After scolding Freesia in Alice's room, I led the girls and headed to my father, Zeke’s, office.

“You three, treat this place as your home during your stay here.”

“““Thank you very much!”””

After exchanging brief greetings, reporting our return, and introducing Weiss and Levia, Zeke instructed the servants waiting outside the room to show them to their rooms for the duration of their stay.

“You must be exhausted from the long journey. Training will start tomorrow, so take it easy and rest today.”

“Thank you for your consideration, Marquis Zeke.”

Freesia, the noble lady with a criminal background, spoke on behalf of the three, while the other two hastily bowed. Seeing Weiss and Levia clearly nervous, Zeke smiled warmly. Then, guided by the servants, the three left the room, leaving only me behind.

“No need to be so tense. Just sit down for now.”

“...Alright.”

Zeke chuckled as if amused by my stiff expression, then leaned deeply into the sofa. Following his lead, I sat on the sofa opposite him.

Being told not to be nervous was easier said than done. In my first life, whenever I was summoned to the office and made to sit on this sofa, it was always for a scolding. My body instinctively tensed up, reacting to those memories. Even though I knew from my father’s demeanor that this wasn’t one of those times, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

So then, why was I the only one left behind? What was he planning to talk about—?

“It seems like your academy life has been quite eventful, Clay. Even at the royal castle, I often hear news about you.”

“Well, yes… unfortunately.”

I already knew what this was about. A detailed status report and the incident from before.

The dungeon attack event at the academy had reached the ears of Zeke, who held an important position in the kingdom. Since I had defeated one of the Five Heavenly Swords during that incident, he likely wanted to verify the details with me.

—That was fine, though. I had things I wanted to ask as well.

As I carefully chose my words, Zeke smiled, clearly amused.

“For all the fuss you made about not wanting to go, you’ve only been enrolled for three months and you’ve already become one of the Pentagram. That truly surprised me.”

“Well… I had my reasons. It’s all that damn lizard’s fault.”

While Zeke relaxed with a cheerful expression, I, in contrast, must have been grimacing. No matter how many times I said it, everything that had happened at the academy was completely unexpected for me. Whether he knew my true feelings or not, Zeke continued speaking.

“I never imagined you’d defeat one of the Empire’s Five Heavenly Swords, let alone the Second Sword… At this rate, I feel like I can entrust the house to you anytime, and that’s a relief.”

“No, no, I still have a long way to go. Besides, that wasn’t just my own strength.”

“You’re being awfully modest. Still, defeating one of the Empire’s strongest knights—most would let it go to their head. If it were me, I’d definitely be getting cocky.”

“Ahaha… I’ve learned my lesson about that.”

It was probably meant as a joke, but I couldn’t find it funny at all.

Even when I tried to keep myself in check, sometimes my blood still boiled over and I got carried away. Whether it was the Bradley bloodline or not, this was me being restrained. If I let loose, I didn’t even want to imagine what would happen… Thinking about that, I couldn’t afford to get cocky. Besides—

“This incident made me realize how much I still lack. I’m nowhere near strong enough to kill Shadow Dragon yet.”

“...Yes, that’s true. Even the Five Heavenly Swords wouldn’t be enough to ensure victory against that dragon.”

Zeke’s face grew serious as he nodded deeply at my words. Acknowledging that, I shifted the conversation.

“So, regarding this incident, did you learn anything on your end, Father?”

“Hmm, we officially questioned the Empire, but they’ve remained silent. In fact, they’ve been avoiding contact with other nations to a rather eerie extent.”

“That’s…”

“Our diplomatic ties have weakened over the past six years, and now this incident happened. His Majesty is taking it very seriously and proceeding with great caution. It’ll take some time to investigate further.”

“I see…”

As expected, even through official channels, there had been no response from the Empire. I could tell from Zeke’s grim expression how serious the situation was. Even so, he soon forced a smile.

“Still, I’m truly glad you’re safe this time. If anything, I worried for nothing since you even managed to take down one of the Five Heavenly Swords!”

“That’s not…”

“By the way, Clay, since you started attending the academy, you’ve gotten quite close with Freesia, haven’t you?”

As I was contemplating how to respond to my father’s laughter, the conversation suddenly veered in an unexpected direction.

“Huh?”

“Back when you two dueled in the backyard, I was wondering how it would turn out, but it seems you’re getting along well now. I was just talking to Freesia before you returned, and she called me ‘Father-in-law’—”

“W-wait a moment, Father!”

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

I felt bad for interrupting his obvious delight, but I had to stop him.

Who called whom ‘Father-in-law’?! Freesia called my father that? Why?!

No matter how many times I replayed the words in my head, I couldn’t make sense of it. It was baffling.

—How did it come to this?!

On the surface, Freesia and I were engaged and had pledged our future to each other. But that was just for appearances. There were no romantic feelings between us. We had a good relationship now, but that was purely as rivals. There was no way she had feelings for me—

“Why’d you suddenly go quiet, Clay? Could it be that even you found the long carriage ride exhausting?”

“Ah, no, that’s not it…”

My thoughts were spiraling out of control.

—Who got close to whom? Who’s supposedly on track to marry whom? I had noticed something odd about her behavior lately, but could it really be because of this? Was I the only one misunderstanding everything due to my old childhood impressions?

“I… I don’t get it…”

Seeing me lost in confusion, my father burst into laughter.

“Haha! So that’s it. Clay, you focus too much on training. You need to study a bit more about women’s hearts!”

“Uh… right…”

His words, spoken as a mentor in life, felt oddly personal. More than that, talking about this with my father was embarrassing. That was one thing that didn’t change from my first life.

—I needed to change the subject somehow.

Judging my situation to be unfavorable, I was about to try and steer the conversation when an unexpected savior arrived.

“Clay! Where is Clay?! He’s back, isn’t he!?”

“Oh, looks like your master has returned. Let’s leave the complicated talk here for now.”

“Ah, yes…”

Hearing the loud, heavy footsteps stomping through the mansion, steadily approaching, Zeke laughed once again, while I could only make a complicated expression.

The timing was perfect, but it irked me to think I was being saved by my old man.

In the end, I didn’t get to ask my questions before the office door was thrown open with great force.