Delonia Academy (1)

“Professor! Professor Waite!”

“Hm?”

It was in front of the main building of Delonia Academy. Professor Waite had been about to climb into his carriage, but he stopped where he stood and turned toward the voice, and found some student or other running up with a large travel bag in his hand.

“That bright red hair of yours stands out however often I see it. Is something the matter, Haison?”

“Hah… hah… So, um, the thing is…”

“Take your time. There’s no hurry.”

Waite waited for the boy to get his breath back. Haison hesitated a moment, then asked in a slightly nervous voice.

“I-I heard you’re going to Kestral Academy to give a guest lecture.”

“Not that I’m going with any great pleasure. What of it?”

The Citra Empire kept a number of policies to encourage exchange between its three academies, and the guest lecture was one of them, a measure meant to narrow the gap in standards that had grown far too wide between the schools.

Though this time I have some personal business as well.

Lately, one strange thing after another had been happening at Kestral Academy. First a nine-year-old, nowhere near the proper age, had enrolled there. Then word had gone around that this same child had more potential than most of the upper-year students.

The information had come from a source worth trusting, yet it was absurd enough to sound like a baseless rumor, so the academy had gone back and forth over it again and again. In the end they had settled on Waite as the “inspector” who would find out the truth.

“Please take me with you.”

“What?”

Waite was taken aback for a moment, but Haison’s next words made it all make sense.

“Because my ‘purpose’ is the same as yours, Professor.”

“…Mmm. So you’ve heard it too, have you?”

Haison was the young lord of Strickland, one of the five great houses. If Waite, a professor, knew of the rumor, then of course the boy would have caught wind of it as well.

“Then am I to take it your father has given his permission?”

“Yes.”

Waite nodded. It probably wasn’t only Strickland, either. The other houses would be straining by whatever means they had to learn whether the story was true.

“Very well. The carriage isn’t small, so you may as well get straight in. As it happens, I’d been wanting someone to talk to. This works out nicely.”

“Thank you!”

It took a few more minutes to load Haison’s luggage, and then at last the carriage began to move.

“Honestly, I don’t understand it,” Haison said. “Inviting you of all people, Professor Waite. Kestral Academy doesn’t seem to know its own place.”

Waite Fanningstein was among the most powerful mages at Delonia Academy. It was outrageous enough that the “likes” of Kestral Academy had dared to invite him at all, and yet Waite had accepted gladly.

“It isn’t quite like that.”

A smile crossed Waite’s face before he could stop it.

“Every time we set foot in Kestral Academy, they’re made to realize their own station. Once they feel in their bones that the gap is absolute, that nothing they do will ever narrow it, they come to accept the place that’s theirs.”

Haison still wasn’t happy about it, but he accepted that much for now.

“You’ll reign over others one day, so keep that well in mind.”

“…Yes.”

It was afternoon, and the day’s lessons were over.

What Leonard saw when he came back to the dormitory was Johan sprawled on his bed with a grave look on his face.

“Something the matter?”

“…No. Nothing.”

On any normal day Johan would have been deep in his rehabilitation exercises by now. If he was putting off even his fixed routine, something out of the ordinary had happened.

Something’s happened, that much is obvious.

But when the man himself said it was nothing, there was no prying any further. Leonard set his backpack down on the desk and said:

“Come to think of it, did you hear the news? Apparently some guest professor from outside is staying at the academy for a few days, starting today.”

“Ah, I heard about that too.”

Johan answered, privately relieved that the subject had changed.

“Waite Fanningstein… If I’m right, he’s the professor in charge of combat magic studies at Delonia Academy. Decent enough family, and he’s pretty capable, in his way. Except…”

“Except?”

For an instant, Johan’s face twisted as though at something distasteful.

“His character’s no good. He’s kind to his own people, but even then, the moment someone stops being useful to him, he’ll turn on them just like that.”

“There’s no shortage of people like that.”

Leonard gave a wry smile. Even he, an Archmage in his past life, had been looked down on behind his back all the time for his common birth. With the idea so widespread that magic belonged to the nobility alone, a mage was bound to be a proud creature to begin with.

“You seem to know him well.”

“The five great houses have to show their faces at all sorts of functions and gatherings, so you end up knowing what kind of person everyone is whether you like it or not.”

At that, Leonard scratched the back of his head, abashed. He’d been thinking of dragging Johan along to get a look at this Waite when he arrived, but at this rate he’d better just go on his own.

Just then, a clamor began to drift in through the open window. “Speak of the devil, as they say.” On a day like this, only one thing could have the students making such a racket, and when Leonard looked out he saw several of them running off toward the main building.

“I’m going to step out for a bit.”

“Where are you off to?”

“Looks like the visitors are here, so I’m off to take a look.”

