After exchanging greetings, we left the Hall of Dusk together and entered the massive garden located at the center of the Academia.
We drew in through our noses the fresh scent of lush greenery heralding spring's vitality and the fragrant aroma of flower buds just about to burst into bloom.
Then, feeling refreshed, I voiced the awkward question that had just occurred to me.
“Isil, do you know where the entrance ceremony is held?”
“...Isn't it on the first floor of the main building? Didn't the person who brought you here tell you?”
“Ah, well... something came up.”
“...?”
I turned my head away with an awkward smile as she looked at me suspiciously at my question.
Because of my meeting with Lady Bell yesterday, I hadn't even thought to ask about the location of the important entrance ceremony.
It was too late to find Professor Ran, who had guided me around the Academia, and I had lightly assumed I could just go where nearby students were gathered, so I had fallen asleep without a care.
We had come out too early, so no other students could be seen nearby.
“Anyway, you said main building, right?”
“Yeah.”
“But where is the main building?”
“...”
This time, her gaze shifted from suspicious to downright pitiful. She let out a small sigh in my direction and gestured to one side.
“...Follow me. I know where it is.”
“Oh, as expected, that's what neighbors are for!”
“...What a tiresome personality.”
I let her muttered words go in one ear and out the other as I slowly crossed the garden, following her walking ahead.
Since the Hall of Dusk was located on the western side of the garden, we passed through the garden's western entrance and moved toward the center, crossing through the garden until we arrived at a massive clearing resembling a drill ground.
It was a place I hadn't seen when I arrived here yesterday riding the pegasus, so there was such a huge clearing past the garden?
“...I thought you might not know, so I'll explain—this is the training ground.”
“Training ground?”
“From what I heard, it's where the Combat Department students train every morning.”
“Hmm.”
The Combat Department, huh?
Just from the name, I couldn't quite grasp what kind of department it was, but perhaps, given the nature of the Academia, it was a place that trained special soldiers?
Since regular officers would be trained at the Imperial Military Academy, not here, it seemed to be a department that cultivated soldiers for special positions.
Above all, the Empire was a nation that took military training seriously, so it wasn't strange at all for the Academia to train soldiers too.
“...Ah, there's someone running over there.”
“Where?”
As I looked around the training ground, scanning every which way, just as Isil said, I saw a figure in an Academia uniform far in the distance on a track drawn around the outside of the training ground, gasping for breath as they ran.
“Wow, training hard this early in the morning. Is it stamina training?”
“...That person is strange.”
“Huh?”
“They have a tail attached behind their waist.”
Isil pointed at the person running on the training ground with her slender finger.
At the spot she pointed, just as she said, a long, furry tail could be seen swaying from near the running person's hips.
“Ah, must be a Beastkin.”
“Beastkin?”
“Yeah, it's my first time seeing one in person, but they're a race similar to humans that lives on the land across the eastern sea of the Empire.”
News about Beastkin was occasionally published in the newspapers issued from the capital, so I knew about them indirectly.
The Empire wasn't exactly favorable toward races other than humans, so good news wasn't printed, but there was still information that provided general common sense about Beastkin.
“What was it... Beastkin are distant relatives of humans who have beast ears or tails, something like that.”
“...I see.”
“They have stronger bodies and stamina than humans, but their senses are so keen that they tend to get easily frightened by gunpowder or cannon sounds—”
“Who said such things?”
Hup.
A strange woman's voice cut off my explanation, and I involuntarily raised my head.
Then, the Beastkin who had clearly been running laps far away approached us in an instant, silently, and was now looking down at me.
A tall stature—based on my previous life's standards, she seemed over 170 cm—and a blazing gaze met mine.
“Ahaha, as the rumors say, your hearing is sharp.”
“Human with crow-colored hair, where did you hear the information you just spoke of?”
“Huh? Crow-colored?”
I raised my hand to where her gaze was directed and felt my hair.
“Yes, a human with pitch-black dark hair. You have an unusual hair color.”
