Even Dogs Aren't Disturbed While Eating
Senior. Do you know the saying that even a dog isn't disturbed while it's eating?
“Rain~!” A green-haired girl waves her hand with wild enthusiasm. The moment lunch begins, Chloe throws open the classroom door and comes looking for me. This little ritual has been going on for a full month now.
My classmates have grown so used to it that they simply exchange light greetings with the suddenly appearing Chloe before heading off to eat. Rozelia, who had been watching the whole thing, shakes her head with clear disgust and lets out a dry laugh.
“Ha-. Fine, Chloe. I’ll acknowledge that stubbornness of yours.”
“How many years have you known me, and you’re still saying crap like that, Ria?”
“I say it because even after years of watching, it still makes no sense. Would it kill you to skip it just once?”
“Yeah. It would fucking kill me.”
“Chloe. No matter how badly you need your fix, I’ve told you countless times not to use such vulgar language.”
“Wow, here we go again~. Aren’t you tired of lecturing me yet?”
“I’m tired, which is exactly why you should stop…!!”
“Then maybe worry about your own image first?”
Rozelia smiles brightly while saying whatever she wants, and Chloe openly wears her irritation on her sleeve in return. Fighting the moment they see each other is basically their daily routine. In other words, this has been going on for a full month now.
“…Yeah, it’s been a whole month and I still can’t get used to you two. So can we please stop? This is clearly my fault for not adapting.”
“Sorry. It just slipped out.”
“Good, at least you’re self-aware. And since Rain looks like he’s reflected enough, I’ll drop it too.”
Rozelia smiles bitterly, clearly embarrassed, while Chloe waves her hand with a playful grin. Just thinking about watching this circus all day already makes my head spin, but the problem is that these two aren’t even the end of it.
“Hello, everyone~.” A red-haired girl waves lightly in greeting. It’s Aine.
“Rain…!!” And the moment she spots me, a gray-haired girl breaks into a bright smile and hurries over with quick steps. Sien.
The two from the Knight Department had rushed straight to my classroom as well.
“You had sparring practice today, right? You didn’t get hurt anywhere?”
“Yeah! I’m not getting hit anymore, just like Rain taught me!”
“That’s correct! This girl has also been running around day and night, doing everything possible to ensure Sien faces no trouble!”
“Aine, even if you’re going to lie, at least do it with some restraint. What do you mean you’ve been working day and night to protect her?”
“There she goes again! It just means I’ve been trying really hard! Do you always have to nitpick everything?”
“Yeah, I fucking do.”
“…Wait, why are they fighting already?”
It hadn’t even been a full minute since they met, yet the two were already growling at each other like it was the most natural thing in the world. Do they have some kind of daily quota? I was muttering to myself about how I might start keeping count out of sheer boredom when—
“…Just leave them.”
At some point Sien had slipped right up beside me. She pouted, lips pushed out, and looked down at me.
“If you leave them alone they’ll go on for thirty minutes.”
“That’s not my problem. And it’s definitely not yours, Rain.”
“…You really only speak the truth, huh, Sien?”
“Yeah. So praise me.”
It had been half sarcasm, but Sien’s pure heart somehow interpreted my words as a compliment. How was I supposed to respond to that?
“…No praise?”
“Ugh, fine. Yeah, that was very sharp of you~.”
Her eyes had sharpened dangerously, so I gave in and praised her. The look she gave me was honestly terrifying.
“What about my head?”
“…Yeah, yeah.”
I reluctantly reached out and patted her head.
“…You two, what exactly are you doing in front of this girl?”
“Aine, if you’ve got nothing better to do, go stop that yellow-haired Chorong from calling you nicknames.”
“Aaaah~ I like being called nicknames, but I hate Chorong!”
“Sien. I also have a perfectly lovely name bestowed upon me by Grandmother Rozelia, you know?”
“…Tsk.”
Sien clicked her tongue, openly disappointed that the attention had shifted away from her.
