Boy And Event

Rudel and Izumi found themselves surrounded on the rooftop of the academy building. The ones encircling them were followers of Rudel’s younger brother, Chlust, but every one of them was a junior student in the basic curriculum… students who had only just enrolled and had not even learned the fundamentals yet. Just how many capable fighters could there really be among them…?

“Rudel… Because of you, my plans have been ruined. For someone like me, who has no right to inherit the family, the princess was my last hope! And you!!!”

Rudel could not understand how Chlust felt. Rudel had no interest in inheriting the family. The only thing that mattered to him was becoming a Dragoon… a dragon knight. Everything else was unnecessary.

“Inheriting the family is the legitimate heir’s duty. But it’s true that I’m not suited for it… In that case, you can inherit the family instead.”

“DON’T SCREW WITH ME! A territory like that isn’t worthy of me! I deserve a far greater position and greater honor… I might even have become king!”

Rudel was dumbfounded upon hearing that. Even if Chlust ingratiated himself with the Second Princess and somehow managed to marry her, he would not become king. The grand ducal family originally descended from royal blood… so if something happened, there might conceivably be circumstances where one of them became king. Even so… Rudel did not believe Chlust had what it took to be a king.

“You… shouldn’t spend all your time dreaming. Why don’t you face reality? If things continue as they are, Father will normally either grant you a territory or marry you into another house. You’d be better off improving yourself now for the sake of your future…”

Rudel’s words were precisely what Chlust had long thought about Rudel himself. Chlust hated his older brother and had convinced himself that Rudel was the reason his current abilities were not being properly recognized.

“You’re the one saying that… when you’re chasing some impossible dream of becoming a Dragoon!!! Enough… Get him, all of you!”

At Chlust’s order, his followers charged toward them… and Rudel made a decision. There was no point trying to talk to them, and he could not afford to cause trouble here… so he decided to run…

“R-Rudel, what are you—!”

Rudel tucked Izumi, who had taken a fighting stance against the approaching students, under one arm and… jumped off the rooftop.

“I-is that idiot insane?!”

Listening to the shouts from Chlust’s followers, Rudel dropped from the academy building and landed… then immediately broke into a run. As though declaring that discretion was the better part of valor, Rudel sprinted away at full speed, leaving Chlust and the others completely stunned. Then one of them said…

“H-he ran away. He really is useless after all, Chlust-sama.”

The follower gave Chlust a strained grin, and Chlust likewise mocked Rudel for fleeing.

“Worthless fool… Don’t think you can keep running forever.”

But Rudel had not merely run away. Problems occurring within the academy were supposed to be reported to the teachers. If it were a commoner being bullied by nobles, that rule was not especially effective, but…

Several days later, Chlust and the students who followed him were placed under suspension. …As a general rule, carrying weapons around the academy was prohibited, and more importantly, attempting to commit an assault was a serious offense. On top of that, their target had been Rudel, the future Grand Duke… so the academy could punish them without hesitation.

Because it was also an internal family dispute within House Arses, their punishment was made relatively lenient. Even so, the Arses family’s reputation worsened further. Both brothers were now regarded as problem children.

“Chlust really did something stupid.”

Rudel said that while looking at the posted notice announcing the suspensions. Several students who were reading it alongside him thought,

(You’re the last person who should say that!)

At least, that was what they thought to themselves.

“Was this really the right thing to do? He is your younger brother, Rudel… I know it’s a family matter, but I’m worried about your position…”

Izumi had already been told that Rudel was disliked by his parents and the servants back at the estate. That made her even more concerned that this incident might further worsen Rudel’s standing.

“It’s fine this way… Chlust should cool his head for a while. Besides, my position doesn’t matter very much to me.”

“…Wouldn’t having too bad a reputation cause problems when you try to become a Dragoon? I mean… they might decide you have problems with your character, or your family might interfere with you…”

At Izumi’s words, Rudel made a face as though the thought had only just occurred to him. It was certainly possible that some people would object to making a known troublemaker into a Dragoon. Given the situation with his family, they might even interfere with Rudel out of spite. After all, Chlust was loved by their parents…

“This could be bad!”

