Chapter 136: Adorkable

- Abelis Academy City, Abandoned Classroom, Next Day - Rose's POV –

The rest of the day following my agreement with my aunt and her assertion that she would assign “some” Blackguard to me, was quite normal. Unlike Gilgamesh the rest of the teachers mostly focused on normal 1st day of new school year things, like introductions and group trust/greeting exercises. The types of things that most students would zone out on like 2 Truths and a Lie, apparently brought to this world by a Summoned Hero, and other exercises intended to get the class to interact with each other in a beneficial way. Basically, a boring day.

That night was also much the same as, while I had homework, courtesy of a certain old man, I had already been through his crash course on Magical Theory thus I had a bit of an advantage. I think.

Which is why I was somewhat excited about the second day of school, while I had been through one year already, I had missed out on an enormous portion of the actual school year, for several reasons, so the idea of actually making it through a year in its entirety was extremely appealing. Unfortunately, fate had other plans for me. In the shape of a very nerdy loli gnome currently prostrating herself in front of my while passersby stared at the two of us with interest.

[I AM SO SORRY!] – Gnomish Nerd

[Calm down, first, do you know why I brought you to an abandoned part of the school?] – Rose

[To punish me?] – Gnomish Nerd

[No! I brought you here because everyone was giving me weird looks because of you! I mean seriously what compelled you to literally prostrate yourself on the ground in public like that?!?] – Rose

[B-But I must- Oh?!? Reflexes above normal for age and- No No, that is not why I am here- S-Sorry again.] - Gnomish Nerd

[Don’t worry about it. So, you wanted to apologize right? For what exactly?] - Rose

Embarrassed by entire situation I decided that rumors of me kidnapping a loli first year were much less damaging than definite witnesses to said loli prostrating herself in front of me in public. So, after picking up the much smaller girl under my shoulder, and briefly thinking of how light she was, we found ourselves in a much quieter part of the school. Luckily, my speed was high enough that even if someone tried to follow us, they would have had a tough time keeping up. Although I could have sworn I overheard my new luggage muttering something about muscle definition.

Regardless though after all this it was basically a guarantee that this girl was connected in some way to the Gnomes. Although the question was what she was doing here so blatantly after exposing herself previously. Did they seriously think I would not notice?

[Thank you, U-Umm well you have been told of the Gnomish observation team that will be watching over you from now on, correct?] - Gnomish Nerd

[So, you WERE a part of that then? Why exactly were you watching me before I agreed to it? I’ll at least let you explain yourself since you went out of your way to come to me.] - Rose

[Y-Yes, I’m a new intern under the Professor. My na-name is Ein. As f-for the reason? W-Well I couldn’t hold myself back anymore after I saw you from a distance. It was l-love at first sight.] - Ein

[L-Love?!?] - Rose

L-Love?!? N-No way! B-but the passion in her gaze and her frenzied expression definitely seemed a lot like a certain type of love to me. The dangerous kind to be honest.

[Of course it was! Your pristine physique! Your overwhelming mana signature?!? It’s literally everything I’ve been looking for in my entire life!] - Ein

[B-But love?!? Why me?] - Rose

[It can only be you! I would never be satisfied with anyone else!!! So, what’s your answer?] - Ein

[M-M-My answer?] - Rose

[Please say yes! Ever since I saw you, I knew you were the perfect subject! I promise I-] - Ein

[Wait subject?!?] - Rose

[Y-Yes? I’ll do everything I can to be as unobtrusive as possible! I made a mistake at first because I couldn’t wait for permission but now that you’ve said yes, I’ll do my best to stay out of sight. I’m quite good at watching other people from shadowy corners.] - Ein

Oh gods I’m so embarrassed now! Of course, she meant for her research! B-But can anyone blame me for being flustered?!? I’ve only ever been approached so directly by Karen before so of course I jumped to conclusions. Also, it’s completely her fault for being so vague with everything!

Although I felt like she said something a bit scary there at the end?

[<shudder> C-Can you not? Moving on from that though are you perhaps stupid? You realize that you’ve literally given our side an excuse to ask for more concessions, right?] - Rose

[Oh? I-I mean I’ve never been especially skilled at politics... or talking. …or really much of anything outside of my research.] - Ein

[Haaaaaah... Well while I will let my Au- Q-Queen Laura de la Abelis know of this I’ll at least ask for you to be given some leniency since you weren’t doing it maliciously.] - Rose

[Really? Aunt Gorvi chewed my ear out when she learned what I did so I wasn’t sure what to do if I was reassigned... Oh?!? Maybe you could ask her to forgive me?] - Ein

[Gorvi? Wait do you mean Councilwoman Gorvi?!? The person that this agreement was with to begin with?!?] - Rose

[Yup, boy am I glad that she’s in the Labyrinth City. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to sit down for days. My poor behind didn’t recover for a full week the last time I made a big blunder like this. Lucky!] - Ein

Cute. The guts pose that she did when she talked about her near miss at what I assume would have been a pretty severe spanking, when paired with her petite build, was probably one of the most adorable things I’d ever seen. But still, to think that one of the people assigned to observe me was also the niece of the person that had set this entire thing up to begin with. If Ein was a little less awkward or a bit more composed, I might have even thought that she might be manipulating me so far, but the dorky Gnome was literally a bundle of curiosity packaged in a nervous ball of introverted nervousness. Plus, from what I’ve heard Gnomes are very rarely particularly skilled politicians and even less skilled at manipulation. Honestly, the only reason that they kept anything secret was because they had intellectual curiosity in specific things. It was pretty well known that a bored Gnome was also a loose lipped Gnome. Basically, this adorkable Cinnamon Roll was almost certainly telling the truth when she said that her early observation had been because of her inability to hold herself back. Still this entire thing had definitely been seen by the Black Guard that were keeping an eye on me which meant my Aunt already knew of it. The question was, what would I do about it...?

