The Academy Chancellor's Visit
"I have completed my report. I will escort you home, my lord."
"Good work. Let's move."
With the sun having passed its zenith and sinking lazily toward dusk, I rode alongside Winston on the road back to the manor.
We wound along the outskirts of the city center, where roomy two-story brick houses stood in generous rows. Eventually we left the great avenue that connected to other cities and turned onto a modest little side lane, dug out almost timidly.
I followed the quiet, nearly deserted one-lane road, savoring the scent of the trees, and there in the distance sat my manor—unpretentious, hardly bothering to announce itself.
With Riella and Winston as my entire household, a place this size was more than enough. The Count's territory lay nearby, so building anything grander would only draw eyes.
Had I achieved my goal of a leisurely life, then?
But life had taught me the nature of human greed. The moment you fulfill one desire, you find yourself gasping after another, and the things you've failed to fill keep catching your eye.
In my case, it was the job on my nametag.
When I arrived at the manor gate that blocked off the garden, there was, for some reason, a commotion.
A crowd had gathered. Most of them seemed to be commoners from the Count's territory, but five or so armored guards were mixed among them.
"Just when is that slave merchant supposed to show his face? He's probably hiding inside the manor, lying through his teeth."
"My master is not a man who tells lies so carelessly. And you will show respect when addressing a noble."
Riella, standing stiff and straight before the gate, was locked in a spat with Guard Captain Harold. I strolled leisurely up to the group.
"What seems to be the trouble?"
"Ah, my lord!"
Relief washed over Riella's face the moment she saw me. However resolute she'd appeared, she had clearly been holding her nerves taut for a long while, guarding the manor.
"So you finally deign to appear, Baron Slave Merchant. I am Harold, captain of the guard in direct service to the Caldwell Count family."
The guard captain proudly thumbed at his own nametag.
"You know better than I do why I'm here. Lately there have been cases of illegal slave trading, along with kidnappings occurring throughout the city."
"So?"
"What do you mean, so?! Don't play dumb, you slave merchant. It's obvious you're connected somehow, which is why I came to—"
"Before that."
I cut the captain off.
"One guard captain, four guardsmen, and roughly ten commoners of the Count's territory. You are, at this very moment, trespassing on the lands of House Pedia without my permission."
"What? What territory? You're a fake baron—stop changing the subject and—"
"This manor grounds and every parcel of land within a five-hundred-meter radius does not belong to the Count's territory. I contracted with the Imperial capital, paid for the privilege, and leased it for one hundred years. Under imperial law, a baron who purchased his title cannot own territory—but he can absolutely exercise authority over it. Naturally. I am a noble."
"Wh-what nonsense—"
"Which is to say, if I were to cut off your filthy neck right now on the grounds of unlawful intrusion, a judge would recognize the legitimacy of the act. Whether you understand that or not, remove yourself from my gate this instant. The audacity of you people."
The guard captain ground his teeth, eyes flashing wide.
"Don't posture at me! I am the captain of the Count family's guard! You think after pulling a stunt like that, the Count would ever let you set foot in his territory again?!"
I answered flatly.
"Why would you concern yourself with that, Captain? You'll be dead, after all. Unable to see how anything turns out."
"Ugh…!"
The guard captain instinctively stumbled back a step. I swept my gaze across everyone gathered there.
"The same goes for every one of you standing here. Do you see the fence across the road? Retreat beyond it, now. If you do it now, I'll be magnanimous and forgive you with a properly worded apology."
"An apology? Don't make me laugh—"
"You people seem to be laboring under some sort of misunderstanding."
I glared at them with sharp eyes. Several of them flinched.
"I am a noble, and you are commoners. The moment you lay eyes on me, you show courtesy—that is elementary common sense. Even now, wouldn't you say I'm showing you considerable mercy?"
At my words, everyone present turned into a roomful of swallowed tongues.
There was no possible rebuttal.
Whether they'd bought it with money, or whether the words Slave Merchant hung above my head—they couldn't deny the difference in standing between me and them.
The three-letter surname attached to my nametag said as much.
If there was one thing my long years in trade had taught me, it was this: in any transaction, I must always be the one holding the leverage.
Trouble always sprang from the weaker party. Swallowing the loss, enduring the mental anguish—it was always the one beneath who paid.
A deal was simply a deal. There was no reason on earth why I should ever stand in the other fellow's shoes.
"Fine, fine! We hear you!"
In the end, the guard captain folded. He approached Riella, who still held her post before the gate.
"You have it rough too, don't you—serving under a master with no blood or tears in him."
"I am not a slave. My master despises that form of address. Retract it."
"Come now, just do as I said and marry me. I am the captain of the Count family's guard, you know? I'll guarantee you a comfortable life."
"Get lost before I show you something uglier."
"Feisty. I like you even more now."
The guard captain leered, then turned and moved off. They retreated beyond the fence I had designated.
I remained inside it, on my own territory, still in the saddle and looking down at them. Winston stayed at my side, awaiting orders.
I addressed them.
"Are you ready to apologize?"
