The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent – 27
EP.27 First Impressions (2)
Charlotte was a French name that was often pronounced differently in English. While the French pronunciation was ‘shar-LOHT’ with a silent ‘e’ and an aspirated ‘t,’ the English pronunciation was ‘shar-lut’ with a short ‘u’ and a non-aspirated ‘t’.
Sure, there may not be any ill will between the Aetherna Empire and the Kingdom of Velbur right now—at least not on the surface. But no matter how friendly things may seem, calling someone by your country’s version of their name without their permission was still rude.
In the original story, it took a long time for friends to start calling Charlotte in French pronunciation. They only did so after becoming very close, and Charlotte herself suggested they call her that. When the Aetherna Empire officially began its invasion of Velbur, Charlotte leaves the group and explicitly asked them not to call her Charlotte in French version anymore.
So, this situation was surprising.
… Could they have gotten this close after just that one meeting?
“Are you Princess Sylvia? It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Charlotte greeted me politely, looking at me next to Alice.
I hesitated for a moment, debating whether I should stand up or not. In the end, I decided not to. After all, we were both students here, and I’d agreed to that idea. Even though in reality we weren’t equals, treating it that way would make it easier to get along with the other students in the long run.
“I am Sylvia Fangriffon.”
“I’ve heard about you.”
Charlotte smiled warmly.
“You came as the Empire’s representative instead of His Majesty the Emperor last time. My father spoke highly of you.”
Wait, not gossiping behind my back?
Considering how rudely I’d acted, it wouldn’t have been strange if he’d cursed me out behind my back.
Moreover, that trilateral conference was known among those aware of it as a session where the kingdom got completely outplayed.
The empire sent me, a princess, and the pope sent a cardinal, but the kingdom had sent their king himself. From the kingdom’s perspective, it was a gesture of consideration since the meeting was held in the kingdom, but I doubted the high-ranking nobles saw it that way.
The Empire was a superpower capable of crushing other nations’ militaries, so that was expected. As for the Church, even though its territory was tiny, its global influence was enormous. While the Holy Church might not be the model for all religions, it did have the most followers as a single faith.
Moreover, the cardinals and priests of the Church of the Goddess were all citizens of the Papal State. It might have seemed like a mere formality, but the more followers a country had, the greater the influence of its clergy.
The Kingdom of Velbur, which was one of the countries that ceded some of its land to form the Papal State, had an extremely high percentage of Church of the Goddess followers. While it was not the only religion, it was probably the largest single faction.
So, the Kingdom couldn’t just ignore the Papal State’s influence.
However, sending Charlotte to that meeting wouldn’t have been appropriate either.
In fact, the details of that meeting were barely disclosed. For the Kingdom, that was probably a blessing, considering how badly it went for them. But the fact that Charlotte was bringing up the meeting and making it public knowledge meant that Charlotte’s head must be filled with all sorts of… flowery thoughts.
…No, that couldn’t be it.
She was too kind, incapable of deceit. But just because someone was kind didn’t mean they were not smart.
Charlotte was the type of person who could get along with everyone, yet she also knew how to choose the most important people to stay close to. She was someone who moved for the benefit of her people, meaning that when necessary, she could handle unpleasant tasks with grace. Of course, she wouldn’t hide the fact that she disliked it.
“…I see.”
In that sense, Charlotte didn’t seem to harbor any overtly negative feelings toward me just yet. However, I noticed that her expression slightly differed when she spoke with Alice compared to when she spoke with me. Her clear, ash-gray eyes locked onto mine, steady and unwavering, as if she were trying to read my intentions.
“I had many conversations with Alice back then. Your name, Sylvia, came up several times.”
Ah-LEES. The French pronunciation of Alice.
I see. So, they called each other that way back then.
“…”
“I-I didn’t say anything bad!”
Alice stammered, her face turning a light shade of red when I looked in her direction.
“Yes, absolutely. I can assure you, we never spoke ill of you, Sylvia. I swear it.”
“I believe you.”
I replied, looking up at Charlotte.
“Although it is a bit late to ask for permission, I heard that it is a school rule to set aside our statuses and speak to each other by name. Would it be a bother to call you by your name?”
“Not at all.”
I answered again.
If Charlotte had indeed decided that Alice was someone worth befriending, then getting along with me would naturally follow. Given the circumstances, it seemed likely that Alice and I would spend quite a bit of time together, and wherever Alice went, I would inevitably run into Charlotte as well.
Charlotte, still watching me intently, tilted her head slightly in curiosity.
“Are you always this quiet?”
“…Yes.”
I replied.
While I might be more talkative in front of Alice, I tried to speak as little as possible in front of others. Of course, since Charlotte was one of the main characters in the original story, she was on my list of people I wanted to befriend. But breaking my expressionless facade from the first meeting wouldn’t set the right tone.
…Did this make me seem too obsessed with maintaining my persona?
“Um, excuse me.”
As we were talking, someone else interrupted. I didn’t need to look to know who it was.
Claire seemed to be quite certain that I was who she thought I was. In the original story, she had this oddly persistent side to her, and it seemed that personality trait hadn’t changed.
“Sylvia?”
I turned to see Claire standing there, with Leo beside her, looking quite uneasy. It was as if Leo felt out of place, standing in the presence of two princesses and a queen’s daughter, all speaking confidently to each other. But if you think about it, this whole scene had a distinct feel of a harem novel introduction, didn’t it? The clumsy younger sister without much tact, and the older brother, following her around, trying to keep things under control, only to gradually grow closer to her friends… It was not like I could think of any specific story that followed this exact pattern, though.
