8. Everyone's Circumstances
8. Everyone's Circumstances
A lecture by Sir Julius, the Royal Knight Commander and the man hailed as the strongest of all 7th Ranks. Any knight at 6th Rank or below—not just academy students—would kill for a spot.
The man was already insanely busy, yet here he was offering to come to the academy and provide instruction and training free of charge.
Objectively, given Sir Julius's standing and influence, it was more than adequate as compensation. Unfortunately for Grandis Academy, it wasn't.
Cash—money was best.
"The compensation, then, will be in gold."
"As you'll see in the estimate, this goes beyond simply filling in holes and replanting trees. It includes all associated labor costs, the cost of growth-acceleration magic for the saplings, rental fees for the mana-powered vessel required to reach the island, and penalties for Kaern Deste's attempt to deceive the Chairwoman by citing academy regulations even after committing the offense."
"Hm..."
"If necessary, I am open to negotiating the estimate."
To be honest, even I thought I'd padded the figure a bit on the high side. Every line item was genuinely necessary, but I'd quoted each one thirty to forty percent above what it probably should have been.
Does that make me a scumbag? Honestly, yeah. A Royal Knight Commander is hardly going to be an expert on market prices, but he'd know this was excessive. I went ahead anyway because the Chairwoman had specifically described Sir Julius as a "sucker." So I figured I'd poke him and see what happened.
If Sir Julius had turned out to be the stern and rigid type, I'd have handed over the normal estimate I'd also prepared. But judging from his conversation with the Chairwoman, he seemed pretty easygoing, so I'd gone with the beefed-up version.
And above all, Kaern really had screwed up, so they couldn't exactly come at me hard over it.
I quietly crumpled up the other estimate I'd prepared and set a pen in front of Sir Julius.
"What do you think?"
"..."
Sir Julius appeared to hesitate for a moment as he studied the figure.
Then he held up two fingers.
'What's that mean? He wants to pay half? Or is he offering twenty percent?'
If the former, bastard. The latter? Real bastard.
Maybe he only played the sucker in front of the Chairwoman after all. He was the Royal Knight Commander—he had to be a hardass about things like this—
"I will pay double this amount."
"I am profoundly grateful for Sir Julius's consideration!"
"My idiot disciple gave offense to Nunim. That sum is only natural. If anything, I am the one who should thank the Finance Director for his consideration."
"Consideration... in what sense?"
"Did you not deliberately request such a low amount out of consideration for me? Even the unpaid lectures I offered earlier—had you actually accepted them, my schedule would have become quite difficult. Now I see why Nunim entrusts you with the academy's affairs."
Ah. So in other words.
He was looking at this number and calling it "low."
Beneath Sir Julius's deeply impressed gaze, I quietly turned and looked at the Chairwoman.
She gave me a little nod, as if to say, 'Told you so,' and I turned back to Sir Julius with a smile spreading across my face.
Sucker. Money-well. Cash-gusher.
Now I recalled the nickname I'd seen for him in passing on the strategy community back in the day.
As of today, I would formally retract ever calling Julius a sucker.
Starting now, I would go one further: Julius's money and the academy's finances would become one and the same.
An attack on Julius would be treated as an attack on the academy...!
"That's Sir Julius for you. I'd heard much from the Chairwoman, but I never imagined you'd see straight through my intent and name such a thoroughly 'appropriate' figure."
"Haha, you flatter me, Finance Director."
"Not at all. I'm a mere 1st Rank, yet I believe I now understand precisely why Sir Julius is called the 7th Rank closest to the 8th."
"You praise me so highly I hardly know what to do with myself. Perhaps I should take this opportunity to further demonstrate my regard for Nunim?"
"Your regard! Sir Julius, as you well know, the Chairwoman is the wealthiest person in the entire Kingdom. Such an amount is already more than sufficient."
"Your saying so only spurs me on further. Where else but Nunim's own Grandis Academy? I'd been at a loss precisely because Nunim kept refusing my donations."
The Chairwoman had always refused donations on principle. Even if Julius himself meant it purely, outsiders would inevitably see it differently.
If a Grandis Academy graduate later joined the Royal Knights, the rumor mill would churn out stories about donations buying introductions. Which, to be fair, was standard practice at practically every other private academy.
