Strongest Survival by Otome Game’s Heroine

The Worry of a Certain Baron Son

There was a certain boy from a baron house in the second year of the sorcery academy.

His house’s territory, Seylace territory was located near the northern border. Geographical-wise it was very far from the capital and while he was born as a middle ranked noble in a house that ruled over several tens of thousands of populace, he only had the sensitivity of a country bumpkin. He only learned the “disparity” that existed between “nobles” for the first time after coming to the capital for the first time and living a school life for the first time.

Cultivation. Manners. Military arts. Sorcery. That knowledge was far too removed from his common sense until now.

Even so he didn’t have any problem when he enrolled at first. His big sister Maria who was two years older than him was also in the academy. She was helping him with etiquette and how to be courteous to the high ranked nobles.

His highness the crown prince was also studying in the same year as him, but even the high ranked noble from a house that was his house’s caregiver could only act as the prince’s aide who had to follow him around everywhere. There was no way he could possibly approach such person by himself. It made him realized even more of the disparity that existed between them.

His big sister Maria also graduated the next year. She was engaged with a viscount heir who fell in love with her at first sight inside the academy. Their houses had the same caregiver. Because of that she was spending her days cheerfully doing bride training.

And then he too became a second year student. To take a look at the princess who would enroll into the academy in that year, he went to the academy entrance together with his trusted friends.

Officially all students in the academy were considered “equal” with each other, but that was only the case between fellow low ranked nobles and fellow middle ranked nobles. There was a great wall that separated the high ranked nobles from the rest. If they missed their chance in this academy life, they would have no second chance to be able to see her highness from nearby unless they worked in the palace.

Her highness was truly a [princess]. Her golden hair looked soft and flowingly smooth. Her blue eyes felt like they were drawing them in. Her appearance was beautiful and lovely. They heard that she was sickly in the rumor, but her dignified demeanor as a royalty made his friends who were watching her from hiding to look in fascination.

But, he……Rody Seylace had his eyes stolen not by the beautiful princess, but by the pink haired student who was escorting her highness. He unconsciously spoke her name.

「……Aria?」

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Rody’s encounter with Aria happened nearly five years ago when he was still nine years old.

During that time, there was a rumor about a [monstrous person] in Seylace territory. While his family was all worrying about his big sister falling victim to this monstrous person, a maid arrived with an introduction from Margrave Dandall. It was Aria.

At first Aria went around everywhere with maid uniform and manners that were too different from the countryside maid. Rody felt that her action was impertinent and flared up at her but, she easily brushed him aside and treated him like her underling.

Anyway, Aria’s existence was just too shocking for him in various meaning.

She had the appearance of a cute maid who was about the same age with him, so it was like her being there was just an unnecessary meddling, but who would believe that she was actually being dispatched there to solve the monstrous person problem?

At that time he had also tried asking his father about Aria, but his father only told him 『I noticed from looking at her but, don’t tell me, you actually don’t notice~?』 with a smug face. He didn’t tell him anything else than that.

Rody investigated about the monstrous person together with Aria, made preparation to fight……in reality he only got interrogated by Aria before getting pushed around by her but, he remembered really well how his heart danced because it felt like a new something would occur in his daily life that was getting gloomy because of the incident.

But, the monstrous person stopped appearing one night and Aria herself also vanished with it.

There were traces of fighting in the baron mansion’s courtyard and the city, so they knew that Aria fought the monstrous person, but in the end they didn’t find out what happened to Aria.

Since then, Aria became an unforgettable memory for Rody.

Even Rody didn’t know whether this feeling was love or not. Perhaps it was just a misunderstanding from a suspension bridge effect but, Aria was a girl who he couldn’t forget.

It wasn’t like he was thinking something like wanting her pressing him on the wall and glaring at him again.

He was just a boy who was attracted to a slightly older girl. For such a boy……

「Eh? Aria is younger than me!?」

That fact was the most shocking thing for him.

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「……N-no, it’s still not for sure that girl is really Aria.」

He became her underling at first because he thought she was older. And he couldn’t wrap his head around the idea of that girl who disappeared suddenly appearing again as the princess’s maid. And Aria was cute when he met her in the past, but this girl that he saw was a cool beauty, so Rody couldn’t be really sure.

There Rody thought that perhaps his father or sister might know something. He took three silver coins from his pocket money and sent a telegram to his family.

To be more accurate it wasn’t a telegram but [distant message], a communication method using a magic tool of distant talk’s inferior version. He didn’t know how many weeks it would take if he sent letter through the merchant guild, and he would need to pay gold coin to use the distant talk magic tool in the academy, so Rody couldn’t use that.

The next day, a distant message came back from his father and sister.

His sister Maria wrote various things about her romantic relationship, like how fun her tryst with her fiancée was, or how delicious the meal in the restaurant that they visited together, etc. It was only after writing that kind of things for long that the message ended with [So you found Aria, I also want to meet her].

「The hell is with this comment!」

The content of the message was really like his calm and gentle big sister, which infuriated him. Even so Rody realized how his sister apparently never thought that Aria had died for even a second. It made him felt a bit down about himself who couldn’t have complete faith like that.

The distant message from his father was filled with long complains about his fifteen years old daughter who wouldn’t stop talking about her love life and he wished that they would marry already. At the end he ended the message with [Don’t worry about that girl].

「What the hell do you mean by don’t worry!?」

Perhaps, after Aria went missing his father contacted Dandall or somewhere else and knew something about what happened to her after that. And if it was something related to the princess, it was understandable for that no good father to have this kind of reaction.

