Youngest 125
by CristaeEpisode 125
When he opened it, the chest was filled to the brim with gleaming magical devices. They belonged to the Imperial Family.
“Acceleration devices?”
“Absurd, isn’t it? Here we are, plotting to bring down the Mage Kingdom, and we’re using the very tools they created.”
“Well… I doubt they ever imagined their creations would be used like this. It must be a bitter pill to swallow.”
The Emperor murmured as he peered into the box.
“Yes, with this much… let’s see…”
“……”
“It’ll take exactly ten days for a round trip. Am I wrong?”
There was something infuriating about the gentle curve of his eyes as he smiled.
But in the end, this was a task only he could accomplish.
He was, after all, an Imperial knight more accustomed to the sword than to the pen.
‘A real serpent, through and through.’
With the memory fading, Leviathan mounted his horse without a moment’s hesitation.
He was leaving in secret, so packing was kept to a minimum. His face was concealed beneath a black robe.
“Be sure to explain things to my daughter so she’s not alarmed.”
“Yes, yes, you needn’t worry. I’ve told her you’re away on business within the Empire.”
The imperial attendant bowed and cleared a path at the rear gate.
“Oh, and tell His Majesty to prepare for a designated holiday.”
“……”
The attendant did not answer the latter remark.
With a sweep of his cloak, Leviathan snapped his reins. Three or four swift steeds shot out like a gust of wind.
Ten days.
Ten days, he thought.
‘By now… is Ruby doing all right?’
Has she eaten? Or is she picking at her food again because nothing suits her taste?
‘My child…’
He hadn’t meant to be gone forever in the southern resort.
He opened his pendant and let out a soft sigh.
Truly, it was going to be a very long ten days.
“Did you have a good talk with Khalid?”
No sooner had I opened the door and entered than Sortie, who was seated at the table, asked me.
“Yeah!”
I nodded as I walked over.
“I’ve always wanted to ask…”
“What is it?”
“What’s your relationship with Khalid, Rubian?”
Out of the blue?
My hand froze midway as I was pulling back a chair. Sortie tilted her head innocently.
“It’s just… you’re always together. I couldn’t help but wonder…”
I blinked and answered offhandedly.
“We’re just childhood friends.”
“Really?”
“Why…?”
“Well, I have a male childhood friend too, but I’m not constantly glued to him like you and Khalid. He didn’t even come to camp with me!”
Sortie giggled.
“Oh… is that so?”
When I announced I was going to the academy camp, Khalid naturally insisted on coming along. Neither of us had ever found that strange.
‘He did seem to want to go to the Academy even more after we came back from the trip, though.’
Still, for us, being together was as natural as thread and needle.
‘But is that not normal for other kids?’
Is that so…? Is this odd?
“But Rubian, shouldn’t you hurry and finish your name tag?”
My wandering thoughts came to a sudden halt at Sortie’s words.
‘Name tag?’
At last, my gaze dropped to the table.
Sortie was diligently writing her name in careful letters on her blank name tag.
“You have to put your name on your stuff before the afternoon activities begin. Didn’t you catch that during the rules explanation?”
“Oh, right! I remember now. I need to get on that.”
“Hurry up.”
That’s right.
When we came up to the dorm, we were given a few necessities, including blank name tags.
The academy, which made fostering student independence a key educational goal, encouraged us to take care of as much as possible on our own.
Managing personal belongings was part of that as well.
We had to write our own names on the tags and attach them to our important things.
The temporary badges pinned to our chests were no exception.
“But… Rubian, you seem to know your spelling really well.”
As Sortie chose a pen, she gazed at me curiously.
“I noticed when we exchanged letters.”
My hand instinctively paused.
Feigning nonchalance, I replied, “Is that so?”
“Yeah. When did you start learning?”
“Hmm, well…”
It was more like I simply always knew.
A magic circle is the sum of countless languages.
The way you interpret and rearrange its formulas determines the result you manifest.
So, I could read and write almost any language without difficulty—not just the Imperial tongue.
‘Not that anyone can know.’
My family believed I acquired Imperial and common speech earlier than my peers by reading various herbology books in Eosia.
Still, being too perfect might seem odd, so I’d often pretend to get the more difficult spellings wrong.
“I just kept at it for a long time! Especially when editing—not to brag, but correcting others’ spelling really helped me.”
