“Dear God......”
Abbot Myers murmured as he made the sign of the cross at the mana body I had created.
Then he came to stand before me with the flowing footwork of a trained boxer, natural enough that, if not for his priestly robes, I might have mistaken him for one.
“Would you perhaps consider joining the religious order?”
“Pardon?”
“To wield Divine Magic is itself God's grace! If someone like you joins the religious order, I will use every means at my disposal to get you into the Papal Curia.”
Out of nowhere came a recruiting pitch that had tossed all consideration of time, place, and occasion to the dogs.
“Wow, isn't an abbot basically a bishop who oversees a diocese? If someone like that is stepping in personally......”
“But is Divine Magic really worth making that much of a fuss over?”
“It would not be an exaggeration to say that while there are high-ranking members of the religious orders who cannot use Divine Magic, anyone who can use it is guaranteed to become high-ranking.”
“How do you know so much about that?”
“Well, this much is basic knowledge.” He nudged up his glasses.
“Uh...... Right.”
Hm, was it really that significant?
The freshmen's murmuring gave me the information I needed.
I had played Cardinal seeds before, but I had rarely used Divine Magic myself, so I did not know much about it.
“Ahem, hm. That is enough, Abbot Myers.”
Garahevi calmed Abbot Myers with a timely cough.
“Ah, I have behaved discourteously. I became too excited at the sight of Divine Magic.”
It was obvious that Garahevi was not doing this especially for my sake, but I did not mind.
“Lloyd Schultz is my future...... I mean, a precious promising prospect of the Academy Magic School.”
After all, Abbot Myers was no less intense himself.
The expression with which he looked at me was closer to that of a greedy merchant who had struck a gold vein than a devout man of faith.
Anyway.
Setting their attitudes aside, someone from the religious orders had come.
I asked the question I absolutely needed to settle.
“There is something I would like to ask you both. How valuable is this aptitude for Divine Magic?”
“Valuable? Did you just ask about the value of Divine Magic?”
“For example, what occupations do people mainly enter with it?”
“Ah, if that is what you mean......”
Garahevi and Abbot Myers both fell into thought.
“For one, there would be no problem gaining entry to any mage tower.”
“Mage towers are hardly the issue. A Divine Mage can aim for the Order of Paladins, or even the College of Cardinals in the Papal Curia.”
“By that logic, why would anyone choose the poorly paid religious orders? They could become Imperial Mages or join the Imperial Army Mage Corps and live in luxury.”
“How can you assess the value of Divine Magic in gold?”
“You assessed it in power, Abbot Myers, yet you speak as though you did not.”
“......What did you say?”
“I have heard enough from both of you!”
I cut off Garahevi and Abbot Myers, who had suddenly begun doing a bickering-brothers routine.
There was nothing in it for me if the two of them kept sniping at each other.
“Professor Garahevi.”
The answer to what I truly wanted to ask had come up.
“What exactly do Divine Mages do in the Imperial Army Mage Corps?”
“I hear they usually learn healing magic and serve as military medics. They are an indispensable profession on the battlefield and are treated like the heavens.”
“Okay, that is enough.”
“......?”
At that moment, I made a firm resolution.
No matter what happened, I would not so much as glance at healing-type magic.
Chapter 26 - Lloyd Isn't World-Class
Humans are creatures of rank.
School districts, apartments, workplaces, even age.
People use all sorts of numbers to confirm their place in society, then feel reassured or despondent by comparing themselves to others.
The Academy was no different.
<Freshman Written Placement-Test Results>
The freshmen huddled before the notice board like high schoolers skipping evening study to race to a gaming café.
<Knight School Written Test>
1st Graysong Silva - 95 points
2nd Selim Drinkwater - 94 points
…
Tied for 382nd Lloyd Schultz - 51 points
<Magic School Written Test>
1st Graysong Silva - 93 points
2nd Selim Drinkwater - 92 points
…
452nd Lloyd Schultz - 51 points
<Steam Alchemy School Written Test>
1st Graysong Silva - 91 points
…
<School of Administration Written Test>
Tied for 1st Lloyd Schultz - 100 points
Tied for 1st Selim Drinkwater - 100 points
…
“Are they up?”
“We would not be gathered here if they were not.”
“Please, anything but Class C. Really, just not Class C.”
“Wow, should I take a leave of absence?”
“What leave of absence? It is the first day of school.”
Some rejoiced, and some were dejected.
