The Academy is Doomed

Chapter 103

Late afternoon, Amon was dressed neatly.

According to Anar’el, Empress Victoria had allowed Amon to accompany her despite the recent disaster.

‘It wasn’t that young man’s fault. I actually wanted to meet him anyway, so this works out well. I won’t tell Sandrio, just come to the rear garden. You can bring that young man as an attendant.’

Amon was momentarily bewildered by the Empress’s words that Anar’el had relayed.

‘She wanted to meet me? Why?’

Well, that reason would be revealed when he met the Empress shortly.

More importantly, that wasn’t the main concern.

‘Today’s goal is to get acquainted with the Crown Prince. The Principal… no, the Headmaster said she would subtly arrange a meeting, so I just have to hope things go well.’

Fortunately, the Empress had called Anar’el to the rear garden, seemingly worried about things going wrong if they encountered the Emperor.

After neatly adjusting his formal attire, Amon nodded.

His face was shining with hope and determination.

‘If things go well, I might be able to break free from this insufferable ill fate.’

Just as he thought this.

“Are you ready?”

At Anar’el’s call, Amon stepped away from the mirror.

“Yes, Headmaster. Let’s head out.”

* * *

The Imperial Palace’s rear garden.

Amon had been here once before.

It was where the meeting of the Empire’s Four Knights had taken place, and where a competition had broken out to take Amon as a disciple.

Among the dozen or so separate buildings located there, Amon and Anar’el were heading toward the most splendid one.

“Amon, please be mindful of your behavior today.”

In response to Anar’el’s worried voice of caution, Amon gave a wry smile.

“What do you take me for? I’m always mindful of my behavior.”

“…That’s true.”

The Amon she had seen so far might act up sometimes, but he knew when and where to do so.

That was a merit, if you could call it that.

‘But Sandrio’s reaction last time was unusually strange. I wonder why he acted that way.’

Anar’el made a mental note to ask about it sometime when she had the chance as she opened the door to the separate building.

Her unhesitating movements suggested she had been here quite often.

“Victoria! I’m here!”

Seeing Anar’el act as if she were entering her own room, Amon’s wry smile deepened.

‘Headmaster, you’re the one who should be mindful of your behavior.’

Fortunately, confirming the assumption that she was a frequent visitor, a voice full of joy quickly responded.

“Anar’el, it’s been so long!”

From one side of the building, the Empress rose from a table laden with refreshments and stretched out her hand as she approached.

“Thank you for coming all this way.”

“It’s nothing. My warp magic skills haven’t gotten rusty yet.”

“Hehe, Anar’el’s warp magic. Ah, those times were wonderful.”

“Yes, I miss them…”

Anar’el and Victoria’s eyes grew distant with nostalgia.

Once, Anar’el had traveled across the continent with Victoria and Sandrio.

Adventure, exploration, and pioneering.

That journey remained unforgettable in their memories even after all these years.

‘Anar’el! We need your warp magic!’

‘Yes!’

‘Princess Anar’el! Please warp us!’

‘Yes!’

‘Anar’el! Warp!’

‘Yes!’

‘Waaaaarp!’

‘Yeeeees!’

Come to think of it, did she do nothing but cast warp magic the whole time?

Tilting her head at the slightly hazy memories, Anar’el spoke up.

“By the way, how have you been lately? I’ve been worried with everything that’s happened.”

Victoria sighed.

“Don’t even mention it. Sandrio still has a fit at just the mention of ‘Vel’ from Velslime Wasteland. I was already worried enough about Sandrio, and then the scum…ahem! The Gunter Archipelago Alliance bared their teeth, which made me so angry.”

“Ahaha. So that’s why Victoria took action herself.”

“That’s right. Oh, by the way, I heard something recently…”

Victoria brought up a different topic.

And so, after about 10 minutes of the two women catching up.

30 minutes, 1 hour, and about 2 hours passed.

The wry smile on Amon’s face had reached its peak.

‘Who am I? Why am I here?’

