The lavish dormitory building on the academy grounds.
In the luxurious lounge of this place, prepared to satisfy the vanity of high nobles—especially the children of powerful houses—or to serve as lodging for honored guests from outside, a tremendously hearty laugh was ringing out.
“Uwahahahahaha!! If the academy was this lively a place, I should have come to stay here as an exchange student or whatever!! Ahahaha!!”
“…I am not in a position to represent the academy, but allow me to apologize on its behalf.”
Having heard of the large-scale disturbance that had taken place throughout the morning and afternoon—the so-called Alchemy Riot Incident—Prince Rial could not stop laughing as he listened to the details behind it.
“In an academy where the overwhelming majority are nobles, they incited students and even professors, tore materials and books out of people’s hands saying they were conducting experiments all over the place, seized academy grounds, and staged sit-ins? The famous Reina commanded the suppression as if she were conducting a military operation, and it took around an hour? And the ringleader was caught helplessly because he was hanging from a tree? Ah, I should have seen this up close!!”
“…Originally, the Department of Alchemy is where many children from rootless families go. I imagine they were simply playing among their own kind.”
Cardio said so, but Prince Rial merely laughed.
“What is the standard for being rootless?”
“Tradition, of course. Even my family has been with the kingdom since its founding.”
“In short, you mean those rootless people stirred up the whole academy and caused a huge commotion, yes? And that is what displeases you?”
“That is correct. Honestly, they could have done it quietly and elegantly, so I cannot understand why they had to make such a fuss.”
Cardio smiled gently and drank his tea.
Prince Rial pondered for a moment, then took a sip of tea and said with a faint chuckle.
“On my end, that is actually more to my taste. It is truly amusing how our tastes are so opposite.”
“Your taste?”
“Honestly, is it not interesting? Commoners, lowborns, rootless titled nobles, fallen nobles… Watching people with such bloodlines struggle and make a commotion to escape the circumstances they were given.”
Prince Rial closed his eyes.
“Does it not feel just like a fish out of water, thrashing about to return to the water? That sight of it lashing its tail and floundering with all its might, in order to live, in order to live even a little more like itself.”
Prince Rial opened his eyes.
And with clear interest on his face, he opened his mouth and spoke.
“I like watching things like that. Most realize they dreamed of something beyond their station and accept it, some cannot even accept that and fall into the abyss, and an even smaller few seize the light that had been hidden within them. Do you not think that is something worth watching?”
“I do not think I quite understand Your Highness’s refined hobby.”
“It is much the same as my not understanding you. Mm, this is why conversation between people is interesting.”
The prince fell into thought for a moment.
And Cardio quietly looked at him and said.
“We have developed chimeras far more improved than the previous ones, so we will replace the ones we sent you before. We intend to prepare them and bring them along for this pilgrimage schedule.”
“Mm, I look forward to it.”
Prince Rial rose from his seat.
Then, as if remembering something, he asked Cardio.
“Come to think of it, I heard there are various departments in the academy. Which department do you belong to?”
“Noble Studies. It is a school where we learn lectures on the long history, etiquette, manners, and political conduct of the Vespian nobility. The professor in charge is Professor Conder.”
“An interesting subject. I shall keep that in mind.”
The prince rose lightly, as though he might start dancing.
Looking at him, Cardio tilted his head once.
“When you say you shall keep it in mind, could it be…?”
“There are still several weeks left before I return anyway, and spending all my time drinking tea and wine out of boredom would make me feel rather stiff. I was thinking I might sit in on some classes.”
“I will assist you. First…”
“I do not wish to trouble my friend’s hand to that extent. To begin with, I have no intention of staying attached to any one place for long.”
After saying that, the prince immediately left the lounge.
Then, as if something had suddenly occurred to him, he quietly asked.
“More importantly, are you confident?”
“What do you mean?”
“Confident that you can defeat Aizen of the golems, I mean.”
Cardio chuckled.
Then, drinking his tea elegantly, he said quietly.
“Avatus has never failed. We were merely pushed back. We are not so incompetent that we would lose to a rootless man who did nothing but repeat failure and simply had good luck.”
“If anything, you are on the capable side. Since a great deal of money has been invested, I shall cheer for you. And I will say this in advance…”
Prince Rial spoke with a smile.
