Chapter 21- Negotiations and the Birth of the EELR
Stepping through the doorway Cael made a quick assessment of the room, upon doing so he noted unsurprisingly that those present were more or less the same as those the day prior; his classmates included. A difference if he were forced to name one would be a subtle increase in the number of guards posted throughout the space almost as if they were anticipating some kind of trouble.
(Must be getting ready to capture me if I refuse to play along with their little game. Well fine by me if you guys want to do this the hard way I’m not gonna make it easy, going quietly isn’t really my style anyhow.)
While having such thoughts he continued on his way down the central carpet. Walking forwards with an uncanny level of confidence entirely unmatching of his seventeen year old exterior Cael had finally decided on his plan of action and was only waiting for the right moment to put it into effect.
And as expected that moment soon came as after he covered a certain amount of distance everyone finally took notice of the identity of the defencelessly sleeping girl in his arms. Standing up from his throne the Emperor in a more frantic tone than Cael had ever heard from the man demanded to know what he was doing.
『What is the meaning of this!?』
In response our protagonist, the grand agitator he was couldn’t resist the urge to make the haughty emperor sweat a little driving no small amount of pleasure in fanning the man’s anxieties. With the sketchy smile on his face reaching unprecedented levels of shadiness Cael responded to the query in as nonchalant a tone as possible.
『What’s the meaning of what? It’s exactly what it looks like the princess fainted so I decided to be a good Samaritan and take her to her father. Really, treating me like I’m some kind of criminal what am I on trial or something?』
Cael watched the Emperor grind his teeth in both frustration and impotence, he would have had to have been a complete idiot to not notice the back handed comment in his reply afterall. Deciding to make the most of the misunderstanding that stemmed from Selene’s foolishness Cael further reinforced the notion that she was in fact his hostage in an attempt to even the playing field a little between himself and the girl in question’s father.
Raising one of his hands to brush a silver-grey strand from the princess’ eye Cael looked down in an almost gentle manner towards the sleeping Selene. If she were awake to see him performing such an intimate action no doubt the infamous boiled octopus would be quick to make its reappearance, luckily for her though she was already unconscious this was especially so for what happened next would have no doubt left her coughing up proverbial blood.
『Look at her sleeping so peacefully it would be such a shame if something startled me and my hand slipped. Such a pretty face wouldn’t want anything to happen to it, right~?』
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Emphasising the final word Cael looked up to meet the Emperor’s gaze with a toothy smile of challenge before taking a deceptively sharp pen from his pocket and pointing it straight at Selene’s throat. By this stage what Cael was implying was obvious to everyone in the room and all the knights present reached for their swords looking about ready to jump him where he stood.
The scene of a nefarious rouge taking a beautiful princess hostage was enough to cause all manner of obscenities to fly off in Cael’s direction some even from his own classmates.
『You bastard!』
『Scum!』
『You’re a dead man!』
Of course none of anything they said affected him in the slightest if anything it only amused Cael further that was just the sort of guy he was. There was only one teeny tiny hiccup with his plan though, that hiccup being the reactions of Alice and Alex the only people in the room he gave any kind of a damn about.
『Nooo, Cael’s finally gone over to the dark side! I knew this would happen eventually, I’m a failure as a teacher if only I spoke to him sooner. Don’t believe the memes Cael! They don’t really have cake, the cake’s a lie!』
Though Cael found the concern touching the bits she was focusing on seemed a little off.
『Calm down Miss Sheel! The memes have nothing to do with it; it’s the tropes, the tropes! Don’t you get it? You see I’m the
Alex was just as bad not contributing anything remotely useful in the slightest to the situation, truly their responses were so far from what Cael was expecting that he found himself staring at the ceiling in exasperation.
(Weebs the both of them! Who’s the hell’s your evil edge lord rival?! I was having such a cool moment too damnit!)
Needless to say the Emperor was not amused in the slightest either what with the two heroes he had the most hope for joking merrily with his daughter’s kidnapper. Luckily however for everyone’s sanity, Cael’s included the two decided they had screwed around enough in their attempts at defusing the situation and soon got serious.
Noticing they had achieved their main goal of distracting their wayward student/friend the two in perfect sync charged Cael simultaneously. Their aim being to get the girl out of his arms before he did anything he might regret for his sake just as much as her’s.
Reality as always is cruel however for despite acting in what they perceived to be Cael’s best interest the person themselves certainly couldn’t let them get away with what they were after. In spite of covering a considerable distance before being noticed the redhead still spotted the charging pair when they were roughly five metres away.
『Aren’t you guys looking down on me too much?』
After saying his piece Cael waited a moment in hopes of any kind of witty response to his words, he quite liked the idea of experiencing the back and forth between heroes and villains afterall. Unfortunately in the end not getting any kind of reaction the teen shook his head while shrugging like a certain eccentric goddess as he faced off against the two blondes without fear.
(Really should have gone for the banter what a shame they’ve forced my hand, don’t you know I frighten even myself sometimes when I make a move?)
Turning to meet the gaze of his teacher he smirked triumphantly before opening his mouth to raise untold devastation upon his foes.
『The colour of panties Alice is wearing right now is white.』
And just like that the duo’s aggressive sprint came to a halt as Alex face faulted onto the throne room’s floor while Alice froze stammering for words with her mouth wide open and her face slowly turning scarlet out of sheer untold embarrassment.