CH 14

Chapter 14: Leo reunites with Leena

As dawn breaks, morning as come.

Leo laid in his room on his bed, with his face buried in his pillow.

「Ugh…Ahhh…」

Yesterday was a seriously harsh day.

I was threatened by that terrifying Prince, and the chances of me of re-obtaining my gold coin grow slimmer by the day.

In the end,

「High class herring…High class fresh whipped cream…」

Even though he had spent so much effort to cram his belly with high-class ingredients, by dawn it was all out.

Even though he tried to resist.

All of the ingredients were incredibly rare. Frankly speaking, they weren’t prepared very well, but still, he wanted to properly get a chance to slowly digest all of the ingredients.

However, as Leena’s body wasn’t used to such terrible food, it was rejected.

Leo could only sulk as he watched his precious ingredients get washed down the drain.

His creed in money was defeated by his frail body. It was a very unpleasant experience.

「Ah…I want to see Kar-sama…」

To ease this pain, there’s no other way but for me to get to polish Karlheinz Raimund Gold Coin-sama once again.

However, because he did not possess it, he had no choice but to steadily take out a couple of precious small copper coins that he has collected for himself and began to count them. In a sachet under Leo’s pillow, he had concealed his life savings.

「One…Two…」

In a dimly lit room with the curtains closed, the girl’s figure wrapped under a blanket in her futon counting coins looked like some kind of foreign ghost.

After Leo finished counting them, he started naming them and doing a roll call just for the sake of it.

「Aleida…radiant gray finish, refreshing, as usual. Barbara…tiny scratch on the tails side, very endearing. Christa…you got a little murky, let’s clear you up. Dorothy…」

By the way, the restless and refreshing Kai was worried about the condition of his master, so some time ago he left to go find the local nurse.

At that moment.

「Uwah, uh-uh. Please don’t do that with how you look.」

For some strange reason, a particularly familiar voice was heard.

「…….?!」

Surprised, Leo pulled off his blanket, and upon seeing the person peering unto his bed, his eyes widen further.

「Leena…?! And, even Bruno?!」

Standing there, was Leena who still had Leo’s old body, wearing this academy’s uniform, along with a tanned young boy – his childhood friend Bruno.

「What are you doing here…」

「Are you asking for the reason? Or maybe the method?」

「Obviously I’m ta….wondering about both.」

As usual, Leena was quick to make a mess of things when talking to people. Bruno, standing cross-armed next to her, whispered.

「Why polite…」

Bruno was older than Leo by one year, he was a man of few words and his voice was deep. He had dark black hair that was uncommon in the empire, and foreign features, this was proof that he is a member of the late Eland kingdom.

「O….! Th….!」

Oh, my dear friend, who always lent me your ear, this evil woman before you has….Is what he wanted to say, but his voice gave out on him.

Leo ground his teeth, he has never done something as embarrassing as using delicate polite speech in front of him.

「I just did a little something a while back, so that he could only speak if he used polite speech befitting of a noble.」

「…I knew it, Leena. You’re, nasty.」

Bruno frowned at Leena, who was acting proudly about her explanation.

As an immigrant to the Weiz empire, Bruno wasn’t well versed in the language as it wasn’t his mother tongue, so in that manner, he’s no different from Leo in his current state. Since Leena put Leo in the same state as he is, he scolded her.

However, Leena was completely unfazed and simply shrugged her shoulders. In front of the scowling Bruno, it was rather quite brave.

「Well anyway, I wrote you a letter, didn’t you read it? I was planning to break into the academy with Bruno, so I wrote to you about it.」

「Letter…? Ah…, I didn’t, read it.」

Yesterday, I went to a tea party, and I even got threatened, so I didn’t really get a chance to.

Leena raised an eyebrow in a big fashion – She was just using his old face, but for some reason when she does it, it actually looks cool – She began explaining the details.

「After I switched bodies with you, I explained the situation to both my parents and continued working as a helper in the orphanage with your body. I only explained the circumstances to the orphanage director, deciding to keep everyone else out of the loop, but somehow I got found out by Bruno! ‘Who are you?’ ‘Where is Leo?’ he asked.」

「Bruno…」

Leo looked with a moved expression towards his childhood friend.

