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Once Ricardt had sorted out the hierarchy, some things changed at Beringen Academy, while others remained the same.

The most significant change was that the so-called “tribute money” had disappeared. In other words, the culture of exploitation carried out by higher-ranked students was no longer present.

What hadn’t changed was that the freshmen still had to undergo initiation, and lower-ranked students still had to step aside when they encountered higher-ranked students in the corridors. Volka was still the leader among the students.

With the exploitation gone, the students were finally able to stand on their own. Regardless of rank, everyone could now work hard to earn money, attend classes, and walk toward their futures.

In their own way, following their own traditions and rules, the students of Beringen Academy lived on like that. Even if it was a place like a henhouse.

Ricardt, when he wanted, generously taught the students. He didn’t discriminate against anyone, whether their rank was high or low. Because to Ricardt, they all seemed pretty much the same.

Volka worked the hardest. He busily went back and forth between the dormitory and the city, and trained even harder than before.

All he needed was just a piece of hope. The hope to live earnestly.

However, although Ricardt disliked talking about talent, even if he disliked it, talent undeniably existed.

And, it seemed there were things even Ricardt couldn’t manage.

“Why isn’t this working? Why!”

Behind the dormitory, which was like a henhouse, in the training ground, Ricardt fiercely swung his sword at the air with glaring eyes and yelled out.

Boribori stood awkwardly next to him, holding a practice sword with a sullen expression.

Even Ricardt, who rarely lost his composure, had finally broken down while trying to teach Boribori.

Despite teaching all day, nothing had changed. From head to toe, everything was wrong from the start. Even if he corrected one thing, later on, this part would be right, but the other part would be wrong, and if that other part was right, this part would be wrong.

Boribori showed no sign of improvement. This had been going on for three days now. At this point, you might say Ricardt’s patience deserved some respect.

The funny thing was that the kids who were watching Ricardt teach Boribori learned faster by observing over his shoulder.

Others were blocked by the high wall that was Ricardt, but Ricardt was blocked by the low wall that was Boribori.

“Ah… Please, Bori. I feel like I’m going to die.”

Ricardt said as he tightly closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

“S-Sorry. I’ll try harder.”

“Trying is important, but do it well. You’re trying to do it well, right? You said you wanted to become an adventurer?”

“…I want to do well, but it’s not going well…”

Seeing Boribori’s dejected appearance, Ricardt quickly felt guilty again. Yeah, it’s not like he’s failing on purpose. It’s not like he’s trying to mess with me.

“…Sorry for getting angry.”

“N-No, I’m the one who’s lacking…”

Ricardt looked at Boribori with a troubled expression. And then a thought occurred to him.

When others called him a genius, he didn’t really think it was true. He thought he was just better than others due to his past life experiences, not because he had any special talent.

But that wasn’t the case. He really was a genius. He had been one from the beginning.

In his past life, Ricky could grasp the core of anything with just a glance and was quick to reach enlightenment. He could refine original techniques, and on top of that, he was creative enough to develop and quickly master better techniques.

The ironic thing was that Ricky never had the time to realize he had talent. He didn’t go through any training process; from the start, he was thrown into life-and-death battles, fighting in bloody conflicts all his life.

You either died, or you survived. In that space between life and death, there was no time to ponder whether you had talent or not.

Ricardt realized, as he looked at Boribori, that all those things he had taken for granted were actually talents.

In any case, what should one do if they don’t have talent? Even thinking about it, there wasn’t really a clear answer.

“Let’s take it slow. There’s no need to rush.”

“Okay…”

“Let’s take a break.”

“Okay. But I have to cut the grass.”

Boribori didn’t go back to the dormitory but instead walked around the training ground and headed out. Soon, he arrived at the overgrown area behind the main building, the inner fortress.

The area where the Beringen Academy was located was a flat zone on top of rocky cliffs. It was surprisingly vast, with more than half of it covered in dense forest.

Since it was spring, the plants had started to grow wildly, and from this point on, they had to cut the grass periodically. By the time summer came, it was something they did almost every day.

Such tasks were typically done by the lower-ranked students or those who didn’t even have a rank, the so-called “lower class.” Unfortunately, Boribori was one of the lower class.

Since it was a place where people lived, there were plenty of chores to be done, like cleaning, doing laundry, and cutting the grass.

In the overgrown area, students were already cutting grass with sickles. Those without sickles were carrying the cut grass away and throwing it off the cliff.

Ricardt rolled up his sleeves and joined them. Even though he was now ranked number one, he didn’t shy away from dirty work.

At first, the students felt awkward about it, but over time, as it became a routine, they naturally adapted. It had already been three months since Ricardt had enrolled. Born in April, Ricardt had now turned eleven.

