The Imperial Solarian Academy was the Empire's officer school for civil servants.
Graduating from the academy with excellent grades was the fast track to becoming a civil servant.
And the condition for receiving a scholarship from the Imperial Patronage Association was 'becoming a civil servant after graduation.'
"Therefore, if I earn excellent grades at the academy, it could be said that the Imperial Patronage Association benefits as well."
A syllogism.
The crystallized essence of logic that humanity had cultivated since time immemorial.
I packaged that essence in an election-campaign smile and presented it to Marta.
"So you are going to falsify your grades?"
"Since I am doing it anyway, could you use the much nicer word 'adjustment'?"
"This scholarship recipient is no good."
Unfortunately, it did not work on her.
Chapter 02 - Wise Preparations for Enrollment
I had already settled the matter of 'adjusting academy grades' with Wegner.
The fewer people who knew about something like this, the safer everyone involved became.
That was why I had expected Wegner to hand me the papers himself, or summon me separately.
'He sent his own daughter, and knowing what sort of documents they are, too......'
Yet Wegner had sent Marta.
'What could this mean?'
The simplest explanation was that he had sent a family member to preserve the secret. There were few people more trustworthy than blood relatives.
But that was too one-dimensional a thought.
The chairman of the Imperial Patronage Association sending papers to one of its scholarship recipients.
There was nothing outwardly wrong with that. Therefore, he could have sent anyone at all, whether a subordinate or a servant.
'There would not even be a need to tell them not to open the documents. Simply having them deliver the envelope would mean they would never dream of looking inside.'
And yet Wegner had deliberately sent Marta, his own daughter, to me.
There were two major intentions one could infer from that action.
The first was to make Marta and me insiders who shared a secret.
The second was to naturally narrow the distance between us as we persuaded one another.
'Last night, Wegner asked me whether I had a fiancée.'
Just as everyone badmouths someone at least once, and people exchange wholesome bribes during the holidays.
There was no faster way to strengthen solidarity than sharing a secret.
It turned people who were merely distant acquaintances into 'us.'
From that perspective, Marta bringing the documents herself was practically a signal that Wegner had evaluated me rather positively.
He intended to see us not as the chairman of the Imperial Patronage Association and a scholarship recipient, but as people bound together as 'us.'
'A relationship with Marta helps me too.'
If Wegner was the Minister of Education, Marta was the Minister of Education's daughter.
For me, who had to work through the academy seed, connections to the Minister of Education would be no different from playing a game with a map hack enabled.
And there would likely be the added effect of freeing me somewhat from others' scrutiny.
I intended to make active use of the Imperial Patronage Association throughout my academy life.
If I, a mere scholarship recipient, met Wegner often, it might draw suspicion. But if I met Marta, an interviewer, in private, it would not be much of a problem.
She was the ideal person to serve as the link between Wegner and me.
'With a father who is the chairman of the Imperial Patronage Association and a Court Count, her background is Grade 2. Since she is an interviewer at a young age, if I take her to be roughly at the administrative-officer level, then her ability is around Grade 3.5?'
If I assessed Marta by College Scholastic Ability Test grades, as befitted an academy seed, her qualifications averaged around Grade 2 to 3.
Considering that she worked in the same place as her father, I could even give her a 'high Grade 2.'
Furthermore, if Marta one day inherited the post of chairman of the Imperial Patronage Association, or even the Court Count title, she would be an ideal connection for someone like me, who aimed to become Chancellor.
'It is not as though I have decided to become his son-in-law yet, though.'
In politics and relationships alike, the push and pull was important.
No matter how eagerly Wegner was drawing me in, and no matter how sweet the reward for accepting seemed.
Accepting immediately was the worst strategy.
Court Count was by no means a low rank, but it was not enough for me to bite without looking before and after, either.
Even among counts, there was a clear difference between a capital court noble and a hereditary noble with his own territory.
Even by title alone, there were marquises and dukes above a count, not to mention grand dukes and royalty.
Therefore, in the strictly caste-based world of <Jjam Academy>.
There was no reason to carelessly put a price tag on the product called 'Lloyd Schultz's political marriage.'
'More than anything, I still do not know Marta's intentions.'
That was not an easygoing thought about respecting the feelings of the people involved in a political marriage.
Bribes and solicitations, by their very nature, had to arise from genuine feeling rather than coercion.
If Marta took on the role of a link only because she could not overcome Wegner's pressure.
The time would inevitably come when a problem arose.
From Wegner's perspective, I was a super-A-grade catch coveted by various patronage associations, an achievement he had to secure, and a prospective son-in-law.
But Marta might see things differently.
To prevent such an unfortunate incident before it happened, I first needed to understand what she thought of me, and of Wegner's intentions.
"Is that so?"
I finished all those thoughts within three seconds, then gave Marta a natural smile.
***
"I absolutely cannot allow it."
Marta declared in an exceedingly solemn voice, carrying quite an adult air about her.
"Whether as an interviewer or as an adult, I cannot condone a student committing misconduct."
If the drink in front of her had been an espresso, she might have felt rather intimidating.
