Endless Silver Machine

Starting from the second grade, class time becomes free, leaving ample time for students to practice freely.

As if he had spotted this opportunity, a letter was sent to Shimozuki Academy.

Principal Phyllis handed the unopened envelope to Aika's hand.

——Although I don’t know what happened, I don’t intend to interfere. You can handle it yourself.

After only receiving such a sentence, Aika was sent out of the principal's office by Principal Phyllis.

Aika's mind has been blank since she learned the identity of the sender. Whether it was Principal Phyllis who didn't explain anything, or whether he didn't listen to her words, Aika couldn't even remember such a thing clearly.

Leaving the principal's office with mechanical steps, Aika came to the flower bed under the office building. The delicate letter was in my coat pocket.

Should I keep it in my hand so as not to wrinkle the paper? He suddenly thought of this.

Thinking of this, Aika was about to put his hand into his pocket when a familiar figure blocked him.

Senior Lilith is holding three heavy books stacked together. He probably said hello to Aika when he passed by, but he was thinking about other things and didn't respond.

"Senior Lilith..."

Senior Lilith has already tied up the bow that symbolizes third grade and is still working as a librarian in the big library.

"What's wrong? You look listless..."

She looked at Aika with a worried look. If she hadn't been holding so many books in her hands, she would have buried Aika's head in her chest as usual.

The ring-shaped outerwear is still worn on her slender ring finger. The ring originally worn on the middle finger also fits perfectly on the ring finger.

Have you specifically adjusted the size of the exterior?

After seeing Senior Sister Lilith, Aika suddenly thought of a bunch of messy things, and her thinking finally became clear.

"I'm thinking about something..."

Aika gave her an ambiguous answer. Telling the truth to Lilith-senpai about something that she didn't even fully understand would only trouble her.

"Well..." Senior Sister Lilith was silent for a few seconds, "Do you have anything else to do later?"

"There are no reservations at the moment."

"These are some materials that Teacher Tara asked me to find for her. They are now being sent to her office. You are also a librarian, come and help me."

Senior Lilith handed two of the books to Aika in a nonchalant manner. Although she didn't know what she planned to do, Aika took it obediently.

"Ah, Lilith, you're here...Aika?"

When he saw Senior Lilith and Aika coming to the office together, Tutor Tara was stunned for a moment, and then laughed as if he had thought of something.

Apart from their families, she is the person who knows the most about the relationship between the two, so the atmosphere today is different from usual, and Tutor Tara is also aware of it.

"Well...just leave the book here."

She tapped the penholder on the empty table at hand.

"Teacher Tara, I'm very sorry. Two of the books you need have been borrowed."

"Well... these three books are enough for the time being. Thank you for your hard work, Lilith."

"It's okay, I hope I can help."

"The third grade will be busy soon, and I also want to relax now." Tutor Tara stretched out in front of the two students without any scruples, "Aika, I heard that you are that Coco The students recommended by Professor Na really hide their secrets!"

Her focus suddenly shifted to Aika who was traveling with her.

The topic suddenly shifted to herself, and Aika, who was originally planning to remain silent until leaving, could only laugh dryly.

"I asked Ms. Liuyin... to introduce me to Professor Cocona. If I relied solely on my abilities, it would be absolutely impossible for me to have any contact with Professor Cocona."

"Anyway, study hard. Only after you have mastered all magic mechanics can you see your true abilities. Before that, don't position yourself without authorization, got it?"

After that, the two chatted with Tutor Tara for a while. Basically, it was all insignificant gossip. While chatting about those miscellaneous topics, Aika unknowingly merged into the leisurely atmosphere created by Teacher Tara, and the troublesome things were temporarily put aside.

Speaking of which, in the conversation just now, Teacher Tara mentioned the term "real ability". Did she mean the ability of "mechanical alchemy"? During the battle between Pufa Town and Liuyin, was Teacher Tara nearby? Or maybe... I just misunderstood what she said...

"Almost... can you tell me?"

"What?"

"That's it...that thing you've been thinking about, can I ask?"

After leaving Tutor Tara's office, Senior Lilith and Aika walked for a while. At the moment when they were about to part, Lilith-senpai made up her mind and finally spoke to Aika.

She didn't know if she was qualified to understand Aika's troubles, but she still hoped to be able to contribute to him in some way. This was a repayment for the help Aika had given him, and there were some other ambiguous reasons.

Senior Lilith held her hands slightly nervously, waiting for Aika's answer. She was mentally prepared to be rejected by him. Although she was wearing the ring that he put on her ring finger, senior Lilith knew very well that Aika and her hearts had no intersection at all.

His family still had misunderstandings about his behavior at that time. Aika did not give any explanation, maybe just to take care of his own face. Senior Lilith thinks so.

But Aika didn't hesitate in front of her, who was feeling uneasy.

"Actually, I received this."

He handed "that thing" to Senior Lilith.

From the exquisite appearance, you can tell that the identity of the sender is very special, and the sealing wax on the envelope looks a bit familiar to Senior Lilith.

"Who sent this?"

"Lan Ming."

"……who?"

Senior Lilith firmly believed that the person Aika was talking about was probably not the same person she was thinking of, so she asked again just to confirm.

"Lan Ming Yiela, that princess..."

"Ahaha... It's a serious crime to joke with Her Highness the Princess' name..."

"Why……"

Aika can understand Senior Lilith's mood at the moment, because he had the same mood dozens of minutes ago.

Taking senior Lilith to sit down on a bench in the nearby courtyard, Aika carefully opened the sealing wax on the envelope.

