Chapter 46

Chapter 46

***

Step. Step...

There were no lanterns or candles lit, and the sound of someone carefully taking steps was heard inside the pitch-black building.

Silence was as heavy as the thick darkness, so the sound was heard exceptionally loud.

Marie looked around the hallway left and right once. It was only pitch-black darkness, like a dead space. Far from having someone to guide her, she couldn't see any people at all.

However, the faint sound of breathing was clearly heard from somewhere. She walked toward that breathing sound.

Step. Step...

When she reached a door, the sound of breathing came from beyond it. It wasn't just one person, but the sound of many people sleeping. But was it okay to open the door? Should she knock?

Marie didn't have the confidence to break the thick ice-like silence. So she had no choice but to just stand there.

She leaned her back against the wall, put down her luggage, and lowered her head. For the first time, she started to think it was a little hard.

How much time passed? Someone in pajamas opened the door and came out from another room. A single candle flame flickered dimly on a plate held in her hand.

Marie jerked her head up and looked.

"Uh? Excuse me..."

It was the first time she met someone since coming to the female dormitory, and she tried to ask for help, but the female student holding the candle just looked at Marie quietly, then went somewhere. Huh?

Marie blinked her eyes in bewilderment. Soon, the sound of water flowing trickle trickle was heard from a place that seemed to be the restroom, and the female student in pajamas came out again.

But this time, she didn't even give a glance. Curiosity about a person seen for the first time, or anything like that, seemed completely absent.

Tak.

The door closed again, and silence descended. Marie clearly felt that this place did not welcome her. A sense of helplessness pressed down on her chest.

And so, she stayed up all night in the hallway.

Time passed and the day dawned. Marie was squatting leaning against the wall in a half-asleep state when suddenly a door opened bang in front of her.

Female students wearing stained aprons poured out in a flock, and students poured out from other rooms almost simultaneously. Marie, startled, stood up from her spot. Her legs were stiff.

But the female students wearing aprons only glanced at Marie sideways, and no one spoke to her.

They just moved busily, fetching water, collecting laundry, sweeping and wiping the floor, busy doing chores. It was exactly like watching maids.

Squeak, squeak, the sound of pumping, splash, splash, the sound of doing laundry, the sound of lighting a fire and putting a pot on to boil water, the sound of walking around frantically.

Living noises filled the female dormitory to the extent that the heavy silence during the night felt like a lie. However, Marie remained thoroughly alienated in the midst of it.

She just stood vacantly in the middle of the hallway, having no choice but to watch the female students moving busily. Even if she spoke to them, they ignored her and passed by as if they truly didn't hear.

Then, only around late morning did the living noise subside, and there were students who tossed and turned in bed and got up belatedly.

One female student stretched fully, scratching her belly with a half-asleep expression, and came out of the room.

Then she saw Marie and said this:

"Are you new? There should be an empty spot in that room over there."

And yawning loudly, she headed to the restroom dragging her shoes which she wore with the heels crushed down.

Marie knew intuitively. Only after that girl's permission fell just now could she finally enter the room.

Invisible to the eye but clearly felt was the fact that students were not equal. There was a hierarchy unique to this place, different from the outside.

Marie dragged her tired body and entered the room the student had just indicated. There were four students still sleeping, and the other beds were neatly organized without a single wrinkle.

Next to each bed was a small chest of drawers where personal items could simply be stored, and she saw one bed where no items were visible. That seemed to be the empty spot.

Marie unpacked her luggage there, organized her clothes and put them in the drawer, and stood the Famous Sword Ricky against the wall.

Outside the window, the Academy's inner courtyard was visible, and boys were taking off their tops and washing at the well.

Now there was a pump water pipe so they didn't really need to wash in the courtyard, but students who didn't want to wait came out to wash.

Marie cautiously sat on the bed first and looked around the room. Around that time, the clean-up students, like maids who had been moving busily since morning, came in holding trays.

On the trays were freshly picked raspberries, plums, roasted sweet potatoes, cheese, ham, and the like. They took them to the students who were still sleeping and woke them quietly.

"Lea, Lea. I assume you brought breakfast."

"Kayleigh, I brought breakfast."

"Uung... Thanks."

The girls raised their bodies sluggishly, but the girl named Kayleigh didn't get up until the end. However, even though they could shake her to wake her up, they didn't touch her at all and only woke her with words quietly.

