Chapter 4: Royal Academy Enrollment

Vanessa summoned Celia down to the dungeon where Rio was interrogated. He was probably on extremely high guard right now, so she chose to bring someone familiar rather than a complete stranger. That being said, out of the few faces Rio knew presently, the only one he was less wary of and with healing magic was Celia. She gladly agreed to travel down into the dungeon.

“Umm, he seems to have passed out,” Celia pointed out.

Rio had fallen unconscious, having long surpassed his physical and mental limits.

“He was probably too fatigued from the pain and stress.” Vanessa’s expression darkened solemnly.

“Ugh…” A groan fell from Rio’s mouth.

“…What awful injuries. His whole body is battered and bruised. There may even be fractures in his bones… He needs to be treated immediately,” Celia said, gently removing the clothes from Rio’s upper body in order to examine him.

“I implore you. …It seemed like Sir Arbor abused him horribly during the interrogation.”

“What an awful man, doing this to such a small child. He could have just questioned him traditionally.”

“I suspect the interrogation was just a front. His position in the Royal Guard was at risk due to this case. He became desperate to turn the tide in his favor in any way possible,” Vanessa explained.

“…How terrible,” Celia muttered with a frown. “Those types of men never know when to back down.”

“I couldn’t agree more. Especially so in the case of nobles,” Vanessa agreed with a bitter smile.

“Well… I’m going to start healing now. Cura.”

Having finished her examination of Rio’s condition, Celia chanted the phrase used for a healing spell. A geometric magic circle appeared at her hands, and a gentle light wrapped around Rio’s body, healing his injuries.

Vanessa watched in awe as the swelling faded before her eyes. “Amazing. I knew the healing effect varied depending on the user, but even in the royal court there are barely any sorcerers with Cura this impressive.”

“…I’m flattered,” Celia said with a shy nod. She then took a deep breath and focused harder.

Once the healing was done, she canceled her magic.

“He should be healed enough to move now… but he’s fallen asleep. I can continue after he’s been carried to a bed — he needs proper rest.”

“There are several scars over his body, but… these must be old wounds. Was he mistreated while he was in the slums?” Vanessa asked upon spotting Rio’s old scars.

“Yes, most likely. They do seem like those kinds of wounds.” “And there’s no way to remove them?”

“I’m sorry. It would be one thing if it was right after he was injured, but it’s impossible to restore old skin once time has passed.”

“I see…”

Both of their expressions fell somber. “Shall we carry him to the guest room?” “Yes, let’s.”

Thus, Rio was relocated once more, this time while he was unconscious.

◇◇◇

Rio woke up on a soft bed in the guest room of the royal castle. “Mm…”

He lifted his eyelids slowly — an unfamiliar ceiling came into view.

Where…

Rio turned his head from side to side, blinking sleepily at the interior of the spacious and beautiful room. The ceiling was high and there was expensive- looking furniture placed at every corner, creating a luxuriously elegant space.

It was vastly different from the utter despair he felt in the prison cell in the suffocating dungeon.

Rio tried to sit upright in bed to take in his surroundings in more detail, but his body felt strangely dull and sluggish. He gave up on that plan quickly and fell back against the bed once more.

“Oh, you’re awake now. Good morning — how do you feel?” a hesitant female voice addressed him from beside the bed.

Rio turned towards the source of the voice to see two girls sitting on a leather couch. They appeared to be in their early teens, roughly. One was a small-sized girl wearing quaint clothing of nobility, appearing like an adorable winter fairy with her long white hair reaching softly down her back. The other girl had short blonde hair, her facial features young but carved with a sculpture-like beauty. She was wearing what could be considered a maid uniform. The white and navy colors of the outfit gave it a high-class aura.

Apparently, the two beautiful girls had been having tea next to Rio while he slept.

“You have to rest some more. Your wounds have been healed by magic, but that doesn’t restore weakened stamina. And because the magic pushes your body to heal the wounds forcibly, the restored areas will be very sensitive afterwards,” the white-haired girl explained as she stood up and approached Rio.

“Umm… Who are you?” Rio asked with caution from where he lay in bed.

“I’m Celia, Celia Claire. We talked a little in the slums, remember? I was wearing a hood at that time, though.”

“Oh, you’re the one…”

It was a familiar voice, now that he thought about it. Soft on the ears in a warm and kind way. Rio immediately recognized Celia as the small figure from before.

“Hehe. Pleased to meet you. As for this girl over here—”

Celia turned back and the maid girl behind her began to introduce herself. “Greetings. My name is Aria Governess. My position in the royal castle is that of the head servant, but in lieu of what has happened, I have been assigned to tend to you. I do hope we can get along amicably.”

The girl who introduced herself as Aria bowed politely. Her tone had been all business and completely monotone, but her words were respectful and caused no discomfort to the listener. “My name is Rio… nice to meet you too.”

Rio returned her greeting politely, awkwardly trying to mimic her speaking style. When someone spoke to him with politeness, he would respond politely in turn. That was Rio’s — no, Amakawa Haruto’s — way of life.

“Umm, where am I?” Rio asked hesitantly.

“The guest room of the castle. You were unconscious, so we healed you with magic and carried you here,” Celia explained with a soft smile.

“Is that so… Thank you very much,” Rio said with a conflicted expression. He couldn’t let his guard down as long as the two people before him were affiliated with the same kingdom that hurt him. The memory of the nightmare in the dungeon stung painfully, but that didn’t change the fact these people helped him.

“It’s fine. I heard about what happened. If anything, we’re the ones who should apologize to you. I’m sorry you were treated so horribly,” Celia apologized sorrowfully, lowering her head.

Rio couldn’t feel any sense of discrimination towards his orphan status when interacting with her… He remembered how Celia had been the only one that treated him kindly back when they first met in the slums.

To be honest, Rio had a deep-set hatred towards royalty and nobility. Most of the royals and nobles he had met until now were arrogant and overbearing, making it hard to change his biased view of those in privileged positions.

However, people like Celia existed among them. That thought alone made Rio reconsider his unconditional hatred towards the upper class.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Rio said as he looked down, holding back his emotions.

“But still…” Celia trailed off, unable to express herself. Like Rio had said, it wasn’t Celia’s fault that Rio had been treated badly. But as someone on the same side as the kingdom that was responsible for what had happened to him, she couldn’t help but feel guilty about Rio’s unjust treatment.

“More importantly… what’s going to happen to me from here?” Rio asked.

“You’ll have an audience with His Majesty tomorrow, but I don’t know what will happen after that. You saved Princess Flora — Her Highness, the Second Princess — so as her savior, I doubt anything bad will happen…”

“I have to meet the king?”

“Yes. His Majesty wants to thank you officially for what happened.”

Rio’s brow furrowed slightly at Celia’s explanation. Frankly speaking, Rio wanted to put the castle behind him already. An audience with the king was the last thing he wanted to do. But since he was already here in the castle, and the other party was the ruler of the kingdom… There was no way he could refuse.

Understanding and accepting his fate in that moment, Rio sighed heavily. “I didn’t really do anything impressive…”

“That’s not true. Princess Flora asked a lot of you, didn’t she? I’m sure you will be rewarded for it. I understand it might feel like a burden, but it’d be better to accept whatever you’re offered. Don’t you agree, Aria?”

Celia prompted a response from the silent Aria behind her.

“…Yes, that is correct. Your sentiment is to be expected, but it would be difficult to cast a refusal in this situation. Considering the predicament you are in, you should approach this as optimistically as possible,” she stated flatly.

“I see. That might be true.” Rio gave a small smile in resignation.

Celia and Aria widened their eyes at his mature smile; it didn’t match his apparent age.

“Sorry to have to ask this, but could you teach me the etiquette of a royal audience? Like… the proper actions to do and speech to use. I should probably avoid meeting the king with no knowledge at all,” Rio requested, bowing his head.

“Yes, of course.”

“Your wish is my command.”

Celia and Aria readily agreed with Rio’s request.

◇◇◇

Meanwhile, in the Beltrum castle, somewhere in the throne room…

His Majesty, King Philip Beltrum — also known as Philip III — sat on his throne before a gathering of nobles. They were all influential figures involved with the kingdom’s affairs; those present were split into three factions, each grouped together on their own side of the room. In front of the throne and to the right was Duke Arbor’s faction, the largest faction of the three. To the left was Duke Huguenot’s faction, the second biggest, and lastly, Duke Fontaine’s faction, the smallest of the three.

There are some basic points to take note of the current political scenery and power balance in the kingdom of Beltrum:

First, the king of Beltrum was a young and newly crowned king still in his late twenties. Unfortunately, this had allowed Duke Arbor to use his authority and make calculated maneuvers to benefit himself when the previous king passed away from an illness. He had trusted Duke Arbor, conferring upon him the right to appoint knights into the Royal Guard. However, once the king was on his deathbed, Duke Arbor abused this right and sold favors to powerful nobles with sons that were not in line to inherit a position into the knighthood. As a result, Duke Arbor attained an enormous amount of influence over the king’s court from his position as commander of the Royal Guard. In contrast, Duke Huguenot and Duke Fontaine had gained their ranks around the same time that Philip III assumed the throne, putting them one step behind and constantly suffering the consequences for it. With his influential power over both the military and the court’s administration, Duke Arbor was a thorn in the side of not only Philip III, but the factions of Duke Huguenot and Duke Fontaine as well.