She who told me I had an unusual hair color also possessed vivid red hair that I hadn't properly seen until now.
Her long, wavy red hair looked so bright it might as well have been a wig, yet it suited her uniquely dangerous aura.
“Ah, I suppose there aren't many Beastkin with black hair either.”
“Indeed, hair like yours is treated as ominous, so in prestigious families, it is common to kill children born with it immediately.”
“...”
“I see.”
If I'd been born a Beastkin, my life would've been on hard mode?
“I have explained, so I would like you to answer my question as well. Tell me the name of the scum who goes around saying that we Beastkin are afraid of cannons and gunpowder.”
“What are you planning to do if I tell you?”
“You ask the obvious. I intend to kill them when I get the chance, for it is the law that those who spread baseless rumors degrading the dignity of the race must have their tongues pulled out and their heads severed, to be displayed in the public square for all to see.”
“Ugh.”
I involuntarily frowned at a verdict more cruel than I had imagined.
The newspapers said Beastkin had strong pride and held grudges without forgetting them, but this seemed worse than the rumors?
“Does it have to go that far?”
“Naturally. It is only natural that a weakling who cannot stop a single Beastkin's revenge and runs their mouth will be killed by the strong. That is why one must always be careful with words.”
The red-haired Beastkin looked at me with a face that seemed to say 'You should understand by now,' and spoke.
“You spread the information you heard, so I will let that pass. Rumors must be crushed at the source and eradicated root and branch. I would like you to provide information to eliminate that absurd rumor.”
“All the information I heard came from newspapers.”
“Newspapers?”
Perhaps she didn't know the word itself; she tilted her head and expressed doubt.
“You don't know what a newspaper is?”
“...I have not been in these humans' lands for long. It has been roughly less than a week, so I do not know what this 'newspaper' you speak of is.”
“Ah, a newspaper is paper that gathers information and spreads it widely among people.”
“What?!”
The red-haired Beastkin made a surprised expression at my explanation and stepped back.
“Information... is spread widely?”
“Yes, it is a tool that serves to inform as many people who can read as much information as possible.”
“...I cannot believe it. Do the human royalty permit such things?”
“Well, if the Emperor, the master of the Empire, hadn't permitted it, newspapers would have disappeared immediately, don't you think?”
“Huh!”
The red-haired Beastkin looked at me with an incredulous face, as if to say, 'What a strange thing!'
“So even if you kill a specific someone, I don't think what you want will happen. Newspapers aren't published by just one person, but by various organizations, so information will spread from another source.”
At my words implying she should give up unless she planned to massacre all humans, she shook her head and let out a sigh.
“...I knew the land of humans was a place entirely different from Beastkin law, but I did not know it was to this extent. A tool that spreads information widely to everyone? Is there any benefit in doing such a thing?”
“Money, of course. Newspapers that gather information are profitable, and quite so.”
Newspapers were certainly published to spread information widely to those who could read, but even so, they weren't cheap.
About the price of a meal at a shabby restaurant?
For someone born into a noble house like me, it was pocket change I could gladly pay, but for those who lived hand to mouth, a newspaper was also a clear luxury.
“Hmm, humans truly are strange. Still, I express my gratitude for your kind explanation. You are a kind person. I apologize for the rude remarks I made about your hair color earlier.”
“Well, it was my fault for bringing up unpleasant talk about your people in the first place, so let's call it even.”
“Haha, what a refreshing person. I am glad that the first human I have spoken with deeply here is you. What is your name?”
I extended my hand toward the red-haired Beastkin who asked for my name.
“I am Jin Peuraheu. And you?”
“I am the eldest daughter of the Hwa Clan and the commander of the clan's direct Red Wind Division. I am called Hwaryeong.”
Clap!
The red-haired Beastkin who introduced herself as Hwaryeong pressed her palms together and lightly bent her waist.
That posture resembled the fist-and-palm salute from the martial arts novels I had seen in my previous life.