"We’ll be working outside today."
The head custodian said it the sa way soone might comnt on the weather.
Casual.
Inevitable.
"What!?"
"Why!?"
"The academy is already huge! We spend all day cleaning and never finish, and there aren’t even that many of us!"
"That’s the spirit."
The chief cut them off without raising his voice.
"Our job is to clean."
He paused.
"Not to clean everything in twenty-four hours."
"When you understand that..."
"The work becos much lighter."
Haru smiled faintly.
He’d figured that out days ago.
Clean one area.
Rest.
Continue.
The secret wasn’t speed.
It was rhythm.
"Anyway," the chief continued, "it’s not exactly cleaning."
"We’re buying materials."
"Buying materials!?"
"A veteran blew up a corridor yesterday."
His gaze drifted toward Haru.
The expression of a man who knew exactly who had blown up that corridor.
"Technically, repairs should fall under whatever departnt that veteran belongs to."
He shrugged.
"But nobody knows what his actual assignnt is."
..
"Could’ve even been a freshman."
He looked at Haru again.
"But since we’re the cleaners..."
"We got chosen to fetch the supplies."
A wave of complaints followed.
The chief smiled.
Not his usual smile.
The kind that never appeared during working hours.
"And who said we can’t waste ti before that?"
Silence.
Then...
"HAHAHAHA!"
"What do you an!?"
"We can deliver the materials whenever."
He spread his arms dramatically.
"It’s urgent for today."
"Not urgent right now."
A grin spread across his face.
"Let’s take a walk."
"Let’s get a drink."
"HAHAHAHA!"
The custodians erupted with joy.
The kind of joy that explodes when soone finally says what everyone was already thinking.
Students across the courtyard stared.
"What happened to them...?"
"Let’s go."
The chief climbed aboard the wagon.
..
The horse’s na was Whisky.
That beca clear within the first thirty seconds.
Not because anyone introduced him.
Because the chief walked straight up to the horse and said with the familiarity of an old drinking buddy:
"Morning, Whisky. Sleep well?"
The horse snorted.
" too."
Six custodians climbed into the wagon.
Cleaning supplies stacked behind them.
The sky still gray with early morning clouds.
The chief grabbed the reins with one hand.
With the other, he uncorked a flask.
Took a drink.
Placed the reins between his knees.
Used both hands to close the flask.
Then grabbed the reins again.
Whisky started walking without being told.
"Does the horse know the route?" soone asked.
"Whisky knows everything."
The chief nodded solemnly.
"I drank with him last week."
"With the horse?"
"Soone had to keep company."
Silence.
The kind that cos from not knowing whether sothing is a joke.
Whisky turned left at a corner nobody pointed out.
The route was correct.
"And this academy..."
One of the freshn stared at the distant walls behind them.
"It belongs to us, right, Chief?"
The chief didn’t answer imdiately.
Instead, he drank.
"What?"
"The academy."
"The veterans say it’s theirs."
"The professors say it’s theirs."
"The nobles say it’s theirs."
...
"But who’s the one cleaning up the ss?"
The chief finally looked away from the road.
Turned toward them.
The wagon kept moving.
Whisky guided it alone as if he agreed with the conversation.
"Listen."
His voice changed.
Not a chief.
Not a drunk.
The voice of soone who truly believed what he was about to say.
"The veterans think the academy belongs to them."
"The professors think the academy belongs to them."
"The nobles think the academy belongs to them."
His eyes moved from one custodian to the next.
"But when everyone goes to sleep..."
"Who cleans up the ss?"
"WE DO!"
Silence.
Then sobody shouted:
"WE DO!"
Another:
"WE DO!"
The chief raised his flask like a trophy.
"EXACTLY!"
He took another drink.
"Now let’s visit a brothel."
"Every man needs a hobby."
Whisky accelerated.
...
Less than five minutes after the custodians’ wagon left through the service gate, another carriage entered through the academy’s main entrance.
The crest of House Genials decorated its door.
Several more wagons followed behind it.
Materials.
Crates.
Tools.
Components no servant could identify.
Genius peeked through the window.
The academy looked different from the inside.
Not from the perspective of a player.
Not from the perspective of a planner.
But from the perspective of soone living there.
Damn...
It’s huge.
He stepped out of the carriage.
The professor assigned to receive him was already waiting.
Perfect posture.
Serious expression.
The kind of person who didn’t need to force authority.
Because he already was authority.
"Welco to the Imperial Academy of Astraeus Eldrath, Lord Genials."
...
The eting was serious.
The kind where nobody smiled and every word carried weight.
Genius sat across a table that was probably older than his country of origin.
The director sat opposite him.
"So this is your proposal."
The director adjusted his glasses.
"Installation of an electrical lighting system."
"Sothing without precedent on this continent."
"Fully financed by House Genials."
He glanced down at the papers.
"And in exchange..."
