“I-I’m dyin-ng… I’m oh-so-very dead…”
It was the end of lunch, just before our afternoon instruction. And Albert was slumped over his desk like a corpse, moaning. It was a ghastly sight. Unable even to cross his arms, he was pressing his cheek directly to his desk. It would be a compliment to say he looked like a zombie.
“Ha-ha-ha! What a price to pay for a lone tryst. You got a raw deal, Prince Albert!”
The cause of his exhaustion was, of course, that night. It was payback for infiltrating the girls’ dorm. In addition to our after-school training sessions, we habitually stole our free moments at lunch for a little light exercise, but ever since that fateful night, I’d put Albert on a special regimen that included early-morning training sessions.
Adding more physical training on top of his continuous magic-donning was like adding sprinting to marathon training. Albert’s hard-core regimen had him literally fighting for his life every day.
“W-well, I don’t care… Since I get to spend more time with Miss Mylene now, it’s a small price to pay!”
Thanks to my efforts, Albert’s spine had experienced a sudden growth spurt in the past few days. He was always a stubborn guy—he had the temperament for it. But seeing him have the balls to return Colette’s sass with a quip of his own despite being on death’s door? Well, that was a happy accident.
And things were going in a slightly strange direction, but it’s a problem I was lucky to have. Eagerly biting off more than he could chew with my training had made him show remarkable improvement. I was genuinely impressed.
Though I questioned whether it was entirely necessary to polish the combat skills of a prince who would never fight at the front lines in battle, I had to admit he was quick on the uptake. And I was enjoying him thoroughly for that.
Which was why sometimes I pushed him just a little too far. In my past life, there had been a few guys who asked me to teach them my fighting style, but they were all spineless weaklings. Beast stance alone required a strong core, so I started by pounding the basics into them, but they’d always quit halfway, thinking I wasn’t going to teach them my moves. But I guess it’s pointless to talk shit about them now.
Anyway. Since I’d had those shitty experiences in the past, it was inevitable that I’d feel great about training someone like Albert, who never complained and eagerly devoured everything I taught.
“Prince Albert…is Mylene abusing you…?” Melissa asked dubiously.
Since it looked like abuse from a third party, I guess that meant the guys who’d begged me to train them in my past life also saw it that way.
Melissa had stopped keeping so far from me, but she still wouldn’t speak to me directly—probably still didn’t trust me enough.
Not liking her antagonistic demeanor, Albert refuted her claim with a firm gaze. “Please, don’t misunderstand. I asked Miss Mylene to do it; she’s setting aside her precious time to train me.”
I felt pleased despite my embarrassment because I knew the feeling.
“Now, now… I wasn’t offended, Your Highness,” I said.
“I suppose… I didn’t word that very nicely. I’m sorry…”
Besides, I got the sense that Melissa no longer loathed me with all her heart. The assumption she’d been working under—that I was the enemy—was fading.
So if I called her out, she would apologize. She would even grace me with a few direct words.
“I’d love to have a conversation with you about it sometime, if you wouldn’t mind,” I said.
“But I…can’t… Not yet.”
There was one final line she couldn’t cross—that hadn’t changed. That line was probably the something about her that I wanted to know. I just had a hunch.
“Well, I won’t force you,” I said. “If you change your mind, my door is always open.”
“……Mm-hmm.”
Melissa sounded genuine when she said the words “not yet.” She really gave me the runaround. Every time I got close to her, she’d flee, so I had no choice but to wait for her to approach me. It really was exactly like taming a timid rabbit.
Even though we still weren’t at the finish line yet, I was starting to feel a little emotional.
“Okay, class, please take your seats.”
As I sat there, reminiscing over how much progress I’d made with Melissa, our homeroom teacher entered the classroom. We were having math this afternoon. Since being a noble basically meant being an accountant, math was one of the most important courses at this academy.
Having said that, I also found accounting class to be one of the most useful aspects of this school.
“All right, before we get into our lesson for today, I have an announcement.”
Usually, our teacher would watch us quickly take our seats, nod, and begin instructing. That’s how it always worked. But something was different today. Our teacher’s announcement caused a stir among the students.
“I’m sure some of you already aware of this, but one month from today, the Zelfore Academy of Magic will hold its Genius Festival as part of our mathematics curriculum. To that end, we’re going to start planning for that festival today.”
As the good little rich kids quieted down, our teacher detailed everything to us with a demeanor of extreme poise… But there was a look of confidence in the eyes that suggested he thought we would love it.
The Genius Festival. It was on our schedule for the year, so I knew the name, but I had no idea what it actually was. I guess our teacher was about to tell us that now. I waited patiently with my fellow classmates to hear his explanation.
“The Genius Festival is a long-held custom of our fine academy. In it, we learn firsthand how to operate businesses in preparation for your futures as feudal lords and business owners. We’ll discuss as a class what sort of business we want to have, then draw up a plan and operate it. The day of the festival, each class will open their model business and serve their fellow students. Then at the end of the day, you’ll all be scored based off sales, number of customers, and other factors, and the winner will receive an award. Conceptualization and planning, effort and results—this is what the Genius Festival is all about!”
The Genius Festival was an event where the students ran mock businesses as a class, then visited one another’s businesses as patrons.
Ooh…what an intriguing challenge.
It served to teach us how money worked and what sorts of businesses would be successful. The event was gamified in the way that it instilled in us a sense of solidarity and encouraged us to vie for an award. It was for fun, yet still taught us how to run a realistic business.