The Academy Entrance Ceremony
About half a day's journey from the estate of House Gremory, I was making my way toward the Academy with the rhythmic clatter of hooves as my soundtrack.
I wonder if Raphaela got the plan across properly.
I leaned into the plush backrest of the carriage and let the memory of our meeting surface. She had shown me the same excessive affection the original story had described — a little overwhelming, if I was honest — but her ability and her loyalty were the genuine article. I trusted she had handled things well.
"Your Grace, we will arrive at the Academy shortly."
"Understood."
At the voice from the driver's seat I turned my gaze to the window, and bluish castle walls slid into view. The cradle of talent where every noble in the Achaemenes Empire gathered. The Imperial Academy. The novel's principal stage — the place where the protagonist's party grew, suffered, and overcame — was unfolding before my eyes.
Wow... I never thought I'd actually live to see this.
Walls of a peculiar stone that caught the light in shades of blue, and beyond them a forest of towers. Washed in the bright morning sun, the whole place had the atmosphere of a visit to Disneyland. How long had I been waiting for this moment, ever since I fell into this world? The heroines I adored were here, right now. The realization made my chest swell so fiercely that I felt, for a fleeting instant, a sliver of gratitude toward whatever being had transmigrated me here.
Let's see. The entrance ceremony should start around noon... I ought to hurry a little.
I met the crimson eyes reflected in the window glass, and a faint smile touched my lips.
The Achaemenes Imperial Academy. Combining lecture halls, training grounds, and district after district of supporting facilities, the place was large enough to be called a city in its own right. With thousands of students enrolled, a surrounding infrastructure of matching scale had been a necessity — and to keep those students satisfied, there was quite literally everything, from luxury clothiers to high-end dessert shops.
"There are truly a great many people. All the more so, I imagine, because today is the entrance ceremony."
Mathias, riding as my escort knight, muttered the observation as we headed straight for the Academy dormitories to find Justia. I agreed without a word. The clamor was something you could feel on your skin. Most of the student body were nobles; they would not have come alone. A considerable crowd would be flooding this academy-city today, so the congestion was only to be expected.
I should have brought Lucy along too.
The image of her rose unbidden — that doll-like, expressionless face, my head in her lap. I had sent her to the Divelion Mansion in the capital to manage affairs in my absence, and a thick pang of regret caught in my throat as I thought of her. By then the carriage had reached the main gate of the Academy's school district, slowed, and rolled to a gentle stop.
"Pardon me. Might I confirm the identity of the person inside?"
"It is His Grace the Grand Duke."
"You may pass!"
The guard pulled back the curtain, took one look at my face, and snapped into a salute so fast he nearly left the ground. Ah. So this was the power of authority. Entertaining that idle thought, we proceeded a little further past the gate. When I stepped down from the carriage, every gaze in the vicinity gathered on me.
"Look, look over there! That's House Divelion's carriage!"
"No way. That's actually him? What business does His Grace have at the Academy?"
"I heard he's someone you almost never get a chance to see."
"Never mind that — he's incredibly handsome..."
Students murmuring among themselves, each to their own. I ordered Mathias to wait with the carriage, and just as I was about to take a step, a boy who looked as though he were advertising I am a villain pushed through the crowd of staring faces and approached me.
"Eldest son of Count Hateless. Jerome Hateless. It is an honor to stand before Your Grace, whom I so deeply respect."
The boy who had named himself Jerome bowed at the waist with meticulous courtesy. Hold on. House Hateless... I was fairly sure I had heard of them.
This bastard... he's the villain from the original who was so jealous of the protagonist's talent he spent his time getting in the way.
And if my memory served, House Hateless belonged to my own faction of followers. I opened the Character List window to confirm.
That's him... and he's only two stars, at that.
Two stars, and he was the eldest son of a count. I was about to give him a perfunctory wave and move on when a murmur from another direction swelled steadily louder.
What now?
I turned my head toward the commotion — and a blonde beauty of almost shocking loveliness was making her way toward the entrance ceremony grounds, a knight escort at her side. Golden hair falling to her waist. Golden eyes like the sun itself. A beauty mark beneath her left eye that lent her a peculiar, lingering allure. And, clashing with that air of purity, a bust of rather spectacular proportions.
One of the original novel's heroines. The woman called the Treasure of the Empire. Imperial Princess Justia Delalucia of Achaemenes. The heroine I had wanted so badly to see.
Justia...
My heart hammered beyond any hope of control. I swallowed the gasp that threatened to slip from my lips. Seeing her in the flesh, she was even more stunning than anything I had imagined from the page. The students seemed to share the sentiment; they were chattering as if a celebrity had just walked by.
"So that's Lady Justia... I've never seen her in person."
"I heard she enrolled in the Magic Faculty. Does that mean we might take lectures together?"
"I doubt it. Someone like Lady Justia will be in the top class, obviously."
