Chapter 114: History

Location: Magicon Empire; Magicon System; Terra; Imperia; FBC

I wake up early on Tuesday. Today is a special day. It’s my first lesson in the History of The Empire course. That in itself is already special, especially now when you consider all the news with Earth. I mean up until now common belief was that the planet and star system were lost forever. I wonder what the professor will tell us about Earth.

The other thing is that this is another mixed course. Similar to the Leadership course but very different. This time classes will be mixed up with students from RMA. I just hope they aren’t assholes like that Charles dude. They shouldn’t… As Chris said, Charles was an outlier.

Anyway, I’m very excited and say goodbye to my roommates. Then I’m out of the dorm and off to the classroom. Let’s see what awaits me!

I grab some breakfast on the way and eat while I walk along the Clara-provided route. It leads me to a completely new section of the university district. “Are we going to RMA campus?”

“We are. The lesson takes place in one of the RMA classrooms.”

“Thanks, Clara.”

“You’re welcome!”

It takes almost fifteen minutes, then the surrounding buildings change in design. They somehow look older and a bit more regal. They aren’t of course, but there are more ornaments and decorations around the facades of the buildings. It makes them look like very tall castles.

The thought causes me to chuckle a bit.

Then I finally arrive at the right building and enter. The lobby is reasonably crowded, and I recognize a few faces from the other courses I’ve taken so far. No one is immediately familiar, but it’s good to see at least a few familiar faces. Unfortunately, Lydia decided not to take the course in the end.

There are also a lot of unfamiliar faces, and I struggle to decide if they are RMA or FBC students. Then I look toward the elevators in the back, and my breath catches a bit.

Well, that could be interesting…

There is a young man with light red hair and fitting green eyes. He’s animately chatting with a smaller woman with Asian features. One thing is clear, he’s a Valterion and thus probably my cousin. I whisper to Clara. “Who is this?”

A hand lands on my left shoulder, and a male voice that obviously isn’t Clara’s answers me instead. “That’s Victor Valterion, a big annoyance if you ask me.”

Barely a second later, Clara confirms the young man’s words. “He’s right, it is Victor. He’s your cousin. This time for real. His father Alejandro is your uncle… Oh, and you should take a look at your new friend.”

I turn to my left. “Thanks…” I stop when I recognize another face. For real? This is ridiculous… Someone clearly pulled some strings here. The man who still has his hand on my shoulder is a splitting image of Pascal Schmidt, the current Duke from Armortec. I hold back a groan.

“You’re welcome, I’m Bernd by the way, but it looks like you’ve already noticed…”

“Yeah…” I clear my throat. “Nice to meet you, I’m Sara.”

He chuckles. “I guess, I should introduce you to the others. I dunno what happened here, but you’re something like the odd one out.”

I frown. “What do you mean?”

He leads me closer to the others. “Well, I’ve already told you about our resident Valterion idiot… I really wish there was someone else at our age from that family. The beauty next to him is Lisa Song.”

Clara takes that moment to chime in. “Oh, I know what he means… Like Bernd and you, Lisa is from the main line. Actually, the three of you are the only ones at your age. Just continue to listen to him and you’ll get what I mean.”

Bernd continues without pause. “… there we’ve got the Axtendus twins, but they barely qualify for the name anyway, so you can pretty much ignore them. That’s it from the Big Five… Chad Benson is missing, as always. But he’ll never have a shot at becoming Emperor. Someone has to nuke Benson Moon for that to happen. Oh, and probably kill off both Valterion heirs.”

He shrugs. “You get what I mean, right?”

I just stare at him. He sounds a bit arrogant. And no, I don’t get what you just said. That was like a full-on lesson about the upper political landscape of The Empire. Of course, I can’t tell him that. Instead, I reply rather weakly. “Yeah…”

He grins and we arrive close to Lisa Song and Victor Valterion. “Hi Lisa,” he stops to hug the girl. “Victor… This is Sara, she’s somehow new in our class group, and I’m currently introducing her to everyone.”

Lisa holds out her hand. “Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Lisa.”

I take her hand and shake it. Now that I’m closer, I notice that she’s quite a bit smaller than her mother. “Nice to meet you too, as Bernd said, I’m Sara Green.”

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Victor's eyes look me up and down. I don’t like what I see in his gaze. No, not gonna happen, mate. First, you’re my cousin, and second, just no!

He just nods with a slight grin on his face, that looks kinda creepy. “Pleased to meet you.”

Bernd grabs my arm again, and we move on. I’m introduced to a lot of people. Most are children from different Marquesses and Marchionesses, but there are also a few scions from influential Counties. I also learn that the students I recognized from FBC are actually close friends or retainers from all the high-ranking Nobles here.

And well, there is me, the odd one put as Bernd pointed out so nicely. There must be a reason… Probably another joke from my parents, I guess.

Bernd continues to talk to me for a while until Lisa calls out for both of us. “Bernd, Sara, are you ready? It’s almost time.”

I look at my interface. She’s right, there are only a few minutes left until the lesson begins. We join the two of them again and Lisa looks at Victor. “Can you do four people?”

He huffs and straightens. “Of course I can. Hold still.”

I feel Space Magic enveloping the four of us and decide not to resist. A second later, the spell snaps into existence, and we vanish.

We reappear inside an empty classroom, and Victor immediately starts heading for a seat in the back. I stay where I am for a moment when I hear Victor calling out. “Are you coming?”

I look at Bernd. He looks a bit uncomfortable. Lisa shoots us an apologetic look and shrugs. Then she walks toward Victor.

