“Greetings, Lord Prach. I am the mage Bel Daisy, of the Imperial Academia.”
“Ahem!”
Quite some time had passed since the encounter at the grave, and my younger sister, who had come looking for me when I did not return, met the mage.
My sister, furious at the mage who had come to see me in breach of etiquette, huffed and fumed about what rudeness this was, yet still quickly brought her to Father and had her give a formal greeting.
Thanks to that, this awkward meeting was hastily arranged, but the very culprit who had caused it greeted Father with a faint smile and a perfectly calm air.
“I apologize here and now for arriving a day earlier than the date written in the letter and behaving in a manner that violated etiquette.”
“…No, mage. You need not concern yourself overmuch. I will not force the old formalities upon someone from the imperial capital.”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
“…”
Crack!
At her immediate reply, I could see a frightening vein bulge on Father’s forehead.
Ah, that was the sound he made when he was truly furious.
Still, perhaps mindful of his dignity as the head of the house, though that terrifying sound had rung out, he swallowed his anger with a cough.
“…Ahem! Then may I ask why you arrived a day earlier than the appointed date?”
“Ah, on my way from the imperial capital to your domain, I encountered bandits.”
“Bandits?”
Father swallowed his anger and questioned her words.
Our domain’s roads might not be well maintained, but we certainly did not neglect patrols around the territory.
Father, who believed that the security of a domain and its surroundings was the lord’s face, would never leave bandits be.
“…Bandits, you say? How strange. Though I may be an old lord of considerable years, I am not so deaf as to be ignorant of news from the surrounding area. I have not heard any recent talk of bandits appearing nearby.”
“It is possible you would not know. The bandits I encountered were not the sort who harmed passersby near the road, but men who lived deep in the mountains and were secretly excavating ruins illegally.”
At the mage’s words, Father, who had been looking at her with displeasure, opened his eyes wide.
“What?! Ruins? Is that true?!”
“Yes.”
“Oh, what good fortune. To think ruins appeared near our domain! We must gather the knights at once and search the area—”
“Those ruins have already vanished, my lord. After subjugating the bandits, I attempted to investigate the ruins, but a teleportation circle near them activated. Thanks to that, I was able to arrive here quickly, but the ruins also disappeared somewhere.”
Thud!
Father, who had kicked back his chair and risen in excitement, sank deeply into the backrest with a hollow expression at her words.
“Then that means…”
“Yes. We missed the opportunity to excavate the ruins, but fortunately, I was able to fulfill the important role of guide without delay.”
“Ha!”
Father let out an incredulous laugh at her and said,
“Mage, I cannot tell whether you are a mage or a swindler. In the end, the only way to verify this is through your words, is it not?”
“What does it matter whether my words are true or false? What matters is that I was able to bring back a sapling with the makings of a mage before it was too late. Had I been late, it would have caused quite a troublesome situation for both sides.”
At her bold words, one of the people gathered here finally could not hold back and made a sound.
Bang!!
“What nonsense is this!”
Sir Hans, who had been standing beside Father, struck the wall with his fist and shouted at her.
“No matter that you are someone guaranteed by the Imperial Academia, is this not far too rude an attitude toward the master of a domain?”
“Is there some problem with what I said?”
“To mock the lord of a domain with that absurd lie of yours is an extremely grave discourtesy. Were you a commoner, it would be a serious crime worthy of having your tongue cut out! Yet how can you so calmly, with that face, mock my lord with such lies?!”
“I have never lied.”
“You—!”
As Hans gripped his sword and was about to draw it at the mage, Father, who had been watching, quickly raised a hand and calmed him.
“That is enough, Hans. Thank you for getting angry on my behalf.”
At Father’s composed words, Sir Hans let out a deep breath as if suppressing his rage, then bowed deeply to Father.
“Hoo… My apologies. I will gladly accept punishment for causing a disturbance.”
“How could I punish a knight who acted for my sake like some petty man? I am not that kind of lord, Sir Hans. So go outside, get some air, and cool your head.”
