Lilith chewed on a roasted mushroom from her plate as she sat down next to Malena. “So, how were your politics classes?” she asked.

“You should finish your food before talking,” Malena replied, “But they were okay. We had some debates and had to memorize laws, but we also got to read stories on legal history, which were fun. Also, there were a lot of rankings up on the board for everyone to see. What about you?”

“Same with the rankins,” Lilith said. “Oh! The magic class brought out a bunch of cool machines to test our skills! In math, we solved a bunch of problems, and then the teacher said we should go to advanced classes. But in science we just went over the basics. Apparently we’ll be going into advanced math and science tomorrow though.”

“Advanced classes huh? Sounds nice.” Malena thought about it. “I feel like some of my classes could use basic versions instead. My law teacher threatened to fail a few students if they couldn’t memorize our current laws by next week, and my diplomacy teacher made someone cry in one of our debates. Political history was still nice stories and a few questions on them though.”

“Crying and failing?” Lilith raised an eyebrow. “Are you good over there?”

“Yes.” Malena nodded. “Unlike those students, I actually studied.”

“Oh. Okay then.”

Silene scooted over. “So, are you a politician or something?” she asked Malena.

“I, er, maybe? I’m on the student track for it.”

“Ooh.” Silene leaned in. “Are you royalty?”

“I mean, maybe?” Malena shrugged as she shrank back. “Are you a druid?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Silene smiled.

“Oh, well, okay then.” Malena straightened herself. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Malena.” She held her hand out for a handshake.

Silene smirked, then took the hand and kissed it.

“E— eh?” Malena’s eyes went wide.

“It’s how you greet royalty, is it not?” Silene asked, still holding Malena’s hand.

“N— no. That’s been out of fashion for centuries.” Malena gently yanked her band back.

“It should come back,” Silene said.

Malena started to pick up her tray of food and stand up.

“Silene,” Hana spoke up, lowering her sandwich. “What are you even trying to do?”

“Having fun.” Silene turned. “Why?”

“I see,” Hana said. “Well, maybe you should try something you’re both interested in then, like… oh! How do plants work with society? Cities displace forests but still use them for lumber, and people need farms to live. If Malena becomes the queen of Solis, you could be the pillar of society that ensures everyone has food and shelter. So, Silene, how would you change things if you had Queen Malena by your side?”

“I can’t become queen,” Malena said, sitting back down. “That’s not how things work here.”

“Ooh!” Silene balled her fists in excitement. “Queen Malena! We have to fill the roofs, streets, and buildings with plants! And we have to make sure every farm has at least three different plants per square meter at a minimum!”

“Now hold on,” Malena began. “The plants per square meter would make the farms much harder to take care of, wouldn’t it? So you’d need more farmers?”

“Mhmm.” Silene nodded.

“And putting more plants in the streets and buildings would also need more people and funds to maintain.”

“Yep.” Silene nodded again.

“So we’d have to pull away funds from other things.”

“Worth it,” Silene said.

“No, not worth it.” Malena frowned. “Everyone will hate all the new plants if they’re forced to take care of them like that.”

“Hmm…” Silene frowned. “Okay, I don’t want that.” She took a bite of her mushroom salad, chewed it as she thought, then swallowed. “What if we encourage more people to become bio-mages instead?”

“No, that’s taboo.” Malena shook her head. “Solis once had an abundance of light mages, and the people starved because there weren’t enough bio-mages to keep farms from blighting.”

“Huh? Doesn’t that also mean more bio-mages are a good thing though?” Silene tilted her head. “They should’ve just made more bio-mages.”

“I— uh, no. It’d be an impossible sell, because it’s taboo. Everyone in court would just point to that story and that’d be the end of it,” Malena said. “Also, I think they’d have a point: other magics are important for things like defense, research, and… other things.”

“Bio magic is good for defense and research too,” Silene said.

“Alright, can it make intricate metalworks like Lilith’s heat magic can?”

Lilith turned her head left and right as she followed the argument.

“Art doesn’t feed you.” Silene pointed a fork with a mushroom in it at Malena.

“No, but wood doesn’t make very good armor,” Malena said.

“Hmm.” Silene twirled her fork and ate the mushroom. “You make a good point. Wooden forks aren’t good either… Heat and bio mages can stay then.”

Meanwhile, Lilith scooted over to Hana. “Uh, are you sure that was a good topic?”

Hana nodded. “Yeah, now Malena’s not grossed out and doesn’t want to leave the table.”

“Oh.”

“And Silene’s a little frustrated, but Malena’s enjoying the argument.”

“Really?” Lilith looked at Malena more closely. She could see a bit of a smile on her as she spoke. “Oh yeah, I guess she is.”

