Chapter 52.
"By the way, what subject are you planning to take?" Flam asked.
"I am thinking of applying for the Empire Language and Study of Adventuring in addition to five mandatory subjects," I pleasantly answered.
"Oh! Is that so? Actually, I was thinking of applying for adventuring studies as well. Don’t all men dream of adventuring? Don’t you think it’s a study that stimulates your dreams?"
Flam seemed to be someone who knew something. Rather than thinking that he was just old, I thought he was decent.
"And I’ve decided to take a history cla.s.s."
"History?"
"Yes, they say knowing history is the same as preparing for the future. And I’m curious as to what the victor wrote."
Flam somehow gave a bitter smile.
"Victor?"
Flam was perplexed when I tilted my head.
"No, well, you know. The victor is the record of history!"
History is recorded by the victors, isn"t it? Before I could correct the words, Flam walked ahead quickly first. Well, I suppose it’s best to drink a Maldives in Mojito.
“Let’s go together!"
I quickly caught up.
The auditorium that we were just at and the place to apply for cla.s.ses were not far away, so we arrived quickly. We ran into familiar people as we were coming out after quickly filling out cla.s.s applications.
"Wow~! Den!"
As if charging at me, he threw himself to hug, but I grabbed his head with one hand to stop him.
"It"s hot. Don"t cling to me."
"Hing, so cold."
"Good thing since it’s hot.”
Why is this guy trying to cling on to me when it"s August?
I ignored the teary-faced Alphonso and asked the Lisbon accompanying him, "Today is also the induction ceremony for the knight school, right?"”
As usual, Lisbon gave a pleasant smile and nodded. Seeing the two together, the entrance ceremonies for the low-rank and middle-rank knight schools seemed to have been held together.
"The cla.s.s starts in September. I still can"t believe it."
"But I’m jealous that you have a long break," I remarked.
The knight school started new semesters in March and September, just like the schools of my previous life. The training for civil servants would begin in three days without any mercy, so I envied them.
Well, I was just receiving training before the empire would send me off to an a.s.signed department, but those two were going to live as actual students. There would definitely be a difference.
"h.e.l.lo, excuse me, but who are you?" Flam asked.
He had been alienated while I was talking to Lisbon. "Oh, this is Lisbon, an older brother who lives with me in the boarding house. He entered the middle-rank knight school this time.
"My name is Lisbon von Carter."
When Lisbon offered his hand, Flam burst into a hearty laugh and received the handshake.
"Hahaha, I am Flam Dainter. If you"re in the middle-rank knight school, you must be older. Please speak with ease.”
Lisbon entered the middle-rank knight school at the age of 20, so he was older.
"Huh? Excuse me, but your age~"
“I"m seventeen years old this year," Flam said.
Although you look 37.
Also shocked by Flam’s response, Lisbon failed to stop staring. "Ah, yes. No, uh, yeah....”
He seemed very uncomfortable forcing himself to speak informally. It was the first time I had seen him so fl.u.s.tered. He was the type of person who would just lightly laugh when Alice scolded him.
"And this is Alphonso, he lives in the same boarding house, and he is entering the low-rank knight school this year," I interjected.
Alphonso greeted happily. "h.e.l.lo!"
"Oh! Nice to meet you. It"s a pleasure to make friends of similar age." Flam took Alphonso"s hands with a happy face.
"Friend?"
Alphonso looked at Flam with glistening eyes at the word friend. He looked like a child tempted by candy.
Perhaps I should train him to refuse even if some middle-aged man approached him saying- "Do you want to be a secret friend with me?".
"Yes, friend’s parents are my parents, and friend’s friends are my friends. If you"re friends with Den, it’s no different from being my friend."
Uncle, when did I become friends with you?
I am definitely introverted, but somehow friendly people kept approaching me.
"Since it"s fate that I met you here, I"ll buy today’s lunch," Flam said.
However, the true pushover Lisbon waved his hand.
"No, you can"t....”
When the crybaby declined, Flam laughed heartily.
"Hahaha! Don"t decline. Even trainees get a salary."
As Flam said, even a trainee earns a small salary as a civil servant. Of course, not now, but from the 25th of this month.
Flam insisted and eventually we headed for lunch.
-o-
Yuria arrived at a restaurant being run like a café near the magic school to meet her uncle, William. Sitting by the window with a drink, she waited for the elder who was running later than the promised time.
The entrance ceremony of the magic school was the following day. Alphonso, Den, and Lisbon were entering today and would be at school by now.
Yuria tried to attend Alphonso"s entrance ceremony, but he had refused. Since he said even William wasn’t coming, she was partly worried, partly happy that her twin brother seemed to be growing up.
He used to be lonely, unable to make a single friend back in the village. So he had always leaned on her. But seeing him make friends on his own as soon as he had arrived in the capital, she felt relieved.
The b.u.t.terfly Tribe was so connected to magic that their obsession with it showed. In such a place, Alphonso, who had no talent for magic, could only be left out. Of course, the grand elder of the tribe was their grandfather, so the people did not blatantly look down on him.
