The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 138: Please Save Me, Sis (3)

Chapter 138: Please Save Me, Sis (3)

The night was deep and dark.

Reluctantly, I brought Rosemary to the dorms. The Duke’s daughter was looking rather poor in just her one outfit.

Relative to her status, of course, because the dress she was wearing underneath was a high-quality item woven from fine silk. It was only that it wasn’t fitting for early autumn.

“You’re back? What were you up to all this....”

Of course, Lotte was also at the dorm I was staying in. She was welcoming me back when she suddenly froze like a Buddha statue.

“Oh...? What brings you here at this time, Lady Blanton?”

“I apologize for intruding all of a sudden. There’s been a situation so I was wondering if I could stay the night.”

Rosemary curtsied slightly with a calm face like nothing had happened.

Because of her past, Blueberry despised humans, especially Imperial citizens.

Yet Rosemary bowed her head without a single hint of dislike towards Lotte. The stance of a  true pro, if you will.

“May I come in?”

“Huh? Yes.... please.”

The most uptodate nove𝙡s are published on frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓.

Rather, it was Lotte who couldn’t keep it together at the lady’s sudden intrusion. She nodded, not having much of a choice.

Everyone knew how awkward it was to have someone suddenly show up and ask to stay the night. I was getting ready to ask Lotte for her understanding, having pondered what to tell her on the way here.

Still, I had to save Vermel somehow. That was all I had in my mind. The longer I could occupy Rosemary, the more room he had to breathe.

Now, to find the timing to tell her....

“I apologize once again for coming here without invitation.”

“No, not at all! But did you let the Duke know?”

“Yes, I informed Father already that I would be staying out tonight.”

Was this how nobles conversed? Just looking at the face value, they were only one or two years apart but the mutual use of respectful speech was young and refreshing.

... Although Blueberry was old enough to use informal speech towards Lotte, actually.

“Uh.... we only have two beds, come to think of it. You can have my bed.”

“It’s fine, I can sleep with just a fur mat on the floor.”

“No, how can we do something so disrespectful?”

“It’s alright, I’m used to sleeping on the ground.”

“I’m sorry...?”

Lotte blinked, quirking her head. I interrupted Rosemary before things started taking a strange turn.

“She can sleep with me. The bed isn’t that narrow so it should work somehow.”

Lotte didn’t know that Rosemary was a Beast.

On the other hand, Rosemary was in a position where she could kill Lotte anytime she wanted.

Of course, she probably won’t touch Lotte for my sake. But gestures weren’t the form of acting suddenly. Who knew when and in what way she’d say something strange, like how she’d randomly brought up her past just now.

It was safer to stick this hazardous substance next to me as we slept, since explosives should be handled by an expert.

After taking turns washing up in the bathroom, we lay down in bed. It was Rosemary on the inside, me on the outside.

It was quite the strategic placement. This way, she shouldn’t be able to move from here.

“Ugh.... it’s tight as expected.”

“Then should I just go down?”

“You can’t, the heavens would be furious!”

“It’s fine, I’m used to it.”

“Ah.”

I liked sleeping on the floor. No, it would be more accurate to say that I was used to it.

It had been like that on Earth, too. Until I entered a high school with dorms, I would sleep on the floor. And that continued after I graduated university. Ah, thinking about those days... didn’t make me nostalgic, fuck.

“Why would sleep on the floor? Just stay like this.”

Rosemary closed her eyes. She was quite the looker when she stayed still. You wouldn’t think that someone with this appearance was a Beast.

I was only able to be comfortable around her because I had this body, whereas Vermel would’ve been on the verge of dying. Was it the Goddess’ way of being considerate since I didn’t have an information cheat? She did a pretty good job of adjusting the difficulty level.

“Augh.”

My head felt like it was going to shatter from teaching Lotte for eleven hours straight today. When I turned my head, she was at the desk with the light stand on, writing something.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m reviewing what I learned from you today.”

“That’s diligent of you. You can ask tomorrow if you don’t know.”

“I have to go over it before bed so it’ll transfer to long-term memory.”

The more I saw Lotte, the more fascinating she was. Didn’t everyone just drink and fool around when they entered first year of university?

Even I had slacked off a little during my fresh, newbie days.... but she seemed like she’d still be studying thaumaturgy even if the country got destroyed. This was also evidence that Lotte was that desperate for a world without Beasts.

Lotte wrote away, unmoving. For over an hour at that. You might say what the big deal was with concentrating for an hour, but it was a big deal. She had spent over ten hours listening to lectures today. Without taking a single break, even.

Even a Golden-Eyed like me was falling asleep because I was drained. But Lotte was up like that late into the night.

