Small Fry Classmates, Move out of my way!
“Hey, is that man, him? The fourth prince?”
“Apparently so.”
Behind us, I could hear a couple boys’ impolite chatter.
The first one to react was of course, Liz.
“Hey, was it you lot that just referred to my Lord Rudy in quite the impolite manner?”
“”!?!””
The boys……..probably classmates of ours, heard Liz’s low voice and saw her gaze, and quickly stepped back with frozen faces. Well, that was bound to happen.
“You guys, got any business with me?”
Compared to her, as if trying to be a bit more friendly, I questioned them with a clear tone.
To them, it must seem like the most friendly and gentle thing possible right now.
Why am I acting so nice to some rude bunch you ask?
Why of course, it’s because having them put their guard down on first meeting makes it easier to deal with them later.
“P-Prince Rudolf, what do you think of the chaos happening inside the palace right now!”
“Y-yes exactly! It’s because you did something so strange that us attendants are also suffering hardships now!”
See? They instantly got cocky and got carried away, and said something like that in a loud voice.
It would seem, thanks to my little intervention, the succession battle had taken an unexpected turn, and they didn’t quite like that it seemed.
“ohh……..by the way, what families do you two belong to?”
“I’m the second son of Earl Nordahl, Edgar!”
“I-I am the eldest son of Marquis Ullmann, Ronnie!”
I see……..Earl Nordhal household who are famous for producing several Knight commanders over many generations, and Marquis Ullmann household, who run the large grain producing region in the south.
I recall the Ullmann’s being in Oscar’s camp from the start but, Nordahl were originally part of Fredrik’s faction.
If they came here together to complain then, I guess they too switched to Oscar? I imagine so.
But.
“And what do you think you’ll gain from telling me all that? In the first place, which prince to support is each of your family’s own discretion, and I don’t see why I need to deal with your complaints considering both of you are nothing but students at the Academy right now.”
“!! What are you even saying!? We too, are people who will one day bear the great responsibilities of this Baldyk Empire!”
“Indeed! Prince Rudolf, are you making light of us!”
Heee………in the first place, these guys are in an opposing faction to my own, so there complaints make no sense in the first place.
Only the people in the same faction as me have the right to say something like that. At least join Fredrik’s faction before talking all that talk.
“Basically, what you came to complain to me about was that you do not like the fact that I joined hands with brother Fredrik. Am I reading that correctly?”
“”……………………………….””
When I questioned directly, both of them openly averted their eyes.
If you don’t even have the guts to complain properly, can you guys stop wasting my time in that case?
That said, I do know that my alliance with Fredrik did indeed have effect on even these noble kids so I suppose, it seems that all the circulation of info that I tasked Maya with is indeed taking effect.
Probably, their households are in quite the chaos right now, and right now, I imagine the Knight commander Marquis Nordahl, who switched camps to Oscar, is also deeply questioning himself as well.
“If you have nothing to say, then you can get out of my sights now.”
“…………………….excuse us.”
“………tch.”
Edgar gave a curtsey bow, and Ronnie went as far as clicking his tongue before leaving the place.
These two, what were they even trying to do………….
“……….they ruined my precious alone time with Lord Rudy. While we’re at this academy, I’ll make sure they pay for their transgressions.”
Shooting a deadly glare at their backs, Liz was also muttering something to herself it seemed.
For the next three years, just wondering about what kind of future those two were going to face……….well, good luck you guys.
I simply shrugged, and was about to turn back when.
“that’s…………”
In my sights, I caught those two having a chat with Wilhelm.
Could it be, that it was Wilhelm that sent those two to me as well?
………..once I return to the dorms, I’ll need to put Anne on Wilhelm duty it seems.
“Lord Rudy, is something the matter?”
Oh dear, Liz was looking at me with worry in her eyes.
“No, it’s nothing.”
“is that so………..”
I recollected myself, and had a pleasant chat with her for a while.
.
.
“For the next three years, I’m the one in charge of you lot. The name’s Boris Almean. Nice to meet you all.”
The person introducing himself was our homeroom teacher. A dark skinned man, which was a rare sight in the empire.
If I recall, his family, the Earl Almean household had their roots in a faraway southern country. I should confirm with Maya next time.
“Now then, this being the first day, I’d like everyone to introduce themselves one by one. Let’s start from the one in front, window side.”
“Yes! I am……..”
The young noble kids began to introduce themselves one after another.
Their name, their household, their hobbies, and specialities if any. All that mixed with a little bit of self-appeal as well.
But, how should I introduce myself……..I was definitely going stand out like crazy.
Haah………well, I’ll just say my name and that should be more than enough really.
While I was wondering that and looked at the next person introducing themselves.
“I am the eldest daughter of the Border Count Andersen. My name is Sheila.”
A name that I recognized entered my ears.