Chapter 13

And so, the day finally arrived.

It was morning. The weather was a cloudless, clear blue, perfectly suited for such a celebratory day. The blue of the sky was tinged with a pale white. However, I really wished something could be done about the biting cold, which seemed to reflect that very pallid hue of the sky.

“It’s freezing, man.”

I stood in the schoolyard, shivering.

“Just endure it. You know Shark is always like this during this season. We should be grateful to the heavens that it doesn’t look like it’s going to snow.”

Standing beside me, Leo carried himself with his usual easygoing dignity.

“It’s finally happening, isn’t it?”

Kirio was also shaking, but unlike me, her trembling was likely due to nerves.

“Hmph. A commoner and a woman as the top students of the Military Academy? Shark is truly finished.”

Standing a short distance away from the three of us, Bob spat out the words spitefully.

“Shut up, idiot.”

When I offered that simple retort, his face immediately turned beet-red as he stepped toward me.

“You…! Do you have any idea who I am!?”

In the end, Bob remained exactly the same throughout all three years.

By the way, we were dressed in our usual attire. This was apparently based on instructions from the royal side. They supposedly wanted to say that we shouldn’t worry about their attendance and should just make ourselves comfortable. Yeah, right. Easier said than done.

“Cut it out.”

Merlin spoke up, sounding exhausted. No, he might actually have been exhausted. Considering he had to lead this particular group to meet the royal family, it was no wonder he was tired.

At that moment, several carriages entered the schoolyard in a line. They weren’t the type commonly seen in Shark where the passenger seats were exposed; these were covered wagons designed so that the passengers couldn’t be seen from the outside.

“They’re here. Our escort.”

Leo wore a smile full of confidence.

“The escort that will take the thesis written by you and me to change the world.”

Indeed, the day had finally come. The day we would meet the King, the Queen, and the Princess—the reincarnation of the Saint. The day of the award ceremony for the top-performing students.

Leo, Kirio, Bob, and I had gathered today for that purpose, with graduation only a week away.

We were now headed to the ceremonial hall where the award ceremony was held every year. It was a venue located slightly outside the royal capital. It was a traditional hall, apparently a renovated site of the old military academy before it was relocated three hundred years ago.

According to Leo, who had seen it before, it was about the size of a medium-sized hotel in the capital. It was a two-story building with over ten rooms. There was a grand hall on the first floor where graduation ceremonies were usually held, but since the award ceremony involved only a few people, it was customary to hold it in the chapel that stood like an annex to the main hall.

We were split into pairs for the carriages, and I climbed into one with Leo.

Once inside, the cover made it harder to see the outside scenery compared to other carriages I had ridden in. Or rather, it felt like the world had suddenly become narrower.
Perhaps because of that environment, I naturally focused on my conversation with Leo rather than trying to look outside.

“Even though it’s called a chapel, it’s actually more like a small stone room just sitting there on the ground. There’s nothing inside but a small symbol.”

As the carriage began to move, Leo started explaining the chapel. Incidentally, that “symbol” referred to a cross. It was somewhat interesting that the cross existed in this world as a symbol for praying to God.

“It probably held a much more significant meaning three hundred years ago than it does now. Since it’s so far out of the way, there are no churches nearby, which makes praying inconvenient. I imagine the chapel was built as a sort of emergency refuge for teachers and students to offer their prayers.”

Why did Leo know so much about the ceremonial hall and the chapel?

It was because he had visited many times. Normally, high-ranking nobles and wealthy individuals were invited to the award ceremonies and graduations instead of royalty. As a member of one of the top influential noble families in Shark, Leo had attended as a guest many times in the past.

He had laughed while telling Kirio and me all about it, saying he was finally moving away from the guest’s side.

Until now, those attending were just influential nobles or local celebrities, but this time was different.

The King and Queen, who lived in the royal castle, and Princess Victie—who usually lived in a room in the Grand Cathedral as the reincarnation of the Saint—were going out of their way to travel to that ceremonial hall and chapel.

Even Merlin apparently hadn’t heard exactly how the award ceremony would proceed. It was likely kept secret until the last moment for security reasons.

“Well, I can take a guess,” Leo remarked.

“A guess?”

“They’ll likely keep Princess Victie’s contact with us to a minimum. At the same time, they’ll stage the ceremony so that meeting her still feels like it carries a heavy significance. Actually, that’s the only way they can do it. If they’re ‘using’ Victie, that is.”

With a lonely expression as he swayed with the carriage, Leo used the word “using.”

“You make her sound like an object.”

When I pointed that out, Leo shrugged and curled his lip.

“Even I, her childhood friend, have never seen her true face. And yet, in a political setting like this, she’ll expose her face in front of people she’s meeting for the first time, like you, Kirio, and Bob. Is that how you treat a human being?”

“Expose her face? You mean Princess Victie is going to show her face to us?”

I was stunned.

That Princess Victie? The one hailed as the reincarnation of the Saint?