Then at last, Lotte put down her pen with a yawn. Rosemary was sleeping soundly against the wall. After making sure that Blueberry was asleep, I spoke to Lotte before closing my eyes.

“... Did you finish?”

“No, I’ll do the rest tomorrow.... No, it’s today. I’ll do it at the club today.”

“Yeah, you must be tired. Go lie down.”

Lotte slid in between the beds like a figure skater. When I saw that she was under the covers, I inwardly sighed in relief.

I made it through somehow. It was fortunate that Rosemary didn’t do anything too weird.

Goodnight, then! I shouted to myself, turning my head the other way.

“.......”

“.......”

Brilliant gold eyes were boring holes into me.

“... The club?”

...... Forget what I said.

**There was a study saying that people who lived on battlefields had a higher chance of developing insomnia than those who didn’t.

Source? I was an ordinary person so I didn’t need the source to know something like this.

Anyway, I was up the whole night for that reason, since I didn’t know when or how Rosemary would wake up.

I started to understand her position now that I was doing this; surveillance or stalking wasn’t for everyone.

And Vermel was being so evasive, slipping around like he’d slathered himself with sesame oil which had to be driving her crazy. Yeah, espionage wasn’t so easy, was it.

“Sis, are you ready?”

“Not yet.”

Rosemary barged into the bathroom as I was brushing my teeth. I had been half-dazed because of zoning out, so I jumped a bit at the enemy bursting through the door.

“What?”

“That human told me to brush my teeth.”

There was an extra, brand new toothbrush that had been saved for emergencies in Rosemary’s right hand. Seeing the copious amount of mint-flavored toothpaste squeezed onto it, it must’ve been Lotte’s doing.

“Then get in here.”

“Damn it....”

The bathroom was just under 6.6 m2, the perfect space to be hated by a claustrophobic.

“You slept fine right next to me, so what’s the big deal with this?”

“It was tolerable because it was you.”

Huh.

“And the bathroom here doesn’t have any windows. I’d die before I go in.”

“Haa, just wait a sec.”

I washed out my mouth, then went to Lotte who was getting dressed to ask for her understanding–if she could head to the club first because Lady Blanton was whining about the scary bathroom so it might take a while.

“Sure. Come as soon as you’re ready.”

Lotte nodded as she buttoned up her blouse, and wasted no time stepping out as soon as she finished getting changed.

It wasn’t until the front door closed that Rosemary began brushing.

But.... the way she did it was a little strange.

“What’s that.”

“This? It’s a WD-501 toothpaste, would you like to try?”

Rosemary pulled out a palm-sized spray from her pocket and just sprayed it into her mouth.

Chhh, chhh.

A weird odor differing from mint toothpaste filled the room. Then realizing I was fucked, I quickly opened the window to ventilate.

“Moisture makes your teeth rot. Isn’t that common sense?”

Common sense for who?

“It isn’t the best quality but it’s useful for travel. Or we also have some bore cleaner2 at my house so do you want to come over and use that? You see, it’s very effective in removing plaque....”

Really, I wanted to be out of this body as soon as possible. Like that parfait last time being decorated with beryllium pearls, my common sense as a human felt like it was collapsing and I couldn’t take it.

After that, I brushed my teeth for another five minutes as I listened to Blueberry’s home shopping commercial. I reckoned it was going to take an hour for the smell to leave the room.

But that wasn’t the only problem.

“They say that the highlight of life at the Academy is the clubs, no? I’ve been itching to join a club, actually, but was at a loss because I thought I’d have to wait until next year since they don’t accept new members in the fall. So I’m really glad that you’re here, sis!”

Rosemary, who’d overheard the conversation Lotte and I had early this morning, had begged me if she could come see the Transmutation Club using every excuse possible. Unsurprisingly, Lotte had been the one who agreed to it.

Yeah, because she didn’t know anything. This was completely on me.

We skipped breakfast and headed to the club room. Rosemary skipped down the hall with her robe fluttering like a butterfly.

[Transmutation Club]

“Is it here?”

A kid who was asking while pointing at the sign–it felt like I was seeing a polite version of Freyr, somehow.

I nodded helplessly, as it was too late to say no here.

Holding back her strength as much as possible, Rosemary turned the handle. With a creeeak, the wooden door slowly opened.

Then.

“... Ah.”

A shadow stretched over Blueberry’s head.

The shadow of a ‘1’-shaped object that looked to be standing vertically.

“Ah.”

Right.

I didn’t put that away yesterday.

Footnotes

1. Water Displacement formula 502. Gun-cleaning solvent