[Haah... okay let’s go speak with my Aunt then. I’m sure she’ll answer if I call her on the image stone.] - Rose

[Oh? Lucky! But we might want to wait a few minutes though.] - Ein

[Hmm? Why?] - Rose

[Oh, Aunt Gorvi said she was going to talk with your Queen to inform her of my blunder. Oh, and renegotiate, I guess?] - Ein

[You science idiot! That means we’re too late! Not that I particularly care but you’ll probably be reassigned at minimum. Even jailed depending on how it goes!] - Rose

[Wait reassigned?!? Nooo! Anything but that! Death first!!!] - Ein

[That’s the worst possibility?!? Nevermind let's go!] - Rose

Deciding to take pity on the awkward nerd that reminded me of a less outgoing Karen I nearly swallowed my words because of how little recognition the dork had of the danger she was in. Sure, it wasn’t like she’d be punished overly much, being related to a high-ranking politician, but this incident involved an international agreement and was predicated on the continued happiness of the subject. In this case, me. From the way Auntie had reacted yesterday it was likely that she’d be particularly heavy handed in her demands, especially when I was the involved party. Regardless we needed to hurry so I could minimize the damage. Sure, it didn’t particularly bother me if what was essentially a complete stranger was punished for her stupidity but over the course of our conversation, I’d at least established that Ein was both completely uninvolved in politics and, most importantly, a good person. Although a bit socially awkward she’d definitely get along with our own science nerd and Karen could always use more peers to anno- I mean talk shop to.

- Abelis Academy City, Image Stone Room - Queen Laura's POV –

After hanging up the Image Stone the night before I’d spent a substantial part of the rest of the day setting up a much more intensive protective detail for my beloved niece. Sure, the event was likely benign and, considering how well I knew my peer in the Gnomish Council, was almost certainly an honest mistake, that only applied to this specific incident. Originally, I’d ordered Black Guard to keep an eye on my niece whenever she left the Academy and in between classes, I’d also ordered them to avoid detection and inconveniencing Rose as much as possible. Unfortunately, this seemed to have backfired and ended with Rose being made aware of the existence of observers before it was agreed to. It was extremely lucky that this was all that had happened honestly.

Unsurprisingly though I’d only had to wait a single day before a request for communication came through from the Gnomish Council. The caller? My old friend Councilwoman Gorvi.

[So, what you’re telling me is that all of this fuss was caused by your overeager niece? Do you truly expect us to leave it at that? You know how bad this looks on how well you’ll follow through on the rest of your agreements correct? How do you plan to reassure us of your commitment after this blatant lack of discipline within your ranks?] - Queen Laura

[Hah.... what do you want?] - Councilwoman Gorvi

[Glad to see that you see reason. Don’t worry, because of our friendship I’ll make this as painless as possible. First, we’ll leave the decision of whether to continue our agreement up to my niece. And if she decides to drop out, we’ll still have access to the previously agreed upon magic item after you’ve finished analyzing it.] - Queen Laura

[Understood. I agree to this, you had more, correct?] - Councilwoman Gorvi

[Yes, my second request is that you allow my own selected scholars to aid yours in their research as well as allow a few of our younger members to learn with your own. I think you’ll find this more or less beneficial to both our parties of course despite it being a result of your blunder.] - Queen Laura

[I... agree to this as well. Is that all or did you have more?] - Councilwoman Gorvi

[This will be the last one I promise. I’ll decline the right to demand your niece be punished for her actions and instead will leave what happens to her to my niece. She’s the affected party and deserves a say in its outcome. Somehow, I doubt that she’ll be too harsh with her though so don’t worry.] - Queen Laura

[I appreciate your clemency. My niece may be politically inept but she’s not malicious as I’m sure your niece will realize when they meet.] - Councilwoman Gorvi

[I’m sure that she wi- Oh speak of the devil she seems to be calling me right now. Do you mind waiting while I connect her to our pair?] - Queen Laura

[Please. I’m quite looking forward to meeting this child that you, of all people, speak so highly of.] - Councilwoman Gorvi

The bitter look on the older Gnome’s face as I laid out my demands gradually softened as she realized that, at least in this, I was trying to focus more on getting mutually beneficial arrangements. Ones that she would have been reluctant to grant mind you, but this breach of contract had been a relatively minor one so I couldn’t push her too far. Plus, this would give the older woman an excuse to increase cooperation between our peoples.

Despite their general disinterest in politics in general, some of her peers WERE actually fairly active in their movements and a small number of the loud ones were critical of any involvement of any kind with outsiders. Their group believed that Gnomish matters should be separated from the meddling of outside parties and were opposed to the group that Councilwoman Gorvi belongs to that advocated for the Gnomish Council to adopt a more involved stance with their surrounding countries. It was to the point that I even briefly considered whether this “mistake” may have been intentional, or at the very least guided. Afterall if her niece was young enough to have so little control over her curiosity it was unlikely that she would have been chosen for such an important collaboration in normal circumstances. The fact that she was, and that the Councilwoman seemed to understand exactly why she’d done what she did was a huge hint to that possibility. Regardless though it was a welcome opportunity so whether it was intended or not I’d push forward with further ingratiating my old friend.