The Academy of Turmoil (4)
"Ugh. Honestly, these damn nobles are the worst. Can't we just dump them all into the liberal-arts track for now, then switch them back once the exams are over?"
In the end, the only students who would actually leave campus for the end-of-term practical exam were those majoring in combat disciplines—swordsmanship, magic, archery, and the like. In other words, anyone taking only general-education courses could sit the whole thing out and spare themselves the trouble.
"You think that would fly?"
"No. Sigh."
Galedo scratched hard at his head.
"At least the exam site itself is a relief."
"Where is it?"
"Plant family land."
The Plant family—that was student council president Lailer's house. The territory was small, but it was practically a holy land for knights. The security, needless to say, was excellent. In short, it was knightly soil, so nothing too catastrophic was likely to happen.
"And what are we doing there?"
"There's a dungeon the Plant knights use for training."
"Oh, hell. Don't tell me we're clearing that dungeon."
"That's right. Students form teams and go in."
It sounded fine enough on paper—except it was the Plant family's dungeon. As the heartland of knighthood, it was the place where countless young men of the Plant Territory who dreamed of becoming knights met crushing failure. The fact that even Ashtar borrowed it from time to time said everything that needed saying. Still, once the exam was over, the students' teamwork ought to improve if nothing else.
"Then the nobles can bond with each other a little. Doesn't sound half bad."
"Exactly."
"Plant family escorts will be assigned as well, and we'll be bringing adventurers along. Should be fine."
It was the Plant Territory, after all—people from the Plant family would be present. That meant the danger wouldn't be extreme.
"Right. I've got you, so I'm not that worried. I'm just covering every base."
"Understood."
"And again—coordinate well with Natalia and Olivia."
"Does that Olivia girl even need to be at the academy? From what I hear she's a Saint, a Taesa, and half a dozen other things."
Granted, those titles were largely the product of the Emperor's whims—but that did not erase the fact that she had been granted the rank of Taesa. If anything, Olivia's presence meant Attelina now had to raise its own standards even higher, which was a headache all by itself.
"Well, she enrolled at Attelina. I suppose that means she needs a diploma. Anyway, I'll say it once more—"
"I know. I'll do my best."
Surely nothing could go wrong on Plant family land. Setting his worries aside, Galedo began preparing for the end-of-term exam.
I'd almost forgotten lately, but—right. I really had enrolled in a school for nobles.
"How dare a commoner try to sit at the same table as us?"
"Seriously. Even if there's a commoner division, they ought to know their place."
And so I was treated to this charming spectacle: a clash between nobles and commoners in Attelina's student cafeteria. Classes themselves had been uneventful enough that I hadn't noticed, but this was how the friction surfaced—young noble ladies blocking commoner girls from sitting down.
"But there aren't any other seats."
"Then wait until someone leaves."
"If we do that, we'll be late for class."
"That's your problem. Who told you to enroll at Attelina in the first place?"
The world had a word for this: abuse of power. Scenes like this were rare even in the Kingdom. Over there, the population had been thinned out fighting the Demon King, so people had to stick together; nobles and commoners at educational institutions tended to treat each other as equals. The Empire, by contrast, was drowning in people—and this was the result.
"That's completely unreasonable!"
"We're trying to be nice about this!"
Crack!
A noble young lady finally slapped the commoner boy who kept talking back. Wow. She actually hit him. That crossed a line. What the hell was Aslan doing?
"You insolent little—!"
"That's enough."
I stepped in and stopped it.
"S-Saint?"
At least they recognized the Saint. If this had been during the Lily incident, these girls would have ignored me completely.
"Saint or not—as long as I'm at Attelina, I'm a student. Don't treat me like a Saint."
"Y-yes, Lady Ashtar."
At least they were meek with me.
"Commoners are Attelina students too. Why shouldn't they eat at the same tables?"
"Well… because of the difference in status."
Status again. Then what about me—the one who sat at the absolute peak of rank and station after the imperial family itself?
"Attelina is equal, regardless. It's one thing to throw your weight around with titles outside these walls, but doing it in the cafeteria is just pathetic, don't you think?"
Outside, I wouldn't care. But inside Attelina, equality was the rule. Conduct like this was a problem.
"Even so, we thought this much was necessary—to teach them their place."
"In other words, you wanted to straighten them out before they got too full of themselves?"
"Yes."
Wow. She didn't even try to deny it.
"Then I'll flaunt my position as Saint and Taesa. From now on, whenever I come to the cafeteria, none of you are allowed inside until I give permission."
"That's unreasonable!"
Unreasonable? I was only doing to them exactly what they had done to others. They flushed, apparently embarrassed to have their own brainlessness thrown back at them. Had they expected me to look the other way just because we were all nobles? With anti-imperialists on the rise, nobles like these were precisely the problem.
"What you're doing right now is the same kind of 'unreasonable.' Isn't it? Or should I report you to the headmaster for trampling the principle of equality?"
"N-no, that's—"
They couldn't argue and they couldn't make excuses. All they could do was glance at one another. That was all they amounted to.
