Diploma

Austria, January 7th 1795

3:38 PM

Lukas was outside of the garden messing with some ropes and stones. Every servant who passed by couldn't understand what the blonde boy was trying to do.

Soon, a maidservant carrying a basket with clothes approached a servant and started whispering. "Morgan, do you know what young master is doing?" she asked.

The servant shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows? Just ignore it, young master has always done weird stuff, anyway," he said.

The maidservant nodded her head in consideration. "Yes, it's not like he has ever done something dangerous," she said.

Meanwhile, Lukas was wrapping his head around the rope system he was creating.

The blonde boy put his thumb on his lip. 'Hmmmm, perhaps I can pull these ropes a bit more, so it would gain more power?' he wondered.

After trying to pull the ropes will all his strength, he did manage to move them, however, after letting go of one of them, the rope went back to its place.

Lukas just slapped his forehead as he grunted in frustration. 'Of course this was going to happen! What was I thinking?' he wondered.

Lukas sighed. 'Okay, I'll need something else,' he thought.

So the blonde boy went to the mansion and after a while, he came back with a toolbox.

A servant raised his brow. "Where did he get that?" he asked.

A maidservant turned his head to him. "Don't you remember? It was something he suddenly showed up with and said it was a birthday present," she said.

Lukas had actually bought it with his own money. He usually asked Robert, the man who he had met as a baby to buy them for him and the man he hired to sell Robert the painting would get 30% of the payment whereas the blonde boy would get the rest.

Even though Lukas didn't receive the total of the payment for the paintings. He could already be considered very wealthy only with the money he had gained by selling his paintings, because they were quite expensive.

After nailing some logs into the ground with his hammer and tying some knots, Lukas showed a satisfied smile. "Hehe, it's finished!" he said as he gathered his hands in satisfaction.

"Now, let's try it out," he murmured.

Lukas took a real sword that Herman had offered him after the graduation and he looked at some stones in front of the ropes.

'All I have to do is pulling this rope,' Lukas thought.

Lukas quickly pulled a rope beside him. 'Now then, let's see if it work-' he was interrupted by three stones hitting him at high speed. Two of them hit his stomach whereas the last one hit his face.

Lukas just grunted in pain. "Well, I can say it worked..." he said.

After a while, he started whining. "This hurts..."

Lukas then raised his head, showing some blood flowing down both his nostrils. After that, he showed a sulking expression.

'I'll block them this time!' he thought.

Lukas then went to set up the whole system all over again. Now that it was finished, it didn't take longer than 5 minutes to set it back up.

Lukas then took a deep breath.

Meanwhile, the servants were watching him. Nobody expected that Lukas was preparing such a system by himself.

The blonde boy then pulled the rope with his foot and the stones darted towards him, however, Lukas remained calm.

When the stones were about to hit him, Lukas managed to parry all of them with his sword.

When Lukas saw that he had managed to do it, he let out a loud sigh with a satisfied smile. "Wow, this was kinda cool!" he said.

After that he laid down on the ground and closed his eyes. 'I am having dancing classes in a while. I thought I only had to learn one dance, but I need to learn three! I can't believe it! Well, at least I'm almost done with learning the second one,' the blonde boy thought.

Not long after, Lukas noticed Elisabeth and Ingrid's carriage arriving, which made him sigh.

'I guess I'd better get back in. I am dirty all over,' Lukas thought.

Lukas then promptly stood up and looked once again at the system he had just created with a satisfied smile.

Now that he couldn't duel with Herman anymore, he couldn't get rusty, so he had to get by in order to train his skills properly until he turned 8.

-----

Austria, January 7th 1795

4:00 PM

Lukas stood in front of the door of his dancing classroom. He took a deep breath and opened the door as he entered.

Elisabeth immediately looked at Lukas and showed a smile. "L-Lukas! Good afternoon!" she said with bright eyes.

Lukas smiled back. "Hello," he said as he raised his hand.

After that, he turned his head to Ingrid. "Good afternoon, Ingrid," he said.

Ingrid sighed. "Good afternoon, Mr. Lukas," she said with smile.

"Drop the "Mr.", nobody else is here," Lukas said.

