Vol 5. Chapter 3: Used to It
“Vinny, buddy, school starts tomorrow. So? At that new-student welcome banquet a few days ago, did you spot any promising fresh blood to inherit our legacy?” Ferdi said as he played cards with Vinny.
“Huh? Fresh blood?” Vinny played a card and pursed his lips. “I didn’t even go to the welcome banquet. How would I know?”
“You didn’t go? You really didn’t go? Whoa, did the sun rise in the west? You actually passed up a chance to eat at a big banquet? That doesn’t sound like you at all.” Ferdi frowned, looking as if he did not believe him.
“What would I go for? I’m not a new student. It wasn’t a banquet welcoming me.” Though all years could attend the welcome banquet, strictly speaking, the main characters were definitely the new students who had just enrolled.
“And about club new-member recruitment, I’m telling you not to get your hopes too high. I feel like it won’t work out. Our club is a niche hobby group, after all.” Most card players were children from wealthy families. Most noble children did not play. They had more “refined” hobbies, and they were not interested in these low-class hobbies that could not show off anything distinctive about them. That meant the ones who loved playing cards were basically second sons from noble families with no hope of inheriting the family estate.
Unless the older brother of the family was less capable, no one in the same generation was stronger, and the second son had gotten into Carillian Academy through personal effort. Under those circumstances, there was hope for a second son to inherit the family estate. In any other situation, it was completely impossible.
And the chance of that sort of thing happening was tiny. It was an outright low-probability event. After all, the eldest son had always been able to receive the greatest tilt of family resources, while the second son often could not receive such powerful support.
It was still fine in great noble houses. No matter which child it was, all of them could receive heavy support, because the family had the power to back every child. But for those minor nobles, it was somewhat beyond their ability. The family’s strength did not allow them to support that many children.
So, whether in Camella Kingdom, the Tyrel Empire, or even the northern tribes, all nobles followed the same idea: the eldest son was the one most likely to inherit the position of family head and the family estate. The second son and the other children would most likely have to leave the family and find their own path in the future, because noble children had broad horizons and most were unwilling to stay home eating for free until they died.
This common sense could be considered a “legacy” of the Tyrelis Ancient Empire. Almost every human nation had followed this cultural inheritance.
As for the members of the card-player-soul club, that went without saying. Most of them were second sons from minor noble families who were not very valued at home. Their families had never even imagined they could get into Carillian Academy, yet they had. Even so, they still had no real ability to compete for the position of family head, because their older brothers or older sisters were often even more outstanding than they were and were also at Carillian Academy.
That was also why their club could not recruit people. Aside from a small number of genius commoners, the composition of Carillian Academy’s student body was almost entirely noble students.
What did nobles care about?
Naturally, social circles.
Especially the eldest sons and daughters of noble families with some real strength. Why did they fight so desperately to get into Carillian Academy?
It was not only because this place had a profound foundation, the best teaching resources on the entire continent, and the greatest reputation. It was also because everyone studying here was, like them, the children of great nobles—or even children from families far more illustrious than their own.
As future helmsmen of their families, who could afford to have no network? Who would not want to scramble desperately at this time to connect with the future heads of those great noble houses? These were important future connections.
And even if they could not connect upward, it was still extremely important to band together with nobles whose power was roughly equal to their own.
Over time, an unspoken equation had formed in noble circles: if the children of a family could not enter Carillian Academy, then that family basically had no future.
Not to mention that some noble families had internal competition. Their fathers and mothers were very open-minded, declaring that the family did not support idle people, and that age did not matter. Whoever was more capable could inherit the family estate.
Under those circumstances, the children of a family would go mad socializing and building connections, creating networks for themselves in order to obtain important resources for inheriting the family estate in the future.
For Vinny and the others, enrollment was only for study and improvement. But for those nobles whose families had some strength, it was not merely for study and self-improvement. Entering Carillian Academy had far more important tricks hidden inside it.
Could other academies gather so many nobles from so many countries? At most, one would probably be able to befriend some rich children who knew nothing and had no skills. What use was making friends with people like that?
