Chapter 57
“There are quite a lot of people here, more than I expected.”
On the way to the academy with Renoa.
Until recently, this street had been quiet, but now it was swarming with students in academy uniforms.
“Of course. The prince is coming to the academy. Unless you’re a high-ranking noble, it’s hard to even see his face once in a lifetime.”
Renoa looked toward one spot.
There was a woman there, covered in accessories from head to toe, utterly unlike a student.
“You could say almost nobody comes here for pure reasons.”
That meant most of the new students were trying to strike it rich by getting in with the prince.
Well, we weren’t much different, to be fair.
“What? Not me.”
In this academy full of schemes and slander, I was one of the few people with a truly pure heart.
Because I’d actually been admitted to the academy I’d only ever seen on a screen.
“Not as a student, though—just as a familiar.”
It was a little disappointing not to be a student, but I was satisfied just wearing the academy uniform and living in the same space as them.
I was so happy when I met Elodie not long ago.
“My favorite character is talking to me? Not only that, she’s smiling at me?”
Oh, shit.
My master was supposed to be Elodie. Then I really would have been ready to serve her like a dog.
I wouldn’t have been scrambling to get free like this. A master like that might actually be pretty great?
-press.
“Ugh.”
Renoa pressed down on my foot. I whipped my head around to glare at her.
Having stepped on me, her gaze was still fixed straight ahead.
“I slipped. You should have walked a little farther away.”
“......”
I hadn’t said anything, so what was there to be unhappy about now?
No matter how long I thought about it, I’d never understand how her mind worked.
Before long, we entered the academy grounds.
My little attention-seeking stunt at the banquet had apparently paid off, because a few people recognized us.
I’ve never liked drawing attention. But the slave collar only drew even more eyes.
“Young lady.”
“What?”
“Since we’ve already made a familiar contract, couldn’t you take off this collar soon? Wherever I go, people stare at me weirdly and ask if I’m a slave. It’s pretty inconvenient.”
My status might draw attention in the short term, but long term, it was nothing but bad for Renoa.
In noble society, where status was everything, bringing a slave around as a bodyguard?
Only spoiled young ladies would like that; there was no way other nobles would look kindly on it.
Only then did Renoa, who had turned toward me, stare at the collar.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Please do.”
That was when I was talking with Renoa in the plaza.
“Leon!”
“…Helena?”
When I turned at the familiar voice, Helena was there.
She approached us with brisk, delighted steps.
“It really was Leon? I could tell at a glance even from far away.”
“Why are you here, Helena?”
Helena was a girl who had spent three years with me as Edelheid’s apprentice knight.
She would have become a full-fledged knight of Edelheid, but on my advice, she went off to look for a position with another house.
And then she appeared in front of me out of nowhere. Wearing the same academy uniform as me, too.
Which meant...
“Don’t tell me you enrolled in the academy too?”
“Yep. I was originally going to become a knight right away, but then I heard His Highness the prince was enrolling in the academy, you know?”
“That’s right.”
“When my parents heard that news, they made such a fuss about me going to the academy that I had no choice but to attend. I’d also been thinking I wanted to learn more, anyway.”
I never thought the one thing I’d said to Helena would come back to me like this.
Of course, that wasn’t a bad thing at all.
Helena was practically the only person in my otherworld life I could call a friend.
It was simply a relief to see her here.
“Did Leon enroll in the academy too?”
“Enroll? Can you even call it that? More like a bonus?”
“A bonus?”
“Slaves can’t enroll in the academy, so I made a familiar contract with the young lady. I came along as a familiar.”
“Huh?”
Helena wore an expression that said she couldn’t believe it.
Hard to believe, right?
Same here. I never thought I’d end up not only as a slave, but as a familiar too.
“You two look pretty happy.”
While I was sharing the joy of reuniting with Helena, a chilly voice suddenly cut in from behind me.
Renoa was staring at the two of us with a flat expression.
Her head tilted like that was one of Renoa’s habits whenever she was displeased.
“You were here too, young lady? My apologies. I was just so glad to see Leon that I...”
Helena gave an awkward smile and belatedly offered her greeting.
“I heard you’d given up on joining the Edelheid knights, so I didn’t expect to run into you here.”
“Exactly. When I stayed at the manor, I never even got to exchange a single word with you, young lady. I’m finally doing it now. Have you been well?”
“As you can see. Cadet Helena... no, should I call you young lady now? Which house were you from again? I can’t quite remember.”
“I’m from the Weiss Barony.”
“The Weiss Barony, huh. Still don’t know it.”
“It’s a humble house. Compared to Edelheid, we’re still far behind...”
“Looks that way.”
What is this?
They seem to be having a normal conversation, so why is this atmosphere so suffocating?
The looks they exchanged were perfectly calm, but it felt like invisible sparks were crackling in the air.
“Um... maybe let’s stop this here and go inside? The entrance ceremony is about to start.”
“Yeah. Let’s go in.”
The main auditorium was packed with students.
The entrance ceremony was held there. It wasn’t much different from the one back on Earth.
The dean came out and sang a lullaby disguised as a speech, and the prince, representing the incoming students, joined in with the chorus.
There wasn’t anything particularly important.
Since this was the academy, not the political world, learning had to come first.
And if you couldn’t accept a place that didn’t allow status discrimination, then you should leave.
The noble children listening to that speech couldn’t hide their discomfort.
They’d come to the academy after the prince, but living in the same space as commoners on equal footing was displeasing.
