Rezen Academy

Disciplinary Committee

Date: 23 April 2990

Subject: Suspension Notice – Ian

Dear Ian,

Following recent events and a thorough investigation, it has been determined that your involvement in acts of torture and other inappropriate conduct violates the ethical and behavioral standards of Rezen Academy. As a result, you are hereby suspended for a period of two weeks, effective immediately.

Due to the severity of this case, this suspension will serve as your final warning. Any further infractions of this nature will result in your immediate expulsion from Rezen Academy.

In consideration of your current circumstances, you will be allowed to remain in the academy dormitories during your suspension. However, you are strictly prohibited from using any other academy facilities, with the sole exception of the cafeteria. Violation of these terms will result in additional disciplinary action.

Additionally, a formal hearing will be held this Friday, during which your case will be reviewed by the Disciplinary Committee. You are required to bring a guardian or parent to this hearing. Failure to attend, or failure to bring the required party, will result in further punishment, including the potential extension of your suspension.

We urge you to take this matter seriously and use this time to reflect on your actions.

Sincerely,

Tom Henbery

Head of the Disciplinary Committee

Rezen Academy

Figures.

I thought to myself as I lay on my bed, closing my eyes in contemplation. A day after the combat exercise, I received a strongly worded email from the academy. Well, one might think it was a physical exercise where everyone was using weapons, so getting heavily injured was inevitable, but that doesn’t excuse intentionally committing crimes during said exercise.

Of course, this was part of my plan.

There were four objectives for beating up Silfie back at the dungeon, and my suspension was just one of them. Since there were a few things I had to do outside the academy, missing school for the whole of next week would work to my advantage—both for preparing my plans and for the eventual day of execution that same week. The other benefits of Silfie's torture would reveal themselves in time.

My only other worry now was the requirement to bring a guardian or parent to the hearing. The Dragnoks obviously wouldn’t entertain such a thing, so I’d have to contact some of my old acquaintances. I was still a minor according to the law, so saying, “I’m my own guardian” wasn’t going to cut it.

Sigh. There’s just too much happening at once.

“Dammit. Howw~!?” A voice snapped me from my thoughts, prompting another tired sigh as I turned to my side. A group of students was sitting on the floor in the middle of my room, cross-legged in a makeshift circle. In the middle of them, a few cards were piled up.

Seems like she won again.

“W-well, maybe she’s just very lucky…” Roran tried to explain to the enraged Rin, who was flipping the cards around, trying to find some kind of mark or gimmick on them.

“Lucky? Are you serious? This is the fifth game where she claimed she didn’t know the rules and still won in the first round!” Rin retorted, her face sour as she glared at the girl in question, squinting her eyes.

“You’re using your authority, aren’t you, you little mh—" she suddenly stopped mid-sentence, glancing over her shoulder and looking at me.

You little what? Why did she stop? I wanted to ask but simply smiled in return.

“Well, I doubt anyone can win against her anyway,” Rin muttered, turning away from me and shuffling the cards a few more times.

Is that a taunt? I let out a small chuckle.

Seeing Rin finally calm down a bit, Lily let out a relieved sigh. After I skipped school for the day due to the suspension notice, the four of them suddenly showed up at my room the moment classes were over. I understood Roran and Lily coming by, but I was surprised Rin would still want to see me after what she witnessed in the dungeon.

Her bar for 'too crazy to deal with' seemed to be very high. Of course, Ruby got dragged along with her, and seemed timid at the start but I wasn't sure if it was just her usual self or something else.

After an hour with the uninvited guests, I tried to get them to leave by pointing out they should get out of their uniforms, but a few minutes later, they all came back—wearing casual clothes and carrying a few board games to boot.

“Aren’t you going to play at least one game, Ian?” Roran asked, his voice a bit frustrated. They had played a variety of card games, but no one had won a single round against Lily. I was genuinely impressed by how bad they were at cards, though I wasn’t really one to speak.

Lily is definitely cheating, so maybe that’s why.

“Let him be, it’s not like it will change anything. Master Lily will still win,” Rin said in a scornful tone, causing a wry smile from Lily as she muttered under her breath.

“Master?” she echoed, looking at me as if I were somehow responsible for Rin’s behavior. I simply shrugged, then looked back at Rin as I spoke.

“I don’t play for free,” I said, gauging Rin’s reaction, but she simply smiled, crawling closer to Lily and locking her arm around hers, causing Lily to look uncomfortable.

“We don’t play for free either. Master will match any price you throw at us, right?” she said, putting Lily on the spot as Lily froze.

