“Professor Ran.”
“Good. Fortunately, this year’s noble young master from the Department of Mysticism hasn’t thrown his manners to the dogs. Looks like special instruction won’t be necessary.”
“Pardon?”
Flustered by Professor Ran’s rough words, I looked up at her.
What was this special instruction supposed to be?
When I gazed at her suspiciously, she met my eyes and spoke in a calm tone, as if it were nothing of importance.
“You know that, due to the nature of Academia, everyone here is treated as a student regardless of rank. It’s written in the admissions notice as well. But in this world, there are always unruly colts who won’t be corrected by caution or warning alone. Especially given the nature of our Department of Mysticism, it’s difficult to expel anyone unless they’ve committed murder, which makes it all the more troublesome.”
Professor Ran beckoned to us and led us somewhere.
She said we couldn’t very well remain here forever, so she would guide us around Academia.
Then she added that she had originally been waiting here to guide the new students.
“Academia has been a sacred ground of learning since before the Empire was even the Empire. So imagine how many students must have caused trouble here.”
“I suppose that would be the case.”
“Yes. Lovers’ quarrels and the like were common, and crimes bordering on felonies occurred from time to time as well. Before the Empire was founded, such students could be dealt with simply by expulsion. But after the Empire was established and His Majesty declared Academia the Empire’s foremost educational institution, matters no longer proceeded so easily.”
Following Professor Ran’s guidance, we were led from the white marble landing platform to a garden where the sound of a stream flowed gently.
There were a few benches here and there where one could sit and rest, but I still saw no students.
Had we arrived too early?
“Now that Academia has become the cradle of the Empire’s talent, students who violate school regulations can no longer be expelled as easily as before. A greater justification than in the past is needed to expel a student. After all, reports concerning expulsions from Academia are submitted to His Majesty the Emperor.”
The Emperor personally received reports about the expulsion of a mere student?
What was that supposed to mean?
“His Majesty the Emperor involves himself in student expulsions?”
“It wouldn’t be accurate to call it involvement. The authority to approve or deny expulsion belongs to the headmaster. However… yes, if a student were expelled for some half-hearted reason, an investigation could be launched at the imperial level. Interrogators appointed personally by the Emperor would come here.”
Professor Ran looked for a moment at me, my eyes widened in surprise at her words, then gestured in one direction.
It was the western entrance of the garden, the entrance to a building with the name Twilight Hall written on it.
“With the situation becoming what it is, paradoxically, Academia has come to take as many students as possible with it unless they commit a serious crime worthy of expulsion. And professors were given the authority known as special instruction.”
Special instruction.
She had said all that earlier in order to talk about this.
“Special instruction refers to any and all actions a professor takes to correct delinquent students. For example, binding and sealing both hands of a student who stole something for a week, or making those who use foul language drink a medicine that renders them mute for a time. It is a right held only by the professors in charge, allowing them to carry out acts that, if committed outside Academia, would have long since gotten them prosecuted at the interrogation office.”
Professor Ran then turned to look at me, saying that for unruly colts who still thought they were nobles rather than students of Academia, she could endlessly make them do menial tasks they considered beneath them.
“Regardless of department, relationships between commoner students and noble students are the most common cause of fights in Academia. Especially for first-years, it’s difficult for a sense of belonging to form, so fights happen even more often. From asking why they should sit in the same place as a commoner to collective ostracism, such matters must be stamped out at the very beginning, or they’ll lead to greater incidents.”
“And the more serious the broken regulations, the harsher the special instruction becomes.” With those words, she ended her explanation and lightly opened the door bearing the plaque that read Twilight Hall.
Creeeak.
Then she gestured for us to come inside and entered first.
Step, step.
A long corridor came into view, where the sound of my shoes meeting the floor made of fine hardwood echoed.
Warm-colored lights dangled from the high ceiling, and enormous paintings hung on the walls surrounding the corridor.
Among paintings that looked extremely expensive at a glance, Professor Ran resumed her explanation.
“This Twilight Hall is the place where students of our Department of Mysticism will spend the next four years. Long ago, it wasn’t originally called this, but after one reorganization, its name was changed to this.”
“…What was its original name?”
“Truth.”
Professor Ran answered my question briefly, then shook her head slightly as if that was not important and opened her mouth again.
“The entrance ceremony begins tomorrow. On the first floor, there is a room with a nameplate bearing your name, so go in there and rest from your journey. Your uniform is inside, so neatly organize the clothes you are wearing now and put them in the storage cabinet.”
“Yes.”
“And, Bel. If you want to say goodbye, do it now. It won’t be easy for you to meet again from now on.”
After saying that, Professor Ran left us and went out of Twilight Hall.
She was probably being considerate so the two of us could talk.
“…Professor Ran always shows consideration like this. She probably has some vague idea that you and I are close.”
“Didn’t she say that a guide and a student weren’t supposed to become close? But even knowing that we’re close, she’s actually being considerate.”
“Well, I followed Professor Ran around a lot when I was a student. You could call it the privilege of a favored disciple.”
Bel smiled playfully at me and suggested we go somewhere good for talking.
She said she knew a secret place of her own.
I had no particular reason to refuse her suggestion, and it was also true that I felt regret over the fact that she was leaving, so I readily nodded in agreement.
And so we left Twilight Hall and arrived once again at the garden we had passed through earlier.
“Hmm, as expected, since we came a day early, there aren’t any students. Usually this place is absolutely packed with people.”
“I suppose there aren’t any upperclassmen remaining at Academia.”
“Right. During summer break, lots of people stay here, but during winter break, most return to their homes or families.”
Hearing her explanation, I nodded.
Well, even if one’s status changed to that of an Academia student, one’s family did not disappear.
Though for people from noble houses like me, it became an extremely complicated issue.
“Ah, now that I think about it, people from noble families like you probably can’t go back even during winter break. I heard there are a lot of headaches over things like inheritance rights and whatnot.”
“Since I’ve entered Academia, I’m no longer a noble. In the case of a household with bad relations, returning home might actually be dangerous.”
“Come on, they’re still family. Surely it wouldn’t be dangerous?”
“Who knows.”
At my answer, she turned to look at me with a look of disbelief, and I smiled ambiguously, letting my words trail off.
Then, in order to change the subject, I deliberately raised my voice and looked up at her.
“So? Where is this secret place only you know about, Miss Bel?”
“Ah, right. This way.”
Fortunately, Bel nodded at my question and continued deeper into the garden.
We walked normally along the path for a few minutes, then turned at a cluster of long shrubs and plunged without hesitation into the untrimmed undergrowth.
Rustle, rustle.
How many minutes had passed since I began hearing the sound of grass and bushes being stepped on?
Nearby buildings were hidden by the surrounding trees, and as we hurried through a forest so dense that I could hardly tell whether this was the capital or the woods around the Prach estate, a suddenly open space appeared.
As if someone had been maintaining it, several chairs and a table stood at the center atop short-cut grass, and around it, a clear spring-fed stream flowed gently.
Like a well-kept picnic spot, a secret garden hidden in one corner of the forest wall appeared like an oasis in the desert.
“Heave-ho! This place is still intact. Mm-hmm. Looks like there haven’t been any intruders, either. We can still use it.”
“…How on earth did you find a place like this?”
“Hmm? I’ve just liked exploring unknown places ever since I was little. This is a secret mystical space I found in my second year. The long shrubs around it and the garden’s ether conceal this place completely, so you can neither see nor hear it from outside.”
Though that made it incredibly difficult to find.
Saying so, she swept away the fallen leaves and grass piled on the table with one hand, then guided me to a seat.
“Shall we talk for a bit?”