The Campus was a giant semi-circular island an hour away from the Empire’s capital of Gabelin by boat. At the centre of the island was the College, the most prestigious school of the campus, while other schools were spread across the entire island.

The Campus was home to many schools such as magic, military, sailing, finance, art, technology, and more. It was designed to enrol talented individuals into a specific school with the goal of producing the finest professionals into the Empire, and only those whose talents had been approved by the Empire could enrol into the Campus.

The Campus was sometimes called the Duchy of Campus because of its relative independence and isolation from the outside world; it was designed that way to make sure their students would focus on education and education alone. In fact, the Campus was run by a Committee composed of the Student Council members and various professors and lecturers of the Campus.

“So this is the Campus.”

After the short cruise across the ocean, Isaac disembarked onto the empty port. It was different from what he expected. The port was empty, defined only by the bare necessities: docks, a few warehouses, and lodges. A wall separated the inner and outer port, and the only way into the Campus was through a gate at the top of a gentle slope. The sailors busy with unloading the goods looked at Isaac, who stood alone.

“You lot! Stop wasting time and get back to work!”

The loud and rugged voice prompted the sailors back to work, and the sailors immediately picked up their pace. 

“Hm? What’s this? Did no one come to see you? Well, don’t worry. I’m sure someone will come to check our supply manifest.”

“Thank you, Mr. Gonzales, for letting me know.”

Isaac thanked the middle-aged sailor who comforted him. Mr. Gonzales scratched his beard, unaccustomed to words of gratitude from a noble.

“Are you really a noble? I guess I’m weird too, talking so casually to a noble like this.”

The first monster attack in a decade was no small incident in the Empire. As the sole survivor, Isaac’s name was known across the Empire—as well as his current family situation. 

“Well, none of that’ll matter, since you’re set for life after you graduate from the Campus, so perk up you hear. Ah! There he is.”

Gonzales encouraged, patting Isaac’s shoulder. Isaac turned towards the direction Gonzales was looking at and saw a car slowly approaching them from the distance. 

‘It’s so strange to see them every time. Using mana… It’s basically the cleanest fuel imaginable.’

A familiar object in an unfamiliar world. Isaac was dumbfounded when he saw it for the first time but got over it quickly. If its social structures were modern, so too must have been their transportation. 

“Oh! Is that the new automobile that everyone’s been so noisy about? Heard they were planning on selling them to the nobles, but it seems like they’re already up and running in the Campus.”

As Gonzales marvelled at the car, it rolled to a gentle stop in front of them. 

“Hello. You’re here early today.”

A handsome young man with blonde hair stepped out of the car and greeted Gonzales.

“Yes. Lady Luck blessed us with a good wind”

“That’s good to hear. I assume the supplies are fine?”

“You can bet on it, sir. We checked them before we sailed here. We’re currently unloading them from the boat and into one of the warehouses; would you like to observe?”

“I’ll deal with the documents first. But who is this young man? It’s not enrollment season, and I don’t believe that anyone’s left Campus—to my knowledge, at least..”

Gonzales was perplexed at the boy’s question and replied.

“He was supposed to enrol in the Campus, was he not?”

“Huh? I didn’t get a report for a transfer student.”

“Hello, my name is Isaac Rondart. Nice to meet you.”

“Rondart? From the Baron Rondart family?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, so you must be Kainen’s little brother.”

“… I’m his older brother.”

According to Isaac’s memories, his two younger brothers were Kainen and Kaizen. Of the two, Kainen had already entered the Campus through normal procedures and was now enrolled in the College. If the man in front of Isaac knew Kainen, he must have been from the College as well.

Confused, the young man tilted his head and replied.

“Older brother? Never heard of him having one. He doesn’t have an older brother, does he?”

“Uh, Master Mazelan, just a moment.”

Gonzales took Mazelan aside, having recognized that the conversation was making no progress. He began whispering in his ear about Isaac’s now-infamous situation.

After his explanation, Mazelan sighed deeply and approached Isaac.

“You did well, making all the way here.”

“It was nothing.”

“Just wait a moment. I just need to figure something out.”

Mazelan excused himself and entered one of the buildings in the port. He soon came out with a serious expression as he talked to Isaac and Gonzales.

“Come with me for now. This isn’t something I can handle alone. Ah! Mr. Gonzales, tell the captain I’m sorry. I’ll also leave the documents to you.”

“Don’t worry sir. I’ll have it ready. Kid… I mean, farewell, Master Isaac.”

Despite how casually Gonzales addressed Isaac, Isaac was still a noble. Gonzales couldn’t treat him as he usually did when Mazelan was watching. He bowed toward them and then headed for the warehouse.

“We should get going too. Get in.”

Mazelan got into the driver’s seat and opened the passenger seat for Isaac. When Isaac hesitated to get in, Mazelan smiled.

“You don’t have to be so scared. This is the newest invention from the Empire’s Institute of Technology. It’s still in a testing phase, but there haven’t been any accidents yet.”

“…”

Isaac reluctantly entered the car. As he watched the trees pass by him through the window, Mazelan began to talk.

“I think you should know about this. From what I know, we’ve never had a case like this before.”

“What…”

“I know it might sound cruel, but the Campus teaches their students that you can only make the best decisions when you have a firm grasp on the situation you’re in. So I’ll be straight about this.”

