Academy Achievement Rate 33.33% - 4
Three years. They had been years of endurance. I had volunteered for the student council—a post most people avoided whenever they could—and from my second year on I had been saddled with a junior who behaved more like a superior. But what choice did I have? I was merely a member of a viscount house, and not even the heir—just an ordinary son. Only by overcoming hardships of this sort and becoming a civil servant could I hold my head high and make a living.
And as if Enen Himself had taken pity on me, this year a grace greater than any other had descended.
"Next time we meet, it'll be in the administrative branch."
"Thank you again. Without the Audit Department Chief, it would have been impossible."
"Nonsense. You would have become a bureaucrat even without me. I just shortened the time a little."
I bowed my head again and again before the living grace standing before me, offering my thanks.
Even so, that grace spoke as if his mercy amounted to nothing. Yet that shortening of time had been more precious to me than anything.
A true teacher...!
In my heart the Audit Department Chief was already my mentor for life. How could he not be?
Normally a letter of recommendation came only after all manner of favors or deals. But the Audit Department Chief had given me one without any compensation, seeing potential in me that I myself had never known—a recommendation from a department chief, no less.
"The disciplinary chief is headed for the military, I hear?"
"Yes, sir! That's right!"
"I'm with the administrative branch myself, so I don't know many people over in the military. I'm afraid I won't be able to look after him much after recommending him."
After encouraging the officers bound for the administration, the Audit Department Chief gave the lone disciplinary chief headed for the military a firm pat on the shoulder.
That simple gesture seemed to overwhelm him. Receiving the recommendation alone was help enough for a lifetime, yet the Chief still apologized for not being able to watch over him more closely.
"Instead I've put in a word with His Grace the Duke of Victory. He likes promising young talent, so if you work hard the rewards will come."
"Th-thank you! Thank you so much!"
"Haha. I'm the one who should be thanking you."
At those words the other officers looked at the disciplinary chief with open envy.
A duke one might hope to exchange even a few seconds of greeting with once in a lifetime. To be remembered by such a man was a blessing beyond measure.
I felt a flicker of envy myself, but I brushed it aside at once.
"If you don't have anywhere particular in mind, come to the Audit Department. The deputy chief's office is desperate for clerical staff."
Those were the words the Audit Department Chief left as he stepped out of the student council room. It was as good as a personal invitation.
A true superior...!
I made up my mind. No matter what, I would go to the Audit Department.
I would bury my bones there.
I was walking along with a calm face when I heard Margeta snicker beside me.
"Congratulations, Karl. You've gained some fine subordinates, haven't you?"
"Haha. It's a blessing for the Empire."
More precisely, a blessing for the Audit Department.
Perfect.
The corners of my mouth lifted of their own accord. Nothing could be better. After a year of patient waiting I finally got to harvest the plump little chicks I'd fattened up.
The ones headed for the administration I had invited straight into the Audit Department; the single fellow going to the military I had introduced to the Duke of Victory, stacking up a modest favor in the process. When enough of those favors piled up, the military would occasionally send people our way.
It felt a bit like collecting ten coupons for a free chicken, but who cared?
"Next year I'll be a third-year myself."
Watching the third-year officers sell themselves—join, I mean—to me seemed to leave Margeta a little sentimental; her voice had gone soft.
People she had spent two years with were leaving, and now she would be the senior class. Complicated feelings were only natural.
"Yes. And the year after that will be our wedding."
At those words Margeta flinched, then let her gaze wander.
"No dropping out."
"...Heh. Of course not. A member of House Valenti would never do anything so irresponsible."
I could see exactly what she was thinking, so I said it quietly. Her answer came a beat late.
And if that answer sounded a little dejected, was I only imagining it? If I hadn't added that, I might have watched Margeta drop out after all.
"That's right. Besides, when our children ask about our school days, someone has to be able to give a proper answer, don't you think?"
I said it to cheer her up a little and stroked her hair.
Yes—at least one of the parents needed a diploma. Father never even started school, mother dropped out. Far too melancholy an academic record. The children might grow disappointed and go astray.
"Y-you're right. Of course we should."
Fortunately the words seemed to restore her spirits; Margeta smiled brightly.
Thanks to that, it looked as though we would have a happy closing ceremony, which was a relief.
The Academy's second-semester closing ceremony doubled as the graduation ceremony. After three years of school life, telling people already busy with their new posts to "come back in February for the graduation" was simply too much trouble.
Which meant I could escort the third-years straight into the administration—ah, forget the euphemism. I could kidnap them.
"Three years is but an instant compared to a lifetime, yet that instant may become a small stepping stone in your lives. If so, those three years will have been more precious than any others."
In the great auditorium where the closing ceremony was held, the headmaster offered his final advice to the students finishing their three years.
Meanwhile Villar and I spent a quiet moment together in a corner of the second floor, our minds—for once—completely free of every care and worry.
"So you're finally returning home after a full year."
"Yes. That's how it turned out."
Villar answered evenly, yet his face was filled with happiness he could not hide.