Then Ingrid showed a clearly forced smile. "O-Of course, Lukas," she said.

Lukas raised his brow. 'Why's she mad? Should I ask her to call me Lord Lukas? Hey! Not a bad idea, actually,' he thought.

Ingrid then took a deep breath. "Well, let's start, shall we?" she asked.

Both Elisabeth and Lukas nodded their heads simultaneously.

-----

Austria, January 7th 1795

5:00 PM

Lukas and Elisabeth had just finished dancing. Elisabeth was catching some breath while Lukas stretched himself.

Meanwhile, Ingrid was just getting ready to leave.

Elisabeth then looked at Lukas with a curious face. "Lukas, what is that thingy with ropes out there?" she asked.

Lukas raised his brow, he immediately realized what she was talking about. 'That's a kinda rude name you are giving it,' he thought.

Lukas then shrugged his shoulders. "That's something I use to train my swordsmanship. I can't get rusty, ever since I graduated, my instructor doesn't train me anymore," he answered.

Elisabeth frowned. "Why didn't he stay with you just to help you to keep in shape?" she asked.

"...Good question, I like to think that's because he wanted me to learn how to keep in shape by myself," Lukas answered.

Elisabeth nodded her head in understanding. "Oh, Lukas, you are so smart! I bet you are even smarter than Uncle Johannes!" she said.

Lukas raised his brow. "Who?" he asked.

"He's my brother. He's a professor at the University of Salzburg," Ingrid answered with a smug smile.

Lukas quickly turned to Ingrid with a mischievous smile. "Oh, really?" he asked.

Lukas's smile immediately sent a shiver down Ingrid's spine. 'W-What's he up to?' she wondered.

"Ingrid, couldn't you bring your brother here someday? I'd like to discuss... philosophical questions with him," Lukas said.

Ingrid sighed in defeat. 'I have to do everything he asks for. I have no choice,' she thought. "Fine. I think he can come on Sunday, is that fine?" the brown-haired woman asked.

Lukas smiled. "Perfectly! Besides, on that day I don't have dancing classes! I would be deeply sad if I couldn't come," he said.

Ingrid just clenched her fists, but then she took a deep breath and smiled. "Thank you for your consideration," she begrudgingly said.

-----

Austria, January 11th 1795

3:36 PM

Lukas was looking at himself in the mirror. 'Okay, I look good. I'm ready to meet Johannes, the professor of the University of Salzburg,' he thought.

Soon, the blonde boy showed a smirk. 'I really hope I am able to do this,' he thought.

Soon, he heard a knock on the door. As soon as Lukas heard it, he darted downstairs to meet the man in person.

When one of the maidservants opened the door, a young man appeared. He had brown eyes and brown hair.

"Good afternoon, I am Johannes Lehmann," he said. "I would like to talk to Mr. Lukas Von Neumann Hügel, is he home?" the man asked.

'Oh, so "Lehmann" was Ingrid's surname before she got married... that information is not important, I was just curious,' Lukas thought.

"That's me," Lukas said as he raised his hand.

Johannes looked at Lukas with a frown. "I am sorry, boy. Who is your father?" he asked.

"Elias Hügel," Lukas answered.

"... Does any other noble live here, other than you and your father?" Johannes asked.

"No, I am Lukas Von Neumann Hügel. You don't even know the nobles who live in your area?" Lukas said.

Johannes immediately got pissed at the arrogant kid's statement.

"He really is Lukas Von Neumann Hügel, Sir," the maidservant confirmed.

Johannes immediately widened his eyes, he thought his sister was kidding when she told him that a six-year-old boy was the one who called him.

Johannes then took a deep breath. "I am sorry for my mistake. Please let us talk in a more private place," he said.

Lukas nodded his head. "I totally agree. Please, accompany me," he said with a smile.

So, both Lukas and Johannes went to a living room.

When they were sitting on the couch, another maidservant approached the both of them and served them some tea.

"Thank you, Samantha. You may go," Lukas said.

"Y-Yes, young master," the maidservant said before bowing and leaving.

Lukas started sipping on his tea. Meanwhile, Johannes looked, dumbfounded, at Lukas.

'W-What's going on here? I don't understand it,' Johannes thought.

