You're So Bad at This - 2
Olivia had said it would be enough if I just stood there with my arms crossed, but if I really did nothing more than that, I could never suppress the fanaticism of the club members. More accurately, I could never handle the students who had gone completely mad after being stirred up by the royals—that was the proper way to put it.
The Academy was vast, the students numerous, and the arenas scattered all over the place. Unless I learned some cloning technique, supervising every single arena would be impossible. So whether I intervened or not, the chance of students causing incidents was never low. Human madness is that terrifying and unpredictable.
"This will be our final activity."
"Let's make sure this class tournament also ends without incident."
Thanks to that, I held a meeting with Villar to discuss maintaining public order during the class tournament.
Of course, it was not a hastily arranged meeting. Just as I had worked myself half to death every year to keep club members from causing trouble, the forces of the Three Kingdoms, headed by Villar, had also been working like dogs for the safety of their countries' key figures. That they would be grinding just as hard this year was an obvious future that needed no saying.
But whenever the Three Kingdoms' forces moved, they did so through me or the principal, so the Student Council—being a mere student organization—could never treat those foreign martial artists as their own personnel. If they had treated another country's warriors as manpower they could freely command, that would have been even stranger.
It'll probably just end with a bit of noise.
I organized my thoughts while looking over the patrol schedule Villar and I had finished. First of all, it was true that the atmosphere of this year's class tournament felt ominous. The Student Council and the Discipline Committee had not freaked out for nothing.
But in preparation, the Discipline Committee had squeezed every last drop from their supplies, and I and the Three Kingdoms' forces intended to thoroughly supervise the arenas. Unless it was the inevitable noise that comes from the hard limit of a minority managing the majority, the chance of an accident beyond that was low.
Indeed, the more manpower the better. If I had been the only one able to help the Discipline Committee, something would have exploded two or three times a day. I could guarantee it.
"By the way, Inspector."
While I was inwardly praying for the class tournament to end safely, Villar spoke up.
"I heard something unusual recently."
"Something unusual?"
It was an ominous line, so I spun my thoughts quickly. If Villar was bringing it up to me, it had to be truly unusual—yet nothing particular came to mind.
Moreover, after Olivia's earnest request, the Student Council had not even contacted me, and Mar had not exchanged a single message with the Student Council president either. It was a peaceful situation with absolutely no variables worth mentioning.
"I'm only repeating a conjecture I heard from His Highness Ryutis, so I'm not certain, but I thought the Inspector should know as well."
Sensing my confusion, Villar subtly shook his head and added the caveat.
Even more unsettling. Of all people, it had to be something Ryutis said—
"It seems Marquis Idrafen of the Empire is aiming for victory in this class tournament."
"What?"
"And the one egging the Marquis on is supposedly Baron Hardiner."
My rapidly spinning mind stopped dead, as if by a lie.
What did he just say?
Who's aiming for victory?
Was the two-power structure of Ryutis and Later turning into a three-power structure?
Who's egging him on?
And the black curtain trying to turn the two-power into three was my little brother brat?
My hands trembled under the sudden wave of bewilderment and rage. Of course I had thought I only needed to watch Ryutis's and Later's classes—or more broadly just the students from Armein and Uben—but if Villar's words were true, then Ainter and the rest of the Imperial students would also become persons of interest.
And the number of Imperial students enrolled at the Imperial Academy was overwhelming.
"That's a rather shocking conjecture. If it's true, the class tournament will proceed in a completely different manner from last year."
"Yes. The entire Academy will be swept up in the fervor."
Both Villar and I were attaching the word "conjecture," yet we were both already prepared for the fact that it was essentially confirmed.
After all, it was something a royal had said directly to his subordinate. No matter how much of a devil's mouth Ryutis possessed, a royal was still a royal. A royal's words must always carry weight; he cannot dodge his own statements with irresponsible shrugs of "or maybe not."
In other words, the class tournament turning from a foreign two-power structure into a three-power structure with the Empire joining in, and Erich being involved in that damned situation, would both be true.
This is insane.
My head spun. The already heated atmosphere of the class tournament was going even more mad.
Damn little brother brat.
Eventually, with trembling hands, I subtly rubbed the back of my neck. If I did not do at least that much, I felt my blood pressure would spike and I would simply collapse.
Why—why had he done something like that? In a class tournament that was already a pain even if left alone… why pour oil on it? Why you, of all people, my little brother?
I could not believe it. I could not accept the reality that my little brother had driven a knife straight into my solar plexus. It was not as if I had failed him; I had even set him up with two prospective wives.
…What do I do.
My head, which had been wailing in betrayal for quite a while, soon began to dread the catastrophic future.
What the hell do I do about this? If the Imperial students go mad too, can we handle it with just us? First of all, the Discipline Committee will probably bite their tongues as a group.
Frankly, I want to bite mine too. I would rather just lie down for a while with an injury.
