The double life of a count’s bastard

Episode 17

“Academia…….”

Ever since Kevin’s stern warning, Russo has been thinking about the Academy Tour.

One reason.

To get a head start on the Academy’s up-and-coming talent.

There are six academies in the Krasler Empire.

The Capital Academy.

Northern Academy.

Central Academy.

Western Academy.

Eastern Academy.

Southern Academy.

Simply put, the Krasler Empire was divided into five parts, each with its academy and another in the capital.

The very purpose of the academies is to train talent, so they’re the perfect place for someone like Rousseau who needs to prepare for the future.

Each of the six academies has its distinctive features.

First, the Northern Academy, located closest to the Slater estate, is the most well-organized, with a system for training “warriors”.

Warriors are those who fight in the war, and the purpose of the Northern Academy was to focus on the training of those who would be needed for wars, both large and small, against the Orcs and other monsters that threatened the northern continent along the trunk of the Inkeran Mountains.

“The most prominent graduate of the Northern Academy is…… Berserker Kendrick!”

Kendrick was a monstrous human with the physique, strength, and stamina of an Orc, and a reputation for being a commoner.

His berserker nickname came from his relentless fighting style, where he never looked back, and he preferred to fight from the front.

“Was it at the Battle of Parema Plain, five years later, that I would hear Kendrick’s name?”

I remembered overhearing Aaron and Karon’s conversation in a dream, but I wasn’t sure, and even Rousseau couldn’t be sure.

Next up, is the Eastern Academy.

“The Eastern Academy is headed by Shilin!”

Shilin, the Blood Witch.

It would be a decade from now, but if you were to ask them to name the most famous wizard of the past decade, nine times out of ten they would name her.

The Eastern Academy specializes in training wizards, and Shilin, a grim alumna of the academy, is a mage who specializes in combat, earning her the grisly nickname “Blood Witch.

They are the ones who can make the difference between victory and defeat in any battle.

Among such battle mages, Shilin’s performance in large-scale battles was so overwhelming that Rousseau had to hang on to her by her skirts.

“They say she’s from a noble family, so she’s got a high nose…… I’ll know when I meet her. Who else is there in the South?”

The Southern Academy, the furthest removed from the North, is an institution that trains ‘mercenaries’.

Unfortunately, Rousseau couldn’t recall any famous people from the Southern Academy.

The Western Academy had.

“Brothers Cole and Karl.”

Brothers Cole and Karl, from the fallen nobility, would go on to become some of the best Rangers in the history of the Western Academy, due to the rugged, mountainous nature of the 70 percent of the western region.

When the orcs begin to cross the Inkeran Mountains in earnest, they run rampant through the northern regions as if they were their backyard.

Rumor has it that the lords of the North sent out countless offers to have the brothers by their side.

Naturally, Russo is coveted as well and is just as much of a must-have as Kendrick and Shilin.

“The Chubu Academy is a bit too early for me to make an immediate impact because it’s mostly up-and-comers, but if I’m thinking about the next 10 years and beyond, it’s the widest and richest pool of talent waiting in the wings.”

Central Academy.

It is as overwhelmingly populated by cadets as it is by facilities, boasting several times the size of any other academy.

It is here that the future of the Krasler Empire is practically shaped, and it is here that the bulk of the knights are trained.

The cadets are the youngest and the longest in training.

Even within the academy, the management of the cadets is strictly regulated, with very few outsiders allowed to interfere.

Nevertheless, those cadets who show promise are often sponsored by noblemen early on, and their futures are set.

Finally, the capital academy is…….

“This is the pass.”

Rousseau quickly dismissed the idea of a capital academy from his mind.

Of all the academies in the Krasler Empire, the Capital Academy is by far the most influential.

Though it was the smallest of the academies in terms of size and number of cadets, the reason it was the most influential was simple.

“No matter how talented you are, no matter how good you are, you’re not going to get anywhere in a playground of noble bastards.”

The Marquis of Keita’s third son, Kevin, was a graduate of the Capital Academy, as was Rousseau’s older brother, Aaron.

In other words, a commoner could never get in, and even if you were a nobleman, if you didn’t have the money and held a marginal title, you couldn’t easily cross the threshold.

Simply put, the academy was a social institution centered around the high-ranking nobles and provincial lords who ran the Krasler Empire.

For Rousseau, therefore, the academies were out of the question.

“Can we just go around the continent like this, starting in the north, then the east, then the south, then the west, then the center?”

That’s easy.

Right now, it would take eight days to travel from the Slater estate to the Northern Academy.

To get from the Northern Academy to the Eastern Academy again would take a month, even if you were in a hurry.

And then you’ve got the South, West, and Central. …….

“A year will fly by.”

Rousseau chuckled at the thought of being away from home for at least a year.

“It’s a long trip…… but it’ll be fun.”

Russo had never left the northern region, not even in his dreams.

Was he 24 years old?

Dissatisfied with his northern confinement, Russo had planned to run away, but the orcs had crossed the Inkeran Mountains just in time to put his plans on hold.

He didn’t know it then.

Little did he know that the Slaters would quickly begin their downfall and that Rousseau would meet an untimely end, never making it out of the North.

“Slater…… you were our greatest enemy!”

Rousseau clenched his fists as he recalled the shadow of the massive two-handed sword that had suddenly appeared before him.

The first Orc King.

Just thinking about the man who had brought hundreds of Orcs to their knees through sheer strength alone made Rousseau’s entire body tingle.

In human terms, the Orc King was a seventh-ranked knight, far beyond the abilities of a Master, so he was someone Rousseau would never dare to touch.

Nevertheless, Rousseau was already looking forward to the reunion with the Orc King.

“When we meet again…… then, I’ll snap you in half! I promise!”

