Respective Thoughts
Albert and Gai who successfully repelled the monster attack watched quietly the furious princess’ interrogation.
To summarize their story:
(They wanted to seize the prey of Grace’s group, but they did not have any themselves, so they decided to attract the monsters using a magical tool they obtained from a certain source themselves, letting Grace’s group keep them company, so that they can secure the fruits of their labor for themselves. The masterminds Melinda and Dario just wanted to take advantage as means for revenge.)
Felice and others who heard the story could only listen in amazement.
This is because both their actions and reasonings were too random, they had no idea what would happen after they succeeded or failed.
“That are truly idio… childish thoughts you had. Why is that, Melinda? You weren’t someone who would do things like this in the past, no?” (Grace)
(She was about to say idiotic, wasn’t she?) Felice
(It’s the truth anyway, isn’t it fine?) Albert
(Darkness has been recently oozing out of this fellow too~) Gai
“Y… you are the one at fault! Even though you were such an obedient child in the past with close to no talent in martial arts and magic. Even though you were just a gloomy, inconspicuous princess!” (Melinda)
(((Whoah…)))
“… A, and so?” (Grace)
(Grace-sama! Your face! Your expression!) Felice
(Is she fine? She’s trembling, though.) Albert
(Isn’t she still fine?… Probably.) Gai
“All of sudden, you have become more skilled in magic and more popular than me! Even your martial arts have recently… why! I’m more talented than you! I’m sure you have used some underhanded methods!” (Melinda)
(In other words, she wasn’t able to stomach that a person she looked down upon got better than her?) Felice
(Her resentment is quite excessive too.) Albert
(She doesn’t think anything of the effort that was needed to accomplish all that, huh.) Gai
“I certainly had no confidence because I couldn’t use magic well. As you said, I might have been a gloomy and inconspicuous princess. But, I decided to change after receiving a piece of advice from a certain someone. And… I was able to notice my true self.” (Grace)
“Your true self?” (Melinda)
“Yes… it seems that I am quite a sore loser. That’s why I stopped hiding myself from everyone’s pity and put my best efforts in cooperation with everyone to become stronger. In order to triumph over those who took me for a fool. That’s why I feel happy that the results are showing now that you feel that I have become stronger.” (Grace)
“Kuh…” (Melinda)
Melinda hung her head as she couldn’t find any words to say to Grace who spun her words with a confident face.
(She certainly doesn’t like to lose.) Albert
(She’s also a battle maniac.) Gai
(She’s a battle maniac indeed.) Albert
(Hey, you two!) Felice
While Felice was listening to the two’s conversation, Grace turned towards Gai and Albert with a refreshing smile.
“Albert, Gai… you have something to say?” (Grace)
“”Eh!? (How could she tell!?)” (Albert & Gai)
(Aa~hh.) Felice
Feeling their heads buzzing from Grace’s look, Gai and Albert started saying unnecessary things in a panic.
“I, it’s nothing, we were just talking how much effort you put in your training!” (Gai)
“Yeah, yeah!” (Albert)
“I definitely didn’t think that you are a battle maniac when you asked me to help you as you kept attacking with a smile on your face!” (Gai)
“… Fufu.” (Grace)
“I’m telling you that I wasn’t thinking of you as a battle maniac when you were laughing out loud as you trampled over the knights during your practice!” (Albert)
“”Huh!?”” (Albert & Gai)
“… Stupid.”
After that, they recovered the defeated monsters and returned back to report to the teachers.
Melinda, Dario and the other students were taken back to the academy and their guards were restricted so they couldn’t escape and taken as well.
The knights were apparently on the standby at the academy.
Although it was an incident that happened in during the academy’s outing, the one affected was the princess of the country, so the academy couldn’t handle the situation on their own.
The victims that were Grace’s group also returned back for questioning.
“In the end, we couldn’t find the reason behind the monsters’ disappearance.” (Grace)
“We have grasped the situation for the most part, so we will explain after we return. By the way…” (Felice)
“Fufufu… no worries, Felice. I have safely accomplished your request.” (Grace)
“Thank you very much!… I will give you the promised thing in the future.” (Felice)
“Yes, I will be looking forward to it.” (Grace)
“”Fufu… fufufufufu.”” (Felice & Grace)
Fortunately or unfortunately, it was only Sylvia, Randolph, and Cony who trembled after witnessing the two little girls smiling ominously at each other.