Chapter 126

When I had woken up early in the morning, Akira was sleeping on the sofa .

Next to him, Princess Amelia was caressing his head .

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Akira’s sleeping face .

「…how unusual for Akira to sleep so defenselessly . 」

When I said this, Princess Amelia’s shoulders trembled a little and looked at me .

Those eyes of hers seemed somewhat sad .

Did something happen .

「Eh? Amelia-chan woke up early! Even though I thought that I would be first!」

「…yeah, I couldn’t sleep well . 」

When I was about to ask her, I was interrupted by Ueno who woke up .

Caressing Akira’s head, she answered Ueno who was noisy as soon as she woke up .

The look in those eyes were different from before, they were now overflowing with love .

「Uwah! Such a defenseless appearance of Oda-kun’s is a first…no, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it!」

Aah, I nodded in agreement with Ueno whose words were expressed differently from mine .

After all, Akira was a famous Sleeping Beauty even within our class .

He was only awake when a teacher woke him up and when it was a scary teacher’s class, but he was basically sleeping during all the other classes .

It was miraculous how he was able to avoid getting failing marks on his tests every time .

Maa, only I knew about that though .

If the other classmates knew, they would kick up a fuss, saying that he was cheating .

I knew that he studied in between his part-time jobs .

「A side of Akira I didn’t know… . I want to know . 」

After Princess Amelia complained in response, I immediately decided to leave as it seemed like they were going to have a girl’s talk .

「I’ll be in another room . Call me when you leave . 」

「Uwah!? Asahina-kun, you were here?」

I thought that Ueno had just been ignoring me the entire time, but it seems like she didn’t notice me .

「I was here since the beginning . 」

I gave a short reply, and left the room .

The delivery of the prize would be around noon .

The ones receiving the prizes were Princess Amelia and Latisneil, as well as Satou, who somehow won the male category .

It seems that most of the participants for the male category were muscular and macho-like bodybuilders, so almost everyone voted for Satou .

We had included it into the plan, but we didn’t think that Satou would actually participate in it, and we did a double-take when we heard that he won first place .

The past few days, we each pondered over the information provided by Tsuda, and investigated it .

The more we investigated, the more information there was regarding the things that Uruk’s guildmaster Gram was involved in .

There was no longer any doubt that Gram was involved with the disappearances of the previous pageant winners .

He didn’t even bother with trying to cover it up .

Since even people like us who were just adventurers could gather this information without going through an information broker .

Oddly enough, the information brokers seemed to be aware of Kurou’s contacts, as they avoided leaking information to them which delayed his investigations into Gram’s escapades .

We didn’t know if we should tell Akira and the others or not .

「Do you have the determination?」

I nodded at Satou who was leaning against the wall right next to the room I had left .

The dark circles under Akira’s eyes, there was no way I would not realize that they grew more pronounced by the day, and I had opposed it when Satou and the others wanted to let them know .

Of course, it would be best if we let Akira know and strengthen the guard on Princess Amelia and Satou .

However, I saw Akira today and became determined .

「We can’t let Akira know . …maa, he’s not an idiot, so he should have some kind of plan . 」

「Some kind of plan?」

At my words, Satou tilted his head in confusion .

I nodded, and held up a finger to my lips .

「Haven’t you noticed? We haven’t seen Yoru since yesterday . I don’t know if he’s guarding Princess Amelia from somewhere, or perhaps he went out to get her information, but there’s no doubt that he’s doing something on Akira’s orders . 」

Maa, in any case, I couldn’t think of an excuse for staying quiet .

Perhaps Satou agreed, as he nodded in response .

「Among us, you are the one who knows Akira best . In that case, it would be best to do it like that . 」

I gave a wry smile .

Even though Satou had been with Akira for around the same amount of time as well .

「Leave Amelia-san to Ueno-san, let’s do a final confirmation . Everyone is in the room . 」

Aah, I followed behind Satou .

That sleeping face of Akira’s, I hadn’t seen it in a while .

We went to sleep earlier, and woke up earlier as well .

Perhaps it was because of that, or maybe it was because he didn’t sleep, I wonder which one it was .

No matter which one it was, it was easy to see that his health was deteriorating .

Was it because he could relax by Princess Amelia’s side?

In any case, it’s good that he’s resting, even if it’s just for today .

It was thanks to Princess Amelia .

Akira too, after meeting Princess Amelia, it seems that he’s become somewhat calmer .

Maa, that being the case, if something were to happen to Princess Amelia, he would immediately become the most dangerous person .