Chapter 36
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“Y-You’ve co?”
Her eyes sparkled. The mont I stepped into the chapel, she greeted with excessive theatrics. Winter reacted in a way that was closer to shock than welco.
The brat flinched under my gaze and quickly looked away. Even she must have thought her reaction just now was a bit ridiculous.
“What is it.”
“N-No. I. I. Th-The. In the main building’s first floor…….”
“You an this?”
“Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Why are you bringing that here!”
Winter let out a shrill scream. Since she couldn’t properly continue her words, I pulled the flyer out from my coat instead.
She imdiately recognized it and burst out in agitation. I simply shrugged and headed for the sofa.
The capable porter, Canis, said nothing, yet neatly stacked the items I had brought along one side of the chapel.
“Want so tea?”
“Ah, what a nice scent…… since when were you here!?”
I threw myself onto the sofa. Canis sat across from and took out a tea set. In an instant, she poured hot water and called out to Winter.
Drawn in by the fragrant aroma without realizing it, Winter approached—and only then did she notice Canis. The way she recoiled in shock made her look like a codian.
Should I really just leave that as it is?
“Um. Senior.”
“Yeah?”
“This is, exactly…….”
Only when I relaxed my body did the sofa respond. The soft leather supported without a single gap.
Winter pulled back from the haze brought on by that astonishing comfort and warmth. When I glanced sideways, I saw her pale hand gripping the flyer.
“As you can see. It seems they didn’t like the revocation of my suspension.”
“But…… did they really have to go this far?”
“I suppose they think they did.”
Winter looked unable to comprehend it. I buried my head into the sofa again. Seeing that, Canis continued in my stead.
“Most of what’s written there is true, though?”
“Pardon?”
“I an the part about Davi’s misdeeds~ The taphors are exaggerated, but it’s not like those things never happened~ For example, soone who got hit with a stone might say they were struck by a rock. Either way, it’s true that they were hit by sothing.”
“Ah…….”
Winter’s expression beca sowhat complicated. Canis steeped the black tea with an elegant gesture and poured a cup for Winter.
“Thank you.”
Winter bowed her head lightly in thanks and took a sip. A subtly infused bitterness, wrapped in a rich aroma.
Only then did Winter, sowhat calr now, scan the flyer with sharp eyes.
“Shouldn’t we stop this?”
“No.”
Winter directed the question to Canis. But instead of the girl who sat gracefully tilting her teacup, the answer ca from elsewhere.
At the words spoken by Davide—who was now pouring tea at so point—Winter’s face twisted into a strange expression.
“Why?”
“We can’t stop it. To begin with, on what grounds would we? There’s no justification under the academy rules to block this.”
I glanced at Winter. As if she were about to explode from anger, she had begun pounding her chest. I was the person involved, so why was she the one reacting like that?
“The objective is simple. A vote.”
“A… vote?”
“Yeah. They’re trying to initiate an academic petition vote.”
An academic petition vote. A system that forces the academy to reexamine a concluded matter. It’s a vote to determine whether the agenda should undergo reconsideration.
If more than half of the students agree, the case is reviewed again. That ans the incident that led to my suspension would be dug up once more.
“Th-Then… wouldn’t that be a problem?”
Winter’s face filled with anxiety. I placed the dark brown chocolate Canis had brought out for dessert into my mouth.
The sweetness was appropriate. By my standards, though, it was a bit cloying. I quickly rinsed my mouth with black tea.
“It already ended with a suspension in the first place. Even if they dig it up again, it’ll just end with another suspension. The real issue lies elsewhere.”
“Elsewhere?”
“It’s just a nasty attempt to tarnish Davi’s image~”
Winter tilted her head. I looked at her with slightly hollow eyes. Realizing the rough aning behind my gaze, Winter began fuming.
“What am I supposed to do if I don’t get it!”
“That confidence. I don’t dislike it.”