"Kayleigh, I brought breakfast. Kayleigh."

In Marie's eyes, she wondered what they were doing. My nanny used to wake me up by throwing off the blanket abruptly.

Since there was no sign of waking up at all, the student waking Kayleigh seemed to be having a hard time. But then.

"Kayleigh. Kayleigh. Kayl..."

"Ah! Fuck! I got it!"

Kayleigh threw off the blanket nervously and got up. At that, other female students flinched in surprise.

"Hey, do you think I'm deaf? Do it moderately. Why are you so annoying, you're not a mosquito!?"

"......Sorry......"

Surprisingly, the apology was made by the maid-like student, and she gently placed the tray on the table next to the bed.

"Hey, kill your temper a bit. What did the kid do wrong?"

"Ah, that fucking bitch kept bitching."

"Sigh... Tsk tsk tsk."

One of the girls who got up late shook her head and clicked her tongue. As if it wasn't a one or two-day occurrence, she seemed half resigned.

Marie was watching all this, and the girls eating while sitting in bed looked at Marie. And, the sword leaning against the wall too. Their gazes scanned her up and down, as if looking down on her.

Anyone could tell she was a student who came for the first time, but none of them spoke to her either.

The female students who finished their meal leisurely left their beds and went to the bathroom to wash.

The maid students had already warmed the water, and after washing, they returned to the room, put on clothes, and started grooming themselves looking at bronze mirrors.

They chattered chatter chatter, mostly about the city and male students. Who likes whom, who confessed to whom and got rejected, that guy is a bit not good, stories like that.

And after eating once more around noon, they only went outside when it became afternoon. The food they left unfinished was disposed of after the maid students ate it.

Marie was tired and hungry, but she couldn't sleep while the sun was still up. So for now, she got up and went outside.

Walking around the Academy, she saw a group of maid students gathered huddled together in the backyard of the female dormitory.

But strangely, Bori-bori was in the center of them. He was fiddling with something.

"This, like this. Yeah. You can tie it like this, see?"

It seemed he was teaching them how to make something by weaving plant stems. Other female students watched with fascination, and were talking about this and that among themselves.

"Bori."

Marie called him. At that, all the students turned their heads to look at Marie, then the female students, as if they saw something they shouldn't see, were startled and vacated the spot in a flock.

"......"

"Oh? Marie. Did you sleep well? Is it livable?"

"Uh? Uh... I don't know yet really. But Bori, what brings you here?"

"Me? I usually play with girls except when I'm with Ricky. Since I hear that I'm like a girl often anyway. I also broke kids' bones a few times in sparring because I couldn't control my strength well."

"I don't think liking flowers and grass necessarily makes you like a girl. You just like them."

"Is that so? But well, it doesn't matter, now."

Bori-bori just smiled brightly. Seeing Bori-bori's smiling face, Marie also felt her desolate mood improving a little.

"Where's Ricky?"

"He says he's establishing discipline."

"eh?"

"I don't know. He said he needs to establish discipline among the kids? I don't know well about such things."

"Ah, right. He said he was Rank 1... "

"Rank 1 doesn't necessarily have to do such things, but since Bolka isn't here, Ricky is stepping up I guess. And since he's from a noble background, somehow, it's better if Ricky does the beating. Yesterday one guy almost died and barely survived."

Since Marie heard about Bolka while coming here with Rickart and Bori-bori, she understood to some extent.

But, it's better if Ricky beats them because he's a noble? That part she didn't quite understand.

"It's better if Ricky does the beating?"

"Uh? Ah, th-there is such a thing."

"You really can't lie, just like me. Okay. I won't ask anymore."

"Thanks. But did you eat?"

"No."

"Then let's go eat."

Bori-bori brushed off his seat, got up, and took Marie somewhere. In his hand was a bunch of flowers. It looked like he received them as a gift from someone.

"Wait a moment. I'll come out soon."

Bori-bori left Marie outside for a moment and went into the Inner Castle 쏙. Marie cautiously peeked inside wondering if she might see Ricky.

But she turned her head away with effort because of the boys passing through the Inner Castle. There was no male student who didn't look back at Marie.

But just then, a voice was heard that woke up her mind, which was hazy from not sleeping properly all night.

"Marie?"

Marie flinched and looked back. It was Rickart passing through the hallway.

