Chapter 23 – I enrolled in magic school

Spring is here now, and I’ve finally enrolled in magic school. Magic school, just like its name, is a school where I will learn and train in magic.

People with magic power that reach 15, will be gathered here by the country, and will have to undergo two years of strict education here at the dorms.

This school is run by the country, and it’s the largest one of its kind.

Within its gigantic campus, besides the school itself, there’s also student and teacher dorms, as well as various magic research facilities and other structures.

By the way, there’s a reason for the country to sponsor such splendid facilities.

That’s because people with magical power, and the magic they wield are considered important national treasures.

In other countries, there are very few people that are born with magic power. It’s not zero, but it seems to be extremely rare.

In comparison to other countries, our country has more people born with magic power, and we raise them to be the best. That’s why our country has put so much into developing everyone’s magic power.

Thus, we’re considered national treasures, precious to the country.

In order to help us, the national treasures, be able to use magic better, and to discover people with extremely high talent in magic, that’s why our country is sponsoring magic school.

At this school, if a person is recognized for having powerful magic, they’ll be granted power just below that of the king’s, and will receive a position in the powerful organization similar to a ministry of magic.

And so, each year, everyone with magic power that’s turned 15 is gathered here, but…… They’re almost all n.o.bles.

That’s right, even though our country has more magic users than other countries, it’s almost entirely made up of the n.o.bility and other people with high social status.

Because of that, whether or not you have magic, and how good your magic is, can be considered a mark of n.o.ble status, having powerful magic can also get you adopted by the n.o.bility, so by the time people reach 15, most of them will be enrolling in school as a n.o.ble.

But of course, it’s not only n.o.bles that have magic power. It’s really rare, but sometimes there are commoners that are also born with magic power. And so, commoners as well are required to enroll in magic school.

However, commoners born with magic power are so rare that, it seems that there haven’t been any commoner students in magic school for ten years.

And now, after ten years, a commoner with magic power has finally enrolled in magic school.

Maria Campbell. She’s one of those rare commoners with magic power, and on top of that with light magic.

Among the five different types of magic, there’s very few people with the strongest type, light magic. It’s said that you can count the number of people with it in our country on one hand.

Obviously, all attention would of course be focused on Maria Campbell who’s a commoner with light magic. Starting from the entrance ceremony, all eyes would be on her.

And so, I followed everyone’s line of sight, and found her.

She has beautiful, flowing blonde hair and clear blue eyes, she’s a beautiful girl. By reflex, I began admiring her beauty.

Maria Campbell is a “commoner” with “light magic,” I’m sure that she’s the most special girl in this entire school, or rather entire country, even.

Well, the main character of the otome game “Fortune Lover” is definitely here.

It’s finally time for the heroine’s appearance and for the game to begin. From now until the end of the game next year, it’s time for Katarina Claes to do battle with the destruction flags.

“I definitely won’t lose to some destruction flags!” I clenched my fist and swore so to myself.

I was trying to do my best after the entrance ceremony, but……

Just a few days after I’ve enrolled in magic school, I’m already being overwhelmed by the heroine Maria’s charm.

As for why, it’s because just a few days after school started, with her out of control charm, she’s already attracted Jared’s interest, and captured Keith’s heart as well.

“Come to think of it, just earlier, I met a girl who has the power of light magic.”

Jared was saying such a thing while he was drinking tea with Keith and me in the dorm’s common room. Jared had invited me over by saying he had some rare candies for me today, and I heard this as I was drinking tea with the sweets I had just received, and I nearly spit out the tea I was drinking.

Somehow, I managed to swallow it without spitting it out, I was really close to staining the tablecloth in front of me with tea with the prince right in front of me. That was close…… And just as I was feeling relieved at avoiding an incident, Keith showed interest in Jared’s topic of conversation.

“Ahh, that commoner girl’s a really hot topic of conversation now.”

“That’s right. When I was walking around on the school grounds just now, I met her by coincidence.”

