Chapter 69 - First Day of Classes (2)

The administration faculty was where commoners and the children of lesser nobles who would not inherit their houses went in search of a stable life and a higher social standing. The knights faculty was for those with physical enhancement abilities or combat-oriented mana Heart Methods. But regardless of all that, most heirs and children of great nobles attended and graduated from the inherited abilities faculty.

Frankly, the great nobles were better off learning and training their inherited abilities within their own houses. The Royal Academy’s training was meant for those who had no access to such an education. Otherwise, its main role was to hold noble children as hostages. In the end, the nobles who mattered spent their time in the inherited abilities faculty strengthening their connections and alliances.

The princess, Manuel, and the two noble freshmen who had taken part in the welcome ceremony all belonged to the inherited abilities faculty.

“My family may be ducal, but I’m only an illegitimate son. And the ability I awakened isn’t any help with administration. I’d be grateful just to become a full knight.”

Not long ago, what I’d said would have been true. Now, though, I wasn’t sure what the knights faculty had left to teach me. I couldn’t exactly say that. Besides, to be honest, what mattered was staying out of the way of troublesome people in high places. I’d been asked to look after the princess, but surely nothing would happen to her during class. More than anything, I wanted to keep my distance from her.

Piar still looked uncertain, but he seemed to understand well enough. It was time for the next step.

“With my physical enhancement ability, becoming a knight was the obvious choice... What kind of ability do you have, Piar?” I asked, looking at him.

‘Come on. Spit it out. Tell me your ability.’

* * *

The lecture hall was large and semicircular. All the freshmen were there for their first class.

“Good to meet you. I’m Bogard, and I teach history.”

The elderly professor, his hair completely white, ended his introduction there and launched straight into the lesson.

“You can think of this world as divided into the time before the Great War and the time after it. The culture, technology, and history of the ancient empire were scattered and lost during the war. Today, we find traces of them only as relics. Our present culture, political systems, and nations all arose after the Great War...”

Despite his aged appearance, his voice was strong, and he wasn’t a bad teacher. His enthusiasm failed to reach the students, though. Only a handful listened. Most had little interest in a history class that was merely a general-education requirement. All first-years had to take it, but it counted for little toward their grades, and most had already learned the material from tutors at home. I was no different. I’d read every history book at home and debated them at length with my tutor.

“... No one can disparage the great victory in the Great War or the achievements of the heroes who brought it about. But as a historian, I can only regret the records and relics destroyed during that war. Even now, most people think the world before the Great War was far less advanced than ours. Yet when you consider the ancient empire of that age...”

So this was the Royal Academy. He was saying something a little different from what was in the history books. Was he allowed to say that here? Well, it must be harmless enough if they let him teach. I set aside my curiosity. Without any unusual new relics to back it up, it was only the professor’s personal theory.

Pretending to listen, I looked around the hall. With the entire freshman class gathered, hardly any seats were empty. There were no assigned seats, and the freshmen had clustered together. Broadly speaking, there were three groups, each visibly distinct. They had clearly gathered by faculty, probably because of yesterday’s orientation.

Burly students sat at the very back. Most were men, and even sitting still, they gave off an air of boldness. They were obviously from the knights faculty.

In front of them, at the center of the hall, sat the more splendidly dressed students. Their relaxed manner, affected posture, and condescending gazes made it clear that they all came from noble houses of some standing.

Naturally, Princess Aisha sat in their midst, looking several years younger than the other students. Young as she was, she was still a princess. She showed no sign of unease as she followed the lesson. If anything, it was the students around her who fidgeted, hoping to catch even a little of her attention.

‘Oh no. We made eye contact.’

When our eyes met, the princess dipped her head slightly. There was a measure of recognition in her gaze that hadn’t been there before. It seemed she’d heard the news too.

No one else noticed where the princess was looking, but Manuel seemed to catch it at once. He saw her and frowned. It was nothing worth worrying about; I wished he’d leave it alone.

Aside from the princess and Manuel, I spotted a few students who looked like heirs to important houses. I didn’t know who they were, but I could ask Manuel or someone else.

Finally, the students at the very front looked ordinary compared with the other groups. They were freshmen from the administration faculty. I didn’t know most of them, but I recognized the boy and girl sitting directly in front of the lectern: Piar and his older cousin Mirisa. Oblivious to everything they’d put me through, the two listened intently. Then again, if they hadn’t received a proper education, it made sense that they’d pay attention. Come to think of it, they were from a village in a small domain. Perhaps it was remarkable that they’d received even as much education as they had.

