Chapter 25 – I stole an event again

It’s been a few weeks since the incident where I stole Jared’s event.

Somehow, it feels that I’ve been getting along better with Maria-chan ever since that incident.

After that, Maria-chan would often make sweets for my sake.

“Please have some, Claes-sama.”

She would always offer the best, most delicious sweets with a smile on her face, and so I found my feet naturally taking me to the student council room all the time.

And so, I would get to have Maria-chan’s handmade sweets and the president’s tea he brewed himself, and I spent every day in such luxury that all the other students would surely curse me in jealousy if only they knew.

Not only are Maria-chan’s handmade sweets unbelievably delicious, the president is also unbelievably good at brewing tea for a n.o.ble. The president’s tea had a very gentle taste to it.

By the way, the president seems to be distantly related to Nico, and they’ve apparently known each other since childhood. That explains why he was Nico-resistant.

And so, I’m now getting along really well with the other members of the student council that didn’t start out as my friends, but other than in the student council room, I still don’t have a point of contact with anyone.

There’s no avoiding it for the student council president since he’s in a different grade, but Maria’s in the same grade as me, and I’d really love to get along better with her outside of the student council room…… Somehow, there’s still some distance between us outside of the student council room.

Well, basically, all of us are considered members of the country’s upper echelons, but…… It’s not just Maria-chan, most of the other students don’t have such a high social status either, so they’re not approaching us……

In the game as well, at first Maria wasn’t so close with the capture targets outside of the student council either. As the game progressed, and the capture targets’ love ratings went up, the capture targets will finally be able to get closer to Maria, and she’ll finally spend time with them outside of the student council.

However, right now it seems that none of the capture targets are trying to approach Maria. Everyone has a normal, friendly relations.h.i.+p with her, but it feels like n.o.body’s gone crazy in love for her. Rather, at this point in time, since I’ve been completely enthralled by Maria-chan’s sweets, I might be the one with the highest love rating towards Maria-chan right now.

So that’s how it is, n.o.body’s going all lovey-dovey over Maria-chan……

And right now, outside of the student council room, Maria-chan is still mostly by herself…… It seems that, other n.o.bles are taking it upon themselves to bully her like Katarina would have……

I’m going to have to do something about it.

While that’s what I thought, I didn’t really have any good ideas on how to do it, so I consulted my wise stepbrother –

He said that things would get better if she just stuck with us more often.

After all, we are basically considered to be this country’s upper echelons. If she’s with us, no matter how high the other n.o.bles’ ranks are, they won’t be able to move against us easily, is what my stepbrother said.

When I was panicking in the student council room because I forgot my homework yet again, it was Maria-chan who loaned me her easy to understand notes, and politely helped explain the problems I didn’t understand to me. Even though I always say “make and bring some more sweets over!” Maria-chan would always have a smile and bring more delicious sweets over.

Before I realized it, I’ve become quite fond of the girl that should have been Katarina’s mortal enemy, the heroine Maria Campbell.

That’s why, I can’t turn a blind eye to the situation she’s in.

Alright! I’m not going to wait for the capture targets anymore since they’re being so slow! I’m going to hurry up and get closer to Maria-chan, to be able to hang out with her even outside of the student council!

A few days after I steeled my resolve.

I had decided that for lunch break today “let’s invite Maria-chan to have lunch with me!” and was looking for Maria-chan.

By the way, me and my friends always ate in the school cafeteria together, but I’ve never seen Maria-chan there.

If I recall correctly from the game, the setting was that she would be nervous since many high-ranking n.o.bles used the cafeteria, so instead she would always make her own lunchbox in her dorms and eat it by herself.

Based on such information, I started searching for likely s.p.a.ces where she would be eating – at the edge of the school garden, I found Maria-chan on a tiny bench.

However, Maria-chan wasn’t by herself. Just like what happened a few weeks ago, some girls were surrounding her. There was still quite a bit of distance between us, but the wind carried their voices over to me.

“Even though you’re just a no-good commoner, just because you have some light magic, and you got chosen to be on the student council, aren’t you getting too carried away!?”

“Just because you have light magic you get all this special treatment, and it’s really sad that the student council has no way but to put up with you!”

“That’s right! It’s probably that you got favorable treatment during the test anyways just because your magic is special!”

The girls surrounding Maria-chan were showering her with an unending torrent of verbal abuse.

And so, while everyone was busy yelling at Maria-chan, one girl amongst them slowly raised her hands. There was a red flame flickering on her hands.

That’s fire magic!!

That girl over there was trying to injure Maria-chan with fire magic.

And so, I ran as fast as I could to close the gap between me and the girl with the flame in her hand. At this rate, Maria-chan will be in danger! But, I was too far away to stop her……

If it’s like this……

“Come out! Earth Thud!”

