Those Damned Faces
Last night, I really took a beating.
My case for building strength ahead of time, learning to control it, and practicing how to apply it to swordsmanship… well.
It didn't land at all.
Even if I got hurt in the space where Leonhardt was, once I returned, no trace of it remained on my body.
Because of that, even when my swordsmanship improved, the training never put any muscle on me.
Anyway, that was how it was supposed to work.
And yet, after how thoroughly I'd been hit, my whole body still ached.
The two of us stepped out of the dormitory early that morning.
I'd always been a heavy sleeper—the kind who slept until the last possible second and then scrambled off to class.
But ever since I'd started living with Master, her ironclad insistence had me getting up early and even eating breakfast.
Of course it was exhausting as hell.
Truth be told, Master herself slept a lot, so she suffered too.
And still she went on about how regular sleep and meals were important, or whatever.
I made up the shortfall with naps somehow, so the balance more or less held.
We had a simple breakfast.
Well—the amount Master ate wasn't exactly simple.
Then we went into the classroom.
Even counting mealtime, we'd come out fairly early, so there weren't many people inside yet.
No sign of Leo and his pack.
Felice and Veronica weren't at their seats either.
Instead, Aine was there to greet me.
"Louis-nim! Good morning!"
"Yeah. Morning."
"Is this the girl you mentioned yesterday…"
"Yes. This is Aine."
"Hello…?"
Aine carefully greeted Master.
"Well now, a pleasure! I am Alice Schiller. I've heard a great deal about you from Louis!"
"I'm Aine, Alice-nim! I think I might have heard about you from Louis before as well…"
Aine trailed off.
True enough, I was fairly sure I'd mentioned Master to her in passing once before.
I hadn't gone into any real detail, so of course she'd be a little confused.
"Speak freely! We're fellow cadets."
"Given Master's age, though…"
I started to add something from the side, then caught Master's terrifying expression and hastily changed course.
"…I mean, it's not about that—Aine's speech is just always like this!"
Whew. Guess I couldn't even joke around carelessly.
Anyway, it was true that Aine's way of speaking was naturally like that.
"Why are you still sticking -nim on there?"
I said to Aine.
As I kept reminding people, at this academy, in principle, all cadets were equal.
Royalty, nobility, commoners—everyone was equal.
Treating people differently based on status went against the academy's founding creed.
In practice, though, that creed wasn't exactly followed to the letter.
The professors, at least, treated the cadets equally regardless of status.
Well—there were exceptions like Swordsmanship Professor Ian Dexter, who graded and treated students differently based on their family and rank.
But most professors weren't like that.
Some, like Professor Henry Willston, were strict with everyone.
Others, like Professor Gladys Aisle, were generous with everyone.
And some, like Professor Jon Hayton, found everyone a nuisance…
Anyway, that was between cadets and professors.
The rules and evaluations might apply equally to every cadet.
But among the cadets themselves, things were different.
Even if they were equals inside the academy, once they graduated—or hell, even just during break—they would feel the difference in their stations out in the world.
It wasn't as if they never saw each other outside the academy. Who would dare act freely toward a cadet of higher status?
Of course, promising cadets—even commoners—weren't treated carelessly by noble students.
And there were cadets like Her Highness the Princess who simply didn't care how others treated them.
Unfortunately, Aine didn't fall into the former category.
And several students in our class, Leo included, definitely didn't fall into the latter.
At the start of the term, when Aine approached other students with her natural personality, a few rotten-tempered nobles had bullied her.
Leo among them.
I stepped in and put a stop to it, but I couldn't stick to her side forever.
In the end, Aine grew much more timid than she had been at the beginning of the semester, and she stopped talking as much.
The silver lining was that her usual personality came out when she was with me.
One other thing had changed: she started attaching -nim to other cadets' names.
Shockingly, there were a few noble students who would make an issue even of that.
At first I'd wondered if that was simply how a class-based society worked.