“I’m not really feeling the last row,” Bernd says to me.

I shake my head. “Yeah, me neither. Nothing against Victor, but he’s a bit creepy.”

Bernd starts laughing. “That he is. That he is. Wanna sit there?” He points at a row of seats in the middle of the room.

Meanwhile, the door in the back opens, and other students enter the room. I shrug. “Yeah, why not…? Hey, Bernd, one question. Why do you want to sit with me? Hell, why do you care about me at all? We’re so far apart politically speaking…”

“Well, history class is pretty boring. Even with all the Earth stuff, I guess. You on the other hand are interesting. Not in a sexual way, don’t worry.”

He must have seen something on my face as he suddenly backtracks. “Err, that was a dumb phrasing. You’re very pretty, but I don’t tick that way, you get me? No, what I mean is, you’re new. You don’t have any connections, and you still are in our class. That makes me curious, and I intend to find out more… You don’t want to just tell me, right?”

I shake my head. I don’t even have to lie that much to reply. “I wish I could… I’m as clueless as you are. Huh, maybe even more so. I mean you already know everyone here and everything…”

He chuckles. “True, just tell me when you find out. Otherwise, I’ll be telling you.”

I grin slightly. “Deal!”

That’s the moment when I feel magic gathering behind the lectern. I turn around to look and catch sight of an older woman appearing. Her face is wrinkled, and her long hair is grey. Still, her blue eyes practically shine with intensity. A slight grin is on her face when she clears her throat.

“Good morning, students. My name is professor Bishop, and I’ll be teaching you about the most important topic there is. History! Or rather the history of our Magicon Empire.”

She stops and takes a look around. Her eyebrows raise a bit. “Oh, ho… quite the prominent class we have here,” she chuckles. “But that shouldn’t matter. I take it we’re all civilized here, right?”

We all reply with murmurs of agreement, and she nods. “Good. Now, originally, I had the whole year planned out for you starting with the founding of The Empire and finishing with the present. Can anyone guess why we’re not going to do it like that?”

Everyone gives each other knowing looks, but no one moves to answer professor Bishop. I sigh internally and lift my hand. Professor Bishop looks at me and smiles. “Only one? Very well, please, Miss Green, what’s the answer?”

“It’s probably Earth, professor.”

I hear murmurs of “obviously” around me, but I don’t care. Professor Bishop nods.

“Exactly. Earth messed up all my plans, and so we’re making a different start today. Instead of starting with the founding of The Empire, we’ll be talking about the early years today. We’ll catch up with the end of Earth and the subsequent founding of The Empire in the following weeks. Now, let’s start…”

The older woman takes a deep breath and dives into her lecture. She starts right after the original Big Five founded The Magicon Empire right here on Terra. I guess the actual founding is too much interwoven with Earth, so she leaves it out just now.

Anyway, the Big Five divided the star systems they claimed for their new nation and formed the five Duchies. Then they went on with reestablishing their companies while also giving out Noble titles to other company owners or war heroes.

Bernd nudges me. “Wanna ditch the second half of the lesson? Lisa just invited us to hang out at her place. What the professor tells us is old news anyway… If the course wasn’t mandatory, I wouldn’t have taken it at all. I just hope the Earth part will be more interesting…”

I’m taken aback, as I was just enjoying learning about the early years of The Empire. I guess real Noble scions learn that much earlier. Also, the course is mandatory for RMA students?

I look at Bernd and shake my head. “Sorry, but I can’t. My parents would kill me if they heard that I played hooky… I’m also quite interested in history, actually, so yeah…”

“Bummer… But it’s okay. You can join after the lesson if you want. I’ll send you the address.”

“Oh, cool. I’ll do that, thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he smiles, then I get a ping on my interface. It’s the address.

Meanwhile, professor Bishop continues with her lesson. “… While the former inhabitants of the Solar System still tried to settle down, the Big Five spent a lot of their wealth on expansion. Their companies became bigger than ever before, and in the beginning, they were basically the sole employer for the people.”

She pauses to take a sip from a glass of water that just appeared in her hand. “Now, that expansion didn’t go unnoticed, of course, and neighboring nations, such as the Starseeker Kingdom took interest and negotiated trade deals with the relatively new Empire. The Starseeker Kingdom is still our biggest ally by the way.

“To understand why this was such a significant event in our history, you must understand that while Earth was the origin of humanity, the whole Solar System was rather isolationist before it was destroyed.” She finishes the sentence with air quotes.

“The new open-mindedness enabled other nations to benefit from the Big Five’s advanced technologies and kicked off an age of prosperity. The newly found Empire on the other hand got what they needed most at the time: Workforce. This freed up Earth’s refugees to pursue their own goals within their new nation. That allowed the fledgling society to prosper, and the newly founded cities and planets started to fill up and normalcy finally returned to the people.

“At the same time, they understood that a common currency would simplify things a lot, and so the Banking Union was established. Following that, countless new companies were founded, as suddenly a lot more things were needed.”

Professor Bishop stops and looks at the class. When she chuckles, I follow her gaze. I only see blank faces, at least among the Nobility. “I guess now is a good time for a short break. You can think about what kind of companies were now needed until we return with the second half of the lesson.”

She vanishes, and immediately conversations erupt among the students. Bernd shoots me one more questioning glance. I shake my head. I didn’t change my mind. He nods and walks back toward Lisa and Victor. After a short discussion, the three and a few others vanish. When professor Bishop returns for the lesson, the room is only half filled anymore.

Her shoulders slump a little, but then she continues with her lesson…