But even Yuria could feel the underlying contempt. Her feeling that it was fortunate that she came to the capital wasn’t only because of her brother. The combination of being uniquely talented even within the tribe and having a grand elder as a grandfather, made her an object of longing. As such, she lived her days feeling like her every action was being judged.
Leaving the suffocating village and meeting her first friend, Den, in the capital, she was worried that when he found out about her grandfather, he would send envious glances her way.
Yuria"s grandfather was a legendary great elemental magician, ‘Glacial Demon’ was one of his many monikers. And she had inherited that great blood.
To anyone learned in magic, the name alone was enough to make them lower their heads. However, Den had simply said that she and her grandfather were different people as if it weren’t a big deal. Unlike a magician who valued succession of magic, he had regarded her as an individual, unlike those outside the village who valued the bloodline.
That made her very happy.
"What are you thinking and giggling about that you didn’t even notice me arrive?"
Yuria exclaimed in surprise at William who suddenly appeared sitting in front of her.
"Ah! You scared me! When did you arrive here?”
"Hmm, probably around when you went from a blank to a flushed face and giggled?" William said with a shrug, a sly smile graced his lips.
Yuria flew into a rage and hit the table. "When... when did I blush and giggle!"
"Why don"t you drop the corners of your mouth that are up now first?"
Yuria immediately straightened the corners of her mouth.
"See, even you know that you were giggling.”
"Uncle!"
William laughed happily as a flushed Yuria puffed out her cheeks.
"Hahaha, ok. How is living in a boarding house? Ok?" He changed the subject.
“Well, it"s all right,” she replied, glaring at him and still miffed.
“I"m glad it’s all right.”
"It can’t be helped since Uncle has to go up to the Demon’s Territory in a few months."
William was slated to switch out with General Orphina from the Dragon Tribe. Moreover, he was still busy and couldn"t come back often to take good care of the twins and hence sent them to Arscilla"s boarding house.
"Thanks for understanding. Tell me everything you need before I go up to Demon"s Territory. I"ll prepare as much as I can."
"I understand."
"And thanks for being the escort. There"s no one else to trust."
When William thanked her for being the princess’s escort, Yuria shook her head.
"No. Uncle is supporting all the tuition and living expenses, so this much is not difficult. It"s only escorting while she is in the school, right?”
Yuria was also interested in the extremely rare anti-magician. As a magician, it was a waste to miss out on the opportunity to take a closer look at the properties between anti-magic and magic.
"Yes, and I would be thankful if you taught her some magic here and there."
"That would be good, too. Huhuhu."
"Yes, hahaha."
All of the sudden, Yuria and William"s gazes twinkled like that of a researcher.
As the two were making a plan while laughing evilly as if they had become mad magicians, a sound like it was being blocked by a wall came from outside the window.
"Yuria~! Uncle~!"
Alphonso was dangling outside the window and waving his hands.
-o-
The place that Flam dragged us to for lunch was a restaurant operating like a café near the training center.
"I"ve been here once before, and the food tasted good.”
At the restaurant, I felt a strangely familiar mana. I secretly went towards it.
"Den, where are you going?"
Alphonso followed me. Is this kid a chick? Then I think a mother hen would match better with Lisbon as compared to me.
Thinking as such, I stealthily turned my head towards the window of the restaurant. I could see Yuria in the window seat. The strangely familiar mana turned out to be hers.
She was usually very good at controlling mana. Was there a sudden fluctuation in her emotions?
Was the young man with white hair sitting across from her the cause?
He looked a little too old to be called a young man. Still, he looked younger than Flam, so he seemed to be in his late 20s and early 30s at most.
"Ah, it"s Yuria and Uncle."
Alphonso, who was slightly sticking his head out like me, said happily.
But, Uncle? If it"s his uncle... then General William of the b.u.t.terfly Tribe?
We should definitely go to another restaurant. William was a close friend of Uncle b.l.o.o.d.y, so there was nothing good about meeting him.[1]
"Yuria~! Uncle~!"
Alphonso, who was next to me, was somehow now hanging by the window and waving.
"Wa-wait!"
Before I could stop him, the pair saw the guy and opened the window.
Dang it! First of all, I checked to make sure my mana was hidden well. Good.
I controlled my mana level to around that of the normal person guarding Mrs. Arschilla at the boarding house. I don"t know about others since I’ve only observed those guards, but this much should be considered a normal level of mana. But honestly, I was nervous.
I didn’t know William"s level, but since he was sent by the b.u.t.terfly people to form friendly ties with the empire, he was more likely to be stronger than me. I learned magic almost by myself except alchemy and basic magic. But he likely learned from the b.u.t.terfly Tribe where they were overflowing with people more talented in magic than me.
1. Uncle b.l.o.o.d.y has come up a few times now and some might be wondering if it’s supposed to be Vlad since his full name is actually Vladimir. I believe it is likely Vlad, but since the author wrote it in a way that sounds like b.l.o.o.d.y, and it has been used up till now, I will keep it this way for now unless others think I should change it.