Clink. Clink. Clink.
While I make my way out of the main school building, I focus on the sound of my footsteps to try and contain my emotions.
Calm down Seraphina.
A true noble shouldn't let her feelings show. During this first month at the academy I have put my everything into studying and with the first of the monthly exams already over, I'm confident in my performance.
By my estimates at most I should only lose 2-3 points on essay questions, but even that depends on the teacher. For everything else it should be a perfect score.
With this I must have caught up to and even overtaken Lucy. She didn't earn a perfect mark on the entrance exam either so it's not like she doesn't make any mistakes at all. It should be okay.
I internally tell myself but it's really hard to keep my feet from speeding up my pace. I'm almost there, I can already see some students gathering around the results board. I steady my heartbeat and walk up to it.
"...! It's Lady Lazarius. You idiot, make way."
"Ah, it's really her."
I can hear some hushed whispers around me as a few students stand aside to make way for me. Usually it would cause me a bit of a headache getting treated like this, but now I don't care about that. I just want to see the results.
Ah, there it is. And it says…
1st place: Seraphina Lazarius - 99 points.
…
…
…! I… I really did it?!
I read the first line over and over, but its contents remain unchanged.
"Ha… haha… ahem."
I quickly open up my fan to cover my mouth. I just can't stop the grin forming on my face due to my excitement. I even accidentally let out a weird laugh there. Normally I'd never let my feelings show so obviously in front of others and I really hope nobody noticed it, but right now I don't really care about it at all.
I lower my gaze to see the other rankings:
2nd place: Arthur Valerion - 96 points.
Huh, so this time even he beat Lucy. Hm, it's a bit disappointing that it wasn't such a close match as I thought it was going to be. I was kind of worried for nothing. But anyway, so she must have come in third then.
3rd place: Edward Baxter - 95 points.
…
…Huh? It's not her?
This is really confusing. I move my eyes downwards. 4th place, 5th place, 6th… Lucy's name doesn't appear.
What is happening here? The smile on my face fades away and the lower my gaze falls, the heavier my frown gets. 10th, 20th, 30th. I still haven't found her name.
"Move." I coldly tell a random student blocking my view of the lower placements.
"Ah! O-of course, I apologize."
I continue my search. There are about 400 students in our grade so the list of names is quite long, but in the end I don't have to go that far…
47th place: Lucy Castille - 70 points.
…
…
This is…
What kind of bad joke is this?!
I tightly clench my fists, barely able to contain my anger.
Is this really the same person who easily took my position at the entrance exam?
"L-Lady Lazarius, are you o-okay?"
"Hmph."
I glare at one of the nobles who suddenly calls out to me. I'm really not in the mood to adhere to etiquette so I just ignore them and walk away. At the very least I should deal with this somewhere with not many people nearby.
I start walking in a random direction while trying to gather my thoughts. Did she just cheat at the first exam but then just gave up for the second one? If that is the case, just the thought of it makes me really mad.
Though tests are strictly monitored making cheating really difficult so it's not the most plausible explanation. Then, did she just not take this test seriously? Like, she already achieved her goal at the entrance exam so nothing else mattered to her. Which would…
Make me even more furious. Just swoop in for the most prestigious achievement then just not care about anything else. I wanted that spot. I wanted to make my family name proud in front of the whole school. Yet she just took that from me…
Haah. No. Thinking clearly about it, that doesn't make sense either. She turned down her class representative role for some reason, so she didn't even get any recognition for it. Then why? Why did it turn out like this? It's all so infuriating.
"Hahaha! Look at her face."
"It's hilarious! Bring it closer! Closer!"
"Pfft. Some noble she is."
While I'm barely stopping myself from pulling out my hair out of frustration, suddenly a cacophony of high pitched voices assault my ears.
"Tch."
I really don't want to deal with anyone else right now, but I still move my eyes in the direction of the voices and I see a group of noble ladies gathered around another student on the ground.
I want to just ignore them, but one of the girls is waving a magical flame dangerously close to the student on the ground. Seriously, and they dare call themselves nobles too.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"
In my already agitated state, I find it really hard to hold back while calling out to them.
"Who dares speak to Milady like tha-"
"...!"
"L-lady Lazarius Why a-are you here?"
It seems like my words were a bit too harsh as all of them immediately flinch and take a step back when they notice me.
"Haah. I'm sure you know that assaulting a fellow student on school grounds usually results in expulsion, right?"
"...! A-assaulting? We were only testing a spell together. Something like this doesn't deserve Lady Lazarius's attention…" One of them, who seems to be the leader of this group says.
"Just… get out of my sight."
"Y-yes, of course. Thank you for your understanding. Come on, it's time to leave."
In just a few moments all of them disappear, like suddenly shining a light on a group of insects. Usually I'd give them a lecture about how their behaviour is unfitting for nobility, but now I can't even be bothered to find out their names or which family they belonged to.
However, even after all the bullies are gone, the student on the ground still remains motionless.