“… Yes.”

“In truth you aren’t the only person to be in a situation like this. Seeing how Kainen never mentioned anything about an older brother, I can suspect what’s happening. Schemes and plots around inheritance is a common thing in nobility. Especially since the number of nobles with estates have dropped significantly in recent years. There’s a lot to be gained from the situation.”

“So I’m just an unavoidable casualty.”

“No. When you have neither support nor any protection for your claim as the heir, you’re just shit out of luck.”

What a straightforward, almost cruel way to teach reality.

Isaac smiled bitterly. If his consciousness was Isaac’s and not Joon-young’s, he would have been bawling his eyes out at this point.

Mazelan glimpsed at Isaac. He was surprised at how calmly Isaac was accepting it all.

“The real problem right now is that the Rondart family brought their family feud into the Campus. I’m guessing they’ve tried to keep you their little secret for as long as they could, and you’re only here now because they couldn’t handle the interrogations anymore.”

‘A canny analysis.’

Isaac mumbled to himself as he watched the streets outside. They passed many buildings, schools, plazas and fields. They were now on a road leading up a mountain.

“Where are we going?”

“Uh…. Well. It’s weird to say this, but consider an honour. It’s not every day someone who isn’t associated with the College gets to enter it.”

The College… Isaac’s eyes brightened with curiosity as the building came into view. The College stood like a castle on top of the mountain. Its imposing figure suited its reputation as the pinnacle of education in the Empire.

But in Isaac’s eyes, the College seemed like a complete waste. You could learn any kind of art or skills in the College. The same applied for the Campus. Separating the greatest geniuses from others and placing them in a separately run institute would only end up making it more expensive to maintain and run Campus as a whole. 

“Here we are.”

Passing through the magnificent gate, Mazelan led Isaac to the building in the centre. Isaac almost whistled in admiration when he entered the building. The ground floor was full of artistic wonders. He almost couldn’t tell if this place was a school or an art gallery.

“Beautiful, right? These are all the graduation projects made by the College students in the School of Art. Some say that if we sold all of the works here, we would easily make a profit equal to 5 years of the Empire’s total revenue.”

Even Isaac who knew nothing of art could tell each and every piece was a treasure on its own. There were brilliant paintings, elegant statues, and beautifully crafted sets of swords and armour.

“I’d love to give you a tour, but sadly, we don’t have much time. There’s someone waiting for you.”

“Who would that be?”

“The Headmaster would like to see you.”

Just as the Campus was called the Duchy of Campus, the Headmaster of College sitting at the top of the Campus was given the title of Duke when he was appointed. The title was only valid for the duration of his appointment, but the honour of receiving it was passed down to their heirs. 

The current Headmaster, Duke Corduroy, had humble origins but had nonetheless earned the legendary title. He was both a symbol and role model for the commoners. 

After a long wait in the waiting room, a voice called Isaac and Mazelan into the Headmaster’s room.

The room was elegantly decorated, with shelves upon shelves of books on both sides of the wall. At the end of the room was a window and a lavish desk, where an elderly man sat and looked through some documents.

‘He looks like a grumpy old man.’

Isaac could tell with just one look; this Duke Corduroy was going to be difficult to work with. A short temper for sure, and maybe one to hold a grudge. 

“Headmaster, I have brought Isaac.”

Corduroy briefly looked at the two standing at the entrance before turning back to the document at hand. The two could only stand still and wait.

How much time had passed? Corduroy was engrossed at working through his documents, completely ignoring Isaac and Mazelan. Isaac thought to himself, ‘what the hell was this,’ and approached the desk.

“The name’s Isaac Rondart.”

“…”

Isaac introduced himself with a bow, and only then did Corduroy take his eyes off the documents and look at Isaac.

“….”

A brief, but awkward silence filled the room. Suddenly, Duke Corduroy asked a question.

“What do you want to do after you graduate from the Campus?”

“I would like to become an administrator or a solicitor in a small village.”

A hint of curiosity flickered through Duke Corduroy’s eyes. It seemed the answer was unexpected.

“Why?”

“I’d like to live out my days as peaceful and leisurely as possible.”

“Wouldn’t a mayor or chief of the village be more suitable?”

“Better to be a powerful second-in-command than a leader who needs to take responsibility for his actions.”

“For a brat, you seem to know how the world runs.”

Corduroy smirked at Isaac then waved Mazelan to come closer. After handing a document to him, he waved his hand again, this time motioning them to leave. Mazelan quickly looked through the document, and his face in disbelief. Sadly, he wasn’t in a position to question Corduroy’s actions and quietly led Isaac out of the room.

When Corduroy saw Isaac disappear behind the closed doors, he mumbled to himself.

“A strange one.”

“Did you find something?”

One of the shelves split in two, and a man entered the room.

“His eyes… They’re lifeless. He looks like someone who’s seen enough death to be desensitised to it. In my experience, these types of people don’t think much about their own lives, much less the lives of others.”

“He did go through that incident. It must have been quite a shock.”

“I’d be relieved if that were the case.”

“If you suspect it that much, you could increase the level…”

“We lost too many agents from an unprecedented incident. There aren’t enough agents to watch a mere level 5. Let’s just leave it for now.”

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