CH 161

Warning: Depictions of PTSD.

1st Day of Exams… Politics and History tests are over.

I think that my review and self-grading are almost 100 points. It doesn’t seem like you can get the question paper back once it’s been collected, so there’s no way to check it anymore. I just think it was almost perfect in my mind. Though I did say self-grading, so I can’t rely on it too much.

The exams are over in the morning, so I think I have to go home and study for tomorrow’s exams, but unfortunately, I can’t just go home. Because I have to go to the royal castle’s parade ground and participate in the Royal Guard Division’s meetings and training.

Would you let a normal student do something like this during exam season? At least I wanted them to be a little more considerate. Well, in the first place, it was the first time for me to be a working member of the Royal Guard Division while also a Berne Academy student, so I guess they weren’t prepared for that… I was able to set a precedent, so I want you to at least use the lessons learned with me and do something about it next time. Though they probably don’t need to worry about that.

First of all, it seems that it is unusual to be selected for the Royal Guard Division at our age. You might think that there are already two members, me and Claudia, but we are the exceptions.

Originally, Claudia was supposed to be the first and youngest in history to be selected for the Royal Guard Division. Yet she was older than me and was recruited later than I was. And now I’ve become both the first and the youngest to have been selected.

In the history of the Royal Guard Division, there have only been two members recruited as children, me, followed by Claudia. The two of us are special and there are no other examples.

Furthermore, I am the first high-ranking aristocrat who attends Berne Academy and also belongs to the Royal Guard Division. Normally, the sons of high-ranking aristocrats would belong to the well-known escorts known as the Crown Guard, and there were no sons of high-ranking aristocrats who belonged to the Royal Guard Division, which dealt with the unrefined, brutal realities of knightly combat. 1

Therefore, except for very special cases, it will be impossible for most Berne Academy students to be members of the Royal Guard Division moving forward. In the first place, if I could refuse to belong to the Royal Guard Division, I would have wanted to refuse. If I were recruited now, I would have told Wilhelm, “I don’t want to,” but at the time I still didn’t know the distance between me and him.

Anyway, when I arrived at the parade ground, I immediately went to my squad. The squad consists of four members: the Squad Leader Richard, me, Claudio, and the fresh recruit, Hubert.

The team leader, Richard, is of a reasonably good age and a seasoned veteran, and Claudio has a decent amount of years of service. Originally, I’ve been with the organization longer than Claudio, but I’ve hardly ever participated in the missions and activities of the Royal Guard Division. Hubert is a recruit who just joined this year, so he probably doesn’t know anything about me.

“Hey, Floto,” Claudio said. “You’re here. Shall we start the meeting?”

“Good day to you, Sir Floto!” Hubert said, standing up and bowing in greeting.

Richard sat at the head of the desk as he greeted me, but after that, we all sat around it.

“Then, let’s continue from where we left off yesterday,” Richard started. “Once again, this is our area of responsibility…”

For the time being, we had a rough meeting yesterday about our assigned zones and work details, but that was just a meeting about our squads as a whole. Today, we will further fill in the details as a team from here.

Even if you say the name of the place or show it on the map, it doesn’t make much sense to me. Richard and Claudio seem to understand, but the reality is that I and Hubert are both experiencing this for the first time and are just listening and not keeping up.

“And our role is to act when the students are in a situation that they can’t deal with,” Richard said. “We can’t help any particular student more than necessary. But, if any one of them does get hurt, it will be a massive crisis. So be very careful with your judgment.”

“Sir!” Hubert cheerfully replied.

The enthusiasm may be good, but I’m a little worried if he really understands. It’s kind of a habit of mine to think that a newcomer who’s only good at replying positively and being energetic is just putting up a facade.

I’m not saying that Hubert is like that, but I have a selfish image in my mind, and I don’t have a very good impression of him as a person who is so eager to agree with and greet his seniors and his boss. These types usually answer to their seniors and bosses quickly and easily, but take an arrogant attitude toward their peers and people below them. Even so, they are well-liked by seniors and bosses and earn their favor.

Well, this is just my imagination. I’m not saying that Hubert is like that, nor am I saying that everyone in the world is like that. It’s important to greet and reply firmly and properly, and it’s natural to listen to what your seniors and bosses say. This guy is good at replying, but does he really understand? I just can’t help but think of it.

I don’t know much either, so I can’t say anything arrogant. I don’t really understand even if you tell me the terrain, location name, and arrangements. That’s why I think I’m even more distrustful of Hubert, as while he should be on the same level as me, he keeps in the affirmative…

“Well then, today we’ll check your coordination,” Richard said. “We’ll form teams of three and have a mock battle, so get ready.”

““Sir!”” all of us subordinates say.

I prepare as Richard tells me, but unlike everyone else, I don’t have armor. I forced myself to wear that clunky, giant armor yesterday, but I don’t think I need it today.

