Episode 18. Table Duel (5)
A voice like a cunning serpent slithering.
It was a voice that believed all the assumptions it had made were fact.
Jii leaped down the low steps and walked toward Sid.
A viper-like, sinister gaze slithered down the nape of his neck.
“By the way, isn’t it unusual to be close with the reclusive House of Aaren? Teacher Bain is a war hero, after all. To be friendly with such a house, you’d have to be from a decent kingdom. Isn’t that right?”
The boy who had mistaken Sid for an anonymous noble since the first day of class.
And the one who had spread the baseless rumor that Sid had enrolled through “principal connections.”
But if he got worked up over such provocation, it would mean denying his fifteen years of priestly life.
Sid smiled faintly and waved his hand dismissively.
“We had a brief connection in the past. It wasn’t anything grand. I didn’t even know he was a war hero.”
“Hmph. Is that so?”
Hiding his discomfort, Sid passed by Jii.
If only it could end quietly like this…….
A thin voice flowed past his ear as he walked by.
“That’s right. No matter how much I thought about it, it was strange. So I asked my father to look into your background.”
“Huh?”
“Turns out there’s a reason you couldn’t attach a family name? I thought it might be something else. Hehe. Ah, sorry, just talking to myself. Have a nice day!”
Jii smiled cunningly.
The moment Sid thought a bothersome conversation would continue, Jii, having passed him, disappeared in the opposite direction.
‘What was that about?’
The red brick street contrasted with the blue sky.
Sid’s heart pounded for no reason.
It was a premonition that something unpleasant was about to unfold.
* * *
That evening, after the unsettling incident.
The expressions around the dinner table were nothing but dark.
Just then, as Eirena’s summons for Sid arrived, the Wayne siblings’ worried gazes deepened.
It was rare for a student to be called unless something special was afoot.
Moreover, the whispering stares and atmosphere since earlier proved that something was wrong.
And so, when he was called to the principal’s office and sat in the chair, sharp golden eyes flashed beneath her purple makeup.
It was a gaze he had not seen in a month, and it was truly frightening.
“Hello.”
“Long time no see?”
The principal’s curt lips opened.
She tossed her red hair and glanced at Sid.
A crescent-shaped gaze with clear annoyance.
This summons was obviously related to the morning’s incident.
Soon skipping the useless preamble, Eirena got to the point.
“There’s a rumor that you enrolled through my backing. Did you know?”
“Huh? Yes. I tried my best not to stand out……. I didn’t do it on purpose. I’m sorry for making you worry.”
“I know. Firepow must have started it. That’s not why I called you.”
“Huh? You knew? Then why…….”
Sid’s eyes went wide.
Perhaps struck by that foolish expression, Eirena exhaled.
Her red hair swayed like the lips from which her breath escaped.
“All this time, rumors have circulated that you’re an anonymous noble, even royalty. I knew everything but pretended not to. Do you know why? Because I found it annoying?”
“Because it wasn’t worth answering?”
“That anonymity protects you. Regardless of my annoyance, no fool touches a house of unknown origins. What if I harassed you for nothing and you turned out to be royalty? That’s why I left it alone. Let them assume whatever they want.”
“Ah…….”
Sid lowered his head.
It meant she hadn’t pretended ignorance because she was annoyed.
Jii’s baseless rumors had tormented Sid, but at the same time, they had also served as a shield that justified and protected his “special admission.”
As if to prove that fact, a thick bundle of scrolls appeared.
Thud!
“Here.”
“What is this?”
Documents stamped with unfamiliar seals.
Eirena frowned as she held them out.
Between the scrolls, the word “Protest” was visible.
“Firepow, Cloudsinger, Ironbrow. Should I list more? The many houses that have raised questions about your preferential admission. Well, looks like your background check is complete. Now that they know you’re an easy target, they’re trying to cut your throat.”
“My background check?”
The boy’s eyes widened at the thunderbolt-like words.
‘We demand the expulsion of the student admitted through special exception.’
‘A student admitted at the principal’s discretion will dampen the spirits of other students and cannot be tolerated.’
Sid’s mouth fell open at the densely written protest documents.
‘Then what Jii said was……!’
Only now did he understand the morning incident.
Jii, who had said he asked his father to complete a background check.
That had been the harbinger of this incident.
“You should have been more careful. Why did you catch the eye of a guy like that?”
Eirena sighed.
In truth, just like the powerless Sid, she was in a difficult position as well.
Not knowing where the information had leaked, this was also a personal problem of Eirena’s regarding abuse of authority.
The principal tapped the desk with her red nails.
The regularly tapping sound made the boy’s mind hazy.
“Since it’s come to this, it can’t be helped. What will you do? Will you withdraw on your own, or shall I expel you? I’m sorry I can’t help.”
“Huh? Expelled?”
The boy’s lips trembled.
Sharp golden eyes flashed between the purple makeup, carrying a heavy silence.
‘What should I do…….’
Sid bit his lip.
Holding back his pounding heart, a surge of sorrow burst forth.
Who would have known that missing the entrance ceremony date would lead to such a tangled mess?
He even felt anger toward Jii, who had investigated his background to bring him down.
What did it matter that he lost that Table Duel?
Why did they have to torment him so much over something so trivial?
[Heart rate unstable. Please regulate your breathing.]
‘Hoo!’
But at the passbook’s following words, Sid regained his grip on his senses.
