Volume 5 Chapter 6: Welcome Party

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Author: 夜州 (Yashu)

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“…Is that so. Well, work hard.”

“It is quite painful. I’m sorry for this happening to the town the Kingdom assigned to me.”

Viscount Baldo bowed lightly.

“No, I think it’s being governed well enough. While I don’t know all that much about governance myself, it must not be easy.”

“There are indeed a number of problems…”

“Which is why I am here, to look at those. If a big shot like me steps in, it should be fine.”

Corgino chimed in after Baldo’s words with a grin.

Having finished their meal, everyone headed back to their rooms.

Marquis Corgino and Viscount Baldo were holding a meeting in the reception room, both holding glasses of wine in one hand.

“So, are preparations going smoothly?”

“Yes, we have gathered a number of people. We’ve already finished talks with them as well. …But still, are you really –– going to do it?”

“Of course. Just how much hardship have I had to go through due to that fucking brat. The king, the dukes and the prime minister are all looking out for that brat.”

Due to Cain destroying the royal capital’s Dark Guild, Corgino had not only lost the income from human trafficking, but he had also been fined by the kingdom, and his mansion had also been destroyed.

Due to the development of Drintor, Cain’s city, the lower-ranking nobles in his faction had also been unable to put the brakes on the people in their territories flowing out.

The taxes from the towns thus decreased, substantially decreasing the amount of money making its way into Corgino’s pocket once again.

Count Silford was a thorn in the side of the Marquis, having created a dent in Corgino’s personal wallet.

Until now, Corgino had tried to drag Cain down indirectly, but all attempts had ended in failure.

Corgino had reached the end of his patience, and was now planning on eliminating Cain this time.

Taking a sip of his wine, Corgino smiled to himself satisfied at the perfect plan he had come up with.

◇◇◇

The students got in their carriages and left Terenza.

Now, it would take them three days to reach the border, where they would enter into the Republic of Ilstin.

The first place they would be heading to was the city that focused on international trade, with most of the imports and exports to and from both Esfort and Baisas happening there.

The carriages arrived in the city of Ghazal, in the Republic of Ilstin, three days after crossing the border without anything happening.

The teachers went ahead to deal with customs, after which the students were allowed to pass through.

Then, the carriages arrived at the inn just before evening.

“We’ll be staying here for two days from tomorrow to take a tour of the city. Make sure you go straight to sleep after eating. There will be a party with the country’s academy’s students tomorrow.”

The students replied they had understood and were shown to their rooms.

Perhaps due to it being a different country, they were assigned to two-person rooms regardless of them being nobles or commoners.

After finishing their meals, the students all went to bed early for the next day.

Cain wasn’t sleepy yet, but there was no way he could leave the inn on his own, so he gave up and went to sleep.

The next day.

They walked around the market and other places like it before noon. Many of the products lined up in the storefronts had been ordered from different countries.

Looking at the strange things in the store windows, they walked through the city until they arrived at the Gilgad Academy.

There, they were to take classes together with the Gilgad Academy’s students.

The classroom they were shown to had enough room for fifty or so students, and there were around twenty empty seats on one side of it.

There were around thirty students already there, with equal numbers of boys and girls, and Cain and the others were shown to their seats.

“Ooh…so many beauties.”

“That guy’s quite cool…”

Such exclamations came from the students.

“Alright alright, everyone quiet down. These students have come from the Kingdom of Esfort on a field trip. Moreover! They’re the students from Class S of the Royal Academy, the highest levelled school in the kingdom. So make sure you learn from them.”

““““““Yeeees.””””””

“Well then, let’s start class. So, ––––”

The contents of the lesson wasn’t all that different from that in the Kingdom, but how the Republic worked was often touched upon.

Originally, each city had been an independent country, trading amongst themselves, which had turned into sharing the strong points of each city with the others, which had eventually developed into the current system.

The country had a parliamentary system, with each city having its own member of parliament, with the chairman of parliament, the highest authority, rotating through the members of parliament of each city.

Ghazal in the south did the trade.

Riboloom in the north did the mercenary work.

Balzana in the east did the crafts and production.

Tiraize in the west did the farming.

And in the very centre was Tanbaal, the city of parliament.

Ilstin didn’t have any soldiers except for guards, with the fighting being covered entirely by the mercenaries from Riboloom.

Each city gave subsidies to Riboloom, which then used its mercenaries when necessary.

That was the relationship they had.

“––––Then, that’s all for today’s lesson. The welcome party will begin in a bit, so if all you students could go to the hall.”

The bell signalling the end of class rang, and the teacher told them what would be happening later.

Cain’s group of students, as well as the Esfortean teachers, were guided to a large hall.

The place was the size of a sports hall, and there were already a number of students gathered inside.

Tables had already been set up; it seemed it would be a stand-and-walk-around sort of party.

Cain and the others split into groups of four, heading to the tables indicated.

Naturally, Telestia, Silk, and Liltana were with Cain.

The students who had been in the same classroom with them also split up going to their tables, bringing in drinks.

Once everything was finished, a middle-aged man stood up on the stage.

“Welcome, students from Esfort. I’m the headmaster, Balga Randem. While you must be tired from the long journey, we have prepared a welcoming party for you. I hope you’ll take this opportunity to interact with our academy’s students. Cheers!”

““““““““““Cheers!!””””””””””

After raising their metal cups high for the toast, the students turned their attention to the food on the tables.

“Cain-sama, this sandwich is delicious.”

As befitting her title of princess, Telestia ate the sandwich in small pieces.

Cain also took one and bit into it.

“Yeah, it’s delicious.”

As they were talking like that, gazes from the surroundings all gathered on Cain’s group’s table.

The students started coming over to Cain’s table in small groups one after the other.

Then, from amongst them, a handsome boy stepped forward and called out to them. His red hair swept up, he smiled coolly.

“Excuse me, beautiful ladies, I’m this city’s MP’s oldest son, Ralph Vandega. May I ask your names?”

The gazes of the surrounding students had gathered not on Cain, but on Telestia and the other two girls, who were at the same table.

(Well, I guess Telestia and the other two really are a trio of beauties…)

Cain smiled bitterly seeing the over ten students who had gathered around the trio.

“I’m Telestia Tera Esfort.”

“I’m Silk von Santana.”

“I’m Liltana van Baisas.”

After the three of them introduced themselves, excited cheers rose from the students.

“Oy, they’re a princess and imperial princess. And the other one’s from the Santana family, who are dukes.”

“What, really… they all come from money.”

Such exclamations came from the students.

“Oh, so you were a princess, imperial princess and a duke’s daughter. It would be nice if we could talk again later…”

Said Ralph, full of confidence, but Telestia just shook her head.

“I’m afraid not. We will be leaving the city tomorrow.”

“Then, let’s get in contact. I will send you a letter, and I hope you will accept it.”

“…I’m afraid not, ––I already have a fiancé.”

“Yeah, I have a fiancé as well.”

Ralph grunted in embarrassed pain at Telestia and Silk’s words, but he still hadn’t given up yet.

“What!? What kind of people are your fiancés!? Don’t tell me… they were political marriages!?”

As Ralph still hadn’t relented, Telestia and Silk went over to either side of Cain and crossed arms with him.

Cain thought ‘Huh!?’, but it was already too late.

“Cain-sama here is my fiancé.”

“Yes yes. Cain-kun’s the other party, sorry.”

The boys’ jealous gazes all gathered on Cain at once.

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