“Leo, thank you.”

I smiled, listening to their conversation, and murmured quietly.

It meant thank you for setting the stage. Of course, even without Leo’s help, those aggressive bastards would have come to pick a fight with me anyway.

[Ah~ This is going to be fun. I’ll be watching, Luca!]

Elias replied, cackling, instead of Leo.

I’m sure he made that noise during the play on the festival day too.

I turned off the communication and looked down at the newspaper I brought from Bavaria, organizing my thoughts.

Attitudes are being divided based on benefits regarding the same situation.

I rummaged through the pile of notes stacked in a corner of the desk.

‘Almost twenty.’

Twenty out of 72 is a considerable number, especially considering that partners have already been decided at this point.

It’s a similar number to the requests Leo and Elias have received so far.

No matter how much noise a few loud voices make in objection, it’s only a temporary uproar. In the end, the flow shows that I have a good chance of winning.

Also, the fact that there are people desperately resisting for fear of losing something again is a sign that I’m definitely going in the right direction in terms of achievement.

‘More than that.’

Adelbert Hohenzollern received a 3+ rating yesterday, I heard.

The academy was so noisy that it was impossible not to know.

Coincidentally, when I went to my office in Bavaria, there was a letter he had sent a few days ago.

‘Unlike his father, he doesn’t send messengers.’

He sent it by warp mail normally.

But because of that, I checked it too late.

‘I should reply now.’

Even though his Skill stat is only 2, he’s been getting good grades enough to skip grades until now, so I can clearly see that he’ll be suffering mentally from his rating suddenly dropping like this.

Even if it seems like nothing, if he makes the wrong decision at this time, his whole life could change.

In the first place, this student military selection wasn’t even in the novel, and if there was no selection, he wouldn’t have received a 3+, so I should give him some encouragement.

‘If he gets discouraged for nothing and locks himself in his room from now on, I won’t be able to get any information from that bastard either.’

I tore open the wax seal stamped with the imperial family’s crest and unfolded the letter.

[To the esteemed Ernst, Your Excellency,]

[…Recently, a mobilization order has been issued in the capital school, and everyone is taking qualification exams. It seems voluntary, but it is not. Especially for me. His Majesty keeps urging that I must be in Team 1.

…

However, I don’t think I can meet His Majesty and my teachers’ expectations. Have you ever had this happen, Your Excellency?]

“…Hmm.”

I see why his grades dropped.

I now know why he stopped me with a grim look on his face at the theater club before.

I don’t know if he would even think of telling this to someone with -5 Favorability… but it’s probably right to think that he was so frustrated that he wanted to tell it to anyone, even someone with rock-bottom Favorability.

‘But I’ve never encouraged anyone before.’

I’ve experienced similar situations to that bastard countless times, but to be honest, if I were to encourage myself in those days, I wouldn’t have anything to say. When I didn’t have any tolerance, nothing anyone said would have gotten through.

After agonizing for a long time without thinking of any appropriate encouragement, I decided to write only one sentence.

[Expectations are meant to be broken, Your Highness.]

I picked up a pen and wrote the content in the neatest handwriting possible, adding the cliché that he could contact me anytime if he had any concerns, and warped it to my office in Bavaria.

Honestly, I don’t know if it will resonate with him. It would be better to just meet him in person and say it….

‘More than that, it seems the Emperor is paying some attention to Elias.’

I closed the cap of the fountain pen and got up from my seat.

Looking at the clock, it was getting close to 11 o’clock.

‘Should I get some fresh air one last time?’

I hesitated about taking Pai, who was sleeping on my pillow, but went up to the rooftop alone.

I leaned against the railing, enjoying the night breeze and looking down below.

Tomorrow, I should make a partner first and then expand the board as those bastards come.

As I was thinking that and killing time, I heard voices coming from the rooftop door.

“…I said earlier, but I think that friend deserved to receive a 1+ rating.”

“…We’re gathering kids right now, but are you really not going to try it?”

An familiar topic came up and when I turned around, I saw two students from class 2 opening the door and coming in.

When our eyes met, one of them was startled and took a step back.

The other one raised an eyebrow, smiling leisurely.

“Ah, Lucas.”