"...You should also leave and if something like this happens again you should-...Huh?"
Until now I haven't paid much attention to this one as I was focused on the other girls surrounding her, but when I turn to address her, her appearance enters my vision.
Beautiful golden hair, blue eyes that are now framed by a pair of glasses. Even with the slight change, I immediately recognise her as Lucy and the anger I pushed down earlier is once again threatening to spill out.
"You… Good timing. I really want to talk to you about something. What were you thinking, achieving such a low score? Do you take me for a fool, huh? I wanted to take back the first place fairly, but you didn't even try at all this time. So what's even the point of me wasting so much time preparing? Do you have any explanation?"
"..."
"Hey, are you even listening to me?"
I already let out too much anger when posing my question, but even then she just answered me with complete silence, like she doesn't even acknowledge my presence, which really makes my blood boil.
Her face is covered by her hair and I can't see her expression so I roughly reach out and lift her head to force her to look at me.
"...! W-wait. Are you okay? Hello?"
But as I look into her eyes, all my anger vanishes. Her gaze is completely unfocused, her face entirely drained of color and she seems to be muttering something. Her whole body is shaking slightly and her hand is ice cold.
In my hasty approach I didn't notice any of these signs, but this seems serious. Even as I wave my hand in front of her face, she doesn't seem to register it. So it's not that she's ignoring me, but she doesn't even know I'm here.
Did something else happen to her before I got here? If those girls were just threatening her with that spell I don't think she'd be in this bad of a condition. Or does she just get scared easily? But to be in this state…
I shake my head.
None of that matters right now. Even if I have a lot to say to her it can wait for later. First I should get her to be treated.
"Can you stand? Here, hold onto me."
Even though she doesn't seem to notice me, thankfully when I try to help her stand up, her body follows my guidance. So at least I don't need to pick her up and carry her, I can just lead her to the infirmary while she's leaning on me.
…
It seems like most students are preoccupied with the exam score announcement so we didn't run into any other people on the way. And thankfully I still remember where the infirmary is from the orientation on the first day.
So we arrive at its doors shortly and glancing at her, Lucy still seems completely out of it, which makes me a bit worried. But I shake my head and open the door.
"Excuse me, is the nurse here?" I call out into the silent room.
"...Ugh, what is it this time?"
A moment later a tired voice asks and a woman, probably near her thirties walks into the office from a side room. She has a mature air to her and if not for her somewhat unkempt appearance with messy short hair and deep bags under her eyes, she could easily fit in among all the beautiful noble ladies I've seen before at balls.
"Oh, um. She isn't feeling well…"
"Tch, again? Haah, I'll take it from here."
She says and helps Lucy lie down on a nearby bed, then she places her hand over her forehead and I can feel a faint, familiar flow of magic from her.
Though this warm and calming sensation is unlike any magic I've felt before. Even though I can only sense the remnants of the mana since I'm not the focus of the spell, it still has a really distinct feeling to it. Like it can soothe away my negative emotions and clear my head.
So this is light magic. I can see why it's so sought after even though it's the rarest attribute of them all.
She did all of this in one smooth motion, like she's done this a lot of times before. And soon only the sound of Lucy's rhythmic breathing fills the room, having fallen into a deep slumber.
I quickly snap out of it as well and bring myself to ask something that's been on my mind.
"Um, excuse me but what do you mean 'again'? What is wrong with her?"
The nurse looks at me with a disinterested gaze, like she only now noticed that I'm still here. Then she sighs and says:
"Haah. It's none of your business. Did you find her like this?"
"Ah, um yes. Something like that…"
I blurt that out, caught off guard by the question. But then I feel her gaze on me intensify, feeling like she can see straight through me.
Should I have gone into more detail? But I don't even remember what those girls looked like or who they were.
"...Whatever. At least you brought her here."
But then she just rolls her eyes and the atmosphere instantly becomes less hostile. I don't like to admit it, but for a nurse, she has quite a presence. Just who is she? I don't think she ever introduced herself.
"If there's nothing else, you can just leave. The break is going to be over soon."
However, she makes it clear that she isn't in a talking mood. But before I leave, my eyes wander to the girl sleeping peacefully nearby.
"Is she… going to be alright?"
"Knowing her she's probably going to be back in class in an hour or two. So just go, it's easier to rest when it's quiet."
"...Then if you'll excuse me."
I exit the way I came while lost in thought. None of my questions got answered and I'm just more confused than before. But seeing her in that state, I guess I can at least wait until she can explain things herself. Most of my anger has disappeared by now anyway.
"...Ah."
I didn't notice it on the way in, but this entrance of the nurse's office is decorated by a lot of beautiful flowers on both sides.
Hm, they look like they're in full bloom. I wouldn't expect that nurse to be the type to take care of flowers, especially to this extent. But I don't remember seeing them during the first day orientation.
Now that I think about it, there were a lot of flowers in the infirmary as well…