03. Is Bari a Great Mage?
03. Is Bari a Great Mage?
"Just because you have to go out? Just pick right away."
"Yeah? As expected of Eleonore. All men are the same."
I haven't even said anything yet, and she's already decided on her own.
"Yeah."
"Keuk...."
It's true, though.
"Well, it's not bad if you're interested in that side. Eleonore, from today onward, attend to Ryu Si-hwan."
"..."
Not bad, my ass.
Is this girl doing it because of Luna or something?
She's endlessly cold to Tweed, but she's totally inconsistent.
"Why no answer?"
"Y-yes...."
Eleonore nodded with a face full of tears, and Pantre and Louis around her glared at me in utter fury.
They're grinding their teeth to the point of crunching.
Enemies increased in an instant.
I wasn't going to pull aggro.
"Then next. Rihana, choose."
"Uh... I don't really have anyone in particular...."
Unlike me who chose sharply right away, Rihana pondered quite a bit.
The ones left are Tweed, Louis, and Gundogan. Excluding Tweed, the characters are all the same, and even Tweed is the guy who got beaten badly by Rihana.
"Then Gundogan?"
She picked the 『Dwarf』 reluctantly.
Looks like she doesn't have much thought on it.
After that, Sasha picked Tweed for some reason, and automatically Pantre ended up with fellow Elf Louis as his attendant.
"All set. Move your seats."
"Seats too?"
"To serve, you need to be close. You'll even have to move your living quarters, so what's a seat?"
Gasp.
Moving houses too?
"I said absolute obedience, didn't I?"
I thought it was just obedience while at the Academy, but apparently not.
"You seem to be misunderstanding, but the ranking relationship applies the same whether at the Academy or at home. If a superior calls, you come, whether it's night or dawn. Right?"
What a scary world.
What the hell kind of neighborhood is the upper Tower like?
No, with this shitty discipline, can they even fight properly? Maybe they're losing because of crap like this.
Drag.
While I was thinking, Eleonore brought her desk and placed it next to mine.
"..."
A face deep in worry.
Up close, she's really pretty.
So Elven.
"Hi."
"...H-hi...."
She ground her teeth with a crunch.
Still, she greeted back properly.
Feels pitiful and sorry for her. Such complicated feelings.
She worked her ass off to get into A-Class, and now she's just attending to a human.
"I hurt you pretty bad yesterday, but you know there was no malice, right? It's just what happens in sparring."
I extended my hand in a gesture of reconciliation.
She took it reluctantly.
"...Of course. I understand."
Fortunately, Eleonore is one of the only two normal people in this class. She nodded neatly.
"Now that the assignments are roughly set, I'll explain the curriculum for the next month."
With Yu Ina's words, the writing on the blackboard erased and new content filled it.
"What you'll learn over the next month is Command Arts."
Huh?
Command Arts?
What's that?
"It's not anything amazing, but among hundreds of trainees, you stand out. If you grow smoothly, you'll become the core of a guild leading warriors in the future. This is education for that time."
Heh.
So it's like officer training.
"Serving and being served are all foundations for that. You can't command without knowing the position."
For that, aren't I just the one receiving everything?
I'm the A-Class class president and trainee representative.
"Then, since it'll be chaotic in many ways today, we'll end here. Ryu Si-hwan, wait at the training ground. You know why?"
Huh?
It's over?
Feels like only 10 minutes since class started.
Wasn't this one-month special training supposed to not waste time? What's with this wide-open schedule.
"Seems a bit hastily put together."
Bari also felt the absurdity, staring at Yu Ina's seat as she left quickly and said.
"They said originally class president and rep are chosen by vote, right? They decided to do it by ranking since rankings are set. So before that, there was no such system, right?"
"Hmm... yeah. Definitely feels rushed."
Can't put it into words, but anyway, that vibe.
"Approval denied!!!"
While thinking that, as expected today too, trouble came knocking.
The protagonist is the Elf group.
Especially Pantre's voice was loud.
Stomping over with thuds, he looked less like an Elf and more like an orc.
"What."
As I stood up, the Elf dude came right up close and huffed.
"Using this as an excuse to do more, more filthy... dirty things to Eleonore-nim!! I absolutely won't forgive you!!!!"
Dirty things?
Wasn't this the Elf-nim who was openly excited and drooling in front of everyone?
"Saying it like that makes me kinda want to. More than that, what do you mean by dirty things? As a human, I can't comprehend."
"Y-you bastard...!"
"Stop shaking and speak properly."
The guy was just furious, but doesn't seem to have much eloquence, kept spouting weird crap and threw a glance at Eleonore.
"Eleonore-nim!"
"..."
"As expected, something's wrong here!! Come with me to protest!! I'm 4th place anyway, so if I speak wellㅡ,"
Spit flying with his rant.
And the hand he extended.
However,
Smack!
Eleonore coldly smacked away the offered hand.
"E-Eleonore...nim...?"
Incredibly icy eyes.
Of course, after seeing that disgrace right in front of her.
Who was the first one trying to get at Eleonore, anyway.
"Could you not come closer? It's unpleasant."
Pantre froze like a statue.
Cold, but a lady who shows basic courtesy even to a human like me.
And Eleonore firmly rejected him.
"Wow. Pantre-gun, do you know the word 'conscience' by any chance?"
"Total worst. What do you have to say for yourself after panting like that until just now?"
Not just Eleonore.
Sasha and Rihana also glared at Pantre with cold, disgusted eyes.
This guy's reputation is in the gutter now. He's done.
"That's what she said. Could you leave? Our Eleonore is uncomfortable."
"O-our?"
"We're close from today, so ours. Right?"
After lightly rubbing salt in his wounds, I snatched Eleonore's hand.
"Ah...!"
"Let's go. Ellie."
"Ellie?"
"Eleonore is too long."
Having even made a simple nickname, I led her out of the classroom just like that.
Screams like wails came from behind, but I cleanly ignored them.
"...I told you not to pull that much aggro."
"Ah...but NTR is unbearable...."
"Sigh."
Bari let out a sigh.
It's basically daily routine now.
"Um... hand... could you...."
When we left the building, Ellie blushed.
"Ah. Sure."
It was soft.
Too bad.
"..."
As I let go of her hand per her request, suddenly Bari mouthed something.
'Mo'
'Sol'
"..."
This jerk.
Keeps teasing his owner.
"Keep that up and you'll get hurt bad."
"Oh my, me?"
"Yeah. You."
For such a great and wise AI-nim, her nose is sky-high, but you don't go pulling aggro like that either.
"Hehe. Can Sihwan-nim handle it?"
Look at that seductive smile.
Totally looking down on me.
"If there's nothing else you need... may I go now?"
Uh...
Need something... do I have anything for her to do?
Even for serving, there has to be something to order. I'm not some knight riding around on a horse.
Maybe it's fine to let her go moderately? It's the first day.
"W-"
"Of course not."
Huh.
"Sihwan-nim's schedule isn't over yet."
Bari cut off my answer.
Ellie's face turned pitch black as she ground her teeth.
Bari was indifferent regardless.
"There's soon 1-on-1 guidance with the homeroom instructor, so follow along. You have to serve, right?"
Ellie trembled while looking at Bari, then turned to me.
"Can... a doll... speak so... freely...?"
"Hmm... well, it's Bari. Just think of it as my words basically."
She's smarter than me, after all. Personality's weird, though.
"...I understand."
She barely answered.
Really reluctant, no choice, have to do it so answering kind of vibe.
But what am I gonna do taking her along?
I'll just go get beaten up.
Thinking about it makes me depressed again. It hurts like hell.
"Try to get hit a little less painfully than yesterday."
Yeah. You're not the one getting hit.
+++
"The rep is 'human', and vice-rep is 'Beastkin'. Pretty funny."
Maybe because she made it herself, she showed no disturbance even in the thick smoke.
Just sitting there exuding elegance.
"Both 'Outer Races'. Will the trainees follow them well?"
Yu Ina facing her was also unfazed by the nose-stinging smell.
So used to it, cigarette smoke is nothing.
"What if they don't? Weaklings with no power."
She set down the cigarette she was smoking and picked up her coffee.
Cigarettes and coffee combo was always the worst, but that's by others' standards.
For her enjoying it, it was the perfect harmony.
"Still, after enrollment, it'll be noisy for a while. Call it some liveliness?"
Human as rep, Beastkin as vice-rep.
No way the prideful 『Advanced Races』 would accept this quietly.
From all sorts of sabotage to even duel challenges if it escalates.
"How's the human? Impressions from the 1-on-1 guidance?"
"Pathetically weak. Seriously so."
"Figured."
There was no disappointment or anything in Yeonseo's eyes.
She had no expectations for Ryu Si-hwan to begin with.
Just because he has an amazing doll like Bari, she had a slight 'what if'.
"No growth potential either, I assume."
"That's how it is."
"Possibility of Noblesse in ancestors...?"
"None at all."
"Sigh. Such a guy got a precious title. That's a big deal."
"Even that much can't show his face properly anyway."
"True, but that's upper levels talk. Early on... especially in the Academy, it's an impressive number that looks like a wall."
She put another cigarette in her mouth.
"A meaningless human has something like that..."
"...If you're that regretful... why not just do the vote as usual?"
"..."
Ha Yeon-seo stared at Yu Ina steadily.
Shaking the cigarette up and down with her tongue while gazing.
"...Chief Instructor-nim?"
"That human picked an Elf woman as servant, right?"
"Yes? Yes. Picked her right away."
"So easy. Being human and male."
"?"
Why suddenly change topic.
"The human bitch you have is useless, but look. An Elf, and he infiltrated right away? Humans can't be helped."
"...No way Eleonore is Chief Instructor-nim's?"
Did she plant an agent already?
While I admired on my own, she shook her head.
"As if. I wouldn't do such vulgar things."
"..."
"I just adjust situations and create openings. So far it's just that arrogant human and haughty doll, so their bond is thick... but one... two... slip in between?"
Tss.
"And gaps open."
"..."
The cigarette crushed on the table and extinguished.
Somehow, in the future the Chief Instructor envisions, Ryu Si-hwan ends up like that cigarette.
"Just get the doll, and the human doesn't matter."
Squeeze.
She deliberately crushes and twists the already dead cigarette again.
"So you too, don't get attached to the human."
"Me... get attached to a human?"
"You're attached to a bitch, can't you to a guy?"
"......Chief Instructor-nim! That's too much!"
"Take it or leave it."
After provoking heavily with harsh words, Ha Yeon-seo sipped her coffee while looking at Yu Ina with gleaming eyes.
"Well, you're competent, so you'll handle it. I trust you."
Trusting while spouting that crap?
Yu Ina felt rage surge for a moment, but the positions between her and the Chief Instructor were heaven and earth, so she could only swallow it inside.
Even she couldn't help it before Survival of the Fittest.
"Got the rough report, so go."
"...I'll be going."