"Uh?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Ah, I was waiting for Bori. To eat together."

"Really? I was just about to eat too. Come in. Let's eat together."

"......Can I go in?"

"Why not. We even have classes in this building. Come in, come in."

Rickart spoke lightly, but just as male students couldn't enter the female dormitory carelessly, female students shouldn't enter the Inner Castle carelessly except during classes. It was like an unwritten rule.

Of course, if Rickart took them, there was nothing that couldn't be done.

By the way, there were eyes watching Marie from the female dormitory window. Unfortunately, they couldn't see Rickart inside the Inner Castle.

Just in time, Bori-bori also came carrying an armful of food, so the three entered the Inner Castle together.

When Marie entered the Inner Castle, the energetic shouts of male students were heard from the bare-handed combat lecture room.

"Pankration! Pankration!"

"Kill him!"

"Tear his head off!"

"Well done!"

Marie's eyes went wide wondering what this sound was. But Rickart and Bori-bori nonchalantly went up to the second floor and entered an empty lecture room.

And they took a seat by the window and ate. Below the cliff where the Academy was located, the open field was all visible. Perhaps because it was a building that functioned as a fortress long ago, the view was extremely wide.

Cool wind came in through the window. It wasn't that rough of a wind.

"Is it livable?"

Rickart asked Marie.

"Mm? Ah, well, I have to adapt little by little."

Marie honestly felt something strange and uncomfortable inside the female dormitory, but she didn't talk about every detail. Because she felt like she would be tattle-telling.

And being with Rickart and Bori-bori was definitely comfortable. The two were somewhere strange, mature, and eerie, yet pure.

More than anything else, she liked that they seemed to have no prejudice. They made slips of the tongue occasionally, but there was no malice.

"It seems we need more freshmen to come for classes. Do you want to go to the city tomorrow? There's a friend I want to introduce. Molti, he was originally a student here, but now he's a blacksmith's assistant. He got married too."

"Ah really? Okay, let's do that."

Since marrying at 17 or 18 wasn't that rare of a case, Marie wasn't that surprised.

Anyway, Marie exchanged this and that word with Rickart and Bori-bori, talking lightly, and only returned to her accommodation after coming out of the Inner Castle around late afternoon.

By the way, when she returned to her room, the girls were rummaging through her drawers carelessly. They had even pulled the sword out of its scabbard and were examining it as they pleased. They were the kids who woke up late in the morning.

It was a preposterous and absurd thing beyond measure. Marie was so dumbfounded she didn't even get angry.

"Excuse me..."

"Oh? You came? Hey, you have a lot of good clothes?"

"I think this sword is pretty good too? Did you sell your body or something before coming?"

At the clearly rude words, Marie frowned. But without reacting to such words, Marie spoke firmly.

"Excuse me, sorry, but I would appreciate it if you wouldn't touch my things carelessly."

At that, the girls snorted.

"Are you putting on airs just because you have some money from selling your body? We just looked because the clothes were pretty, okay?"

"Does it wear out if we touch it a little? Does it? Are you saying we're dirty or what?"

"Are you trying to seduce Bori because he's a bit like a moron?"

"We also have pride, you know. This is an Academy, not a brothel. Understand?"

Their tongues flew at Marie like sharp daggers and stuck. They were things that weren't true at all. It was confusing where to start refuting.

Marie's heart beat wildly at the thing she was experiencing for the first time in her life. Still, she tried to be calm and spoke. It couldn't be helped that her breath trembled slightly.

"That's not what I mean. I asked you not to touch my things. Especially the sword, don't touch it even more. It's a dangerous object."

"Dirty so we won't touch it, dirty."

The girls threw Marie's clothes on the floor carelessly hwik. The drawer was open and the inside was all messed up. Moreover, they even threw the sword roughly on the floor.

Clang!

And hitting Marie's shoulder, they went back to their own spots. Sharing a bed, sitting or lying down, they chattered.

Marie, with her head bowed quietly, looked at her things scattered on the floor. Suddenly, the words Ricky said came to mind. 'You have to set your own principles.'

Right, let's set principles. Let's give a chance. Because anyone can make a mistake.

Marie, looking back at the female students still badmouthing her from behind, said.

"Apologize."

"What?"

"Is she crazy?"

At that time, the female student named Kayleigh, who had the worst temper, kept a straight face and spoke.