Even though his face looked exactly the same, to be able to discern that the contents on the inside were different, that’s the sign of a true friend.

Bruno nodded solemnly.

「Leo, ignoring a small copper coin on the roadside, and rejecting free samples of bread? Impossible.」

「……….」

Leo was silent. But rather than feeling disappointed by how she was found out, he was mad that she would do such a sacrilegious thing.

If a small copper coin was dropped, he’d run a mile just to get it. If they offer you a free sample, you make them regret ever suggesting it in the first place.

That is Leo’s motto.

「Well anyway, so you have it, I explained the circumstances to Bruno, and I told him to relax and wait for you to come back. But, for some reason a certain someone never came back no matter how much time passed, so Bruno was suspicious. It couldn’t be helped, so we came to check out how you’re doing. We thought since it was you, you’d run away as soon as possible, but things seriously didn’t go as planned.」

Seeing how Leena was talking like it was Leo’s fault, he got a little mad.

「…It’s not like, I like it here. There are some circumstances, it can’t be helped.」

「Hmmm? So, like you started a side job at the academy and it was unexpectedly profitable so you didn’t want to part with it? Or maybe you didn’t want to leave until you can pilfer some treasure of the noble boys and girls of the school? Something like that?」

「…….」

Leo quietly averted his eyes.

It looks like this Leena character has very sharp eyes.

Disadvantaged, Leo tried to change the topic.

「So you know, the circumstances, Bruno. Hey, as you see, I’m fine. I’m fine, so, be at ease.」

「…Right, but your speech, it’s pretty strange.」

Since they both are unable to speak fluently in the Weiz language, the conversation couldn’t really progress. Leena laughed while saying 「What an unsophisticated conversation, ahaha」 which enraged Leo.

『Shut up! Besides, whose fault do you think this is?!』

Leo switched to Bruno’s mother language, the Eland language.

「…Wow. Leo, you can speak Eland?」

Leena stared in wonder. A bit pleased with himself, Leo nodded and said 「Yep.」

『Bruno, it is as you see, since you are from Eland. You taught me, remember? It’s riddled with slang, but I can’t speak it pretty well, can’t I?』

『Wow amazing, Leo. You’re smart.』

『…ugh, you can speak it too, Leena?!』

『Well yeah, my mom was a noble among nobles, Eland language was her forte. Besides, in the first place, I am a genius.』

Leo frowned. Leena meekly praised him, but finding out that she can do what he can as well, he wasn’t fully satisfied.

At that time, Bruno, who had been simply watching them this whole time, spoke up.

『…Wait, hey Leo. Haven’t you been able to speak like normal again with Eland?』

『….OOOOOOHHHH?!』

It was so natural he didn’t notice, but Leo was able to speak normally without being interrupted!

『That’s right. Now that you mention it, my seal for feminine speech is also off as well. The magic on us wasn’t specified for all languages, so probably that’s why the seal doesn’t affect Eland language.』

Leena nodded with enlightenment.

『Seriously?! Amazing! Oh man, it feels like I’m finally getting to freely breath for the first time.』

『….Don’t be so loud, we’ll get found. Be quieter.』

Leo’s friend warned as he was shouting.

『Alright alright. ….hm? Hey wait, how did you guys even get in here in the first place?』

He earnest asked the question that had come to his mind, but Leena simply shrugged.

『Rather than that, don’t you have something more pressing you want to ask? Like the progress of the magic restoration.』

Quite the topic she pointed out.

『O…oh, yeah, that’s right! Hey Leena, how much magic has this body recovered? Can I return to my original body soon?』

『Hm, let’s see…』

Leena stared at Leo and then took his hand.

『If it was just a normal high-level spell, it would work, but for a large-scale spell like changing bodies, it’s going to take a little longer.』

『What, it’s recovering pretty well isn’t it?』

『Well after all, Leo, you aren’t practicing any magic right?』

Leena pointed out while being a little astonished, but Leo simply replied 「Huh?」 in a puzzled manner.

