The Demon Prince goes to the Academy - Chapter 260 Part 2

 After class, Ellen walked a little away from me, and Harriet was with Adelia. Naturally, Liana and I led the way.

"You, how did you solve the last problem?"

"Well, roughly..."

If not, I wouldn't be following her like this. Liana seems to have a keen sense of things, but she's also one of those people who doesn't seem to know anything.

"But because of that, it seems to have become like this again..."

She seemed to suspect that there was another accident that she didn't know about, but she didn't ask.

But suddenly flower viewing?

I don't have a hobby for that. When I think about it, Ellen and Adelia are only interested in magic, and it seems like they have nothing to do with flowers in their lives, of course, Harriet might have lived in a palace with a garden, but.

Ellen wouldn't be much different.

"Do you like flowers?"

Liana shook her head at my question.

"Not really? If it was clothes, I don't know."

After all, it's clear that she has no interest in flowers themselves.

So, who is this for?

It's Irene.

In other words, the Han River in Seoul.

When the Rotary Club was located here, there was always something to listen to, but after the headquarters moved, there was nothing in particular to do.

There were many people taking a walk as autumn flowers bloomed along the stream. It was a peaceful world after the death of the demon king.

We saw people enjoying the flowers without any worries. We were also one of them.

We walked along the mountain trail and saw the flowers blooming along the stream. Liana held onto my arm and pointed to a certain type of flower that was in full bloom.

"What kind of flower is that?"

"...It's a cosmos."

"...What? How do you know?"

"Well...it's common knowledge."

Doesn't everyone know what a cosmos is when they come to see flowers?

But it seemed like it wasn't just Liana who didn't know. Everyone looked at me differently.

"What, did you all not know either?"

Adelia scratched her cheek at my question.

"...It's not that we didn't know it was a cosmos..."

"...Is knowing about flowers supposed to be impressive?"

Ellen, Harriet, Adelia, and Liana all nodded their heads.

Well then.

Even as a commoner with no education, it's amazing that I know the names of flowers.

It's ridiculous.

I'm not particularly interested, but I know enough to get by.

Of course, I've tried memorizing flower names and their meanings just to expand my vocabulary. It didn't actually help me with writing, though.

Still, I've managed to memorize the names and meanings of some common flowers.

The ones that everyone knows about.

"What's that?"

"Chrysanthemum."

"And that one?"

"...That's also a chrysanthemum."

"But they're different colours. The one earlier was white and this one is yellow."

"Don't you know that a red and white rose are both roses? Are you really that ignorant?"

"Oh, I see. They do look the same."

It's nothing special, but everyone looks at me as if I'm amazing.

What am I in your minds?

I don't even need to ask. However, for some reason, Liana asked me about the name of an unknown flower that she found interesting.

Even within my limited knowledge of flower names, there were still many flowers whose names I didn't know.

I couldn't tell if they were flowers unique to this world or if they were flowers from my original world whose names I simply didn't know. There were many unknown flowers in any case.

In the end, I didn't know them all. Naturally, there were more things that I didn't know than things that I did know.

But as the sun began to set, everyone's expressions towards me became strange.

They seemed to be looking at me differently than before.

"Why are you guys acting like this? Is it really so amazing that I know the name of some insignificant flowers?"

"Of course it is," said Liana on behalf of everyone else. "The more we look at you, the more mysterious you become."

In the end, it seemed like they didn't take my different side too badly.

For some reason, Harriet's face was red. Though I don't understand why.

These guys...it seems like there has been a misunderstanding somewhere along the line.

I need to destroy this atmosphere once and for all.

"But isn't it strange how we all gather together just to look at reproductive organs?"

"Why?" Everyone seemed curious about what kind of nonsense would come out of my mouth next.

"Well...if you think about it, aren't flowers just plants' reproductive organs?"

To be precise, they're either stamens or pistils but...

I looked out at the field full of wildflowers below us.

"It's kind of funny how we gather together just to look at reproductive organs."

"Oh..."

"As expected from you. You're crazy," said Liana with a smile on her face.

I successfully ruined the atmosphere.

After a brief flower viewing, I wasn't sure if it lifted my mood. Everyone was ready to leave, but Ellen grabbed onto me.

"Just a little longer."

"What?"

Ellen gestured to me.

"Just a little longer. Let's stay."

It was as if she wanted to be alone with me. Everyone else seemed to understand and left us alone without saying anything.

It was an autumn evening when the sun was setting.

We sat on the stairs near the riverbank.

We had been angry with each other.

I would do dangerous things, most of which I couldn't even tell Ellen about. I didn't want to ask for help either.

It was too risky.

Ellen couldn't know even a little bit about what I would do, and if she found out, it wouldn't be that I was doing something dangerous, but that she knew my secret.

I didn't know what would happen after that.

I didn't want to imagine it.

"It's strange."

Ellen said softly.

"What is?"

"If someone is important to you, you should only say good things and do good things for them."

"On the contrary, if someone is too important to you, you end up saying bad things and hurting them."

Ellen looked quietly at the river's calm surface where red waves were hitting against it.

"You're stupid."

"Yeah."

For no reason at all, I threw a rock towards the riverbank. As I watched the small waves ripple away from where they sank into the water under the burning autumn sunset.

"I'm sorry."

"Me too. Sorry."

We apologized to each other.

Ellen leaned her head on me.

It had been a long time since we had done this together.

"Reinhardt."

"What?"

"Aaron Mede. You didn't kill him, did you?"

Ellen already knew about it.

She could have found out even though it was a lie. Aaron Mede's head exploded and he died. There was no way I could have left such scars on him.

I had hidden his body, but Ellen could have seen it anyway.

"What?"

Ellen didn't ask anything more than that.

"When you become a Sword Master, will you tell me your secret?"

Even if I became more than just a Sword Master, I couldn't tell her. 

I couldn't answer anything.