“Hey, you!” someone who looked like the other team’s leader snapped. “What in the hell are thinking, not wearing armor?!”

I knew that I would come here again today, so I came after changing into a knight’s outfit at school. However, I don’t have a suit of armor, so it is just a cloak over the knight’s costume. You can tell right away that I’m unarmored underneath.

“I don’t usually wear armor, so it’s fine,” I said.

“Bastard…!” the other team leader said. “Are you mocking us?!”

I’m not mocking them, but… it’s true that I don’t wear armor, and my Father’s and Mother’s blows are meaningless even if I did have armor. It doesn’t matter so long as I’m not hit! I don’t mean to say that speed is synonymous with armor! I don’t think so, but it’s a mock battle, so I don’t think it’s going to be that brutal.

Even so, there are still many faces I don’t know. The faces that I usually see when I come to the training ground may be the lower ranks of the Royal Guard Division. If you’re a full-time active member, you probably don’t have much time to train at the parade ground and have more missions, work, and patrols, instead. It is no wonder that I have hardly seen them.

“You’re kidding me! It seems that you won’t know unless you get hurt! Then go without armor! Don’t hold a grudge if you end up crying later!” the other team leader said before they stormed off.

Now I’m getting whispers from my allies. But it’s easier to move like this than it was yesterday with the big armor and there’s no advantage for me to wear armor… the only benefit is that I can hide my figure at most…

Anyway, for the rest of the day, we were divided into various teams, confirmed our ability to coordinate, and repeated mock battles.

On the 2nd Day of Exams… the Magic and Etiquette tests went smoothly. I think this is also close to perfection in my self-grading, but it’s just my guess, so I can’t say it’s certain. I have to go to the Royal Guard Division again today, so I changed clothes and headed for the royal castle.

“Hey! You!”

“Geh!” I gasped.

When I entered the parade ground, it became noisy. A lot of people are pointing at me and whispering. It’s a little unpleasant, but did I do something that deserves to be whispered like this?

“Hey, you’re here,” Richard said. “Shall we go check out the site today…?”

Is Richard offended, too? I feel like his attitude toward me is a little different today than yesterday. Claudio is the same as always, and I’m used to being treated like this by the people around me, but it doesn’t make me very happy. It seems that from today we will go to the site and make a preliminary inspection.

It’s not that far from the royal capital, so you can make a day trip even in the afternoon. Far from being a day trip, it seems to be a distance where you can just walk home afterward. I heard that it was near the royal capital, so I thought that there would be some marching training, but rather than being a brief field excursion, it seems to be just a stone’s throw away. While observing the site and receiving explanations, I confirmed the arrangements for camp training.

On the 3rd Day of the Exams… the Military test is over. With this, the written tests are all complete, and I think it’s almost a perfect score for me. If I hadn’t made a careless mistake, I would have scored close to a perfect score of 500, but I won’t know until the results are announced.

On this day as well, I headed to the royal castle once, joined the Royal Guard Division, and moved to the site of the camp training. We finished with various final meetings. After all, the camp training will start tomorrow while I’m taking the practical exam. I will join them from the next day on, and today is the last day we can have meetings and training. There was no particular problem, and after a final sweep, I returned home.

On the 4th Day of the Exams… the girls had a practical test of Etiquette. Today, only ladies of Class 1 have a practical test, so the number of participants is small. The school, where you could usually hear people breathing, was suddenly quiet.

As for the practical skills of Manners, there is no point in panicking at this point, so I have no choice but to do what I always do. While the other students were practicing, the instructor often intervened. Is it good for a practical test? I think, but interventions may mean that points are deducted.

It was my turn to show off the skill, but the teacher’s reaction was not good. Unlike the other students, they just stare blankly and don’t say anything. Could it be that something went wrong? I can’t take it back anymore, but unlike the written exam, I don’t know how to grade these practical skills, so I’m worried.

Anyway, on this day, I finished all my exams and was free after that. From today, the Royal Guard Division should be escorting the camp training, but I will participate from tomorrow. Since I can take a rest today, I decided to relax after preparing so many things for tomorrow.

“IYAAAAHHHH~~…!” Christa screamed.

Her whole body shot up. She’s soaked with sweat and stiff.

“Haa… haa… a dream…” Christa muttered.

She curls up and hugs herself. Since that day, Christa has had nightmares countless times. When she’s awake, she behaves stubbornly so as not to worry those around her, but there’s no way that the wounds in her heart will heal so easily. She was only about 15 years old and was so assaulted by those she believed to be her childhood friends. The scars in her heart couldn’t disappear in such a short amount of time, and every time she slept, her fear revived.

In the middle of the night, the Reingen Residence is silent. Normally, you would be able to sense people’s presence a little more. But now House Reingen, no, all the Houses in Bayen’s Faction are in serious trouble. Like with the others, there are many House Servants who have been suddenly given leave of absence or left on their own accord. Her parents are often not home, and the lack of people only becomes more obvious.