* * *

“So you want me to do some research on them?”

“In detail, not vaguely. I hear you’re capable of finding out what kind of underwear they were wearing when?”

At Rousseau’s question, the ratlike middle-aged man smiled brightly, but it was a laugh that seemed to be both savage and unyielding.

“Hehehehehe. I can even find out what you were wearing and what you were doing a week ago if you want me to, amigo!”

From their appearance to their tone, they looked like humans who lived their lives with a wall of trust, but Rousseau knew what they were capable of.

The best information guild on the continent.

Although the term “intelligence guild” is quite deceptive, in reality, their main business is thievery, and on the side, they do thorough background checks on certain people for money.

“Information King Lei.

Lei, the Information King, started stealing at the age of six and gathered a group of thieves together to establish an information guild that spread across the continent.

He has become a tycoon of tycoons, with more influence than even the highest nobles and provincial lords, but unfortunately, even in Rousseau’s 10-year vision, his identity was never revealed.

Since nothing was known about him, not even his age, let alone his gender, and he had the nerve to ignore the emperor’s request to see him, even Rousseau wondered who he was.

“By the way, I heard that Lei is an old bachelor who hasn’t gotten married, so why is he living without a wife while making so much money, and how many lovers does he have hidden away?”

“If you’re talking about the Guild Leader, he already has five children, and what do you mean by lovers, he’s not as pure as our Guild Leader, and if you’re talking about our Guild Leader, he’s been stealing bread since he was caught stealing bread at the age of four and was labeled as a bread thief in the neighborhood…….”

Coming from the mouth of a middle-aged man who looked like a rat, the story of Information King Lei sounded like a hero’s epic that would be remembered as a continental legend.

“They say he was caught stealing at the age of six, and some say he’s a wizard who couldn’t even get off a bachelor’s scar…….”

“Dude, a virgin wizard, that’s impossible if you’re going to say that as a guild master, I’m going to say it as the continent’s greatest flirt…….”

The longer the rat-like middle-aged man spoke, the more Rousseau’s expression twisted into a grimace.

“You don’t make any sense, you’re writing a novel!

Just to be sure, he was making up information about Lei the Information King.

When Rousseau realized he could hear no more, he rose to his feet.

“One month. I’ll get the answer to my request within that time, right?”

Clang!

I tossed the money bag on the table and the rat-like middle-aged man snatched it out of my hand.

“One month is enough, I won’t let you down!”

It was a blatant ploy, but it was their way of doing business, and Rousseau turned away without a second thought.

“Then take a look inside!”

And with that, Rousseau was out of the building, and Linx, a middle-aged man who had worn his trademark lecherous, unyielding grin the entire time, turned and looked at the paper in his hand.

“Kendrick, Shirin, Cole, Cal…….”

Cadets from the Northern, Eastern, and Western Academies, respectively.

The other three were names he had never heard of, but there was one name that even Linx from the North had heard a few times.

“Since they’re behind the Eastern Academy’s genius magical girl, Shilin……, is Count Slater trying to recruit them specially?”

Linx immediately shook his head.

If that was the case, it should have been Karon, the Count’s heir, or his second son, Aaron, rather than the Count’s idiot.

“I was surprised that he made a deal with Hans, but Shirin?”

As the best information guild on the continent, Rinx even knew that Russo had signed a contract with Hans.

“Hmph…….”

Stroking his chin, Linx frowned.

“I’m getting a little suspicious of Slater’s asshole. I can smell it from the fact that he’s been through the Inkeran Mountains all by himself and without a care in the world!”

Until now, Rousseau had been a man the Information Guild hadn’t paid much attention to, even though he wore the Slater surname.

He was just a mindless wretch living off his family’s power.

That changed.

“Something seems to have changed since the fever, though…….”

The question is, is there anything special yet?

As he pondered whether he should raise his interest rating on Rousseau, Linx shook his head and decided it was too early to tell.

“Not yet,” he says, “and if he’s different, he’ll make his mark sooner or later!”

Anticipating a succession battle, something the Slaters had never had before, Linx decided that it would be worth it to go and check on Russo then.

Later, as the head of the Northern Branch of the Information Guild, he regretted his decision.

* * *

The reason Russo had the Guild do background checks on Kendrick, Shelyn, Cole, and the Karl brothers was to make their recruitment a little easier.

“If I just walked up to them, not knowing anything about them, and said, ‘Join me!

Even Rousseau himself would have called you a lunatic and turned his back on you.

To avoid this, you need to learn as much as you can about your opponent and find a way to poke holes in them.

“If I had my way, I’d also purchase a list of cadets from each of the local academies that the Intelligence Guild has its eye on.”

Unfortunately for Russo, he couldn’t ask for that, as it would raise too much suspicion.

“It’s hard enough with the people we need to recruit right now, so we should focus on that.”

Rousseau decided to focus on the people he had in mind because regrets can lead to mistakes.

“By the way, …… how long am I going to have to carry this tail?”

Rousseau frowned as he looked at the knights following behind him.

They were knights of the House of Slater, assigned by Count Slater to keep a special watch in case he got into trouble.

He’d managed to get them to stay away from the Intelligence Guild by bugging them not to follow him inside, but it still irritated Rousseau to have them watching him so closely from morning to night.

“I’d jump into a fire if my father ordered me to,” said Count Slater to Rousseau, “but it’s so tight!”

Rousseau was forced to move around with his tail between his legs until Count Slater gave the order to ‘release Rousseau from surveillance’.

Rousseau hadn’t practiced at night for several days, and his body was getting tired.

“I’m stiff because I don’t use my body. This is why I’m afraid of habits…….”

Russo’s eyes sparkled as he muttered.

“If I do this right, I’ll warm up.”

One corner of his mouth quirked up, and he began to walk briskly.