Chapter 10: The School of the Doomed (5) | The Hundred Reigns
Mr. Adrissant was late.
Simon found that quite unusual. He had been attending the Tribal Studies course for nearly three weeks now and the teacher always arrived on time—something that couldn't be said about many people among the faculty. Simon had been obsessively checking the door for over fifteen minutes, expecting Mr. Adrissant to come in anytime now.
Two surprising guests showed up in his stead.
"Disappointed?" Anna teased him as she walked up to Simon with Tiella in tow. The princess carried a small newspaper in her hands. "Were you expecting someone else?"
"I'm always happy to see you, Anna," Simon replied warmly as she and Tiella sat next to him. "I'm just surprised. I thought you didn't take this course?"
"I don't follow this course, but I figured I should check for myself what was so interesting about it that you would never miss a class. That and I wanted to ask about that handsome blonde guy you've been hanging out with lately."
"Casval?" Simon raised an eyebrow. He knew the two of them had spent the last week or so together to study the Kish now and then, but he didn't think others would have noticed. "Handsome?"
"Well, he's more handsome than you, but only because you don't dress well." Anna stroked her chin and pretended to study Simon. "What do you say, Tiella? Would you prefer him naked or in a uniform?"
"Anna!" Tiella's cheeks flushed red. "That isn't funny!"
"Ignore her," Simon replied. He had spent enough time around Anna to not let her teasing get through to him. "The woman feeds on shame."
"Nonsense, I only feed on embarrassment." Anna smiled upon spotting Casval entering the room. "Ah, here's Simon's boyfriend."
"I would know if I was, Your Highness," Casval replied with absolute calm and nerve, which only pleased Anna further. The young man walked to Simon's side. "May I?"
"Of course," Simon replied while doing his best to ignore the leers Anna and Tiella sent Casval. Was he really that handsome? "Unfortunately, the teacher's late."
"I've heard the teachers are holding a faculty meeting," Casval replied. "To discuss a letter from the capital or something."
"Doesn't surprise me." Anna tossed Simon her newspaper. "Check for yourself."
Simon did so. The Empire's Voice was the imperial heartland's main newspaper—since authorities tightly censored all information—and generally reported government-approved weekly news across the land. His brow furrowed as he browsed the title.
Is Ser Richard of Lore the new Paladin?
Renewed calls for the Linconnu families to come forward to settle their inheritance.
Empire in mourning after the death of Patriate Malphas, our beloved Treasurer.
"Patriate's dead?" Simon immediately checked the appropriate article, paling as he did. "His daughter Elaine, too?"
"She was supposed to attend this year," Anna confirmed with some sorrow. "A shame. She was around our age."
The article said Patriate and his daughter died of natural causes, but only fools would believe that. Simon could only think of one explanation: the knives had left their sheaths and factions at the palace had begun to take each other out.
While Patriate himself was only a baron, his sisters had married Duke Berith and Duke Eligos, both of whom belonged to Louis' War Party. They were sure to retaliate against whoever struck down their kin.
Thank the Light Simon moved away from that mess. What happened to Patriate and his daughter was sad, but better them than him.
"I wanted to introduce you to Louis' fiancée, but she's gone too. She left the city without a word a few days ago." Anna stared straight into Simon's eyes. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
Simon bristled upon setting the newspaper aside. "Why would I?"
"Father was recalled to the capital around the time you left, and he hasn't sent me a letter since." Anna leaned closer to him. "Come on, you shouldn't keep secrets from your beloved honorary cousin."
Casval thankfully came to Simon's rescue. "The only secret we're working to uncover is that of the Kish treasure, Your Highness."
"Treasure?" A spark of interest glinted in Anna's gaze. "Simon, what have you been keeping from us?"
"It's just a rumor," Simon replied. He didn't particularly want Anna to put her nose into his affairs. Better to stay evasive–
"We're investigating the ancient treasure of the Kish Empire and their palace to the east," Casval said. "Would Your Highness be interested in joining us on our quest?"
Damn it, Casval!
"A treasure hunt, now that's interesting," Anna said with a wide grin. "How about we discuss it tonight at my place? We can hold a study session and then talk about treasures all night long."
Simon sent Casval a silent glare, who pretended not to notice. Did he have any idea what he had done? Anna couldn't hold her tongue to save her life!