But people fixate on the one stain on an otherwise clean record, don't they? Grandis Academy had always operated solely on the Chairwoman's personal fortune, with no subsidies or donations whatsoever. The moment that changed, people would point fingers and say it was no different from the rest, and the number of schemers trying to use donations or subsidies to gain leverage would skyrocket.
Of course, with a clear pretext like "compensation," it wasn't a donation, so none of that baggage applied.
"I said double earlier. I'll make it triple."
"Triple! You truly are the Kingdom's wealthiest man! But will even Sir Julius not find such an outlay burdensome?"
"Haha! I've simply been fortunate with several investments. Just a month ago, a futures trade worked out spectacularly, and I've quite a bit of surplus on hand."
...Futures trading?
My smile stiffened slightly. Beside me, the Chairwoman's face went pale, as if some old trauma had just been re-triggered.
Sir Julius, sharp as a 7th Rank should be, caught the shift in us immediately and made a face like he'd just stepped on a landmine.
"Ah... this futures trade a month ago, might I ask what it..."
"...Rock salt mine."
Oh, brother.
You took a bath on that one too, huh?
"Ah, now that you mention it, I did hear that a few investors took major losses because the entire mine collapsed in some accident and they never received their contracted amounts..."
"......"
"Nunim, surely not...?"
"Say no more..."
"...I will make it five times."
"Thank you, Sir Julius."
Chin up, Chairwoman. Sure, you lost way more than this, but the compensation did just get bigger.
Money already gone—if you can leverage it to bring some back in, that's a net win.
Anyway, Julius managed to turn a profit on that sorry venture.
'More than a head for business, it's like he's got some kind of money-luck.'
Of course, when you're the richest man in the Kingdom, "luck" hardly covers it. Still, money easily earned did seem to go out just as easily.
So that's why the Chairwoman called him a sucker. No matter how much I buttered him up or how we bonded over our shared rock-salt-mine disaster, the compensation still jumped to five times the original quote in the blink of an eye.
At this point, maybe I should be thanking Kaern for causing trouble in the first place.
Either way, we'd wrung a massive compensation out of him at the cost of the Chairwoman's mental state.
"I express my deepest thanks for Sir Julius's consideration. I'll take my leave now so you and the Chairwoman may catch up."
"...Understood, Finance Director."
"I'll be waiting outside."
A soft click.
I stepped through the door, leaving the Chairwoman, whose mental state had been completely wrecked by the rock salt mine, to recover.
Should I have stayed and comforted her? Honestly, when I remembered the two years' worth of budget she'd vaporized, any comfort I tried to offer would have inevitably turned into nagging.
She'd be far better off just reminiscing about old times with Sir Julius.
'I'll worry about where to spend that five-times compensation instead.'
Was this the true meaning of the creative economy?
Kaern Deste, you are now a guardian of the academy's finances.
Could you maybe go smash another building or two in a fit of temper?
*
The room after the Finance Director had left.
The moment the door clicked shut behind him, the Chairwoman raised one hand and snapped her fingers.
Rigid Energy surged outward from her fingertips, blanketing the entire room.
"Head. Floor."
"Head to the floor!!"
A heavy thud.
Inside the perfectly soundproofed room, Sir Julius slammed his forehead into the floor without a flicker of hesitation. The Chairwoman crossed her legs.
The version of her on display was quite different from the one Adam had just seen.
"Julius, do you want to keep bringing out my old personality?"
"I'm sorry!"
"What did you do wrong?"
"I don't know! I'm sorry!"
"Didn't I send you a telepathic message right before we entered? Treat my Finance Director with the utmost respect. And act with some tact."
"You certainly did!"
"So why did you go and bow right there? Do you know how flustered I was?"
"I'm sorry!"
All formality gone, the Chairwoman's expression was savage, arrogant, undiluted past.
She glared down at Julius, still feverishly slamming his head into the floor, cold sweat beading on his brow.
"The wordplay was fine. The Finance Director seemed to take it well enough. But bowing? What's he going to think of me when he sees that? What if he thinks, ah, so she's the kind of bitch who grinds her own junior disciple like that?"
