---

After a short date with Instructor Rilya, it was Wednesday.

TIt was bright and early in the morning when Titania came to find me.

To be precise, she pretty much barged into my room.

“Instructor! Are you awake? Instructor Ion~♪”

It was 6 AM.

A bit too early for a day to begin, and most people were still deep in sleep.

But that didn’t apply to me. Thanks to my long military service, I woke up much earlier than others.

I got up at 5 AM for a light jog while patrolling the area, and just as I returned to my room and finished my shower, I heard Titania knocking at the door.

Her knocking sounded more like “bang bang” than a gentle “tap tap.”

“Instructor! Um, are you still asleep? Instructor! Hurry up and wake up! The sun’s already up!”

“Tanya, isn’t this a bit too early…?”

“…I want to sleep again.”

“…”

I could feel a presence of several people outside the door.

I wanted to ignore the knocking, but it seemed Titania had no intention of leaving until I opened the door.

I sighed slightly and opened the door.

It wasn’t just Titania. Had they already finished getting ready this early? Titania, dressed in her outing clothes, along with Gwen and Osnia, who looked like she had been dragged out of bed, were all there.

Titania broke into a bright smile the moment the door opened, but her eyes widened in shock upon seeing me.

“Instructor—eh.”

“W-whoa!”

“E….”

I had just finished my shower, wearing nothing but a towel around my neck.

Maybe it was due to being interrupted in a state of undress, but my voice came out a bit cold.

“What brings you all here at this hour?”

Though I spoke in a chastising tone about the rudeness of students knocking on the instructor’s door at such an early hour, I received no answer.

The three girls just stood there, mouths agape in silence.

Titania, with her smiling expression, had frozen, Gwen was hiding her face, but her eyes peeked out from between her fingers, and Osnia looked as shocked as a baby bird, mouth agape in disbelief.

That moment of silence dragged on for quite a while.

Breaking the long silence, Titania’s face was redder than before as she spoke like a malfunctioning machine.

“A-ah, um… we’ll come back later!!”

She hurriedly shut the door without finding a proper excuse.

The sound of the door closing echoed with the hurried footsteps of the three girls leaving, mixed with almost a scream of embarrassment and shock.

I let out a deep sigh and shook my head. Then I dried my wet hair and put on some clothes.

About thirty minutes later, they returned.

Knock knock—

This time, it was a much quieter knock.

I responded calmly.

“Come in.”

“…Excuse us.”

Titania opened the door slightly, peeking her face through the crack to check on me. Once she confirmed I was properly dressed, she cautiously stepped into the room.

Following her were Gwen and Osnia, who walked in as if nothing had happened.

“What’s going on?”

“Um, today… we made a promise to go watch the festival together…”

“At this early hour?”

“It’s better to go early…! If we wait too long, it’ll be hard to catch the tram…”

Titania’s expression showed a bit of embarrassment about what had just happened, but it was also filled with excitement and anticipation for the festival.

It looked like she had woken up early, too excited about the festival to wait and dragged her friends along to find me.

When I thought back, we had promised to go watch the festival together, but we hadn’t set a specific time.

And considering Titania’s point, when we rode the tram yesterday with Instructor Rilya, there were more people than usual, which made sense to heed her words.

But no matter how excited she was, Titania’s behavior was undoubtedly rude.

I made sure to point that out.

“Next time, make sure to set a specific time for your visit.”

“Yes, I’m sorry… I got too excited, and without realizing it…”

“Just make sure it doesn’t happen again. Wait for me at the main gate. I’ll get ready and head out soon.”

“…Yes!”

Titania couldn’t hide her joy at my words and smiled brightly.

*

Thank goodness nothing problematic happened during the festival outing with the students.

The first day had some commotion while I was patrolling the alleys, but today was purely for enjoying the festival, so I hoped nothing would go awry.

Titania seemed determined to make up for not being able to thoroughly explore the market the last time she was there, spending the whole morning wandering around the Capital City.

Even though we couldn’t possibly see everything in the vast Capital City in one day, we mostly stuck to areas around the busiest central roads.

