Academy Entrance Ceremony (1)
Academy Entrance Ceremony (1)
After arriving in the Imperial Capital via teleport magic circle, a short carriage ride brought us straight to the Academy.
"Whoaaa...."
My mouth fell open the instant I saw that imposing building.
Seriously, this place was built over five hundred years ago? The walls are pure white without a single stain.
I hopped around, running my hands over those pristine walls as if they symbolized my free life ahead.
"Mom, Mom! Look at this. The wall is so white!"
"...They must have repainted it not long ago. More importantly, come here. Good heavens. Are you so pleased you need to rub your cheek against the wall?"
Mom pulled me away as I clung to it.
She glanced down at my clothes and let out a small sigh.
"Look. Your clothes have wrinkled."
"Huh? Really? ...Mark of a manly man! Shake it off and keep moving!"
As I brushed off the creases from the little commotion I'd caused, three sighs came from above.
Mom, Charl, and Albert—minus Mar, who'd already left for the Academy earlier.
"Honestly. Our Yune. What are we going to do once you're at the Academy? I'm getting really worried all over again."
"I said it's fine. Don't you trust me?"
"Yunes. Are you truly fine parting with this sister? You relied on me so much you even entrusted me with your measurements. Won't you be lonely?"
"What do you take me for? Mark of a manly man! Perfectly fine on my own!"
Albert, worrying about me. And Charl, glancing at Mom as if asking whether this was truly all right.
I kept thumping my chest, selling my manly-man credentials to reassure Charl, but the concern in her eyes only seemed to deepen.
Mom, however, simply smiled, the corners of her lips lifting faintly.
"Charlotte. You're far too anxious over not seeing Yune for a while. You're the one who looks like a child right now, not him. Set an example as the eldest sister."
"...And you're at ease, Head of House? I mean, you'll be apart from Yunes for four whole years."
"How many times do you suppose I've sent a child off to the Academy by now? Three times. Three times. Changing from three to four means nothing to me."
Mom chided Charlotte with a relaxed smile.
Both sisters' faces filled with something close to horror.
"Th-the Head of House... is smiling at Yune leaving...?"
"Mother, are you unwell?! Shall I escort you to the Temple at once?"
"...What do you two take me for."
The pair immediately began worrying over Mom.
She looked vaguely put out by the reaction, but then rested a hand on my head and smiled.
...A smile that carried a hint of smugness.
"It isn't as though we're parting forever. You're all making far too much fuss. As for concerns about Yune, I've taken my own measures, so do not worry."
'Could she be this relaxed because she knows she can video-call me at night? ...Nah, no way. That's more Charl's kind of thing, not Mom's.'
I took her smile as a sign that Mom had finally stopped overprotecting me and started trusting me, so I beamed back.
She'd given me all those artifacts yesterday, and we'd fallen asleep wrapped tight together. I could feel that it had all paid off.
'...Time to get ready, then. For a very brief farewell.'
I bowed politely to my family.
"I'll be off, then! Don't cry while I'm gone!"
"...Hm? Yune?"
"Why are you making that face too, Albert? It's fine. Mar is already at the Academy. And Chloe will be right beside me, too."
"...?"
"So... yeah. I'll live happily. You all have to stay happy until I come back, too!"
'Though it'll be a bit longer than four years.'
I planned to become an adventurer the moment I graduated and set out into the world. So this farewell would probably stretch a little longer than my family expected.
The thought of actually parting brought tears close to the surface, but I barely held them back and put on a bright smile.
"Goodbye, then! See you later!"
With that beautiful goodbye delivered, I turned around and tried to take my first step toward the Academy.
Yes. I'm no longer an eight-year-old boy shut up in the north. I'm a sixteen-year-old manly man who's going to become a grand mage.
From now on, I'd leave my family's embrace and use the Academy as a springboard to fly free...
"Where are you going, Yune?"
"Huh?"
"We will be together until the ceremony. You were speaking as though we're parting right this instant."
"Huh? Outsiders aren't allowed inside the Academy, right?"
"...On the day of the entrance ceremony, an exception is made."
