49. Touch Little Eli and You're Fucked
49. Touch Little Eli and You're Fucked
Once the situation ended, the first-years were all dismissed.
And I kept the second-years in the training hall.
In exchange for not wiping out three generations of their families, there was something they had to do.
"Hey, if your hands touch the ground, we start over from the beginning."
With both hands pinned behind their backs, including Baldwin with his broken arm and Shivria who was still seething, I had them press their foreheads into bottle caps and hold push-up positions.
"If you take your hands off your ears, it's back to the start. Careful, careful."
Or the so-called grasshopper position—grabbing their earlobes with both hands and holding a push-up using only their elbows.
"Oh dear, my apologies. My feet got tangled and I fell. Are you all right? Ugh, the smell. Why would you piss yourself just because it's a little hard?"
I kicked the bastard who'd been saying he needed the bathroom in the lower belly, made him piss himself, and knocked him over.
"Roll forward. Roll backward. To the side—no, I said roll to the side. Is my speech difficult? I'm clearly speaking Imperial, how strange. All right, back to the start. Roll forward. Roll backward. Roll to the side. Hey, you were a little slow there. We're starting over from the beginning. We all share collective responsibility here. Now, roll forward. Roll to the side. Hey-hey. You need to listen and move properly. I just told you to roll to the side. Now now, again, again."
Over the course of an hour, I made them roll across the floor, do thirty laps around the training hall with rabbit hops, do forty elephant spins, then perform somersaults, full-body twists while lying down, squat bends, and jumping jacks—and if they shouted the final count, they had to start all over again.
After about four hours of light disciplinary training, I set a few conditions, and we reached an agreement by swearing on Mana.
If they broke the oath, all their Mana would rampage, their Mana Veins would twist, their blood vessels would tear, and their entire bodies would burst and kill them.
Therefore, they would not harass the first-years or throw around second-year authority like they did today.
Of course, if they found a clever way around the oath, they could still pull all sorts of shit on me, if not the first-years.
Probably soon enough.
Seeing how they kept acting up, it seemed like they were holding something that could serve as a weapon.
If anything, I welcomed it.
Because then I could legally beat them to death.
Well, that was a matter for later, so I'd think about it then.
For now, I needed to deal with what was right in front of me.
"Are you a demon?"
"Still, I sent all the first-years away before making them do it, didn't I? I didn't humiliate them in front of anyone, so I think I'm on the kind side."
"Hmm... I suppose that's one way to see it. Fine, good. Moving on. So, Eliarnes. Were you trying to kill Shivria?"
Fabiana de Hermann, who had helped me dish out the disciplinary training to the second-years, wouldn't let the matter drop.
The second-years with bottle-cap marks deeply engraved on their foreheads had dispersed.
Silina, apparently not wanting to see Fabiana's face, was the first to leave the training hall, and Eurasia and Stella also excused themselves, saying they'd wait for me outside the training hall.
And so, only Fabiana and I remained in the training hall.
It was incredibly... uncomfortable and suffocating.
"There's no way."
"If I hadn't blocked that punch—no, if I had blocked it even a little later—Shivria's skull would have burst and she'd be dead."
"At worst, she'd have been a vegetable. And even that would've been fully healed with a single prayer from the priests."
Not ordinary healing through Holy Power, but prayer.
It was a miracle performed by offering rare Sacred Relics from the Holy Kingdom as payment.
And Luna used to perform prayers that required twenty priests working together without any cost at all.
"Were you confident in controlling your strength? I definitely felt killing intent."
"I held no killing intent."
"I've been noticing for a while now, but you're quite good with words."
"Thank you."
"You could go anywhere and make a living as a con artist, and you'd have your own merchant company in no time."
"If I'm ever cast out of my family, I'll consider it."
Heh-heh. Fabiana laughed.
"I may look perfectly fine right now, but the hand that grabbed your arm is in tremendous pain."
"...That, I apologize for."
"If I had been just a little later, my right arm would have been torn apart along with Shivria's head."
"Truly, I, apologize."
This time, I apologized with a bit more sincerity.
"Are you a monster?"
"I'm a person."
"How old are you?"
"I'm seventeen."
"Good heavens. A monster, then."
