With this, Rest's academy life began.
He attended several classes and deepened his friendships with his classmates.
He was able to lead a reasonably smooth and uneventful academy life.
However... about two weeks after enrolling at the academy, he was suddenly caught up in a disturbance.
It was during a certain lunch break.
That day, the Rosemary sisters were hosting a tea party with some female friends, so Rest was acting alone for a change.
This academy, an educational institution for nobles, had several salons on campus, and students could use them if they applied in advance.
(For nobles, tea parties are venues for gathering information. I suppose it's part of a lady's refinement.)
Usually, he would share the bento brought from the marquis's household with his sisters... but since this was a rare opportunity, he decided to have lunch at the cafeteria today.
Since he didn't have a class in the first period of the afternoon, he would be able to eat at a leisurely pace.
He was walking down the hallway toward the cafeteria with lighter steps than usual, when suddenly he heard a loud, explosive boom.
"Wha—!"
The sudden explosion made Rest tense up.
Without a doubt... that was an explosion caused by fire-attribute magic.
Wondering where the sound had come from, he looked down the hallway and saw smoke rising from a classroom at the far end.
"That over there... is the D-Class room!?"
It was the first-year D-Class classroom.
Students were hurriedly evacuating from the classroom, while onlookers were starting to gather.
"............!"
Rest cautiously approached the problem classroom and peered inside, blending in with the onlookers.
Inside, a male student lay collapsed in the middle of the classroom.
"Ugh... ah..."
"No! Franz! Franz!"
The collapsed male student's clothes were charred black, and his entire body bore burns.
He was breathing faintly—there was still life in him, but without urgent treatment, his very survival was in danger.
A female student clung desperately to the fallen boy, calling his name in a frantic, tearful shriek.
"Hmph... Fool. To lay hands on this precious body—what insolence."
And looking down on the two of them was a familiar face.
It was none other than the Third Prince, Rodele Aiwood—the same one who had burst into the A-Class classroom right after the entrance ceremony and caused a commotion.
"Hey, what happened here?"
"Huh... and you are...?"
"Just tell me, will you?"
When Rest grabbed a male student who appeared to be from D-Class and questioned him, the boy explained the situation.
"His Highness Rodele hit on one of the female students. He told her she had to, you know... go to dinner with him. When her boyfriend stepped in to stop it, they got into an argument, and the boyfriend grabbed His Highness's arm..."
"No way... he cast magic? In a classroom like this?"
Rest asked in disbelief, and the male student nodded.
To think he would actually fire offensive magic and nearly kill someone just because his advances were interrupted... Rest had heard the prince was a fool, but he never imagined it was this bad.
*(So this is feudalism in action... or maybe it's just that this particular prince is an idiot...)* "You've gotten my clothes dirty. Woman, you will be held responsible."
"Come on, His Highness has spoken! Get up already, will you!"
"No—!"
One of Rodele's followers grabbed the female student's arm and forced her to her feet.
If Rest's memory served him correctly, this was the same man Celestine had called the "son of Count Dola."
Another of Rodele's lackeys — a small, wiry fellow — stood nearby, grinning and casting leering glances at the struggling female student.
"Please, let me treat Franz's wounds! If this goes on, Franz will die...!"
"I don't care about some worthless commoner. Don't make me wait any longer."
Rodele's voice was ice-cold in response to the girl's plea.
His tone was frigid enough, but... his gaze was fixed squarely on the girl's chest and the thighs peeking out from beneath her skirt.
Rest had heard Rodele was a womanizer, and it seemed that much was true.
*(What am I supposed to do here...?)* Rest's expression turned bitter as he narrowed his eyes at the shameless scene unfolding right in front of him.
In his heart... of course he wanted to intervene.
Any person with a shred of common decency would feel repulsed by what was playing out in this classroom.
*(But... if that idiot prince sets his sights on me, it'll be a real pain.)* Even if he stepped in here, nobody could reasonably blame him for it.
Royal or not, this was obviously going way too far.
*(Still... it's not like the prince would get expelled or sentenced to death over this, right...?)* According to what Celestine had told him, this prince was a good-for-nothing, but he did have powerful backing.
Expulsion wouldn't be so simple a resolution.
(*Knowing that prince's personality, he's definitely going to hold a grudge. If it were just me, fine, but if Viola or Primula get dragged into this, it's going to be trouble...*) He couldn't let the two of them end up on Rodele's radar.
But still... walking past and pretending not to see anything wasn't the right call either.
(*A man who'd abandon them here and run isn't worthy of those two... How could I do something that would let them down?*) Rest had made up his mind never to do anything that would make the Rosemary sisters regret choosing him.
He was not the type to settle for playing it safe and averting his eyes from the threat right in front of him.
"Guess I'm doing this..."
He wouldn't let that prince's misdeeds go unnoticed.
But he'd take him down without being seen, without ever being recognized.
That was all. Simple enough, wasn't it?
**[** **Smoke Screen** **]** Rest cast his magic, and a curtain of white smoke enveloped the interior of the Class D classroom.