Back to the Academy (2)
Back to the Academy (2)
As expected, my conversation with the Duke was nothing like the conversation my mother had hoped for.
The Duke's words were as dry as ever, limited to commands.
"What happened at Simon's wedding was the work of the remnants who attacked the Marquisate. Know that, and make sure no other rumors leak out."
If it was the remnants' work, he could have just said so.
But telling me to make sure no other rumors leaked out? In the end, that meant there was bound to be another story.
If so, there was a good chance things were just as I suspected.
"So, in the end, was it my sister-in-law's brother? The heir to the Marquisate?"
And the Duke probably intended to cover it up.
The Duke fixed me with an intent stare.
"No one could have told you, so how did you know?"
It was just as I expected. The remnants were merely an excuse to bury the real culprit.
"I saw that the artifact ring on my sister-in-law's hand was broken. Before that, I heard that she had requested the most skilled escort knight."
They had to be powerful enough to hide assassins in the temple choir, know the ring's function in advance so they could break it, and be close enough to Adria for her to notice.
They also had to be someone who would benefit if Adria died or the marriage fell through.
Only one such person came to mind.
The heir who ruled the Marquisate in place of his sick father despite having one arm severed—Adria's brother.
I laid out my entire deduction for the Duke.
I could have pretended not to know and let it slide, of course.
That would have been the easier way, with less headache and less responsibility.
But while carrying out the Duke's orders at the Viscount Estate, I had come to realize something.
I was not the Duke's knight.
For me, blindly obeying orders wasn't the right answer.
Up until then, I had never simply followed someone else's orders.
I had granted many requests and favors, but every one of them had been my own decision.
Yet simply because I was the Duke's son and a member of the Duke's Household, I had blindly followed his words.
But if all I'd done was beat up monsters and bandits like other knights, I wouldn't have brought back this kind of result from the Viscount Estate.
So from now on, I decided I wouldn't accept the Duke's orders without thinking them through.
In any case, both my skills and my intellect were already known to some extent.
There was no reason to feign ignorance and follow orders just to hide my abilities.
Now was the time to speak up about what I knew.
Blindly following orders would only make me one of the Duke's chess pieces.
I had no intention of becoming one.
Rather than a chess piece, I intended to become a trading partner.
When I finished speaking, the Duke fell into thought.
I couldn't tell whether I'd made my intentions clear, but the Duke said nothing more in response.
He didn't say I was wrong, nor did he tell me to shut my mouth.
Instead, he asked me something else.
"Alex, what do you plan to do from now on?"
Was this career counseling now?
He didn't mean it that way, of course.
And I thought it was time for me to speak up, too.
"First, I plan to practice the sword a bit more."
I had only just managed to defeat the fifteen-year-old Hero. And that was only a knight Hero.
I still had a long way to go.
"After graduating from the Academy, I plan to become independent."
I had no intention of serving as a knight under another noble.
If I had to serve someone, I'd rather serve someone much higher up.
Under royalty, the King, or...
But more than that, there were still things I wanted to know.
About the ruined Old Empire, the sealed Demon King, the artifacts, and my repeating life.
And I wanted to know exactly what a Hero was.
"Before that, I'm also thinking of traveling around a bit to learn about the world. It would be something like a knight's pilgrimage."
Honestly, it might sound like a dream.
The Kingdom was on the brink of civil war, and the Empire was acting suspiciously, too.
And considering everything happening around me, I didn't know whether I'd be able to travel so leisurely.
Still, I didn't think it was completely impossible.
Unlike others, I had plenty of time.
Even if that time would eventually disappear, it didn't matter as long as I could keep it in my memories.
The Duke stared at me blankly.
His expression now was very different from before.
"I'm envious. At least you can try."
The Duke didn't seem to think I'd succeed, either, yet I still heard something unexpected from him.
"You are smart but equally foolish, realistic but equally lost in romance."
To an outsider, it might have looked that way.
But to me, all of it was a struggle to survive.
My abilities, the artifacts, my repeating life, and this world were all pushing me forward.
This time was no different; to avoid being swept away, I had to make the first move.
Yet the Duke seemed both envious of me and disappointed.
Did he seriously think I would aim for the position of heir again after all that?
Or was he thinking of marrying me off as a son-in-law to a good household?
But I had no intention of following the Duke's orders.
Besides the fortune in my pockets, my newly acquired backpack was piled high with valuable items.
My skills were improving rapidly, and I had enough wealth.
On top of that, I had my own network of connections, so there was no longer any reason for me to be bound to the Duke.
Since I was the Duke's son and my mother was here, I couldn't sever ties with him completely, but I had no intention of being dragged around as before.
In the end, the conversation ended without reaching any conclusion.
There was no normal father-and-son farewell—no "Have a safe trip" or "I'll be back." Nor did he give me any pocket money for my hard work.
'Come to think of it, was this the first time I'd ended a conversation with the Duke without reaching any conclusion?'
Well, I hadn't met with the Duke all that many times anyway. Every time something unusual happened, it felt like a new experience.
Thus, my final day passed, and the day of departure for the capital dawned.
I put on my Academy uniform, strapped my longsword and dagger to my waist, and stuffed the greatsword and other items into my artifact pocket.
As before, I hid the artifact pocket deep in my chest and slung the backpack I got from the Viscount Estate over my back.
Looking around the room, I saw that none of my belongings remained.
With a tearful Flora leading the way, I headed toward the main gate.
Just as a year ago, people had gathered in front of the gate to see Manuel and me off.
My mother was there, along with the Commander of the Knights, Miguel, the soldier Hugo, Simon, and my sister-in-law, Adria.
