Silent Witch

Most Serendia students would have their lunch at the school cafeteria.

The school's cafeteria was staffed with top-notch chefs and waiters. In fact, every single dish has been tested for poisoning, so they can eat with ease.

However, a number of wealthy students would bring their own cooks and waiters into the dormitory. After having them cook in the dorm's cafeteria, they would eat their meal in their own rooms. Even the second prince, who was the subject of Monica's protection, also had such behavior.

T-Then, I don't really need to go to the cafeteria…

After making excuses for herself, Monica sneaked out of the classroom just at the lunch break start.

All the students in Monica's class were moving towards the cafeteria, but Monica went against the flow and went out of the school building.

She had put a handful of nuts in her pockets, so she could eat it in a less crowded place.

For Monica, finding quiet places has always been her specialty. At the time she was still a Minerva student, she always spent a lot of time holed up in her secret hiding place, reading and doing calculations.

Since today's weather was clear and not too windy, Monica then decided to take a walk outside.

Serendia Academy occupied a very large area, and its gardens were beautifully arranged. Now the summer flowers were over, the buds of the autumn roses were beginning to swell.

In general, the season of admission for schools attended by nobles usually set in autumn, while for commoners was set in spring.

The reason for this was because nobles were busy during the social activities from spring to summer, while commoners were especially busy during the harvest festival in autumn. Therefore, they tended to avoid those periods to make it for admission.

Although Monica came from common families, she had never been enrolled in commoners school. Since her father was very knowledgeable, she was taught everything by him. But after his death, she went through many twists and turns before being adopted by someone who was her father's apprentice and enrolled at Minerva, an institution for training magicians.

It was also one of the reasons Monica was not used to living in a group. Even after becoming its student, she didn't have any people that could be considered as friends.

Despite that, because of her talent for magic, she was given a place at Minerva. Only to make her shut herself in the laboratory.

But, despite having studied in that school, she was still unable to display her talent here. Although Serendia Academy itself has a system to let its students choose their curriculum… but, that would be a problem if she had to perform her magic in public.

Monica, who has a social anxiety disorder, can only use magic with no chanting.

Also, if she performed her no-chant magic there, her identity as [Silent Witch] would be exposed.

Monica let out a sigh and touched the ribbon pinned in her hair.

I haven't… even been able to thank her.

The words she wanted to say were always stuck in Monica's throat then swallowed without being spoken.

Let alone talking to my classmate properly… now I had to get close to the second prince, what am I supposed to do?

To protect the second prince, she must get close to him. But he was in the third year while Monica was in the second year. There's already a difference in grade, to begin with.

If Louis really wanted me to be the second prince's secret guard, he should have at least transferred me in the same grade as him. Well, if he really needs a reliable guard, he should have sent a man. I mean, boys' and girls' dorms were located separately.

Although Louis Miller acted so outrageous and has an awfully bad personality, he himself was very competent.

He also knew that he couldn't fail this mission.

And yet, there were too many holes in the whole plan of "to protect the prince". In the beginning, sending Monica to that school was already reckless.

Maybe Louis has other plans in mind…

Thinking about this, Monica crossed the garden until reached the back of the school building. There, she found a large fence. That place was supposed to be part of the school grounds as well, but because the gate was closed, she can't go any further from this.

There was a sign on the gate that said, "Old garden, currently under maintenance."

If it was this place…

After looking down for the entire morning, Monica lifted her head to look up at the iron fence.

It was pretty tall in its own right, but it was still no more than twice Monica's height.

I think this height was still okay…

Monica made sure that no one was around before she invoked her magic with no chanting.

A small whirlwind swirled around her feet. After manipulating the wind with her magic, she lightly kicked the ground. With just that, her body lightly flying over the iron fence.

This was an application of flight magic which was often used by the Magic Corps. Originally, flight magic was used to fly at high speed, but Monica, who was fatally lacking in a sense of balance and motor skills, was unable to use flight magic. However, she could manage to use it to jump over a height like this.

Even at this height, doing this was still scary.

