Chapter 25

The eldest son of the Stagius Baron House, Kain Stagius looked at the young man on stage.

At the Adventurer introduced as Shion and was currently famous in the royal capital.

It seemed that he was someone known even among the lined up new students and guests, as the assembly hall was engulf in commotion together with his entry on stage.

Looking at it from the view of the commoner students that aspired to be Adventurers, he was literally what they aspired to be.

However, when it came to the sons and daughters of nobles, there were some somewhat complicated feelings.

Some of them thought of him as a commoner that simply got carried away, while others thought that he would become a noble before long due to the 「destiny of a noble」.

In any case, there were none in this Edius Adventurer school that did not know of Shion.

Famous Adventurers were targets of aspiration, and quick-witted stores had started selling Shion’s portrait.

Incidentally, Shion himself had learned of it and was at his wits’ end, and Nino secretly bought one.

「Shion, huh……」

For Kain himself, this was his first time seeing Shion.

However, just by seeing him, he could tell that he was a considerably strong Adventurer.

「Hey, Kain. Who do you think is stronger between that person and Basil-san?」

The one that said that and poked Kain with an elbow was his childhood friend Sharon.

Pure curiosity surfaced on the face of the girl that asked that while swinging her deep blue hair.

The one called Basil was Kain’s grandfather, as well as Kain’s teacher of the sword.

Basil’s sword, it was part of the St. Altlis Kingdom Chivalric Order Style, and was the so-called hard sword of the orthodox school.

「If it’s a contest of the sword, then Jii-chan is stronger.」

「H~n.」

Without noticing that Kain said that after limiting the conditions, Sharon nodded.

That’s right, if it was a contest of the sword, that would undoubtedly be true.

However, Shion was a Magician, and actually bringing him into close combat would be considerably difficult.

Cutting him down before he puts up Attack Guard.

If one were to do that, they would probably win.

However, that is just what one would think.

For example, if one were to actually fight against Shion, the young lady that stood in wait behind him would definitely get in the way.

Since her weapon was taken into custody right now, he couldn’t tell what her battle style was, but there was no mistake that she was a Maid Knight which boasted of high fighting strength.

However, Kain erased that thought. It was because he thought that even just getting close to Shion would be considerably difficult to accomplish in the first place.

「……Well, there’s no way we’d fight against that person.」

「I guess that’s true too. If anything, we’re in a position of going to stand shoulder to shoulder with him.」

「Gotta make sure we don’t drop out of class.」

While having that sort of frivolous talk, Kain gazed at Shion’s group leave the stage.

「Thank you very much for today! Ma~n, you really saved us……」

「No, it was no problem. More importantly, about the archives.」

「Yes, yes! I shall guide to the library!」

Shion and Nino followed after the staff member who was being in the best mood he has been today.

「Good grief……」

As Shion walked while breathing a sigh, Nino pulled on the cuff of his robe.

「……There are several particularly ardent gazes. Hostile ones as well.」

「Well, that is how society is over here.」

The hostile gazes are undoubtedly from some of the nobles.

Mankind’s territory has a face of that sort of social status absolutism.

He wouldn’t say that the Darkness territory doesn’t have that sort of face, but, with the exception of the Demon King, there were places where one could make ends meet through a complete merit system.

At the time that Shion established the Four Cardinal Generals, and with how he didn’t finely establish the social positions other than theirs, he feared the adverse effects of such principles of social position.

If that sort of thing were allowed, there was no doubt that things would turn into a situation similar to how the Dark Continent’s western area once was.

The Hero surely isn’t something so easy that he could win in that sort of situation.

As long as Vermudol was the Demon King, he couldn’t possibly forget about the Hero problem.

It was because of this that he was moving so that a chance for the Hero to come invade wouldn’t be created, but he also needed to make preparations to be able to repel him in the unlikely event that he does come.

It was because he had no intention of perishing to the Hero.

「Sorry to keep you waiting. Here is the library that our school is proud of.」

The library that the staff member guided us to was a massive stone building that existed relatively close to the center of the school.

The front door of it was open, and people that looked like guards stood on each side of it.

「For now, I will hand you this guest card. Later on, we will send someone to you for a formal talk.」

「Alright, understood.」

Handing over the card that glinted a dull bronze color, the staff member left.

While looking at what was in Shion’s hand, Nino muttered.

「……For now? Formal?」

「It’s probably something they want to leave behind so that they will be able to use us from now on.」

Taking along Nino who went *Fuun* and nodded looking disinterested, Shion entered the library.

Maybe because of the conversation just now, the guards made a simple check of the card that was in Shion’s hand and opened the way.

When they passed through the entrance like that, the smell of books characteristic of libraries hung in the air.

For Shion, that was somehow nostalgic, and was a calming aroma.

「……So much paper.」

「They are books. It’s because there weren’t any over there.」

Inside of the library, it was crowded with lined up bookshelves that were filled with books.

At the center of the first floor, there were desks and chairs, and at the end, there was a counter where the library staff members were, and on the second and third floors that could be seen from the atrium, massive book collections could also be seen on them.

He didn’t know how many books in here would help him achieve his objective.

However, Shion thought that he would be able to pass the time here quite enjoyably.

「……Nino, is kinda bored.」

The words of Nino, who had already lost interest, were something that he decided to pretend that he didn’t hear for the time being.

It was because from here on, for a short while, it was Shion’s time of supreme bliss.

Chapter 26