He met her while he was walking around on the school grounds…… It’s the first encounter event between Jared and the heroine!

The heroine who’s curious by nature, was exploring the school grounds, but since the campus is too big, she got lost. And so, when the heroine had no more idea where she was anymore, she decided to climb a tree to look around, even though she was wearing a skirt at the time. At that time, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed prince, Jared, just happened to come by.

The heroine blushed crimson red at being discovered like this by Jared. And so, Jared got interested in the tomboyish heroine that was climbing a tree in a skirt, and helped her find her way back to the dorms.

……Jared’s story was just like the game’s scenario, I started getting depressed at hearing it.

Ahh, so it’ll just be like the game…… Jared’s already starting to take interest in the heroine after this encounter…… And then, he’ll surely fall in love before long……

“Mmm. So there are other girls out there that climb trees in skirts just like nee-san.”

“This is the first time I’ve seen someone other than Katarina climb a tree in a skirt. Well, since I’m used to Katarina, I didn’t think anything of it, but she seemed really embarra.s.sed.”

“……Mmm, that’s right. Normally, you’d be pretty embarra.s.sed if someone saw you climbing a tree in a skirt…… Most people won’t say proudly ‘since I’m a professional at climbing trees, it’s fine……’”

“Well, Katarina is out of the ordinary. But, that’s what makes her so special. Hey, Katarina, are you listening?”

Ahh, and so Jared’s fallen in love with the heroine, he only got engaged to me reluctantly in the first place as a defensive measure against other n.o.ble girls, and I’m going to be a nuisance now…… I’ll…… be a nuisance……

“Oi, Katarina, are you listening? ……It’s no good. She’s not listening at all.”

“……It seems that way.”

Ahh, this is the worst…… It’s only been a few days since school started, and my destruction is approaching me already……

And so, I was so shaken, and completely lost in my own little world, that I forgot to check with the person in question, Jared, about how far along they’ve progressed in their love……

“Hey, it’s already time for us to return to our rooms.” I just kept worrying endlessly until I was finally prompted by Jared and Keith that it was time to go.

And so…… Somehow, the two of them seem to have noticed that something’s off about me –

“Nee-san. After all, since this isn’t our home anymore, it’s not good if you pick up and eat something strange, you know.”

“That’s right, Katarina. You’re already 15 now, you really should stop picking up and eating anything that you see.”

It seems that they’ve misunderstood it to be that I’ve “gotten carried away and eaten something unidentified.” Well, that’s because it’s happened many times before……

But, I have a complaint…… I’m not just “picking up” things to eat! I’m “harvesting” from plants and trees! Even I definitely won’t eat things off the ground, so I’m not “picking up” things to eat! Besides, I’ve done this more than ten times already, and I only upset my stomach twice……

“Oh, I also met that girl with light magic that Prince Jared was talking about just now.”

Just a few days after Jared gave me such a shock, this time it was my stepbrother Keith that made such a comment.

This time it was after I had gotten ready in the morning, with Keith coming to pick me up since he wanted to go to school together, so there was no danger of me spitting out any tea this time. But……

“……What!!”

A mysterious utterance was heard.

“……Hey, nee-san, what’s the matter?”

My stepbrother flinched at my sudden mysterious cry, and pressed me for the cause.

“C, could it be, you were hitting on her!?”

In the game’s first encounter event between Keith and the heroine, he was. .h.i.tting on her.

After all, in the game, Keith was a real playboy, and would hit on any girl that he saw, anyways, he was a real dangerous fellow. For that reason, when he saw the rumored girl with light magic by coincidence, he got interested in the heroine because of her uniqueness, and started hitting on her.

“……W, what does. .h.i.tting on her mean…?”

“……Uhh~, hitting on her means, how to explain it…… Mmm. It means to invite girls with immoral thoughts in mind.”

“Inviting girls with immoral thoughts in mind…… There’s no way I would do such a thing!”