“Ehm, well…” Lily looked up at me, as if asking if I would mind playing. I closed my eyes, pretending to think, before responding.

“Well, if you insist. Let’s see… We can start with 100 million each, and the winner takes all,” I said, causing Rin’s face to sour as she gave me a bored look, as if asking 'Really?'.

“You could’ve just said you don’t want to play,” she shot back, moving away from Lily and turning her attention away from me.

Well, I wasn’t joking. If she could’ve presented that much money right here and now, I wouldn’t have minded playing.

“I don’t really like playing cards, but if you’re interested in playing against me, it would have to be a game none of us have ever played,” I explained, causing Rin to tilt her head in curiosity.

This might be a good learning opportunity.

Ever since returning from [Golem’s Nest] yesterday, we hadn’t really sat down as a team to reflect on what happened, largely due to my sudden suspension. Because of that, I hadn’t been able to guide them properly.

“How would that even work? How would we know if someone has never played it?” Rin shot back, confused. It was a valid question, as a person could easily lie about never having played the game to gain an advantage.

“That’s because it has to be a game made up on the spot. Let’s see...” I tapped my wristwatch, checking the time.

It's almost time. After confirming, I continued,

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Unlike you all, I actually have guests coming in the next few minutes. I'm sure you’re familiar with them—Precious from Class A and the Fifth Prince from Class B will be entering this room within the next 20 minutes,” I explained.

“So?” Rin retorted, and the others seemed confused. It might have sounded like I was trying to chase them away, but this was actually part of the ‘game.’

“How about we play a guessing game? Since there are five of us, each person will create one question to ask about the two individuals coming to my room. All of us, including the questioner, will try to guess the answer. The question can be anything, like ‘Will Liam come wearing casual clothes?’ or ‘Who will step into this room first?’ or ‘Will they text before entering?’ Any question you can think of, and the rest of us will try to answer it,” I explained while operating my wristwatch. At the same time, all their wristwatches vibrated, producing a holographic screen in front of them as they looked on.

“A new group chat,” Roran muttered, scrolling through the list of people I had added.

“Yeah, we’ll all send our answers there. But only hit send after writing all your answers for the five questions,” I clarified. Everyone seemed to think it through for a bit. It was a pretty straightforward game: one person poses a question, everyone attempts to answer, repeat for everyone, and when the guests arrive, we confirm the answers.

“Can the question be about anything as long as it’s about those two?” Rin asked, still thinking it over.

I shook my head. “It can be anything, but it has to be something that could potentially change within the next 20 minutes before they arrive. So, you can’t ask us to guess Liam’s birthday since it’s not something he can change in that time. And obviously, it has to be something that can be proven immediately after they walk in. You can’t ask us to guess something that would require us to make calls or leave this room to prove it. Just focus on something that can be confirmed right away,” I explained. Everyone seemed to consider this.

It eliminated unnecessary questions that required prior knowledge about the individuals, ensuring that even Lily, who already knew Precious, would still be on equal footing with the rest. Since I had made it up on the spot, there were still a few things to refine, but as a pastime, it was good enough.

“Sounds like an easy guessing game,” Roran commented, and I nodded in agreement. The rules weren’t too complicated, but what I said next would make the game a little more interesting.

“Let’s add another rule to counter any questions that slip through the validity filter. The main rule is that questions must be something that can be proven within the next 20 minutes; otherwise, they’re invalid. But there’s one exception. For example, if someone asks, ‘What will Liam’s hair color be when he enters the room?’ it would be valid according to the rules. But what if Liam arrives bald? Since the question depends on him having hair, then everyone’s answer would be wrong. To counter this, if you think a question might lead to an invalid answer, you should leave it blank, which will count as the correct answer if the question is later proven invalid. Unlike valid questions, though, leaving it blank will earn two points instead of one,” I explained in detail and Rin was the first to let out a smile, nodding as she caught on to the implications of the rule.

“I see,” she muttered under her breath.

“I don’t really get it,” Roran admitted, and before I could answer, Rin spoke up.

“To use Ian’s example, if I asked what Liam’s hair color will be and your answer is ‘blonde,’ but Ruby leaves it blank, and Liam comes in bald, then the question becomes invalid. Ruby would get two points for leaving it blank, and you’d get zero for the wrong answer. But if he has blonde hair, you’d get one point for being correct,” she explained, and Roran nodded in understanding.

This rule added a new layer of unpredictability to the game: players could ask questions that passed the validity filter but could later be invalidated, ensuring everyone would get the answer wrong while the questioner, if they left it blank, would gain two points. However, it was a gamble. If the questioner was wrong, they would also lose a point for their own question.

