Chapter 46
Chapter 46
No Tuition Refund.
“Too careless. Franz….”
Sadia let out a cold scoff as she watched the rampaging Crown Prince Rudolf, gripping her wand and casting a spell.
“Dimension Weave!”
The tearing space was wrapped and sealed by something like a silver spiderweb.
At the same time, Sadia cast another spell with her bare hands, without even using her wand.
“Energy Drain!”
Her Energy Drain struck Crown Prince Rudolf.
From Rudolf, who had been raging while emitting terrifying magical power, both mana and vitality were drained away.
“Aaaah!”
Blinding light-like mana was sucked out from Rudolf’s eyes and mouth.
The moment Rudolf, having lost consciousness, collapsed backward, Marie rushed in and supported him.
Worried about Rudolf, who had begun to go berserk because of her magic, she had stayed nearby without retreating even in such a dangerous situation.
“Tch. Franz, this son of a bitch is crossing the line.”
“Yes?”
Marie was startled by Sadia’s harshness, casually calling the Emperor by name as if it were the neighbor’s dog.
“No, it’s nothing.”
“……”
Meanwhile, Idnia, who had been watching the scene from afar, also clicked her tongue.
‘Awakened Rudolf?
No, this is still Season 1, there’s no way a divergence would happen already….
Hmm, but since there are more variables than in the original game, it wouldn’t be strange if something unexpected happened.
Ah, Miss Marie….’
Marie, who was supporting Rudolf, had gone pale.
Although it had happened during class, the result was that she had used magic to attack the Crown Prince and harm his imperial body.
Rudolf’s personality was such that he wouldn’t hold her responsible, but for Marie, an ordinary commoner, it was impossible not to feel terrified.
“Alright, I’ll take the Crown Prince. Class dismissed for today!
Those in the control type will pair up, and the female students will teach the male students in their group!
That’s all, dismissed!”
Leaving those words behind, Sadia picked up Rudolf, opened a portal, and disappeared beyond it.
The students did not leave immediately and remained in the lecture hall, talking among themselves.
Since there were still too few facilities unlocked in the academy, there weren’t many places where they could all gather and talk like this, so opportunities for serious discussion were rare.
“What the hell is going on?”
“The Crown Prince got hurt in a magical accident at the academy, right? Is this semester even going to run properly?”
“Could classes be suspended and admissions canceled… If that happens, will they refund the tuition?”
The students trembled with anxiety.
“But come to think of it, I’ve never heard of Dunaise Academy getting punished for anything.”
“I’ve never heard of the Crown Prince getting hurt either.”
“No, but the Crown Prince himself is that, you know. That. He’s unprecedented.”
Until then, the Holy Eldar Empire had maintained an elective emperor system.
There could be no such thing as a Crown Prince guaranteed to inherit the throne.
It was the Calliestra family, aiming to establish a thousand-year foundation for the empire, that forced support from the other elector families while they held overwhelming superiority, creating Crown Prince Rudolf.
Students from the western region where the Calliestra family’s influence was strong, especially those of Zephyros Dormitory, naturally accepted the existence of Crown Prince Rudolf, but for students from other regions, while they acknowledged him, they felt a slight sense of rejection and discomfort.
They were already dissatisfied that the empire’s administration was centered around Dunaise, and if the Calliestra family were to become hereditary emperors starting with Rudolf…
Wouldn’t the other regions become increasingly marginalized?
As children of the upper class, they couldn’t help but be sensitive to such political issues.
There were also students who moved regardless of the incident in which Crown Prince Rudolf had been caught up in the magical accident.
“Um, Idnia. Please teach me control-type magic.
I feel a bit ashamed asking when I can’t even handle deception-type properly.”
Bolson, though embarrassed, sought Idnia’s guidance.
Born as the son of a low-ranking soldier, Bolson did not know the detailed circumstances.
He simply wanted to take advantage of this opportunity, having luckily entered Dunaise Academy, to strengthen his magical skills and inner foundation even a little.
“Ah, control type is actually easier than deception type. I’ll teach you.”
Idnia was about to teach Bolson when something flew in and struck his clothes.
It was a piece of the tasteless stone bread served in the cafeteria.
“Ptooey. Hey, Bolson.
Karl says he wants to talk to Idnia, so get lost.”
They were the four young men who followed Karl.
They were the ones who had charged into the Notos dormitory students, beaten them barehanded, and ended up in the punishment chamber.
Bolson, being from the north, had a solid build, but compared to them, he looked like a child.
“Ah, yes… then, um….”
“Wait a moment.”
Idnia grabbed Bolson, who was trying to leave.
“Who do you think you are to interfere with our group’s lesson?
And to throw a piece of bread at me?”
“What?”
The four from Boreas Dormitory, Karl’s subordinates, were flustered.
They had clearly thrown the bread at Bolson, not Idnia, and it had hit him.
Yet Idnia was claiming it had been thrown at her.
“No, it hit Bolson, didn’t it?”