“Davi’s incident happened right when the first-years had just enrolled~ So with everyone busy adjusting, it kind of got swept under the rug~ But it’s not like that now, right? If it cos up again~ this might get a bit troubleso~”
“That’s about it.”
“Then isn’t this even worse…….”
Now too tired to even get angry, Winter spoke in a drooping voice. Chuckling softly, Canis refilled Winter’s teacup, which had already been emptied.
“What these kinds of bastards say doesn’t carry much weight. They’re just barking among themselves. But if we leave it alone, it will get annoying.”
“……So?”
There were three thods.
In the ga, what was happening now was a kind of event. It signaled the beginning of an episode—sothing that, while seemingly optional, was actually necessary for the episode to proceed.
Originally, I would stupidly endure public humiliation, be dragged through the mud, and then encounter the mid-boss in a tattered state. Along the way, I would et various characters and interact with them.
By doing so, I would earn so of their goodwill and safely pass the reconsideration. To achieve that, I had to clear the quests given by each character.
That was the first thod.
‘I’d never do that.’
And it was the one I would absolutely never choose. Was I insane? Why would I grind through sothing like that? I didn’t even like the idea of being publicly humiliated in the first place.
So I considered another approach. The second thod was to return as Duhein. To once again raise the na of Duhein—the na that had protected Davide from all his past misdeeds.
Of course, that was dismissed. I had no intention of returning, nor did I even have a way to do so.
“Swift and decisive.”
“Pardon?”
“What do you think is the easiest way to win a battle?”
“Pardon? Uh, um, th-then, a preemptive strike?”
“Attack before they can even speak~ What a terrifying plan~”
“What did you say!? Ngh! I don’t know anything about fighting! It’s just sothing Bereninche told !”
At that unexpected mindset, I clapped my hands. A first strike was nice. It was one of the most famous ways to exploit an opponent’s guard. And it was effective for a reason.
As it happened, that was exactly what I was planning to do. Anyway, the point was simple.
“Crush their will to fight.”
“Pardon?”
“That ‘Pardon?’ of yours. Simply put, make them not want to fight. If I hadn’t been expelled, I could’ve just sunk a few of them and called it a day. But not now.”
“S-Sunk them. That’s…… huh? Wh-Wh-What are you sinking!”
“People~ Put them in a drum~ Then pour ce—”
“Aaah! Stop! Stoooop!”
Canis and I high-fived and burst into laughter. Only then did Winter realize we had been teasing her.
Her face crumpled, and tears stread down. No—she outright burst into sobs.
“Hic… I-I was w-worried, hic! I was worried and talking to you, hic! and you just keep teasing ee.”
“Oh, I see. I’m sorry. But thank you. For worrying about .”
She cried so sorrowfully that even Canis, unusually, seed flustered. This wasn’t her usual chewy, over-the-top reaction.
But I didn’t waver. I had prior experience teasing her until she cried. Thanks to that, I’d once been beaten half to death with the Holy Scripture that Anaye dropped on .
I sat beside her and wiped away her tears. When I spoke in a soft, coaxing tone, she finally let out what had been upsetting her.
She was soft and fragile. But Winter wasn’t a foolish crybaby. She shed tears often enough, but it was rare for her to break down like this.
Those special situations all shared one common point. When she was worried about , or about Anaye.
“Mm~ our Winter~ let’s stop crying now, okay? You have to go ‘there, there’ to be a good girl~”
Having finally figured out how to handle her, Canis joined in comforting her. Between the two of us, Winter poured out all the grievances she had been holding in.
How it hurt her to see cruel mockery scribbled across the chapel. The bad things she kept hearing about wherever she went. And even the insults directed at The Goddess who had accepted soone like .
Winter, who held deep faith and gratitude toward Anaye, cherished greatly as the one who stood closest to Anaye. And now both of those beings were being cursed at.
She hadn’t shown it, but she must have been struggling inside. As I listened to her, I felt a asure of relief.
There was a saying: if ten people gather, one of them is trash. I had hoped that trash wouldn’t spew its filth at her.