“Yes, it could… I’m glad you finally noticed.”

Now that Rudel and the others were second-years, the harsh training of the basic curriculum began in earnest. After spending a year learning the absolute fundamentals, they moved on to applying them. The academy was an institution that produced both military officers and civil officials for the Kingdom of Courtois. Its purpose also included teaching the children of nobles a standardized body of knowledge shared throughout the kingdom, so that in times of emergency they could coordinate with the private soldiers maintained by noble houses.

For commoners, graduating from the academy offered a path toward becoming soldiers, then knights above them… or alternatively civil officials who could work their way up through the bureaucracy. Even people of low social status were permitted to attend because, in exchange, they agreed to compulsory conscription in the event of a national emergency in Courtois. An academy with a military purpose… or at least that was the official explanation.

Despite such weighty background details, for the protagonist Aleist, this story was a “romance-themed RPG.” The protagonist was supposed to be surrounded by beautiful and adorable girls, showered with affection, and eventually become a hero who saved the nation from crisis… That was what this world was originally meant to be.

The reason everyone from princesses to commoners attended the academy was simply to allow such a wide variety of characters to appear.

Remembering all of that, Aleist considered the current situation. Sitting in his room, he looked through the notes he had written and drew a line through Izumi’s name. It was a game with a huge cast of characters. Surely there could be one or two exceptions… that was what Aleist told himself.

“The problem is Rudel. He hasn’t laid a hand on Fina, and now his younger brother Chlust is the one causing trouble. I want to somehow make that cool, aloof Fina fall for me… but I can’t even make a move unless the event triggers…”

Even within the academy, approaching Princess Fina was not easy. In addition to the classmates serving as her guards, the teachers kept a close eye on her as well. It was extremely difficult for male students to get near her… with the exception of sons from high-ranking noble families. But Aleist’s House Hardy was a relatively new noble house that people dismissed as an upstart family.

That made getting close to her difficult. At the same time, Aleist had no understanding whatsoever of Fina’s true personality. She might have been expressionless on the outside, but inside, she was… like that.

“At this rate, I’m already in my second year and I still haven’t recruited a single companion… The war starts right after graduation, so if I don’t start strengthening the party now, I’m going to be in serious trouble!”

Aleist continued thinking by himself. The war he referred to was the invasion of Courtois by another great nation equal in power to it… the “Gaia Empire.” There was not much background information about them. Or rather, apart from being the final enemy in the game, they had hardly been given any detailed setting at all.

During the third academy year, the protagonist was simply supposed to encounter a few incidents and a romance event involving a Gaia military officer.

Even so, the Gaia Empire genuinely existed and shared a border with Courtois.

“Milia’s older sister looks pretty good too… Though she’s apparently a Dragoon, so she’s ‘not very useful.’ Still, based on looks alone, she passes. There’s an event involving her this year, so maybe I should secure her while I can?”

There was a reason Aleist claimed that “Dragoons are useless.” Once separated from their dragons and considered purely as knights, Dragoons specialized in medium- and long-range magical combat. In Aleist’s mind, that made them weak against enemies specialized in close-range fighting.

And in the game itself, they really had been treated as a rather mediocre class. Dragoons possessed reasonably high overall stats… but in practice, they were a class lacking decisive power because they had no close-combat skills.

“Cattleya becomes Rudel’s ‘fiancée,’ so I won’t meet her for quite a while yet…”

Cattleya Nianis… After Rudel was expelled from the academy, it was supposed to be decided that she would marry into the Arses family. Rudel’s engagement to her was arranged at the same time he returned home after causing his scandal. The reason was that House Arses had pressured House Nianis because they wanted to obtain Cattleya, a Dragoon who enjoyed deep trust from the royal family.

But Rudel was not causing any scandals, nor was he being expelled from the academy. Even so, the event would still occur.