Episode 2 – Let’s go! To the academy!
The high sky seemed like a blue carpet had been laid out.
The clouds visible between the gaps in the blue sky looked like beautiful decorations embroidered with silver thread.
The sound of the birds coming from the forest along the road was so beautiful that no bard’s song could match it.
The smell of grass coming into the carriage on the wind was sweeter than any perfume.
“Boss. You look very happy.”
My lady-in-waiting, Nina, in the carriage, told me she looked happy.
Light brown hair and slightly raised eyes.
Clear and beautiful blue eyes and large eyes.
A very attractive woman with her pointed nose and red lips.
She was my exclusive handmaid, boasting a beauty that rivaled that of a fair number of aristocratic families.
Perhaps because her heart is as beautiful as her appearance, she accurately recognized my heart.
Has she learned mind reading to read my mind?
“Whoops, is that so?”
As Nina said, I was in a very good mood right now.
For some reason, there were a lot of eyes in the mansion and the manor, so I had to go to the dessert shop while disguised as a commoner.
However, the Royal Academy, which I am heading to now, was completely different.
It was basically the capital of the empire, so it wasn’t shameful for nobles to go to the dessert shop.
In particular, many girls from other aristocratic families would come to the Royal Academy.
If I became close with them, we could go to the dessert shop together.
Otherwise, he could have gone to the dessert shop as an excuse to find out where to eat for the aristocratic ladies he was with.
Noble women. In particular, it was information obtained through merchants visiting neighboring estates that women my age were crazy about desserts.
In other words, if you made friends with girls from other families at the Royal Academy, you could go to the dessert shop to your heart’s content.
So how could I not be happy?
“Yes. I’ve been watching you from the side, but I’ve never seen you so happy like today.”
Listening to what Nina said, it seemed that my expression and behavior showed that I was happy.
Since she was a lady-in-waiting who served me by my side for a long time, it would have been easy for her to notice my feelings.
“Whoops. You can’t fool Nina’s eyes.”
“Isn’t it obvious? This year marks the exact 10th anniversary of my first meeting with the boy.”
“Has that much time passed already?”
I couldn’t help but be surprised by Nina’s words.
Since she was a child, she has been serving me, so I thought she was quite a long time, but she is 10 years.
It was strange that I didn’t notice it at this level.
“I thought you served me for quite a while, but it’s been 10 years. It’s amazing.”
I’m not kidding, I was really surprised.
But, somehow, Nina’s reaction was a bit unusual.
“Hoho. Now I can tell what the boy wants just by looking at his eyes.”
When Nina mentioned the look in her eyes, I realized she was making fun of me.
“Is that, are you kidding me?”
Nina knows that it is difficult for me to see the pupils because I have narrow eyes.
Knowing that, the only reason she bothered to mention my eyes was to make fun of me.
“Oh, did you get caught?”
“Ni~na!”
As expected, Nina must have been asking how I was feeling on purpose to make fun of me.
Really, I’ve always been good at asking questions that make fun of people.
“I’m sorry. Bocchan~.”
Nina quickly changed her attitude and apologized to me.
I knew that Nina didn’t mean anything to her.
I had already noticed that she was playing her prank on me, because Nina and I usually joke around like this when we’re together.
So there was no reason for me to scold Nina.
“It’s okay, Nina. Instead, let’s do these pranks just the two of us. Okay?”
“Whoops. Yes, boy.”
Nina lowered her head and said.
After hearing her answer, I started to appreciate the scenery outside again.
After a long silence, Nina opened her mouth and asked me a question.
“Come to think of it, if the boy goes to the Royal Academy this time, he will be meeting children of his age for the first time, right?”
“Maybe?”
At Nina’s words, I weakly nodded her head.
It’s embarrassing to say that despite being fifteen, I hadn’t made my social debut until I was this age.
Since my parents rarely attended banquets or balls hosted by other aristocrats, naturally, neither I nor my younger siblings met children of nobles of the same age.
For this reason, as Nina said, the Royal Academy was going to be the first time I met children of noble families my age.