“Wow. Who did you have to correct so much? Must’ve been some drill.”
“Yeah. Someone.”
I dodged around the question and picked up a pen to fill in the blank name tag.
‘Is it because my arm’s weak? I still can’t write neatly.’
It came out as a mess…
‘But at least the name tag should look decent!’
Deep breath.
“All right!”
Resolving to do my best, I pressed pen to tag for the first letter—
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
“Eeek!”
Ruined…
“Everyone, please gather in front of the dorm now!”
“What? Already?”
Sortie sprang up, pinning the temporary badge to her chest.
With a face of utter despair, I stared at my name tag.
“Oh no. It’s ruined.”
“Ah well, you’ll just have to ask for another.”
A meaningless squiggle ran across my white tag—not even managing to finish “Ru–”.
‘Oh well. I’ll just have to request another later.’
Sighing and pouting, I stuck the messy badge to my chest for now.
Camp activities had begun!
The experience camp was, as the name implied, designed to give prospective students a taste of life at the academy.
So, the schedule revolved around easy class activities, letting us get to know the professors and explore the campus facilities.
Beneath a great autumn tree, groups of girls gathered in their camp-issued uniforms, greeting each other. The boys hadn’t arrived yet, it seemed.
‘This really does feel like a high-class private school.’
It was a novel experience.
I walked slowly toward the crowd, when a familiar name caught my ear.
“Is Rubian Zevert really not coming?”
Sortie and I stopped and exchanged glances.
“I quietly asked the professor, and apparently she did register.”
“Weird, isn’t it? There’s no way you’d miss that silver hair.”
‘Are they… talking about me?’
My ears perked up in spite of myself.
“She disappeared so quickly at the Greenleaf Festival—I really thought this would be the chance to get to know her!”
“I’m actually just curious what she looks like… The rumor is she hides her face because she has a big complex about it.”
“Really?”
Wait, there’s a secret about my face?
“I really signed up just hoping the Lady would be here. My mother said I should get to know her… She never came to my tea party, either…”
A tea party? How could I go to one I never knew about!
“To be honest, I thought she seemed cool at the Greenleaf awards. Receiving first prize without a word—that was so impressive, wasn’t it?”
Truth was, I’d just been too nervous to say anything…
“She’s definitely got some nerve, huh? Oh, it’s just a shame! The masked Lady!”
The girls all sighed with disappointed longing.
I felt my cheeks grow hot, glued to the spot, lips pressed together.
‘Hello, I’ve returned, unmasked!’—there was simply no way I could announce myself like that.
‘What do I do…’
Torn between embarrassment and awkwardness, I traced little patterns on the ground with my toe. That’s when it happened.
“Ha-ha-ha!”
A grating laugh rang out.
Turning toward the sound, I spotted a group of boys coming our way, faces already set in mischievous smirks.
“So noisy,” someone muttered.
“Let’s go elsewhere. I don’t want any trouble.”
The girls nearby hurried off, deliberately avoiding the boys.
But undeterred, the group approached, raucous as ever. The boy in front was especially striking.
‘Wait… I know him.’
On closer look, I remembered seeing him briefly during the Greenleaf Festival.
A boy dressed as extravagantly as a peacock.
‘His name was…’
“Hey, Haben. Did you get new shoes? They look expensive.”
Ah, that’s right. Haben Abellus!
“Yeah. You wouldn’t believe how much these cost!”
Haben preened, sticking out his foot to show off his shoes.
The shiny black dress shoes sparkled with tiny jewels inset as decoration.
“That’s the Abellus count’s family for you…”
The academy only issued uniforms.
Shoes, handkerchiefs, and personal accessories had to be brought from home—an understated but clear display of family wealth.
‘Anyone can enroll in the Academy if they can pay tuition, even commoners.’
While Haben was loudly showing off, his gaze drifted over and landed on us. A sly grin spread, as if he’d found a new toy.
“What’s this? Sortie!”
“Hi, Haben!”
“And who’s that with you? Hmm…”
His eyes—that open, scrutinizing gaze—ran slowly from my head to my toes, finally pausing on my name tag.
“Ru…u…? What, did you write this with your foot?”
Why, that little—
As I opened my mouth, stung, Haben smirked at Sortie.
“You’re really something, you know that? Even here, you’re running around with a commoner?”
I blinked.
…A commoner?
‘Wait, me?’