Chapter 133
Chapter 133
Second floor of the Academy's main building, the Department of Tactics professor's office.
Creeeak, thud.
The moment I opened the thick iron door and stepped inside, the heavy air stung my nose, and I took only the shallowest of breaths.
"......"
I quietly looked around.
Huge weapons and shields filling the walls.
Document binders lined up with military precision. An ebony desk and a leather sofa, gleaming without a single speck of dust.
This was clearly a school professor's office, so why did it have this horribly familiar, suffocating atmosphere?
'Why the hell am I even here?'
No matter how I looked at it, the interior was exactly what you'd expect from the office of Professor Wilhelm, a soldier to the marrow—it positively reeked of stubborn old-timer.
It genuinely felt like I'd been dragged into a regimental commander's office at boot camp, or a division commander's office.
Of all the things I've lived through, now I'm even being summoned alone to this strict, career-soldier grandpa's private office.
"Have a seat, Student Cassian."
Professor Wilhelm, who had taken the seat of honor on the sofa, beckoned kindly.
I hesitantly perched half my butt on the seat across from him.
Clatter, trickle trickle......
"Drink."
Professor Wilhelm poured pitch-black coffee he had brewed himself into the teacup in front of me.
But then.
'Huh?'
From the dark brown liquid steaming away rose a scent that strangely, pleasantly tickled my nose.
It smelled so good that it threw me off.
A fragrance this refined, in an academy set in a medieval fantasy world?
'I've definitely experienced this pattern in the army.'
Back when I did my military service in my past life, wasn't there always that one company commander or sergeant major who was obsessed with grinding his own beans and making hand-drip coffee?
Surely this romance fantasy world didn't go as far as reproducing that insanely detailed bit of realism, did it?
Half suspicious, half curious, I lifted the teacup.
And the moment I blew on it and took a small sip.
"......!"
My eyes shot wide open.
'What is this? It's amazing.'
Why is it so good?
Tart, yet with a clean, nutty finish—the quality could slap the face of any barista at a top-tier café in the capital and still have plenty left over.
As I looked back and forth between the teacup and Professor Wilhelm with wide eyes.
"Hoho."
Professor Wilhelm smiled in satisfaction.
"Seems it's to your liking."
"It's more than just to my liking. The aroma is amazing, and so is the taste. It's the kind of taste that makes me understand why nobles always insist on drinking such expensive tea."
At my honest praise, the old professor's shoulders puffed up proudly.
"Glad to hear it. Brewing coffee is one of my longtime hobbies, if nothing else."
Professor Wilhelm laughed heartily and settled into his seat across from me.
"Come by for a cup now and then. For you, I'll always have one ready."
"Ah, yes. Thank you......"
I answered with the corners of my mouth twitching.
That's what I said, but inside, I was shaking my head furiously.
'Ah, no way. That's too much.'
It's delicious, sure, but if I keep sipping the coffee this old man brews for me here.
Before I know it, I'll be wearing a military uniform and rattling around in the cargo bed of a deuce-and-a-half carriage headed for the northern front.
If the price of free coffee is forced enlistment, I'd rather just drink tap water.
"So."
I cleared my throat and carefully set the teacup down.
"Professor. About what you said earlier in the lecture hall."
"Hm? What about it?"
"That I should work for the nation—what on earth did you mean by that?"
At my straight question.
Professor Wilhelm put down his teacup and began to look at me with a meaningful expression.
"......"
"......?"
An inexplicable pride and trust lingering around those wrinkled eyes.
His expression was so strange that my mood was turning melancholy in real time.
'No, wait, I haven't done anything patriotic enough for this old man to look at me with such a pleased face, have I?'
I racked my brain.
Let's go over everything I've done lately.
......Ah.
'Don't tell me—going head-to-head with that old geezer of a Cardinal?'
Standing up to the Church's tyranny, running my mouth at the Academy's main gate, and standing behind Princess Iveline in the grand conference room to uphold the Imperial Family's authority—it had certainly looked that way.
Of course, what I really meant was, 'Princess or whatever, this paperwork is fucking awful, so let's just settle this and get it over with,' and I'd simply lost my temper.
'Either way, is he trying to praise me for that?'
If that's it, then it's not completely nonsensical.
Just as I was about to confirm my hypothesis in my head.
"A model of loyalty to the Imperial Family, passed down through the generations."
Professor Wilhelm's deep voice pressed heavily down on the air of the office.
"Truly, one could call it an example and a model for the youth of this era."
That's it.
So that's what it is.
Thank goodness. I can just act a little embarrassed and get past this.
"Oh, no, not at all. I just did what anyone should......"
It was just as I scratched the back of my head awkwardly and was about to play humble.
"Without backing down an inch, even before the colossal power that is the Church."
Professor Wilhelm's eyes burned more serious and fervent than ever.
"Your courageous act of defending the dignity of the Imperial Family. Not only I."
"......Yes."
"But my colleagues from the military as well are all watching you with great admiration."
In that instant, every hair on my body stood on end.
I barely managed to keep my jaw from dropping.
'Fuck...... what did he say......?'
Colleagues from the military?
If they're this old geezer Wilhelm's colleagues.
Not just one star, but multiple 'stars' leading the Imperial Army on the front and rear lines are gathered and watching me with admiration?
