CH 133

“That’s right, Luca. I forgot to mention it yesterday, but please don’t mention what happened to Lorenzo-sama.”

Perhaps Sophie didn’t wish to be heard by the paladin behind her when she quietly told Luca that.

“Yes, certainly. —Um, by the way, the date of the appointment with my elder brother is near, but are you okay? If there’s something that needs to be prepared beforehand, I can prepare it in your stead.”

When asked, Sophie thought for a moment and then opened her mouth.

“Nothing in particular… Ah, that’s right. I wanted to bring some of ‘The King’s Sword’s’ students with me that day. May I ask if I can get permission for that?”

“Of course.”

When Luca answered so, Sophie seemed relieved and turned her focus toward the gold stars.

Looking at Sophie, who listened properly to the lively voices of the gold stars, Luca felt relieved.

That’s great. It seems I managed to divert the topic before she thought weirdly about it…

His elder brother mentioned how to respond to Sophie if she asked some questions and Luca used those words as necessary, but he was relieved to see that Sophie didn’t seem to be suspicious about it.

The act of deceiving Sophie felt heartbreaking for Luca, but this wasn’t something he could avoid.

Last night, Luca was summoned by Lorenzo for a situation report, and Luca briefly reported about Sophie’s actions during her visit to the copper star.

The content was about how Marcus, the director of the copper star, had a favorable attitude toward Sophie, unlike toward the black stars, and declared full cooperation.

Lorenzo, who heard the report, said in a very surprised voice,

“I didn’t think that the copper stars, who don’t usually have a good attitude toward aristocrats, would declare their full cooperation to Sophie-sama. Did you do something?”

“No, I didn’t do anything at all! Everything is the result of Sophie-sama’s ability.”

As Luca hurriedly denied it, Lorenzo asked with an unconvinced expression,

“What exactly did Sophie-sama do?”

There was no way Lorenzo would be convinced by such a simple explanation.

Even Luca knew that a mere report of “The copper stars were impressed by Sophie-sama’s wisdom” was something hard to convince Lorenzo with, but Luca had no other way to explain it.

Leaving aside other stars being filled with aristocrats, there were barely any people who would be impressed by the wisdom of those in the copper star, which mostly consisted of commoners. If anything, showing off things that commoners knew nothing about would only serve to provoke them.

Looking at Luca, who was hesitant with his words, Lorenzo furrowed his eyebrows.

“Were her actions something unbefitting of an aristocratic young lady like Sophie-sama?”

“…Yes.”

The moment Lorenzo changed the question, Luca responded with a small voice.

She spurred her horse into a gallop, possessed endurance that surprised even the copper stars, and by the end of it, even cooked a bird and a snake. Those were actions that were unbefitting of an aristocratic young lady no matter how Luca thought about it. Even Luca knew that much.

“This is troublesome… I only thought that as a simple consideration at first, but the scope of possible actions is too large. That would halve the meaning of you escorting her.”

“I-I’m terribly sorry.”

“Did she ask you to keep quiet about today?”

“No…”

Rather than not asking, it was more likely that she simply forgot to remind Luca. Sophie seemed to find today enjoyable and returned to her dorm in a good mood. But she would definitely remember about it tomorrow and ask him to keep quiet about it.

“In that case, you can just judge it as a normal course of action.”

“Eh…?”

Could those actions be considered normal at all?

It might be normal if it was a man with a copper star, but the other party was an aristocratic young lady. It was definitely not normal no matter how Luca thought about it.

But after thinking about it, there was no way Luca could go against his elder brother’s words, so he ended up telling Lorenzo things that happened that day in detail.

After telling everything, that Lorenzo, while still stiffened with an astonished expression,

“I see…”

muttered that in a quiet voice and went silent. After a long silence, he then muttered,

“She really was an unexpected person…”

Seeing how Sophie managed to actually make Lorenzo Forsell astonished, Luca was in awe for two different reasons.

As Luca recalled that, his stomach hurt.

The guilty feeling for deceiving Sophie was painful and the fact his elder brother remained silent after that was unbearable for Luca.

As Luca sighed quietly alone, the voice of the gold star students became stronger.

“I told you, this amount of money is to purchase a singular object, so it would be cheaper if we purchase it in bulk. A merchant would make the price cheaper for those who buy products in large quantities and give something extra as well. Just because this place is sponsored by the royal family, there is no way that won’t happen!”

“Eh? But wouldn’t that only make a slight difference in the total amount of money?”

“No, we can’t say that for sure, right? If it was purchased in large quantities, then even a slight difference in price would make a great difference in the total amount.”

“Yes, especially if we look at this over the course of a year, the total amount would likely become large.”

“Shouldn’t we not overlook even a single gururu and investigate things in detail?”

“But how do we make the slight difference in the amount of money just by the amount of harvest that month?”

“Since it is sponsored by the royal family, wouldn’t the amount in the contract for the product contain similar amounts of money in every transaction? Then it is easy to investigate as long as we contact the vendor.”

“No matter how I think about it, I doubt they would show such a thing to a student.”

The discussion about how much the annual purchases of gururu among gold stars was getting heated.

Gururu, something that was easily accessible even to commoners, was an ingredient often eaten in the dining hall. Since it was used often, it meant the amount purchased was also a lot.

Sophie kept watching the gold star students who argued about how the slightest difference in the individual price could spell a difference in the total amount.