Adolf 1

Two thousand gold coins sounded like a lot, and they were heavy to carry—a whole large sack. For the Leo Territory of old, this would have been an extremely considerable fortune. But here, in prosperous Maruya, Anglie could already feel that it was not enough.

"Looks like Aunt Maria's words weren't without reason." Anglie murmured. Holding the course list, he scanned it from top to bottom again. His brows furrowed slightly. None of these were what he wanted.

Yet the line at the very bottom of the information sheet caught his attention.

'Alliance Academy recommended admission slots will begin assessment at the end of September. Those who pass three or more subjects may obtain guaranteed admission.'

"Pass three or more subjects?" Anglie narrowed his eyes and swept his gaze over all the courses above once more.

"Then swordsmanship, archery, and languages. Those are the three I'm best at. I can use the Chip to learn languages quickly." Having decided on his courses, Anglie put away the information sheet.

The stairwell outside remained noisy, with faint laughter and conversation drifting in.

Anglie took out his favorite black hunting outfit from his luggage and changed into it. After checking the things he had brought and tidying up, he opened the door and went out.

Outside, groups of young men and women had gathered into little circles. The discussions he occasionally caught were about anecdotes concerning various academy instructors, amusing stories about famous students, or what kinds of jewelry, perfume, and clothes had recently arrived at Maruya Port.

Walking down the corridor, Anglie felt somewhat out of place amid the atmosphere around him. "I just came from the war-torn grasslands. This place is far too peaceful and comfortable. It really is a little hard to get used to." He adjusted his mood again. This was only a temporary foothold for him. He had no intention of taking the initiative to socialize with the noble children and wealthy merchants' children around him.

After leaving the dormitory building, he glanced at the course schedule posted on the outer wall. He found the locations and times for swordsmanship, archery, and language classes, recorded them, then went around the white building and crossed the grass toward the academy district behind it.

Behind it stood another row of white buildings. Anglie headed directly toward the most crowded place. That was the academy dining hall, where they served white bread, grape wine, all kinds of fish soup, stir-fried clam meat, and more.

The entire dormitory building was very quiet. Anglie walked through the stairwell, passing several students coming toward him. They were all plainly dressed, likely children of small merchants. In the entire academy, aside from the rare nobles like Anglie, only students like these were so diligent.

After leaving the dormitory building, the sky outside was still dim and gloomy. The lawn was empty, with hardly a person in sight. Only the clear birdsong from the woods rang out. A cold wind blew over, carrying a faint chill.

"The first class is Lord Adolf's linguistics course, in Building Nineteen, Room Thirty..." Anglie drew up the course location recorded by the Chip. Following the black building numbers, he quickly found Building Nineteen.

It was a three-story building standing alone at the very back of the academy. Each floor had only five rooms side by side. A sign stood on the grass outside, bearing three letters in Rudin script and two other languages he did not recognize: Linguistics.

The letters were written in a wild, soaring hand, carrying the flavor of the calligraphers from Anglie's former life on Earth.

A wooden fence encircled the small building, with an empty patch of grass between the fence and the building. A young, delicate-looking girl sat yawning at a mahogany desk. A wooden sign on the desk read: Fee Registration.

There was no one else around at the moment. Only Anglie stood outside the fenced gate.

The girl wore a red outer garment. Seeing Anglie outside, she asked with a yawn, "Are you here to register for linguistics?"

"Yes. Can I register now?" Anglie walked in and took out his High-Gold Card.

"You can. Are you a new student this year?" the girl asked. "You actually don't recognize me."

Anglie nodded honestly. "I enrolled yesterday." He handed over the golden High-Gold Card, watching her write down his card number and personal information, then add a note beside it deducting twenty gold coins. He took back the card and carefully put it away.

The girl looked Anglie up and down. "There aren't many full students who come this early. I'm Sophia, daughter of the linguistics instructor Adolf Rensol. You can call me Senior Sophia. All right, you can go in now. Father is already inside."

Anglie barely had a chance to speak. She clearly did not want to say much to him, so he could only nod, turn, and walk into the small building.

The grayish-white building had a stairwell on the right that led straight from the first to the third floor. Anglie went directly to the third floor and walked to the last room. The creamy white doorplate bore the number 304. The wooden door was half-open. When Anglie entered, an old man with graying hair sat beside the lectern, absorbed in reading a book made of leather scrolls. Hearing footsteps, the old man turned and glanced at Anglie. He said nothing, merely scrutinizing him briefly before withdrawing his gaze.

"He looks like the scholarly type with highly regular habits," Anglie judged inwardly.

He casually chose a seat near the front and sat down, waiting for class to begin.

About half an hour later, students gradually began entering the classroom. They all looked sleepy. Once there were around a dozen people in the room, the old man put away his scroll book and rose from his seat.