Some freshmen even jumped to the hasty conclusion, 'Maybe I am suited to sports or the arts, not academics?'
After checking their own scores, they could not help looking at everyone else's.
“Lloyd Schultz? I have heard that name somewhere......”
Everyone focused on the written scores of Lloyd, arguably the most talked-about freshman that year.
“That bastard. The one who raised hell with his entrance-ceremony speech.”
“Why did they let a 51-point nobody give a speech?”
“His tongue was nearly as good as a high noble's. Guess that was all he had.”
“With a hundred in the School of Administration, he will make a fine civil servant later.”
Then they laughed.
After all, it was always pleasant and reassuring to have someone beneath you.
The freshmen gathered before the notice board exchanged sneers so dark they were almost innocent.
There were quite a lot of freshmen at the Academy, so not everyone took the placement tests at the same time.
That meant most of the freshmen sneering had not taken the practical tests alongside Lloyd.
“......Fifty-one points?”
“That cannot be right.”
“Is there another student with the same name?”
The freshmen who had taken the practical tests with him, on the other hand, could not hide their puzzled expressions.
Lloyd Schultz, whose skill had drawn high praise from the Knight School and Magic School professors, had scored only fifty-one points on the written tests?
“Excuse me.”
Just then, a staff member arrived carrying a new notice.
<Freshman Practical Placement-Test Results and Class Assignments>
<Knight School Practical Test>
1st Lloyd Schultz - Class A and below
2nd Maya Bjork
…
<Magic School Practical Test>
1st Lloyd Schultz - Class A and below
2nd Graysong Silva
…
<Steam Alchemy School Practical Test>
1st Lloyd Schultz - Class A and below
…
At that, a weighty silence descended before the notice board.
Had the sound of eyeballs turning been audible, it would have been as noisy as a marketplace.
“Someone with fifty-one points...... got first in the practical tests?”
“Is this rigged?”
“What idiot rigs scores to get fifty-one points?”
Those who had sneered denied the results.
No matter one's age, the fact that someone stood above you could only make you uncomfortable and anxious.
Even more so when it was someone you had been looking down on only moments ago.
Conversely, the freshmen who had taken the practical tests with Lloyd finally nodded.
After all, having someone better than you meant having a clear goal.
And Lloyd was a revolutionary figure who had cried “Yes, we can” to the sons of concubines, illegitimate children, and everyone else in his entrance-ceremony speech.
Because of their mothers, they could not call their fathers “Father,” and they had lived cringing before the eldest legitimate sons despite having committed no crime.
The Academy's countless Hong Gildongs could not help having their hearts burn.
“Lloyd Schultz......”
Among those freshmen.
The student with especially short hair, Graysong Silva, quietly spoke the name.
At a glance, it looked like a heartwarming, pleasant sight: a freshman burning with rivalry.
But had anyone looked a little closer.
They would have seen a competitive fire in Graysong Silva's eyes, fierce enough to be a little dangerous.
***
“Welcome, freshmen. I am Eleanora Holzman, the dormitory matron for Class A.”
Her hair was swept up so neatly that not a single strand protruded.
An all-black dress that would make even the Undertaker concede, with knife-sharp pleats as crisp as a Class A uniform.
Half-rim glasses that emphasized her sharp impression and a badge marking her as Academy staff gleamed together.
She was the very picture of the strict-dorm-matron archetype.
“You have been placed in Class A because you demonstrated excellent academic results and ability. But evaluations can always change, so please keep striving.”
But what appeared on the surface was only part of the story.
As a man of refined taste, I could easily identify Eleanora Holzman's charm points.
'That outfit itself is an expression of confidence.'
To someone who did not know, it would look like nothing more than an ordinary, exceedingly modest dress.
But the important point was the all-black.
All-black was the straightforward approach.
What did that mean? It meant she could not rely on little tricks.
Brilliant colors, patterns, accessories, and the like.
The more extravagant other fashions became, the more they distracted from the essence.
But with all-black—and a one-piece dress that wrapped her from neck to ankle like a gimbap roll—such little tricks had no chance of working.
'Ten points. Ten points......'
Eleanora Holzman, who wore all-black so effortlessly, could truly be called a dormitory matron with both brains and brawn.
On top of the hairstyle commonly called slicked-back hair.
She even wore half-rim glasses, which sharply divided opinion depending on one's tastes and made the eyes stand out more than ordinary frames, yet her beauty did not fade?