As time passed, Duke Arbor’s elevated status made his arrogance grow into near insolence — though that may have been his true self coming to light — which caused his rise in power to be viewed as problematic in recent years.

This was the political climate at the time of Flora’s kidnapping case.

It was the duty of the Royal Guard to protect the royal family, and they had allowed the Second Princess to be abducted. As the commander of the Royal Guard, and because the man in charge of security at the time was Charles — his son — Duke Arbor could not overlook such catastrophic failure. Ultimately, the responsibility fell on Duke Arbor as his supervisor.

In other words, it was the perfect opportunity to pin the blame on Duke Arbor.

“Perhaps this incident is a sign that the quality of the Royal Guard has decayed,” Duke Huguenot suggested coldly. In agreement with him was Marquess Rodan, a member of his faction.

“Exactly. I can only imagine how lenient they must have been to allow such lowlifes to get through.”

“The security… was flawless,” Duke Arbor tried to justify with a wince, but there was nothing to be said that could excuse such a failure.

“Flawless security is meaningless without the desired results. Fortunately, Princess Flora was unharmed this time, but how do you intend on taking responsibility for this situation?” Duke Huguenot continued pressing with a cool expression.

“…Neither the mastermind behind the kidnapping nor their headquarters have been discovered yet. I believe responsibility can be discussed after that happens,” Duke Arbor answered through gritted teeth. But Duke Huguenot pounced on him like the cat that ate the canary, clearly in his element. “What are you saying? Why not discuss it here and now instead?” Duke Huguenot objected.

“I agree,” concurred Marquess Rodan. “The investigation can be done without the Royal Guard, especially when the current Royal Guard allowed the kidnapping to occur in the first place.” Duke Arbor watched the two nobles,

who were nearly half his age, with a weary grimace on his face.

These youngsters… He cursed in his mind.

“They have a valid point, Helmut,” Philip III said after watching the discussion take place, silently — until now. Helmut was Duke Arbor’s first name.

“Y-Your Majesty…” Duke Arbor faltered. His face had gone pale.

“There have been concerns that the Royal Guard has declined in quality as of late. With this current incident in mind, it may be time for a rehabilitation of the Royal Guard.” The members of Duke Huguenot’s faction nodded approvingly at the king’s words; Duke Fontaine’s faction wore similar expressions of agreement.

“Your right to appoint knights into the Royal Guard is hereby revoked, Helmut. You shall resign from your position as commander. Charles shall be demoted for his involvement as the on-site supervisor. This will leave the position of commander and deputy commander open; thus, Alfred Emerle shall assume the position of commander.”

Philip III declared the details of the punishment. While it was difficult to revoke privileges bestowed by a previous king without justification, it was a different story in the face of such failure. The kidnapping of his daughter was unforgivable, of course… but the case itself had turned out rather fortuitous.

“Tch…” Duke Arbor couldn’t help from scowling. He had toiled away, building his family’s reputation, only to see it crumble away in an instant. It wouldn’t have been unusual for him to throw a fit, but as a great lord with a long militaristic history, Duke Arbor concealed his emotions behind a smile and immediately thanked the king.

“As you wish, Your Majesty.” He noticed Duke Huguenot’s smiling smugly to the side and felt a dark emotion swell up within him. Even then, Duke Arbor’s own smile did not wane.

They wouldn’t be laughing for long. He’d surely recover from this… And when he did, he’d pay them back twofold the humiliation he had to suffer — and he’d never forgive the culprit behind this incident.

Duke Arbor vowed this to himself, deep within his heart.

He suspected the mastermind behind this case was from either one of the opposing factions, but it was hard to imagine that the devoutly loyal Duke Fontaine would kidnap the princess. The more likely answer was Duke Huguenot.

But even if that were true, Huguenot wouldn’t show his true colors easily, and there was no decisive evidence. Their only source of useful information — the assassin man — was dead. He also had his suspicions about the boy named Rio, who just happened to be at the scene of the crime, but Duke Huguenot hadn’t shown any signs of concern over him. Arbor’s conclusion was that the boy might actually be unrelated to the case.

It wouldn’t hurt to take some cautionary steps, though.

“Your Majesty, what do you intend on doing with the orphan named Rio?” Duke Arbor asked, focusing on Duke Huguenot’s reaction.

“Hmm. He may be a valuable primary witness to the incident, but Flora owes her life to him. No matter his status as an orphan, he deserves to be shown gratitude. I am thinking of giving him some reward.”

“Couldn’t that be a dangerous move? There’s no guarantee he isn’t associated with an outside power.”

“Oh? I heard your son was more than thorough with his investigation. Don’t tell me you intend on torturing him further for a confession when you don’t even have clear evidence?” Philip III asked, narrowing his eyes.

“I am not suggesting to enact torture on Her Highness’ savior, of course. But the fact is — there is no proof of his innocence, either.” The king frowned at Duke Arbor’s roundabout way of conversing.

“What do you suggest, then?”

“Your Majesty, I humbly believe it would be best to keep him under surveillance for a while.”

“Hmm. The same thought crossed my mind. Indebted as I am to him over Flora’s incident, I suppose it is necessary, though reluctant as I am… Garcia.” The king looked over at Duke Fontaine’s faction.

“Yes, Your Majesty?” An elderly man said, stepping forward from the back of the group. He stood straight-backed and had a gentle face at first glance, but the other members cleared a path for him in an almost nervous manner.

His name was Garcia Fontaine. Although he was the head of the Fontaine dukedom two generations ago, he still held a fair amount of influential power as the king’s advisor.

“I am thinking of enrolling the aforementioned orphan into the Royal Academy. I’d like to leave the procedures to you.” The throne room stirred at Philip III’s words.

The Royal Academy of Beltrum — as both a research institution and education institution — was the pinnacle of academia within the kingdom of Beltrum. While there were several schools and tutors for the wealthy in provincial cities, the Royal Academy of Beltrum was the only government-owned academic organization. Located just next to the royal castle, its grounds covered an immense area that included both elementary and middle school educations. From middle school and upwards, it focused more on specialized areas of research rather than academic education. Each year, the Academy turned out impressive numbers of experts in areas such as martial arts, magical arts, and the sciences. For nobility, graduating from the Royal Academy of Beltrum was a sign of great status, leading to success in both name and practice. Although there was an entrance examination, social standing and wealth played a big role in admission, making most of the students children of high-ranking nobles. Its doors never opened to commoners.

In other words, enrollment was limited to only a small fraction of nobles.

The thought of an orphan of an unknown background attending such an an influential and prestigious academy would naturally shock the nobles in the room, but Garcia simply stroked his beard in understanding.

“I see. You wish for the Academy to keep an eye on the boy?”

“Indeed. Admit him within the next few days. I’m leaving it all to you.” “As you wish. Claire’s daughter just started teaching the first years in elementary school — I’ll admit him into her class.” Garcia placed a hand against his chest and bowed deeply.

◇◇◇

The time for Rio’s audience with King Philip III had arrived.

The throne room doubled as an audience hall; it held all official audiences of the king. It was a rectangular room with a tall ceiling, filling the room with a sense of grandeur. Ornate decorations were placed at every corner, overwhelming those that entered the room with its powerful display. The royal family — King Philip III; his wife, Queen Consort Beatrix; First Princess Christina; and Second Princess Flora — sat in formal dress, overlooking the room from their podium at the very rear, directly across from the entrance. Christina, the eldest sister, had her young face drawn tightly in resolution, whereas little sister Flora seemed a bit nervous and uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, the nobles of the inner court lined both sides of the aisle, all dressed in formal-wear as well. They were all in attendance to witness the audience about to unfold.

“The boy who saved Her Highness Princess Flora will now enter,” the voice of an official echoed through the silent room. The doors to the audience hall slowly opened, and every person in the room directed their gazes toward it.

A single black-haired boy stood there. It was Rio.

He had cut his hair in a style that fully exposed his shapely and androgynous facial features, leaving behind a hint of innocence. The royalty and nobility in the room stared at him openly, drawn to the exotic aura brought about by his rarely-seen black hair and eye-catching visage.

“So that’s the child who saved Her Highness.”

“What an unusual hair color. Must be an immigrant child.”

Rio braced himself against the noisily stirring audience hall. He calmly walked down the red carpet, which stretched down the hall to the throne. The stylish children’s formal-wear he wore didn’t quite suit him; under normal circumstances, it would have given off a distinctly statuesque and respectable impression. But unlike his outward appearance, Rio’s expression was exceedingly mature. If this had been a noble child of the same age, it would have been natural for them to be trembling or frozen with frayed nerves. Yet, Rio’s movements were completely calm.

Some of the eyes on him seemed impressed by his bold attitude. “Hmph, some indigent…”

“Well, he cleaned up surprisingly well… He even moves according to the proper etiquette.”

“What a bizarre sight.”

And so on. Many of their gazes were filled with intolerance as the nobles’ whispers spread like wildfire, but Rio showed no concern at all. He walked forward, step by step, with a composed expression. Eventually, he reached the stairs leading up to the podium, and stopped there, lowering his head. All that was left was to wait until he was spoken to, just as he was taught.

