༺ Mentor (1) ༻
With the current decline in feudalism and a rise in centralization, the capital city had a significant weight in the Kingdom.
A parliament establishing laws; federal courts where citizens of the Kingdom had a final say; the administration and the finances providing proof of citizenship and currency… Each and every one of those differences contributed to the immense gap in the living standards of the regional and central areas.
But in turn, that also signified that the burden on the central administrative team was incomparable to that of the countryside.
“Sir. Lord Manoska.”
“H, hmm?! Miss Medina. I, I wasn’t sleeping!”
“…You should wipe the drool off your face first.”
One of the officials of the administrative department, Medina, felt like bursting into anger as she saw the count, who became her superior just a few months ago.
Even though nobles were no longer omnipotent like in the past, they still had some degree of power. One example was how a count from the Far West, with zero experience, suddenly became an executive of the administrative department.
Considering how busy it was these days due to the after-measures of the Tower of Mages, looking into the aggressive actions of the New Faith and the secret demi-human hunts of the Old Faith, having a superior like this was far from being helpful.
“W, what was this again?”
“It’s an authorization application for an undeveloped area somewhere in the West where you came from.”
“Hmm, huh?”
Count Manoska widened his eyes into circles the moment he saw the document.
“K, kuhum…! I, I will review this and take care of it so you can continue with other tasks.”
“Sorry? Umm, okay…”
Medina was rather surprised by the unexpected reaction from the count, who usually wasn’t interested in working, but soon returned to her own set of tasks.
She had way too much on her hands to fuss over a single document for over 5 minutes.
***
A guardian academy was a place of learning that was only open to prodigies with innate talents. Being a noble didn’t guarantee a way in, and statistically speaking, around the same percentage of nobles and commoners were found to be gifted.
Due to such reasons, the legitimacy behind the thought of nobles being more ‘lofty’ from birth began to subside, and a culture was born inside the Kingdom where they didn’t concern themselves too much about social classes.
But even so, there was still some level of favorable treatment that was given to nobles. As such, it wasn’t strange that nobles wanted more favors to be given to them even inside the Academy, despite the Academy’s unwillingness.
In whatever part of the society, it was difficult to turn down the offer of the rich.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})The higher classes were not only socially influential, but they also donated hefty amounts, so the Academy had to give them some privileges.
One of those privileges was the ‘Mentoring’ system.
Simply put, it was a system where a new student with a promising future – with a lot of donations – could be taught directly by a professor or a proficient senior student.
Professors were the normal targets of these mentoring systems, but sometimes, there were highly gifted and famous students who would also be flooded with several mentoring requests.
“Hmm… Wasn’t expecting you would actually accept it.”
“It’s from Your Highness, so how could I possibly refuse it?”
Miruam looked up at her ‘mentor’, who nonchalantly spoke back to her.
Korin Lork.
He was a young 2nd-year student but was arguably the most famous knight inside the Academy.
“Normally, you would have to go through a body search before seeing a princess but… it’s not like I can bring in servants here so I will exempt you from it.”
“You could do it yourself, Your Highness.”
“Doing what the servants do is not in alignment with my status. However…”
Miruam gestured with her hands as the ‘snake ornaments’ of her dress started to move. They slithered like serpents with an actual body.
Technically they were real since Miruam was a summoner who could use her mana to create familiars to use for herself. Her snakes slithered across the ground, over his pants, and rose all the way up to his neck.
“By the way, my snakes are all venomous serpents with a lethal venom.”
“Really? I suppose we won’t be able to eat them then.”
The snakes were hissing right next to his neck and yet he remained still without wavering an inch. Even a veteran knight would usually flinch from venomous serpents roaming around their body but he didn’t.
“Hmm?”
That was when one of the snakes found something from Korin’s small bag.
Miruam asked while looking at his bag.
“What’s inside that?”
“A small gift to present to the princess.”
“Hmm?”
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Normally, the common etiquette was to visit the royal family empty-handed.
