Chapter 10

Gérard Vindemia is the only son of a long-standing wine shop. Being from a wealthy family, he was able to enroll in the elementary school affiliated with Artillia Academy, a school predominantly attended by the children of nobles and the wealthy. While the majority of the students at the affiliated school were originally from noble families, in modern times, many middle-class students like Gérard also attend. The economic development over the past few decades has been remarkable, and middle-class parents who have accumulated wealth have been sending their children to prestigious schools to receive better education.

Gérard is one of those students with such parents. With his natural brightness and athletic prowess, he quickly made many friends after enrolling. At the annual sports festival, although he couldn't match Van Spelvia, he came in second in his grade. He was also good at studies, though not as much as sports. Despite the implicit hierarchy among the children of nobles, he was treated like a leader by the students from the middle class and enjoyed his days.

However, a shadow fell over Gérard's fulfilling school life when he entered third grade. It was probably about two months after the promotion when the homeroom teacher announced the student council election. According to the rules, anyone could run, but it was a tradition that one candidate from the Averillam faction and one from the Spelvia faction would run each year, and the factions would compete against each other.

There were, of course, middle-class students who found it annoying to have to cater to the nobles. Gérard, who was not particularly fond of it either, was half-persuaded by them to run as a representative of the middle class.

He knew from the beginning that it would be a tough battle. This was because in Gérard's year, there was Van Spelvia, a descendant of a hero. He knew that Roy Averillam, the grandson of the Duke of Averillam, was also in the same grade, but he was just a guy from a powerful family, so Gérard didn't take him seriously. Besides, Roy Averillam didn't seem to have any intention of running, and Stanislaus Centrum had expressed his intention to run, so it seemed that Van Spelvia would dominate the election due to his name value. Gérard's strategy was to gather votes from the middle-class students and defeat Van Spelvia.

However, nothing went as Gérard had planned. Despite being a descendant of a hero and a noble, Van Spelvia treated the middle-class students without discrimination, and the middle-class votes flowed to him. When Roy Averillam, whom Gérard had underestimated, announced his candidacy, the battle between the two began at a level far above Gérard, leaving him with no choice but to watch.

On the day of the sports festival, Gérard, determined to regain some of the middle-class votes, was left behind as Van Spelvia and Roy Averillam, who didn't even consider the upperclassmen, engaged in a fierce battle. When they crossed the finish line, Gérard, far behind, felt a sense of despair. At the age of eight, he realized that there is always someone better.

On that day, Gérard gave up. He realized that an ordinary person could never achieve victory on their own. Still, he thought there was something he could do for the middle-class students and desperately thought about it. He decided to support Van Spelvia and give all his votes to him, hoping to secure better treatment for the general students rather than allowing Roy Averillam's dictatorship.

However, even this plan failed. At first, Roy Averillam had no chance of winning, and the students' votes were supposed to be firmly set. When Van lost the election, Gérard lost everything. The students who had played with him before, even though they had compromised and joined Van, left Gérard because he couldn't win.

Gérard graduated from the affiliated school without talking to anyone for the next three years. He was decided to continue to Artillia Academy due to his high magical power, though he didn't really want to. He made a forced smile in front of his happy parents and decided to continue.

After entering the academy, he was in the same class as Ruby Livy. Like Gérard, Ruby was always alone. It didn't take long for the two outcasts to start acting together.

Ruby is a strange child. He always seems to be thinking about something, swaying from side to side and unable to walk straight. When people pass by, he deliberately stops and turns his back to them, waiting for them to pass. He shows a strong attachment to his leather stationery case and doesn't let it go even during physical education classes. Just these few examples illustrate his unusual behavior. Such behavior often caught the attention of mean-spirited students.

There is a particularly loud group of Spelvia faction students in the same class. They are a collection of troublemakers centered around Liam Dalton. Gérard had seen them mock Ruby several times during the affiliated school days. After being warned by Roy Averillam, they had been quiet until graduation, but since entering the academy, they had started acting up again. During the moving class, they would slap Ruby's head from behind and run away, or try to take his stationery case. However, Gérard didn't have the courage to reprimand them and just watched silently.

Gérard grew to be one of the tallest in his grade. Standing next to the short Ruby, they looked like an odd couple. After the student council election in the affiliated school, Gérard became sensitive to others' gazes and developed a habit of hunching his shoulders as he grew taller.

However, when walking with Ruby, they still attracted attention, which Gérard disliked. He was always on edge, worried that Liam Dalton and his group might target him when they mocked Ruby. Still, Gérard didn't want to leave Ruby's side. He didn't mind being alone; he just thought it wasn't bad to be with Ruby.