“Yeah, she seemed excited when she mentioned her debate class,” Hana said. “So I tried to think of something they could both debate about.”

“You’re perceptive,” Lilith said.

“Well yeah, I’m a telepath.” Hana tried not to laugh.

“Oh yeah! That’s cool magic! What am I thinking then?”

“I’m staying out of that head of yours.” Hana narrowed her eyes.

“Huh? What? Why?” Lilith tilted her head.

Hana looked left and right. “Cut veins.”

Lilith kept her head tilted for a moment, before turning pale and quietly saying, “Well uh, y’know… they deserved it.”

“I know. It’s just… disturbing.”

---

At the same time in the far away town of SlimeFrost, a giant of a man with a lizard tail and spikes running down his spine stood on stage and held a letter up to a gathered crowd.

“This letter!” He called out, “Was addressed to Mister and Misses Smit! However, since they abandoned their property, it and everything in it has been reclaimed! So without further ado, let us read! Maybe it will give us some clues as to where our money went!”

The envelope was already torn open, but he made a hole in the bottom earlier. So he cut the bottom with a claw as if he was opening it for the first time, pulled out the letter, pocketed the envelope, and read, “Dear Mom and Dad, I will be testing into school next Friday. I’m nervous, but I found a great study buddy, Malena, that I think you’d like to meet. And Sebastian’s been a great help too! I know how much he loves money, but he still parted with those gold coins you gave him to buy me study books. I hope I get a scholarship, and I’ve been studying all day and night for it, but whenever I get too worked up, it’s nice to know that I don’t actually need it thanks to you.

“That said, I wouldn’t replace you with all the money in the world! I’d love to see you again soon. I guess I have school though, and you guys have work, so I’ll just have to wait until school lets out in eight months or so.

“Love you, Lilith Smit.”

The man folded the letter back up and threw it into the crowd. “How sweet! But do you know what’s not sweet? All that money she’s talking about is the same money her parents stole from you and me! Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think we’re going to last eight months without repairs, without backup armor, and without backup food. Little Lilith can safely fail to get her scholarship, but if we fail to secure some big prey now… we die!”

He sneered for a moment before hiding it. In reality, Lilith’s parents hadn’t stolen that much.

He remembered coming back and noticing one less bag of gold in his treasury room. He’d chalked it off as an accounting error and almost forgot, until the local blacksmiths were reported missing and one of the hunting families came to him wanting payback for their idiot son’s burnt hand.

The reality was this village was doomed because there were fewer and fewer prey to hunt in the wild, as the human traders told them time and time again. But the villagers just saw that as humans trying to get them to farm and stop their righteous way of life.

The villagers were stupid, and that wouldn’t change as long as they lived. The only choice he had was how they would die: he could let them starve and let them blame him since he was in power, or he could shift their blame.

“So, what do you think!?” He cried. “Should we steal it back!?”

There were a few murmurs throughout the crowd. They sounded unsure.

“I think we should! It’s only fair after all! Let her work for her scholarship!”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

“Yeah!” One of the guys shouted, and then there were a few others. “It’s ours in the first place!”

“Exactly!” The lizard man pointed. “Heck, Little Lilith probably has the money bags right with her! All we have to do is find her school, find her, and take those bags back by force!”

“Yeah!” The crowd roared back.

“This will be a great hunt! So, are you with me!?”

“YEAH!” The crowd roared even louder.

One fox girl, Priscilla, didn’t join in. She felt lost and betrayed, and the more the crowd cheered, the more alone she felt.

Her parents were beside her, cheering for what was probably going to be the death of one of her friends. It felt so… wrong.

And that letter… Lilith was testing into a school outside of SlimeFrost? She felt left behind.

She looked up at the lizard mayor with a frigid gaze.

---

Blissfully unaware of what was going on back home, Lilith walked to her adventure class. She was looking forward to a bit of exercise after all that sitting and eating.

Once she entered the wooden building a bit away from the main school, she was happy to spot Jatte and Ethen standing around in her class, since the desks were all stacked by the walls. “Oh hey!” She waved.

Jatte and Ethen smiled and waved back.

A huge muscular guy with a few sweat stains still on his shirt shoved the door open behind Lilith and walked in.

“Alright class. I’m Blaise.” He walked onto a mat where the teacher’s desk would’ve been. “And you will say ‘here’ when I call out your name.” He pulled out a paper and started going over the names as the students panicked a bit to get into place.

Something about this guy set Lilith off. He didn’t feel right. Whenever she looked at him, she thought of those bandits and of Taro.

“Lilith?” he called.

“Here,” she said, trying to hide the venom from her voice.

He glanced up at her for a moment, then shrugged and moved on.

Lilith tried to calm herself. This was an instructor, not some bandit. She was just being prejudiced. Maybe she could have some fun sparring matches soon, like back home with her old instructor.

