When Adel returned to her room with two chairs from the recreation room, all drawers had been closed and the trails of tears wiped away.
「Sorry for the long wait…」
「Something of this degree is nothing… Rather than that, there is something I would like to inquire.」
Adel had lined up the 2 new chairs so they, together with the original chair, formed a curve. She herself was seated on her bed. Because, no matter how empty her room was, there was no way to comfortably fit four chairs in it.
「Of course, what is it?」
「It seems that you got accepted without needing the examination, so might you a noble?」
Ahh, of course they would know, Adel thought. Since she didn’t want to lie to the friends that had come to her room, Adel answered with the truth.
「Well, yes…. But if I were to put forth my family name I’d probably get disposed of by father and my step mother who brought a daughter with her……」
Monika gave off a strange voice.
「…I-is that so. You are quite good at martial arts and magic I take it?」
Glossing it over as something that often happened among nobility, Marcella desperately wanted to trick herself. Oriana on the other hand was pale and couldn’t bring out a word.
「Eh? No, I’m totally normal, you know? I scored just about the same as the person before me at the entry examination…」
This girl is an airhead! Marcella could finally understand the rumors flying about.
This girl hadn’t noticed that the people before her were the best in what their respective speciality. Neither did she notice that her intentionally restricting her own power had fooled anyone…
Did she hide her true abilities so her parents wouldn’t dispose of her because she possessed an outstanding talent that would pose a threat to her step sister?
「O-Of course. Normal, completely normal…」
「Exactly! Isn’t being normal nice!」
「「「……」」」
Then Marcelle finally remembered that there had been something they had set out to do.
「Adel-san, it seems you are quite close to the boys…」
Adel took Marcella’s bait hook, line and sinker.
「Yes! But about I wonder if there isn’t something that can be done about that….
I’m not really good with boys and have barely spoken to any male besides my own father…. And right now, I don’t have the leisure of getting a boyfriend. Things like can wait until I’m an adult and can survive on my own.
I wonder if there is something that could make them back off…」
「「「Eh…」」」
The three girls were perplexed by Adel’s heartfelt declaration of her problem. Their original purpose was completely blown to bits. And the topic Marcella had chosen to somehow naturally change the flow of the conversation was…
「And, how are you planning to your day tomorrow?」
「On days without class I spend the whole day at work. Since I’m penniless and wasn’t given any parting gifts… But with tomorrow’s earnings I should finally be able to buy a second set of underwear!」
The three girls who saw how happy Adel seemed were already at their limits. Oriana’s face had turned blue and she was trembling in her seat. In contrast, Monika’s face had turned crimson and she had to bite down on the corner of her lip to bear it. And Marcella tried to fake her normal composure as if her life depended on it.
「S-Since it would be rude of us to take up too much of your time, it would be nice if you would excuse us…」
「Eh, but I wouldn’t mind if you stayed a little longer…」
TL-Note: Imagine a small puppy being kicked, multiply that by a million and you get a small glimpse at how Adel has to look right now.
Despite Adel’s attempt at keeping them here, Marcella had stood up and replied.
「There will still be more than enough time later. About three years of it too.」
「……,Yes!」
Being sent off by the cheerful Adel, the three girls returned to their own rooms.
「I did it! I completed the “visited by friends” event! I made 3 friends!」
Adel was on cloud nine.
She had no way to know that those three spent their return trip in utter silence.
Nyaa~
「Ah, you’ve come again…」
Through the window she had left open, a lone black cat casually entered Adel’s room.
As soon as Adel had taken the plate with the bone out of her drawer and put it on top of her table, the cat immediately pounced on it.
「You really love that bone, don’t you… I’ll get you a fresh one for next time.」
On the second day of the new week, inside class A’s classroom.
「Adel-san, could I have a moment of your time?」
「Ah, Marcella-san!」
When Adel cheerfully approached Marcella after being called, Marcella pushed a paper bag onto her.
「I mistakenly brought the wrong size, but I thought that with your build you might be able to make use of them.」
「Eh, can I really have this?」
The bag she had received was fairly big.
「Thank you! Can I open it right now?」
「N-No, you mustn’t! Please open it only after you have returned to your room!」
The reddening of Marcella’s face let Adel roughly guess the bag’s contents.
And it was something were girls wouldn’t usually make a mistake with the size.
「Marcella-san…」
Adel, who had gradually gotten closer to Marcella, tightly hugged her.
「P-Please stop it. Adel-san, please release me!!」
Even though Marcella struggled while red with embarrassment, she had no chance against Adel’s iron grip which contained some of her true strength she had unconsciously used.
This spectacle was of course witnessed by the classmates around them.
For some reason, from the next day on, regardless of gender, Adel’s classmates started giving her small things like sweets or dried meat. Even though Adel thought it was strange, she happily received the presents, but the scene of her hugging someone out of gratitude did not repeat itself.
On the next day, they had their first practical martial arts class.
「Listen up everyone! We’ll start the martial arts training now!」
Apparently, their homeroom teacher Burgess was also their instructor for martial arts.
Every student had equipped leather armor on top of their sports clothing. That armor wasn’t something everyone had to personally acquire as it was provided by the school for martial arts classes. Though it seemed that in Adorei armor was something the person in question needed to take care of themselves…
Although the smell of leather and the sweat of strangers was hard to bear, they didn’t have the luxury to complain about it.
「Normally, we would start with things like basic physical endurance training or learning the correct way to swing a sword, but we all know that you’d dislike boring stuff like that. That’s why I’m gonna have you spar once so you can experience exactly why the basics are so important.
We’ll start with an example…. Those with experience, step forward!」
Following Burgess’ order, several boys moved to the front.
「One of you, show them how it’s done!!」
Even though he said that, nobody volunteered to be the first.
When Burgess thought he had no other choice than to pick someone himself, a voice spoke up.
「I’ll do it!」
Kelvin, the fifth son of a Baron, took one step forward.
「Ahh, Kelvin! Good, go on! You’re free to choose your opponent.」
To enforce that there was no divide based on status inside this school, teachers and students called each other by their first names. When Kelvin let his eyes wander among the experienced students, they averted their eyes. The majority of the students with prior experience were nobles and had seen Kelvin’s ability in the entry examination. After carefully looking around, Kelvin designated his opponent by pointing with his finger.
「You! I’ll fight against you!」
「Eh? Why me?」
Being suddenly and unexpectedly chosen had startled Adel.
「Um, I have never done something like this before though…」
Trying to appeal to Burgess with that, she glanced at him as if expecting him to save her.
But…
「Oh, against Adel! It seems interesting so let’s go with it!」
Since rumors about Adel had circulated among the teachers too, Burgess wanted to use this unexpected opportunity to test Adel’s true strength, and thus allowed it with a grin on his face.
「Eeh~….」
