The next morning, I was getting ready to meet Odeta in front of her dormitory like I had promised her to go to school together.
Katsuki was in the midst of combing my hair while I was humming contentedly.
“Mistress?”
“Hmm~ Hmm~ Ah? What is it, Katsuki?”
“If I may, could I ask who was the girl who was accompanying you yesterday?”
It took me a moment to realise who she was talking about.
“Do you mean Odeta? I met her a few years ago! She was part of a Mercenary party that was under attack from a wyvern so I jumped in and saved them. Things happened and I gave her a place to stay and she feels indebted to me I guess?”
“I see… I thought she might be intimidating Mistress somehow with her strength…”
I giggled, “Oh she might look like that but she’s actually my age you know? That means she’s younger than you, Katsuki! Don’t worry, she’s a cutie~ But you’re still cuter though!”
“Eh? Ah… Umm… Thank you Mistress!”
Ahhh! Look at how her tail is wagging!! She’s soooo cute!! Can I fluff her? I simply must fluff her before I go!
And fluff her I did.
I thoroughly enjoyed sinking my face into that soft, infinitely fluffy tail on Katsuki’s before finally leaving for the dormitory with a spring in my step.
Before I left, I ran into Mother and had to be cuddled by her for a bit before she finally let me go.
If she knew about Odeta, she did not say anything about her. Although I believe she was more interested in cuddling me than the Amrap at that moment.
Thankfully, Mary had helped me avoid running late by using her Astromancy to teleport me near the dormitory so I didn’t have to fly there.
There, already standing in front of the entrance, was Odeta all dressed up and waiting for me.
Well, I say dressed up but she’s pretty much just wearing her usual wraps around her chest and waist with the school blazer draped over her shoulder. At least the wraps seemed to be made out of a different material this time.
“Sister Aster!” She bellowed out when she saw me while waving enthusiastically.
I winced internally at how that got the attention of all the other people nearby but I managed to keep it from showing on my face. Already most of them had recognised who I was and were staring from a distance away.
I walked up to her with a smile, “Sorry, did I make you wait long?”
“Ehehe~ Not at all! I just got ready too!”
“Fufu~ Shall we get going then?”
“Alright!”
She then squatted down and showed me her back which confused me on what she was trying to do.
“Err… What are you doing, Odeta?”
“Eh? Letting you ride on my shoulders of course! Big sister Ardi used to take me to school like this so I thought I could do it for sister Aster too!”
I giggled, “Ah, that might be a little problematic for me since I’m not that small in size. And it’s err… A little embarrassing for me…”
She stood up with a hint of blush on her face, “Oh… I see… Umm… Sorry, I didn’t think about that…”
Oh, looks like she really wanted to do that with me.
I reached up and patted her head, “Next time when we’re alone, I’ll let you carry me, ok? For now, why don’t we walk to school together?”
She perked up almost immediately upon hearing my words, “Eh? Ah! Let’s go, sister Aster!!”
The two of us then set off on the road towards the school joining the rest of the students that were also leaving the dormitory Odeta was staying in on their way to school. Since it was a girls’ dormitory, naturally all the students on this road were female as well.
Already I could see some of the students looking in our direction and whispering amongst themselves, especially those that were attracted by Odeta’s greeting earlier.
Ah… That’s not good… I’ve forgotten one of the things I wanted to prevent from happening when I entered this school… The thing where I get isolated from the rest of the school…
Ugh… But can I say that it’s worth it? It’s not like this time I would be completely alone in the first place considering I have Odeta with me.
Oh well, it’s not like I’ve never experienced isolation before so I can deal with this, I’m sure these students were all intimidated by the challenge and won’t be willing to approach me anymore.
“So… So pretty…”
“Is she really the special student of our year?”
“Of… Of course she is! How can anyone else be as cool!”
“Do you think she’s a noble?”
“She has to be, just look at the way she’s walking… She’s so refined!”
“Do you think she’ll let me call her big sister?”
“Ah! No fair! I want to call her big sister too!”
Eh?
What’s with the contents of these girls’ whispers? Are they ok in the head? Why are they reacting like this? Maybe they’re all masochists?
