八章 モニカ、不良になる
Our Monica?!
二〇体以上の翼竜をゆっくりと地面に下ろすのと、自分の体を浮かせるのとでは、後者の方が圧倒的に難しい。
You can’t just say stuff like that and then not explain why 
「すごいわぁ、流石上位精霊ねぇ」
Just wait until you see her artistic landing!
「そうなのぉ？ じゃあ、式典会場になる教会の裏手にしましょ。リンちゃん、ギリギリまで教会の壁に近づいてくれる？ 目立たないよう幻術を使うから」
A kind and understanding person? In the Seven Sages?! I guess so far we only had Louis as a benchmark 
It’s really nice how she’s even going the extra mile here to accomodate Monica’s wishes, especially since it’s the exact opposite of what she would’ve liked to do.
She also seems like a rather normal person so far. Very suspect. Definitely an imposter!
（完全に誰にも気づかれなくなる……透明になれる幻術があればいいのにな）
Haha. She’d probably never stop using that if it existed
リンはゆっくりと音もなく着地した。いつもなら斬新な着地方法を提案するリンだが、今日は目立ちたくないというモニカの意を汲んでくれたのだろう。
Rin being sensible?!
その人物は顔の上半分を白い仮面で覆い、黒い羽付きのマントを羽織っている。冥府の番人の仮装なのだろう。
問題は、そのマントの下に見える長い足だ。
あの足の長さと完璧な黄金比で構成された体を、モニカが見間違えるはずがない。
Oh my god, I love this so much.
「この辺にゃ、いないみたいだな。仕方ねぇ。一緒に探してやるよ。だから泣くなよ？ 泣くなよ？ 俺ぁ、お前さんぐらいの年の娘に泣かれると、どうにも落ち着かないんだ」
So the Seven Sages witch who’s disguised as a student is going to search for the prince who’s disguised as a underworld gatekeeper, together with the forger who made the shoddy version of the coat of arms used to infiltrate the academy?
How could this possibly go wrong
男は数歩歩くたびに、モニカが人混みに流されていないか確認してくれた。モニカは男のバンダナを目印に、はぐれないよう必死で足を動かす。
And like that, the lost child Monica has been adopted.
こっそり探して、こっそり護衛しようと思っていたのに、いきなり見つかってしまった。
Yeah, I was rather sure that talking to him was not part of the plan
Which actually might’ve made it hard if they discovered him while Bartholomew was still with her. Judging by Bartholomew’s behaviour I’m not sure he would’ve left a lost kid on her own without properly handing her over.
「お祭りを、楽しんでいるように、見えます……」
「正解だ」
Hum hum. When it was mentioned earlier that he is often going out to “enjoy himself”, I was wondering if that’s really the case. Is he just trying to enjoy life and starve off boredom as long as he still can, or is he following some kind of plan?
In this case though… he’s probably here to see some 
magic and thought that he might as well enjoy the festival while he’s at it.
かくして国内最高峰の頭脳の持ち主である七賢人は、その優れた頭をギュインギュインとフル回転させ、言い訳を捻り出した。
I bet this is going to be good, as always
モニカは拳を握りしめ、唇の片端を持ち上げる。〈結界の魔術師〉ルイス・ミラーの悪い顔を真似たつもりだった。
Looking forward to see that in the anime 
「実は、わたし、不良なんです！」
「…………」
「だから、そう、不良のわたしは、一人で夜遊びを、していましたっ！」
And it’s all explained beyond a shadow of a doubt! Well done, Monica.
「ここでは僕のことはアイクと呼んでくれ。いいね？」
「あ、アイク、様？」
フェリクスのミドルネームの、アークをもじった偽名だろうか？
Can’t you just change your last name and keep the first name as is? It’s working super well for Monica.
「君は夜遊びに慣れている不良なんだろう？ いつもどんなお店に行くんだい？」
I’d like to say “Felix is having far too much fun with this”, but in fact: He’s having just the right amount of fun with it. Go for it, Felix
「美少年をはべらせて、酒池肉林ですっ！」
It’s actually true!
迷子のチビと別れたバルトロメウスは「いやぁ良いことをした後は気分が良いなぁ」という清々しい気持ちで、式典会場に侵入していた。無論、犯罪である。
I hope nothing too bad happens to him. I like him.
(I also liked Casey 
)
教会には厳重そうな警備が敷かれていたのだが、バルトロメウスは祭壇の修理に来たと大ボラを吹いて、堂々と中に入り込んだ
That plan quickly went from “I accidentially stumbled in” to “I accidentially pretended to be an altar repairman.”
目的の聖具室には、驚くほど簡単に辿り着いた。途中で人とすれ違うことも無かったのは、皆、祭りで忙しいからだろうか？
Okay, that’s weird. If it’s really in there, but somehow not guarded… did somebody maybe already mess with the indoor guards, and Bartholomew will foil their attempt of theft? Or do the guards just think the outer perimeter security is good enough and they don’t need more inside?
Or maybe they’re just like “There’s a Seven Sages witch inside, it’s all good”
不法侵入に慣れた者なら、警備態勢の甘さを不審に思うところだが、能天気なバルトロメウスは「普段の行いが良いからだな！」などと考えながら、聖具室の扉を開ける。
扉には鍵がかかっていなかった。やっぱり能天気なバルトロメウスは「今日の俺は運が良いな！」とご機嫌なことを考えつつ、聖具室に足を踏み入れる。
He’s raising so many flags, and there are so many hints for the reader dropped that this will go hilariously wrong
Also, uh, I hope he doesn’t die from that man-hating magical tool.
蓋を開けると天鵞絨の台座の上に、繊細な金細工の腕輪と指輪が細い鎖で繫がっている装身具が収められていた。手の甲を金の鎖と宝石飾りが覆う、古風なデザインである。
Please don’t touch it. Even under the best circumstances this would be a bad idea. It’s an incredibly important magician’s tool, there is no way it wouldn’t be protected.
(He’s absolutely going to touch it.)
Also… I kind of assumed it to be a mirror, with it being named 〈星紡ぎのミラ〉? Now that I’ve looked it up, I guess it would’ve been ミラー then.
バルトロメウスは大はしゃぎで〈星紡ぎのミラ〉を持ち上げ、ランタンの火にかざす。
Aaaaand he touched it.
Is he going to die? Or maybe be posessed or something? I’m not sure how him dying would impact the story.
バルトロメウスの中指に赤い紋様が浮かび上がる。それは、古代魔導具の使用者として認められた証の契約印。
Okay, there goes the hope that he’s not going to be a “user” of the tool. I forgot that tools don’t need their users to be magicians.
Also… I guess there really weren’t any guards inside or security mechanisms on room, box or tool. Weird. (And it’s hardly Bartholomew’s fault he stumbled in then; everyone involved is a little guilty!)
Welp. And there he goes into the sky. That’s much better than him just dying outright; now we can have a dilemma where Monica has to save him while being next to Felix!
This was a nice chapter. I wasn’t sure where this whole Bartholomew business would go, but I actually like him now (not least because of how he behaved with Monica!), and we got some fun Felix/Monica interactions too. Pity there’s no Isabelle though so far? Maybe we’ll get some next chapter when she has to distract Felix so that Monica can do her thing, or something similar?
And as much as I love this series, I’m not actually that much a fan of academy settings, so having two chapters with different settings in a row was great too.
(Also checking the previous chapter again: I guess it wasn’t mentioned to be a “man-hating tool”, but one that “kills its user if used by a man” with その男を殺してしまう implying that it’s an accidental byproduct? That fits a lot more with what is currently happening than “man-hating”, yeah.)
