Chapter 90: The Führer and the Entrance Ceremony
Hellerford Aristocratic School.
It is the most prestigious elite school in the Kingdom of Londeria.
A few hours by train from the Royal Capital Londen of the Kingdom of Londeria. Hellerford Castle, a huge fortress that once served as a royal castle, stands beside a secluded and quiet lake.
The vast academy with student dormitories and other facilities centered around that castle, is a place coveted by students throughout the country of Londeria.
The admission requirements are extremely simple.
Being a noble, that’s all.
Commoners cannot enroll at all, it is truly an exclusive social venue for the upper class.
A school exclusively for the upper class.
It’s a special place, completely different from the kind of schools that ordinary people go to. They must be someone of such high status that commoners cannot even get involved with them.
For that reason, Hellerford exists in a place that is isolated from its surroundings.
It takes an hour by carriage to get to the nearby town, and there are no houses or human dwellings around.
This quiet school, where usually only the voices of students, teachers, and servants can be heard.
But, on this particular day, it was different.
Hellerford Castle, which usually seems deserted even when hundreds of students gather.
But, how about today?
The castle was filled with people, people, and more people.
With Queen Elizabeth of the Kingdom of Londeria at the forefront, Londeria… No, even in the United Kingdom of Albatross, prominent nobles are gathering.
In the vast garden of the castle, which those nobles gazed upon, a dazzling military parade was held featuring the resonant music of the military band, a procession of the Imperial Guard’s maids, and the latest state-of-the-art tanks.
If you look up at the sky, the Imperial Navy’s carrier aircraft, heavy bomber squadrons, army fighter squadrons, and attack squadrons form a stunning formation to liven up the parade.
Both are symbols of the Empire’s military power.
Leading that army and coming forward is Eryutheia, the Führer of the Yamato Empire.
Yes, this day is her entrance ceremony.
“Huh? It’s different from the entrance ceremony I know…”
And, on top of the tank she boards, Führer gives a wry smile.
This ceremony, which would later be acclaimed as ‘the largest entrance ceremony in history’, demonstrated Yamato’s national prestige and became engraved in people’s memories, for better or for worse.
☆☆☆☆☆
……Yes.
Are you talking about the entrance ceremony? Eryutheia here, the entrance ceremony has ended without incident and I have become a student.
Where on earth would you find an idiot who conducts a military parade at an entrance ceremony?
Thinking that, I asked Ayame-san, but she replied with something like, “Since it’s the entrance ceremony for Eryu-san and me, we have to make it memorable.”
As expected, it seems common sense doesn’t apply to Ayame-san.
Yes, without a doubt, this entrance ceremony will remain in everyone’s memories, won’t it? I don’t think they can forget that, even if they want to.
But, this isn’t the entrance ceremony, right?
Speaking of entrance ceremonies, it’s typical to think of new students delivering their greetings amidst the solemn atmosphere, with cherry blossoms in full bloom.
That feeling of having your heart race with a mix of anticipation and anxiety…
There are no cherry blossoms here in the Kingdom of Londeria, but still, that indescribably wonderful atmosphere should be present for the entrance ceremony.
Well, you see?
After the parade ended, we did have that sort of ceremony in a place resembling a school cafeteria, but it was ruined because of the military parade.
Listen, Ayame-san.
You see, the entrance ceremony isn’t a boisterous event where the armored battalion marches through the courtyard amid the thunderous noise of caterpillar tracks, or where the air squadron forms into formations of hundreds of aircraft, or where the artillery formation shatters the castle’s stained glass windows with simultaneous fire.
Because of that military parade, the surrounding students are completely shocked.
At first, it was like, “Look that’s Excellency Eryutheia of Yamato!” Or “I am the daughter of the Duke of Such-and-Such! Nice to meet you!” And then.
The classmates who had been approaching me excitedly and cheerfully became frightened and moved away from me once the parade was over.
Can I make a hundred friends as a first-year student? I thought so, but at this rate, I won’t be able to befriend even one person.
……I won’t say it, but I will protest to Ayame-san by puffing up my cheeks.
Hmmph!
“You’re so cute puffing up your cheeks like that. Isn’t it fine, in the first place, I’m enough for Eryu-san. You don’t need any friends.”
“Hrmm…”
Ayame-san says this with a nonchalant expression as she sips tea quietly across from me at a Victorian-style tea table.
This is a room in the student dormitory of the Hellerford Aristocratic School.
Hellerford’s dormitory is divided into three parts: one for royalty, one for high-ranking aristocrats, and one for low-ranking aristocrats… This is a room for royalty.
It’s a nice room on the top floor of a palace-like building with a great view and a tranquil atmosphere, where you can overlook the serene scenery of Hellerford.
