The ceremony had yet to begin. “Hurry and sit down,” the princess said, speaking differently than she had a moment ago. Fortunately, I seemed to have hidden my expression well.

“I’m sorry, but I’ll sit somewhere else.”

The princess and Manuel both looked surprised. “What? Why would you do that?” The princess glanced around in disbelief, then seemed to realize something. “I see. Is it because everyone’s watching?”

Huh? I looked around at her words. Eyes were turning toward us from every direction. Hmm. She had a point. It was the perfect excuse. “This much attention is a little too much for someone in my position.”

The little princess looked disappointed, and Manuel clicked his tongue under his breath. I could understand why they were disappointed, but I didn’t care in the slightest. Honestly, it was exactly what an ordinary noble family’s illegitimate son would say and do. I didn’t know why the Queen or Katrin wanted to bring me and the princess together, but being close to an illegitimate son could hardly be good for her either. Leaving the disappointed princess behind, I moved to another seat.

“Mind if I sit here for a moment?”

I squeezed into a seat. The princess, who had been watching me out of the corner of her eye, looked incredulous. I’d claimed the attention made me uncomfortable, yet instead of moving to a corner of the hall, I’d sat near the front, right beside the students who would lead the freshmen’s oath. But I had no choice. The energy I’d located a moment ago had originated right here.

“Hello,” I said to the boy beside me.

* * *

At the instant of the second explosion, I had found the source of the energy that caused it. The strange energy looked like a kind of altered mana, but contrary to my first guess, it had come from a person, not a relic.

‘This must be an inherited ability too.’

So a person was behind the attack. And since the explosion had swallowed him as well, it was a kind of suicide bombing. That bomber was sitting beside me now.

He looked displeased at my sudden intrusion. ‘It must be because of where I sat.’ The male student on my right and the female student in front of me were each representatives of the noble freshmen. The prospective suicide bomber I’d crowded out was the representative of the commoner freshmen.

‘A revenge attack? A foreign spy? Terrorism aimed at reforming the class system? A proletarian revolution?’

As I looked at the ordinary-looking boy, all sorts of ideas ran through my head, from a child who had lost his parents to nobles and awakened an ability to take revenge, to someone planning an attack to rouse commoners oppressed by the nobility.

The boy’s tense face softened at last, and he let out a small sigh. Well, it would have been awkward to complain just because I’d squeezed in beside him. No one else was going to complain, either.

“How rude.”

No—someone did. The red-haired girl in front of me turned and quietly scolded me.

She was another student who would lead the freshmen’s oath. I’d heard she was a count’s daughter, but I hadn’t listened closely when they announced the names, so I didn’t know hers. Surely she could tell I wasn’t a commoner. Hadn’t she seen me come in with the princess?

“A noble should set an example even in small matters. If you know someone of high standing, you must realize your actions could reflect badly on her as well.”

Oh. She had seen me come in with the princess.

The rather pretty girl hadn’t raised her voice, but her words were resolute. ‘Ah. Is she one of those girls who dreams of noblesse oblige?’ Whatever family she came from, they’d clearly educated her well. They didn’t seem to have taught her much about how things worked in practice, though.

Unlike her, the boy on my left smiled and introduced himself. “A pleasure to meet you. I’m Ride de Chaipri.” He was the last of the freshmen chosen to lead the oath. This one was a noble who understood how the world worked. Of course, he’d turn his back on me the moment he learned I was an illegitimate son.

At any other time, I would have tried to learn more about the two of them. Right now, I needed to focus all my attention on the commoner representative to my right.

“Sorry for squeezing in so suddenly. I thought you were someone I knew.”

“Ah... I see. It’s all right.”

I bowed my head to him, and he hurriedly bowed back. “Allow me to introduce myself properly. I’m Alex de Gresia.”

“Ah! The Gresia family... Oh, I’m Piar.”

The moment I gave my name, he tensed and gave his own. To him, it must have looked as though the ducal family’s banner was fluttering behind me.

‘So the bomber’s name is Piar. He’s a commoner, so he probably doesn’t have a family name.’ Fortunately, the ducal family’s name seemed to have worked. There was still a little time before the ceremony began, and I intended to draw him into conversation and get some information. But the boy on my other side ruined that plan.

“Gresia? Did that family have a child named Alex?” He frowned at me. “The eldest is Simon, the second is Manuel, sitting beside the princess. And I thought there was only a younger sister besides them.”

Oh! He was well informed. And impressively good at disregarding illegitimate children.

The girl in front, whose expression had softened after my apology, stiffened at his words. “You aren’t impersonating a noble, are you? You could be executed for that!”

Damn. Had I underestimated how much noble families knew? And with that rigid girl involved, it didn’t look as though I could simply brush this aside. I sighed inwardly and spoke. “Alex de Gresia. I’m an illegitimate son.”

