September 9, 2026

Chapter 244 - Lara's Daily Life at the Academy

Lara's POV:

The Academy.

Boring, in my opinion.

But, how do I put this, staying home every day isn't exactly thrilling either.

I could always whine at Dad until he takes me somewhere fun, but being too much of a brat isn't a good look either.

I was face-down on my desk, mentally calculating how to survive the next period.

Next class, next class... whose class is it again?

If it's not Mom's, I'm sleeping.

"Lara."

Something poked my cheek. I cracked one eye open.

Fiana. The vice-principal's granddaughter.

Long pale-silver hair, cut to exactly waist length. Usually worn in a side ponytail. Eyes a soft lilac. Fair skin, a frame that ran a little small for her age. She looked delicate.

And that was exactly why I'd befriended her. Vice-principal's granddaughter. When I caused trouble, and I caused a lot of trouble, Fiana's puppy-dog eyes could smooth over just about anything.

As for why she'd wanted to be friends with me, she'd been completely upfront about it from day one.

"You're Lord Rudeus's daughter, right! I want to be friends with you!"

Very straightforward. She's a Dad fan.

"What's up, Fiana?"

"You can't skip later. It's Roxy-sensei's class."

"Eh~ Mom's class, so — oh!"

"What?"

"Fiana~ let's skip later."

"But it's Roxy-sensei. Aren't you scared?"

"Hmph hmph!"

I was already smiling as I pulled a Magic Tool out of my bag.

I'd gotten it from Nanahoshi's lab. Feed it mana, and it creates a puppet that can respond to basic questions.

"What is that?"

"Something I got from Nanahoshi-nee. Watch."

I aimed it at the two of us and started channeling mana.

Less than 5 minutes later, two life-sized, perfect copies of Lara Greyrat and Fiana sat in our seats.

"That's amazing!"

"Right? So — skip class?"

"No."

"Eh? Why not?"

"I don't want to make a bad impression on Roxy-sensei. What if she goes back and tells Lord Rudeus, 'Lara and that bad kid skipped class again'? What happens to me then?"

"She won't!"

"She will. Go by yourself, Lara."

Hmm.

Fiana is very easy to fool.

Case in point: right now.

"Ah~ I heard Dad's heading to Nanahoshi-nee's lab this afternoon," I said casually.

"......."

"My little sister Lily kept whining about going, and Dad hasn't had much going on lately. He might already be there, actually."

"......."

"If you're not coming, I'll just go alone. Yah~ running into Dad at school would be so fun."

I stood up.

I'd taken maybe two steps when my sleeve was yanked from behind.

Hook, line, sinker.

"I'll go......."

"Really?"

"Don't lie to me!"

"I mean, I can't be sure~ Dad's busy sometimes, maybe something came up?"

"...I'll go. Stop talking."

"Okay!"

The two of us were barely on our feet when Lucy spoke up.

"Lara-nee."

"What? You want to come too, Lucy?"

Lucy's mouth twisted at the corner.

"It's Blue Mom's class. You're really going to skip?"

"Hmph hmph! We won't get caught! Just don't say anything, Lucy."

"...Fine. But I'm not helping you."

Lucy flipped her book open and went back to reading.

---------

We crept our way to the lab and made it to the door without incident.

I reached for the handle. Fiana grabbed my arm.

"Wait!"

"What?"

"Let me fix my hair and, just a moment......."

"Dad might not even be here, you know~"

"What?! That's not what you said!"

"I said maybe~ possibly~"

"Then I need to fix myself up. What if he is here?"

"Ehhh~"

I waited while Fiana smoothed her clothes, adjusted her ponytail, and straightened her collar. Five full minutes. Then she took a deep breath.

"Okay. I'm ready."

"Finally."

I pushed the door open and we walked in.

And, huh?

Dad was actually here.

He was sitting with Nanahoshi, mid-conversation. Lily had claimed a corner of the room somewhere in the middle of a pile of magical implements and was playing by herself.

They all looked up when they heard the door.

Dad's brows drew together.

"Lara?"

"Oh, Dad. What are you doing here?"

"I think that's my question. Don't you have class?"

"I skipped."

"Isn't today one of your mom's classes? You're not worried about getting caught?"

"I have a plan! Mom won't find out! Just don't tell her, Dad!"

"...Fine. But if you get caught, that's on you."

"I know!"

It was only then that Dad noticed Fiana standing beside me.

He glanced over.

Fiana's mouth moved.

"Ru... Ruru... Lord Rudeus!"

Dad smiled, gentle as ever.

"Hello. You're Lara's friend?"

"Yes! Y-yes. I-I... I'm Lara's friend."

Fiana's face had gone completely red.

If she'd been nervous before, she was now somewhere past the fainting threshold.

"Ru... Ruru... Lord Rudeus!"

Dad blinked.

"Am I really that scary?"

"No! Not at all!"

"Then why do you look like you've seen a monster?"

"Be-because you're Lord Rudeus......"

Fiana's voice got smaller and smaller with each word until she just trailed off, staring at the floor.

Nanahoshi, who had been watching all of this, finally lost the battle with herself.

"Hahaha! Rudeus, look what you did to this poor girl."

"...Don't laugh at me."

"I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at her."

Nanahoshi propped her chin on her hand and studied Fiana with open amusement.

"What's your name?"

"Fiana......"

"Oh. So you're the one the vice-principal never shuts up about."

"Eh?!"

Fiana stiffened.

Nanahoshi nodded.