Villar. The pitiful knight who had spent a tearful year after meeting the wrong prince. Last summer break he had even been forced to remain in the Empire alone while everyone else went home.
"You've worked hard. Rest well this winter."
It might have been someone else's affair, but Villar was no stranger. He was a fellow den-mate who, like me, had been worked half to death after meeting the wrong superior.
At the happy news that he was finally going home, I offered my hand. Strictly speaking it called for a victory toss rather than a handshake, but the ceremony was still going on downstairs, so I restrained myself.
"Thank you. I hope the winter treats you well too, Inspector."
"Haha. I hope so myself."
As we shook hands, the faces of my prospective brides flashed through my mind of their own accord. Red... white... pink... yellow... white again...
Unfortunately this winter looked set to be more chaotic than any before. "Peaceful" was already out of the question.
Villar seemed to reach the same conclusion; an awkward smile crept over his previously calm, happy expression.
"To gain decades of happiness, one must sometimes endure a short stretch of hardship. That's simply how it is."
After a moment's thought, Villar spoke quietly.
It was a little surprising. He almost never opened his mouth first unless the conversation was about work. Occasionally we chatted about personal matters, but usually I was the one who raised the topic.
Yet here he was offering private advice of his own accord. Was this... the bond between fellow den-mates?
"Hearing that from a senior in life gives me strength."
I answered with a small smile, warmed by the sentiment. Honestly it did not feel as if the hardship would be brief, but measured against the decades ahead it would still be only an instant.
"Senior, is it? All I have to put forward before the Inspector is my age, so hearing myself called senior is a little embarrassing."
"Oh dear. If that's how you put it, I'll have to say I have no virtues left but youth."
At that we both simply smiled.
People clutching their gleaming diplomas scattered one by one, and the closing ceremony ended only after the fond seniors and juniors had finished their farewells.
"I'm heading out first. Have a good New Year, hyung."
"Yeah."
Erich left with the mage the family had sent.
"I'll take my leave as well. Let's meet at the New Year's Audience."
"You're attending too?"
"His Highness the Crown Prince said that now that he has come of age, it would be good for me to show my face."
Ainter, whose residence was the Imperial Palace, also departed, leaving behind the useful information that the Crown Prince's paranoia had clearly eased.
Well, of course. The Crown Prince no longer needed to waste attention on a half-brother whose maternal house had already been shattered. Even when I first entered the Academy the Crown Prince's position had been solid; nearly a year later it was only stronger, never weaker.
"Well then, Advisor! See you at the opening ceremony!"
"You don't have to come next year."
"Haha! How cold!"
I sent Ryutis off with a farewell packed full of sincerity. Please, Enen, let my sincerity reach You. Surely one year was long enough for study abroad.
One by one they left, until only the members who had planned a trip to the Imperial Capital remained. All that was left was to board a carriage and set off on a leisurely journey—
"His Grace has ordered me to escort you."
An unexpected variable exploded.
A mage of House Valenti appeared before Margeta. Bowing politely, he announced that he had come to fetch her—on the Iron Blood Duke's personal orders, no less.
"……."
"My lady?"
At the mage's words Margeta quietly pressed herself against my side.
She too seemed confused by the situation; her eyes darted about and she could not open her mouth. Whether to answer her father's summons or leave with her future husband was clearly a difficult choice.
But something felt off. Margeta had definitely told the Iron Blood Duke she was going to the Imperial Capital, not the Ulken Duchy. She was not the sort to forget so simple a report.
Why now?
Yet the Iron Blood Duke had still sent a mage on closing-ceremony day. If he simply wanted to see his daughter, the New Year's Audience would have—
...Ah.
He's trying to settle it beforehand.
I understood. The Iron Blood Duke was not calling only for Margeta; he wanted me, who would inevitably tag along when Margeta was summoned.
At the New Year's Audience I would meet the Demon Duke. And if the Iron Blood Duke had heard the rumors circulating in the capital, he would be worried I might choose the Demon Duke over Margeta.
So he intended to formalize my relationship with Margeta before that—whether by engagement or by marriage.
"Sir."
I addressed the mage who was fretting in front of the silent Margeta.
"You may call me Sir Filio, Audit Department Chief."
"Very well, Sir Filio. Did His Grace give you any additional instructions?"
"Well..."
The mage's lips worked for a moment before he continued.
"He said that if the Audit Department Chief asks exactly as you just did, then whatever you're thinking is correct, so don't bother trying to scheme..."
"Is that so."
"And that no matter how many guests there are, I am not to invent excuses."
"...I see."
A remark that already took Luise and Irina—who would be traveling to the capital with Margeta—into account.
If we had been planning to take a carriage to the capital anyway, then simply teleporting to the Ulken Duchy first was a consideration that warmed the heart.
"Mar. Let's go."
"Karl? Are you sure?"
"His Grace has invited all of us, hasn't he?"
The answer had already been decided.
...Yes, a trip to Ulken before the capital trip wouldn't be so bad. Luise and Irina would be delighted too.
Fuck.
The problem was that I still wasn't prepared for my limbs to get broken.
I had at least expected that to wait until next year.