“Oh...”

“...”

The girl’s mouth fell open, and she let out that meaningless sound. The boys on either side of me frowned.

“Sorry. That was thoughtless of me. I apologize.” The girl quickly composed herself and apologized to me—in the familiar tone she would use with someone beneath her. She really had been taught properly, after all.

Noble etiquette was built on discrimination. Their consideration for the lower classes was merely charity bestowed from above. An illegitimate son wasn’t a proper noble, either. Thanks to her sudden change in tone, her apology didn’t feel like one at all, though she probably thought she’d apologized properly. The well-informed boy didn’t apologize—or even look at me.

‘Well, that’s ruined.’

The bomber on my other side avoided me too. Wait, you’re a commoner. Maybe being chosen to lead the freshmen’s oath had something to do with it. His desire to climb the social ladder seemed much stronger than I’d thought. The dazzling advantage of belonging to a ducal family had vanished in an instant because I was an illegitimate son. After that, I couldn’t strike up a conversation with any of the three throughout the ceremony, bomber included.

“... We swear to honor the first king’s wishes and do our utmost for the kingdom’s prosperity.”

“We swear.”

In time, the three went to the front to lead the oath, and the rest of us stood and swore along with them. As all the freshmen made their pledge, I could see mana flowing through the hall. It wasn’t a contract made at a temple, so it wasn’t binding in that sense. Still, an oath sworn by nearly a hundred people with inherited abilities couldn’t help but have some force of its own. It wouldn’t stop them from thinking whatever they liked, but if they tried to rebel or betray the kingdom, it would stir a sense of unease in their hearts. That was probably another reason the academy gathered people with inherited abilities here.

Only awakened children of nobles and commoners could enter this Royal Academy. In the beginning, every awakened person had enrolled here. But as time passed and the kingdom grew, other academies were established in the capital and throughout the provinces. Modeled on this academy, those schools admitted not only awakened students but also wealthy commoners, aspiring knights, would-be officials, and other unawakened people. The Royal Academy, meanwhile, remained the premier academy, enrolling heirs of powerful noble families, noble children and commoners who had received strong inherited abilities, and awakened students sponsored by influential houses even if their inherited abilities were less impressive. An illegitimate son like me normally couldn’t have gotten in. I’d been admitted thanks to the considerable backing of a member of the royal family.

After the freshmen’s oath, I glanced toward the princess. Our eyes met by chance as she looked around. She scowled and turned away. Damn. If I survived this time, my patron would probably have plenty to say to me—both about what I’d done already and what I was about to do. More items on the program followed the oath, and the entrance ceremony was nearly over.

‘Is he really the bomber?’ I hadn’t managed to speak to Piar, but I’d watched him throughout the ceremony. Nothing about him suggested a suicide bomber. He looked somewhat nervous, but no more than any other new student at the academy. He didn’t scan his surroundings or seem to be preparing to do anything unusual. If he was the bomber, he was an incredible professional. I didn’t understand it, but what I had to do hadn’t changed.

I clutched my stomach, drew a deep breath, and let out a loud groan. “Urgh... M-my stomach!”

The students around me turned in alarm. I sensed a teacher who had been passing nearby come toward me. I grabbed Piar’s thigh, curled up, and kept groaning. The murmurs grew louder, and the proceedings came to a halt.

The teacher hurried over. “What’s wrong?”

“M-my stomach hurts so much. I think my bowels have cramped up from nerves.”

It wasn’t the sort of detailed explanation someone in pain would give, but I worked hard to describe my condition while pretending to be ill. I couldn’t have them mistaking it for something serious. “I think I’ll be fine if I rest in the infirmary for a bit.” I leaned against Piar and kept muttering. The students around us frowned, as did the teacher.

“Can’t be helped. You take him there.”

The teacher singled out our bomber to help me walk. There wasn’t much choice: Piar was the only commoner nearby, so the teacher had to leave me in his care. Piar supported me with an incredulous look, while the people around us shook their heads as they watched me leave the hall. The princess looked just as incredulous, and Manuel clicked his tongue. Hmm. My life at the academy was well and truly ruined. Still, I managed to get out of the building with Piar before the ceremony ended.

Fortunately, there was no priest among the people gathered at the back of the hall.

“I’ll take him to the infirmary. You go back to your seat,” said a female teacher who had been standing there. But I couldn’t let that happen. I clutched Piar’s clothes. “Please come with me to the infirmary. I’m begging you.”

He looked thoroughly put off, but as a commoner, he couldn’t bring himself to ignore a ducal family’s illegitimate son who was practically clinging to his legs and pleading with him.

The female teacher gave up, though she didn’t look happy about it. Instead, the butler from the ducal mansion stepped forward to support me. Piar and the butler took me out of the hall.