Kays Translations

Chapter 150: Touring the Royal Academy

I had a very bad feeling about where this was going, so I calmly sheathed the wakizashi as though nothing unusual had happened.

This was bad. Everyone was staring at me.

The Lake Spirit incident had already been more than enough. I couldn’t afford to make another mistake.

“It’s a very good sword. But it’s too sharp for me, and I don’t think I’d be able to use it properly.”

With that, I returned the wakizashi to the proprietor.

He looked at the sword, then at me, then back at the sword again, as though comparing the two.

“I heard Lionel has been teaching you swordsmanship,” Brother Cain said.

“Yes, but…”

“Come to think of it, I’ve never actually seen the two of you practising, have I?”

Brother Cain folded his arms and began to think.

This was bad.

My training sessions with Lionel had turned into genuine, serious clashes. Because of that, we practised quietly in a rarely used area at the back of the training grounds.

Very few people knew what those sessions were actually like. They were dangerous enough that entry to the area was prohibited while we trained.

“More importantly, Brother, you’re buying that sword, aren’t you? Weren’t there other swords you wanted to look at too?”

“That’s right. There were several others I wanted to see.”

Brother Cain immediately went back inside the shop.

Phew. That was close.

Thank goodness Brother Cain was such a sword fanatic. If it’d been Brother Alex, I would’ve been in serious trouble.

That would’ve been strike two.

Afterwards, Brother Cain bought an ornamental sword and another sword for practical use in addition to the first one, for a total of three.

Apparently he’d planned from the beginning to buy a sword for me as well, and in the end I wound up with the wakizashi.

Please, let this thing not cause any more trouble.

Still, Brother Cain had a lot of money. Where was it all coming from?

Was House Heine really making that much profit?

Horse racing and magic tools… come to think of it, maybe we were.

The royal capital also had a large theatre, a public library, and an impressive church.

An opera was currently being performed at the theatre. A servant travelling with us explained that tragic love stories were popular at the moment.

The library was open to anyone, but the entrance fee was fairly expensive. I was told that very few commoners used it.

It seemed the day when reading became an ordinary pastime for the general public was still a long way off.

“After lunch, I’ll show you around the academy,” Brother Cain said.

“Can I actually go inside?”

“At this time of year, yes. Once classes begin, you won’t be allowed in. But before the term starts, family members of current students can enter.”

I see. So that was why Brother Cain came to the royal capital around this time every year.

He hadn’t merely listened to Brother Alex talk about the academy—he’d actually gone inside and seen it for himself.

We ate lunch at a restaurant near the academy. Brother Cain would’ve preferred to take me to one inside the school, but naturally it wasn’t open yet before the new term.

He asked, “Do you want to attend the same academy as us, Julius?”

I politely declined.

Judging from that textbook, there didn’t seem to be much for me to learn from the Royal Academy’s magic-potion classes.

We entered through a smaller gate beside the academy’s main entrance. There was a guardroom there, and Brother Cain showed his student identification to gain permission to pass.

Only he and I were allowed through. The knights and servants had to wait outside the gate.

The worried expressions on the knights’ faces as they watched me go were impressive.

I hadn’t even done anything.

“That’s the dormitory where I live.”

“It’s huge. It looks more like a mansion than a dormitory.”

“I suppose it does.”

Brother Cain chuckled.

It was probably a residence used exclusively by noble students. Unlike the barracks used by House Heine’s territorial knights, this was a grand building with a triangular roof.

The windows were large enough to let in plenty of sunlight, and some floors even had balconies.

I wondered whether the rooms with balconies were reserved for students of especially high rank.

We apparently weren’t allowed inside the dormitory, so we continued towards the courtyard.

It was a bright, spacious garden with a large fountain at its centre. Since the term hadn’t begun yet, it was almost empty, but it would probably be crowded once classes resumed. Benches were arranged all around the grounds.

“The courtyard is enormous. It looks grand enough to belong to a castle.”

“I suppose so. The royal family is responsible for maintaining it. Not just the courtyard, either—the entire academy is under the royal family’s authority.”

“Really?”

So the true power behind the academy was the royal family.

Well, the school occupied prime land in the royal capital and probably received substantial royal support. I supposed that made sense.

Brother Cain also showed me the classroom buildings and the training grounds.

There were several other families touring the academy too. Apparently this was quite popular before the beginning of term.

Come to think of it, hadn’t Brother Alex said he was coming here today?

“Is Brother Alex somewhere around here?”

“Probably… Maybe he’s in the student council room. But I can’t exactly walk in there. And I don’t particularly want to.”

Apparently Brother Cain didn’t like the student council.

Maybe they’d tried to recruit him before. He’d probably refused because council work would take time away from his sword training. That sounded exactly like him.

“Cain, Julius. So you’re here.”

“Brother Alex!”

I turned around to find Brother Alex standing there with Princess Daniela.

Were they taking a break?

They weren’t secretly on an academy date or something, were they?

“Julius seemed interested in the academy, so I was showing him around,” Brother Cain explained.

“Oh?”

“Brother Cain, I’m not particularly interested in the academy. I was only curious about what the magic-potion classes here are like.”

Apparently my interest in the academy textbook at the bookshop had caused a misunderstanding.

I really had only been curious. I didn’t want to enrol here. I’d better make sure that misunderstanding didn’t spread any further.

Princess Daniela giggled.

“Then you must have found it disappointing. The Royal Academy’s magic-potion classes aren’t nearly as thorough as the ones taught at the academy in the Heine territorial capital. In fact, students who genuinely want to become magic pharmacists usually choose the academy in the Heine Margraviate as their first choice instead of coming here.”

I hadn’t known that.

I’d never investigated the matter very deeply because I was still years away from academy age.

In that case, there was very little chance I’d ever attend the Royal Academy.

Unless, of course, something unexpected happened—like the royal family suddenly announcing that they were going to strengthen the academy’s magic-potion programme.

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