Fortunately, my sister-in-law seemed to have regained her composure.
Her family, of course, was bound to face even harder times ahead.
Since the Duke now had the attempted assassination as powerful leverage over them, the heir—no, the future Marquis—would spend the rest of his life being swayed by the Duke.
With my sister-in-law, who had even faced assassination threats, unlikely to help her maiden family, the future of the Marquisate looked bleak.
Beside Simon stood the Duchess, just as she had a year ago.
Unlike last year, the Duchess didn't call me aside.
Instead, she seemed to avoid me the entire time I was at the mansion.
There were probably various reasons, but since she pretended not to notice me, my vacation was incredibly peaceful.
Even now, she was saying farewell to Manuel while more or less ignoring me.
Perhaps because he'd spent the vacation wrestling with monsters in the Northern Mountain Range, Manuel gave off a much sharper aura than he had when we first left the capital.
I said goodbye to everyone, too, then boarded the carriage.
As always, the Duke didn't show up.
Instead, the Chief Butler handed me a few gold coins, calling them an allowance to maintain my dignity.
Compared with the fortune in my backpack and pockets, it was a mere pittance, but I couldn't turn down free money.
I quickly pocketed the money.
Manuel boarded the carriage as well, and we left the mansion just as we had a year ago.
The number of soldiers and knights accompanying us had decreased since before.
People probably thought the numbers were lower because this wasn't our first time traveling this road, but it seemed the Duke had reduced them because he knew my true strength.
Honestly, I wouldn't have cared if there were even fewer, so I enjoyed the journey without complaint.
Fortunately, Manuel seemed to have matured as well, since he didn't pick any unnecessary fights.
Just as Simon had become a decent person as he grew up, it seemed Manuel might also turn into a surprisingly normal noble, which pleased me quite a bit.
But the sights along the way weren't very pleasant.
They looked no different from when we'd traveled to the Duchy, but the fact that nothing had been cleaned up in the meantime showed just how much public security had deteriorated.
Still, even this time, no bandits dared to attack a carriage traveling with knights and soldiers.
When we were headed to the Duchy, Manuel had actively gone looking for bandits. But now we were short on time, and Manuel didn't step forward either, so we continued speeding toward the capital.
After traveling for a long time, we arrived at the Messesia Barony Territory.
Though not much time had passed, the Barony had been restored as if nothing had happened.
The expressions of the fief's residents weren't bad, and although the number of soldiers and knights had decreased, their discipline seemed perfectly fine.
But the Acting Baron who welcomed us was pale, his face deathly dark.
"The Acting Lord has worked so hard all this time. I did my best to help, but the Acting Lord did everything."
Balea praised him enthusiastically from the side, but each time she did, the Acting Lord flinched, his body twitching.
It seemed his hard work hadn't been entirely voluntary.
"While I'm at the Academy, please take good care of the territory."
It was a perfectly ordinary farewell and request, but the way she said it made it sound as though Balea had entrusted him with the territory.
But the Acting Lord seemed overjoyed simply because Balea was leaving.
The first Baroness's attitude toward Balea had changed as well.
"Can't you stay a bit longer? The Acting Lord needs you. What if something happens while you're gone? I think it would be fine if you just took a leave of absence and stayed."
But the change in how she treated Balea wasn't because she herself had changed.
It was simply that Balea's status had changed.
But her mother, the Baron's second wife, had truly changed.
"Take care of yourself, and don't worry about me or the territory. You are what matters most. If you find a good man, make sure to show him to this mother of yours."
"No, well, I-I'll be going now."
I watched Balea get flustered, amused.
But as punishment for that, I had to listen to her chatter all the way to the capital.
The capital was no different from before the vacation.
It was as lively as ever and didn't have the ominous atmosphere of the Kingdom's other territories.
The carriage headed for the mansion in the capital.
Because of the wedding, there wasn't much time left.
Tomorrow was the freshman entrance ceremony, and the day after that was the opening ceremony, where I, at sixteen, would become a second-year student at the Academy.
Two days later, dressed in my Academy uniform, with a longsword at my waist and a backpack slung over my shoulder, I left the mansion.
I couldn't leave the backpack at the mansion. I had to take it to the dormitory first and deal with it as soon as possible.
I rode in the carriage with Manuel toward the Academy.
It was the same road I'd seen a year ago.
After we'd traveled for a while, the Academy's main gate came into view, along with countless carriages.
A moment later, after passing through the main gate, the carriage stopped at the central auditorium where the entrance ceremony had been held a year earlier.
The freshman entrance ceremony had been held here again yesterday, and today the opening ceremony for the second- and third-year students would take place here.
It was an event suited to nobles, who loved formalities, but looking at the building, I couldn't help making a bitter face.
That was because I had seen this building smashed to pieces several times already.
But now, it was as if that had never happened, and no one remembered it.
I let out a small sigh and blended in with the students as I entered the building.
Then a message window popped up before my eyes.
I'd wondered whether it would, and in the end, it did.
This time, I let out a heavy sigh.
The fact that this window had appeared even though I hadn't gone anywhere new meant this year wouldn't be ordinary either.
It seemed there was absolutely no time for peace.
Huh?
But something was strange.
<...Would you like to set...?>
The phrasing was different from before.
Previously, it definitely hadn't ended with a question.
An interrogative sentence meant it was asking for my answer.
"Could this be the effect of reaching Level 2?"
It was just a single change in phrasing.
An effect that might seem trivial if taken lightly, but incredibly useful if considered carefully.
I'd have to ponder the altered effects later, but right now it was time to answer this prompt.
I answered the message's question.