By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter 1.2

Chapter 4 Side Story 2: Meanwhile 2

After class the next day, the three of them went to a corner of the courtyard and chatted. There was time before lunch break ended, and they had to return to class afterward, so they wanted to take that chance to learn about each other. After some discussion, Michelle had a proposal.

“Would you two like to form a practice group with me?” she asked.

The magic and swordsmanship classes at the academy had students form groups of five or six for practice. Students tended to pick partners not only based on personality, values, and their ability to cooperate, but based on status as well. Some of the nobles hated when commoners were treated as their equals. Students invited each other to join groups, and while neither nobles nor commoners were obliged to form groups with each other, it was the best way to avoid conflict.

But students who didn’t join teams in time would end up in mixed groups, or whatever groups didn’t have enough members yet. In those cases, the statuses and desires of the students weren’t taken into account. The academy’s official stance was that everyone received an equal education, regardless of status. But it was easy to imagine that those situations could be extremely unpleasant. All one could do was pray that the students got along.

Elia and Michelle wouldn’t be treated inhospitably by anyone, but since they happened to find each other enjoyable to be around, they naturally thought it would be best to form a team right away. That was why Michelle proposed the idea, and Elia and Miyabi agreed.

“But we’ll still need another two or three members,” said Elia. “Teams have to be made up of five or six people.”

“That’s true,” said Michelle. “If we don’t find anyone, we’ll probably end up with team members who couldn’t find any other groups.”

“I don’t care who’s a noble or who’s a commoner, but can you think of anyone who’s not too twisted, and ideally someone who doesn’t care about status?” Miyabi asked.

“I can think of one.”

“Who?” Elia asked.

“Riela Clifford, Baron Clifford’s eldest daughter.”

“Baron Clifford’s daughter? I think they started off as a knight family,” Miyabi said. “But they gained noble status thanks to all their accomplishments. Generations of great knights have come from that family, right?”

“Right. Riela can be prideful and fussy about rules, but she never looks down on anyone for their status, and she’s happy to acknowledge anyone’s talents. I think she’d treat any student equally.”

“She sounds perfect,” Elia said. “Do you know her personally?”

“We used to see each other a lot. But that stopped once I became busy with studying and research, and she became busy with training.”

Thus, the three of them decided to invite Riela Clifford to their group. They headed to the swordsmanship training ground, and as soon as they got there, Michelle pointed off to the side.

“There she is. Let’s go,” she said.

Michelle led them to a girl with her hair tied back who was passionately practicing sword swings. She had a dignified air about her. The girl was tall for her age and had a beautiful face, so she stood out a lot. As a crowd of boys watched Riela from afar, Michelle approached her.

“Riela, do you have a moment?” she asked.

“Michelle? What is it? And who are they?”

“Hey, who’s this guy?” one of the boys asked.

“This dude’s got two girls with him,” another complained.

“Not only that, but he’s going after Clifford now too!” a third shouted.

“What’s he got going for him? He’s a shrimp,” a fourth said.

“He’s almost like a woman. Actually, his face is pretty girly too. You sure he’s a man?”

“Uh, err, ahem.”

“Perhaps we ought to take this somewhere else,” Michelle suggested, flashing a sardonic grin at all the impolite stares and misunderstandings swirling around her. She took Riela with her as she left the training ground. Elia and Miyabi followed them to a rest spot with few people around. They sat on the bench, where Michelle told her Riela their plans.

“I see, so you wanted to invite me, then,” Riela said. “Thank you, I’d like to join your team.”

“Really?” Elia asked.

“Thank goodness!” Michelle cried.

Elia and Michelle were elated, but Miyabi wasn’t satisfied. “Are you sure?” she asked Riela. “From what I’ve heard, you get the best grades in swordsmanship, and several other teams have invited you already.”

“Yes, but I don’t care for the people in those groups. It’s apparent that they only want me in their team so they can raise their own grades, and many of the men look at me quite impudently as well. I also don’t care for the way that many of those people look down on commoners. Arrogant nobles like them are no friends of mine.”

Full of youth and passion, Riela may have still been a student, but she had the spirit of a gallant knight. Thus, Riela became part of the group, and they thought about who else they could ask.

“I can’t think of anyone,” Riela said. “I don’t have many associates.”

“Right, you’ve been wholly focused on swordsmanship since forever,” Michelle replied.

“And you’ve been wholly focused on studying, haven’t you? Speak for yourself.”

“True. Miyabi, you should be able to help with this. You’re an apprentice merchant, so you must have a lot of connections, right?”

“Not really. I’ve only been here for a month, and if you want someone nice who hasn’t already joined a group, that doesn’t leave a lot of options. Plus we’re all women here, so you’d probably want any other members to be women too, right?”

“If possible, yes,” Riela said. “Though I wouldn’t mind a man either, if they just refrained from leering at me.”

“You do have quite the figure, Riela,” Elia remarked.

“It’s true, we used to have about the same figure,” Michelle said. “When did that change? And you’re perky in all the right places.”

“What are you looking at?!” Riela complained.

“Uh, no particular part of you. Your whole body, I guess.”