What the heck, I can’t process this right now…
“What classes do you have today, sister Aster?” Odeta asked, breaking me out of my thinking.
“Ah… I have a lesson in Pyromancy, Iatromancy and then Umbramancy in the late afternoon followed by a class in Lumenmancy.”
“Ehhh… That means I don’t share any classes with you today…” She pouted.
“Fufu~ I can see you at lunch time if you want? Did you bring any food?”
She looked at me, surprised, “Eh? Isn’t there a school cafeteria for that?”
“Oh, I did bring some food with me so I was wondering if you want to share it with me?”
Well, that’s a half lie considering I definitely do not have any food on me but Katsuki told me that she would be delivering it to me during lunch time so I didn’t need to worry.
I did ask why I couldn’t just bring it with me to school and her answer was “Letting Mistress eat food that was not freshly prepared would sully my role as your personal maid.”
How reliable~
“Eh?! Is it sister Aster’s cooking?! I haven’t eaten sister Aster’s cooking in a long time! I’ll definitely be there!”
Again, the whispers around me started once more.
“Uwaaa… I’m so jealous…”
“I want to eat big sister’s cooking too…”
“Do you think she will eat mine?”
“Her palate must be so refined…”
Ahem…
I wanted to tell Odeta that the cooking wasn’t mine but that would give away too much at this time… I guess I’ll see if I can let Katsuki and her meetup and I’ll tell her the truth behind my family then.
As I said, hiding such secrets wouldn’t do me any good in the long run anyway so I might as well just come clean as soon as I could.
Maybe once I did, I could ask if she’s interested in moving out of her dorm to stay with me?
If everything goes as planned, Odeta might be accompanying me to see the rest of the World since she promised me that when we first met. Although whether she still remembers it or not is another question but I highly doubt she would pass up a chance like that anyway.
Oh well, we’re going to spend six years in this school anyway and by the time we graduate we will be full adults so we still have plenty of time to consider our options.
Maybe I might change my mind, settle down, start a farm and maybe… Yeah, definitely no chance of that happening!
I want my sweets!! I’m going to go look around this World for all the sweets in existence and then write the most epic book in existence!!
Ehehehe~ Sweets~
Odeta suddenly gasped beside me, “Oh no! I was so excited to meet with sister Aster that I almost forgot! Here!”
She dug out something from her satchel and passed it into my hand.
Inspecting it, I realised that it was a small, round ball the size of a marble.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Heh heh, put it in your mouth! Trust me, you’ll like it!”
Hmm… Alright then.
I popped it into my mouth and I realised almost instantly what it was.
Candy!! Oh the sweetness spreading through my mouth! It’s so good!! And this feeling of it melting away and spreading out on my tongue! Ahhh!
Eh?! It’s changing flavours too?! Oh!! This is a gobstopper slash jawbreaker!
I turned to her with wide eyes, wanting to know just how and where she got this, “What is this sweet?”
“It’s a candy quite popular with Amraps! You just pop it in your mouth and start crunching!”
Eh? Wait a minute… They’re called jawbreakers for a reason you know?
But as though to prove her point, Odeta popped one of those candies into her mouth and bit down on it and the sound of the candy being crushed could be heard.
Maybe they are made differently here?
I tried to bite down on the candy and… The sweet broke apart and I could feel a multitude of different flavours flood my mouth.
Ahhhh!! This is the happiest day of my life!!!
“Hehe~ If sister Aster likes it, I can ask big sister Ardi to bring more over when she comes to visit!”
I grabbed her arm, “Please!!”
“Ehehe! Leave it to me!”
Ahhh!! I love you so much!!
Ah… Crap. That was improper of me… And I didn’t realise this but we’re at the school gates now so there were even more students around us… Surely these people would now start to see me as some weirdo and–
“Big sister likes sweets! Write that down! Write that down!”
“Ahhh! So she can look both refined and cute! She is the best!
“Both strong and pretty! She really is the noblest of nobles!”
Wh… Why are they like this?! Is everyone here all weird? Is this some common sense that I don’t know about? Is this… Ah…
Wait, wait… I think I know why… This the difference in reaction when the other party looks like a beautiful girl, isn’t it?
Ok… Umm… Task failed successfully I guess?