CH 47

After that, I took Anna on high-speed laps of the Great Dungeon of Orcs. By the end, she was able to defeat the Orc King on the 100th level by herself without my help, so she must have reached at least level 20.

Then, when Anna’s level stopped rising, we quit traversing the Great Dungeon of Orcs at high speed and returned to the capital. After that, the days were rather peaceful, I spent a fulfilling winter vacation, occasionally went to the elf village to get honey from them, and to the Wind Mountain Dungeon alone and played with Blizzard Phoenix while doing high-speed laps, also researched to improve the Buitor and the firearms.

By the way, in the elf village, that pervert was still there and doing whatever he wanted, but since he wasn’t harming anyone and the elves seemed to be satisfied, so I decided to leave him alone.

And that pervert, no matter how perverted he seems, is the spirit of light. As long as that pervert is lending his power, there won’t be a problem with the monsters settling in the forest unless there is something wrong with them, you know?

Now, since we were able to stop Anna’s condemnation and banishment as I had originally intended, I was able to stop the initial trigger that led to the destruction of the royal capital. However, the reality is not so sweet where everything would be solved with this only.

First of all, from what the Duke said at that time, it seems that both the Crown Prince and Amy ended up with a lenient punishment of no blame as long as they apologized. So, we have to be careful because I don’t know what Amy will do to get rid of Anna in the future.

On the other hand, the story that the Crown Prince and his entourage were defeated by me in a 5 vs 1 duel has become quite popular among the nobles, and they say that neither the Crown Prince nor his entourage is worthy of being the heir of their family.

In particular, the Crown Prince lost the support of the southern aristocrats, who united around the Duke of Ramslett, when he cut his ties with his political marriage partner Anna.

Due to these influences, there has been a change in the royal palace factions, where the crown prince originally overwhelmingly dominated it and is now divided between the crown prince’s faction, the second prince’s faction, and the moderate faction, which believes that we should watch and choose the better option.

On the other hand, the Duke seems to have decided to wait before making any decisions. It seems that the Duke and the Southern aristocrats are treated as the Ramslett faction because they have not acted together with the moderates.

I don’t know what their intentions are, but since they’ve also hushed up the nobles of their faction, I think they’re looking for the right moment to maximize the favour they can sell to either side.

By the way, all of this information was given to me by Sebastian-san, and the situation is similar to the scene after Anna was banished in the game.

I can’t help but think that it would have been better if I had just disposed of the crown prince without giving him a sermon at that time, but then no matter what I do, I would be executed for doing so. The world is not that simple.

＊＊＊＊

And then the first day of school in second grade came, and I could feel the eyes on me. As expected, ‘The commoner who had a duel with His Highness is good’ kind of rumours are floating around.

I didn’t care and head to the auditorium to check my class placement, but there was something unexpected.

Please take a look at this first.

────

1 Anastasia Clynel von Ramslett

2 Allen

3 Margaret von Altmunt

4 Amy von Brayes

5 Markus von Beinz

・

・

・

10 Oscar von Wimlet

・

・

・

18 Karlheinz Bartille von Centraren

19 Isabella von Luinberg

──── Below, B class ────

20 Leonardo von Jukes

・

・

・

38 Glen Weitberg

────

The first good thing is that Anna’s entourage and friend, Isabella, has been promoted to class A. On the other hand, the crown prince is still in class A even though he dropped many grades. Well, I guess they can’t just suddenly drop the crown prince to B class after awarding him as the best student.

And Leonardo, who came last in the final exam for the second time in a row, finally dropped to B class.

Serves you right!

And one more thing, did you notice the biggest change?

Yes, the name of Prince Claude, who had come from a neighbouring country to study abroad, was missing. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I guess it means that Prince Claude has dropped out of school.

Not only me, but the other students looking at the notice board seemed surprised to see Prince Claude’s name missing.

“Allen!”

Anna, who found me, spoke in a lively voice.

“Good morning, Anastasia-sama”

“Oh! Oh, Ahh. Good morning.”

Anna twitched for a moment, then looked around before returning my greeting.

“More importantly, have you heard anything about Prince Claude?”

“No. I was surprised that his name wasn’t on the notice board for the classification.”

“I see. I don’t know why, but apparently, the Kingdom of Westerdale has asked him to drop out.”

“Is that so, he’s been through a lot.”

“That’s right … more than that, let’s go.”

“Yes”

Then, prompted by Anna, I enter the auditorium and took a seat in the front. Now that I think about it, a year ago I was sitting in the back corner, so things have changed.

And after the teachers had finished their long speech, Anna, the Crown Prince and Amy were called to the stage.

“Allen, you come too”

“Is that ok?”

“Oh. You acted as my agent. You have the right to see it through behind me.”

“Got it”

When I was told that, I followed Anna, and then Markus, Oscar, and Leonardo, who saw us, followed Amy.

“Now, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, so will you accept the outcome of the duel?”

When Anna declared so, Amy and the crown princes face contorted in frustration, and then they looked down.

Then, with a small shake of her head, she bowed and apologized to Ana.

“We retract and apologize for our words against the Dukes of Ramslett. We apologize.”

“I am sorry.”

Neither of them seemed very sincere at all, but I guess the fact that they apologized in front of the public like this was important.

“All right. I accept your apology. From now on, I hope you won’t easily belittle my Dukedom of Ramslett.”

When Anna accepts their apology. The Crown Prince, Amy, and Leonardo stared at us blatantly, then hurried back to their seats.

Markus and Oscar, on the other hand, hurried back, looking embarrassed.

“Seriously, I don’t know what they apologized for.”

“I don’t mind. And one more thing, this is for you from me. I hope you’ll accept it because it’s also a declaration to the rest of the students. How about it?”

“Yes, of course”

“Really”

Anna said so and took a breath, then declared loudly.

“Allen! As my representative, you have defended the honour of my Dukedom of Ramslett well! The Duke of Ramslett has decided to take Allen and his family under our protection in recognition of his achievements and to reward him for his loyalty!”

Then Ana took a handkerchief out of her pocket and offered it to me.

“This is the family crest of my dukedom, embroidered by me. Will you accept it?”

“Thank you.”

I don’t know much about etiquette, but I knelt and reverently accepted the gift. Then one or two people clapped for me. Margaret and Isabella.

And as if invited by the two, everyone clapped.

＊＊＊＊

After that, the opening ceremony ended without a hitch, and the series of disturbances stemming from the event that had been going on since last year to condemn the villainess came to an end.

“By the way, Anna-sama. I’m not familiar with this kind of common sense, but why did you make such a declaration there? The king has already approved it, right?”

“Hmm? Ah. That was just a check on the other students. Allen here already belongs to the Dukedom of Ramslett, so don’t mess with him. It’s a threat that if they mess with you, they will become an enemy of the Duke of Ramslett.”

Anna said this while blushing a little. Thus began the second year of school life, where the villainess was not expelled, which was impossible in the game.