Kingdom of Lies

by Yuri Kitayama

  Christina definitely didn’t have any favorable feelings towards Rio, and Rio had absolutely no intention of having any connection to Christina.

  “Alright. From today onwards, Rio is one of our classmates. He may be unfamiliar with many things, so please help him out when he needs it. I hope you all get along well,” Celia said in a bright voice, breaking the heavy atmosphere in the room, but there was no response from the students. Celia gave a small sigh.

  “...Okay Rio, why don’t you sit in one of the empty seats? That’ll be your assigned seat from now on. I would recommend the one at the very front.”

  It would be easier for Celia to keep an eye on him there.

  “Understood.” Rio moved to the open desk at the front of the classroom and lowered himself into the seat.

  “That’s all the announcements for today, so let’s dive straight into the lesson.”

  ◇◇◇

  At the Royal Academy of Beltrum, the teachers changed with every subject, and the homeroom teacher wasn’t necessarily the teacher for all of the subjects. Fortunately, Rio’s first lesson at the Royal Academy was an arithmetic class taught by Celia.

  “Everyone here passed the entrance examination, so you all know your four basic operations already. Today, we’ll be trying to solve some more advanced problems,” Celia said as she stood at the teacher’s podium and wrote the exercises down on the blackboard. The questions were simple enough to be solved by a elementary school student in Japan.

  “Now, please solve the questions on the blackboard,” Celia said once she finished writing. The students all moved their quills at once to work on the exercises. Once she had confirmed that they were working, Celia approached Rio.

  “Ah... Rio. I’m not sure what level you’re at, so I’d just like to check — can you solve the questions on the board?”

  “I’m sorry... I can’t even read the words,” Rio answered Celia’s whispered question.

  “I see. So we’ll have to start with numbers and letters,” Celia said with an uneasy look. “Then I’ll give you some individual lessons in my research lab... Could you come to the basement of the library tower after class? You can just sit through the lesson for today,” she added after a few seconds of consideration, keeping in mind the balance of progress with the rest of the class.

  “Yes ma’am.” Rio followed her decision obediently. It wasn’t his intention to delay the progress of the rest of the class just for himself.

  The arithmetic class continued without incident until the end of the lesson.

  ◇◇◇

  After the first class was over, it was break time. Celia left the classroom to head to her next class, leaving the students behind. A strange atmosphere then descended upon the classroom, and countless gazes fell upon the empty space that surrounded Rio, who sat by himself at the front of the room. ...Whisper whisper whisper...

  “Seems like he can’t do arithmetic. He was just listening the whole time.”

  “Ah, it must be because he didn’t take the entrance examination to get in.”

  “He’s an orphan after all. An orphan. There’s no way he’s had a proper education... I bet he can’t even read the characters.”

  “Wow, why did they let someone like that into the school?”

  Perhaps they were intrigued — or amused — by the sight of an orphan they normally wouldn’t come into contact with, as the students were speaking quietly to each other as they stared at Rio from afar. He could hear them giggling to themselves. Well... they’ll get bored eventually. While he felt as comfortable as sleeping on a bed of nails, that was, at least, as far as his classmates went. He could ignore that much. He’d be quite the spectacle to them for the near future, but they’d eventually stop paying attention to him. Rio heaved a small sigh at that thought.

  “Hey, you. Do you have a moment?”

  Just then, a girl walked down from the back of the classroom and addressed Rio with an air of composure. It was a voice he had heard before — and very recently, at that. Rio turned his gaze towards the owner of said voice.

  The cute girl with blonde ringlets who had been sitting next to Christina earlier was standing there, watching him. Her wide eyes had a forceful strength behind them as she looked at Rio in annoyance.

  Is she the girl who was with Princess Christina in the slums? Rio assumed from her familiar voice. She had been wearing a robe at the time, so he didn’t know her face, but he recalled her name as Roanna.

  “Can I help you with anything?”

