He had taught Eugeo that a disciple and page were not just a simple instructor and servant. He didn’t think he would ever be as good a tutor as Golgorosso was, but he was going to spend this entire year teaching Tiese as much of what he’d learned as possible. Wouldn’t that be what Kirito had talked about—something not written in the rules but more important than anything?
Humbert and Raios might not understand it. They’d probably slacked off in the entrance exams to come in under the top twelve so that they didn’t have to be pages. But even so, he had to say what needed to be said.
Eugeo put his hands on the door, pushed his way into the dorm building, and headed up the front stairs, leather boots ringing against every step.
3
He knocked on the eastern door of the third floor, and after a few moments, Humbert’s voice asked who was there.
“It’s Disciple Eugeo and Disciple Kirito. We’d like to speak with Disciple Zizek,” he replied, trying not to sound too aggressive. The sound of rough footsteps came from beyond the door, then it hurtled open. Humbert glared at them and shouted loud enough for anyone down on the ground level to hear:
“It is rude of you to call without a prior arrangement! Your first course of action should obviously have been to put your request for a meeting into writing!”
Before Eugeo could answer, Raios Antinous’s soothing voice came from farther in the room. “There, there. They are our fellow pupils and residents. Let them through, Humbert—though I’m afraid we cannot arrange for tea on such short notice.”
“…You’d better be grateful for Raios’s generous nature,” Humbert snarled under his breath, then turned back from the doorway. Eugeo gave them a proper salute and walked inside, wondering what that little bit of theater was all about.
“What in the—?” Kirito started to say as he followed Eugeo in, so the other boy had to loudly clear his throat to drown him out.
They proceeded to the couch in the middle of the room. The room was the same size as theirs, of course, but the internal decorations, from the rugs on the floor to the delicate window drapes rustling in the breeze, were of the highest quality.
Humbert sank into the right end of the couch, which was about three mels long, silk-bound, and stuffed with soft cotton. On the left end, Raios had parked his rear on the edge of the cushion, his head back against the headrest and his feet up on the table, such that he was very nearly lying down.
The noble heirs weren’t wearing their school uniforms but lounging around in thin robes. Raios’s was red, and Humbert’s was yellow, both woven from lustrous southern silk and vivid to look upon. The scent of the tea from the cups sitting on the table suggested green tea from the east. Raios picked his up, gave a leisurely sip, then looked at Eugeo at last.
“Now…what brings our friend Disciple Eugeo here to our chamber on this free evening?”
There was another couch on the other side of the table, but neither of them made any motion to invite the two guests to sit. Eugeo considered that to be in his favor and glared down at them from his standing position with as stern an expression as he could muster.
“We’ve heard some rather unsavory rumors about your behavior, Disciple Zizek. I’ve come to deliver an anticipatory warning, before you deal a grave blow to our school’s reputation.”
Humbert’s face immediately screwed up to deliver a raging rebuke, but Raios reached out to still him. Raios grinned up at them, his lips surprisingly red. “Is that so…?”
Through the rising steam of the cup in his hand, he continued, “This is both a surprise and a welcome development. It makes me proud to see you concerned with our academy’s reputation. However, I cannot for the life of me imagine what these rumors are. I’m ashamed to have to ask for an explanation.”
“I’ve heard that Zizek has been inflicting vulgar instructions upon his own trainee page. Perhaps that sounds familiar to you?”
“How dare you!” shrieked Humbert, rising from the couch. “You—a miserable frontiersman without a name—dare to accuse me, a fourth-rank noble heir, of being vulgar?!”
“That will be enough, Humbert,” Raios said, waving his hand again to silence his henchman. “We might be from different backgrounds, but we are all students under the same roof now. Here at this school, no statement can be taken as an insult and breach of decorum…but that will be a different story if the tale is found to be without merit or evidence. Where did you hear this bizarre rumor, Eugeo?”