Of course, that was more than enough to enjoy the festival.

“Instructor Ion! Look over there! What’s that big white thing?”

“It’s an ice sculpture. Looks like it’s carved into a white dragon. They managed to prepare such a large ice block for this season.”

“Wow! Is that the White Dragon Albnisis? Oh! There are so many people gathered over there! What are they doing?”

“That’s dice gambling. Don’t bother with it. They’re all just con artists anyway.”

“Hmm, it didn’t look fun to me either. I was curious about why so many people were gathered, though.”

“…Is that what’s curious?”

“Yes!”

Titania beamed as she replied.

“There aren’t many chances to see so many people in the forest. The fact that so many people gather together to enjoy something is amazing!”

“Don’t elves hold festivals?”

“Hmm… I’m not sure? We do have a festival to pray for our tribe’s well-being, but it’s not as vibrant as this one. Our festivals feel more quiet and serious. So, this festival of humans feels quite refreshing!”

Titania said with a slight regret.

“I wish Marian and Elizabeth could be here together.”

“…”

Unlike these three who could enjoy the festival normally, the higher-status students were not in a position to enjoy the festival right now.

Schurz had seemed to be enjoying the festival up until yesterday, but today it seemed he was off helping his politician father with work. Marian had received a summons from her family and had to stay at home for a few days, so she hadn’t returned to the dorm since yesterday.

As for Princess Elizabeth, that went without saying.

Titania forced a smile.

“But it’s okay! We promised to watch the parade together on the last day.”

“Did we have such a promise?”

“Yes! It was when we were in the lounge last time, briefly. Everyone said they’d figure out a way to make time for it. Elizabeth might find it tough, but she’ll still be around.”

“I see.”

Although other students would mostly be spectators of the parade, Elizabeth would actually be participating.

It didn’t feel real when watching from the dormitories, but after all, she was the princess of this empire.

“We all agreed to watch Elizabeth during the parade. I’m really curious to see what she’ll be like.”

Titania said with shining eyes filled with anticipation.

“You’ll come to watch, right, Instructor?”

“Hmm…”

A parade, huh.

Honestly, I hadn’t planned on going.

There was a high chance I’d run into faces I didn’t want to see, and I’ve never really had much interest in festivals.

If it weren’t for Instructor Rilya or Titania suggesting it, I wouldn’t have gone to watch the festival today. I would have usually focused on my tasks as usual and ignored whatever festival was happening outside.

But I was uncertain if it was okay for just me, the instructor, to skip out on an event that all the students were attending.

I would have liked to ask Instructor Rilya for advice, but after what happened yesterday, it felt a bit awkward to show my face.

“…If I have the time.”

“Really! You have to make time! The Opal Black Class is all gathering there; it won’t be right if Instructor Ion isn’t there!”

I tried to give a vaguely ambiguous answer, but it seemed Titania took it to mean I would definitely attend if I had time.

If I didn’t go to the parade, I could already imagine her being disappointed and asking why I didn’t show.

What should I do to navigate this? While I was lost in thought, Gwen and Osnia returned from washing their hands.

But surprisingly, Gwen was holding a huge bear plushie the size of a human torso.

Titania gasped and asked, “Gwen! What’s up with that bear plushie?”

“Oh, this? I saw some guy cheating with dice over there. So, when I caught him, the guy selling plushies next door thanked me and gave it to me. I was wondering what to do with it, so do you want it, Tanya?”

“Really? Can I have it!?”

“…”

It seemed it was indeed referring to the dice gambling we’d seen earlier.

So, Titania insisted on rewarding Gwen by participating in an archery contest and won first prize, while I spent my time eating all sorts of foods at the nearby stalls.

During that time, Osnia had some minor but cute incidents, like getting swept away by the crowd and ending up rather flustered, but overall it was a normal day without any issues.

That evening, I received a letter from Elizabeth.

It stated that she would be taking the airship on the day of the parade.

Titania was disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to watch Elizabeth up close, but genuinely happy about the fact that she would be on the airship.

Thus, Thursday passed smoothly.

And finally, Friday, the last day of the victory celebration, approached.

 

---