『Magic is the same as physical strength, the more you train it the stronger it gets. It’s like an organ, if you skip training for one day, then you’ll lose three days worth of skill. If you don’t use it at all, then your magic will burn away and soon your collected magic will be nothing at all.』

『SERIOUSLY?』

Leo didn’t really understand all the talk about it being like an organ, but he got the gist of it. Since he figured it wasn’t going to be of any use to him after he returned back to normal, he skipped all of his classes until now.

『Damn it-….Tell me stuff like that ahead of time….Leena, you’re always like this…!』

『No way, bringing up old grudges like that, aren’t you acting just like a girl now? I’m sure you must have an affinity with that body.』

『Bastard…』

Leo was enraged.

『If you’re gonna say that, then shall I cut off all of this hair short? So that I don’t look like a girl anymore?!』

『Wait stop! Even if my hair will grow back instantly, walking around with that kind of hairstyle with my face is gonna ruin my image! Besides, that’s a violation of the contract!』

『Hah! The contract says we can’t do anything that would bring harm to our bodies, but hair is not our body! Once you cut it, it’s nor more than just trash!』

『Hair is life itself! Stop!!』

After Leena’s blood curling stream, Leo was satisfied and finally decided to put down his weapon.

『Incidentally,』

Seeing that the two people’s topic has finally finished, Bruno decided to speak up.

『Leo. When you plan on coming back?』

『Well eh, I was planning to come back as soon as possible but…』

In a manner of speaking it was a bad answer, however, Bruno’s obsidian eyes lit up with a strong force of conviction.

『Then, come back soon. Without you around, I don’t know what to do anymore.』

『WOW! So passionate!!!』

Leena threw in her teases, but Leo simply glared at her frivolousness.

『Shut up Leena. This guy, because of his poor vocal cords, and his phrasing is always straightforward, he has a bad habit of always causing misunderstandings.』

Rather than praise, Leo rolled slander and compliments into one, Bruno is someone who simply says what he thinks, which always causes Leo to get rolled up into an endless amount of trouble.

Often, the puberty-experiencing female battalion in the orphanage would always fuss about「Forbidden love? Kyaa!」 or something along those lines, but for Leo who has known Bruno for over ten years, he understands.

What Bruno really means, is 『With his lieutenant Leo around, there’s no one to deal with the trivial quarrels, and no one to manage all of the money, so it’s very troublesome.』

Speaking of which, Bruno and Leo both play a leading part in taking care of a group of orphans in the lower city.

『What, Bruno you’re being unusually timid. Is there some kind of trouble or something?』

『It’s not as something severe as trouble but…』

Bruno was being unusually tongue-tied, but after sneaking a look at Leena, he spoke.

『Because of blah blah blah, we became the strongest group in Ricard.』

『HUH?!』

Upon hearing the surprising circumstances, Leo gave his grandest retort yet.

『Strongest in Ricard? What do you mean?! Didn’t we make up only a small region around the orphanage? Besides, there was a rumor that there was yakuza recruitment going on around town, there should be a much bigger group than us?!』

『Ah, yeah, right. They were, crushed by Leena here.』

『….HUUUUUUUUUUUUUH?!』

Leo stared at Leena in amazement, but she simply sticks her tongue out and says ‘Tehe!’ – Doing it with Leo’s face, it seriously isn’t cute.

『Just how and why did happen…』

As Leo slumped down into his bed, Leena started to give a careless explanation.

『Well you know, I was politely standing in line for bread distribution from the church you see, and then out of nowhere these creepy men came up, they tried to steal our portions you know?』

『…Okay well, it’s not like I don’t understand the motive.』

『Right? And then, one of the men bumped into my shoulder and didn’t even apologize! So I was a little irritated and I went to find where their boss was to called him out.』

It seems like rather than stealing the bread, her motive was because they bumped into her.

Just like some kind of berserker, Leo was silently scared.

