Chapter 80: Librarian Ernst (1) - Top Student of the Aldridge Training School

Chapter 80: Librarian Ernst (Ernst) (1) - Top Student of the Aldridge Training School

Eris could not properly remember her parents' faces.

Because she was an orphan.

But Eris didn't feel particularly sad about that fact.

Even though she had no parents, she had a great teacher who more than made up for it.

Rabelosia's human national treasure.

A 6th-tier archmage, rare even across the entire continent.

Many people respected and praised her teacher, and every time they did, Eris felt proud as if she herself were the one being praised.

Her teacher had many disciples, but among them Eris's abilities were especially outstanding.

People looked at Eris and said:

Genius.

The archmage's personally chosen direct disciple.

Her teacher also praised Eris like that.

「Well done. You just need to keep striving like this from now on.」

More than the grand praises others gave her, Eris found her teacher's plain, understated compliments far more joyful.

Even grueling magical training and the effort of learning difficult knowledge could be endured as long as her teacher gave her one warm word.

...The change in Eris's life came when, one day, a certain messenger who visited her teacher brought up a story.

The messenger said.

That her teacher was being invited as an outside instructor to teach some 'student,' and whether she would be willing to accept.

Eris and the other disciples found it absurd.

There were enough people who wanted to study magic under the archmage to trip over.

There were countless people from within the country and even from abroad who came lugging bribes and begging to be accepted as the teacher's disciple, so telling them to have the teacher come personally if they wanted to teach was ridiculous beyond words.

But what unsettled them even more was the teacher's reaction.

At the messenger's absurd request, the teacher readily nodded.

The disciples voiced concern over that behavior.

The invitation had come from none other than the Aizern Empire.

Because it was pressure from a superpower not even remotely comparable to Rabelosia, they thought the teacher might have been forced into going whether the teacher wanted to or not.

The teacher laughed and denied their worries.

「I'm only going to visit a friend in the Empire. I'm also curious about that Imperial Crown Prince fellow who apparently makes remarks that are hard to tell whether they're praise or lament—saying things like 'teaching is joyful, yet painful.'」

The Empire had offered to provide a mansion for the teacher and the disciples if the teacher wanted, but the teacher shook the teacher's head.

Since it was only a brief stop anyway, there was no need for a whole crowd to go along.

With a carefree air, the teacher climbed into the carriage prepared by the Empire, and Eris and the disciples waited for the teacher to return.

The teacher returned about three months later.

The disciples whispered at how much sooner than expected the teacher had come back.

It was far too short a time to properly learn magic.

In any case, the Crown Prince probably hadn't intended to learn properly at all; he had only needed the credential of having studied under the teacher.

Since the teacher had said from the start that the teacher was going to meet a friend, the role of teacher had clearly only been a formality.

Despite the disciples' questions, the teacher gave no answer at all about what had happened in the Empire.

Eris worried about her teacher.

Her teacher's face had grown noticeably darker after returning from the Empire.

On top of that, the teacher often stared blankly into space or let out sighs.

Perhaps the royal family had been worried about the teacher too.

The Wise King's right-hand man, who was also the teacher's old acquaintance, came to visit carrying expensive liquor.

Eris, who happened to overhear the two of them talking, finally learned why the teacher had been suffering.

「Was it that good? The Imperial Crown Prince's talent was so excellent that you would regret it this much?」

「It's not just outstanding. It can't even be described with words like that.」

Dead drunk.

In a disheveled state Eris had never once seen before, the teacher kept lamenting.

「A genius among geniuses who could push magic, the very discipline itself, to an even higher level. No wonder that fellow from the Empire kept groaning about it. A talent who should be devoted solely to magic is wasting time and effort on swordsmanship, the study of rulership, and the like—how could that not be a waste?」

And not just anyone—the Imperial Crown Prince.

It was impossible for him to ignore all the petty affairs of the outside world and devote himself purely to magic.

The teacher sighed that that alone was a tragedy.

To comfort the teacher, the acquaintance said.

「Now, now, calm yourself. Don't you already have plenty of excellent disciples? That, what was it—ah, right, Eris. Didn't you boast just the other day that girl was outstanding?」

Hearing herself being talked about, Eris swallowed without meaning to.

She was also overjoyed by the fact that her teacher had been praising her in places where she wasn't present.

「Haa…. That child isn't enough.」

And that joy was sent crashing into the abyss along with the deep sigh her teacher let out.

If the teacher had been the usual kind and thoughtful self, there was no way those words would have slipped out so easily.

No, before that, the teacher wouldn't have even failed to notice the presence of a disciple hiding nearby.

But great disappointment and the haze of alcohol had made the great archmage more careless than usual.

「It's true that Eris is outstanding. She is diligent, and she's smart. In terms of aptitude, she's the best among the disciples I took in.」

But, the teacher said, that was all.

「She may be outstanding among ordinary people, but she doesn't reach the realm of true geniuses. That's Eris.」

「Isn't that a little too harsh a judgment for your prized disciple? Last time you said she was like your granddaughter.」

「Being fond of someone and overestimating them are different things.」

「Please, just don't say that in front of the girl.」

「Even if you told me to, I wouldn't, so stop worrying about useless things.」

Even after that, the two old men's conversation went on, but Eris couldn't hear any more of it.

