Today is a refreshing day.
Is this what it feels like to be able to fly?
She proudly unfolds a piece of paper.
Helena Lusfind.
Average score 99, first in her grade!
Finally, she has reclaimed her throne.
“With this score, Dad will definitely….”
Helena imagines her father’s expression when he hears that she isn’t first.
How cold he looked; to be honest, she almost cried if she didn’t hold back.
He always had a habit of saying that tears don’t suit the Lusfind family, so she thought that if he saw her crying, he would not say anything good.
Suddenly, a ten-year-old hybrid of a beastman transferred into her second year.
Ever since that guy came, she was no longer first in her grade.
Perfect scores on the entrance exam, perfect scores in athletics, and even if her magic exam was a bit shaky, it was still perfect.
He was truly well-rounded, to the point of being annoyingly perfect.
“Hah, Luke Ilushi?”
Not that she wanted to know his name specifically, but when attending Tigr Academy, you couldn’t help but know it.
It was said that Luke Ilushi received another perfect score, that he excelled in the sports festival, that he embarrassed the teacher during class, that he negotiated with the principal for self-attendance, that he placed first in the magic competition, and that he exorcised the ghost in the music room.
Wherever you went, it was Luke Ilushi, Luke Ilushi.
Currently, most of the rumors at the academy revolved around that girl.
Considering that all these rumors spread in less than half a year since Luke transferred and that he doesn’t even show up to school properly, one couldn’t help but suspect that he was trying to stand out on purpose.
Especially with that uncool name.
‘Still, the ghost story in the music room must be an exaggeration.’
There’s no way there’s a ghost at Tigr Academy!
Anyway, returning to the point.
Helena turned her head to the side and looked at her reflection in the window.
The expression reflected in the glass was truly bright.
“Helena, you are the best.”
Being first means, literally, being first.
It means there is no one above her.
“Huhuhuhu.”
Now that she has reclaimed her first place, could it be that this time she would finally receive proper praise?
As her footsteps became a little lighter with the thought of quickly returning home to show her report card to her dad, she heard a familiar voice from a classroom.
“Luke, you look really good today! What happened?”
“Haha. Something did happen.”
‘That voice, it’s definitely….’
It’s a voice she had heard before.
Luke Ilushi, the girl who blatantly received perfect scores while barely coming to school.
But now, she was the loser who had been stripped of her throne!
Suddenly, Helena was overly curious about what Luke was feeling right now so she stopped in her tracks and peeked through the back door of the classroom at the expression on the beast hybrid girl’s face.
“Oh, Mary. Thanks for recommending that book. It helped me a lot.”
“Really? That’s a relief. Actually, I’ve never read it. I just recommended it as a children’s recommended book.”
“Haha, is that so? No wonder. Mary, it looks a bit complicated for you to read.”
“Ugh… that’s mean!”
“Hahah. Just kidding.”
Is she not even frustrated about losing first place?
How can she be so relaxed?
“Oh, right. Luke! I’ll be right back; I’m going to the teacher’s room to grab some printouts!”
“Okay, go ahead. You’re always working hard, Mary.”
“What’s that? I’m the class president!”
Left alone, Luke took something out of the desk drawer and began reading.
Seeing the cover of the book, it was obviously a law book that looked difficult.
Is she trying to show off or something with that topic at such a young age?
If she lost first place, she should be looking over her textbooks instead, but here she was, casually reading something utterly unrelated to school exams!
Helena couldn’t hold back from stepping into Luke’s classroom.
Stepping forward confidently, she approached Luke’s desk, crossed her arms, and shouted.
“Hey, Luke Ilushi!”
“Oh, you were that…”
Luke’s expression subtly altered.
Because of what she had said before about “that uncool grandfather.”
No matter how much she thought, Luke had no idea why she had come to be despised.
As Luke looked up at Helena with a perplexed expression, he suddenly corrected his demeanor and asked.
“So we meet again. Do you have something to say?”
But Helena didn’t like that calm expression of his.
When she was so frustrated about losing first place, how could he remain so composed?
Was he not that interested in being first at all?
Then why did he take first place from her?
‘I’ve worked so hard to be first.’
Thinking that made her quite displeased.
“Of course! I don’t like your calm expression! If you took first place from me, shouldn’t you be a little more frustrated?”
“Took first place from you… Ah!”
As Helena pressed him, Luke suddenly looked bewildered for a moment and then seemed to realize something.
“I see, so you’re the one who got first in this exam? Congratulations! You must have worked hard.”
Saying that, Luke stood up and gently patted Helena on the head.
“Uh, uh?”
Helena was taken aback.
She hadn’t come expecting to be praised like this; she actually wanted to see Luke get even a little mad.
Unexpected praise made her feel her face gradually heating up.
Perhaps her face had already turned very red.
‘He’s a bit taller than me…’
Luke was indeed a little taller than Helena.
