Chapter 55
[Crocus Academy].
The main stage of the academy genre in this world.
I quietly considered whether I had any reason to go to this academy.
To begin with, I knew that [Crocus Academy]'s standing in this world was roughly equivalent to that of a university in my previous life.
"A high-ranking person couldn't even graduate from [Crocus Academy]?"
It was a place so influential that people would find it strange, or in severe cases, quietly shun someone in aristocratic society if they failed to graduate.
'But do I need it?'
First, I considered the matter of influence.
After the succession ceremony, the retainers had already accepted that I was the next Duke of Nebula.
Then there was the other reason: the belief that the children of high-ranking nobles naturally needed an academy diploma.
That didn't apply to me either.
The children of the four great ducal families other than Nebula might have needed to worry about it.
Looking at the heir to the ducal family ruling the north entering the academy with this year's class, that must have been the reason.
But I'm from House Nebula, aren't I?
'When I think about things like this, I really am lucky to be from House Nebula.'
In that sense, I had absolutely no reason to maintain such appearances.
To begin with, a noble family—and a high-ranking noble family headed by a duke—was known by the epithet King of the Underworld.
What sort of reputation would House Nebula even need to maintain?
Well, honestly, when I had been considering whether I should attend the academy, I had been split fifty-fifty.
Half of me thought it would be better to enter the academy at the center of the story and resolve the incidents from within.
The other half thought that, since Ariel was going, it would be better to leave the academy to her and move around outside, especially since it sounded like a hassle.
'Though I made my decision almost immediately.'
Strength?
Objectively speaking, I could confidently say that I possessed enough strength to defeat at least the professors who taught at the academy.
Honor?
When had I ever cared about things like that?
I didn't particularly need it.
Then the only thing I could gain was the ability to prevent events occurring inside the academy before they happened.
'How would I do that?'
Twenty years had passed since I was reincarnated.
I couldn't even remember the name of the game I had played, and I only barely remembered the names of places, so how was I supposed to know about incidents in advance and stop them when all I had realized was that this world was [romance fantasy]+[academy]?
In other words, the academy wasn't an appealing option for me.
[That's a shame...]
I didn't tell her everything, but after conveying the gist of my thoughts, Ariel readily nodded as though she understood.
[I was looking forward to walking around inside the academy with Abel, or building our friendship while doing assignments together, eating something, and taking breaks.]
[From the moment I decided to enter the academy, I even researched legendary restaurants reputed to have excellent food and notable places worth sightseeing. Ah, and...]
Ting!
Ting!
Ting!
As Ariel's messages continued without pause, the typewriter began moving violently.
In response, the typewriter's distinctive sound began echoing through my room.
She agreed... right?
...
I was momentarily overwhelmed by the typewriter moving so violently and stared blankly at it, but then its movements began to change.
[I'm joking. I thought the personality of a character in the novel I read this time looked interesting, so I decided to act it out once?]
[You startled me.]
[Hehehe. Then it worked. To be honest, half of it was me being mischievous.]
[Mischievous?]
[Yes. I figured that you, Abel, would have things to do outside, but basically live a fairly leisurely life.]
Flinch.
I flinched involuntarily at Ariel's words.
'How did she know?'
Tap. Tap.
The typewriter moved as if it had seen my reaction.
[Well, I talk with you often, Abel. It's possible to make a guess.]
I had already announced to the retainers that I was the next head of House Nebula, and my heir training had been unexpectedly easy, so there wasn't much for me to do.
The only thing I needed to do was investigate the unidentified organization targeting me.
If I personally ran around collecting information, I would be busy, but I had already given orders to most of the members of [White Shadow] and [Dark Shadow], so I rarely needed to move myself.
Besides, the duties I needed to handle as duke were currently being taken care of by the duke, so I had quite a lot of free time.
[...]
[Hehehe. Since you're saying nothing, I suppose my guess was right.]
A short while later.
[So how do you plan to handle this?]
At Ariel's words, I slowly placed my hands on the typewriter and began typing.
Tap. Tap.
[Well, for now, let's meet on the dedicated train departing in three days. I'll come find you.]
Three days passed like that.
***
[Crocus Academy] could not be reached except by dedicated train.
Therefore, the fact that one had to board the dedicated train to enter the academy was very well known.
...
Now then, here's a question.
How large would the train carrying students to what could be considered the world's greatest academy be?
"This is..."
Ariel quietly gazed up at the dedicated train to [Crocus Academy] that had arrived at the Holy Kingdom's platform.
It was a gigantic train containing the essence of all sorts of machinery and magitech engineering.
It stood approximately fifteen to eighteen meters high—so enormous that it would be no exaggeration to call it a building.
As she watched such a train floating in the air, Ariel couldn't even begin to guess how many magic circles had been installed on it.
Fwoooooosh.
After Ariel spent a while admiring the enormous train, the sound of steam bursting reached her ears, and parts began assembling from the subspace engraved into the train, completing a kind of temporary escalator.
Clack.
Once it was complete, the escalator began moving slowly.
At the same time, an announcement began playing from the enormous dedicated train.
[Ah, this train is bound for [Crocus Academy].]
Step.
When she moved her foot onto the moving platform, Ariel's body began to rise.
[Please be advised that you must show your admission certificate to a crew member in order to board.]
"Here."
"...Verified."
After checking Ariel's admission certificate, the crew member summoned a small butterfly of light and pointed toward it.
"Please follow this little one. And I apologize for not being able to escort you personally, Saintess."
