### Chapter 34: The Smile Gradually Disappears
The air was slightly still for a moment.
“Cough, Peilo…”
“Are you kidding us? Or is your memory really that bad…?”
“Alex, oh Alex! Think about it, that red-haired guy who used to bother you, the one whose father is the finance minister… you really don’t remember?”
“This kid is as forgetful as a stupid cousin of the Storalch Beast.”
The Storalch Beast is a huge, dumb creature. Even if people stab it with swords and it bleeds all over, within ten minutes it forgets and will approach food without a care in the world. It was once hunted to near extinction because of its delicious meat, and now it’s basically a myth.
So, Sophia is calling me stupid.
“Don’t call me that.”
I rolled over to face the wall, wrapped myself tightly in a blanket, rubbed my head against the pillow, closed my eyes, and mumbled, “If you keep calling me names, I’ll eat you all…”
My consciousness was getting hazy, and I was almost falling into a beautiful dream.
“See, I told you, this girl is a little dim-witted.”
“Peilo, can you please have some awareness of the crisis? Don’t you know they’re fighting over you…”
zzz…zzz…
Huh?
What did she just say?
“Fighting?” I squinted one eye and asked quietly, “Who’s fighting who…?”
“Alex and Peter.” Sophia on the lower bunk sounded weak and rather helpless, “Remember the two boys who bullied us at the opening ceremony? You still recall that, right?”
…Boys?
“Uh…”
“We were on our way to the opening ceremony when those two boys, throwing around lightning and fire, purposely bumped into me and made Daisy cry. One of them was named Peter.”
“Ah…”
Finally, I remembered those two.
I recall later…
“And then Alex came looking for trouble. Peilo, you hit someone and then played the victim… surprising that he actually fell for it. During the rest zone, he got into a fight with another group of little nobles, and apparently broke that guy Peter’s leg… They haven’t shown up at the academy since then.”
“Alex might be serious; I’ve never heard of him acting like this for any girl before.”
“Oh…”
Rest zone?
At that time, I didn’t care about those noble scoundrels’ nonsense.
But the three girls in the dorm seemed very interested. They ignored me, the person involved, and started chattering away.
“I heard that guy named Peter is not easy to deal with either, his father seems to be the head of the Royal City Guard…”
“That’s just a rumor, right?”
“Not a rumor, I’ve seen him.”
“Really…”
“This is already common knowledge in the noble circles of the city. The Royal City Guard and the Iron Guard usually avoid each other, but recently they’ve been in a fight, and even Her Majesty the Queen seems to have been alerted… those are the two most powerful families in the Royal City! Peilo, you’re really something.”
“This counts as a hero getting angry for the beauty?”
“Bullcrap.”
I was on the verge of falling asleep again when I shot my eyes wide open and cursed, “What hero…”
A kid who hasn’t even grown hair, playing house like they’re in a standoff… hero? More like a bear.
“At least she didn’t deny being a beauty.”
“By the way, Peilo, it seems those brutes gave you a nickname, guess what it is?”
Before I could guess, Sarah quickly answered, “Nosebreaker.”
“Uh, nosebreaker.”
“……”
“Ah ha ha—”
The two were laughing so hard that even Daisy was covering her mouth, giggling.
“What a ridiculous name…”
“Very fitting! Who told her to break noses so often.”
“Stop laughing…”
“I think it’s adorable.”
“Where’s the adorableness!”
“Come on! Just think about it, a little girl like Peilo…”
“Don’t call me little!”
I irritably tugged at my hair; my feeble protest did nothing to stop Sarah from continuing.
“A little, clearly very cute~ jumping up every time to hit someone’s nose… Puhahaha! Every time I think of this, I can’t handle it… Hahaha… Nosebreaker…”
“I’m going to sleep!”
I pulled the blanket over my head, sulking.
“Don’t be shy! You’ve been gone these past few nights; let’s have a good chat!”
“Speaking of which, what about Alex? Are we just going to ignore him?”
“Who cares? What does that have to do with us…”
“Let them go bite each other like dogs.”
“Exactly…”
The trivial chatter continued until the moonlight poured through the window, and the sounds of insects outside the tower gradually faded away.
Sleepiness hit me like thick ink.
In a half-dreamy state, I heard Sarah’s mumbling.
“Peilo, Teacher Teresa is gone…”
“She died fighting a monster, you know that, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you, did you attend the funeral?”
Her tone was low but seemed to carry an uncertain hesitation.
“I saw someone who looked a lot like you at the funeral. She was wearing armor… Did you attend the ceremony?”
“Yeah.”
“…Oh.”
“Good night, Sarah.”
“Good night…”
The girls gradually drifted off to sleep.
…………
The next morning, I, along with Sarah and the others, delivered those condolence gifts to Grandma, the administrator’s room on the first floor, explaining the situation and asking for her help in returning them.
“We wrote a notice, just stick it on the tower door and let them pick it up themselves, please, Grandma~” Sophia bowed to the grandmother.
