Chapter 107: Weaker? Stronger?
"So, one of you wanted to report an exhibitionist breaking into his dorm, while the other refused to let go of the pervert who saw her body, and in the end, the matter reached me?"
A beautiful woman in a suit sat in her chair with a cigarette between her lips. She was Saikyo Nene's friend and rival, as well as Hagun Academy's current director—Shinguuji Kurono.
She supported her chin with one hand and looked at the two people before her with great interest. Kurogane Ikki, who had been called in as Shiro's witness, stood nervously to the side.
After being summoned by Shiro and hearing the whole story, Ikki was immediately shocked beyond words. Seeing someone else's body and then trying to have the other party arrested afterward was an act that truly broadened his horizons.
"Heh. I didn't expect to meet a pervert right after arriving in this country. I almost started hating this country from the bottom of my heart."
The girl glared resentfully at Shiro with reddened eyes, while Shiro, now wearing Hagun Academy's black-and-white uniform, looked completely innocent.
After hearing the girl speak, Shiro froze.
"Wait, you're a foreigner?"
"Have you finally realized how serious your crime is?"
When Shiro saw her face, he had faintly felt that she was probably a foreign student who had come to Hagun, but he had not expected that to actually be the case.
Then wouldn't that mean—
"Doesn't that mean she has diplomatic immunity and I can't send her in? Damn it..."
Forget Ikki. Even Kurono's mouth fell open after hearing that outrageous remark.
Why was he still thinking about sending her to prison even at this point?
"Cough."
Kurono extinguished her cigarette and lightly cleared her throat.
"Shiro, do you know the girl standing across from you?"
"Am I supposed to know her?"
"She is the second princess of the Vermillion Empire, Stella Vermillion. The legendary genius knight said to appear once every ten years, and also the magic knight who entered our school with the second-highest score in history. In other words, you can't accuse her."
The second princess of the Vermillion Empire.
Before leaving Torajirou Nangou's place, Shiro had once heard that title from him. Back then, he had even joked with the old man about how there was no way he would just happen to run into some country's princess by going to school.
And yet, he had really run into one.
Shiro could not help looking Stella up and down, trying to see what was so special about her.
However, in Stella's eyes, that gaze carried a completely different meaning.
She hugged her chest with one hand and turned sideways to avoid Shiro's gaze, then pointed at him with her other hand.
"Director! This pervert is definitely imagining the scene from this morning in his head! Just being looked at by him already makes me feel physically uncomfortable!"
"So what do you want him to do?"
"If he kneels and apologizes, I can show the generosity of a princess. He only needs to commit seppuku in apology!"
Stella proudly raised her chin, as if asking him to commit seppuku already counted as mercy in her eyes.
Seeing Stella's firm attitude, Shiro sighed.
It seemed he could not rely on pushing the blame onto the other party and letting the matter pass.
And so, he looked at the true culprit behind this farce.
"So, Director, why did you arrange for Stella and me to share the same dorm room?"
"Eh?"
Stella's little head failed to process that for a moment.
What did this have to do with the director?
Shiro could only continue explaining.
"There were no signs of the door being broken, and the bed inside was a bunk bed. That means it was originally a two-person dorm room. The only people who could freely enter and leave the room would be the people living there."
He paused and looked toward Kurono.
"And aside from this academy's director, I don't think an ordinary staff member would dare arrange a princess's lodging like this."
The moment those words came out, Stella and Ikki both looked toward Kurono in disbelief.
From the very beginning, she had known the whole story and chosen to watch the show.
So the one with the thick brows and big eyes was actually the real villain all along. No wonder she had looked like she was holding back laughter from the start.
"Hagun Academy's dormitories have always had two people per room. After becoming director, I carried out a reform. I believe that regardless of gender, as long as people of similar strength live together, it can better stimulate your potential."
Kurono half-covered her mouth and spoke.
"So, what do you think? Are you satisfied with that reason?"
"No, if anything, I think you're the one who should commit seppuku now, Director..."
Arranging another country's princess and an adolescent boy into the same dorm room—was she really not afraid of causing an international scandal?
As expected, anyone who could hang around with Nene could not possibly be a normal, decent person.
Ikki, on the other hand, read something from the director's words.
Stella was the legendary genius knight said to appear once every ten years. She was also the person currently known within the League to possess the highest magic power.
Then Shiro, who had been assigned as her roommate, was he weaker than her—or stronger?
"In any case, I can't understand this! Even if you arrange people of similar strength to live together, boys and girls should still be separated, right?! What if something irreversible happens while two people are living together?!"
Stella slammed both hands hard onto the director's desk and shouted at Kurono.
Unexpectedly, Kurono seemed to have predicted that Stella would react like this.
She took another cigarette from the box, placed it between her lips, lit it, and breathed out a smoke ring.
"Oh? What exactly do you mean by an irreversible mistake? Could you explain it to me, Stella-san?"
"Ugh... Th-That's... um..."
The girl's face instantly turned into a steam engine.
Her shame transformed into a noose around her throat, making her unable to say anything in rebuttal.
At that moment, Kurono suddenly changed the direction of the conversation.
"Besides, I would like to separate boys and girls too, you know. But you must understand that one of the necessary conditions for achieving this policy is that the two people must be evenly matched in strength."
She looked at Stella calmly.
"Think about it. How many girls in our academy are close to your level? On top of that, some of them already have roommates, so you can only be paired with someone among the new students."
"Hah? Are you saying this pervert beside me has about the same strength as me?"
"I need to correct one mistake in what you just said. It is not because Shiro's strength is about the same as yours. It is because we judged that among the new students, you are the one closest to him in strength, so we arranged for you two to share a dorm."
As she spoke, Kurono opened a drawer in her desk and took out a document, then handed it to Stella.
"Look for yourself, Stella. This is the data the League sent over overnight."
Stella took the file somewhat unwillingly.
She wanted to see just how strong Shiro was for Kurono to praise him like this.
Ikki also leaned over curiously.
But the moment the two of them saw Shiro's Blazer rank, their breathing stopped.
Those six glaring As firmly seized their eyes.
"By the way, the world record you previously held for magic capacity was broken last night. And the person who broke it is that pervert standing right in front of you."
Kurono seemed to feel that this was still not enough, so she threw out even more information about Shiro one after another.
"Aside from magic power, his physical ability is also unheard of within the League. At the same time, he is also the disciple that the [God of War] took in many years ago."
Only then did the two raise their heads, looking almost dazedly at the man before them who had remained composed ever since entering the director's office.
…
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