“What’s the point of looking at that bastard’s face?”

Leaving Johan’s snort behind him, Leonard left the dormitory.

The farther he went along the walking path, the closer he came to the noise. He squeezed his way past students standing in a long line and came up against a crowd gathered in a ring around something: a lavishly decorated carriage, and the “guests” standing in front of it. Leonard narrowed his eyes.

“Thank you for such a warm welcome, Professor.”

“Good heavens. I had no intention of causing such a commotion.”

Professor Louis had come out to greet them on the academy’s behalf, and as he shook Waite’s hand he couldn’t hide his discomfort. He’d meant to welcome the visitors briefly and move on, but the students were far too interested for that.

“They’re from Delonia Academy!”

“If they notice us, maybe we could transfer over there?”

Some of the students were so worked up they’d started talking utter nonsense.

Leonard had found the whole thing absurd, but then he suddenly realized something. Most of the crowd were lower-years, and the upper-years among them were few enough to count on one hand.

The reason wasn’t hard to guess.

It must have rubbed them the wrong way.

An elite mage from Delonia visiting Kestral Academy, which was as good as a backwater, was more than enough to get the lower-years excited. The upper-years were another matter. Until now they had worked hard at pretending not to know about the gutter of a future waiting for them after graduation. Yet set eyes on a mage from a school as prestigious as Delonia, and you became aware of your own position whether you liked it or not. Naturally, they couldn’t look on kindly.

“Hm?”

Belatedly, Leonard noticed a student standing boldly at Waite’s side. He was sturdily built for a mage, and his hair was red enough to catch anyone’s eye.

“That student must be from the Strickland house.”

“Did he come along with his own academy’s professor?”

The students had recognized the red hair that marked the Strickland house, and each of them was whispering something. Just then, someone tapped Leonard on the shoulder.

“So you came too.”

“…Fion-sunbae?”

Leonard turned at the voice and, for a moment, stared hard at her face in bewilderment. Maybe she had rushed over in the middle of her work, because Fion’s face was covered all over in dark soot.

“Ugh, it’s the Strickland house.”

“Why? Don’t you like them?” Leonard asked, seeing her knit her brows.

“It’s not really that… just, if one of the five great houses had to come, I was thinking someone from Fitzgerald, waaay over there, would’ve been better than Strickland.”

“…”

Leonard stared at Fion blankly. Fitzgerald was the house that led the Citra Empire in magic engineering. To bring that up at a moment like this, she really was an inventor to the bone.

“Though… I don’t believe I was told a student would be coming with you.”

Professor Louis asked it carefully, and Waite gave a slight smile.

“It was decided so suddenly that there was no chance to let you know. Haison, pay your respects. This is Professor Louis Huber, who’s in charge of combat magic studies at Kestral Academy.”

Professor Louis shook Haison’s hand lightly, then turned his gaze back to Waite.

“We’ll have to prepare one more room, then. Please come this way for now.”

“Thank you for accommodating us.”

Waite and Haison followed as Professor Louis led the way.

“What did you say?”

“I said the student who came with him is from the Strickland house.”

At Leonard’s words Johan’s face turned far grimmer than before. Oddly, he seemed to be in a worse mood today than usual.

“He didn’t look like he’d come just for a study visit.”

“Of course not,” Johan said bluntly.

Even the dogs in the street knew Delonia Academy was better than Kestral Academy. So why would anyone who knew it go to the trouble of coming all the way out here?

“Sunbae, you’re acting strange today.”

Johan had been about to say something more, but at that he shut his mouth. He’d been odd since midday, and on top of that he was talking as though he knew something.

“…He’s come here for you, you idiot.”

After a long pause, Johan sighed and went on.

“I hear you’re actually at the third Circle.”

As he spoke, he fluttered a neatly folded sheet of paper in front of him.

“A letter came from home out of nowhere. Told me to keep a close eye on a student called ‘Leonard Felix.’ Getting a rough idea of what I’m talking about yet?”

Any house of consequence would already know that Leonard was really at the third Circle. For one of the five great houses, not knowing would have been the stranger thing. So with a letter like that arriving on top of it all, it had only ever been a matter of time before Johan guessed what Haison was after.

“But you’ve already gone a round with me, Sunbae. I thought you’d have some idea what tier I’m at.”

“A guess is all it was. At your age, the third Circle is absurd by any reasonable measure.”

Well, fair enough. He wasn’t wrong.

“But are you sure it’s okay to just tell me what’s in your parents’ letter like that?”

“I’m not that stingy with the kid who offered to cure my illness. Figured I owed you a warning, at least,” Johan said. “Anyway, be careful. The Strickland house has a bit of a thickheaded streak, so there’s no telling when or where they’ll pull something.”