It was well past afternoon, but Garnet was still hanging out in the knight stables. The Armor of her Starfall was pried open except for the small pieces and structural reinforcement, exposing the internal parts for everyone to see.

Garnet examined the shiny new joints that had been installed. Specifically, the new joints that replaced the shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles.

Those joints had originally come from Avan's Starfall Crusader, but they had been removed because of the alterations he had made. His customized armor suit had very little commonality with the base model: it was heavy due to its thicker front plating and thus required slightly redesigned joints.

If Garnet kept up the same pace as before, which was unlikely since she would be busy with school, these new joints should last at least another three months if they were properly maintained. She hoped that they would last for a full semester before she had to replace them again.

"Anyway, do you mind if we replace the power distributor too?" Luna held up a boxy object. "You won't be able to use the full strength of the new joints if you keep the old Starfall version."

The new Crusader-type joints could potentially be faster and stronger than the old ones, but the old power distributor couldn't supply enough force to move the joint with the necessary torque.

"Is that a new type of power distributor?" Garnet asked. "That's different from the Starfall Crusader's..."

"You can adjust the joint performance on demand with just a single thought." Luna smiled. "So the performance can switch from the old Starfall specification to something indistinguishable from the new Starfall Crusaders."

"Hmm, it was designed to be toggled on and off? How practical." Garnet hmmed. "But..."

"Lady Adrianne designed this herself. This power distribution unit doesn't use a rotating switch, but a strong alloyed spring lever."

Most squires, even the most exceptionally skilled, rarely used adjustable power distributors. Not only were they complicated to use, but they were also more fragile than fixed power distributors. However, for seasoned veterans, the wider performance spectrum offered by adjustable power distributors was more than worth the drawbacks.

"Lady Adrianne's Regal Wasp also uses a similar switch, but it has a three-dials selector instead of two." Luna smiled proudly. "The only other person who has this power distributor unit is Lord Avan."

"Eh? There's no way I can pay for that," Garnet balked in response, finally managing to gather her thoughts. "I don't think I can afford it with my budget."

Though Garnet paid the price of the joints with market price, she didn't have money to waste frivolously.

"Lady Adrianne plans to mass-produce it at some point." Luna waved her hand dismissively. "So think of it as doing a favor for us by testing it for field use."

"Ah... I see." Garnet calmed down slightly. "You want me to share the performance report? I can do that."

"Right. If you agree, we can install this right away."

"Alright, let's put it on." Garnet finally let go of her hesitation, rolled back her sleeves, and grabbed the tools.

There was another secret to the power distributor that Luna was unwilling to share. If anything, this secret was the most vital piece of information that Adrianne had entrusted to her.

"Excuse me, Miss Pucheria."

"Ah?"

A young woman dressed in an engineering-class uniform approached them with a food basket in her hand. Her hair was jet black and tied in a neat bun. Her glasses were so thick that they reflected the low light within the knight stable like a mirror.

"Lady Misty, good afternoon," Garnet greeted her politely. "Oh, have you two met before?"

"I believe we're from a different class," Luna said. "My name is Luna Linker. My family serves the House of Lyster."

"My name is Mistletoe Evelyn. I'm an adopted daughter of Marquis Evelyn. I'm here to support my sister, Lady Olive. You can call me Misty."

Luna froze for a second and then bowed to her wordlessly. There was a strange sense of awkwardness due to Misty's social position. Even though she was adopted, she was nominally still a noblewoman. And there were few if any nobles ever enrolled in the engineering class. They had always been an oddity.

"Lady Olive said that you might skip lunch again, so she ordered this made for you." Misty handed the food basket to Garnet. "Be sure to wash your hands properly before eating."

"Thank you, Lady Misty. You have my sincerest gratitude."

"You can say that to Lady Olive later." Misty coldly left.

"Scary," Luna mumbled as soon as the strange noblewoman was well out of earshot.

"I think Lady Misty dislikes me, but can't say that outright because she cares about lady Olive's feelings," Garnet said. "To be honest, I feel bothered by her generosity. I know Lady Adrianne feels indebted to my mother, but there's no reason why Lady Olive needs to be so nice to me."