However, that was a rule which only applied to nobles and not commoners like Korin. In the first place, it wasn’t wise to expect commoners to be aware of the etiquette for visiting the royal family.
“Let me see.”
Korin took out the gifts from his bag – it was a nameless bottle of wine that she didn’t know of and a block of cheese. The fact that she didn’t know the name of it meant that it was a lower-grade item that didn’t suit the context.
Is this the limitation of a commoner?
‘He gets the support of the Dunareff when hiring mercenaries and purchasing materials, but deals with his personal items with his own money, was it?’
Even though he was being sponsored by the richest family in the Kingdom, it seemed that he abstained from luxury goods that weren’t related to his work.
That was according to the report of the spy from the Old Faith, Germain.
“Wine and cheese even though there is no maid around to taste-test it?”
For the members of the royal family, being poisoned was something they always had to keep an eye out for, and that was especially the case for Miruam who was hated by many people.
“Well, I did think about that, but this wine and this cheese were too good to pass by.”
“Hmm…”
She did enjoy drinking wine so Miruam didn’t feel like refusing his gift. In the first place, she was completely immune to poison and on top of that, she couldn’t even imagine this man trying to poison her.
“How about a glass before we begin?”
“Sounds great to me.”
Miruam personally opened the cork of the wine and poured it into the wine glasses inside her room until they were half-full.
“Let us celebrate our first lesson together,” she added.
“And for my course units.”
“It’s only 2 units, is it not?”
“For a busy kid that would be spending a lot of time outside, 2 units still goes a long way. I will be quite busy for a while, you see.”
“Hmm…”
She saved all of his words into her brain while trying to decipher as much as she could from his sentences. It was because all these subtle pieces of information could be extremely important in acquiring this man for herself.
Just 2 years ago, he was the typical son of a normal restaurant on the outside, so Miruam found it hard to tell what he was thinking about and what his goals were.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})‘The smell’s… not bad.’
In an attempt to appease her deepening thoughts, she took a sip of the wine.
Upon feeling the refreshing scent of grapes as well as the aftertaste, she said with a look of slight surprise.
“That’s nice. It’s a good wine.”
Not only was it good, but she liked it a lot. The small kick of sweetness towards the end of the wine was even better.
“I knew you would like it. It’s something I obtained from a cathedral, where they make their own wine and drink by themselves.”
“I see.”
She vowed to herself that she would look into it later on.
Miruam was very fond of Korin’s present, which surprisingly suited her tastes.
“Rather than a lesson… it will be more like tips and tricks. The fundamental purpose of mentoring is to teach realistic tips that will be coming in handy, after all.”
“It is slightly questionable if you can teach anything as a knight to a mage like myself,” said Princess Miruam.
“You can’t say that when you’re the one who applied for it.”
“I’m sure you know why I picked you as a mentor though?”
She said as her serpent-like eyes penetrated through Korin. Mentoring was not the important part – if she really needed help, she would have asked Marie Dunareff instead.
Miruam wanted to get closer to Korin. To be exact, she wanted to draw him into her faction, and her desire to do so only went up even more after seeing her future interlocked with Korin through Lia Fail.
She wanted to have him for herself.
“Well, let’s talk about that after we are done with mentoring. Right now is study time.”
“…”
“This isn’t a great place to study. Let’s go to the city and go to my Guardians office. There are a few things I’ve prepared.”
“Fuu… Sure.”
Miruam agreed without talking back to him. It appeared that Korin wanted the serious talk to be done outside the Academy.
The two of them headed to the Korin Guardians office. Waiting at the main gates was a carriage for her, who had trouble walking.
‘Quite sensitive,’ she remarked to herself.
Before long, the two of them arrived at the office, which had all sorts of magnificent facilities.
“As expected of the financial power of the Dunareff.”
“Right? I wanted to turn it down at first though.”
The outside area that housed more than ten wyverns and a Hresvelgr was truly a shocking site. Miruam also possessed her own wyvern and a monster carrier, but because of that, she knew very well how much it costs to maintain them.
It was ridiculous how a guild that was less than 1 year old was in possession of all that.
