Chapter 184: Mentor (1)

Chapter 184: Mentor (1)

Translator: RainTL

Mentor (1)

With the current decline in feudalism and a rise in centralization, the capital city had a significant weight in the Kingdom.

A parliament establishing laws; federal courts where citizens of the Kingdom had a final say; the administration and the finances providing proof of citizenship and currency Each and every one of those differences contributed to the immense gap in the living standards of the regional and central areas.

But in turn, that also signified that the burden on the central administrative team was incomparable to that of the countryside.

Sir. Lord Manoska.

H, hmm?! Miss Medina. I, I wasnt sleeping!

You should wipe the drool off your face first.

One of the officials of the administrative department, Medina, felt like bursting into anger as she saw the count, who became her superior just a few months ago.

Even though nobles were no longer omnipotent like in the past, they still had some degree of power. One example was how a count from the Far West, with zero experience, suddenly became an executive of the administrative department.

Considering how busy it was these days due to the after-measures of the Tower of Mages, looking into the aggressive actions of the New Faith and the secret demi-human hunts of the Old Faith, having a superior like this was far from being helpful.

W, what was this again?

Its an authorization application for an undeveloped area somewhere in the West where you came from.

Hmm, huh?

Count Manoska widened his eyes into circles the moment he saw the document.

K, kuhum! I, I will review this and take care of it so you can continue with other tasks.

Sorry? Umm, okay

Medina was rather surprised by the unexpected reaction from the count, who usually wasnt interested in working, but soon returned to her own set of tasks.

She had way too much on her hands to fuss over a single document for over 5 minutes.

***

A guardian academy was a place of learning that was only open to prodigies with innate talents. Being a noble didnt guarantee a way in, and statistically speaking, around the same percentage of nobles and commoners were found to be gifted.

Due to such reasons, the legitimacy behind the thought of nobles being more lofty from birth began to subside, and a culture was born inside the Kingdom where they didnt concern themselves too much about social classes.

But even so, there was still some level of favorable treatment that was given to nobles. As such, it wasnt strange that nobles wanted more favors to be given to them even inside the Academy, despite the Academys unwillingness.

In whatever part of the society, it was difficult to turn down the offer of the rich.

The higher classes were not only socially influential, but they also donated hefty amounts, so the Academy had to give them some privileges.

One of those privileges was the Mentoring system.

Simply put, it was a system where a new student with a promising future with a lot of donations could be taught directly by a professor or a proficient senior student.

Professors were the normal targets of these mentoring systems, but sometimes, there were highly gifted and famous students who would also be flooded with several mentoring requests.

Hmm Wasnt expecting you would actually accept it.

Its from Your Highness, so how could I possibly refuse it?

Miruam looked up at her mentor, who nonchalantly spoke back to her.

Korin Lork.

He was a young 2nd-year student but was arguably the most famous knight inside the Academy.

Normally, you would have to go through a body search before seeing a princess but its not like I can bring in servants here so I will exempt you from it.

You could do it yourself, Your Highness.

Doing what the servants do is not in alignment with my status. However

Miruam gestured with her hands as the snake ornaments of her dress started to move. They slithered like serpents with an actual body.

Technically they were real since Miruam was a summoner who could use her mana to create familiars to use for herself. Her snakes slithered across the ground, over his pants, and rose all the way up to his neck.

By the way, my snakes are all venomous serpents with a lethal venom.

Really? I suppose we wont be able to eat them then.

The snakes were hissing right next to his neck and yet he remained still without wavering an inch. Even a veteran knight would usually flinch from venomous serpents roaming around their body but he didnt.

Hmm?

That was when one of the snakes found something from Korins small bag.

Miruam asked while looking at his bag.

Whats inside that?

A small gift to present to the princess.

Hmm?

Normally, the common etiquette was to visit the royal family empty-handed.

However, that was a rule which only applied to nobles and not commoners like Korin. In the first place, it wasnt wise to expect commoners to be aware of the etiquette for visiting the royal family.

Let me see.

Korin took out the gifts from his bag it was a nameless bottle of wine that she didnt know of and a block of cheese. The fact that she didnt know the name of it meant that it was a lower-grade item that didnt suit the context.

Is this the limitation of a commoner?

He gets the support of the Dunareff when hiring mercenaries and purchasing materials, but deals with his personal items with his own money, was it?

Even though he was being sponsored by the richest family in the Kingdom, it seemed that he abstained from luxury goods that werent related to his work.

That was according to the report of the spy from the Old Faith, Germain.

Wine and cheese even though there is no maid around to taste-test it?

For the members of the royal family, being poisoned was something they always had to keep an eye out for, and that was especially the case for Miruam who was hated by many people.

Well, I did think about that, but this wine and this cheese were too good to pass by.