"Sometimes, favor and moral debt come from the smallest things." Luna pointed at the dismantled Starfall. "What you brush off as meaningless trash might be something that other people consider an irreplaceable treasure."

Garnet twitched. "...Seriously?"

"This Starfall had been sitting unused for at least ten years in the armory. Cleaned once a year during spring cleaning and barely maintained," Luna said. "That's why no one in the Lyster family cared about it until Lady Adrianne proposed to send it to you as a gift."

So that's why Adrianne said it was junk when they first met at the school entrance: it was not a big deal for her, but it meant so much to Garnet.

...

Luna remembered the first time Adrianne had approached her directly, over a year ago. Adrianne behaved oddly back then and was scolded by her mother for acting like a servant rather than a noblewoman.

Adrianne had asked Luna for help with pet projects, many of which were still unfinished as of today. Adrianne was a genius but also shockingly unambitious. She preferred to put her duty as the Marchioness' daughter over her goals and interests.

But that didn't mean Lady Adrianne had abandoned them. On the contrary, she made good use of her spare time. Her ability to manage her private time and resources was almost scary, which reminded Luna of her mother, the Head Maid of the House of Lyster.

Luna could barely keep up with her demands. The fact that she could do that much was because their interests aligned perfectly, which was why she had decided she would serve Adrianne as well as she possibly could.

She had thought that Lady Adrianne's interest in Garnet was a bit peculiar, but when she saw the condition of the Starfall, she began to see Garnet's real virtues.

"It's done!" Garnet wiped the sweat off her brow. Not only had she replaced the power distributor by herself, but she had also assembled the armor pieces without Luna's help. Luna had only helped to dismantle the armor and replace the joints, and that was about it.

"You always do this alone?" Luna asked.

"Well, I helped to maintain Lady Alcott's armor suits for quite a while, so I'm pretty familiar with the basics." Garnet slapped the Starfall's brick red plating and sighed. "I even got paid wages for it. Lady Alcott was that adamant about not recognizing me as a disciple, but let me in the Manor anyway."

It had been pushed hard, likely in constant operation for weeks if not months since Garnet had received it. Yet, at the same time, it was well maintained. If not for the operational log that she had read from the loop circuit's central processor, Luna wouldn't have been aware of how Garnet had pushed the armor suit to its limit in the last three months.

And, unlike the nobles or burghers, Garnet could only rely on her skill and a limited amount of wealth.

A stubborn heroine, rejected by society as a whole but who kept moving on. That was why a select few individuals with gentle hearts had decided to support her through direct and indirect means. Perhaps Lady Adrianne was one of them.

"Pretty amazing!" Luna said earnestly.

"It's not like I was alone in this." Garnet looked aside.

Lewis finished maintaining his armor himself, and it wasn't as if Luna hadn't noticed it. If anything, she thought Lewis's work was excessive and obsessively meticulous.

"Everyone in the military personally maintained their armor." Lewis said it as a cold, hard fact rather than in an attempt to be humble. "Black Knives aren't as complicated as knight suits when it comes to construction, but the problem is the parts manufactured with looser tolerances."

The three of them walked out of the knight stable. Garnet carried the food basket with her.

"So, you have to be more thorough to maintain full performance, huh?" Garnet nodded in approval. "Even I'm not confident enough to bring one to the academy. You're so brave."

"Is that sarcasm?" Lewis scoffed. He got more than a few stink-eyes for daring to use a soldier armor suit in the academy. Even the poorest nobles and burghers could afford a squire armor suit, at least.

"I was praising you." Garnet gave him a thumbs-up.

"Speaking of which, you haven't eaten anything either, haven't you?" Garnet dropped the basket on the table outside the knight stable. This area was where students might take a short rest before or after working with their armor suits. It was covered by a simple-looking roof structures that protected anyone sitting beneath it from sunlight and rainwater, and there was also a water hand pump nearby.

"There's no way I can eat all this on my own."

"Maybe you need to eat more so you can grow up properly," Lewis snarked.

"I'm nineteen. There's no way I can grow much taller than this." Garnet shrugged, deflecting Lewis's attempt to insult her again. As she finished, she began to operate the hand pump, bringing in some water out of the faucet.

