Chapter 86: How To Eradicate Violence (1)

Huh? Julian opened his eyes wide, lifting his gaze after working up some courage to ask Lloyd what had happened back in Cremo. But when he did, every bit of his courage and determination vanished into thin air. Was it because he saw Lloyd’s face and changed his mind? No. It was because he spotted a man coming his way from behind Lloyd.

Diego? Diego was his classmate, and they were both the same age. But Diego was much bigger, so he was stronger with a deeper voice. No matter, they got along just fine since they started attending the academy around the same time. But that lasted only a month after enrollment. After that…

“Julian Frontera. Did I not make myself loud and clear that you should not eat where you can be seen in the dorm?”

Diego was already near Julian, and his voice was a low growl. The threatening voice pierced into Julian’s eardrum. Julian hung his gaze down. It happened against his will. Diego’s robust and veiny hand on the table came into view.

Why did he have to come now? Julian berated the situation he found himself in. He was now meeting Lloyd for the first time in a while and was struggling hard not to lose the power struggle against him, the ever-scumbag. But that was all pointless because he was confronted by Diego, who couldn’t seem to ever leave him alone. He had the worst luck.

“Oh, I-I…” Julian stuttered.

“What?”

“…”

Julian bit and chewed his lips. Diego, who was now looking down at Julian, was overcome with hatred. What a scrawny jerk he is. Diego didn’t like Julian, but it wasn’t always the case. When he first got to this academy, the Magenta College, Diego was all alone, and he knew nobody because he came from a far-flung province. There was, however, only one person that first came up to him. Julian.

“Hey, I came here last night too.”

One day difference. Similar enrollment. And it turned out that their hometowns were very close. Diego and Julian found a friend in one another, and the two became close. They hung out together all throughout the month, and during that time, Diego was surprised to find that Julian was a bright and intelligent kid. Grammar, logic, law, natural philosophy, geometry, and even astrology… Julian was able to comprehend the studies others found difficult. Not only that, he was dutiful. Throughout the time he’d been with Julian as a roommate, he never saw the latter sleeping in. Waking up an hour earlier than everyone else , he washed up, had breakfast, and got ready for class. Diego was impressed but only for a month.

Intelligence and work ethic. I realized in the first month that you didn’t need any of that in this place. Diego scoffed in his head. A snort escaped him when he thought of what he had realized during the first month of school. This royal academy was established to educate noble children, but studying barely mattered to the students here. Something else held greater significance than getting good grades, which was family status. The whole academy was all about forming connections with other families. Engage in school politics with such connections. Build relationships with other families at such young ages and create their own cartel and sanctuary. Maintain it for the rest of their lives, even after they become the bearers of the family name. Continue capitalizing on the formed relationship and maintain power. The secret society of nobles where they supported each other’s interests. Their own cartels. At its core, the academy’s existence was to lay the foundation for this system.

It’s funny, but it’s undeniably true. The world was ruled by power. And power was maintained through connections. Work could be given to those who studied hard. When this truth hit Diego, he changed.

“Starting today, don’t act like you know me.”

The first action Diego took was distancing himself from Julian. He warned Julian to stay away from him with a straight face. At first, Julian reacted with confusion because he couldn’t understand what Diego was saying. So, as a way to make his point, Diego punched Julian. One bruise on Julian’s eye. That shut him up. The reason behind distancing himself from Julian was simple.

He’s the son of a tiny rural barony. The lowest among the nobles. No power. No fame. So Diego had zero reasons to be close to Julian. Heck, he was rather afraid that he might hit rock bottom, just like Julian and his family. He believed that was the worst thing that could happen to him.

My family isn’t a very powerful one, either. In fact, Diego’s family was a viscount. His family’s financial situation allowed him to live in clover because of the viscounty’s specialty product, but it was nothing compared to the real nobles in the royal capital. And so, Diego chose to be a bully and started to suck up to the students who were high up in the hierarchy. He groveled to the sons of noble families, becoming their right hand whenever they needed him. In the process, he didn’t forget to pester and harass the sons of lower nobles like Julian. It was a way of drawing the line between him and these lowly nobles, a way of publicizing his superiority over the others. In short, Diego became a devoted dog of the sons of noble families in the royal capital.

That was what was happening right now. A hunter dog was proving his existence by hunting. Diego moved forward, coming within inches of Julian’s face as though he was studying his prey.

“I am asking you right now. What did you think when you decided to come to eat here?” Diego growled.

“…”

“Answer.”

“Uhm… Uhm…”

“Uhm, what?”

“I had to today… It’s…” muttered Julian.

“Had to? Why?”

“…”

“Are you suddenly excused from the rule whenever someone comes to visit? Is that it?”

“…”

“What did we learn in law? The law is not malleable, and you’re violating it right now,” reminded Diego.

“…”

“What’s the rule here?”

“That’s…”

“Losers from lowly baronies should not eat in public. Why? It’s annoying to see. Did you forget that?”

“…”

Julian’s mouth clamped shut. He clenched his molars. He wanted to fight back, rebut that bullcrap. But he couldn’t do so because he’d only find himself in an uglier situation. Nobody protected him here. He could yell and bawl that it was unfair. But no one listened to him. Why? Simple. The families of the bullies held much greater power. The memories of harassment and powerlessness flooded his mind, suppressing his desire to fight back. Instead of doing that, Julian shot a gaze at Lloyd. However, it wasn’t a gaze asking for help.

Don’t interfere. Julian spoke via his gaze. He asked Lloyd not to intervene in this situation. One thoughtless intervention held the potential to damage his family and wound everyone up in an unnecessary dispute. So he asked his brother to pretend he didn’t see any of it. Lloyd, who was watching over the whole thing, answered with his gaze as well.

