Avalyne Academy Stories

2nd Story - Charlotte

At Avalyne Academy, there were only two ways to settle a dispute between knights.

However, one of these methods was exclusive to knights and knights alone. As knights fundamentally differed from nobles in terms of physical strength and condition, we were unable to engage in duels with nobles.

So how was it that a knight and a noble settled a dispute between one another? Well, I was about to find out.

Or so I thought.

"What the hell is this, Lady Shallie?"

"What? Is there a problem, Dame Charlotte?" Shallie smirked at me in a rather annoying fashion. Though the beautiful noblewoman usually wore bright and flowing dresses decorated with cute embroidery that complemented her dark blue hair, today she wore plain clothes and an apron.

"Yes. There's a huge problem. I thought we were going to have a match, not sit here in the goddamn cooking classroom," I crossed my arms, tapping my foot impatiently.

I was being subjected to this headache thanks to yesterday's events. At first, it had been an exceptionally fruitful day of training. I was finally managing to get the correct amount of force into my spear thrusts and I'd been getting pretty good with distance control thanks to my sparring partners, so I had been feeling quite pleased by the time my training session ended.

Unfortunately, that was not to last. The moment I finished wiping the sweat from my brow, Lady Shallie had come striding up to me with a stupid looking expression on her face. She wore the goofiest grin in history and her cerulean eyes glimmered with a light that I could only call 'mischief.'

"Dame Charlotte~!" Shallie had called with her idiotically singsong voice. It sounded so pleasant to the ears that it was almost as if she wanted everyone to look at us, especially the boys. Annoying.

"I knew I'd find you here! Were you at the match just now!? You must've been, right!?"

I sighed in exasperation the moment I heard that giddy tone in her voice. The match that she was referring to was no doubt the one where Medrauta and her lady faced off against Lord Bastiche and Dame Ritya.

I was there, of course. There wasn't a single knight in the academy who would willingly miss one of Medrauta's matches. Sure, a few knights disliked her for carrying the title of 'Oathbreaker', but I didn't care. Her oaths were her business, and regardless of what sort of reputation she held, Medrauta was a damn good fighter and one that was always worth watching.

However, I doubted that Shallie was interested in the silver-haired knight's technique at all. In fact, I could tell exactly what she wanted to discuss based on the stupid way her eyes twinkled and glowed at me. God, I hate her.

I really do.

"Yeah. I was there," I begrudgingly admitted.

"Wonderful!" Shallie clasped her hands together in delight. As a consequence, her arms pressed against her ample bosom, emphasizing it all the more. "So... You must have seen the way that Dame Medrauta swore her oath to Lady Viviane, right? It was so gallant and breathtaking! Oh, how I wish a wonderful knight close to me would do the same!"

My left eye twitched as she fluttered her eyelashes in my direction repeatedly, making her message more than obvious. I narrowed my eyes in utter disdain at her attempt of outdoing all prior brainless shenanigans she'd undertaken in her life.

"Yeah," I replied sarcastically. "Hope you find 'em."

"But there's a wonderful knight right here in front of me!"

I looked around myself rapidly, which was totally, utterly, completely not an attempt to hide my reddened cheeks which were caused solely by the increased blood flow I'd experienced during my training session and no other reason.