As time passed little by little, students began filing into the Department of Mysticism classroom one after another.
Students who looked wealthy, and students who looked like nobles.
A scarred student who gave off the air of someone who had done rough work; a student with a pale complexion that even a uniform couldn’t hide, like one of the destitute from the streets; even a student who exuded a dangerous aura, as if he were involved in crime.
Truly, in every sense of the phrase, all sorts of people filled the classroom—so varied that I wondered where they had gathered such a crowd.
Including me, all twenty students of the Department of Mysticism had assembled.
“…I think I understand now why you said the atmosphere was bad yesterday.”
“Do you?”
“I mean, no matter how hard I look, there isn’t even this much in common among the people gathered here, is there? No wonder no one spoke to each other on the first day.”
Even in the schools of my previous life, they hadn’t shoved such a wide variety of people into one room.
But what was this place, a human zoo? How did they manage to gather only people like this?
It was as though they had plucked out the tiny gears turning all throughout the enormous system called the Empire and dumped them all into this room.
Seen one by one, they were all components that kept the system called the Empire running, but when they actually came face-to-face with one another, the impression they gave was: Someone like that exists in the Empire?
The rich cannot understand the poor, and nobles do not even try to understand the thoughts of commoners.
The reverse is the same.
On Earth in my previous life, unified education had raised the bottom line and forcibly brought the level of all citizens to something roughly similar, but this was a barbaric fantasy world.
The gap in perception between the highest and lowest points was, quite literally, as different as the stars and the underworld.
So much so that one might wonder whether those people were truly human like me.
“The stench of lowborn filth is overwhelming.”
“I hear some noble, fattened all the way down to his soul like a pig, barking from somewhere?”
Nobles and commoners despising each other.
“Ugh, even if this is Academia, shouldn’t they be a little more selective about whom they accept? Looking at those poor wretches, I feel like their fleas might jump over to me.”
“A husk who has never weathered the storms of life sure has a lively mouth. Seems you have nothing to boast about except being born to fine parents.”
The rich and laborers growling at one another.
“…Um, excuse me, that’s my seat, so, so maybe—”
“Huh? Is this a seat you reserved? Is your name written on it?”
“N-no, but…”
And even just ordinary? relationships.
In one sense, the words these fifteen-year-old children exchanged were far too steeped in society, and in another, this seemed normal in this world.
Most people lived their entire lives until death in the very environment they were born into, with no change to the conditions surrounding them. Yet these children had, by good fortune—or bad—gained the possibility of becoming mages and entered Academia.
That was why all these various human types, who never should have met or never would have even thought of meeting, were now colliding like this.
It was as natural as water and sodium exploding when they met.
Bang!!!
Behind me, the noble and commoner who had been growling at each other collided noisily.
“You bastard!! I didn’t like your eyes from the first moment I saw you!! If you’re a commoner, act like one and keep your eyes lowered!”
“What’re you saying? Don’t you know we’re all students here? You and I are the saaame Academia students. Should I tear open your earholes and say it again?”
Among all these encounters, the ones making the roughest noise were, unsurprisingly, nobles and commoners.
After all, the wall of status was probably the oldest form of discrimination.
Grab!
“How dare you! You touch a baron’s clothes with a lowborn hand?”
“What baron! The capital is crawling with barons! A country bumpkin wouldn’t even know that, would he?”
“Wh-what did you say?”
“You need to be at least a count to so much as snort in the capital! It’s always half-baked nobles like you who make a fuss first. The count over there is sitting quietly.”
Nod, nod.
As I nodded to myself, thinking, So that’s how nobles are perceived in the capital, I felt the gazes of the people around me.
Huh?
“…Are you talking about me, Isil?”
“Yeah. Everyone’s looking at you, Jin.”
When I pointed at myself with a finger, gesturing as if to ask whether they were really calling me, Isil, who was sitting beside me, nodded.
Scrape.
As I noisily rose from my chair, the gazes of all nineteen students in the classroom turned toward me.
Including the two male students right behind me who had been grabbing each other by the collar.
“You two, over there.”
“Y-yes, sir.”
“…”
I spoke to the male student who looked at me with a servile attitude, the one who had referred to himself as a baron just moments ago.
“Mm, what’s your name?”
“Ah! I am Baron Rio, newly arrived from the south! It is an honor to meet the eldest son of the Count Prah family, masters of the Haidin Mountains in the west.”
“Wow. You were saying this and that when the person in question was right in front of you, but when it comes time to greet me, you do it neatly.”