  “Can I help you with anything? No, there’s nothing you can help me with. What was the meaning of that lesson just now?” The girl he assumed to be Roanna spoke clearly, then gave an exaggerated sigh.

  “...I’m sorry. What do you mean?” Unable to understand the conversation, Rio tilted his head.

  “You seem to grasp the basic concepts of language, but you can’t even read numbers?”

  “Yes,” Rio confirmed calmly. The girl raised her eyebrows.

  “Are you fooling around right now? The Royal Academy of Beltrum is a place of learning with a long history of tradition and status. We all had to pass a difficult entrance examination to be here, and yet you can’t even read characters — that makes you no different than a monkey,” the girl stated indignantly.

  Suddenly, a voice interrupted to agree with her.

  “Why, it’s exactly as Lady Roanna says!”

  The new voice who interjected belonged to a boy with a pretty face. Rio and the girl both turned to look at him.

  “What is it, Alphonse? I’m talking to him right now.” Roanna narrowed her eyes at him, unhappy at being interrupted.

  “Well, pardon me. I was just thinking about how a dirty commoner in my line of sight is unpleasant enough, so having one enrolled in the Royal Academy of Beltrum is truly some sort of nightmare,” Alphonse said coldly.

  “This boy’s enrollment was decided by His Majesty, the King. I don’t believe you’re in a position to criticize,” Roanna said.

  “Yes, it is as you say,” Alphonse agreed with a smug smirk. “However, I do not wish for this boy to get the wrong idea, either. That’s why I’m going to make things clear right now.” He looked around at the other students in the classroom.

  “What do you mean?” Roanna asked doubtfully.

  “I’m telling you not to assume he’s of equal status to us, that’s all. Everyone here is a chosen child of royalty and nobility. It would be unpleasant to have a commoner act like he’s one of us.” Alphonse didn’t bother to hide any of his contempt at Rio and shot a glare at him.

  It was pointless to say anything to someone with such a strong sense of prejudice.

  He’d just have to spout some random words of submission to appease him... that’s what Rio was thinking as he received Alphonse’s unchanging glare.

  “With all due respect—”

  “I haven’t given you permission to speak, commoner. Do not interrupt the conversation of nobles. It’s unpleasant.”

  Rio had opened his mouth and Alphonse immediately spoke over him with a triumphant smile, as though he had been waiting for it. Silence fell over the classroom, before giggles started to break out from all over. Seeing the reactions of the other students made Alphonse grin even wider in satisfaction. Rio fell silent, a cold smile remaining on his face.

  “That’s enough, Alphonse. If you’re just here to ridicule others, then please take your leave,” Roanna told him in a weary voice.

  “I shall do just that. Excuse me.”

  With a nod, Alphonse returned to the back of the room with a smug expression. Roanna looked at Rio and opened her mouth once again.

  “...As I was saying. To put it frankly, you’re not worthy of being in this school.”

  “Please accept my sincerest apologies — I have not had an education.”

  “So it seems, yes. But the more your comprehension falls behind, the more you’ll be holding us back, too. You’ll be smearing mud all over this school’s name.
” Roanna took Rio’s unreserved statement at face value.

  “It is exactly as you say.”

  “Then you need to show some effort, and leave behind good results; there are examinations at the end of every school semester here at the academy. That’s all I have to say.”

  “I understand. I vow to exert my best efforts in order to avoid becoming a hindrance on everyone. Miss Roanna, thank you very much for your concern,” Rio thanked her as he lowered his head politely.

  “It’s fine. This is part of my job as acting class representative on Princess Christina’s behalf. Even if that wasn’t the case, it is the role of nobility to lead the commoners.”

  Those were probably her true feelings; Roanna was trying to lead Rio as the class representative and as a noble. There was a sense of duty and responsibility there... Perhaps that was why Rio couldn’t sense the same animosity behind Roanna’s words as he did Alphonse’s.