While the other friend hurriedly left the rooftop, he approached me.

“So we meet here. Ah, do you happen to know my name?”

“How could I not? We’re in the same class.”

Yulia Tsheringen.

The heir to the Grand Duchy of Baden, the person who will become the Grand Duke of Baden in the future, or in other words, the monarch of Baden.

And the student I was going to propose a partnership to.

“I see. It’s not that I was trying to ignore you, but I actually heard some stories from Melvin. I’m glad you know me.”

I guess Luca told him that he didn’t memorize the names of his classmates.

Luca didn’t know the names of most of the students, including Melvin, for the entire year.

“More than that, I was really surprised in the first exam yesterday. I didn’t know you had that kind of talent, and it was a good learning experience for me as a colleague who will be taking the exam together in the future. It was also stimulating.”

“Thank you for the good evaluation.”

“It’s nothing.”

Tsheringen laughed heartily and opened his mouth again.

“I suppose you wouldn’t take it very well no matter what I say from here on out. It’s true that no matter how much you praise the abilities of those who are as outstanding as you, it doesn’t resonate with them.”

“…….”

I was going to go first, but I guess there was no need.

‘Our intentions were the same.’

More than that, there’s nothing particularly special about the content alone, but his tone and attitude are the most like the heir of a ruling family among the students I’ve met so far.

Unlike Leo, who is reluctant to hear the title of Crown Prince, he seems like a person who doesn’t feel any reluctance about that title.

‘Is that why he didn’t have much contact with Leo or Elias?’

That’s not to say it’s bad.

If this person was a tyrannical figure, Elias would have gone to hit him, so Tsheringen will probably become a monarch who doesn’t do anything particularly bad in the future.

However, a typical aristocrat who has completely adapted to the class system would not be able to deeply connect with Leo or Elias. That’s all.

I nodded to mean go ahead.

“It’s embarrassing to say this between people who haven’t mixed words a few times, but you are currently being evaluated as having received a 1+ rating thanks to pushing through with your Magic Power, Lucas. Do you know?”

“I know.”

“That’s somewhat true. But that’s not all.”

I didn’t answer and waited for him to continue.

I have a rough idea.

He’s not praising me right now, but trying to prove his usefulness.

It’s a natural strategy in a way, but it wasn’t a method that could be found among the students who sent me notes so far.

He smiled as if he was amused and leaned against the railing in the opposite direction from me.

“The reason most of the friends are evaluating you as pushing through with Magic Power is purely because they didn’t feel any special technique or characteristics in your movements. Do you agree?”

“Yes, I agree.”

“And that’s not because you’re ignorant of Skills, as other students think, but because your movements are perfectly textbook-like.”

“…….”

“It was a movement that reminded me of Leonard Wittelsbach’s method. It was so neat and restrained that I wanted to learn it.”

Certainly, the eyes of those who are good at something in one field are different.

Unlike the students who simply said he pushed through with Magic Power, he had already properly analyzed the movements.

“This attack method has the disadvantage of being relatively easy to read. Of course, that’s just an excuse for mediocre people, but at the same time, it’s an undeniable fact for 99.9% of people. That’s why everyone tries to make their own tricks and create their own characteristics.”

His face became slightly serious.

He looked at the air and continued.

“And it’s needless to say that everything goes wrong from such reckless luck. The possibility of development comes from the right path.”

He’s like Leo.

Unlike those who pursue immediately good results, he looks far ahead.

“However, the disadvantage of being easy to read doesn’t seem very meaningful to you. Because there aren’t many people who can handle your Magic Power. At this time, the only disadvantage you have is that it’s difficult to flexibly respond to the opponent’s attack because you still lack data. It’s just a guess.”

“Well, you’re not completely wrong.”

Even in cases where I could move much more efficiently if I had studied more, I tend to move only as I have learned so far due to my lack of experience.

“You felt that way too. Then… if there is a partner who technically responds when a gap occurs, you can effectively block the score hole that may occur in the slightest. As you know, partner selection is also part of the teamwork evaluation item, so the partner’s movement is also your score.”

I smiled silently, looking at him.

Tsheringen smiled confidently and held out his hand.

