CH 104

Ray-sensei carried me around like a sack as he moved through the school building at night.

Fortunately, there are no other people in the darkened school building, so I don’t think anyone will see me…

But the headmistress and the beast-children, who were being led by Connie, were following quietly behind and watching us as much as they could.

Lol, this is what came to my mind

“Uh…Ray-sensei, Ray-sensei. Please put me down!”

“No.”

“Why?!”

“You’ve got an injured leg.”

“Huh?”

I didn’t realize it until he told me, but my knee was definitely bleeding.

It was probably when I went out of control and lost strength and fell to my knees. I must have scraped my knee then.

“Um, even so, there’s probably a better way to carry me…!”

“Hmph. This is enough for a six-year-old kid.”

“Yes…”

I was struck by a mysterious outrage. This was a ridiculous punishment even though I was seriously reflecting on everything.

“I mean, Sensei, your tone and character are different from the usual…?”

“………”

When I shoved him in the face, he stopped in his tracks…Eh, you weren’t doing it unconsciously, were you?

…What are you talking about?”

“No, it’s nothing Sensei.”

His voice had changed from a dull bass to a beautiful alto voice, but he still had the same stern look on his face. Even if I wasn’t a past-life cheat character, this is pretty obvious…When he spoke in his natural tone of voice, there was a hint of ex-delinquent in there.

But I had never heard any of the Ray-sensei true gender theories on campus, and he was a perfectly beautiful woman on the outside. He was…an interesting person.

When we arrived at the infirmary, it seemed that the infirmary nurse had already left and the room was dark.

After being dropped off from his shoulder, I stared blankly at Ray-sensei, who was adjusting the magic stone lamp in the infirmary and beginning to prepare for treatment in a crisp manner. Then the headmistress spoke to me.

“How are you feeling? You’ve unleashed some tremendous magic, haven’t you?”

“Um…I’m a little fuzzy, and then it’s not much else.”

When I answered that, she gave me a sour look that said, Oh really? And after such a flamboyant attack?…I don’t understand.

But that topic reminded me of something.

“Oh, Headmistress, when I was out of control earlier, I think a stranger stopped me.”

“You don’t know him?”

Connie entered the conversation.

“Ah! That’s right. It was like he was covering her eyes and telling her something in her ear…When I noticed he was there, I looked, but he wasn’t anywhere to be found anymore.”

What a scary thing. Is this a school ghost story or something???

As I was feeling a bit more confused, the headmistress pondered in thought, “Hmm…” and then said, “It could be an outsider. I’ll strengthen our investigation, so don’t worry.”

…It’s quite concerning when even the headmistress says something supremely sane like that. Does she know something?

While we were talking about this, Ray-sensei, who had finished treating Faneer and Connie, beckoned me to sit in the round chair. His eyes were still staring on me and I was a little scared.

“Put your knees out.”

“Uh…yes.”

I flipped up my skirt a little and pulled down my socks, and as expected, my kneecaps were scraped and red.

Then Ray-sensei mercilessly splashed disinfectant on it.

“H-Hey, blow on it, it’s…!!”

“If you’ve learned your lesson from just this, don’t even think about facing the knight-class boys without a plan. Whether it’s with a blade or magic, whether this wound was the result of self-destruction or not, your wounds won’t be yours alone.”

“……”

Ugh. You’re right.

I nodded with tears in my eyes.

After all, if I had been badly injured on that spot, the problem would have grown tremendously and would have caused trouble for those around me.

Just thinking about it made me shiver.

The pursuit of dereliction of duty by my all of my aides, the liability issues of the school’s staff, and the severe punishment of the perpetrators, or even the inter-factional war with the Gabriela group that tried to cover for it, and etc…After all, even with this kind of thing, I was still the daughter of a Marquis.

Nonetheless, I couldn’t really imagine the option of leaving Faneer-kun and the others in front of the assailants in that situation and leaving to call the adults, and it didn’t seem like Nicholas and Kirche would just do nothing and let them all go quietly. There would have been conflict either way.

With that image in mind, Ray-sensei sighed.

“This wouldn’t have happened in the first place if you had a well-known aide by your side. Even if it’s within the school’s grounds, there’s still trouble. Even a female aide with no combat power can be a liaison, but just be careful and always keep an aide on your side. That’s the way of being a female aristocrat in the Twilight Dormitory.”

“Yes…”

Ugh, I can’t even whine. All I can say is that I wasn’t aware enough.

