Chapter 31

When the sun hung high in the sky.
The people of Oratio were moving busily for their own different reasons.
And there was someone looking down at those people.

“So, you failed again.”

Marquis Girium Levvels.
The white-haired old man, close to seventy, turned his head from the window he had been looking through.

“That is…… I apologize.”

Girium’s calm gaze fixed on the subordinate who had lowered his head.
Silent anger.
The subordinate could not bring himself to raise his head.

“Get out.”
“I apologize.”

The subordinate hurriedly left.
A low silence settled over the room.
After quietly steadying his breath, Girium opened his mouth a moment later.

“Muto. You are doing well, I trust.”
“Yes.”

A woman’s voice, soft but firm, came from a place where the sunlight did not reach.

“We have won over the key figures of the north and west. The south is also in progress.”
“The east?”
“There is resistance from the Navigatou Count Family, but I will handle it quietly.”
“Good. You are doing well. Once this matter is over, I will put more effort into saving your parents.”
“……Thank you.”

A faint smile settled on Girium’s lips.
He was drawing closer and closer to his goal.
Though he had failed to remove the great obstacle……

‘If I win over even the east, that man will no longer be a problem either.’

Girium looked out the window again.
People moving busily.
Their figures looked like pieces on a chessboard.

Girium’s finger slowly brushed over the window frame.

“There is not much left now.”

His low murmuring voice was deep and cold.

“Muto Mariposa. Finish the job.”

Light briefly brushed over the place where Muto stood.
Her neatly arranged lilac-colored hair held a faint sheen.
No emotion showed in the pale eyes set in her pallid skin.
An appearance that looked more like a doll than a person.
At her waist was a thin, pure-white sword.
It was a beautiful sword with elaborate workmanship, but it gave off an atmosphere as threatening as its cold color.

Muto silently looked up at Girium.

“As you command.”

It was a short and concise answer.
No emotion had seeped into her voice either.

Winter was the season people avoided the most.
And Serpens also fiercely agreed with that fact.

“Huu……. My hands feel like they’re going to turn into stone.”

Serpens clenched and unclenched his hands.
His stinging hands felt as if they alone were moving through time slowly.
He did not like this feeling.
When his hands froze, both the accuracy and speed of what he did dropped.
It became a serious obstacle when pickpocketing-.

“Serpens.”
“Yes?”

Tap.

Lucas handed him a fur garment.
When he felt warmth in his arms, the boy’s eyes widened fully.

“Is this mine?”
“……If you catch even a cold, training will be delayed.”
“Nice.”

After putting on the clothes, Serpens gave a languid smile.

The two were in the northern part of the empire.
More specifically, they had come to a place called Baros.
A vast territory located below a great mountain range.
The purpose of the people who visited this place was all connected to one location.

“So, Lucas. What did you say that place was called?”

Serpens spoke while looking at the white buildings that entered his sight.

“The Academy.”
“Hmm……. The Academy.”

The Academy.
It was the name of the empire’s only training institution, located in Baros.
Any boy or girl under twenty who dreamed of becoming a knight or magician could enter the Academy.

‘That is how it is known.’

Lucas slowly looked around.
Students wearing the Academy uniform.
Their weapons and additional accessories.
Every single one of them was expensive.

Unlike what was known,
not everyone could enter the Academy.
Those who could pay the expensive entrance fee.
Those who could pay all the money required in various areas.
The Academy was a place only the children of such people could attend.

That did not mean one could complain.
Because if one entered the Academy, their future was practically guaranteed.
If one thought of the future, it was not such a bad investment.

“I don’t particularly like it.”

Serpens also looked around.
The rich-looking people his age didn’t bother him.
Of course, they bothered him a little.
Because it was true that whenever he saw people living normally, or living well, he felt envious.
But at least for now, that was not it.

“Lucas. Look at that.”

Serpens pointed at a shop.
The boy’s hand trembled in the cold.
At its end were the prices of one shop’s goods.

“Three copper coins for a fist-sized piece of bread. What kind of prices are these?”

Prices that naturally made one groan.
It did not stop at bread.
Other foods, various goods, even inn fees.
Every single thing was several times more expensive than in other places.

“It’s more expensive than Oratio, the capital. What kind of nonsense is this?”
“Getting angry at me will not change anything.”
“What are the beggars living here supposed to eat!”
“……Beggars either steal food or starve.”
“Huh? That means you know one thing, but not two.”
“……?”
“Beggars sometimes pay full price and buy food too, you know.”
“……?”

Serpens’s words were true.
He too had paid money for meals before, though the number of times could be counted on one hand.

‘Some merchants do not care where the money comes from.’

Naturally, that money had been stolen.
It could not exactly be called a good deed.
But by Serpens’s standards, it fell on the relatively legitimate side.
Because pickpocketing was the only way the boy could earn money.

“Ugh, when I succeed, I’m fixing these rotten prices first.”

That was why he disliked this place, which crushed even his own kind of effort.

With Serpens grumbling, the two reached the Academy’s main gate.
Many people’s attention focused on the two of them.

“Why is everyone staring?”
“Outsiders carrying weapons have arrived, so it is only natural they would look.”

Serpens examined the gazes of those his age.
Disdain. Confusion. Curiosity. Discontent. Excitement.
……Excitement?