"This is... parchment..."

After seeing the letter for the first time, Senior Lilith had to admit her mistake. In the Bes Empire, parchment was one of the symbols of the royal family, and this kind of paper was only used on very formal occasions.

Rather than the content of the letter, Senior Lilith was more concerned about what exactly Aika had gone through to get involved with the royal family. However, Aika was currently browsing the contents of the letter, so she did not mention this issue immediately.

"Um……"

The text is not a long speech, the message I want to convey to Aika is concise and concise, and the font is also very elegant, which has a different aesthetic feeling from Luoluo's delicate font.

Aika's tense expression at first gradually relaxed. After reading through all the contents of the letter, he handed the parchment to senior Lilith who was watching his every move nervously.

"Is it okay to show it to me?"

"I think it's probably fine."

Senior Lilith carefully took the parchment handed over by Aika with both hands with doubts.

Her family can be called a noble family, and Senior Sister Lilith has admired the figure of Her Royal Highness Princess Lan Ming Yiela from a distance, but has never had the opportunity to get closer to her.

The content of the letter was beyond belief.

"What happened between you and Princess Lan Ming Yiela in the past two months? Can you tell me about it, sister?"

Her spring-like smile didn't allow Aika to refuse.

Senior Lilith is not considered an outsider to Aika. She once saw the power of the "Eye of Fiery Flame" with her own eyes. After that, she never asked about it again, and she helped Aika hide her identity in disguise. . Although I did not have such thoughts, Aika still thanked Sister Lilith for her concern from the bottom of her heart. And because of that incident, Aika had no choice but to be regarded as a key observation object by Lilith's family. Even the head of the family, Mrs. Elise, had contacted Aika several times in private, and most of the time she was investigating him and Lily in a roundabout way. The progress between Si-senpai.

In this way, Senior Lilith has completely integrated into Aika's life without even realizing it.

From Aika's brief explanation, Senior Lilith finally understood the reason for this letter from Her Royal Highness the Princess.

"In other words, you rescued Her Royal Highness the Princess who was in distress on the airship, and then she wanted to thank you, so she invited you to Augustus?"

Augustus was the imperial capital center of the Bes Empire, adjacent to the four districts, and the royal family's castle was built here. Augustus was surrounded by a city wall with gates leading to the four divisions of the imperial capital. The solemn castle is the symbol of power of the Bis Empire. The entire Augustus has an area similar to that of the Eastern District of the Imperial Capital. If you are lucky enough to visit it, it is definitely something worth showing off to the people of the empire.

"Judging from the letter, that's what it means." Senior Sister Lilith looked back at the parchment again doubtfully, "But it's understandable to invite you and Wei Xi, why Luo Luo and Ling were also invited Are you invited?"

"It's no use asking me."

Aika also felt a little strange in her heart. If it was because Lan Ming investigated the relationship between the four of them, then it would make sense for Luoluo, as a relative of his, to be invited together, but there should be no special reason for Ling to be invited to Augustus. Of course he could certainly regard Ling as family, but Lan Ming probably didn't know the relationship between the two.

"And..." Senior Sister Lilith suddenly put down the parchment in her hand and put the back of her hand against her lower lip as if thinking, "I remember that you just called Her Royal Highness the Princess by her name, right?"

"That's what she asked for. She unconsciously..."

"You have never called my name unconsciously," Senior Sister Lilith was not satisfied with Aika's answer, "You promised me..."

"It was because Madam Elise was also present at that time, but we don't actually have that kind of relationship. It would be rude to call her by name directly."

Sure enough, that's what he thought...

"By the way, Senior Lilith, thank you for guiding Luoluo in choosing subjects to specialize in."

"I just told her everything I knew and didn't give any advice. The final choice is up to her. Which subject did she choose?"

"Pharmacology Department."

"It's a choice that fits her character very well."

"Yeah……"

"You told me that you would go to the Magic Mechanical Department. Have you stuck to this idea?"

"Well, yes." Aika firmly answered Senior Lilith's question, "I have found a direction for my efforts."

"Well, sister, I'm very satisfied."

"Ah... Actually it's not..."

After saying that, Aika felt a little embarrassed, her cheeks felt hot and she scratched her hair.

He would only feel this way in front of Senior Sister Lilith. There is only one sister in the family, and Aika has always regarded himself as the elder brother, so he always pretends to be mature unconsciously. I did feel a different atmosphere from Senior Lilith. If I had a sister, maybe this would be the feeling. When you act in front of her, you always feel like you are trying to be strong.

"Senior Lilith is in the Summoning Department, right? Are the magic-focused courses very difficult?"

"Well..." Senior Sister Lilith struggled with how to answer this question, "It can't be considered particularly hard. During class, the teacher will only teach us theoretical knowledge, and practical abilities must be obtained through hard work. It’s also fun to constantly challenge and fail.”

After finishing speaking, Senior Sister Lilith stood up from the bench.

"I'm still on the way to work, so I feel a little regretful. I must behave well in front of Her Royal Highness the Princess."

"I still don't know how to reply to this invitation..."

"I must agree. Are you ready to give up such a rare opportunity? By the way, I will discuss it with Mother. You can stay in my house during the time you go to the imperial capital."

"Eh? Wait..."

"Well, that's it. I have to go back quickly."

Senior Lilith didn't leave Aika any time to hesitate, and just waved her hand and walked away.

"It seems like I suddenly decided on something very important just now..."

Aika put down her outstretched hand in confusion.

This sudden invitation seemed to make a small snowball grow bigger and bigger.

…………