Leo, who had suddenly turned around, calmly asked Asili’s group.

“What did you just say?”

Since Leo’s expression remained as composed as before, his opponent became cocky and shouted.

“I said the Marquis Blanche has gone crazy! Why! Taking in an adopted son before even getting married. She’ll definitely never marry and will grow old and die as a spinster!”

“That’s insulting to Lady Belinda. Apologize.”

As Leo spoke firmly without backing down, the children standing behind Asili exchanged glances with each other.

“Listen to this insolent talk!”

“What would an orphan like you know about honor?”

“He’s incredibly arrogant. We should teach him a good lesson this time so he knows his place.”

“What? You… you’re also taking literature classes…?”

Except for Asili, whose attention was drawn to Leo’s schedule, the atmosphere began to grow increasingly hostile.

Ian also knew that the other side had crossed the line first.

But thinking rationally, he tried to dissuade Leo.

“Leo, think carefully. It’s many against one. I won’t help you. I can’t fight.”

Despite Ian’s restraint, Leo recalled a life lesson he had learned from Terry.

“When it’s many against one, just beat up one guy and everything will be okay.”

“I’m not running away.”

Leo picked up a branch rolling on the ground, gripping it like a wooden sword as he whispered.

“I may not be a super king rat, but I can beat up anyone who speaks ill of Lady Belinda.”

And so the dog fight began.

“These crazy monkeys!”

“What? Why are they fighting?”

Ignoring Asili, who was slow to grasp the situation, Ian ran off yelling loudly, supposedly to call a professor.

Of course, he wasn’t really going to call a professor.

“Professor! Over here!”

Ian shouted with uncharacteristic exaggeration, as if he had brought a professor.

Thanks to Ian’s quick thinking, Leo’s fight wasn’t reported to the professors, and he avoided getting penalty points, but he ended up attracting unwanted attention.

“Hey, orphan. You’re pretty good at beating up kids! Let’s have a one-on-one match this time!”

“First years are forbidden from dueling. So I won’t do it.”

“Today is definitely for dueling!”

“I won’t do it even if it’s tomorrow, not just today.”

“Let’s have a match, I said!”

“No.”

This scene stimulated the imagination of the Swordsmanship Department students and fueled certain rumors.

“I heard this year’s top student knocked down all of Asili’s group!”

“They say Asili is following the top student around to get revenge.”

“H-he’s coming this way. Run!”

By the time Leo tried to clarify the rumors, he had already become someone everyone avoided.

Ian, who had witnessed the entire series of events, clicked his tongue.

“Are you really not going to tell the Marquis anything?”

If Belinda found out that Leo had beaten people up instead of making friends…

“I absolutely can’t tell her. No, I won’t.”

He didn’t want to disappoint Belinda.

Besides, if he explained the cause of the fight, he would have to reveal that the other party had spoken ill of Belinda, and he absolutely didn’t want that.

Ian sighed at Leo, who was stubbornly shaking his head, and held up two fingers.

“Then you have two options left.”

“Two whole options?”

Leo looked at Ian with sparkling eyes, but as the conversation continued, he became increasingly gloomy.

“One, win the duel against Asili and become the leader of the group. Two, deliberately lose the duel to make Asili lose interest.”

“……”

Neither option appealed to him. Especially since they both involved fighting.

What Leo wanted was to enjoy a peaceful academy life without fighting anyone and making lots of friends.

When Leo’s expression showed no signs of brightening, Ian pushed up his glasses with visible annoyance and asked.

“Or do you have any adults you can consult with? Without the Marquis knowing.”

After pondering deeply on those words, Leo slowly nodded.

“……I do have someone.”

Two people, adults who could be consulted about this situation without Belinda knowing, crossed Leo’s mind.

***

“So that’s what happened, but what should I do?”

During his lesson with Cheshire.

Cheshire rarely looked troubled at Leo’s request for advice.

He had dozens of ways to solve Leo’s problem.

The important thing was to make the opponent submit without revealing the difference in power.

One method would be to create discord among Asili’s group so they would fight among themselves, preventing Asili from focusing on dueling with Leo.

‘Or I could plant prohibited items in Asili’s locker and report him to the professors, which wouldn’t be bad either.’

Whether expulsion or suspension, removing him from sight would solve Leo’s worries.

Cheshire chose the most moderate method among them.

“If I were you, I would find out that boy’s weakness. People can’t act recklessly against someone who knows their weakness.”

