50% Meal vs. Halved Rations
"W-what did you say?"
"Tomorrow we only get to eat… half of this?"
"Wait, does that mean half of us might have to starve?"
"Finit, this is all your fault!"
The students, already terrified by Kael’s announcement, turned their fury on Finit. Their eyes burned with murderous intent, as if they were ready to kill him on the spot. Caught in the storm of those glares, Finit froze in panic.
"H-huh?" He trembled, utterly bewildered. He shot a pleading look toward Irina, but her green eyes held nothing but irritation and contempt. Desperate, Finit raised his voice.
"It’s a lie! Kael Aberwin, you’re lying, aren’t you? There’s no way your power has restrictions like that!"
Kael gazed at him with calm indifference and let out a soft, mocking laugh.
"How can you be so sure I’m lying? What exactly do you know about my ability? Besides, if I suffer any more mental shock, the amount of food I can summon tomorrow might get cut in half again."
Finit’s face flushed crimson with rage. He thrust a finger at Kael and screamed.
"You—you! You fraudulent bastard! You dare try to deceive me, the second son of a count family? What the hell is a disgrace like you from a duke’s house even worth?!"
"First time I’ve ever heard that the second son of a count ranks higher than the second son of a duke."
"Shut up!"
Losing control, Finit lunged at Kael. Before Professor Lucia could even intervene, the students moved first. The magic department students thrust their hands forward in unison.
"Magic Missile!"
A barrage of blue light streaks slammed into Finit’s arm with pinpoint accuracy.
"Aaaargh!"
Finit screamed and collapsed. In that instant, the swordsmanship students swarmed him. They grabbed him, dragged him across the floor, and began stomping on him while roaring.
"This bastard’s mouth needs to stay shut from now on!"
"You fucker! Because of you, we’re only getting two sausages tomorrow instead of four!"
One student kicked Finit in the face and snarled.
"You ruined everything! If it weren’t for you, we could’ve eaten like we did today!"
Finit curled into a ball, groaning in pain. But the students’ rage showed no sign of stopping. They kept trampling him, shouting over and over.
"Why the hell did you have to act out?!"
"You dragged us all down with your bullshit!"
"Kael’s the disgrace of a duke’s house? You’re the disgrace of the Beloam Count family, you piece of shit!"
"If I ever get out of here, I’m filing an official complaint against the Beloam family for sending a disgrace like you and making everyone suffer!"
"I’ll join you!"
"Me too!"
In the blink of an eye, Finit had become the academy’s public enemy. The students had completely lost their minds and looked ready to end his life then and there. The only mercy was that they stopped just short of actually killing him.
Kael watched the spectacle with leisurely amusement before turning to Professor Lucia.
"Professor Lucia, I’d like to leave now."
Lucia, reading his intentions perfectly, smiled.
"Understood, Kael. Let’s go."
Kael then spoke to Ring and Ming.
"You two, follow me. We’re leaving."
"Yes, Master Kael."
Ring and Ming nodded obediently and fell in behind him. Once they had left the dining hall, Ring whispered softly.
"Master Kael… this was all part of your plan, wasn’t it?"
Ming added in a quiet voice, "The students… they all seem completely confused."
Kael chuckled at their words.
"Yeah, this is only the beginning. Now, more importantly, let’s hurry back and eat dinner. After dinner, I’ll need to open up your asses too."
Since there were no prying eyes around, Kael openly groped both Ring’s and Ming’s buttocks. Then he reached over and squeezed Professor Lucia’s rear as well.
"You too, Lucia."
"Yes, Master Kael."
Lucia answered shyly yet with perfect politeness. Her eyes burned with heated longing.
After Kael left the dining hall, the beating finally stopped and Finit collapsed in a broken heap. Gasping for breath, he cried out in a voice full of grievance.
"What did I even do wrong?! You—you people! You think you’ll get away with beating me like this? You’ll be punished according to academy rules!"
But one student snorted and shot back.
"Punished? When we’re only getting half a meal tomorrow because of you?"
"Exactly! We’ve already been punished!"
"Let’s make sure Finit never gets to buy food again!"
"Right! This bastard doesn’t even deserve to eat!"
"Does anyone here think this bastard deserves to buy sausages tomorrow? Raise your hand if you think he should eat too! Let’s see who still wants to feed him."
Not a single student raised their hand. The dining hall fell into heavy silence. Only then did Finit truly realize the situation he was in.
