The Gentleman of the Wind
"Guuuuys!"
The moment Bayul and his friends stepped out of the chairman's office, Schubik came sprinting toward them from far down the hall, frantic and breathless. It was a scheduled appearance. If he let a scoop like this slip past him, he'd have no right to keep calling himself the class information broker. Lately, he was the busiest guy around, one way or another.
"Everyone, watch your mouths," Eli ordered at once, imposing a gag rule.
"The mage thing especially. Not a word."
The fact that a young, handsome man was the chairman of Carrington was already more than enough gossip fodder. Now that everyone knew he was Eli's father, it would be the only topic of conversation anywhere they went for the foreseeable future.
And on top of that — turns out the chairman is actually some kind of prodigy mage.
If a rumor like that got added to the pile, the fallout would be seismic. They absolutely had to keep their lips sealed.
"I'm done being tied to my father — no, to that man. Just imagining it makes my skin crawl."
Aren't you already tied to him pretty thoroughly, though?
They all thought it, but none of them was fool enough to say it out loud and set Eli's mood off.
Let's be careful what we say.
Watching Schubik bear down on them, Bayul and his friends steeled themselves with more resolve than usual.
"Hah... hah... Why is the chairman's office so far from everything? I'm about to pass out!"
Schubik bent at the waist, hands braced on his knees, gulping down air. He was never one to fall behind in a footrace, but it looked like he'd run all the way here without a single break.
"What brings you all the way out here? Did something happen?"
Aidan asked, even though he already knew the answer.
"Aidan, you call that a question? Why else would I be here?"
Schubik gave him an exasperated look, then jabbed a finger at Eli.
"Eli — is it true? Is the chairman really your father?"
The rumor had already spread that far, but Schubik wanted to hear it straight from the source.
Sure, the guy was unusually good-looking, but he was a commoner like himself, a former gypsy at that. Everyone knew he worked weekend part-time jobs just to get by — and now suddenly he was the chairman's son? It was impossible to believe.
"It's a terribly difficult fact to accept."
"...What's that supposed to mean? So is it true or not?"
Schubik scrunched up his whole face at Eli's evasive answer.
"It's true."
"Ha! Seriously? H-holy crap! I had my suspicions, but it was actually true!"
"You don't need to feel betrayed on my account. Unlike Aidan, I'm adopted."
"Adopted?"
"Yeah. To be precise, he's less a father and more of a guardian. You know how it goes — rich people sponsoring poor kids and whatnot."
"I've heard of that. And some of those kids go on to make something of themselves later."
"Then you can believe I wasn't deliberately hiding it, right? It'd be ridiculous for me to go around bragging that the chairman is my dad when I'm not even his real son. Come on."
It wasn't the first time they'd seen Aidan get cornered by someone after he'd been caught hiding his noble status. That kind of risk had to be stamped out before it ever took root.
"Hmm, fair point. If you'd strutted around like Jared did and then it came out you were only adopted, people would've ripped into you instead."
"Exactly! That's precisely what I'm saying."
For some reason, Schubik was making sense to him today. Eli had braced for endless pestering, but it seemed he could breathe a little easier after all.
"But wait, something's weird here."
"Hm? What is?"
"Doesn't the chairman give you money? You've got a guardian — why are you working weekends?"
"...Ah. Well, about that."
Looked at closely, the guy had an unnecessarily sharp streak.
"I'm all grown up now, aren't I? I can't just keep leaning on someone's help forever."
The fact that he was forced to reach for a word as generous as help to describe the current state of affairs was simply cursed. Eli hid his trembling fist behind his back and forced an awkward smile.
"That's so model-student of you. If it were me, I'd have just blown it all partying. Impressive."
"I can see it now. Skipping the studying you're supposed to do, eating and drinking and living it up, then getting cut loose by your guardian. Yeah, that tracks for you."
At Aidan's jab, Schubik raised his arm with a theatrical "oh, you—" but couldn't muster much of a rebuttal. Because Aidan's prediction was probably accurate. Studying quietly and obediently had never suited Schubik, back in childhood or now.
"So, Eli — does that make you a member of the Valery family too?"
Schubik's eyes sparkled as he fired off the question.
Come to think of it, when Eli's father had introduced himself, he'd said Rayegar Ponce Valery. At the time, everyone had been too stunned by the man's mere existence to think much of it, but the family name had felt oddly familiar somehow.
"Why do you ask about Valery? Do you know something?"
"What! Eli, you really are adopted? How can you not know about House Valery?"
"I'm more amazed that you do."
Everyone nodded along in agreement.
"Don't tell me you guys all don't know?"
Schubik's stunned expression quickly melted into a smug grin. Being the only one in the know was quietly thrilling him.
"Alright, everyone — when it comes to House Valery, let me tell you what kind of place that is."
What followed was a fairly long lecture, but summarized, it went like this.
Carrington Academy, boasting two centuries of tradition, had been founded by a young merchant bearing the surname Valery. Having amassed an enormous fortune through extraordinary talent and ingenuity, he declared that he wanted to give everything back to society — and emptied his entire estate to establish the academy.
Some say he built the campus on the very grounds beside the Temple of Despair because he was a devotee there himself.
Perhaps because of that founding wish, Carrington soon rose to become the finest academy in the empire, and the founder was granted a county title in recognition of his achievement. A commoner had risen to nobility.
And yet the man himself never changed afterward. He would only drop by the academy on rare occasions to clear away the backlog of business, then vanish again.
