White smoke puffed out from the chimney of Sophia Cathedral.
It was smoke announcing the election of the Pope.
The new Pope was Branden Hainkel, just as Aria intended.
Apparently, all factions except that man had been divided to the brink of disbandment, leaving no candidates that could even come close.
As soon as Branden Hainkel became Pope, he first visited the Imperial Palace.
I accompanied him to welcome the Pope, but there was nothing particularly special to discuss—just some idle chatter good for showing off to the media.
Though I didn’t say it outright, it could be regarded as the Vatican expressing its apology.
After all, those who had previously called for him to come for his crown now sought him out without an invitation.
It seemed unlikely that the Vatican would engage the Inquisitors to use force anytime soon.
I was planning to pressure the Pope into revealing the details of the teleportation spell leak soon enough.
Given this cooperative stance, it didn’t seem like they were blatantly colluding with the Asylum…
But who knows?
I couldn’t expect much common sense from those who tried to stab a Saintess in broad daylight.
To prepare for the worst, Aria had already organized a unit to deploy to the Vatican.
“Is it time yet?”
“I’m sorry, Your Excellency. We’ve tried all the physical torture methods, but nothing seems to work.”
The interrogation of the Asylum’s action leader was still dragging on.
Should I say it’s typical of a fanatic?
Or maybe it’s because I’d cut off all of his limbs right from the start, instilling an overwhelming fear of irreversible bodily harm.
Either way, he was a troublesome one.
“I’m about to begin brainwashing using drugs. Is that alright? It may take from at least a month to up to a year.”
“Go ahead.”
“Understood, Your Excellency.”
In the end, I had to resort to a method that would devour an insane amount of time and money.
Since brainwashing isn’t usually thorough right away, it would take quite a long time to strip away that mental armor.
But I trust the Empire’s veteran interrogators.
It might take time, but they will definitely extract all the information hidden in his head.
“By the way, do you really have to go to school?”
“Of course. What if I don’t have a graduation certificate? How embarrassing.”
In the meantime, the vacation was almost over, and the start of the second semester was approaching.
I did consider dropping out, but I decided to stay.
The support from Alexia, Ludwig, and Sergey was significant in helping me reach this point.
If I graduated from the Imperial University, there was a possibility that the three could turn into enemies.
While it couldn’t compare to national power, dealing with all three as enemies would be a huge headache.
So even if I didn’t maintain a cooperative relationship with them, it was beneficial to keep smooth relations by continuing my schooling.
The level of the lectures was so high that there were plenty of things to learn and apply in combat.
Right now, I was in a state where I wasn’t using magic skillfully but was instead overflowing it with overpowered abilities and stats; my fuel efficiency was shattered.
If I could deepen my understanding of magic here and improve my fuel efficiency, I could become much stronger.
“Have you heard anything from Schluzenburg?”
“Um…”
And Trie still hadn’t returned by the start of the second semester.
If an unexcused absence continued for two weeks, the school would automatically handle it as a leave of absence, and it seemed like Trie planned to take the entire second semester off.
Where in the world could she be training…?
Of course, I welcomed her return with improved skills, but I was starting to feel a bit empty.
Due to my habit of sparring with Trie, I was waking up early even now.
I never realized I would miss the feeling of getting hit by that relentless rapid strike.
“I should go now.”
“Can’t you be a bit late? At your level, they’d probably give you an A even if you skipped class every day.”
“Surely the Imperial University wouldn’t be like that. I’ll go.”
The strict Imperial University would tremble at a newly created position?
No way.
How many big shots has the Imperial University produced so far?
I shared a light kiss with Emilia and left the mansion.
“You’ve come out!”
“Looks like you’re heading to school!”
“What the heck is this?”
As soon as I opened the front door, I was dazed by the crowd gathered beyond the iron bars.
Reporters and students had gathered, all focused on me.
I froze for a moment in surprise and couldn’t take a single step.
“Currently, His Excellency Schlus Hainkel, Regent, is heading to school. You might have forgotten, but His Excellency is a first-year student at the Imperial University. Excuse me! Would it be possible to take pictures with artifacts—”
“Can we do an interview?”
The area in front of my house was in complete chaos.
Sighing heavily, I opened the front gate and the crowd parted, creating a path for me.
However, the reporters nagging me from the side remained.
“You’ve already achieved many great accomplishments far beyond an Imperial University degree. May I ask why you still attend the university?”
“Is there a power among the regent’s privileges to manipulate grades…?”
It seemed they thought being a national leader attending school would be a juicy topic.
Sure, it was fascinating, but…
I had no intention of showing kindness to the reporters and worrying about my image.