“Raise your head, Rio,” King Philip III stated grandly.

“As you wish, Your Majesty. I am very much obliged,” Rio replied respectfully. He slowly lifted his face and saw the royal family sitting on the podium. On the highest step was Philip III settled onto the throne. Seated one step lower was his wife Beatrix, First Princess Christina, and Second Princess Flora; the latter looked at Rio with restless embarrassment. On Flora’s other side, Christina sat straight in her seat while she eyed Rio suspiciously. She was most likely surprised by how much Rio’s appearance changed when his scruffy hair was cleanly chopped off.

It was evident at a glance that Christina and Flora were siblings — both young girls were beautiful and had lavender hair. Yet the aura they exerted were extreme opposites of each other. Flora’s large, round eyes sparkled a lovely purple, and her pale skin was tinted with a faint blush. Conversely, Christina had her brows furrowed in displeasure, turning away with a huff when she made eye contact with Rio.

“On this occasion, I commend you for saving my daughter. You have done well — I thank you.” Philip III extended his thanks to Rio with his grandiose way of speaking.

“I am wholly unworthy but humbly delighted to receive your praise, Your Majesty,” Rio replied respectfully.

“You carry yourself quite capably in this setting. Did you study the etiquette of royal audiences?”

“Your Majesty, I am beyond words. This is but hastily acquired knowledge that my attendants assisted me in preparing, in the hopes that I would not act disrespectfully in your lofty presence.” Rio’s way of speaking made the king peer at him with a look of admiration.

“I did send a message not to worry about the finer details of ceremonious etiquette, but your efforts are quite admirable. I heard you were living in the slums, but were you born in this country?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I was born and raised in the capital.” “I see. And your parents…?”

“I have been told that my father and mother were adventurers that traveled from country to country. They emigrated from the far east and had me once they had settled in this kingdom, but both of them are gone now.”

“I see. Immigrants from the far east… So that is why you are living in the slums. That’s quite the tragic past you have for your age, however… I do apologize for asking such difficult questions. Do forgive me.”

“It is no trouble in the least, Your Majesty. It’s all in the past now,” Rio said with a troubled expression.

“I see. Incidentally, I was thinking of rewarding you for your actions…” Philip

III started to speak, then paused to look at Rio.

“What are your thoughts about enrolling into the primary school division of the Royal Academy of Beltrum? If you wish, it will lead to favorable employment opportunities in the future. If you produce satisfactory results, we will also support your advancement into the Academy’s secondary school.”

The king explained the details of the reward, and Rio’s eyes widened at the offer suddenly placed before him.

“That… is far beyond what I had wished for,” Rio said, a look of indecisiveness faintly appearing on his face.

It was true that as an orphan, Rio completely lacked the education and social etiquette of this world, making the opportunity to enroll in a specialized educational institution not a bad offer at all. But based on this place’s cultural standards, it was easy to picture the students attending the Royal Academy of Beltrum as all royalty and nobility. What would happen if Rio went to such a place with his complete lack of any kind of social stature?

Just the thought of it made his spirit heavy.

Even so, Rio had no other choice right now. It was hard to imagine them letting him go freely if he refused, and he had no plans on how he was to live from tomorrow onwards either. After quickly calculating everything in his head, Rio said:

“If Your Majesty would allow it, then I shall gratefully take you for your word and accept this kind offer,” he said quietly, deciding to receive the reward. Philip III nodded approvingly.

“Then it has been decided. We will fund all of your expenses from enrollment until graduation. I shall also bestow upon you a separate reward of 100 gold coins.”

The room stirred again — that was an extraordinary amount.

The currency in circulation in the markets consisted of six types: small bronze coins, large bronze coins, small silver coins, large silver coins, gold coins, and enchanted gold coins. The exchange rate of each coin to the next in value was ten to one. For example, ten small bronze coins were equivalent to one large bronze coin, and ten large bronze coins could be exchanged for one small silver coin. However, enchanted gold coins were the exception: the number in circulation was extremely small, thus making the standard gold coin the highest value of coin in use.

The enrollment fee into the elementary school division of the Royal Academy of Beltrum was 10 gold coins, and the yearly tuition fee was 30 gold coins. In other words, the first year of schooling cost 40 gold coins in total, and every year after would cost 30 gold coins.

To put it into context, the average yearly income of a noble without land was roughly 40 gold coins.

First and foremost, the royalty and nobility classes were too fixated on their prejudiced views to welcome a lowly orphan into their ranks at the Royal Academy — to watch him receive such a large value reward on top of that would definitely generate animosity.

Rio noticed how the atmosphere in the room had changed, but ignored it.

“…Please accept my deepest gratitude for your overwhelming hospitality, Your Majesty,” he said instead, bowing his head low.

◇◇◇

The director’s office of the Royal Academy of Beltrum was located on the top floor, which was the steeple of the school building. Director Garcia Fontaine had summoned the elementary school teacher in charge of the first-years, Celia Claire, to his office. Once Celia entered, Garcia lowered himself into a regal- looking desk chair at the back of the room. Behind him was a balcony that overlooked the capital of Beltrant.

“Excuse me, Director Fontaine. Did you call for me?”

“Indeed,” Garcia said, nodding at Celia’s greeting. “Thank you for coming.” Despite his old age showing through the wrinkles on his face, Garcia still had a youthful vigor about him.

“I have called you here today to discuss the enrollment of the orphan from the royal assembly the other day.”

“You mean Rio?”

“That’s right. It has been decided that he will join your class.”

“I see. That shouldn’t be a problem,” Celia replied. A normal professor would have felt a sense of aversion to having a controversial orphan lumped into their class, but Celia readily agreed without any objections.

“You’re still a young and upcoming professor, so I have great expectations of you. Do well.”

“Yes, I will do my best to meet those expectations,” Celia replied, straightening her stance proudly.

“Good. Now, for the real issue at hand… What did you think of the orphan when you met him? I’d like to hear your honest opinion.”

“Let me see… I found him to be an intelligent child that was rather mature for his age,” Celia answered after thinking carefully.

“Oh? What exactly made you think that?” Garcia asked with great interest.

“First, the fact that he seemed to clearly understand the situation he was in. On top of that, he had an ambitious attitude that always sought to make up for his shortcomings. His critical thinking, adaptability, and learning speed were all exceptional, too,” Celia responded with her well-organized impression of Rio.

“Hmm. He was dragged into the Princess’ kidnapping case, taken to the castle, endured an interrogation that was more torture than anything, then was ordered to enroll in the Royal Academy under the auspices of a reward. Did he seem to have any complaints regarding any of those points? Ignium,” Garcia asked, then chanted a spell. A small magic circle appeared at his fingertip, followed by a flame. He brought the flame towards the pipe he held in his mouth and inhaled, releasing puffs of smoke into the air.

“He seemed reluctant in some ways, but he never voiced any complaints out loud.”

“I see…” Garcia said, exhaling a puff of smoke and watching it waft through the air in contemplation.

“Umm, is something the matter with Rio?” Celia asked, uncertain of where the conversation was going.

“Oh, it’s nothing. It just isn’t a very childlike reaction, that’s all,” Garcia answered vaguely.

“A childlike reaction?” Celia tilted her head in confusion.

“Indeed. For example, let’s say you were suddenly thrown into a cell where a bunch of unknown men violently abused you. What would you think once you were released without a word?”

“…That sounds horrible. It’d definitely cause some kind of trauma… I might even lose trust in other people,” Celia replied with a pained expression. Imagining herself in that position made the situation feel all the more wretched.

“That’s exactly what I mean. It may seem even more repulsive from your perspective as a girl, but isn’t that the normal reaction as a child — no, a human? You would hate the people who treated you unjustly, perhaps mutter a curse or two about them. There may be some who take into account their position and hold back their emotions, but those people are few and far between, even among adults,” Garcia stated, sounding strangely profound.

Celia narrowed her eyes immediately. “…What do you mean by that?”

“Nothing. I’m just saying he hasn’t shown very childlike reactions based on what you’ve told me. The royal audience etiquette he showed in the hall was unbelievably smooth for something acquired so hastily.”

“That’s because I taught him the necessary etiquette. He didn’t know anything at first,” Celia said. She herself hadn’t realized that she was feeling a little offended for Rio and had answered in his defense.

“Hmm. I heard that boy was the one who requested you teach him the etiquette. A normal child would not consider things that far ahead.”

“That’s why I thought he was an intelligent child,” Celia replied stiffly to Garcia’s roundabout way of speaking.

“True, he could just be an intelligent child. There are people like Princess Christina or exemplary child prodigies like your twelve-year-old self that exist. It wouldn’t be odd for him to have been raised that way in the harsh streets of the slums. Either that, or—” Garcia paused, his face falling devoid of expression. “Or… what?” Celia asked gravely.

“No, it’s nothing. He’s going to have a lot of struggles from here on out. As his teacher, I would like you to pay special attention to him. If anything concerning happens, report it to me. This is something I can only entrust to you,” Garcia said with a calm smile.

“I am certainly more than willing to do that, but…” It felt like there was something more to the issue, so Celia’s expression wasn’t fully convinced.

“Of course, I am aware of how busy you are with your research as well. You must have fallen behind with all the travel in and out of the castle these last few days. You only need to do as much as what will not affect your research.”

