Rosewood Academy was divided into four classes: regular, knight, sorcery, and clergy. While we were Lady Serena’s squires, we also had seats in classes. Isabel and I were in the regular class along with Lady Serena, while Richard and Emma were in the knight class. Alice was in the sorcery class, and Lewis was in the clergy class.
Regular class made it sound like only normal students were there, but it was actually reserved for the upper echelons of society—the regular class was where the children of nobles were placed. Isabel and I used the information that we had already gathered and tried to win over the students conveniently herded into one classroom. It wasn’t all that different from what I had done back at the orphanage. I accurately assessed what my opponents desired and wanted to hear before I slowly brought them under my influence.
It mattered not whether the person was of high or low rank—they were all humans just the same. In fact, those who relied heavily on their social status were just like me when I’d had nothing else to cling to. Once I made them realize that they were worthless if their rank was stripped away, I easily took advantage of that opening.
Good grief, all nobles aside from Lady Serena are vulgar and snobby, I thought.
It didn’t take long for me and Isabel to create a massive faction with Lady Serena at the helm. Richard and Emma took a far simpler route: They silenced any opposition through force. It took Richard only a week of sparring and duels to take command of the first years in the knight class. He then quickly moved on to the upperclassmen and challenged them to a fight.
“I’m not saying we should have a one-on-one match,” Richard taunted. “You can all come at me as much as you like, my dear upperclassmen.”
The upperclassmen had their pride and reputation to protect, so they pathetically formed a clique to try and take Richard down. Unfortunately, luck was not on their side when it came to their choice of opponent. Richard’s power was nothing short of monstrous, and despite his large frame, he was nimble and quick. No one could successfully defend themselves against his greatsword, and he crushed his enemies, weapons and all. The upperclassmen should’ve ignored Richard’s taunts and cast aside their pride and reputation. Instead, he absolutely destroyed them.
Emma, believe it or not, chose a much more malicious route. She proudly barged in on other people’s sparring matches and challenged them.
“Since no one can fight against me, do you mind if we battle?” she had asked. “This academy really isn’t too impressive, is it?”
Emma didn’t mean to mock the others at the academy. She simply blurted out her genuine thoughts, infuriating the teachers when they heard her words. The students banded together in a tournament against her, but most of them lost against her dual blade techniques in the blink of an eye. Emma even decided to defeat the teachers as well.
The teachers of the knight class were all skilled fighters, but one by one, they went down when they faced Emma. They had no choice but to bow down to her overwhelming might. And so, the knight classes of Rosewood Academy were placed under Richard and Emma’s control.
The sorcery and clergy classes didn’t depend heavily on social status or power, but Alice and Lewis had maintained their positions at the top of their classes ever since they entered the academy. The usage of magic was a special skill to begin with, and there was only one group of pupils, meaning that if one held the best grades, they would naturally become the center of attention. All that was left to do was to boast just how splendid Lady Serena was—Alice and Lewis took every opportunity they had to praise her.
“It’s all thanks to Lady Serena that we orphans became this powerful.”
“If you follow Lady Serena’s orders, you can gain more mana.”
“If you have faith in Lady Serena, you can heal any sort of injury or ailment.”
“Lady Serena is all you need to attain happiness. You need nothing else.”
There may have been slight exaggerations, but none of these were lies. Both Alice and Lewis indeed had excellent grades, and their words held a grain of truth. They immediately amassed a following of Lady Serena worshippers.
And so, Lady Serena’s authority gradually spread throughout the academy.
✦ ✦ ✦
Once we had enough people, we lined up the students under our control behind the academy’s gates. Needless to say, we wanted them to greet Lady Serena and understand who exactly the figure of authority within the academy was.
“Good morning, Lady Serena!” they called out.
Lady Serena was at a loss for words when she saw the students in neat rows. No doubt she was disappointed that there were fewer students than she had hoped. I could only give her an apology. As Lady Serena’s chosen squires, it was imperative for us to work better and harder.