CH 54

༺ The Hero Didn’t Study (2) ༻

Rutis’s attack stunned me momentarily, but it was just for a short while. I wasn’t dumb enough to get angry at an innocent remark like that. If that were the case, I would’ve turned the Principal’s office upside down on my first day of deployment.

Putting aside the North, having become a Civil Servant was something that I also used as a self-deprecating joke. For me, being a Civil Servant feels similar to going to graduate school. It’s just that I didn’t expect to be mentally assaulted by an unexpected individual’s unwarranted remarks. 

‘If only he wasn’t a member of the Royal Family.’

If he weren’t a prince, I would have given him a strong punch without any hesitation. Dealing with Rutis, a prince of Armein, which was a country with power second only to the Empire, required immense patience. I had to be patient with him, which drove me crazy.

If there was a way to legally hit Rutis, I’d be willing to pay up to five gold coins. Just shut up and take my money.

“When I look at you, it seems like not coming to the Academy was the correct choice.”

Leaving aside such thoughts, I saw that a few were still cautious, so I blew myself up first. The advisor isn’t angry, so don’t worry. 

I felt moved after seeing the relieved expressions of Louise and Erich. It seems there were still people who were considerate of my feelings among them. The other three rarely changed their expressions, so there was no way to tell what they were thinking, and there was no point in discussing Rutis. This bastard. 

“Enough with the chit-chat. Don’t mind me and keep doing what you were doing.”

Fearing what Rutis might say next, I changed the topic. Seeing the members concentrating on their studies again made me think of an unpleasant memory.

“I’ve found a position for you. Once you’re there, they’ll tell you what to do.”

Was it because they’d brought up the topic of the Academy? A bad memory came back to me. It was the outrageous remark the Lord had said four years ago. Find a position? I just had to go, and they would tell me what to do?

‘I was a fool for believing in him.’

The position turned out to be a VIP seat on a one-way trip to hell, and the team leader who was supposed to tell me what to do died shortly after I joined. Even the experienced people left shortly after, leaving the team in shambles. What’s worse was that I was promoted to team manager because my family had the highest status. 

Even now, thinking about it gives me a headache. I ended up taking on the responsibility of leading the team, despite not having learned anything from someone else first. 

Of course, someone who had just become a Civil Servant like me couldn’t handle such a burden. The person who’s now the Minister helped me a lot back then. I used to be grateful back then, but now, fuck.

‘I was promoted strangely. Since then, things got twisted.’

After becoming a Team Manager, I was promoted to the 4th Unit’s Manager. Then  I was made an Executive Manager. I was promoted three times, and all three were done strangely, not to mention the incidents in between. When things get twisted, they end up going wrong like this.

Looking at the club members whose future hasn’t been decided yet, I wished they would have proper jobs if they ever get a chance to be employed, even though most of them didn’t need jobs like that due to their high status. 

As time passed, a somewhat unique scene caught my eye.

“So, the proposition that an individual cannot defeat a group as big as a nation while the head of the enemy is alive has been firmly upheld. Even if a powerful individual makes a significant impact in battle, in the end, it’s the nation as a collective that will win the war.” 

“So that’s what it meant.”

Lather was speaking in a softer way than usual, and Louise listened while nodding. A Prince from the United Kingdom of Yuben was teaching the history of Kefellofen to a noble from Kefellofen. He seems to be teaching her things that were beyond the exam scope. How far is he thinking of going?

‘Is this right?’

Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Even if the Empire’s history was part of the education of the continent’s nobles, shouldn’t the local nobility know better?

I was momentarily enveloped in a strange feeling, but I let it go after seeing Louise’s serious expression.

Right, it was something that happened two years ago, so she might not know about the details. The Empire’s history classes mostly focus on the aftermath of the event rather than the event itself, so there were many difficulties if you wanted to dig deeper.

The Empire put a lot of importance on teaching things from the point of view that favors the Royal Family, so they even put recent incidents in textbooks. 

“Hmm?”

While watching a somewhat unusual history lecture, Lather hesitated for the first time.

“Six Swords? I haven’t read this before.”

Ah.

“It’s content that’s been added this year. If you read last year’s book, you might not know.” 

“Is that so? That’s a relief. I was a little worried that I hadn’t studied properly.”

I answered Lather’s question. The Empire hadn’t fully revealed information about them, but I was familiar with this revision. After all, it was something that was related to me. I was also contacted by people from the Ministry of Education.

It wasn’t bad news for me. The name that had been kept hidden because of some particular circumstances had finally come to light. Considering that there were many people whose names had become buried forever, waiting for two years wasn’t much.

“It’s important, so I think you should pay close attention.” 

A name that a foreign prince remembers. That should be considered a significant achievement, right? 

* * *

Lather, who’d been staring at Carl, looked back at the textbooks.

‘Six Swords.’

It wasn’t a name extensively mentioned in the textbook. Only a few lines were written, but the short content was undoubtedly not something to be ignored. 

Six Swords. They were six heroes who’d sacrificed their lives in the final battle that took place in the North two years ago. 

‘How strange.’

The United Kingdom of Yuben had also closely monitored Kagan, the traitor. Just like he explained to Louise, this was an incident that proved that an individual couldn’t win against a big organization like a country.