“…Very well, I understand. Is that all for today?” Celia was a little curious about what he was thinking, but it didn’t seem like he would answer her if she asked. She just wanted to leave as soon as possible.

“Yes, you may leave now.”

“Thank you. Please excuse me.” Celia bowed once, then turned on her heel and left.

I’m not very good at dealing with him… she thought with a small sigh.

◇◇◇

Rio threaded his arms through the sleeves of the Royal Academy of Beltrum’s school uniform as he walked down the hallways that his teacher, Celia, was leading him through. He followed after her, noting that her frame appeared quite small and lacked strength.

“How does your new uniform feel?” Celia asked, looking back at Rio as they walked.

“It’s not bad. The fabric is sturdy and easy to move around in,” Rio replied, lightly moving both his arms in his uniform as though to test the feel.

“It’s been custom-made based on the requests of many generations of students, after all. It can also act as a military uniform.”

“I see… So that’s why the design is like a knight’s uniform.”

“Right! Isn’t it cool? The girls’ uniform is cute too,” Celia said with a playful smile.

“Ahaha…” Rio laughed awkwardly. Setting aside whether or not he looked forward to seeing the girls’ uniform, the Royal Academy’s uniform really was stylish. As Rio had said, the design was like that of a knight’s uniform. The boys wore pants, while the girls had skirts; while there were some minor differences in design here and there, the overall functionality of each uniform was the same.

“We’ve arrived.”

Chatting while they walked, they reached Celia’s classroom. The noisy class could be heard on the other side of the door; inside, the spoiled children of royalty and nobility were enthusiastically talking to each other before homeroom started.

This is it.

Rio had been keeping track of the route he took through the school as they walked and had memorized the path to this classroom. From tomorrow onwards, he’d be able to make it here by himself.

“You don’t seem that nervous,” Celia noted. “That’s not true.” Rio gave a small shrug. “Really? You look fairly composed to me.”

“I’ve been told that my emotions don’t show easily on my face because I lived in the slums,” Rio answered with a bitter smile.

“Is that so… Well, alright. Let’s go inside,” Celia said and opened the door. A hushed silence fell over the hustle and bustle of the classroom.

“Good morning, everyone,” Celia said. “A new student will be joining our class today. Rio, come inside.” She walked into the classroom and stepped up onto the teacher’s podium.

“Excuse me.” With a quick bow, Rio followed Celia into the classroom.

The inside of the classroom was spacious, almost like a small hall. The teacher’s podium sat at the front of the room, facing the desks that were fixed to the tiered floor that elevated those at the back of the room. There were roughly forty people in the class, with three classes in each year. Rio stepped up onto the podium and felt the stabbing looks of all the students in the room. Soft whispers spread from every corner.

“Huh, so that’s the orphan being admitted.”

“An orphan? Someone like that enrolled into this prestigious academy?”

“Yeah, I heard from my father that he was enrolled as reward for a commendable deed.”

“…Are you sure it isn’t some kind of mistake?”

And so on. The male students conversed curiously; it seemed like the rumor of an orphan enrolling had already spread. As for the female students’ reactions…

“Black hair is a rare sight.”

“Yes, I was wondering what kind of animal would show up, but…” “He has a surprisingly cute face.”

“He’d look like a girl if he put on a wig and a dress.”

“Hmm… Well, his face isn’t bad, but he’s still an orphan.” His classmates added more comments about his appearance in their evaluation. Both sides were fairly ornery in their reactions, having already been instilled with the values of nobility that thrived on social standing.

The looks they sent Rio were filled with prejudice.

“Okay everyone, quiet down. He’s going to introduce himself,” Celia said with a small sigh as she looked around the room. Once the students had stopped whispering, Rio took a step forward.

“My name is Rio. By the grace of His Majesty the King, I have been immeasurably blessed to attend this honorable learning space. I am lacking in more than several aspects, but I will do my utter best not to cause any inconveniences to anyone here. I humbly beg your tolerance.”

He finished his introduction and greeting with a deep bow. It was a satisfactory introduction that bordered on being too polite for a seven-year-old, but this level of humility was probably just right when it came to introductions in front of royalty and nobility; Celia had helped him create this greeting as well.

Sure enough, Rio and Celia’s predictions as to how the class would react were not wrong.

“Well, it seems he has the right level of respect, at least.” “Yeah, he can speak as adequately as a servant, at least.” “So orphans can talk like that…”

At the very least, his speech hadn’t brought about any dissatisfaction. That being said, no one applauded him, either — they spoke as though they were observing a rare animal, clearly looking down on Rio. Though he might be a student of the Royal Academy from today onwards, Rio had been an orphan until recently, and his existence was far beneath them.

So I have to spend at least six years here… He sighed wearily in his heart at how uncomfortably out of place he was. While he would no longer be troubled to find food, clothes, or shelter, the thought of his future life was rather depressing.

But it’s still better than the slums. I’ll learn everything and anything that seems useful. Otherwise, there would be no point in coming to this school, and Rio already knew how important it was to obtain a proper education after all. Without knowledge and skills, his future job opportunities would be extremely limited, though he didn’t know what would be useful in his life anyway.

As long as he was being made to attend this school, he had to make the most of his situation.

Rio raised his head after bowing and looked around the room. Then…

…Hm? He spotted a familiar face among the students staring at him. Seated next to a window at the back of the classroom was someone with long, lavender hair that was tied back with a barrette. Beside her sat a cute girl with blonde ringlets. The lavender-haired girl — Christina Beltrum — glared at Rio before turning her nose away with a huff. The thought had passed through his mind in the audience hall too: she seemed to really hate him, although that was understandable considering how they met.

Well, it’s probably best not to get involved… She probably thinks the same.

Christina definitely didn’t have any favorable feelings towards Rio, and Rio had absolutely no intention of having any connection to Christina.

“Alright. From today onwards, Rio is one of our classmates. He may be unfamiliar with many things, so please help him out when he needs it. I hope you all get along well,” Celia said in a bright voice, breaking the heavy atmosphere in the room, but there was no response from the students. Celia gave a small sigh.

“…Okay Rio, why don’t you sit in one of the empty seats? That’ll be your assigned seat from now on. I would recommend the one at the very front.”

It would be easier for Celia to keep an eye on him there.

“Understood.” Rio moved to the open desk at the front of the classroom and lowered himself into the seat.

“That’s all the announcements for today, so let’s dive straight into the lesson.”

◇◇◇

At the Royal Academy of Beltrum, the teachers changed with every subject, and the homeroom teacher wasn’t necessarily the teacher for all of the subjects. Fortunately, Rio’s first lesson at the Royal Academy was an arithmetic class taught by Celia.

“Everyone here passed the entrance examination, so you all know your four basic operations already. Today, we’ll be trying to solve some more advanced problems,” Celia said as she stood at the teacher’s podium and wrote the exercises down on the blackboard. The questions were simple enough to be solved by a elementary school student in Japan.

“Now, please solve the questions on the blackboard,” Celia said once she finished writing. The students all moved their quills at once to work on the exercises. Once she had confirmed that they were working, Celia approached Rio.

“Ah… Rio. I’m not sure what level you’re at, so I’d just like to check — can you solve the questions on the board?”

“I’m sorry… I can’t even read the words,” Rio answered Celia’s whispered question.

“I see. So we’ll have to start with numbers and letters,” Celia said with an uneasy look. “Then I’ll give you some individual lessons in my research lab… Could you come to the basement of the library tower after class? You can just sit through the lesson for today,” she added after a few seconds of consideration, keeping in mind the balance of progress with the rest of the class.

“Yes ma’am.” Rio followed her decision obediently. It wasn’t his intention to delay the progress of the rest of the class just for himself.

The arithmetic class continued without incident until the end of the lesson.

◇◇◇

After the first class was over, it was break time. Celia left the classroom to head to her next class, leaving the students behind. A strange atmosphere then descended upon the classroom, and countless gazes fell upon the empty space that surrounded Rio, who sat by himself at the front of the room. …Whisper whisper whisper…

“Seems like he can’t do arithmetic. He was just listening the whole time.” “Ah, it must be because he didn’t take the entrance examination to get in.”

“He’s an orphan after all. An orphan. There’s no way he’s had a proper education… I bet he can’t even read the characters.”

“Wow, why did they let someone like that into the school?”

Perhaps they were intrigued — or amused — by the sight of an orphan they normally wouldn’t come into contact with, as the students were speaking quietly to each other as they stared at Rio from afar. He could hear them giggling to themselves. Well… they’ll get bored eventually. While he felt as comfortable as sleeping on a bed of nails, that was, at least, as far as his classmates went. He could ignore that much. He’d be quite the spectacle to them for the near future, but they’d eventually stop paying attention to him. Rio heaved a small sigh at that thought.

“Hey, you. Do you have a moment?”

Just then, a girl walked down from the back of the classroom and addressed Rio with an air of composure. It was a voice he had heard before — and very recently, at that. Rio turned his gaze towards the owner of said voice.

The cute girl with blonde ringlets who had been sitting next to Christina earlier was standing there, watching him. Her wide eyes had a forceful strength behind them as she looked at Rio in annoyance.

Is she the girl who was with Princess Christina in the slums? Rio assumed from her familiar voice. She had been wearing a robe at the time, so he didn’t know her face, but he recalled her name as Roanna.