Garnet brought out a pot of ash from her tool bag and rubbed her wet, greasy hands with the white combustion byproduct. After rubbing them thoroughly, she poured out more water onto her hands, which resulted in murky and foamy water flowing into the drain.

What caught Luna and Lewis off guard was Garnet's courageous use of potash to clean her hands. Not many people used ash so liberally ever since the invention of cheap soap. Not on their skin, at least, since many people still used potash to clean dishes.

While potash had powerful degreasing properties, thanks to its alkaline nature, it could be a skin irritant when used carelessly. Forget noblewomen, even working-class urban young women wouldn't want to use ash to clean their hands.

"You... aren't you afraid of ruining your hands?" Lewis was at a complete loss. "Are you that much of a miser?"

"And you call yourself a military man? Pfftt." Garnet snorted.

Lewis popped a vein in anger, feeling that his pride as both a man and a former soldier was being slighted. He took the pot and rubbed his hands with two pinches of ash before pouring water on them and got pristine clean hands in the end. It wasn't as if this method of cleaning was anything new to him.

"Oh, so you DO know the old ways."

"You don't get many luxuries in a military campaign," Lewis told her. "Especially in the wilderness, so don't you dare to belittle-"

Lewis got his ramblings stopped by a piece of bread that Garnet shoved into his mouth.

"Good, so don't be picky about food while you're at it." Garnet laughed at his repressed anger and embarrassment.

The little miscreant girl always kept getting on his nerves, indeed. And the worst part of it, Lewis couldn't prank her back without looking like a big churl.

From Luna's point of view, though, it was almost like Garnet was flirting with him. She might be being a little annoying, but she was also trying to be helpful.

"Miss Luna, why don't you join us?" Garnet asked her.

And become a third wheel? No way.

"Ah, I dropped my soap, and wood ash is scary to use, so I'll just go back and wash my hands outside." Luna made an OK sign and pursed her lips at them. "See you again, sweethearts!"

Of course, this made Garnet choke with laughter while Lewis blinked in confusion. In this medieval age and the older classical period of the past, the OK sign was meant to show one's love and sense of endearment, whether towards people or gods. It was not a sign to take lightly.

Garnet could never be accustomed to people expressing affection to her, especially in a joking manner the way Luna did it. Doubly so since they had only met for the first time yesterday.

That's why she couldn't take Lewis kissing her hand seriously either, knowing their dog-cat relationship since they had first entered the school. Garnet knew he was a good guy inside, but couldn't help ribbing him from time to time.

"Was she always like that?" Lewis asked weirdly.

"How should I know? We just met yesterday." Garnet shrugged.

And so they continued to talk and bicker throughout late lunchtime. Meanwhile, Timothy peeked from around a corner with a basket of food in his hand, looking regretful.

CHAPTER 10 - A MOMENT OF SILENCE, PART 3

With their blessings, the world sprung alive.

The three Goddesses blessed us all.

With wealth untold and fertility.

With wealth untold and fertility.

And the people shall celebrate.

And the people shall celebrate.

A few days had passed since the end of the orientation week, and busy times had begun for Garnet. Most importantly, she had participated in the collaboration choral mass for the Sunny Spring Festival.

Thankfully, she had finished the repair and maintenance of her Starfall last week. She could scrape together enough time for her studies and routine training without fail.

And today, Garnet was one of the students who was participating in choral practice. She listened intently as the instructor gave corrections and suggestions to the students involved. Among the chorus members was Lady Adrianne's older brother, Lord Avan.

"Good evening." Garnet bowed to him.

"Good evening, Miss Pucheria." Avan gave a friendly smile. "How was it, the first few days in the academy?"

"I'm shocked that it's very different than what I imagined!" Garnet said. "I went to grammar school before, but other than that I never experienced any formal education."

A grammar school was a school usually built close to or adjacent to the church. The children there got taught the basics of reading, religion, and arithmetic. Usually, they only spent two years there before returning to their family and learning the family trades.

"Certainly, the knight's academy focuses on the refinement of preexisting knowledge and sorting out differences in training and philosophy. In that case, we're closer to a university than a school."