Grandma looked at us with half-closed eyes, looking utterly unwilling.
“Really love giving me trouble…”
But she ultimately agreed.
After exiting the tower, the four of us dashed to the academy’s cafeteria, just in time to spot deer meat pies. Since I hadn’t had Sarah’s deer meat pie, I felt a deep sense of regret and had the three of them take turns to get the fresh batch, ending up consuming a total of eighteen.
I probably could have eaten five more if Sarah hadn’t gotten worried toward the end, fearing I’d burst from overeating and desperately held me back.
But that was alright; eating any more would have been too conspicuous… Since the moment I stepped out in the morning, there were already plenty of people sneaking glances at me. Most were just male students stealing looks whenever I wasn’t paying attention, but some with burning gazes would stare unabashedly at me, even if I ignored them.
At the bustling cafeteria, this situation became even more apparent. I noticed many people were discussing me, saying things I wasn’t too fond of hearing.
They probably thought I couldn’t hear them… if only I truly couldn’t… it’s infuriating.
With all those gazes on me, my head started to ache, and my mood soured.
What’s with all the staring…
To avoid unnecessary trouble, I had to keep those thoughts to myself.
Just as I was leaving, a well-built boy gathered his courage to speak to me.
“Beautiful, Miss, Miss Peilo… um, may I ask if you received my condolences? The silver agate necklace, I specially picked it for you…”
The boy was quite handsome, with a shy smile that made him look appealing. Perhaps he was a noble from somewhere… feeling confident enough to approach me?
But his tongue was trembling with nervousness; he even addressed me with honorifics…
“Ah, I’m sorry! I haven’t introduced myself, I am—”
“Thank you.” I interrupted him with a smile, “But, I can’t accept your gift. I’m sorry; please return it to Grandma, over there.”
The boy left with a dejected look that was hard to hide, and I felt a twinge of guilt…
“I feel like Peilo will become the heartthrob assassin of the academy.”
“What are you talking about…”
“With Alex gone, someone finally grew a spine.”
“Hey, that boy just now was actually quite nice, right? Much better than a guy like Alex… Peilo, aren’t you considering at all?”
“I want to study.”
Consider what!
How could I, the mighty Peilo, be swayed…
“Ah, I’m so envious… I want a shy boy like that to confess to me.”
“And then reject him?”
“Yeah, Sarah really understands me.”
“What kind of person are you…”
“At least I don’t punch people’s noses.”
“Puh, Nosebreaker…”
I rolled my eyes at the two.
“Stop it with that already!”
“Ah ha ha~”
The four of us walked shoulder to shoulder down the path, and not far along, Sophia asked again, “By the way, Peilo, you… your speech is always a bit halting, is it natural?”
As soon as she said that, she hurriedly waved her hands.
“I didn’t mean anything by it, just curious…”
“It’s fine.”
I smiled and shook my head, tilting my head in thought for a moment, “Three years ago, I was injured. Ever since then, I’ve been like this.”
“Oh…” Sarah replied as if she understood, “Did you hurt your head?”
“Cough cough, can you say that!”
“Sarah, don’t ask like that…”
Hearing Sophia and Daisy say that, Sarah suddenly realized her question was inappropriate and awkwardly scratched her head.
“I’m sorry! I spoke without thinking…”
I just laughed it off, not saying anything more.
We arrived at the academy’s training ground.
The vast field already had quite a few classmates scattered around, and soon the physical training class would begin.
“I hate physical training…” As we stepped onto the smooth stone path of the training field, Sophia rarely complained, “Thrusting, slicing, and target practice… the training is exhausting, and the teacher is strict. Every time I finish class, I’m drenched in sweat, feeling like I’m going to be weak for a day… I’m not planning to become a knight, so why do I have to suffer like this?”
“For the day when you can break someone’s nose.” Sarah replied flatly.
“Hey!”
I widened my eyes and stomped my foot, growing a bit irritated.
How many times do we have to repeat this!
I silently decided: if someone at the academy bothers me again… I won’t punch noses; I’ll poke their eyes instead.
Let them keep staring at me…
“Don’t worry; today won’t be as exhausting as usual. Sophia, have you forgotten?”
“What?”
At her words, Sophia looked puzzled for a moment, then suddenly clapped her hands.
“Oh right, how could I forget!”
Huh?
I thought today would be the same as before, following the teacher with a wooden sword, learning the basic movements of swordsmanship. To me, this was a rather boring affair; the academy’s physical training hardly taught me anything… Now, hearing their words, did the training change?
Could it be sparring?
This piqued my interest, and I couldn’t help but smile, “So, what are we training today?”
Sarah turned to me, revealing a long-awaited smile.
“Today, we’ll be practicing riding!”
My steps suddenly halted.
Riding practice… riding practice…
That phrase echoed in my mind like a sound bouncing off the mountains, freezing my smile on my face.