The school will be closed from tomorrow. Officially, the term is still ongoing, but in reality, groups of students will be on vacation or out in the field from now on, except for the last 3 days before the closing ceremony.

If she went to school, there would still be support for her heart. She can still see the smiles that propped up and supported Christa. However, when she thinks that she won’t be able to see those people for the next 2 weeks, the dark feelings usually hidden deep inside her heart start to crawl out into the light.

“Mr. Helmut… Floto…” Christa whispered.

She opened the window a bit, stared up at the night sky, thought of the people close to her, and clasped her hands tightly in front of her chest.

Turning back time a bit. It was the 2nd day after the Caanza Trading Firm Trial when House Bayen had been countersued and before the exam week started.

“AaaaaaAAAAAaaaaaAAAaaaAAAAAAA~~~~…!!!!!!!!”

Helene scratches her head with all her might. Afterward, ripped-out strands of her hair tightly entwine around her fingers, but she doesn’t even have the luxury of worrying about that. The image of Helene in her mirror was truly disturbing.

She rages until she gets tired and falls asleep, but even if she does sleep, she wakes up immediately after. Her eyes are bloodshot from the deprivation. Her skin was ragged and her face had pimples here and there. She scratched her head so much that her hair started falling out, and her scalp was visible here and there.

It’s hard to imagine that she’s the same person as the girl who was admired and envied by the entire school until just a little while ago. If a stranger saw her, they would think she was an ogre or a demon.

“Young Miss Helene, a notice has arrived from the court,” an old butler says as he enters Helene’s room, puts a stack of notices on the desk, then leaves.

Even the House Servants no longer cared about Helene, and they just did clerical work indifferently. Since Alto was detained as an important witness, House Bayen itself was in a state of turmoil.

“UAAAAaaaAAAAAaaaaAAAA~~~…!” Helene roars.

She throws away the stack of court notices and rages even further. She can’t even look at the contents. She had received numerous notices from Caanza about the details of the lawsuit, court notices of interrogation schedules, orders to appear, and so on. Helene didn’t read them properly, and in her anger, she just shredded them to pieces and rampaged.

“It’s so hard for you now, isn’t it?” a voice said.

“Who is it…?!” Helene snapped.

When had someone been there? The window leading to the balcony was open and a person was standing there. Their body is slender and fairly tall, but their face cannot be seen well because their back faced the light. The voice can be male or female. It sounded like a relatively young voice, but she couldn’t tell the age from the voice alone.

Suddenly called out to by such a person, Helene glared at them with bloodshot eyes. Helene is in a rough state, but she’s not completely lost her mind. She can still form words and had some judgment left in her.

“Well, the thing is… I just came here to tell you that someone wants to help you out a bit,” the stranger said.

“…………”

The sun has already set and in this world, that was well into the night. At such an hour, someone sneaked into Duke Bayen’s mansion without permission and entered the room of his young daughter, thus they could not be trusted at all. Helene, too, glared at them with suspicion and didn’t immediately respond.

“The girl and the company who put you through all this, Flora Charlotte von Carruthers and Caanza,” the stranger said, “you want us to show them what they deserve, don’t you? Unleash those things you’re keeping outside the royal capital. We’ve also brought our gifts over there. Release both, and you’ll be able to show Carruthers and Caanza what they have wrought upon themselves.”

“Where did you get that information?!” Helene yelled.

Helene became more and more distrustful of the person who knew that she was secretly keeping monsters. It was unthinkable in a world like this. In this world where monsters rampage, many people are attacked by monsters and end up dead. So no one would be too surprised if someone you despised was attacked by a monster and killed.

That’s why there are a lot of people who are doing trial and error to see if they can’t somehow manipulate a monster and anyone they have a particularly strong dislike for “happened to be attacked and killed by monsters.” Helene was one of them, and House Bayen was also conducting such research.

She could guess the gifts delivered mean a more powerful monster that can be manipulated as you chose. However… Helene’s remaining rationality calmly calculated whether it was okay to trust such a person.

“You don’t need to worry about anything,” the stranger said. “It’s just that your pet animals will run amok by accident. That’s all you need to do. If you do that, those who put you through this will be so miserable. If then, what are you hesitating about?”

“Kuh… guguh…!” Helene chuckled darkly. “AaaaAAAaaAAAAAHHHHH….!”

That’s right. No need to hesitate. She will destroy Caanza, House Carruthers, and everything else involved with them. Destroy everything and everyone that put her through this! Having made up her mind, Helene roared at the moon.

T/N: And for the rest of this arc, Flora will now literally be in the background. As much as I don’t hate Ludwig and Rutger, they’ll be the stars from now on and I don’t particularly enjoy the focus on them. Simon does come back, though, and I’m happy about that!