"I'm sorry!!"
"Hah... Let's just do better, alright? You understand?"
"Yes!!!"
"...Good. Now get up."
"Yes! Thank you for your forgiveness!"
The Chairwoman's tone snapped back to normal. Julius scrambled to his feet and bowed a full ninety degrees at the waist.
He did it like it was the most natural thing in the world, movements practiced and easy.
The Chairwoman's brow furrowed for a moment, but she accepted the bow with equal ease and gestured for him to sit.
"That aside, Nunim. Is that Finance Director, then, your... that?"
"That?"
"Come now. The Nunim I knew back in the day had no interest whatsoever in men. To go this far..."
"......"
"Are you actually embarrassed right now? If my master could see you, she'd have drawn her sword and declared you an impostor on the spot."
"Do you want your head on the floor again?"
"...You really have changed, Nunim."
A small smile crossed Julius's lips. He knew what the Chairwoman had been like in the past, so it struck him all the more deeply.
In the days when they called her the Mad Dragon, the Human Butcher... to Julius, she had been the very symbol of terror, the ultimate unyielding superior.
When he recalled the woman who used to laugh while tearing monsters and bandits apart with her bare hands, the goosebumps still came.
Yet after becoming the Chairwoman of the academy, she'd swapped her casual speech for formal address and almost entirely stopped using violence. Only when she met with Julius did she tend to slip back into her old personality, like shedding stifling formalwear.
Which was exactly why he'd slammed his head down without delay. If that old personality was awake, failing to bow to a superior would've earned him a fist to the face.
But now she was making an effort to maintain the "Chairwoman's" demeanor even with Julius.
'And that same Nunim is this flustered in front of that young fellow.'
More than just the obvious realization—that this human battering ram was, in fact, a woman—
Julius found himself gripped by a deeply personal curiosity.
"So how far have you progressed?"
"...Julius."
"Oh please, I'm a married man myself. Got a grandchild just a few months ago. Compared to Nunim, who's gone her whole life without once dating a man, I think at the moment I've got the clear advantage."
"...We've kissed."
"Oh! Already to that stage?!"
To be honest, the age gap was so ridiculous it was hard to root for it with a pure heart.
But if the sacrifice of a single Finance Director was all it took to turn the tyrant of a Chairwoman into this paragon of demure behavior, then it was a bargain well worth making.
"You'll be pouncing on him in no time at this rate, then. Shall I start preparing a congratulatory gift?"
"Ah... the kiss, well..."
"...?"
"The Finance Director was asleep... and I, secretly... not on the lips—forehead, cheek, the nape of his neck..."
"Ma'am."
At your age, isn't that taking stealthy, undignified to a bit of an extreme?
...But to say that aloud meant a beating for certain, so Julius wisely changed course.
"Still, from what I saw of the Finance Director just now, he clearly holds you in considerable favor. Yes, without a doubt."
"Truly?!"
"O-of course."
Whether it was romantic favor he wasn't sure, but favor was definitely present. He hadn't lied.
The Chairwoman's whole face lit up at the mere suggestion that someone seemed to hold her in favor, and Julius had to physically suppress the queasy lurch that rose in his throat.
'I'll have to slip that young friend some consolation money every time I see him from now on.'
After a brief moment of prayer for the Finance Director's soul, Julius turned his gaze back to the Chairwoman, who was now smiling goofily to herself.
"More importantly, Nunim. I did have a message to convey."
"A message?"
"A word from my master."
"From my little brother?"
Everything up to now had been personal trivia, but this was a genuinely serious matter.
Julius straightened his posture and spoke soberly.
"Of late, the Delphia Kingdom's movements have apparently been unusual."
"...Hm."
"And does the academy not currently house the Fourth Princess of the Delphia Kingdom? It seems my master is concerned on that point."
"As it happens, that bastard Aken also asked a favor. To keep the Fourth Princess here at the academy."
"My master's territory borders the Delphia Kingdom, so if anything occurs, she will contact you at once. For now, Nunim, simply be aware."
"Send my thanks to my little brother."
Ah, and.
One small question remained.
"By the way, Nunim. Why accept money instead of my lectures? Surely all that wealth of yours hasn't—you know—run dry?"
