Chapter 514

Episode 514. A… cademia? (6)

Alexion’s daily routine is hectic. Not just busy, but frenetic to the point of not having a moment’s breath. The reason, of course, was the immense amount of work falling on his shoulders, as he handled all the administration of Palantia. Although Alon Palatio was supposed to handle vital matters, Alexion accumulated most of the administrative flow, and his burden did not diminish. Despite having become a Kingdom, Palantia desperately lacked vassals.

—… I deeply appreciate the trust you place in me, but soon I will have to suggest that we increase the number of vassals.

Lately, that thought struck him frequently. As Alexion muttered out of habit in the middle of his exhausting day, the secretary assisting him replied immediately:

—Would you like us to submit a proposal? In fact, isn’t he in his office right now?

His voice rose in pitch as if saying, “Yes, that’s what I wanted to hear!”. However, Alexion shook his head.

—No. I will tell him personally later.

—Oh, really…?

In reality, Alexion also wished to ask Alon Palatio immediately, as the work was starting to overflow.

‘Especially since the rumor spread that Divine Land is blessed land…’.

Even so, the reason he did not seek Alon was only one. Alexion knew that the Alon who had returned this time “was not the real Alon.” He had received prior notice: the Alon who would be in the castle was a double.

‘… It’s fascinating, truly.’

He remembered Alon’s double whom he saw yesterday. At first, he worried when they told him they would send a replacement. No matter how well disguised, a double would eventually be exposed. But what about the Alon he saw yesterday? To Alexion, he had the perfect physical appearance of Alon Palatio. He even came to think that the double business was a joke to tease him.

And the most surprising thing was his behavior.

‘It was His Majesty in person.’

Even his gestures were identical. As if he had been exactly copied; the way of moving and acting was perfect.

‘I heard he used an artifact created by the Master of the Blue Tower, could that be why? No… no matter how much magic it is, is it possible to imitate even gestures so similarly?’.

While Alexion sank into his doubts:

Bang!

—Lord Alexion!

—What is it?

—You have to come out and see this! The knights are stationed in front of His Majesty’s pavilion, saying they want to perform pilgrimage prayers.

—Haven’t they left yet?

—Fuu…

At the secretary’s report, Alexion sighed and rose from his seat, reaffirming his decision to talk to Alon about the lack of vassals as soon as he returned.

The next day, at lunchtime. In an empty classroom on the third floor.

Alon’s group wasted no time and set the plan to approach Leila in motion. In reality, it wasn’t a very elaborate plan. Leila was still walking alone despite the time passed since the start of the semester, so it didn’t seem difficult to approach her. It only lacked someone taking the first step. They had thought about going all together, but that would draw too much attention.

The strategy was simple: have a male student approach pretending interest in her.

‘Leila, the second daughter of Baron Kitan’s family. Among the southern nobles, they have power thanks to the iron industry, but other than that, there are no special notes… was it like that?’.

Judging by the information Evan secretly passed yesterday, she didn’t seem to be in an unreachable social position. The group observed Leila, who was sitting alone on a bench looking at the empty training field.

—Ahem… since I couldn’t talk to her in class, I’ll go —Evan said.

As Evan approached Leila with a triumphant air, Alon Palatio reinforced his hearing with mana. The rest of the group, with tense faces, did the same.

—Do you think Eran (Evan) will do it well? —Penia expressed her concern using Evan‘s fake name.

Rine made a subtle expression.

—Well, I guess he’ll have some experience…

—Didn’t he say he had confidence?

—Ah, yes, he said it. But seeing the nonsense he let out in the personal presentation… honestly, I’m not sure —Rine commented, while Deus and Penia listened.

Alon remembered Evan‘s confident words yesterday: “That was just a mistake. Forget it”.

Evan, oblivious to what his companions thought, walked with a firm step toward Leila.

—Hi, I’m Eran, from your class. What are you doing here so lone—?

—Don’t talk to me, please.

She cut him off before he finished the sentence. Evan froze for a second, but cleared his throat and tried again:

—I just wanted us to be a little frien—

—If you keep talking to me, I’ll call the professor.

He failed miserably. Leila glared at Evan with a look loaded with irritation, and he returned with a clumsy and embarrassed step.

