The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 148: The Noble Assembly (3)

While Rosemary was going ‘uh, uh’ as she tried to figure out what to say, I passed through the doors into the palace corridors.

It was my first time in the palace. My first impression of it was.... hm, how should I say this. To put it simply, it was messed up.

There was gold everywhere: furniture, antiques, ornaments, frames, even the wallpaper. Since everything was covered with gold, there was nothing that wasn’t shiny. It was the perfect place to experiment with Flare scattering.

“Huuh.”

I smirked at the unconscious thought. How could I think about research even at a time like this?

I needed to shake off these thoughts. Emptying my mind, I slowly walked down the hall.

“Sis! Siiis!”

The light clicking of heels. Rosemary must have finished cleaning up the guards.

Hurrying over with nimble steps, Rosemary walked next to me at pace. I could see her pouting.

“Why did you beat up the guards?”

“I told you already.”

“Then you should have called for me.”

“I did, but they just wouldn’t listen.”

They were Imperial guards yet they didn’t know how to communicate. No matter how many times I had explained that I was Rosemary’s acquaintance, they just repeated that they couldn’t let me in as per their duty. They had been the ones to pull their weapons first, even.

“So I took care of them a bit.”

“Sis....”

Rosemary’s eyes narrowed into lines. She kept sighing while looking at me disapprovingly.

“What, it was self-defense.”

“Alright. I understand, so just come this way, please.”

I was led by Rosemary into a room–a large individual bedroom that screamed ‘girly’.

“Take off your clothes, sis.”

Rosemary suddenly asked this of me as she was rummaging through the closet in the corner.

“What?”

“Take off your clothes, I said.”

“What, why?”

“Didn’t you say you need to find the professor?”

“So why am I taking my clothes off?”

“Are you planning to go around the hall like that?”

I looked down at her scolding. Wide pants, a loose dress shirt, and a windbreaker robe on top of it. A casual outfit. To be frank, it was a look you’d see on a grad student in engineering.

“It’s a bit... yeah.”

“This is the palace so let’s try to wear something formal. Here.”

Rosemary tossed me a one-piece as she said that. Catching the clothes with quick reflexes, I soon became shocked.

It was black outfit with white frills. The dress came down to the knees with a shorter skirt on top, and a big lacy bow was hanging in the lower back area.

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Fucking hell.

“What is this.”

“You know, a maid outfit.”

“You want me to wear something like this?”

“This country doesn’t have nobles who are Golden-Eyed. If you go around in a fancy dress, they’ll look at you strangely.”

Well, that wasn’t wrong exactly.

“Isn’t there anything better? Like a sweatshirt.”

“I do have a shirt for summer that accentuates the breasts.”

“Fuck that, I don’t want it.”

With a dry sigh, I looked over the maid dress. It didn’t seem like I had another choice.

Man, if I knew this would happen, I would’ve just waited at the lab.

No, no. How long would I be waiting until Professor Cai-Lussac returned? I couldn’t do it.

“Oh yes, if you want to pretend to be a maid, you have to wear the headpiece, too. This one.”

Grinning, Rosemary held out the headpiece that maids wore, something with frills and flowers.

“You’re trying to get back at me, aren’t you?”

“Pardon?”

Rosemary quirked her head innocently in response as if she didn’t know. A groan came out of my mouth.

“What would I have against you?”

“Nevermind.”

Now I was even cosplaying for the first time in my life. Still, it wasn’t that explicit, thankfully.

I tossed the clothes I was wearing and changed into the maid dress. Humiliation came in waves. I didn’t want to look in the mirror, because I might just lose myself if I did. I’d rather look again into the ‘Inner Mirror’ that let me talk with the real Aether.

“Wow, it suits you so well!”

Rosemary giggled as she clapped.

“Anyway, if you go around as a maid, you should be able to meet the professor.”

“Yeah, thanks for the help.”

I responded in a soulless voice. It was bad enough that the guards gave me trouble, but I ended up in clothes like this, too. Today just wasn’t my day. Do I need to get some ox bone soup on the way home?1 Ah, there wasn’t any here!

“Then I’ll be off first since I have some matters to see to~”

“...Yeah.”

Creeeak, bang. I sighed for the nth time as the door closed.

“Maaan.”

Yeah.... I should think positively like Rosemary said. It should be fine if I go around thinking of this as an hour-long part-time shift.

This kind of humiliation was momentary, but learning was forever. I couldn’t forget my goal. I was going to move forward only with the idea of going home in mind.