"Hey."

And she got up from her seat and approached Marie. Other female students giggled.

"Want to say that again?"

"I said apologize. For touching my things carelessly, and for speaking carelessly about my friend, apologize."

Slap!

As soon as the words ended, Kayleigh slapped her cheek. Marie's head turned to the side hwik.

But Marie didn't cry, wasn't surprised, and slowly straightened her head. Her left cheek was flushing reddish.

However, it wasn't the usual naive gaze. It was fierce like the eyes of a hawk or eagle.

Marie spoke as if whispering.

"Apologize."

At that, Kayleigh smiled cruelly and raised her hand to slap again. No, she tried to. Before that, a flash appeared before her eyes and Kayleigh fell on the floor.

Slap!

Thud.

Marie had slapped her first. Her hand movement was so lightning-fast, and moreover, full of mana, that Kayleigh fell on the floor and couldn't get up, wriggling.

The giggling sound stopped abruptly, and the room became quiet as a mouse. Students from other rooms watching from outside covered their mouths and made shocked expressions.

Marie approached the remaining students.

"E-excuse me."

"I think I gave enough chances."

And she threw her hand back fully and slapped with a full swing. Then a shock almost enough to tear off the cheek flesh was applied.

Smack!

Even a scream didn't come out. The remaining students trembled in fear at the event that happened in an instant. However, Marie didn't spare a single one and slapped their cheeks. Everyone was knocked out in one blow.

But it didn't end there. Marie slowly lifted her foot wearing a long boot and stomped on a chest of drawers with all her might.

Crash!

At the kick full of mana, the chest of drawers shattered at once, and the clothes and items inside were crumpled and scattered wildly.

Step. Step. Step...

Marie walked arrogantly and slowly, and destroyed all the remaining chests of drawers too.

Bang! Crash! Boom!

Every time the smashing sound was heard, the watching students flinched. Marie, after destroying all the drawers, turned around and spoke coldly like frost.

"While I go out for a moment, organize my things again yourselves. If not, I will pull out your tongues and cut off your wrists. This is the last chance."

She thought setting principles in her own way was good, but wasn't it a bit excessive? Anyway, sometimes individual principles become the rules of the whole. If one has that much power.

Marie walked out clack clack without looking back, and the students watching outside stepped aside in a flock to make a path.

From yesterday to today, no one even gave a glance to Marie, but now it was the opposite. All female students looked at Marie, but conversely, Marie didn't look at them.

From Marie, dignity and charisma like a real noble, not just an imitation, and majesty were felt. Students were captivated by those things unknowingly.

When Marie cooled her head outside and returned, her things were organized neatly in their original state.

Even if Marie didn't give separate instructions, the students of the so-called Lady class in that room had to move rooms as if expelled as the power changed.

A storm raged and passed, but Marie was tranquil. And not caring at all about the atmosphere in the dormitory, she fell asleep.

By the way, the next morning, someone called Marie from outside.

"Marie! Marie!"

It was the time for the maid students to just wake up, but it was a male student's voice.

It was almost rare for a male student to shout at the female dormitory openly like that, especially calling someone. It was something that required courage, and if done wrong, could be unsightly.

But everyone looked out the window and was surprised. Because it was Rickart, who had not even a speck of interest in women.

The overwhelming Academy Rank 1 and genius swordsman boy, the Captain of the legendary 9-member group of Beringen Academy, and the object of awe and envy. But that boy gathered his two hands at his mouth and was shouting.

"Don't eat and come out! Let's go eat in the city!"

Marie laughed pleasantly, leaned her body out the window, and shouted.

"Okay! Wait a moment! I'll go out soon!"

Marie washed as quickly as possible, organized her hair, dressed simply, and left the dormitory. With every step, the surprised gazes of female students followed.

Rickart, who was waiting with Bori-bori outside, saw Marie come out and his eyes went round seeing her reddish left cheek.

"Did something happen?"

"No. Just."

"Why? What happened?"

"Mm... Establishing discipline? Like you, Ricky?"

"......Eh."

Since Rickart didn't know well how female students' lives worked, knowing only roughly, he just thought 'is that so'.

The three people went down the cliff stairs early in the morning and walked to the city. On the way, the sun rose, and the field was bright. It was spring.

Chapter 9 – Establishing Discipline. End.