—In my prime, I was a ladies’ man…!

—No, she’s the one who’s weird!

—Approaching a young student is a piece of cake for me—

—Grrr!

Evan expressed his indignation while Penia mocked him under an isolation spell. Rine looked at him with pity.

—Hum… this time I’ll go —Deus intervened.

—Are you confident?

—You just have to talk to her, right?

—… Technically, you have to become her friend.

—And if I talk to her, we don’t become friends?

—…

Alon tilted his head confused for a moment. But soon he understood the “sense” (?) of his words and let out a low exclamation.

—… Wow, how enviable —Evan muttered to himself, stunned.

But he could not refute Deus.

‘Certainly… if it’s Deus, it’s not strange that he has that confidence.’

Deus was handsome. In his life, making friends with a girl was something achieved with a couple of sentences. While Alon and Evan felt a strange sense of defeat, Deus declared:

—I’ll be right back.

Deus started walking toward Leila. But halfway there, he turned around and returned to the third-floor classroom.

—What happened? —Alon asked.

Deus approached and replied calmly:

—She said I look like a gigolo.

—… Did she tell you that so directly?

—Yes. She said if I talked to her she would call the professor, so I came back.

—… I like that girl a little bit —Evan commented, feeling sympathy for the rejection of Deus, while Penia and Rine looked at him with contempt.

Alon thought: ‘It certainly is difficult to strike up a friendship with her.’ He had underestimated the task.

‘It’s not that she doesn’t have friends out of shyness, it’s because of her character.’

He didn’t know why she avoided others so much, but they couldn’t give up.

—… Do you want to try, Penia?

—Eh? Me…?

—Yes.

Alon looked at Penia. She made a face of reluctance.

—Why are you asking her? If she’s always had a bad temper and never had friends —Evan mocked.

Penia‘s forehead wrinkled.

—… Do you really want to die?

—Am I lying?

—… I’ll be right back.

Provoked by Evan, Penia left the classroom to meet Leila. Evan chuckled smugly at the success of his provocation. Alon looked out the window and saw Penia approaching Leila with some clumsiness.

And then:

—Oh…

To everyone’s surprise, Penia began to converse with Leila with total naturalness.

—… Eh?

—They seem… quite close, don’t they?

Fluidly…

—… They are too close.

Alon realized something upon seeing Leila sitting, intertwining her fingers with Penia‘s and showing a slight blush on her cheeks. Leila didn’t have a bad character; what she had was a very particular “preference.” And that’s why she had no one around her.

The next day, during class.

—Miss Arsena (Rine), I’m sorry, could you move to the back seat? It’s what we agreed, remember?

Alon sighed lightly seeing Penia with a face of “Total victory!” and Rine with a smile that didn’t look like joy at all. Normally he shouldn’t share a class with both; Rine was in Class F and Penia in Class B with Evan. However, they were together due to the academy’s elective system.

In this system, students who choose the same subject gather regardless of their base class. Since Alon, Penia, and Rine had chosen Magic, they were in the same classroom.

‘I feel the physical contact is increasing…’.

He didn’t know what had happened yesterday, but Penia, swollen by her victory, clung to Alon’s arm naturally. It seemed that little by little she was becoming bolder. Alon remembered Evan‘s words.

‘Today the professor who could be related to the Religion of War enters… I think he said his name was Professor Stonia (or Snotia)’.

He remembered that he was a Mage of the fifth Circle recognized in the defunct Eastern Empire.

‘Someone born in the Empire who perished before the new ways…’.

Just when he thought this fellow might indeed have real links to the sect:

—Mmm…

—?

He felt Penia‘s arm, which was circling his, tremble slightly. As if she had seen something she shouldn’t. Looking at her, he saw she had her mouth open, staring straight ahead. Alon followed that gaze with curiosity.

—Hello everyone. From today, I, Snotia Matia, will be in charge of the Basic Magic Theory class.

There she was. Black hair and black eyes.

—Well, before we formally begin the lesson…

But for some reason, her eyes gave the impression of having a red flash.

—… How about we change the seats a bit?

Said a smiling Yutia Bloodia.