As the years passed, the chairmanship passed down to his son, and then to that son's son in turn — but each of them was exactly the same.
Whenever a crisis struck the academy, they would invariably appear out of nowhere, resolve it, and promptly disappear. The students came to call them the Gentleman of the Wind.
"I'm sorry — the what?"
Eli sneered as if he'd just heard the most ridiculous nonsense in existence.
"Did every actual gentleman in the world freeze to death? If any passing gentleman heard that, he'd die of the indignity."
"What's your problem? Eli, what's gotten into you all of a sudden?"
The friends who'd been in the chairman's office could fully understand his reaction, but to Schubik the outburst was baffling. His eyes went round as he looked Eli up and down.
"Eli."
Bayul hurried forward and grabbed his arm.
You can't do this here. Hold it in.
If you keep this up, Schubik will notice. Calm down!
Only after Aidan jumped in too, flashing frantic hand signals, did Eli finally settle down a little. As if ashamed of having flared up even for a moment, he squeezed his eyes shut.
"So to sum up — Eli's technically a noble too?"
Perfect timing. At Quinn's question, Schubik's attention pivoted instantly.
"Right! House Valery doesn't do anything particularly flashy, but it's still officially registered among the empire's noble houses. You know the founding chronicle in the main hall's entrance? Our name's written there too."
"Ah, so that's where I saw it."
That was why Bayul had found the name Valery so familiar.
"Eli, I thought you were a commoner like me, but you weren't. Tch — you guys aren't looking down on me or anything, are you?"
"Are you an idiot? If we were going to discriminate over something like that, we'd have done it ages ago."
"He's right. Yeah."
Under Aidan's scolding, Schubik quickly turned sheepish and giggled.
"But hey — does that mean you're going to inherit the chairmanship, Eli?"
"Have you lost your mind? Why on earth would I inherit that?"
"I just told you it keeps getting passed down, didn't I? If you're the only son, obviously it goes to you. Unless you've got siblings?"
"No, I don't."
"Whoa! Then am I standing face to face with the future chairman himself? Incredible!"
Schubik clapped his hands together and whooped. Eli doused the enthusiasm like a bucket of cold water.
"Not me."
"Huh?"
"I'm not doing any of that. Not now, not ever."
They could hand me that chairmanship on a silver platter and I wouldn't take it.
What am I, insane?
"You can have every last scrap of it. I couldn't care less."
"...Do you, by any chance, have a bad relationship with your father?"
At this point it was impossible not to notice. Schubik glanced around at the other friends, then quickly seemed to piece something together and nodded slowly.
"Got it. Say no more — I won't ask."
For a moment, everyone doubted their own ears. Wasn't this the guy who couldn't stand leaving a question unanswered? Normally he'd latch on and dig and dig until he struck something.
"You're letting it go this easily? Are you feeling sick or something?"
"Hey! Even I have a line. Family's off-limits."
"...Family?"
"I have standards too, you know."
"Then why'd you do it to me?"
Aidan demanded, sounding wounded.
"You were literally planning to eat me!"
"Oh, so you two don't get along either?"
"Dude, you have no idea."
"Should've said so sooner."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You go home every single weekend, so I figured things were fine at your place. Right, guys? You all thought the same, didn't you?"
But since Aidan's situation wasn't anywhere near the level of Eli actively despising his father, it was hard to know how to answer.
"Whatever! Forget that — so is Jared actually getting expelled?"
"What are you talking about now?"
"Expelled?"
True to his scatterbrained nature, Schubik had already changed the subject. And thanks to him, the incident from lunchtime — all but forgotten — came flooding back.
"What happened to Nathan? Has he steadied himself at all?"
"He'll be staying at the temple for a few days. There's no guarantee he won't try something again."
Suicide attempts, it was said, rarely ended after just one. To make sure it never happened again, the people around him had to keep a constant, careful watch. For that kind of environment, the temple was the right place.
"He'll be missing classes for a while, then."
"What matters is that he heals. I just hope he can pull through."
"For Nathan's sake if nothing else, Jared has to go. Eli, can't you ask your father to do something?"
For the chairman, dismissing a single student should have been trivial. The fact that the target was the son of Duke Hector gave them some pause — but even so, the academy had endured about as much as it possibly could.
"He's not the kind of man who'd grant a favor just because I asked."
"How bad can things possibly be between you two, that you'd use such a cold way of referring to him?"
"Isn't not touching family matters your own rule?"
"Yeah, well — it is, but..."
Curiosity had a way of creeping up on you, you see.
A falling-out between father and son wasn't exactly unusual — but somehow, this one felt peculiar.
It was truly a mercy that Schubik hadn't overheard the conversation in the chairman's office.
"So what's Jared up to right now? That's what I actually want to know."
"No idea. He's just... vanished somewhere."
"Gone?"
"He screwed up, got scared, and ran off somewhere, I'd bet. If anyone actually went looking, they'd find him soon enough."
"He's not going to pull something even worse, is he?"
That was the worry — whether, in his panic and wounded pride, he might commit some even greater disaster.
"My vote's on expulsion."
"He's from the mighty House Hector, though?"
"You know what House Valery's other nickname is?"
Schubik whispered it, his tone heavy with meaning.
"Enforcers of Justice. Jared's finished. Done for."
As if they'd all just overheard something they were never meant to hear, everyone's face — Eli's included — twisted. But Schubik declared it with total confidence.
Enforcers of Justice.
A grand phrase indeed — and yet it sat very poorly with the Rayegar they had all just seen.