‘Sword Captain of the Ardens, Lunia Arden, and her elite swordsmen. As well as Warsky Mercenaries, huh…?’
Personally seeing the sheer size of Korin Guardians was eye-opening, even though she had been reading reports about them regularly.
Korin Lork was certainly not a normal knight.
Dunareff Vampirification incident.
Lunia Arden’s Sword Challenge.
The subjugation of the King of Iron Mountain and the one-on-one battle against Fermack Daman.
As well as the Old Faith’s attempted ascension of Hua Ran into a Hou.
Those were everything he went through in the span of a single year, despite entering the Academy as a Grade 5 knight. All of these achievements were at semi-Unique Grade if not higher.
He came out victorious against the seemingly unbeatable monsters and solidified his foundations. After obtaining Claiomh Solais, he widened his influence even more to the point where he practically defeated the Tower of Mages with only the help of his own guild.
‘This is difficult,’ she thought to herself.
Her fate was linked to his, in other words, that meant that she had to get closer to him. Her destiny had yet to be set in stone and the future could change depending on her actions, so Korin Lork was a decisive card she had to lay her hands on.
However, Korin didn’t seem like he was lacking anything.
Whether it be money, power, faction, or fame, he was in possession of everything, oddly so considering how he was still just a 2nd-year student of the Academy.
And despite having all that, he didn’t have any desires. Looking at him, Miruam couldn’t help but think of all the things that she would have done if she were in his shoes.
“This is like the Orientation Day so let’s just do a short 1 hour lesson, alright?”
“…Alright. Go ahead.”
It was tedious but she had to play along with it.
Although Miruam didn’t have a lot of time on her hands, it was an investment that had to be made in order to build a better relationship with him.
***
A mentor’s job was to teach things that would be useful in real life.
That included reading maps, how to set a camp outdoors, and identifying what was in the wilderness to either track down or avoid being pursued by demonic beasts.
Fundamentally, guardians were fighters who had to defeat demons, so seniors tended to focus on practical things when teaching their juniors.
However, it was a slightly different story if the mentee were a noble or a member of the royal family.
Why would they bother risking their lives working as a guardian for a small pay? Only a few of them rarely did such a thing, and that was usually to gain fame, not wealth.
In most cases, nobles and members of the royal family chose mentors as a sign that they wanted to befriend the student.
‘There is no way he doesn’t know that already.’
Miruam thought to herself as she watched Korin diligently teaching her how to read a map, as well as first-aid.
Although she was a powerful summoner of snakes and enjoyed hunting, she was fundamentally one of the only two princesses of the Kingdom and had more than enough men underneath her to take care of such tedious tasks.
As if he saw through that line of thought, Korin said while shrugging his shoulders.
“You never know. If you go hunting and fall into a trap, where you either get lost or get separated from your maids and knights, things like this could come in handy.”
He said as if he foresaw such a thing happening in the future.
“We will be making sure you learn all these things through actual practice.”
“…Actual practice?”
“What’s wrong?”
“…”
Miruam frowned at his nonchalant attitude.
It was true that going outdoors while mentoring was nothing new, but was he really suggesting that to a princess? Even though he should be aware of what the goal behind this mentoring was?
However, she was the desperate one here. Treating a princess like herself as if she were an underling was… very humiliating, but she swallowed her pride, telling herself that this was necessary to achieve her objective.
“Then, shall we start talking about my reward for the mentoring?”
“Sure. Go ahead.”
Taking a princess to dangerous activities outside and still asking for a reward? Although it was a common tradition for the mentee to get something for the mentor, he was being very brazen about it.
“As you probably know already, Your Highness, I’m quite successful.”
“Hah…”
At this point, it was so dumbfounding how shameless he was and she couldn’t even say anything back. It had been very long since she last found herself this speechless.
“There are only a handful of people stronger than me and… you know that the Dunareff Family is sponsoring me, correct?”
“Go on.”
Right, and that was the biggest problem. This man had no shortage of anything and the only problem he might have was that he had an overabundance of them.
