While Gerhard was visiting his family home, time at the academy steadily flowed by.
The entrance ceremony ended with the top freshmen from each department taking an oath as representatives. Before long, the Imperial Armian Academy began a new semester with the start of classes.
Gerhard entered the classroom and took his seat. The classroom interior was relatively noisy due to students arriving one after another.
"Gerhard."
As he sat quietly deep in thought, someone approached.
"Your Highness. It's been a while."
"How disappointing. Didn't we agree to speak informally?"
"Since this is our first meeting after becoming second-years, I should at least show some courtesy in my initial greeting."
Not many people would readily approach Gerhard, who exuded his family's influence and a heavy atmosphere.
Only those who had equivalent influence, or those whom Gerhard acknowledged as useful and maintained appropriate friendships with.
The blonde man, Rudger Schwaben, the empire's second prince, was a figure who fell into both categories.
"I heard you returned a bit early and worked on your merchant company affairs?"
"That's right."
"As expected, the Goldenheim heir is busy."
"I'm not the heir."
"It's almost certain you will be."
"Nothing is absolute."
"Just like a merchant family, so thorough. Isn't it tiring to live so rigidly?"
"That's not for you to worry about."
"Of course."
Rudger chuckled. After scanning the surroundings, he leaned in closer.
"Is there anyone among the first-year freshmen that you've taken notice of?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because you would have checked them all out, right?"
"I'm closely observing all those who made it into the rankings."
"A formulaic answer, but also the correct one. There seems to be quite a lot of talent among this year's freshmen."
Rudger nodded.
"What do you think of Ariadne Florian?"
"The second-ranked in the Magic Department?"
"Yes. I heard she's eager to befriend the children of the prince-electors."
"She's probably seeking recognition. To the existing prince-electors' families, Florian is like a rock that rolled in."
"That doesn't seem like something you should say, given that you helped them."
"I didn't particularly do anything."
It wasn't incorrect. The Duke of Goldenheim acted as an intermediary, and Gerhard wasn't involved at all.
"Then what about Aint Armian?"
"I don't know as he hasn't shown anything notable. Besides the Armian name, there didn't seem to be much to see."
"For someone who says that, I heard you went to see him personally."
Rudger's mouth was still smiling broadly. But his eyes were not.
"Since he's from the former imperial family. It's natural to be curious when someone who hasn't enrolled in the academy for the past hundred years suddenly enrolls."
"Well, you are a merchant. A merchant's curiosity rivals that of a magician in some ways. Oh, you're also a magician, right?"
Rudger shrugged.
"The professor is coming. See you later."
"Sure."
'Rudger Schwaben.'
Watching Rudger walk away, Gerhard swallowed a groan.
'Rudger Schwaben and Aint Armian. Schwaben and Armian...'
The current imperial family and the former imperial family who lost the throne to them. They once started from the same root, but now they were like oil and water that could never mix.
["Break him."
Rudger Schwaben muttered quietly.
"The past is beautified when it remains in the past, and memories are more beautiful when they remain as memories. Make people clearly realize that the past is just the past."
"That it must forever remain in the past and as memories."]
His head throbbed as he visualized a future he had already seen once before.
A future where Rudger Schwaben checks Aint Armian.
What should he do?
'...Based solely on the results in the prophecy book, it's definitely Aint Armian.'
But that doesn't mean Schwaben will completely fall, either. And the time until Aint's victory is quite long.
Tap tap, Gerhard's fingers drummed on the table.
***
The first lecture for second-year Magic Department students was a 5-credit course titled "Combat, War, and Magic."
"You're already finished?"
As Gerhard finished the lecture and came out, Hyde, who had been waiting, approached.
"We had a pop quiz. I finished it and left immediately."
The professor gave a pop quiz on the first day, earning complaints from many students, but allowing Gerhard, who finished the test quickly, to leave earlier.
"A test on the first day. What an unusual professor."
"Unusual indeed. But with the ability and background to get away with it."
The nominal reason was to check if students had forgotten what they learned in their first year, but it didn't matter much.
From Gerhard's perspective, the pop quiz wasn't that important.
"By the next class, write down the name of a second-year Knight Department student you want to pair with."
"Pairs will only be formed when there's mutual agreement between a Knight Department student and a Magic Department student, so don't be stupid and write down names recklessly only to become a laughingstock."
The notice the professor wrote on the blackboard during the quiz was the core of today's lecture.
Pair or partner. The time he had been waiting for had finally come.
The first thing Gerhard did after being struck by lightning was to confirm the protagonist, and the next was to sever his relationship with Luina, which would become the starting point of his downfall.
The seeds he had diligently sown during the break were finally about to germinate.
'And I'm also curious about who that fellow will partner with.'
Just then, Carlo Deneb, the top student in the Magic Department, who had finished the test a little later than Gerhard, appeared.
He looked at Gerhard with a curious gaze but turned his head when their eyes met.
'Originally, your partner was Luina Berchef.'
A combination of the first and second-ranked students. A formulaic but powerful combination.
But since the future had been changed by Gerhard, he was quite curious about who Carlo would pair with.
'If something in the future changes because of this, I can know that the prophecy book's future is not fixed.'
The fact that he had persuaded Luina Berchef to be his partner in advance was itself a change, but that part wasn't recorded in the prophecy book.
So from now on is the real deal.