Chapter 11: Oberon
That figure slowly stepped out of the darkness.
"Classmate, may I know your name?"
The man was dressed in a white outfit, a white cloak draped around him. Though his eyes were still hidden in the shadows, the smile at the corner of his lips gave others the feeling of a spring breeze.
A light cloak rested on his shoulders, gray hair beneath a crown, peeking out from the fur collar.
Although not very distinct, Eikou still noticed the patterns embroidered on the collar of this man's cloak.
The design resembled the delicate wings of a moth, while the inside of the cloak was a patch of deep darkness.
"..."
Even though the other party looked completely harmless,
Eikou still instinctively took a step back, unwilling to lower his guard against this suddenly appearing Servant.
"Before I give my name, why don't you introduce yourself first?" Eikou asked warily.
"That's reasonable enough, then…"
The gray-haired Servant stepped forward out of the darkness, smiling warmly.
"My name is Oberon, Fairy King Oberon. I'm nothing particularly worth boasting about, merely a king in name only."
"Oberon?"
Hearing that name, Eikou couldn't help being stunned.
Under the lamplight, he could now see the man's face clearly.
Smooth gray hair, a golden crown, thin insect-like wings—exactly as he claimed, he was indeed the Fairy King Oberon.
Wait—wasn't this guy supposed to be one of his classmates in the Britain class? In fact, even his dorm roommate?
"So it was you…" he exclaimed involuntarily.
"You know me?" Oberon asked in puzzlement.
"Well, strictly speaking, not really, but in the Britain class your legend has spread everywhere. Because since the start of the semester, you've never attended a single lesson, no one has ever seen you in the dorm, everyone says you're a Servant who doesn't truly exist."
However, there was something Eikou found inconvenient to say aloud—
Since Oberon hadn't returned to the dorm for so long, his bed had long since been piled high with clutter by Eikou and the Round Table Knights.
"Haha, I didn't expect that to happen."
The Fairy King chuckled as he closed the book in his hand.
"You said you're my roommate, then I can already guess who you must be. For various reasons I couldn't attend school, but I did read through the dorm roster. If you're not Gawain or Tristan, then you must be Mochizuki Eikou, right?"
"…That's correct."
Eikou nodded.
"So tell me, Oberon—why haven't you gone back to the dorm this late at night, lingering here instead? More importantly, why haven't you ever attended a single class? The term has been open for a month and a half already, and I've never once seen you."
"Well, that's because…"
The Fairy King in white gave a pure smile, spreading his empty hands.
"Because I'm broke!"
"What the hell?"
"Haha…"
Oberon scratched his head awkwardly.
"To be honest, I got into quite a bit of debt recently. Not long ago I was almost sold out by a shady trader named Columbus. Thankfully, after more than a month of day-and-night part-time jobs, plus temporarily selling my only property—the forest of Wales—I barely managed to buy back my freedom!"
"Now that I've escaped slavery, I can finally, like the protagonist of a school story, enjoy the rosy youth of student life!"
Damn it, wasn't the price too heavy? Selling land and buying back freedom—can you really live a rosy youth like this? No one asked for a school-life protagonist suffering such humiliation!
"So I say, debt repayment is truly a terrifying thing."
The Fairy King in white sighed in poverty-stricken tones.
But he quickly brightened again, smiling gracefully at Mochizuki Eikou.
"Now then, allow me a more formal introduction. My name is Oberon, a fairy from Fairy Land, created as a Fairy King by some playwright. From now on we'll be classmates and roommates. Have you thought of any nicknames for me? Fairy King, Prince of Winter, or Robin Goodfellow—any of those work."
Eikou's gaze sharpened immediately: "How about 'poverty-stricken butterfly,' do you like that one?"
"Just call me Oberon. I can't believe that on our first meeting, you already came up with such a sharp nickname."
"Just kidding," Eikou said. "Seriously though, why are you still in the library so late?"
"That's purely by accident."
Oberon quietly closed the book in his hand—Idylls of the King by Tennyson.
"I missed the dorm lights-out, so I have to sleep in the library tonight. But to me it's not a bad thing at all, since I quite enjoy reading stories all night here."
As he said this, his eyes shone like the crown on his head, his smile radiating friendliness.
"I really love humans, and I love the stories you weave. Stories that can change lives are truly wonderful. I especially love fairy tales with happy endings!"
[Please make a ??? check.]
A die suddenly rolled down in front of Eikou.
[Result is ???, check failed.]
[You seem to have forgotten something very important.]
[The Fairy King's actions and words feel suspicious somehow, but you cannot pinpoint the problem, and can only temporarily accept his claims.]
Eikou suddenly felt his own thoughts becoming sluggish.
Wait—wasn't Oberon supposed to be a character like… his full name was something like…
"Specifically, what kind of fairy tales do you like…?"
Just as Eikou was about to probe further, several pamphlets slipped out of Oberon's copy of Idylls of the King.
He glanced down, clearly reading the covers:
"Final Year of a Bad Debtor""Becoming Rich from Debt""Pretending to Owe 400 Billion, I See Through the Ways of the World"
"..."
Oberon's face reddened slightly, scratching his cheek with a finger.
"…Ah, sorry, could you pretend you didn't see that?"
"It's fine, Oberon, aren't these just 'adult fairy tales'?"
Eikou said seriously.
"I can understand how crushing debt might drive you to seek release in such indulgent stories."
"No, normally my reading taste is much better than this! Classic literature and traditional fairy tales are what I truly love!"
[That night, you finally met your roommate—Oberon.]
[Tomorrow, he will begin participating in your school life.]
[There are nine days left until the midterm exams.]