“Let’s not waste any of our valuable time, Antinous. You know full well that it is true. We heard the story straight from primary trainees who share a dorm room with Zizek’s page.”
“Oh? So I take it that Humbert’s page has officially enlisted you to argue on her behalf, through an intermediary dormmate?”
“…Well…not exactly…” Eugeo muttered, promptly at a loss. They hadn’t heard the story directly from Frenica’s lips, so it would be difficult to dig their heels in if faced with charges of false accusation.
But he couldn’t turn back now, not with Raios mocking them from his lazy position and Humbert seething with barely contained rage. “So…you deny these charges? You deny that Humbert has been performing untoward acts upon his page, Frenica?”
“Untoward? That’s a rather strange term to use, Eugeo. Why not be clearer and state that they are against the school rules?”
“……”
He paused again. The school rules applied only on campus grounds, but to the students, they were just as important as the Taboo Index and Basic Imperial Law—no one would dare break them.
Eugeo knew full well that Humbert hadn’t broken the rules, and that was what made this so despicable. He was doing whatever he knew he could get away with. Eugeo took a deep breath to settle his nerves and said, “But…but even if it’s not against the school rules, there are actions that are clearly inappropriate for an upperclassman—especially an elite disciple charged with guiding and tutoring a primary trainee!”
“I see. And what is it that you are accusing Humbert of doing to Frenica, Eugeo?”
“…W-well…”
Eugeo couldn’t answer that question. He hadn’t wanted to press Tiese and Ronie for details, so he didn’t know the exact nature of the “untoward orders.” Raios spread his arms theatrically and shook his head from side to side.
“Good grief! This is starting to get ridiculous, I’m afraid. Humbert, do you have any idea what Eugeo is talking about?” he asked. The other man, who’d been leaning forward and staring daggers at Eugeo, threw himself back onto the couch.
“Not in the least! I have no clue what he is referring to! For one thing, I’ve never done a single vulgar thing to Frenica in my life. She’s certainly never said ‘no’ to anything I’ve told her to do!” Humbert reached up and slicked back his gray hair, putting on a venomous smile. “At worst, I’ve only ordered her to provide a few trifling services. As I’m sure you remember, Eugeo, after my miserable draw in our duel the other day, I’ve been putting myself through harder training than ever before. I used to avoid exercises that added unsightly muscles, but no longer—and my body has been screaming at me for it. So I merely had her massage my sore flesh during my evening baths. And to save her the trouble of a wet uniform, I’ve been nice enough to allow her to perform the task in her undergarments. I fail to see what makes any of this vulgar!”
As Eugeo watched Humbert chuckle delightedly, he sensed an unfamiliar emotion surging up from deep inside him.
Was there any point in politely attempting to convince such a person?
Was it really words that were appropriate now, or a striking blow with a wooden sword?
Eugeo’s hand twitched, preparing to draw his practice blade and declare a duel on the spot, but then he realized he had not brought his weapon. He inhaled and exhaled several times, and with as level a voice as he could manage, said, “Humbert, do you think…you will get away with this? There might be no rule against demanding that of her—but only because
it should not be necessary to point it out. Ordering your page to disrobe before you is utterly shameless—”
“Ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
Raios abruptly broke the silence, glee on his face. It was as if he’d been waiting for Eugeo to say exactly those words.
“Ha-ha-ha! I never thought I’d hear those words from Disciple Eugeo’s mouth! Ha-ha-ha-ha! Especially given that when he was a page, that common-born giant of a man had him remove his uniform every night!”
“Why, what a curious tale! The man who happily stripped to his skin accuses others of being shameless for the same action! Ha-ha!” laughed Humbert, joining in.
Eugeo felt his body tremble again with that unfamiliar urge. He was about to launch an insult that would surely get him into hot water with the school rules when Kirito loudly clicked his heels, bringing him to his senses.