“Weakness?”

“Everyone has a weakness or two. Just like how you, Seedo, reacted to the mention of Lady Belinda.”

“But Lady Belinda isn’t a weakness.”

“That depends on how you look at it. If someone wanted to trap you, Seedo, they would probably mention Lady Belinda’s name.”

Hearing this, Leo became troubled as it seemed to make sense.

“So if I use something precious to Asili, he won’t ask me to duel anymore, right?”

“That’s right.”

Seeing Leo’s face looking even more troubled than before, Cheshire continued softly.

“Unfortunately, this is the only method I know. If you ever want to get revenge on those who insulted Lady Belinda, I’ll tell you a better plan.”

Cheshire’s tone was so gentle that Leo didn’t understand the weight behind the word “revenge.”

“Hmm, I’ll think about it a bit more.”

As Leo’s worries only deepened, the next day.

A hawk from the north knocked on Leo’s window, carrying Cedric’s reply.

***

On an exceptionally fine afternoon.

Every time a gunshot rang out from the shooting range that Blanche had set up behind the main building, the shoulders of the hired gardeners flinched.

A workplace where gunshots can be heard—even I think it’s the worst working environment, but regrettably, I didn’t have the luxury to soothe their minds right now.

I carefully aimed my pistol, glaring at each of the human-shaped targets set up among the grass.

First, that one standing proudly in the middle of the clearing, not even trying to hide despite being a target.

Stubborn-looking, just like that human calculator Count Dukoff.

‘Even without a calculator, people can make calculation mistakes when doing accounting. Making a fuss all day over just 1 silver.’

Click, bang!

<Beel! You missed by a tiiiiny bit to the left!>

Second, that one over there, half-hiding its body behind the willow tree.

Sneaky, reminding me of the main building’s butler who watches people’s reactions while saying whatever he wants.

‘I told you not to send approval documents to the annex after work hours. Don’t you know it’s illegal to send work messages after hours!’

Click, bang!

<This time a tiiiiiiny bit to the right!>

Finally, that incompetent target with just its head peeking out from the grass!

‘Damn Baron Rechel! What? Trust only him? What exactly did he say to make Ian come to me, saying not to worry too much?’

Click, bang!

When the final shot rang out, Sugar, who had once again darted toward the target, returned with a sad face.

Sugar was a strict judge who would urge me to use fairy blessings if I missed the dead center of the target by even a little.

The shot just now was perfect enough to silence Sugar.

After relieving some of my accumulated work stress through shooting, the owner of the gaze I had been feeling all along finally spoke to me.

“Your expression is especially fierce today. Anyone watching might think you’re actually shooting people dead, master.”

I rubbed my brow, which must have been furrowed, as I turned to look at Cheshire.

I rubbed my brow, which must have been furrowed, as I turned to look at Cheshire.

“What about Leo’s lesson? Why are you here?”

“I came to get your permission for an outdoor lesson.”

At those words, I recalled a quest I had accepted recently.

[Quest] Messenger Beast of the Star of Heroes

A messenger beast is a mage’s best friend, faithful servant, and pure source.

Help the ‘Star of Heroes’ create a messenger beast to pass the first gate of the mage.

*Quest completion reward: Magic Stat +10, 100 coins.]

It’s finally time to complete this quest.

I immediately put away my pistol and said.

“I’ll join too.”

“You, master?”

When he asked as if it was quite unexpected, I raised an eyebrow, and Cheshire added worriedly.

“It’s not that you can’t, but aren’t you very busy? This will be a time-consuming lesson.”

I am busy, indeed…

But human greed knows no bounds, and people tend to repeat the same mistakes.

The paperwork I need to process today—tomorrow’s me will somehow manage to resolve it.

So right now!

“I always have time to spend with Leo.”

I should focus on spending time with Leo.

***

A ‘messenger beast’ is a creature that mages create from a lump of magical power.

It’s not actually alive, but it’s used to send messages to others or to use magic more efficiently.

Cheshire’s butterfly is exactly that.

They say the shape of the messenger beast differs for each mage. To complete the quest <Messenger Beast of the Star of Heroes>, one must try to connect various animals with the Star of Heroes to see if they can become a messenger beast.

For a first-time <Hirome> player, this would be a terrible luck-based quest, but…

‘I already know what Leo’s messenger beast is.’

So this quest is a piece of cake!