81 – Becoming a 2nd grader – 6
Sometimes.
Beautiful things happen in the world.
Things commonly referred to as ‘miracles’.
I thought such miracles had nothing to do with me. At least that was until yesterday.
“Charles Jean Rochepol, 94 points!”
94 Points.
It is one point higher than Luna von Luitwert’s score of 93.
No matter how much the cannons of this era had an unstable accuracy rate and were greatly influenced by luck, luck also meant a lot of preparation.
Hasn’t someone said this? Luck is also a skill.
And when my score was announced…
“Waaa!!!!”
Cheers began to be heard from all directions.
Even Luna von Ruytwert, who scored 93 points, was looking at me with an expression of surprise.
‘How are you, good student? This time I am first place.’
I couldn’t be happier because I got a higher score than the model student who got an overwhelming first place in the previous internal examination.
In the meantime, the exam was going on, and before we knew it, it was Salome de Hiron’s turn.
“Attendance number 31, Salome de Jirón.”
As always, she came forward with a relaxed attitude, wearing her black suit.
With her small white face, short black hair, and black suit embroidered with gold, she was set to be noticed as a fashionista even on her own main stage, the Taspilian Peninsula.
‘It’s pretty, pretty…’ ‘
To be precise, it had a unique atmosphere rather than being pretty. In terms of prettyness, Princess Leonia and Emilia von Kronor were no slouch either.
“Attendance number 31, Salome de Jirón. “Please prepare to shoot.”
“Yes.”
But instead of giving orders to her artillerymen, Salome de Jerón walked over and touched her cannons herself.
The cadets began to murmur.
“What are you doing?”
And after a while.
-Hwaaak
The light of mana began to shine and flow into her cannon.
“Oh! Me, me! “I use magic, magic!”
Someone shouted, and I followed suit.
“Professor! “Isn’t that a foul?”
“No. “Use whatever means you have available, whether it’s magic or tools.”
From Noble mtl dot com
I felt unfair. If I had known this would happen, I would have also learned magic to increase the cannon’s accuracy.
‘Oh, by the way, I have no talent for magic.’
After realizing that fact, I started to calm down again.
Every time Salome cast a spell on the cannon, the inside of her cannon began to hum. I didn’t know what kind of magic it was, but it seemed certain that it was something unusual. And soon…
“Fire!”
-Kwakwakwaang!!!
The cannons were fired all at once along with Salome’s voice. And…
“Salome de Hiron.”
A group of cavalrymen ran and brought down a target in the distance.
The voice of Professor Gernhard von Krusenstein, who saw the target, echoed throughout the hall.
“100 Points.”
“Wow, this is crazy…” “
“This is a scam!”
“Does it make sense to use magic?”
The cadets began to murmur. The reason Salome de Jerón used magic was because everyone was watching. She was only studying theory while everyone else was just looking at books, and in the meantime, she used magic on her own and came in first place, so it was no wonder that it felt like it was against the rules.
“Quiet.”
The cadets’ dissatisfied complaints began to gradually decrease as they heard Professor Kruzenstein’s voice.
“Arcadia Academy’s exams are all based on actual practice. That means that whatever means are used, they are accepted as long as they can be used in practice.”
“No matter what, this isn’t fair… “
“The world is not inherently fair.”
“… “
“The reason you were able to enter Arcadia Academy is because you were born into a noble family. And the reason you could be noble is because your ancestors served the country. It may not be fair to borrow the power of our ancestors, but Arcadia Academy recognizes that. That is the ideology of Arcadia Academy.”
Come to think of it, in the Arcadian Empire, when the succession to the throne was ambiguous, land was distributed to the successors and the successors competed among themselves. It was to select a superior leader. However, the land is never divided ‘equally’. In the case of the original heir to the throne, the wealthiest land is given, and as the succession rights to the throne decline, smaller and less productive lands are given. Compete, but not all competition is fair. That was the ideology of the Arcadian Empire and the Academy in the first place.
The cadets who knew this had no choice but to understand the actions of Salome de Hiron, who used magic, and that is how Salome came to take first place in the cannon shooting test.
—–
After the exam is over.
“Aren’t you curious what kind of magic was used?”
Salome de Jiron followed behind Charles.
“This magic was created by Easterners to increase accuracy when shooting hand cannons. When used on a cannon, the cannon’s accuracy increases, and when used on a musket, the musket’s accuracy increases. However, it does not increase the accuracy of the arrow. Do you know why?”
“I’m not really curious.”
