novelraw Chapter 134 : Chapter 134
Chapter 134 : Chapter 134
134
"Graduate school... I've heard rumors about it. Doesn't it refer to a curriculum where professors legally exploit the smart students among those graduating?"
The Lord glared at me with a sour expression.
"I heard it's an atrocious system where professors not only exploit students under the pretext of research practice but also offload their personal work onto them."
"You know well."
"And you want to push me into such a system? Telling me, the Lord of this Akarind territory, to act as a mere handyman doing chores for a third-rate, no... is it first-rate now? Anyway, for an Academy instructor like that."
He wasn't wrong.
That was why I knew well that this proposal would properly scrape Lord Murray's pride.
However.
"Is there another way?"
"What?"
"I am speaking hypothetically. If I, for instance, pick one of the people outside the Lord's Castle right now at random, receive a promise of land and support, and then simply leave, can you stop me, Lord?"
"...!"
The Lord's eyes widened.
"I also have a strong backer named Abrahal. And I have students who will move with me, and colleagues who will help me with instructor work."
A third-rate countryside Academy in a small kingdom.
Such a place has meaning beyond a simple educational institution.
The Academy is the vigilante corps responsible for the village's security, and the sage and administrator for the rural Lord.
That was why, even after classes, I sat in the village center and handled miscellaneous tasks for them.
The vacancy left by me was filled by mercenaries from the Goldline Merchant Guild.
And filled by the numerous personnel who came to Akarind Academy.
Under the will of Hati's mercenary group captain, Security Captain Rozalin, and her trusted subordinate Hati, they patrolled around the Akarind territory.
Therefore, the current Akarind Academy is not simply an Academy under the Akarind territory.
It was the power constituting the Akarind territory and its economic strength itself.
If such an Academy suddenly disappears?
Then it was clear that the Akarind territory would immediately collapse.
'The construction currently underway will also stop suddenly. All that will remain are merely large buildings. It would be awkward to maintain them or convert them into residential areas.'
In the first place, the Akarind territory was an administrative district created formally to operate the Akarind Academy.
Isn't that why a knight with a temporary title was roughly stuck in there to run it?
Considering all situations, there was no room for a mere Lord to hold out.
"You, have changed."
Lord Murray looked at me with a face that seemed to have aged significantly in just a few minutes.
He looked exhausted in many ways.
Since he was already a lump of inferiority complex, he might have been greatly hurt by this argument just now.
But I couldn't resolve that inferiority complex for him.
What I could resolve was only swordsmanship.
Inferiority complex was a task he had to cut down himself.
"Because if I don't change, I won't be able to protect."
Right after, the conversation with the Lord progressed.
The regulation Gwen mentioned was not about Akarind Academy but about Akarind territory.
"Akarind Academy cannot exceed one-third of the administrative district, Akarind territory."
"So we cannot expand the area."
"Since it is based on actual area, you cannot increase the height infinitely or dig underground either."
Conversing with Lord Murray, I remembered learning about construction-related laws in public administration classes when I was young.
Not only the Belmein Kingdom but most kingdoms limit the area of buildings within a territory.
Nominally, it was a system to prevent land monopoly by some merchants and protect the populace, but the reality is a bit different.
The most honorable person in a territory must always be the Lord.
That was the foundation of the feudal system, and if this started to crumble, royal authority could be threatened by a domino effect.
Therefore, nobles created their own luxurious culture of food, clothing, and shelter to protect their power.
"So I intended to expand the Akarind territory a bit more at this opportunity."
"Is that possible?"
"It's impossible with just my castle's troops. But if you help, it's not difficult."
"How should we help?"
"During the final exam period, send dispatches to a couple of monster ecosystems nearby under the pretext of field practice. I will send the castle's administrative personnel as observers there."
"So if we sweep away monsters under the pretext of an exam, you will report it as part of the territory's monster cleanup operation."
"Right. As soon as the administrative documents are created, construction workers will go in. By the time the deed to the territory comes down from the Royal Castle, the outer walls of Akarind territory will already be going up there."
"To what extent do you plan to expand the scale?"
"To the east, up to Akarind Canyon. To the west, I intend to expand to the forest zone. There are orc hordes to the north, and Lizardmen and swamp slimes to the south. If you clean those places up, I will expand the territory up to there."
It was a larger expansion than I expected.
It was an area that would take three or four days or more by carriage in one direction.
He intends to incorporate all the abandoned intermediate zones where monsters appear into the territory...
"Nearby Lords won't like that very much."
"You put it mildly. Of course, they will hate it terribly. It doesn't matter. The nearby Lords aren't fools who would invade without knowing your rumors."
"Is it okay to be so reckless?"
"Originally, I had a little guilt about this method. But since you decided to be reckless, I decided not to have any particular guilt."
This person, blaming others.