"Hold on, Baron. If you're the criminal, then naturally we have no obligation to apologize. This is a grave matter—kidnapping the citizens of our city and selling them off as slaves. And there is only one slave merchant in this city. You."
"A simple logic even a dove could weep at."
"These people are rescued victims, or the victims' families. They'll testify that you're the culprit!"
"Um… excuse me…."
The citizens the guard captain had brought along shuffled uneasily.
"What is it?"
"I saw that slave merchant once, and… I don't think it's that man. The merchant's nametag had no family name on it."
"…What?"
"His build looks different to me as well…."
"Don't be ridiculous! There was an incident today, just this afternoon! And all of you just watched him come riding back!"
"Today, you say? I was out subjugating monsters on a guild commission."
"Commission, my ass! Monsters! You're lucky a goblin didn't take you from behind!"
"Winston."
"Yes, my lord."
Winston presented the completion records for today's commissions to the guard captain. As he read them over, the man's expression steadily hardened into a pallid shade.
"C-Captain."
"Looks like… he really isn't it…."
THUD! The guard captain slammed his foot down.
"There's no proof he did this either! Two B-rank commissions? Absurd!"
"What adventurer hands over his commission records to someone else? These are all genuine accomplishments—"
"Then he's got accomplices!"
"Guard Captain."
I called out to him quietly. He glared up at me, face twisted with resentment.
"An apology is made on bended knee, with sincerity—expressing remorse for the deed and its reasons, and bowing your head. Oh—did you not know? Forgive me for assuming you lacked even the most basic of manners."
"Damn you!"
The guard captain's face flushed crimson. Clenching his fists, he trembled with fury.
"Don't make me laugh! I don't have to perform any clown act! And what will you do if I refuse?! Noble or not, you'd cut my head off right here? We serve the Count himself!"
And there it was—the accused turning accuser. I had expected as much.
Clip-clop. Clip-clop—
Just as I was weighing how best to deal with him, the sound of hoofbeats carried from far down the one-lane road.
The sound grew steadily louder. Something was heading this way.
"What now?"
The guards turned to look as well.
A single, luxurious, enormous carriage, drawn by three powerful horses. Beside it, a full ten soldiers in heavy armor escorted the vehicle.
A banner rippled in the wind. I recognized the crest at once.
I had seen it on the wiki, over and over again.
No matter how long it had been, I could never forget it.
"Wha—? Where did that come from? Hey, did anyone report this to us?"
"No, sir. Nothing."
"Every last one of them treats the guard like a joke…! Halt! Halt! Identify yourselves!"
The guards stepped forward to stop the carriage.
But the soldiers escorting it, far from halting at the sight of the guards moving to block them, began charging forward with even greater menace.
"Wh-wha—?!"
The mounted soldiers swept their long lances into the guards in an instant, batting them aside.
Crack! The sound of their ribs breaking reached my own ears.
"Aaagh!"
"You lunatics! Can't you see my nametag?! Striking the captain of the guard in the Count's own territory?!"
The soldiers paid the guards' cries no more heed than the wind and swept them away like so much baggage. It felt less like an assault than a simple clearing of the road ahead of the carriage.
The citizens who witnessed it scattered in terror to both sides. The crowd parted like the Red Sea, and through the gap the carriage rolled in.
"Whoa, whoa!"
The coachman brought the carriage to a precise stop directly in front of me. The door opened at once, and out stepped a white robe flowing down over a middle-aged man, his vest trimmed with gold ornamentation.
Every soldier snapped into formation, focused entirely on escorting him.
"Urk! A m-man of high standing, it seems…! My lord nobleman! I am the captain of the guard in service to the Count family! I've been injured in this assault! If you do not see this handled at once, you will surely find yourself in grave—"
"Silence!"
One of the soldiers bellowed, crushing the guard captain's spirit in an instant. Seizing him by the collar, he pressed their foreheads together and growled.
"The only reason your miserable life is still attached to your neck is this gentleman's command that there be no casualties. Be grateful, commoner."
Terrified, the guard captain managed a question.
"N-no, but… who in the world…."
"If you have eyes, then look properly."
The guard captain slowly turned his gaze sideways.
"Hiiik!"
Only now registering the middle-aged man's nametag, he broke out in a cold sweat, shrieked, and slammed his forehead straight into the dirt.
I too checked the man's nametag.
In its upper left corner, five small blue stars gleamed.
Among 4-star and 5-star jobs, there exist professions that only a single person in all the world may hold.
So it is with the Emperor, and likewise with the King and the Pope—each exists only once upon the continent.
And then there is the job of Academy Chancellor—not merely a headmaster, but a chancellor.
This, too, is a position meant for one person alone.
The reason is simple. He is the chancellor of the continent's only Goddess-sanctioned Hero Academy—the central stage of the original story.
The crest emblazoned upon his carriage and banner points to that one and only Hero Academy of the continent: Caesus Academy.
"Seeing that nametag, I know I've found the right man! Well met, O 'Legendary Teacher' of the Heroes!"
He laughed heartily and offered me his hand.