Chapter 55: Authoritarianism

“You’d better hurry it up. If you do, I’m willing to overlook this.”

I found myself flabbergasted before I could even get mad at that haughty proclamation. You’re supposed to throw away all thought about the social position when entering this school, but perhaps it’s ok to be this haughty since we’ve yet to enter still. Michelle stiffened up at the sudden allegation. However, it was Letina and not me that reacted to this first.

“Same to you, shouldn’t you be apologizing without delay?” “What was that!” “I don’t know where you’re from, but isn’t it regretful you were raised like this?” “You mean you don’t know me? Fine then, listen well. I am Donovan Stolla Stewart, eldest son of Margrave Strwart of the Stolla territory!” declared Donovan in a snort.

Hearing his name, the curious onlookers started causing a bit of a ruckus while gathering around us. The Stolla region was a large expanse in the northern part of Raum, you could argue the margrave of the region held status equal to a marquess. Here in Raum where the rank of duke is filled by the relatives of the royal family, you could say he’s from the upper stratum of unrelated nobles.

Growing up like that, it’s little wonder he grew too big for his britches. However, Letina laughed scornfully at Donovan’s introduction. After all, she’s the same. While the margrave carried similar gravitas to a marquess, it’s just “similar”. He fell short of Letina who was the heiress of an actual marquess title. I was sure she was about to give her own name and rank in return but…

“Do you not know before whom you stand? This person is Lady Nicole, daughter of Lord Lyell and Lady Maria of the Six Heroes!” “Wait a minute? Isn’t this the part where you give your own name, Letina!?” “Huh? Why would I?”

Letina stared blankly at my retort. I’m pretty sure this is normally the scene in stories where one gives their own name to intimidate their opponent, this is strange. Besides, Lyell and Maria are just commoners now. They have little actual authority here…

“Wha, What did you say…!?”

…or so I thought. Rather, since I am the daughter of two great heroes, it seems the effect is twice as strong, not to mention I’m actually Reid, so the hero component is three times as strong.

“Well whatever. You pushed this young Lady and made her roll on the ground, do you understand the significance of your actions here?” “When we first met, didn’t you literally drag me around with you?” “It’s my policy to never look back on the past!”

I’m amazed she can seriously say things like that. But I’ve started to realize that being so open about things like this is one of her charms. She’s fundamentally a good person, even now she’s getting mad for my sake after all.

“I wish I knew how to use my authority like that…” “You say something?” “No, Nothing. And I’m not too worried about it, if Donovan is willing to drop this whole thing I’d like to move on.” “Eh, Oh.. Y- Yeah.”

Well, margrave or whatever, he’s still just a noble from Raum, with no authority beyond the country. On the other hand, I’m the daughter of the heroes who saved the world with authority resounding across the world. Both Lyell and Maria have enough potential to compete with any army, and they are closely tied to Maxwell, Cortina, and Gadius, each of them a monster in their own right. If they felt like it, they could overthrow the country. No matter how you look at it, they’re not the kind of people that can be dealt with by a single noble.

Donovan who was used to using his parent’s authority as a crutch understood that well enough. As long as his opponent’s rank is higher, his parent’s authority is meaningless. If he continues on… it’s likely his family will be crushed.

“Pl- Please forgive my rudeness up to now. Are you hurt…” “Yea, it’s fine. I’m ok, so don’t worry about it,” I responded flatly when Donovan started his obsequious apology.

It seemed he wasn’t as thick-skinned as Letina as expected, well, you could say she’s just especially thick-skinned. However, the rubberneckers weren’t about to let the spectacle end there.

“Hey, that girl… Did she just let herself get pushed and forgive that obnoxious noble brat just like that?” “How magnanimous. And that beautiful silver hair and heterochromia. She’s bound to have all manner of suitors in the future.” “You, no matter how you look at it, she’s not someone you can get involved with…” “No matter how you put it, her parents are hella scary!”

Yeah. I have no intention of going out with any guys, not one bit. I decided it was time to leave and pulled on Michelle and Letina’s arms to get out of there before our troubles increased. However, my grand escape was quickly foiled. It’s impossible for a large disturbance like this to fail to catch the teachers’ attention. By which, I mean Cortina’s.

“Hey now, what’s with all this racket you lot.” “Ah, Cortina.” “Lady Cortina! This is, umm…” “Eek.”

Cortina grabbed me by the nape of my neck, hanging me in mid-air like a kitten. At Cortina’s sudden entrance, Letina started to hem and haw, meanwhile Michelle stiffened back up. Letina was self-consciously awkward knowing she had bullied the other guy.

“Since there was an uproar we couldn’t ignore, I came out here to check it out…” “No, umm, this is…” “Are you interested in getting a sermon too?” “Ah… I’m sorry”

Letina admires the six heroes, so as expected, she can’t handle being lectured to by one of them. No matter how you look at it, a kid can’t handle that kind of pressure.

“This is, she was just trying to stand up for me, so if you could just look the other way…” “I see, I see. Nicole, you’re too kind. But it’s a teacher’s job to set kids straight when they mess up. That includes you.”

At Cortina’s glare, Donovan stiffened up just like Michelle. It doesn’t look like he’s able to talk back to her. After all, from the public’s point of view, she’s a devil capable of manipulating the army with one word, producing plenty of casualties, earning her the nickname: “The Reaper”.

“I’ll let you off the hook this time with just a warning, do take care from now on though, got it?” “Y-Yes…”

And with that, Cortina started to take her leave. It would seem I stumbled on my first step into academic life.