I Am the Monarch – Chapter 109 : Tron Academy (1)

 

“Our agents are collecting and analyzing the information from the region around Miller Castle . ”

Keep finished his report and stepped back .
Roan sat on a chair with his legs crossed and deeply immersed in thought .
The long coat he wore to the dance slipped down the chair .

‘Princess Aily……’

Somehow, Aily’s face filled his head .

‘Why am I so concerned about her?’

Love?

‘No way . ’

Roan shook his head .
He and Aily never met before today .
Also, there was no way that Roan, who was living his second life, didn’t know the feeling of love .
No, he thought he knew .

‘Was there some sort of connection in the last life?’

Even Roan can’t remember everything .
It was possible that there is a memory related to Aily among those that he thought wasn’t important .

He rubbed the tip of his chin while furrowing his forehead .

“Sir Baron?”

At that sight, Keep nervously stared at Roan .
Since his time in the 7th Squad of Rose troop until now, he had been watching Roan’s side .
Because he was fast and quick-witted, he became the head of the information squad when Amaranth troop was made .
Keep realized Roan’s expression was different than usual .
Worries about whether there may be a problem in the mission surged through his mind .

“Hmm . Sorry . ”

Roan organized his thoughts a step late and turned towards Keep .

“Excellent . Continue to actively use the agents to gather as much information as possible . ”
“Yes . Understood . ”

Keep lowered his head with a look of relief .
Then, Roan hesitated for a moment and then raised his right hand .

“Ah . And by the way……”

He lost his words for a bit and wavered .
After breathing in and out several times, he whispered in a small voice .

“Within the information you gathered and analyzed, is there perhaps anything about Princess Aily Rinse?”
“Princess Aily Rinse?”

Keep tilted his head .

“I’ll have to check separately for anything specific, but I don’t really remember anything special…… ah!”

As he continued his words, Keep suddenly exclaimed .
Staring at Roan, he asked in a cautious voice .

“Are you perhaps talking about the shadow princess?”
“Yeah . That’s right . The shadow princess . ”

On Roan’s face, a slight look of expectation had appeared .
For some reason, Keep whispered in a small voice .

“Around last year or so, it seems that the shadow princess caught a serious disease . ”
“Serious disease? What kind of disease?”

Roan frowned .
Keep shrugged his shoulders .

“We’re not exactly sure . It was a rumor going around Miller’s residents . Because the princess hadn’t appear ever since last Fall to this Spring, it seems that everyone thought that she had been sick . ”
“Didn’t appear ……”

Roan squinted his eyes .

‘If such rumor started to run even amongst the castle’s citizens, even the royal family wouldn’t stay still . ”

At the moment, he unconsciously held a great interest in Aily .

“Keep . ”
“Yes . Sir Baron . ”

Keep lowered his head .
Roan gave a new order in a low voice .

“Gather some information on the palace and the royal family . Even rumors and ghost stories like this one is fine . ”
“The, the royal family?”

With a surprised expression, Keep asked back .
Roan nodded his head .

“Secretly . Don’t go burrowing too deep . ”

If they weren’t careful, they could earn hostility from the palace .
Calming down his shocked heart, Keep lowered his head .

“Yes . Understood . ”

Certainly, it wasn’t an easy mission .
But it wasn’t impossible either .

‘Let’s show the information squad’s ability . ’

He wanted to show something that could match the Agens, no, an appearance that is greater than Agens .

‘And although he said the palace and the royal family……’

His eyes quickly spun .

‘It seems that he is interested in the shadow… no, Princess Aily . ’

As expected of Keep .

‘Sir Baron . Just believe in me and the Information squad . ’

He clenched his fist .
Roan, perhaps knowing his thoughts or perhaps not, stared at Keep and smiled .

‘That’s it . Compete together, grow together . ’

Still water is doomed to rot .
With a satisfied expression, Roan stood up .

‘Then, is Tron Academy the next……’

His heart trembled .
In the last life, it was a place he couldn’t attend even if he wanted to .

‘Will something happen again at that place?’

The smile on his mouth grew deeper .

*****

Roan’s dream was big .
It was different than an ambition or a desire .
It was pure and hot .
Because of that, he learned words despite being a commoner and bought and collected all sorts of books .
And to him, the academy was like a holy land .

‘I really wanted to go there . ’

Looking at the grand entrance to Tron Academy, Roan bitterly smiled .
A place where he wanted to, but couldn’t attend .
There were various reasons why, but the biggest reasons were his standing, wealth, and time .
To attend the academy, he needed to at least be from a noble family or have a noble’s recommendation .
Additionally, he needed to pay a colossal tuition fee and spend four years there until graduation .
To Roan, it was a place that he could only stare at .

