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「Olga, watch out!」

「Uohh」

I avoided a thumb tack that came flying at from who knows where me by crouching.

It's a break time, but I have already experienced several a.s.sa.s.sination(?) attempts.

How aggressive.

By the way, when I returned from the restroom and peeked inside the desk to see whether someone put garbage in it, I found a fruit knife with the blade facing towards me taped inside.

How did they bring it here?

And how did they fixed it in place?

The inside of the desk is narrow and it's very hard to see inside because of the dark… I respect the one who did this.

When I told about it to Eliza, she scolded me「What are you doing? Are you exposing your life to danger?」with a whole-faced smile.

I am sorry.

By the way, I have politely returned the fruit knife to the desk of my cla.s.smate whom I deemed to be the offender.

No, I naturally closed the blade (it was the folding type) to avoid any danger…

I knew that Rish.e.l.l would expose the one who did it if I complained, but I did not say anything and was glared at with a terrible gaze instead.

I feel like a hole has already been stared in my face as a result.

「Gee, Serena and others are so troublesome…」

「Indeed…」

The one who is trying to kill me… I don't think it went that far yet, but the name of the girl who is trying to harm me is Duke Aldoria's daughter Serena Aldoria.

She's a beauty with dark brown hair and light green eyes, but it's rumored that her personality is as bad as Sherina's.

Besides Sherina's entourage, she's the one with the most power and hostility towards me.

「Do you want me to punch her once or twice?」

So said Lance while cracking his fists.

… Wow so scary, he's smiling but his eyes aren't smiling at all…

I'm fine with just Rish.e.l.l having this Demon Lord-like smile, alright…

「You better not, it will end up with them saying「As one would expect of that woman's captive! This barbarian!」. The bad rumors about Olga would increase and you would sully the name of your House」

「Why are you so good at imitating voices, Rish.e.l.l-sama…」

It's fine since Rish.e.l.l has skillfully stopped Lance, but… for some reason, his impression of Serena was seriously good.

As for what kind of voice Serena has, it's the shrill, head-numbing kind of voice.

Why can this fellow mimic something like that?

「Haha, you never know what or when will be useful against others」

The Malicious Prince, advent!

Such onscreen text played in my mind.

He had a malicious smile that was incomparable to Lance's smile from a little while ago.

… Eliza and Lance seemingly pulled back away from Rish.e.l.l.

「Ah, it seems that the lesson is starting」

Once the teacher opened the door and entered, the conversations broke up.

… And, after school.

「Olga, do you understand!? Probably go to Keith-san's cla.s.sroom and return home together, alright!?」

「We have duties to attend to, so you must return home as soon as possible and please be careful, okay?」

「Seriously, be careful, alright!? Rish.e.l.l-sama will stop function if you die, Olga」

「You better not stop along the way because you got interested by something strange, yea? Go straight to Keith's cla.s.sroom」

「I got it」

Eliza has a student council, Rish.e.l.l has an official business, Dante is his aide, and Lance has been called by the director, so they can't go together with me, it seems.

… While that may be true, I don't think there's a need to caution me this much!?

Lance, what did you do to get summoned by the director…?

「Then, we are going, but… seriously, please be careful, okay?」

「Yess」

「Don't follow strangers, alright?」

「… Yess」

Am I a child!?

Is what I wanted to shout, but I am outcla.s.sed.

If I said that to Lance, he would activate the Oresama mode and lecture me endlessly…

And surely, he would look at me with that newly acquired Demon Lord smile of his…

It's good we are close as friends, but you shouldn't smile so maliciously at me…

… Let's make sure to avoid that malice.

I waved at Eliza and others while thinking about something that stupid.

「Now then, shall I go?」

I made sure to see everyone off, so I took my bag and left the cla.s.sroom.

I told Keith to pick me up in my cla.s.sroom, but I wouldn't be able to avoid the verbal abuse of Serena and others, so I decided to leave by myself.

… I hate being probed by the inquisitive eyes of students from other cla.s.ses, so let's use the staircase I used in the morning.

While thinking so, I moved my legs to the unpopular area.

… Ah~ today was so tiring… everyone besides Eliza and the group were looking at me with a great caution.

n.o.body sat in Sherina's seat, no one has even touched it.

Normally, Serena and others or Sherina's entourage should have encircled me and talk about how it is my fault, but… Rish.e.l.l and Lance would step in and crush the party if that were to happen, so nothing happened in the end.

Instead, thumbtacks were thrown at me and a fruit knife was taped in my desk. It was done so cleverly I am really curious about who did it, but… Rish.e.l.l and others can't move without evidence anyway.

No matter how convinced I am about who the offender might be.

Approaching the staircase, I stepped on the first step.

This school's staircases are long.

I would go head first if I missed my footing~… I timidly descended while thinking of something so scary.

… Then, hearing footsteps from behind, I turned around without thinking.

That moment, my back was strongly pushed and my body was thrown into the air.

In the edge of my vision, I saw a dark brown hair fluttering.

… No way, just now I was-

Pushed off the staircase…?

The moment I realized, I felt and impact on my head and my consciousness disappeared.