Chapter 16: 2

Savage Fang – Volume 2 Chapter 2: Authority

“Thank you so much, Miss Mylene! Your explanations were very helpful! I think I’m finally beginning to understand the lessons!”

“Not at all; it was helpful as a review for me as well. If you need any other help, please feel free to come see me again.”

I smiled as I casually waved goodbye to the female student, who vigorously waved back her own farewell with gratitude.

It was getting late into the night, and the dorm common room was now practically empty. I stretched out my tired arms, but not so much that it was improper and unladylike.

I only just now realized it was getting close to lights out; helping my classmate with their magic studies had taken until now — meaning I’d been acting perfectly ladylike this entire time! I’d really grown into my new lot in life, if I do say so myself.

…Well, it wasn’t like I was doing this on a whim or out of kindness.

Rare exceptions aside, the students attending the Zelfoir Academy of Magic are all children of nobility

Wanting them to feel indebted to me was… a bit of an exaggeration. Rather, I was hoping that if I left them with a positive impression of me, it could come back as a useful connection in the future.

…Well, at the very least, it was like I told that girl: this was also a helpful way to review the materials.

For example, the first-year curriculum for magic consisted of basic principles and fundamentals. I was already familiar with most of it due to my self-studying before coming to the Academy, but there were also some things I had unknowingly skipped over.

So there was still lessons I could learn from, and teaching others this material I was learning helped me with memorizing it.

And so eventually other students coming to me for help in their studies had become a common evening event.

Not to mention being able to spend more time getting used to being a proper ‘young lady’.

I looked around the common room once again; very few people remained.

“…”

A certain someone that should’ve been here hadn’t shown up tonight. I sighed in exasperation as I folded my arms together.

That someone was Colette; I had yet to see her since she left training earlier today.

And now, I began to regret not pressing her harder for what she was going off to do. If it was something she didn’t want to tell us, and it had to do with those Gods of the Moon guys, then…

“Tch…”

I clicked my tongue by reflex.

I did it without thinking — I was still in the common room after all, where people usually gathered. Fortunately, it seemed there had been no one around to catch me.

Though, even if someone were to ask me, I would just act as usual and convince them that they had misheard some noise, but… I couldn’t as easily ease the worry that grew in my heart.

I really should’ve gone looking for her before it’s gotten this late; I wouldn’t be comfortable going to sleep without knowing whether Colette had returned.

So there was really only one thing I could do: I would have to go searching for her myself, after everyone else was fast asleep.

I let out a tired sigh before standing. I began making my way back to my room.

In the women’s (and men’s too, apparently) dormitory at the Academy, there were two students to a room. This was because the students themselves were the nobility of different countries; the Academy intended for roommates to monitor each others’ activities so as to reduce the number of conflicts or issues that might occur.

But really, it wasn’t a very effective deterrent, and it was actually pretty common for the occasional problem to come up — with the roommate’s excuse being something flimsy, like having spent a longer time than usual in the bathroom.

Though this kind of thing was only possible for roommates on good terms with each other, of course.

In other words, this was another ‘positive impression’ I had to make, just like with the other students.

And I should have no problems on that end, having established rapport with my roommate, a red-haired girl named Holly.

Although she was in a different class, Holly was a nice girl, and the two of us got along just fine. More importantly…

Once I explained what was going on this time, I was sure Holly would be willing to help.

“Ugh, she’s getting to be a real pain… or, wait, maybe I’m the one making it my problem?”

After making sure there was nobody else around, I muttered my thoughts aloud as I walked toward my room.

There wasn’t any sign that it was related to that incident, so why did I feel so irritated over not seeing her?

If the previous ‘me’ saw how I was acting, he’d probably be sick to his stomach.

I snorted in self-derision as I arrived at the door to my room. But as I put my hand on the doorknob, I could feel the color drain from my face.

Something was inside — something that wasn’t my roommate Holly.

“…”

It couldn’t be that… I was the target?

Then what about Colette? And what happened to Holly?

I suppressed my magic as much as I could and flung open the door!

“Mylene!”

Right as I dashed in, something leapt at me, calling my name.

I knew it — it was those Gods of the Moon bastards after all! I channeled magical power into my fists, and then my eyes saw…

“Wha– Colette?!”