"When the nobles who ought to set an example behave like this, of course the anti-imperialists multiply. You don't even try to lead the commoners properly."
"We're sorry."
If words alone could change the world, I'd have unified it already.
"Then either eat quietly, or leave if you really can't stand sitting with them. But if this happens again—you understand?"
"…"
"If you don't like it, go become Taesa yourselves. Crossing the Emperor's teacher isn't going to end well for you."
In the end the young ladies hung their heads and started shoveling food into their mouths as if they were dead mice. Good. At least they knew enough about the Emperor to be afraid.
I decided to check on the commoners. As a Saint and Taesa, I ought to set some kind of example.
"Are you all right?"
"Y-yes, Saint."
The commoners wouldn't lift their heads in front of me. We were supposed to be equal—why were they doing this? If commoners kept acting so submissive, of course the nobles would swagger around even at the academy.
"You don't need to hang your heads like that."
"But you're the Empire's Saint."
"I said it's fine. More importantly—are you all right after that slap?"
He'd taken a hard one earlier. Look at that—an angry red mark across his cheek.
"I-I'm fine."
"We're grateful you helped us, Saint, but… we're worried they'll retaliate because of this."
They didn't need to worry about that.
"I'm the daughter of House Ashtar. What's the problem?"
"Well, yes, but—"
"If you want revenge on people like them, study hard enough to climb all the way into the Imperial Diet."
A thirst for revenge made for excellent motivation. I hoped today's events would fire them up—assuming, of course, they didn't turn into anti-imperialists themselves.
"Could we really do that?"
"There's no reason you couldn't. There are already commoners from Ashtar Territory sitting in the Diet. You can do the same."
When you looked closely, a great many of the Ashtar people who had made it into the Diet had started as commoners. Nobles still got priority, of course, but House Ashtar never discriminated between commoner and noble when it came to true talent. Treat commoners well, and they repaid the debt—Ashtar had exploited that principle brilliantly. The result was that Ashtar commoners in the Diet sided with Ashtar even when it had nothing to do with them. Being the house just below the imperial family, and the lords of their home territory, that loyalty was almost natural.
"But still—"
"Have some confidence. Look at those young ladies who were bullying you just now. What do you think they'll become? At best, idle aristocrats who waste money in back rooms or gather other wives for tea parties and empty chatter."
"Is that true?"
Most of them would only ever take general-education courses. What future did that leave them? Someone like Croissant might still find work on the magic side—but if they stayed in the liberal arts track, the story was different.
"That's right. So the Empire's future rests on shoulders like yours. After all, very few people from Attelina ever make it into the Diet."
"Thank you."
That ought to be enough.
It was time for Galedo's practical class.
The adventurer-turned-professor kept locking eyes with me today, which was suspicious.
"Today is self-study."
"Self-study? Right before the exam?"
Attelina's end-of-term tests were infamous for being brutal. The reputation had probably been inflated by luxury-loving, posturing nobles—but even the commoner division said the difficulty was high.
"That's why I'm going to explain the exam schedule. That's the reason for the free period."
"The exam?"
So he was deliberately giving us time to study for it.
"The succubus incident buried the news a little, but it's the end of the term, isn't it? Exam season is only natural."
I was curious how the end-of-term test would actually work. The students started firing questions. For a so-called elite school, the place was packed with nobles fretting over their grades.
"The end-of-term exam is a dungeon practical in Plant Territory. Teams of at least two and at most five. The passing condition is to retrieve a flag from inside the dungeon."
That sounded easy enough. Couldn't Celia and I just steamroll through it at top speed?
"If we don't bring back a flag, we fail?"
"More precisely—bringing back a flag is a perfect score. Distance will determine ranking after that."
Grades sorted by pure ability. There was probably more to it than a simple exam, though. The anti-imperialists would be a problem this time as well.
"Is there a failing grade?"
"Of course there is. Fail, and you can forget about going home for the break."
A collective murmur ran through the students. The exam itself didn't worry me—but my position was complicated. I would be taking the test and managing it at the same time. I couldn't forget what Natalia had told me. I was already on the front line against the anti-imperialists—and this time we were leaving the capital for Plant family land.
"Lady Olivia, shall we clear it quickly?"
Celia rolled up her sleeves as she spoke. I was thinking the same thing. Going first and finishing fast might be the smartest move.
"Yeah. That sounds good. I've got a bad feeling about this one, too."
"Pardon?"
"The Light Sword told me to cooperate on hunting anti-imperialists. Something's going to blow up in Plant Territory—I can feel it."
Plant family land was a holy ground for knights. Making that holy ground the exam site might be Attelina tradition, but it still made me uneasy. The territory was famous for its flawless security—and now the academy's most important noble scions were going there for a test. From an anti-imperialist's perspective, wasn't that a perfect target? If black mages were involved, killing a few noble students and vanishing wouldn't be difficult at all. This exam was anything but safe.
"You mustn't say things like that so carelessly!"
"Why not?"
"Because whenever Lady Olivia says something, it always comes true!"
She was treating my mouth like a curse.