, Mars still use the very respectful honorific when conversing. But usually just call Zeke’s name directly in monologue. Clarice calls Zeke with a -san honorific which is to show respect but not as extreme as -sama.