"N-no… why… why me…."
He shook his head, desperately denying reality. He was not someone who should be treated this way. As the fiancé of Irina, the duke’s daughter from the Rosengart family, he was supposed to be praised as a hero by everyone. Just moments ago he had been imagining himself embracing Irina and basking in admiration. To fall so low—it was impossible for him to accept.
Irina watched the scene with tightly pressed lips. She calmly assessed the situation, and her green eyes darkened with anxiety and a growing sense of crisis.
This is dangerous… The current situation is far too dangerous.
Kael understood the true value of his ability perfectly. Today’s food sales, Finit’s outburst, and the way he handled the aftermath had been a flawless stage to showcase that power. In Tartaros Academy, where proper food was nearly impossible to obtain, his ability was an absolute force without precedent. Whether his words were true or false, there was no way to prove it. He had already secured the absolute protection of the professors. Every professor’s power was now essentially Kael’s own weapon.
Irina quickly grasped the situation. While Finit had acted without reading the room and destroyed himself, she would not make the same mistake. Kael had shown that defying him could result in reduced food rations. They had all witnessed the extent of his power.
Whether that claim is true or false doesn’t matter. If Kael decides to act this way, our only option is to please him.
They could not know the limits of his ability. Even if it was a lie, there was nothing they could do about it. Forcing the truth out of him was impossible while he enjoyed the professors’ protection, and excessive threats might trigger automatic judgment and punishment from the academy itself. Above all, he had already planted the seeds of conflict among the students.
Either fifty percent of us eat two each, or everyone eats only one.
This was no longer a simple matter of food. By creating division among the students while bearing no responsibility himself, Kael had shifted the entire burden onto them. He had left the decision of which fifty percent would eat to the students themselves. He had even offered the alternative that everyone could simply eat one. If they chose to select only fifty percent, the resulting resentment and guilt would belong to the students, not to him. And through that conflict, they would inevitably come to understand the terrifying weight of the power he held.
At that moment, a graceful beauty with blonde hair and blue eyes spoke in a trembling voice.
"Tomorrow… are we really only going to get half of what we ate today?"
Her name was Rhea Halley. The daughter of Baron Halley, she was known for her originally gentle and modest personality. But after suffering through the torment of coarse black bread and constant hunger, even she had become someone whose every thought revolved around food.
Princess Elenora Caldria approached Rhea and gently patted her shoulder. Rhea was one of the princess’s followers.
"It’s all right, Rhea. Just endure it for one day."
Irina looked at Elenora and asked carefully.
"Your Highness, what should we do? The current situation…."
Elenora answered calmly.
"It will be difficult for everyone, but for now let’s have each person eat only one tomorrow. We just need to endure a single day."
But before she could even finish speaking, protests erupted from among the students.
"Why should we only eat one each? This is all because of that bastard Finit!"
"Exactly! Your Highness, why do we have to suffer because of him?!"
A male student glared at Finit and shouted.
"If we beat that bastard half to death and drag him in front of Kael, wouldn’t that improve Kael’s mood?"
Finit turned pale at those words and scrambled to his feet. Though his entire body was in agony, the threat to his survival finally registered. Terrified, he began backing away.
"W-what? Have you all gone insane?"
Then one of the female students yelled.
"Why should we starve just because of trash like Finit? Let’s ban Finit and all the barons and viscounts from buying tomorrow and let the rest of us eat two each."
"That’s right! Out of 197 people, more than 150 are from baron and viscount families anyway, right?"
"We can exclude Finit, let the count families buy two each, and then select the top fifty percent from among the viscount and baron families!"
The dining hall erupted into chaos at the suggestion.
"Why should we get nothing tomorrow?!"
"This is unfair!"
"Who does that baron’s daughter think she is?!"
"This is all Finit’s fault!"
"Right! Let’s beat that bastard half to death first and then talk!"
Finit was stunned by the sudden consensus that he should be beaten half to death. He cried out in a shaking voice.
"Y-you people! Do you really think you’ll get away with this?!"
But the students’ fury refused to die down. Irina watched it all and bit her lip. This had to be exactly what Kael intended.
Kael Aberwin… were you always this calculating?
Complex emotions swirled in her green eyes. She felt a wave of regret for having broken their engagement and humiliating him in high society, branding him as the disgrace of the duke’s house. Pride no longer held any meaning. She, too, could not escape the lingering savory taste of the sausage that still filled her mouth.