"I'm a person."
"Are all Eustetias like that?"
"Didn't you see earlier? I'm the special one."
"Keuh-heuk, keu-heu-heu-heu... Actually, before I saw you, hmm... may I speak casually?"
Fabiana paused mid-sentence and looked at me.
I readily nodded.
At the same moment, Fabiana's lips parted.
"I thought every child of Eustetia was nothing but vermin."
"Is there another Eustetia besides that Shiv-bitch from earlier?"
"Hm? Shiv-bitch?"
"...Ah, Shivria."
"There is. She's in the third year with me."
I didn't know that.
When I looked at Fabiana with a deliberately surprised expression, she let out a little snicker and nodded.
"Not a bitch—a bastard. And that bastard is a fully matured vermin."
"Eustetia is completely fucked, then."
"Wouldn't it all be resolved if you exerted a bit of your strength?"
"I've already been marked as a delinquent, so if I throw my weight around for no reason, I'll probably just make an even bigger mess."
"Keu-ha-ha-ha-ha! You talk like someone who's spent years in a mercenary company. How fascinating."
Fabiana looked at me with sparkling eyes.
It was the look of someone who'd found a toy she liked.
I casually tossed Fabiana the question I'd been wondering about since earlier.
"By the way. Where did you come from earlier?"
"Telling you that would be the same as exposing my weakness. So, would you like to take a guess?"
Before I threw my punch, I hadn't sensed any presence at all.
That's why I was about to extend my fist without any hesitation, when Fabiana suddenly appeared.
At a glance, it looked like Teleportation Magic.
But it was different from that.
Rather than spatial teleportation, it felt more like she had swapped positions with "something."
If so, then that something was—
"A familiar?"
"Oh-ho?"
Interest crept into Fabiana's voice.
But that didn't feel like I'd hit the right answer.
I didn't think it was the right answer either.
Calling it a familiar didn't seem right—Fabiana didn't seem like the type to handle familiars.
Then what remained was—
"It's Intent."
The Realm where one could imbue Mana with a desired image and manifest that image through Intent.
That meant Fabiana was Tier 6.
An incredible genius.
She's a monster herself, so why is she calling me a monster?
"Ha!"
A hearty laugh burst from Fabiana's lips.
"Senior Fabiana... I understand you're nineteen years old, and you already handle Intent?"
"You speak as if you're certain."
"I am certain. It's probably an Intent related to spatial movement, and the medium is... if we only consider speed, light? You can move to wherever light reaches."
Four hundred years ago, there was a human who handled an Intent similar to Fabiana's.
That woman was a Wizard, and she could freely move to wherever shadows formed, not light.
That's why, despite being a Wizard, it was hard to find anyone as exceptional as her in urban warfare.
"Keu-heu-heu... This is, impressive."
Beyond laughter, the sound had now shifted into a disbelieving chuckle that echoed faintly through the training hall.
"It's not a completely correct answer, but I can't call it wrong either. Rather, it's close to the right answer."
Well, it wasn't the exact answer because she couldn't fully control Intent yet.
At Tier 6, the best she could probably do was move to places where both her vision and light reached.
Once she reached Tier 8, she'd be able to move freely even to places she couldn't see.
"Eliarnes. How in the world can you deduce information like that?"
"I've read a lot of books, so my imagination is rich."
"There are no books in the Imperial Palace that could give you that kind of information."
"Silina said the same thing."
"And what did you answer?"
"I answered that Eustetia has them."
"You said you're seventeen, but just listening to you speak, you sound three times older. You could hold your own against the retainers who were always at my side in the Imperial Palace."
Hmm, if you add my Past Life's age, it's about that much, right?
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"Keu-heu-heu. Right. Now, neither of us has much time, so let's get to the point and wrap this up. I helped you today. Didn't I?"
"Yes. I'm very grateful and honored."
"So, I think it would be nice if you granted me one favor as well. What do you think?"
"Are you speaking as an Imperial Princess, or as a student of Karelai Academy?"
"If I speak as an Imperial Princess, what will you do?"
"I'll drop out and run away."
"Good. I'll speak as a student of Karelai Academy, then. How about it? Won't you grant me a favor?"
