Study Session

In a certain room of the castle, the sound of chalk echoed alongside a surprisingly firm voice for an old man with a white beard. His name was Wisdom, the teacher Morgan had arranged for Arthur.

“The magical kingdom created by the mages once hailed as the strongest reached the height of prosperity. Their overwhelming magical power subdued other nations and even defeated one of the Five Great Beasts, the ‘Legion of Death.’ However, their glory did not last long…”

Seated at their desks, Arthur—who looked sleepy—and Bedie—who had sparkling eyes—listened to the lecture.

“One reason was that they continued to pour magic into the ‘Legion of Death’ just to defeat it. As a result, the land was polluted by destructive magic, becoming barren and unable to produce food. Consequently, they imposed heavy taxes on the nations they ruled, fueling the discontent of various peoples.”

Since asking Morgan to let him study politics, Arthur had been receiving lessons like this regularly. Today’s lesson was history. Morgan’s intent was for him to learn from the mistakes of past royals…

‘Ugh, I’m so damn bored and sleepy…’

Arthur had already lost interest. It wasn’t like he had ever studied seriously before. Knowledge couldn’t be gained overnight, and lazy Arthur just wasn’t compatible with that idea.

But he couldn’t slack off for two reasons. First, the man in front of him, Wisdom, was someone Morgan had assigned. If he slacked or slept, he’d be reported. He remembered being coldly scolded in his previous life: “You can’t even sit at a desk for a few minutes? Children are smarter than you.” That humiliation made him dig in his heels.

The second reason was… the boy sitting next to him.

“Yes, Professor Wisdom! Why would the Mage Kings do something so foolish? Didn’t they realize that raising taxes indiscriminately would alienate us commoners?”

The eager question came from Bedie. When Arthur once asked him,

“What’s so fun about studying?”

Bedie had replied with shining eyes,

“Learning is fun! And if I study, I can help everyone!”

Arthur had wondered if the boy was crazy—and then invited him to the study sessions.

Ever since then, Bedie kept asking questions like that. Arthur, far from being impressed, could only think:

‘What is wrong with this kid?! Creepy!!’

To study-hating Arthur, Bedie was an incomprehensible creature. Still, Arthur had his pride. A ridiculous amount of pride… Honestly, he wanted to lounge around eating cookies, but he couldn’t lose to a child.

“That’s a great question, Bedie. The truth is, the residents of the magical kingdom grew accustomed to exploiting others. They forgot that the people also had lives, personalities. That’s why they never imagined the people would rebel. What do you think, Prince Arthur?”

“…!!”

Bedie’s eyes widened at Wisdom’s words… and then he turned to Arthur. It was clear that Wisdom’s comment was a critique of present-day Britannia.

And Arthur was royalty, the very symbol of Britannia. The room tensed for a moment…

“Hmph. Do you think the failures of such short-sighted fools are even worth learning from? The people are alive too. If they have nothing to eat tomorrow, of course they’ll revolt. And if the masses rise together, their power can’t be ignored. That’s right… Britannia is no exception. We have many problems, but the food crisis is the worst. If our main food—wheat—fails, there will be famine. The nobles will hoard what they can, and the people will starve and revolt.”

“Oh…”

Arthur answered smoothly, recalling his previous life. There were many triggers for the revolution, but the food crisis was undoubtedly one of the biggest.

He couldn’t remember the details, but he did recall that after monster attacks and torrential rains, wheat yields dropped, and even the meals at the castle grew more meager.

“Impressive, Lord Arthur… You’re analyzing Britannia’s problems quite objectively.”

“Heh, I’m Arthur Pendragon. This much is obvious.”

Wisdom was impressed, but Arthur wasn’t clever. He was merely repeating things he’d experienced before. Still, praise inflated his ego.

Then he looked at Bedie and added,

“I also know this. The commoners are just as human as I am. They grieve and rejoice like we do. And because of their hard work, we have delicious cookies to enjoy with Kei. If we neglect the people, it’s only natural that ruin will follow.”

“Lord Arthur…”

Bedie’s eyes welled up with emotion at Arthur’s words. Of course, Arthur hadn’t said this to impress anyone.

In his past life, he hadn’t known the life of a commoner. But now he did. He’d seen orphans working hard at the orphanage… Dwarves toiling in the mines for what they valued… He could no longer believe they were a different kind of being just because of their status.

And more than anything… Kei, his most trusted maid, was a commoner. So was the vendor who made delicious cookies and let Arthur secretly taste-test new ones when he visited. Without them, Arthur’s current life wouldn’t exist.

These were the things Arthur had learned through this life.

“Hehe, if you already understand that, perhaps there’s no need to study history anymore…”

“Oh!! That means class is over?! I passed, right?!”

“Yes. Then, starting tomorrow, let’s move on to law. Your enemies may exploit legal loopholes. Lady Morgan instructed me to teach you thoroughly. Please read this by tomorrow. I’ll be asking questions.”

“Ughh…”

Arthur groaned as a thick book was placed before him. Bedie and Wisdom chuckled.

“Bedie, let’s study together!! To the library!! Sleep over tonight!!”

“Eh, but me staying at the royal castle…”

“It’s fine!! If either of us gets stuck, we help each other out!”

Arthur was desperate to keep the hesitant Bedie from escaping. He hated studying and wasn’t good at researching. His plan was to rely on smart Bedie to make things easier. As always, Arthur played small.

He had thought of slacking off, but feared Morgan tattling, “Lord Arthur doesn’t even bother to prepare for lessons.”

But of course, neither Bedie nor Wisdom realized any of this.

“Not only are you giving me the best education, but you’re even letting me use the castle library… Thank you so much!!”

“Ah…? Yeah, sure.”

With a puzzled look, Arthur led Bedie out of the room.