『And then, even remembering it now makes me angry but, their attitude then was really infuriating, so at last I couldn’t contain my anger anymore and went home and stocked up on lots of wheat flour and threw it at them with all my strength.』

Unexpected, it was a rather cute attack.

『And while I was at it, I lit it on fire and caused a dust explosion.』

Nope, it was a horrible tragedy after all.

『Wait wait! That’s not something you do ‘while you’re at it’, what?!』

A dust explosion is caused by a chain of grain particles in the air catching fire one by one, which induces a large-scale explosion.

Once it happens, the hot wind would carry on to destroy other buildings, no treasure would be left behind. A terrifying phenomenon.

『Ah, but, I made sure to properly adjust the amount of wheat so that no one would die.』

『While the fire was burning vigorously, you could hear loud bizarre laughter in the background, and she didn’t leave any evidence behind either. Miraculously, not even a single person died as if it was planned, which terrified those guys. The next day, the boss of the group came to us with the ends of his hair scorched and begged us to let him be our underling.』

『Ugh…you’re the worst aren’t you.』

It’s good that no one died, but for that to be a part of Leena’s plan, quite the fearsome fellow she is.

『Thanks to that, even in our own group, half the group is split into those that look up to Leena, and those that are terrified of her.』

Bruno held a soul-less gaze into the distance.

『Then as I was investigating their secret stash, internal quarreling started happening. I missed the days when you put up fliers about other people’s bed-wetting black history, your sly manner of speaking, I missed those days when you were around. As expected, I need you.』

『I’m seriously not happy to hear that right now. Besides, I would rather not jump into something like that.』

Leo immediately replied.

『…Tch, man. I was away for just a moment and Ricard went to shit.』

Leo unconsciously leaked a sigh.

However, the ringleader of it all, Leena, simply carelessly says 「that’s right isn’t it?」

『Speaking of the cause, everything is because the church is too stingy with their bread isn’t it?』

『Oi, what are you talking about, don’t try to pass on the blame.』

In Leo’s mind, the kind of organization that gives stuff away for free like the church can never be a bad thing, so of course, he would retort Leena’s careless words.

However, the common-sense man Bruno unexpectedly spoke up as well.

『No well, I don’t think what Leena says is particularly wrong either.』

For some reason he supported her.

『How come?』

Towards Leo’s surprised words, Bruno displayed a slight frown. It was how he always looked when he was figuring out what to say.

『Recently, the church has been more worried about appeasing the lower class nobles and high-income commoners instead. So for lower city dwelling orphans like us, the quality and quantity of the bread they’ve given us have been much worse than in the past.』

『Really?』

『Mm. You were a part of the market group so you didn’t know, but there were times when the church group came back without any bread at all.』

At the Hannah Orphanage, people were split into several groups with the objective of securing food. For someone like Leo who was shred and good at negotiations – driving a bargain, that is – he was a part of the market group.

『I was also worried, so I went to the church to have a look. And then, those guys, using Eland – remember, their scriptures are written in Eland, the land in which spirits are said to have originated right? They used that pretense to stop the church and argued back and forth in Eland. That was when I heard those guys say 「Who would give bread to those filthy dogs.」』

『Bruno was wearing a hood, and I had Leo’s face who looked just like any other ordinary Ricard boy. Besides, there no way they would consider that a bunch of orphans would understand the dignified Eland language, to begin with. I was so mad I wanted to through some dangerous liquids at them or something.』

Leena was unable to obediently sit and listen to Bruno’s story without chiming in.

『Ah alright, Leena, be quiet for a while. I see, so that’s how it is, certainly, that is bad. The church is seriously not a decent place at all anymore. Oppressing the poor, and snuggling up to lower class nobles and rich commoners, just what is it that they want to do.』

『Obviously, they want to restore their hegemony of course.』

Completely disregarding her warnings to be quiet, Leena chimed in with a finger raised.

