/
Arriving at Reise
I teleported Jill and the others from the Revise Family as well as the now safeguarded children to Straheim, handed out a low rank grimoire to everyone, and instructed Judo and Aquido to show them the ropes.
Each and every last one of them were being targeted by Laguna, so they’d need to learn how to defend themselves.
And as expected, every Revise Family member raised their objections since the Laguna branch had already retreated from Lunette, but after Satella gave them a good thrashing during training, their objections died down.
We departed the next morning, and after half a day of the carriage rocking back and forth while we traveled, we arrived at our destination: the fourth ward.
“So this is the capital’s fourth ward—Reise!” Satella exclaimed and jumped out of the carriage.
The capital’s fourth ward, Reise, was a ward built on top of a hill.
A building as elegant as a royal palace towered above the hill, and wide stone paths branched out every which way.
Historic buildings built out of marble stood alongside the roads, which had fantastical stone bridges at every set distance.
“That’s right. This is Reise, the city of students,” Aria boasted.
In the past, her mother had apparently taken her to this city on multiple occasions, so I think she has a lot of fond memories here.
“Let’s grab something to eat once we check in to the inn.”
“Food, food, food~~. It’s food~~~♪”
Drahachi twirled around and hummed her incomprehensible song in the carriage with a face full of happiness.
“So in the end, Miss Aria and Satella will be taking the exam as well?” asked Sylphy as she poured the Sagami Co. Alcohol into a cup.
“Yeah, it seems that’s how it ended up.”
According to the document that Baron Hakurou had handed me, Aria’s entrance into the institution was the one and only request of her father, the board chairman, so it proceeded forward with the upmost priority.
Or rather, you could tell with just a glance at the document that her father had passed the point of a doting parent into the realm of a straight up weirdo. It had weaved in various reasons for her entrance such the fact that it would provide a good education, a safe place to stay, and more, but you could clearly tell that he wanted to keep his beloved daughter by his side.
Above all, it listing the various ways he would kill me if I so much as “laid a hand on her” sent chills down even my spine.
“But can a commoner like me really take the test?” Satella asked, somewhat puzzled.
“As long as you pay the 500 000G entrance fee, they won’t care about your status. It’ll be important to make the most out of this,” I explained.
“That’s true, but……” she replied with a clear lack of enthusiasm. As a penny pincher, Satella could only see her entrance into the Magic Knight Academy as a waste of money.
“W-wait a minute. I don’t have 500 000G!” Aria fretted, “You understand, right Satella? It’s 500 000G, we’re talking 500 000G here!!”
“I……”
Her words caught in her throat. Satella served as both my secretary and my maid, so I paid her a salary every month.
Now, there was of course some educational issues here, so I restricted the amount of her paycheck that she could use and saved the rest, only allowing her to dip into that fund with my approval.
Satella’s savings had already amounted to a truckload of money, and 500 000G was honestly a drop in the bucket.
However, Satella was the ultimate penny pincher who even saved what little amount of money I had allowed her to spend. In fact, she had even lambasted our estimated budgets on multiple occasions. At this point, she didn’t need my approval, and I could even go as far as to say she’s just doing this to be fair to the other kids her age.
In any case, Satella had most likely didn’t find it worthwhile to pay the 500 000G entrance fee.
“You don’t need to worry about your entrance fee, Aria,” I assured her.
The only people who really needed to pay the 500 000G fee were commoners. As Aria had come from a high-ranking noble family, she would be categorized as someone from the upper class at the very least and wouldn’t need to pay a thing.
As finding talented people was extremely difficult, no amount of money was too much. If a chance to reform the empire appeared, I’d take all responsibility and purge away this useless and greedy system that only someone truly incompetent could think up.
“Why!?” Aria demanded.
“Because your father’s a noble.”
“……”
Having heard this for the first time, Aria stared at me with her mouth agape.
“Grey-sama……”
Satella covered her face in embarrassment as she admonished me.
“She’d find out sooner or later,” I said. “It’s better than her finding out directly from her father.”
“You know my father!?” she frantically said after grabbing my collar.
“I haven’t met him in person, but he should contact us if we pass.”
Although the letter suggested that they’d oil their hands a little if we failed.
“Ugh……”
Aria groaned and began nervously fiddling with her bangs.
“Let’s begin our preparation for the test after we eat. How does that sound, Aria-chan?” Satella said and tapped her shoulder, giving her a light smile.
“O-okay.”
I was probably fine leaving Aria’s mental state to Satella. In fact, I didn’t have any special skills for soothing matters of this sort. It felt a little pathetic, but it wasn’t bad to rely on someone else every once in a while.
“Now then, let’s grab a room. Do you have any suggestions, Aria?” I asked.
“Ah, uhm. Let’s see—”
Having finally returned back to life, Aria began reminiscing her past.
Aria led us to an inn by the bank of the southernmost river in the capital’s fourth ward, Reise.
After exiting the carriage, she bounded into the 3-story brick building.
The rundown building had been built years ago and should have been deteriorating, but as it was maintained often, the building had a comfortable feel to it.
“Ms. Landlady!” aria exclaimed as she flew into the arms of a well-statured elderly woman who was wearing an apron and had a napkin on her head.
The landlady stared at Aria in surprise for a while but quickly pulled her into an embrace.
“Aria, you’ve grown so much.”