Episode 129

Forming a club.

If we just talked about the purpose, I created it for various conveniences.

“A travel club? Do you mean just the two of you?”

“Not just the two of us.”

Astasia, who returned after finishing her work, pouted as she looked at the list I had placed on the table.

“Who are these people? I’ve never seen these names before.”

“My own special agents that even the Empire hasn’t identified?”

“Huh?”

“Though the Empire is focusing a lot of attention on Gibraltar, they don’t monitor the orphanage.”

Astasia scanned through the list of members who joined the gorge exploration club.

“I can’t recognize any of these names… Are they friends from the orphanage?”

“Yes.”

“Wow. How did you manage that?”

“Officially, they are friends who are actively involved within the orphanage. But at the academy, they have entirely different identities.”

Astasia and her other club members were selected personally by me from the orphanage children.

“In other words, the shadows of the gorge.”

“Are you planning to use these friends for assassinations or something…?”

“Assassination? No way. They are here for things like making up numbers when needed.”

I lightly tapped Astasia’s head as she made such scary comments.

“Ouch.”

“And they aren’t strong enough to be assassins. They are ordinary friends who didn’t even become lower-class knights.”

“Then why call them shadows?”

“They are kids who can easily blend into everyday life while also wanting to enjoy life at the Royal Academy.”

Unlike the shadow students from the Empire, the gorge shadows were all from the kingdom. Moreover, some nobles had taken in a few of them as foster children, wanting to enroll them in the academy.

“Even if they are from the orphanage, they have learned about the kingdom’s noble etiquettes there…”

“They will quickly become friends with other kingdom nobles and spread the opinions I want.”

Rumors or public opinion would spread if left alone.

But if you want to spread them quickly and accurately, you need someone to manipulate and control them.

“Just like water will flow naturally if it accumulates, but if you carve a channel, it will rush through that path.”

“So, what public opinion are you trying to create?”

“That Grey Gibraltar likes Astasia von Tersian. He even created a club to manage her officially and take her to Gibraltar Gorge.”

“…….”

The fabricated opinion would spread throughout the entire academy and was spreading even now.

“Yes. That’s why I took the position of the foundation’s chairman.”

“…I don’t have a problem with that.”

Astasia kept fiddling with her teacup, looking somewhat concerned.

“Let’s say I’m in a position tied to you. So, aside from the shadow kids, no one can easily approach me.”

“That’s actually true.”

“Then, will you just watch and do nothing?”

Astasia’s eyes were filled with ‘guilt’ as she looked at me.

“I’m receiving a lot of benefits and favoritism because of Grey Gibraltar’s attention and affection.”

Towards me?

Or towards herself?

“Other people can’t even join the club and are struggling.”

“…….”

Not at all.

“Naria. Will you leave her like that?”

If Astasia was the storm’s eye in the academy’s gossip, Naria Gio Nostrum was someone everyone avoided.

“According to you, she said ‘it’s okay’ to me, but…”

“I am not involved in the public opinion about her.”

Currently, two weeks into academy life.

“No one approaches her, and they avoid her. That’s the public opinion Naria Gio Nostrum created herself.”

Naria Gio Nostrum had been eating alone for a week and a few days.

“No one wants to get involved with her.”

Afternoon.

In front of the Sun Hall at the central plaza of the academy’s main auditorium.

“Would you like to join our horseback riding club?! Anyone who has their own horse is welcome!”

“If I have my own horse, can I become a club member?”

“Eek…?! P-Princess?”

At the place where students were actively recruiting club members, Naria Gio Nostrum approached a student holding a sign and asked,

“I have a horse. Five of them.”

“Isn’t that a royal horse…?”

“Yes. If I join the club, I could give you a ride.”

“A royal horse…”

A steed incomparable to those managed by nobles.

“No, that’s not possible!”

Surprisingly, the head of the horseback riding club, who was of royal noble origin, rejected the princess’s application to join right to her face.

“Why?”

“If we ever hurt it, we could be beheaded by His Majesty the King!”

“…….”

“We want to enjoy horseback riding safely, not ride with the fear of injuring the horse…! I’m sorry, Princess!”

The horseback riding club rejected Naria Gio Nostrum.

Not only the horseback riding club but all clubs that mainly involved physical activities rejected her.

Reason?

Mostly because “we can’t risk injuring the royal body.”

“I’m fine with it.”

“We, we are not fine with it…! Princess, please…!”

“I am a student at the academy before I am a princess.”

“If you are a student, please understand our position…!”

In the academy, giving orders as a princess didn’t work.

She didn’t have the authority to give orders, but with her princess’s authority, she could.

“Everyone~ Join the after-school tea time club… Eek?!”

“Long time no see, Lady Cecilie. Four years, isn’t it? How is Jabez doing?”

“O-Oh my…! L-Long time no see? This is the first time we… Ahem! By the way, what brings the princess here…?”

“After-school tea time. I’m very interested.”

But the moment she displayed her princess authority, the story changed because she was a member of the royal family.

“S-Sorry, but we’re full!”

“Clubs have a minimum number of members but no maximum limit.”

“W-We are a small elite group of just five! We’ve already submitted our club formation application!”

“The paper you are holding behind you, isn’t that a club application form?”

“T-This… is a mistake! Haha, I made an error. The club members are waiting, so I must go!”

Most social clubs were run by those who wield their petty power over their faction.

As soon as Princess Naria, the Golden Dragon of Nostrum, joined, even the small hill that a count’s daughter boasted about became the land of the dragon.

