บท 15: Anarchist?

'That bitch really played her thoroughly, huh.'

Cynthia wanted to comfort her partner, but she could only stare awkwardly at the luscious waves of crimson in front. She couldn't even tell what kind of expression Emilia had on her face at all, because she refused to turn her way.

And before she could come up with a way to try and cheer her up, her summoning was cancelled as well.

Ding!

—Follower Summoning has been cancelled!

—Duration left for follower Cynthia is 7 hours 16 minutes and 32 seconds.

The poor system could only pout and keep silent in her mind as Emilia closed her eyes and pretended to sleep.

----------

Cynthia felt that maybe things would turn a bit awkward between them after that night, but her partner seemed completely unaffected when she woke up.

It was like nothing ever happened, and the raven haired girl wondered if perhaps that was for the best, after all.

One thing she did notice, however, was that Emilia seemed a lot more relaxed now than she did yesterday. It was as if a chain that had been holding her back was finally shattered, and she could move around more freely now.

She even kissed Samantha on the cheek when she dropped her off, and happily waved goodbye as she drove away.

Cynthia felt quite curious, since this girl was dreading the 'iron horse thing' every day until recently. "You don't mind the motorcycle anymore?"

Emilia smiled. "No… Once you try to get used to it, it has a feeling of freedom not much different from riding a horse. I like it."

The system was silent the rest of the way as Emilia walked towards her class.

At least, that was until she walked into class B.

"Ehhh? Emilia, did you forget the way? This is not your class!"

Emilia's eyes glinted deviously as she grinned.

"I know. But I'm not here to take any lessons, but teach one."

Since the victim wasn't willing to cooperate with her, she would have to reach out to the perpetrators herself, right?

----------

The Imperial Academy of Excellence had been opening and closing on time for decades, and this was the first time that the old principal heard of a commotion so great that it ended up disrupting all four of the freshman high school classes.

As a man with a successful career who was so close to retirement, the old principal felt angry at the mere thought of the stain this would leave on his impeccable record.

"What happened?"

Even though the principal's tone was calm, the teachers could all hear the fury suppressed in his voice.

All nine teachers were standing in front of the principal's desk like students waiting to be scolded. None of them dared to take a seat. They only kept looking at each other in hopes someone else would volunteer to explain.

Only Mr. Jefferson was brave enough to come forward and explain.

"Looks like a female student from class S barged into class B before the first lesson, and…"

Mr. Jefferson paused, his mouth opening and closing as if not sure how to continue.

The principal finally seemed to have run out of patience and bellowed with his face red and breathing uneven. "And what?!"

The maths teacher sighed. "I don't know if it's true, but apparently she beat up two boys and declared that if she heard of anyone being a bully, she would go bully them herself."

One of the female teachers came forward despite her shaking legs. "I-It's true, I saw it myself."

The teacher wanted to add that the girl also declared, 'This princess shall proceed to dole out your due punishment, vermin!' before beating the boys up, but she felt too ashamed to say such a strange thing as a grown-up lady.

The principal held his head in hands and collapsed back on the high back leather chair. "What? What bullying? Do the students in our school even have the time to be bullying?"

Mr. Jefferson looked hesitant, but finally nodded in affirmation. "Only a few minor cases, perhaps, but we can't be sure."

The room was silent once again, to the point where the nervous gulping from their colleagues seemed to echo in the teacher's ears from time to time.

Finally, the principal seemed to have gathered his thoughts.

"Alright… what's the situation now?"

Mr. Jefferson stepped back since he really didn't know much about the incident. As a diligent teacher, he had given the happiest lecture of his life to the empty classroom and would have been perfectly content if he had never been called for this meeting.

Mrs. Macmillan was the one who ended up handling the aftermath, so she came forward nervously.

"Well, the boys are in the infirmary, and the girl is in the staff room."

"Why the hell are they in the infirmary? Did they get their bones broken or something?"

Mrs. Macmillan gulped. "N-No, only some bruising…"

"And who is watching over the girl?"

"S-She's very obedient, so we left her alone?"

"…"

The principal almost fainted.

----------

Thankfully, Emilia hadn't run away to cause another incident, and Mrs. Macmillan found her sitting right where she left her.

"E-Emilia, good girl."

"?"

Even Emilia, who had planned all this, felt confused. 'Is she praising me for causing the ruckus?'

Cynthia was also scratching her head. "I-I guess there are people who just like to watch the world burn, you know? As long as you do something to disrupt the order, they'll be happy. I heard they're usually called anarchists?"

Mrs. Macmillan's face was red from embarrassment.

"N-Never mind that, let's go, the principal is calling you."

----------

And so, almost an hour later, not only Emilia, but also her elder sister and the parents of the 'bullies' were sitting in front of the elderly principal.

The two bullies were allowed to remain in the infirmary, in light of their injuries.

"So like I said, even if they were bothering her, she should have just come to me or one of the teachers, and we definitely would have handled it much better. This kind of thing can leave a permanent stain in a student's record, you know?"

Samantha looked unconcerned and leisurely, sitting with her legs crossed next to her little sister. Combined with her dark blue business suit, pristine white shirt and naturally cold face, even the principal felt a little nervous when he thought of who he was talking to.

"Will you write it down in her record?"

"O-Of course, since this is the first time she's doing such a thing, there's no need to make a big deal out of it, right? But I can't be so partial, or other parents won't feel safe sending their children here, will they?"

Samantha gazed at the four formally dressed adults, two men and two women, all decades older than her.

"D-Don't joke around, principal. Since it's our children who were wrong, we're even grateful that they have been taught a lesson."

"Right? It's not like they were really hurt. It's good if they can learn to be better people."

"White family's girl helped us out by teaching them in our place, how can we be unhappy?"

"I-If it's okay, would you mind if we came over in the evening to show our gratitude?"

Samantha smiled as she watched them almost talk over each other with nervousness. Except for government employees, no one in this city could confidently say they were free from the White Deer family's influence.

"Please, you'll embarrass my sister. It's good enough that you guys don't mind her being a little naughty. No need to come over."

"Of course, of course!"

"Ehehe."

Looking at the four of them fall over each other while trying to flatter the young girl, the principal felt as if the world was spinning in front of his eyes.

He should have known something would go wrong the moment Mr. White said he was sending his elder daughter over! Did she come here to bully people too? Right in front of him?!

But as he opened his mouth to reprimand her, cold sweat soaked his back at the thought. This was the heiress to the White Deer family. The family that was one of their biggest sponsors.

If he lost over a half of the donations the school received every year, wouldn't the board have him drawn and quartered?!

And if he really called Mr. White again to complain about his eldest daughter right after complaining about his youngest daughter…

Well, his father had always said, if there is a mountain you can't climb anymore, just roll down and hope you don't die.

----------

And so, the next day, a new announcement was served on the school's notice board.

The children excitedly climbed over each other to catch a glimpse.

"Wow! She really didn't get suspended!"

"No no, are you blind? Why would she be suspended if she was doing as she was told?"

"Are you dumb? Why didn't I hear of this disciplinary committee thing until yesterday? Obviously they made it up to cater to the whims of the princess."

"Idiot, do you think the school needs to report everything to you immediately? Didn't they post the notice today?"

"You're the idiot!"

"Moron!"

"Retard!"

But no matter how the children argued with each other, it was clear to them that from now on the school would have a 'disciplinary committee' with a student 'Emilia White' as its head.