A mere ten-year-old had beaten all the strong students as soon as he arrived and then defeated the seventh-ranked student in a real sword fight to claim the number one spot.

It was an incredible debut, one that was almost unprecedented in the academy’s history. The students were just relieved that the current number one was mild-mannered and down-to-earth.

This was because while another student could act as the leader, the overall atmosphere of the academy was determined by the personality of the 1st-ranked.

Some ruled like tyrants, while others squeezed the students like ruthless lords.

Although the students couldn’t pinpoint exactly what had changed, they could clearly feel it. Many things had changed.

As Ricardt worked, his clothes became dirty with soil and grass stains. The other students were in the same state.

Ricardt brushed off his clothes, swept the messy ground, and sat down to rest. Boribori came over, fidgeting, and then handed something to him.

“Hold out your hand.”

When Ricardt extended his hand, Boribori sprinkled something from his pocket onto Ricardt’s palm. It was bread crumbs, finely crushed from hard bread.

These weren’t just plain bread crumbs; they were mixed with salt and ground herbs collected from nature, making it a kind of simple snack.

Ricardt tossed it into his mouth all at once and chewed. As the bread crumbs softened in his mouth, the salty and subtly fragrant taste filled his senses, and it wasn’t bad at all.

Boribori also threw the snack into his mouth and chewed. Then, as he looked somewhere, he frowned.

“Can’t you go beat them up?”

When Ricardt turned his head to look, he saw the Ice gang gathered in a shady spot, talking among themselves.

Just as Volka had assessed, the Ice gang had no interest in the academy.

They didn’t care whether other kids lived or died, had parties, or whether Ricardt became the number one, they just remained aloof. But isn’t that not necessarily a bad thing?

“All of a sudden?”

Boribori, though not usually one to act like a fox relying on a tiger’s power, seemed to have a particular dislike for the Ice gang.

“It’s not sudden. They’re bad guys.”

“On what basis?”

Boribori leaned in and whispered into Ricardt’s ear.

“They’re heretics. Heretics.”

“What?”

“When we went to the city the other day, I saw them by chance. They met with some bad people and do this. I saw it.”

Boribori covered his eyes with the back of his hand. Ricardt had seen this gesture somewhere before. Was it Daisy’s mother who did that?

“Isn’t that something from the Order of Judgement, or whatever it’s called?”

“Yeah! That’s what makes them heretics!”

When it came to religion, people had different ways of accepting it. While Boribori wasn’t particularly devout, he seemed to have a strong aversion to heresy.

“Sorry, but I’m not an inquisitor.”

“Even if they might steal kids’ hearts or livers while they sleep? If they’re borrowing evil powers, even you wouldn’t be safe, Ricky.”

Ricardt looked at Boribori with a pitying expression and said,

“Do you actually believe that? Where did you pick up such nonsense?”

“My mom told me.”

“…It’s not bad to be cautious, but going out of your way to start a fight isn’t the answer. If you really don’t like them, why don’t you go fight them yourself?”

“Well, that’s…”

“So let’s just focus on training properly.”

“Okay…”

Boribori replied gloomily, his mouth twitching slightly. Ricardt, who was two years younger than Boribori, roughly ruffled his bowl-cut hair.

“Let’s wash up first. And clean our clothes too.”

“Okay.”

Ricardt and Boribori went together to the well in the inner courtyard. By the time they got there, other kids had already gathered around the well, undressing and washing themselves. Though there were female students living in other buildings, this was just how things were.

The boys, who were growing quickly and had developed solid physiques, actually enjoyed the attention of the girls watching them from a distance through the windows.

Ricardt and Boribori also undressed and began drawing up the water with a bucket. A bucket full of water was quite heavy, requiring considerable strength to pull up with the rope.

Daily life itself was physical training. Regularly climbing up and down cliffside stairs and making the six-hour round trip to the city—all of it.

As a result, none of the academy students were overweight, and most of them had lean, muscular bodies.

Ricardt was taller than most kids his age, standing at about 160 centimeters, while Boribori, at 150 centimeters, was shorter than average. For reference, Volka, who was fifteen, stood in the high 170s.

The students all varied in height, weight, appearance, place of origin, and background. The only thing they had in common was that they had all been abandoned by their families.

Ricardt was the only one who had come here by his own choice and, perhaps because he had grown up in a relatively good environment, there was something subtly different about him compared to the other students.

Although he didn’t intend it, his personality might have been influencing the current atmosphere. Within the academy, everyone was just another student.

After washing up, Ricardt quickly headed back to the dormitory with the other students.

Those who had towels dried their wet hair and bodies and lent the towels to their friends. Ricardt, without a towel, dried himself by using his change of clothes to wipe down his hair and body before putting them on. There was a small violet embroidery on one side of his chest.

Since the day was overcast, the freshly washed clothes were hung near a fire outside, with a few students watching over them.