This class couldn't start any sooner.
Unfortunately, the wait stretched on for several minutes until the noise of a commotion erupted outside the classroom. Simon was about to check it out when a most unwelcome lot entered the classroom.
"What did I tell you, Anna?" Thalas said, glaring at a shocked Simon. The prince's posse had grown to include his fiancée, half a dozen dukes' sons, and other noble opportunists. "You deserve better than hanging out with trash."
"Thalas?" Anna asked, taken aback. "Don't tell me that this course struck your fancy, too?"
Thalas let out a bellowing laugh. "Why would I care about the lives of human animals?" he sneered at Simon in disdain. "I just came to personally inform the bastard, out of the kindness of my heart, that this course has been indefinitely suspended by order of High Confessor Mastemo."
"What?" Simon blinked in shock. "Why?!"
"The study of the Tribes has been folded into the Divine Mystery course so that students can receive an education fitting the tenets of the Light. My mother, the Empress, found this academy's lack of faith most concerning and decided we should reignite it in our youth's hearts."
Simon scowled in annoyance. Did Thalas pull strings to cancel the course simply because his hated half-brother attended it? While Simon knew Thalas might be petty enough to do that, the order apparently came from High Confessor Mastemo, and he wasn't the kind to bend to a prince's caprice.
It was more likely that the academy's leadership had folded to the Church Party and let them take over. That didn't bode well, both for Simon's investigation into the Kish and his personal safety. Dassein ruled the city and was a War Party supporter; he couldn't take this challenge lying down. The crossfire would be something to behold.
No wonder Louis' fiancée was gone. He had likely recalled her for her own safety now that Euphemia was taking steps to secure the Academy for herself.
Simon cursed his rotten luck. He had traveled countless miles from the capital to escape his home's politics, only to have them catch up to him.
The day had already started badly enough, and now Thalas decided to worsen it by putting salt in his half-brother's wounds. "I am disappointed by the company you keep, Anna," he said. "I've heard you insisted on keeping the bastard's room next to yours."
She did?
"What does it matter, Thalas?" Anna replied without denying it. "He's family too."
The scowl on the prince's face grew dark with cold fury. "Family?" he all but spat the word. "His peasant mother's only grace was that she was pretty enough for our father to rape."
Simon had grown so used to his half-brother's mockery that most of them slid off him like water on a rock… but that lie, that calumny which had pursued all of his life, was the exception. His blood boiled in his veins, and he glared at Thalas with all the hatred that the princeling inspired in his heart. Tiella sank into her chair, trying hard not to be noticed, while Casval watched the scene with an unreadable expression. Only Anna appeared as outraged as Simon.
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"Thalas, apologize immediately," Anna said coldly.
"For what, saying the truth?" Thalas' smile had all the sweetness of rancid butter. "Besides, it must have been the only noteworthy day in her life. The bastard should thank me for keeping the memory of her alive."
Some members of his posse laughed despite there being nothing funny about his words, because the wise and the ambitious always found princes witty. Anna was gritting her teeth in cold fury so hard that Simon could hear them from his seat. He could have fallen in love with her on the spot for that gesture alone.
Every fiber of his being demanded that he punch Thalas in the face, break his nose, and make him pay for his words. Yet not only did Simon know he was more likely to break his hand than inflict any damage on Thalas, he could tell the prince wanted him to do so. He was baiting Simon to try his luck and fail so he could demolish him in return and impress his posse.
So he used a deadlier weapon instead; the truth.
"Every time I look at you," Simon said coldly, "I remember why Father didn't choose you."
That hurt him more than any punch, mostly because he knew Simon was right. Thalas froze, first in shock, then in impotent rage. His posse continued to laugh for a while until they noticed his shaking hands, at which point they began to nervously shut up.
"What did you say, bastard?" Thalas asked with a dangerous tone, trying to intimidate his half-brother into silence. It might have worked if he hadn't just insulted Simon's mother and her honor.
"You disappointed him the moment you emerged from the empress' thighs without her third eye and summoning power," Simon replied. "You have none of Louis' talent, Lauriane's intellect, Dassein's valor, or even Norbelle's affinity for magic. Maybe if you had an ounce of their skills, then he would have chosen you as his successor instead of a stranger."