With my shout, a clump of earth about ten centimeters wide appeared in front of the girl who was approaching Maria-chan. And so, that girl stepped on the clump of earth and splendidly tripped, falling onto her b.u.t.t.

Alright!! I made a victory pose in my mind. Do you see the results of my long years of training now, the power of my Earth Thud!?

And so, while the other girls were being distracted by the girl that fell on her b.u.t.t, I rushed to Maria-chan’s side, and stood between her and the other girls. And then, I glared at the girls with my villainous face.

“Exactly what are you all doing!! In the first place, saying that there was favoritism during the test just because she has light magic, don’t accuse people without evidence! This school is a meritocracy with no place for favoritism!”

If there really had been favoritism, as the daughter of the Claes family, I should have gotten higher than just average grades.

“And what’s more, I know just how hard Maria-chan is working! Her test scores are the result of hard work!”

That’s how it is. While in the game the heroine had seemed to be an invincible genius, the actual Maria-chan is a really hard worker.

She’ll always show me her notes when I forget my homework, she’ll also bring a mountain of textbooks along in order to teach me, I was able to see just how hard-working Maria-chan was every day.

Maria-chan’s not a genius, just an exceptionally hard worker.

“What’s more, everyone in the student council, as well as me, we’re not together with Maria-chan just because she has light magic! Because she’s a hard worker, because she tries her best at everything, because we like her, that’s why we’re together!”

I glared at the girls with my villainous face, and smiled evilly as I thought a villainess would.

“If you guys keep doing things like this – you’ll reach a destruction end!”

Just like the villainess Katarina Claes in the game~

And so, I think it was because of fear caused by my magnificently villainous face, everyone scattered again in an unladylike manner, das.h.i.+ng madly to get away.

Sigh, they’re all so gutless. Such insignificant creatures, they’re no match for the likes of this villainess, Katarina Claes-sama!

And so, my villainous face played a great role again, and chased the girls off, and when I turned back to look at Maria-chan –

For some reason…… Isn’t she crying a stream of tears!?

“M, Maria-chan!?”

I hurriedly got close to Maria-chan and placed my hand on her trembling back.

Being surrounded and shouted at like that, almost having some dreadful magic used on her…… She must have been really scared. I rubbed her back gently. After rubbing her back for a while…… Maria-chan suddenly muttered something.

“……Uh, Claes-sama…… My name……”

Huh, name? What’s this about? I thought about it for a while, and then realized.

……Ah, come to think of it, I accidentally called her “Maria-chan” just now, the nickname I’ve always secretly had for her in my heart. But I’ve always been calling her “Campbell-san” up until now –

“Uh, uhh, I’m sorry. I called you something that you’re not used to so suddenly……”

Maria-chan shook her head at the panicked me.

“No, I don’t mind at all. In fact, you don’t need to add ‘-chan’ either. Please just call me Maria.”

How Maria-chan looked was so ridiculously cute when she said that, so by reflex, I smiled in satisfaction, and tried calling her that immediately.

“Thank you, Maria.”

Somehow, it feels that the distance between us has finally shrunk even more.

And then, Maria smiled happily with her cheeks turning red –

“Uh, well…… If, if it’s alright with you……”

For some reason, she seemed to be behaving a little suspiciously. I wondered what it could be and just stared at her.

“Uh, would it be alright if I called you ‘Katarina-sama’ just like everyone else in the student council does?”

She was saying it almost as if she was making an important confession. My blank look immediately became –

“Of course, it’s fine to call me whatever you want. After all, we’re already friends, aren’t we?”

a smile as I said so. For some reason, Maria’s tears that had stopped earlier were pouring out again, and I desperately tried to stop their flow.

After a little while, Maria finally calmed down, and Keith came looking for me since I still hadn’t shown up to the cafeteria, and the three of us returned to the cafeteria together, and had lunch with the rest of our friends in a hurry. Maria shared a little bit of her handmade lunchbox with me as well, and it was just as delicious as the sweets she made.

And so, because I forcefully resolved this incident, I was finally able to spend time with Maria together outside of school.

But anyways, to think that I would use magic in that way in order to deal with those bullies…… When the day became evening and ended, I laid on my bed trembling. If I hadn’t been able to stop that girl at that time, if she used that fire magic on Maria…… If Maria had been injured……

It’s a crime to attack other people with magic. If such a thing had actually happened, it would just be like what happened to the game’s Katarina, and she would have been exiled from the country as punishment for her crime.

……Come to think of it, Katarina also did something similar, didn’t she.