Holding back tears that felt as if they would spill over, getting out of there without being noticed was her limit.

That was the end of it.

Maybe because the resentment stored up in the teacher's chest had been vented at the drinking table, the teacher's face, which had been gloomy the whole time, returned to normal, and the other disciples were relieved at that sight.

「Well done, Eris. As expected of my disciple.」

Eris's teacher was as kind as ever.

From the outside, the teacher showed not the slightest hint of disappointment or discouragement toward Eris or the other disciples.

But after learning the teacher's true feelings, Eris could no longer feel pure joy even when she was praised.

The teacher's lament over the Imperial Crown Prince's talent, the assessment that had called Eris a prodigy that day, kept burning in her chest.

It was a thick, smoldering flame of jealousy.

***

The achievements built by Rabelosia's Wise King (賢君) were many, but the one most often mentioned was the education reform.

A few decades ago, education in Rabelosia meant private tutoring, and nothing more.

Even though nobles and wealthy families would hire private tutors to teach their children, there was no separate institution that existed solely for learning.

The Wise King founded educational institutions modeled after several great powers, where students of school age could acquire a variety of knowledge and skills, and urged nobles and commoners alike to make active use of them.

That was because if outstanding talent was nurtured in the educational institutions called training schools, it would directly lead to the country's benefit.

An educational institution funded by the king himself, even dipping into the royal private treasury.

Of course, the students attending there would also burn with academic zeal like a blaze...

‘...as if.’

Eris sneered inwardly at that.

No matter what the expectations of a wise king were, or of nobles who wanted to curry favor with the king, the ones actually doing the studying were youths in the bloom of life who wanted nothing more than to eat and play.

What was more, they were the sort who had been forced to live ascetic lives under a rigid schedule since childhood so they wouldn't be outdone by other nobles at the training school.

To think those students would leave their suffocating homes and then diligently study just because they were in an environment with plenty of peers their own age to socialize with was far too much to ask.

On the other hand, commoner students did burn with motivation toward the noble students who played around and even bullied others, saying they would 'get ahead no matter how dirty it got,' but most of the students who earned excellent grades were piling up hatred and resentment toward the nobles of their own country in their hearts, so that too was not desirable from a national standpoint.

Well, whichever it was, it had nothing to do with her, so Eris let her interest in her surroundings fade.

In the first place, no matter what became of this flower-garden training school in the future, it wasn't that important to Eris.

What mattered to her was only the 『Sky Academy』 admission qualification, something only students who earned excellent grades in the training school could obtain.

An institution of learning said to wield influence greater than that of most nations, and counted among the very best on the central continent.

Only geniuses—mere handfuls even among the countries of the central region—were admitted there, and inside they repeated competition and struggle on an even higher level; that was the true battlefield where Eris would prove her worth.

“Miss Eris, I heard about it! You got perfect scores in every subject on the last test, too? That's amazing!”

Whether that girl knew Eris's thoughts or not, a girl approached her with a smile and offered praise.

If it were up to her, Eris would have wanted to reply, 'Yes, and you were below average in every subject except one. How does it feel to scatter your tuition across the floor?' but, unfortunately, the conditions for being an 'excellent student' who could enter Sky Academy included social skills as well as grades.

No matter how unrivaled Eris's grades were, if she were judged unable to get along with the other students, then her qualification to enter a higher educational institution would be lost.

Therefore, Eris had no choice but to say things she did not mean.

“It was just luck. Miss Pirene, your defense spells seem to have improved a lot as well?”

“It's thanks to you teaching me all sorts of things last time, Miss Eris! My father had been nagging me so much I was getting a headache, but this time I think I'll be able to get through it safely!”

With all her other subjects a complete mess, to have the scolding stop over just one defense spell—what a merciful father he was.

Well, that too was unavoidable.

After all, among noble students, very few seriously delved into things like magic or swordsmanship.

Nobles are the ones who hire capable people and put them to work; they don't need to wield such power themselves.

Even Eris herself, without the title of disciple to the great archmage Delphinaris Weinhart, would never have been able to speak to them as an equal.

'Was there still half a year left until the graduation exam? I wish time would go a little faster.'

To Eris, who had learned various spells as the archmage's prized disciple, most of the knowledge taught here at the training school was nothing more than a repeat of what she had already learned.

Mathematics, history, and the liberal arts were somewhat new, but even those had already been finished through repeated preview and review, and all of the material she would study up until graduation was already done.

She was somehow enduring it by treating this as a process of checking her abilities before reaching the main stage, Sky Academy, but honestly, she couldn't shake the feeling that it was a waste of time.

“Ah, speaking of which, Miss Eris. Do you know the black building over on the east side of Aldridge?”

“Are you talking about the 'Unopened Coffin'?”

“Yes! That one! I heard the Brown Merchant Guild recently bought that building and the surrounding land, and as of yesterday the building was opened! Apparently, it's a library inside.”

“Hmm.”

Eris's eyes glimmered slightly.

For someone like her, who was fundamentally driven by a desire to improve and a thirst for inquiry, books were closer to a means of obtaining new knowledge.

She had already read every book in the training school, and the fact that a new source of books had appeared naturally piqued her interest.

‘...Should I go check it out?’