It Is Common Sense for an Academy to Be Attacked

[Crocus Academy] Chairman's Office.

"..."

"..."

There, I quietly watched Chairman Holy Sword Solaris sitting still and checking documents.

Rustle.

Solaris once again checked the report that had been submitted to her.

In other words, she was once again reviewing the report on the incident involving the two men hanging from the main gate this time, Wilhelm and Kairun.

"Sigh..."

I said she checked it once again, right?

Yes. Including this review, Solaris had now checked the incident report about five times.

Even for her, who had served as chairman of [Crocus Academy] for several hundred years, this situation was probably something she was experiencing for the first time.

"I thought your eyes had gone strange from maintaining your incarnation for so long..."

"..."

To list only the details of the incident:

First, there was my identity: the current heir to House Nebula, who was in the process of taking over. Ah, right. Should I call myself a duke-in-waiting?

In any case, that status alone was problematic, but the circumstances of the incident were even more absurd.

Following Saintess Ariel of the [Church of Light] was already a major diplomatic discourtesy, but they had also ruined a meeting between the heir to House Nebula and the saintess, then threatened me with a sword and magic?

For now, at least, our statuses were similar.

Kairun was also the heir to Duke Stellaraim, while Wilhelm was a prince of the Kingdom of Berlaim.

But what good did similar status do? I had the justification entirely on my side.

From the true chairman's perspective, this could hardly have been anything but a headache.

"Ugh..."

Solaris clutched her aching head and looked toward Kairun and Wilhelm, who were hanging from the academy's main gate in the distance.

[I'm sorry.]

[I was wrong.]

The two unconscious men had signs bearing those words hanging around their necks.

It was strange that they had no visible external injuries, but although there were no wounds to be seen, their insides were in quite a state.

Solaris dared to think that their unconsciousness was probably due to those internal injuries.

"First of all..."

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry."

Saying that, the chairman rose from her seat and lightly bowed her head.

"This happened because of my inadequate leadership."

"Why are you apologizing?"

To be honest, there was absolutely no reason for her, the chairman, to apologize here.

She merely needed to express regret and discuss what would be done so that this incident would attract less gossip in the future.

Put simply, if she bowed and apologized here, she would later be saddled with the label, [Didn't you apologize back then?]

Even if it was only a minor blemish, her position was one where plenty of people were eager to tear at it.

"You could just avoid the issue, couldn't you?"

"..."

"I might use this incident to do something underhanded later, you know?"

Of course, even as I said that, I had no such intention.

She was someone I viewed favorably because she had given me Arutus cigars, after all.

So this was simply my curiosity.

"That may well be true."

Perhaps because it was an official matter, the chairman's speech had shifted from her usual tone to a fairly polite one.

"But once those two students enrolled at the academy, this became a matter under my jurisdiction."

The reason she sat in such a high position was none other than to bear responsibility.

"I did not take this position to evade that responsibility."

Therefore:

"I am sorry, Abel de Nebla. House Nebula will formally apologize and offer compensation for this incident, and we will promise to punish the two people who caused it appropriately."

"Haha."

Since she was the chairman of [Crocus Academy], it was only natural for her to take responsibility for the students' wrongdoing.

A high position existed so that the person holding it could bear that responsibility.

That was what Holy Sword Solaris was saying now.

"Well, fine. I'll let it go this time."

Good. Very good.

I liked people like this very much.

People with a sense of responsibility, who would cover for their own mistakes—or those of their subordinates or colleagues—and apologize by saying it was their fault.

Snap!

At those words, I dispelled the illusion clone disguised as a person waiting near the distant main gate.

Whew, what a relief.

If the chairman had tried to evade responsibility in some strange way, I had been considering removing the illusion hiding the two people hanging at the main gate.

If that happened, the ridiculous sight of Kairun and Wilhelm would have been revealed to the whole world. I had intended to disguise illusion clones as onlookers and draw people over to watch.

Huh? Wasn't I really just hanging them up?

Of course not. I wasn't someone who acted without thinking.

Displaying the miserable state of the heir to a duke and the prince of a great power that was only slightly weaker than the Empire?

It would have been the perfect scenario for a real war to break out.

Think I'm lying?

"..."

Fine. I'll be honest.

I had simply gotten hotheaded and intended to reveal them, but Ariel and Mist had desperately dissuaded me and explained some perfectly valid reasons, so I had made this choice instead.

Ahem.

In any case, I had held myself back, hadn't I?

"Well, given the gravity of the matter, I suppose we should speak with Kairun and Wilhelm's families. Right?"

The heir to the Northern Grand Duke and a prince of a kingdom.

Come to think of it, they were quite an impressive pair.

If the Empire's situation were resolved here and the Imperial Crown Prince joined in, it would truly be a trinity, wouldn't it?

"Correct."

Her tone changed again now that we had started discussing another matter.

Thinking about the chairman's tone, I spoke in an unruffled voice.

"Then I'll go to House Stellaraim."

"What?"

When the chairman voiced her bewilderment at my sudden statement, I finally began explaining the real reason I had come here.

"According to the information I've obtained, I have some information about the [Organization] at present."

At my words, the chairman sat down and began listening attentively.

Perhaps if this had still been a meeting to discuss compensating us for Kairun and Wilhelm's disgraceful behavior, she would have acted differently, because she knew that what I was saying now was an entirely different matter.

"First, I'll tell you about the [Organization] targeting this academy."

I called them simply the [Organization] for now because their boss had never given his group a name, so that was what we called it.

There were also subordinate organizations that cooperated with or submitted to the [Organization].

The only one I knew was [Rhynas], a group of traditional knights and ability haters.