After standing quietly behind Anar’el for hours, he wasn’t sure if he was Amon or a tree in human form!

But he couldn’t carelessly speak up.

Even while pleasantly chatting with Anar’el, Victoria had been observing him with piercing eyes that gleamed coldly.

Having witnessed her instantly subdue the Emperor at the Imperial Competition and personally hold a “time for reflection” to punish the Emperor when visiting the palace to withdraw the operational suspension recommendation, Amon could only freeze like a frog before a snake.

‘If I speak out of turn, I’ll get hit too. Literally get beaten like a dog.’

So Amon was being “mindful of his behavior” as Anar’el had cautioned.

After all, on the surface, he had come here as Anar’el’s attendant.

After some more time passed.

Perhaps her throat had gotten dry from talking so long, Victoria took a sip of tea and smiled as she spoke.

“Oh my, how rude of me. I’m sorry.”

“Huh?”

At the sudden apology, Anar’el blinked with round eyes.

Had Victoria done something wrong?

Glancing subtly behind Anar’el, Victoria said.

“I’ve kept that young man standing for too long. It’s been quite a while, I should have offered him a seat.”

“…Ah!”

As if finally remembering Amon’s existence, Anar’el covered her mouth and turned to look at Amon who had been standing quietly behind her all this time.

“I-I’m sorry, Professor Amon. I got caught up talking with Victoria since it’s been so long…”

Amon smiled brightly.

His wry smile had reached such mastery that unless examined closely, it looked infinitely gentle and benevolent.

“It’s.fine, Headmaster. It’s natural when meeting an old friend after so long.”

“Ah! As expected of Professor Amon! Thank you for understanding!”

“Ha.ha.ha. Don’t mention it.”

Watching Anar’el and Amon’s back-and-forth exchange, Victoria smiled gently.

‘He passes for now.’

It seemed he had come here with Anar’el for some purpose.

‘But considering he came as Anar’el’s attendant in name, if he had spoken up about his business right away…well, it’s fortunate no blood was shed.’

In other words, making Amon stand for hours was a kind of test to observe his character and personality.

This was because she knew the rock-bottom personality of Amon’s grandfather, Belial Drake, whom she had met several times in her life.

‘The Belial I knew would have flipped the refreshment table and caused a scene long ago. Amon Drake, was it? To think such a grandson could come from Belial.’

Looking at various aspects, she could give Amon a passing grade.

Though he was an attendant in name only, considering he stood silently behind them for hours without showing any sign of displeasure despite that not being the real situation.

Victoria smiled and waved her hand as she spoke.

“More importantly, please sit down. And I apologize again. I got caught up meeting Anar’el after so long and forgot about you.”

That was a lie.

Knowing that she had been watching him with sharp glances several times, Amon bowed deeply like a knife.

“Not at all, Your Majesty. As I came as an attendant, please don’t mind me.”

“Hehe, no no. Ah, this could go on forever. Please sit.”

“Then excuse me.”

Amon quickly sat down

After standing for hours, he was secretly glad to be offered a seat.

And as Anar’el watched Victoria offer refreshments to Amon, she hesitantly opened her mouth.

“Um, by the way, Victoria.”

“Yes? What is it?”

Anar’el grinned sheepishly and continued.

“I’d like to meet Victoria and Sandrio’s eldest son, would it be possible to see him now?”

Having completely forgotten about Amon until now, this was her attempt to help achieve his goal!

But hearing those words, Amon froze as he was about to put a cookie in his mouth.

‘You said you’d arrange it subtly, but this is way too obvious…?’

Isn’t this being far too transparent!

Victoria seemed to notice something from Anar’el’s unnatural words, subtly looking this way with a smile.

“The eldest son, you mean the Crown Prince?”

“Yes. Yes. I’ve only heard about him, but I’ve never actually met him.”

“I’ve invited you several times before, but you never came, right?”

“I kept saying I should go soon, but kept forgetting.”

