It seems like it’s rained recently, so the humidity around here is fairly high. The torches probably won’t set off a wildfire.
Despite my opponents being bandits, I feel like I just went on a killing spree, probably because we got out of there so quickly.
“Nothing to worry about now, Lain.”
“Really, Lady Douve?”
“Mmhm. Your papa is back, isn’t he?”
With Lain covering her ears and closing her eyes nervously, Lady Douve very gently informs her that the problem has been solved.
It looks like we’ve managed to avoid traumatizing Lain. That’s a good thing, I think.
“What about the bad men?”
“Blois took down most of them, and your papa took down the rest.”
“Oh, that’s good! Miss Blois is so awesome! And I’m glad Papa isn’t hurt!”
Lain’s sheer cuteness and innocence was a balm for my feelings. Blois and I hadn’t even gotten our clothes dirty, much less getting hurt, but the whole incident was still rather exhausting.
“That’s right, both your papa and Blois are strong. We made short work of those bandits.”
I hide my fatigue and smile over at my five-year-old daughter instead.
The interior of the carriage was pretty dark, with just a small lantern for lamplight. Dark enough, anyway, that Lain didn’t notice how tired I looked.
Happily for us, the unpaved roads meant that the carriage made a fair racket, rattling and creaking, and those noises were enough to drown out any screams that might have come from behind us.
“So, this is the Royal Arcana Academy.”
It’s the most prestigious school in the kingdom, providing education in every subject under the sun, including magic. Lady Douve will be spending the next few years here.
The Arcana Kingdom seems to be rather large, with individual nobles governing their territories as feudal lords. Furthermore, there are also lands that the Crown governs directly. As the name “Royal Arcana Academy” implies, this academy is located in the Crown Lands. Apparently, the Four Great Houses, including House Sepaeda, have the most authority after the Crown itself, and their territories are appropriately large as a result.
“Mm...not as impressive as I thought it would be.”
The first thing she says as she arrives at the school she wants to attend, of course. I suppose that’s to be expected of a member of one of the Four Great Houses.
The academy is located some distance away from the capital, and almost looks like it’s been deliberately isolated, with no cities or farming communities around it. The land around the academy was primarily open grassland, with a handful of estates scattered around for the noble children attending the academy.
As the highest institution of learning in a country with magic, the buildings themselves have a thick, unnatural aura around them, which I imagine comes from having some sort of magical element built in. The buildings themselves don’t appear to be particularly special, at least visually. Certainly not enough to differentiate them from, say, a university in Japan. There’s a large number of individual buildings, and they’re each rather large.
“What do you think, Sansui?”
“Certainly seems like they’re rather well fortified with magic.”
“And you, Lain?”
“I think Lady Douve’s house is more impressive!”
“Oh, really? A bit anticlimactic, then, wouldn’t you say?”
The sheer number of buildings aside, the rituals built into them don’t seem any different from those placed on the House Sepaeda estate.
Well, that’s to be expected. Even if there are defensive rituals placed on the buildings in this academy, I can’t imagine they’d be that much better than the protections placed on the castles and estates of the Four Great Houses.
That’s the problem with being near the top. No matter where you go out in the country, there aren’t many things that are more impressive than the things you can get at home. That reasoning might be why I drew her attention and wound up being hired by her.
I also remember just how painful those first few years of constant practice were, the unvarying routine that dragged on day after day. I completely understand how the lack of variation can be stifling. Not that it makes me any more willing to get dragged into it when she breaks her routine.
“Oh dear, is my academy a bit too dull for a princess of one of the Four Great Houses?” an elegantly dressed elderly woman calls over, in response to Lady Douve’s words.
Her hair, while completely white, is well cared for and has plenty of volume. Despite her age, there’s a sharpness to her gaze that dispels any notion that time has robbed her of anything important. She’s carrying a walking stick, but doesn’t appear to need it, standing firmly, with a back as straight as a much younger person’s would be.
“Ah, you must be the Academy Regent, reputed to be the Great Sage.”
“Nothing so impressive, I’m afraid. Just the accumulation of years, instead.”
She was an old woman who had an elegant laugh. A lady of rank and taste, with a title of her own. Blois, Lain, and I stand back.
Lady Douve has no particular grudge against people like her, either, putting on her best behavior, though I feel like it might already be too late, since she started out by voicing her disappointment in the school.
“I am Douve, daughter of the House Sepaeda, and it’s my privilege to attend this institution. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I look forward to learning all that you can provide, ma’am.”
“Now, now, I doubt there is much we can teach you at our academy that you couldn’t learn at home.”
Despite the mild rebuke in her words, her tone is playful. Blois and Lain both seem at a bit of a loss, but I don’t sense any anger from the two women talking. They’re not arguing, exactly, so much as engaging in a bit of playful banter. We enter the gates to the academy with the Regent leading the way.
Perhaps it’s to be expected, but the scenes inside the academy didn’t seem particularly different from what you’d find in a regular school back home. There were numerous classrooms inside each building, many filled with teachers instructing students.
“Although, if you’re looking for new forms of stimulation, it’s best to come out to the academy, rather than stay cooped up your own lands.”
There’s something about the way the Regent speaks that reminds me of my Master. My Master is also someone who has this particularly languid way of speaking. No doubt he’s still in those woods, practicing his swings each and every day. I feel a faint pang of nostalgia.
“No doubt someone as privileged as you, with no particular responsibilities, has far more time on their hands than they know what to do with. However, if you can find something that piques your curiosity, well, you’ll generally find you don’t have enough time in the world to pursue it.”
I agree with the observation that an interest or hobby provides you something to really dive into. For all that, though, from an objective standpoint, spending five hundred years doing nothing but practicing sword swings from sunup to sundown probably falls under some definition of insanity.