"I-I am sorry, but why did my sister call me here?" Johannes asked.

Lukas looked at Johannes with a serious expression as he placed down his cup of tea. "It was me who called you here, not your sister," he answered. "Anyway, that is not what I want to talk about," the blonde boy said.

Lukas then placed his elbows on his knees as he looked at Johannes with a smug smile. "I will cut to the chase. I want an university degree," he said.

Johannes, who was drinking his tea immediately chocked on it. After coughing for a while, he looked at Lukas with his eyes widened.

"E-Excuse me?! I am sorry, boy, but what makes you think that I will give you a diploma out of nowhere?" Johannes asked.

Lukas sighed as he leaned back. "I thought you were going to ask that. Well, I have two suggestions, and I think those will make you change your mind," he said as he stretched two of his fingers.

Johannes raised his brow. "E-Excuse me?" he asked. 'Who is this boy?' the man wondered.

"Do you really think you can bribe me like this?!" Johannes asked.

Lukas smirked. "Bribe: dishonestly persuade someone to act in one's favour by a gift of money or other inducement. That's not what I'm doing," he said.

Johannes raised his brow. "Excuse me? I am sure that's exactly what you are doing," he said.

Lukas swinged his finger in the air. "Nope. You are missing a keyword here, it's not "dishonestly", because I do plan on doing an assessment in order to test my knowledge on whether or not I can get a degree, and that's my first suggestion," he said. "You know, I am just trying to... speed things up," the blonde boy explained.

Johannes now was showing quite a dumbfounded face. 'This boy does think he is a big shot! Besides, even if he does the assignment, that doesn't mean that he got the degree in an honest way,' he thought.

Then, Johannes showed a smirk. "Fine, then. If you think you are that much of a big shot, I'll offer you a degree and a diploma right away if you manage to do a test here about the "7 liberal arts"- arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music theory, grammar, logic, and rhetoric," he said.

Lukas laughed mischievously. "One week," he suddenly said with a smirk.

Johannes raised his brow. "Huh?" he asked.

"Give me just one week to study, and I'll ace the test," Lukas said.

Johannes then bursted out in laughter. "Oh, fine. If you ace the test that I'll create, I will not just give you the degree of Master of the Arts, but also, I will give you a degree of any superior learning you want- Medicine, Law, or Theology, whichever you want," he said.

Now it was Lukas who was dumbfounded. 'Who the hell is this guy? Is he that much of an idiot? How did he become a professor?! Well, I can't complain, though. I will not even need to use my second suggestion... bribery. I will just do something in case he's bluffing,' he thought.

Lukas then jumped out of his coach with a smirk. "Okay, wait here, then," he said.

Johannes just raised his brow as he watched Lukas walking out of the room. After that, he leaned back on the couch. 'Hehe, what an idiot,' he thought.

After a while, Lukas came back with a piece of paper. "Here, Mr. Johannes. Sign this contract," he said with a smirk.

Johannes just widened his eyes. 'I may have a heart attack if I keep interacting with this boy,' he thought.

Lukas then placed the piece of paper on the table and Johannes promptly started reading it. "Where did you get this?!" he asked.

"None of your business," Lukas promptly answered. 'I wrote it myself, of course,' he thought.

Johannes sighed as he stared at the piece of paper, making Lukas smirk.

"Oh, what's wrong, Professor Johannes? You were so confident back then," Lukas said.

Johannes then gritted his teeth and signed the contract. "Fine! Whatever! You will not even get one question right!" he said.

Lukas raised his brow. "What makes you think that?" he asked.

Johannes laughed. "Well, you are six years old, the subjects are not easy and I will not go easy on the questions either. And besides, all the questions are in Latin," he said

Lukas immediately widened his eyes, however, he kept smirking. "W-What?" he asked.

Johannes laughed. "Yes, that's right! Everything in the test is written in Latin," he said.

'Well, that I didn't know,' Lukas thought. He sighed. 'It doesn't matter, it's gonna be more fun like that,' he concluded.

Lukas then calmed down and kept his smug expression. "Whatever, do we have a deal, professor?" he asked.

Johannes smirked. "Oh, we do," he said.

Finally the both of them shook their hands.