episode_0026

People always look at the world through their own standards.

Even if they go to the market together, a chef would think about what an unfamiliar ingredient would taste like and how to cook it, while a hunter would wonder how the animal was caught and what its dangers and habits are.

There is nothing wrong with it and it is natural.

Me too.

I am quite aware of the fact that I am an old man. So I simply thought that it would be a little difficult to get along with the students I would meet at the academy, but that nothing bad would happen.

Yes. I had been secretly assuming that everyone was pure and kind-hearted and that everyone would make rational decisions.

Where is this place? It’s an academy. It’s a bit ambiguous to say whether it’s a school or an academy, but it’s an educational institution. Didn’t you know exactly what would happen if you gathered young children in one place and gave them academic stress?

Yeah, it’s bullying.

Animals instinctively seek out the weak and bully them. This is true in the wild, where survival of the fittest is a given, and in homes where people have domesticated themselves. This also applies to people.

The reasons are varied and I don’t really want to know. What’s important is that it exists. There’s no way it wouldn’t exist just because it’s the Academy. No, it’s even worse because it’s this fool’s office.

Commoners who feel inferior to the nobles, outcasts who have been abandoned by their families or labeled as problem children, and those with shady social standings and children of criminals. It would be even stranger if all these children were gathered in one place and there were no troubles.

I didn’t think about it because I couldn’t see it. No, actually, I knew it roughly because I saw and heard it as I went by. But I just didn’t pay much attention to it. Why is that? Because it’s ‘Lillianne’? Because I’m the type of person who doesn’t care what happens to people who aren’t related to me? In reality, it doesn’t really matter anymore.

As I entered the classroom with Cosette, who was chatting away as usual, a momentary silence swept over the classroom. As if it were a lie, the group started laughing and chatting again, but it was a definite fact that the atmosphere had changed in an instant. And Cosette, who realized the reason, also shut her mouth.

There was a vase of flowers on my seat. The flowers were quite pretty. They looked fresh, as if they had just been picked.

“Who.. would do something like this..”

He stopped Cosette, who was trying to find the culprit right away, with a look and sat down. A refreshing scent tickled his nose. Why was Cosette angry at such a pretty and fragrant flower? The reason was simple. This flower was used at funerals. It was a custom that had been passed down for so long that it was pointless to even question its origin.

As I glanced around the classroom, there were a few people looking at me out of curiosity, Agnes fidgeting and desperately shaking her head when our eyes met, and a group that openly snickered when our eyes met.

okay.

Because if I become a party to it, I can’t help but think about it.

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Katrina is, so to speak, the daughter of a gangster.

From a young age, I grew up seeing my parents’ subordinates more than my parents’ faces, and I lived under their care.

Although not as noble as others, he lived in abundance and never felt particularly lacking. So it was natural for him to be arrogant and proud. His innate personality must have played a part as well.

A father who ruled the streets with his fists and a mother who had the brains to turn such a gangster into the leader of an organization and grow that organization.

Having inherited the strengths of both, she can be said to be a very talented person.

However, such advantages tend to be overshadowed by major disadvantages.

She was angry and didn’t like to think with her good head, so she just threw a punch. When she was young, no one could beat her in a fight and the streets were like their kingdom, so nothing much happened.

My father, who had been fighting all his life, paradoxically knew the dangers of fighting. Of course, it was natural that life was at stake, and it was also very important to decide when, how, and with whom to fight.

Her father always nagged her daughter. Before you throw a punch, figure out your opponent’s strength. Not just his fighting skills, but whether he has someone behind him, and whether he is a nobleman. Is it more profitable or more harmful to fight now?

However, advice that becomes flesh and blood must be heard and put into practice to be meaningful. Katrina coolly ignored it, saying it was just annoying nagging, and the teachings disappeared into thin air.

Then what about the smart mother? She already knew from watching that no matter how much her father talked, he would not listen. Of course, it was clear that she would not listen to her nagging either.

I thought to myself, “Whose daughter is that? She has such a pitiful personality.” But of course, it was my own daughter.

After much thought, my mother suggested to my father that maybe if someone beat her to the point of death, she would be cured, and although my father felt a little uneasy, he agreed.

In fact, how could my father, who came from the streets and never learned anything, know such things? He says these things because he has experienced them himself. These are lessons he has learned from his own experience of being hit until he dies if he gets hit one more time.

At least, the parents thought that he wouldn’t get beaten to death by someone within the academy.

Thus, Katrina entered the Fool’s Hall and made perfect use of her good head to enter the upper class, and the charisma that had been ingrained in her since childhood naturally created followers who followed her.