“Can I help you with anything?”

“Can I help you with anything? No, there’s nothing you can help me with. What was the meaning of that lesson just now?” The girl he assumed to be Roanna spoke clearly, then gave an exaggerated sigh.

“…I’m sorry. What do you mean?” Unable to understand the conversation, Rio tilted his head.

“You seem to grasp the basic concepts of language, but you can’t even read numbers?”

“Yes,” Rio confirmed calmly. The girl raised her eyebrows.

“Are you fooling around right now? The Royal Academy of Beltrum is a place of learning with a long history of tradition and status. We all had to pass a difficult entrance examination to be here, and yet you can’t even read characters — that makes you no different than a monkey,” the girl stated indignantly.

Suddenly, a voice interrupted to agree with her. “Why, it’s exactly as Lady Roanna says!”

The new voice who interjected belonged to a boy with a pretty face. Rio and the girl both turned to look at him.

“What is it, Alphonse? I’m talking to him right now.” Roanna narrowed her eyes at him, unhappy at being interrupted.

“Well, pardon me. I was just thinking about how a dirty commoner in my line of sight is unpleasant enough, so having one enrolled in the Royal Academy of Beltrum is truly some sort of nightmare,” Alphonse said coldly.

“This boy’s enrollment was decided by His Majesty, the King. I don’t believe you’re in a position to criticize,” Roanna said.

“Yes, it is as you say,” Alphonse agreed with a smug smirk. “However, I do not wish for this boy to get the wrong idea, either. That’s why I’m going to make things clear right now.” He looked around at the other students in the classroom.

“What do you mean?” Roanna asked doubtfully.

“I’m telling you not to assume he’s of equal status to us, that’s all. Everyone here is a chosen child of royalty and nobility. It would be unpleasant to have a commoner act like he’s one of us.” Alphonse didn’t bother to hide any of his contempt at Rio and shot a glare at him.

It was pointless to say anything to someone with such a strong sense of prejudice.

He’d just have to spout some random words of submission to appease him… that’s what Rio was thinking as he received Alphonse’s unchanging glare.

“With all due respect—”

“I haven’t given you permission to speak, commoner. Do not interrupt the conversation of nobles. It’s unpleasant.”

Rio had opened his mouth and Alphonse immediately spoke over him with a triumphant smile, as though he had been waiting for it. Silence fell over the classroom, before giggles started to break out from all over. Seeing the reactions of the other students made Alphonse grin even wider in satisfaction. Rio fell silent, a cold smile remaining on his face.

“That’s enough, Alphonse. If you’re just here to ridicule others, then please take your leave,” Roanna told him in a weary voice.

“I shall do just that. Excuse me.”

With a nod, Alphonse returned to the back of the room with a smug expression. Roanna looked at Rio and opened her mouth once again.

“…As I was saying. To put it frankly, you’re not worthy of being in this school.”

“Please accept my sincerest apologies — I have not had an education.”

“So it seems, yes. But the more your comprehension falls behind, the more you’ll be holding us back, too. You’ll be smearing mud all over this school’s name.” Roanna took Rio’s unreserved statement at face value.

“It is exactly as you say.”

“Then you need to show some effort, and leave behind good results; there are examinations at the end of every school semester here at the academy. That’s all I have to say.”

“I understand. I vow to exert my best efforts in order to avoid becoming a hindrance on everyone. Miss Roanna, thank you very much for your concern,” Rio thanked her as he lowered his head politely.

“It’s fine. This is part of my job as acting class representative on Princess Christina’s behalf. Even if that wasn’t the case, it is the role of nobility to lead the commoners.”

Those were probably her true feelings; Roanna was trying to lead Rio as the class representative and as a noble. There was a sense of duty and responsibility there… Perhaps that was why Rio couldn’t sense the same animosity behind Roanna’s words as he did Alphonse’s.

◇◇◇

After his first day of class was over, Rio made his way to the library tower where the instructor research labs were located. The library took up three floors of the tower, with the remaining floors allocated to the instructors that taught at the Academy. Celia’s laboratory was in one such space underneath the tower.

The ground floor entrance of the library opened to an exorbitant number of books, crammed snuggly into shelves sorted by subject. Although Rio was curious about what kinds of books were available, he had other matters to deal with today, and headed straight for the underground research labs once he’d completed the necessary forms at the reception desk. Once downstairs, the basement was comprised of a long passage illuminated by magic lamps.

“Must be here.”

Rio had arrived at Celia’s lab safely, having asked for directions at the reception. He couldn’t read the letters on the nameplate attached to the door, but figured that this should be the right place.

Knock, knock. Rio rapped slowly on the door.

“……” No response came from the other side of the door. “Is she not here?”

Rio tilted his head in confusion and knocked again, this time with more force.

Knock, knock. Still no response.

“Professor Celia, are you there?” Knock, knock.

He continued to knock as he called. If she wasn’t here, he should just give up and come back tomorrow—

Just as Rio thought that, the door flew open, making him jump in surprise. Luckily, the door had opened inwards — if it were an outward-facing door, it might have smacked him in the face.

“Oh my god, shut up already! Can’t you read the sign? I’m in the middle of something right now, go awa…” Celia protested loudly as she burst out of the room, but trailed off at the sight of Rio’s face. Rio stared back at her dumbfoundedly; his impression of her as a sheltered and proper noble daughter had flown out the window.

“Erm… I’m here for the individual lessons you mentioned…” Rio stated his business hesitantly with a stiff smile.

“Huh? Ah, yes… R-Right… Welcome! Yes, I’ve been expecting you.” With a pondering pause and gasp later, Celia recovered herself smoothly with a sweet smile.

She definitely forgot, Rio thought with a strained expression, but decided to play along anyway.

“My apologies for the inconvenience.”

“It’s fine!” Celia said, smiling a bit abashedly. “As your instructor, I can’t just leave you behind.”

“Thank you very much.”

“Yes, well. There’s no point in standing around, so come on in — ah.” Celia turned around to invite Rio inside and immediately stiffened.

Oh no. I forgot he was coming so I didn’t clean the room!

“What’s wrong?” Rio asked from behind a silently panicking Celia.

“Eh? Ah… no, nothing. Yes. Um. My room’s a little bit messy right now, but pay it no mind.” Celia gave him her biggest and brightest forced smile to try and cover up her oversight.

“Sure, that’s fine.” Rio nodded, then stepped into the room.

…This is a little bit messy…?

Rio recoiled at the chaos laid out before him. It was much worse than he imagined.

The room was an impressive size of over 350 square feet, but the floor was scattered with documents, books, and other miscellaneous items of unknown purpose to Rio. There was a desk that was also covered in books and papers, with the leftovers of a light meal — a plate and teacup — stacked at the end. It was hard to believe that this was the room of a cute young lady.

“I-It’s normally cleaner than this! I was just a bit busy and my research was at a good stride so I put it off for later…”

Celia must have noticed the change in Rio’s expression, because she blushed while explaining herself. Unable to come up with a good response, Rio pointed to the books that caught his eye and complimented Celia.

“T-Those are a lot of difficult-looking books, Professor. You’re really amazing for such a young age!”

It was a very low-effort response, but Celia latched onto it.

“Eh? Ah… aah, yes. I’m only twelve years old, you know? I should still be in the primary division at this age, yet I’ve already graduated from the secondary school!” Celia proudly puffed out her small chest. Her cheeks were still a little red, but she seemed grateful for the change of topic.

“That really is amazing.”

“R-Right! I actually wanted to dedicate myself to my magic research more, but the researchers here all have to take a part in instructing,” Celia babbled. The way she was trying to act mature was strangely cute, making Rio smile faintly.

“Umm… I’ll clear a space, so just wait there.”

She began cleaning up the items left on the desk and chairs in the middle of the room. There seemed to be a certain methodology to how the items were haphazardly scattered, which allowed Celia to briskly organize them. Figuring he shouldn’t move any of the books and documents himself, Rio decided to stand back and watch, but…

“…”

He noticed that Celia was bent forward as she cleaned, making her skirt flutter dangerously. Her slender legs had an elegant charm that didn’t suit her age… Rio quickly averted his eyes and sighed at Celia’s obliviousness.

Several minutes later, Rio and Celia sat opposite each other at her desk, with several writing tools placed before them.

“Okay, let’s start.” “All right.”

“So where shall we begin… Okay, how about this — do you know what numbers are and what they mean?” “I do,” Rio answered immediately.

“Hmm… okay. Take these five books, then. Let’s say you finished reading three of them. How many more books do you still have to read?” Celia gave Rio a simple question to check if he really understood.

“Two books.” Once again, Rio answered immediately.

Celia’s eyes widened in surprise. “My, so you really do understand. If you can do subtraction, that means you must be able to do addition, too. Okay, how about this?”

Celia picked up a quill pen from the table and wrote down a simple addition question on some paper.

“Um… I can’t read characters, so…” Rio said in a troubled voice.

“Oh, that’s right. So you can do the calculations, but you can’t read the numbers?”

“That’s correct.”

“Well, that’s a little odd… But I suppose it’s not unheard of? Paper is expensive, after all…” Celia muttered to herself in thought.