The tea table is the same, but the entire room is quite chic in the Victorian style, and it seems like a comfortable place to live.
I really love this kind of furniture design, so I think they arranged the interior for me.
The Empire had made arrangements in advance, and it seems that electricity, water, and gas were all fully equipped… As a living space, it’s not much different from the mainland of the Empire.
And then.
Eryu-san doesn’t need any friends, you say… I don’t want a lonely school life, you know?
Besides that, Ayame-san is considered a romantic partner category. I also want some in the friends category as well… It’s only Miike-san, the girl with animal ears, who talks to me as a friend.
Other friendships are… Lynn-san, was it? Even though she is quite frail and has moments of suddenly collapsing, we’ve become closer since then…
“Eryu-san? By any chance, are you thinking about another woman now? You thought about another woman besides me, didn’t you?”
“…No, not at all. There’s no such thing as that.”
When I thought of someone else for a moment, Ayame-san stared at me angrily.
Overprotective, or should I say, yandere…
Because it would be scary later if I didn’t deny it, I sip my tea with a poker face.
“…Yeah, right. Eryu-san tends to be unfaithful, you see. Even the other day, didn’t you look a bit happy when that woman named Lynn, who has a lewd-looking face, touched your thigh?”
A woman with a lewd-looking face… Is it just me who thinks Lynn-san is quite cool?
……And that’s what happened on that train. When Lynn-san suddenly fell over and dived into my thighs.
Well, indeed it was a bit ticklish, and I did think it might be somewhat nice, but…
Besides, Lynn-san was also bleeding from somewhere, so it wasn’t really the time to deal with anything else.
……Ahem.
If we continue this conversation, it seems like Ayame-san will become distressed and things could get difficult, so I will forcibly change the topic with a clearing of my throat.
I don’t like being confined by you, Ayame-san.
Um, so then, is there any topic to talk about… So, when I gazed out of the window, there were maids busily setting up 88mm anti-aircraft guns around the dormitory.
Are they perhaps making a defensive position?
“Ayame-san, Ayame-san. You brought along the Imperial Guard for my protection, right? Um, how big is it?”
During the military parade, an extraordinary number of maid soldiers were marching, but… I feel like it was more than a battalion, or rather, more on the scale of a regiment…
“You mean the escort? Let’s see, three infantry regiments and one medium tank battalion. Also, two air squadrons and an independent heavy tank battalion.”
“Isn’t that about the size of a division? Isn’t this too excessive for just my protection?”
A division, in terms of manpower, is about 10,000 troops.
It’s ridiculous without even thinking about it. Because the number of SPs is over 10,000 people. It’s insane.
“No, it’s not enough. Eryu-san’s worth is equivalent to that of an entire country. By the way, what I mentioned a little while ago was only the Imperial Guard. In addition to this, the army is bringing along two divisions, two independent medium tank battalions, and one independent heavy tank battalion.”
Ugh… How did you bring so much without me noticing?
I was not told at all.
If you combine the Imperial Guard and the Army, the infantry alone would be the equivalent of about three divisions.
Although the armored division themselves is not coming, the Imperial Guard and the Army combined have five tank battalions, so there are about 250 tanks, which is about the number assigned to an armored division.
Even the air force, one air force consists of three squadrons of 16 aircraft each, for a total of 48 aircraft, plus some reserve aircraft, so there are about 50 aircraft, so two air forces should have 100 aircraft…
Isn’t there a total of about 40,000 to 50,000 troops here?
It may be about 20% of the total military strength of the empire… It’s really too excessive.
Are you planning to go so far as to start a war in Londeria?
“Listen, Eryu-san. If anything happens to Eryu-san, our country’s citizens will go crazy. It would be the beginning of world war. If it is to prevent that, then this amount of military force is cheap. ――Besides.”
Eryu-san you were also planning to dispatch troops to Londeria if there was an opportunity, right?
Ayame-san continues.
……I won’t deny it. After all, the Kingdom of Londeria is a country located on the eastern edge of the ‘Greater East Co-prosperity Sphere’, an alliance of human nations.
If the nation of elves from across the sea were to attack, it would undoubtedly be here.
It’s a place I’ve always thought I’d like to deploy troops here someday…
When you think about it that way, maybe this ridiculously large army isn’t so bad after all?
Oh, even so, I still want to have friends. Should I come up with a small excuse and go visit Lynn’s room?
As expected, it’s dangerous after all, Ayame-san might go crazy.
Would it be better to go to Researcher Roshana-san instead? You see, I can come up with a reason like wanting to see the research results…
Yup, it’s troubling.
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