Looking at the Inspector rubbing the back of his neck with a stiff face, I brought the teacup to my lips.
The brothers are both equally rowdy.
It was a thought that would make the dejected Inspector feel wronged if he knew, yet if one counted the record of making the class tournament rowdy, the Inspector was no less than Baron Hardiner.
The Inspector had knocked His Highness Ryutis unconscious the year before last, and last year he had shown the spectacle of splitting a meteorite together with the Magic Lord. Honestly, no matter how rowdy this year's class tournament became, it would still be milder than the actions the Inspector had already displayed. Students fighting was ultimately just kids' fights.
That was why I could maintain my composure. Unlike the Inspector, who could not recall his own track record, I had cultivated an unwanted tolerance over two years. No matter how much the students flew and crawled, I was confident I could watch with a smile.
…
If only the Inspector hadn't come.
Suddenly even that thought rose. The Inspector had come to the Academy because of the enrollment of key foreign figures including His Highness Ryutis, yet the incidents caused by those key figures and the incidents caused by the Inspector were about equal.
No—depending on the case, the Inspector was even ahead. At least His Highness Ryutis had never split a meteorite in front of the continent's people.
Covering up others' incidents by burying them under his own.
The Inspector's method was truly admirable. A marvelous approach that not just anyone could imitate.
It's a relief that Armein doesn't have someone like that.
This too would make the Inspector feel wronged if he knew, but it was sincere. As a martial artist the Inspector was someone I truly respected, yet if I had to live with the Inspector as a bureaucrat, I felt certain I would never die of natural causes. The Inspector would stand at the center of every uproar and incident, and I, standing nearby, would clearly die either physically or mentally.
And the Inspector himself would be unharmed.
That was the most horrific situation of all. A walking disaster that did not even get hurt.
"Sir Villar."
Just as I was about to feel gratitude that the Academy education period ended after three years, the Inspector's words made me set the teacup down on the desk.
"Yes, Inspector."
"I'll have a talk with Baron Hardiner myself."
As expected, I lightly nodded.
If the older brother stepped in, any further worsening of the situation could be prevented.
The moment I saw Erich entering the club room with a calm face, I almost unleashed a neck slice.
But I held back because right next to him stood my prospective sister-in-law Sera. No matter how angry I was, I could not beat up a prospective husband in front of his prospective wife.
Damn it.
But thinking about it only made me more pissed. I could not thrash my little brother because of the lovers I myself had connected? How unfair was that.
"Hey."
Anyway, the moment I saw Erich I crooked my finger. I barely suppressed the "you bastard" that almost followed the "hey."
I guessed my patience had improved a great deal since becoming a head of household. So this was the dignity of one who takes responsibility.
"Come here for a sec."
"Uh, yeah."
At the short, concise command, Erich approached me with quick steps.
Seeing that, a snort of laughter escaped me. Approaching immediately without even a question meant that even he himself thought he had done something worth getting scolded for.
If only Sera weren't here.
For a moment the Room of Truth that my first father-in-law so favored flickered before my eyes. Father-in-law, I used to wonder why you built something so vicious… but it was the discerning eye forged by experience…
"The class tourna—"
"Hyung, I can explain everything."
Before I could even finish the sentence, Erich struck first.
"Go ahead."
It was a violation of the principle of seniority engraved into the soul that would make it scream, but right now it might be better to hear Erich's excuse first. If I opened my mouth without hearing any excuse, dual curses might come out midway.
"It's weird for Imperial students to lose at the Imperial Academy. Moreover, it's also the year a member of the Imperial family graduates, so if we decorate it with victory, the Empire's prestige will rise."
"You little—!"
But at the excuse that it was merely part of a pride fight, my anger grew even fiercer.
The Empire's prestige has been raised plenty by me and Trixie, you crazy bastard.
"O-Oppa! You'll kill Erich like that!"
Unable to hold back my anger any longer, I locked Erich in a chokehold, and Sera freaked out and pounded on my forearm.
Sorry to Sera, but I needed about ten seconds of this for my heart to settle. I would only go until right before he passed out, so please.
I punished Erich's sudden action with force.
"When the end is enjoyable, even previous hardships turn into beautiful memories."
But Ainter, who had been bewitched by Erich, had already been corrupted.
It was truly a sad thing. Erich could be fixed by beating him; an Imperial family member and Marquis could not even be beaten.
"So let us decorate the end with our victory."
"Long live the Empire! Long live victory!"
Right after the class tournament opening ceremony, Ainter swearing victory in front of the Imperial students looked just like a general heading out onto the battlefield.
But was it just my imagination? Looking at Ainter, who was consistently using honorifics toward his classmates, I felt a subtle madness that words could not explain. I knew that honorifics between classmates were prohibited at the Academy.
That guy is definitely not normal either.
Half the blood flowing in that body was the Retired Emperor's. The other half was Aesilon's.
Come to think of it, it would be strange for him to be normal with that composition.