Chapter 58

The day after Allen cleared Godolphin's assignment, after school.

Jewel Revenance got into the magic car with the Revenance family crest, as usual, parked at the school gate.

It was a sleek sedan, smaller than the flashy open car she used when she went to the capital's armory with her classmates the other day.

"Sebastian, today's schedule?"

"As you wish."

Jewel is busy.

Incredibly busy.

The biggest reason for this is, of course, the high-level classes at the Royal Academy.

The Revenance family, one of only nine marquis families in the kingdom.

The pressure on the shoulders of the girl who, after 120 years, has managed to enter the Royal Academy's A Class from this prestigious direct line is not ordinary.

Incidentally, the last A Class graduate was four generations before Jewel, going back to her great-great-grandmother.

During this period, including Jewel's siblings, over 20 people from four generations have attempted the Royal Academy entrance exam, but only three, including Jewel, have passed.

Even so, in an exam where the number of people who come to take the test on the day exceeds a hundred-to-one, this result can be considered a remarkable pass rate for a prestigious marquis family.

It is that difficult to excel in academics, practical skills, and magic power all at once.

When it comes to a family like the Revenances, they naturally have numerous vassals.

There are countless cities within their territory to manage, a private knight order, a noble school, and many other institutions that need to be maintained, which the Revenance family alone cannot handle.

Of course, they also have over a thousand noble families under their influence as vassals.

And below them, there are countless citizens who have received a certain level of education.

All of them celebrated Jewel's admission to the A Class.

The significance of producing an A Class graduate from the main branch of the Revenance family, the leader of the faction, is enormous in the Kingdom of Ygreria.

Naturally, dropping to a lower class upon promotion is absolutely unacceptable.

Jewel's academic and practical progress is strictly managed by the Revenance family's top-notch tutors.

So far, there have been no issues, but if her grades drop even slightly, her school life, which is currently given a certain degree of autonomy, will be strictly controlled.

No matter how busy she is, Jewel cannot afford to let her grades slip.

"First, please attend the meeting of the Revenance Capital Youth Association and make your greetings.

After a brief greeting, you will attend the completion ceremony of the 7th Capital Bridge, which is being managed by the Grastor Duke family.

Next, many vassals have requested to meet you to hear about the current state of the academy, especially the A Class, directly from you. We have reached a limit in declining these requests due to your busy schedule, so we have arranged for multiple meetings to be held simultaneously. Today, you will have dinner with three marquis families and one influential viscount family. Your husband will join later, and you are to discuss 'his' information after he arrives. The content of the discussion is left to you. The heads of the families you will meet are all known to you, but I have compiled a list for your reference."

Jewel flipped through the thick document.

According to the document, over 100 dinners with noble families are scheduled for the next three months, roughly three times a week.

Even Jewel, who is used to such a schedule, felt weary, but she swallowed her complaints, considering the effort Sebastian had put into planning this.

The order, the consideration of factions, and the choice of venues—all these factors were meticulously arranged to minimize complaints from any party. The effort required to achieve this is unimaginable.

If Sebastian were to see Japanese couples struggling with the seating arrangements for their wedding, he would probably laugh at them.

"Thank you for your hard work. This is a period when information exchange becomes more active after the Royal Academy entrance exams. Moreover, everyone is desperately trying to gather information on Allen."

Jewel thought of the sudden appearance of that mysterious classmate and chuckled.

She wondered why she was so concerned about that plain-faced boy.

When they went shopping in the capital the other day, he was wearing clothes that looked like a "country bumpkin" in the city, to put it bluntly, extremely unfashionable.

And when he introduced himself as "Pork," he had a look on his face that seemed to say, "I fooled you," and left the scene, leaving the deputy branch manager speechless.

She had always been surrounded by handsome young men, but she had never been interested in them as a potential romantic interest.

She had always evaluated them from the perspective of the prestigious Revenance marquis family, considering whether they had any value and, if so, how to interact with them.

Of course, her feelings towards this boy were not romantic interest. Especially as someone who carries the weight of the Revenance marquis territory, the idea of love is out of the question.

However, if she were not in the position of the Revenance family, she would probably be more concerned about him as an excellent classmate.