“That is because this lowborn bastard dared to drag Lord Jin Prah into it as he pleased!”
Pant, pant.
Baron Rio pointed at the male student beside him with an expression like a hunting dog that had lost the prey it had brought back and was tattling on another dog with, It was because of him!
The other male student on the receiving end of his pointing was looking at me with a frown.
“Well, I suppose there’s no need to introduce my name, since this Baron Rio here did it for me. What’s your name?”
“…Ban Julk.”
As though it were the last shred of his pride, he could not bring himself to ignore my question and muttered his name quietly.
I smiled broadly at him as he worried about what words would come out of my mouth, and said,
“Ban Julk. That’s a fine name.”
“…What?”
“Why? Did you think I’d insult you for being lowborn like this Baron Rio here?”
“…”
Leaving Ban Julk, who wore a blank expression at the unexpected answer, as he was, I turned toward Baron Rio, who also seemed shocked by my words and conduct.
“Baron Rio.”
“Ah, yes, yes! Lord Jin Prah!”
“If you’re a baron, is it a one-generation title?”
“Ah, no! Originally, my family was a viscount family, but due to our involvement in that unfortunate affair, we fell to baron in my generation.”
“Ah, I’ve never seen a rank demotion before. So cases like this really do happen.”
“…”
After the Empire was founded, the emperor divided the ranks of nobility into five levels and made it easier than before for ranks to rise and fall.
If one achieved merit, one could reach duke even without being tied to the emperor by blood, and if one committed wrongdoing, even if imperial blood flowed in one’s veins, the family itself could fall all the way down to the rank of one-generation baron.
Though such things did not happen often in reality, a commoner who achieved truly great merit could even establish a count family in his own generation in a single stroke.
I didn’t know whether that was actually possible.
Wouldn’t you have to slay a Demon King or something?
“Very well, Baron Rio. Since you are a noble, I trust you will understand what I’m saying.”
“Yes!”
I patted Baron Rio on the shoulder as he let his hopes run wild, perhaps imagining that I might choose him as a vassal, and said,
“From now on, if any dispute arises in our Department of Mysticism classroom because of differences in status, I’ll consider all of it to be Baron Rio’s fault.”
“Yes!… Yes?”
“Why? Since you go around calling yourself a baron, shouldn’t you keep things in line? Isn’t that the duty of the noble?”
“Th-that’s…”
Grab.
I gripped Baron Rio’s shoulder firmly and looked at him while imitating the smile of Abiyan that remained in my memory.
“If things like this keep happening, I feel like I’ll be in a very bad mood, you see? Hm? You’re a noble too, Baron, so you understand, don’t you?”
“W-well, that is…”
“It’s difficult to be around lowborn things, isn’t it? And you’re too noble to keep paying attention to them. I understand everything, Baron Rio.”
“I-I was mistaken in my thinking—”
“So I’d like our Baron Rio to put in some effort so that such uncomfortable situations don’t arise at all. You are a baron who possesses a title, after all, so naturally you can do at least that much, right? Hm?”
“…”
I patted Baron Rio on the shoulder while acting out the model of an irresponsible noble I had seen before.
If I were to summarize what I had said, it would be this.
It’s all right. You can do it.
How, you ask?
Why are you asking me that? That’s something you have to think about from now on.
But you know what happens if you can’t, right?
Wasn’t that the typical way nobles spoke?
A noble who left the solution to those below and only reaped the fruits.
From the position of the one giving orders, it was an incredibly sweet deal.
“Why, do you think you can’t do it? That would be disappointing.”
“N-no, not at all! I will definitely try!”
“Good, good. I believe in you. I believe that our Baron Rio will solve this problem that has no answer in sight.”
“…”
“If disturbances, disputes, or problems like this arise in our Department of Mysticism classroom as they did just now, I’ll look for Baron Rio first. Naturally, since you are Baron Rio, I trust you’ll be able to tell me the solution and the progress being made.”
Having said that much, I smiled with a refreshed face and spoke to everyone.
“If any of you have a problem, you can ask Baron Rio here! He is a man who understands honor well enough to go around calling himself a baron in Academia, where rank does not exist, so of course he will accept no compensation! For no pay! As if it were his own business! He will work hard to resolve your disputes! Be sure to rely on him!”
“L-Lord Jin Prah!”
“Ah, it really is fortunate that Baron Rio is here. How fortunate.”
I ignored the voice calling me desperately and sat back down.
Scrape.
And with excellent timing, the moment the situation was settled, the classroom door opened and a man walked in.