Volume 4 Chapter 7-2 [Guilhem SIDE] The Second Son of the 'Three Great Families' of the magic Dukedom. A Brand Called That
Confronted by him, denying the 'brand' is simply way too direct.
Still, to Ellie, she doesn't find Guilhem and the others appealing.
When it comes to actually teaching technique, Horace is the best for Ellie and the others, and they see the school just as a 'place'──nothing more.
And if the 'place' is considered just a 'tool' that can improve her quality, then if she can't master it, she won't grow.
Even Sevenstar Academy, to Ellie, is just a 'place'.
To Ellie, the big value is that from 13 to 15, girls wear miniskirts because it's a school rule──beyond that, she just doesn't care. What do they even think school is?
More than that, in practical terms, no one surpasses Horace in the field──meaning in real work.
He creates humanoid dolls that move as he wants, not just pushing people around but making them follow his will.
Plus, he absorbs all incoming data, considers the best actions, and managed the largest country's capital alone for ten years.
For Ellie, who's been trained by someone so far above──someone whose data makes him an outlier in every test──looking down on others just because of 'education' feels wrong.
Creating 'excellent education' needs strong national backing, and it's Horace who made that backing possible. No wonder Ellie is so unimpressed.
"Are you mocking the Obsidian Magic Dukedom, the Three Great Houses, and Whitelist Academy?!"
"Then tell us. What great achievements have you accomplished these past few years? Be proud of 'defeating the Demon Lord'──that's what I did."
"No... uh..."
Guilhem was at a loss for words.
Nothing he's achieved holds 'results'.
Still, the school is a place to enhance 'abilities the country demands'.
It's not a place to produce 'recognized achievements'.
That's the reality, and the fact.
Whether or not one can produce results is mostly luck, so arguing about it is just wrong in the first place.
Guilhem begins to assert, "I may not have results yet, but I've gained high-level abilities from what I've learned so far," and it seems like expanding on this argument will lead to a winning streak.
If you can't point that out, then it's just a matter of poor thinking.
"Well, that's beside the point. I don't know what you lot are thinking, but if you're going to demand 'this should be done,' then first show us what you can offer."
"Offer something, you say?"
"Guilhem Redress, Zulane Azarial, Russma Garnet... along with your family's debt, that's 35 million coins. The interest rate is 1% per year... can you pay it?"
"Th-35 million coins!?"
That's equivalent to 3 and a half years of the Diamante Kingdom's annual national budget, the world's largest Bloodline Nation, which is 10 million coins.
"Ridiculous! Why would it be..."
"The heads of the 3 leading families each serve as trustees of the 'university,' and they've often said they're willing to fund it for research, right? The Obsidia Magic Dukedom has a high mortality rate among high-rank Adventurers, so it's easy to trample if it seems 'profitable.'"
Research requires money.
To conduct advanced measurements and observations, one must use high-performance 'magic tools that only accept coins as fuel' obtained from dungeons.
The better the performance, the less time it runs even when filled with coins.
To acquire these magic tools, one must spend a lot of money negotiating with many people, and if speed is a priority, it's fastest to just bash your way through with monetary power.
However, those who get bashed often take a cut, and they often demand even higher fees.
The materials for research cost money too, and if you hire someone for the research, you need to pay a salary.
Having a large number of people allows more tasks to be done at once, but securing a place also requires money.
If you continue this on the scale of the 'Magic Dukedom's 3 leading families,' it inevitably requires an enormous amount of money.
But of course, when the world is in peril, funding research that doesn't yield practical benefits is out of the question.
The worst thing is getting involved in 'research that lets society naturally fix itself.' There were some who actually tried that.
One example would be 'developing medicine for minor illnesses.'
Drug research takes a decade, but the human immune system is pretty strong.
Before the research finishes, the humans often develop immunity, and then it's like, 'What was the point of their research?' That actually happened.
Of course, since 'drug development' benefits society, Ellie provides free money as 'aid,' but when it gets to that stage, she says, 'If you keep going, you'll have to pay me back later, got it?'
But they kept going with the research anyway, that's one example, I guess.
In short, even if it's not at Silvio's level, similar things can happen even in countries with advanced academics.
"You people think you can get away with anything if you have a degree, but that's not about smarts or stupidity; it's the behavior of 'fools who lack self-awareness.' People who can't read the room and get cocky will truly bring about their own ruin, you hear?"
Humans only see the parts that suit them.
But, by not saying extra things and not doing extra things, by 'keeping quiet' in various ways, you can sometimes 'just get a chill and be done with it.'
By repeating those experiences, you consciously build up 'what to pay attention to.'
But Ellie knows a lot of people who head for ruin because they lack that experience, can't read the room, and lack 'self-awareness.'
Still, Guilhem is just an idiot, and it was their father who racked up the debt.
Ellie 'doesn't' feel like strongly blaming him, 'yet.'
...As long as he doesn't mess with the lolis, that's the condition, anyway.
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