Chapter 145
Chapter 145
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 145
Chapter Title: History and Geography
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Episode 145
"Personally, I recommend the third prince, Glenn. I heard the fourth princess, Perist, doesn't enjoy socializing."
Hector's voice came back to me faintly.
It’s nothing to be proud of, but I’m terrible at remembering names. I feel like I start getting confused once a name has more than five syllables…
I don't really know why.
I guess I was just born that way.
If I had to make an excuse, the name Glenn isn't particularly easy to remember either.
For a prince's name, it's just too plain.
‘Hmm…’
But I felt like I had seen that name somewhere else besides from Hector.
I thought for a moment, and thankfully, this time I remembered quickly.
[5th Place. Glenn Scarlett. 81 points.]
I’d seen his name etched on the rankings for the Tower of Trials.
It was probably for the Room of Agility.
‘Fifth place among all climbers in history… that means he’s pretty skilled.’
Then what was that display on the train just now?
Was he a timid guy for his skill level?
Or was he just putting on an act?
If it was the former, that would be a relief, but if it was the latter…
“…I’m not going to get charged with treason or something, am I?”
“Did you mess up somehow?”
“Not really, but I did speak to him casually.”
“Students at Cartel Academy are fundamentally on equal footing.”
“Phew…”
“Of course, that doesn't mean any lunatic would just go around speaking casually to royalty.”
Damn it.
I slapped my forehead.
Seren gave me a slight smile and said.
“You don’t need to worry too much. Prince Glenn, as you saw for yourself, isn’t the type to flaunt his authority.”
“Hmm…”
“This is perfect. Since it’s come to this, you can take care of the prince.”
“Take care of him?”
“It’s nothing much. I just mean I want you to watch his movements.”
I gave Seren an incredulous look.
“So, you’re asking me to spy on a member of the royal family?”
“You said you’d help.”
Seren shot me a small glare.
“I’m not asking you to spy on him. Just watching him from up close is enough.”
“That’s what most people would call spying.”
“…”
Seren shut her mouth.
“What exactly should I be focusing on?”
“…Nothing in particular. Just treat him like you normally would. It’d be even better if you could become friends. Then if anything strange happens, you can just tell me.”
Anything strange…
It sounded surprisingly difficult.
“The Glenn I saw…”
“*Prince*.”
“…*Prince* Glenn was already a strange guy.”
I looked at Seren and said.
“So if a strange guy does something strange, that’s not strange. Should I report when he does something that *isn't* strange? Or should I report every single strange thing he does?”
“…Figure it out yourself.”
Seren said coolly, then looked at me with a slightly desperate expression.
“I’m asking for a favor. Please? I have to take the same class as Princess Perist. I can’t keep an eye on the prince, too. I'm only one person.”
She calls it spying herself.
In any case, I finally understood why she needed my help.
“Do you happen to know what classes Prince Glenn is taking?”
“Of course, I looked it up beforehand. History and Geography.”
What a remarkable coincidence.
Come to think of it, when we talked on the train, Glenn also seemed to know a fair bit about the History and Geography class.
‘Hmm.’
Seren’s reaction was amusing, so I pretended to be reluctant… but honestly, becoming friends with Glenn wouldn’t be bad for me either.
After all, I needed to build a connection with the royal family to get to the Nameless King's tomb.
Of course, separate from that, I was also curious about what kind of secret Glenn was hiding.
‘Don’t tell me a royal is a cultist…’
If that were the case, the empire would truly be finished.
It would be a much bigger incident than Grand Master Teacher Juan or even, as I had previously imagined, Headmaster Alderson being a cultist.
In this country, the royal family didn't just represent the pinnacle of power.
There was also the symbolism they held and the legitimacy of having inherited the ‘Red Souls’ of the Five Kings.
The third prince might have a low political standing, but that didn't diminish his symbolic importance.
“Alright, I get it for now.”
At my reply, Seren let out a sigh of relief and stepped back.
And as if they had been waiting, the others from our group approached.
“What was that about? What did you guys talk about?”
“We just talked about classes. She said she’d kill me if our electives overlap.”
“…!”
Seren, who had been turned into a murderer in an instant, glared at me, but I pretended not to notice.
“By the way, did the welcome party wrap up well yesterday?”
“Oh, it was amazing. The meat just melted in my mouth. More importantly, the singer in the band was incredibly beautiful—”
I let Karis’s excited chatter go in one ear and out the other as I looked around.