But look at Her Highness the Princess, who didn't give a damn about any of that.
No—those noble cadets were simply rotten.
The first time Aine called me Louis-nim, I was genuinely startled.
I told her not to, but…
When we were alone she called me Louis, and in front of others she said Louis-nim.
At my request, by the latter half of first year she had started calling me casually even in front of people.
But this time, maybe because of what she felt guilty about, she was calling me Louis-nim again.
Being addressed that way was just uncomfortable for me.
"Just call me casually, like before."
"Okay, Louis…"
"Call me freely as well!"
"Is that really all right?"
"Of course!"
Master nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
I checked the clock hanging at the front of the classroom.
Since we'd arrived early, there was still plenty of time before class started.
"Then how about we go submit the party application before class?"
"Let's do that!"
Aine's face broke into a bright, silly smile.
We left the classroom as we were and headed for Professor Jon Hayton's office.
As a rule, Professor Jon Hayton was in overall charge of academy party activities.
Probably because he handled combat practice.
As an aside, when it was decided that Professor Jon Hayton would oversee party-related work, rumor had it he got into a massive fight with the headmaster over not wanting the hassle.
What a guy.
Anyway, when we'd submitted the party expulsion and withdrawal forms, we'd gone to the student council room and handed them to the president.
But for bringing someone new into a party, you had to go to the professor directly.
Supposedly to prevent people from abusing the expulsion system or quitting on their own just so they could form a party with whoever they wanted.
Parties were assigned by the academy in the first place, after all.
In Master's case, she was rejoining a party after repeated grade-holds, so there shouldn't be a major issue.
And Aine had originally been a member of this party, so that should be fine.
Thinking that, I arrived at Professor Jon's office with Master and Aine.
Knock knock. I rapped on the door, and a moment later—
"Come in."
A voice came from beyond the door.
I carefully opened it and stepped inside.
There sat the professor, legs stretched out on the desk, hat pulled down over his face, practically lying down in his chair.
He lifted the brim of his hat slightly with one hand and glanced at us.
"So. What is it?"
"Our party's short on members, so we wanted to bring one more person in."
"Ah, that so. You lot are…"
"Second-Year Class A, First Party."
I told him our party's name.
"Ah, that one!"
At my words, the professor let out a small sound of recognition, as if it had just clicked.
"And that cadet's the one coming in?"
He looked at Aine as he asked.
"Yes, Professor. My name is Aine."
"Aine… Hmm…"
He frowned slightly.
"Wait a moment."
He opened a desk drawer and rummaged around for a while.
Eventually he pulled out a sheet of paper.
"Ah, right. You were an expelled party member, weren't you? And you want to bring her back in?"
He said this as he read the document.
I wasn't sure if it was a mutter to himself or an actual question.
Either way, I was about to answer when—
"Well, not my problem."
…Professor, you are the one in charge of party activities?
Marveling at his words, I carefully asked,
"Then, is it all right if we—"
"Oh, right!"
He shouted again.
Then Professor Jon Hayton looked at me and said,
"Cadet Louis."
"Yes?"
"After class today… mm, come to my office at eight this evening with your party members. That Aine cadet too."
"Uh, understood…"
Having said only what he needed to say, he pulled his hat back down and prepared to go back to sleep.
In the end, we had no choice but to leave the office.
"Hmm. What's this about?"
I muttered.
"Quite the unconscientious professor, isn't he."
Master said.
"Could it be… because of me, Louis…?"
Aine mumbled with a worried look.
"No. I don't think it's that, so don't worry."
I said that, but I was a little worried myself.
And so I spent the whole day with it weighing on my mind.
I finished dinner without even knowing whether the food was going into my mouth or my nose, lost in thought—
Then headed once more for Professor Jon's office with Master and Aine.
Knock knock.
"Come in."
Professor Jon's voice came from inside the office again.
But when I opened the door and stepped in,
this time, there were two more people besides Professor Jon.
Faces that were all too familiar—and thoroughly damned.