Thus, the tail wagged the dog.

“Is this place…?”

“W-We are just an art club…!”

“And here…”

“We’re just humble folks! It’s not right for someone as noble as the princess to come to such a lowly place!!”

Naria Gio Nostrum was not welcomed anywhere.

It was not strange.

“Why does everyone dislike me so much?”

No one answered her, but even if they couldn’t say it to her face, the murmurs behind her reached her ears clearly.

-It’s because if you mess with the princess, you could get cut down by the maniac.

Students feared the incompetent king behind Naria.

-The princess might look kind, but she’s still the blood of Saint Gio Nostrum. And her mother is the Iron-Blooded Carmen.

They feared not only the incompetent king but also the blood of the Morgania from her mother’s side.

-And besides, with her stiff demeanor, who would want to approach her?

Above all, the thing they feared the most was Naria Gio Nostrum’s basic temperament.

Naria Gio Nostrum didn’t use magic, yet the atmosphere around her was so cold it seemed like an icy wind blew around her.

“I guess I have no choice. I might have to join the swordsmanship club.”

“……!!”

At Naria’s muttered words, a freshman with a good build turned pale and ran off somewhere.

-M-Master Noir!

-What. Why. Can’t you see I’m having ice cream with Wednesday?

-Princess Naria Gio Nostrum wants to join the swordsmanship club!

-…What? Wait, did she say that herself?

Naria sighed softly as the voice from a not-so-distant place rang clearly in her ears.

“I guess it can’t be helped.”

Students must join at least one club.

To form a club, a minimum number of members was required, but there were no people visible at the moment.

“…This reminds me of my orphanage days.”

Naria smiled faintly.

“Including myself, five people. In that case…”

Like a griffin hunting its prey, Naria began to scan her surroundings, undeterred by multiple rejections.

“Somehow, I need to find and recruit four people.”

Naria smiled.

Orosol Academy was a place that even the kingdom’s noble social circles watched with keen interest.

How was the education conducted?

How convenient were the Empire-style facilities built inside?

Which students became friends, and who engaged in power struggles?

While external visitors were restricted, they could visit places other than the lecture halls if it didn’t interfere with classes.

This meant visitors cpi;d come to tour and possibly meet certain individuals.

“Are you excited, son?”

“…….”

“Son. If you have a mouth, instead of just drinking tea, how about saying something. Hmm?”

In the foundation chairman’s office, a black-haired, green-eyed girl in the academy uniform sitting opposite me crossed her legs and spoke sarcastically.

“Mother.”

“Yes.”

“The Orosol Academy uniform suits you very well.”

“Thank you for the compliment, but that’s only natural.”

Queen Carmen.

She was visiting the chairman’s office in the academy uniform.

“Don’t worry. I’ve covered it with the coat hanging over there. It’s just for you to see, son.”

“You should show it to Father, not me.”

“I need to show it to you first so that when I meet the Margrave later, he can sincerely say, ‘I thought you were a student.’”

Just as Queen Carmen said, she looked young enough to be a graduate of the academy.

The secret?

The power of bloodline.

The power of mana.

The power of Caroline.

Her master father infused his mana to maintain his daughter’s youth, and Queen Carmen, through her own diligent care, maintained her beauty.

Not quite a freshman, though.

“Son, you seem to be thinking something very disrespectful right now.”

“I officially welcome your visit, Mother.”

Queen Carmen’s visit to the academy.

If there were an imperial newspaper, it would be a major headline.

“It’s surprising that you came to the chairman’s office first, not the president’s office.”

“I heard that because of some club you’re forming, Naria is having a really tough time!”

“…….”

Correction.

Queen Carmen was not my mother—

“Ms. Naria’s parent. Please calm down first.”

“Do I look calm to you?”

“I’m not a faculty member, so it’s hard for me to say…”

“The club, it’s all set up by you, isn’t it!”

“…….”

“Not an arbitrary assignment by the academy, but the students forming their own clubs? There should be no compulsion, and if there is, there would be immediate expulsion? The club president’s approval first, then a majority vote of the members…?”

The reason why Naria was having trouble forming a club.

“If you hadn’t made such strange regulations, Naria wouldn’t be going around being rejected by various nobles while trying to form a club. What do you think?”

The justification for students not accepting the ‘princess’ into their clubs, or rather, the reason they cpi;d get away with it.

“That’s because of the rumors.”

“Rumors?”

“The rumor that Naria Gio Nostrum’s club is essentially a place for her to gather her 12 disciples. That Naria is not purely trying to engage in club activities but is looking for her vassals.”

Because of rumors spread maliciously by someone.

“Son. Naria is like your younger sister, isn’t she?”

“Politically, yes.”

“And you think it’s okay to just leave her like this?”

“It’s not abandonment.”

“Right, it’s not abandonment. You must be the one who spread those rumors.”

I.

Using the orphanage children.

Astasia.

Using the imperial exchange students.

“Why are you doing this?”

“To deceive.”

“Deceive what?”

“The world.”

Naria needed to find talent.

With no hints, no background knowledge, no clues.

“Who knows? Maybe Naria will form a club with people she doesn’t want, and that club will become a group of heroes supporting the future of Nostrum.”

Orosol Academy.

A place where external visitors could freely tour, except for the lecture halls and dormitories, with permission.

“History might repeat itself. Just like the kings of Nostrum did, Naria might find talented masters no one knew about….”

One eye of the Crown Prince was fixed on Naria Gio Nostrum.

“Under the guise of a club, she could be filling it with future heroes as club members.”