Practical Training (1)
Practical Training (1)
The incident during the freshmen's first field trip caused quite a stir at the academy for a while.
The Countess, mother of the missing Ride, rushed to the academy and made quite a scene in the Headmaster's office, while funerals were held for the knights who hadn't returned.
Professor Katrin took responsibility for the incident with a three-month pay cut, and the students who returned safely proudly bragged to their friends about their ordeal.
And as for me, I ended up becoming a celebrity in more ways than one.
Whenever I entered a classroom for lessons or walked down the hallway, students who used to deliberately ignore me began whispering as soon as they spotted me.
Some students approached me under flimsy pretexts just to hear the story, while my sudden fame caused even more students to resent me.
During the joint lecture for the Knight Faculty and the Inherited Ability Faculty.
"Look, there's a student glaring at Young Lord Alex. Looks like you've gained another enemy."
Balea whispered softly beside me, covering her mouth.
At her words, I saw Bria standing in front of me, struggling to hold back a laugh.
Although students had begun treating me differently, there were naturally still those who treated me exactly as they always had.
After thanking me that day, Piar went right back to subtly avoiding me, while Bria asked me to spar just as she always had.
The Princess once again kept a strange distance from me, uncharacteristically for a child, while my older brother Manuel hung around the children of high nobility as if nothing had ever happened.
And Balea stayed right by my side, constantly teasing me and playing with me using her words.
It really felt like I had messed up the contract. How could I have left out a clause to shut that mouth of hers?
She played the part of a sociable, friendly peer perfectly well with the other students, but when she was alone with me, she kept slipping back into her true nature.
Whether it was because she felt no need to hide it, because I was her father's enemy, or simply because the contract annoyed her, I couldn't figure out what she was thinking.
The problem was that she knew exactly where the limit of my patience lay and skillfully walked the line without ever crossing it.
Besides, since she actually proved useful to me, for now I had no choice but to put up with her jabbering.
The first-year students of the Knight Faculty and the Inherited Ability Faculty had gathered in the academy's largest training ground to attend a joint class.
Since it was a joint lecture, several professors stood at the front.
Professor Katrin stood off to one side with the other Knight Faculty professors, while the professor currently speaking at the front was Professor Niel, who had been in charge of our group during the field trip.
"Today's joint lecture is meant to prepare you for the upcoming Practical Training."
Professor Niel was showing a side of herself completely different from the one we'd seen at the Seal Grounds.
She seemed less like a biased, distorted educator catering to the Princess and more like a cool-headed, charismatic, and impressive professor.
"All of you have experienced the Seal Grounds field trip. You felt the dense mana of the Seal Grounds, fought monsters, and the group that was left behind had to struggle to survive there for a week."
At her words, the students lined up in the training ground stole glances at the stranded group and me.
Fewer eyes were on us than when we had just returned, but it seemed impossible for things to ever go back to the way they were.
"You might all think of it as a grand experience, but in truth, that lesson was merely a 'field trip.'"
At Professor Niel's follow-up, the stranded students and a few others wore dissatisfied expressions.
It was as if she were brushing aside all the hardship they'd endured.
"It was essentially a tour of the Seal Grounds, even accompanied by students from the Administration Faculty, meant to teach you what the Seal Grounds are like and what it's like to face monsters."
But the professor simply elaborated in greater detail, her expression serene.
"What our kingdom and our academy want from students of the Inherited Ability Faculty and the Knight Faculty isn't tourists like that, but combat ability users capable of fighting monsters in real combat."
She paused, then snapped her fingers toward the front.
Thud!
The air burst open above the students' heads.
"In a few weeks, we'll hold the 'Practical Training,' where you can experience that very large-scale battle. You'll engage in large-scale combat against monsters at the Seal Grounds alongside your second- and third-year upperclassmen."
A practical exercise alongside upperclassmen... I already knew about it, but just thinking about how I'd be harassed again for being an illegitimate son made me sigh.
"This is neither a tour nor a lecture; it is 'real combat.' Several students will be injured or even die."
Professor Niel thoroughly terrified the students.
"From today until the 'Practical Training,' classes for the Knight Faculty and the Inherited Ability Faculty will focus entirely on preparing for real combat."
The joint lecture between the Knight Faculty and the Inherited Ability Faculty showed me how large-scale combat in this world actually unfolded.
It also showed me why awakened inherited ability users became nobles, and why knights came to serve them.
Just as the Knight Faculty students had blocked monsters at the front during the field trip, from the very first day, all the Knight Faculty students formed up along the front lines while the Inherited Ability Faculty students gathered behind them according to their specialties and practiced attacking the enemy.
As the scale of battle increased, the contrast between knights and ability users became glaringly obvious.
Knights who fought enemies one-on-one at close range could hardly compare with inherited ability users who unleashed area-of-effect attacks and versatile powers from a distance.
Unlike ordinary knights, the students of the academy's Knight Faculty were also awakened inherited ability users, but they still had to face monsters head-on in one-on-one combat, using swords or other melee weapons.
Since their role was to hold off monsters at the front until the other ability users could finish them off, their presence was inevitably overshadowed by the Inherited Ability Faculty, much like that of ordinary knights.
Perhaps because of that, when class ended, the Inherited Ability Faculty students walked away looking immensely triumphant, while the Knight Faculty students departed silently, their faces somber.
For my part, I actually welcomed that atmosphere.
After all, I could see that the stares directed at me were diminishing sharply.
On top of that, no one seemed to be approaching Piar, and things were quiet on the Princess's end, too.
Having come into an affluent lifestyle thanks to the gold coins I'd obtained at the Seal Grounds, I found my academy life increasingly satisfying.
