The Mind Games Begin
“Hahaha! Hahahahaha!!”
Could you stop laughing already? At this rate, I’m going to get attached.
He had just finished his lecture and was about to head to the café where Yulika would be waiting when the Minister of Education showed up out of nowhere and asked for a word.
Is this the Academy or the Ministry of Education? Why does he keep showing up so often?
Kyle grumbled to himself, yet still followed quietly behind the man.
Anyone could see the Minister was in an excellent mood—his mouth practically stretched ear to ear. The way he hummed as they walked only confirmed it.
Yulika was waiting, true enough, but it wasn’t exactly a meeting he looked forward to. Sparring, sparring, and more sparring—the second she saw him she would demand a match, no question. Sparring was fun in its own way, of course, but there were more than a few regrets. Inside the Academy or outside it, there simply wasn’t a single place where he could cut loose properly. If he went all out, the Academy would half-collapse all over again.
What a John Nassen truly wanted was a full-power clash, not some polite spar. And he had already had a real fight with Mathieu of the Alliance not long ago. Sparring would only leave him unsatisfied. He would rather spend the time working out.
I’ll just be a little late. Ten minutes should be fine.
Kyle did this without the slightest guilt, fully aware the Minister of Education would have a fit if he ever found out.
Meanwhile the Minister stepped into the headmaster’s office and launched into a full-blown festival of laughter. The headmaster already present joined in at once.
“…You seem to be in high spirits, Minister.”
There probably wasn’t another student who got summoned for chats with ministers this often. Kyle sat down with that thought and spoke—basically, Let me in on the joke so I can laugh too.
“Of course I’m in high spirits. Absolutely. Kyle, thanks to you I’ve been having a wonderful time lately.”
“That’s strange. Not long ago you looked ready to drop dead because of me.”
“Leave the past in the past. Things are different now, aren’t they!”
Anyone listening would have thought they were talking about something from years ago. Kyle found it a little ridiculous, but decided to let it slide. The Minister had been cornered and stressed out of his mind, after all.
“Kyle. Thanks to you, the Ministry of Education’s standing has finally recovered. With you at the Academy, our evaluation has shot up. Take a look at this article.”
“…‘First medal recipient in decades. First-year of the Imperial Academy, Kyle John Nassen. The first Academy student ever to receive a medal from the Imperial Household… a true pride of the Academy…’ Well. It’s a good article, at least?”
“A student’s excellence is the Academy’s pride, Kyle.”
The headmaster chimed in from the side and gave a light round of applause. Kyle had expected something like this, but actually facing it felt a little strange. He had gone out as an Academy “student” and done something completely outrageous. Whether it had anything to do with the Academy or not, the fact that he was one of its students mattered. It was the kind of opening that could send the Academy’s long-dormant prestige soaring.
“The Minister of Finance even wanted to come see you.”
“Why him? I heard he grinds his teeth whenever he so much as sees a John Nassen.”
“Not anymore, I suspect. These days he’d probably bow to you if he saw you.”
“…You’re joking.”
A minister was at least an earl, and the key posts were marquis-level. Being departments under the Emperor’s direct authority put them a step above ordinary nobles. The only people they bowed their heads to were the Emperor, those immediately around him, and the three Grand Dukes.
“It sounds like a joke, but it’s true. Kyle, because of you the budget that would have been completely burned through shrank dramatically. The Ministry of Finance has already secured a surplus for next year’s budget.”
Well, if it was a budget issue, that made sense. The Ministry of Finance lived and died by those numbers. One hole and the entire ministry flipped upside down—apparently that wasn’t an exaggeration.
“It’s not just Finance. The Ministry of War is in festival mode too. Not a single casualty while forcing the Alliance to submit. It isn’t simply about money—zero loss of life is what really matters.”
“How did the legions take it? They marched all the way to the battlefield and never even swung a sword.”
“Even the finest soldiers want to go home alive and hold their families.”
Fair enough. That was normal. The John Nassens were the strange ones—people who, once on a battlefield, had to fight, and once fighting, had to settle victory and defeat. Ready to stake their lives if the battle was honorable and glorious enough. The only real problem was that most of them simply refused to die.
“Ah, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well. They got a breather thanks to you and the John Nassens.”
“Why them?”
“Think about it. If we had taken losses against the Alliance, which departments would have been sweating bullets?”
“War and Finance, obviously?”
“You’d think so. But look wider and Foreign Affairs is in the mix too. Whatever the original spark, in the end they missed the Alliance’s movements, failed to catch their vicious schemes, and let things escalate this far, didn’t they?”