SLUUURP!
Unfortunately, she was savoring a liquid-fructose beverage called 'Cacao Pistachio in Winter Snow.'
So sweetness reached me before intimidation did.
"Hm, is that so?"
"Of course."
"Why?"
"......Is this really an issue for which 'why?' is an appropriate question?"
Marta added an incredulous expression to the end of her sentence.
It was an entirely understandable response.
My current status was that of a prospective academy student and Imperial Patronage Association scholarship recipient, while she was an interviewer for the Imperial Patronage Association.
It would be stranger if she did not stop a scholarship recipient they sponsored from openly announcing that he intended to falsify his grades.
However.
"Did you know that every advancement in this world began with the question 'why?'"
"Well said. Why are you trying to commit misconduct?"
"Now, now. Who answers a question with a question?"
"......Pardon?"
"Why do you, Interviewer, think my action is misconduct?"
Marta's reaction rested on a mistaken premise.
My plan to adjust my academy grades was not misconduct in the first place.
"......???"
She was momentarily struck speechless, like someone who had heard, 'Bitcoin is hitting a hundred thousand dollars by year-end!'
"You are not asking that seriously, are you?"
"There has never been a moment when I was anything but sincere while facing you, Interviewer."
The Imperial Patronage Association scholarship interview had been something I had to approach quite seriously as well.
If I failed to get the scholarship, then clearing <Jjam Academy> or anything else would have to wait. I would need to become a mercenary to earn tuition right away.
"Cough, ngh! Kheh!"
Moved by my sincerity, Marta responded with a Triple-H-grade water show.
Thanks to that, I was able to experience indirectly just how sweet the drink she had been having was.
"I am gratified that you feel my sincerity so deeply."
"W-What do you mean, sincerity all of a sudden?!"
Even her face had turned red, so she seemed quite serious about the performance.
At times like this, the best course was to wait silently for a moment.
"......Ahem, ahem. What I mean is, why is falsifying grades not misconduct?"
Fortunately, Marta quickly recovered and asked.
"First, I do not intend to falsify grades that have already been issued. I intend to receive good grades from the beginning."
"What, chicken or egg?"
There was an envelope of documents on the table before us.
It contained a list of the academy faculty sponsored by the Imperial Patronage Association.
"Falsifying grades is indeed misconduct. But is it misconduct for a student to build a good relationship with a particular professor?"
"......Are you saying that you will ask them to adjust your test score afterward?"
"Why do the work twice? It is easier for everyone if I simply ask them to tell me the test questions."
"I am losing my mind."
Marta covered her face with both hands.
Perhaps her blood sugar had dropped, because she sucked hard on the Cacao-whatever.
"If that is not misconduct, then what is it?"
"That brings us to the second reason. What exactly is misconduct?"
"You told me not to answer a question with a question."
"Stop looking at the branches and look at the forest."
"I feel like the forest elves would faint if they heard that."
"Misconduct means an act that is not proper. Do you agree?"
Though she slightly furrowed her brow, Marta nodded for the moment.
It was the sort of thing that made it clear she was a gently raised young lady with a Court Count in the capital for a father.
If she had been a Yeouido gladiator, she would have nodded, then immediately seized on my wording and smashed my skull in.
There was a reason ambulances remained on standby in the National Assembly parking lot whenever state audits or hearing season arrived.
In the unarmed bouts beneath the blue-green dome, horrifying lethal techniques flew about in the blink of an eye, and people died.
In any case.
"And we punish those who commit misconduct. Why?"
"Because that is the law and the regulations?"
It was not a bad answer for a capital young lady, but unfortunately, wrong.
It was a fairly entertaining Zen riddle, so I considered spinning it out a little longer.
But Marta's drink had run out, so I kindly announced the answer.
"Because someone suffers a loss due to that misconduct."
Member of Parliament Style: Second Form, Twisting the Point.
Along with the secret technique I had honed in Yeouido.
***
Marta could not readily accept it.
"Let us say I make an enormous concession and assume that receiving the test paper in advance from an academy professor is misconduct, as you say."
"Not assume. It is misconduct."
"Come now, I told you to look at the forest, not the branches."
"......?"
It was not that she failed to understand Lloyd's sophistical logic.
She had never intended to accept it in the first place.
"Coming back to it, who would suffer a loss from this act?"
"The other academy students who have to compete with Lloyd for grades, obviously?"
What she truly could not accept was this.
"Why do you think they suffer a loss?"
"Because if a cheater gets a good grade, the other students' rankings get pushed back by that much?"
"And what loss do they suffer when their rankings are pushed back?"
"Having their rankings pushed back is itself a loss!"
"Is it really?"
"I am getting to the point where I am looking forward to what sort of sophistry comes next."
The fact that she had begun waiting for Lloyd's words and seriously pondering their content without realizing it.
That was what Marta truly could not understand.
If the other party had been another scholarship recipient of the Imperial Patronage Association, she would have stood up the moment she heard he intended to falsify his grades.
Then she would have immediately revoked his scholarship status.
