Reincarnated Young Lady Aims to Be an Adventurer - Volume 9 Chapter 143

Translator: NovelMultiverse | Editor: NovelMultiverse

In the early spring, once the pain from my stab wound had subsided and my magical and physical strength had somewhat improved, Alma came to visit the Trundle residence.

“A graduation ceremony?” I asked.

“Yes. You might not be perfectly healed just yet, but I’ll be with you the whole time, so can we please attend together?” said Alma.

“Um, well…” I said, unsure. After all, I had only attended classes until the summer of my second year. With the sudden situation, I was thrust into concerning the emperor, I was never officially expelled, and the school records still showed that I was enrolled.

“I haven’t fulfilled my requirements to graduate,” I said. If I graduated this year, it would be unfair to the students who worked diligently and studied hard for four years.

“Well, I get where you’re coming from, but you do actually have your requirements fulfilled. I checked with the office, and they told me that you had 340 credits completed at the end of your first year. You only need 120 credits to graduate. And you have full mastership in the one-handed sword, the short sword, the spear, and poison – that’s four! Ah, too bad you couldn’t get the bow, too. It would be crazy for you to drop out with a record like that!” said Alma.

“Don’t I have too many absences?” I asked.

“Hmm… Well, yes, that’s true,” said Alma, “Everyone in our class wants to graduate with you, though, Serafi. These past two and a half years, we’ve all been living with a feeling of ‘We’re in the same class as Serafi! We’re comrades of Serafi, and since we’re in the same class, we’re going to help each other out and laugh together soon!’”

“People besides you, Alma?” I asked.

To tell the truth, I was always with Alma, Nick, my sister, and her friends, so I didn’t really remember many classmates’ faces. When I tried to remember them, only the faces of a few boys’ who I was paired with in practical skill lessons crossed my mind.

Alma dug around in her bag, pulled out a neatly folded document on thick paper, and handed it to me. I opened it in silence.

“Wha… th-this has a seal of blood on it!!!”

What was this, the Edo period?

“…That isn’t a seal of blood…” said Lu, “Hey, it says that if they can’t graduate with Sera, everyone will drop out. That’s pretty unreasonable. Well, but then… Considering this is from that crazy boys’ club, I guess something like this would be expected…”

“What the heck have you done!!!” I shouted.

“If this is submitted to the principal, he’s going to go into a panicked frenzy. If we don’t graduate now, we can’t enter the military, and at a time like this – when our military strength is significantly down and the country’s invested so much in our education – every province would be hit hard. And, this, too,” said Alma, now presenting an envelope with the seal of the Kingdom of Judor.

I opened it gingerly with fear, and inside was a letter from the prime minister asking me to participate in the graduation ceremony.

Ever since the new king had ascended the throne, the prime minister had changed. It was Alma’s father. Alma’s papa came from the house of a marquis, and no one could question his social standing.

“Alma-chan, are you really using your family name to sway my decision?” I asked.

“I’ll use anything at my disposal, you know? Now, you really have no choice but to attend, do you?” she said.

Alma had become… stubborn. She left me with no way out of this.

“You’ve got quite a friend, there,” said Lu.

Thank you, Alma.

“All right! Well, then, you can heal faster, now that you’ve got the dance party to look forward to! Here you go, here’s some energizing grass I picked for you this morning! These past two years, I’ve been forced to dance all by myself – it’s been exhausting!” she said.

What? She’s talking about a dance party, now?

◇◇◇

The next day, Mrs. Marcus from the Marcus family and her helper seamstresses came to the drawing-room where there were no men allowed.

“Ze-Zedapioda-sama! Elza-sama!” she blubbered in tears, wailing.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]

Grandma sat down elegantly on the sofa and started giving directions to seamstresses, pointing with her closed fan, saying, “Mrs. Marcus, Serafiona’s lost a lot of muscle, so please retake her measurements. She also has many wounds, so make a design that’s easy to move around in and isn’t constricting. As for the color… what do you want?”

“Black and white, please,” I answered.

I wanted it to be like that memorable dance party from last time.

I undressed to my underwear, lifted my arms to have my measurements taken, and trusted Mrs. Marcus to do her work. She became teary-eyed every time she found another scar on my skin. 

“Mrs. Marcus, how did you know about my condition, already?” I asked her.