…the very same friend that had been missing since earlier in the afternoon.

Her unexpected appearance caught me completely off guard, and Colette caught me in a close embrace.

“H-hey, what the? Where the hell have you been?! Why are you even here?!”

“Yep! Just the usual Mylene! There have not been many opportunities for us to be together like this, so I have been feeling quite lonely lately.”

“Aah! The hell are you doing?! You’re annoying! Get off me already!”

I tried to unwrap the arms that held me, taking care not to hurt her with my strength, but she held on with greater force than I expected and I wasn’t able to pull myself free.

Finally, after a few long moments, Colette released me.

It had happened just as I decided I’d had enough of playing along.

I cleared my throat to bring us back on track before giving Colete a questioning glare. She returned a radiant smile.

“Haa… The hell have you been? You go and disappear for the entire evening, and then you suddenly decide show up in my room?”

I felt like I was losing my mind, and I scratched at my head in exasperation as Colette giggled gently.

“Hehe, I see, I see. So you must have been quite worried about me after all.”

She’d seen right through me. I clicked my tongue in annoyance.

This damn woman and that brazen attitude of hers — she was right and all, but that just made me even angrier. What the hell was with this royal pain in the ass, acting all innocent when she could read how I felt about her disappearing on me and very obviously knew what’d caused it.

For something like this to have shaken me, the mercenary formerly known as Savage Fang… or so I thought, but the relief I felt over seeing Colette happily smiling easily overwrote it.

“You actual idiot… So now what? What did you come here for? I don’t mind that you’re here, even if it is for nothing, but even the princess of Colhoun can’t avoid the matron’s wrath if you get caught going around breaking dorm rules like this.”

It was maddening that she could lead me around like this.

In retaliation, I invoked the name of our dormitory supervisor — the matron, a terrifying authority that demanded obedience from the boarding students — to learn why she was suddenly in my room.

Colette cheerfully crossed her arms and sniffed with smug confidence before answering.

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“I am not here for anything. In fact, I am not even here to visit you, Mylene!”

“…What?”

I raised an eyebrow at her roundabout answer.

So she didn’t need anything, and she wasn’t here to visit me. That would leave… coming to see Holly, my roommate?

“Hehe… How surprising. I thought you of all people would be smart enough to know that…”

There was that smug, triumphant attitude of hers again. Wait, did that mean…

“No, don’t tell me..”

“…model students should be back in their rooms before lights out. To avoid breaking curfew, of course.”

She somehow convinced them to change her room assignment?!

The Zelfoir Academy of Magic was a school exclusively for the children of nobility, so they should be used to hearing all sorts of selfish, whimsical demands. For them to have given in and allowed a student to change their room assignment would mean…

“…What did you threaten them with? Was that what you’d meant earlier when you said you had ‘something personal’ to take care of?”

“Oh dear, there is no need to worry. I simply let them know that it would be a shame if my father were to hear of a certain incident that the Academy had yet to disclose.”

So she had blackmailed the Academy.

Make no mistake, it had been a terrible event; a cult that was spreading drugs around had kidnapped a certain princess of the Empire of Colhoun, and that princess had been close to losing her life before she was rescued. The Academy had covered it all up, and that had brought us here.

If the emperor of Colhoun were to hear of what happened, it was no exaggeration to say it would become an international scandal.

But what really amazed me was the sheer audacity of taking advantage of it all.

Colette had been a victim of the incident, but she was also the one of the people leading the cover-up of the aftermath. And now here she was, turning it all around and weaponizing her position to extort the Academy.

“I believe it was you who taught me to ‘use every card I have available to me’, and so here I am, having done exactly that! And now we can always be together, Mylene!”

Colette had declared so confidently, with a pure and innocent smile across her face.

To have turned the bad situation she had been in into her own gain — it was an incredibly crafty, almost unscrupulous, act. In that smile of hers, the one of delight from explaining her actions, I could see the shadow of the ruthless empress from the future I remembered.

I could only hope she wouldn’t someday direct that power towards Iltania…

“Haa…”

I couldn’t help from going easy on her, especially knowing how she felt about me.

“Well, as long as you go quietly to bed at night and avoid making too much noise, I don’t have anything to complain about.”