I could guarantee it.
Eleanora Holzman was an unscratched lottery ticket with enormous potential.
“The dormitory rules are on the desk in each of your rooms, so make certain you familiarize yourselves with them. The Academy's merit and demerit points can be assigned not only to individuals, but to an entire class as well.”
She delivered the information to the Class A freshmen in a stiff, businesslike voice.
But to me, who had already grasped the meaning of all-black.
It sounded like the kind inner thoughts of someone worried that the freshmen might get into trouble, deliberately warning them in blunt terms.
As someone who had been an orphan and still was one, I could not help giving extra points to a character with motherly traits.
My type was not well-kept older women for nothing.
That was why.
“Then, we will choose the student who will represent the first-year Class A dormitory throughout this academic year. Student Lloyd Schultz?”
“Yes.”
“The professors have been unstinting in their praise of your excellent placement-test results. If you do not mind, how would you like to serve as the dormitory's student representative?”
When Eleanora Holzman tried to hand me an unpaid volunteer position as smoothly as water, I nearly answered “Yes” without thinking.
Business and personal matters had to be kept strictly separate.
No matter how much her looks and fashion perfectly hit my type, accepting an unpaid volunteer position that I could not even use for a year-end tax settlement was another matter......
“If you do so, then I too, as dormitory matron, will see to student Lloyd Schultz's convenience.”
As expected, a healthy body housed a sound business mind.
The moment Eleanora Holzman saw my lukewarm response, she hinted that there was room for further negotiation.
I considered playing hard to get a little more, but.
“Of course.”
“Thank you very much for accepting so readily.”
It would not do to try to get too much from someone I had just met in a single negotiation, so I readily accepted.
Moreover, the “convenience as dormitory matron” she mentioned left room for a variety of interpretations.
Not only the Academy's merit and demerit points she had mentioned earlier, but even rumors such as, 'Which noble house does the son of a concubine or illegitimate child in that dormitory come from?'
Rumors circulating through the dormitories would inevitably pass through the network of dormitory matrons.
Through Eleanora Holzman, I would also be able to obtain information about freshmen in dormitories other than Class A's.
“That concludes today's announcements. You must all be tired, so get some good rest.”
With the tidy close of her orientation, the freshmen flowed out of the dormitory hall like the ebbing tide.
“Ah, Student Lloyd, could you come to the dormitory matron's office for a moment? There are some things I need to tell the student representative.”
As though it were nothing, she merely adjusted her glasses lightly and turned away.
Then the all-black dress stirred slightly, revealing slender ankles white as snow and shoes as black as the dress.
'Eleanora Holzman...... She is not someone to underestimate.'
She knew her own strengths exactly, and she even had the boldness to wield them as weapons to achieve her aims.
She was the woman who had left the strongest impression of anyone I had met at the Academy so far.
***
History is made at night.
The curtain of darkness, equal to all, blurs the truth.
And when day comes, only what the victor says is recorded.
That was why those who sought to enter the world and fulfill their ambitions often acted under cover of night.
This was not uncommon in the Solarian Empire, either.
The high and mighty were not fools, so they always strengthened the defenses around their bedchambers at night.
Even so, the spear was always stronger than the shield.
During the height of inheritance season, it was not unusual for a patriarch or a promising heir to undergo a dark evolution into the “Full of Holes Edition.”
The lyric, 'When I wake in the morning, I wonder about last night,' applied to the Solarian Empire as well.
And if it applied to the Solarian Empire.
“Hey.”
Then naturally, it applied to the Imperial Solarian Academy in the middle of the capital as well.
“Are you Lloyd Schultz?”
“I have never heard a surname like that in my life. His parents must be foreign laborers.”
“Maybe he is a prisoner of war.”
When I returned to my room after enjoying a sweet rendezvous with Dormitory Matron Eleanora Holzman—a briefing on being dormitory representative.
Uninvited guests were waiting there ahead of me.
I had expected something like this might happen after my surprise performance in the entrance-ceremony speech or my unintended performance in the practical placement tests.
But the Academy students had acted far more quickly than I expected.
“Will you come quietly? Or shall we drag you along?”
They surrounded me with leering smiles.
And among them was the buzz-cut student whose name I remembered: Graysong Silva.
'Bastard...... Bonus points.'
I raised my evaluation of Graysong Silva by one notch in my mind and followed them.
Into the domain of night, where history was made.