Golgorosso had indeed ordered Eugeo to take off his shirt once or twice a month. But that was only to inspect his musculature and provide more detailed instructions for exercise, nothing more salacious than that. But if he argued to that effect, it would only embolden them, and they’d start insulting Golgorosso, too. So he did his best to hold in the emotion and spoke in a quiet, suppressed voice.
“My experiences are not the point here. All I know is that your page is undergoing great stress because she cannot refuse your orders. If her situation does not improve, I may be forced to petition a teacher to look into the matter. Keep that in mind.”
Eugeo turned and left the room, while the other boys laughed and urged him to go ahead with his plan. Once the door had shut behind him, he clenched his fist, ready to smash it against the wall—but he knew he had enough strength to put a dent in it, thus damaging the life of the building. Intentionally destroying school facilities or property clearly violated the rules and would be an example of that “temper tantrum” he’d been warned about. For a moment, he wished for that Gigas Cedar again, its bark so tough that he could smash all his frustration into it without consequence.
As a pathetic replacement, he stomped as hard as he could toward his own room on the west end, when Kirito said, “You need to calm down, Eugeo.”
The sound of that familiar voice cooled the burning-red furnace of his mind ever so slightly. Eugeo exhaled. He slowed down so that his partner could catch up.
“I’m…surprised. I figured that you’d explode before I did,” Eugeo noted.
Kirito smirked and tapped his waist. “If we had our swords, it would have ben a different story. But like I said earlier, I felt like they were up to something, so I held it in and watched them closely.”
“That’s right, I remember you saying that. Well, now I do…So what did you notice?”
“Humbert is one thing, but I can say for certain that Raios was testing you. He probably figured that you’d heard about Frenica from Tiese and Ronie and was prepared to level the highest possible disciplinary punishment if you crossed a line with Humbert. You really can’t underestimate the wicked cunning of the upper nobility…”
“You mean…you think Raios let Humbert carry on because he wanted me to come and argue about it? This is…crazy,” Eugeo mumbled, coming to a stop in the middle of the hallway. “And it all starts with my embarrassing Humbert in that duel. How many times did you warn me that nothing good comes from taking their bait…?”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself,” Kirito said, putting a hand on Eugeo’s shoulder in a rare display of tenderness. “We’ve got the first testing matches coming up. You need to beat them to be the school representative anyway, so you were bound to run afoul of them at some point. I’m guessing that they’re satisfied with this for now. Just make sure that the papers to request the faculty’s involvement are all prepared, in case we hear that Humbert’s still harassing Frenica.”
“Yeah…good idea. But if it came to that, I’d have had better luck just breaking down and crying in front of him,” Eugeo said, patting Kirito’s hand with gratitude. He felt the tension leave his shoulders.
Humbert and Raios were both skilled swordsmen with good scholastic marks as well. They got healthy allowances of shia coins from home each month, good for all the clothes or items they could want, and if they got tired of the cafeteria food, they could easily eat out at a restaurant every night. Eugeo couldn’t help but be jealous, given how he was making ends meet with his savings from the Zakkaria garrison.
So why did they single out Eugeo at every opportunity, mocking him and attempting to dominate him? What did they think this was getting them? Eugeo knew there were good and bad people in the world, but whether noble or common, they were still human beings, weren’t they?
The Axiom Church taught that “good” was the province of the human realm, which was created by Stacia, while “evil” belonged to the Dark Territory ruled by Vecta. That meant that no matter the personality, every human being possessed a heart that was essentially good—even Raios and Humbert.
If they crossed swords in a proper, official match, not one born of a grudge, and exhibited their techniques and skill to their utmost ability, surely they would find some common ground of mutual appreciation. Surely.
Eugeo opened the door to his room and went inside. Before his partner could disappear, he made sure to announce, “Kirito, now that the sacred arts test is done, you’re going to practice with me all day tomorrow!”
“You’re not usually this excited about it.”
“Maybe not…but I’ve got to get way, way stronger. Raios and Humbert need to know that they can’t just sit back without practicing and expect to win every time.”