“All right, I guess that means I just need to teach you the numbers. That should make things pretty simple — and much easier for me. I’m going to write down the numbers from zero to nine here. Can you remember them?” Celia asked as she smoothly jotted the numbers down.

“Sure.”

“From the left, it goes zero, one, two, increasing as such. Tell me once you’re done remembering them and I’ll give you some arithmetic problems.”

“Okay.” Rio nodded. He used his finger to trace the numbers as he memorized them. They were very simple in shape, so he was able to finish memorizing them in a short amount of time. “I’ve remembered them.”

“Eh? Already? Okay, then write the numbers from zero to nine here.” Celia turned the paper over and handed it to Rio. Rio wrote down the characters with ease.

“Correct. Your handwriting is really neat, too,” Celia commented in awe. “Okay. Next, let’s jump straight into addition and subtraction problems. I’ll teach you the symbols as well.”

“Okay. Could you give me questions that are on the same level as the class right now? I want to see how well I can keep up.”

“At the same level as the class… That’d be the four basic operations, which includes multiplication and division. Wouldn’t that be too hard?”

“It’s fine, I think. Multiplication is where you figure out how many apples you need to give six children five apples each, right? And division is just the opposite.”

“Y-Yes, that’s right. Where did you learn that?” Celia wondered out loud. “…From my dead mother.”

That was a lie. He had learned the basic operations long ago through his education in his other life. All Celia needed to teach Rio was how to read the numbers and symbols — but he couldn’t tell her that. Rio decided to simplify things by saying he had learned it from his dead mother, since there was no way for the truth to be unearthed and proven.

“I see. Your mother must have been very educated.” Feeling bad for asking such a thing, Celia’s expression clouded over.

“Yes. She was a very warm and kind person…” Rio’s expression faintly darkened, too.

“Umm, okay… so if that’s the case, then that means you can do the basic operations. I’ll create some problems for you at the same level as the rest of the class. You can give that a try.”

At Rio’s inclination of his head, Celia pulled over a new piece of paper. She began to write question after question on it, until there were roughly twenty questions utilizing the four different operations.

“The symbols at the top are the four basic mathematic operators. Starting

from the left, it’s addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Now begin.”

At Celia’s signal, Rio glanced over all the questions. From Amakawa Haruto’s perspective, the sheet was full of questions that were far too easy for him.

“I’m done.”

Rio solved all the questions in less than half a minute. His concentration on the paper had distracted him from noticing Celia’s look of astonishment.

“They’re all correct…” She’d probably been checking his work as he went, as she was able to give him her assessment immediately.

“Then that means I won’t have any problems with arithmetic. I need to learn the letters next, but there are more of those than numbers, right?”

“Eh? Ah, yes. Right…”

“Is something the matter?” Rio asked, puzzled at Celia’s short answer. “Nothing’s the matter… You’re just really fast at mental calculations.” “Is that… so? Isn’t everyone else in the class at this level?”

“No. Only Her Highness, Princess Christina, is at this level. Roanna’s also rather fast, but not as fast as you,” Celia said with a stiff smile.

That was when Rio realized the mistake he had made.

He had assumed that the most prestigious academy in the kingdom would have students of fairly advanced academic abilities. After all, the students themselves had bragged about their prowess and how they had already learned the basic operations for the entry examination. That was why Rio had mistakenly thought that this much was easy for their level.

“Well, I used to do calculations in my head often. My mother said it would come in handy someday.” Rio faltered for a second before making up an excuse on the spot.

“Is that… so…” Celia looked at Rio doubtfully, but Rio ignored her stare.

“Do you know if there are any books for children learning to read, Professor?”

he asked instead.

Celia pondered for a moment before answering. “…There are. I’ll give you a list; you can borrow them at the library on your way back,” she answered with a small sigh.

“Thank you very much.”

“It’s fine, this is part of my duty as your instructor. So… how was your first day at the academy? Let me know if there’s anything you’re unhappy with,” Celia asked with a teacherly look of concern. The events that happened during today’s break flashed in Rio’s mind, but he didn’t feel the need to report it to Celia. It was only his first day here, and the others involved were only children, in the end.

“No, it was fine.” “Really?”

Rio nodded his head plainly, which seemed to surprise Celia. She looked as though she had more that she wanted to ask, stumbling over her next words.

“Umm. I was just, you know, wondering if you made any friends…” she eventually asked, hesitantly.

“Friends? No, I didn’t want to overstep myself by acting overly familiar with the nobles,” Rio stated calmly. Celia seemed a little upset at that.

“Well, yes, I suppose… you’re right. That would make things difficult,” she sighed. Rio tilted his head in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing, I just wished I could do more to help you make friends. You know how relationships between nobility can get complicated… There are some children who fuss over their superiority, so I have to watch what I say or they’ll be unhappy,” Celia grumbled.

“Aren’t you a noble too, Professor?”

“Well, I suppose that’s true,” Celia sighed with a bitter smile.

“I don’t really have a problem with it. I want to focus on my studies more anyway.”

“Ahaha…” Celia laughed awkwardly at Rio’s blunt reply. “That’s what makes you so mature — or boring, I should say.” “Do you really think so?”

“Yes. Noble children may seem precocious, but they’re all just attention- craving children at heart. But you… you’re different. You seem to make your every move based on whether you deem it necessary or not.”

“…That makes sense.”

“Well, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. It’s just that you’re more independent than I was expecting, so I’m at a loss for what to do. …Sorry for saying something so weird.”

“No, thank you for thinking about me.” Rio bowed his head deeply. The other instructors were unlikely to have treated him as kindly as this.

“Like I said, it’s my duty as your teacher. If anything happens, don’t hesitate to come see me. I don’t know if I’ll be any help, but I can at least hear you out.” “Okay.”

Rio returned Celia’s warm smile with a soft one of his own.

◇◇◇

After borrowing the books from the library, Rio returned to the dormitory tower on the academy grounds. His room assignment was on the top floor; it had a great view, but the climb up the stairs made it an unpopular leftover selection. And it was in this room that Rio would spend at least the next six years.

While many of the high-ranked royalty and nobility commuted from their own residences in the capital, the dormitory tower was still a facility that accommodated nobles. The rooms were spacious — easily over 350 square feet — and all essential furniture was provided. A personal maid could either be brought from home, or one could be hired from the academy for a determined price. It truly left nothing to be desired.

Rio moved a chair next to the window and gazed at the outside scenery; it was still evening, and the sky was tinted a rosy red. The dormitory tower of the academy sat on elevated land that overlooked the capital of Beltrant, allowing him a view of the city and surrounding farms. That being said, most of the scenery in his field of view was wilderness and nature. A dense, overgrown forest spread widely before huge towering mountains, leaving the area of human civilization very small.

It would be impossible to see this kind of scenery in Japan.

The events in the days that followed the return of his memories had been so bewildering, he hadn’t had the time to consider what had happened to him properly. Now that he finally had time to himself, he became strangely emotional as all sorts of feelings surged within him.

“This really is another world…” Rio murmured with a sigh.

He had never heard of the kingdom of Beltrum before. The stage of civilization was far too different from Earth, and — most importantly — magic existed as though it was completely normal. It was like the world of some fantasy-themed game.

He wanted to believe it was a dream, but it wasn’t. This was neither Japan nor Earth.

“I died. That’s right… I died. I’m dead… Ha… haha…” A dry laugh burst forth from Rio.

The melding of Haruto and Rio’s minds had allowed his stream of consciousness to stay constant, making it harder to feel the reality of Amakawa Haruto’s death. But saying the truth out loud had made an indescribable feeling rise within him. Right now, he was not Haruto, but another person named Rio — the only one in this world who knew who Amakawa Haruto was. That thought alone made him want to return Earth very much.

He missed his family… And he wanted to see Miharu once more. He dreamed of the day he could see her and tell her his feelings. Was this emotion what they called being “homesick”?

But there didn’t appear to be a way back to Earth. He didn’t even know why he was reincarnated — and there was no way for the dead to come back to life, anyway. The only thing left for Rio in this world were his precious memories of his mother and the rage he held for the man that stomped on them. The only thing left was reality.

Wasn’t that so ruthlessly unjust?

Rio grinded his teeth together as he narrowed his eyes at the scenery outside his window. The evening sun was setting far on the horizon, painting the extraordinarily beautiful sky. Seeing that made Rio vow in his heart to keep living.

There was no way he could stop now. Coming to a standstill meant that Rio’s life would lose meaning.

He refused to die in a place like this, knowing nothing and accomplishing nothing… As if he’d give up. He’d live on, strongly and stubbornly.

That’s what he decided. It was a vow that Rio had made once before, but now he was making it once again with the memories and personality of Amakawa Haruto inside him. But it would be a long, tough road, and Rio didn’t understand just how harsh it could get.

How fragile, fleeting, and empty the road in front of him was.

◇◇◇

Hordes of small, uniform-clad children were gathered on the outdoor proving grounds of the Royal Academy of Beltrum. Rio was among them.

“As nobles, you must have at least a minimum knowledge of martial arts,” said a brawny man that stood in front of the students.

Rio was currently in his martial arts class.

The male students all held a wooden sword and shield in their hands, while the female students had wooden staves.

