Experienced Ones Are Better - 1
After the trip to the Imperial Capital, the Baking Club room had turned into a multipurpose hall.
It had already been serving that purpose thanks to the club’s completely unhinged members, but at least a chessboard or a deck of poker cards could still be shoved into a drawer. Now, enormous tools that had nothing whatsoever to do with baking sat proudly in the middle of the Baking Club room as if they belonged there.
"If I grind the scales into the existing reagents… no, wait. Aging them by soaking them straight in potion might not be bad either."
"That sounds promising. With materials this fine all piled together, the effect should be extraordinary."
The Demon Duke spoke as though seeking my agreement. Of course, as a mere swordsman I had no idea whether it was good or bad. I was simply answering in a way that seemed appropriate because she looked so delighted.
"Hehe. Look forward to it. Something beyond imagination is going to come out of this."
At my reply the Demon Duke’s smile deepened, and she dropped the scales into the potion.
Scale-infused liquor.
The thought rose unbidden. It was an extremely rude thing to think about a dragon that had gifted something so precious, but what was I supposed to do when it looked exactly like infused liquor? Golden Dragon Scale, vintage 78. Just hearing the name made the chest swell with grandeur—
Swell my ass.
I shook off the insane idea and stared at the scales and claws carefully laid out on the table. The Demon Duke, whose ears had already been standing sky-high after receiving a tour of the mansion, had been unable to hide her joy the moment she saw the dragon byproducts. To a mage, dragon materials were the absolute highest grade of reagents. And unlike blood, these could not be obtained on any regular schedule, which made them all the rarer.
Having suddenly come into possession of such treasures, the Demon Duke had fluttered her ears in pure delight at the perfect combination of “gift received from me” plus “experimental material that sets a mage’s passion ablaze,” and proceeded to fill the Baking Club room with every experimental apparatus imaginable.
Fortunately the other members did not particularly mind. Later, for one, was practically moved to tears at the chance to watch the Demon Duke’s experiments in real time. President Luise, being a mage herself, also showed considerable interest.
She’s going to make jewelry out of that?
Even thinking about it again left me speechless. Materials the Demon Duke herself handled with the utmost care, materials mages salivated over—using those to make jewelry? If anyone had actually done it, their name would have gone down in history as a madman.
At least she had come to her senses before handing them over to a jeweler. Accessories made of dragon scales versus a sword made of dragon claws: if one had to choose, the latter was clearly the cooler option.
Magic experiments on one side, baking on the other. At first I had worried about the hygiene of the whole arrangement.
"All the history exams these days are completely Northern-focused."
"Let’s look on the bright side. Where else but the Academy would we ever get to study Northern history?"
Luckily the Academy had entered exam season, so simultaneous experiments and baking sessions were avoided. If it had not been exam period, the Demon Duke would probably have experimented only while the members were in class.
"Theory tests are nothing but a hassle. For a swordsman, isn’t it enough to do well on the practical?"
"Agreed. A knight speaks with his sword."
Erich muttered the complaint as though thoroughly annoyed, and Ryutis nodded so vigorously it looked like his head might come off.
Meanwhile the notebook in front of Ryutis showed no intention of turning past the first page. He had abandoned it so completely that I almost felt sorry for Villar if the knight ever saw the sight.
Empty-headed bastard.
It was a pitiful display. No matter how important martial prowess was for a knight, he still needed a basic brain. A swordsman with nothing between his ears was not a knight—he was just a thug.
Sera seemed to share my opinion; she kept glancing sideways at Erich. She could not very well scold a foreign prince, but she looked fully prepared to refuse to stand by while the childhood friend she loved turned into a complete idiot knight.
"By the way, Erich, have you decided on your sparring partner?"
The moment Ryutis spoke to Erich first, Sera visibly flinched.
Don’t worry—talking to him doesn’t transfer intelligence. And surprisingly, while Ryutis’s behavior was bizarre, his actual intellect was decent enough. The problem was that he invested all of that intellect into eccentric stunts.
In any case, Erich lightly shook his head at the question.
"Not yet. No one I particularly want, so I’ll just take whoever gets assigned."
In other words, he was leaving partner selection on automatic rather than manual. In the first year students still did not know one another’s skill levels well, so they followed the Academy’s decisions. By the second year, however, everyone already knew everything that needed knowing—how weak or strong someone was relative to oneself, who was roughly equal. The Academy seemed to regard that assessment of skill as part of ability itself, and allowed voluntary designation if both parties agreed.
That was why second year usually brought fierce games of chicken as everyone hunted for a suitable opponent. Erich, confident in his own strength, had simply let go of the reins. Seeing that Crassius confidence made this older brother proud.
"What about you?"
"Hmm, I decided right away."
Erich’s return question received an unexpected answer. Ryutis’s confidence was, if anything, greater than Erich’s—there was no way it was less. And yet he had gone through the whole staring contest and personally designated someone?
"Charles Olid. Truly an outstanding knight. I wanted to face him again this year, so I applied immediately!"
Ah.
At those words, not only I but every member who knew the circumstances fell silent.
This merciless bastard. Of all people, he had to pick him.
For a student of the Swordsmanship Department, the practical examination mattered far more than any theory test. Finding a suitable sparring partner was therefore an essential labor if one wanted a smooth and comfortable exam.
Of course, openly choosing a weakling was something to be avoided. Setting aside whether the opponent would even accept, such an obvious trick was the sort of thing that drew the instructors’ eyes. Irritating the teachers who assigned the grades could turn a bid for an easy match into something far more painful.
