episode_0015

After that, my funeral was held unofficially and I was released from the palace. Since it was a confidential matter, there was no fancy carriage or ceremony. After making several detours to check if anyone was following me, I was finally able to take a breather when I got into the fancy carriage used by nobles.

“Miss. Are you really going?”

Yugram had changed his title to Miss since he left the palace. This is natural. There is no need to openly advertise that I am a princess. It is also a title commonly used by servants, whether they are commoners or nobles.

In Yugram’s tone, there is a clear intention to ask, ‘Why did you make that choice?’, but Yugram cannot stop me. I am free and invincible.

“I said it before I got on the carriage, but there’s no way I’ll change my mind.”

There are several academies on this continent. If we divide it broadly, it would naturally be divided into four continents, and there would be one in each kingdom that is under the control of the continent, and even within those kingdoms, there would be places for nobles only, places for wealthy commoners, etc. However, if you think about it a little, you will realize that an academy is basically a huge site with a lot of money going into it, such as a training facility for faculty and students, a dining area, a dormitory, a place for employees, and a warehouse for storing teaching materials.

That’s why it’s common to thoroughly investigate the backgrounds of students who enroll with high entrance fees and tuition to eliminate risk and ensure that they are properly compensated in case the student commits something.

However, in that sense, it is difficult for me to enter the Academy. I am actually a direct descendant of the Karsten royal family, but I am officially dead. It is not like I can keep it a secret and say, “Can I enter?” and it is not like I can ask a famous noble family, “Can I borrow your surname for this or that reason?”

Of course, there are academies for the common people that don’t care much as long as you give them money, but wouldn’t an academy filled with only such common people be boring?

Ignoring Yugram, who seemed to want to say many things, I looked at the passing scenery while enjoying the excellent ride in the luxury carriage, and arrived at my destination.

Even at first glance, you can feel the traces of time, but the high walls that have been neatly maintained and maintained do not give off an old feeling at all, and the voices of students making a lot of noise here and there. The buildings that were built with proper consideration for the traffic flow and management give off a neat and dignified charm. In this way, it is no different from an ordinary academy for upper-class nobles.

However, there is a large statue standing in the middle of the road behind the main gate made of thick iron bars. It is a somewhat creepy statue with a blindfold covering both eyes, a mouth sewn shut with string, and nails driven into its ears. This statue of a fool, which expresses the inability to see, hear, and speak, is the symbolic building of this academy.

As I approached the small building on the left side of the main gate, a wrinkled old lady wearing triangular glasses looked at me with sharp eyes. Her gaze seemed to be openly evaluating me, but I didn’t know what it was. Isn’t it a bit strange not to find it suspicious when a woman with a mask on one side of her face is walking around with an incredibly handsome man? The old lady, who seemed to be the receptionist, stared at me for a long time before blurting out,

“What family do you come from?”

“Do I need to say anything?”

When I answered with a smile, the grandmother who had been glaring at me snickered and took out several documents from the desk and handed them to me.

“It seems like you know where to go. Just fill in the marked parts correctly.. Is that handsome guy getting admitted too?”

“No. This is my doctor. What is the procedure in this case?”

“Hmm.. You can do the same thing as the servants.. but in the case of the dorms, the young lady and the doctor are separate?”

“We will also be sharing the accommodations, and I would like to purchase two sets of student supplies.”

As I started talking, I quickly started writing down the items that were checked on the documents that kept piling up in front of me. The items that I prepared included various clothing, books, and writing utensils. Of course, the price was more expensive than buying them one by one. If I were a commoner, I would suffer a considerable loss if I bought them here without preparing in advance. It was convenient for me, who was losing money.

“Young lady, your hands are really fast. Are you aspiring to be a civil servant? If you’re aspiring to be a knight, you’ll have to explain to those idiots all day long, so it’s really annoying.”

“Yes, is that so?”

The academy naturally has separate, specialized departments. The most common are knights and civil servants, but since the academy is more for those who want to learn something for employment rather than for those who want to gain academic knowledge, they end up receiving knight training to become soldiers or civil servants who do accounting, management, and paperwork.

This isn’t necessarily limited to commoners, but for mid-level nobles, it feels like they come to learn skills in order to make a living. But for higher-level nobles or royalty, networking becomes more of a priority.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t departments that pursue only academics. No matter where you look, there are subjects that make you wonder, “Can you make a living with this?” History, theology, advanced mathematics, philosophy… These are things that you can nod your head to involuntarily, even if you vaguely remember common sense from your past life. Of course, if you have outstanding qualities and abilities, it’s not a problem to protect yourself, but I think that the vast majority of problem students who come to this academy are absolutely not in that case.

While filling out the form with information, Yugram looked at the receipt his grandmother gave him and finished paying. Do you have any special illnesses or physical discomforts? Yes. If you think there are classes that are impossible or cannot proceed normally due to the items, please check or write them down. Um… I asked Yugram too, and he said that if you don’t overdo it, there shouldn’t be any problem taking the classes. But since it’s annoying, I’ll just write that the practical classes in the engineering department might be difficult.

According to my research, the departments are divided, but if you want, it is not impossible to take multiple departments at the same time. In fact, it is more common to take more classes. This is because the tuition is the same whether you take one or two. Of course, I heard that as the school year progresses, many people give up on one. I also plan to take all the classes I can.

But if I think about it, going to class is my freedom, so what’s the point of a question like that?

If you don’t think you can do it, why don’t you just turn around and leave?

A natural question arose, but I decided to ignore it for now. Well, I guess it exists because there are moderate thoughts.

As a proud noble, I am willing to punish any lowly commoner who dares to act insolently toward me. No. I wonder if they really made this to filter out people who think like this, or if it’s just a trap for people who check without thinking… It’s annoying.

After filling out dozens of documents, I looked through them carefully to see if there was anything strange, and then handed them over to my grandmother. But before I could even submit these documents, I had already paid the tuition, so wouldn’t the contents of these items contribute nothing to the admissions process? I couldn’t help but be a little, no, very suspicious of the purpose of the documents I had just written.

“There is an Academy Guide Map on the right side of this management office, so please check it carefully. You will be contacted after waiting for a few days at your accommodation, so please wait. Please read this when you have time.”

After receiving the keys to the dormitory and bowing, I looked at the map and could feel that the academy grounds were definitely large. The first thing I noticed was the classroom buildings, the training grounds for the knights’ department, the dormitories for each grade and teachers, the cafeteria, and another building that looked like a shopping street slightly separated from the main buildings. Of course, it would be more absurd to say that the place where tens or hundreds of people live and receive education is small.

“Ah.. and one last thing.”

When I turned my head to look at my grandmother, who was stretching her body and speaking,

“Welcome to the Fool’s Coffin, you idiot.”

“This is also part of the job description,” said the grandmother, giggling and waving her hand as if to tell her to go.

Yes. That’s the biggest reason why Yugram’s mood is still uncomfortable even after I decided to enroll and declared my intention to enroll.

It is difficult to know the truth now, but according to old sayings, it is known as an academy established by an apostle of God, and a strong taboo was placed on all branches of the academy, so revealing one’s identity was forbidden.

Whatever the purpose of its establishment, which future generations cannot know, whatever the intentions of its founding ancestors, it has now become a place where nobles would be ashamed to introduce themselves as their own children, a place where they would throw in and abandon the troublemakers, or so to speak, the idiots, and a place where commoners would try to make connections with such troublemakers and get ahead in life.