“I heard that there’s a special lecture from Baron Tale?”
“Baron Tale bullsh*t . It’s Roan, Roan . ”
“Yeah . For an exiled convict, he got lucky and became a Baron overnight . ”
“He became like that because he caught the prince’s eye . ”

The academy’s students that passed by Roan began babbling words of ridicule .
They didn’t recognize Roan at all .

‘Noble’s kids……’

Roan smiled bitterly .
The mindset of the students that should be leading the kingdom was too laughable and immature .
Following the students that continued to complain, he moved his feet .
The ones walking in the front stole a glance behind .

“What?”
“Is he someone you know?”
“Don’t know . Is he a first year? Or maybe a transfer student?”

The students frowned and whispered between themselves .
They couldn’t imagine that Roan, the hero of the expedition and the one who recently became a Baron, might be around the same age as them .
Since the academy’s fourth year student’s age was nineteen, there was merely a difference of a single year away from Roan .
When the students’ eyes met his, Roan smiled at them .

“What? Why is he smiling?”
“Who’s he supposed to be?”

The students’ expressions twisted .
That moment .

“Ah! You came?”

From far away, he heard a familiar voice .

Roan’s and the students’ gazes followed the voice .

‘It’s Ian Phillips . ’

The owner of the voice was Ian .
Waving his hand, Ian ran from the academy’s main building .

“Hhm . He’s that Ian Phillips, right?”
“Right . The firstborn of Count Phillips and Miller Castle’s, no the kingdom’s greatest genius . ”
“He’s a freshman that started this year . ”
“Yeah . Doesn’t he look like he’s greeting us?”

The students pointlessly came to their own conclusions .

“I thought he would be arrogant since he’s the firstborn of a count on top of being a genius . ”
“It looks like he’s quite the well-mannered brat . ”

Then, the brats awkwardly waved .
Before they knew it, Ian was right in front of them .

“Yes . Good to see you . Ian . I’m the fourth year Pi……”

When the student at the front introduced himself .

“Excuse me . ”

Ian pushed the students to the left and right and went up to Roan .

“Eh?”
“What?”

The brats who were pushed aside frowned and looked at Ian .
Their eyes naturally focused on Roan and Ian .
Ian bowed right away .

“Welcome . Sir Baron Tale . ”
“For you to even come out to meet me, thank you very much . ”

A fair and clear voice rode the wind into the students’ ears .

“Huk!”
“Ba, Baron Tale?”
“He’s that Roan?”

With a completely shocked expression, the brats looked at Roan .
When Roan met their gazes, he brightly smiled and slightly nodded his head .

“Hph!”

The students gulped and quickly lowered their heads .
However much they insulted and looked down upon Roan, they couldn’t keep their heads up in front of a kingdom’s noble .

“Si, Sir Baron Tale . A, about our talk just now……”

The voice sharply shook .
Although they were certainly sons of nobles, their positions weren’t something that could hold up against Roan who held a true title of nobility .
Roan cheerfully smiled and stood in front of them .
Ian tilted his head, wondering what had happened .

“It’s okay . ”

A gentle voice .
Roan extended his hand and brushed each of their head .
A completely natural and adult-like act .
At the unexpected hand, the students who had their heads lowered bit their lips .

‘Damn it . He’s completely treating us like kids . ’

Even so, they couldn’t raise their heads .
At the same time, Roan tapped their shoulders as he brightly smiled .

“Work hard . ”

With a word and an act, he cleanly split the hierarchy between himself and the students .

“Kuu . ”

The brats, still with their heads lowered, couldn’t move without permission .
Roan averted his gaze and looked at Ian .

“Should we head to the location of the lecture?”
“Ah, yes . Follow me . ”

Ian took hold of himself a second late and nodded his head .
Within that short moment, he understood the entire situation .

‘That’s why, you always have to be careful about what you say . ’

Ian snickered and shook his head .
Soon, Roan and Ian disappeared from sight .
Only then did the students raise their heads and sigh .

“Huu . ”
“To think that brat was Baron Tale . ”
“Seriously . That rumor about a giant was a complete lie . ”

Then, one of the brats spoke with a quiet voice .

“Maybe, could it be that his skills and exploits are also exaggerated?”

As soon as he spoke, the rest of the students clapped .

“That’s it!”
“That could be it!”

Quickly putting their heads together, the brats continued to quietly talk .

“Then, should we test if Roan’s skills are real?”
“Test? Us?”