Isn't that fucking terrifying?
I thought it'd end with 'Aw, isn't he adorable,' but this was the horrifying implication that they were competing to recruit me, saying things like, 'Once that bastard graduates, I'm slotting him into my division as a second lieutenant.'
"No, no, no!"
I hurriedly waved both hands and denied it forcefully.
"You really don't have to! Seriously! I told you, because of my father and brother, I just want to live quietly, and I only want to graduate from the Academy without any trouble!"
Please just leave me alone! I don't have anything like patriotism!
Even at my vein-popping outcry.
Professor Wilhelm nodded with deep, sorrowful eyes, as if it hadn't fazed him in the slightest.
"I know. How could I not?"
"If you know, then please......"
"Because of your deep patriotism, not wanting to bring disgrace upon the Imperial Family."
Professor Wilhelm patted my shoulder.
"You voluntarily gave up on making a name for yourself in the world and lived wearing the mask of a barbarian. That heart-wrenching backstory of yours, as well."
"......Pardon?"
"This old man has made sure to pass it on to every general, from my own mouth."
......Crazy.
No. No.
No, sir. No, sir!
What the fuck kind of choke-on-your-own-spit bullshit is this?!
When did I ever cosplay as a dark hero sacrificing himself for the Imperial Family?!
Why the hell is he spreading that explanation around on his own?!
"......Really?"
At my voice, half my soul having left my body.
Grandpa Wilhelm, having once again made some shitty misunderstanding that I was too moved to speak, looked at me with an extremely pleased expression.
"I know very well what you're worried about right now."
......I don't think you do?
I really don't think you know even one bit?
"With all the years I've put in, would I really be that clueless?"
......Yes. You really seem to be damn clueless.
"I only told true patriots who wouldn't get the wrong idea or develop unnecessary political alarm even if your loyal position were revealed. So don't worry too much."
"......Ah, yes."
Thanks a fucking lot, dammit.
That's so very reassuring, isn't it.
With a resigned, enlightened expression, I lifted my teacup again.
Yeah, since it's come to this, even if I get loaded onto an army deuce-and-a-half carriage, at least the coffee's good, so I'll endure it.
Later, I'll have to cry and beg my father to get me out of it.
"However."
Professor Wilhelm leaned deep into the back of the sofa and, this time, narrowed his eyes with a strangely playful look.
"The reason I went out of my way to call you to my office today isn't solely to praise you."
I stopped just as I was about to put the teacup to my lips.
"......There's more?"
There's still more wild speculation to come?
*
Professor Wilhelm rubbed his chin with a large hand and cleared his throat.
"Ahem. I believe your devotion to the nation is as genuine as can be, but...... hm."
The old man suddenly started choosing his words and dragging it out.
Judging by his expression, it wasn't a moment for praise; it looked like he wanted to scold me about something but was searching for a roundabout way to say it for the sake of appearances.
"What is it? It looks like you want to chew me out."
I said in a resigned tone.
"You can just say it. If I did something to deserve it, I'll take it."
"No, it's not so much a scolding as."
Professor Wilhelm laughed heartily and waved his hand.
"Don't the old sayings go that great heroes love women? So, secretly, I thought you were......"
"You thought I was a womanizer?"
"That I did. Hahaha!"
Wow.
This is honestly unbelievable.
But.
'The fact that I get it makes it even more infuriating.'
Looking objectively at my track record, well.
If even the rumors of my blind date with Sophia by the riverside in the capital's southern district last weekend had reached the old man's ears.
It was obvious I'd look like an undeniable Casanova, the gigolo of the century.
"Well, I suppose you could misunderstand it that way from the outside."
When I smacked my lips and admitted it, Professor Wilhelm suddenly nodded with a serious expression.
"However, when I heard that last weekend you went out of your way to meet that young lady—of all people, the one from House Rohanna."
"......Yes."
"I realized perfectly that calling you a womanizer was also a shallow misunderstanding on my part."
......Huh?
I blinked.
Something sounds off here?
"So. I sincerely apologize for failing to recognize your deeper intentions and misunderstanding you."
"......Pardon?"
I froze just as I was about to drink my coffee.
Let me think, let me think for a second.
So, the way this old man's logic works right now is.
Seeing me meet one more woman cleared up his misunderstanding, as in, 'Ah, this guy isn't a womanizer chasing after women'?
What the hell kind of shit-for-brains insane nonsense is this?
"Um, Professor."
"Go on."
"......What you're saying makes absolutely no sense."
If I meet one more woman and end up tangled with four in total, my womanizer stacks should go up—why are they going down?
At my dumbfounded expression, Professor Wilhelm smiled kindly and waved his hand.
"No need to be so embarrassed and try so hard to deny it. I told you, I know everything."
No, what I'm saying is, it seems like you've been the one doing all the misunderstanding this whole time, beating the drum and playing the gong all by yourself.
This is so frustrating I'm going insane.
What on earth does eating one meal with Sophia have to do with national patriotism?
At my protest, Professor Wilhelm took a sip of coffee and spoke in a deep, lowered voice.
"Naturally, I guessed as much. You must have already received a discreet word from the Court Count, yes?"
"......Pardon? From my father?"
"About what the previous head of House Rohanna was, within the shadows of the Imperial Family."