Above all, the world didn’t care as much about me as I thought. Was there anyone who cared when they saw something on the subway? It was along the same lines. As long as it didn’t cause a stir, they let it pass.

It would be the same at today’s banquet. Even if I did the whole serving thing, the nobles would just think ‘there was someone like that’ and move on. Hence, I didn’t need to be so conscious of others’ gazes.

[Hm, you think?]

Nah. What could possibly happen?

“Who is this? She’s adorable!”

“Her eyes are yellow. I’ve never seen her kind before.”

“The Imperials must have brought in a Golden-Eyed servant. I had heard that the race themselves were beautiful, but this is beyond my imagination.”

Currently, I was in a circle of nobles. In fact, I was surrounded.

This was all because I was a Golden-Eyed. I was attracting the attention of all the nobles for the sole reason of being a Golden-Eyed who were rarer than the High Elves. Men, ladies, and even babies who were born yesterday were staring at my appearance with interest.

Wow, it felt like I was a penguin in a zoo.

“Miss, pour me a drink.”

“My glass is empty as well....”

“Miss Maid! I’d like some juice!”

Countless nobles asking for a handshake. I couldn’t breathe being surrounded by more people than on the subway home, and kept coughing into my sleeve. I’d always hated being in places with a lot of people.

Still, I didn’t express my dismay. That was social skill. With a friendly face, I played the wine person.

“She’s docile as they say.”

“Well, well, His Majesty has brought in a most excellent servant.”

“How much does it cost for one like this?”

Words without malice stabbed me in the chest. My neck felt like it was stiffening.

That was it. Rosemary, just you wait.

The nobles continuously threw questions at me–how did I get here, what kind of race were the Golden-Eyed, was it true that we couldn’t use magic. There was just no room to cut in smoothly.

Still, it didn’t matter. There should be at least one person here who recognized me, anyway.

I knew a lot of nobles besides Professor Cai-Lussac. Miss Heerlein, Chairman Robespierre, and Count Saliere. If I extended it, there was also Duke Argana and Viscount Eliyev.

Surely one of them would recognize me and give me a chance to talk. In the meantime, I was just going to pour wine. Yeah. I should get to know the people here while I was at it.

It was just as I was thinking that.

“Oh, who’s this?”

A stern, dignified voice.

At the voice, the people moved out of the way in order starting from the back, making way for the owner of the voice.

One person crossed the sea of people like the miracle of the Red Sea. Blond hair and crimson eyes. His first impression wasn’t one of benevolence due the sharp, regent-style haircut.

But who are you?

“You’re here earlier than I expected.”

“Excuse me?”

“Hm? Did the Count not tell you to come here?”

What was he talking about?

The conversation didn’t seem like it was happening on the same wavelength. Both the man and I tilted our heads in question.

I didn’t know him. I had never seen his face before. Yet the moment he saw me, this person approached as if he knew me.

“Who do you mean?”

Saliere? Heerlein? Or was there another Count?

“I meant Count Heerlein. I heard that she was your teacher.”

“Ah, yes.”

I nodded without thinking, and that wasn’t a good move at all.

“She’s Heerlein’s pupil?”

“Isn’t Count Heerlein a full professor at the Academy?”

The nobles’ gazes shifted. It was a slight change, but I caught the difference.

Those eyes weren’t the eyes of someone looking at a cute girl; they had political purposes in them. Some began looking at me distastefully, and others’ eyes were bright with fascination.

“Duke, is it true? That this maid is a student of Tilette.......”

“Hm? Ah, yes. I received confirmation from the Count.”

“But why is she working as a palace maid?”

“How should I know?”

That was what I was wondering as well. Why was I halfheartedly playing cute in front of these nobles?

But hold on a sec. He was a Duke?

There were only four Dukes in the Empire–Hasfeldt of Fire, Blanton of Water, Totzfel of Earth, and Argana of Air. Altogether, they were called the Four Grand Dukes.

None of the Dukes had overlapping eye colors. The eyes of the man in front of me were red.

Then it was unmistakable. Keeping the usual possibility in mind, I lowered my voice and prepared ‘myself’, not Aether, as the speaker. My muddled consciousness accurately identified the two egos like a high-performance microscope.

I asked.

“Are you perhaps Duke Hasfeldt?”

1. Reference to a Korean short story 'One Lucky Day' where the protag had an unusually good day at work so he bought ox bone soup (seolleongtang) on the way home for his sick wife who'd been craving it only to find her dead and the protag's 'lucky day' ends unfortunately. Likely being used as a symbol of misfortune in this context