“If you lose there, even I will no longer be able to suppress the will of the other ministers, so I sincerely ask that you make certain to win.”
“Do not worry.”
With those words as his last, Prince Rial waved and left.
And then.
“…I do not like him.”
Cardio’s true feelings slipped from his mouth.
It was the very next day that the competition between Aizen and Cardio spread into an official event for the entire academy, and word came that Prince Rial would be observing classes.
****
The academy grew noisy.
Just as Headmistress Calliope had declared yesterday, the battlefield meant for Avatus and me alone had spread throughout the entire academy.
Early in the morning, Reina and the students of the Department of Knights, who were circling the academy as exercise, posted notices here and there, and once notices were also posted in the dining hall where the most students came and went, lively debates seemed to have begun all over the academy.
-“When I saw it last time, the Cyclops was definitely incredible, and I heard they’re already mass-producing it, and that the Phoenix Count’s family even established a specialized unit…”
-“Even so, the Avatus Count’s family might be better. The scale of their power is different. They just had bad luck and no opportunity. By now…”
The students were largely divided into three groups.
The first, of course, was the faction that recognized the coolness of golems.
The second, unfortunately, was the faction that rated chimeras higher.
And the third, needless to say, was simply the indifferent group.
While they were divided into those three groups, the students, and even the professors, were seriously debating which side was superior.
Thanks to that, unlike yesterday’s disturbance, the streets of the academy were bustling, and in my case, all sorts of voices went back and forth just from me walking around.
-“…If you’re talking high risk, high return, then obviously…”
-“No. If we help that madman for no reason and get marked by Avatus, our family could be ruined.”
-“Even setting that aside, if we’re lucky, there’s also the possibility of catching the eye of Nexia or the Phoenix family…”
“Why are they whispering like that while even turning their backs?”
Chewing and swallowing the steamed potato I was holding without much care, I walked through the crowd.
And when I arrived at the workshop I always headed to, Noel greeted me with a smile.
“Ah, you’re here. Lord Aizen.”
“You got here first.”
Usually I was the first to arrive, but today Noel was already at the workshop.
Noel smiled and said.
“Today was our exam, you see. The questions were easy, so I finished them all quickly.”
“So Mina and Erika couldn’t come quickly because of that.”
As Professor Reina had announced last time, today was the day we took the exam.
It was something we had decided to do because we realized things were getting a bit big and thought we should get annoying matters like this over with quickly.
Thanks to that, I had taken the exam not in a classroom where classes were held, but in a separately prepared location…
“…But are exams really supposed to be that essay-heavy?”
“Essays are the basics, aren’t they?”
Noel said it as if she found it strange, but honestly, it felt a little off.
They said it was an exam for the Department of Alchemy, but the only alchemy exam questions were easy content we had heard briefly near the beginning of the lectures. The rest was something else entirely.
-Describe, from the perspective of the Department of Alchemy, the policies that must be implemented to secure tax revenue, their methods, and the technology required for them.
-Describe, from the perspective of the Department of Alchemy as much as possible, measures and countermeasures to increase agricultural production.
-Write whatever countermeasures you can think of against the increasing number of spies, and describe technologies applicable from the perspective of the Department of Alchemy.
“No matter how you look at it, those weren’t alchemy questions.”
At the end, in tiny print, it said to describe them from the perspective of the Department of Alchemy, but no matter how I thought about it, those questions were just covering one’s eyes and pretending no one could see.
I asked whether the exam papers had been mixed up, but I was told the headmistress personally submitted the questions, and that they could differ from person to person, and that I could just write anything without feeling pressured, so I wrote and came out. Still, it felt off.
“Lord Aizen?”
“No, it’s just that the exam questions were a little strange.”
“Uh… Well, that could happen. Since you have become a lord as well, the questions may have changed a little… I’m sure that’s it.”
Looks like she knows something.
However, seeing that Noel was not angry but instead seemed slightly apologetic and was watching my reaction, I thought it was at least not something bad for me.
‘Because if I’m treated unfairly, she gets angry for me.’
How many times had Noel given me good advice and taken my side so far? I could overlook her hiding a little.
If things went too far, she would tell me first and discuss a countermeasure. She would never just leave me to suffer.
And honestly, since it was a matter that could end at “the questions were just strange,” being told I could write anything meant it was no different from saying they would accept points for whatever nonsense I wrote.