Keith was shouting with a bright red face. Well, certainly I can’t imagine Keith doing something like hitting on her. In the game, Keith was a trashy playboy, but thanks to me deigning to give him an education on the matter, he became a wonderful gentleman instead. Well, although he has become a ladies’ man without him realizing it……

Keith was desperately denying it while blus.h.i.+ng, so I pressed him with “then, what were you doing with her?”

“She just happened to be walking in front of me, and I picked up a handkerchief that she dropped……”

“Handkerchief……”

That’s right! In the game, Keith got interested in the heroine during their first meeting, and was promptly rejected when he hit on her. And because the heroine rejected him, he got even more interested in her. And so, after the heroine rejected Keith and left, she’ll drop her handkerchief.

After discovering it, on the next day Keith will appear in front of the heroine again and force her with “is this yours? If you happen to want it back, go out on a date with me first.”

“……And, what happened to that handkerchief?”

I’m scared, I’m scared, what’s the answer……

“What do you mean what happened to the handkerchief, I picked it up and gave it back to her.”

“Oh, oh, is that what happened.”

Ahh, so Keith didn’t keep the handkerchief……

Then, it seems that he probably won’t be forcing the heroine to go out with him using the handkerchief as an excuse…… However…… I can’t repeat the same mistake I made with Jared, I need to make absolutely certain to check all the details this time.

“……And, after you met the girl with the power of light magic, what…… What did you think of her?”

“……What I thought of her? She seems like a normal, nice girl. She thanked me really politely……”

Keith answered me like he didn’t really understand what I was getting at……

Ahh, that’s not it! Keith. That’s not what I really want to hear! I’m going to have to be super direct with him!

“What I’m saying is! What do you think of Maria-san! Did you fall in love with her beauty!?”

I raised my voice loudly and grabbed on to Keith’s shoulders, and Keith became completely wide-eyed.

“!? …… Fall in love with her…… Nee-san, what exactly do you mean……”

Ahh, the surprised look that he has right now is just like the way he was when he first joined our Claes family…… I must have nailed it! There’s no mistake! Keith’s already fallen for Maria!

“……Like I thought, you’ve already fallen in love with Maria-san, eh……”

“……Uh, nee-san. Really, what are you saying……?”

I gripped Keith’s shoulders even more tightly.

“Listen up, it’s okay. Don’t hide things from me, aren’t we siblings after all! It’s just that, I want to tell you one thing…… I definitely won’t interfere between Keith and anyone that Keith likes! I’ll definitely be cheering for you and Maria-san! I definitely won’t do something like get in the way!”

I’ll never get in the way of your love! I’ll be your ally! So, even if I do something wrong, please don’t eliminate your nee-san!

In order to take in my deep words, Keith was looking at the sky…… For some reason, Keith had a look on his face as if he had lost something very important…… I’m also concerned that he seems to be looking worse off than earlier as well.

“……Keith?”

While I was looking at Keith blankly, I heard Anne speak up from behind me.

“Ojou-sama, if you go any further than this…… I’m afraid Keith has already reached his limit.”

Limit…… That’s it! After hearing Anne’s words, I finally came to the realization that I had been unconsciously shaking Keith rather violently.

Since I shook him so hard right after he ate breakfast, it’s probably making him feel a little sick. I did something really terrible to him while being unconscious of it.

“I’m really sorry, Keith. I shook you so hard right after you ate breakfast, if you’re feeling a bit sick now, how about you take a break from cla.s.ses and go rest in the infirmary?”

I apologized, and came up with the idea to have him rest, but…… Without looking like he got any better, Keith just replied “I’m fine.”

“……But, if you’re not feeling well……”

“……No, it’s not that I’m feeling sick…… My body is fine, but…… The problem is with my spirit……”

For some reason, Keith kept grumbling about some stuff I didn’t really understand and saying that his body was fine, and refused to go to the infirmary. And so, we joined up with Mary and Sophia, and even on the way to cla.s.ses his complexion didn’t improve at all. I really forgot myself in the moment there, and shook him too hard. Keith, I’m really sorry about what I did to you.

