Chapter 49

Graduation Speech

“Damn it. What kind of pre-ceremony event lasts an entire hour?”

After finally entering the graduation hall, Bones dropped heavily into the middle seat of the front row and grumbled.

“Haah. I’m finally graduating from this godforsaken school.”

The suit he had been forced to wear for the graduation ceremony was apparently uncomfortable, as Bones had worn a fierce scowl throughout the entire preliminary event.

“Fuck, whose idea was it to make us wear suits for graduation?”

Lucas, also dressed in a suit, sat down beside him with an exhausted expression.

“Why don’t you loosen your tie a little?”

“I can’t. Lieutenant General Max is watching.”

“I can never tell whether you’re a delinquent or a model student.”

“Sounds like something you should say to that guy instead of me.”

Bones tilted his head toward someone, and Lucas followed his gaze.

Plato stood there in a neatly pressed suit, glancing around as though he were looking for someone.

Lucas furrowed his brow.

“What part of him looks like a delinquent?”

A moment later, Plato spotted the two of them and began approaching with a delighted expression.

Bones and Lucas groaned simultaneously.

They had both remembered the sight of Plato recently exposing—if it could be called that—Haydam’s injuries to them and berating them for having no shame.

The two of them had been uncomfortable around Plato ever since, but the clear-eyed madman himself seemed completely unconcerned as he approached them.

“Have either of you seen Lord Haydam?”

Bones, who had practically begun having seizures whenever he heard Haydam’s name after the training simulations, sprang out of his seat.

“Are you insane?! Why are you asking us?!”

“He said he would definitely come today, but I don’t see him.”

“What are you talking about? He isn’t even graduating. Why would Lord Haydam come here?”

“He said he would attend as an observer.”

“What is he, your parent?”

Lucas calmed Bones, who kept trying to pick a fight, and asked,

“Did Commander Anton come? I didn’t see him during the preliminary event.”

Plato tilted his head slightly and gave a brief reply.

“Come to think of it, I didn’t see him.”

Bones stared at him in disbelief.

“You’re looking for Lord Haydam before your own father?”

“I see. Perhaps Father knows where Lord Haydam is.”

“What the hell is wrong with this bastard?”

Bones gave up on the conversation with a disgusted expression, and Lucas continued.

“Anyway, we haven’t seen Lord Haydam. Wouldn’t he come with the Commander-in-Chief if he were attending?”

“That makes sense.”

“But seriously, why is Lord Haydam coming here?”

“To watch my graduation speech.”

“You little…”

Lucas nearly asked, Who the hell do you think you are? but swallowed the words at the last moment.

He had no idea why Lord Haydam would come all the way here just to watch Plato’s graduation speech.

Still, the two had participated in training simulations together twice, so perhaps they had become close like brothers.

Judging by Plato’s behavior, though, he looked less like a younger brother and more like a dog waiting for its master.

He must know Plato is Commander Anton’s son. Does that mean he doesn’t care about factions?

Lucas was sponsored by a neutral officer who belonged to neither the pro-Daphne nor the pro-Hayden faction, so he did not have to care much about whom Haydam befriended.

Even so, it secretly irritated him that Haydam seemed to think highly of Plato, the man Lucas had failed to defeat even once throughout his entire time at the academy.

“If Lord Haydam is coming to watch, shouldn’t you head to the waiting room now? You wouldn’t want to ruin your graduation speech.”

Lucas politely told him to get out of his sight.

Plato checked the time and nodded.

“You’re right. Thank you for the advice, Lucas.”

After Plato thanked him and walked away, Bones began grumbling again.

“See? I told you Plato’s even more calculating than I am. He’d abandon his own father if it helped him get ahead.”

“Why put it like that? They’re close. It wouldn’t be strange for him to come watch a graduation speech.”

Lucas tried to maintain a neutral stance, but Bones snorted.

“Hmph. That’s ridiculous too. Why would he come watch a graduation speech? The kid challenged eight cadets at once because he didn’t want to enroll in the academy.”

“What do you mean?”

Lucas’s eyes widened at the unfamiliar story.

Only then did Bones realize he had slipped up, and he covered his mouth with one hand.

“Damn it. I wasn’t supposed to say that…”

“Are you saying Lord Haydam participated in the training simulation because he didn’t want to enroll in the academy?”

“I didn’t hear it directly.”

Bones glanced around before leaning close to Lucas’s ear and speaking quietly.

“Don’t go around telling anyone. I heard it from Lieutenant General Max. Apparently, when the Commander-in-Chief told Lord Haydam to enroll, he said it would be a waste of time and that he would prove he was better than any cadet at the academy.”

“And that was the training simulation?”

“Yeah. In the end, he proved it. Twice, at that.”

Lucas fell silent, his expression stiff.

Bones leaned back and said,

“Well, it does piss me off that we were looked down on. But after seeing that brat go wild with my own eyes, I couldn’t even stay angry.”

Bones studied Lucas’s expression and chuckled.

“You look pretty bothered.”

“I can’t say I feel good about it. Though it is true that we suffered a crushing defeat at his hands.”

“…I’m not exactly one to talk, but…”

Bones spoke in a casual tone as if it were nothing important, though there was an unusual trace of hesitation in his voice.

“We’re graduating now. Don’t you think it’s time you let go of that pointless pride?”

Lucas immediately understood what Bones was trying to say, but deliberately pretended otherwise.

“Pointless pride?”

“I’m talking about you requesting that training simulation. You did it because of your pride, didn’t you?”

“That wasn’t only about me—”

“Bullshit. Everyone with eyes knows you’ve always had an inferiority complex toward Plato.”

