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Chapter 40
“What do you want me to help with?”
As expected, our Siana.
She didn’t even hesitate and immediately asked what she could do to help—truly a loyal friend.
“I’m looking for a friend in trouble. Mostly because of friendship issues.”
“So, you mean a friend who’s being bullied?”
“In short, yes.”
Siana pulled out the small notebook she always carried.
I’d always been curious about the pages packed with notes, but it felt like opening Pandora’s box, so I never asked.
“Not in my information yet. We’ll need to check.”
“Right. If someone was openly bullied, it would have already spread as a rumor.”
“These sneaky little brats. Bullying a friend behind their back.”
“Such people should be punished.”
“Siana Kaibe won’t let them get away with it, not under the Kaibe family name.”
Our Siana is amazing!
I looked at her with eyes full of admiration.
She looked visibly frustrated, as if the children were standing right in front of her.
“But why suddenly investigate this?”
“Because senior Liam asked me to help?”
“Why would someone suddenly care about juniors they don’t even know?”
“Apparently, it’s the crown prince’s destiny or something like that.”
“Is that so?”
“Something like that.”
Siana didn’t seem to fully understand, but she accepted my explanation.
“I have informants in each class. Let’s ask them first.”
“Informants in each class?”
“Calling them informants sounds bad, friend.”
“Oh, I see. You planted spies?”
“Grandiose words aside, yes. I just have friends there.”
“Impressive, Siana.”
Siana was even more socially adept than I was.
I never imagined she’d have at least one friend in every other class.
We had only recently entered the academy.
“If my friends help, we can find the student quickly.”
“But we have to move without drawing attention.”
“Just disguise it as visiting friends and ask them not to spread rumors.”
If they were Siana’s friends, they’d probably help.
We went around each class, explained the situation to Siana’s friends, and asked if any student was being bullied.
Surprisingly, every answer was “No.”
So maybe there really wasn’t a bullied student?
I began to suspect that Liam wanted us to find someone who wasn’t obvious.
“In my opinion, if senior Liam says there’s someone, then there must be. He’s sure to use some very clever method.”
Siana trusted Liam, despite having met him only a few times.
Perhaps because he’s the crown prince.
I decided to trust Siana’s conviction over Liam himself.
“So, how do we catch them?”
“Hmm.”
We pondered for a long time.
If a student is being bullied, how would it happen?
While thinking, I remembered how my sister was always called to the backyard because of the girls around the male leads in her stories.
“Right, places that are secluded and overlooked. Something must be happening there.”
“Where?”
“Like a corner of the backyard or a storage shed.”
Sadly, thanks to my sister always being harassed by villains, I could even guess the locations.
“Okay, let’s check such places during breaks.”
We approached classes with enthusiasm.
Seeing our suddenly burning eyes, the teachers seemed burdened by our intensity.
Once the bell rang, we quickly left the classroom and began inspecting each place.
But it wasn’t easy to find anything.
“Don’t use magic recklessly here. Haven’t you memorized the rules?”
Occasionally, we did encounter students breaking rules.
“Oh, sorry! We’re interrupting. Keep doing what you were doing!”
Sometimes, we found students lost in love.
“I think we’ve searched everywhere, but nothing’s showing up.”
“There are still a few places left. Let’s keep going.”
Even in the remaining spots, we couldn’t find any bullied student.
“Where are we missing something?”
We opened the <Academy Guidebook for New Students – Maps> and pondered.
We seemed to have explored every secluded spot…
After staring at the map for a while, I realized something.
“Ah, this map only shows the floor plan.”
“Right?”
Siana looked at me curiously.
I smiled confidently at her.
Then I pointed upward with my finger.
“We didn’t think about height.”
“I don’t really understand.”
“The inside of the building.”
“But we already searched inside. I didn’t see anything unusual in most places.”
“There’s a place we haven’t been.”
“Where?”
“Up high, near the ceiling.”
Siana immediately caught on and, realizing something, slammed her desk and stood up.
“Let’s go now!”
“Alright!”
Luckily, there was still some time before the break ended.
At least we wanted to check, even briefly, so we ran up the stairs.
Once we arrived, we slowed down to avoid rushing in too obviously.
We didn’t want to burst in and miss the scene of the bullying.
Carefully, we peeked through the door gap.
“Friend, is this all you got from the store?”
“The students rushed there… didn’t manage to get much.”
“Disappointing. Has our friend’s agility really dropped?”
Inside, a student was surrounded by several others.
From the looks of it, the scene was not good.
“Hey, what do we do? Our friend can’t move quickly enough.”
“P-please, give me one more chance. I’ll do better next time.”
Even among friends, the boy in the middle begged with both hands, trying to earn mercy from the others.
“Isn’t it obvious that as a friend, we should help someone in trouble?”
“Yeah, where else could you find friends like us?”
A larger boy put his arm around the smaller boy in the middle.
In his other hand, he held a snack that produced a black smoke-like effect between his fingers.
It was a highly addictive snack banned at the academy.
“Didn’t they read the rules?”
“Siana, not everyone memorizes the rules like you. But even I can tell that’s not allowed.”
Other large boys approached the smaller boy with their hands on his shoulders.
Their expressions made it look like they were about to hurt him.
“We should personally train him to improve his agility.”
“Move faster than the wind. That way you’ll become agile.”
Then they clenched their fists.
At that moment:
“Stop it!”
“Who are you?”
Huh, what’s happening?
My body moved automatically, cutting through the boys.
I even placed my hand on my waist and pointed at the boys, twice my size.
“If you call each other friends, treat each other equally. What pathetic nonsense is this?”
Even my mouth moved on its own.
From afar, Siana was seen holding her forehead.
She seemed to choose calling someone over rushing out immediately.
Well done, Siana!
Just move a little faster!
“This doesn’t concern you.”
The boy who looked like the leader stepped forward, removing his arm from the smaller boy.
I stood in front of him, protecting the smaller boy.
“I aim to make all first-years my friends. I can’t just watch a future friend being bullied.”
“Bullied?”
The boys each snickered.
“We’re just friends. Can’t friends joke around?”
“Do friends have to clench their fists to joke around? And is sending only one person to the store a joke too?”
“Yeah, they just got picked for the store randomly.”
They shamelessly lied, but it wasn’t believable at all.
“How many times have you been on store duty?”
I asked the boy behind them.
He glanced around nervously, then whispered to me.
“U-uh, so far… all the time.”
“How do you pick only one person each time?”
“Do you have a problem with our lottery system?”
The boys’ expressions darkened—they were clearly annoyed with me.
Oh, this isn’t going well.
Naturally, if fists were used, I’d lose.
“I do have a problem. If you’re going to assign store duty, rotate fairly.”
“Why should we? Who do you think you are?”
Exactly.
I was nothing to these boys.
But that didn’t mean I could just give up and back down.
“You’re also future friends of mine. Can’t you do a friend a favor?”
“Friends with you?”
“Look at this guy. Hilarious, right?”
The boy who looked like the leader laughed, clutching his stomach.
Of course, it was a fake laugh.
Soon, he stopped laughing and frowned, giving orders to his friends.
“Hey, step on him.”
