After the decision to invite the student"s parents here, the hectic days continued.

First off, I talked with the students, learned of where they lived and sent out the invitations.

At that time, the students that knew of what had happened offered to write letters to their families to explain the situation. However, I declined and just accepted their feelings.

Most of the students couldn"t write before coming to this school; it would be impossible for their parents to know if it was actually their child or not.

This wouldn"t be enough to convince the parents. So, the plan was for us to meet with the parents and convince them at that time.

Next, we needed to mobilize the knights discreetly to find the source of all of the false rumours in our territory. I can not have this person captured now, but if they were to leave a village or if these false rumours were to be cleared up, I can capture them then.

I will definitely find a way to get back at Patrick.

I"ve also begun gathering information to oppose the Marquis of Gramp. We are investigating the situation with the Gramp family and trying to find any information we can use to negotiate with the Marquis.

By the way, Claire isn"t the one in charge of this.

Since she is doing her usual work and handling the job of inviting the parents to the school, I was afraid handling any more work would be too stressful for her.

Well, I know her dream is to be successful on her own so I won"t interfere too much unless she"s clearly overworking herself.

One day and one month pa.s.sed.

Around twenty parents were gathered in the student dormitory.

By the way, as there are currently thirty students, only around 60% of the parents are here. The first graduates have already explained the situation to their parents and so, there was no confusion with them.

On the contrary, there is clearly a lot of people here misunderstanding the situation. Those who aren"t even trying to hide their anger and those that are clearly uneasy. There is an overwhelming negative atmosphere in the room.

I was standing in the shadows observing the situation. I took a deep breath and slowly moved forward.

I could see they were all curious to see who the person in charge was, but once they saw a twelve-year-old child appear, they all looked confused.

"Nice to meet you. I am the head of the Grances family, Leon Grances."

"So it was true? The rumour that a child had become the head was true?"

"You mean to say such a child controls our future?"

"Look at his expensive clothing."

"Ah, I wasn"t even sure such a luxurious building was a house at first. We suffer yet he lives in such luxury."

"After all, the rumours were true!"

After my introduction, a noise slowly spreads out through the crowd. The voices aren"t that loud, but I can understand the general meaning behind them.

Isn"t it a little much to be so rude to the earl!? I would usually try to stop this talk, but in this situation, I really can"t speak out at all.

I patiently wait for everyone to quiet down and begin to speak.

"Now, the reason everyone has gathered here. I know you"ve heard these terrible rumours about how your daughters are being treated poorly here. I"ve gathered you here today to clear up these misunderstandings."

The noise from the crowd increases again.

"I know you"re upset, but if you don"t remain calm, we"ll never get anywhere. Do you have a representative to ask questions?"

To my question, everyone looks at one another. Meanwhile, a quiet old man walked forward.

"Excuse me, but I"d like to be the representative."

"You?"

"I"m acting as the chief of Rejykk. My name is Kyle."

I see the v

illage chief. That explains why he"s so calm…..he"s the village chief of the parents that sent their children here. I guess everyone is really having a difficult time in life no matter what their position.

"Well then, Kyle, what questions do you have?"

"Please, tell us if the rumours are true or not."

"Can you be more specific? I"m not even sure about the content of all of the rumours."

"Well….that"s…"

I"m guessing the rumours are all negative and criticize me.

"Well….The rumours say that Leon-sama is living lavishly using the money you"ve gathered from the taxes while the rest of the people suffer. As for the children you"ve gathered they say…..you torture them."

"I see. I"ll respond to each of the rumours individually, but first, let me say, they are all complete lies."

The moment I said they were lies — the noise from the crowd erupted once more.

"Everyone, let Leon-sama speak first. We will hear from him first, then we can decide what needs to be done."

Kyle yells at the rest of the crowd and quiets them all down. As expected of a village chief. He"s definitely calmer than the others.

"Leon-sama, may I ask you a question?"

"Yes, ask anything."

"Well, as you said earlier, the girls are safe, right?"

"Of course, they"re doing fine. You can all meet with them a little later."

Rather, they"re currently waiting in the next room over. We"re planning on having them come out at the right time to hopefully have a strong impact.

"Well then, you said you aren"t living in luxury?"

"Yes, that"s true."

"Then, how do you explain this mansion or the fine clothes you"re wearing?"

"Well….This building and these clothes are expensive, but these are only a prototype. Before long, I wish for everyone to be able to afford clothes like these."

"You plan for us to afford clothing like that? E-Excuse me, but may I ask the price?"

"Somewhere around 100 gold coins."

The clothing I wear is of a simpler design than the girl"s uniform that costs 200 gold pieces. I thought it was a bit cheap, but….when I mentioned the price the atmosphere of the room changed.

"100 gold coins? You"re saying that a house that costs 100 gold coins will be given to us soon?"

"Ah, sorry. The price I just mentioned was for the clothing."

The moment I said this, the atmosphere in the room completely split open.

"Leon-sama doesn"t understand the struggles we go through every day! Even if that clothing cost 1/10 of the price, we wouldn"t be able to afford it even if we saved all of the money we make in our lifetime."

"So, commoners would never be able to wear this clothing?"

"Of course not! Even if Heaven and earth were to be flipped, we"d never be able to afford them!"

"— That"s right stop joking around!"

"— Even if the price was one gold coin it would be impossible!"

Everyone begins yelling at once.

"But your daughters are all wearing this clothing now."

"""……………..ha?"""

"By the way, the design of their clothing is a bit different. So, their clothing costs around 200 gold coins."

"""……………………..ha?"""

"There"s also been a misunderstanding about this building. This is actually the student dormitory where the girls live."

