Hey guys. This chapter is a little shorter than usual. It also ends on a bit of a cliffhanger so I'll try to get the next chapter out early. 

“My lady, are you sure that we should just leave his highness like that?” While Marcus and Connor were chatting, Sophia began making her way through the crowd of new students, followed by Evangeline.

“Don’t worry about it Eva. Us GIRLS shouldn’t get in the way of a budding bromance!”

“Er…” Evangeline wasn’t quite sure how to react in this situation.

“Five minutes Eva! It didn’t even take five minutes for those two to go into their own little world and completely forget about us! Fuck! Was I ever this…? Er, anyway!” Sophia took Evangeline’s hand and pulled her even faster through the mob of children. “Hmph! We don’t need them! We’ll use this as an opportunity to have some girl bonding time!”

Sophia chatted with a few of the other kids but they didn’t really have anything interesting to say. Plus, she didn’t like the way that the male servants kept staring at Evangeline.

Damn it! Protecting this girl’s chastity is going to be a full time job!

Just as Sophia was contemplating how badly she could beat someone without getting in trouble, a commotion from nearby drew her attention. A group of children were clustered around something that she couldn’t see.

Out of curiosity, Sophia decided to take a look at what all the fuss was about. To her surprise, when she pushed through the crowd she found two boys engaged in a brawl. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that one boy was brawling while the other one just took a beating.

“Unbelievable! This isn’t even a fight! It’s just bullying, plain and simple! Why isn’t anyone stopping this?!” Sophia didn’t realize that she had spoken out loud until one of the kids next to her answered.

“That punk was the one who started the fight. Besides, why would anyone care about what happens to some ninth tier piece of trash?”

“What?!” Sophia trained her senses on the smaller boy who was getting the crap kicked out of him and discovered that he did indeed have a ninth tier Spirit Realm.

How on earth did this kid even get into South Sea Academy? Sophia wondered. Ninth tier was the bottom of the barrel. Such a person had virtually no chance of ever becoming a real magus. Even an ordinary school generally wouldn’t accept someone with a ninth tier Spirit Realm, much less an elite powerhouse like South Sea Academy.

At first, she suspected that the boy had somehow bribed his way in, but she immediately cast the thought aside. The boy was small and malnourished, and his clothes were of low quality. Forget bribery, this kid didn’t look like he had enough money to eat properly.

“Honestly, this is just pathetic!” the other boy mocked. Now this kid definitely had the bearing of a young master. Clean, healthy, and dressed in the latest fashion. Plus he had that semi-permanent sneer that made Sophia want to beat his face in.

“When you challenged me, I assumed that you had some sort of trump card, but it looks like you’re just an idiot!” The rich boy’s face was contorted into a vicious grin. He was enjoying himself.

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“Shut up!” The smaller boy shouted. Although he was battered, his eyes still shone with fury and indignation.

“Hmph!” the rich boy snorted coldly. “I don’t like the way that you look at me!” He kicked the small boy savagely, sending him sprawling. “A dog should know better than to bark at his master!”

“Stop!” Before the rich boy could attack again, a small girl suddenly ran out in front of him. Her tiny body trembled, but even so, she spread her arms to obstruct the rich boy.

“No sis! Stay out of this!” The small boy hadn’t even flinched when threatened with a beating, but the sight of this girl made him completely terrified.

Ah now it all makes sense. Sophia was finally able to piece together what happened. Most likely, the rich kid had taken an interest in the small boy’s sister, so the small boy challenged him to a duel in order to protect her.

Sweet, but stupid. The rich boy looked to be about twelve, putting him in a completely different class than the smaller boy who couldn’t have been any older than Sophia. Plus, he had definitely done some sort of martial arts training before.

“Heh-heh, well, I suppose that I could forgive your brother as long as you agree to become my concubine!” The rich boy didn’t even try to hide his intentions.

Sophia lip curled in disgust. She never would have imagined that a twelve-year-old kid could have such filthy intentions. Of course, his desire probably had less to do with the girl’s looks and more to do with her fifth tier Spirit Realm.

When she first saw the girl, she could barely believe it. The odds of a fifth tier Spirit Realm appearing outside of noble bloodline were astronomical. Although Sophia herself was considered one such rare case, she was beginning to suspect that her mother’s true origins weren’t as humble as she’d been led to believe. As for this girl, she was a genuine anomaly!

The smaller boy struggled to stand when he heard the rich boy’s ultimatum. “Don’t listen to him sis!” he shouted. He was so angry. Even if he beat the rich kid to death a thousand times, it wouldn’t satisfy him.

“Get lost, trash!” the rich boy couldn’t even be bothered to care about the small boy anymore. The way he saw it, the boy was nothing more than a nuisance, one that was quickly becoming more trouble than he was worth. “If not for your sister’s talent, this school never would have admitted a wretch like you in the first place!”

The rich boy brushed past the small girl in order to deal with her brother. He couldn’t kill him, not with representatives from the academy present, but crippling him likely wouldn’t be a problem. However, it was at this moment that a cool voice drifted over from the spectators.

“That’s enough.”

Sophia had finally made her move.