Ian Goes To School

As Ian had predicted, not only the royal palace but the entire capital was turned upside down. An attempt to assassinate the King, of all things, had occurred. The prevailing opinion was strong that this was definitely not a solo plan and that there must be accomplices.

The nobles living in the capital vied to show gestures that they had no involvement whatsoever. Fearing that the sparks might fly their way, they kept a low profile. Amidst this situation, the military moved, and soon the entire capital became a scene of grim tension.

Checkpoints were set up everywhere, randomly inspecting carriages and vehicles traveling along the roads, and as a result, illegal goods secretly transported by underground organizations were unintentionally discovered. Amidst this, the person suffering the greatest hardship was none other than the noble who had recommended the former chef.

To become a royal chef, one had to have backing, and it was with the help of the noble who became his patron that the former chef was able to become the royal chef in the past. Naturally, an arrest warrant was issued for the noble who had recommended him, and the arrested noble expressed his innocence, claiming he knew nothing about it.

His innocence was understandable. He had only recommended someone who was a well-known and skilled person at least ten years ago, he argued. However, the enraged King not only declared the noble but also his entire family to be conspirators in the rebellion, wiping them out completely. Faced with this, the nobles could only lie even lower.

In a way, this incident only served to further strengthen the royal authority. Meanwhile, amidst the stricter standards for royal chefs due to this incident, security was further reinforced.

The fact that poison wasn’t used in the food was probably because they had been using silver tableware from the beginning, and there were tasters who sampled the food beforehand, so the assassin couldn’t use poison and had to resort to trying to kill the King directly with a knife.

Thus, there was a period of uproar due to the assassination attempt, but even this was bound to fade with the passage of time. As one year passed, then two, then three, talk of the assassination attempt disappeared as if it had never happened.

Ian had now turned eight years old. Having grown considerably, he was now at the age to receive proper education. He ended up going to a place called Traveler School, a prestigious institution that royals and nobles could attend.

This school was for children aged eight to thirteen. In a way, it was also a very important social gathering place for royals and nobles. Those who became friends here would eventually form strong academic ties and become valuable connections later on.

Of course, it was the same in the higher-grade schools they would go on to attend, making this a lower-grade school that anyone of royal or noble birth had to go through. Ian was able to go to this place every day in a prepared carriage.

In a way, this was his first real opportunity to properly leave the royal palace. It was at this time that he first properly saw the world outside the palace. And he was able to see a fairly developed cityscape.

Of course, it was a high level by the standards of this era, but compared to South Korea on Earth, there were many quite bad aspects. First of all, the smog was terrible. Things like smog were heavily present throughout the city.

Perhaps because of that, the city had a rather gloomy atmosphere. On top of that, there was so much garbage piled up; he could see alleys filled with trash along the roads. He could also occasionally see shop owners throwing garbage into the alleys.

He even saw the shocking sight of large carriages dumping garbage into the river as they crossed bridges spanning the city center. Was this truly the appearance of a civilized nation? It was a dirty and filthy sight to the point of questioning that.

Having experienced a shock, the school life he began wasn’t particularly new. Among the many princes, Ian was only the ninth, and since his older brothers had already enrolled, he had no intention of standing out. Frankly, he didn’t have much desire to receive attention.

In the first place, the prince who received the most attention at this school was his older brother, who was high in the line of succession and about to graduate. Since he had no intention of standing out, he was able to have a relatively comfortable school life.

Amidst this, through classes, he had the opportunity to learn about the Polia Kingdom’s appearance, its current situation, and the state of the world. A middle-aged teacher with a rather stern face and glasses was seen writing something on the blackboard with chalk.

“Our Polia Kingdom was founded in 1420 when Prince Alex, the second prince of the Grasen Kingdom which ruled the southwestern part of the continent at the time, crossed over to this mainland and established the nation. Looking at the situation back then, he was in a power struggle with the first prince for the throne.”

‘1420… and now it’s 1898… so that’s 478 years ago?’

The kingdom on this island was founded quite a long time ago. He thought that perhaps at that time, this island was inhabited by tribes whose civilization was not very developed. Otherwise, there was no way a prince who had broken away from a kingdom could have conquered this land by force.

“Looking at the situation at that time, the founding king could have certainly ascended the throne of the Grasen Kingdom. The power he possessed at the time was definitely enough to win even against the forces of the first prince. However, the wise founding king chose to yield rather than fight. In the end, he conceded the throne to the first prince and at the same time chose to migrate to this mainland.”

‘Yeah, right, there’s no way. He must have been defeated in the succession battle and retreated.’

Who would want to come to a barren island when they could become king? The founding king, who probably lost the succession battle, must have had no choice but to come to this island. The fact that he was even able to come was probably because even the first prince, who won the succession battle at the time, found it burdensome to eliminate him and simply let him go.

‘He probably planned to deal with him later.’

“The wise Founding King Alex, having established himself on this island, named it Pullea, designated it as the capital, and founded the nation.”

According to the teacher’s explanation, the Grasen Kingdom, from which they had broken away, entered a path of destruction just 100 years later. Due to frequent external invasions and continuous internal civil wars, the nation split and eventually collapsed.

At this time, the Polia Kingdom, which was celebrating its 100th anniversary of its founding, was said to have accepted many refugees from the Grasen Kingdom. The teacher said that the chaos continued for nearly 50 years, with people from the southeastern part of the continent continuously crossing the sea to the island in small boats.

‘Ugh, I feel like yawning.’

If he liked history, he would be listening to the class with sparkling eyes, but it was so boring that he had to barely suppress his yawns. Looking around, some of the other students also looked like they were barely holding back their yawns.

Whether he knew this or pretended not to, the middle-aged man who was the teacher continued his lesson.