Even if he dies and rots soon, a Lord is a Lord, is that it?
"Then what happens to Akarind Academy? If the territory expands, will it be relocated to a larger place?"
"You sound reluctant."
"Because Akarind Academy is an academy built around the school tree, the Akarind Tree, just like its name. Being in a different space probably won't suit it well."
"I agree. So I plan to leave the location of Akarind Academy as is. Instead, I will expand this place into an Academy City."
"If it's an Academy City, do you mean you will incorporate the Lord's Castle into the Academy?"
As expected, it was content I had heard of as a concept in class.
An Academy City turns the entire territory within the inner walls into a single academy, designing the entire city solely for the purpose of education.
As the territory and the Academy become one, the personnel of the territory and the Academy are also integrated.
It meant absorbing all personnel currently working at the Academy into the Lord's Castle.
"It's not a bad proposal."
At first glance, this looks like the Lord stealing all the Academy's personnel, but it was actually a policy close to a win-win.
Academy personnel can execute Academy events freely regardless of administrative procedures any longer.
Above all, the Academy did not need to pay taxes on profits.
If the Academy's finances were insufficient, it was okay to use the Lord's Castle's finances in case of emergency.
There was also the issue of status.
Most of those doing administrative work at the Academy were commoners.
Even among instructors, there were many with ambiguous statuses.
However, if it becomes an Academy City, their statuses all rise to about quasi-noble.
Although nominal, being employed at the Academy is no different from working at the Lord's Castle, and getting promoted at the Academy was the same as rising in position within the Lord's Castle.
"What is the reason you are doing this much?"
These were policies so good for us that I had to ask.
"Because if all this succeeds, I think I can become a more successful person than those knights of the Belmein Royal Castle."
"Even so, you will end your life shortly as a knight with a temporary title. Isn't it over if the Royal Castle sends down another Lord?"
"I have insurance for that too. If that happens, I intend to immediately request resignation from the King and then sit in an advisory position at the Academy. Or wouldn't it work if I really act as a graduate student under you?"
"Hah, really."
Where did the person trembling at being made a graduate student just a moment ago go?
This is why you shouldn't trust politicians.
After handling some more documents like that, I only left the reception room when the sun was setting.
In front of the door, the butler, who had been there since who knows when, was waiting for me.
"You must be hungry. Here is a meal."
He held out a basket.
Inside were soup steaming with warmth and sandwiches.
Feeling warmth still meant they kept replacing the soup to match the timing of my exit.
"You are attentive."
"What couldn't I do for the benefactor who changed the Lord."
Benefactor.
It was an embarrassing word.
"I haven't done anything yet."
Just that there is work to be done in the future.
And that, too, is not for me to do, but the Lord's own share.
A teacher is a person born earlier.
And a person who walks ahead and leaves footprints.
But a teacher cannot walk for the student.
In the end, the one who has to move their steps to match the footprints was the student.
"Does the same meal go in for the Lord too?"
"For the past few weeks, he has always resolved meals roughly here."
"I see."
I picked up a sandwich from the basket and took a bite.
It was excellent taste.
* * *
Coming out of the castle, people were gathered buzzing.
It seemed about five times more people had gathered than when I entered the castle earlier.
As soon as they saw me, they tried to rush to my side in a flurry.
Especially the nobles who tried to stop me earlier showed an enthusiastic reaction.
Do I have to dodge through trajectories this time too?
With that number of people, I might have to push them away a little rather than dodge.
It was when I was thinking that.
"Everyone stop moving!"
With a THUD sound, a man who appeared among them slammed a huge mace onto the ground.
The well-maintained ground cracked open with a SPLIT sound as if an earthquake had occurred.
A faint aura lingered on the mace that smashed the floor.
Everyone's movement stopped abruptly, and no one dared to think of moving.
"Hati!"
Hati, who had left to deal with the demon, had returned.
I heard it takes about three days to a week to go there.
Was I unconscious for that long?
By the way, what about Fantasy?
Hati looked back at me, grinned, and pointed to the jewel stuck under his mace.
A black radiance rotating inward as if to absorb the world.
It was Fantasy.
"You succeeded."
"Hurry back. The Academy is in chaos right now."
"I was actually on my way running away from it..."
"That's not what I mean. Do you know why I came so fast? The Holy Kingdom intervened."
If it's the Holy Kingdom.
"The Saintess personally led people and came to the Academy. She is looking for Teacher Cassian."
It seemed Saintess Ganemia had visited the Akarind territory again.
With her holy power, Hati's quick return was understandable.
People who were preparing for battle with tense expressions at Hati's show of force began to hesitate.
The name of Saintess carried that much weight.
"Did she come to restore Yuria?"
Just as I was thinking that.
Hati frowned strangely.
"It's not necessarily such good news. An Inquisitor came with her. It would be better for you to go see for yourself than listen to an explanation."