Ricardt’s bed had recently been moved to an upper bunk in the middle of the room, not for any particular reason other than being farther from the doors. It was less distracting that way, especially when students frequently passed by.

“I’m telling you, it’s true! He’s definitely the swordsmanship instructor! I was on my way to work when I saw him coming out of the pigsty, so I asked him, ‘Why are you coming out of there?’ And then, covered in a pile of dung, he said…!”

There’s always someone who likes to clown around and make people laugh, no matter where you go. One boy, completely naked, was energetically gesturing and recounting the story, his private parts swinging around.

A group of kids had gathered around, listening with amused expressions.

“It’s strange. I was sure I got home after drinking that night. I saw a white butt and thought it was my wife’s…”

Whether it was true or not, his impression of the professor’s serious voice and manner of speaking was hilarious.

“Wahahahaha!”

As expected, the kids burst into laughter. Some even rolled around on their beds, holding their stomachs.

“But, you know, I don’t think it was just because he was drunk.”

“Then what?”

“He went in there on purpose.”

“Eww.”

“Is that for real? Should I go ask the professor?”

Ricardt, lying upside down on the bed a little distance away, watched the kids chatter and laugh with a smile on his face.

Watching scenes like this always reminded him of his military days. It made him think that no matter where you gathered people, they were all the same.

But suddenly, the lively chatter and laughter of the kids died down. It was because the Ice gang had walked in.

They weren’t the type to bully others or cause trouble, but their presence alone had that effect. Especially since the so-called power shift had just occurred, everyone was a bit more cautious.

The issue was that Boribori was coming in from the opposite direction after hanging up the laundry. With the kids gathered and chatting in the middle, they didn’t see each other from afar, and Boribori and Ice ended up face to face.

Ice, without saying a word, quietly looked down at the shorter Boribori. Then, for the first time, Ricardt heard his voice. Since they always whispered among themselves, Ricardt had never heard Ice’s voice before.

“Move.”

Contrary to his delicate appearance, his voice was deep and masculine.

Boribori flinched in surprise and hurriedly tried to step aside but then hesitated. He then stopped moving and said,

“N-no. You move.”

In the grand scheme of things, this might seem like nothing, but within the academy, this was the most serious situation that could happen. After all, kids have their own world with their own rules.

When Boribori refused to move, Ice lifted his gaze and looked at Ricardt, who was lying on the top bunk a little distance away, watching them.

There was no glaring or anything like that. They just looked at each other. But since neither of them averted their gaze, the atmosphere became tense.

A sense of tension filled the air, and as the seconds ticked by, the situation felt increasingly serious. The dormitory, which had been noisy just moments ago, became as quiet as a grave.

Eventually, Ice broke eye contact first and stepped aside. For someone with no rank, a lower class member.

Boribori, now unsure what to do as Ice moved aside, awkwardly squeezed past on the opposite side, clinging to the wall. He looked completely dazed.

Even to an onlooker, it was clear that Boribori’s heart was racing.

Even after reaching the spot next to Ricardt, Boribori had a dazed expression, as if trying to calm his pounding heart.

Ricardt waited for Boribori to calm down before speaking, his voice devoid of any emotion.

“Bori.”

“Uh, yeah?”

“You’re my most precious friend. I like your innocence. It doesn’t matter if you can’t fight, and it doesn’t matter whether you’re helpful to me or not. But rules are rules. From now on, you step aside.”

His words sounded gentle, but they were firm. And they carried a certain charisma.

While Ricardt didn’t judge people based on their rank, he believed that order and rules were important in group life.

Since the dormitory was so quiet, everyone could hear Ricardt’s words. The students at the academy finally had it clearly ingrained in their minds. Power had shifted, and Ricardt was number one.

“…Okay…”

Boribori replied gloomily. Only then did Ricardt smile and say,

“Come here. Even though it’s a henhouse, it’s nice that we can stay close to each other, right?”

“Yeah.”

“But you know, I saw you drawing on the ground the other day, and you were really good. Even if you don’t have a talent for fighting, having a talent for drawing is enough. I’m jealous of that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. If I were good at drawing, I’d probably draw my mother so I could see her often.”

“Should I draw her for you?”

“But you’ve never seen my mother.”

“You can just tell me her features, and I can draw her. After all, it’s best to make people look beautiful in drawings. Even if someone isn’t good-looking in real life, they can be cool and pretty in the picture. Everyone likes that.”

“Is that so?”

It sounded a bit strange, but in a way, it made sense. It was oddly convincing.

As Ricardt and Boribori began chatting softly, the sound of other friends talking from their beds started to fill the room as well. And before they knew it, the sound of rain began to fall outside.

In any case, the kids started to wonder what would have happened if Ice hadn’t stepped aside.