So I had been choosing my opponent with the utmost caution—
"Instructor, I am sorry, but could you please say that again?"
—only for that caution to come back and poison me.
I had been preparing for the theory exams when the sudden summons from the head instructor of the Swordsmanship Department startled me, but the reason for the summons left me beyond startled—I was horrified. In my shock I even committed the rudeness of talking back to a head instructor who was himself a titled noble.
"Student Ryutis has designated you as his sparring partner for the practical examination."
Even so, the head instructor answered kindly, as though he understood perfectly.
Honestly, at that moment I would have preferred anger and a claim that it was only a joke. Please.
"My skill is insufficient. I cannot possibly be a match for Ryutis."
I clung to my fading consciousness and managed a rebuttal.
Yes, I was lacking. Could a mere student stand against a prince of a kingdom of knights? This was clearly a case of a master picking a novice. Naturally it should never have been allowed.
"Your humility is excessive. If you are insufficient, then scarcely any student in this Academy can be called a proper human being."
Yet my perfectly reasonable objection only seemed to please the head instructor further; he began explaining why I was the justified choice of partner.
I don’t need justification—just stop it. Tell him to pretend it never happened, that you’ll handle it on your end. I have no desire to face a prince two years in a row.
Is he doing this on purpose?
A rational suspicion flickered through my mind. A prince still needed a sparring partner no matter what, so rather than foist the duty on someone else, they might simply be dumping it on the one person who already had experience.
No. Absolutely not. Had I not been worked like a dog last year? How many times had I nearly died of anxiety wondering whether I would accidentally wound royal flesh, or whether my attempt at a quick defeat would be noticed? Luck had allowed me to lose cleanly without discovery last time, but there was no guarantee that luck would hold this year.
Damn it. If I had known, I would just have designated Erich myself. At least then I could have earned points for bravely challenging a superior opponent and going down in glorious defeat.
"…Please give me a little more time. Just a little more time to think."
"Of course. A sparring partner must be chosen with care. I hope you reach a good conclusion."
"Yes. Thank you."
The “good conclusion” the head instructor spoke of was surely me accepting quietly. But if the conclusion required someone to be sacrificed, could it really be called good?
Not long afterward I received another summons from the head instructor—sir, not “bastard.” I still had not come up with a decent excuse for refusal, which made things awkward.
"If you show an excellent performance against a difficult opponent, you can expect a fine score."
He even dangled grades as bait, but it failed to interest me in the slightest.
Of course, if the head instructor himself was talking about scores, the number would be quite high—higher than any normal effort could hope to achieve.
"I have no confidence that I can show an excellent performance."
Still, I refused. Better a lower score and no match at all.
"You underestimate yourself far too much. As the instructor who has watched you for a full year, I guarantee you will show something good. Good enough that I would not be ashamed to introduce you as my student."
Those words made me flinch for a moment. Introducing me as his student meant I could receive a letter of recommendation from a head instructor renowned throughout the swordsmanship world.
…No. No, even so, this was not worth it. A recommendation from the head instructor would be nice, but its absence would not be a fatal blow. I could not afford to grow greedy and end up bleeding for it.
"You flatter me. I am more worried I would only soil your honor—"
"And I am not the only one who thinks so."
Before I could finish, the head instructor held something out. His iron determination not to accept refusal made my teeth grind, but the look that said “just look at them before you speak” forced me to yield.
I did not expect much. Probably recommendation letters from the other instructors of the Swordsmanship Department. Stacking those on top of the head instructor’s would mean the entire department was endorsing me as a talent.
But even if the entire Academy endorsed me, I still did not want to—wait…?
Am I dreaming?
The moment I saw the scraps of paper the head instructor had handed over, my eyes went wide. They were recommendation letters, yes—but not under any instructor’s name.
Only two sheets. Yet each name on them was extraordinary.
The Audit Department Chief?
One was from the Audit Department Chief. Rumors about the Audit Department Chief were famous. There was a legend—not quite a legend—that he remembered promising students and, the instant they graduated, dragged them off. Indeed, last year’s entire Student Council executive had been guided by the Audit Department Chief straight into the administrative or military branches without a single examination.
To claim I had never harbored secret hopes after hearing those rumors would be a lie. A recommendation from the head instructor was merely the endorsement of a famous figure in the swordsmanship world. A recommendation from the Audit Department Chief was the support of a sitting giant. The weight was incomparable.
And the other—
Ryutis.
I was shocked in an entirely different way from when I saw the Audit Department Chief’s letter. I had never imagined I would also receive a recommendation from Ryutis.
Officially, a recommendation from a foreign prince could not influence the Empire. But that was only the official stance. An Imperial noble receiving recognition from foreign royalty inevitably became an unspoken bonus. People would exclaim over what sort of person could win the acknowledgment of royalty itself.
Beyond that, it could be flaunted in high society as proof of deep ties with royalty. Even if I never dreamed of becoming a bureaucrat or soldier, the letter was useful in countless ways.
…This bastard.
At the same time an indescribable emotion surged up. If he had gone so far as to write a recommendation letter just to request a sparring match, did that not mean he knew exactly how desperately I had been gritting my teeth to avoid facing him?
And he designated me anyway? Did he think a couple of recommendation letters would make me forget everything and dance with joy?
"I cannot betray such trust. I will do my utmost."
He was right. The old me was dead. The coward who had tried to dodge the designation had died, and only a knight who boldly accepted the challenge remained.
Being worked for free and being worked for pay were two different things.
For His Highness Ryutis, I would stake my very soul.