/
Count Millennium continued to stare at Raymond.
He looked at his face as if he was trying to deduced Raymond’s thoughts.
And soon after, he frowned when he had realized that Raymond was really serious.
“You want to go to the academy…”
He didn’t seemed to be pleased that Raymond wanted to go to the academy.
Anyway, Raymond already expected this kind of response from him.
“The Royal Academy is a place where commoners and aristocrats are equal.”
Royal Academy.
Another name was ‘Talent Training Institution.’
It was an institution supported by the royal family in order to gather and raise talented commoners.
The royal family sponsored all the accommodation and meals. It didn’t take much money to attend the academy.
The only thing that has some cost was the travel between the academy and the student’s home, that was if they didn’t stay in their dorm.
Although it mainly accepted commoners, it also allowed Nobles’ children to attend.
Mostly, only Nobles with names but without power.
Nobles with poor land, etc.
The children of aristocrats who could not afford to hire private teachers or do not have a connection to be entrusted to other families have no choice but to attend the academy.
However, unlike commoners who did not need any cost, the nobles had to pay a registration fee.
The higher the position of their family, the higher the amount.
However, so far, there had been no record of children from higher nobles attending the academy.
They all thought that they don’t need to.
Each powerful family has its own educational system. Coming from a family with a long history of lineage, the children from the branches and the main family were enough to create their own school.
Their education system was higher than the Academy’s anyway.
Each family has at least either a swordmaster or Master Wizard teaching their children. There was no way that the academy’s education system could stand against the educational method by experts from each field, just by hiring decent teachers.
Above all, nobles have high self-esteem.
There were many nobles who thought that it was impossible to receive education in the same space as commoners. They were inferior to them!
Therefore, even if other Noble did not have a separate education system, they will still entrust their children to other prestigious families, instead of going to the academy.
The original Raymond wasn’t afraid of the huge sum he would need to pay to attend the academy, his pride was just high.
And that was the same with Count Millennium.
He knew Raymond wasn’t talented in magic.
And at this banquet, he learned that he had a talent for swordsmanship.
The talent that the main character of the Novel covets, and also what surprised Count Warlug.
“Is it because of swordsmanship that you’re going to the academy?” He said as he stood up.
“Yes.”
Raymond answered without any hesitation.
This was a good justification for him to go to the academy.
Swordsmanship.
The Millennium family was a Wizardry Family. Education on swordsmanship was bound to be somewhat poor.
But there was one thing that he forgot.
“You can learn better swordsmanship without having to go to the academy.”
That is, the Millennium Family’s power and wealth were enormous.
Even if he didn’t go to the academy, he could still learn better swordsmanship.
However, he can’t possibly back out. He must go there, otherwise, the kingdom would be doomed.
“I know.”
“You know… Still, you want to go to the academy?”
“Yes.”
Count Millennium frowned and became uncomfortable.
“What if I told you not to go?”
Raymond just shrugged at his words.
That alone was enough as an answer.
Count Millennium remained silent for a while.
Looking at him, Raymond thought of other reasons to go to the academy.
He needed to be able to refute his words at any time.
He organized his thoughts until Count Millennium spoke again.
‘First of all, to learn swordsmanship…’
‘Great swordsmanship was good, but I want to experience more swordsmanship…’
‘I want to experience the life of a commoner, not the son of a count…’
If these didn’t work out, he could sneaked out, but that was the last resort.
While he was thinking about what to say or what to answer.
What Count Millennium said was beyond his expectations.
“The day you said you would be a rational jerk…”
He rattled a teacup and narrated what happened in the past.
“I couldn’t believe it.”
Then his brown eyes looked at him.
At first glance, Raymond’s face was expressionless, but Count Millennium still saw his eyes wavering for a moment.
“I couldn’t believe it. Over the past 12 years…you’ve told me countless times that you’d change.”
Raymond quietly listened to him.
It was unexpected for him to say this. However, it was true that Raymond before only said empty words.
“Every time you break your promise, you would also betray my expectations.”
‘This was about the previous Raymond, not me.’
The days where he started as an incompetent jerk began at the age of six.
The influence from that time remained until now.
Raymond’s influence remained so thick that even the way he looked so far was insufficient that it did not want to disappear.
Therefore, he silently listened to the count.
He didn’t do it, but he was Raymond anyway.
“That’s why I didn’t take much of what you said this time. I wondered if you would make more mess, so I thought you would still be the same as always.”
In the Novel, Count Millennium was not a very talkative person.
He was a person who was always serious and didn’t said unnecessary things.