“That’s because Bolson threw himself in front to protect me.
He used his body as a shield and took the hit. Who can say whether it was thrown at me or at him in the first place?”
“……”
“That’s not….”
Bolson muttered cluelessly.
Idnia lightly stepped on Bolson’s foot and continued.
“Of course, as honorable warriors of the Black Iron Corps, you wouldn’t throw bread to bully a lady like me.
But tell me, can you really throw something like a piece of bread exactly where you want it 100% of the time?
Throwing something so light, that could fall anywhere with a gust of wind, near me just to mock someone.
What would you have done if it had hit me?
Ah, could it be that since my family has fallen on hard times, you intended to insult and ridicule me?”
“Uh….”
“I’m asking whether you would dare throw bread at someone speaking with the Crown Prince and mock them like that.”
The four from Boreas were speechless.
They had fallen into a trap.
If they said they could, it might lead to being told to throw bread at someone speaking with Crown Prince Rudolf.
If they said they couldn’t?
Wouldn’t that mean they regarded Idnia as lesser than the Crown Prince?
“…Ah.”
The four—Eirik, Rivald, Olsengard, and Dubin—exchanged glances.
Quick-witted Rivald stepped forward and knelt.
“We apologize, Idnia. That was not our intention, but we were thoughtless.”
“Ah, please don’t do that. My family’s status only matters outside the academy. Here, I am just a student like you.
Isn’t kneeling too excessive for an apology between students?”
Idnia said so and helped Rivald up, but they were not fools.
‘Saying family status doesn’t matter in the academy means it does matter outside.’
‘Damn, we picked the wrong target.’
Realizing they had messed with the wrong person, they broke into a cold sweat.
At that moment, Idnia smiled and brushed off Rivald’s shoulder.
“So, what is your business?”
“Idnia, Karl wishes to see you. He wants to discuss… future plans. It’s something important.”
“Even so, shouldn’t we prioritize our classmate first? It’s hard to teach control-type command magic anywhere else, and we should teach it before the next class for preparation.”
“Ah, don’t worry about that. We make sure students thoroughly preview and review in advance.”
“Yes, we’ll teach him.”
It was already common knowledge that Boreas students trained among themselves in a military-style manner—crude but effective.
“I-It’s alright, Idnia. I’ll learn separately from my friends. I’ll work hard so as not to tarnish your reputation. Please, for my sake, go meet Karl.”
To ask her to go for his sake…
But if she insisted further, Bolson would likely suffer more bullying, so Idnia decided to stop insisting.
“…If you put it that way, alright. But I don’t see why Karl doesn’t come here himself.”
“He’s prepared refreshments and is waiting. And Lorenzo is there too.”
“Ah, in that case.”
Idnia accepted and followed them.
In truth, they didn’t have to go far.
In the same lecture hall, Boreas students had formed something like a human formation to block the way, and when they stepped aside, desks had been gathered to form a table, with snacks laid out on top.
Karl raised his wand to boil water, and a subordinate took it to brew tea leaves.
“Fermented tea from Milan. A northerner serving southern tea to me, a southerner.”
Lorenzo, sitting across from Karl, examined the snacks on the table.
They were snacks sold at the academy store.
Not luxurious, but to someone who had recently been eating poorly, they tasted like heaven.
“So why did you call me?”
Idnia asked, bringing a snack to her mouth and eating it.
“Ah, thank you.”
She accepted the tea, rinsed her palate, then picked up another snack.
“About Rudolf ending up like that. Do you know how much mana he released in that instant?”
“I’m not sure, but the space distortion alone was great magic. More than anything, it’s surprising it happened at Dunaise Academy. There are powerful defensive barriers here that interfere with ordinary spatial movement and portals.”
Lorenzo had also been impressed watching Rudolf’s rampage.
“So, let’s cooperate properly. That’s why I called you today….”
Crunch… crunch….
As Karl lowered his voice meaningfully, the sound of Idnia eating snacks rang unusually loud.
“Ah, sorry. Ahem.”
Idnia stopped eating.
“Didn’t we already agree to cooperate? But after ruining the atmosphere like this, what more cooperation are you talking about? If you wanted cooperation, you shouldn’t have beaten up the Notos students.”
“I’m not talking about cooperating within the dormitory point system. Lorenzo, let’s be honest. You came to investigate Dunaise Academy itself, didn’t you?”
“……”
“Dunaise Academy has existed since before the founding of the Holy Eldar Empire.
And it is said that everything of humanity’s domains is gathered here, and whoever obtains it could even reach the realm of gods.
That’s why you deliberately created a smuggling route and let students get caught. Acting obsessed with food like this, sneaking your people around at night—if they get caught, you can say they were smuggling and be punished as students.
Not as spies investigating the academy’s secrets, but as cute youths who just want to eat more snacks.”
As Karl said that and picked up a snack, Idnia seized the moment to eat again.
Crunch. Crunch….
As the sound echoed, Karl and Lorenzo silently stared at Idnia.
“……”