Chapter 214
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 214
Following the meeting, Ciel and I boarded a tram.
Thanks to the expansion of the lines passing through the smaller academies, it was now possible to travel anywhere within the Union without much trouble. As I watched the scenery flash by the window, an announcement soon chimed.
[Next stop: Valerian Academy construction site.]
“Let’s get off.”
We were on the outskirts of the Union. I stepped off the tram and surveyed the station, which still carried the sharp scent of fresh concrete and sawdust.
[Valerian Station]
Unlike other tram stops, which were usually the size of a standard bus shelter, this was a newly built station on the scale of a major subway hub. Inside, amenities like restrooms, cafes, and shops had already been established to serve the workers involved in the academy's construction. For now, it was the domain of laborers, but once the academy was completed, it would primarily serve the students.
Leaving the station, I saw a fleet of freight trams lined up at the nearby vehicle depot.
“Careful on your way down!”
“Load this onto the next cart!”
At the depot, all sorts of materials—concrete, rebar, timber, and bricks—were being continuously unloaded. Not wanting to disturb the hard-working laborers, I took a quick look around before moving on.
Beyond the depot, a scene resembling a rising city unfolded before my eyes. The skeletons of buildings were ascending one by one along wide, straight boulevards. The ground was currently nothing but dirt and scattered puddles, but it would soon be paved with neat, uniform bricks.
“It’s going smoothly.”
I smiled as I watched the adorable spirits bustling about the construction site. Spirits of all kinds were involved in the labor, taking the forms of small, wiggling dwarves, squirrels, birds, young girls, and even beetles.
Gnomes, the earth spirits, were the best at compacting the ground, while the fire spirit Kasa boasted firepower comparable to a modern welding torch. Undine were proving useful in various ways, such as mixing concrete and suppressing dust. The wood spirit Tailsqueal was playing a massive role on-site, and the steel spirit Rhinos was tasked with weaving and securing rebar.
Not a single one of the five great spirits was useless on a construction site. Spirit users were indispensable talents in the field of architecture. Normally, I would have had to pay an astronomical sum to hire them.
‘You could say I’m working them for next to nothing.’
The spirit users currently assigned to the site were students from Voltimir, the academy of spiritology. Thanks to my contract with Kiriel, the hundreds of spirit users who had worked on the stadium construction had been dispatched here. It was safe to say that the interest on their loan was being paid through their labor.
However, I felt a bit guilty about working them for free, and it wasn't ideal for efficiency, so I promised them an additional bonus if the construction was completed on time.
Meanwhile, there was another group just as helpful as the spirit users: mages. I had recruited all the mages drifting through the part-time job market—those struggling to pay the Union's murderous tuition and research fees. It was a situation similar to Trish, the former head of the Alchemy Club, who had been betrayed by Roen and forced into odd jobs due to a lack of funds.
Construction work was more dangerous and grueling than any other part-time job in the Union, but as long as the pay was good, everyone worked their hardest.
If spirit users and mages were the modern equivalent of heavy machinery, there was still a clear need for traditional human labor. The workers hired through Tulay Academy, which specialized in construction, were proving to be worth every penny of their high wages. Since this was a massive project bearing the academy's name, they weren't slacking off; they were working with diligent precision.
In particular, the veteran workers among them were efficiently managing the outside personnel who were unfamiliar with construction sites. Seeing them deploy mages and spirit users in the right places made me certain that paying them high daily wages was the right decision. Tulay Academy was also professionally handling the supervision and inspection of every task, ensuring there would be no shoddy workmanship.
This was one of the benefits of direct supervision instead of subcontracting. Of course, the fact that I was providing a generous budget probably helped.
As Ciel and I toured the site, a man who appeared to be a project manager approached and bowed.
“Welcome, Lord Roen.”
It was Tirion, a direct subordinate of Klimt, the president of Tulay Academy. He wasn't a student of the Union but a middle-aged man of considerable years—a butler of the Gustav family and a seasoned supervisor.
“You’re working hard, Tirion. What’s the status?”
“It couldn’t be smoother, sir. I’ve never seen a site like this before. It’s quite fascinating.”
This wasn't just empty flattery meant to reassure me. It was a sincere compliment on the current situation, where everything was fitting together perfectly like clockwork.
I replied with a smile. “When a good client and a good construction company meet, it’s only natural.”
This project had been in preparation for months. With ample funds, materials, and manpower, it was no surprise the site was running like a well-oiled machine.
“Can you meet the deadline?”
“Yes. It will be tight, but we should be able to open on the day you requested. The landscaping and interior design might be a bit rough around the edges, though.”
“I understand. I’m counting on you.”
There were about six months left until the opening. The plan was to have the essential buildings—the main hall, the grand auditorium, the dormitories, the cafeteria, and the gymnasium—completed by then. Additional amenities and landscaping would be finished gradually over time. Considering the tight deadline, this was a remarkable achievement.
There was nothing more for me to get involved in. If a non-expert like me tried to give unsolicited advice, I could end up ruining things that were going perfectly. It was best to leave it to the well-paid experts.
*
After touring the site, I headed to a hotel on Traum Street. Several of Valerian's faculty members, including Roxana—with whom I had signed a contract during the academy festival—were staying here. The academy was set to open next March, so they needed to prepare the curriculum in time.