Kyle couldn’t shake the feeling that was a bit of a stretch. Foreign Affairs wasn’t a factory that stamped out spies; how were they supposed to know everything? If anything, they were closer to the victims. But such was politics—every day a mud-wrestling match. They all served the same Emperor and claimed loyalty to the Empire, yet inside they checked one another. That mutual restraint was a kind of self-purification, keeping them from holding hands and sealing their lips. Mistakes had to be answered for; merits had to be claimed first. Overlook even a small crack and later it became a gaping hole. The cold looks directed at Foreign Affairs were therefore inevitable.
“On top of that, wiping the Alliance out completely would have been its own problem. Without the Alliance, Foreign Affairs’ workload would shrink dramatically. They’d be left watching a few islands down south and nothing more.”
“And the Empire’s political scene is absolutely not generous enough to keep a department around that has almost nothing to do.”
Kyle’s quick grasp of the key point earned a nod from the Minister of Education, who even added that Academy students apparently had good heads on their shoulders.
Minister? The person who rejected that Academy admission application was you.
“I hear you’ve been trying to restore good relations with the Litorio Grand Duchy?”
“Hm? Ah, yes. I have. …Still am, actually.”
Just saying “I have” made the Minister’s expression turn odd, so Kyle hurriedly tacked on that he still was.
“That will have a positive effect—on Foreign Affairs, I mean. Plenty of Litorio people serve there. If Foreign Affairs runs into serious trouble, Litorio feels it naturally. In that sense, Litorio will also decide they owe you a debt. Not a bad thing, putting a Grand Duchy in your debt.”
Kyle thought that over for a moment, then could only tilt his head. No matter how he looked at it, that “debt” did not seem likely to return in any pleasant form. He had a strong premonition it would come back as something extremely bothersome and shocking.
“If you have time, why don’t we step out for a cup of coffee and talk a bit more?”
“Minister. Forgive me, but aren’t you busy? Shouldn’t you be heading back soon?”
“I am busy. But time spent looking at an outstanding talent of the Academy is never wasted. And if you think about it, this is work too, isn’t it!”
“That’s odd. As far as I know, a certain highest-ranking person in the Ministry of Education rejected my admission application—”
“Ahem! Young man! Leave the past in the past! Ahem!”
The Minister cleared his throat and still looked thoroughly needled, carefully avoiding Kyle’s eyes.
Anyway, there was no more time for chatter. The ten minutes Kyle had set in his mind were up. Any later and the anxiety would become unbearable.
“I’m sorry, Minister, but I don’t have the time.”
“Another lecture next?”
“No.”
“Then what is it?”
“I have a meeting with Her Highness the Princess.”
Pffft—.
The Minister, who had been drinking the rest of his tea, spat it straight out. The headmaster beside him looked just as stunned, eyes blinking blankly.
“You… whom did you just—?”
“Her Highness the Fifth Princess. And come to think of it, it’s not even a casual meeting. She’s been waiting since earlier.”
“Th-then why are you only saying this now?!”
“Because you dragged me here without warning?”
“No, no! If you’d just explained the situation earlier—”
“Should I keep sitting here? Her Highness has already been waiting for hours.”
At those words the Minister leaped to his feet and shouted for him to go at once.
“You’re the one who held me up, Minister. I could always tell Her Highness the Fifth Princess the truth.”
The Minister shook his head frantically and shoved Kyle out the door, screaming that John Nassens really were John Nassens—completely out of their minds!!
Having cleared away in one go all the accumulated grievances—being dragged off without warning and having his admission rejected—Kyle walked on with a light heart. He had lost some time, but he had gained something too: the gazes of those who used to find the John Nassens extremely awkward had changed. And in the process he had eased Litorio’s difficulties as well.
From now on I probably won’t have to hear ‘family of the guy who half-destroyed the Academy’ wherever I go.
Instead he would hear “Hero of the Empire!” or “Medal recipient!” first. So that was why people were so desperate to rack up achievements. As a bonus, he finally understood why Nell wanted to become a knight.
Nell… right. I’ve been far too neglectful of Nell.
He had unintentionally left a month-long hole in her personal training. He had even taken the payment and then ghosted for a whole month—that was absolutely unforgivable.
She’ll have been training steadily for the month. Tomorrow I’ll go give her a proper hard session.
He would make up for the missed month by being even harsher. With that thought, Kyle opened the door of the café where Yulika would be waiting.
Ding-a-ling—.
“Kyle!”
“Brother Kyle!”
“…?”
What on earth was this situation?
Yulika sat farthest inside. Right beside her was the Saintess. Across the table sat Elga and Tisha. The entire scene filled his vision.
Uh.
Kyle suddenly wanted nothing more than to turn around and flee.