[V2C6] The Barbarian Sword Princess
Translated by Jodas 2: Daily Lives of a New Teacher and the Apprentice MagesThe morning after the Wedge Tower’s triennial entrance examination, the third-rate con man Smoke Fox, acting as the Dream Mage Caspar Hütter, was shaving his deteriorating beard.
One month had passed since he had accepted the mission from the Black Lion Emperor and infiltrated the Wedge Tower.
His job at the Guidance Office appeared to involve taking care of the apprentice mages that will soon be enrolling. For that purpose, he had stayed up late reading through the textbooks on magical and Imperial history and preparing lesson plans, causing him to oversleep some mornings.
For the next year, the apprentice mages would all take group lessons together in the mornings. Each of the Instructors in the Guidance Office would take turns teaching these classes.
Then, in the afternoons, were individual lessons. Each apprentice would go to their assigned classrooms to receive specialized instruction.
(I’ve heard there will be twelve new apprentices……There are four Instructors this time, so each one will have to take on three students, but…..)
Hütter’s classroom would have three students.
It was largely left to the individual instructors to decide what to teach their students during afternoon individual lessons.
There were many mages at the Wedge Tower who used highly unique magics, so academic independence was highly valued.
(If push comes to shove, I could just say I’m the type of mage who values physical competence and make them run laps and lift weights all day…..maybe I could get by doing that…..but I probably wouldn’t be able to keep that up for a whole year……)
It was going to be hard thinking of content for his afternoon individual lessons, and it would also be seriously tough preparing for his morning group lessons.
Hütter was, on the surface, a member of the Mage Association. As a result, he was expected to teach the lessons related to elementary magecraft.
However, knowing nothing at all about magic, he insisted that “No, sorry! I’m an illusion idiot who knows nothing about anything but illusion magic!” and instead successfully took on the job of teaching the lessons on magical history.
(Damn, to think I would spend all night studying again after all these years……I learned Imperial history when I was a student, but I only picked up a tiny bit of magical history when I did that con at the magical university……)
Sighing, he checked to make sure he hadn’t missed anything while shaving, changed in to his robe, and put on his glasses.
Then, Hütter put on the face of a stern mage and headed to the First Preparation Room with quick feet.
The First Preparation Room, located on the second floor of the First Spire ‘White Smoke,’ was a room set aside for the mages who had become the apprentices’ Instructors to hold their meetings.
The other Instructors had already gathered in the room and took their seats. Hegelich, sitting in the back of the room, glanced at Hütter.
“Well, good morning everyone.”
Hütter bowed slightly towards the others and headed for his seat. As he did, his colleague Sombart next to him smiled, saying “Good morning.”
Sombart was a blond man in his late twenties. He always showed his white teeth with a beaming smile.
His smile is so big, it’s suspicious, Hütter always thought.
“Bad luck, eh, Mr. Hütter?”
Don’t say ‘Bad luck, eh,’ with that smile. You’re supposed to say that line with a more sympathetic face…… As he thought that, he realized.
What exactly was bad about his luck?
Hütter thought it was strange, but then the Director, Hegelich, spoke up.
“Now that everyone is here, please take a look at the lists on the desk. They show which Instructors will be responsible for each of the twelve new apprentices.”
Let’s have a look, shall we? Hütter picked up a list.
There were three students in Hütter’s classroom.
Tia Vogel, Wren Bayer, and…..
—Adelheid Sevil Lamea Krewing.
Hütter tried to keep the face of a stern mage as he voiced his concerns.
“Director Hegelich. It seems there’s someone in my classroom whose name looks like the name of the Emperor’s sister?”
“That is Princess Adelheid herself, you.”
“Wai-, wai-, wa-….. hold on, what on earth?”
The skin of a stern mage unconsciously fell off and he spoke his true feelings.
However, Hütter doubted his true identity would come into question here. Anyone would act like that if they’d heard that Her Imperial Highness, the Emperor’s sister would be placed in their class.
On top of that, Hütter—the third-rate con man Smoke Fox—had hidden his identity and infiltrated on the direct orders of the Emperor himself.
(That Black Lion Emperor’s sister? ….Waitwaitwait, you didn’t tell me anything about this, Your Majesty!!!)
