Then Elysia said with a smile,
“Shall we go to the dining hall? Do you want a little soup?”
I immediately lifted my head.
‘I do.’
Elysia gave a small laugh at my reaction.
“Mm. I thought so.”
I pointlessly turned my gaze away.
No, when you’re tired, you can’t help getting hungry.
As we headed for the dining hall, the corridors of the central district were much quieter than before.
It was nearly the end of lunchtime.
The area in front of the student cafeteria, which would normally be crowded with students, was now sparse.
When we opened the door and went in, only a few students remained here and there in the spacious hall.
Most of them had finished eating and were getting up from their seats,
while a few hurriedly stuffed the last pieces of bread into their mouths and checked their watches to see if they were late for class.
Over by the serving counter, the kitchen ladies were covering the lids of large pots and putting away used ladles and bowls.
Some were mopping the floor, and others were transferring leftover food into separate containers.
In short, it already felt like closing time.
I watched the scene from within Elysia’s arms and lowered my ears a little.
‘……Ah.’
I felt needlessly sorry.
What if they had to prepare food again because of me?
Wouldn’t it be like stopping people who were already trying to clean up?
It had been like that in my previous life too.
Going into a restaurant right before closing always made me feel self-conscious.
Of course, this was the academy cafeteria, and students could eat within the designated hours,
but still, asking for “soup, please” in front of people who were already cleaning up felt a bit awkward.
I curled up slightly in Elysia’s embrace.
‘I don’t have to eat.’
Perhaps that thought had traveled through our resonance, because Elysia stopped walking.
She looked down at me.
“Haku.”
I pretended not to know and averted my gaze.
Elysia’s eyes softened a little.
“Do you feel sorry?”
‘……A little.’
“It’s all right. But we shouldn’t ask carelessly, so let’s ask politely.”
After saying that, Elysia slowly approached the serving counter.
One of the kitchen ladies who had been cleaning up recognized Elysia and lifted her head.
“Oh my, Lady Valerion. Have you not eaten yet?”
“I have. It’s just……”
Elysia carefully lifted me up in her arms.
“Haku seems a little tired after going to the Holy Radiance Council.
Would you happen to have any leftover soup or soft bread? If you’re in the middle of cleaning up, it’s all right.
I’m not trying to impose.”
Her tone was courteous.
There was no sense at all that she was flaunting her status as the daughter of a duke.
If anything, she seemed cautious, trying not to trouble people who were already cleaning up.
The kitchen lady looked at me and widened her eyes.
“Oh my, so this child is Haku?”
At those words, another lady who had been putting away dishes nearby turned her head.
“Oh my, he really is small.”
“He’s even fluffier than I heard.”
I instinctively burrowed a little deeper into Elysia’s arms.
No, is this starting again?
But the look in the ladies’ eyes felt a little different from the students’ enthusiasm.
They did find me cute, but it was warmer and more relaxed.
The kitchen lady wiped her hands on her apron and smiled brightly.
“It’s all right. There’s still a little chicken soup left.
It just so happens we made some that isn’t too salty, so it should be fine for Haku too.”
Elysia lowered her head slightly, as if relieved.
“Thank you. Please only give as much as won’t be a burden.”
“A burden? Not at all. Do you know how much we’ve heard about Haku in the cafeteria these past few days?”
‘Even in the cafeteria?’
My ears perked up.
The kitchen lady laughed as she took out a small bowl.
“The students from the Magic Knight Faculty were saying so.
That Lady Valerion’s familiar eats soup well.
That he likes soft bread crumbs more than hard crust, and turns his head away if it’s too salty.”
I froze for a moment.
Even that had become a rumor?
Elysia looked a little surprised too.
“Even stories like that have spread?”
“Of course. You wouldn’t believe how much the students talk about Haku while they eat.
Which faculty got to pet him today, whether his ears moved, whether he yawned.”
I silently stared at the floor.
I have no privacy.
I don’t know if privacy is the right word for a fox, but anyway, I don’t have any.
The kitchen lady chuckled and ladled soup into the bowl.
Then she tore the soft inside of some bread into small pieces and placed them beside it.
“Here you go. I let it cool a little so it wouldn’t be too hot.”
Elysia lowered her head again.
“Thank you very much.”
“It’s fine. In exchange, may I just watch once to see if Haku eats well?”
Elysia looked down at me.
“Haku, is that okay?”
I looked at the ladies for a moment.
They were all expectant.
But they didn’t crowd in oppressively.
They were simply standing a little way off, quietly wanting to see whether I would eat.
In the end, I gave a small nod.
“Thank you, Haku.”
Elysia sat down at one of the empty seats.
Perhaps because lunchtime was ending, there were hardly any people around.
She set me down on her lap and placed the small plate in front of me.
The warm scent of soup rose up.
It was the gentle smell of chicken and vegetables that had been simmered for a long time.
It definitely didn’t smell strongly salty.
I carefully licked a mouthful.
It was good.
No, it was quite tasty.
Perhaps because I had been tense at the Holy Radiance Council until just now,
when the warm soup entered my mouth, I felt my body slowly relax.
I licked it a few more times.
Then the faces of the kitchen ladies watching from afar lit up.
“He’s eating.”
“Oh my, he eats so well.”
“He’s so small, but so well-behaved.”
‘Is this really something to be that moved about?’
I muttered inwardly, but I didn’t slow down my pace of eating the soup.
Elysia smiled faintly as she watched me.
“Is it good?”
I nodded.
Elysia spoke toward the kitchen.
“He says it’s good.”
“Oh my, really?”
“Haku nods when he likes something.”
“My goodness, he really is clever.”
I briefly paused while licking the soup.
Again.
Over the past few days, my evaluation had been piling up in increasingly strange directions.
Cute.
Soft.
Clever.