A strange person caught Serpens’s eyes.
There was a guy not very far away, snorting as he stared at him.

Reddish-brown curly hair that looked as if it had been caught in an explosion.
Glasses that emphasized his flashing eyes.
A build that looked thin, but was by no means small.

‘What is with that guy?’

With the way he looked as if he would charge at any moment, Serpens could not help but look at him.

He looked older than Serpens.
But even so, he was still a teenager like him.
Unless he had some exceptional ability, there was no way Lucas would take notice of him.

“Do not turn your head for no reason.”
“There’s a strange guy.”
“There is no being here as strange as you.”
“Why?”
“Because it is very rare for someone to come to the Academy at thirteen.”
“Hmm?”

Of course, it was true that the Academy was a place that fostered talent.
But it did not teach boys and girls starting from complete ignorance.
It raised children who had built a certain level of ‘foundation.’
And the “foundation” the Academy required was a demanding standard for a thirteen-year-old to meet.

“Come to think of it, I’m thirteen too.”
“Enough of winter has passed. That would make sense.”

Serpens grinned.

“I guess so.”

It had been a year with more varied events than any year he had lived through.
For the first time in his life, he had held a sword, killed monsters, and visited places other than Satus.
It had been the most dangerous year, and the most enjoyable year.
Even so, one fact remained unchanged.
He had struggled desperately to survive.

Serpens touched the calluses that had formed on his hands.
The small scars he felt around them also stirred the boy’s pride.

“What brings you here?”

Not long after they passed through the main gate, two people who looked like guards approached them.

“I came to meet Principal Frost.”

The guards looked Lucas up and down.
Shabby clothing. He did not look like an important guest.

“He is not someone you can meet simply because you wish to. You must bring an invitation, or the nameplate of a noble of viscount rank or higher, in order to visit-”

Slide.

Lucas showed the guards a nameplate made of blue jade.
The guards’ eyes doubled in size when they saw it.
It was because of the name embedded in the nameplate.
‘Lars Musica.’
The name of the empire’s archmage.

The guards exchanged glances.
They seemed to be checking whether the nameplate was genuine.
After a brief moment.

“We will guide you.”

The conclusion they reached was to accompany him.

No matter how they looked at him, he did not look like someone who would receive the archmage’s nameplate.
But they could not simply ignore the nameplate either.
If it was real, they could simply take him to the Academy’s principal as they had decided.
If it turned out not to be, they could deal with him then.
Principal Frost was a 7th-class magician.
No matter how skilled this man was, he surely wouldn’t be able to subdue four guards and a 7th-class magician.
……or so the guards were thinking.

Meanwhile, as their surroundings grew even noisier, Serpens looked up at Lucas.

“What did you show them?”
“A nameplate.”
“A nameplate? Whose did you show them to make everyone stare like this?”
“Lars Musica.”
“Lars Musica? That magician from the finest orchestra?”
“Yes.”
“Is he that impressive?”
“As I said, he is an archmage.”
“Oh…….”

Serpens tilted his head.
He could tell that the title of archmage was not common.
But to think those guards would open the gate so readily.
The archmage’s power, at least from what he had seen, had not seemed that great.
Of course, he was impressive in that he had blocked Lucas’s sword, but……
it did not seem like enough to move public authority.
In any case.

“When did you get the nameplate? I didn’t see you receive anything like this when we met him last time.”
“When receiving something from a magician, one usually receives it through magic.”
“Hmm……. That makes sense too.”

Lucas recalled when he had requested the pass.
Lars Musica usually had time to spare.
Because his skill was too outstanding for the work he did.
He usually enjoyed observing others with magic.
Something about liking to listen to all kinds of music.
Lucas also knew that among the ‘music’ Lars spoke of, he himself was among the music Lars enjoyed listening to.

Around the time Lucas came out of Killip Gorge.
He called Lars’s name into the air.
A reply came from the air a moment later.
After that, he only remembered forcibly taking the pass.
There was resistance, but when Lucas told him to think of it as the price for usually observing him, Lars had no choice but to accept it.

“I do not recommend broadening your relationships, but it is good to keep in contact with at least one useful magician.”
“Oho. Understood.”

“Magic sure is fascinating,” Serpens muttered.
For Lucas to say that much.
It seemed that person called Lars did have skill.

‘Well……. He stopped the clash between Lucas and that elf, so that says enough.’

The closer the two approached the Academy building, the more gazes turned toward them.
But the two no longer paid attention to those gazes.

They entered the building, and a dazzling interior greeted them.
A red carpet running between pure-white walls and floors.
A chandelier made of gold hung from the ceiling, and portraits of great figures were hung here and there.
Serpens’s head turned this way and that.

“This is the principal’s office.”

After climbing roughly one floor by stairs, they came to a rather antique door.

“Principal Frost has been on edge recently from handling various matters, so please be careful with your words and actions-”

Creak.

However, Lucas opened the door before the guard could finish speaking.
The movement was neither cautious nor forceful.

When the door opened, the winter chill quietly intensified.

As always, there was no hesitation in Lucas’s stride as he entered the room.

The reason he had come here was a change of heart.
More precisely, it was a change caused by the situation.

“It has been a while, Frost.”

The vow to turn Serpens into a usable swordsman within one year.
Lucas had decided he should extend that deadline.