“I don’t know what kind of attack method you prefer, but I can fill it in any way without lacking, Lucas. I want to be with you in the second test.”

Golden eyes with melted intelligence shone in the darkness.

That smile that doesn’t consider rejection.

It’s a smile that’s possible when you know your own excellence well.

He is now approaching me thoroughly politically.

And that’s because my intentions were not much different either.

This exchange is not just the end of the exam, but perhaps a groundwork for the heir to the Duchy of Anhalt, which may change.

‘I recognized it from his tone.’

Subtly, it was a tone as if dealing with a peer he met in the political world, not a high school friend.

If it’s a time when he can get a relationship with so little effort, he wouldn’t have any reason to refuse to become friends with me.

Of course, that’s why I have no reason to refuse either.

It would be fortunate if the future King of Bavaria and the Grand Duke of Baden were all my colleagues.

“Okay.”

I smiled, shaking his hand.

I felt a hand full of calluses, showing traces of effort similar to Leo’s and Elias’s.

* * *

I woke up completely after getting some fresh air.

I also woke up because the friend I was going to ask for a partner made the same request to me first.

‘I also got 3 more Favorability points.’

I’m getting closer and closer to acquiring 15 points.

I was thinking that and turned over the newspaper that Leo had left behind earlier.

‘I should analyze what to analyze.’

Now is the time to reveal the changes, so I need to analyze the press once.

[Bavarian Magical Medicine Center, “Lucas Askanian’s Core Perfectly Normal”]

[Bavarian Magical Medicine Center, “We cannot know the state of the past, but it is normal now”]

Media outlets from all over are pouring out similar articles with different contents.

[Is ‘Pleroma’ Treatable?]

[Anhalt Protestant Church Alliance Strongly Criticizes “The Era When Pleroma Handles Pleroma”]

[Lucas Askanian, The Only Way Out for the Askanian Family]

[“Cannot Entrust Citizens to Pleroma” Imperial Second Academy’s Decision Resolutely Opposed]

Let’s put aside the analysis articles about my magic since they mostly only tell positive stories.

At first glance, the articles that mention me other than magic mainly tell negative stories.

If you spread out ten, seven of them mention ‘Pleroma’ and ‘Vampirism’ and express concerns.

‘If you only look at this, it’s not a very good sign.’

But this is a natural result.

If the negative perception of the world that has accumulated so far is reversed overnight, you should rather find it more strange.

It would mean that someone high up is controlling the press according to their intentions.

But what I need is information right now, so what should I do if there is a time difference between the reflection of the conventional wisdom like this and the revelation of people’s true perceptions?

At this time, there is a place that reflects the psychology that people do not express the most.

‘It’s the market.’

I picked up yesterday’s economic newspaper that Leo had left behind.

Anhalt has not achieved any special industrial development compared to other countries.

However, Adrian Askanian began to covet steel, railways, and the defense industry from around my age, and in fact, development in that direction is in its initial stage.

However, since Anhalt is originally an agricultural region, there is a basic anxiety that development into a new industry can be reduced in scale or abolished at any time if the leader changes, as policies are still in their initial stage.

Even though there is still a long way to go, Georg Askanian has let go of the steering wheel, so the fluctuation is bound to be more severe even with slight information.

I underlined the companies involved in the development promoted by my brother and the companies that have financial transactions with those companies.

And, the result is….

Niemeyer Engineering -6.4%

Anhaltbaumer -7.95%

A&P Special Steel -5.9%

…

‘It’s a mess.’

I smiled.

When looking at the entire empire, there was no major change in the stock prices of companies in the same industry, but the stock prices of companies involved in my brother’s policies all fell.

Has the investment injected into Anhalt been recovered due to the increased concern about me across the country? It wasn’t that, as there was no significant change in the stock prices of other corporations located in Anhalt.

Only the companies that joined my brother’s economic development policy showed this decline.

‘Good.’

What can be learned from the stock price decline is not just the economic situation.

It’s just a temporary phenomenon, but that’s what’s important to me. The immediate calculations and psychology that people show immediately after information is given.

In other words, what this result means is one thing.

The market has lost its firm belief in the heir to the Duchy of Anhalt.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep