Hands Off the Kid
A damp pair of underwear clinging to his skin after yet another round of schoolyard bullshit greeted Zeron on a miserable Sunday morning. Luna had shown up early, claiming she had something to tell him. He briefly considered asking her to wash the damn things for him, but even in his hungover state he realized that crossed the line into sexual harassment, so he dropped the idea. Come to think of it, what exactly had she wanted to say? The memory was fuzzy; he’d been too startled to retain it. In the end he just stayed in his room and drank until the next morning arrived without him noticing.
Beyond the window, the campus was already buzzing with noise. Everyone scrambling around like idiots on a Monday morning. How unfortunate. Zeron lay sprawled in bed for a long time, waging a small war against his own laziness before finally dragging himself to the bathroom. A refreshing wash, followed by the customary morning drink.
“Please, for the love of god, just eat in the dining hall sometimes.”
With Luna handling his meals in his room again, there was nothing left to do. He leaned against the windowsill and lit a cigarette. The frantic noise outside had died down. Everyone must have gone to class.
Zeron stubbed out the butt and shuffled toward the training grounds attached to the faculty quarters. They were decently spacious.
“Let’s see…”
He drew the two swords from his waist. The clean shing of steel leaving the scabbard improved his mood. He gave the air a few experimental swings and found his condition wasn’t bad at all.
Suddenly the dream from two nights ago resurfaced. In that dream he had felt like a god. The sensation that a single sword—or even his bare hands—could let him fight the entire world and win. Zeron chased that feeling as he swung his blades.
CRACK!
An innocent training dummy was sliced cleanly in half. Not quite it… Zeron tilted his head and focused mana into his feet. He carefully lifted one foot into the air, then—
“Whoa—!”
He nearly lost his balance and fell on his ass. As expected, he couldn’t replicate it. Walking on air was the kind of thing you only attempted after becoming a Grandmaster. Still, the sensation remained vivid in his mind: the way the mana in the air and the mana beneath his soles had pushed against each other, creating the illusion of solid ground.
Zeron spent a long while in the training yard, swinging his swords and repeatedly kicking at empty space. He was starting to understand it, at least a little.
*
Around lunchtime Zeron finally left the training grounds. He hadn’t exerted himself enough to break a sweat, so he wandered toward the dining hall at a leisurely pace.
“Oh…”
The dining hall was quite large, but with this many people crammed inside… He was about to turn around and head back to the dormitory—willing to endure one of Luna’s lectures—when he heard a familiar voice.
“Why did you call me to a place like this?”
“Kid?”
The voice came from an alley a short distance behind the dining hall. Oh ho, was this one of those situations? Youthful drama and all that. Zeron’s lips curled into a smirk as he kicked off the ground.
With a light thud, his foot landed on the roof. Looking down, he saw the kid. Standing in front of her was a vaguely familiar little shit and what appeared to be his knight escort. The atmosphere, however, was far more hostile than Zeron had expected.
“Why do you think I called you here?”
“I’m not sure. From the look on your face, it doesn’t seem like you’re about to confess your feelings.”
“…How insolent. Yes. That exact attitude is why.”
The little shit swept his hair back in irritation. Ah, now Zeron remembered. This was the guy who had dueled the kid. He seemed to recall a spear being involved, though he wasn’t entirely sure.
“Don’t forget your place, girl. You’re a commoner. No matter how powerful the merchant group you’ll inherit, your status doesn’t change. Academy rules? Equality between nobles and commoners within these walls? Laughable. When you graduate, aren’t you afraid of the consequences?”
“…What exactly did I do to deserve this? I have no intention of disregarding noble authority.”
“Your current attitude, words, and behavior. Do you not understand the meaning of the word ‘insolence’?”
The kid faltered for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. Zeron could guess what the little shit was getting at. Inside her family’s merchant group, the kid had basically been treated like a princess. She’d never needed to watch her tongue or lower her head to anyone. She carried herself with confidence everywhere. And that probably rubbed this noble the wrong way. Most commoners didn’t act that way in front of aristocrats.
“…I’m sorry, but I still don’t understand. What exactly about me offended you? If this is about the previous duel—”
“This lowly bitch, even now—!”
The little shit, who had been pretending to be calm, flushed red with anger and raised his hand. That wouldn’t do. Zeron lightly kicked off the roof.
“Eek!?”
The kid flinched at the impending slap. Zeron landed in front of her, blocking the blow and seizing the little shit’s wrist. The knight behind him immediately turned murderous.
“Who the hell are you?! Release that hand at once!”
The knight drew his sword in an instant and leveled it at Zeron’s throat. Cheeky bastard. Zeron gave him a lazy sidelong glance before ignoring him completely and looking down at the little shit.
“Hey.”
“…Hey? You’re… ah, the instructor from that time. The one at the entrance ceremony.”
A faint sneer appeared on the little shit’s lips.
“Right. You did say you belonged to the David Merchant Group. Zeron, was it? Step aside. A commoner should show proper respect.”
“Why the fuck are kids these days so goddamn rude? Is it some kind of trend?”
“What did you just—?”
The little shit’s face twisted. “You wretch! Did you not hear the command to show respect?!” the knight bellowed, still pointing his sword.
“Hah, you little fuck.”
The itchy killing intent brushing against his nape was seriously annoying. Zeron frowned. Should he hold back? Getting kicked out of the academy would be a bit of a hassle. Not that he particularly cared about the place, but he had promised David he’d watch over the kid. A fired instructor probably wouldn’t be allowed back as a bodyguard.