Holding her throbbing heart, Monica walked quickly through the old garden. This kind of enclosed space was the perfect place to hide.

Although there was a sign saying that the area was under maintenance, the trees were not as desolate as expected. However, there were hardly any flowers around. Apparently, all the flowers had been moved to the flower beds outside. What was blooming here were only autumn wildflowers.

But it is nice and quiet.

Thinking that she would be able to relax here, she felt a little better. Then she began looking for a good stone to sit on.

However, her buoyant steps came to a halt when she turned her gaze at one of the azalea bushes.

Behind it was someone sitting at the edge of the now unused fountain reading some papers. The distance between them made it difficult to see his face, but his beautiful honey-colored hair could be seen.

The man noticed Monica and turned his head.

"Who is there?"

"Hiiek!"

Monica quickly turned around and tried to flee from that place, but her feet stumbled over a stone.

"Hyah!"

Falling down with a loud squeal, nuts slipped out of Monica's pocket before scattered all over the place.

"I…"

As Monica fumbled trying to get up, she heard a chuckled voice over.

"This place is supposed to be locked… Looks like there's some little squirrel lost her way."

Monica began to think in a half panic.

How come there is a person in a place that is off-limits? (she forgot about herself)

The fact he could enter and exit a place he isn't supposed to be was just too suspicious. (she forgot about herself)

Could it be this man was a suspicious person? (she didn't include herself)

—In her confusion, Monica's thought process eventually led her to such conclusions.

Don't tell me this man… is an assassin… who wants to kill His Highness!

Once she started thinking that way, the stack of papers in the man's hand began to look like an assassination order.

Yes, this guy must have been planning his method in this place to assassinate the second prince, or so she thought.

Moreover, assuming this man was an assassin, he would not have overlooked Monica as a witness.

She heard footsteps approaching came closer.

"Hieek!"

Monica, half-crying, created wind with her no-chant magic. Although it was non-lethal magic, the gust of wind which she had created caused the man's body to stagger. The bundle of papers he was holding danced in the wind and scattered harshly like flurry snow.

He held his hair lightly before bent down to pick up something.

The thing the man picked up was not the scattered papers but the nuts that had spilled out of Monica's pocket.

"I think the wind has spilled a few of your snacks."

The man then gently lifted Monica's trembling hand and placed the nuts he had picked in it.

"What can I do for you is to gather back these nuts. Would you forgive me with that, Little squirrel?"

"…….."

The man went on picking up Monica's nuts before he did with his own documents.

If the man was an assassin, he would not have been this kind.

Suddenly, Monica noticed. All of the documents scattered around her feet were filled with numbers. And it was not assassination orders but ledgers.

"I'm… I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"

Monica hurriedly crawled on the ground and gathered up the scattered documents. Fortunately, the ledgers were marked with the dates of the expenditures, so she could figure out the general order by looking at the contents.

While Monica was shuffling through her papers, the man was leisurely gathering her nuts. Apparently, he didn't care much for the documents.

Monica brushed the dirt from the documents then rearranged them in order of date. In the process, her eyes were drawn to the numbers, which was something of a habit. Whenever Monica saw a number line, she couldn't help but follow it with her eyes.

Ah…

After a quick look over the documents, Monica felt her heart was itching.

For Monica, who has always valued numbers more than anything, finding calculations that didn't add up to an answer was uncomfortable. It's akin to a single stain on a perfect painting.

And now the documents Monica had picked up were full of "stains".

"Thanks for picking that up."

With that, the man placed the rest of the nuts in Monica's hand.

Only now did Monica realize it. This man——this young man, just like Monica, was wearing the school uniform. He was a student here.

Monica kept her head down, presented the papers she had picked up to the young man, and said in a shaky voice.

"Thirty…"

"Yes?"

"There were thirty-nine flaws in this calculation."

After saying that, Monica pushed the documents to the young man and turned on her heel to flee from that place.

The young man who had been left behind watched Monica's back in silence for a while, but when she disappeared from sight, he flipped through the documents at hand.

"…thirty-nine flaws?"

The young man muttered and narrowed his blue eyes slightly.