Chapter 49

The day of the gathering arrived as soon as it was June.

My roommate, Ark, was strangely excited.

But did he have to strike so many poses while standing in front of the mirror?

“What’s gotten into you?”

“I want to find a Patron who will agree to let me join a dragon corps in the countryside.”

Patrons had a tendency of calling Dragon Masters to the towns that they lived in.

So this was no surprise.

Ark wanted to work close to his home, so their wishes would likely go against each other.

He would need to meet as many people as possible in order to find someone with the right conditions.

“Wouldn’t that really limit your choices in Patrons?”

Someone that would come to Ark’s town, Hyuler.

I wondered how hard it would be to find such a person.

“Well, that’s why these opportunities are very important.”

He was a very optimistic person.

“I’m going to stop by the store, so you go on ahead.”

“Alright. See you there.”

Ark seemed to be in good spirits as he left.

“…I don’t know how he does it.”

It was clear to see that he had a set goal and wanted to be a Dragon Master.

He was the complete opposite of me.

The gathering was today. Linda had said that 300 people had been chosen through a lottery.

Quite a few of them may turn out to be Patrons. Ark would be very busy.

I got changed, went downstairs, and checked the store before leaving.

“Good morning, Christan.”

“Ah, Leon. What are you doing here? Don’t you have a gathering to attend? Everyone has already left.”

“I won’t have anything to do if I go early. It’s fine as long as I arrive when it starts.”

“I see that you’re still not very enthusiastic about it all. Do you hate searching for a Patron so much?”

My enthusiasm was reserved for the bakery.

“I wouldn’t say that.”

It didn’t seem like the kind of thing you should openly admit to.

After all, I had a feeling he would then insist on finding one for me.

“Well, don’t worry. If it comes down to it, Her Majesty will intercede. …By the way, I have a message.”

“Hmm? What?”

“To you, from Her Majesty. Some information leaked from a Makoku Right Ear. There appears to be a plot to attack the students of this school.”

Her Majesty’s Right Ears were a special organization. I and the other Shadows had no idea who was a Right Ear.

They were people who infiltrated their given area completely and sent no regular communications.

As for the Right Ears who were stationed in Makoku, they were expected to live out the rest of their lives there, as they had for generations.

Many would never even step foot into Ryukoku.

They blended in with the citizens and gathered information. That was all.

All on the off chance that the information might be of use one day.

That was the only thing on their mind as they worked.

“Information from a Right Ear? That’s rare.”

“Indeed. It hasn’t been confirmed yet, but they seem to have come across this information by accident. They say that this plot is slowly starting to be put into motion.”

“So it hasn’t started yet?”

“So it seems. But they are targeting the students of the Academy. And so I was told to let you know about it.”

“Thank you. But there isn’t really anything I can do with just that.”

“True. But I think that it is fine for you to just be aware of it now. Even Her Majesty said that it wasn’t urgent.”

“Got it. …Well, I better go then.”

“Aye, go enjoy yourself. And come back thoroughly mobbed.”

I waved at my smiling brother in law and then left the dormitory.

The gathering was held in the same lecture hall as the opening ceremony.

It was probably because they didn’t have that many buildings that could hold hundreds of people.

When I went inside, I saw that it was already quite crowded.

Immediately, a number of female students set their eyes on me and started to come my way, but then the music started to play before they could reach me.

“Seems like it just started.”

It was a good thing I didn’t come a moment earlier.

Us First-Years were to be lined up on the stage. We were being exhibited. Huh.

Linda had said that there would be about 300 people, and it seemed like she was right.

It wasn’t the kind of event that someone would cancel on the last day, I suppose.

There was a host who gave a boring speech and we had to introduce ourselves. After that, we were assigned to different tables.

There were eight tables in all.

And so 3 or 4 of us were sent to each one.

“Hello, I…”

The students began to greet the others.

Upon closer inspection, the men were all handsome and the women were all beautiful.

As a rather plain fellow myself, I felt awkward.

I wanted to go and bake some bread.

“That’s amazing.”

A female student said as she looked at my Dragon Mark. As it was on my left hand, it easily caught people’s attention.

“Yeah, it really sticks out.”

I had to hide it with leather gloves when I went out into town.

It would be even worse if it was seen while I worked as Her Majesty’s Right Hand. And so I had recently been making a habit of covering it at all times.

“But that’s not a bad thing. I think it looks very dashing.”

It didn’t feel bad to be complemented, but then again, there were more than a few handsome men there that deserved it more.

After all, I wasn’t really being complimented, it was just the Dragon Mark.

Well, maybe they were all too aware of that, and this was the only compliment they could think of.

As such self-deprecating thoughts filled my head, a bell was rung, and the students had to switch tables.

Everyone started to move with practiced precision.

“Really? We have to keep doing this?”

I had meant to make my escape quickly, and so this was unexpected.

I was sure that there were some here who had already chosen a Patron. What were they doing now?

I looked around and saw that a few people were missing. That meant we were allowed to leave.

And so I made use of the crowded confusion and left the table.