“You wretch! Release his arm and show proper—!”
BOOM—!
“Oops.”
Zeron frowned as he looked at the knight now embedded in the wall. He’d kicked the guy out of habit. The armor was cracked and the knight had coughed up some blood, but he wasn’t dead, so it was probably fine.
“W-what?! Sir Colson!”
The little shit whirled around in shock, only to freeze when Zeron’s grip on his arm stopped him short. He glared at Zeron with pure murder in his eyes.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
“Hmm… what should I do? Want me to hit you too while I’m at it?”
“What nonsense are you spouting?!”
Despite the loud bluster, faint terror had crept into the little shit’s expression. Zeron considered it. The bastard had tried to slap the kid’s cheek, so maybe just smacking his face around a bit would be appropriate.
“Yeah, that sounds about right. You really pissed me off.”
“What are you—!”
SMACK—!
The sound was more like hitting a leather drum than a cheek. Medeia, startled back to her senses by the noise, stared at the noble boy in front of her. His cheek was already a bloody mess. He couldn’t even scream; he simply stood there with his eyes wide open in shock.
“U-Uncle…! This is going to cause huge problems…!”
Huge problems. Those words brought focus back to the noble boy—Fadiol de Matein’s—eyes.
“Ugh… you bastard…! Do you even know who I—!”
SMACK—!
“I am from the Matein Viscount family—!”
SMACK—!
“J-just a moment—!”
SMACK—!
“……”
The little shit had gone quiet. He seemed to have lost consciousness. Zeron released Fadiol de Matein’s arm. The boy crumpled to the ground like a discarded rag.
When Zeron turned to look at the kid, her face was deathly pale and she appeared to be frantically thinking about something.
“Hey kid, what are you doing?”
“What do you mean, what am I doing?! I’m trying to figure out how to fix this because we’re completely fucked!”
“Fucked? How are we fucked? You don’t even have the equipment to get fucked.”
“Oh my god…! This is a serious situation and you’re still making those kinds of jokes?!”
The kid’s face flushed red with frustration and she stomped her feet. Up close, Zeron could see tears welling up in her large eyes.
“Maybe we should just… run away somewhere far? Yeah? If we go abroad with Dad…”
“Wow, you’re really overthinking this, huh?”
“Whose fault is this?! If I had just taken one hit it would’ve been over!”
“No way. Where’s the fun in hitting a tiny thing like you?”
Zeron chuckled and roughly tousled the kid’s hair. But Medeia still couldn’t calm down.
“He’s a noble! A noble! If this goes wrong we’ll get hit with lèse-majesté charges or whatever and we’ll be totally screwed!”
“It’s fine. I’ll handle it, so stop worrying and go eat.”
“No way…! This isn’t something we can just brush off! Who knows what kind of retaliation House Matein will bring!”
“Hey, I said I’ll take care of it. Don’t you trust me?”
“How could I trust you?!”
The answer flew out without the slightest hesitation. Zeron slapped his own forehead.
“I used to be pretty well-known back in the day…”
“Never mind that… mmph—!”
“Alright, alright. Just pretend to believe me and go eat already.”
“Mmph—!? Mmmph—!”
“Ah, drool!”
Zeron kept his hand clamped over the kid’s mouth as he lifted her and carried her all the way to the dining hall. True to form, Medeia had no intention of spreading this incident around; she kept her mouth tightly shut and simply glared at him with eyes full of every curse word imaginable. Zeron wiped the drool off his hand onto his pants and gave her head a couple of light pats.
“Eat a lot and grow big. What’s with that chest? You’re a girl, aren’t you?”
“Fuck… we’re really screwed…”
“Oh… you’re actually pissed, huh?”
Zeron quickly waved his hands in surrender and slipped back into the alley. The little shit and the knight were still unconscious on the ground. Should he wake this one up first? He gave the bloody mess that was the boy’s cheek a couple of light taps.
“Huk…!”
“Oh, you’re awake?”
“W-what the hell were you thinking…!”
The boy’s eyes trembled. Fear, shock, and a faint trace of anger swirled within them.
“You said you’re from House Matein, right?”
“That’s right! You bastard, you’ll regret—!”
“Then go bring your father. Tell him to come here in person. Got it?”
“What the hell are you thinking?!”
“Just do it, kid. If I tell you to do something, just do it.”
When Zeron raised his hand again, the boy let out a pathetic whimper and shrank back. Zeron nodded in satisfaction and gave the fallen knight a couple of kicks.
“Ugh…”
“Hey, I didn’t kick you that hard. Take your young master and go fetch someone from your main house.”
“What… what happened…”
This one was still out of it. Zeron sighed and asked the boy instead.
“Hey, how long does it take to go to your house and back?”
“…If you go by carriage, about eight days.”
“Eight days? Alright, whatever. I’ll be waiting. Get your shit together and get moving.”
“…You’ll regret this. I didn’t want to escalate things this much.”
“Regret? Just hurry up and leave.”
The boy grit his teeth, gathered the knight, and staggered away. He had more backbone than expected. If he hadn’t touched the kid, none of this would have happened.
“Well, what can you do? Life is just a series of choices.”
Zeron hummed to himself as he headed back toward the training grounds. He glanced at his hand; it was stained red with the boy’s blood. The faint metallic scent made his pulse quicken with excitement.
“Hm. I feel like it might work right now.”
His dull blue eyes glowed faintly.
*
Naturally, it failed.