“Ugh… it’s hot!”
Before a male student, stripped to the waist and with his arms bound behind his back, hovered a massive fireball conjured through flame magic. The intense heat scorched his skin before dissipating.
“Alright! That one’s my win,” one boy shouted.
“Don’t be ridiculous! My magic definitely made him scream louder!”
“No way! The scream from my fire magic was much louder! Lord Gariel, whose victory was it?”
“Hm… Jonas’s attempt was louder than Barak’s. This round goes to Jonas,” replied a boy called Gariel. His striking features were calm as he flipped through the book in his hands, responding with apparent disinterest.
“Yes! That settles the score from last time!”
“Damn it! Guess I’m paying today… Hey, it’s your fault!”
“Cough!”
Barak drove his fist into the stomach of the shirtless boy.
“Barak, make sure it’s somewhere it won’t show through his clothes,” Gariel instructed.
“Of course, I understand. Take this! And this!”
“Gah… ugh…”
Barak punched the boy’s stomach repeatedly, leaving behind burn marks and bruises.
“Why… why are you doing this…” the boy groaned.
Another student was also in the room.
Unlike the boy, she wasn’t restrained, but the girl—her school uniform top removed—clutched at her undergarments, trying desperately to cover herself as tears streamed down her face. Her stomach, too, bore bruises and burns.
“Why, you ask…?”
Gariel snapped his book shut and approached the terrified girl, Melia.
“It’s just a game—or perhaps a way to kill time. I don’t care if you’re a special scholarship student or whatever; the thought of filthy commoners attending the same academy as us noble elites is revolting. This is merely a test to see if you’ll endure for three years or drop out on your own.”
“F-for something like that…”
“Ha! At best, commoners exist to entertain us nobles. Go ahead, report us to the teachers like last time. Not that it matters; no one dares oppose the House of Marquis Marseno. Last time was just a slap on the wrist, but next time, I’ll ensure your parents lose their jobs.”
“Eek!”
Without an incantation, Gariel conjured an ice shard about 15 centimeters long and fired it into Melia’s stomach.
“Tsk… the power really drops without a chant. Oh, right—there’s another reason for this. Even commoners like you can serve as magical test subjects. If you don’t like it, leave this academy at once.”
“Ugh…”
Melia crumpled to the ground, clutching her stomach in pain.
“P-please stop…”
“Shut up!”
Jonas punched the boy trying to intervene, eliciting another scream.
“Please… just stop already!”
Rattle, rattle!
As the screams of the boy and girl echoed, the door to the supply room opened.
“Damn it, why is a substitute teacher here?”
“What were Roph and Louis doing as lookouts?”
“…”
Inside the room, supplies were stacked in one corner.
In the center were the injured, shirtless boy and Melia, crying in her undergarments.
I stepped inside, furious at my failure as a teacher for missing Melia’s cry for help yesterday.
“So, it’s Mr. Geek. They were just playing a consensual game, nothing for you to concern yourself with. Please leave.”
Ignoring Gariel, I entered the room.
Snap, snap!
“What? The wounds! And the chains too?!”
“My pain… it’s gone…”
Using magic, I healed the injuries of Bern, a C-Class boy, and Melia, then broke Bern’s restraints.
“Melia, I’m sorry for not noticing sooner.”
“Eh…”
I draped my coat over Melia, who stared at me in shock.
“You heard, didn’t you, Mr. Geek? Tell him, guys—it’s just a game, right?”
“…Y-yes.”
“That’s right, teacher… we agreed to this…” Bern averted his eyes, and Melia sobbed as she spoke.
I knew the truth. These noble brats held their families hostage with threats, a fact I had gleaned from their lookouts.
“We’re just having harmless fun with the commoners. Surely, as a substitute teacher, you know better than to stir up trouble? Now, if you’ll excuse us—”
Wham!
“Lord Gariel!?”
I punched Gariel hard enough to send him flying, scattering the stacked supplies as he landed.
“You… you dare strike me, a noble of the House of Marseno?”
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?!”
“You’ll face execution for raising a hand against a noble!”
“Shut up, you brats! No—you’re worse than brats. You’re vile criminals!”
It’s one thing to disrupt class or flaunt some authority, but abusing magic to commit atrocities? These scum were beyond redemption.
Games? Youthful indiscretion? Don’t make me laugh. In any world, this isn’t bullying—it’s outright crime.
Commoner or marquis, status means nothing. What you’ve done is a heinous assault on human dignity!