It might sound a bit rude, but my popularity among the public was already skyrocketing.
After all, I had saved the nation several times; it would be stranger if I wasn’t popular.
So, a little rudeness in brushing off the reporters wouldn’t ruin my image.
“I have no intention of doing an interview. Please remove all outsiders as they are hindering the students’ entrance. Wait, who even let the reporters in?”
“The head professor…”
Ludwig, huh.
I take back my statement that Ludwig was subtly protecting me.
These days, it felt like he was only thinking of ways to get me in trouble.
‘What was my first class again?’
It was a liberal arts class with an awkward name.
I had forgotten who the professor was.
Anyway, as I made my way to the lecture room, it seemed like everywhere I went was bustling with people.
I was sure they had expelled all the outsiders.
Many students were also trying to talk to me along the way.
Unlike the observant reporters, these kids weren’t parting the way, which made it take a while for me to push through.
In the end, I was one minute late.
“There might be some familiar faces among the first-year students. Hehe, I’m Relic, the professor teaching ‘Verification of Magic in Literature’…”
As soon as I burst through the door, the atmosphere inside froze.
Both the students and the professor turned to look at me.
So the professor was Relic.
Well, then at least I could safely doze off in his Monday 9 AM class.
“Y-Your Excellency—”
“Please call me casually, professor. In this place, I’m just a mere student.”
“Yes. Ah, I mean um… I’ll do that.”
Relic seemed stuttering like a broken record.
It must have been tough for him to get used to speaking formally after meeting me personally.
Having been caught as a weakness for being part of the Asylum…
“Looks like you entered at 59 seconds? I think it’s right to consider anything up to 9:00:59 as being on time. What does everyone think?”
“…”
“Silence implies consent, right? Hahaha. Since everyone thinks so, I’ll mark His Excellency Schlus Hainkel as present.”
“Just mark me as late.”
“T-That’s not possible!”
“Do as I say, professor.”
“Ah, alright… alright…”
“What I just said was not a command but a request to follow principles.”
“Umm! Of course! Absolutely!”
I scoffed at Emilia’s statement…
I would indeed receive various perks in school life beyond my wildest imagination.
*
“Hahaha! Professor Relic is really losing it, huh? Ahh… my stomach hurts.”
“Isn’t that a bit too much laughter?”
On a leisurely afternoon, I had invited Aintz, Iris, and Erica to the Chairwoman’s residence for a tea time.
Though it was labeled as tea time, among our casual talks, discussions about 2nd and 3rd class secrets often veered into operational meetings.
Erica laughed heartily for a while, clutching her belly, until she wiped away her tears.
“Oh, it’s so funny. I wish I had that class too.”
“It’s still the add/drop period! Quickly sign up!”
“The waiting list has hundreds of people, so it’s tough.”
“Aww… what a waste.”
“Is Professor Relic really okay? Do you think he might get expelled from the Asylum…?”
“Don’t worry, Iris. For the Asylum, my friendship gives Relic his value. I’m subtly leaking my information through him.”
Thus, information that would cause upheaval if it got out was exchanged casually.
These first-year students at the Imperial University essentially held intelligence on par with major ministers.
They were my close aides carrying out my plans, so a degree of information sharing was only natural.
However, I always hit limits when explaining larger strategies.
There were still secrets I hadn’t explained to these guys.
And today, I planned to unveil a few of those secrets.
“So, what’s the reason for gathering like this?”
“Must there be a reason for gathering? I plan to have this time to meet every day from now on.”
“Hmm. The great Schlus Hainkel called us just to drink tea leisurely?”
“…”
Iris gave me a knowing look, as if she understood everything.
Damn future sight…
I was thinking of dragging this out a bit longer, but I should probably speak up soon.
Just in time, Emilia came in too.
“The snacks are out.”
“I have an announcement to make. Emilia, can you stand here for a moment?”
In the blink of an eye, Erica stuffed her mouth full of snacks and stared at me, puffing up her cheeks.
Aintz and Iris focused their attention on me as well.
I felt a bit nervous.
“I’m engaged to Emilia Siegfried, who is here.”
“Kuack…!”
“Uh, uh?”
“Congratulations!”
Reactions were varied.
Erica choked on her snacks and spat them out, Aintz looked stunned, while Iris clapped her hands, seemingly already aware of it.
Erica and Aintz looked confused but still clapped along, staring at me as if expecting further explanation.
“Also, Emilia is a spy from the Trud Kingdom’s Intelligence Agency.”
“Gulp!”
“Uh-huh?”
“Y-Yes…?”
Iris’s face turned abruptly to one of shock.
It seemed she hadn’t seen this coming.
I couldn’t help but feel a rush of joy.