“Thank you.”
Step, step.
Sir Hans left the conference room with a gloomy expression.
Creak!
When the wooden door to the conference room closed, she calmly opened her mouth to the people glaring at her in silence.
“Then, now that I have finished explaining why I arrived early, may I formally deliver the message from the headmaster of the Academia?”
“…Go ahead.”
With Father’s permission, she came closer to me, who was standing beside him, took a deep breath, and shouted.
“Ahem! Hear me, Jin Prach of House Prach, lion of the western spearpoint of the empire and inheritor of fae blood! From this moment forth, you have been conscripted into the Academia, the cradle of the empire’s talents established by His Majesty the Emperor! Until the day you become a pillar of the empire’s prosperity, all privileges granted to you shall be revoked. From this moment forth, you shall be treated solely as a student of the Academia, and until you graduate from the Academia, all status granted by your birth shall be suspended. Therefore, take heed that you do not commit any unfortunate crimes through rash judgment, trusting in your bloodline. Regardless of lineage, so long as you strive, the Academia will gladly become the firm foundation that supports the blood and sweat you shed. That is all. Headmaster Den Brown.”
Perhaps because the message had been long, her voice ended in a fit of coughing, and Father fell silent for a moment.
Judging by his complexion, he seemed to be thinking deeply over the message she had delivered. Only after a somewhat long silence did he look at me with a complicated expression.
“…My son.”
“Yes.”
“Now that you have been conscripted into the Academia, from this moment on, you will live not as the legitimate son of House Prach, but merely as a student. You will receive no support whatsoever from the family. Will you be all right?”
“What will you do if I say I will not?”
“I will not send you.”
“My lord!”
At Father’s firm answer, the stiff-looking administrator who had been observing the situation cried out in shock.
“To refuse His Majesty the Emperor’s conscription is far too dishonorable an act for a noble! It is disloyalty that could even be judged as political defiance!”
“Then I will gladly bear that choice not as the head of the house, but as a father!”
“My lord!! How can you, as the head of House Prach, make such a rash decision—”
“I will go.”
Abruptly.
The administrator, who had been about to shout, stopped speaking abruptly at my firm answer.
I looked around at the now-quiet surroundings for a moment, then quietly revealed my true feelings.
“As I said at the coming-of-age ceremony, I have no intention of inheriting the house. Rather, I will take the Academia’s conscription as an opportunity to live my own life.”
“…Is that so.”
“Yes.”
“Then that is enough.”
Whoosh!
Father stared into my eyes for a moment, then nodded and threw something he had taken from his breast pocket toward me.
Catch!
What Father had thrown to me was an old-looking golden brooch, a somewhat crude one.
“…What is this?”
“It is the inheritance left by your birth mother. Now that you have been conscripted into the Academia, you will not be a member of our house for some time. That is why I am giving it to you here and now. If not now, it will be difficult to hand it over.”
Father looked sadly at my black hair, then gazed at my eyes, which were the same color as his, and smiled as he said,
“So keep that with you and live proudly, my son. Even after you go to the Academia, I hope you will not forget that you are my child.”
“…Thank you.”
“Tsk, tsk! Had I known it would come to this, I would have refined your swordsmanship a bit more. You have only just gotten through the basics, haven’t you?”
“…Is that not enough?”
“Well… you would be better than those half-baked noble brats who dabble in it as a matter of refinement, but if you met someone skilled, you would only barely be able to buy time. And even that would grow more and more difficult until you fell two or three moves behind, and then it would be over.”
“…Haha.”
“If only your body had not been so frail, I would have taught you properly, like one of my formal knights. I do regret that.”
At Father’s regretful gaze, all I could do was smile with a troubled expression.
As someone who had watched to death how formal knights were produced, I did not regret it at all.
My soul, still retaining the sensibilities of a modern person, was far too fragile to endure training that bordered on torture.
In any case.
And so, I was now formally leaving the family.
It seemed the time for farewells always came sooner than expected.
So quickly that it left regrets behind.