“Continuing on from our last lesson, today we will be learning about form. Repeat the form I taught you last time for ten reps in one set, for five sets. Do them slowly and check how you move. Once you’re done, form groups of two and check your partner’s movements for five sets.”

At the instructor’s orders, the students began to move — the male students in particular swung their wooden swords enthusiastically.

“Rio. I’ll teach you personally since you don’t know the forms yet. Follow me.”

Rio obediently followed the instructor. They headed for an area away from the rest of the students and stood face-to-face a moderate distance apart from each other.

“Have you ever held a sword before, Rio?”

“Yes. Technically,” Rio admitted. Strictly speaking, the one that he held was a katana. The katana his grandfather owned in his previous life.

“Hm. I see. Then, first, I’ll review how well you can use it. Try and land a blow on me with that sword. Come at me when you’re ready,” the instructor said, holding his sword up.

What an action-oriented man. Rio’s mouth twitched in a wry smile at the simple progression of the conversation. This instructor believed in talking through the body rather than words, however his posture was very practical and refined, even from Rio’s perspective. His skill was authentic.

But… what should I do? Rio pondered as he adjusted his grip on the sword. He didn’t understand the principles yet, but he could probably land a hit if he strengthened his physical abilities with magic essence. He had confidence in doing that, but the instructor would definitely notice that something strange was going on if a child with no magic training showed movements more advanced than an adult’s. And if that happened, he’d have to explain himself.

It’s probably best to just do it with my natural strength. Let’s get this over with.

Once Rio had decided, he held the sword ready. Though he had never held a shield at the same time as a sword before, he improvised.

“Is that a stance of your own style?” “Yes, that’s correct.”

“I see. You seem to have talent.” The instructor grinned. In the next instant,

Rio took off running straight for him.

Approach, then cut. That’s what swordcraft boiled down to. As though embodying that mantra, Rio approached the instructor and swung his sword

with a test swing. The instructor easily received the sword.

“Hmm,” he murmured as though he was impressed, staring at Rio’s grip and blade control on the sword. “Good grasp of the sword. Your wrist won’t hurt that way.”

Rio concluded that this man had excellent observation skills, fitting for an instructor. It wasn’t easy to hide the basic techniques he had already learned. That being said, his posture was a bit unique due to his unfamiliarity with holding a shield.

Rio swung the wooden sword again, and again, and again. But the instructor handled them all with an elegant deftness. Of course. There was no way a child could compare with an instructor in a duel — in both strength and speed. He’d have to rely on his technical ability if he were to have a chance at landing a blow, but using all the techniques he learned from his grandfather in his previous life would also be considered abnormal. Well, I doubt he actually expects me to land a blow. Rio assessed the situation calmly.

“Good! Well done, Rio. Could do with a little more fire in you, but you’re suited for knighthood!” the instructor beamed. He was as hot-blooded as Rio predicted.

To be honest, it was a bit stifling.

“Unfortunately, I have no interest in becoming a knight.”

“What?! Well, you’ll be at the academy for a long time. I’ll make sure to teach you all the swordcraft a knight needs, so don’t worry.”

Was that meant to be reassuring? Their conversation wasn’t coalescing at all… Rio swung his sword with a bitter smile. Then—

“!”

Suddenly, the instructor launched a swift strike against Rio, who reflexively stepped back to evade it.

“Oho! So you can react to that,” the instructor murmured in awe. “You’re not meant to be the one attacking, sir.”

“There’s no rule against it! But now I know your strength. That’s enough.” The instructor lowered his sword. Rio followed suit.

“As a child, you don’t have much speed or power. However, your movements were very refined. You have quite the talent when it comes to handling a sword, but it would’ve been better if you had incorporated your shield into your attacks.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Good. Now, we shall move on to learning forms.” “Please, give me your guidance.” Rio bowed his head.

He spent some time learning Beltrum-style swordcraft from the instructor. As he was rather quick on the uptake, Rio was able to imitate the forms easily after seeing them a few times. The instructor found this amusing, and showed him one form after another, until they lost track of time doing so.

“Ah, I’d better get back soon. The other students have started finishing up.”

They walked back to where the other students were. Just then, Rio felt someone looking at him. He glanced over at the direction of the gaze: it was Christina and Roanna. The other students, who were separated from him, had shown no interest in Rio. The boys were trying to show off in front of the girls with their eager sword swings, while the girls noisily chatted away as they watched them.

“Hmph!” Christina huffed in displeasure and immediately broke their eye contact.

Next to her, Roanna — who had been Christina’s partner for the practice sets — was in a state of shock as she stared at Rio.

Were they watching me? Rio questioned in his head.

But he didn’t really care if they did — it wasn’t as if he was doing anything special.

He lost his interest in the two girls and looked away from them.

◇◇◇

Thus, half a year passed since Rio’s enrollment into the Royal Academy of Beltrum.

While he had been a spectacle at first and was often picked on, the other students gradually lost their interest in him.

They got bored.

It would’ve been more interesting for them if their taunts had been met with fury and rebellion, but Rio never said anything in return. He always kept his head down, and only ever replied with polite remarks. There were still students who tried to provoke him anyway, but their insults were repetitive and had completely lost their effect.

The students became indifferent to Rio’s existence, making his presence in the classroom near-invisible, while Rio himself had never wished to connect with the other students, either. Thanks to that, he’d spent his days focusing on his studies and training, He’d sit through his classes during the day, then head to the library after school to study. Once he returned to his dorm, he would swing his sword to keep his movements from dulling.

Every day was a repeat of that schedule, with the unchanging days passing by. Thanks to that, Rio was able to gradually improve himself, and as a result, the day came for that improvement to manifest itself.

The Royal Academy of Beltrum used a two-semester system with an exam at the end of each season. The first day of the second semester was the day the results of the end-of-semester exams were announced. Grades were usually notified to the students individually, but the top ten students and their scores were posted on the bulletin board.

A large crowd of students had gathered before the bulletin board of the first- year corridor, and they were all murmuring restlessly in obvious confusion and shock.

“What a joke! That disgusting commoner topped our year?!” Alphonse Rodan — the second son of Marquess Rodan — trembled in fury as he yelled. He was looking at the bulletin board where the end-of-semester results were posted.

There, Rio and Christina had tied for first place, Roanna was third place, while Alphonse’s name was in sixth place.

In other words, every first year other than Christina had lost to Rio.

A lowlife orphan with no family name. An inferior student that couldn’t even read half a year ago. The one everyone had looked down on as a joke. An insect no one had even considered.

The humiliation was hard to bear, and it was enough reason to question the validity of the results.

“This is some kind of mistake! He must have cheated!” Alphonse yelled loudly. “That’s right!” his friends around him cheered in agreement.

Alphonse was one of the chosen ones — since infancy, he had been studying to pass the entrance examination into the Royal Academy of Beltrum. The thought of him losing to an inferior, lowlife orphan who couldn’t even read mere months ago was intolerable — and impossible. That was why Alphonse came to the conclusion that there had to be a mistake with the exam results — that Rio had to have cheated.

Meanwhile, two small girls looked on as Alphonse and the others made a ruckus. It was Christina and Roanna, but their expressions were vastly different from the other students. Christina was glaring at the bulletin board with her usual sulky expression, while Roanna had fallen completely speechless in shock.

I’m… third? I knew I was no match for Princess Christina, but to lose to a child that couldn’t even read?

Roanna was certain she’d come second. She’d had absolute confidence in that, considering her own talents and how hard she had worked until now.

But when she’d opened her eyes, she was third.

The Royal Academy of Beltrum was the kingdom’s greatest education institute — considering how there were over a hundred students in the first year, third was definitely not a bad result. It was a rank to be proud of.

And yet…

You’re not worthy of being in this school — Roanna suddenly remembered the words she had spoken to Rio half a year ago. Exasperated at the presence of someone who couldn’t even read, she had said those words out of a sense of duty and responsibility as both a noble guiding the commoner and a class representative protecting the academy.

The unworthy one was me!

Roanna felt her face flush with embarrassment. The words she had uttered because of her doubtless belief of being better had returned to her like a boomerang.

It was unbearably embarrassing.

“You!” A loud voice suddenly echoed from around her. Roanna flinched and turned to look at the origin of the voice. There, Alphonse and several other students had surrounded Rio.

“Speak! What cheats did you use?” Alphonse grabbed Rio by the collar and drew him closer.

“None. I just took the exam normally,” Rio answered calmly.

“Lies! There’s no way you’d get a rank like that without cheating!”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re trying to say…” Rio replied in exasperation to the one-sided accusations.

Red in the face, Alphonse glared at Rio.

“You either bribed the grading officer or you cheated!”

“I don’t think that’s something that I could accomplish…”

“Is that so? Well, you definitely used some sort of dirty trick!”

“I was told not to hold everyone else back, so I applied my best efforts.” “Impossible!”

Rio sighed at Alphonse’s absolute refusal to listen. After repeatedly telling Rio not to hold him back, this was how he behaved once Rio scored higher than him.

Maybe I should’ve taken it easy instead…

With his lack of friends at the academy and overwhelming amount of information he had to learn about the world, Rio hadn’t been able to gauge the level he was at compared to the other students. He had intended on taking this test seriously in order to determine that — which resulted in this.

For the record, he had scored full marks in every subject.

