Chapter 138: The Female Teacher Playing the Villainess

“Hello, Ms. Theremin. Do you have a moment?”

“Mr. Canon? …And who might these people be?”

Addressed by Jeremy-sensei, Ms. Clarissa Theremin turned her gaze toward us.

I greeted her with a completely natural curtsy, having had etiquette drummed into me.

“Pleased to meet you. I am the eldest daughter of the Philharmonie Ducal House, Sakuraile la Philharmonie.”

“Philharmonie…? Ah, the [Princess of the Holy Sword]…! P-Pleased to meet you. I am Clarissa Theremin. I serve as a teacher at the ‘Academy’.”

Ms. Theremin returned the greeting with a curtsy of her own. Estelle and Bianca similarly curtsied and introduced themselves.

“I heard that you are well-versed in languages, Ms. Theremin, and I very much wanted to speak with you, so I asked Lord Canon to introduce us. I am also learning a few foreign languages, but I am struggling to improve…”

“Is that so? Which languages?”

“Currently, mostly the Joruri language.”

That sketchy Kansai dialect language. It’s all jumbled up and confusing. Well, the meaning gets across, but still.

If you try to translate “won’t come” into pseudo-Kansai dialect, there are several candidates like “keehen”, “kiihin”, and “koohen”. And in the Joruri language, “kiihin” is the correct answer.

It’s a language so mixed up that a real Kansai native would probably get angry hearing it.

『…The Joruri language is complicated, so it must be tough on you.』

Oops, Ms. Theremin just fired off some Joruri language.

『That’s right. I honestly can’t stand it.』

『For saying that, you’re pretty good at it. Your pronunciation is only a little bit sketchy. It’s quite impressive.』

『Really? That makes me happy.』

“Um, I don’t really understand what you two are talking about…”

We both burst out laughing at Jeremy-sensei’s puzzled expression.

“I think you’ll be fine if you just pay a little attention to your pronunciation. However, the Joruri language has some phrases with hidden meanings, so please be careful.”

Hidden meanings…? Ah, like how saying “That’s a nice watch you have” can mean “Your talk is too long”, that sort of thing?

Those are impossible to understand unless you already know them…

After that, Ms. Theremin and I had a lively conversation about the Joruri language for a while, and then she was called away by another teacher and left with Jeremy-sensei.

I knew her from the game, but I didn’t have the impression that she was that strict. Maybe it’s because she’s still a rookie.

In the game, she has feelings for Jeremy-sensei, but I don’t get that vibe from her at all right now. Well, he has a fiancée, after all. He’s probably off-limits.

Ten years from now—no, unlike the game, Estelle is also attending from the primary division like us, so in ten years… wait, four years from now, she’ll be learning languages from that teacher. It couldn’t hurt to get along with her.

Well, my original goal was to meet the “Villainess,” though. More accurately, to encounter a scene where she and Jeremy-sensei were talking together.

In Jeremy-sensei’s route, after getting close to him in the latter half, there’s an event where Estelle witnesses the two of them chatting amicably and feels a pang of jealousy.

If you choose the option “Leave them be…” here, the subsequent chain of events doesn’t occur.

The Estelle in the game seemed to feel a bit jealous regarding Ms. Theremin, but the Estelle in this world doesn’t seem to think anything of it.

If anything, she seems strangely wary of Jeremy-sensei…

Normally, I wouldn’t want to approach a villainess on my own accord, but I plan to crush Jeremy’s route anyway.

Pamela-sensei won’t pass away, and the Jeremy-sensei from the game will never be born. Furthermore, Ms. Theremin is a villainess who isn’t involved in my ruin route. In her route, the reason I’m sent to a convent is because I cheated. I should be able to build a friendly relationship with her starting now.

And with this event recreation, another store…

Now that I’ve summoned a convenience store, I guess my food needs are mostly met. What kind of store would I be happy to get next?

An electronics retail store? No, no, without electricity, I wouldn’t be able to do anything even if I bought stuff. And I can’t summon the store every single time just to use electricity… It would be fine if I could generate electricity, though.

Ah, a generator would work. A generator… maybe a home center? Then I’d have to summon a home center first. If I had a generator… wait, generators need fuel too, right?

Generator fuel is usually gasoline or light oil, I think… Huh? Does that mean I’d need a gas station after all? Mmm…

“Lady Sakuraile? Is something wrong?”

“Eh? Ah, no, it’s nothing. I was just… thinking about how we’ll be learning from those teachers when we enroll in the ‘Academy’.”

