Academy Academic Festival #7
“I believe this is where we part ways.”
His Majesty the Former King Ruhart spoke those words before we reached the main hall where the academic festival was being held. Had I been a young man who failed to meet his expectations, he might have settled for touring the festival out of mild disappointment. But he had already found the youth who pleased him most — so why would anyone else even register?
“Ah. Not a child, perhaps — children.”
The great man turned and looked at Rie, who stood beside me. He held her gaze for a moment, then stepped closer and spoke without warning.
“Your hand.”
“Pardon?”
“Give me your hand.”
Even hearing it from the side, I found the request a little startling. Rie hesitated, clearly wondering what he meant by it — but Marquis Haniel, standing nearby, looked far more tense than either of us and carefully urged her to do as she was told at once.
At that, Rie tilted her head in confusion, yet still offered her hand to His Majesty the Former King. He took it, turned it this way and that for a moment, and then smiled.
“You have worked very hard.”
“W-what do you mean by that…?”
“Look at how many scars and calluses mark such young hands. This is not a level reached by leaning on talent alone, nor by a stroke of luck. It is a realm won through pure effort. So of course you have suffered a great deal.”
“….”
“Allow me to thank you, daughter of House Haniel. Every scar carved into your hands is the glory of Lebechia, and every callus is its prosperity. Grow into someone great.”
Every word sank into my ears and burned itself into my mind. From his voice to his eyes, his bearing, even the way he walked — I thought I understood why he was remembered as both the most feared king in Lebechia’s history and one of its most deeply respected.
“Marquis Haniel.”
“Yes.”
“I find myself a little envious. Your daughter, and your son-in-law as well — I almost wish I could bind them both to my own grandchildren. You are a man blessed with remarkable fortune. Then again, given all the good you have done, a reward of that measure is only natural. If there is a god — if Heaven knows what happens on this earth.”
“Your Majesty.”
“As for me, I have committed rather too many sins. I doubt that much is possible for me. Hahaha.”
When he spoke of sins, he surely meant the countless people he had cut down with his own hands. There was a reason every noble in Lebechia, marquis and count alike, feared him above all others.
For the record, if anyone asked whether he was some blood-mad tyrant — absolutely not. The moment he judged someone a threat to the royal authority or to Lebechia itself, he carried out a merciless purge without hesitation. But toward those who might benefit the nation and the crown, or toward ordinary citizens who knew nothing of politics, he showed a warmth no other noble could match.
There had once been a disaster in which grain barges coming up the river sank, taking with them an enormous quantity of tax grain — roughly a tenth of everything collected across all of Lebechia. The damage was staggering. Nobles and ministers alike flew into a panic over the lost grain. Yet Former King Ruhart, who still sat the throne at the time, was the first to ask only one question: How many died?
He ordered every effort made to recover the bodies of those who had drowned, and for any whose remains could not be found, he had figures carved from fine wood in the likeness of a human body so that proper funerals could still be held. He opened the royal storehouses and compensated every family of the dead, then commanded that river conditions and weather be carefully considered in all future barge operations so that such a tragedy would never happen again.
That was how deep his love and compassion ran for Lebechia and its people. It was only that, when someone with power twisted that power into something foul, he turned on a dime — and tended to kill first and ask questions later.
“…So that was His Majesty the Former King Ruhart.”
Rie murmured the words as she watched him disappear into the distance. She must have felt the force of his presence every bit as clearly as I had — sharp and cold, and yet, in the next breath, warm and benevolent. It was as if he were saying that only someone who could hold all of that at once could endure the seat of a nation’s sovereign.
“He is the one who paved the road so that the Lebechia of today could exist. Without him, those foolish nobles might well have left the entire country in ruins.”
Marquis Haniel had flourished in the same era as that man. Of course he would carry even greater respect — and fear — than we did.
“More than that, I still cannot make sense of any of this. For the former king to appear so suddenly at an academy academic festival… and in secret, no less — and not for anyone else, but to see you, Lucian.”
I am just as baffled as you are, Marquis Haniel. I never imagined I would come face-to-face with the terrifying former king known as the serial killer of nobles. What on earth had Old Man Cloud told him to spark even his interest? I wanted to hunt down our former chancellor that very instant and shout, What did you say to him?!
“…For now, let us head to where the festival is being held.”
We followed Marquis Haniel into the academy’s main hall. Already, countless figures gathered from every corner of Lebechia filled the space. Somehow they noticed the marquis’s arrival at once, and greetings began to drift in quietly from every direction.
“Marquis Haniel. Welcome.”
“A pleasure to see you.”
“Have you been well?”
“Of course. And you?”
“You’re a little late. A few of the students went down just a short while ago.”
“A pity. In that case, shall I hear your evaluations?”
Marquis Haniel was soon swallowed among nobles and scholars. In one light he looked like nothing more than the friendly man next door — and in the next, the presence of the head of House Haniel, famed throughout Lebechia for upholding the honor of the nobility, rolled off him in waves. Thanks to that, Rie and I — well-known students at the academy though we were — slipped cleanly out of everyone’s attention and were left comparatively at ease.