『Restore their hegemony?』

『That’s right, Leo might not know this, but a few decades ago – well, even around the time when my mom was still a noble, the church had even more power and authority than even the imperial family and high ranking nobles!』

『Oh? That’s surprising. So what the church wants is, what was it? To seize power? Is what it seems like. That just feels wrong.』

The church that Leo knows is a place that runs the yearly spirit festival, and an office to manage choir boys is the kind of image he has.

『Well, rather than to seize power, it’s probably more apt to say that they are on bad terms with the imperial family and the high ranking nobles. For the members of the church who revere and pray solemnly to the spirits and then finally they are granted a small meager amount of power, they probably don’t find it very pleasing that the imperial family and high ranking nobles go around flaunting the strong magic that they’re born with, right?』

『Hm, well, yeah…probably?』

『Also, even without all of that, the Holy Land of the spirits, the Eland Kingdom was destroyed by the empire, and their power and authority were reduced to almost nothing in an instant, so they became even more disgruntled. So for them, getting the lower-class nobles and upper-class commoners on their side are meant to be a way for them to get payback against the imperial family right?』

Leena’s smooth explanation was extremely persuasive. As expected, from the very start, she was a very bright girl after all.

However, Leo inclined his head to the side.

『The officiated monk that teaches magic at the school doesn’t feel like that though.』

『Even though he’s an official monk of the church, he lectures in magic?』

『No, mostly he teaches spirit studies, however, because he has the blood of royalty in him, he can also use magic.』

Harlet. No, Heartland? was it.

Anyway, the monk that has the name that sounds like that is a young man that held a calm and soothing smile, along with a soft and tender demeanor. Compared to Albert, of course, he looks a little worse, but with his adult charm, he seems to be popular with a lot of female students.

『Is that so. A high ranking monk that can use magic. He must be a very influential person.』

Bruno had an interesting thought come to mind upon hearing about that person.

『The distribution of bread around the country is moderated by several high ranking monks in the church, or so I heard. – That Harlet or Heartland or whatever might be able to influence it as well.』

『Really? He’s a part of the school though, and he’s super young too, I don’t really feel like he would be involved in something like that.』

Speaking of which, the reason why Leo is so unsure is that since he had no interest in magic, he basically skipped every class. So he doesn’t really know anything about what kind of person the lecturer known as Harlet (temp) is.

『Just know, you’re talking about bread distributions right?』

At that time, Leena’s eyes flashed with light.

For some reason, Leo was startled when he saw Leena’s freckled face burn with a strange fighting spirit.

『Back then, I taught those nasty men some manners, but in the end, I didn’t manage to get any bread at all. Do you know how long I was lectured by Brigitte for that?!』

『No, but in that situation should you or Brigitte really be worried about something like that?』

Besides, even if the bad chef Brigitte got her hands on some perfectly good bread, I’m sure she’d manage to turn it into cinders anyway.

However, as someone who absolutely hates to lose, Leena couldn’t forgive something like that.

『For someone blessed by the spirits as me, I know the chance will come, no I can feel it. Next time, more than usual, no…DOUBLE the amount than usual, I’ll procure the bread and show Brigitte up!』

It seems like the meaning is completely lost at this point.

However, at that time Leo asked with half an eye closed 「What do you mean?」 He cursed his own nature that led him to ask such a question.

Leena vigorously turned back over and suddenly gripped Leo’s – meaning, the beautiful girl’s face, and smiled widely.

『That is, of course, go and cling onto that Harlet person and get him to understand about our current bread distribution problem!』

『…I’m just asking to make sure, but why are you gripping my face?』

Seeing the huge smile on his former face, somehow was very frightening.

Leena murmurs 「That is, of course,」

「Wiretap Harlet」

She quickly shouted in Weiz language.

「O….!」

Oi, you bastard, was what he wanted to shout, but his shoulders began to quiver.

Then, from Leo’s body and strange mist leaked out and began to form a small crystal.

「Wh…..!」

『Oooh, magic huh?』

Bruno carefreely nodded.

Leena looked proud as the small crystal carefully floated up to the ceiling, then disappeared.

「Just…now, what….!」

Finally released from her grip, Leo tried to chew out a question towards Leena.