"If only the map and the signet ring turned out to be useful, that would be truly great..."
I had scoured the Royal Academy Library, said to hold the largest collection of books in the Kingdom, and discreetly asked around without getting caught, but I still hadn't figured out the exact location of the ruins marked on the map or the effect of the signet ring.
If the Chaipree County, the original owner of the map and signet ring, was involved, they surely knew the approximate location of the ruins as well as how to use the ring.
But discovering those secrets without revealing that I possessed both items seemed impossible.
"Well, as long as I let go of my greed, it isn't a problem at all."
If I wanted to achieve my original goal of spending a peaceful, quiet life at the academy, it might be better to let both items sleep in my pocket without ever learning their purpose.
In this way, the days passed in a chaotic flurry of preparations for the 'Practical Training,' and before long, the day to set off for the Seal Grounds once again was right before us.
At the very same time, inside the royal palace, people were discussing the Royal Academy's 'Practical Training.'
Two individuals stood talking on a terrace overlooking the entire capital.
They were the First Prince and the Second Prince, locked in a struggle over the succession to the throne.
The Second Prince had summoned his older brother, claiming he had important matters to discuss, and that was why they had met here.
Though it was their first time meeting alone in a long while, their conversation felt less like one between brothers and more like a clash between enemies.
"What is it you want to talk about?"
"Yesterday, someone from a count family paid me a visit."
"A count?"
"Count Chaipree came in person."
At his younger brother's words, the First Prince growled.
"Did you call me out here just to brag that Count Chaipree has aligned himself with your side?"
Seeing the First Prince snap at him, the Second Prince let out a sigh.
That temperament alone was enough to convince him that he had to become the next king. If his fiery older brother, who acted without considering the context or consequences, became king, the realm would undoubtedly fall into ruin within a few years.
"While it is something to boast about, that isn't the reason I called you, Brother."
The Second Prince wasn't particularly pleasant by nature, either.
The First Prince flared up again at his younger brother's sarcastic tone, but, deciding there must be another reason, held his temper for now.
"Word is that the Chaipree family has been searching for a certain set of ruins for hundreds of years. Supposedly, they're depicted on a map that an ancestor of the family brought back from the Seal Grounds."
"What! Ruins?"
At the mention of ruins that had been searched for over hundreds of years, the anger boiling inside the First Prince instantly subsided.
The Second Prince relayed to the First Prince the story Count Chaipree had told him.
It was a story that spanned from losing the map in the Seal Grounds fifty years ago to the disappearance of his son, whose knights' bodies had recently been discovered.
"He said they'd narrowed down the location of the ruins fifty years ago, but after losing the map and then losing family members twice over, the family had practically given up searching for the ruins."
His son had apparently gone missing during the 'field trip,' but since such things were common, the First Prince hadn't even known about it until Count Chaipree mentioned it.
"So he brought the information about the ruins to you?"
"He claims he's dedicating it to the Kingdom, but surely it isn't truly for the Kingdom's sake."
The First Prince could easily snort at a claim like that.
"He never would have brought it to light if Father weren't nearing his end. In the end, it's just a gift to curry favor with you, isn't it?"
"Pretty much. But since the ruins are located in the Seal Grounds, it's impossible for me to handle everything on my own."
The Second Prince wanted to hoard it all for himself if he could. But he didn't have enough power for that just yet.
"Telling me means you want me to put pressure on the academy."
"As you know, we have to use the academy's magic circle to travel to the Seal Grounds. If we led an order of knights directly toward the Seal Grounds, we'd obviously end up picking a fight with neighboring countries first."
"Pressure, huh... As expected, it's too much for you alone, isn't it?"
The First Prince looked down at the Second Prince and sneered.
"Because the King hasn't passed away yet. To issue orders to the academy right now, we need the authority of Brother, who is the Crown Prince."
"Indeed. That goes without saying. Count Chaipree used his head in his own way. Since word would inevitably reach me anyway, isn't he essentially straddling both sides?"
At the First Prince's remark, the Second Prince shrugged. It was something he clearly knew as well.
Still, since the Count hadn't gone straight to the First Prince, Count Chaipree had ultimately aligned himself with the Second Prince.
"Has the academy's 'Practical Training' not taken place yet?"
"Yes. We can time our move to coincide with this Practical Training."
"And I suppose you'll have nobles from your faction participate."
"You can have yours join as well, Brother. I think it's best if we jointly manage the ruins and let whichever side finds the artifacts first claim them."
At the Second Prince's words, the First Prince pondered for a moment, then shook his head.
"...No, I will send the Royal Knights. If it's truly for the sake of the Kingdom, it's only right to claim it as royal property."
Either way, the First Prince was no fool. Claiming it for the royal family would clearly work to his advantage as Crown Prince.
But it was difficult for the Second Prince to object here.
"Haa, if that is your will, Brother, then let us proceed that way."
Even so, the Second Prince felt confident.
Fortunately, since he hadn't disclosed everything, as long as the operation went smoothly, he could turn things to his own advantage.
Once they reached a rough conclusion, the First Prince recalled his younger sister.
"Ah, that's right. Aisha is at the academy too, isn't she?"
"She entered as a freshman this year."
"Then she'll be participating in the Practical Training as well."
"Presumably. But why ask about Aisha? She must be having a rough time right now after acquiring the Queen's ability."
At the Second Prince's words, the First Prince burst out laughing in disbelief.
"Nonsense. As if a bastard like you ever cared about that? You're completely consumed with plotting schemes behind people's backs. Anyway, with Aisha there too, it looks like there will be plenty of entertaining developments."
"Very well, I will prepare accordingly."
Having finished their discussion, the two brothers immediately turned their backs on each other.