“…Marquis Haniel’s connections are something else.”
“They would be. Father has always enjoyed exchanging ideas with intellectuals.”
“I’ve heard that some nobles swagger so much that scholars can’t stand them. But look at Marquis Haniel — even the scholars are coming over to greet him first.”
Among those scholars were even a few I had crossed paths with myself. Most were renowned figures in Lebechia; half of them were not nobles at all, yet they commanded far more respect and reverence than any half-baked aristocrat.
“More importantly — are you all right, Lucian?”
“About what? Ah… because of him?”
“Honestly, I was truly shocked. I’ve taken in people’s auras through countless duels and thought I was used to it, but the moment I stood before him, I broke out in goosebumps.”
“Is the former king that strong? Strong enough to startle even you?”
“Not physically. More precisely… he carries an aura, a way of thinking, and a sharpness of mind that no ordinary person could ever hope to imitate.”
I agreed with Rie completely. From where I stood, Former King Ruhart was no ordinary man. If he had been ordinary, he never would have risen in that situation, slaughtered his brother and the nobles in a gambit that bordered on madness, and seized the throne. A fierce love for Lebechia. The judgment to think coldly. The resolve to act on it — and the ruthlessness to spill blood when necessary. Frankly, I was grateful he was not the reigning king. Under a superior like that, I doubted I would last a single day.
“I was afraid too. But it turned out well in the end, didn’t it? It isn’t just anyone — His Majesty the Former King himself said he would give us his blessing. I doubt anyone else will ever enjoy an honor that enormous.”
At my words, Rie’s face flushed scarlet as if it might burst. Talk of marriage had clearly left her both embarrassed and quietly delighted. Feeling a spark of mischief, I teased her for turning as red as a ripe apple — and she scrambled to defend herself, insisting, “That’s not it! It’s not!”
If I pushed any further, she would start shouting that it really wasn’t. So I chose the fastest, most effective method: I simply took her hand and held it tight. Rie blinked, then flushed all over again and fell quietly silent.
“…L-Lucian. Come to think of it, the reason we came to the academic festival was…”
“Ah. Because of Professor Milaze’s paper presentation. We’ve been on friendly terms for a while, and she was the one who introduced me to Senior Charlotte. So I did her a favor.”
“A favor?”
“Yeah. Rie — I’ve told you this before, haven’t I? About how to live in this world.”
You cannot get by on your own brilliance alone. Live that way and enemies only multiply around you, and when the decisive moment comes, no one will help. If you do not want to end as a tragic genius who meets a miserable fate, start by making people who are on your side. I had told Rie something like that once, and she recalled it without difficulty.
“I remember. But why bring that up?”
“This is just between us — after Professor Milaze presents her paper in a little while, the person who appears next is an acquaintance of mine.”
“What kind of acquaintance…?”
“You’ll know when you see.”
As I said it, I looked toward the platform and realized Professor Milaze’s turn was nearly upon us. I glanced around, but there was no sign of the old man — or even of Brother Edwin. Is he waiting in some tunnel he dug somewhere again? I was thinking, when—
“There you are. I’ve been looking everywhere.”
“Ah — you made it.”
A familiar voice. A solid build, a compact frame, and a clean, upright presence rising from it. Not quite on Old Man Cloud’s level, but still more than outstanding — my “brother I know.”
“And the young lady beside you?”
“Ah, allow me to introduce you. This is Rie Arche von Haniel of the Haniel Marquisate. Rie? This is…”
Before introducing my brother to Rie, I checked our surroundings once more. We had drifted out toward the edge, and no one was close enough to overhear. Satisfied, I continued the introduction.
“This is Brother Edwin Lang von Dragonschulz.”
“Ah, yes. Edwin… Dragon… schulz? Wh-wha? Whaaat??”
Yes — that was exactly the reaction you were supposed to have. When the name was Dragonschulz of all things, what person in Lebechia could simply stand there unfazed?
“L-Lucian? W-wait a moment. Did I mishear you? Dragonschulz? Th-that surname is definitely…”
“A pleasure to meet you, Lady Rie Arche von Haniel. I am Edwin Lang von Dragonschulz. And yes — I am of the Dragonschulz you are thinking of, so there is no need to be quite so startled.”
At Edwin’s second introduction, Rie let out a strangled little sound and looked at me. She seemed to be asking whether this was the acquaintance I had mentioned a moment ago. Unfortunately, he was less an “acquaintance” than a brother I knew. And the acquaintance I actually wanted to show off had not even appeared yet.
“For the record, Brother Edwin is not the only Dragonschulz who came to the academic festival.”
“…Oh, good heavens. That’s impossible.”
Rie stared at me in a daze, looking so ridiculous and so adorable at the same time that I could hardly stand it. Chuckling under my breath, I waited for Professor Milaze’s turn, which was nearly upon us.
The moment the professor finished her brief presentation and applause burst through the hall, what I had been waiting for began — the true start of the second half of the academy academic festival.