And so, I kept worrying about Keith throughout cla.s.ses, but during the next break in between cla.s.ses, he seems to have returned to his usual self –

“I think I originally underestimated how absurdly dense the enemy was…… From now on, I’m going to attack even more directly.”

While holding my hand, he declared something completely irrelevant to the situation for some reason.

But, really, since it’s me, I’m fine, but…… For real, he’s so popular…… He’s holding a girl’s hand like that and looking straight into my face without any reason at all, what a dangerous child he is. At this rate, all the pure girls will be going crazy about him……

Since he’s finally returned back to his normal self, I’ll allow it this time, but I’m going to have to warn him as his older sister next time that he does something like this to me.

But anyways, the heroine Maria’s charm is really quite something…… In just a few days, she’s already attracted Jared’s interest, and Keith’s completely fallen in love with her. It’s really as expected.

Once again, it looks like I’m going to have to come up with a good strategy.

And so, that night, I conducted a strategy meeting once again alone in my dorm room.

Well then, this session of the Katarina Claes destruction end avoidance strategy shall now commence. I think I’ll even subt.i.tle it with “the heroine’s charm is really amazing~.”

Chairman Katarina Claes.

Representative Katarina Claes.

Secretary Katarina Claes.

“Alright everyone, let’s come up with some good ideas!”

“Hai~.”

“Okay. Well then, please go ahead, Katarina Claes-san.”

“It’s already in the subt.i.tles, but…… The heroine Maria-san’s charm is more than I expected! She’s already got Jared’s attention, and Keith’s fallen for her!”

“So it would seem. As expected of the heroine-san.”

“But, I don’t think Jared should be in love with her yet?”

“Uhh, what do you think you’re talking about? Jared’s already interested in her. Falling in love with her is only a question of time now.”

“Really? Well, for sure, Jared was like that in the game, Jared actually seems fine to me now, he’s interested in various thing, he always gives me advice on my field, and he’ll always bring lots of different types of sweets!”

“……Well, it’s just as you say. But, this isn’t the first time that he’s been interested in a special person! I mean, Jared’s always going on about Katarina, he never talks about anything else but the name of the girl he’s currently interested in!”

“That’s right, if we go along those lines, now that he’s interested in the heroine-san for the first time, it’s only a matter of time before he falls in love.”

“Honestly, the heroine-san is so amazing.”

“At this rate, Alan and Nico will be falling in love with Maria-san soon as well for sure.”

“……So it would seem……”

“……Is that really the case?”

“Eh!? What do you mean?”

“Indeed, the heroine Maria-san is just like in the game, she’s great at academics and powerful at magic, and as a bonus she’s also an amazing beauty…… But in that case, Mary and Sophia won’t lose to her either!”

“!?”

“The two of them, as Alan and Nico’s rival characters, are really smart as well, and also have powerful magic, and won’t lose to Maria-san in beauty either! There’s no way that Maria-san can beat them so easily!”

“That’s right! They’re both really charming as well, so they definitely won’t lose so easily!”

“I agree, there’s no way they’ll lose that easily! The only one that will lose, is Katarina who’s bad at both academics and magic!”

“I agree, it’s only Katarina that loses. If that’s the case, I’m really relieved.”

“I agree, I’m really glad.”

“…………………Oi, wait just a little bit, we shouldn’t be so glad!! If Katarina loses, won’t all be for naught!! We’ll head straight for our destruction end!!”

“Oh, that’s right! If Katarina loses, everything will come to an end!”

“……Certainly, it’ll all come to nothing if we lose, but…… Everyone, think. Let’s consider this calmly. Against a girl who’s smart and powerful at magic, do you think a girl with a villainess face that’s bad at academics and magic can possibly win?”

“…………”

“…………”

“…………L, let’s make a field! We just read ‘More on Agriculture’ and ‘The Importance of Experience in Agriculture’ recently. Even if we’re here at school, we can’t afford to slack off from working on a field!”