“Don’t underestimate townspeople,” she said, “Even when those with strong magical powers fled from the battles at the magical graduate school, the journalists were fired up and stayed for the story.”

“Wow,” both Lu and I remarked.

“One journalist even reported in detail about the crown prince’s ice daggers and the fact that you were hit with hot sand. His fellow reporters found him unconscious at the scene the next day. He said he was able to see your life-and-death battle up until a certain point. He wrote from a hospital bed about what he witnessed from beginning to end and gathered it all in a book. That book is currently a best-selling non-fiction novel in Judor,” she said.

“…Grandma, did you know about this?” I asked.

“The book’s right there. We got an advance copy before it hit the shelves,” she said, pointing with her fan at the shelf with double doors. 

“Wow, to get permission from Elza-san first was very prudent of him,” said Mrs. Marcus.

“Um, what are the contents of the book, exactly?” I asked.

“Its story matches up almost completely with what I’ve heard from Sieg and Kodak,” said Grandma, “It accurately includes all the crying and whining that piece of crap girl did, and I heard that those children who were controlled by her and their parents can’t show their faces around town anymore.” 

“Oh, and also, this book is in two parts. The latter half, since the reporter was unconscious, is written as a fiction,” said Mrs. Marcus.

“Oh,” I said. I was directed to take off my shoes, and had my feet measure, as well.

“Lord Gilan appears in the middle of your predicament while you’re covered in wounds from battling crown prince Schneider, and he starts exchanging blows with him, using his sword. Just in time, the power of your love surrounds Lord Gilan to save him, and he ends up victorious… It’s then revealed that the crown prince Schneider was actually in love with you, Serafiona, and he disappears… Finally, you and Lord Gilan get all lovey-dovey and passionate and start kissing and… Kyaahh!!!” said Mrs. Marcus.

“Kyaahh!!!” the other seamstresses squealed, too.

“Gyahh! What the heck is that!!! Grandma!!!” I complained.

“It’s pretty much dead-on, isn’t it?” she asked.

“Hell, no! Schneider never disappeared! And I wasn’t in passion, I was nearly dead!” I said.

With this story out, I wouldn’t be able to show my face around town, either!

“Serafiona, you have to look at the bigger picture for things like this. How could the truth about the ending of that battle be published? We can’t have it out there that Laruza was controlled and wounded you. The reporter’s being careful to write a favorable ending for us. We need to take that as a positive thing. It’s information control. As the leader of Trundle, you need to understand that this is propaganda tactics for the good of our image,” said Grandma.

“But…” I said.

“It’s been written in a way that allows for a good future for the ascension of Gilbert, as well. The Schudor government is on the verge of a dangerous situation, and we need our beloved Gilbert to have as comfortable of a transition into his kinghood as possible,” she said.

“Y…es…”

“Hahaha, you explain it all away like that, Elza-sama, but you’ve profited a good deal from all this, haven’t you?” asked Mrs. Marcus.

“Of course. The rights to the usage of the Trundle leader’s likeness are not cheap! Hahaha!” said Grandma.

This was all about money, after all!

“Don’t worry about it,” Lu said to me.

“W-we need to at least make sure this publication doesn’t make its way to Galle,” I said.

“Um, excuse me,” said one of the seamstresses, raising her hand.

“I’m originally from Galle, and I’m studying under Madam Marcus, but that book has already been published in Galle and is being sold under the title “Facing Every Manner of Suffering to Protect the Queen, My True Love”. The afterword is by prime minister Liguido and it says, ‘This book details the erring ways of the emperor, and though it may be awkward to face, it compassionately shows the human side of the emperor.’ It’s already the most successful bestseller since the founding of our nation,” she said.

“Liguido!!!” I shouted.

“A blue pendant and blue ring made at the Nilba orphanage has also found great success, being sold as a lovey-dovey kissy-kiss product replicating the Emperor and Serafiona’s things…” said the seamstress.

“Stop it! Stop talking about all of this!” I said.

“Goods? That’s going to be a problem.  We’re going to need to require some negotiations for usage rights…” said Grandma.

“Grandma, you’re missing the point! Gyahh! No!!!”

“Don’t worry about it!” the holy beasts cried out to me.

My wounds reopened, again…[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]