“Really, an elf’s sense of time…”

Victoria chuckled and muttered.

“Come to think of it, never met him… I see.”

After muttering “never met” in a strange tone, Victoria smiled.

‘Sandrio said to hide his identity, seems it hasn’t been revealed yet.’

Whether the plan to break the long-standing bad blood between families by going to the academy was going well remained to be seen.

‘Seeing how the Drake family child wants to meet our Crown Prince first, it seems it’s not going completely badly…well, I’m sure they’ll figure it out. Anyway, it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen that child, should I call him?’

Victoria nodded readily.

“Alright, let’s call him then.”

* * *

After lunch, Kai turned his head while brushing his teeth.

The communication crystal was flashing brightly.

‘Hm? This color is Mother?’

Why would Mother suddenly contact him?

After spitting out his toothpaste with a “ptui,” he quickly grabbed the crystal.

“Yes, Mother. Have you been well?”

-Kaias, come to the Third Separate Palace for a moment.

“What? What do you mean…?”

But without giving any reason or even waiting for a response, the connection was cut off.

“…Mother, really.”

This again.

Befitting the Emperor’s teacher, Mother sometimes had an excessively tough side.

That’s why she would charge at the Gunter Archipelago Alliance with her status as Empress.

“Well, I guess I’ll take some time to go then.”

Kai glanced at the mirror and touched his face with his hand.

At the same time, the appearance-changing magic he had cast on himself was lifted, and the somewhat ordinary-looking face of ‘Kai’ disappeared, replaced by the intellectually handsome face of ‘Kaias’.

She clearly called for ‘Kaias’, so she must be calling for him in his capacity as Crown Prince.

‘Feels like it’s been a while since I’ve seen this face.’

He smiled and took out the formal wear bearing the imperial family’s crest that he had hidden in his closet.

Then he cast the warp magic to head to the palace.

Swoosh-!

Finally arriving at the magic circle, ‘Kaias’ headed towards the separate palace in the rear garden.

‘Feels like it’s been a while since I came here. Though I definitely came recently.’

Well, back then he was too busy substituting for his father in state affairs after he fell ill from the Velslime Wasteland business failure to take in the garden scenery as Crown Prince.

‘Well, since I’m here, should I go see Leila?’

Since he had gained weight from stress-eating while handling state affairs back then, his fiancée Leila had teased him about it, so it might be good to show her that he’s back to normal.

As Kai headed to the rear garden thinking various thoughts, his eyes narrowed sharply.

Below the wall outside the separate palace, Amon was stretching his body.

Having stood for hours, his body was stiff, so after getting permission to step out briefly, he was stretching.

‘S-Senior, why are you here…?’

Could it be that after all that talk about finding the Crown Prince, he had found a way to meet him?

‘This presence is the Headmaster? Don’t tell me he requested an audience through the Headmaster?’

Kaias, who had been standing there in confusion, sighed.

‘Sigh, I really don’t know what Senior is thinking.’

Still, seeing Amon taking such active steps didn’t feel entirely bad.

‘But I can’t reveal my identity yet. It would be better to reveal it when our relationship has matured more and we can fully trust each other.’

So Kaias tried to pass by Amon and enter the separate palace.

Since he always had appearance-changing magic on his face while at the academy, Amon wouldn’t recognize him.

‘Hm? But what’s this?’

As he tried to pass by Amon and enter the separate palace, Amon was staring at him intently with furrowed brows.

At that suspicious gaze, Kaias internally sighed.

‘Senior, you don’t need to kneel and pay respects, but you should at least show minimal courtesy to the Crown Prince for others to see…’

“What? Kai, what are you doing here?”

“Eh?”

At Amon’s familiar greeting, Kaias hurriedly touched his face.

Instead of the blunt nose from the appearance change, it was his original high, straight nose.

The jawline and lips were also his original features.

But how did Amon…?

‘C-Could it be that the appearance-changing magic wasn’t working from the start?’

Kai’s face froze in shock.