The month he had spent with the passbook.
The boy’s yearning for magic was too great to give up over something like this.
The boy swallowed.
He didn’t know how he would sound to the principal, but simply letting go powerlessly was out of the question.
He wanted to overcome both Jii, who tormented him, and the sinister gazes watching him.
“I will bear it all.”
“What?”
“Please give me one more chance. Right now it may be called special admission or whatever, but if I become an outstanding student, your special exception will be recognized as foresight. So please give me a chance! Just as you allowed my late admission, I will not let you down!”
“Well, if you say so. Then do that. Got it.”
“Huh?”
Sid doubted his ears.
He had expected a scolding, but a bland reply came back.
And Eirena, whom he had thought would kick him out immediately, was grinning from ear to ear.
She smiled and raised her red eyebrows.
“What, kid. You said you want to keep going. So I’m letting you, yeah?”
“R-really?”
“Do I look like I’m lying to you?”
The principal glanced at Sid.
And just as she had torn up the recommendation letter Sid had brought before, she tore the nobles’ protest letters to pieces.
Rip, rip.
“I have no interest in the political games between famous houses to begin with. I told you on the first day. Admitting you is my discretion. If they don’t like the educational policy, they can pull their own children out. What do I care?”
The principal smiled shamelessly and proudly.
Watching the scrolls being cleanly torn, the boy was nothing but bewildered.
The atmosphere he had felt upon entering the principal’s office was nowhere to be found; she swept the torn protest letters under the desk.
Watching the bundle fall so refreshingly, the boy’s heart also felt refreshed.
“Loosen up, kid. I called you because I wanted to hear your thoughts. Even if I resolve this matter, people trying to devour you will keep appearing. Do I have to clean up after you every time? Am I your mother?”
“No, of course not.”
“Exactly.”
Smiling, Eirena put both legs up on the desk.
Thud! Thud! Her right high heel gleamed sleekly.
She rubbed the back of her neck and exhaled.
“Whew, it might be disgusting, but that’s what mages are like. It’s easier to bring others down than to improve themselves. Even after you leave the Academy, similar things will keep happening. If you were going to give up and leave over something like this, the only place you’d have left is the monastery. It’s a mistake to think the people of this world are as kind as Elder Chepeshu.”
“I’ll take it to heart. Thank you.”
“Hmph. If only you could talk as well as you listen.”
Eirena looked Sid up and down.
When he had first come to the Academy, he looked like a potato freshly dug from the dirt, but he had grown quite well in a month.
She blinked her heavy eyelids and flashed her characteristic golden eyes.
“Half a year ago. I met a poor orphan. A child with talent and passion, so I promised to enroll him in the Academy. I thought that if only I had married a little sooner, I could have had a child your age, and my maternal instincts sprouted.”
“Um, what do you mean…….”
“Keep listening.”
It was so out of nowhere that he couldn’t understand what nonsense she was spouting.
Could there have been a connection he didn’t know about?
The principal puffed her cheeks for a moment, then smiled.
“But I was so forgetful that I failed to complete the admission registration? I’m sorry to you, who came so late. That’s why I specially admitted you and fully support your tuition. It wasn’t an admission using the principal’s authority, but a decision made by me as an individual.”
“What do you mean by that…….”
“That I’d make up such an excuse, you idiot.”
It was hard to understand.
More than the words about an excuse made up on the spot or the cringeworthy claim that maternal instincts had sprouted, a strange sentence caught Sid’s ear.
It seemed rude to ask openly, but Sid cautiously opened his mouth.
“Um…… what do you mean by fully supporting my tuition?”
“Did you think our Academy was free? You really have no sense of money at all, do you?”
“Hah…….”
He couldn’t continue speaking over his pounding heart.
He had thought this conversation would end with slumped shoulders full of worries, but starting with tearing up the nobles’ protest letters, Eirena was presenting refreshingly bold solutions.
“If we draw up documents for a scholarship or whatever, the nobles can’t complain either. It literally means you’re a student who entered through ‘special admission’ while receiving a scholarship. It’s legal, kid. You get it?”
“You’ll give me a scholarship? How…… really……!”
The boy’s eyes gradually reddened.
Would this have happened even if he hadn’t asked for a chance?
The meticulous yet eccentric true teacher found only in certain novels.
That must be referring to someone like Eirena.
“Right. Now that I think about it, I almost forgot. Since the nobles need to see it clearly, get some gold from the scholarship office and spend it freely. It’s not for your benefit but to deceive them. A show, you know? I heard Bain seems interested in you, so we can squeeze donations out of him. No harm done.”
It was a flawless plan from start to finish, hard to believe it came from the principal who had been frowning deeply just moments ago.
Not only was Sid not bearing it alone, but she was bestowing an excessive opportunity and even granting him a scholarship—what reason was there to refuse?
The boy couldn’t close his mouth at the sudden good fortune.
“Your answer?”
The principal frowned at the dazed Sid.
She seemed unwilling to give him even the leisure to enjoy this happiness.
But the boy, waving his hand, smiled broadly.
After all, there was no fool in this world who would throw away an opportunity so barely obtained.
“I’ll do as you say! Thank you! I will never disappoint you!”
The bare skin touching the passbook thumped madly.
Jii’s foolish plan to entrap Sid had resulted in making Sid a scholarship student of the Academy.
- To be continued in Episode 19 -