Oh, dear. They seem just as troublesome as that knight captain from earlier.
The other women with me tried to blend into the background, clearly terrified.
“As punishment, you won’t be eating today. Oh, and you’ll be sleeping in the storage room for the time being. We can’t give a bunch of rookies their own rooms—it’d be a waste,” the squad leader declared loudly.
Her posse ushered us down the hallway toward the storage room. I didn’t understand why it would be “a waste” to give us proper rooms when they seemed to have so many empty ones.
This feels a little nostalgic.
These women reminded me a bit of the former Lam’s maids and ladies-in-waiting.
Thibault had insisted we not make a stir, so I decided to obediently do as I was told for now. But then...
“You, with the strange hair color. Stop right there!”
For some reason, they decided to single me out and make me stay behind. The other new recruits shot me concerned glances. What considerate girls.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine,” I assured them with a smile.
“What are you smiling for?” one of the senior knights spat. “It’s only your first day, but you’re already getting way too cocky!”
Why in the world did me smiling mean I was getting cocky?
I want to eat durians. I didn’t have time to buy any in town earlier... I was hoping we’d get served some for dinner, but now I’m not allowed to eat...
Just the thought of getting served durians at the dining table filled me with excitement.
The squad leader’s shrill voice jolted me from my daydream. “You were flirting with a man earlier, weren’t you?!”
“Oh, that’s what this is about,” I said.
It seemed that Thibault’s fears had been confirmed, causing me to reflect on the twins’ words. Just by being with Char, I had inadvertently stood out and drawn the ire of the other female knights.
“She probably thinks that Char and I should ‘burn in hell,’ per Fouet’s words. Barre did say that ‘some people get really upset’ seeing a man and a woman interact,” I muttered to myself.
One of the women in the squad leader’s entourage let out a strident cry. “Who do you think you’re talking to?! Do you really think you can disrespect our squad leader and get away with it?”
Thibault had told us to avoid causing a scene, but I refused to sleep in a storage room and go without food!
And I really, really want to eat durian!
There was no way I would let these girls force me to skip a meal. If it meant resorting to magic, then so be it!
“You heard that? Stop looking down on us, rookie!” another woman said, stepping forward. She seemed especially aggressive and quick to anger. After marching over, she tried to shove me, but the moment her hands made contact with my body, she let out a pained scream. “Aaah! I-It hurts!”
I hadn’t budged an inch.
“Oh, how nostalgic,” I said.
Because of all the spells my worrywart of a husband had cast on me—the one that made my skin as hard as orichalcum, the one that prevented me from being shoved, and the one that reflected all attacks against me—anyone who tried to hurt me would find themselves suffering the damage instead.
Let me see exactly what these spells do.
The one that sneakily reflected attacks against me didn’t return the attack to my opponent, per se; instead, it converted it into pain. Whoever tried to hurt me would find themselves suffering the pain from their own attack, but without taking any sort of damage. I surmised Char had made it this way so that I wouldn’t stand out...though I questioned whether that had been a smart decision or not. There was nothing inconspicuous about that spell.
Oh, and he’s even made it so the pain my opponent feels is a hundred times stronger than the original force of their attack. I hadn’t even noticed him adding that to the spell!
As a result, the woman who’d tried to push me had found herself in quite a bit of pain. It appeared that Char had made it so it wouldn’t last for too long, but it must’ve still hurt a lot.
The other female knights didn’t understand why their friend was yelling. To them, it must’ve appeared like she tried to push me, then began screaming for no reason.
“Why did you shriek so suddenly? You look fine.”
“Uuugh, she... She...” The woman pointed at me, tears pooling in her eyes.
Despite not fully grasping what had just happened, the squad leader reassured her, “It’s all right. Leave the rest to me.”
Her words didn’t seem fueled by concern about her friend as much as a desire to teach me a lesson.
“What did you do to my cute little junior?” she asked, her tone accusatory.
“Nothing.”
I technically didn’t do anything. Char had.
“Look at how much pain she’s in! You can’t possibly have done nothing!”
“She’s the one who pushed me. You saw it too, didn’t you?”
“Don’t talk back to me!” the squad leader snapped. “And mind your manners! I’m your superior, and they’re your seniors.”
Now that she mentioned it, I realized I had been addressing them just as I did everyone else. I’d never really spoken politely to anyone in either of my lifetimes. The old Lam had, back when she lived with her parents and shortly after marrying Char, but as soon as I regained my memories, I had slipped back into my old habits.
I made a mental note to be a bit more careful from now on, to avoid standing out.