Vol. 4 - Chapter 4 - A day in Class S
"Stella, there\'s something I want to learn about."
A red-haired young boy overflowing with wild charm, Alan Kruger, scratched his head and pleaded to her as he took a seat in front of Stella.
Alan was a prideful person, and in fact, his accomplishments in literature and military were quite high. That was why Ronald was struck with amazement when he saw his best friend meekly asking for instruction from others.
"Okay. Where?"
As Stella looked at the textbook with her usual cold attitude, the rest of the students crowded around their seats, listening to her words.
To tell the truth, yesterday\'s Physics class had been so difficult that it took Ronald until midnight to get some sort of understanding.
He had been taught by some of the best scholars in the empire. He\'d even had a certain confidence in his academic abilities before entering this academy.
And his self-confidence had been crushed by the everyday\'s absurd lessons. Thus, all of the subjects of Class S were entirely unknown to him.
Not only for magic and martial arts, of course, but also chemistry, physics, biology, medical science, agriculture, economics, political science, and many other fields, they called scholars with expertise in these fields to teach them. (T/N: sweats I\'m glad my school life wasn\'t that crazy.)
So, all the teaching positions were now held by a disciple of Shirabe Ines Navarro.
One of the physics teachers, Pars, had told them about his teacher, Shirabe Ines Navarro.
Professor Shirabe was too outstanding in every field, while they barely managed to master each of their fields. They continued to walk on their path, polishing their skills everyday for their lifelong dreams.
"It seems to be tough for you too, doesn\'t it?"
Ronald called out to the blonde-haired young girl, who was absentmindedly staring at Stella, Aqua Millard.
Such a crazy person was once a servant in her mansion, or so she said.
"No, I vaguely understood her position. Rather..."
Aqua\'s words stopped midway abruptly. It was the feeling as if something had stuck between her teeth. Ronal had been thinking for a long while that she was clearly and definitely anticipating something that he and the others didn\'t know.
"By the way, what are you going to do once you graduate?"
An outstanding girl would surely be in high demand no matter the field.
"I think that\'s something I will decide when I graduate. Until then, I think the empire will change a lot."
Her words could be taken as a criticism of the current system. Ronald would surely have pulled a scowl if it were before entering this class. However, as he took lessons in this class, he understood just how shallow his thinking was to take this old and unripe empire as an advanced nation.
The economy, which was the heart of the nation, had no major strategy, only requiring the collection of wheat and rye as annual tribute. There was no thought of national prosperity in the future.
It was a situation that seemed completely out of hand where the backbone of a nation, the judiciary and administration, collided with purebred aristocrats.
And there was no system of personnel appointment or education to effectively utilize the entire population, the blood of the nation.
With this situation, it was certainly unavoidable to be branded as a declining country. If the empire continued to push forward without any policy, it would obviously be invaded by other nations and become their establishment soon.
"Well, that\'s right. I also think so. But you know一一"
He still couldn\'t foresee the future at all. However, there was at least one thing he understood clearly.
And that was, the most excellent person in the empire\'s history, Shirabe Ines Navarro, expected them to carry the future of this empire on their shoulders.
一一That was why.
"We can\'t let them beat us. I know you have a position to take, but your sympathy is unnecessary."
Initially, Ronald wholeheartedly wanted to take Professor Shirabe\'s class. However, this too changed when he sensed the significance of this class.
The next term examination was to find the next successor of Shirabe Ines Navarro. It meant that the examination would select those who were qualified to carry the future of the empire.
Actually, the next month\'s grading method for the exam was 50% academic and 50% practical. In the Magic Knight Academy, the content of the classes differed from class to class, so naturally the content of the examinations differed as well.
As the natural consequence of the academic exam\'s different contents, the marks allocated to practical exams were quite high. Ronald heard it was 20% for academic exams and 80% for practical exams.
This was altered this time, and the distribution of marks was now 50-50. Furthermore, Class S & G class would have a unified exam.
From now on, the nuance of the successor selection exam would become even stronger.
"Yeah, I know. I also have my own reason not to lose to them. But what about Your Highness? Are you okay?"
Her question was most likely about Mia, as they had talked to Aqua about the circumstances between Mia, Ronald, and the others.
"It\'s just a groundless worry. This is a test to determine the future of the empire, so to speak. There\'s no room for personal feelings. Besides, you know, Mia has already been saved. So there\'s no need for any consideration."
Through Alan, he had received information that Mia\'s mother had safely recovered from the illness and was even harmoniously living together with his father, Fall Cyrus.
Yeah, Mia was free now. That was why there was no need to worry about her anymore. Since they had become enemies, he would thoroughly fight her. Besides, she was receiving direct lessons from Professor Shirabe himself. She was absolutely not a sweet enemy they could measure only by skills.
"Yes, yes, everyone, let\'s begin the class. Please take your seat."
Just as he was talking with Aqua, a timid-looking blue-haired young man with his parted hairstyle entered Ronald\'s sight, making a clapping sound near the podium.
He was Professor Toshhu, who taught political science. This was one of the lessons Ronald was most interested in right now.
Everyone surrounding Stella returned to their seats and listened to professor Toshhu\'s words.