Simon's back hit stone in the blink of an eye.
He couldn't see Thalas move, even if he had expected him to. He pulverized the desks on his way to Simon, with Casval barely ducking out of the way and a screaming Tiella being thrown back at Anna. Thalas' hand seized Simon's throat and slammed him against the wall in front of all the shocked students so hard the stone cracked. His grip was shaking with hatred.
"Thalas!" Anna shouted as she helped a shocked Tiella back to her feet, her body surging with mana as her clothes transformed into her Lord Class outfit. A light blue silver armor consisting of a breastplate, gauntlets, and greaves appeared, alongside a small red cloak. "Enough!"
Thalas ignored her, his gaze glaring at Simon alone. "No one can do anything if I decide to kill you here and now, bastard." And he meant it too. "No one can stop me, and no one can avenge you."
He was right, but that only infuriated Simon further. He wanted nothing more than to transform into the Overlord, to let this spoiled princeling see for himself how little his Father considered him, to smash his morning star into his stupid face… and he would have done so had he been a less cautious man.
Simon had other means of pressure, however, and he had already seen Thalas fold before.
"Do that and the truth comes out within the hour for all the empire to hear," Simon said.
Thalas winced as if he had been slapped in the face.
"What did you think? That I wouldn't prepare for the day you came for me? You, who has wanted me dead just for existing for years?" Well, Simon didn't actually prepare anything since part of him knew he would go back in time, but he had considered it. "So I have taken precautions. Kill me, and our family's dirty little secret gets out."
"What secret?" Someone in Thalas' posse asked unwisely.
"You wouldn't dare," Thalas replied, his confidence shaken. The Overlord's demise and the loss of his Class was still a carefully kept information that no one at court wanted to get out. "You'll be dead within the day!"
"Read my lips, asshole." Simon leaned closer, his forehead touching that of his loathed half-brother. "I hate you enough to."
And when Thalas met his gaze, he knew it was no empty bluff.
"Enough!" Anna shouted, with a rapier of light and mana materializing in her hand. "Thalas, release him now! Now!"
Thalas glared at her, but he chickened out like in the last loop. His hand released its grip on Simon's throat and let him gasp for air.
He considered the pain a small price to pay for victory.
"If you are still in this school by the morning, bastard, then I'll have you hanged," Thalas stated angrily before storming off with his sycophants in tow to lick his wounds. What a coward he turned out to be when things didn't turn out his way.
"Are you insane?!" Anna snapped at Simon the moment Thalas left. "Do you want to die?! He can and will kill you!"
Simon had expected more support and held his ground. "What, I should have let him insult my mother in public? How would you have reacted if he had done the same with yours?"
"No, but…" Anna seemed torn between tearing him a new one for the risk he had taken and agreeing with him for standing up for his mother's honor. "I'll smooth things over, but don't you dare try that again! Tiella, come with me."
"Y-yes," Tiella replied meekly as she followed Anna out of the room. Only the Tribal Studies students remained, all of them looking at Simon in uneasy silence.
"Get lost, class is cancelled," Simon told them. They took the memo and left, with the noticeable exception of Casval. "You're still here?"
"Something bothers me about His Highness," Casval said. "Is his name Thalas, or Thal-Ass?"
Simon couldn't help but chuckle at his moxie. It was dangerous to mock a prince, even in private. "Both are appropriate," he replied with a sigh. "Seriously, Casval, you should leave. Thalas is not to be trifled with. Whatever you hope to gain by sticking to me, he will take it away."
"Noted." Casval didn't sound intimidated in the slightest. Did he understand the seriousness of the situation yet? "Are all of Magnos' children so unbearable?"
He didn't seem afraid to speak his mind, which was either naive or reckless. Simon took a deep breath. "Many of them are."
"I thought so." Casval studied Simon's face for a second. There was something strange about his gaze, but Simon couldn't put his finger on what. "You must hate them too."
Simon pondered the question. Did he hate his entire family? That was too strong a word. "Only some," he replied honestly. "Lauriane and Dassein are nothing like Thalas, and I don't have anything against Louis."
"I see." Casval nodded, his expression thoughtful. Simon couldn't quite explain it, but he sounded almost… disappointed for some reason. Had he been fishing for gossip? "Anyway, I hope we can hold that study session tonight once Her Highness Anna calms down. Her help would be precious."
