Published: August 10, 2026
「Oh my！」
I had closed my eyes so I wouldn't get motion sickness from teleportation, but I was greeted instead by a shrill scream that made my ears ring.
The voice sounded familiar, and for some reason, it filled me with a strange sense of nostalgia. Probably because I had hardly been able to stay at the noble academy at all.
When I opened my eyes, I saw Fraurelm, and three other women were rushing toward us.
...It's a familiar face, but I'm not happy to see it at all.
"So after a magic circle suddenly appeared in the garden, what is the meaning of this, all of you!?"
"Fraurelm-sensei..."
"I am no longer your teacher, Lady Rosemine. ...Well, Fraurelm was dismissed from the noble academy for behavior unbecoming of a teacher."
Lady Hannelore quietly told me that.
Now that I thought about it, I vaguely remembered hearing that Fraurelm had been dismissed from the noble academy. If she had been sent back to her homeland, then it made perfect sense for her to be in Arensbach. I had also heard that she had some connection to Bindebald, but I never imagined I would run into her at a time like this.
"For someone from Ehrenfest to appear in a place like this is outrageous!"
"Yes, as older sister says, it is outrageous! This is exactly why Ehrenfest is the way it is!"
Fraurelm and the three women pointed at us and shouted, "Oh my! Oh my!" at us.
Given how similar their tone and body type were, maybe all of them here were Fraurelm's relatives.
With a slightly lonely-sounding voice, Hannelore said, "There are Dunkelfelger people here as well, but I wonder if they're not even in your field of vision?" and took out her stave, binding Fraurelm with a light band.
...Huh!?
Everything happened so naturally and smoothly that I had no idea what had just happened.
At the same time, the people in Hannelore's unit moved as well, and in an instant, the four people standing in front of us had been captured.
They weren't even wearing silver clothing, so maybe it was easy, but all I could do was stare dumbfounded.
Hannelore let out a soft sigh and looked not at Fraurelm and the others trapped by the light bands, but at the Arensbach knights.
"Arensbach's knights are slow to react. I suppose it may be difficult when the people involved are nobles of the same territory... but that won't be enough to protect Lady Rosemine."
With her soft, gentle tone and a smile, Hannelore said, "That won't do," and I thought to myself that she really was a woman of Dunkelfelger.
"Is everyone who would refuse to obey Lady Rosemine accounted for?"
As she said that, Hannelore shifted her gaze toward Bindebald's Summer Hall.
The Arensbach knights seemed to realize something and looked at Hannelore, then quickly summoned their Mounts and ran off.
...They're trained far too well, Lady Hannelore.
If this was the standard in Dunkelfelger, there was no way I could ever live there. It's cool and all, but I can't imagine being able to imitate it.
"Lady Rosemine, you say!? You should be dead, so why are you here!? How stubborn can you be!"
Fraurelm, rolled to the ground and bound by the light bands, glared up at me as she said that.
Hartmut stepped forward smoothly. His mouth was shaped into a smile, but his eyes were cold, and it was clear he wasn't smiling at all as he looked down at Fraurelm.
"Just Fraurelm, who was dismissed from the noble academy and is no longer a teacher. What do you mean, Lady Rosemine should be dead? So that sort of slip of the tongue was what got you dismissed, but it seems you still don't understand."
Being dismissed from the noble academy must have been a very deep stain on Fraurelm's pride.
Her face turned bright red with anger as she glared at Hartmut.
Hartmut gave a faint mocking smile.
"If it was the slow-acting poison that was smeared on the Sacred Scripture, it was discovered and neutralized before it could touch Lady Rosemine."
Fraurelm's eyes flew wide open in disbelief, and Hartmut's smile deepened.
"Only the person who plotted to poison Lady Rosemine would know that a slow-acting poison had been used. We'll have to investigate your involvement in detail."