Honestly, what was there to describe from the perspective of the Department of Alchemy for those questions?
I just wrote down administrative policies I knew as they came to mind, wrote down technologies that seemed like they might be useful, and if such technologies didn’t exist, well, we’d have to make them, and ended it that way.
“Anyway, I’m glad you seem to have done well on the exam.”
“I’m not worried about Mina, but I wonder if Erika will do well.”
“Erika is just a bit innocent. It’s not as if she lacks education, so it should be easy for her.”
As Professor Reina had said, the exam was closer to seeing what we had gained during the year, given that we had been traveling all over the place, so unless the score was excessively low, we would probably pass well enough.
“The academy was incredibly noisy. Were you all right?”
“Yes. Since it was only announced today, they wouldn’t have had any reason to make a fuss at us right away.”
In the academy right now, Noel, Erika, and Mina were recognized as the most representative pro-golem faction—in other words, my side.
Apparently, speaking to them about that matter was practically half-declaring that you would take my side.
“The Department of Alchemy is already in a situation where everyone says they’ll follow you, Lord Aizen. From what I’ve heard here and there from people I know, the Department of Magic seems to view this positively either way, since it’s an opportunity to see the life magic used in chimeras or the linkage of magical technology used in golems. As for the Department of Knights, they say it’s half and half?”
Although the Department of Knights had the impression that Professor Reina was favorably disposed toward me, I honestly understood why it was half and half.
The jobs golems were most likely to replace first were those of knights.
Just as there were those like Professor Reina, who were trying to adapt quickly, there would also be people like the knights who sided with Prince Gilford at the Cyclops’s debut, who wanted to drive out golems no matter what.
Looking at it that way, half and half was an enormous number.
“The academy has been practically split in half.”
“Well, we’ll have to think of it like an athletic meet.”
We had to think of it as something like dividing into the blue team and white team and fighting.
To begin with, the headmistress had said she would get involved, so it was not as if this was my fault.
From the academy’s perspective, they seemed to think this opportunity would be a good stimulus for the students, so the conclusion was simple.
“We just have to do our own work well.”
To begin with, our side was no different from maintaining the status quo.
It was a simple matter of the academy expanding the stage I had originally intended to expand.
And there was also a benefit to that.
“Today, I should test-fire that.”
Because yesterday, the alchemy department bastards had said it would be a waste to disperse like that and all rushed in together, allowing us to complete something.
Looking at the shield fitted with a gatling gun, developed as long-range suppressive equipment for the Knight, I smiled without realizing it.
“…Lord Aizen, if you shoot at the Gate of Mainis again, you’ll get scolded.”
“It’s not like I can shoot at a building, can I?”
“Then… mm…”
Seeing her eyes, it seemed Noel was thinking less about stopping me and more about simply getting permission.
Its appearance was a little strange, but honestly, there was nothing as suitable for test-firing as the Gate of Mainis.
It was sturdy, had no risk of breaking, and even prevented collateral damage.
Was that not sufficiently reasonable?
There was a high risk of getting hit by Professor Reina, but putanotherwayifIgethitandthenhelpherwithworkthatsettlesitsoIreallyshouldtest-fireitrightnow—
‘Ah, I have to resist. My head.’
…Still, if Professor Reina truly got angry, things would become dangerous. So just before I sensed a threat to my life, I barely returned my thoughts to normal and decided to ask for permission first. Noel read the atmosphere around me and looked relieved.
It was at that very moment.
-Bang!
“Are you in there!”
“Who’s there!”
Just when I had barely managed to calm down my pleasant thoughts, an uninvited guest appeared.
The moment I looked that way without hiding my displeasure.
“Uh, Prince Rial…?”
“We meet again!”
The golden-tanned prince appeared.
Wary of his face, which was somehow full of delight, I quietly asked.
“What brings you here? This place is…”
“Do not ask the obvious, my friend!”
The prince shouted with a strangely comfortable expression.
Then he took a piece of paper from his breast pocket.
“…That is…”
“Did you not hear? That I would be going around observing classes! In accordance with that declaration, here I have come!”
The prince came inside with light movements, as though he were about to dance.
And then.
“To the class of the Department of Alchemy, where golems are made.”
With a low voice asking me to take good care of him, he put an arm around my shoulder and brought his face close.
The golden-tanned prince smiled brightly.