Chapter 103: The One-Eyed Inspector (1)

My younger brother, Ronie, and the daughter of Bishop Paul, Sonia.

I headed to the Imperial Academy to meet the two of them.

Istina didn't come with me.

If she showed up, it was obvious a crowd would gather, so I decided to handle it on my own.

"This place really has been a while."

Two years ago—or twelve, if I included the memories of my past life—it was the school I had once attended.

The Imperial National Academy.

It was a miniature version of the society I had grown to loathe, where I had spent my days as a cadet knight.

As befitting an Imperial Academy, it was full of royalty and nobles.

Talented commoners and foreign exchange students made up a small portion, but the rest were all teenagers of various backgrounds, packed in tightly.

Thanks to that, discrimination and competition were rampant.

The center of those conflicts was mostly the royals. The direct descendants of the emperor held back for the sake of decorum, but...

Their distant relatives flaunted their noble blood and stirred up the classrooms.

Ronie must have dropped out because he couldn't endure that pressure and the immense tuition.

――――――

True to its long and proud history, the Imperial Academy revealed its grand, old-fashioned buildings.

I approached the back gate, which was nearby, and encountered the guards.

"What brings you here?"

"I'm here to visit my younger brother, who’s currently enrolled."

At the word "visitor," the senior soldier at the guard post lifted his head.

Still seated in his chair, he asked with a bored expression.

"What’s the student's name?"

"Ronie Julius from the intermediate class."

"Please wait a moment."

Upon hearing the name, the soldier began flipping through the student roster on the desk.

And the moment he found my brother’s name—

He clicked his tongue and shook his head.

"Visiting time is twenty minutes. Please wait a moment."

The soldier stood up and leisurely walked into the academy.

With my hands behind my back, I quietly watched him go.

Only twenty minutes for a visit, huh.

They wouldn’t even let us share a lunchbox together.

While I waited, I casually addressed the junior soldier eyeing me coldly.

"I was a student here too. Can’t I go in with him?"

"A graduate?"

The guard looked at me suspiciously, narrowing his eyes.

As expected of someone guarding the Imperial Academy—he was extremely vigilant.

"No, I dropped out."

"Dropouts are not allowed to roam the campus."

When I was working as the Grand Duke’s Chief Secretary, noble parents would barge into the academy as they pleased.

It really did seem like even access to the school was a right reserved for the upper class.

I clicked my tongue inwardly.

Before long, the soldier returned through the back door of the building.

And with him—my younger brother, Ronie.

"Brother Roger...?"

It had been ten years since I last saw my younger sibling.

He had inherited our father’s and my jet-black hair and dark eyes.

But there was one thing that clearly set us apart. Unlike me, with my slender eyes, he had round, bright, expressive ones.

That’s why people said I resembled a fox.

He looked like a puppy.

“Long time no see, little brother—”

I was truly glad to see him again, but I didn’t let it show.

I couldn’t exactly tell him that ten years later, his big brother would be forced to commit suicide by poison.

For now, I was just happy about this miraculous reunion.

“Have you been well?”

“Yeah, I’ve been doing fine… but what brings you all the way here, bro?”

Unlike me, who was simply glad to see him after so long, he looked puzzled by my visit.

“Weren’t you still working for the Grand Duke of the North?”

“Yeah, I quit. I’m running a business now.”

It seemed he hadn’t heard anything about what happened to me yet.

Well, that made sense.

The professor in charge of the intermediate class, where he and Sonia belonged, was probably Professor Riverheim.

A former knight with real combat experience, he always emphasized practical training.

He often taught seclusion training to the more dedicated students.

As far as I remembered, Ronie had been one of those hardworking students.

“A business…?”

As expected, he had no idea what I’d been up to.

In fact, he looked a bit displeased by the fact that I’d left the Grand Duke’s household.

“Do you know how hard Father worked to get you into the Grand Duke’s house…? And you just quit?”

Dark circles were heavy under his eyes.

On top of that, his hands were covered in calluses.

“Father must be really disappointed.”

Ronie knew full well that Father had been stretching himself thin to pay his tuition.

That’s why he was trying his hardest to learn all he could, even going so far as to train in seclusion.

But compared to himself, he probably thought I had been kicked out of the Grand Duke’s house.

He must’ve been thinking how pathetic I was.

“Yeah, Father’s gone through a lot. He told me to bring you your tuition money.”

“…”

Ronie took the envelope from Father that I handed him.

Then, without a second thought, he slipped it into his school jacket and said,

“Today’s visit will be really short. We’re super busy getting ready for the Founding Festival.”

“Really? As far as I remember, festival or not, visiting time used to be over an hour.”

I spoke, recalling my time as a student.

At that, Ronie let out a long sigh and answered.

“That’s only for nobles. They said if they allowed everyone—including commoners—to have full visits, it would slow things down, so they shortened it for the rest of us.”

There’s no way that’s true.

Even if they said that, if upper-class parents showed up, they’d be politely escorted to a reception room.

It was just a convenient excuse to filter out the commoners under the guise of formal restrictions.

‘So that’s why the student roster was kept in the guard post.’

“All right, I got it. Go on in.”

I nodded without resistance.

Then, as he said goodbye, Ronie left me with one final piece of advice.

“Bro, think again about quitting the Grand Duke’s house.”

“Why?”

With my hands behind my back, I asked leisurely, and he replied confidently with his big, bright eyes.

He looked like a puppy.

“Long time no see, little brother—”

I was truly glad to see him again, but I didn’t let it show.

I couldn’t exactly tell him that ten years later, his big brother would be forced to commit suicide by poison.

For now, I was just happy about this miraculous reunion.

“Have you been well?”

“Yeah, I’ve been doing fine… but what brings you all the way here, bro?”

