The Shining Diploma - 3
There was one guy whose face grew darker with every day the graduation date drew nearer.
"There's no such thing as deferred graduation at the Academy, is there?"
"As if."
That was Erich, spouting complete nonsense.
His reaction was a little unexpected. Sure, he had built friendships that transcended status with the members of the Baking Club, but he was hardly the sensitive type to get gloomy about parting ways. He was the kind of guy who would just say something cool like "Let's meet again someday if we get the chance!" and walk off. Besides, with communication orbs around, simple conversations were always possible.
Yet even while walking around arm-in-arm with Sera, Erich had started sighing constantly or staring blankly up at the sky. Anyone could see he was lost in heavy thoughts, so as his older brother I had been a little worried about him.
Right up until I learned the cause of that gloom.
"Why don't I have a little brother?"
I quietly looked away, ignoring Erich as he muttered the question in complete seriousness.
There was nothing special about why the guy who used to cackle at the endless rivalry between Ryutis and Later had ended up like this. He was simply dreading the fact that once he graduated he would have to serve as a proxy member of the Imperial Diet. The reason was so pathetic I felt foolish for ever having worried about him even a little.
Becoming a civil servant is the destiny of every Crassius.
I could only feel both pity and exasperation for Erich, who still refused to accept that destiny. Did he really think he would be fine after watching his older brother become a minister designate in his twenties and his father serve as a member of the Imperial Diet for decades?
If he had truly believed that, he would be an idiot—but while Erich might lack social awareness, he was no fool. He had probably accepted the reality; he just didn't want to embrace it.
I could understand. Every now and then the fact that I myself was a minister still filled me with a rage beyond words.
He's the only one who has it hard, though.
But what were mere slaves supposed to do when they got pissed off? Even if you handed your resignation to the master, it wouldn't be accepted.
If you truly wanted to go back to being a free man, you would have to cause a disaster so massive that they had no choice but to fire you. The problem was that any accident big enough to get a high-ranking official dismissed on the spot also carried a high chance of costing you your actual neck, not just your official one. If you weren't confident you could control the severity, you just had to shut up and work.
Isn't there a single competent guy out there somewhere?
Or if a new slave appeared who could replace the existing high-ranking officials, the old slave could step down.
If that happened, I was confident I could leave with a smile. I was even confident I would push with all my strength for any new sprout that looked like it could climb all the way up to my seat. Promote the kid once a month and it would be doable within a year.
The problem is that no such person exists.
I popped a cookie into my mouth with a bitter feeling. I had heard that other departments were full of people burning with ambition, their eyes fixed on promotion—so why was the Inspectorate Ministry in this state? Normally there were plenty of people who would try to devour a superior who was only a little younger or of lower birth—
Ah.
I had killed all those bastards myself, hadn't I?
This is my karma.
Historically, when you purged too excessively, the karma always came back around. Forgetting that had been my own mistake.
"Hyung."
"What."
While I was facing the karma of my past, Erich spoke up.
"When Pedi becomes an adult... Pedi will go to the Diet in your place, right?"
At those words, the hand reaching for another cookie froze.
"...Yeah."
I answered with a gut-wrenching feeling, because it was a reality I did not want to acknowledge.
From the moment Pedi was born, he had become the blood relative closest to me. In other words, the legitimate person who could act on my rights and duties was Pedi, not Erich.
So just as Erich said, once Pedi came of age he would have to take on the burden Erich currently carried. Unless the Countship of Tailglehen was transferred to someone else entirely, this was an inescapable destiny.
Damn Imperial Count.
A father's hope that at least his children could live as wealthy layabouts had been crushed by the shackles called Imperial Count.
An Imperial Count automatically became a member of the Imperial Diet. Wasn't that far too cruel a punishment?
"Seventeen years left, then."
And in the middle of all that, this so-called younger brother was sitting there calculating the day his nephew would become an adult. Was that even how an uncle was supposed to act?
...
Wait a second.
Seventeen years?
"You little bastard!"
"Urgh!"
After a moment of thinking it through, I could not hold back the instinctive rage that erupted and locked a chokehold around Erich's neck.
Seventeen was indeed the age of majority under imperial law, but if he took on the proxy seat in the Imperial Diet the moment he turned seventeen, he would not be able to enroll in the Academy. Pedi would have to walk the path of the unschooled just like I had.
"You dare try to turn someone else's son into an unschooled kid!"
"H-Hyung, you never went to the Academy either and you still succeeded!"
I ignored Erich's desperate thrashing and squeezed his neck even harder. The fact that he still had the strength to open his mouth meant I wasn't choking him hard enough.
Three generations of the unschooled is not happening.
Moreover, if Pedi also failed to enter the Academy, the successive heads of the Crassius family would proudly display a miraculous lineup of three unschooled men in a row. Father had started his civil service career straight away without enrolling in the Academy either.