I thought everyone was here, but looking again, a few people were missing.
“I don’t see Hector and Evan.”
“Huh? Wasn’t Hector with you?”
“Me?”
“You guys are roommates.”
It seemed my roommate was Hector.
I shook my head.
“No one came to the room yesterday.”
“Really? He said he was tired and left a little early.”
“Hmm.”
Hearing that made me a little concerned, but he wasn’t the type to get beaten up somewhere, so I wasn't worried.
“What about Evan?”
“He had a swordsmanship class first thing in the morning, so he left a while ago. Oh, and listen to this, yesterday he accidentally drank a few glasses of alcohol thinking it was juice, and he suddenly started acting all cheesy, like a completely different person.”
“Oho…”
That sounded like it would have been fun.
I was a little disappointed I missed it.
‘But was Evan a lightweight?’
Just as I felt a flicker of doubt, Pam came over and said.
“Ruan, if you’ve decided on your subjects, you should hurry up and register. There’s not much time left.”
“Right.”
I nodded and headed into the faculty office.
* * *
“There’s a class today?”
“Yes.”
A stern-looking staff member nodded and added.
“It’s also the last History and Geography class for this month. If you miss it, you won’t be able to attend for three weeks.”
“Hmm… can I register right away?”
“Of course. The class starts at… 9 AM. You only have 30 minutes left, so you’d better hurry.”
“…What?”
“You can go to the Academics Building, Room 108. Good luck.”
“Wait, where is that—”
“…”
The staff member pretended not to hear me and went back to organizing documents with bloodshot eyes.
The atmosphere made it impossible to get another word in, so I left the office.
Karis, who was waiting, said.
“Did you finish registering?”
“I did.”
“Yeah? By the way, what subject did you pick?”
“History and Geography.”
“…That doesn’t suit you at all.”
I gave a slight nod in agreement.
Pam peeked her head in and asked.
“Is that the only one you signed up for?”
“For now, yes.”
“What a waste…! There were so many I wanted to take, I had to drop a few while crying!”
“How many in total?”
“Fifteen!”
Karis came over and whispered to me.
“She’s not all there either.”
“I can hear you! And I’m not the weird one, you guys are! Do you have any idea how much the tuition for Cartel Academy is? For someone from a poor family like me, it’s an impossible dream…”
“Alright, alright.”
Karis said, calming Pam down.
“Well then, Ruan, want to grab a bite to eat? After that, we could tour the academy. The staff member mentioned there’s a tram that goes around the grounds and gives a general tour.”
“Sounds nice, but my class is starting soon, so I have to get going. They said if I miss this one, there are no more classes this month.”
“Ah. That’s a shame.”
“So, do any of you know where the Academics Building is?”
“Umm.”
“Let’s see…?”
The other guys around also seemed clueless.
“Guess I’ll have to ask someone else. Anyway, I’m heading out.”
“Alright. See you later.”
I left the group and stepped out of the main building.
I was looking around for someone approachable to ask when I spotted a surprisingly familiar face.
“Uh, excuse me…!”
It was Glenn.
He was standing there hesitantly, as if waiting for me, and when our eyes met, he gave an awkward smile.
“Ah, haha… I, I thought you might be registering for the History and Geography class… I, if it’s okay, I was thinking I could show you to the classroom…”
…So.
This clumsy guy is a prince.
And under that big baker boy cap, he’s hiding the crimson hair unique to the royal family?
As I stared at him, Glenn scratched the back of his head.
“A-actually, I’m taking the History and Geography class too…”
“Really? Then I’ll take you up on that offer.”
When I replied formally, Glenn flinched slightly and said.
“…Why the sudden formality?”
“You’re a prince, aren’t you? I apologize for not recognizing you.”
“…”
Glenn bit his lip and, for a rare moment, spoke in a rough voice.
“Don’t call me that.”
“…”
“Just… treat me like you were before.”
It wasn’t a difficult request, so I nodded.
“You sure? Alright. We only have 30 minutes until class, so let’s get going.”
“…Huh, uh? O-okay.”
Glenn replied, looking at me with a bewildered expression.
Fortunately, the Academics Building wasn’t far from the main building. About a 15-minute leisurely walk.
Meaning there was no need to even take the tram.
Since it wasn't that urgent, Glenn and I walked slowly.