“Alright, that’s everyone,” Blaise said. “Now, we’re going to learn the basic martial arts stances first.” He breathed out, and took a fighting stance.

Lilith couldn’t hide her disgust as he started moving into the most basic stances. These were things she learned when she was practically a baby! It was beyond embarrassing.

She stood as the class made their poses. She wondered for a second if she should follow everyone else, but the thought of it was too mortifying.

“You.” Blaise pointed a meaty finger. “Why aren’t you copying?”

Lilith ran up. “Sorry, but I already learned all this. I got into some advanced versions of other classes, so can I do a test or something for this one too?”

“No,” Blaise said.

“Huh?” Lilith blinked.

“Oh yeah, can I do that too?” Jatte dropped her stance and ran up.

“I said no.” Blaise frowned.

“Wait, why not though?” Lilith tilted her head. The thought of staying in this baby level class was starting to annoy her, but she tried to stay polite.

“Because I said so,” he said, subtly shifting himself away from Lilith.

“But…” Jatte frowned. “She’s not going to learn anything if she’s just repeating what she already knows, and neither am I. I like her idea of an advanced class.”

Blaise rolled his eyes. “Right, you want to skip the basics to what interests you. You know, I hate that kinda crap.” He frowned as he watched another student, Ethen, walk up. “Great. Does everyone want an advanced class?”

A few other students raised their hands.

“Fine.” He grimaced. “How about this: if anyone can beat me in a one on one battle, I’ll set up your ‘advanced class’.”

Jatte raised an eyebrow. “If we can beat you in a one on one battle, is there even anything left for you to teach us?”

“Do ya want the advanced class or not?”

Jatte grit her teeth.

Ethen was starting to have a similar look to the one Lilith was trying to hide, glaring up at Blaise.

Blaise glanced at them both, frowning even harder. “Well, let’s go then. The girl with the hat first, since she came up first.” He pulled a blunted metal spear off a nearby rack and held it at the ready.

“Are you serious?” Ethen raised an eyebrow.

Lilith got into her own stance and used her time magic to slow things down for herself, and used her sense magic to see and feel the world in front of her. Electricity was buzzing around her hands in anticipation. The magic teacher said it was good for self defense, so she wanted to try it out! Her mind was straining to keep track of all this magic and she loved it!

“Three two one go!” Blaise said, flustered, and quickly stabbed at Lilith.

Lilith dodged and backhanded the spear away, then charged ahead, grabbed his leg, and pumped her lightning magic in. She may have overdone things in her excitement.

“Gah!” He kicked her off, jumped back, and swung his spear full circle at her.

She jumped forward and thrust her shoulder against the spear’s base, but it still flung her away. It was annoying how giant this guy was. Still, she managed to look with her magic and grab onto a desk behind her before she flew into it.

Blaise jumped back and turned to face her again, speartip aimed at her face. He seemed pretty put off by her... unique smile.

Lilith reached forward and made electricity arc into the spear’s tip.

Blaise saw the spear’s wood burning and smoking, so he grit his teeth and thrust it forward again before it would be useless, but she dodged. Her reaction speed wasn’t normal!

He pulled back his spear and smacked her away the other direction again, then countered the momentum with his other hand and swung the spear at her feet before she could recover.

She jumped over it without looking then jumped at him, grinning madly, her hands crackling with electricity.

Blaise dropped the spear, grabbed her head, and slammed her into the ground.

Lilith realized what happened too late. She couldn’t even move her arms up in time to cushion her blow!

She felt some mana cushioning her head as she was nearing the floor. Thank goodness! She’d hug whoever—

There was a crack when Lilith’s head hit the floor, and she slumped, unconscious.

“Shit,” Ethen swore under his breath.

“Lilith!” Jatte rushed over. “There’s blood! We need to get her to some healers!”

“No!” Blaise yelled. “Let her scars remind her that if she acts like a monster, she’ll get treated like one—” Suddenly, he started grabbing at his throat. Something invisible was choking him.

“Go,” Ethen said to Jatte. “Take her to the nearest healer. As fast as you can!”

Jatte peeled Lilith off the ground with her gravity magic, careful to keep any more blood from coming out, and flew over to the door to the hall.

“You, magical, cheating, bastard!” Blaise choked out, grabbed another spear, and stabbed at Ethen.

The spear bent to one side, then snapped into pieces, but the metal spear tip remained floating in front of Ethen. “If she didn’t dodge, this blunted tip would’ve still killed her,” he said, glaring at it.

Blaise threw a punch at Ethen with all his weight, only for him to dodge and grab the arm. Then Blaise’s wrist twisted in Ethen’s magic until there were snapping and popping sounds.

