Not so peaceful lunchtime.
The teary-eyed Mariel-chan clung to my arm, trembling and shaking.
Mhm, leave it to me.
I will even wield the authority of the Ducal household, which I don’t usually use, to protect you, Mariel-chan!
… Huh, wait a minute?
Wouldn’t this make me “The Villainess who borrows the power of the Duke?”
I realized that I was about to inadvertently pull a Villainess move and broke out in a cold sweat inside.
I tried calming myself down by repeating “I’m not a Villainess~ I’m harmless~” in my mind.
“S, still, this is quite troubling, isn’t it? Both Mariel-san and I just want to live out our lives peacefully, don’t we?”
“””…… Eh?”””
At my remark, the three people looked at me like, “What’s this girl talking about?” I don’t understand.
When we entered the cafeteria, I overheard the manager and other waitstaff, “Cristea-sama is here!”, “Be careful not to misbehave!” saying to each other.
Then, being the center of attention from the other customers, teachers and students, we were led to the private room where the Headmaster was, with a sense of unease.
I could hear Adry-sama muttering to himself, “What happened to living peacefully…?”
“Ohh, you are all here. Sit wherever you like.”
We were welcomed by the Headmaster and his secretary, Pamela-san, who were waiting for us, and we took our seats facing the Headmaster.
Pamela-san gave me a wry smile and handed me a menu, saying, “You can order whatever you like… is what I would like to say, but you guys don’t need it, right?”
Ehh, yes, we have a face pass and the whole menu is free, so…
Pamela-san smiled at Adry-sama, who was the only one who firmly refused, and told him not to hold back, so we each ordered what we wanted to eat.
“Let’s not hold back growing children’s hearty appetite and talk after the meal.”
At the Headmaster’s suggestion, we who were hungry ate the food without hesitation.
After the meal, tea and dessert were served, Pamela-san closed the doorway and deployed a soundproofing spell.
After confirming that it worked, the Headmaster offered us tea and got down to business.
“Well then. I have been recently informed that Miss Cristea’s friend, Miss Mariel, has signed a contract with a Carbuncle…”
“Y, yeash!”
Mariel-chan tends to bite her tongue when she gets nervous.
You’re going to be the center of attention from now on as a contractor, so do your best!
“This is the first time since the academy opened that there are three contractors in the same grade and five contracted beasts of great power.”
Heeh, is that so? I thought there used to be more, since there seems to be a good number of rooms in the Special dormitory…
Or does that mean there were not so powerful Magic and Sacred Beasts before?
Well, actually, Sei has four, and I have three if I include Kaguya, so there’s eight in total!
… Huh? Isn’t that actually a lot?
Ruby seems to be quite capable, even though he looks like that.
Eh… doesn’t the Special dormitory seem to be excessively overpowered?
Ahaha… as I was feeling a bit disturbed, the headmaster continued talking with an exhausted look on his face.