When it came to authoritarian streaks, Renoa had once been the worst.
Backed by her house, she used to go around looking down on students beneath her.
She and Gerard were a dream team.
I’d thought she was just a noble looking down on people below her, but that wasn’t it. It was self-loathing.
An illegitimate child.
The inferiority complex and hang-ups that had taken root inside Renoa.
Every time she found that lack in others, Renoa bared her teeth even more sharply.
Because she was afraid of being exposed.
Like something fake trying to pass itself off as real, the more flamboyantly it dressed itself up and tried to look genuine.
And now...
“Pathetic. If even a slave can become a knight, what’s so special about a commoner?”
She’d changed that much.
Renoa’s fixation on bloodlines and status had been dulled by hanging around with me, a slave.
That was a huge plus.
Renoa, with no interest in Aither and no hatred of commoners?
Who was going to stop that?
That’s basically unbeatable already.
Amid the audience’s applause, the entrance ceremony came to an end.
It was an entrance ceremony without any special events, like a demon invasion.
Now it was time to head to our respective places.
Which faculty and which classroom you’d go to had already been decided before enrollment.
“Leon is naturally in the Knight Faculty, right?”
“Well...”
“The Magic Faculty.”
Renoa answered Helena’s question for me.
“The Magic Faculty? But Leon can’t use magic.”
“Logically, if he enrolled as my familiar, he’d be following me, wouldn’t he?”
She wasn’t wrong.
It didn’t make sense for a familiar to wear that title and then take classes in a different faculty away from his master.
That could no longer be called a familiar. He’d just be a student.
Helena pouted with disappointment.
“I thought I’d still be able to train and work up a sweat with Leon like before....”
I nodded too.
Because sparring with Helena had been pretty fun. Not being able to go to the Knight Faculty was definitely a blow.
Besides, what could I even do in the Magic Faculty when I couldn’t use magic? At best, I’d just sleep.
But before my disappointment could even settle, Renoa’s cold voice cut in.
“A familiar’s duty is to stay at their master’s feet. What he does, where he goes, and what becomes of him aren’t things you need to regret.”
Helena clamped her mouth shut at Renoa’s sharp words.
Ugh, here she goes again.
Even if Helena was below her socially, did she have to speak so harshly after not seeing her in so long?
So she says she won’t discriminate against commoners, but the moment she sees an easy-to-pick-on knight from a minor noble house, her suppressed authoritarian streak flares back up.
“Let’s go. We can’t be late on the first day.”
Renoa grabbed my arm and yanked me away.
“Then see you later! I’ll come visit the Magic Faculty!”
Helena’s bright voice came from behind me. Even after being treated like that, Helena still smiled and waved.
That’s Helena for you. Her character isn’t even in the same league as our twisted mistress’s.
I was about to wave back cheerfully, too.
“Don’t answer.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t wave, and don’t turn around. Just keep walking forward.”
“...Yes.”
With no choice, I only gave a small wave with my other hand where Renoa couldn’t see.
I followed Renoa as we moved to our seats.
The academy had all sorts of faculties and departments.
The main ones were the Magic Faculty and the Knight Faculty, and there were all sorts of fantasy-only things like archaeology, magical beast ecology, alchemy, and herbology.
The place we were going was the Magic Faculty.
There were fewer students there because of the difficulty of access, but it was considered a core faculty of the academy.
When I opened the door to the large lecture hall and stepped inside, the grand interior spread out before me.
A semicircular tiered structure, as if a Roman amphitheater had been moved here.
At the center of the lowest level stood a wide podium for the professor and a blackboard.
Around it, desks and seats rose in layers, fanning upward.
The lecture hall was bustling with students who had arrived early.
“They mostly look like nobles, don’t they?”
“Probably. It’s the Magic Faculty.”
A little over twenty students per class. Most of them were children of nobles.
Even if the academy preached that status discrimination was forbidden, the Magic Faculty was bound to be the exception.
Magic was a product of bloodline and wealth, pure and simple.
Superior bloodlines, expensive elixirs, rare grimoires, and excellent teachers.
Only when all of those conditions were met could you become an outstanding mage, so it was only natural that most of the people in this lecture hall were nobles.
Among them, there was one place that drew people’s eyes especially strongly.
The very center of the tiered seats.
The so-called seat of honor, with the best view and the most room.
There sat a silver-haired young man with a relaxed smile: Aither.
Noble children trying to make an impression had already swarmed around him.
I wasn’t surprised at all.
I already knew Renoa and Aither would be studying in the same lecture hall.
“It’s the young lady!”
“You were in this class too, young lady?”
“That person’s a slave knight? Why is a knight in the Magic Faculty...?”
The students who recognized us flocked around.
“It’s a pleasure. I’m Renoa Edelheid.”
Renoa handled them smoothly, like a proper noble.
Leaving the busy Renoa behind, I slipped out of the crowd.
The Magic Faculty lecture hall, where Renoa and Aither were.
And in this place, there was one more key person taking the class with them.
“Excuse me.”
“H-Huh? Ah, the knight I saw last time?”
A window seat in the corner of the lecture hall.
A girl sat there, neatly wearing her uniform with no accessories at all.
Her transparent light-blue hair and opal-colored eyes shone more clearly than any noble’s jewels.
Elodie, my favorite character in [Lady Maker], and the only commoner in this lecture hall.
“If you don’t mind, may I sit next to you?”
“Wow, I love Elodie!”