『Now, that crystal will follow Harlet around and record everything he says. Usually, the crystal will be dissolved in the air, but if Leo chants the magic once again, it will playback everything it has recorded so far.』

Switching back to Eland, Leena explained with a strange wink.

『So there you have it, when it comes time for bread distribution day, let me and Bruno know about it.』

『No no no, wait just a moment! Why are you randomly using people’s magic for? Why do I have to spy on Harlet-sensei? Why are you speaking to me like I’m like your subordinate?!』

『By the way, with that, I just used up all of the magic again. So make sure you properly go to class now, take good care of your magic power okay?』

『Are you shitting meeeeeeeeeee?!』

Leo’s scream resounded in the whole room.

Between one week and a year, she said it would take for the magic to come back, Leo had patiently waited. But now, even though he had been negligent in restoring the magic in his body, what little magic he did restore was now completely used up once again. It enraged Leo to no end.

Speaking frankly, 「Spending things for no reason」 is Leo’s number one loathed action. Whether that’s spending pocket money, your savings, or magic power, it’s all the same.

『Leena, you bastard, if you don’t…』

Leo wanted to shake Leena’s around a bit to relieve his frustrations but Bruno stopped him.

『What are you doing Bruno?! Don’t stop me!』

『Well you see, Leo,』

With his finely chiseled features posting a serious expression, that made even Leo flinch a bit.

Once he puts his mind to it, his presence now is surely fitting of someone who controls Ricard’s strongest group.

Bruno prefaced with 「It might be a bit unrelated, but」

『I really hate raisin bread.』

『IT SERIOUSLY IS UNRELATED THOUGH?!』

Towards the senseless utterance that came at him, Leo was completely exhausted.

『What’s wrong with you guys…Isn’t there anyone who’s actually taking things seriously around here?』

Seeing the kind of people that he’s been blessed with knowing, Leo floats a small tear.

His sighs seem to reach even the heavens.

「Leonora-sama!」

From the other side of the door, the conscientious and caring Kai called out.

『Uh-oh. Look’s like it’s time to go.』

『Alright then, Leo. I’m counting on you, for news about bread distribution!』

Immediately, the god-sent selfish child Leena and Bruno quickly ran to the window and after a quick inspection, they jumped out. – Before leaving, Leena turned to Leo and「Bam!」 she made a gun gesture with her hand. Somehow it was very infuriating.

Thinking back, Leo realized that not only she had used his precious magic that he needed to return to his old body, but also shoved onto him some random mission as well.

『Are you shitting me…』

Leo uttered in Eland, as his anger passed, only a blank look on his face remained.

「Leonora-sama, are you awake?! ….Please excuse me!」

At the same time that his two friends closed the curtains, Kai hurriedly opened the door into the room.

「Ah, thank goodness! You’re safe!」

「Kai. Just, what?」

His diligent servant must have dashed all over the school, it’s the chilly season now but he had beads of sweat streaming down his forehead. While catching his breath, he began to explain.

「I was, in search, haa, of the doctor. But, while I was en-route, I found took stark naked male students.」

「Naked…?」

「I’m sorry for such language before you, Leonora-sama. Anyway, the two students were attacked by hoodlums and had their clothes stripped of them. I was incredibly worried, that if by some chance, these insolent ruffians were to come looking for Leonora-sama while disguised as students.」

「……….」

I’m sorry to say but your guess is spot on, they were just here in my room a few minutes ago.

Leo leaked a profound sigh.

「Leonora-sama? Are you okay? Is your condition…」

「No.….I’m fine.」

No wonder they ignored me when I asked how they got here, so they robbed their way in.

However, Leo was particularly hung up about something.

(There’s no need to strip them down to their underwear right? Especially you, Leena!)

Until now, Leo has been very careful with his female body, making sure not to look at it other than as needed, however, Leena certainly has not been concerned with such things at all. She stripped and changed her clothes like a normal boy just fine.

As Leo imagines Leena saying 「Wow this feels completely different! I’ll take it!」 and her stupid image comes to his mind, he simply hangs his head dejectedly.