It was still unclear exactly how many organizations and terrorists had joined the [Organization].

Fortunately, House Nebula had the Empire's underworld in hand, so at least the [Organization]'s reach had not extended there.

"Hmm..."

The chairman listened quietly to me for a while, then fell into thought before rising and handing me documents that had been lying deep inside her desk drawer.

"What are these?"

"First, this is information on the subordinate organizations our side investigated. Ah, of course, we haven't uncovered everything, so keep that in mind."

Rustle.

When I flipped through the documents, they contained information on quite a large number of organizations.

[Rhynas] was the basic one, along with [Infinity], a criminal organization that primarily used magitech, and [Seekers of Truth], which was suspected of being connected to alchemy, among others.

The documents contained information on various other criminal organizations as well.

I see. The academy wasn't sitting idle, either.

Tap.

Thinking that, I skimmed through all the documents, handed them back to the chairman, and told her the information I had obtained through cross-checking.

"There is something among the information I obtained that I haven't mentioned yet."

[Rhynas]

"I've found the place believed to be their headquarters."

I had already released the people from [White Shadow] and finished cross-checking whether this information was reliable.

"The outskirts of the northern Stellaraim Duchy in the Empire."

A region where even northerners rarely ventured because of the excessively low temperatures.

"They say the Frozen Mountain Range is highly likely to be that headquarters."

An investigation into House Stellaraim over this incident.

And an assault on [Rhynas]'s headquarters, believed to be in the Frozen Mountain Range.

If I truly became the head of the ducal family, I wouldn't be able to move like this, so now was the time to work hard.

'Hmm...'

Thinking that, I felt as though the roles had somehow been reversed.

The reason I had initially entered House Nebula was clearly to complete Mist's request, collect my daily wages, receive a huge sum of money, and spend the rest of my life leisurely.

'How did this happen...? No, let's not think about it.'

Yes. Rather than idly playing around and getting caught up in the flames of a world war that erupted for no reason I understood, it suited my temperament better to take the initiative and shake things up myself.

Having cast aside the demon that had sprouted in my mind, I looked at the chairman and spoke.

"What do you think?"

"Hmm... It's reasonable. Then are you saying we should take full responsibility for the Kingdom of Berlaim?"

"Correct. Or what, were you planning to dump everything on me?"

"Of course not."

The chairman flinched slightly at my half-polite tone, then gave a faintly bitter smile and lightly denied my words.

"It was just... No, never mind. In any case, we'll handle the kingdom's affairs. We have the justification, after all."

"Good. Very good."

Thud!

I lightly tossed a crystal ball containing a video to the chairman, who had just given her easy agreement.

"It contains a full record of Kairun and Wilhelm's disgraceful behavior."

A magical tool had automatically recorded the entire situation when everyone entered the shop, so the footage remained.

"It should make the negotiations much easier."

"The saintess's testimony would have been enough... but thank you."

"Oh, and one more thing."

After receiving the chairman's thanks, I brought up the last thing I had to tell her.

For reference, I had already finished conveying everything I had said to Ariel.

"Apparently, the academy will be attacked before long."

I did not know how the attack would be carried out.

No one possessed information that important.

But the one thing we did know was that an attack was planned and that the [Organization] had already created a route for it.

"I don't know exactly."

They might have planted a spy, or they might launch the attack in a way we could never imagine.

Therefore:

"It would be best to prepare thoroughly."

"All right."

At the chairman's firm reply, I nodded and rose from my seat to head to House Nebula.

I was going to visit Duke Stellaraim, but first I had to return to House Nebula and inform them that I was going.

Of course, given the gravity of the matter, I had to report to the current head of the family.

'Ugh...'

The thought of seeing the head of the family after so long naturally brought up a reluctance to meet them.

***

Stellaraim.

A land of harsh warriors situated in the north.

The atmosphere in the mansion where the Duke of Stellaraim lived was freezing because of one man.

"Say that again."

The Duke of Stellaraim.

In keeping with his status as the leader of the land of warriors, the duke exuded such an imposing presence that it felt as though the mansion itself were shaking.

Rumble.

No, the mansion really was shaking from his presence alone.

"What did you say happened to my son Kairun?"

His heir, whom he had sent to [Crocus Academy].

What humiliation had his son suffered?

At the duke's ominous question, the aide who had served him for a long time read the report aloud in a calm voice.

"They say he was hung unconscious from the academy's main gate."

Crack!

How dare they subject his son to such humiliation?

The duke began to grow furious enough for his usually calm mind to lose its composure.

"Who on earth did such a thing?"

"Ah, but they say Lord Kairun was the one who started it."

But that fury did not explode; it scattered emptily at the words that followed.

"What?"

"This is the report containing the full details of the incident. Would you like to read it?"

"..."

The duke began reading the report the aide handed him.

Letter by letter, paragraph by paragraph—the duke read every word, literally licking it up without missing a single thing.

"He..."

Who had committed the discourtesy.

"Hee..."

And who had been victimized by that discourtesy.

Finally, the report even contained evidence that Kairun had followed the victim and the saintess.

Tremble. Tremble.

After reading the entire report, the duke's body began to shake uncontrollably.

If his previous anger had been directed at the person who had humiliated his son,

Yes.

This time,

"Hrr..."

"Oh dear..."

Even though warming magic had clearly been laid throughout the room, a chill began pouring out so intense that their breath became visible.

The aide, looking at the duke—the source of it—began coating his body with mana to his limit, thinking that it had been quite a long time since he had last seen him like this.

[Kairun!!!]

It was anger at his son's pathetic behavior.

Bang!!!

That day, the mansion where the Duke of Stellaraim resided shook, and part of it collapsed, but let's just move on for now.