His eyes returned to Genius.
"...priority access to the library and research laboratories."
"Correct."
"And the inventor wishes to remain anonymous."
"Correct."
"For how long?"
"Indefinitely."
The director placed his pen on the table.
Looked at Genius.
"Young man."
"You’re fifteen."
"Sixteen."
"I had my birthday last week."
"Sixteen."
The director sighed.
"You’re sixteen years old."
"You invented sothing called electricity."
"You’re installing this supposed electricity inside one of the oldest institutions in the Empire."
"You’re refusing public credit."
"And asking for access to the academy’s knowledge as paynt."
...
"What do you really want here?"
Genius remained silent.
For now?
A book.
History of Eldrath. It contains clues about the three Essences of the Kitsune Goddess, Yukihi. And where they might be hidden.The academy is full of Gars.
Soone else might already know. Soone else might already be looking. I need to find that clue.
Erase it.
Get ahead.Ahead of Haru specifically. Because if there is one person in this academy capable of reaching the sa conclusion before ...
"Knowledge, That’s all."
The director studied him for a long mont.
Then picked up his pen again.
"Approved."
...
The book wasn’t there.
Genius searched the shelves twice.
thodically.
Without rushing.
Starting with the cataloged volus.
Ending with the uncataloged ones.
Nothing.
He approached the receptionist.
A middle-aged woman wearing glasses and the expression of soone who knew exactly where every book in the library had been for the last twenty years.
"Astraeus Eldrath: Summary, Edition 312."
"Where is it?"
She checked the records.
"Hm."
Her finger slid down the page.
"Says here it was borrowed by a freshman."
"About a week ago."
"What?"
"That ans you can’t borrow it from the library."
"Who took it?"
"You can ask the person who checked it out."
"Who?"
The receptionist looked over her glasses.
The patience of a woman who had repeated the sa information a thousand tis.
"Room 217."
"Haru Mizuki."
Genius froze.
"Haru Mizuki."
"That’s what I said."
"Thank you."
He left the library.
And started laughing quietly to himself.
The kind of laugh that didn’t need an audience.
I knew he’d study here too, but this is too early, way too early. He stopped in a corridor.
...wait.
What if he arrived early because of the Kitsune Goddess Essence? At this point he may have already found one.
That would explain the rush.
Damn it.
He quickened his pace.
Then we’d be tied. Because I invented electricity in this world.
He smiled.
"Take that, Haru."
...
Knock.
Knock.
The door opened.
Golden stood there with a toothbrush in his mouth.
Foam on his chin.
Completely naked.
This was the n’s dormitory after all.
Why bother dressing?
Golden looked at Genius.
Genius looked at Golden.
"Flavius," Genius said.
"Genius," Golden replied through a mouthful of toothpaste.
They stared at each other.
"Where’s Sushi?" Genius asked.
"The bum?" Golden replied.
"Not that nickna."
"The Tokyo one."
Golden frowned.
"Sushi or Tokyo?"
"Not the bum."
"The Japanese guy?"
" Haru." Both spoke at exactly the sa ti.
Silence.
"...the bum isn’t here." Golden shrugged. "He’s cleaning sowhere."
"Cleaning?"
"He’s a cleaner now."
"Okay."
Genius was already walking away.
Golden stared at the empty corridor.
"Weird kid."
Then shut the door.
...
"Damn it, where is this guy?"
Genius spent half the floor asking about a Japanese custodian.
Nobody knew.
Nobody had seen him.
Two people assud he was hungry.
Damn it.
Haru doesn’t even look Japanese.
...
"Hey."
A voice observed Genius from a distance.
Hidden between two columns stood Rey and Blandina.
Not very hidden.
The kind of people clearly plotting sothing but not trying very hard.
"Isn’t that Genius Genials?" Rey asked.
"So what if it is?" Blandina replied.
But her eyes were calculating.
"He was supposed to be dead."
"Or unable to walk."
"The ga said he had a terminal illness."
"Gar." Both spoke simultaneously.
They looked at each other.
"We should approach him."
"I will." Seline stepped forward.
Nobody had noticed her arrival. Which was impressive. And slightly disturbing.
Genius had already given up searching.
He sat on a bench overlooking the inner courtyard.
Workers moving.
Students arriving.
The normal rhythm of an academy still waking up.
Damn Japanese guy.
Soone sat beside him.
Genius didn’t look imdiately.
He waited.
asured the weight on the bench.
The distance chosen.
The posture.
Not threatening.
But not casual either.
He turned.
An elf.
Blonde.
Cold blue eyes.
Perfect posture that seed effortless.
Seline Orphéne...
I know this character.
But I don’t rember her ever eting Genius.
The elf kept staring at the courtyard.
Just as he had been.
Though for entirely different reasons.
Silence lingered between them.
Then she spoke.
"He’s not here."
User Comments
0 comments from readers