Hmm

She did enjoy drinking wine so Miruam didnt feel like refusing his gift. In the first place, she was completely immune to poison and on top of that, she couldnt even imagine this man trying to poison her.

How about a glass before we begin?

Sounds great to me.

Miruam personally opened the cork of the wine and poured it into the wine glasses inside her room until they were half-full.

Let us celebrate our first lesson together, she added.

And for my course units.

Its only 2 units, is it not?

For a busy kid that would be spending a lot of time outside, 2 units still goes a long way. I will be quite busy for a while, you see.

Hmm

She saved all of his words into her brain while trying to decipher as much as she could from his sentences. It was because all these subtle pieces of information could be extremely important in acquiring this man for herself.

As you probably know already, Your Highness, Im quite successful.

Hah

At this point, it was so dumbfounding how shameless he was and she couldnt even say anything back. It had been very long since she last found herself this speechless.

There are only a handful of people stronger than me and you know that the Dunareff Family is sponsoring me, correct?

Go on.

Right, and that was the biggest problem. This man had no shortage of anything and the only problem he might have was that he had an overabundance of them.

Whether it be money or fame and status, he had everything.

His fame as the Grade 1 Knight of the Dunareff and a hero who saved the Saintess was enough to grant him anything he wished for.

I know your lifelong objective. I know very well what it is that you are trying to accomplish through me.

!

Her eyes widened into circles the abyssal serpent immediately flickered her eyes in a venomous light. There were quite a few people who were aware of her objective already. Almost everyone who remembered what happened 10 years ago knew it.

However, Korin was a commoner; he was just a citizen living inside the capital city.

If so, how could he possibly be aware of the wolf hunt that was being carried out in secret, away from even the eyes of the New Faith?

How much about it do you know?

I know everything. Way too well.

He muttered with a rather dispirited look on his face, making her wonder why he was wearing such an expression.

So, what do you want from me? Asked Miruam.

I can grant you anything except for one thing.

She said without even trying to hide the passion in her voice.

In fact, she deemed it needless to hide it because he was her destined partner who would be helping her acquire her lifelong desire anyway. He was bound to find out, so she decided to be frank and instead inquire about his own wishes.

What I want, huh?

Korin pondered to himself but not for long. Soon, with a bitter smile on his face, he turned back to the princess.

Unlike Miruams blood-red eyes, his red eyes sparkled like the sunset as he gazed into her eyes.

He said with a mischievous smile.

Every week at the end of every mentoring session,

Inside the room devoid of everyone else, his voice echoed clearly and reached her eyes.

I want Your Highness, Princess Miruam Elizabeth El Rath,

As if desperately trying to hold back the avenger who no longer put value in her own life,

To look at me and Actually, towards anything

Hoping that she would have a lingering attachment, more wishes, and an extension to her life.

Just give a smile. Show me a smile, and I think that would be enough.

He ended with a bitter smile, reminiscing in both the past and the future, of the memories of his past regretful life which only he could remember.

Her lips ceased to move as if they were forced to a close.

The 2nd Princess of the Kingdom; the likely successor to the throne with the support of countless nobles, was telling her to share what he wanted.

She told him she would grant any of his wishes, only if it didnt go against her one lifelong desire. Even if he wanted to rape her at this very moment, she would have gladly given herself to him.

And yet

A smile.

A smile?

Is he really asking for something so trivial?

You

Is he mocking her? Is he looking down at her? What exactly are his intentions?

Hearing that simple and trivial request instead deterred her from accepting it. Her eyes turned cold and her voice even colder.

How dare

Her spiteful eyes quivered from fury but without minding that a single bit, Korin simply re-stated his wish.

A smile would be more than enough.

Asking for something so useless!

Why do you think theres no value in it? Value is always a subjective matter.

Miruam calmed herself down and settled her thoughts.

Just like how she was so stubborn with her goals that others couldnt understand it, it might be the case that her smile was that valuable to him, beyond what others could comprehend.

It was difficult to understand but Korin was so firm as if there was zero falsehood in his words.

Is that really all you need?

Of course.

She felt like he was trying to deceive her, and mock her, but still decided to rationally listen to his trivial request.

-Flinch!

Wait.

That was when she thought to herself.

How do you smile again?

It was nothing new she used to smile a lot when scoffing and sneering at others. She often did that to the hateful dogs, but it felt nonsensical to give such a smile to the man in front of her.

-Flinch! Flinch!

But she still had to. If raising the corners of her lips a little could intertwine her fate with the one who would be fulfilling her goal, she could do it any day.

Like this?

She said with an awkward smile on her face.

It was closer to a sneer than a bright smile, but her distorted lips were still in the category of a smile.

Beautiful.

Uht!?

Miruam immediately scowled and removed the smile from her face, but for some unknown reason, Korin remained looking at her with a wide smile of joy.

***

The room stayed silent for a very long time.