"Ah, it's all right."
Waving both hands as if she genuinely didn't mind, Ariel slowly followed the butterfly of light into the train.
Stomp. Stomp.
'I see...'
The interior of the train that came into Ariel's view was the height of extravagance.
Countless decorations had been carved into the walls and ceiling.
Once she entered the interior, whose size matched its enormous height, various facilities made Ariel's eyes swim.
There were spaces for all sorts of restaurants and entertainment, as well as a small gym for exercise.
It was a train created to provide the people aboard with the utmost convenience.
Swish.
As Ariel admired the facilities and looked around, she noticed the butterfly of light slowly disappearing at one of the compartments and realized that it was the room assigned to her.
...
The appearance of the compartment she entered was so absurd that Ariel was left speechless.
It was large enough to rival a luxury hotel.
It clearly exceeded the size of the train visible from outside by a considerable margin.
'Spatial distortion. And probably magic circles to make this train float, along with countless other magic circles...'
No, just how much money did they pour into this?
Ariel couldn't help thinking that.
Squeeze.
Ariel involuntarily closed her eyes and suppressed the sigh that threatened to escape.
She couldn't help thinking that it would be nice if even a portion of the money invested here were invested in the poor.
Still, she couldn't force the wealthy to donate.
Besides, considering the status of the people aboard this train, an investment of this scale was understandable to some extent.
There were probably complicated interests involved that she couldn't even imagine, which was why it had received such investment.
Whirr.
Thinking that, Ariel took out the direct communication device connected to the Holy Kingdom and activated it.
[Saintess?]
"Ah, can you hear me?"
[Yes!]
Hearing the voice through the communication device, Ariel smiled brightly and conveyed her business.
"About the proposal from the nobles asking that the amount of donations demanded by the Holy Kingdom be reduced because it was too high."
Donations—in other words, aid funds.
This money referred to the funds sent regularly from countless nations to the Holy Kingdom, taking into account the costs of dispatching priests during emergencies and so on.
The Holy Kingdom mostly used these aid funds to pay the labor costs of its operations to help the poor in various countries.
The problem was that countless countries continued to question whether they really needed to give these donations at all.
They were giving their own money to help other countries, with no immediate benefit, while the Holy Kingdom received all the praise, so other nations regarded the money as a white elephant.
[What? Ah, yes.]
"How about [Church of Light] voting against it?"
What was tolerable was one thing, but acceptance was another.
From Ariel's perspective, it wasn't worth entertaining the complaint that there was money to invest in a place like this, yet there was supposedly too much money to give the Holy Kingdom to support the poor.
.
.
.
A short while later.
[The train to [Crocus Academy], which has been stationed in the Holy Kingdom, will be departing shortly.]
[It will depart in five minutes. Those getting off to purchase necessities are asked to hurry.]
Sitting blankly on the bed and listening to the announcement coming from the train, Ariel lay back and began thinking.
'When is that man Abel coming?'
He definitely said they would meet on the train, right?
Boarding this train was strictly forbidden to anyone except crew members who had passed a rigorous selection process and students with an admission certificate from [Crocus Academy].
'Well, as he's the heir to House Nebula, I suppose he has some way of getting on.'
Knock. Knock.
As Ariel stared blankly at the ceiling and thought about Abel, the sound of knocking reached her ears.
"Who is it?"
[Excuse me. I am a crew member of this train. I came to inform you about room service and other matters. Would you be willing to spare me a moment?]
"Ah, yes. Come in."
Swish.
With Ariel's consent, the door to the compartment opened smoothly.
A crew member stood in front of it, wearing a hat pulled down so low that his eyes were barely visible.
"Excuse me."
The crew member smiled gently, entered the compartment, then took a booklet from inside his coat and began explaining the room service and other amenities as he flipped through it.
He explained where the various facilities were, when breakfast, lunch, and dinner were served, and so on.
"And all meals may be eaten in this room, so please feel free to let us know whenever you like."
"Thank you."
"Lastly, the estimated time of arrival at [Crocus Academy] is approximately two days."
Please make yourselves comfortable while using this train.
The crew member said that and bowed in greeting.
.
.
.
Hmm?
Ariel slowly opened her mouth as she looked at the crew member, who was still quietly staring at her.
"Was there something else you wanted to say?"
Swish.
Click.
Feeling the familiar cold touch of a pistol concealed against her chest, Ariel heightened her vigilance and watched the crew member closely.
A few days earlier, she had heard from Abel that this train would be attacked, so it would have been stranger not to be on guard.
'It's all right...'
She had a divine spell continuously active in preparation for an ambush.
Even if the crew member turned out to be a powerful opponent beyond her expectations, she would still be able to hold out.
...
...
The two began facing each other in a complete standoff.
The first to move was the crew member.
The crew member's hand began moving slowly.
Ariel's eyes fixed on that hand for an instant.
Rustle.
"Huh...?"
The crew member calmly endured Ariel's wary gaze and removed his hat with an unhurried gesture.
Revealing grayish hair that looked almost like smoke.
Riiip.
When he peeled off something attached near the corner of his eye, the shape of his face began to transform little by little.
It was a familiar face.
No, it was the face she had just been thinking about, so there was no way she wouldn't recognize it.
A man with grayish hair and decadent eyes.
"Abel...?"
As Ariel blankly called out the name of the man in her memories, Abel, dressed in a crew member's uniform, smiled lightly and waved at her.