"O-Oppa! Erich's eyes are rolling back!"
"Teacher of torture. I do want to stay in the Empire longer, but I would rather not stay for a funeral."
The family-honor-bound punishment only ended after Sera and the other club members desperately restrained me.
When bad things happen, good things are also supposed to come along. That is life.
"We plan to formally declare the establishment of the Inspectorate Ministry at the New Year's Audience."
But my life seemed to have nothing to do with that kind of equal exchange.
My head was spinning. It had only been a moment ago that I had heard my little brother deliver the brilliant provocation of "Your son will be unschooled too," and now I was hearing something from the Emperor along the lines of "You're no longer just a designate."
"Of course, in my heart the minister was already the minister, but being the minister at an official function is a different matter, is it not? Congratulations."
"It is truly... an honor, Your Majesty."
The urge to tell him to stop talking garbage rose all the way to my throat. From the moment I became the designate, every single person I met had already been calling me Minister—so what the hell was different?
If anything actually changed, it was that my salary would rise from department-head grade to minister grade and that I would be granted an official place in the order of precedence. Neither of those things would have any great impact on my life.
Order of precedence, huh.
Come to think of it, what would my rank be from now on?
Right now I occupied a delicate position above the department heads yet at the bottom among the ministers. Once the Inspectorate Ministry was formally established, I would escape that ambiguous spot. No matter how new the ministry was, there was no way a ministry charged with inspection work would sit at the very bottom of the hierarchy.
Just don't let it be too high.
The higher a minister's rank, the higher the chance that in an emergency he would have to take responsibility for the entire executive branch. The Minister of Finance, currently second in precedence, had already stepped in as acting head of the government the moment the Palace Minister's seat became vacant. And if the Finance Minister was also busy, the next minister down the line had to scramble.
If that cascade continued, it would not take long before even the fifth-ranked minister was rolling around in the dirt. Just imagining it brought tears to my eyes.
A comfortable eleventh or twelfth place would be fine.
I prayed with all my heart to the sun, the sky, and the plants.
I was not asking for some ridiculously high rank that did not match my station. I was only asking for a modest rank that suited my level.
So please, someone answer my prayer. Stop just calling me Apostle, high priest, or benefactor with empty words.
Please.
The closer the graduation ceremony drew, the harder my heart pounded.
More precisely, I was so excited for the new year that would follow the ceremony that I could not calm my chest at all.
Now it's my turn.
I stroked my trembling chest with a shaking hand and kept taking deep breaths.
Now, now it was my turn. Sister Mar and Master had already married, so next came me, the third.
"...Heh-heh."
A strange little laugh slipped out before I could stop it, so I glanced around for no reason. Even though I was alone in my dorm room.
"Hee-hee-hee."
And once I confirmed again that no one else was there, I could not stop laughing.
The wedding that had always felt so far away was now right in front of me. In just a few more weeks I would no longer be a fiancée but a proper wife.
And in the hometown I loved and cherished, no less.
"There's no law that says a wedding has to be lavish. Inviting only the people close to you in your hometown can be just as joyful."
When I had asked whether we could hold our wedding in the Attini Barony, my older brother had looked briefly startled but still answered that way.
"Still, this is the only wedding of Rory's life. If you change your mind, you absolutely have to tell me."
Along with the words that if I ever wanted a grand ceremony, I should say so at any time.
It was the same considerate reply as always, but I declined. Sister Mar had received Enen's blessing in St. Paronas Cathedral, and Master had witnessed the revival of the World Tree in the Elf Sanctuary. The previous weddings had presented miracles one after another, so no matter what kind of ceremony I prepared, I would inevitably be compared to them.
In that case, holding a plain, quiet wedding without pressure was also a method. No—it was the right method.
If I try to continue the streak, everyone after me will feel burdened.
I was not the last; I was the third. Three more weddings still remained after mine.
The chances were low, but what if some strange event occurred at my wedding just like the previous two? If three consecutive abnormal weddings took place, how heavy would the pressure be on the next bride?
So I chose the Attini Barony. I even rejected Master's offer to prepare a splendid ceremony for her only disciple and picked that place.
Because it's the land we'll pass on to our child.
The Attini Barony that I would someday inherit. And the Attini Barony that I would pass on to the child born between me and my older brother.
If we held the wedding in such a place, wouldn't it remain a forever-happy memory?
It will be good for the two of them as well.
And for Mother and Father's sake, it was the right choice.
The Attini Barony was our hometown and our foundation, but looked at another way, it was also the place where Sister Hilda had left our side. It was a place where a wound that could never be erased still remained.
I wanted to soothe that wound even a little. I wanted to cover Attini with new happiness.
It's all right for them to smile now.
I no longer wanted to see Mother and Father shed tears when they looked at the hills and riverbanks where Sister Hilda used to run and play. I wanted to see them smile instead.