Eliza chapter 163 – The noble school’s upper-level section, part 1

One day, when my classes were over and I returned to my dormitory, I noticed that Reka didn’t come out to greet me from the servants’ living area. I noticed a young boy that was one of Zephyr’s servants rushing over towards me, does he have a message for me from Reka, is he busy with something?

“Earl Kaldia……! Your servant, he went to the upper-level section of the noble school……!”

He seemed out of breath, so first I told him to take a seat and calm down. I told him to catch his breath, so he obediently started taking deep breaths.

“And, why exactly was it that Reka went to the upper-level section?”

“……Okay. He was ordered to return a book to the library in the upper-level section, or else…… The one who ordered Reka was the son of the Innefort family.”

“Innefort…… He’s a northern noble. Got it. I thank you from my heart, for your generosity in letting me know.”

After giving my gratitude to Zephyr’s servant who was still catching his breath, I headed for the upper-level section as quickly as my feet would take me.

For school life, it’s common for servants to go around everywhere to assist in things such as classroom or food preparation.

Of course, there are rooms just for servants, and there are some that go around with their servants at all times when they’re not in class, but the majority of nobles and their servants will move separately most of the time.

Because there are many lower-ranked nobles that are friendly with their servants, it seems that it’s often the case that some nobles will hang out together with their servants as friends. Higher-ranked nobles typically don’t even notice the existence of commoner servants, so they wouldn’t even think of going around together with their servants, and they’re much less likely to have servants with them when going from class to class.

And, even if all servants are commoners, there’s an unwritten rule that students shouldn’t give orders to other students’ servants.

The classes are divided based on academic ability, and that’s supposed to be used to judge the students rather than noble rank in theory, but there’s always going to be those types from the higher-ranked nobles that enjoy things like harassing the lower-ranked nobles’ servants.

……However, unwritten laws are unwritten laws. It’s just something that nobles set up out of respect for each other, but it’s not an actual rule that must be followed.

As I kept heading in the direction of the upper-level section in search of Reka, I passed many horses on the wide school grounds.

The upper-level section allows adult servants to accompany the nobles there. If Reka who’s just a child goes there, he’ll be treated as a commoner without the protection of his master. If he’s unlucky, he might encounter some nasty noble who will cause an incident.

-As expected, after it became widely known about the conflict between Eric and me, factions started forming among the students.

The fact that the crown prince and Grays have been absent from school for so long is also a cause, but it also means I still have time to resolve this somehow before they return. Factions appeared because Eric and Sieghart were both originally influential members of the crown prince’s retinue, and I took the attitude that it had nothing to do with me, but I’ve already been caught up in the middle of it all.

The current situation is that the Kaldia faction, including Sieghart, has a great majority, and the students in Eric’s faction are being excluded. For example, the seats in the cafeteria. Using the power of numbers, those in Eric’s factions are forced to sit in the corners and the seats for lower-ranked nobles.

There’s no thought involved in this factional struggle at all. It’s nothing more than a noble power game, the desire to be better than someone else using the advantage of numbers or noble ranking. And for me whose name has been put onto this faction as the head, it’s something I really don’t want.

After all, there’s no benefits in this for me whatsoever, but the negative feelings from those being bullied in Eric’s faction will all concentrate on me. And now, the end result is that they’re breaking an unwritten rule, in order to harass my servant. While cursing under my breath, I grabbed the reins of a horse.