  ◇◇◇

  After his first day of class was over, Rio made his way to the library tower where the instructor research labs were located. The library took up three floors of the tower, with the remaining floors allocated to the instructors that taught at the Academy. Celia’s laboratory was in one such space underneath the tower.

  The ground floor entrance of the library opened to an exorbitant number of books, crammed snuggly into shelves sorted by subject. Although Rio was curious about what kinds of books were available, he had other matters to deal with today, and headed straight for the underground research labs once he’d completed the necessary forms at the reception desk. Once downstairs, the basement was comprised of a long passage illuminated by magic lamps.

  “Must be here.”

  Rio had arrived at Celia’s lab safely, having asked for directions at the reception. He couldn’t read the letters on the nameplate attached to the door, but figured that this should be the right place.

  Knock, knock. Rio rapped slowly on the door.

  “......” No response came from the other side of the door.

  “Is she not here?”

  Rio tilted his head in confusion and knocked again, this time with more force. Knock, knock. Still no response.

  “Professor Celia, are you there?” Knock, knock.

  He continued to knock as he called. If she wasn’t here, he should just give up and come back tomorrow—

  Just as Rio thought that, the door flew open, making him jump in surprise. Luckily, the door had opened inwards — if it were an outward-facing door, it might have smacked him in the face.

  “Oh my god, shut up already! Can’t you read the sign? I’m in the middle of something right now, go awa...” Celia protested loudly as she burst out of the room, but trailed off at the sight of Rio’s face. Rio stared back at her dumbfoundedly; his impression of her as a sheltered and proper noble daughter had flown out the window.

  “Erm... I’m here for the individual lessons you mentioned...” Rio stated his business hesitantly with a stiff smile.

  “Huh? Ah, yes... R-Right... Welcome! Yes, I’ve been expecting you.” With a pondering pause and gasp later, Celia recovered herself smoothly with a sweet smile.

  She definitely forgot, Rio thought with a strained expression, but decided to play along anyway.

  “My apologies for the inconvenience.”

  “It’s fine!” Celia said, smiling a bit abashedly. “As your instructor, I can’t just leave you behind.”

  “Thank you very much.”

  “Yes, well. There’s no point in standing around, so come on in — ah.” Celia turned around to invite Rio inside and immediately stiffened.

  Oh no. I forgot he was coming so I didn’t clean the room!

  “What’s wrong?” Rio asked from behind a silently panicking Celia.

  “Eh? Ah... no, nothing. Yes. Um. My room’s a little bit messy right now, but pay it no mind.” Celia gave him her biggest and brightest forced smile to try and cover up her oversight.

  “Sure, that’s fine.” Rio nodded, then stepped into the room.

  ...This is a little bit messy...?

  Rio recoiled at the chaos laid out before him. It was much worse than he imagined.

  The room was an impressive size of over 350 square feet, but the floor was scattered with documents, books, and other miscellaneous items of unknown purpose to Rio. There was a desk that was also covered in books and papers, with the leftovers of a light meal — a plate and teacup — stacked at the end. It was hard to believe that this was the room of a cute young lady.

  “I-It’s normally cleaner than this! I was just a bit busy and my research was at a good stride so I put it off for later...”

  Celia must have noticed the change in Rio’s expression, because she blushed while explaining herself. Unable to come up with a good response, Rio pointed to the books that caught his eye and complimented Celia.

  “T-Those are a lot of difficult-looking books, Professor. You’re really amazing for such a young age!”

  It was a very low-effort response, but Celia latched onto it.

  “Eh? Ah... aah, yes. I’m only twelve years old, you know? I should still be in the primary division at this age, yet I’ve already graduated from the secondary school!” Celia proudly puffed out her small chest. Her cheeks were still a little red, but she seemed grateful for the change of topic.

  “That really is amazing.”

  “R-Right! I actually wanted to dedicate myself to my magic research more, but the researchers here all have to take a part in instructing,” Celia babbled. The way she was trying to act mature was strangely cute, making Rio smile faintly.