"""…………………………………..ha?"""

Well, if they just keep repeating "….ha?" I have no idea how to respond.

……I guess I can understand how they"re feeling.

Anyway, now that the setup is complete, I snapped my fingers. The students entered in from the next room and lined up behind me.

By the way, the girls are dressed a little differently today. Because they"re meeting with their parents today in addition to wearing their normal uniforms, they"re also wearing hair ornaments and other accessories.

Because of the gothic style uniform, it looks like they"re some kind of idol group. It would be impossible for even the princesses of this world to wear such expensive clothing.

How"s that? Are they amazed that the daughters they haven"t seen for so long have become so cute? Now, enjoy this great reunion with your cute daughters — why do they all look puzzled?

"Umm…..are you not happy to see your daughters again?"

"""………………………………………………ha?"""

"No, we"ve already been through that. Didn"t you want to see your daughters?"

"""………………………………Daughter? Where is she?"""

"They"re right in front of you. They"re wearing beautiful clothing, their hair is smooth, the sunburn they all had is gone, and their skin has all become quite fair, but they are undoubtedly your daughters, right?"

"""HAAAAAAAAA!?"""

Are they really this surprised!?

Well, if I think about it, it may be strange seeing their daughters go from wearing essentially a jersey to wearing expensive western clothes.

That may be too much for them. The students also look puzzled.

As I was thinking this, Lyanna came up beside me and smiled at Kyle.

"Father, it"s been a long time."

Ah, so Kyle is the father of Lyanna

Lyanna is probably the cutest of all the second group of students. Kyle is seeing his daughter dressed up and beautiful for the first time.

"See? Your daughter is doing fine."

I asked him this expecting a surprised reaction, but he just stared at me with a blank expression….Eh, what is it? Why is he staring at me?

"Kyle-san? Is something wrong?"

"This is ridiculous. There"s no way such a beautiful young lady is my daughter. Now, please bring out the real Lyanna!"

This guy. Can"t he recognize his own daughter!?

"Umm…..Well, this is Lyanna."

"Hahaha, don"t be foolish. My daughter has tanned skin and unkempt hair. Umm…..Right, she looks like a poor peasant girl — Gah!?"

Uwaa, Lyanna just kicked Kyle in the shoulder!

"Th-this violent feeling!? Oooh, is it really you, Lyanna!?"

"Shut up! Why do you recognize my kick but not my face!?"

"—Gaha!?"

Lyanna just hit him with a roundhouse kick! I wonder if he"s okay — Ah, he collapsed.

I didn"t know our school taught martial arts…..The power behind that kick was impressive. I didn"t even know a fourteen-year-old girl could do something like that.

Still…..It would be better if she stopped doing high kicks while wearing a skirt.

"I taught her martial arts for self-defense. Besides Leon, the lasers are working properly."

"Alice……where did you come from? Also, don"t read my mind without permission. That"s supposed to be Sophia"s ability. Besides, I can"t see anything anyway; don"t treat me like a criminal."

"Anyway, it seems everyone has reunited with their daughters."

……..After my conversation with Alice, I turned my eyes to my surroundings.

It seems that all of the parents have reunited with their daughters. They seem to be surprised with the changes in their children but are just happy to see them safe.

But the students that are not meeting with their parents are just talking amongst themselves….. I see, the parents of the students that never believed the rumours did not come.

I should have invited everyone"s parents. I"ll be sure to do that once these misunderstandings are cleared up.

A few minutes pa.s.sed as I watched their reunion. Finally, the parents seemed to calm down and everyone looked at me.

"Can I a.s.sume the misunderstandings about me have been cleared up?"

The moment I asked, Kyle lowered his head. Shortly after, all of the other parents did the same.

"I"ve heard about the situation from Lyanna. Leon-sama treats the girls very well. I"m sorry for doubting you!"

"Alright. As long as the misunderstandings have been cleared up. You can all raise your heads."

"No, there are still some things that need to be said. We were incredibly rude to you, we take full responsibility for it. Our children had nothing to do with this, so…."

"Ah~, you don"t need to be worried about it."

I know what he wants to say, so I interrupt Kyle"s words.

"Lift your head. It was my fault for causing the misunderstandings in the first place. I am the one that needs to apologize for worrying you all."

I lowered my head to them. At that moment, I could tell they were all shocked. None of them expected a n.o.ble to bow his head to them.

Well, I"m not much of a n.o.ble. I have no issue bowing my head to them…but if I act to respectfully I might make them feel a little uncomfortable.

I thought this and quickly raised my head.

"Anyway, I will never blame anyone here for anything that"s happened today."

I plan on finding the people responsible for spreading the rumours. I add this at the end without saying it.

"Leon-sama, you"re too kind. Thank you."

"It"s fine. You travelled a long distance. I hope you can stay a couple days and see what your children are studying."

"No, well…we have work we need to do in the fields."

"It"s okay. I have people there to take care of your work while you"re away."

"If you say so. Staying for a little while should be fine…."

"Yes, please do."

And spread the word about the usefulness of the knowledge taught at this school.

Needless to say, the students are already familiar with the city.

And several days pa.s.sed.

"Uwaa~, getting to rest in a hot spring every day. Is this paradise~"

"The food is so delicious~"

"Water comes out if you turn the faucet~"

"""I never want to return to the village~~~"""

The villagers would not return by choice, so they were forced to return to their villages.

Here are some more rough sketches of some of the characters in Volume 2. From left to right they are Tina, Lyanna, a sketch of the girl’s uniform (or maybe the headless body of a character!?), the Marquis of Gramp, and Leon.