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Chapter 21

Translator: Jawbrie

There was something relentless about Mariwa’s lessons after they re-commenced.

I had already read every single book in my father’s library. This was due to the ample curiosity that I had until I was five, and all of that information had been properly stored within my head. Without a doubt, there were much of the liberal arts subjects in there as well.

There was a delay for what could be called preparations, that took an entire day’s worth of lessons to get through.
It was a progression speed that suggested she might be wrong in the head. As a genius, I was somehow able to keep up with this, but the average person was guaranteed to overheat as their heads was filled with too much information. The lessons themselves were densely packed with content, and all of this was starting to feel like a form of chastisement.
The day after I had survived this torture, I decided to go and make a report of this to my best friend.

“…So as I was saying, Mariwa must be a demon after all!”

Twenty minutes since I left in the carriage. That was all the time I needed to arrive at the abode of my best friend, who also lived in the royal capital.
It was a sudden visit without appointment, but the family gladly invited me inside. Within the last two years, the servants have all come to recognize my face, allowing me to pass through the gates as soon as they could see me. Of course, I would tell Mishuli in advance, so as not to worry her whenever I left. Having been told in advance, Mishuli had gladly waved as I went off. Her face was a bright smile without a single cloud shadowing it.
After I was led through the mansion and we were alone together in the room, I began to start the rather one-sided conversation.

“That one is surely an unidentified lifeform who has sprung out of purgatory. That is the only explanation for that complete lack of common decency. She said something about increasing the speed as we did not have enough time, but is there not five years left until I enter the Royal Academy? It is not five weeks or five months. Five years, five!”
“…”

The subject of my complaints, which I unleashed like a raging billow, was none other than Mariwa.
Through the endless lessons that I had suffered under her, my pent-up resentment for her had grown. After all, Mariwa was harsh. They say that an excellent teacher knows how to use the carrot and the stick, but Mariwa would never praise me, not even a little. No matter how much I had tried, the only time that she had deigned to praise me in the past two years was to say, ‘you’ve become more skilled at feigning innocence.’
I have more patience than the average grownup could boast of, but there were limits to even that.
And so I could not help but spit out all of these grievances to the silent person in front of me.

“You know, five years is longer than the time it takes to enter the Royal Academy and then graduate. It is most ridiculous for her to say that the time is insufficient. On top of that, there was even homework that she demanded I complete until tomorrow! Well, I am a genius so I will be able to finish it. But if we continue at this pace, I won’t so much as enter the Academy, I might have enough of an education to pass the exam for the university! Oh, I am amazing! I’m such a genius!”

As I was talking, I happened to notice the extent of my genius and had to praise myself for a moment. I could enter into the countries highest educational institution. After graduating the Royal Academy which accepted all nobles and a few upper-class civilians, only a small few most excellent talents were allowed to enroll there.

“…”

Perhaps it was just me, but it seemed that as my spirits rose in a heated fervor, my friend who faced me, seemed to look colder. In any case, the person in front of me was one of the rare few who I had decided that I could show my true self to. Someone who could understand, the only person my age that I had deemed a worthy rival.

“I think that I will just take the university exam when I turn fourteen instead. If I could enroll at the university instead of the Royal Academy at just fourteen, it would be quite the achievement! I would receive the marvelous distinction of being the youngest in history. Thinking of it has given me much motivation…! Hey, what do you think!?”

I had a feeling that I had started to go off course at some point, but it did not matter. It wasn’t so much that I wanted to hear an opinion, I just wanted approval so much, that I had to ask.
My best friend had been reading a book since I got here, and hadn’t looked up to see me even once. But now, my best friend’s face finally looked up.

“…What do I think, huh.”

With a loud snap, the unfinished book was closed. A girl with chestnut colored hair and a most annoyed expression looked up at me. Her mahogany eyes fixed on me as she said in a clear voice:

“I don’t know why it is the case, but I think there is a damn obnoxious, failure of a lady in my room.”
“!?”

The words that came from Surfania Calibrachoa, my best friend, and rival of two years, were a little colder than I had been expecting.

By the way, within the past two years, Charles was demoted to number 2 in the rankings.