  “Umm... I’ll clear a space, so just wait there.”

  She began cleaning up the items left on the desk and chairs in the middle of the room. There seemed to be a certain methodology to how the items were haphazardly scattered, which allowed Celia to briskly organize them. Figuring he shouldn’t move any of the books and documents himself, Rio decided to stand back and watch, but...

  “...”

  He noticed that Celia was bent forward as she cleaned, making her skirt flutter dangerously. Her slender legs had an elegant charm that didn’t suit her age... Rio quickly averted his eyes and sighed at Celia’s obliviousness.

  Several minutes later, Rio and Celia sat opposite each other at her desk, with several writing tools placed before them.

  “Okay, let’s start.”

  “All right.”

  “So where shall we begin... Okay, how about this — do you know what numbers are and what they mean?”

  “I do,” Rio answered immediately.

  “Hmm... okay. Take these five books, then. Let’s say you finished reading three of them. How many more books do you still have to read?” Celia gave Rio a simple question to check if he really understood.

  “Two books.” Once again, Rio answered immediately.

  Celia’s eyes widened in surprise. “My, so you really do understand. If you can do subtraction, that means you must be able to do addition, too. Okay, how about this?”

  Celia picked up a quill pen from the table and wrote down a simple addition question on some paper.

  “Um... I can’t read characters, so...” Rio said in a troubled voice.

  “Oh, that’s right. So you can do the calculations, but you can’t read the numbers?”

  “That’s correct.”

  “Well, that’s a little odd... But I suppose it’s not unheard of? Paper is expensive, after all...” Celia muttered to herself in thought.

  “All right, I guess that means I just need to teach you the numbers. That should make things pretty simple — and much easier for me. I’m going to write down the numbers from zero to nine here. Can you remember them?” Celia asked as she smoothly jotted the numbers down.

  “Sure.”

  “From the left, it goes zero, one, two, increasing as such. Tell me once you’re done remembering them and I’ll give you some arithmetic problems.”

  “Okay.” Rio nodded. He used his finger
to trace the numbers as he memorized them. They were very simple in shape, so he was able to finish memorizing them in a short amount of time.

  “I’ve remembered them.”

  “Eh? Already? Okay, then write the numbers from zero to nine here.” Celia turned the paper over and handed it to Rio. Rio wrote down the characters with ease.

  “Correct. Your handwriting is really neat, too,” Celia commented in awe. “Okay. Next, let’s jump straight into addition and subtraction problems. I’ll teach you the symbols as well.”

  “Okay. Could you give me questions that are on the same level as the class right now? I want to see how well I can keep up.”

  “At the same level as the class... That’d be the four basic operations, which includes multiplication and division. Wouldn’t that be too hard?”

  “It’s fine, I think. Multiplication is where you figure out how many apples you need to give six children five apples each, right? And division is just the opposite.”

  “Y-Yes, that’s right. Where did you learn that?” Celia wondered out loud.

  “...From my dead mother.”

  That was a lie. He had learned the basic operations long ago through his education in his other life. All Celia needed to teach Rio was how to read the numbers and symbols — but he couldn’t tell her that. Rio decided to simplify things by saying he had learned it from his dead mother, since there was no way for the truth to be unearthed and proven.

  “I see. Your mother must have been very educated.” Feeling bad for asking such a thing, Celia’s expression clouded over.

  “Yes. She was a very warm and kind person...” Rio’s expression faintly darkened, too.

  “Umm, okay... so if that’s the case, then that means you can do the basic operations. I’ll create some problems for you at the same level as the rest of the class. You can give that a try.”

  At Rio’s inclination of his head, Celia pulled over a new piece of paper. She began to write question after question on it, until there were roughly twenty questions utilizing the four different operations.

  “The symbols at the top are the four basic mathematic operators. Starting from the left, it’s addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Now begin.”