Until the Empire killed Kagan, there had been widespread public opinion in the continent’s nations that a superhuman unaffected by a country could disrupt the nation. 

Fortunately, that opinion was put to rest with Kagan’s death at the hands of the Empire. However, it was a precarious moment. 

He was confident that information regarding Kagan’s death would be plentiful.

‘I’m sure that it was the Advisor who killed Kagan.’

In the final battle, the one who led the Empire army was the Invincible Duke, and the one who killed Kagan was Carl. Among these, what the Empire extensively publicized was that the Invincible Duke led the Empire’s army and led them to victory in the battle where Kagan died. 

The Empire didn’t turn a blind eye to Carl’s achievements, but rather kept it quiet to highlight the Invincible Duke’s contributions. In reality, even within the Empire, the knowledge of Kagan’s killer did not spread widely among the lower nobility and the public. 

In such a situation, why did they suddenly bring up the existence of the Six Swords when they haven’t even extensively publicized the killer of Kagan? He thought that perhaps Carl was included among the Six Swords, but that wasn’t the case either. 

‘There’s something strange.’

The Six Swords being mentioned could dilute the achievements of the Invincible Duke. However, the person who killed Kagan wasn’t among the 6 Swords. He couldn’t understand what the Empire was thinking about. Although to be more precise, these were the intentions of the current Emperor.

He never imagined that there would be such an explosive piece of information in this year’s textbooks. Even in his country, they probably hadn’t been able to check the information yet. After all, the Empire often corrected or added things. 

“Lather? What’s going on?”

“I was thinking of something. Let’s continue.”

Lather barely managed to come back to his senses after Louise called him. It seemed like an unexpected piece of information disconcerted him. 

‘There’s nothing I can do.’

There was a limit to what he could discover while in the Academy. It would be more efficient to let his home country know about this and let them research. 

Lather’s gaze was directed at Carl, who was looking out the window. He was known as the Emperor’s hunting dog and was said to have a close relationship with the Invincible Duke. Carl probably knew a lot more about this. If possible, Lather wanted to ask him about it.

* * * 

I could feel Lather’s gaze. By now, he must be pondering things quite deeply. He must be suspecting that there’s a hidden motive in this year’s revision. 

‘And there is, indeed.’

The Emperor’s obsession with power heavily influenced the amendment. He was someone who didn’t hesitate to exile people. It seemed like he thought it was time to start restricting the power of his father-in-law, the Invincible Duke. 

Once the story about the Six Swords spreads, the details of Kagan’s killer will slowly be revealed, which will end up diminishing the power of the Invincible Duke, who was known to have led the war to victory. The prestige he’d been monopolizing so far would be distributed. 

‘How troublesome.’

Every move a politician made carried a reason, which was a headache. I’m glad that the achievements of those guys were finally coming to light. The only thing that concerned me was that the Invincible Duke could get hurt.

However, the Emperor was merely trying to provide some restraint, so it should be fine. If the Emperor had really intended to deal with the Invincible Duke, he wouldn’t have sent such minor warnings. This restraint was nothing more than a polite way of saying, ‘I am watching you, so behave yourself.’ 

Taking into consideration the usual Emperor’s moves, this was very simple and quiet. If Lather thought about it in a more simple way, he might be able to find out the reason.

The next time I meet the Invincible Duke, I should greet him. After all, he’s helped me a lot through the years.

A common feature among all worlds was that time flies during exam periods. It felt like it was just yesterday that the club members were gathered around studying, but the theory exams had already ended.

Yes, just the ‘theory exams.’

“It’s reassuring to have you all here.”

“We’re always grateful for the Prosecutors’ consideration.”

The day after the theory exam ended, I called Sir Villar to the club room to discuss an important matter. 

“The Academy is also willing to cooperate with the three countries. After all, it would be troublesome if they were hurt.”

What comes after the theory exam? The practical exam, of course. And in the Academy, the practical exam meant fierce duels with swords and magic. 

Fortunately, minor injuries could easily be cured with divine power and magic. A talented magician or priest could do things like reattaching a severed limb. Even if they were about to die, as long as they were breathing, they could ensure people’s survival. I know it since I’ve experienced it before.

But what kind of crazy person would say something like, ‘Don’t worry. Even if your arm gets cut off, we can reattach it!’  to a member of a royal family? The first thing cut off would probably be that person’s head.

“I’ll be patrolling the dueling grounds to check for any unusual occurrences.” 

“Yes, understood.”

So that’s why we were doing this. Starting from the day the practical exam begins, we’ll be stationed at various locations in the arenas, preparing for any possible injuries. 

In fact, it wasn’t a difficult task. Preventing injuries while watching a duel was something that people that have some experience in knight or magician’s squads often do. The problem was that the people that would be dueling were members of royal families.

“I’m sorry for the students who’ll be their opponents in the duel.”

The real difficulty is for the student who has to face royalty and wield a sword or use magic against him. They might cry after seeing the match table.

But what can we do? Luck is also a type of skill.

Just like how a character’s status screen in a game has a luck stat, luck is also one of the elements that determine how life goes. 

Anyway, that’s how it is. It might be easier for that student to think that way, too.