While everyone else sat in groups, I sat alone. I’d missed yesterday’s orientation, so I didn’t know anyone, and no one approached me. The princess seemed to be avoiding any public acknowledgment of me, and Manuel was, of course, pretending not to know me. Even my roommate Piar was ignoring me completely. All the effort I’d put into winning him over last night seemed to have vanished in a day.

‘At least I got a lot out of him yesterday.’

Where he was born and raised. How he’d come to the Royal Academy. Even what his ability was. He’d told me plenty.

* * *

He had been born in the domain of a noble called Viscount Soat.

“I was born and raised in a small village in Viscount Soat’s domain... sir.”

“Where is the Soat domain, you ask... sir? Hmm. Do you know the Argosia domain? Or Mesesia? Oh, you know Mesesia. It’s just below Baron Mesesia’s domain.”

I didn’t know much about the Soat domain, but I knew the House of Baron Mesesia well. We’d stopped there before reaching the capital. It was where the baron, enthralled by the exiled second Duchess’s ability, had tried to kill me. No—where he had killed me. Was it a coincidence? Either way, I made a note of it.

“Luckily, my father was the village head, so Mirisa and I were able to learn to read and write properly, unlike the others.”

“How did I get my ability? I’m not really sure. I’d thought something was a little odd about me, but otherwise I just went on with my life. Then someone passing through the village saw Mirisa and me and asked if we might have inherited abilities. That’s how we found out.”

Was he one of those “passing strangers” I’d heard about in my previous life? Something about it bothered me, but I filed it away for now.

“Mirisa and I have similar abilities. They’re a kind of amplification ability. During the entrance test, they said we were something like buffers.”

As he spoke, Piar raised a hand. Mana gathered around it.

Holy shit!

I recoiled in horror.

“What’s wrong?”

He looked at me in puzzlement. His mana-filled hand glowed faintly.

“They say I can boost other people’s abilities a little and make them last longer, too. Someone called me a sort of reservoir. Anyway, it isn’t an impressive ability, so I applied to the administration faculty. I think I’ll have to learn more about it at the academy.”

Of course. He could hardly have enrolled at the academy by demonstrating an ability to blow himself up. The conversation ended there because I’d looked so horrified. Fortunately, it was bedtime, so I could let the subject drop without making a fuss. But he’d given me a real scare.

* * *

The general-education class ended while I was piecing together the suspicious details in my head. Next came another general-education class: Introduction to Inherited Abilities.

“Almost all the students gathered here have awakened their abilities.”

The middle-aged female professor swept her gaze across the lecture hall as she spoke. Her voice wavered slightly on “almost,” but I and all the other students politely ignored the slip.

After all, only one person in the hall had no ability: Princess Aisha, sitting in the center. She was still only ten, with a month or two to go before her awakening day. Students were supposed to enter the academy after awakening, but Princess Aisha had broken that custom. Of course, as a royal princess, there was no chance she wouldn’t awaken. But there was no reason for her to enroll early and break with custom, either.

I’d wondered about it myself and asked the Queen when we met.

[“Katrin has returned, and things are growing complicated in the royal household and the capital. I thought it best to send Aisha to finish her studies at the academy as soon as possible. Besides, if she enrolls this year, she’ll be taking classes with you, which is even better.”]

With the king ailing and the princes’ struggle over the succession intensifying, perhaps the plan was to send Aisha to the academy while her aunt Katrin was back, taking attention off her. It sounded reasonable enough, but...

‘If it weren’t for me, they’d all have died at the entrance ceremony!’

Had the attack at the entrance ceremony been aimed at the princess, then? Was that why Katrin and the Senior Knight had been so busy? Now that they knew it was dangerous, couldn’t they cancel her enrollment and send her back to the palace? Or had I stopped the attack so thoroughly that they no longer felt she was in much danger?

The thought almost made me laugh bitterly. Things had become thoroughly tangled, and they might only grow worse. All the more reason to find some lead on whoever was behind it.

The next lesson wasn’t much different from history. Types of abilities and their dangers, the importance of nobles who wielded inherited abilities, loyalty to the royal family... Rather than teaching us about inherited abilities, it had turned into a lesson in loyalty.

‘Surely it won’t be like this all semester.’

It wasn’t a class in my major, but I’d still looked forward to it. If lessons kept going like this, I had no idea what I was supposed to learn here.

‘The academy can’t really be nothing but a place to socialize, can it?’

At this rate, all I could do was pin my hopes on the classes in my major—the knights faculty. With a sigh, I saw Introduction to Inherited Abilities come to an end, along with the morning’s classes.