He had a hunch his score had ranked in among the top students, so he had decided to drop by and the peek at the results before leaving — but was caught by Alphonse.

What should I do…

He wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible, but it didn’t seem like talking would make the other boy back down. Perhaps he should try leaving forcefully. Just as he thought that—

“Hey, why don’t you say something?” Alphonse said to him angrily. “Stop it, Alphonse. Jealousy is an unsightly look for a noble.”

Roanna suddenly interrupted him, having approached at some point. Her comment seemed to hit the mark, as Alphonse’s face twitched with rage.

“J-Jealousy? I’m afraid I can’t let that pass. I simply wanted to reveal the cheater…”

“First place isn’t so easy to achieve simply by cheating. Unless you have concrete evidence of how he cheated?”

“T-That’s…” Alphonse was cornered by Roanna’s rational rebuttals.

“If you don’t have any, then what you’re saying is a baseless accusation. It’s an insult to the dignity of the academy, and I’m afraid I can’t overlook it as the class representative,” Roanna declared strongly.

An additional voice then spoke up in support: “I didn’t hear the whole thing, but I understand what you’re saying. It’s exactly as Roanna says, Alphonse.”

Celia had appeared from somewhere. “P-Professor Claire…”

“There have been no signs of cheating, nor attempts at bribery detected on the academy’s side. This examination result was completely obtained by Rio’s own efforts. That, I can guarantee,” Celia stated clearly.

“Tch…” Completely lost for words, Alphonse’s face screwed up in frustration. “H-Hmph! I won’t accept this!”

He deposited those words behind, before quickly leaving the scene, with his gang of followers retreating with him.

“All right, everyone. Head to class if you’re done checking the grades. Homeroom is about to start,” Celia said, clapping her hands together. The gathered onlookers started to scatter in every direction.

Free from the attention, Rio turned to Roanna and Celia. “Thank you very much,” he said, bowing his head in gratitude.

“Hmph,” Roanna huffed quietly. “…It’s not like I was intervening for your sake. I won’t lose next time,” she declared, before turning around and leaving too. Rio and Celia watched her retreat.

“She’s not a bad girl, you know. She just has a lot of pride and a rigid sense of duty, so she’s strict with herself and with others,” Celia said with a wry smile.

“So it seems,” Rio agreed with a shrug of his shoulders. “Are you going to study at the library again today, Rio?” “Yes, that’s the plan.”

“I see. Then let’s have tea in my research lab. You can drop by whenever you’re ready.”

“Sure.”

That day, after school, Rio visited Celia’s research lab. After preparing the tea with precision and letting it steep for a moderate amount of time, he poured the tea from the teapot into the teacup. A floral scent wafted through the room. Once the last drop fell into the cup, Rio offered it to Celia.

“Here you are.”

“Thank you. There’s nothing like the tea that you serve. Even though they’re the same tea leaves, the fragrance is completely different when I pour it,” Celia noted, enjoying the fragrance flowing from the tea.

“I’m just following the instructions I read in a book. Anyone could do it if they

tried.”

“That’s not true. There may be different ways to make it taste good, but there’ll be differences based on who prepares it.” Celia smiled happily as she elegantly sipped the tea.

The instructors of the Royal Academy of Beltrum were typically researchers first, having only been assigned teaching duties during their free time. Thanks to that, the class instructors had very little interest in the students, and few bothered to interact with them outside of the classroom. It went without saying, then, that cases where instructors held frequent tea parties with their students were extremely rare.

Yet, by some curious circumstance, Rio and Celia had become close enough to have tea together quite often.

It all started when Celia extended an invitation to Rio while he was working hard during one of his daily study trips to the library. At first glance, Celia appeared to be a graceful and quiet noble daughter — but contrary to her looks, she was wildly candid in personality. Her only minor drawback was her inability to hear her surroundings when she was in research fever mode.

Celia was unlike the other royalty and nobility that Rio had met up until now — she never treated Rio any differently because he was an orphan. Perhaps that was why the two had hit it off once they started having tea parties; nowadays they were close to the point that conversation naturally flowed between them.

The only person Rio could relax around in the midst of his oppressive academic life was Celia.

“And congratulations on ranking first in the semester exam, by the way. That was amazing. I know you were studying every day, but that’s not a rank anyone can obtain.”

“…Thank you very much.” Rio thanked her shyly.

“But… I’m a little worried,” Celia said with a somber look. “What do you mean?”

“I’m referring to Alphonse. He might force some weird accusation on you, Rio.”

“Well, yes.”

“I know you’re more than aware of this, but many of the students in this academy are very competitive — they really hate to lose. When you combine that with the perceptions of social standing peculiar to nobility, it gets very troublesome. For example, others might throw tantrums like Alphonse did today.”

“Other than early on in my enrollment, things had been peaceful up until today,” Rio said with a small, strained smile.

“They probably provoked you out of curiosity at first, then got bored fairly soon afterwards. That, and they saw you as clearly below them. They must have said all kinds of things to you — you did well not giving in to them.”

“I didn’t want to add fuel to the fire with my reaction,” Rio replied with a small shrug.

“Exactly. You shouldn’t take on more than one predicament at a time. But this time, the exams must’ve made all of them reconsider their perspective of you. They’ll see you as a threat to their position now. That’s why you’ll face even greater troubles from here on,” Celia said with a gloomy expression.

“Even so, I’ll be all right. I’m already used to it,” Rio replied detachedly.

“But… noble bullying can get nasty, you know?” Celia had a worried look on her face. Perhaps she was speaking from her own experience — that thought passed through Rio’s mind.

“I’ve heard that you were an excellent student. Did you go through similar issues, perhaps?”

“Well… human relationships can be complicated. I did receive some choice words from a girl in a higher-ranked family than mine.”

“Were they difficult to endure?” “Absolutely not. I just ignored them all.”

Rio huffed a small laugh at Celia’s blunt reply. “That’s what I thought.”

“Hey, it was still a big deal! Though in my case, I still had friends by my side, so it turned out okay… The one I’m worried about is you!” Celia puffed out her cheeks.

“Then I’ll be fine,” Rio said with a grin.

“…Why?” Had Rio made friends somewhere she wasn’t aware of? Celia thought. But her assumption was slightly off from Rio’s answer.

“Because I have you,” Rio stated unabashedly. Celia blanked out for a moment. “Eh? Ah, umm…”

Suddenly overcome with embarrassment, Celia looked down as she blushed red.

“…Ah! Y-You’re making fun of me, aren’t you? Treating me like a child!” Unable to withstand the silence, she eventually spoke up.

“Of course not. You’re the older one here, Professor.”

“That’s true, but… I feel like I was just treated like a child! Since — I mean — you were trying to say that I’m your friend, right?”

“Yes. Is that a problem?” Rio asked, staring at Celia intently — but she was unable to meet Rio’s eyes.

“Uh…”

“Oh, but I also think of you as a professor, of course. If you’re uncomfortable with that, I can try to put a little more distance between us…” Rio continued on as Celia appeared tongue-tied. Then, Celia opened her mouth and let out a hoarse sound.

“I’m not…” “Hmm?”

“I’m not… uncomfortable.”

This time, Rio could hear her clearly, but he decided to tease her a little anyway.

“Please, say it one more time.”

“Ugh…” Celia flushed red as Rio peered at her face. “Professor?”

“I’m saying I’m not uncomfortable with it! You meanie! Read between the lines, geez!” Celia wailed with flushed cheeks, her embarrassment seeming to have reached its peak.

“I’m sorry. I really wanted to hear it clearly, so I couldn’t help myself,” Rio apologized with a giggle.

“Hmph!” Celia turned away and side-eyed Rio with a glare.

“If I ever have troubles with other people, please give me your advice as my teacher and my friend.”

“F-Fine. I’ll lend you my shoulder to cry on when you’ve been bullied to tears,” Celia replied to Rio’s request, glancing over at him.

“It’s a good thing your tiny size makes you the perfect height to cling to.”

“D-Don’t call me tiny! I’m still growing!” Celia reddened as she argued back. Once more, Rio laughed happily.

Eventually, Celia laughed too.

His days might have been repetitive, but they were also fulfilling, Rio thought. There was nothing special about them, yet they were irreplaceable. They were something Rio had lost long ago.

While the quietly burning desire for revenge wouldn’t disappear from his heart, just being able to laugh like this made his heart feel a bit lighter. Perhaps that was why — Rio thought. That was why he wanted these days to continue. He knew they couldn’t continue forever, but it’d be nice if they could continue for a little longer. But despite Rio’s feelings, his days at the academy passed by in the blink of an eye.

The results from his exam had caused the students’ distaste for him to intensify all at once, exactly as he had expected, and from there, several things happened. Rio discovered that while he could perform sorcery, he was mocked for his complete ineptitude at obtaining magic. Noble daughters would confess their feelings to him as he aged, but his refusals led to the spread of nasty rumors.

The bullying got exponentially worse than before. Despite all of this, Rio continued to move forward. He couldn’t afford to stop and stand still.

No — he was terrified of standing still.

He didn’t know if he was truly moving forward or not, but it all felt easier when he threw himself into something. Amidst such worries and uncertainties, his teatime with Celia was the only occasion where he could laugh from the bottom of his heart, making it feel both long and short.

Thus, five years passed by…

 

 

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