“…Claire.”
I decided to clear my mind and not dwell on it.
“Ah, sorry, were you guys in the middle of a conversation?”
Claire asked, her tone a bit hesitant.
“No, it’s alright.”
Charlotte responded, gracefully tucking a strand of her shining silver hair behind her ear.
“We were just getting to know each other. I was just greeting someone I’ve known. Though, it seems I don’t know many people here.”
“Oh, are you from abroad?”
Claire asked.
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Charlotte lightly pinched the front of her skirt, mimicking the gesture Claire had shown Alice and me earlier, though Charlotte’s was far more elegant. Not that Claire had done it poorly, of course—it was just the difference between someone to whom such gestures came naturally and someone who was still learning.
“My name is Charlotte de Velbur.”
“—Gurk!”
Suddenly, a strangled sound broke through, drawing the attention of the four of us to the source.
It was Leo, both hands clamped over his mouth, looking as if he were barely holding back a scream.
“De Velbur…?”
He managed to stammer.
“Yes. I am the princess of the Kingdom of Velbur.”
Charlotte replied, her voice playful. She seemed amused by Leo’s dramatic reaction.
It might seem odd for the son of a baron to not recognize a neighboring kingdom’s princess. But in this world, unlike in the 20th century, photography had yet to replace portraits as the standard. Here, having a photograph taken was seen as rather vulgar, especially among royalty and nobility.
Even though photos were cheaper and faster to make than portraits, portraits had the advantage of being in color and being more artistic. Also, it wasn’t that photos weren’t taken at all, but putting them in newspapers was a different thing entirely.
If a noble’s photograph appeared prominently in the newspaper, someone could easily cut it out and use it for mocking or insulting purposes. This was a time when words like “freedom” and “democracy” were only just starting to emerge, but both the empire and the kingdom still operated under monarchies. Press control was strict, and who knew what would happen in another fifty years?
Even with the introduction of modern, thin film and portable cameras earlier this year, pictures of nobility or royalty were rarely published in newspapers. This created a gap in information, leading to situations where one might know a name but not a face—just like Leo right now.
“Charlotte, huh?”
Claire repeated.
Maybe Leo deserved some praise for not making another awkward sound after Claire’s remark.
“I’m Claire. Claire Grace. The eldest daughter of the Baron Grace.”
In terms of the setting, Claire was actually older than Leo by birthdate, though I doubted anyone here would know that. The only reason I did was because I had memorized the story’s lore to that level of detail.
“I see.”
Charlotte said with a polite nod.
Charlotte wouldn’t know about the Grace Barony. It wasn’t as if she had the leisure to memorize the names of nobles from a neighboring country. However, she was far from the type to foolishly disregard a noble from another nation either.
“Nice to meet you, Claire.”
“Yes!”
Claire responded enthusiastically, wearing an expression that seemed to say, ‘I’ve already made three friends!’ However, Leo, standing beside her, looked as if his heart was about to give out.
“…So, may I ask why you wanted to speak to me?”
I asked, curious about Claire’s earlier interruption.
“Oh, right.”
Claire clapped her hands together as if she had remembered something important.
“I was wondering if you had time after class—”
But before Claire could finish her sentence…
Bang!
The classroom door burst open. It was opened so forcefully that the usual sliding sound was skipped. There was only one person in the original game who would throw open a door like that.
“Everyone!”
A voice shouted.
Standing there was a woman, possibly in her mid-twenties, with wild, untamed black hair and arms crossed over her chest. She wore the uniform of an imperial officer, but several buttons of her inner shirt were undone, and a coat was draped over her shoulders like a cape. Four medals hung from her coat.
“Outside!”
She ordered.
Even though the class bell hadn’t yet rung, there was only one person in this academy who could speak so boldly. Jennifer Winterfield, the rebellious granddaughter of the headmaster and the homeroom teacher of Class B.
*
We hadn’t even finished enjoying our break when we followed the teacher outside to the field. Just as we reached it, the bell rang—ding, dong, dang—its hollow sound echoing through the academy. The students were visibly annoyed, but I wasn’t surprised. I had expected that our first meeting with Jennifer would go something like this.
The field was empty. Even though there were physical education classes, no teacher would gather students outside for exercise on the first day.
Jennifer, despite wearing a military uniform and speaking like a soldier, didn’t teach in a military style. She didn’t care if the students were loosely scattered around or not in perfect lines.
“Proud students of the academy!”
Jennifer shouted from the podium without a microphone, gathering us roughly. Her voice was loud enough to make our ears ring.
In the game, her dialogue font would grow huge in situations like this, and the students would be shown covering their ears or looking shocked. It was no different now—Alice was frowning, and even Charlotte furrowed her brows.
“I am Jennifer Winterfield, the tactical instructor here to hone your combat abilities!”
That’s right. A tactical instructor.
Since this academy also functioned as a kind of military training academy, classes like this existed.
“But no matter how much I teach you the tactics written in books, if you lack the ability to follow them, it’s useless. And the tactics needed in a battlefield change depending on the weapons and the proficiency of the soldiers using them. So!”
As her voice softened, the students began to relax slightly, but then Jennifer suddenly shouted again, making everyone flinch.
“I will assess your skills! To see what weapons you prefer and how you handle them! Right here and now!”
Clap!
Jennifer clapped her hands together energetically.
“And the best way to measure your weapon handling skills and proficiency is through a duel!”
Jennifer grinned widely.
“You’ll be provided with any weapon of your choice, so give it your best shot!”