As Fei had said, "Allen seems to live in a different dimension," and it was his detached worldview that intrigued her.

"Even the Revenance intelligence department, which thoroughly investigates potential classmates, had no information on him. It's quite embarrassing."

Sebastian said with a bitter expression.

Sebastian, originally from a branch of the Revenance family, was an excellent man who had been the head of the intelligence department before becoming a butler. He was appointed as Jewel's butler to support her both openly and behind the scenes when it was determined that her magic organ was complete and her admission to the A Class was almost certain.

"Even the Dragoon family, which is a vassal of the Lovene viscount, had only minimal information suggesting a possibility of passing the E Class. It's understandable. The panic in the intelligence departments of the various royal and noble families on the day of the announcement was pitiful."

Jewel laughed, and Sebastian smiled wryly.

"He is a headache for the intelligence department...

Today, I have two pieces of information about him. One is about his explorer activities. The small mutual aid group 'Apple House' that he joined seems to be gradually gaining a good reputation. It appears that a recent member, 'Rogue Dog Ren,' who looks gentle but is quite mischievous, has gained influence among the delinquents at the capital's eastern branch office, forming a small force. While we haven't confirmed that 'Rogue Dog Ren' is him, the name and the timing of his joining, among other information, suggest it is almost certainly him."

Jewel tilted her head at this report.

"Rogue Dog? That doesn't match Allen's usual impression. Is it just another whim of his?"

"The intelligence department is still unsure about this.

The other piece of information is hard to believe, but it is said that 'Buddha Godolphin' gave him a long-term, difficult assignment, and when he was told he had failed, they got into a physical fight, and Godolphin was thoroughly defeated and had to apologize, then changed the result to a pass. Do you have any idea about the assignment?"

Jewel chuckled at this report.

"...No, I don't. But it seems unlikely to be true. Not only is the content far-fetched, but it's also strange that such information would leak now, given the current attention he's receiving."

Lately, information about Allen has been flying around, much of it false, causing fatigue in the intelligence departments of the various families.

"I initially thought the same, but tracing the sources led to multiple teachers at the Royal Academy... It has to be considered highly credible. The only explanation is that Godolphin imposed a gag order until the assignment was completed, but then deliberately leaked the information. It's hard to imagine that he leaked it by accident. Do you have any idea?"

Jewel was speechless.

Sebastian's eyes were almost certain that the information was correct.

To be honest, Godolphin had not imposed a gag order from the beginning.

Allen had thought that putting pressure on his classmates with his assignment was not right, so he kept quiet.

The prestigious teachers at the Royal Academy had enough sense not to leak students' personal assignments outside the school, but they could not keep quiet about the shocking conclusion.

Jewel quickly reviewed the information in her mind.

"...It must be related to the Slope Club... All the activities we participated in were voluntary, so I don't understand how they became assignments with pass/fail results...

The club, with its strange name, seemed to be run on a whim, but its completeness as a talent development organization is remarkable. The different training methods of the three vice-presidents and the bizarre experiments we found interesting, like the manager role, must have had deeper meanings."

Jewel smiled happily.

She was delighted that Allen, as always, was surpassing her expectations, which had always been high.

"If it's true, his value could skyrocket beyond imagination. Until now, the only confirmed fact about him was that he was a boy with outstanding talent in body-strengthening magic, unknown to everyone. But his organizational skills, talent development skills learned from Zold, and the courage and intelligence to face off with Godolphin at just 12 years old... Even the upper nobility, who have been observing him, will have to take action, and it wouldn't be surprising if the royal family itself were to make a move."

Hearing this, Jewel felt a complex mix of emotions.

She was genuinely happy that the person she had recognized at first glance was emerging into the world faster than she had expected.

On the other hand, she felt a sense of unease that he might go beyond her reach, and even a desire to hide him away in a castle in the mountains, known only to her—

Thinking this far, Jewel chuckled.

For me to feel possessive...

It's as if I'm in love with him.

Seeing her unusual change in expression, Sebastian smiled wryly and continued.

"Ahem. After the dinner, you are scheduled to train in sacred magic at the cathedral. Doolittle, the archbishop, will be your instructor today."

Hearing this, Jewel's mood sank.