"I don't think you're taking this argument as seriously as you should. A prince of blood threatened to kill me in public."
Casval shrugged his shoulders. "My sister nearly killed me once, and it has not stopped us from cooperating. Blood is blood."
There was something terribly wrong about this sentence, but Simon was too tired to argue. He left Casval and elected to return to his room for the rest of the day. Anna would forgive him for skipping the Divine Mystery class after this.
What was Thalas' problem? The princeling had wanted Simon dead ever since they met for a reason he could never fathom besides his birth with venomous passion. He was very much capable of following through with his threat to hang him tomorrow, though he would probably try to consult his mother first. Thalas never did anything the empress didn't approve of first.
Should Simon leave the academy? Thalas could easily make his life here unbearable for his half-brother, even with Anna in his corner, and the conflict between the imperial parties would no doubt spill over to this princedom, too. Leaving in fear of that bastard would leave a sore taste in Simon's mouth, but it wasn't like he could beat him in a fight…
…
He could defeat Thalas.
It suddenly hit Simon that he could, in fact, take revenge on Thalas. The Crimson Throne offered him the possibility on a silver platter. The ability to turn back time could let him gather both the information and levels required to humiliate the princeling or best him in a fight. The mere thought of smashing that asshole's face in with the Overlord's morning star sounded so sweet in his head.
He had told himself that the best revenge would be to live happily away from his family, but that was back when he lacked the tools to fight back; back when he didn't have the world's strongest Class in the palm of his hand.
He wasn't ready now. Maybe he wouldn't be in many years either. But he could be ready one day, and the possibility alone filled Simon's heart with hope.
I can become strong. Stronger than Thalas, or even Louis. I could leave him a bruise for every insult. Simon clenched his fist. He could sense the Overlord Class delight at that fantasy within him. The miasma it was born of fed on his spite and anticipation. It finds revenge more delectable than secrecy.
Ensuring his own safety would come first, but one day… one day he would give Thalas a taste of his own medicine.
Simon spent the rest of the day practicing his spells in his room, alone.
Although Meredith had shown him Dark Saber only once and focused on other weapon enchantments since, Simon was finding it relatively easy to reverse-engineer the spell. It simply involved channeling miasma into a weapon and turning it into solid darkness. The Overlord Class already did the first step for Simon, so he only had to practice on the second.
He could have sworn he had an easier time with this than yesterday. He had grown more in tune with the Overlord Class now that he had decided to use it to take revenge on Thalas one day. Simon guessed that the desire to crush and subjugate hated enemies was instilled within the Crimson Throne's very core.
He would have loved to say that other weapon enchantment spells came to him as easily. Cassandra was right, channeling miasma rather than mana meant he had a harder time learning conventional spells. Meredith had never said he was a slow learner during practice, but he could see her thoughts written all over her embarrassed face.
He didn't think he was entirely locked out of learning non-miasma spells, but the effort required felt less and less worth the result. It was like trying to outswim a mermaid. Sure, someone might be able to do it with intense training, but they would be better served working on their strengths rather than compensating for their weaknesses.
The strangest part was that the difficulties carried on even when Simon didn't put the Overlord Class's outfit on. Inheriting it had changed his natural mana affinity on a fundamental level. He wondered what that meant, should he ever get his hands on another Class' Crestone. He knew it was possible to wield multiple Classes at once, just difficult and suboptimal.
Simon heard a knock on the door and instantly dispelled his Overlord outfit. "Yes?"
"It's me!" Anna shouted from the other side. Simon moved to open it, with Anna storming in like a tornado. She at least lacked her Class outfit, which was likely a good sign. "Since when are you locking your door?!"
"Since Thalas threatened to kill me in public." Anna slapped Simon, albeit lightly. "Hey!"
"That's what you deserve for worrying me so much," Anna replied icily. "I've smoothed things over with Thalas, but don't you ever try that again. Ever ever."
She smoothed things over? How? Simon could tell that worry lurked beneath her anger, so he didn't argue or push the subject. "I'll try."
"Try hard, because he was this close to having inquisitors drag you from your room."
"Sorry." Simon wasn't sorry that he fought