“Alright, alright, let’s go eat first. Today they’re serving pasta, which happens to be this girl’s absolute favorite!”
“Yeah, eat plenty.”
“…It’s fine. I’ve decided not to care anymore even if Chloe speaks in that cold tone.”
“Come on! Let’s hurry! The pasta is waiting for us!”
Aine skillfully inserted herself between the grumbling Rozelia and the half-hearted Chloe, linking arms with both and leading them away. As I stared blankly at the three of them chattering noisily, I suddenly felt a strong pressure on my right arm.
“They’re too loud. I hate it. Let’s just eat by ourselves———”
“Dear, what are you doing? Hurry up and come~!”
“…Quickly, the other———”
“If you don’t come right now, I’ll really grab you and never let go~♥”
“…Rain, do you really have to be that close with her?”
“If you don’t listen to what this dear says, it won’t do, will it♥?”
When I simply smiled without answering, Sien pouted like I had betrayed her and walked off alone with a sulky expression. Chloe, who had been walking with Aine, immediately moved to Sien’s side and looked absolutely delighted.
“Rain, you’re not thinking of making this girl wait, are you?”
“If we don’t go now there won’t be any seats left. Let’s go.”
Chloe and Rozelia stopped walking and turned to look back at me, still standing in the classroom.
“……Ah, this is exhausting.”
During this past month, I had lived more diligently than anyone else. But this wasn’t exactly the future I had been hoping for.
The greatest threat, as expected, was her family—House Allensia. Since they rarely left the northern territories they publicly claimed as their own, the ones I currently needed to watch were Sien’s older brother and sisters attending the academy. However, after their recent attempts to harass her through underclassmen failed completely, they had gone quiet for the time being.
No matter how powerful their bloodline as members of a Grand Duke’s house might be, there was a limit to the influence they could exert here, where seniors and juniors had almost no points of contact. So, aside from certain specific situations, things were still manageable.
Honestly, what I had focused on most intensely during this month was searching the academy for anyone born with the fate of a “hero.”
Villain and hero. The two beings granted the most significant roles in driving the end of an era known as destiny. Each other’s one and only archenemy—an incompatible pair where only one could survive once everything was over.
Even taking into account the forced constraints of fate that would arise from twisting Sien’s destiny, locating the “hero and villain” who possessed the power to control any situation was absolutely essential.
If someone asked why I was only searching for the hero instead of both… it was because, unlike the villain, the hero emanated a very distinctive aura. The kind commonly referred to as “divine.”
———However, in this past month, I had yet to encounter a single person who possessed that divinity.
Yeah, the world is vast.
No matter how prestigious this academy was—gathering the kingdom’s greatest talents—it only contained citizens of the kingdom. There were countless places I hadn’t yet investigated: the Empire, the Federation, the Republic, the Third World, and so on. Above all, the hero and villain were unique existences that only appeared once in an entire world’s lifetime.
The chance that they would exist in the same time period had always been slim.
Honestly, not finding them is probably for the best…
No news is good news. The absence of a hero meant the absence of a villain, which in turn meant the world was not currently heading toward its end. So not discovering them was technically a positive sign. The problem was that I couldn’t tell whether I hadn’t found them because they didn’t exist, or because I simply hadn’t found them yet. That uncertainty kept me from relaxing.
If I still had even forty percent of my previous life’s ability, I could confirm it for sure.
It was regrettable, but there was nothing I could do about it. I once again concluded that I should simply do my best with the situation I had been given and turned my gaze toward the four girls cozily eating their pasta.
The strategy to help Sien make friends had been a resounding success. Not just successful—far beyond what I had imagined.
The four young ladies who had originally gathered around me now created their own comfortable space, chatting and laughing together freely. Of course Sien still felt burdened by their strong personalities and remained somewhat awkward around them, but…
She’s improved tremendously compared to a month ago.
These days she expressed her emotions without hesitation, actively tried to do the things she wanted, and most impressively, no classmates dared to pick fights with her anymore.