"I know your grandfather. At last month's faculty meeting, he was quoting things like 'Lord Rudeus already displayed extraordinary wisdom in his early years' to try and motivate the other teachers."

"But... that's true," Fiana said quietly.

Nanahoshi laughed harder.

Dad pressed a hand over his face.

Then, from somewhere in the pile of magical implements, Lily came crawling out.

Hair everywhere. A smear of grease on one cheek that definitely hadn't been there before. And cradled in both arms, a round, chunky metal ball.

"Dad!"

"Hm?"

"This one can talk!"

"...What?"

The metal ball spoke.

[Error, Error, Do not disassemble,]

Dead silence.

Nanahoshi was on her feet in an instant.

"Wait, Lily! Don't touch that!"

Too late.

CLICK!

Lily cracked the metal ball open with practiced efficiency.

[Error,]

[Bzzt,]

[Damaged,]

Then nothing.

"......."

Lily looked down at the pieces in her hands. Looked up at Nanahoshi. Then put on the most innocent expression I have ever seen.

"It's broken, Nanahoshi-nee."

Nanahoshi pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Yes, I know it's broken. Because you broke it, my dear Miss Lily."

Lily considered this.

"But it was already saying 'error, error,'" she said earnestly. "That means it was already broken. I was just checking."

Dad lost it. He actually laughed.

Nanahoshi rolled her documents into a tube and whacked him on the head with it.

"What are you laughing at? At this rate your daughter is going to dismantle everything in this lab and there'll be nothing left for her to play with."

Dad cleared his throat.

"We can always buy more."

"Are the ones you buy as fun as the ones I make?"

Lily answered before he could.

"No! I want Nanahoshi-nee's ones."

"You see," Nanahoshi said.

On the other side of the room, Fiana had gone completely vacant. She was staring at the scene in front of her, at Rudeus Greyrat, at Lily, at all of it, with the expression of someone whose mental model of the world had just been quietly dismantled.

Then she turned to me.

"Lara......"

"Hm?"

"Is Lord Rudeus... always like this?"

"Like what?"

"Just... this gentle."

"Pretty much."

"That's so nice......" she breathed.

I know Dad is charming. I do.

But you're ten years old.

No matter how you look at it, it's just not happening.

Dad stood up then and turned to Fiana.

"Thank you for being Lara's friend. She can be a handful, please don't hold it against her."

"I-I'm the one who should say that! Getting to be friends with Lara is, I'm the lucky one!"

"Mm. Fiana, was it? I'll remember that."

"Ah......."

Dad left Fiana to quietly dissolve and walked over to Lily. He crouched down to her level.

"Lily."

"Hm?"

"How many is this one?"

"Four?"

"And last time?"

"Five."

"The time before that?"

"Also five."

"......."

He went quiet for a moment. Then looked at Nanahoshi.

"I'll pay for them?"

Nanahoshi rolled her eyes.

"Do I look like I need the money? I'm just worried Lily won't have anything to play with later."

"Then what do you suggest?"

Nanahoshi smiled. There was a teasing edge to it.

"Bring her by more often. Keep me company while I build these Magic Tools."

"...Fine."

Then the lab door banged open.

A student rushed in, out of breath.

"Lord Rudeus!"

"Hm?"

"Roxy-sensei asked me to come find you,"

He stopped mid-sentence.

Looked at me.

Looked at Fiana.

A very bad feeling bloomed in my chest.

Dad seemed to get it too.

"What did Roxy say?"

The student answered faithfully.

"Roxy-sensei said... if you happen to see Lara, please tell her to return to class immediately."

Silence.

Very complete silence.

I turned my head slowly.

Dad was already looking somewhere else.

"Don't look at me. I can't help you."

Nanahoshi glanced over with a smile.

"By the way, Lara, that tool you got from me last time? It actually had a flaw."

"What?!"

Nanahoshi-nee.

Traitor.

Beside me, Fiana had gone white.

"It's over. We're actually caught."

I stood there for a few seconds.

Then I walked straight to the window and whistled.

Daibai would come. We'd get out of school, I'd come up with something on the way, and then,

"Lara~"

The voice came from the doorway. Soft and warm and gentle.

And somehow that gentleness sent a chill straight down my spine.

I froze.

Everyone in the lab turned.

Mom was standing in the doorway. She was holding her lesson materials. There was a pleasant smile on her face.

"So this is where you've been."

"Mom......"

"Hm?"

"Lily was throwing a fit about wanting to research magical implements with me, so I,"

Lily immediately turned to Mom and shook her head.

I switched tracks.

"Then — I came to keep Dad company! Dad gets lonely, doesn't he? He used to —"

"Your father does get lonely," Mom agreed. She walked over to him and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "But that's my responsibility, not yours."

She kept smiling.

"Besides. Those two copies you left in the classroom started chatting with each other 5 minutes into the lesson. They didn't pay the teacher even a passing glance."

Nanahoshi.

She knew all along.

I had nothing.

Nanahoshi was already in full laughter. Dad took one quiet step backward and adopted the expression of a man who has no involvement in this situation whatsoever.

Useless.

"Mom, um, that was,"

Mom pinched my ear.

"Back to class. You too, Fiana."

"Roxy-sensei! I was led astray by Lara! It was all her!"

Fiana. You absolute traitor.

"I know, I know. I won't tell your grandfather."

And that was that.

In the end, Mom marched us both back to the classroom, and I sat through the rest of the most boring lesson of my life.

➤ Next: Lara's Realization — What Was Lost