“The children of other aristocratic families enter the Royal Academy while attending banquets and balls and making good connections.”
“So, from the point of view of people who have already formed networks and groups.”
“They’re outsiders. They’ve never had contact with them.”
I am an outsider. When I thought about it, it was worth it.
I know that aristocrats usually make their social debut around the age of 10.
To the nobility, being a socialite means a lot.
It is also the site of recruiting people to support you when something happens, and it is also the site of gathering information to keep up with the information warfare.
And our family tended to lag behind other families in that respect.
“If you enter the Royal Academy, you must actively attend banquets and balls.”
“Yes, young man. Compared to other people, he debuted late in the social scene, so if he is ordinary, he will never attract attention.”
Nina was right a hundred times a thousand times.
For my family’s sake, I had to make many people at the Royal Academy who would become our family’s strength.
I don’t know because my father is a sword master right now, but what if a swordsman stronger than my father is born in another noble family?
Of course, it is obvious that the nobles who have been paying attention until now will flock to the noble family.
The confrontation between the families loyal to the imperial family and the families that only care about the interests of the nobility has been a problem for quite some time.
From noble mtl dot com.
Our Maidern family was a family loyal to the imperial family.
“There’s a high possibility that families that stand in opposition to ours will interfere.”
So, it was clear that if I entered the Royal Academy, the children of my family, who would take the opposite stance to my family, would quarrel with me.
Even if he didn’t argue openly, there was a high possibility of stimulating my anger by pointing out various things, such as actions.
“Of course. Count Meidern’s existence would be a headache for noble families who want to weaken the power of the imperial family and seek their own interests.”
But the words that flowed out then contained what she had said earlier and her insistence on bedbugs.
“However, there is a possibility that they will capture the young master in reverse.”
They might conversely capture me.
I have a question.
Why do they want to capture me?
What do I see?
“Why?”
“Yes, of course it’s because of the master’s skills.”
Nina said as if it were natural.
I didn’t even think about her attitude.
What is it?
Does Nina know my real power?
“Well? I’ve never shown my skills to anyone but my father and mother.”
“Your father, Earl Meidern, told me the whole truth.”
“Oh, my father is really…”
He had no excuses if his father had told Nina everything.
Because the person who knew the best about my skills was my father.
“I know that you are an intermediate level sword expert, and are looking forward to advancing soon.”
Nina knew exactly how far my swordsmanship skills had reached.
However, this was a little different from what I had recently achieved.
“Whoops. This looks like I got hit by Nina.”
“I will keep it a secret until the young master reveals it.”
For Nina’s sake, I deliberately hid her true swordsmanship from her, and reacted to her as if I had taken a shot at her.
Seeing me like that, Nina, like her maid, said that she would keep it a secret until the person she served revealed it.
Really. This is why I can’t hate Nina.
Well, since I didn’t tell Nina about my real state, I’ll have to assume it’s an exchange of one.
“No. It’s okay. There are things Nina doesn’t know.”
That’s right, I had more hidden skills that I didn’t even reveal to my father.
“Are you hiding something I don’t know about?”
“Whoa, whoa. That’s up to you to think about, right?”
I couldn’t tell Nina, but it was nice that she knew me as an intermediate level swordsman.
Would anyone believe me if I told you that a person who turned 15 this year has reached the level of a sword expert master, and can reach the level of a sword master at any time if he gains enlightenment?
And I could use magic too.
The contents of the magic book at home are only beginner magic, so I can only use beginner magic yet.
If I had reached the level of a sword master at fifteen, and a magic swordsman who could also use magic had appeared, there was a very high possibility that nine out of ten would misunderstand me as someone who sold my soul to the devil.
There was a possibility that the church would arrest me to find out if I was a demon or not.
There were many insane people in the church, so that was enough.
“Really. The more I look at the boy, the more surprising things are.”
“Whoops. You don’t have to praise me.”
I shook my hand in response to Nina’s praise.
Even in the midst of that, the carriage was running hard toward Tintaluna, the capital of the Breggern Empire, where the Royal Academy would be located.