CH 90

「On the Knight Academy, huh…?」

Prince Wayne was surprised to hear Inglis’ proposal. He appeared to haven’t even considered that place as a candidate.

「Yes. Even as it stands, Miss Ripple’s inability to act alone has greatly reduced the total strength of our current army. If we thin out our hands on top of that by placing official Knights to guard her, we would lose double the strength we initially had. If that played poorly, wouldn’t that lead to a huge decline in our national defense? I know for a fact that the corpse of Prisma was transported from the town of Arlman to a frontier city bordering the Venefique Kingdom, as I witnessed it firsthand. Seeing that operation being carried out, I can assume that the Venefique Kingdom was perceived as a real-time threat. If so, shouldn’t we avoid loosening our provision to fight off their invasion? They can exploit our stretched-out defense if we lose any more fighting hands. It is also all too possible that the current situation is a trap they laid solely to decrease our defense. I would presume that there is a Special Highland Envoy in the Venefique Kingdom too, is that person perhaps affiliated with this political party you call the Followers of Faith?」 「——How is it, Theodore?」 「…The girl is right. We can’t rule out the possibility that all of this being a huge ploy on their part.」

Prince Wayne and Special Envoy Theodore affirmed Inglis’ points.

「You spoke well. I expected no less of someone affiliated with Wilford, their Squires sure are bright and intelligent. Right, Raphael?」 「Yes, Glis has always been a smart kid and an excellent swordsman. She’s always there to be Rafinha’s backbone.」 「With you in tow, I’m sure Rafinha will have an easy time.」 「Much obliged.」

Inglis bowed gracefully. As a matter of fact, however, that wasn’t so much of a hard topic to cover. She only did simple guesswork. As was mentioned, there were factions even on the Highland. If a Special Envoy affiliated with the same faction as Theodore was stationed in the Venefique Kingdom, then they wouldn’t show hostility to this Kingdom in the form of invasions.

For Highlanders, the Midland was nothing but a huge feeding ground. They didn’t have any reason to ransack their own ally, and they wouldn’t either.

Despite what her appearance might suggest, Inglis was once a King leading a single nation in her previous life. Reading things that far was nothing. Although reading the situation was all Inglis Eux would do, as she had no intention to get involved in the Kingdom’s businesses or governmental works, in fact, she would shrug them off.

Even if she left things be, Prince Wayne, Raphael, and the other big shots here would reach the possibility Inglis just uttered given enough time. All Inglis did was give their thoughts a little push. However, that little push was extremely important——

「So, will Miss Ripple be stationed in the Academy?」

Of course, it was all to push this agenda. It was more persuasive once you won their favor rather than simply saying what she wanted. Whether her reasoning was in the right places or not hardly mattered. She only needed to make herself someone worth listening to.

「…I understand your logic of using non-formal Order of Knights so as not to poorly loosen up our defense, but still——」 「Please! We may be students, wet behind our ears, but our determination won’t lose to any formal Knights…!」

Of course, that referred to her determination of wanting to fight the Magic Stone Beasts that Ripple summoned and to grow her skills through training. A situation where ferocious Magic Stone Beast might appear at any given moment was just ideal. Her studies would always be filled with the excitement from tension.

By no means this was a determination that would lead to the betterment of the world. However, she had no qualms if others saw it that way. She didn’t say a single lie, and her words were indeed spoken abstractly. From behind her, Inglis could hear Rafinha and Leone whispering to each other.

「…Hey, Rafinha. Isn’t Inglis being really earnest today? I see her in a new light now.」 「If you do, you’re just misreading her intent, you know…?」 「Eh?」 「Glis is Glis…! She just wants to fight the Magic Stone Beasts that appear around Miss Ripple…!」 「Eehhh……!?」 「She usually sounds like a musclehead, but her brain really works. She can make a sound argument to anything she wahn… mghh——!」 「Hnnngh……!」 「Honestly, you two. We’re having a serious discussion here, don’t chit-chat.」

With a smile decorating her lips, Inglis covered Rafinha and Leone’s mouths with her hand. Fortunately for her, it seemed like Prince Wayne didn’t catch on to their chatter.

「——Miliera, as the Principal of the Knight Academy, what’s your take on this?」 「Hmm… Miss Inglis has some valid points, but it would certainly put a lot of students in crisis, so…」

Principal Miliera also couldn’t make her opinion clear.

「No only that, the Academy is in the middle of the city. If the Magic Stone Beasts overflowed from the campus ground, we would risk involving the citizens. I don’t agree with this. The matter should be dealt with by the Knight Order after all——」

Inputted Raphael, most probably because he didn’t want to endanger Rafinha and Inglis.

「However, it is a fact that we need equipment up to a certain standard in order to analyze Miss Ripple’s situation in more technical senses. I figure that we can tweak some in Miliera’s laboratory if Miss Ripple is stationed in the Academy. Preparing such equipment in any remote place would be a hard task to do.」 「If possible, couldn’t we bring Ripple to Highland and have her get analyzed there?」 「…Miss Eris. I’m sorry, but that is a terrible idea. The wording may sound harsh, but if it really is a ploy from the Followers of Faith’s side, that means she will be disposed of by the Archduke Party… While indeed they and I are from the same camp, that doesn’t mean that everyone is like me. In fact, most of them are like Myynti, the previous envoy before me.」 「I see.」

Prince Wayne then took over the conversation after Eris slumped.

「In short, leaving her to the Knight Academy is the fastest way to get things settled?」 「Or the fastest way to make things worse. We can’t say for sure which one is the answer. After all, this situation is not part of the curriculum.」 「Phew… Everything was simpler when we were just students in the Highland, huh?」

Prince Wayne smiled. Theodore smiled back.

「Basically, yes. However, this heavy pressure on us is the very sign that we are getting close to our ideals.」 「Aah, damn right you are.」

Both Prince Wayne and Special Envoy Theodore seemed to share something in common just between themselves.

I guess I was just like them when I was young in my past life. Being young, carrying the fate of my Kingdom and my people on my back, losing myself in my pursuit.

For Inglis, the days of burning passion for the betterment of the world had long passed. And so, while she felt that these youngsters had a rough way ahead, she wanted them to do their best. The fate of this era should be left to the people of this era. While Inglis was just going to watch over Rafinha and do whatever she wanted in the while.