“That’s right! We also need to practice throwing the toy snake more, so that we can throw it as naturally as possible when the time for it comes!”

“After that, we just need to get the okay from the teachers, and we need to continue practicing the sword as well!”

“That’s right!”

“Well then, tomorrow let’s ask the school to allow us to make a field, practice throwing the toy snake even more, and keep practicing swordsmans.h.i.+p, does this sound good to everyone?”

“Hai~~~.”

And so, the Katarina Claes destruction end avoidance strategy meeting was concluded. I didn’t really come up with anything new……

“In the morning, I’m going to ask the teachers to allow me to create a field here.”

And so, I went to sleep in my bed that was slightly smaller than the one I had at home.

A few days later, after my cla.s.ses ended, I was digging in a corner of the school grounds where almost n.o.body would ever come.

“Ojou-sama, is this a flower garden?”

Anne was asking me with a dubious look on her face.

“Yeah, it’s a flower garden. Since you and Keith keep telling me that I’m absolutely forbidden from making a field, I figured I might as well plant a flower garden instead.”

That’s how it is. Even though I was all pumped up to create a field here at school, Keith and Anne kept insisting that “even if you do it in your own home, you can’t do it at school” and strongly opposed me, so I compromised with them by saying I’d do a flower garden instead, and I’ve talked with the school already about it as well.

Gardening seems to be surprisingly common as a hobby among n.o.bles, so it was quite easy to get permission.

That’s why, I’m making a flower garden right now.

However, Anne kept looking at me more and more dubiously.

“But ojou-sama, the seeds you have there don’t look like flower seeds to me……”

“Anne really, what are you saying now. These are proper flowers too. These are cuc.u.mber flowers, and these eggplant flowers will bloom as well.”

“……Ojou-sama…… So what you’re saying is that I didn’t see things wrong, and these are vegetable seeds……”

“Well yes, they’re vegetable seeds in the end, but…… Before being vegetables, they’re also flowers that will bloom as well!”

As I puffed out my chest in pride, Anne just sighed deeply as she looked at me.

“I thought I had convinced you already……”

“And so, I’ve already ordered the other seeds as well, it’s fine, right?”

As I said so, Anne just kept staring at me, and sighed deeply once again.

“……I understand. However, please try not to let the other students or the school find out about it.”

“Thank you!”

Yay~! Anne was persuaded! If I can persuade Keith as well later, n.o.body else should be complaining at me about it.

“……But anyways, ojou-sama, I feel like that hoe you’re using and those work clothes you’re in right now look really familiar for some reason……”

“Ahh, these? Of course they’d look familiar. After all, they’re the same ones I’ve always been using at home.”

After I said so, Anne’s face became terribly haggard.

“……Just as I thought…… But, ojou-sama, if memory serves me right, we definitely left those work clothes and the hoe behind at the Claes mansion……”

“That’s so! Even though I took the trouble to pack them away so neatly in my luggage, you took everything out again! Since I had no other way, I asked Tom-san to deliver them himself all the way from our house to me!”

“……Tom-san, that traitor, it couldn’t be……”

After grumbling so to herself, Anne became quiet and just kept watching me work, and I made good progress working with the hoe. It’s a lot smaller in size compared to the one at home, and since I have cla.s.ses as well now, I don’t have that much time anymore to work on a field, so I’ll have to work my hardest.

After that, although I got a bit of a scolding, I was somehow successful in persuading Keith as well.

By the way, my friends all found out about the field immediately.

While watching me plow the field, Alan held his belly again and exploded in laughter saying “unbelievable, to come to school to do something like this,” and Jared seemed to have his head down and shoulders trembling again while standing next to Alan.

Mary, Nico, and Sophia were all really shocked at first, but all said that they would help me if I needed it.

There’s still two years left until the otome game ends, and in order to overcome all the destruction flags, I’ll be staking my life on plowing my field.