However, Gérard wasn't sure if he had the right to be Ruby's friend. If he were a genius like Roy Averillam, he could have had more confidence. In the same grade, Roy bravely fought Quintas without fear and saved many people. In contrast, Gérard was afraid of the class bullies and couldn't protect Ruby.

Ruby's father was attacked by Quintas shortly after the new semester began. Although he didn't die, his limbs were cut off as usual. The gruesome incident was beyond Gérard's comprehension, but Ruby continued to attend school without missing a day and showed no change in his behavior. The Averillam faction students tried to encourage Ruby.

To outsiders, the Averillam faction students seemed exclusive, aristocratic, and hard to approach, but they were strongly united and kind to their own. The way they completely ignored Gérard and spoke to Ruby was very typical of the Averillam faction.

A few weeks after the incident, the heavy atmosphere in the classroom began to lift. After the morning class ended, just as Gérard and Ruby were about to head to the cafeteria, an annoying voice from the front of the classroom caught his attention.

Ah, here we go again, Gérard sighed inwardly.

"Hey, Ruby Livy! Dez is going to do an impression now, so guess who he's imitating!"

Looking over, Gérard saw Liam Dalton, the leader of the bully group, tapping the shoulder of a nearby student, Dez.

Gérard glanced at Ruby, who was staring at Liam and his group with no emotion.

Dez, who had been tapped on the shoulder, climbed onto the teacher's desk with a smirk and lay on his back. The classroom was quiet. Gérard noticed that everyone in the class was paying attention to what Dez would do next, their gazes focused on the front of the room.

Gérard turned his attention back to Dez, who was lying on the teacher's desk. Then, Dez slowly folded his elbows and knees and began to wriggle like a caterpillar on the desk.

"Ruby, where are you? Come quickly! I can't move because I don't have any limbs!"

When Dez raised his voice in a high-pitched, unnatural tone, the classroom atmosphere froze. Only Liam burst out laughing, and soon the laughter spread to the entire bully group.

"Stop it."

A low voice, which had already changed earlier than his peers, escaped from Gérard's mouth. However, it was drowned out by the laughter and didn't seem to reach Liam and his group.

"Stop it."

When Gérard spoke again in a low voice, the laughter stopped.

"What? What is it, loser?"

Liam slammed his hand on the desk, making a loud noise. Gérard glared back at him. Liam, who had expected Gérard to back down easily, was taken aback by the unexpected retaliation.

"Hah. What's with you? It's just a joke, you know?"

"There are things you can do and things you can't."

"What? What's wrong with it? We didn't say who we were imitating, did we? If you're the one who thought of someone specific, that's your problem, isn't it? Right?"

Liam sought agreement, and his group turned their malicious grins toward Gérard.

"No, seriously, you're the one with the problem. Poor Ruby. But don't worry, we've exposed the rotten core of the loser Vindemia, so it's all good now, right?"

Liam spoke to Ruby in a gentle voice. For some reason, Dez on the desk started wriggling again.

"Ruby! Stop being friends with Vindemia! Get rid of this loser as quickly as you got rid of your father's limbs!"

Dez raised his voice again in a tone that was off-key.

Gérard was already running. He kicked the floor hard and rushed to the desk, aiming to punch Dez. Dez raised his right hand to protect his face, and Gérard's fist hit his forearm.

A nasty sound echoed in his ears, followed by Dez's scream. Leaving Dez on the floor, Gérard turned to Liam, who was standing next to the desk. He could see the fear in Liam's face, which had changed from surprise.

"Calm down. I'm sorry. Dez went too far. Ha...ha..."

None of Liam's words registered in Gérard's mind. As he slowly approached, Liam backed away and stumbled, falling on his butt.

This makes it harder to hit him. Gérard thought and, without hesitation, stomped on Liam's knee with all his might.

Liam's scream was deafening. When he moved his foot, Liam's knee was pointing in the wrong direction. Gérard thought about doing the same to the other leg, but Liam's writhing made it hard to aim.

Instead, he decided to kick Liam's back. Liam, curled up in pain, presented his back, making it an easy target.

As Gérard took another step toward Liam and raised his right foot, he felt someone pulling on the hem of his uniform.

"Ruby..."

Turning around, he saw Ruby standing right next to him. Seeing him, Gérard's mind returned to a calm state.

"Are we not going to the cafeteria?"

Ruby was his usual self, even in this situation.