"I am Adolf. At the academy's invitation, I have come to teach linguistics. Perhaps not many of you know me, and perhaps some of you do. But from now on, let us act as though we are strangers. I teach and get paid; you attend class and pay. That is all. Any objections?" The old man's voice carried a stern, rigid quality.

"We all understand Lord Adolf's rules. Please begin, my lord." A girl with excessively pale skin seated in the front row nodded.

"Then class begins now." Adolf was crisp and direct, getting straight to the point. "This time, I will teach the common language of one of Andes' neighboring nations, the Bolun Kingdom—Bolunian. As well as Angmarian, the language of the Holy Angmar Empire. Angmarian in particular is not only used here; even in the distant royal capital and many other regions, it can be considered a common language. It is a very important language."

Sitting below, Anglie watched Adolf and silently recited, "Zero, begin analyzing and organizing the language data."

"Task established. Organizing and recording in progress."

Though there were only a little over ten students, Adolf taught with meticulous seriousness. He explained the basic composition, developmental history, and fundamental letters of both languages. Time quickly passed. Two classes went by in a flash. "In two days, I will have another advanced course. You may choose whether or not to attend," Adolf said sternly, picked up his scroll book, and left the classroom.

Next came swordsmanship and archery. As Anglie had expected, these two courses posed virtually no challenge to him. They merely gave him an opportunity to review and practice. After attending once and hearing what the instructors taught, he knew there was no need for him to continue learning. Their content was not as practical as the material recorded at the castle. Most of it was flashy but impractical—beautiful to look at, graceful in movement, but far inferior in actual combat. Whether it was Knight Audis' swordsmanship or his father's, both had already surpassed the basic concepts taught by these instructors.

Still, seeing that the two instructors merely possessed the physical qualities of ordinary newly advanced Knights, Anglie felt somewhat relieved. "After all, Knight Level is considered elite. It isn't a level you can see everywhere."

Using the Chip, Anglie made a circuit around the academy and discovered speechlessly that the strongest person here was an instructor whose physical qualities were only around the middle tier of Knight Level. Most others were ordinary people, merely a little stronger physically than people from Earth. Even students with the physical qualities of Apprentice Knights were a minority. Physical qualities alone eliminated so many people, not to mention practical combat experience and awareness. Most academy students were flowers raised in greenhouses. The main rhythm of their lives was not battle and slaughter, but ornate swordsmanship, fashionable clothing and jewelry, amusing tales and anecdotes, and the like.

"This is just a place for so-called nobles and wealthy people to gild themselves." Anglie finally reached that conclusion. "No wonder money alone can get you in."

For more than ten consecutive days, Anglie repeated the same three-point routine of classroom, dining hall, and dormitory.

He had thoroughly mastered Instructor Adolf's two languages after attending only three classes, six lessons in all. It had cost him sixty gold coins. Because he performed well in class and answered questions appropriately and fluently, Adolf had formed a favorable impression of this very intelligent student.

"All right, that concludes today's lesson. If you have any questions, you may come up and ask me." Adolf cleared his throat.

Only six people remained in the classroom. Anglie still sat at the very front, upright and proper. He was the most attentive student in the entire classroom. Hearing Adolf's words, he quickly raised his hand. "Instructor, I have a question. Aside from Angmarian and Bolunian, do you teach any other languages?" He had investigated beforehand. Adolf himself was proficient in more than ten languages and was the most prestigious language master in all of Maruya Port. Within academic circles, he was second to none.

"Other languages?" Adolf frowned. "Anglie, do you think these two languages are not enough?"

"Well..." Anglie was just about to speak when the other students also stood and went up to ask questions.

Adolf was surrounded by several students. Their questions were all extremely basic, and after only a few words, they would steer the conversation toward their family backgrounds. They clearly intended to establish connections with Adolf.

Anglie shook his head speechlessly and simply remained seated in the classroom, waiting.

After Old Adolf dealt impatiently with several students, he saw that the other students had all left, yet Anglie was still sitting in the classroom. "Is there anything else? Anglie." He had a good impression of this student, who had performed well, and remembered his name. "You have not fully mastered these two languages yet. Do not be greedy for too much at once."

"Instructor, what are the standards for the linguistics assessment to enter Andes Alliance Academy?" Anglie stood and asked.

"Linguistics? You want to enter Alliance Academy?" Adolf narrowed his eyes and began carefully sizing up the student before him. "And what do you want to do at Alliance Academy? It is nothing more than another, better place to gild yourself."

Anglie was about to answer. "Warning! Warning! Target is emitting an unknown force field and attempting to probe the host's brainwave state." Zero's mechanical voice suddenly sounded.

Damn!