“……”

Lucas neither denied nor confirmed it, but Bones continued without concern.

“Lord Haydam is the heir to this entire sector. Even that freak Plato has Commander Anton behind him. But we don’t have anyone like that.”

Lucas understood exactly what Bones meant.

While they were still within the confines of the academy, they could at least attempt to compete with Plato.

But the moment they left school and entered military service, an insurmountable wall of rank and status would rise between Plato and them.

Unlike Plato, they were merely two among countless cadets sponsored by officers.

Perhaps because Bones was in the same position and understood his feelings better than anyone else, Lucas did not find his words offensive.

Lucas gave a faint laugh.

“Judging by how you can’t even loosen your tie because you’re afraid of your adoptive father, perhaps you’re right.”

“Hey! Lieutenant General Max didn’t pressure me! I just want to make a good impression—!”

“Shh. It’s starting.”

The moment Lucas stopped Bones from raising his voice, the lights came on inside the previously dark hall, and the academy principal walked onto the stage.

Behind him came the Commander-in-Chief, Haydam, and Plato, who took their seats.

Lucas clenched his fist as he watched them, then suddenly had a thought.

Hm? But why did Lord Haydam go up there?

***

“Lord Haydam!”

I barely arrived before the graduation ceremony began, and the moment I entered the waiting room, Plato welcomed me first.

“You really came!”

“Congratulations on graduating, Plato.”

“Did you come to encourage me?”

“Uh… yes.”

Of course, I had really come to make sure Plato properly carried out the task I had assigned him.

I had only visited the waiting room because I wanted to greet the Commander-in-Chief, but he was nowhere to be seen despite the ceremony being about to begin.

“Where’s your father?”

“Haha. Wouldn’t the others feel uncomfortable if His Excellency were waiting here?”

That was true.

I had become so comfortable around him that I sometimes forgot he was a dictator and supreme ruler.

Though I also had to question Plato’s sanity for saying that out loud.

“His Excellency will probably arrive just before going up onto the stage.”

“I see… But I don’t see Commander Anton either.”

“Indeed.”

Indeed?

For someone who had welcomed me so enthusiastically the instant I arrived, he sounded as though he had absolutely no interest in his own biological father.

“He didn’t come? Even though it’s his son’s graduation?”

“I don’t know. He must be busy. More importantly, Lord Haydam, this is the speech I prepared. Would you mind looking over it…?”

Hmm.

It seemed the son took after his coldhearted father.

Still…

So it was Anton who summoned Stay-at-home Wifey.

Plato had probably told Anton that I would come to watch his graduation speech today.

Anton might have decided that now, while I was away, would be the perfect time to meet Stay-at-home Wifey.

I knew he’d get summoned sooner or later after going around bragging to the seniors that he was friends with me.

Since I was taking Anton’s son as my adjutant, he probably had not summoned the child because he intended to hurt someone known as my friend.

And Stay-at-home Wifey was also a player.

He should be able to handle it.

“Aren’t you going up? It’s about to start.”

I turned at the familiar voice behind me.

The Commander-in-Chief stood there in a white military uniform, watching us with his single remaining eye and an intrigued expression.

“Father.”

“Greetings, Your Excellency.”

Plato greeted him respectfully, and the Commander-in-Chief gave a peculiar smile.

“You’re even greeting me now. You’ve grown quite a bit.”

…Huh?

Did that mean Plato normally did not even greet the Commander-in-Chief when they met?

Perhaps interpreting the remark as praise, Plato answered with a proud smile.

“It is all thanks to Lord Haydam.”

How is that thanks to me?

“My son is quite talented. To think he trained another family’s dog so well.”

“Father.”

“Come now. Let’s go up before we’re any later. Don’t you have a speech to give?”

Just as I was about to complain about him calling Plato a dog to his face, the Commander-in-Chief smiled shamelessly and pushed Plato forward by the back.

Even after being referred to as a dog, Plato looked as though the upcoming graduation speech was far more important and that he could not care less whether he was a dog or not.

Plato genuinely doesn’t seem like the type to care, but…

The Commander-in-Chief was probably acting this way in front of someone who was deliberately trying to get along with me because Plato was Anton’s son.

It was reasonable for him to suspect Anton had intentionally sent Plato to approach me.

I knew that Plato’s loyalty toward me was sincere.

Even so, if the moment came when he was forced to choose, he was still human.

He would not be able to discard his own blood so easily.

In any case, resolving the Commander-in-Chief’s suspicions was a problem Plato would have to deal with himself.

“Where are you going?”

“Pardon?”

The two of them were about to go onto the stage for the speech, so I turned toward the audience seats.

But the Commander-in-Chief’s voice stopped me.

“I was going to…”

“Come up with us. You’ll have to come up eventually anyway.”

At those words, I realized something.

This man knows what I told Plato to do.

I had expected that after Plato finished his speech, I might naturally be called onto the stage as the person behind the whole affair.

The fact that the Commander-in-Chief knew everything and still told me to come up meant he did not intend to stop what we were planning.

That was a relief.

Only Plato reacted with excitement.

“That is an excellent idea! Lord Haydam, please come with us. As you know from reading my speech, it would be best if you sat somewhere I could see you clearly.”

No, I only held the speech in my hand.

I never actually read it.

And so, I was practically pushed onto the stage and seated there.

After the academy principal finished his long-winded words of wisdom, it was finally time for Plato’s graduation speech.

Plato stood before the microphone and slowly swept his gaze across the audience.

I watched him, hoping only that he would properly carry out the task I had given him.

“Respected Lord Haydam, and all you ordinary graduates.”

…This already feels ominous.