For some reason, I was really concerned about it, so I got off my bed and pulled out my “Previous life’s game memories” notes.

One day during lunch break, Katarina and her lackeys cornered Maria like usual. And so, while everyone was surrounding Maria and yelling at her, one of the lackeys decided to hurt Maria with some fire magic.

At this critical moment, Maria suddenly became airborne. Maria had been picked up and protected by an earth golem that was much larger than any person.

It was the magic from Keith Claes, who just coincidentally happened to be nearby.

Then, Keith used the earth golem to carry Maria off to safety.

By the way, Keith didn’t appear in front of everyone himself, and only used his earth golem, since the ringleader of the bullies was his own stepsister Katarina, he felt like it would be too much trouble if he showed up before everyone.

And so, after being helped out, Maria was still trembling in fear in front of Keith because of getting attacked by fire magic, so Keith comforted Maria by gently hugging her.

At this time, even though Keith was supposed to be a playboy, he looked a little uncomfortable at doing this, it was a very moe scene.

……That means……

I stole another event away again!?

What’s more, this time from Keith!?

Such a thing…… Even though I had promised with all my heart to not interfere with Keith’s love, I stole his all-important event…… My stepbrother…… I’m really sorry.

……At this rate, Maria-chan and Keith’s love might not progress. What have I done…… I’m so sorry…… Wait, huh? Maybe if it’s for the better if they don’t fall in love?

I mean, if Keith and Maria-chan fall in love, Katarina might be eliminated and meet a destruction end……

That means, I’ve done really well! I’m so amazing!

Right after stealing the event from Jared, without realizing it, I’ve gotten further off the path to destruction again, wonderful! How brilliant I am!

And so I kept congratulating myself over and over again, and went to sleep in an excellent mood.

This time, there’s great merit in having gotten closer to the heroine of the game. It’s that it’s become easier to see how far along everyone’s love is progressing.

After all, after becoming good friends we’re always together. Since we’re both girls, talking together about stuff like “hey~. Who do you like?” has become a very simple thing.

However…… Things didn’t go as well as I hoped.

That’s because when I asked Maria “hey~. Who do you like?” she would reply with……

“I look up to and admire Katarina-sama” and her cheeks were flushed red as she said so.

I’m very happy about that, but…… That’s not what I mean by who you like…… By the way, when I asked my best friends Mary and Sophia the same question I asked Maria –

“Me too! I also look up to and admire Katarina-sama! More than anyone else!”

“Maria-sama, Mary-sama, how unfair! Me, me too! Katarina-sama!”

is what they said. They’re really lovely, wonderful friends, but…… My friends…… I wanted to hear about your love stories……

And so, it always got sidetracked from love stories, and for some reason would always become a compet.i.tion to praise me. I’m very honored and happy about that, but……

In the end, time was wasted without being able to confirm the progress of love with the capture targets……

However, after becoming closer with Maria, I was able to feel even more how powerful her charm was.

For example, her perfect sweets that were almost as if they were created exactly to my liking. Her kindness in making easy to understand notes just for me. And from time to time, when our eyes met, a really cute smile would appear almost as if she was embarra.s.sed.

Man, if only I was a boy, I’d be completely captured already by now.

For example, after having stolen one or two events accidentally, I kept being in contact with Maria’s overflowing charm that n.o.body could resist. If this had been any of the capture targets, they would probably be head over heels in love already.

And so, after becoming better friends with Maria-chan, and sensing the danger of her charm, I decided to –

“So what I’m saying is, how did it feel just now? Did it seem natural?”

At my question, Anne furrowed her brows.

“……Uh, ojou-sama, what’s this? Exactly what is it supposed to be?”

“What you say, of course I’m practicing throwing my toy snake as naturally as possible!”

Man, really now Anne, even though I had already explained things clearly to her, I repeated what I said earlier.

“……That’s right. I did hear about this from you earlier, and I see what you’re trying to do, but…… To begin with, I have no idea why.”

“What I’m saying is, just in case of emergency, it’s practice so I can surprise my opponent and create an opening!”

“……Ojou-sama…… This ‘just in case of emergency’ part I don’t understand even one bit.”

“Just in case of emergency means just in case of emergency! Alright then, once again, watch to see if my throw seems natural or not, okay?”

As I said so, I started practicing throwing the toy snake from my pocket again.

“To begin with…… I don’t think the action of throwing a toy snake from your pocket seems natural……”

Anne was sighing something under her breath, but it didn’t reach me as I was desperately practicing my throwing movements.

And so, in order for me not to be forced into a destruction end by a capture target that falls in love with Maria’s overwhelming charm, I’m desperately going to practice throwing the toy snake with all my might!

I’m also going to expand the field a little, and add more crops!