Chapter 232

Mathieu Aubigny.

He was also a New Human, so he had a face that looked to be between his twenties and thirties. His impression was round and seemed kind. If it hadn’t been for what he said right after arriving in the empire, his image wouldn’t have been so bad.

He smiled and extended his hand.

“I’m really glad to meet the person I’ve only heard about through rumors like this. I’m Mathieu Aubigny.”

“Nice to meet you, Your Excellency Aubigny.”

I nodded and shook his hand.

“I’ve heard a lot about you in France. They say you took first place in the 101st Imperial Selection Exam.”

It wasn’t that kind of exam, and later the crown prince just shoved me in through an irregular selection, but I wouldn’t bother correcting it. The imperial family had already done image-making in the way he said anyway.

“So the story has spread that far.”

“Of course! It’s the neighboring country, isn’t it. It’s refreshing to meet someone so outstanding that they were selected as the top in their class.”

“Come on.”

I raised my eyebrows and smiled to appropriately wrap up the conversation. Now, if I moderately praised Mathieu Aubigny’s achievements and said I had to go find my team members, it would be over.

But he smiled brightly and opened his mouth without giving me a chance to say anything.

“I watched the video of the exam you took.”

“Ah, the video.”

I almost bit my lip but managed my expression.

‘He didn’t just hear about it, he watched the video?’

A thought suddenly occurred to me.

Did the video of us running madly through the streets of Berlin cross the border? It’s customary for nobles not to run, so it’s not a very dignified sight.

Of course, I could let that much slide. The foreign nobles who saw the video are people who have gone through such training and exams countless times.

But for me, it didn’t end with just running hard. To a third party, I must have looked almost like a Line 1 madman. I didn’t want to recall why.

If they had thought about the dignity of individual members, the school should never have done such a thing.

‘I want to go home.’

“To think of giving up one sense to counter a mage with a mental-type unique ability, I was truly impressed. I know that the Imperial Mages’ Association of the German Empire operates each like special forces, and although Eszett’s position hasn’t been decided yet, I keenly felt why Your Excellency was selected first for the imperial family at such a young age.”

“Is that so. I’m glad Your Excellency is interested in me and says that. Actually, before coming, I read a few of the papers Your Excellency has published, and there were many interesting contents, so I wanted to chat for a bit.”

“Oh.”

Now I should moderately praise him and send him away.

While I picked up a champagne from a passing waiter’s tray, Mathieu’s gaze stuck to me with interest.

“I couldn’t read many due to lack of time, but among them, the experiment on mana-element bonding using thermodynamics left a deep impression on me.”

“Ah, alchemy! Analysis of the mana-element bonding system based on thermodynamic principles. That’s the paper I published this year.”

“That’s right. To establish an academic system for alchemy, more than anything, we need to find a concrete way to suppress and reverse entropy increase first, and you said it’s uncertain if that can be achieved now, when nothing has been clarified except the discovery that a clear exception to the second law of thermodynamics occurs. It remains in my memory. You even considered the method to ultimately elementalize mana.”

“That’s correct. In the end, it would deviate from the traditional meaning of alchemy, but it wouldn’t be a bad outcome, would it. May I ask what impressed you the most?”

“The conclusion that clinical experiments on mages with unique abilities optimized for alchemy are inevitable was the most impressive.”

It was obvious he would ask about the pros and cons of human experimentation, so I took a sip of champagne and immediately continued.

“Although this field still has a long way to go, through Your Excellency’s paper, I confirmed that the direction is being clearly organized.”

“Oh, actually, when I publish such seemingly obvious research results, there are many members of the public who point fingers.”

“From the perspective of the public who aren’t scholars, it might look that way. It sounds like solemnly declaring something they already knew by guesswork after spending expensive research funds.”

“Hm.”

Mathieu smiled and nodded.

“But at least scholarship shouldn’t pander to public popularity. No matter how certain it seems, if it’s in the realm of inference, we can’t skip verification. Running on a cleanly organized road is different from running on a path with stone fragments scattered everywhere, isn’t it.”

“Your Excellency could make a name for yourself quickly even as a professor. I really like the analogy.”

He seemed like a person who exaggerated expressions, as I’d noticed signs of that earlier.