The previous Emperor had many Consorts, Concubines, and Mistresses, so of course he’d had many children. There were countless secret children that hadn’t been publicized as well.
As a citizen of the Empire, he could naturally recite the name of every member of the Imperial Family—is what he wanted to say, but he wondered just how many people in the Empire could actually give you the full names of the whole Imperial Family. There were just that many of them.
To be honest, Hütter didn’t have confidence he could name all of them either. He thought they should learn a lesson from the nearby Ridill Kingdom which only had three princes.
(Even still, I know of Her Imperial Highness Adelheid…… the Barbarian Sword Princess who carries the blood of the southern tribes.)
The Grassland Nation of Torgai, located to the south of the Empire, was comprised of many different tribes. One of those tribes had been defeated by Imperial forces and become vassals to the Empire.
The daughter of that tribe’s chief was offered to the Empire, and her daughter was Adelheid.
The tribes of Torgai who hadn’t surrendered to the Empire treated the tribe that had already been defeated as traitors, and frequently tried to attack them.
On such occasions, the ones deployed to the battlefield would be Adelheid’s unit.
The Imperial aristocrats ridiculed the daughter who carried the blood of an outside race, while the people of Torgai, her mother’s homeland, hated her as a traitor who had sold out to the Empire.
Even then, she was a ferocious princess who took up the curved sword of her mother’s homeland—the barbarian sword—and headed for the battlefield. Thus she earned the title ‘Barbarian Sword Princess.’
(What is the Black Lion Emperor thinking? He even sent his sister to the Wedge Tower…..no, hold on a second.)
As a princess who carried the blood of an outside race, Adelheid was always seen as a liability to the Empire.
There were few among the domestic nobility who would be willing to take her as their legal wife.
…..So perhaps, was there a chance that Adelheid was seen by the Black Lion Emperor as a sacrificial pawn just like the Smoke Fox was?
(Either that, or I can’t overlook the possibility that circumstances that even the Black Lion Emperor himself had not envisioned had led to Her Imperial Highness Adelheid coming here……Ah, damn. For now, I should just report to my contact, Heidi.)
The next thing he noticed, everyone in the room was staring at Hütter with bated breath.
Hütter pushed his glasses up, and reassumed the guise of a stern mage.
“Director Hegelich. Providing guidance befitting of Her Imperial Highness is beyond my capabilities.”
“Spiremaster Abel chose you personally. Give up.”
Basically, he was saying that if anything happened to the Emperor’s sister, they would just cut him loose.
Whether it be the Black Lion Emperor or the Wedge Tower, he was always being treated as a disposable pawn.
Oh, God. What are you asking me to do?……the con man mumbled, prompting his colleague Röhm to stand up.
“Mr. Hütter. I’ll support you!”
Beside Röhm, Sombart bared his white teeth in a wide smile.
“All of us will be teaching her in the group lessons. So don’t worry about it!”
How the hell can I not worry about it? You smiley bastard. Hütter secretly gritted his teeth.
At a table in the corner of the First Spire’s dining hall, Wren held his head without even touching the delicious-looking food.
Starting from the edge, sat Wren, Sevil, and Tia. Across from them, Oliver sat on the edge and Rose beside him.
Their fellow apprentices, the girl with the pointy hat, the snake-like black haired boy, and the weak-willed small boy, had disappeared to somewhere else.
Not only them, the other mages in the dining hall had all either secretly left the room or were hanging around and staring at Sevil from a distance. Ordinarily, he would complain that they should be looking at the pretty boy instead, but he made no such complaints. After all, this was the Emperor’s sister. Of course they’d stare at her.
Wren steeled himself and spoke up.
“Umm, then, with regards to Princess Adelheid, why exactly have you graced the Wedge Tower with your presence…..?”
“To learn magic, of course. And there’s no need to be so formal, Wren. Just talk to me casually like you did earlier.”
Don’t ask the impossible of me, Wren twisted his lips and stayed quiet.
On the other side of Sevil, Tia stared towards Wren while nibbling tiny bits off of a piece of bread.
“Wren, your face is all wrinkly.”
Sevil also spoke, while taking huge bites out of her bread.
“What’s wrong? Aren’t you going to bring back your pretty boy face?”
“….Oh, for crying out loud!”
Wren grabbed his face with both hands, then lifted his face up with a flash. His golden hair tied in a high ponytail swayed behind him.
