Chapter 897 — In the Academy

"...Everyone here is steeped in knowledge. Learning is the most important thing—it takes precedence over all notions of identity, status, race, and wealth, because no one has the energy to spare for anything else. Countless new things here grip the heart of every seeker of knowledge. Of course, another important reason is that the study regimen and examinations here are truly strict. The scholars who teach answer directly to a certain department in the civil administration, and they show no quarter to any student—not even the sons of dukes...

"...Ah, right, Mother—the Typhon students I mentioned just now study extremely hard as well. Apart from the dormitories, the dining hall, and the classrooms, they have almost no social life, and they don't go out. That's another reason they stand out so much here—though everyone studies hard, they study too hard. But today I saw the heirs of the Northern Duke and the Western Duke go over to greet those Typhon students, and the Typhon folk seem quite easy to talk to...

"I'm of course working hard at making friends too, though... I have only one. Her name is Pea. Strange name, but she's a somebody—her father is the Admiral of the Navy of the Cecil Empire! And Pea has a wondrous magitech device that can speak for her and sense her surroundings...

"...Oh, right, I also met a most incredible teacher. He's a pure energy being, and people respectfully call him 'Master Kamael,' but I was startled out of my wits the first time I saw him... But rest assured, Mother, I did nothing improper...

"I'm living very well here, so don't worry about me, and besides..."

A shadow suddenly fell over her from the side. The gray elf girl, who had been writing with her head down, gave a start and at once put her hand over the letter—she visibly flinched as well, and her long, silky gray hair seemed to puff up a little.

And a crisp female voice, somewhat lacking in emotion, as if synthesized by a machine, rang out almost at the same moment: "Ah, Merry! You're hiding behind the pillar again!"

The gray elf girl called Merry looked up, saw that it was Pea standing beside her, and let out a visible sigh of relief. Her hand still covered the letter on her knees, and in a rather thin, small voice she answered: "I'm writing a letter..."

The next second she heard her new acquaintance rattle off: "A letter? To whom? Your family? The Augustrae Tribal Nation? Ah right, I shouldn't pry—that's private—sorry, pretend I didn't ask. Come to think of it, I haven't written a letter in ages. The last time I wrote to Father was at the Festival of Rebirth... Though with the Mana Net for communication, who still writes letters? The North Coast has a connection now... It'd be nice if the Augustrae Tribal Nation could correspond directly with Cecil too. I hear the Mana Net is already under construction on your side?"

Pea's voice rattled on like beans pouring from a sack, and Merry Angelica was instantly cowed by the sheer force of the words, unable to get a single word in from beginning to end. Only when the other finally paused did the gray elf girl at last have a chance to speak, her voice lower than before: "I'm writing to my mother..."

Then she waited another two seconds before continuing: "The Augustrae Tribal Nation is building the Mana Net too... My mother is in charge of it."

"Is that so?" Pea looked astonished, then immediately full of admiration. "Ah... of course. Your mother is the leader of the Gray Elves, and the first to expand trade and bring in technology from the Western Region. Even my father says he admires your mother greatly. He says the North is full of stubborn stones, and if those stones had half your mother's insight and wisdom, his work there would be at least a hundred times easier..."

"The 'stones' Lord Byron speaks of are probably not merely stones..." the gray elf Merry Angelica murmured as a reminder, but her feeble voice was quickly drowned out by Pea's rattling chatter.

Yet she felt no dejection or annoyance—she was used to this by now.

Perhaps that was precisely why they had become friends.

...

"Campus life... I'm almost a little envious."

Amber sat perched atop the high wall, gazing at the courtyard before the castle-like main building of the Imperial Academy, watching the students immersed in the finest years of their lives, and could not help but murmur with a touch of wistfulness.

Her legs dangled over the edge of the wall, swinging back and forth in midair, giving her a rather comfortable air.

A figure surfaced beside her like a ghost, resolving into a bald man with a scar across his face: "Boss, you thinking of going to school?"

"School? Do I look like I could enroll? If I went in, I'd be the one lecturing!" Amber shot her deputy a glare at once. "Cut the nonsense and get to the point."

"Already screened them. Among this batch of exchange students, one is definitely a spy, two are suspected, and the rest are clean," Scarface Anton said, instantly sobering under the rebuke and beginning his report in earnest. "We've got eyes on the communication channels of all three. The 'Magician' special unit is working out how to tamper with things without tipping them off. The other batches of exchange students are all fine, including that one we're watching closely, Danna--she really is the daughter of a Typhon count, her background is clean, no problem there. Her approaching Fendil Wild on her own initiative wasn't premeditated; it was probably just plain stupidity."

"Not bad... The Typhon people really are here for the knowledge, at least. They're not so foolish as to waste a precious academic opportunity entirely on spy work of little use. Keep a close eye on those few, spies and suspected spies alike. Whoever we're sure can be turned, turn them; whoever can't, don't alarm them no matter what--just keep them under surveillance. They'll all be treasures someday. We lost some of our people planted in Typhon when the Eternals pulled out earlier, and we need to find a way to make up for those losses..."

Scarface Anton nodded. "Understood, boss."

Amber waved a hand, and Anton vanished soundlessly from the wall. Then she turned her gaze back to the courtyard and sighed softly once more:

"Campus life..."