The slurs aid at a child without parents. The other kinds of insults that could arise from being a ‘girl’ close to soone like . And so on.
In my previous life, when I suffered from a rare disease, I had heard such things countless tis. I didn’t want Winter to go through that.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem she had experienced anything like that yet.
“Blow your nose~ Snff! No~ like this~ Hng!”
“Hnggg!”
Canis now behaved completely like a nanny. She skillfully cleaned up that ss. Her hands moved as if she had raised a child before.
Well, that should be enough. Shall I get going? I stood up from my seat.
“W-Where. Snff. are you going?”
“To punish the bastards who bullied our Winter.”
“Snff. Don’t kill them.”
“……You do tend to see as sothing inhuman at tis.”
I gave her a dry look, and Winter pouted. The fact that she didn’t sulk even after being teased—was that because of her gentle nature?
I let out a small laugh and left my seat. What was about to happen wasn’t anything special. Using one enemy to control another. In this case, I would simply give those attacking a more important enemy.
***
“How’s the situation?”
“It’s progressing slower than expected. But judging by the direction, it’s going as we thought.”
“As expected. Who would take the side of a beast like that. Right?”
“Exactly.”
Granvi had been spending very busy days. Handing out flyers opposing the revocation of Davide’s suspension.
Preparing for a retrial vote—gathering materials and evidence not only to win, but even to push for expulsion if possible.
With the ‘Chivalry Research Club (CRC)’ working hard beside him, it wasn’t difficult. While they were diligently at work, an uninvited guest suddenly barged in.
Bang!
“Wh-Wh-What! Who barges in like that!”
“It’s , you sons of bitches.”
The one who entered as if about to break the door off its hinges was the beast who didn’t even possess the courtesy of a knight. Wearing a vicious smile like a demon’s, he strode into the clubroom as he pleased.
A heavy silence sank over the room. After scanning his surroundings, he smirked at the completely frozen atmosphere and carelessly kicked the door shut.
“Sit down. Let’s talk.”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing!”
One student, enraged at the way he took the seat of honor without permission, shouted sharply. One of Davide’s eyebrows twitched.
[ Sit down. Trash. Before I send you flying. ]
It wasn’t a voice.
It was thunder.
Like lightning tearing rcilessly through a rainy night sky, illuminating the world for a fleeting instant—followed by a violent tremor.
It was not a human voice. It struck at the most primal fear a person could feel.
Soon, lightning began to spark around his body. Yellow bolts, close to gold, flickered about him.
The leather sofa he sat on began to emit an unpleasant burning sll. This was a beast in fury. No—this was a beast in irritation.
The mbers of the CRC were frozen solid, unable to move.
“Not planning to sit? Then I suppose it can’t be helped. I’ll be blunt. Stop this useless nonsense imdiately. It’s a pain in the ass.”
“D-Don’t… joke around!”
The demand itself wasn’t the issue—it was the attitude behind it that was unreasonable.
He spoke as though addressing an animal he happened to pass on the street. It was an insult no human could easily endure.
The one who managed to speak with difficulty was Granvi. Davide checked Granvi’s face and subtly furrowed his brow.
“We are resisting injustice! The revocation of your suspension is unjust! You deserve a punishnt far worse than that! And the disciplinary action against the top-ranking students was unjust as well! They did everything in their power for our sake!”
Davide let out a sigh. It wasn’t a perfunctory one.
It was the kind of sigh a teacher might give when faced with an endlessly foolish student.
“You really do spout that nonsense well. Fine. If you refuse to give up, then I suppose I have no choice.”
As if resigned, Davide waved his hand dismissively. Then he rose from his seat, lightning crackling around him.
“I suppose I’ll have to pay Soloven a visit.”
“Stop!”
They couldn’t send a beast like that to Soloven. There was no way to predict what this dangerous man might do to her.
Acting on instinct, Granvi grabbed Davide and glared at him.
“Now do you feel like having a proper conversation?”
Seeing Davide turn back with a smile, Granvi ground his teeth.
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