The clubs people joined were all circles of great nobles with shared refined hobbies. After all, some hobbies could only be afforded by great nobles. That became a form of filtering. Only people who belonged in proper circles could enter that circle, and only by entering that circle could one befriend the people and networks one desperately wanted to befriend.
By the same logic, a hobby circle like the card-player-soul club, which sounded like something great nobles could not possibly be interested in, who would join it? Were there any people inside worth befriending?
Every noble with even a little family strength was desperately squeezing into higher-level noble circles. Who had the time to befriend people in this “low-level” circle?
Inside were either fallen nobles, second sons from minor noble families, or even the occasional commoner. Forget befriending them. Those noble children felt that even glancing at them was a waste of time.
That was also why Vinny felt their little circle probably could not expand and could only stay stuck where it was.
“Ah, ah, is there really no hope?” Ferdi sighed.
“Ferdi, you know what kind of hobby club we are. It’s very niche.” Niche was actually a very polite way to put it. To be blunt, they were marginal and beneath the proper circles.
Nobles with even a little status were all highly goal-oriented. If they entered a circle, they definitely needed a reason. To them, the most precious thing was their time. Doing something meaningless was the greatest waste.
“All right. I was hoping things weren’t that bad and that we could at least recruit people this year. At least five people. Even one person would count as us successfully expanding the club.” Ferdi shook his head.
“I’ll do my best, Ferdi.” Vinny let out a long sigh. “But even if we don’t succeed in the end, it’s fine. Honestly, I feel like this year’s new students are no good. Just a bunch of little brats raised in silk and satin since they were young, with no real perspective. If we try to recruit them, not only will they look down their noses at us, but even if we take ten thousand steps back and really do recruit them, there’ll be no end of trouble.”
“What? You’ve had contact with those new students?” Ferdi looked at Vinny in surprise. “Didn’t you say you didn’t even go to the welcome banquet?”
“That is a long story.” Vinny thought of those unlucky little brats from before.
Although not all new students were like that, and he could not tar an entire group with the same brush, there were definitely genius commoners among them who had gotten in through their own strength with great difficulty and wanted to change their fate. But after that little incident, Vinny had already formed something of an impression of this batch of new students. Whenever this year’s new students were mentioned, he would think of those absurd little brats from a few days ago who had thrown down a threat and most likely had Church backgrounds.
“All I can say is that I’ll do what I can.” Vinny lifted his chin. “As for whether it works, who knows.”
The final day of vacation finally ended as well. Carillian Academy officially began the new school year, and Vinny and the others, now second-years, carried the brand-new textbooks issued for second year and headed to class.
“Vinny, has your mood been a little better these past few days?” Shicodale asked, carrying his bag on their usual walk to class.
“Hm? Why do you say that?”
“I saw that your brow has relaxed a little these past few days,” Shicodale asked tentatively.
“Has it? Maybe.” All he could say was that when one was in a bad mood, one really could not stew alone. Otherwise, the more one stewed, the worse the mood became. One had to find people to chat with, talk with, play cards with, and vent some of the gloom. That way, the mood would become much more comfortable.
“Hee.”
“What’s wrong? What are you so happy about?” Vinny asked curiously.
“Nothing. Seeing you happy makes me happy too.” Shicodale smiled sweetly.
“You little dummy. Always grinning like an idiot.” Vinny found it funny.
“I’m not grinning like an idiot. I just think every little bit of daily life is worth paying attention to and is very precious.” Shicodale looked at Vinny.
He treasured this kind of ordinary daily life, where he could still follow behind Vinny and go to school without worries. It let him briefly forget the suffocating pressure pressing down behind him.
“Then isn’t that just grinning like an idiot? Well, that’s fine too. Looks like you’ve taken in what I told you, Dale. Not bad. A man should be optimistic and positive. Even if he has to find joy in hardship, he should keep himself smiling as he faces every day.” Vinny nodded, praising him with the air of an old master.