Kirito smirked and nodded. “In that case, I must impress the hardships of training upon Disciple Eugeo.”
“That’s what I was hoping to hear. Well…see you at dinner.”
They waved to each other and retreated to their rooms to change clothes, but Kirito paused halfway, his expression serious. “Be careful, Eugeo. You don’t want to get heated if they say something to you when I’m not around.”
“I—I know! Stay cool, right?” Eugeo said, remembering that the sacred language phrase was both a calming reminder and a parting statement. Kirito smiled in embarrassment for some reason, and then repeated it back to him.
Perhaps they had been satisfied with their triumph, because, during the morning lessons and afternoon classes, Raios and Humbert paid no attention to Eugeo whatsoever. Until last week, Humbert had scowled with hatred every time he saw Eugeo, but now he just looked right past him.
This came as no small relief to Eugeo, of course, but the real issue was whether Frenica’s treatment had improved. He and Kirito had filled out and signed the investigation request for the school faculty last night. Once submitted, Raios and Humbert and their pages would be subject to questioning, and they would hate even the suggestion of any slight to their honor.
After the boring imperial history class—in which nothing of incident happened—Kirito went to the library to return a book, and Eugeo headed straight back to the disciples’ dorm to wait for Tiese and Ronie.
A short while later, the four o’clock bells rang and the girls showed up, greeting him with good cheer and getting down to the cleaning. Eugeo sat in his chair and watched Tiese tenderly as she worked.
He’d offered a number of times before to help her, but she always sternly told him that cleaning was part of her duty. With chagrin, he recalled that he’d said something like that to Golgorosso, too. Eugeo tried not to mess up his own room too much in the meantime, but she actually expressed displeasure at that, too—she needed a certain amount of clutter to make the chore worthwhile.
After thirty minutes of twirling around with the long-handled rag, Tiese was done with the common room and bedroom. She entered Eugeo’s room, closed the door behind her, and clicked her boot heels.
“Elite Disciple Eugeo, I have a report to make! Today’s cleaning has been completed!”
Kirito must have come back, too, as he could faintly hear Ronie’s voice through the
door. Eugeo decided that his partner could be responsible for explaining the situation to her, so he returned the salute to Tiese and said, “Thanks for the good work, as always.”
“No, not at all. This is the page’s duty!” she replied, as always. He had to fight not to grin.
“Well, um…I need to talk with you now. Go ahead and take a seat,” he said, and then realized that the room had only the one desk chair. If he motioned toward it, she would claim that she’d rather stand, so he headed her off by pointing at the bed by the window.
Tiese’s eyes bulged briefly, then she nodded, blushing. “W-well…if you insist.”
She walked over and sat timidly on the corner of the bed. Eugeo had to consult his memory to be certain that sitting on a bed with a girl was not against the Taboo Index or the school rules before he took a seat a comfortable distance away. He turned his upper half toward her and put on as serious a face as he could manage.
“About Frenica…I went to confront Humbert about it yesterday. I don’t think he wants things to get ugly, so I doubt he’ll be making any more of those unreasonable orders. I’ll try my best to make him apologize for his actions, too…”
“Oh, I see! That’s wonderful…Thank you, Elite Disciple. I’m sure Frenica will be happy,” Tiese said, her face shining.
Eugeo answered with a pained smile. “Just call me Eugeo after you’re done with your duties. Plus…I owe you an apology. As I tried to explain yesterday, this whole string of events started with my duel with Humbert. When I went to confront him, I realized it was all a plot to inflict disciplinary punishment on me for making rude accusations…In other words, Frenica was just collateral damage for Humbert’s rivalry with me. I want to meet with her to apologize in person. Do you think you can arrange that…?”
“Oh…I—I see…”
Tiese lowered her head, thinking hard. When she looked back at Eugeo, she shook her head. “No, Eli…Eugeo. It’s not your fault. I’ll tell her what you said. Um…do you mind if I come a bit closer?”
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