If We Were to Dance
Every eye in the banquet hall was on us.
And what landed in the middle of it was a nuclear bomb named Lua.
The girl calling us "Mom" and "Dad" cleanly flattened the entire hall.
““......””
Stunned faces stared at the three of us.
That did not matter. The happy little family (not actually) simply kept walking.
“Ahem.”
By nature, if you were going to stir up trouble, you had to leave the watching audience completely dumbfounded.
I worked hard to hide the corners of my mouth as they curled upward.
As I was quietly enjoying myself, Javert added a word.
“Student Viktor.”
“Yes?”
“I do wonder if that was a little excessive.”
“Excessive? I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”
I had only handled things as ordered.
Javert herself had been the one to ask because she did not want marriage-related matters becoming a nuisance.
After a shocking performance like that, no one would bother her for the rest of this banquet.
‘Anyway, mission accomplished.’
Poke, poke.
That uniquely lifeless gaze stabbed into my cheek.
I gently held her hand, then answered calmly, as if asking what the problem was.
“Since the intended objective has been accomplished, isn’t that enough?”
“......That is true, but.”
Well, explanations could wait until later.
Amid the murmuring crowd, we took a place at one side of a table.
Just then, the headmaster belatedly stepped onto the platform and announced the start of the banquet.
<I am Headmaster Valter Droit.>
<First, I would like to express my gratitude to all our guests for attending today’s Grandia Banquet.>
Once the headmaster’s voice rang out, the guests’ gazes gathered on the platform.
Thanks to that, we got a brief reprieve from all those burdensome stares.
What followed was exactly what I had been told yesterday.
<There is one announcement to be made at this banquet.>
He would announce the resumption of the Purgatory raid and publicly reveal the results from the past three weeks.
Well, one way or another, the point was to solidify their position.
There had been a lot of minor incidents at the academy lately.
‘During the practical, and then during the last School Trip too...’
Grandia Academy.
The greatest educational institution on the continent, an academy where only the elite among elites gathered.
However, those recent incidents had created an atmosphere of doubt, so the academy’s pride must have been scratched.
Fortunately, there had been no casualties, so it had not escalated into a major controversy, but the string of incidents had made people question the name of [the best].
‘It’s only a tiny spark, but they won’t tolerate even that, huh.’
It was as if they were saying there could not be the smallest blemish on their [best].
Since the Purgatory raid had resumed at my request, they were making sure to show those results to the outside world.
Maybe this was a convenient bonus.
‘Their handling of work really is top class.’
It had been worth pulling the headmaster to my side.
While fulfilling my demands, he was also keeping a firm grip on the academy so it would not lose its center.
<At present, the raid has been completed up to the 79th floor.>
<In consideration of the raiding party’s condition, we plan to enter Purgatory Floor 80 after a one-week recovery period...>
And.
The scheduled date for the Purgatory Floor 80 raid was one week later.
‘Is that a message?’
It was a message from the headmaster to me.
Purgatory would be empty until then, so if I had separate business there, I should take note.
Moved by that small bit of consideration, I went over the plan laid out in my head one step at a time.
‘There are a lot of things to handle on Purgatory Floor 80 this time, after all.’
There was an item I absolutely had to obtain.
For the survival of Grandia Academy, and to stop Javert’s suicide.
‘Well... even after returning to the academy, I’m just as ridiculously busy.’
I muttered that small complaint to myself.
Meanwhile, the headmaster was finishing his speech.
<That concludes the news I wished to deliver.>
<I hope all our guests enjoy the rest of the banquet.>
Thankfully, the short and weighty announcement seemed to have ended successfully.
After the headmaster’s announcement, the standard banquet continued.
In other words, the socializing began.
“Mm.”
We stood at one side of the banquet hall.
A secluded spot that did not stand out much.
Of course, that did not mean we could avoid attention.
All sorts of people approached to greet Javert.
“Isn’t this Chief Investigator? It has been a long time.”
“I had something to discuss with you about Cultists anyway...”
“Hoho, Chief Investigator, you rarely show your face even at official events...”
Interest poured in regardless of age or gender.
Seeing this, I felt her status all over again.
She was only twenty-three years old.
Yet she was the Chief Investigator, and essentially the second-in-command of Grandia Academy.
On top of that, she was the headmaster’s adopted daughter, so it was impossible for her value not to be high.
‘That looks tiring.’
The woman answered in a businesslike manner.
At the same time, I could understand why so many marriage prospects wanted her.
‘She’s a classic career woman.’
Competent.
Her social standing was also very high.
On top of that, even her appearance was beautiful enough to be counted among the finest in the empire.
