Mistress Ariessa Ricon is currently eating breakfast in bed while starring daggers at the boy sitting across the room. The barefooted hospital-gown wearing boy is currently nursing a black eye, courtesy of a certain female teacher who claims she wasn't fully awake and had mistaken the boy for some monster that had haunted her dreams last night.

Standing next to the boy is a beautiful maid who looks like she has just finished crying. Mistress Ricon could tell by how red her eyes are and the occasional sniffle and sobs that would come from her. The teacher wonders where she has seen the maid before, the beautiful girl with golden pigtails really does look familiar.

The boy who is currently nursing a black eye has been strangely quiet for now. He had gotten too close to Mistress Ricon and had received a mean right hook from the dazed and confused teacher. The punch had the power to throw the boy across the room. Luckily Pigtails Girl was carrying Mistress Ricon’s breakfast (she insisted on it) or else the food would have been strewn all over the floor. The boy wonders why he didn't "see" the punch coming, or why his body didn't move fast enough to avoid it.

The boy theorizes that he didn't "see" the punch coming because at that time Mistress Ricon was between the states of conscious and dreaming. Somehow the teacher had managed to "block out" the boy and made him unable to "read" her when she was in a half-awake/half-asleep mode. The boy feels this needs further investigating. He plans to approach several sleeping girls later on and gauged their reactions to him when he wakes them up.

Another theory the boy has is that deep down his mind had really known the punch was coming (even though the boy wasn't aware of it) and had let him get hit on purpose. The reason is to gain sympathy from the teacher which makes it easier for the boy to ask a favor from her later.

But judging from way Mistress Ricon is looking at him right now, the boy feels like he has miscalculated something somewhere. Maybe he should have come to her room five minutes earlier, or five minutes later. Because currently, the teacher is gnashing her food loudly and roughly while gazing sharply at the boy (looks like she wants to tear up the boy in half as well just like she did to those bread-sticks he brought her). Mistress Ricon doesn't seem to be in a good mood at all. Maybe her nightmare wasn't as nice as he had initially thought.

Even though the boy has his head down and his eyes are trained to the floor (a natural position when a person wants to ask for help. It is definitely DEFINITELY not the pose of someone who has encountered a large predator), his mind is currently wandering the room. The boy knows the room where Mistress Ricon is currently living in is one of the many rooms provided by the Whiteford Academy for her faculty members and staff.

The boy knows underneath the bed Mistress Ricon is sitting on is where the teacher had hid all her dirty clothes and underwears (she has forgotten time and time again to buy a new laundry basket whenever she goes into town.) He knows in the bottom right drawer of the dress cupboard is where Mistress Ricon keeps her chocolate bars hidden (the teacher usually eats them as a treat but today she will devour several of them as a substitute comfort food when she remembers how she shamefully passed out in front of those people, students and faculty members alike, in the north hall).

The boy knows on the Mistress Ricon’s desk there is a popular novel that is all the rage and is being read by female teenagers and young women alike: Legends of the Blooded Blade Princess Volume II. He knows the author Jóhann Edur doesn't really exists and that the real writer had used that pseudonym on a whim. He knows that Mistress Ricon had stopped reading at page 57 two nights ago and that the page mentioned is where she had left her bookmark (a gift given to the teacher by her father, made from the rare purple leaf of a Verchene tree).

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

The boy knows inside the book is filled with various illustration of monsters. Vampires, goblins, orcs, werewolves etc. He knows that if he had stayed in the infirmary quietly last night instead of making a ruckus at the dining hall, Mistress Ricon would have returned to her room where she would continue reading the book until she had fallen asleep.

Just as the boy’s mind is about to wander outside the room to somewhere more interesting, he is brought back to earth by the sound of someone clearing her throat. Its look like Mistress Ricon has begrudgingly finished eating her breakfast.

“How did you get into my room? Don’t tell me you've smashed your way in.”

“The door was unlocked.”

“Yeah, I guess it would be hard for me to lock my own door when I’m already unconscious.”

“I’m really sorry about that.”

“Who carried me here?”

“Two seventh year female students.”

“Did they do anything funny while they were in here?”

“…”

“You can tell me. I won’t punch you again.”

“They kind of rummaged through your drawers and made fun of your childish underwe-OW! I thought you said you wouldn't hit me again!”

“I said I wouldn't punch you again. I never said anything about kicking. Anyway, who’s the girl?”

“Don’t mind her. She’s no one of importance.”

*hic “Master is so mean.”

“Why does she look like her whole family had been massacred by you?”

“It’s just allergies. The pollen tends to wreck havoc on her sinuses.”

*sniffles “Master was so rough and violent.”

“WHAT. DID. YOU. DO?”

“I didn't do shit!”

“You can talk to me, girl. Tell me what did the bad person do to you?”

“How the hell am I the bad guy here?”

*whimpers “He held me and wouldn't let me go even when I beg him to.”

“Show me on the doll where the bad person touched you.”

“Where the hell did that doll come from?”

*sobs “He touched me here.”

“Did the bad person force himself to be on first base with you?”

“There was no first base!”

*weeps “He then made me drink the vile liquid.”

“You know what? I think I hear Headmaster Joss calling for me. I’ll just-“

“You stay right there!”

*cries “I had to swallow it all or else my maid uniform would have been dirty.”

“Actually, there’s a perfectly legitimate explanation for this. But I’m bound by an oath to Pigtails Girl so I can’t reveal it.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to punch you. Hell, I’m not even going to kick you.”

“Really?”

“I’m just going to take this sword right here and use it to vanquish evil.”

"AAIIIEEEEEE!"

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After much blood shedding, the boy manages to convince Mistress Ricon it was all just a big misunderstanding (with a little help from Pigtails Girl of course. But not before the female teacher managed to get a few more stabs in).  He also told her the incident in the courtyard and the attack orchestrated by Master Haithur. Mistress Ricon was skeptical about some of his claims, she just couldn't believe it when the boy said Master Haithur is after his life. But after the events last night, and the weird dream she had this morning, Mistress Ricon is not sure what’s real or what’s possible anymore.

“So what do you need me to do?” Mistress Ricon asks the boy with her arms crossed.

“I need you to be present with me when I meet with Headmaster Joss today.” says the (bleeding beat-up) boy. “I need you to be there when I choose between the lesser of two evils.”