“At this time, there was a place that greatly made a name for itself in the southeastern part of the continent: the Doicheun Kingdom. In a way, it was a nation that branched off from the Grasen Kingdom.”

‘Doicheun… isn’t that where the current empire is?’

He knew it as a nation that currently controlled the southeastern part of the continent and showed great power as an empire. To think that the Doicheun Empire was a nation that branched off from the Grasen Kingdom. In a way, he thought that his own royal family’s ancestors were connected by blood to them.

‘So, some became an empire, and others remained a kingdom.’

A king might be jealous, but frankly, Ian wasn’t even interested. Since he wasn’t going to become king, there was no need for him to pay attention. Moreover, although the Polia Kingdom was an island nation, its land area was quite vast.

As far as he knew, it had a vast territory spanning at least over 1,000 km both horizontally and vertically. He had heard that it had the largest island in this world as its mainland, and since it even possessed quite large colonies in the New Continent, it was a great kingdom that didn’t need to envy any empire.

‘If only the king was good, it would be a nation with nothing to envy, but what kind of king is so extravagant?’

Parties were held frequently in the royal palace, as if it were an everyday occurrence. The amount of luxury goods and treasures gifted to the concubines alone was enormous. Still, he thought that if some of the jewels also went to his mother, it would be really good to hoard them for the future.

‘It’s a country with a very dark future.’

It was his own country, but the way things were going, it’s heading straight for ruin. Following last year, there was another small-scale rebellion in some region this year, and he heard that the powerful military crushed it. He had a feeling that it was only a matter of time before something big really blew up.

Clang, clang, clang-

At the sound of the bell, everyone’s eyes lit up. Finally, class was over. The teacher, who had been continuing his explanation, also stopped talking and put down his chalk, saying,

“Class is over. Then, I shall see you in the next class.”

As he gathered his materials and left the classroom, Ian also rose, thinking it was about time for him to leave as well. Gazes were directed towards him, but he didn’t pay them any mind. In fact, in the beginning, there were quite a few kids who showed some interest because he was a prince, but after he deliberately drew a line, no one tried to approach him.

‘This is the comfortable way.’

He felt that forming connections was just an unnecessary act for him. His interest lay more in his own abilities. As a result of his constant efforts, he had regained about one-third of the power he had in his previous life. To have this much power at the young age of eight was an incredible level compared to my previous life.

‘Even now, I could easily snap someone’s neck and kill them just like that.’

He could do it, but he would never reveal it. He still thought he was young, and it was time to hide his abilities. More than that, he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of training method would be better to strengthen his abilities even faster.

‘They say there’s something called a mana stone, but they can only mine a very small amount, and the price is so high that it’s incredibly difficult to obtain. I wonder if there’s a way to increase my abilities using that, even if it’s just a possibility.’

Just as he was thinking this and about to move, he heard a voice stopping him.

“Hey, Armin! I told you not to let me see you. Didn’t you hear me properly?”

“That’s right. Just looking at you makes me feel bad!”

“You demon spawn.”

Three male students were bullying one small boy. In a way, it was a common sight to see in a school setting. Children were innocent, but at the same time, they could be cruel. Because they knew nothing, they could be even more ruthless.

‘More than that, demon spawn?’

The moment he glanced at the scene through the other children, he saw that the boy’s hair color had a blackish tinge. To be precise, it was a dark blue mixed with black hair color. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t black. But it seemed that even that could be a target of teasing for the children.

‘Hmm, let’s just go.’

There was no benefit in getting involved unnecessarily. There was no need to make school life difficult for the sake of a moment’s satisfaction. Thinking this, he was about to move again when he happened to see the boy who had met his eyes through the other children.

His eyes, like his hair color, also had a dark blue tint. That appearance somehow made him think of the familiar faces of Koreans. One might say, what did he have to do with those who were in a place he could never return to? But somehow, it brought them to mind.

‘That’s the look of someone asking for help.’

It might not be, but that’s how it looked to him. The desire to ignore it and the thought of helping him strongly conflicted within Ian. Perhaps depending on this decision, his school life itself might change.

‘I should have stayed in the classroom a bit longer. Then I wouldn’t be having this dilemma.’

Just as he was regretting leaving early, he was naturally walking towards the boy who was being bullied.

“What are you doing there?”

At Ian’s voice, the three children who were bullying the boy turned around with fierce looks, as if wondering who was interrupting them, but they couldn’t help but pause. A handsome boy with red hair was standing there. The three of them knew very well who that child was.

Even though they were young, they had received some education as nobles’ children from a young age, so they could sufficiently recognize who they could and could not mess with. Even though the other party was the ninth prince, far down in the line of succession, he was still royalty. There was no good in provoking him unnecessarily.

“W-we? We were just trying to teach him a lesson.”

“He keeps looking at us in a bad way. So we were just giving him a warning.”

“Yeah. It felt bad.”

“Is that so? Then I’ll warn you for looking at me?”

At Ian’s words, the three shook their heads as if to say no. Seeing this, he decided to send them away rather than say anything more.

“Stop bullying him and go.”

“Okay. We’ll go.”

“Let’s hurry up.”

They moved away slowly and then ran across the hallway. Ian, who had been briefly looking at the hesitant small boy, said,

“Tell me if those kids bully you again.”

Having already helped, he couldn’t just turn a blind eye. So he thought he could at least offer this much help. He could see the boy’s face brighten at his words. He seemed like someone he would consider a younger brother, perhaps because he was small.

‘Was it unnecessary for me to step in?’

Soon, with that thought of not knowing, Ian raised his hand as if to say goodbye and walked towards the classroom where his next class would be held. The boy paused for a moment at that sight but then immediately started following him.

It was the sight of the boy following behind Ian as he walked along the hallway.