Since she was flawless and lacked nothing, of course she would be called the number one bride candidate anywhere she went.
‘Though she herself doesn’t seem interested at all...’
Putting marriage aside entirely, she seemed like a woman with no intention of mingling with other humans in the first place.
Javert was already stonewalling the seventh person.
Her voice was so cold that it left the other person embarrassed.
It was not boredom or irritation. It was a frightening degree of numbness.
“No, thank you.”
Javert gave a polite refusal.
At that blade-like atmosphere, I could only click my tongue inwardly.
‘So she actually was being pretty warm to the students in her own way. She’s genuinely merciless toward nobles she doesn’t know.’
Her expression did not crumple in the slightest.
Peeking over from beside her, I quietly added a few words.
“As expected, the Chief Investigator is very popular.”
“It is not something I have ever wished for.”
The woman’s answer seemed to treat all of it as sincerely meaningless.
A person like steel, exactly as the words implied.
I smiled briefly and turned my head.
I had spoken to her for no reason, but my own mouth was quite busy too.
“So this is the student who took the top seat among this year’s entrants.”
“I have heard many rumors about you. You are Chief Investigator Javert’s Direct Aide, yes?”
“Ahaha! Lately, everyone has been making a fuss about an unprecedented genius appearing!”
There were surprisingly many guests who showed interest in me too.
No, at this point, it was not even surprising.
‘It’d be stranger if I didn’t get attention.’
Less than half a year after entering as a member of Class E, I had risen to the position of top seat in the year.
I had defeated Rin Glacia, who was called the strongest of this generation, by an overwhelming margin.
During the midterm exam, I set a record with perfect scores on both the written and practical exams.
I became Chief Investigator Javert’s Direct Aide, and at this banquet, I had even attended as her partner.
‘......What a lunatic.’
From a third party’s perspective, they probably wondered what kind of bastard I was.
It was only natural for a rising star to receive hype.
Perhaps wanting to build ties with me, many people came and went, leaving greetings behind.
Among them were quite a few nobles and influential figures who wanted to recruit me after graduation.
“Are you the promising young man?”
The most shocking one, of course, was what the Head of the Imperial Knights said after personally approaching me.
“Was it the midterm? That flag-taking event, I mean. I was unable to watch it in person, but I did see the recorded footage of you fighting the Glacia child.”
“It is an honor that the Sword of the Empire took interest in such an inadequate contest.”
“You were rather impressive. Your judgment was quite sharp, and your martial prowess shows promise too.”
“By that, do you mean...?”
“I look forward to after your graduation.”
That was a roundabout way of saying it.
It meant that if I was interested in the Imperial Knights after graduation, I should come find him.
‘Good heavens.’
The knight commander coolly turned his back.
I could only go blank.
The other nobles watching us reacted the same way.
For a commoner to receive an invitation to join the Imperial Knights was an unprecedented event in every sense of the word.
-That just now... was an invitation to join, right? I heard that correctly, yes?
-They say that just joining means a noble title and tremendous wealth await...
-Don’t they pick fewer than thirty every year? For the knight commander to offer such a position so readily...
It was a moment when I felt my own value all over again.
It felt strange, and at the same time, I was proud that I had worked so hard all this time.
“Ahem.”
The air had been heated for a while.
That heat only settled once soft music began to flow.
A calm melody played, and the guests each stood on the central stage with their partners.
““......””
To me, it was a fascinating sight.
It had already been six months since my Possession, but I had not had many chances to encounter this kind of noble culture.
I watched the scene carefully, then threw a question to the woman standing stiffly beside me.
“Chief Investigator, will you not dance?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I feel no need. I have never danced at this kind of banquet either.”
“Hmm... even if you have never danced at a banquet, I assume you at least know how?”
“......Yes. My foster mother taught me.”
Foster mother.
The headmaster’s wife, and to Javert, someone no different from her birth mother.
At the same time, she was someone who remained as a heavy debt in one corner of Javert’s heart.
‘The death of her foster mother... That was what made Javert obsess over principles and rules.’
Javert’s eyes sank a little deeper.
That green seemed to wither slightly.
“......”
“Professor Javert.”
Breaking that silence, I slowly held out my hand to the woman.
My hand gently took Javert’s leather-gloved hand.
At the same time, I smiled with my eyes and gazed at her.
Javert looked up at me blankly, a question mark practically floating over her head.
“In that case, would you give me the first dance of your life today?”
“......Pardon?”
“Of course, refusal is refused.”
“Wait, Student Viktor. What is this all of a sudden...”
My hand softly led the woman.
In front of everyone, I led the red-haired woman to the central stage.
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