Ethen frowned, saddened this guy managed harm a decent fighter, and used his weight to pull on the arm and held his other hand towards Blaise’s head.

Blaise fell forward as magic shoved him, but he caught himself with his other arm. Still, he was facing the floor.

Ethen hopped back and then swung his foot right into Blaise’s face, breaking his nose and knocking him back up. This guy didn't deserve an outstretched hand when he was down.

“You bastard!” Blaise held his broken hand against his broken nose and reached for Ethen with his good arm.

The speartip was still floating around Ethen, but suddenly it shot forward and dug into Blaise’s shoulder.

“Gah!” Gritting his teeth, Blaise still stumbled forward and swung his still good arm down.

Ethen crouched as he dodged, spun, and kicked Blaise’s legs out from under him, then he pushed his head into the ground with magic again. He wanted to get him in just the right spot.

Blaise turned and tried to catch himself, but screamed when he shoved his broken wrist against the ground.

Then, while Blaise was struggling, Ethen brought his heel against Blaise’s head, but used magic to soften, then stop the blow.

“I could do what you did to Lilith, but unlike you, I can restrain myself.”

“FUCK YOU!” Blaise scrambled back up, stood, and swung a kick at Ethen.

Ethen followed his training and swung both his elbow and magic against Blaise's shin, but now he was confused. This wasn't the reaction he was expecting.

Blaise’s kick should’ve still sent the kid flying, but instead there was a loud snap as his shin cracked. “Haven DAMNIT!” He yelled in pain and hopped back from Ethen with his good leg. “GO TO HELL YOU STUPID MAGE SON OF A—!” He grasped at his neck again.

“You already lost. I broke your arm and leg. Why are you still fighting?”

Blaise hopped back and pulled another spear from the rack, then threw it at Ethen.

Ethen sidestepped easily, and the spear flipped in midair before flying back, skewering Blaise’s good leg.

Blaise grit his teeth and reached back for another spear with his good arm, but stumbled and fell on the floor.

“Fuck you. Fuck you…”

Ethen walked forward, grabbed Blaise’s good wrist, and twisted it until it snapped. He might as well fully incapacitate him if he was going to keep grabbing spears.

William walked in from the hall. “What in the hell is going on here?” He saw Blaise. “What? Hey! Stop!”

Ethen looked back, then floated up in the air still in his crouching pose and dangled his legs down until they touched the floor. “Oh,” he said with a sad tone, "hey."

“What the fuck do you mean ‘oh hey’? What happened to your teacher?” William backed into the hall.

“Let me explain,” Ethen walked forward. “If you don’t, and run off and try to make this a misunderstanding, I’ll break both your ankles.”

“N— now hold on a second.” William raised his arms in surrender. “I’ll listen, just explain things calmly.”

Ethen nodded. “Well, Lilith wanted a more advanced class.”

William looked around for Lilith, frowning when he didn’t see her.

“But, Blaise here was against it, so he challenged her to a fight.”

He looked back to Blaise. There was a decent puddle of blood under him.

“Alright.” William held up his hand. “Sorry, but let’s carry Blaise to the infirmary while you explain things. He… doesn’t look good.”

“The same infirmary as Lilith?” Ethen asked, his eyes narrowing.

“I see,” William said, shoulder slumping. “No, that’d be a bad idea. There are multiple infirmaries.”

Ethen nodded, then walked back to the unconscious Blaise.

“Class is ending early for all of you today,” William said to the class as he walked over. “We’ll figure things out before tomorrow.”

---

Ethen explained things on the way to the infirmary, and now Blaise was on a bed in restraints with a doctor checking over him. Ethen and William were now talking on nearby chairs.

“Like I said, even his first stab at Lilith could’ve killed her if she didn’t dodge.”

“That doesn’t make any sense though,” William said. “Why would he do that?”

Ethen shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“And why would the adventurer’s guild send him as a teacher?” William asked.

Ethen shrugged again.

William frowned. “Either someone wanted him to attack kids or someone screwed up royally. But it’s not like he can tell us anything yet.”

Ethen just nodded in response.

William sighed. “Guess I’m not going to figure out anything else here.” He stood up and walked to the doctor.

“Excuse me, I’m in the middle of treating the patient.” The doctor looked up. “What is it?”

“Contact me as soon as possible when he wakes up so I can ask him questions. You can ask any of the school officials for the Strategy teacher.” He walked back as the doctor wrote a note. “Ethen, come with me.”

“Where are we going?” Ethen stood.

“You’re going to be suing the adventurer’s guild on behalf of Lilith. She’s unconscious and has no next of kin in Solis, so it should work. That way, we can question the classroom full of witnesses and open up an investigation into the adventurer’s guild. Then maybe we can figure out what the fuck’s going on.”

Ethen nodded and followed.