They had learned that Sien’s combat ability was no joke. They had seen the young ladies from the four great houses—Rozelia, Chloe, and Aine—unite tightly around her. And they feared my retaliation. A near-triple divine barrier had formed around her, and within the academy the unwritten rule had been established: touching Sien was the same as courting death.
Of course, that rule only applied to Sien.
“Eating that much will make the subjugation rough, won’t it?”
A voice dripping with mockery. In an instant, three seniors with black neckties—two classes above us, from the 95th batch—surrounded our table.
“What should I eat to build up strength? Have you seniors already eaten?”
Before the four girls could show any discomfort, I smiled first and sent them a look that said everything was fine. Though they wore dissatisfied expressions, they thankfully followed my lead.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t. We should be eating heartily, but we were so worried our junior might make a mistake that we lost our appetites.”
“Haha, then after the subjugation ends, I’ll treat you all to a proper meal. I’ve gained some spending money since I took the top spot in my department recently. Please look forward to it.”
“The offer is kind, but we have our dignity as nobles. How could we possibly beg for food from a commoner? My, this is so obvious that I feel bad even refusing.”
“Can’t be helped. Then I’ll make sure to eat plenty so I don’t become a burden to my seniors. Later———”
“Aaaah~ Is that how it is? So our junior Rain is such an outstanding talent with such a strong mentality that he can easily overcome the grotesque and gory scenes he’ll witness during the demon beast subjugation?”
The woman’s half-lidded eyes as she cut me off were far from friendly. I was about to offer a vague apology to smooth things over and end the situation peacefully when—
“Then how about we show you this first?”
Thud.
A fist-sized rodent dropped onto my pasta. Sauce splattered everywhere. Classmates who saw the scene screamed and fled. The three seniors laughed with glee.
My fork, which had been twirling pasta, froze in midair.
“Wow, it’s real. Other juniors see this and run away in terror, but junior Rain doesn’t even blink~?”
“Uwek. She actually did it~.”
“Consider this the seniors’ deep consideration to help you mentally prepare~.”
The yellow-haired senior continued mocking me while patting my head. Unable to watch any longer, the four girls kicked their chairs back and stood up.
“Seniors, no matter what, this is crossing the line!”
“This Aine will formally report your behavior to the student disciplinary committee and the academy president!”
“Wow, these seniors are actually insane…?”
“You don’t need that arm anymore, do you?”
The four expressed their fury in their own ways at the clear violation. Sien grabbed the wrist of the yellow-haired senior who had been patting my head.
“You, what are you———?!”
The moment Sien twisted her wrist to snap the arm—
“———It’s fine.”
I quickly stood and patted Sien’s head.
“But Rain!”
“Hey, you crazy idiot! You should’ve just let her break it! Argh, why are you stopping her?”
Sien and Chloe both wore frustrated expressions. Normally my touch would have calmed Sien down, but this time she refused to let it go, her face full of discontent.
Still, this was my problem to handle.
I looked straight into Sien’s eyes and smiled gently.
“Do you trust me?”
“…That expression is cheating.”
“Don’t worry. Have I ever let you down?”
“…It’s because you never have that I’m acting like this. Rain, you idiot.”
Sien slowly loosened her grip and released the yellow-haired senior. Only then did the girl manage to yank herself free and stumble backward.
“Ha! These days the juniors are all———!”
“Senior. Do you know the saying that even a dog isn’t disturbed while it’s eating?”
“What…?”
“Aaaah~, of course I don’t mean that you’re lower than a dog, Senior. After all, you went out of your way to prepare this rodent for me, a mere junior. This junior is truly moved by Senior’s heavenly consideration.”
The three seniors wore expressions that practically screamed What the hell is wrong with this guy? Among them, I stared directly at the freckled, bespectacled senior who had gifted me the rodent.
“Thanks to you, I’m fully mentally prepared now.”
I smiled brightly, piercing her with my gaze…
“So take it back, you crazy bitch.”
Without hesitation, I hurled the pasta containing the rat straight at the bitch.