Having no other option, Rody tried investigating about the princess’s maid on his own but, it didn’t take him long to realize just how difficult of an undertaking it was.

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「There isn’t much information……」

Speaking of what he managed to learn, it was that the girl was a new student who enrolled this year at the same time with the princess, and that she was younger than Rody.

In addition she was a daughter of a baronet house and her name was [Aria].

Learning that she had the same name was a great gain for him, but other than that there was nothing else that he knew.

Why was a daughter of low ranked noble was serving the princess as her maid?

Why was a daughter of low ranked noble undertaking a job of exterminating monstrous person?

Was that girl really the same person with the [Aria] that he knew……?

After all in this country there were thousands of low ranked noble. Even so someone who got as far as getting selected to be the princess’s maid should be a known quantity but, nobody within Rody’s circle of friends knew about her.

The girl was a low ranked noble, so a middle ranked noble like Rody could simply ask her directly but, the surrounding area of that girl and the princess was turning into a mysterious void space with how the girl’s glare was driving back the middle ranked nobles and high ranked nobles who wanted to approach the princess, so Rody couldn’t even get close to her.

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「Forget about that Rody. Let’s go take a look at the first year girls.」

「We might be able to approach them now.」

Rody’s friends were telling him to not fall in love with such flower on a high peak and turn his gaze to the nearby flowers instead.

This was at the time when the new students’ outdoor field trip had gotten mysteriously cancelled. In exchange the ball that should be held at summer would be held early just for the first years. The new students were currently being giddy because of that.

But a lot of the new students were still unable to dance well because the event got moved forward, and the ball would be held only for the new students so it was unrelated with second year students like Rody and his friends but…….

「We’re going to offer to teach the new female students how to dance.」

「I see!」

Rody said I see not because he was agreeing with such thinking, but because he believed that Aria who was a low ranked noble and also a new student would be unused with dancing too. He wondered if he could use that as an impetus to have a talk with her.

But──

「There’s no opening……」

In the end the fact that he wouldn’t be able to arrive at where Aria was without somehow breaking through the environment that surrounded the princess still hadn’t changed.

Certainly Aria herself also left no opening but, even more troublesome than that was the “atmosphere” that was making it hard for male to approach.

Even Rody had never imagined that her highness the princess would use her authority to forbid any male to approach in order to protect her attendant who was just a low ranked noble.

Even so Rody kept waiting for a chance persistently.

After all in this very vast sorcery academy, it would be difficult to even search for the person herself if not for the giddy atmosphere and the ready-made excuse of doing dance practice.

And then that persistence produced result in an unexpected way.

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「……Rody? What are you doing?」

It wasn’t the case that Rody was able to make contact. Instead he got apprehended by Aria in a deserted place as a suspicious person who was prowling near the princess.

「A-Aria! You’re really the Aria who I knew aren’t you!?」

Rody got pushed on a wall with his neck grabbed just like the first time they met. After that he yelled like that.

Aria too didn’t remember him immediately. Perhaps it was her action of slamming Rody on the wall that jogged her memory about him.

「Obviously. What are you saying? Also you haven’t answered my question.」

She wasn’t threatening him with knife or showering him with killing intent. Aria too must be making consideration here because he was an old acquaintance.

Rody’s face automatically turned red from seeing the face of such beauty glaring on him from so close. He averted his face from Aria, making Aria’s gaze turned severe.

「Suspicious.」

「I’m not suspicious!」

「Then why were you spying on Elena-sama?」

「W-wrong! That was, umm……I want to meet you……」

Rody too unconsciously confessed from the intense questioning. Perhaps his inability to go against Aria had been engraved into his heart since that day in his childhood.

Rody too had played various simulations in his head about what he would do when talking to Aria.

They were together only for a short time, even so it wouldn’t be strange for him to call her his childhood friend, and both of them had grown up. If they could have a lovely reunion if not a dramatic one, perhaps there would be something blazing forming between them. He had such hope.

But, their reunion ended up being something like this. However, perhaps him being blunt here instead of poorly trying to affect a stylish air could possibly make Aria feel conscious of him too?

「Right. Then nice timing. I have no partner with suitable height, so accompany me with my dance training.」

「Eh……」

But, Aria easily accepted his excuse and dragged Rody by his collar to the practice area without the slightest changed in her expression. For Aria too, someone who she had no need to be reserved with was precious.

Unexpectedly it was his “method” for talking to her that got achieved instead of his objective, but his objective was more or less achieved.

.

「Aria, she’s actually a noble huh……」

Aria learned the female part in dance after several hour of training, so the training didn’t continue anymore after that day, but it didn’t change the fact that he managed to form a common ground with her.

Aria too was a daughter of baronet……he heard from a well-informed person that there was also a rumor that her family apparently got promoted to be a baron house. There were talks that perhaps this promotion to middle ranked noble was in preparation to make Aria into a candidate of the princess’s close aide.

In that case she would be a baron just like him. A middle ranked noble just like him. Perhaps they would be able to get along even more easily than before? Rody thought lightly, but then he noticed that there would also be no obstacle at all if they both had the same status.

「……N-no. After all I’m Aria’s friend you know? So it’s not like I’m not allowed to be concerned about that girl yeah……」

When Rody realized it he had spent his last allowance to send a distant message to his father to ask about the engagement status of Leyton House’s daughter.

If he really wasn’t concerned then he could just send normal letter where student would be given a discount, but for some reason the thought of that didn’t even cross Rody’s mind.

He continued to wait for the reply with impatient feeling. Then two days later, a distant message from his father finally arrived but it only contained a single sentence.

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『Give it up』

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「What the hell is thissss!」

The agonizing days of Rody boy would still continue.