"...As if. Like I said before, someone coming here to teach would be wonderful in an ideal world, but in practical terms it's impossible. Money's the cleanest solution."
"Haha, it was only a joke—why so serious? Unless you've been practically throwing money away on academy operations, there's no way that mountain of gold and treasures could ever run out. Haha!"
"R-right."
With that final bit of levity, both the Chairwoman and Julius rose from their seats. The message was delivered and received; there was no more to say.
The Finance Director had told them to catch up, but the Chairwoman hated reminiscing about the old days. Because doing so would force her to talk about someone else.
A comrade who had once traveled with the Chairwoman, the Margrave, and Julius.
The woman who had helped the Chairwoman more than anyone in founding the academy. The mage whose keepsake, to this day, the Chairwoman still kept close.
Neither Julius nor the Chairwoman
wished to speak of her again.
*
Stepping out of the room, I found the First Guard Unit commander standing watch over what was probably the safest room on the continent.
The moment she spotted me, her voice echoed inside her helmet, excited and a little hollow.
"Adam! Your business is finished?!"
"The Chairwoman is still inside. I don't know how much longer it will take... though."
Did she seriously intend to walk into that room wearing this hulking suit of armor?
She wouldn't even be able to sit in a chair. How did she handle everyday life in that thing, anyway?
"...Commander. Forgive me for asking, but you're not actually planning to meet Sir Julius in that state, are you?"
"I too once dreamed of joining the Royal Knights. As a knight, what possible objection could there be to meeting such a man in full armor?"
"Let's speak plainly. You were dismissed from the order, were you not? That makes you an ex-knight. At the very least, remove your helmet."
"W-well, that's..."
Well, I knew better than anyone why she couldn't take off the helmet. The one time I saw under it as a student had been a genuine, unavoidable accident.
She'd had it out for me ever since. A grudge she'd nursed all the way into my tenure as Finance Director—truly a dedicated breed of spite.
But more importantly, there was something else I needed to ask.
"Commander, has there been anything unusual during patrols or duty recently?"
"Unusual? A few things, but I filed the reports—you should already know about them. Why do you ask?"
"I've had an ill foreboding for a while now."
I'd tried my best to ignore it, but it kept nagging at me.
This feeling that I'd forgotten something important. The persistent unease.
I'd intended to check as soon as the Chairwoman and I returned to the academy, but I figured I might as well ask now.
Five years since I'd been transported into <Dark Kingdom>. My hair, once black, had completely bleached out. Between studying like a maniac during my academy days and getting crushed under the workload as Finance Director, I'd forgotten a fair chunk of my game knowledge.
Was this anxiety because some important event had slipped my mind...?
The commander tilted her helmet.
"Ill foreboding? That's not a security issue. That's probably just because of that thing coming up."
"...That thing? What thing?"
"Right, you said you were holed up in your office the entire time we did it last year, didn't you? But you're the Finance Director—how could you forget?"
"What?"
Wait, what was on the recent academic calendar?
I'd spent a whole week on that uninhabited island forgetting about work, and my sleep had been so restful I still hadn't fully recovered. Even after we got back, I'd done nothing but process the backlog of paperwork.
Something important enough to make the Guard commander bring it up, and scheduled for exactly this post-midterm period...
Ah.
"The academy festival's in a month. That ill foreboding—couldn't it just be about that? Worried something might happen at the fest...?"
"...No."
"Huh?"
"The goddamn festival itself is the ill foreboding."
Fuck. That's right. The festival.
Every year, right after first-semester midterms ended, it began: a week-long blowout of canceled classes, drinking, and carousing for the student body.
And for the finances, a direct-hit killshot, a bottomless pit of pure loss with zero redeeming gain. Utterly unnecessary nonsense.
"Good timing—I'm about to submit the Guard Corps's festival patrol plan. Just handle that prop—"
"No, there's no need."
"Eh?"
"A festival? It's nothing but harm and zero benefit to this academy."
A festival? As long as I was Finance Director, that sort of thing was not required.
Last year I'd been too busy just adapting to the demands of the job to pay it any attention, but this year would be different.
"We'll simply abolish the festival itself."
"...The hell?"