Noble.
Warm.
Officially protected.
At this point, I was almost afraid of what they would attach to me next.
Just then, a few students passing by the dining hall door spotted us and stopped short.
“Oh, it’s Haku.”
“He was still in the dining hall.”
“Didn’t he go to the Holy Radiance Council?”
The moment the students’ gazes started gathering this way, Elysia quietly lifted her head.
“Haku is resting right now.”
Her voice was gentle, but clear.
The students immediately stopped.
“Ah, yes.”
“We’ll just look from far away.”
“Haku, good work.”
Good work, huh.
I didn’t know what exactly I had worked so hard at, but at least it wasn’t a bad thing to say.
The students quietly waved and left the dining hall.
Only after they had gone did Elysia turn her gaze back to me.
“Are you all right?”
‘Yeah.’
I licked a little more soup.
I could hear the kitchen ladies starting to clean up again.
The clatter of dishes, the sound of running water, the sound of chairs being arranged.
The dining hall was gradually growing quieter.
That quietness wasn’t bad.
Since morning, I had attended class, been petted by students, gone to the Holy Radiance Council, and even sat through an official meeting.
I had talked about Richard’s matter, and an odd system called the Haku Contact Regulations had been created.
It was understandable that I’d be mentally tired.
Maybe that was why the warm soup tasted even better.
Elysia stroked my back very slowly.
“You worked hard today, Haku.”
I lifted my head.
Elysia’s blue-gold eyes were a little softer than usual.
“Thanks to what you told me, Richard’s matter won’t just be brushed aside.”
‘You’re the one who said it.’
“But Haku told me first.”
As she said that, she carefully scratched behind my ear.
For a moment, my eyes nearly half-closed.
Dangerous.
This body is far too honest.
I pointlessly pretended to focus on the soup plate.
Then Elysia laughed softly.
“And it was good that you asked the Holy Radiance Council president that question too.”
‘I was just curious, so I asked.’
“Even so. I learned again about things I didn’t know well either. Like the fact that there’s a separate fourth-year advisory group.”
Elysia seemed to sink into thought for a moment.
“The academy is more complicated than I expected. Faculties, Crowns, the Holy Radiance Council, noble houses, professors……
It isn’t a place where simply attending class well is enough.”
There was a very faint sense of burden mixed into those words.
The daughter of Duke Valerion.
Class A of the Magic Knight Faculty.
The first Crown examination soon to come.
And an odd familiar named Haku.
Many gazes were already gathering around Elysia as well.
I finished the soup and lifted my head from the plate.
Then I looked up at her and thought,
‘Still, you’re doing well.’
Elysia’s hand stopped.
It seemed my thought had reached her.
Her eyes widened for a moment, and then she smiled ever so slightly.
“……Thank you.”
I averted my gaze.
For some reason, it felt embarrassing.
Just then, the kitchen lady came over to collect the empty bowl.
“Did you finish it all?”
I nodded.
“Oh my, the plate is clean. Would you like more?”
More.
I hesitated for a very brief moment.
I felt like I could still fit a little more in my stomach.
But asking for more from people who were already cleaning up was a bit……
Perhaps sensing my hesitation, Elysia asked in my place.
“If it truly wouldn’t be a problem, could we have just a tiny bit more?
It seems Haku wants to eat more, but if you’re in the middle of cleaning up, it’s all right.”
The kitchen lady smiled brightly.
“It’s fine. We were going to set aside the leftovers anyway, so I can give him a little more.”
She poured a little soup into the small bowl again.
“But if he eats too much, he’ll get sleepy, so just a little this time.”
I nodded.
‘Thank you.’
Of course, my thoughts wouldn’t have reached her, but Elysia said it for me.
“Haku says thank you.”
“Oh my, he has good manners too.”
The lady smiled and took away the empty bowl.
I slowly licked the second serving of soup.
By now, almost no one was left in the dining hall except us.
As the large space grew quiet, the bell signaling the start of class rang faintly from outside.
Dong, dong, dong.
Elysia heard the bell and said,
“We have a little time before the next class. You can eat slowly.”
I nodded.
The day was not over yet.
There were still afternoon classes, the Holy Radiance Council notice would be posted, and perhaps rumors about Richard would start to spread.
But at least this moment was quiet.
Warm soup.
Elysia’s touch.
The low sounds of the dining hall being cleaned up.
And the afternoon sunlight coming in through the windows.
As I licked the soup, I thought,
‘Well…… this sort of academy life isn’t all that bad.’
‘And the ladies don’t seem to care much that Elysia and I can communicate.’
Of course, I still couldn’t accept that my petting had become an official regulation.
But now that the rules were set, touching me after lunch was no longer something anyone could do as they pleased.
At the very least, there would be fewer cases like today, where students edged closer and reached out their hands, saying, “Just once, please.”
If a notice was posted under the Holy Radiance Council’s name, even the most curious students would find it difficult to openly break the rules.
Of course, it wouldn’t disappear completely.
Three times a week.
A maximum of twenty people per day.
Within thirty seconds per person.
……No matter how I thought about it, it was a strange rule.
‘Why is my petting time being managed with numbers?’
I muttered inwardly as I slowly licked the second bowl of soup.
But maybe I should call it fortunate.
At the very least, I could avoid being touched every day.
Rest after lunchtime would be guaranteed too.
Contact for research purposes would also be impossible without permission from Elysia and the Special Familiar Studies Department.
So in its own way, the Holy Radiance Council had accommodated me.
The only problem was that the result had been formalized in a very strange direction.
“Haku, can you still eat more?”
Elysia asked.
I looked down once at the soup remaining on the plate, then looked back up at Elysia.
I was full.
But perhaps because the tension had loosened after returning from the Holy Radiance Council, the warm soup felt strangely comforting.