For Katrina, life at the Academy was half fun and half bothersome. Learning things she didn’t know was quite fun, but learning things she didn’t care for and training hard was something she really didn’t like.

So, I was targeting the weaker looking guys in the lower and middle class to earn some pocket money when I noticed an annoying guy.

In fact, the expression that I only noticed him then is incorrect. It was impossible not to notice him since he had such an enormous presence from the first day of school.

This is the girl named Mask Princess.

A hapless woman who acts like a show-off while having a handsome man as her servant.

‘You’re sharing a room with that old maid? What a dirty little bitch.’

‘What’s with that girl, she just plays around during fencing class?’

‘If I say I’m a princess with my own mouth, will it sell out?’

‘You must be unlucky because you’re struggling with your shoulders even though you studied hard.’

It may have been inevitable that these stories would come out of her group.

I didn’t really intend to hide it, so I didn’t say it in a low voice, so he must have heard it, but he didn’t react at all. That made me even more annoyed.

‘You’re ignoring me? Me?’

‘You? On this topic? Do you really think you’re a princess?’

‘Let’s see how long you can endure it.’

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People always judge the world by their own standards.

So I briefly thought that if they were good kids in their right minds, they wouldn’t do things like bullying, and of course, I learned that that wouldn’t be the case when I became a target myself.

But I made the same mistake again.

I thought, ‘If I don’t respond, it’ll get boring and I’ll just quit on my own.’

I even tolerated people openly gossiping about me in class.

I even endured things like tripping on my feet or deliberately bumping my shoulders when moving around the classroom.

I even tolerated things like trash and animal carcasses on my classroom desk.

‘What more can you do?’

Since they can’t harm me directly anyway, aren’t they doing these dirty things behind my back?

They’ll stop when it becomes impossible for them to think of anything worse.

I didn’t show any emotion and just ignored it, thinking like that. In reality, I didn’t really have any particular thoughts.

That day too, as soon as I entered the classroom, silence fell. My eyes naturally turned to my seat, but there was no change in my desk.

As I was walking to my seat in puzzlement, I felt Cosette, who had been following me, stop.

As I looked at Cosette’s desk, wondering if it was true, I saw a desk covered in blood.

aha.

This is what it looks like.

“..Yugram.”

As soon as I held out my left hand to Yugram, Yugram immediately gave me the object I wanted.

okay.

Yugram must have been referring to it too.

You probably wanted to say something to me, but you couldn’t do it out of respect for my wishes.

I feel very sorry for doing something to both Yugram and Cosette.

It can’t be done anymore.

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‘Instead of that bitch, how about touching the bitch that follows you around?’

This was the opinion of one of the girls who followed Katrina around.

‘Not bad.’

‘Let’s see how that girl, who always pretends to be mature and expressionless, will react this time.’

And Katrina laughed out loud, and everyone joined in and ruined Cosette’s place.

It was too cruel to be considered bullying of children who were only 12 years old. Beyond the simple aspect of bullying, isn’t it true that they slaughtered animals and used their corpses in the first place that it wasn’t normal behavior?

And the effect was tremendous. The woman who had been unresponsive to any amount of prodding began to approach Katrina after standing still for a while.

Katrina didn’t think much of it until then. What if you come? Are you going to cry and beg us to stop? We won’t listen.

Katrina looked at Leah, who was slowly approaching her with an obvious sneer. She stopped just within arm’s reach. A suffocating silence enveloped the classroom… Katrina opened her mouth, chuckling.

“What? Do you have any business..”

Her words did not end there.

match!

A loud enough sound to make your skin shiver echoed through the classroom. Katrina’s head turned. The reason was obvious. Leah had slapped Katrina on the cheek.

Katrina slowly turned her head with a blank expression and looked at Leah. Before she knew it, blood was flowing from the corner of her mouth.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

A dull sound, different from before, rang out. This time, Leah swung her arm in the opposite direction and hit Katrina in the face with the back of her hand. Because it was no different from a fist, the sound was heavy and strong, and the force applied was also strong, so Katrina’s body, unable to overcome the impact, flew off, knocking down the still empty desks.

Step, step, step.

The sound of the combat boots used for the knight lecture hitting the floor was unusually loud. No one in the classroom was even afraid to breathe. They were watching the unbelievable sight before their eyes.

Leah, who had been slowly approaching, stopped in front of Katrina, who was slowly getting up, spitting bloody saliva. Then, she threw the object she was holding in her left hand at Katrina’s face. The object that hit her face with a thud fell to the floor. It was a glove.

“Leah Baker, a first-year student of the College of Knights. Katrina challenges you to a duel.”