I smiled faintly to wrap up the conversation. The moment I picked up a canape topped with a cherry, Mathieu, who had been staring at me intently, opened his mouth.

“For both heirs of Askanian to enter the imperial family at an age not even adult yet, the bloodline of a prestigious family is indeed different, lately such stories are circulating a lot in the magic clubs of Paris. Even the dean of our Academy Puissance said that if Your Excellency Askanian were a subject of the French Empire, he would have scouted you immediately.”

Academy Puissance is what they call the French Empire Imperial Academy.

Directly translated, it’s Power Academy, and those guys also view magic as a power granted to humans by God.

I responded with a smile and eye contact, and seeing he had no intention of leaving easily, I gave a farewell greeting.

“It’s an honor. It was a good conversation. I hope we have a chance to talk again.”

“Yes. Personally, I really support you. It’s enjoyable to understand the intentions of His Majesty Emperor Friedrich who chose you and our academy’s dean in this short time.”

When I just looked at him without answering, he continued.

“Inwardly, I felt dubious about the imperial family’s choice, but I realized that was really just my prejudice. I’m sorry. Our members are still immature and might easily show prejudice, so I’ll make an effort to discipline them.”

Mathieu shook hands with me once more and grinned. Then, as if something occurred to him, he, who had been turning away, raised his eyebrows and looked at me again.

He snapped his fingers and grinned.

“Your eye color is cool, just as I imagined.”

*  *  *

Eye color.

Lately, I’ve been hearing about my pupils a lot.

‘It makes sense. It’s natural.’

Until now, I had been living quietly like a dead mouse, so there was no occasion for eye color to become a topic.

At most, it was backbiting like ‘Why is that Askanian’s eye color like that, is it really pink, if so, it’s definitely Pleroma’, and few people said such things directly to me.

But not now.

As I went around, people became aware of my eye color again.

It could be seen as a slightly negative result that arose after publicly revealing the ability of Lucas Askanian’s identity.

‘Hm.’

However, bringing up the eye story to me wasn’t with such pure intentions.

Simply because it’s novel? Half might be that reason, but the other half isn’t.

Red-series eyes are accepted as a mark of Pleroma. Considering he’s a noble, by mentioning eye color, Mathieu was talking about my Pleroma nature.

‘But it’s not like he was dissing me.’

I couldn’t feel personal malice toward me from him.

Judging from what he said right before, it meant that since the delegation members all recognize me as Pleroma, know that.

‘Earlier, I definitely thought that those guys badmouthing the empire is none of my business.’

Now it is my business.

It’s not because those guys are Pleroma or related to it. They don’t seem like it, and if there was a sign, Narce would have said immediately.

Then why is it my business?

Those foreigners see me as a symbol of the empire’s laxity.

The empire appointed a Pleroma as an imperial mage, how ridiculous does that sound to those who know nothing.

‘Is it over with that? Arrogant without knowing the subject—wanting to exert supranational influence without thinking or ability to solve the essential problem—they must have found it more offensive and ridiculous for opening the Pentalon. The Grand Hotel incident must have added fuel to that.’

In short, from foreign perspectives, it’s like ‘Does that country have a head?’ situation unfolding.

I also think the emperor and crown prince were hasty in many ways, so I have no intention of correcting that perception.

I looked around while drinking champagne.

In the distance, friends surrounded by people were visible.

Leo and Yulia were busy. Already obscured by the crowd, their figures weren’t properly visible. To accept conversation requests from imperial nobles and French nobles, even ten bodies wouldn’t be enough.

Heike and Ulrike were diligently eating snacks by the banquet table. As from Prussian landowner families, that is, Junker families, the two would have received a lot of attention at ordinary banquets, but here with ruling family nobles, they could be relatively free.

Fortunately, as high school students with no interest in advancement, they didn’t seem to think it regrettable.

Ulrike, who had been standing with a more serious face than usual as it was a banquet hall anyway, with one hand in her pocket, opened her mouth.

“Do we have to go on duty after this ends?”

“Yeah.”

“After security ends in the evening, Narce, me, and Yulia are going to play board games together. Want to join?”

‘Were they having this kind of conversation with serious faces?’

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