Rules for a Valid Question:

1. The question must be something that can logically change within the next 20 minutes; otherwise, it will not be accepted. (This is the first validity filter - majority rule + reasonable objection against question.)

2. The question must be something that can be proven within the next 20 minutes.

Rules for an Invalid Question:

If a question is initially accepted as valid or passes the validity filter but is later found to be either:

1. A question that cannot be proven within the 20-minute time frame, or

2. A question that will always lead to an incorrect answer—meaning that any logical answer would inherently be wrong due to the nature of the question,

then the question becomes invalid. In such cases, the only correct response is to leave the answer blank.

Scoring:

- A correct answer to a valid question = 1 point.

- A correct answer to an invalid question (leaving it blank) = 2 points.

-An incorrect answer to a valid or invalid question = -1 point.

“Anyone want to start?” I asked, breaking the silence as everyone looked at each other. The rules sounded complicated at first, but in reality, they were simple and straightforward.

“I guess I'll go first,” Roran said, placing a hand on his chin as if in deep thought. The rest of us were thinking up our own questions while waiting for him to speak, so we didn’t even try to rush him.

“Ah, alright, I have one. Just to be sure, Precious is a girl, right?” Roran finally asked, looking at me for confirmation, and I simply nodded. I could see the looks of pity from the girls in the room, but I kept quiet.

“Okay, then this is a good one. How about we guess if she’ll be wearing a skirt or pants when she arrives? Is that against the rules?” he asked, and I couldn’t help but smile.

“No, I think it’s fine. Does everyone agree?” I said, glancing at the others, and they all nodded.

“It’s surprisingly clever coming from you,” Rin said, causing Roran to smile brightly as he shot back.

“Well, I guess it’s pretty good,” he said, rubbing the back of his head, completely basking in the compliment. It was indeed a good question, but also straightforward, which didn’t make it any easier.

It was currently 18:03, so everyone, including students doing extracurricular activities, would already be at their dorms by now, but…

“Lily, is Precious in any clubs?” I asked, shooting a question at Lily. She looked up at me as she answered.

“No,” she said, going back to her screen and tapping it a few times, likely typing out her answer.

“Does she do afternoon training after school?” Rin chimed in, looking at her curiously.

“No,” she said, causing Rin to squint her eyes suspiciously before giving me a glance. I met her gaze without changing my expression, but she seemed to pick up on something.

That’s right—she’s not obligated to tell the truth.

If it’s to win, making your opponents dig their own graves is a valid strategy. After realizing this, Rin didn’t ask any more questions and simply typed in her answer after thinking for a while.

There were three possible outcomes for this.

To make an accurate guess, one had to first determine whether or not Precious would still be wearing her school uniform at this time, which would automatically mean she was wearing a skirt, as per the school dress code.

In the case of afternoon training, she might be wearing shorts, making pants the correct answer. But would she really be training today?

A day had passed since the incident at [Golem’s Nest], and the doctor only arrived today. That means any non-serious injuries from the battle would have been healed by now, and as most doctors would advise, you wouldn’t want to strain your body immediately after healing. So, training seemed unlikely. Of course, there was always a chance she might disregard this advice and hit the gym anyway. However, Precious didn’t strike me as someone who would value 'hard work' over taking care of her well-being. That didn’t mean the chances were zero, but they were pretty low.

I don’t really know much about her.

As for the other possibilities, depending on how strenuous her training was, she might want to change into her casual clothes if she did some afternoon training. The fifth prince would also be at the meeting, and I doubted she’d want to show up sweaty and untidy—a bad image for a noble’s daughter. This brings us to the possibility of casual clothes.

Whether she changed after training or right after school (no training), this scenario added an interesting layer to Roran's question.

Precious was a noble, and it was likely she would wear a dress, especially for any type of meeting, formal or informal. This could eliminate both the school uniform and training clothes, leaving casual attire as the most likely option — meaning that the answer is neither skirt nor pants.

The chances of her wearing a skirt depended on whether or not she would choose to wear her uniform to the meeting. The chance of her wearing pants depended on whether she went to training, which seemed unlikely, but even if she had, she would probably have changed out of her training shorts before arriving. Based on all this, it seemed more likely that she would show up in casual clothes.

If I had to represent this as probabilities, I’d say:

Casual clothing: 50% chance

Skirt: 30% chance

Pants: 20% chance

So, leaving the answer blank would probably be the best option here.

A simple guessing game, huh?

I thought to myself as I typed out my answer with a smile.