"Yeah, that tracks. That beautiful, and gifted at magic on top of it? I'm so jealous."
The crowd began to drift toward Justia. A considerable number of those who had clustered around me shifted over to her. I was watching this with a quiet sense of satisfaction when Jerome sidled up and muttered, low enough that no one else could hear.
"Tsk. His Grace is standing right here, and they go running off after some princess? They're all so stupid they don't even know who the true master of the Empire is."
"Shut up."
"...Pardon?"
Jerome's face went slack. I looked down at him with a gaze like ice and spoke again.
"I said shut up."
"I-I'm sorry!"
He fumbled, clearly never having expected this reaction from me. I turned my blood-red eyes on him.
"Jerome. Do you wish to offer me your loyalty?"
"Y-yes! I do!"
"Then remember this well. From now on, you will be of help to the Princess and those around her. Understood?"
Charisma
Completely controls the target's actions.
"...Yes. I understand."
Jerome answered as if he had been brainwashed. The gulf in status was so vast that the trait's effect seemed to have taken hold perfectly. Leaving the dazed fool standing there, I headed toward Justia. Several young nobles had already gathered around her.
"Eldest son of Baron Franz — Dilian Franz presents his greetings to Your Highness. It is a tremendous honor to meet you."
"I've heard of House Franz of the East. The lemon orchards there are quite famous, aren't they? It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Oh... I'm so grateful that you know of us, Your Highness."
The young master of House Franz did not know what to do with himself before Justia's gentle smile. Whether he had been eating a crate of lemons a day, his plump cheeks wobbled every time he opened his mouth.
And yet not a single scion of a high-ranking house is anywhere to be seen.
There were other young lords and ladies around, but every last one of them introduced themselves as the children of barons or viscounts. Justia seemed aware of it as well; a faint unease mixed into her bright smile.
Unfortunate, but perhaps inevitable. A great many noble houses already belong to the First and Second Princes' factions.
In the original's opening, too, Justia had entered the Academy without a faction of her own, pushed aside by the two princes. Praised as the Treasure of the Empire, and not a single person she could trust and rely on. How lonely must she have been, all this time. I swallowed the bitterness lingering on my tongue and walked slowly toward her.
Sensing my presence, she turned her gaze on me.
"You are..."
The golden eyes that found me were tinged with a hint of wariness — no doubt because of the attitude Behirith had shown the imperial family until now. I greeted her as if nothing were amiss.
"It has been some time. Congratulations on your admission to the Academy, Your Highness."
The same cold, arrogant tone as always. I met Justia's face as she looked up at me, her true feelings sealed tightly away.
Ugh. This is hard on the heart...
Even from a distance she had looked too beautiful to be human. Up close, she was insanely pretty. Long lashes, a face no bigger than a fist, and a distinctive air about her — a different kind of beauty from Lucy, I supposed. I was staring unabashedly at her face when the escort knight standing beside her cut in.
"Pardon me, Your Grace. Do you have some business with Her Highness?"
"And you are?"
"Ah, my introductions are late. Senior Knight of the Imperial Second Knights. My name is Lucius."
A long-haired knight rattling off his introduction with an unpleasant face. I scowled the moment I heard the name.
This bastard. He's the Second Prince's dog.
Knight Lucius. Second son of a count, who had spent years feeding information about Justia to the Second Prince, then betrayed her and ran at the critical moment. Facing him, irritation surged up in me. He would eventually get his comeuppance from the protagonist — but that did not happen until around the middle of the story. That would be far too late.
I swept my hair back and spoke to Justia.
"Your Highness, it seems your escort knight is in need of some education."
"Pardon...?"
Justia was visibly flustered. I stepped in close and whispered low against her ear.
"You have some inkling, I imagine, that this man was sent by the Second Prince."
"...! How does Your Grace know that?"
"Don't worry. I will take your side. But first, it seems we need to dispose of that."
I took my eyes off Justia's wide, round ones and looked at Lucius. A face puffed up with the Second Prince at his back. I could not allow a piece of trash like that to stand beside her. I closed in and stood directly in front of him. He spoke with a startled expression.
"Your Grace? Did you have something to say?"
"Sir Lucius. Interrupting a conversation between a Grand Duke and a Princess rather suggests a lack of education."
"I-I am, in fact, Her Highness's escort knight."
"Is that so. It seems what you need is an education at eye level."
The words rang slowly through the air. I poured my aura into him with a will stronger than I had ever used.
Charisma
An absolute aura oppresses the opponent.
Killing intent crushed the air with its weight. I stared coldly at Lucius, who was pouring sweat, and spoke.
At that moment, a pungent, acrid smell drifted in on the wind. A bad feeling struck me, and I hurriedly looked down.
Ah... fuck.
The Academy entrance ceremony, where every noble scion in the Empire had gathered. And there, Princess Justia's escort knight Lucius, unable to endure the killing intent pouring down on him, was pissing himself.