That was her job as an Imperial Patronage Association interviewer.
But Marta could not do that. No, she did not.
Why? Why on earth?
Even sucking on the straw in her already-empty cup could not give her the answer she wanted.
'......Father would not have permitted this for no reason, would he?'
Instead, all she could taste on the tip of her tongue was an excuse no one would hear, and one she hoped no one had heard.
'And honestly, I am curious what he will say, too.'
She told herself that the reason she was not acting like herself was because she had listened to her mother and father's needless talk since morning.
She was absolutely not captivated by Lloyd's confident lips. Absolutely not.
"Most academy graduates become civil servants after graduation."
"That is right."
"And is there any disadvantage caused by academy grades when one becomes an Imperial civil servant?"
"Of course there......"
There was not.
Marta, who had been about to answer with absurd ease, had no choice but to hastily turn her exhale into an inhale.
"Why would they impose any disadvantage when they cannot even fill the civil-service quota each year? If anything, they give special appointments."
The Empire did not hire civil servants in grade order.
Why?
Because there were desperately few people who wanted to be civil servants compared to the number of civil servants needed!
Those with ability went somewhere that paid more and treated them better, while those born in thriving local territories did not bother to come all the way to the capital to become civil servants.
Therefore, unless someone did not take the exam at all and had no grades whatsoever.
Academy grades presented no obstacle at all to becoming a civil servant after graduation.
"Therefore, no one suffers a loss due to my action."
That was a reality Marta herself, as an Imperial civil servant, knew better than anyone.
That was why she almost nodded without thinking, but.
"Therefore, it is not misconduct......"
"T-The dormitories! The academy changes dormitories by grade order every time students advance a year, does it not?"
She barely managed to come to her senses.
"Even now, some people have no home and use the ground for a pillow and the sky for a roof. In times like these, are you saying merely having your dormitory tier changed is a loss?"
"No, what I mean is......"
Yet she was immediately forced onto the defensive.
'Why did I have to remember the personal information I read at a time like this!'
Because Lloyd, whose parents had both died, said something like that, she could not easily refute him.
Thinking that he had not a single person to depend on in this vast capital made him somehow look pitiable, too.
Her heart even felt strangely ticklish, as though she were looking at a puppy soaked by rain and shivering from the cold.
"You know better than I do that grades do not change scholarship results."
The Imperial Patronage Association, as well as every other patronage association, did not grant scholarships based solely on grades.
"......Academic Excellence Scholarships are affected."
"Do you think I would adjust my grades just to take first place?"
The Academic Excellence Scholarship given to first place was another matter, but Lloyd very slyly slipped free of that.
"......"
Marta was speechless before she knew it.
Falsifying grades was bad, and it was misconduct. That thought had not changed even now.
But when asked why it was bad, she surprisingly did not have much to say.
When asked to prove something obvious, she could not answer because she had never thought about it before.
'It does seem as though no one suffers a loss......'
The Imperial Patronage Association selected scholarship recipients on the condition that they became civil servants after graduating.
Then so long as Lloyd became a civil servant after graduation, was there really no need to worry about the detailed process of adjusting his grades?
No one was even being eliminated in that process.
'......Is this really right?'
For a while, Marta continued the debate between the 'obviousness' inside her and its endlessly branching questions.
"Ah!"
A thrilling realization struck her, enough to make her clap without meaning to.
"What should I do? I have just thought of a perfect basis for refuting this bizarre logic."
"Oh? Is that so?"
Marta declared with an imposing expression.
"If Lloyd adjusts his grades, someone will definitely suffer a loss."
"Why is that?"
"Civil servants connected to the Knight or Magic Schools are evaluated based on academy grades during hiring."
If one had to name the academy's most popular schools, everyone would name the Knight and Magic Schools.
Naturally, Lloyd must have been aiming for one of those two schools.
They were schools where grades might not matter while a student was enrolled, but would certainly make people rejoice or despair later.
With a difference of only a hair's breadth, one's assigned unit could change, or one could end up in a different laboratory.
Just as she expected, and finally.
Lloyd was speechless for the first time today.
'This is exactly the feeling......!'
Marta fell into an ecstasy in which it felt as though every interviewer at the Imperial Patronage Association was chanting her name.
She had proudly seized victory.
Like a saint or hero from myth, she had broken through the logic trap of the wicked serpent and overcome adversity!
"That is correct."
Astonishingly, Lloyd readily admitted defeat.
"Hehe, now that you have admitted your mistake, I will specially forgive you this once......"
So, just as Marta's shoulders rose high and she was about to show mercy.
"If I intended to enter the Knight or Magic Schools, then what you said would be correct, Interviewer."
"......Pardon?"
Lloyd preached with a saintly smile.
"I am going to the School of Administration."
The School of Administration at the Imperial Solarian Academy.
It was the school that produced the most civil servants even at an academy called the Empire's officer school for civil servants, and at the same time.
It assessed every grade by 'absolute evaluation.'
"Ah."
Hero Marta, conquered by Lloyd, the devil of sophistry!