Whether it be money or fame and status, he had everything.
His fame as the Grade 1 Knight of the Dunareff and a hero who saved the Saintess was enough to grant him anything he wished for.
“I know your lifelong objective. I know very well what it is that you are trying to accomplish through me.”
“…!”
Her eyes widened into circles – the abyssal serpent immediately flickered her eyes in a venomous light. There were quite a few people who were aware of her objective already. Almost everyone who remembered what happened 10 years ago knew it.
However, Korin was a commoner; he was just a citizen living inside the capital city.
If so, how could he possibly be aware of the wolf hunt that was being carried out in secret, away from even the eyes of the New Faith?
“…How much about it do you know?”
“I know everything. Way too well.”
He muttered with a rather dispirited look on his face, making her wonder why he was wearing such an expression.
“So, what do you want from me?” Asked Miruam.
“I can grant you anything except for one thing.”
She said without even trying to hide the passion in her voice.
In fact, she deemed it needless to hide it because he was her destined partner who would be helping her acquire her lifelong desire anyway. He was bound to find out, so she decided to be frank and instead inquire about his own wishes.
“What I want, huh…?”
Korin pondered to himself but not for long. Soon, with a bitter smile on his face, he turned back to the princess.
Unlike Miruam’s blood-red eyes, his red eyes sparkled like the sunset as he gazed into her eyes.
He said with a mischievous smile.
“Every week at the end of every mentoring session,”
Inside the room devoid of everyone else, his voice echoed clearly and reached her eyes.
“I want Your Highness, Princess Miruam Elizabeth El Rath,”
As if desperately trying to hold back the avenger who no longer put value in her own life,
“To look at me and… Actually, towards anything…”
Hoping that she would have a lingering attachment, more wishes, and an extension to her life.
“…Just give a smile. Show me a smile, and I think that would be enough.”
He ended with a bitter smile, reminiscing in both the past and the future, of the memories of his past regretful life which only he could remember.
“…”
Her lips ceased to move as if they were forced to a close.
The 2nd Princess of the Kingdom; the likely successor to the throne with the support of countless nobles, was telling her to share what he wanted.
She told him she would grant any of his wishes, only if it didn’t go against her one lifelong desire. Even if he wanted to rape her at this very moment, she would have gladly given herself to him.
And yet…
…A smile.
A smile?
Is he really asking for something so trivial?
“You…”
Is he mocking her? Is he looking down at her? What exactly are his intentions?
Hearing that simple and trivial request instead deterred her from accepting it. Her eyes turned cold and her voice even colder.
“How dare…”
Her spiteful eyes quivered from fury but without minding that a single bit, Korin simply re-stated his wish.
“A smile would be more than enough.”
“Asking for something so useless…!”
“Why do you think there’s no value in it? Value is always a subjective matter.”
“…”
Miruam calmed herself down and settled her thoughts.
Just like how she was so stubborn with her goals that others couldn’t understand it, it might be the case that her smile was that valuable to him, beyond what others could comprehend.
It was difficult to understand but Korin was so firm as if there was zero falsehood in his words.
“Is that… really all you need?”
“Of course.”
She felt like he was trying to deceive her, and mock her, but still decided to rationally listen to his trivial request.
-Flinch!
‘Wait.’
That was when she thought to herself.
How do you smile again?
It was nothing new – she used to smile a lot when scoffing and sneering at others. She often did that to the hateful dogs, but it felt nonsensical to give such a smile to the man in front of her.
-Flinch! Flinch!
But she still had to. If raising the corners of her lips a little could intertwine her fate with the one who would be fulfilling her goal, she could do it any day.
“Like… this?”
She said with an awkward smile on her face.
It was closer to a sneer than a bright smile, but her distorted lips were still in the category of a ‘smile’.
“Beautiful.”
“Uht…!?”
Miruam immediately scowled and removed the ‘smile’ from her face, but for some unknown reason, Korin remained looking at her with a wide smile of joy.
***
The room stayed silent for a very long time.
