Chapter 78
The first person to come up onto the stage was a tall, incredibly handsome man with blond hair and golden eyes. Somehow, he looked familiar... Who did he resemble again?
As I desperately tried to remember, the man began his greeting.
"Congratulations on your admission to the Royal Academy, new students. I am Tristan Larslasia, the principal of this school."
Tristan Larslasia!? He said Larslasia, right?
Does that mean he's one of Alexis-sama's siblings!?
Come to think of it, I vaguely remember Alexis-sama saying that he had one younger brother and one younger sister. I had a lot on my mind at the time and didn't pay much attention, but his younger brother was the principal of the Royal Academy. I wonder if his younger sister married into another family?
"I've only been principal for a few years, but I hope to make the Royal Academy an even better place to learn. I expect all of you to work hard from now on."
Tristan-sama's speech ended after that brief greeting. I thought our eyes met when he left the stage at the end, but that was probably just my imagination. It definitely was. I decided not to think about it.
As I kept telling myself that inwardly, I heard a small voice beside me.
"This is bad... This is definitely bad... I had no idea the principal was royalty... If that's the case, a commoner could be killed at any moment..."
Ronnie was getting negative again. Anyone who heard the name Larslasia would know that he was royalty.
It was only natural to be scared. I was scared too, since I had no idea what kind of person he was. If he was friendly toward me, that would be reassuring, but if he was hostile, it would be terrifying. He might already have taken notice of me...
"Ronnie, let's try to live quietly and stay strong without drawing as much attention as possible."
"Yeah. I'm confident I can avoid standing out, but at this school, that might actually make me stand out more."
That was true. Among commoners, he would probably come across as a quiet, inconspicuous child, but at this school, he would look like a lame commoner who was always fidgeting nervously and annoying everyone.
Actually, being a commoner was enough to make someone stand out at this school. There were hardly any commoners here who weren't children of wealthy merchants, so that alone made us incredibly conspicuous.
"I'll handle the worst of it somehow, so you don't have to be so scared."
"But you're a commoner too, Leon, right? Then there's nothing you can do. Come to think of it, why did you come to the Royal Academy? Are you the son of a wealthy merchant? Your clothes are fancy too."
Hmm... If I told him I was here under the Townsend ducal family's protection, it would definitely frighten him. I felt like it would be better not to tell him for now...
"Well, I'm the son of a restaurant owner on the outskirts of the royal capital too. But I happened to have ties to some nobles, which gave me the chance to take the Royal Academy entrance exam."
"Really? What kind of ties to nobles?"
"Something similar to your situation. I happened to get an opportunity to study, and since I was better at it than the other children, I was told to try taking the entrance exam."
"I see. Then we have similar backgrounds. It's reassuring to feel like I have someone on my side."
Ronnie said that and smiled a little. At least I hadn't lied to him, so it should be fine. Once Ronnie got used to things, I could tell him about the Townsend ducal family. It would be too cruel to tell him now. He would probably adjust after attending for a few days.
Just as we finished talking, someone else began walking onto the stage. Wasn't that Stephan-sama?
"I am Stephan Larslasia, and I will be giving the address as representative of the new students. This year, my younger sister Martine and I are enrolling, so I hope learning here will be even more lively than usual. We will be spending a long time together from now on, so I would be happy if we could all get along. At the Royal Academy, social status is not supposed to matter. As long as everyone observes basic etiquette, I would like us to get along regardless of status. While you are here, I hope all of you will set aside your status as much as possible and engage in lively discussions with one another."
Amazing. He could speak so confidently in front of this many people. As expected of royalty. I was also grateful that he had said status didn't matter. If Stephan-sama, the first prince, said that, people probably wouldn't be able to openly discriminate against commoners as much.
Though I had a feeling they would just do it behind our backs... There were idiots everywhere, after all.
"Now, we will hold a small party for the new students to get to know one another. Please speak with the people around you and deepen your friendships."
After Stephan-sama returned to his seat, a large number of servers appeared and began placing food on the tables, starting with the seats of the highest status. Magic stones were also attached to the light orbs, gradually brightening the building again.
The food consisted of light fare such as sandwiches, roast beef, and salad. The servers portioned food from large platters onto everyone's plates.
It seemed that conversation began around the tables once the food had been served.
Since there were no attendants, I wondered if we were expected to eat without anyone tasting the food for poison, so I watched. But no one touched it. Was this merely a formality? Were the staff members going to eat it later? If so, why serve it at all?
Well, if it was a custom, there was nothing more to say about it...
At the tables farther back, children gradually began eating the food. Did that mean they didn't need to worry about being poisoned?
Seeing things like this made me think that being high-born must be difficult too.
I hesitated for a moment, but then I put some food in my mouth. Not many people knew about me yet, so it should be fine. I needed to develop magic to remove poison quickly. I felt like healing magic might be able to do it.
Actually, we were going to eat lunch at school from now on, weren't we? Would we bring attendants? Or would we bring packed lunches?
No, there was also a chance we could go home to eat lunch. The residence was fairly close, after all.
I hadn't asked about any of that, so I would have to ask when I got home today.
For the time being, I decided to stop thinking about it and try to interact with the children at my table, so I looked around.
Ronnie, sitting to my right, was eating his sandwich with obvious relish, so I decided to leave him for later. There were five people at this table, so that left three others.
Three children were seated to my left. The two farther away were girls who seemed to be chatting happily with each other, so I decided to speak to the child sitting immediately to my left.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Leon."
When I said that, the child gave me an annoyed look and spoke.
"I've never seen you before. Which merchant house are you from?"
Huh? What kind of attitude was that for a first meeting? Was this kid one of those incredibly irritating types? It already seemed impossible for us to become friends!
"I'm not from a merchant house. My father runs a restaurant."
"Hmph, I knew it. The people sitting around here are commoners. I know the faces of every child from the major merchant houses that do business with nobles. Since I didn't recognize you, I assumed you were a poor commoner. I have no intention of associating with someone like you."
What an irritating jerk!! Who did he think he was? Just because he was the son of a wealthy merchant, he was still a commoner like me. In a Royal Academy full of nobles, there was no point in bragging about being the child of a merchant house!
Sigh... He just wanted to find someone beneath him and bully them. He was the type who wanted to bask in a petty sense of superiority.
He was too much trouble, so I decided not to associate with him.
I stopped talking to him and focused on my food. Continuing to talk to someone like this would only sour my mood.
"Hey, say something. Do you think you can just ignore what I said?"
Huh? You said you didn't want anything to do with me, so why were you talking to me now!?
I decided to stop using polite speech with him too. We were both commoners, so it was fine.
"Be quiet. Weren't you the one who said you didn't want anything to do with me?"
"You...! How dare you talk to me like that! My family's merchant house is Vauclair Merchant House, a purveyor to the nobility!"
It might have been an impressive merchant house, but I had never heard of it. Besides, people who immediately bragged about their families were basically saying they had nothing worth bragging about themselves.
What a pain.
"Wow, that's great."
For now, I gave him a perfunctory compliment.
I really didn't want to use it, but would it be all right to use the Townsend ducal family's influence against someone this annoying?
I had realized that it was impossible for me not to stand out. The moment I was identified as a commoner who wasn't the child of a merchant house, I stood out conspicuously. In that case, rather than hide it, I wanted the ducal family to protect me.
He wouldn't believe me if I told him, so I would probably have to ask Lucien to come over. Maybe I could show him the ducal family's crest. He would believe me then, but part of me still didn't want to do that. I wanted to live peacefully for just a little longer...
Sigh... The road ahead was going to be difficult.