At those words, the student who spoke first shook his head with an eerie expression .

“No . There’s that guy in our grade . ”
“That guy? Ah! That guy!”

Promptly, the students’ faces brightened .
The brats looked at each other with a cruel light in their eyes .

“For now, let’s go convince that guy . ”

A cold voice rolled down on the ground .

******

“It’s an honor to meet the hero of the expedition . ”
“No . I’m more honored to have the chance to meet Sir Fred Brown, the principal leading the kingdom’s greatest academy . ”

Holding the white-haired old man’s hand, Roan lowered his head .
The old man wearing a clean suit was Fred Brown, the one who was leading Tron Academy for the twentieth year .

‘He’s someone that I wanted to meet at least once . ’

Roan was unimaginably moved .
It was a moment where a small goal from the last life had been achieved .

“If I could, I want to chat, but it seems that there isn’t much time left for the special lecture . Let us talk after the lecture is over . ”
“Yes . Understood . ”

That was what Roan wanted as well .
To him, who wanted to build an academy in the Tale Barony, a talk with Fred was a chance that could become the flesh and bones of his plan .

“Now, do follow me . ”

Fred walked a step in front and Roan followed behind him .
Coming out of a simple office of the principal, they crossed the wooden hallway .
Passing through several buildings, they headed towards the garden behind the academy .
The location of the lecture was prepared in the open air instead of inside a building .

“Because there were too many students that wanted to audit, we prepared the place in the academy’s training field . ”

Fred turned towards Roan and apologized .
Roan wordlessly nodded and gazed in front of him .
He could see a tall wall covered in vines .
There was an entrance at the center and several words were ornately written on top .

< Tron Academy Training Field >

The door was wide open .
Fred walked ahead and Roan followed behind .
Then .

Huuk!

Scorching heat was felt .

“Ah……”

Roan quietly exclaimed .
The field was enormous .
It was twice as large as the field where the Amaranth troop held drills .
Excluding one side, chairs filled the three sides of the field .
An unbelievable number .
Students sat in each and every one of those chairs .
It was an incredible number of students, but they didn’t let out a single sound .
They simply stared in curiosity while exuding heat from their entire bodies .
More than a thousand pair of eyes stabbed into Roan .

‘Are they trying to pressure me?’

Roan smiled bitterly inside .
Then, he heard Fred’s voice .

“It seems everyone has high expectations . For now, shall we go up onto the stage?”
“Yes . ”

Roan replied shortly and followed Fred up the stage .
On the stage, there was a vertically long table and a loudspeaker made of a magic stone and a magic circle .

“We will now start the special lecture of Sir Baron Roan Tale, the hero of the Istel War and the monster expedition . Everyone please welcome him with a round of applause . ”

As soon as he finished, claps sporadically resounded here and there .
A scene as if clapping against their will .
Fred furrowed his forehead at the sight, but didn’t criticize them .

‘It’s something Baron Tale will have to solve on his own . ’

Truthfully, he wanted to see Roan’s ability .
Slightly lowering his head at Roan, Fred walked off the stage .
Now, only Roan was left on the tall stage .
He stood in front of the table and looked at the students .

‘Everyone’s expressions are ones saying let see how well I do . ’

An undisguisable antagonism could be felt from their faces .
Of course, there were also students like Ian who showed signs of curiosity, desire, and respect .

‘Hm?’

Roan, who was scanning the students’ faces with Kalian’s Tear, frowned at the tip of his nose .

‘Royalty is also here . ’

As expected of the kingdom’s greatest academy, he could see several princesses among the students .
And the one who stood out amongst them .

‘Princess Katy Rinse and……’

His eyes stayed in one place for a long time .

‘Princess Aily Rinse . ’

For some reason, his ears felt hot and he became happy .
For a while, Roan motionlessly stared at her face .

“What the?”
“What’s up with him?”

Because Roan stayed silent for a long time, the students began to chatter .
Only then did Roan finally take ahold of himself .

‘It’s not the time for that . ’

With a smiling face, he lowered his head .

“Nice to meet you . I’m Baron Roan Tale, who will be giving the special lecture today .

Even though he introduced himself, the field was silent .

“Woah!”

Only Ian cheered without worrying about others .
Roan slightly lowered his head toward Ian, and then made a faint smile .

“Hm . ”

The students’ gazes pour down .
Calmly taking on those gazes, Roan spoke with a soft voice .

“The topic I want to talk about today is……”

Playfulness flashed in his eyes .

“About “what would you do if you knew about the future” . ”

< Tron Academy 1> End

 

 

 

Translator : CSV

Proofreader: st8_lupe .