Actually, I’m going crazy with curiosity. Does this also apply to muskets? Then wouldn’t it be great if our mercenary group used it?
“When I was a priest, I had the opportunity to travel to various places for diplomatic reasons. As a result, I was able to travel around the world and learn swordsmanship and magic from various regions. Have you become more versatile as you broaden your knowledge? “Even though you are a step above me in terms of performance in actual combat, I have quite a few talents that I can teach you.”
“I’m jealous. Are you done?”
To be honest, I wondered what the name of the magic was and where I could hire the wizards who used it, but Charles desperately held back.
She is like that, and judging from the fact that he keeps following her around and talking to her, she is a government servant. If she had Glacia she would have been kicked out. And the more attention you give to this kind of obsession, the more it sticks to you.
‘Why on earth are you so obsessed with me?’ ‘
Charles Jean Rochepol. Her face isn’t particularly handsome. Ordinary itself. It’s not like I have any special talent. Well, we won a few wars.
“Don’t do that, just like us…” “
“Why don’t you stop paying attention to me and do something productive?”
Unable to bear it any longer, she exploded and shouted, and Salome de Jirón shamelessly said this.
“Productive work!?”
She speaks as if she is puzzled.
“I ranked 2nd and 1st in the last two exams, respectively. “Wouldn’t it be a big problem if I tried harder here?”
Unlucky… I really want to hit you. If Glacia had been there, I would have told her to kick her out, but unfortunately, she is attending a lecture at the Faculty of Tactics.
But Charles, being a civilized man, suppressed such instincts as much as possible and simply accelerated his pace. In the first place, this woman has a high brute force stat. She’s not sure if she’ll win or not.
Charles continued to walk at a fast pace, and Salome followed behind him, chattering continuously.
“Now that I think about it, southern craftsmen have created a new musket! “I managed to get one because it was a limited edition. Why don’t you check it out together?”
Charles didn’t bother to respond.
“The new musket is really amazing~ Can technology develop this quickly? As wealth from all over the world gathers on the Taspilia Peninsula, the craftsmen of the Taspilia Peninsula do not spare money. This means applying new technologies extensively. The new musket is really nice, I can show it to you if you want… “
Rattle. Charles opened the door to his room, and Salome, with her red face, was so restless that she could not bear to enter the room, and soon the door was closed.
“Phew.”
Finally, we are liberated. I don’t know why that crazy woman did that, but I guess I can’t bother her anymore. Charles thought so, but…
-Knock knock.
After 5 minutes. A timid, small knock rang out.
“Who are you?”
“If you want to know the magic I used or see a new musket, come visit me any time. Women’s Dormitory 205… “
“Go.”
“Yes.”
It seems like a stalker has appeared.
—–
Meanwhile, Luna von Ruit Wert could not hide her curiosity as she watched Salome follow Charles around.
“Salome is a person who does not easily become interested in others. Why does she follow Charles Jean Roche-Paul?”
Then Bertolph von Ruit Wert, who was sitting next to her, put down the teacup he was drinking and said.
“Ah, that? She heard it in a restaurant. Curious? Shall I tell you?”
“… “Her cousin still likes to eavesdrop.”
“Gathering information is also one of the duties of a detective?”
“The means does not necessarily have to be eavesdropping.”
“I guess you don’t really want to know?”
Luna sighed as if she couldn’t help but smile at Bertolph’s words.
“I want to know. “What does her cousin want?”
“What do you want? “I just hope her cousin doesn’t lose the competition.”
“Competition?”
“Isn’t she interested in Charles?”
Then Luna looked with a straight face and said this.
“It was quite unexpected that it looked like that. Well, it’s true that I was interested in that guy at first, but he was quite different from what I thought he was.”
“What do you think?”
“They say that the fall of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is not the fall of the Luitbert family.”
Bertolf’s expression couldn’t help but become serious at those words. The hidden meaning of those words was, ‘If you think the crown prince will sink, abandon him and run away.’
“My friend was more of a realist than I thought. Do you like it.”
“Could it be that your cousin thinks so too?”
“To be honest, yes. If His Royal Highness is sinking, there’s no need for us to sink with him, right? “Honour is good, but wouldn’t we be able to adapt to the new era by abandoning old values?”
“… “
Luna looked like she didn’t like her. Bertolph, reading that expression, immediately changed the subject.
“So, the reason why Salome follows Charles around… “
Bertolph told Luna about the conversation between Salome and Charles in her restaurant, and Luna began to listen to the story with interest.