Rotsard's turn at summoning a fae was approaching, and he was about to walk away from the window when he spotted that the teacher beckoned and said something to the Drooml's boy.
He seemed to hesitate for a moment, first glancing towards the main building, before nodding…
Drooml's boy then walked towards the building, with his contracted fae trotting after him, although the closer the building they approached, the more skittish and hesitant the fae got.
While its master entered the building, the horse-like fae waited by the door, looking alarmed and on guard.
"..."
Maybe it was because Rotsard's beastly yellow eyes kept glaring at it through the glass…?
"Oh, there you are, Young Lord Vallhall. The teacher asked me to get you."
Only a few moments later, Rotsard was approached and called by his classmate… who, despite the definitely negative relation between the two of them, did not appear hostile…
…like… at all…
"You could have refused to be the one to deliver that message."
"Why would I…?"
Rotsard pointed out, but Drooml furrowed his brows and asked in confusion.
"..."
Without saying anything, Rotsard tapped the bridge of his nose as a response.
"Oh, that one… Well… whether you meant it or not, it ended up being a lesson. The thing you said about knowing my place…"
The other boy raised his brows before smiling awkwardly and massaging his own nose at the unpleasant memory.
"At first, I dedicated myself to training and learning solely to prove that I am worthy of the title that was, indeed, bought off by my parents… I still held a grudge towards you even during the final exams… But then I returned to our bought territory and ended up participating in monster extermination."
"..."
Drooml straightened his back and said, looking to the side as it seemed he was still too intimidated by the beastly yellow eyes focused on him.
"It turns out that to our subjects, it doesn't matter whether our position was bought or not. They put their trust in our family as their protectors. Not to mention that since I can use magic, I do have some noble blood running through my veins… I…"
The boy looked at his hand before clenching it into a fist.
"My behavior in the Academy was pathetic. Trying to show off and attempt to prove to our classmates that I am worthy of being a noble… The moment my family received the title, whether bought or not, I was already a noble, and already had all the privileges and obligations of one… that said… I can't say that I like you, Young Lord Vallhall... But... I am certainly not hostile towards you."
"...~"
As the boy ended up declaring, raising his head and properly looking Rotsard in the eye, the bleached-blond-haired youth couldn't hold back an amused smile.
Because… that interpretation of his previous actions was just WILD.
He most definitely did not mean it in that way, at all.
But, since the misunderstanding only changed Drooml's opinion of him to neutral, there was no reason to correct anything.
"...~"
Rotsard's smile brought even more misunderstanding as it seemed that it made Drooml believe that his assumptions were correct, so he nodded at the bleached-blond-haired youth.
"Can I ask you about something, Young Lord Vallhall?"
"You can ease up with the official tone, Sir Oliver Drooml. If my cousin heard you, she would scold you for being so respectful to an unworthy trash. But, ask away anyway."
As Oliver asked with a serious expression, Rotsard merely snickered and shrugged his shoulders.
"...ummm… a-anyway… Your opinion on fae…"
"Huh? I thought I was always clear about it. Why would you want to ask about something like that?"
The awkward question made Rotsard frown and scoff as both of them started walking towards the main door.
"Well… My contracted fae seems to be very scared of you… and I wanted to know whether you could tell her that you're not going to eat her…?"
"...what the hel did you just say to me…?"
Oliver explained, all apologetic, but his plea only made Rotsard that much taken aback.
"I… I mean… from what I understood her feelings, my fae sensed an overwhelming ice element and got really scared because it appeared to be hostile towards her… She's of a water element, so she's basically unable to defend herself if ice element attacks her… "
The boy added all fidgety, earning himself a cold glare.
"..."
"P-pshhh…!"
The two of them had walked out of the main building, and Rotsard immediately glared at the horse-shaped fae, who immediately flinched, letting out a panicked sound, and started backing off.
"...Young Lord…"
"...haaaaaaaah… What's its name?"
Oliver gulped down his saliva and asked pleadingly, making Rotsard let out a long, extremely annoyed sigh, before asking.
"Name…? Umm, she wasn't really able to communicate that with me."
"...tsk…!"
The boy seemed confused and shook his head while blinking repeatedly, making Rotsard click his tongue...
"You're saying that it was so talkative when complaining about my element, but didn't even tell you its name?"
Rotsard scoffed in disbelief.
"Wha…? Umm. no. It's not like we can talk. We can communicate to a certain degree, but it's more like I get the general feeling of what she means, and the rest is body language… I mean, she got angry and smacked me with her tail when I addressed her as 'he' right after we made a contract."
Oliver leaned back and explained, seemingly shocked by the misunderstanding…
"...wait… so it… so she's…"
"After the mishap with senior Lazalarius fae being actually a juvenile vampire fae, teacher is examining all summoned faes just in case. She said that despite the size, mine is one of the very intelligent animals that ended up turning into a fae… you know, right? Just like with deofols being separated into monsters, lesser deofols, true deofols, and archdeofols, fae also have ranks. This girl is of the lowest rank for now."
Rotsard's eyes widened, and his posture changed from slouched and aggressive to perked up and positively attentive the more the slightly ashamed Oliver spoke.
"...pshhh…"
To that, the horse-like fae let out a grumpy scoff and kicked the ground a few times with her front left hoof, clearly upset at being underappreciated by her master.
The next moment, the bleached-blond-haired youth did something completely unexpected…
"Oh… Oh, sweetie! I'm so sorry for scaring you!"
"?!!?"
He called out apologetically and approached Oliver's fae with a completely different aura, shocking the boy to no end.