She was supposed to be a year older than him.
It was a bit embarrassing that she was shorter than her younger brother, but surprisingly, she didn’t feel that much resistance.
Why is that?
…Perhaps it was because Luke was a beastman. They all grow quickly.
Moreover, the tail gently swaying behind her skirt evidenced that her secondary sexual characteristics had already begun.
So it made sense that he’d be taller than her…
“…”
Luke thought that the suddenly quiet reaction of the girl was really cute.
He didn’t quite know why, though.
“Child, what is your name?”
“Hel… Helena Lusfind….”
“I see, Helena. Wait a moment.”
“Uh, uh…?”
Luke said that and removed his hand from Helena’s head and rummaged through his bag.
What he took out was none other than a melon bread.
It was a snack that Luke had been carrying in his bag every day, likely because he had made so many.
“Shirud seems a little tired of it since he has eaten so much.”
“Here, Helena. Take it. This is an elf-style melon bread I made myself. Shirud guarantees its taste. Right?”
At the sudden question, Shirud slightly shrugged his shoulders before answering.
“Uh? Yeah, that’s true. It definitely tastes good.
If you eat it every day, you might get tired of it, but the first time you eat it, it’s certainly delicious.”
“Haha, so Helena, I’d like you to let go of the complaints you’ve held against me. If I did something wrong, I’ll apologize. But can you tell me what you’re dissatisfied about?”
“Uh…? No, I don’t really have anything….”
To be precise, she did, but it felt like it didn’t matter anymore… She wasn’t really sure.
“Then that’s a relief.”
Luke grinned.
Helena could only blush, not understanding why.
‘Why is he, why is he smiling…?’
But, she didn’t feel bad about it.
It wasn’t in a bad sense; rather, it felt like a countryside grandfather was patting her head and praising her.
But the fact that the person giving her this feeling was a younger brother, and that they were both girls caused a complete mess in her mind.
Eventually, Helena could only hold the melon bread to her chest, her face flushed, and step back.
“Hmph! Whatever! Just try harder from now on!”
“Hahaha. Yeah, I will.”
As Luke waved goodbye to Helena’s retreating form, he returned to his seat.
Then, he casually smiled and spoke to Shirud.
“What a cute girl, don’t you think?”
Shirud looked at him with an expression of slight distaste.
“That’s….”
Shirud held back the words that almost slipped out.
Luke didn’t like being called cute.
“Yeah, she’s cute.”
———
“Jisleon Hezorn committed robbery in a brutal manner, completely annihilating a village and looting it. He was beheaded.”
“Trefan Jaegiras, accused of raping over 300 women. Among the victims were noble daughters and foreign princesses. He faced the wheel of punishment.”
“Zoltan Viper sold information about his allies to the demon race in exchange for his safety and wealth. As a result, there were 5,000 unnecessary casualties, more than 2,000 of whom were civilians. He was burned alive.”
“There are also those who committed crimes too unspeakable for words. Crane Treasures, Herfe Kargas, Luz Reinfeld….”
After that, the Enumeration of criminals by name, their crimes, and their punishments continued for quite some time.
Interestingly, as she listened, she realized that all of these were the names of villains from fairy tales.
How many of those fairy tale villains does Luke know, anyway…?
Well, the tales of the Undying King, Luke Ilushi, and Kail Propston were indeed very, very long, and the number of villains they took down wasn’t small either.
Yerna raised her hand and shouted, fearing that if she didn’t stop, Luke’s list would never end.
“…I get it, stop now! Enough!”
At Yerna’s command to stop, Luke briefly closed his mouth and looked up at her.
“Yerna. They deserved to die, didn’t they?”
“Yeah, they did.”
Whether the criminals from 5,000 years ago were executed or not had nothing to do with Luke and herself.
“But still, we shouldn’t kill anyone now. Those are old stories!”
‘Phew, I was worrying for nothing.’
Just as she breathed a sigh of relief, Luke suddenly seemed to have thought of something.
“Hypothetically, is it okay to kill a robber?”
“Of course not. Just call the police.”
“……Then what if the other party is a murderer? If they’re trying to kill me?”
“……That should be avoided too… Ah, if you meet someone like that, just run away instead of fighting, okay?”
“Hmm… I understand. I’ll try.”
“Right. But, if it’s urgent, what matters most is that you don’t get hurt, whatever it takes.”
Yerna recalled the moment in the forest when Luke had transformed into a dragon and easily subdued Dayton.
Dayton was a forest keeper ranked middle to high in strength, and Luke had dispatched him quite easily.
“In a real emergency, when there’s no option left.”
She wasn’t sure if it was right to say this to a child, but better to say it than regret not having said it later.
“You don’t have to think about what the other party is; just as long as you don’t get hurt.”
After all, a child under fourteen wouldn’t have legal responsibility imposed on them.
“Hmm, got it. I’ll keep that in mind.”