It felt somewhat strange for Raymond to see his father talking this much.
“You are my son.”
No matter how Raymond lived, he was still a son to him.
Seeing that Raymond was persuading him so much about going to the academy…
“I don’t expect much from you, but I am looking forward to what you will do.”
He said contradictory things.
“Since that day, you’ve done something out of my expectations.”
His son knocked down the wizards, beat Kaham with swordsmanship, and hunted an Orc warrior.
“Especially that sword technique I saw. I decided to have my hopes up again because of your swordsmanship.”
“That means I can go to the academy.”
“However, this is the last time. If you disappoint me this time, my hopes for you to change will be crushed.”
Raymond nodded quietly.
***
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***
When Raymond was getting ready to go to the academy.
Count Warlug visited Count Millennium immediately.
This was because Count Millennium informed him of the news that Raymond would be attending the Royal Academy.
The content was really too shocking to him.
“Are you really going to send him to the academy?”
Sending Raymond also meant sending the whole Millennium to the Academy.
Count Warlug couldn’t understand why.
Count Millennium just smiled at him.
“You don’t understand why I allowed him.”
“You’re talking about the obvious thing.”
Yeah, he really couldn’t understand it.
“It means that I’m a father too”.
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
Count Millennium laughed at Count Warlug.
“12 years. It’s been 12 years.”
In these 12 years, he had hoped that Raymond, would come to his senses.
Even when he came to ask for forgiveness after doing something wrong.
Even when he admitted his fault and said he would never do it again.
Because Raymond was his son.
He believed and endured it because he was his son.
In these few years he had been cleaning the mess his son did, and every day he begged God to have Raymond change.
When will he come to his senses?
How long did he have to wait?
When he heard a report of his different behavior than usual, he just let it go.
This wasn’t a strange case, but no matter what his son did to change, he was still a jerk.
However, as soon the new reports were delivered to him, and his confident appearance when they ate together. When he beat Kaham with swordsmanship at the banquet hall and defeated the Orc Warrior.
“Can I trust him this time?”
His expectations arose again, for the first time after many years.
Count Millennium thought his son might have come to his senses, acting as what a son from a prominent family would do.
But he wasn’t sure yet.
It’s only been a month now.
It was too short to say that he had changed.
Now he will watch him. And above all, there was another separate reason.
‘It was a firm eye.’
The eyes of Raymond were really determined.
His will to go to the academy somehow.
As a father, he was curious what will his son’s determination would do.
“I don’t know if he’ll do well on his own… I thought you’d send Raymond to me.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
To his knowledge, Count Warlug was the best in terms of swordsmanship teacher.
His daughter Selina proved it.
It’s hard to imagine how strong Raymond would become if he were to use Mana.
Raymond beat the youngest knight even though he just started swinging the sword, also he overwhelmingly trampled Kaham, dubbed as a sword prodigy.
If his talent was helped by Count Warlug, it will surely become the greatest in the whole kingdom.
“There’s a reason why there’s a saying that there’s no parent who wins over their children.”
“….”
Children will grow up someday.
If so, wouldn’t it be better to let them do what they want to do?
“You look happy.”
“Me?”
“Okay.”
Count Millennium picked up the teacup silently and drank cold tea.
“The academy’s quiet days will soon be gone.” Count Warlug muttered quietly watching him.
The sword technique that Raymond showed him and a different side of him.
Those two alone were enough to make the academy become noisy.
Having multiple experiences was very helpful to a swordsman.
Because he will experience how to respond to many variables.
‘Hmm… Let me also send Selina to the academy.’
Looking at Count Millennium, Count Warlug seriously pondered.
***
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***
There are days like that in life.
It’s not like there’s something wrong with his body or the weather was bad, but he felt uncomfortable for no reason.
“Is there anything you feel uncomfortable about?”
Alice, who noticed his condition, asked him with a worried face.
It seemed strange that Raymond was frowning this much.
She looked worried that he might be sick.
“I just feel bad.”
She nodded.
Raymond was not feeling sick anywhere, but he felt quite uncomfortable.
He always felt this a few times back when he was a minor actor.
At that time, something always happened in times like this.
However, he cannot postpone the departure date.
A little delay could ruin his plan.
“It’s nothing special, right? It’s not that I’m feeling uncomfortable.”
It was uncomfortable, but not to the point it would affect him.
It was just moderately unpleasant.
‘And now I’m Raymond Millennium, not the minor actor Lee Sung-hyuk.’
So there was no reason to postpone what he wanted to do just because he felt that way.
The wagon moved with a rattling sound.