Unlike me, who was simply glad to see him after so long, he looked puzzled by my visit.

“Weren’t you still working for the Grand Duke of the North?”

“Yeah, I quit. I’m running a business now.”

It seemed he hadn’t heard anything about what happened to me yet.

Well, that made sense.

The professor in charge of the intermediate class, where he and Sonia belonged, was probably Professor Riverheim.

A former knight with real combat experience, he always emphasized practical training.

He often taught seclusion training to the more dedicated students.

As far as I remembered, Ronie had been one of those hardworking students.

“A business…?”

As expected, he had no idea what I’d been up to.

In fact, he looked a bit displeased by the fact that I’d left the Grand Duke’s household.

“Do you know how hard Father worked to get you into the Grand Duke’s house…? And you just quit?”

Dark circles were heavy under his eyes.

On top of that, his hands were covered in calluses.

“Father must be really disappointed.”

Ronie knew full well that Father had been stretching himself thin to pay his tuition.

That’s why he was trying his hardest to learn all he could, even going so far as to train in seclusion.

But compared to himself, he probably thought I had been kicked out of the Grand Duke’s house.

He must’ve been thinking how pathetic I was.

“Yeah, Father’s gone through a lot. He told me to bring you your tuition money.”

“…”

Ronie took the envelope from Father that I handed him.

Then, without a second thought, he slipped it into his school jacket and said,

“Today’s visit will be really short. We’re super busy getting ready for the Founding Festival.”

“Really? As far as I remember, festival or not, visiting time used to be over an hour.”

I spoke, recalling my time as a student.

At that, Ronie let out a long sigh and answered.

“That’s only for nobles. They said if they allowed everyone—including commoners—to have full visits, it would slow things down, so they shortened it for the rest of us.”

There’s no way that’s true.

Even if they said that, if upper-class parents showed up, they’d be politely escorted to a reception room.

It was just a convenient excuse to filter out the commoners under the guise of formal restrictions.

‘So that’s why the student roster was kept in the guard post.’

“All right, I got it. Go on in.”

I nodded without resistance.

Then, as he said goodbye, Ronie left me with one final piece of advice.

“Bro, think again about quitting the Grand Duke’s house.”

“Why?”

With my hands behind my back, I asked leisurely, and he replied confidently with his big, bright eyes.

“Ah…”

The finance officer’s lips parted slightly, as if she already had a rough idea of how the school worked.

Come to think of it, foreign students from wealthy merchant families or nobility were usually less bullied by the noble students.

“In the end… he’ll probably drop out once he reaches the graduation year and can’t handle the tuition spike.”

“Well, yes… It’s not exactly an affordable tuition. From age eighteen, it’s thirty million gold per semester…”

At age nineteen—the graduation year—the tuition jumped to fifty million gold per semester.

Still, no one openly complained about the expensive fees.

Because they all understood the power of a single line on their resume:

Graduated from the Imperial Academy.

That line alone could open doors. Just having a degree from the empire’s most prestigious academy was enough to gain privileges in any field of employment.

That was why people were willing to shell out a hundred million gold without hesitation.

“What a shame. Ronie really looked like he was giving it everything…”

The finance officer seemed to know how hard he was trying, and her expression turned somber.

However—

Her face changed completely the moment the head of the academic office glanced at the amount in the envelope with a bored look and then fell into stunned silence, like a painting of shock.

“W-Wait a second… What is this…”

“Pardon? Is something wrong, Director?”

Director Jerry blinked, then pulled the check out of the envelope once more to confirm.

He brought it so close to his face that the tip of his sharp nose nearly touched the paper.

“One, two, three, four zeros… F-Five hundred million gold?!”

Confirming the amount again, the head of the office abruptly jumped to his feet.

“W-Where’s Ronie?!”

“He’s in the hallway right now…”

Before the finance officer could finish her sentence, Jerry burst out of his seat.

He flung open the office door so hard it nearly broke.

“Ronie!!”

“Yes…? Did you call for me?”

Ronie, who had been waiting in the hallway with a vaguely wistful expression, blinked in surprise as the director came rushing out.

“What’s your older brother’s name?!”

“My older brother? That would be Roger Julius…”

The moment he got confirmation from the person himself, the middle-aged man let out a stunned laugh.

Then, sweeping a hand over his forehead, he said,

“President of the Erian Foundation—Roger Julius, right?!”

“Erian Foundation? I’m not sure what that is either.”

Ronie shook his head with a flustered expression.

He hadn’t heard anything from his brother about being the president of any foundation.

But in that moment, he realized one thing very clearly.

The fact that the head of the academic office was reacting this dramatically meant…

That while he had been throwing himself into his training with everything he had, a major change had happened in his brother’s life.

“Out of all the Juliuses in the Empire, it just had to be that one...”

Julius was a common surname.

Many commoners had chosen the names of generals who had been active during the kingdom era—before the founding of the Empire—so they could have impressive-sounding surnames.

In other words, it was an old, well-established name that had been passed down long before the Empire was founded.

That was why, even when the name Roger Julius had started appearing frequently in the newspapers recently, the director had assumed he came from a different family than his student.

But now, after seeing the amount on that check, he was finally convinced.

“D-Do you know where he is right now...? He hasn’t left already, has he?”

“Due to school policy, visitation is limited to twenty minutes, so we parted for now.”

Today, of all days, he felt that particular regulation—handed down from above—was especially idiotic.

“Then he’s already gone.”

“No, I don’t think so. He said he wanted to walk around and take a look at the campus before leaving.”

Upon hearing that, Director Jerry’s expression brightened instantly.

“Let’s go find him. Right now—at once!”

Ronie followed behind the middle-aged man who had charged ahead, his face dazed.

With eyes full of nervous tension, as if wondering just what was about to happen.

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