Glenn began to sneak glances at me again before speaking.
“S-so, Ruan, are you interested in history or geography?”
“Why else would I have picked History and Geography?”
“Really? That’s great…”
Glenn’s face brightened a little as he said.
“A-actually… the atmosphere in the History and Geography classroom is a little strange right now…”
“Strange? How so?”
“It feels like some delinquent students are using it as their personal lounge rather than a classroom…?”
What was this now?
As I stared at him, Glenn continued.
“There are hardly any classes held in Room 108. It’s the perfect place for students to skip…”
“Doesn’t the professor say anything?”
At that, a sad look crossed Glenn’s eyes.
“Professor Alec isn’t very enthusiastic about his classes. I heard he used to be a very passionate person, though…”
“Hmm.”
“…Anyway, there are a lot of scary upperclassmen in the classroom, so be careful. Ah, they probably won’t bother you if you stay next to me. Yeah.”
That was probably true.
No matter how timid he was, a prince was still a prince. No one would be brazen enough to mess with him.
In any case, we soon arrived at the Academics Building and entered Room 108.
“…”
The moment I opened the door, my face scrunched up on its own.
For a second, I thought I had walked into a tavern in the old southern territories.
The room was filled with the unpleasant smell of alcohol. On top of that, it was thick with acrid smoke from how many cigarettes had been lit.
Don’t they ever air this place out?
My vision was hazy, so I couldn’t see the inside clearly, but…
It was a tiered lecture hall, and about a dozen students were sitting at the very top.
Judging by their weathered faces, they must be the ‘scary upperclassmen’ Glenn mentioned.
Those guys just looked our way and snickered without any real reaction.
“Cough…”
Glenn coughed, bothered by the cigarette smoke, but no one made a move to open a window.
‘Have these bastards lost their minds?’
He might be timid, but he was still royalty. I couldn’t comprehend what kind of stunt this was.
What was even more surprising was that Glenn didn’t say anything either and simply crouched down at the front of the classroom.
Everyone was insane.
As far as I could see, those guys were insane, Glenn was insane, and Professor Alec, who was letting this happen, was insane.
And since I wasn’t insane, I did what a sane person would do.
I went to the window and threw it wide open.
“Ah…!”
Glenn stared at me with wide eyes.
The foul smoke in the room finally began to clear out.
Now that’s more like it.
“…”
The moment the large guy sitting at the end glared at me, the urge to sprinkle some ‘manners’ and ‘etiquette’ across this room surged within me, but…
Class was about to start. I couldn’t cause a bloodbath in here.
With superhuman patience, I sat down next to Glenn.
“Ruan…”
“What.”
“Um. It’s nothing. …Want to borrow my notes?”
“Thanks.”
I took a spare notebook and a writing utensil from Glenn. I might need to jot something down.
But…
“…Hmm.”
I looked at the clock.
The time was 9:10 AM.
Class was already ten minutes late, but the professor was nowhere to be seen.
Of course, something could have come up, so I waited a bit longer…
But the minute hand reached 30, and the door remained closed.
“Is he always this late?”
“Oh, he’s a little later than usual today…”
So he was often late to begin with.
I didn’t expect it to be easy… but it felt like we were getting off on the wrong foot.
“Umm…”
But Glenn didn’t look so good. He seemed to be squirming.
“Need the restroom?”
“N-no…”
“Go on.”
“Um. But…”
Glenn’s gaze shifted slightly behind him.
He was probably worried about leaving me alone in the same room with those guys.
‘I’m not a child.’
Or was my appearance unexpectedly frail?
“I said it’s fine. The professor will be here soon anyway, right?”
“…I suppose so.”
After a moment of hesitation, Glenn stood up.
“W-well, I’ll be right back.”
Seeing him scurry off, he must have been holding it in for a while.
I waved as I saw him off…
*Screech—.*
The moment Glenn left, I heard the scraping of chairs and felt several presences approaching me.
“Haven’t seen you around before.”
The bear-like guy who had first caught my eye brought his ugly face right up to mine and asked.
“You look like a first-year… am I right?”
I nodded.
“I guess so.”
I was a transfer student, but we would all be registered as first-years.
“You guess so?”
The bear-like guy burst out laughing.
Then, his smile vanished in an instant as he glared at me.
“Hey, white-hair. What family are you from?”
“…”