“Of course! I shall work diligently to sleep without trouble every night! After all, they say that those who stay awake find themselves the enemies of beauty!”

“…That a fact? I’ll be changing clothes, so if you could just look away for a moment…”

I gave the fickle princess before me a bemused smile of my own.

Well, I guess at the end of the day, the only difference between Colette and any other person was how she was a bit more honest about her desires than they were.

And with that thought in mind, I began undoing the buttons of my clothes, one-by-one. Seriously, why was female clothing so annoying, having to do all this? Wait… Or maybe it wasn’t just female clothing? Maybe the clothes nobles wore were all like this?

I thought back on the old days, back when I was still a mercenary. I began feeling nostalgic, finding that I kind of missed those days, when I suddenly felt a strange prickling at my back.

“…Hey, stop staring at me like that.”

“There is no problem, is there? We are both women after all. There is no need to worry about something as trivial as this, especially when we will be living together in the same room from today on.”

I turned back around to find Colette staring at me with great intensity as I changed into my nightwear.

I had always suspected it from her words and actions, and I found myself wondering if Colette was one of those kinds of people.

I remembered hearing (in my previous life) that she was unmarried, even up until when we had met… Well, I didn’t need to think too hard about it now. In any case, Colette had said herself that she wasn’t interested in trying anything until she decided for herself that she was ‘worthy of standing by my side.’

“I’m going to sleep. Don’t forget to turn off the lights when you do.”

“Not to worry, I will be sleeping soon as well. Shall I turn off the lights now?”

I answered with an affirmative grunt before slipping into my bed, and Colette waved a finger toward the magic stone light on the ceiling.

The lamp above us registered the magical signal and began to dim, slowly darkening the room.

And so the day finally drew to a close. I could finally rest my body in preparation of the busy day that was to come tomorrow…

“…Hey.”

“Hmm? Is something the matter?”

Or so I wanted, but…

“Why the hell are you over here?! This is my bed! Sleep in your own bed!”

I threw off my blanket and sat up, yelling at Colette who had, for some reason, crawled into my bed.

“Oh, do not say such unfriendly things, Mylene. Since we shall be roommates from now on, would it not be a fine idea to deepen our relationship?”

“Yeah? And what happened to holding off on this kind of stuff until you ‘proved yourself’?!”

“This is simply a little show of my affection for you. Consider it something like a trial to ensure a harmonious future between you and me.”

Colette flashed a bewitching smile as she boldly showed off her alluring body, wearing a thin nightgown that did little to hide her voluptuous curves.

This was, honestly, an overwhelming attack on my reason. This whole time, I believed my mind was becoming more like a proper lady’s, but with this, there was no doubting that I still had the mind of a man.

No, wait, that wasn’t necessarily true. When facing a woman this beautiful, it wouldn’t matter if I were a man or a woman.

…the hell’s with this, Colette you cheeky brat.

“…Please cease your antics at once. Unless you meant otherwise when you claimed it was not yet the time for this?”

“Mm…”

Colette was clinging close to me, but after giving her a clear refusal, I gently pushed her away.

She puffed her cheeks in a pout before breathing out in frustration, but she made no move to return.

“Haa… Fine, I understand. There will be more opportunities for us to be more intimate in the future, so I shall hold back for now. But do not forget, Mylene: I am already yours. If, at anytime, it is what you desire, then…”

She purposely showed off her seductive legs before she slipped under the covers of her own bed.

I reflexively let out a quiet sigh.

The hell’s with that, the whole ‘I am already yours’ thing? Ugh, she’s still that same selfish, whimsical empress I remembered — the one that would stop at nothing to get what she wanted.

And yet I wondered for a time about how easy it would be to surrender to her advances and her honeyed words; I wasn’t ready to face that commitment, and the the matter stayed unresolved.

Ugh, this was all turning into something completely crazy.

Worst of all, I didn’t know who I could blame for this. Was it the spineless teachers, for giving in to Colette’s demands? How about those Gods of the Moon cultists, for causing the incident in the first place? Or, what if… it was ‘God’ that did all this?

I focused on calming my alert eyes and beating heart. It was only after I felt myself relaxing that I let myself fall back into bed and closed my eyes, bracing myself for the busier days that awaited.

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