Chapter 429 – Student Dormitory.

“Lucienne! What happened, you were gone for a whole day! The teachers wouldn’t tell me where you were!”

“Margaret, please calm down, I can’t breathe…”

“Oh my, silly me~”

Margaret released Lucienne from her tight embrace, her eyes filled with genuine concern. Lucienne, although slightly annoyed by the suffocating hug, couldn’t help but appreciate Margaret’s genuine worry. The other two girls in the room moved closer as they were quite curious as to where their friend had wandered off to.

“Luci, are you okay? What happened?”

A girl with large gray ears resembling those of a wolf asked. She wore the school uniform, similar to Lucienne and the others, with a cutout for her large bushy gray tail. In addition to these features and longer nails, she also had characteristic yellow eyes, common among many wolven species.

“I’m fine Ata. Nothing happened.”

“Well something had to happen, you were gone for so long, was it that vile Viola again?”

Asked the third girl, her features were more common compared to the wolven girl. She had long straw-colored braided hair, freckles scattered across her face, and big circular glasses that enlarged her brown irises slightly. The two girls continued asking the same questions that Margaret had, prompting a reaction from her this time around.

“Hey, Atasuna, Marlein calm yourselves! Lucienne will speak when she wants to!”

Lucienne sighed, trying to calm her friends down.

“It’s a long story, and I’ll tell you all about it. But first, let me breathe a bit, and we can sit down.”

The four girls settled into a circle, with Lucienne taking a moment to gather her thoughts before recounting the events of the past day. She shared the story of Viola’s plot, the unauthorized expedition, and the subsequent hearing. As she spoke, the room’s atmosphere shifted from concern to disbelief and anger.

“That’s outrageous! How could they blame you for something Viola orchestrated?”

Margaret exclaimed, her fists clenched in frustration.

“That’s not fair at all. We need to do something about it.”

Atasuna declared, her wolf-like ears twitching in frustration.

“We better not, Viola and her house are well-connected; they can bend the rules to their liking,”

Marlein explained while lifting her big glasses slightly, her expression indicating disappointment.

“Well, I don’t want to make things worse and she has been punished already. She won’t be attending classes for the next two months and that Knight of hers had been banned from the Institute.”

Lucienne let out another sigh while glancing in Margaret’s direction. She knew that her friend had a more fiery personality. The two had met at the middle dormitory, and she feared that if Margaret did something to antagonize the high-nobles, she too would be sent to this lesser dormitory where she had encountered her two new friends and roommates.

“Though, that is surprising… Who was that Enforcer? He wasn’t afraid to go against a Castellane and even defeated that powerful Knight.”

Margaret changed the subject, and the girls focused on the other prominent person involved in this incident, the new Assistant Professor named Wayland. He was probably single-handedly responsible for the punishment of their biggest enemy, Viola. Considering that he wasn’t afraid of confronting her, it was plausible that he had some strong backing.

“Do you know who he is?”

“He… seemed like a good person, I don’t really know much about him but it felt like I could trust him…”

The other girls in the room noticed that Lucienne’s face showcased a smile after she started talking about the new enforcer. She brought up how he even gave her some delicious food and helped her regain some of her stamina with an unknown spell.

“If Luci says that he is trustworthy, then it’s probably true.”

The girls started nodding, knowing that their friend had a certain sixth sense when it came to measuring people’s true inclinations. All of them smiled at each other, relieved that the incident had a good resolution. However, their smiles disappeared instantly as they spotted a strange person looking at them from a distance. The door was open, but they hadn’t noticed that someone had appeared there.

“W-who are you?” asked Margaret.

“Hide behind me, Marlein and Lucienne!”

Said Atasuna, who started growling like a wolf. Marlein seemed slightly frightened, while Lucienne quickly moved forward to calm everyone down. It seemed that the girls identified her savior as a suspicious person who had somehow sneaked into the dormitory. Some of them were even going for a few of their artifact items that could produce magical effects quickly.

“Um, Assistant Professor Wayland, what brings you here?”

A man stood there, clearly taken aback by the sudden defensive reactions of the girls. It seemed that standing like a statue in the doorway was not the correct approach. While he processed the situation, Lucienne luckily jumped in front of her friends to diffuse the situation. After the name Wayland was mentioned, the expressions that previously showed fear and apprehension turned to curiosity.

“So this is?”

Margaret asked while looking over the strange man. He was quite tall and wearing a peculiar suit of armor under the Enforcement Department robe, making him appear like a powerful knight ready for war at any moment. Soon, from within the scary appearance, a magically altered voice that sounded quite imposing resounded.

“My apologies for startling you. I’m the new Assistant Professor.I won’t take much of your time. Lady Lucienne I wish for you to have this… ”

“Ah yes? Was there something more?”

Lucienne seemed startled but also curious about the thing that Assistant Professor Wayland wanted to give her. The other three girls remained silent, recognizing the presence of someone impactful. This was the man who had gone against Viola Castellane and defeated her powerful bodyguard in single combat.

Their eyes soon bulged as a strange magical occurrence took place before them. The armor he was wearing under the robe started glowing for a moment. Then, soon after, a strange bulge appeared in the middle of his chest, moving up towards his shoulder and traveling down his arm. Out of the robe sleeve emerged a mechanical spider that caused everyone, besides Lucienne, to jump back in fright.

“Ack!”

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“Eeek!”

“W-what is that thing!”

“… My apologies for startling you…”

The man replied, looking at the girls who had run all the way towards the dorm room wall. The metallic spider that he was holding crawled onto the palm of his hand, and for some reason, their friend Lucienne approached it without a care in the world.

“Is this the same one?”

“Yes, it needed some repairs but it’s the same golem that helped you at the training ground.”

The moment the man specified that this mechanical creature was a golem, the other girls seemed to relax slightly. In a world filled with various creatures, a metallic-looking spider could easily be mistaken for a type of monster or other suspicious creature. Knowing it was a magical construct like a golem reassured them, alleviating any fears.

“I see that you are confused, let me explain then. Due to the recent events and that hearing, it would be better if you had this golem accompany you. It will inform me, whenever you are in danger.”

“Accompany me?”

“Yes, I wish that it was different but it will be safer this way.”

“Ah, I understand…”

The girls here were around the age of fifteen, with Margaret being a bit older. It didn’t take a genius to realize what the man here was implying. He expected some other incidents to befall Lucienne after the hearing. They all knew that Viola’s influence extended within the Institute, and some other students might try to make life difficult for their friend.

The golemic spider here was meant to keep her safe and inform this Enforcer of any troubles. However, they all didn’t know if they could fully trust this man either, as it could have just been an excuse to place a monitoring device close to their friend. With the true reason for it being something entirely different.