I let out a small sigh.
Then I held up two fingers.
"Once for blocking my attack. And once for lending weight to my testimony. Two seems about right."
Fabiana wore a sly smile.
"It seems you and I are going to become very close."
For a moment, I lost control of my expression.
I didn't know what kind of face I'd made.
I'd probably made a truly horrifying face.
*****
"Are you all right?"
On the way back after finishing her conversation with Eliarnes.
Premi Platz, the Student Council secretary who had been waiting for Fabiana in front of the training hall, fell in behind Fabiana.
"I'm not all right. It hurts terribly."
Fabiana, who answered nonchalantly with a shrug of her shoulders, withdrew the Mana she had been wrapping around her hand.
Then, with a crack-crack sound, her supple fingers began to twist mercilessly.
As if that weren't enough, her wrist dislocated and crumbled.
"What in the world..."
Premi, who saw this, turned deathly pale and handed Fabiana the Highest-Grade Potion she'd brought with her.
Fabiana immediately opened the Potion, downed it in one gulp, and looked down at her still-tingling hand, laughing heh-heh.
"I definitely blocked it before the punch was thrown."
"...I didn't see the process, but I saw the result."
"And yet it's come to this."
Even with the Potion's effects working quickly, her hand was still trembling and drained white.
"Premi. What Tier am I?"
"You are Tier 6."
"Right. I'm Tier 6."
Tier 6. Unlike Tier 5, it was the stage where one began to open the Upper Dantian that touched the sky.
The Realm where one could imbue previously ordinary Mana with Intent.
That was why humans who entered Tier 6 grew distant from ordinary humans.
From bodily functions to basic durability, Tier 6 operated on a completely different level from ordinary humans.
And that human's hand was broken.
By an attack that wasn't even thrown.
"Keu-heu-heu-heu..."
Of course, she hadn't wrapped herself in protective Aura.
But she had reinforced her body with Mana.
Even with only that much, an ordinary Tier 5 human shouldn't have been able to leave a scratch on Fabiana's body.
That was the Principle of the world.
But that Principle had been twisted.
"Premi. From what you saw, what Tier do you think Eliarnes is?"
"...Honestly, I can't even begin to gauge it."
"Right. Same for me. What's certain is she's not Tier 6. But she doesn't seem like Tier 5 either. At best, Tier 4. Ha-ha!"
Her hand, where the pain and trembling had finally subsided.
Fabiana clenched her fist a few times with that hand and gazed out the window at the girl walking away, her hair scattering like cherry blossom petals in full bloom.
A face softened and relaxed, different from the expression she'd worn in the training hall. A bright expression.
Her coquettish smile made it impossible to look away, and her slender, delicate frame naturally stirred the urge to protect her.
An appearance that anyone would find lovely and harmless.
A pretty smile like cherry blossoms blooming.
On the other hand, her insides were vicious.
Just listening to her speak, she sounded like a mercenary who'd been rolling around the front lines for ten years.
She was also brimming with the temperament of a con artist.
Watching her dish out disciplinary training, she was a demon, no question.
And yet, she wasn't ignorant.
She used her situation, her status, and her opponent's words and position at exactly the right moments to strike where it hurt.
Furthermore, she twisted and tore at what she'd struck, completely draining her opponent's spirit.
Was that all?
The martial prowess she'd shown in passing was overwhelming too.
Even if she couldn't be called the strongest in the academy, it was clear it wouldn't take even a year for her to claim that title.
And lastly.
At the end of it all, the name Eustetia was attached.
That made it all the more horrifying.
Fabiana was aware that she herself was a walking disaster. And today, a new name had been added to the framework of that disaster.
Eliarnes Eustetia.
"She's a monster, no question."
Before the punch was thrown at Shivria.
Fabiana, who had been replaying the killing intent Eliarnes had emitted, resumed her halted steps and finished her assessment of Eliarnes.
Eliarnes was a crazy bitch with no brakes.
Perhaps even more so than Fabiana herself, the First Princess.
"If you touch her the wrong way, you're completely fucked."
Hearing Fabiana's words, the danger level of Eliarnes—known as the delinquent noble daughter—skyrocketed in Premi's mind.