“Stop ogling me! It’s no better coming from a woman!”

“Calm down, Riela,” Miyabi said. “Anyway, that doesn’t leave us with a lot of candidates.”

“But you still know somebody, right?” Elia asked.

“Yeah, but they’d leave our team pretty unbalanced. I can think of four possible candidates, but three of them want to be magicians. Of the four of us here, only Riela’s going to be much good for close combat. If we put two of those three prospective magicians on the time, we’ll have one person fighting with a sword and five fighting with magic.”

“That does sound rather unbalanced.”

“I don’t care much about my grades anyway, but those practice fights could be dangerous,” Michelle added.

“Protecting five people on my own would be taxing,” Riela said. “If we were surrounded, we’d be doomed. The teachers oversee these practice fights, but we shouldn’t depend on them. If possible, I’d like at least one more ally who’s capable in close combat.”

“Unfortunately, while the fourth candidate isn’t entirely incapable of fighting, she specializes in stealth and setting traps. She’d be best as a scout or spy,” Miyabi said. “Speak of the devil, there she is now.”

“Darn, I got rejected again,” the girl sitting on a nearby bench said. She had short hair and dog ears, giving her a spunky look, but she was hanging her head.

“Her?” Michelle asked.

“Her name’s Kanan. She’s a commoner with nimble fingers, and she’s good at making little crafts. She’s intending to become a craftsman, apparently.”

“I see. What should we do?”

“As long as she’s a good person, I have no complaints,” Riela said. “If she can’t fight, I’ll try to become strong enough to protect everyone.”

“I’m fine with it as well,” Elia agreed.

“Then I’ll go talk to her,” Miyabi said. “One second. Kanan, do you have a moment?”

“Huh?!” Kanan yelped, her head springing up. “Oh, aren’t you Miyabi? Need something?”

“My practice group’s looking for members, so I wanted to ask if you’d like to join.”

“Really?!” Kanan immediately jumped at the opportunity and grabbed Miyabi’s hand, to her surprise.

“Well, someone’s enthusiastic. The rest of the team’s here as well, so maybe you could talk with them a bit.”

“Thanks!”

Miyabi took Kanan to the rest of the group. Kanan’s eyes sparkled as she loudly introduced herself.

“I’m Kanan Schuzer! Nice to meet you!”

Recognizing her last name, Michelle was the first to respond. “Likewise. So, I’m curious about something. I’ve heard of a Schuzer.”

The instant that Michelle mentioned her last name, Kanan frowned, so Michelle stopped before she actually asked her question, But Kanan knew what she was going to ask and answered her. “Yes, I’m the daughter of the famous magic item craftsman. But I’m no good at crafting magic items, so don’t expect anything from me in that department.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I’m actually a magician who specializes in enchanting magic.”

“I see. That explains it.”

“Sorry, but can you explain a little?” Riela asked. Michelle and Miyabi seemed to know what Kanan was talking about, but Riela and Elia didn’t.

As such, Kanan began to explain enchanting magic. “It’s said that long ago, enchanting magic was created by a person born with unique characteristics. Supposedly, only people from that bloodline can use this magic. That person has so many descendants by now that there are enchanting magicians being born all over the world, but on rare occasions, someone will be born with the same unique characteristics as the creator of enchanting magic. That person will be able to specialize in enchanting magic, but won’t be able to use any other type of magic. In order to enchant an item with a spell, you need to use both enchanting magic and a spell from another class of magic that you want to enchant the item with, but I can’t use any spells that aren’t enchanting magic, so I can’t make magic items by myself.”

“I see... Sorry I asked.”

“It’s fine! You need to know whether to let me on the team, so I had to tell you either way!” Kanan declared resolutely.

The fights that they would be engaging in weren’t necessarily going to be safe, so knowing what their prospective members could or couldn’t do was important. But even so, not everyone would openly talk about their faults without hesitation. Many would sidestep around the truth, and some unscrupulous types would be willing to outright lie. The fact that Kanan brought it up herself put her in a favorable light with the other four.

“I have no problems with her. What do the rest of you think?”

“She’s fine with me,” said Michelle.

“I’d love to have her on the team,” said Elia.

“That settles it, then,” said Miyabi.

Kanan’s mouth was agape when she heard that. “You’ll really let me join?” she asked. “I can’t use offensive magic, and I’m pretty much a novice with a sword.”

“Don’t worry about that,” said Elia.

“Your abilities are only a secondary priority,” said Michelle.

“If you can’t fight, I’ll protect you,” said Riela.

“So there you have it, you’re on the team,” said Miyabi. “Of course, you’re welcome to decline, if you’d rather not join.”

“No, I want to join!” Kanan cried. “Thank you! I’ve been turned down by so many teams, I didn’t know what I’d do! I’m so glad to be part of your group!”

On this day, Kanan avoided the possibility of having her school life ruined by getting stuck with a bad team. But three of them were nobles, and two of those nobles were the daughter of a duke and a count. This fact almost killed Kanan with shock when she heard it, but that’s another story. Ultimately, they all made friends they could have a casual conversation with. Perhaps there would be arguments from time to time, but with friends like these, improvement in their school lives was a given.