"Pfft. Pff-haha... Yune, I did wonder why you suddenly started acting like that. There's a limit to how cute you can be."
...So my soaring freedom would have to wait just a little longer.
Wait, the Academy bans outsiders, so why make an exception for the entrance ceremony?
'Ugh, how embarrassing!'
"Aww, look at our Yune. You'll live happily? How wonderful~."
"D-don't tease me...."
* * * * * *
While Yune was thus adding a new dark history at the Academy's main gate.
Inside the Imperial Academy, in the hall where the welcoming party for noble-track entrants—the party called the entrance ceremony—was to be held, a young woman soon to enroll sat thoroughly intimidated, watching everyone around her.
'I mustn't get on anyone's bad side. If I keep quiet and say nothing, I'll at least stay in the middle. Just stay silent.'
The reason she was so on edge was that she was a noble from a rural baronial house, the kind that could be utterly ruined if she offended a great noble.
As a member of a baronial family—the lowest of the five noble ranks—this was a place where she had to be careful even drawing breath. This was the Academy.
She scanned the room and swore to herself. She would never get herself marked by the other nobles. She would flatter however necessary, never cross the high nobility, and survive academy life in one piece.
Her gaze swept the hall and landed on someone who had just taken a seat.
'...Lady Kirschblüte von Charlottenburg.'
The person she looked at was Kir.
By the unwritten rule that those of lowest status enter first, she herself had arrived earliest. The ducal heir, by contrast, had appeared only after nearly every seat was filled.
Kir's demeanor—staring fixedly at something as though the people around her didn't exist—radiated the confidence and ease of a great noble.
The young woman stole repeated glances at that profile and swallowed dryly.
'Even the heir of Charlottenburg ranks only third among my peers... O Chief Goddess, why do you give me such trials?'
The knowledge that even Kir ranked only third among her academy cohort almost made her sigh, but she suppressed it.
And then... the two who had yet to appear. The pair who outranked even a ducal heir. Her vision went dim just thinking about them.
'Crown Princess. And... Lord Yunes von Nordkirchen.'
Setting aside the undisputed first in rank—the Crown Princess, who would one day be the sun of the Empire—she set her mind to reviewing what she knew of Yune, who would soon arrive.
'Lord Yunes. The flower atop the cliff. Currently the most noble man in the Empire. The treasure of Nordkirchen... That's all I know.'
Realizing she basically knew nothing left her expression clouded.
Ever since his first debutante ball, Yune had been the hottest topic in high society for a full year.
Naturally, people wanted him to attend social gatherings and grace them with his presence, but Yune hadn't joined a single social function outside the Founding Festival.
Even at the Founding Festival itself, he only danced with his fiancée Kir or his own family. To the general nobility, Yune had become a figure truly like a flower atop a cliff.
The known facts about him were limited to trifles: he was very close with his family. He and his fiancée were sweet on each other. He was very fond of cookies. That was all.
For a young woman who had memorized every detail about the great noble houses, determined to avoid offending anyone no matter what, this was maddening.
Sixteen-year-old young lords were at their most volatile. And Yune was the youngest son of the Northern Grand Duchess, who could crush her entire house with a single flick of her finger. She would have to spend her academy years alongside him as a peer, yet she didn't even know what he liked or disliked.
For someone resolved never to cross the great nobility, a person whose personal information remained unknown was terrifying to approach.
'...Well, a young lord that exalted won't approach a woman like me first. I just have to stay out of sight.'
Once she convinced herself he would never approach her,
she resolved that until she learned more about him, she wouldn't go near him—no, she'd avoid being seen at all—and moistened her dry lips with water.
-Rumble.
'...Did I drink too much water?'
Perhaps because she'd kept drinking water while analyzing her surroundings, a sudden urge struck her.
With no idea when Yune or the Crown Princess might enter, she couldn't even dare to visit the restroom and simply had to endure it.
Yet for whatever reason, five minutes passed, then ten, and still Yune showed no sign of appearing.
The same thought that occupied everyone in the hall—including Kir—rose in her mind.
'...Why isn't he coming?'