Although they had advanced to second year, their classroom had not changed. It was still the same classroom as before.
Vinny stepped into the classroom and sat down together with Shicodale in his exclusive spot. He had always loved sitting here.
But clearly, he was not the only one who liked sitting here.
“This blue-haired young lady, my apologies, but could you let me in?”
“??” Vinny looked oddly at the silver-haired girl in front of him, who was speaking to him in an intentionally polite tone.
This bastard in front of him definitely knew him, yet she was acting as if she did not know him at all, as if this was their first meeting. It made Vinny’s anger flare.
And young lady?
“Sorry, who are you?” Vinny glanced at the silver-haired girl in front of him in annoyance. “You’ve got the wrong person. There are no girls here.”
“Oh, my?” The silver-haired girl raised a brow and looked at Vinny with a surprised expression. “So it was you, Vinny. Long time no see. I almost didn’t recognize you.”
“How long is this long time? So long you can’t recognize me anymore?” Vinny almost failed to keep his expression steady. “And young lady?”
“My apologies, Vinny. You look too much like an old acquaintance of mine, so I mistook you for someone else for a moment.” Aesphyra said this with an apologetic air, but Vinny, who understood Aesphyra, knew there was no apology in those words at all. It was clearly all teasing.
“Tch! It’s the first day of school, and I was going to be nice to you. Then you pull this, huh? You can’t live without messing with me, huh?” Vinny waved a hand with a look of disdain. “Shoo, shoo. Go cool off somewhere else. How many times have I told you? This Young Master is allergic to nuts. Don’t come anywhere near me. This place is this Young Master’s exclusive seat. Why are you coming over here to join the fun?”
“What, always sitting next to this Young Master—is it because you have a crush on this Young Master and don’t dare confess?” Vinny folded his arms.
“Hm? But this seat was clearly the one I picked out first. Vinny, look inside. Aren’t my books sitting there?” Aesphyra said playfully.
“Hm?” Vinny looked inside and discovered that, just as Aesphyra had said, her textbooks were placed inside, which meant she had sat here very early on.
“Did you see my textbooks here and deliberately sit next to me, Vinny?” Aesphyra neatly turned the accusation back on him, her bright, beautiful eyes blinking with a shimmering ripple of amusement. “Vinny, your ‘hint’ is a little clumsy and stiff, but the sincerity is still there.”
“Sincerity, my ass. You nut really are as narcissistic as ever. Who hinted? Hinted at what? It’s been a year. The whole class knows this place is the exclusive throne of me, the Royal Capital’s notorious young master, all right?” Vinny lost his composure again.
“Then is your name written on it?”
“Tch! What a stupid question. Like a child. If this Young Master wrote his name on you, would that mean you belonged to me?” Vinny rolled his eyes and snapped.
“Oh my? What a bold confession. What should I do? Should I consider it?”
“Don’t run with that, damn it!”
This white-haired nut ball could always make him lose his composure with pinpoint accuracy, as if she were his natural enemy.
“Um, Vinny, maybe... let it go?” Shicodale, who had stood up to make way and let Aesphyra go inside to sit, discovered that the two of them kept arguing. He was stuck there as if being punished to stand, neither able to stand properly nor sit properly.
Why did it feel as if he had become a prop for the two of them? It felt like whenever the two of them started arguing, there was nothing for anyone else to do. In both of their eyes, there was only each other.
Shicodale was a little dazed.
These two most likely started arguing whenever they met, but if one said their relationship was truly bad, it did not seem like that either.
At least Shicodale felt that, in the makeup of their arguments, actual conflict was the smallest part. It felt more like the two of them were communicating.
Why did it feel less like arguing and fighting, and more like flirtatious bickering?
No, that could not be right, could it?
Shicodale was shocked by his own thought.
As for the quarrels between Aesphyra and Vinny, the entire class was already used to them. Perhaps they had been curious at the beginning, but after spending a year together, everyone had grown accustomed to it. Each person did their own thing, without even bothering to look.
(There are no protagonist-abuse plotlines after this.)