His face was once again his usual sparkly pretty boy look.
“Then, just for good measure, you do know there are other places you can learn magic, right!? If you have the money, you could even just hire a mage to be your personal tutor! If you come all the way out here to apply for the Wedge Tower, that’s basically screaming that you’ve got some political shenanigans going on! Don’t you!? Don’t underestimate the power of a brainy pretty boy!” “Mhm. That’s the spirit. That’s our usual Wren.”
Across from Sevil, as she nodded in satisfaction, Rose said “Wow, you’re really smart, Wren!” apparently impressed by that rant.
Tia nodded vigorously.
“He is! Wren is smart! Super smart!”
“Glad I can rely on him!”
It was good to lay praise on a pretty boy. So he could forgive Tia.
However, you two adults. You guys can’t be doing that—Wren glared at Rose and Oliver.
“Get it together, you’re adults!”
Next to Rose, who was casually stuffing his mouth with vegetables, Oliver leveled a serious gaze at the breakfast plates.
Breakfast at the Wedge Tower involved large plates overflowing with food placed in the center of the table, and each person would take whatever they wished to eat from there.
Tia was a light eater, so she took one piece of bread. Sevil grabbed a potato soup and a large pile of sausages. Rose’s selection was more vegetable-focused……as they each went for their preferences, Oliver sampled each item and made a serious attempt at building a well-balanced plate.
After taking a hearty bite of vegetables and swallowing, Oliver spoke in a stately voice.
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. You must make every effort when eating it.”
Beside Oliver, Rose dirtied his fuzzy beard as he ate a bowl of potato soup, and shared his thoughts.
“The potato soup is delicious! I love this! Someone needs to tell me how to make it!”
We should just forget about these guys, Wren decided.
As he made that conclusion, Tia finished eating her bread.
“Tia, is that all you need? I’ll give you some of my meat.”
“No thanks. I’m good with just this.”
Sevil offered one of her sausages, but Tia shook her head back and forth. She wasn’t just being polite; she really was a light eater.
(No, wait, this isn’t the time to be thinking about food…..)
At this rate, breakfast will end without any of them commenting on Sevil’s circumstances. Wren stretched the creases on his forehead and glared at Sevil.
“……So, exactly what circumstances brought you to the Wedge Tower?”
“Hm. My brother had ordered me to travel to Darwock, in the Northern Alliance, to get married. That ticked me off, so I tried to usurp the throne, but he got me right back.”
More violent than he had expected.
‘Usurp the throne’—that meant she drew her sword on her brother. This rambunctious woman.
“My brother has two contracted spirits, so it’s not a simple task to assassinate him. Then, I realized that I could shelter myself at the Wedge Tower, to which my brother cannot interfere, and I could both avoid the marriage talks and learn magics to resist the spirits.”
Sevil cut herself off at that point, and with a spoon in one hand, looked to lose herself in thought.
“If I could avoid the marriage and acquire the strength to oppose my brother….. I’d be able to achieve two objectives of mine at once. This is what commoners would call a ‘steal,’ right, Wren?”
“Stop it, I don’t wanna hear a princess talking about a ‘steal’!”
In contrast to Wren holding his head, Tia spoke with her usual demeanor.
“A ‘steal’ is a good thing, right? Then, it’s a good thing that Sevil came to the Wedge Tower!”
“Indeed!”
Nodding with pride to Tia’s words, Sevil looked quite happy, so Wren found himself unable to ask any further questions.
After all, Wren was also internally giddy with excitement for having passed the entrance exam.
He gave up on interrogating Sevil on her circumstances, and turned his attention to breakfast. Not much food was left on the large plate, and there was only a single sausage remaining.
(If I only ate tasty things, that would be rude to Mom……I think I’ll settle for some bread and soup.)
As Wren grabbed a piece of bread, Sevil took two sausages off of the mountain on her plate and laid them on Wren’s plate.
“You should eat more, it will help you grow.”
“I’m not gonna politely decline, y’know? I’m a pretty boy, after all.”
“Looks like you’ve grown some nerve. Keep that up and entertain me more, pretty boy.”
“Pretty boys aren’t just for your entertainment! I’m pretty for my own sake!”
Wren replied, pouting, but Sevil just laughed.