I first met with the key figure, Roxana. We sat at a cafe in the hotel's first-floor lobby. Roxana, her eyes sunken from exhaustion, sat across from me sipping her coffee. She looked like she had a lot on her mind.
Setting down her cup, she asked me worriedly, “Roen, is this really going to be okay?”
“What do you mean?”
“The faculty of our academy… there isn't a single normal person among them.”
It seemed she wasn't just tired from preparing lectures.
“I admit it. But you're hardly in a position to talk, Roxana.”
Although she was the most moderate of the currently selected faculty, Roxana was also an exile, kicked out of the mainstream academic world.
“That’s true, but… Huu.” She let out a heavy sigh and lowered her head. “This burden is too heavy for me. I can manage teaching the students, but to ask me to be the dean as well… I don't have the confidence to control them.”
“Hmm.”
She had a point. The selection criteria for the faculty were based purely on ability, so in terms of character or sense of responsibility, many had disqualifying factors. It would be impossible for Roxana to control all those eccentric faculty members on her own.
Even I wasn't confident I could control them completely. I could use sweet talk and large rewards to persuade them, or exploit their weaknesses to shake them up, but that only worked on ordinary people.
‘...They have to be reasonable for that to work.’
The methods I had used so far wouldn't work on these individuals who existed beyond the realm of common sense. In that case, I needed a strong leash to control those madmen.
‘Speaking of which, I can think of one person.’
Leadership that combined strength and gentleness. Someone whose presence and aura had the power to overwhelm others. On top of that, he had plenty of experience as a middle manager and the physical strength to beat down anyone who wouldn't listen. That person was…
‘Alfredo.’
In any case, the criminal underworld was one of the biggest investors in Valerian Academy. I planned to list the Black Rose Association as a paper company on the foundation we would be establishing. I needed someone to manage the foundation in my stead anyway, so I would call Alfredo and give him the job.
I heard he'd been bored with nothing to do since finishing his work in the underground city, so this should be a good pastime for him. He even came to see the academy festival, after all.
‘I’ll have to dig another passage to the underground.’
Having made up my mind, I reassured Roxana.
“I understand. I’ll take care of that part, so please just focus on your duties, Roxana. By the way, are there any professors you could recommend? Or have you received any promising inquiries?”
I had already signed contracts with several individuals, and applications were still coming in, but it wasn't enough to form a full faculty. This was a good time to borrow Roxana's connections.
“Actually… there are a few. When I told them about the contract terms, many from ‘Blank,’ the group I belonged to, showed a lot of interest.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
‘Blank’ was a dark academic society for those who had been exiled or alienated from the magical academic world. It wasn't an evil organization; it was more of a gathering of eccentrics. Among them were many talented individuals who, despite their outstanding skills, had not been recognized by the mainstream societies. They would make excellent faculty members.
Of course, some might point fingers and say I was building a faculty with nothing but riffraff.
‘I never intended to establish an academy for the mainstream in the first place.’
The Union was already overflowing with academies for the great figures who had made a name for themselves. Therefore, the academy I was creating had to become a refuge for those who hadn't been accepted by the world.
Well… it wasn't like I started this with some noble purpose or grand design. It was just a matter of mutual need. I needed talented people, and they needed a place to display their talents.
“Excellent. If you could connect me with them, I will decide whether to hire them after an interview.”
With this, both the academy building and the faculty were slowly taking shape. All that remained was to recruit students. Little by little, the foundation of the academy was forming.
*
The next day. Early morning.
“The newspaper, sir. I believe you should take a look.”
It was after I had finished a simple breakfast following my dawn workout with Freya. During a short tea time, Ciel handed me a copy of the paper.
“I’ll have one too, please.”
Freya, sitting across from me, requested a copy, and Ciel brought another for her. Lately, it had become routine for Freya to join me for breakfast after our morning workout.
My eyes widened as I scanned the headlines.
“Oh, it’s already open?”
It was news that the first store for Alchemist, our Alchemy Club's brand, had opened in Helenos, the imperial capital. It had already been widely promoted during the academy festival, so the store was apparently packed from the very first day. To open just a week after signing the contract… they worked incredibly fast.
The paper included an interview with the Kane Merchant Guild, which stated they would gradually expand the number of stores. Their goal was to increase the number of locations to fifty by the end of the year.
As I was reading, a good idea suddenly popped into my head.
‘It might be a good idea to promote the academy through the carbonated water.’
The successful launch of the Alchemist brand was expected. I could use this explosive reaction to promote Valerian Academy for maximum effect.
‘...Maybe I should put in a golden bottle cap.’
Much like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I could give away an admission ticket along with a scholarship worth hundreds of millions. Since it would have a lottery-like nature, it would also have a positive impact on sales.
I continued reading the paper, entertaining these thoughts. The next article happened to feature a part of my speech from the academy festival.
[The Revival of Valerian Academy: Are We Not Responsible?]
A rather provocative headline.
‘This reporter knows how to grab attention.’
I should tell Chloe to read this and learn from it. Unlike the provocative headline, the content was nothing special. I had expected it to distort my intentions or carry a critical tone, which was strange. The revival of Valerian Academy was highly likely to lead to a backlash from the existing establishment, so I thought the media, being the mouthpiece of the powerful, would have gleefully torn it to shreds.
‘How unexpected.’
However, I found the reason for this strange phenomenon in the next article.
[Cassandra Imperial Family Announces Intent to Invest Directly in Valerian Academy.]