By the way, listening to the conversation just now, I saw Connie clenching her fists in frustration at the edge of my vision.

But Connie was only a maid. An aide and a maid are not alike. I don’t think I’m responsible, but…I’d have to talk to about it later.

Once the conversation had settled, I also cut to the story on Nicholas and Kirche.

“Um, Sensei. They were no longer there when you arrived, but…Gabriella’s entourage was there. They were doing terrible things to our kids.”

“Nicholas and Kirche.”

The bitter-faced teacher snorted, however, he couldn’t punish them without catching them in the act.

“Witnesses alone aren’t enough.  If we start punishing people for that, then we’ll be able to frame one person in a group, even if they’re innocent.”

“That’s true…The wounds and the broken amulet are just that, if they are said to be self-done. It means that the teachers have no choice but to witness it.”

I had warned them, but Gabriella’s group was secretly torturing the beastmen like that. Did they hope that they wouldn’t be found out?

…No, I was beginning to think it was a mistake to take the torment as the main thing to begin with.

“Alice-sama, Alice-sama”

Volya tugged at my sleeve a bit.

“What?”

“What is…’inferior’?”

Those words made him look sad. My chest hurt.

An inferior species.

That one word really showed just how much those guys…no, how many nobles looked down on the beastmen.

Even if he didn’t know the proper meaning of that word, he probably knew he was insulted.

When Volya-kun said it with a frustrated and anxious look, I felt a painful feeling all at once.

“…Volya, I wonder who said that to you?”

Once again, Ray-sensei had his ex-delinquent face. That freaked Volya-kun out for a moment, but he behaved patiently.

“I’m not trying to tell you. But I don’t know a lot of difficult words, so I’m not sure…what was said to me.”

I wasn’t going to explain to Volya-kun, who had been staring at me with a frustrated look on his face…It was just going to hurt him.

“Inferior, is…that’s right…If you think of it as a kind of squawking from a dumb bird that’s anxious to make fun of someone, you’ll be fine.”

“squawking…?”

“Yeah, squawking.”

When Volya-kun made a pouty face, Ray-sensei, who heard my explanation, pursed his lips with a twitch.

“Well, that’s a pretty tough thing to say.”

“Because that’s right. He’s just a real bird brain, chattering meaningless, baseless sounds in a prideful manner.”

“O-Oh…”

I opened my mouth with the intention of telling Volya-kun, who still had a look of confusion on his face, and the beast-children, who were listening to the conversation nearby.

“In short, ‘inferior species’ is a vulgar phrase. It’s so easy for them to use those kinds of words because they have insecurity, or they’re envious of someone else, and they can’t help but take it out on you unreasonably because they can’t do anything about it.”

“So you mean…they’re pitiful people?”

“Yes. For example, Faneer, do you think you’d want to attack someone when you’re eating something delicious?”

“Hmmm…? I’d be so desperate to eat, I don’t think I would.”

“Lucia, do you think you want to make someone cry when you got a hundred on a test or when you were having fun with your friends?”

“I don’t think so!”

What about when you hear these stories? Volya made a look of realization.

“I see…If they’re doing that, then they’re missing something, and they’re doing something weird.”

“Yes, I suppose that’s right. I don’t know if it’s food, friends, or affection, though.”

“I didn’t know…”

Ray-sensei and the headmistress, who had been listening to my explanation with a chuckle halfway through, were now acting crazy.

“I want to protect you, and there are only a limited number of people I can protect…even though I’m right in front of you, I still can’t protect anyone.”

I clenched my fists.

I couldn’t even look at the kids who would be hostile to me in this situation. Unless they sincerely wanted friendship and cooperation, which was portably…

Sighing with a huff, Ray-sensei opened his mouth, clearing out his throat to regain our attention.

“Hmm…I’m sure there’s a lot to discuss, but it is way past lights out, so you should go back to your dormitory for now.”

“…That’s right. I’ll call attention of today’s events at the staff meeting. You should all go to bed now…I’m sure the pickup is coming too.”

“Eh?”

I looked at the entrance to the infirmary at the headmistress’ words.

……I saw Yulena and Matilda, who were worried and crying, with swollen faces.

And the children of the golden wolf tribe, led by Fredge-sama, who probably came to pick up the beast-children, were all peering at us with anxiety.

[Original Author’s Note] I sm planning to finish the pre-winter break exams in the next few chapters. The exact schedule is still undecided, but I’m thrilled! -heart pounding-

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T/N: Lol, I can’t wait until mama and papa Archelaus find out about this.