Yeah, of course. Why would I intervene? Lloyd shrugged and visibly raised his brows. At first, the whole didn’t make any sense to him. But a few glimpses of their exchange granted Lloyd to understand the whole thing. This was also something he had commonly seen in South Korea.

Well, how unoriginal. School bullying. Bullying. School violence. Being born and raised in South Korea, the very scene in front of him was a daily occurrence. Of course, there wasn’t necessarily a time he got bullied by the others. But he did witness a lot of such cases. Elementary school. Middle school. High school. All classrooms were operated under a jungle-like system of power. The so-called bullies ruled the turf, while the fawning students never left the former’s sides. School life turned extremely difficult for anyone who became the target of those bullies. No, it was much worse. All sorts of inhumane harassment and torture followed them all year. School violence. It was ubiquitous, but everyone turned a deaf ear and blind eye to it. Not a single South Korean student could be freed from it. And this world didn’t seem much different.

Well, this is also a place run by humans. Lloyd stared at Julian sitting across from the table. He was short and small and had a bad family name. Of course, when compared to the entire population of the kingdom, the baron status was something to be proud of. However, Julian was in the royal academy. That was the problem.

Only the nobles who get recommended can study here. Julian, too, received the recommendation, and he enrolled here with much support from his family, only to be stigmatized as the lowest ranking student in the hierarchy of the academy.

But Lloyd didn’t uncross his arms. He simply stayed put, watching. Was it because of Julian’s favor? No. Let’s just watch for now. He didn’t want to butt in thoughtlessly. After all, he was just a passersby who might never return here after today. But what would happen if he meddled and blew this whole thing up? What if he took care of this threatening student and went back and never returned? Julian would be left all alone, and…

It’s going to make it worse for this kid. The sense of victory and relief would be short-lived. The harassment and bullying would get even worse. He had seen it happen too many times in Korea.

So first, I have to find out what’s going on. Lloyd’s gaze grew sharp as he started his observation. He focused on how much Julian could protect himself in this situation, how bad the harassment was, and the method to cut it off. Without saying a word, he simply detached himself and played the observer’s role, wondering in his head what kind of preparations he needed to make. Meanwhile, Diego’s behaviors against Julian started to cross the line. Diego lifted his large palm and tapped Julian’s small head a few times.

“That’s why both you and your family lineage are trash. Got that? Honestly, what have you got in your family to boast of, eh? Fresh air? Clean water? Dirty and poor farmers? What else?”

Tap. Tap.

“But what about my family? We have a specialty product widely acknowledged for its quality in the kingdom. You know it, too, right? Laconata. My father presented the fabric to Her Majesty last year.”

Slap! Slap!

“So, please. I beg you to just consider yourself invisible because you’re nothing but a scum just like your family. And stop eating in public. Understand me?”

Tap! Thwack! The palm that smacked Julian on the top of his head grew more violent and forceful each time. At first, it was a simple tapping. But now, it developed into a smack.

“Know your place, okay? What are you looking at?”

“…”

Julian accepted the harassment without a fight. The only protection his petite body could manage was clumsily wrapping his head with his hands. Just then, his sleeves rolled up, slightly revealing his arms with bruises everywhere. From old yellow ones that spread out from time to dark reddish and bluish ones, Julian’s arms were a mess. It wasn’t the result of a day or two bullying. When his arms came into view, Lloyd made his resolution, and he thought over something he had picked up a while ago.

Laconata. I knew it. I knew he looked familiar. The way Lloyd stared at Diego turned deadly. He quickly went over the situation in his head. The plan was settled. Behavior and consequence. Action and reaction. A complicated ball of string was untangling. Predictions and processes. The ultimate result.

“Tell me, what does that old geezer of your father do?”

Lloyd spoke in a soft but low voice, his chin propped against his hand. That made Diego stop smacking Julian. For the first time, Diego’s gaze turned to Lloyd.

“What?”

Diego’s brow twitched as he looked at Lloyd. He glared at Lloyd for speaking of his father. What is this now? Diego did notice a while Lloyd sitting across from Julian. But he chose to ignore him because he considered Lloyd another scum visitor who came to see Julian. Scums of the same kind grouped together. And so, he ignored Lloyd’s existence. But now, this scumbag was speaking impertinently before his presence.

“I am asking. What does your old geezer do?” said Lloyd again.

“Ha! He is Viscount Lacona, the wise and merciful. What are you?”

“What am I? Don’t you know who I am?” asked Lloyd.

“What?”

Lloyd was now standing up, facing Diego and his large physique. He smiled icily.

“My goodness. It was like this in The Knight of Blood and Iron. Even though the Lacona viscounty was their neighbor by geography, the lack of engagement made it impossible for the children to know each other’s faces. You don’t recognize me? What was written in the novel was true then,” said Lloyd.

“What are you… Ack!”

Thwack! Just when Diego was about to respond, Lloyd kicked Diego like lightning in the gut.

“Ack!”

The kick contained the strength of one mana circle. Diego’s body folded in half and went flying in the air, smashing two tables in the process and rolling away even after landing.

A corner of Lloyd’s lips rolled upward in hostility. Diego was an unlucky boy. He had picked the wrong place and person to bully. In the very academy funded by Her Majesty, Diego had acted with impudence against the honored guest of Her Majesty. No housemaster or dean could do anything about it. Besides…

“What should I do with you? I guess you haven’t heard from that geezer, the wise and merciful, about the water bill, eh?” Lloyd spoke, his voice dripping with compassion and pity.