Once I learned about the award ceremony, I made sure to look into Princess Victie in detail.

From the moment of her birth, she had been certified by the Church as the reincarnation of the Saint. Since then, she had never appeared in public. The only people allowed to see her true face were her parents—the King and Queen—her wet nurse and caretaker, the court physician Arle, the Pope at the pinnacle of the clergy, and Archbishop Mintz, her caretaker from the Church’s side.

Princess Victie, who had revealed her face to such a limited circle of people, was going to show it to us?

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard. My relatives are all making a huge fuss, acting like it’s some incredible honor. It’s annoying as hell. But, it’s gratifying in another sense. It means the Kingdom and the Church both recognize that we and that thesis are important enough to warrant such measures.”

“Is that really true? That thesis is worth that much?”

I found it hard to believe.

“Of course, part of that importance comes from the fact that I’m the high-ranking noble backing it. But even without that, that thesis is a revolution. Specifically, your concepts of systematizing, universalizing, quantifying, and codifying knowledge and technology… they’re a destruction of established concepts, not just for this country, but for the world. Have more confidence.”

Then, Leo lowered his voice.

“That said, seeing Victie’s face isn’t exactly a religious experience for us. After all, we’ve already seen the ‘real thing,’ haven’t we?”

He gave a wry grin.

I shrank back, worried the coachman might have overheard. He had a point. In a sense, we had already seen the “real” her, so the shock factor was definitely dampened.

“In that case, Bob is probably the most nervous one among us.”

I pictured the face of Bob, the only one who hadn’t seen the statue of the Saint.

“Doubtful. He doesn’t have the delicate nerves required to get nervous,” Leo replied flatly.

In the midst of our conversation, the carriage eventually reached its destination.

As I stepped out of the carriage, I caught my breath.

We were surrounded by trees with dull-colored leaves. They grew thick and clustered, with no visible path. I had no idea how the carriage had even made it this far.

I should have looked out the window a bit more.

We were standing in a gray plaza where no plants grew. The wind felt cold enough to freeze my blood. In the center of it all stood a dry, sterile building that looked like a giant gray die.

I remembered my first impression of the Military Academy being “like a prison,” but after seeing this, I couldn’t possibly say that anymore. This was the true prison. Our predecessors must have been reckless to study in a place like this.

Specifically, there were no windows. Even with iron bars, the current Military Academy at least had windows.

Apparently, the reason the Military Academy—both past and present—was built like a prison wasn’t to lock the students in, but for security. Since the children of wealthy families and nobles attended, they might be targeted. The school probably just didn’t want to take any responsibility for them.

“Ugh, what the hell is this?”

Bob, who got off the carriage behind us, grimaced the moment he stepped out. By the way, Bob had been riding alone. Since there were five of us, someone had to be the odd one out. That person was Bob. It felt like he was meant to be left out.

“It’s a total wreck. Am I really getting honored in a place like this?”

Bob spoke his mind so bluntly that Leo and I could only stare at him with something bordering on respect.

I see. He definitely didn’t seem to have the delicate nerves to get nervous.

Then, Kirio and Merlin stepped down from the last carriage.

Kirio was deathly pale and shaking.

She was so nervous it was actually starting to worry me.

“Now then, let’s go. We can’t keep them waiting.”

Merlin said only that in his usual tone and began walking toward the stone-cut ceremonial hall, his tattered robe dragging behind him.

“Hey, are you okay?”

I whispered to Kirio, who gave several small, frantic nods. However, her complexion and cold sweat suggested she was anything but okay.

“Hmph. What a disgraceful display for a noble. I knew it was a mistake for a failure like you to be here.”

Bob approached with a sneer plastered across his face.

“Oh, nice one, Bob. Keep that up and help Kirio relax like you always do.”

When I praised him, Bob turned beet-red, glared at me, and followed after Merlin.

Leo had already followed Merlin first, without showing any concern for Kirio.

“Come on, let’s go.”

I put my arm around Kirio’s shoulder to support her, as she was still acting strange from the nerves, and followed Merlin. We were the last ones.

I noticed the carriages driving away with a rattle. The covered wagons wound their way through the dense trees.

“The escort carriages will return around noon when the ceremony is over. Don’t worry.”

Merlin, at the front, looked back to explain before starting to walk again.

Suddenly, my eyes caught a building next to the die-shaped hall—a simple stone hut.
That was it. That was the chapel Leo mentioned.

A sudden, overwhelming sense of loneliness washed over me. It might have been the impression of that stone hut they called a chapel, or perhaps it was because I was overlapping it with Princess Victie—whom I hadn’t met yet—the reincarnation of the Saint who was being treated as an object.

But the impression of that small hut quickly faded.

For me right now, the upcoming award ceremony was more important.

And so was Kirio, who was still shivering so hard they couldn’t even move unless I guided them along.

And so, we entered the sterile ceremonial hall, which looked as if it had been carved directly from solid stone.

10:00 AM.