“When we go to the ‘Academy’, we’ll be able to see Lord Luca and Lady Tifania all the time. Lady Risha, too.”

“You’re right. It looks like it will be lively.”

All three of them are royalty, but status doesn’t matter at the ‘Academy’, so we’ll likely be able to interact more comfortably than we do now.

While we were getting excited over that topic, dance time had started in the center of the venue before we knew it.

This is bad. I quickly slipped out toward the balcony to avoid any dance invitations.

Basically, men invite women to dance. The “Would you care for a dance?” routine. When invited, women generally accept, but they are allowed to decline.

However, declining in front of a large crowd causes the other person to lose face. If it’s someone you don’t mind embarrassing, there’s no problem, but if it’s someone whose face you cannot afford to have them lose, you have to dance even if you don’t want to. Like someone of a higher status than yourself.

Therefore, if you don’t want to dance, you evacuate like this. If you turn them down somewhere out of the public eye, it doesn’t cause as much friction, after all.

By the way, apparently, it doesn’t shame the other person if you decline by saying you have a fiancé. Not that I want a fiancé just for that reason.

When I stepped out onto the balcony, Estelle and Bianca followed me.

“You two didn’t have to come out.”

“I-I’m not good at dancing either…”

“I’m good at moving my body, but dancing is a bit…”

Estelle and Bianca voiced their respective reasons. Is that really okay? As noble young ladies, I mean. It’s totally the pot calling the kettle black, and a massive boomerang on my part, though.

Normally, given the season, a balcony would be a place where cold winds blow in, but this semi-circular balcony has a barrier set up, so it’s not that cold.

Furthermore, there are wood-burning stoves placed at the front and on both sides. It seems the barrier is designed not to let heat escape. I wonder if it’s like a sunroom.

Though you do have to be careful, because if you get too close to the stoves, your dress might get scorched.

On the balcony, there were a scattering of other noble young ladies who had fled just like us.

Well, there was also a fair number of young men and women getting cozy with each other, though.

Not wanting to disturb such people, we decided to sit and rest at a table in the corner.

“Haa… Finally, a moment to breathe…”

“The New Year’s Banquet is really exhausting. It seems my father and mother have been making the rounds greeting people non-stop.”

“Estelle’s house is a newly established noble house, after all. The first greetings of the new year must be important across faction lines. I think from next year on, you’ll only have to greet nobles from the same faction and those you’re on good terms with.”

I guess so. Because when factions that don’t get along greet each other, it turns into something like the greetings between our house and the Arabesque Marquis House, where they just throw sarcastic remarks at each other behind their smiles.

But it really is tiring… Isn’t New Year’s Day supposed to be spent more lazily?

Ah, wait, between going to the first shrine visit of the year and making the rounds for New Year’s greetings, maybe busy people are just busy…

“Come to think of it, there seemed to be a fire in the Third District yesterday. I could see the flames from my house. Fortunately, it seems the fire was extinguished quickly and there were no casualties, though.”

Estelle muttered that while looking at the stove burning wood in the corner of the balcony.

Fires do become more common in the winter, after all… I really hope people are careful with how they handle fire.

Even so, having a fire on New Year’s Eve is tough… Being thrown out under the freezing sky on New Year’s Day must be unbearable.

When I mentioned that,

“This year’s winter is still on the better side. The snow hasn’t piled up that much, either. Probably not as many snow or ice spirits visited this year.”

Bianca stated that as if it were a matter of course, but for me, who has memories of growing up in modern Japan, that sensation doesn’t really click.

The climate changing based on the visits of spirits… Well, since Gods exist, I suppose spirits do too.

<<It The are because capital. in is likely little master, restraint. showed spirits the this you,>>

<<Say what…?>>

What does he mean? Puzzled by Kohaku-san’s telepathic message, I replied back the same way. Since he sent it via telepathy, it’s probably something the others shouldn’t hear.

<<Spirits Goddesses, Gods. Nine They You, approach are bosses’ but come dare essentially eventually, favorite. for greetings holds just lightly. like likely little master, might now, observing of offer protections situation. someone subordinates that the their they to who wouldn’t>>

Good grief. To think my existence was even affecting the climate…!

Is this okay? What if a storm spirit comes and goes, “Sup! Just here to say hi!”? I really don’t want to cause an unexpected disaster for the farmers and such because of me.

<…>

Hearing Kohaku-san’s explanation, I breathed a sigh of relief. While I’m grateful for the Goddesses’ protections, I feel like my mental burdens are only increasing…