“Does that really work, though?” Isabelle asked in a whisper, having noticed that Gaius’ prey was approaching. “Simply beating anyone in a fight over and over isn’t going to endear you to that person, right?”

“Not if the one being beaten up was the requester in the first place,” Gaius whispered back. “At any rate, I just need to make her promise to speak up. Just make a bet, escalate it after a while…and we should be fine, no?”

He caressed the ring on his finger, which was the compact form of the Custodian and the Terminus. “Unfortunately, I’ll have to rely on more mundane means, rather than the strength of my weapons.”

“As long as you don’t go killing or maiming her by accident,” said Isabelle. “Heads up, she’s really coming over!”

“Great, you now owe Nakama a lullaby,” Gaius murmured. “Anyway, it’s clear that she wants to dethrone me, even though I never took first place in the combat assessments. You might want to cover your ears to blot out whatever words she might say, though.”

“Right.”

The countess made her way towards Gaius after her little convoy reached Class 1-S’ seating area. Her flunkies standing behind her, she brushed her silky hair back and said, “You. Let’s fight.”

“Now?” Gaius replied. “It’s almost assembly.”

“During the classes,” she replied.

“I’m exempted from combat and math,” Gaius replied. “The school acknowledged that I had extenuating circumstances, and would have taken first place.”

Or rather, it was the Pinnacle who interfered in it, after Gaius brought up the fact that having more free time was better for him, but she didn’t need to know that. The boy was only interested in Orb’s culture and whatever technological innovations they had come up with, nothing else.

Combat?

Hah. In fact, now that Isabelle was beginning to guide Nakama on her first steps into becoming a Soldier, Gaius wasn’t too sure if the little girl should waste her time on the combat-oriented aspects of the phrontistery, but the Pinnacle had mentioned that using money to defeat opponents wouldn’t exempt one from combat classes.

“During recess, then!” She folded her arms. “I came prepared for a battle, so don’t turn me down!”

“It’s nice that you’re prepared,” said Gaius, “but I’m not. I didn’t come to school expecting to fight. This isn’t a warzone. Besides, what’s in it for me? What do I get for defeating you? I mean, you get glory and recognition if you actually win, but I won’t get anything, would I?”

That stopped her for a moment. She was an easier mark than Gaius expected, but he wasn’t about to feel guilty.

“Money?”

Gaius took out a stack of notes in response, before passing them over to Isabelle lazily.

“Fame?”

“Master Gaius is a low-profile individual,” said Isabelle. “He doesn’t want fame. You’ll be doing him a grave disservice.”

“Artefacts?”

Gaius tapped Nakama’s shoulder, who promptly called out Stone and Lightning. The two artefacts turned on the spot, before approaching the countess curiously. After spending a few seconds to look at her, they returned to Nakama’s embrace with a little dismissive flourish.

The countess blinked. “Fine, what do you want?”

Gaius grinned. “Now you’re talking. I’ll like you to do something. How does that sound? Don’t worry, it won’t harm you in the slightest.”

“To do something?” The countess asked. “Do what?”

“I’ll tell you after I win.” Gaius leaned back on his chair. “Set the date and time of your challenge, do whatever you like. I’ll wait.”

“You—” Her face darkened, and after deliberating for around ten seconds, she decided to make some hmphs, a gesture that reminded Gaius of a spoilt child. It was easy to compare her to Nakama, an act that made Gaius appreciate the latter even more. This implication wasn’t lost on Isabelle, who was also clearly comparing the two…

Though, now that Gaius thought about it, he should have compared the countess to Isabelle, but it was too early in the morning for mental gymnastics. The convenient drawer of ‘Oh, it’s Orb’ wasn’t working in this case either, since this was a thing non-specific to this funky world.

“Fine, today. Recess. Courtyard outside.”

“Right, nice. See you there, or don’t.” Gaius yawned — the chair was making him somewhat sleepy — and waved the countess away lazily. “It’s almost time for assembly, so you should disperse this crowd before the teachers get mad.”

“R-right…wait, why am I listening to you?”

“Because I make sense?”

The countess’ eyes swam, clearly thinking through his words, and then reluctantly found a seat. Within moments, the hall began to grow noisy again, as the main attraction everyone else was watching died down. Once again, conversations began to grow like mushrooms, and before long, Gaius found himself longing for a set of earmuffs.

He was on the verge of firing his Custodian once or twice when salvation came in the form of words.

“Students of the great Phrontistery of Scientific Reasoning, welcome.” A voice reverberated throughout the hall. “Old students, we hope that your winter break has been a delightful one. New students, we bid you welcome to this ancient school.”

An old, bearded man walked out. Gaius’ eyes lit up as he looked at him. This was definitely the stereotypical old headmaster or principal, someone that finally conformed to his sense of fantasy aesthetics. This man was probably around a few hundred years old. Maybe he was a Paragon or something, with his own treasure trove below the school.

Given that Xanadu had enrolled in this school, he probably wasn’t all that off the mark. The Oracle had, in their previous meeting, had warned her not to try her hand at stealing the crown jewel of the school…not that she was going to listen, anyway.

She had taken the general entrance exams, which meant that she was probably in a conventionally-named class. Whether or not that approach was a good one, however, Gaius wasn’t too sure.

“And now,” said the principal. “A short speech from me. I’m Headmaster Gerhardt, and…”