The academy assumed that the students had the necessary knowledge for advanced education. That's why the academy has an entrance exam, and one prerequisite for someone to get a scholarship was to be part of the top six ranks in both written and practical exams.

Garnet wasn't aware if anyone else other than her took the scholarship, though.

"You went to other schools before?"

"Of course." Avan smiled. "I went to Monastic School in the hopes of joining the ranks of the clergy, but somehow it led to my being recruited to the rank of the Military Order."

"And that's how you ended up in the knight's academy."

"Correct." Avan nodded sagely. "I believe that fate was what led me here, so I don't regret it one bit. God gave us free will, but He would not let a true believer go astray."

"God bless." Garnet made a triangle sign with her fingers in agreement. "I was expecting people to make fun of me in this gown."

Both of them were dressed in their respective church garb, and in that state, Garnet looked way more gentle and feminine than she usually was. The veil especially was a nice touch, exposing her crimson red hair slightly while drawing attention away from how short it was compared to the average women's.

She also looked younger than she was, despite Garnet being closer to Avan than she was to Adrianne in terms of age.

Weird realization, he knew. Still, Avan was aware that Garnet did not have any shortage of suitors. Her strength and courage were dazzling, and it wasn't as if she was lacking in the beauty department, despite her modest use of cosmetics. Some people probably considered her natural youthful look to be part of her unique charm.

"It looks charming on you, Miss Pucheria. And I'm sure many gentlemen here would agree with me."

Avan's voice was calm and soothing, and any other woman might melt right there hearing it from him.

"Thank you, Lord Avan. But I think everyone else pulled it off better," Garnet responded.

Avan could tell that Garnet outright brushed off his honest praise without thinking about it. Not that he had intended to flirt with her or anything, but sometimes he was ashamed at how everyone pointed how he often accidentally seduced women left and right, even if he didn't mean to.

In the unforgiving world of chivalry, romance was both an ideal to pursue and a tool to use. Someone as socially vulnerable as Garnet would likely always be on guard. Anyone thinking she would be easy prey was foolish.

"Speaking of which, our instructors haven't announced it, but next week, the first year will have their first deployment," Avan told her. "Or perhaps you have heard about it?"

"Of course, we're supposed to thin out the monster population outside the city and harvest their meat in preparation for the spring festival." Garnet clenched her fists.

"Indeed. Hunting skill is important for a knight, both for survival and prestige," Avan pointed out. "Although, since most of us were squires, that shouldn't be a problem. But we should be careful."

"I lived in the countryside and worked as a mercenary before, so I have a lot of experience with monster hunting." Garnet nodded. "Unforeseen circumstances can always happen."

Avan froze for a second but then relaxed again. "I'm glad to hear that."

"Well then, I shall excuse myself." Garnet bowed.

"Well, looks like SOMEONE is getting rejected for once," Avan's friends teased him as Garnet left to fetch her horse.

"It's not like that." Avan bashfully denied. "It's just that my little sister paid special attention to her, so I'm a little curious."

Not long after, a giant draft horse passed across the road in front of the cathedral with a steady trot, with a small-statured woman riding it. Despite wearing a long dress, Garnet wasn't afraid of riding her horse astride.

Avan heard the story from Adrianne of how Garnet will be pivotal in saving their family and the future of the Kingdom of Sutherland. Adrianne refused to elaborate on the details yet, but after her prophetic nightmare about their mother turned out to be real, Avan decided that he could trust her foresight.

With that in mind, Avan wouls also pay attention to Garnet without directly interfering with her growth as a chevalier. Avan knew that the path to true heroism was full of challenges. Challenges that Garnet would have to overcome by her own hands.

But at the very least, he knew Adrianne would try to support her from a distance.

...

"[As per the tradition of this academy, this week we will conduct an extermination campaign against the demon beasts around the town's vicinity]." The Principal announced during the morning assembly in the opening Monday of the second week.

The students were all geared up with their plate armor, their helmet visors opened. Unlike during the entrance ceremony, they weren't wearing their family or guild's coat of arms, but instead wore the heraldry of the knight's academy of Marble Valley. This was comprised of four colored marbles with a lump of black coal in the center. This symbol represented the history of Marble Valley as the location of many of the Sutherland's Kingdom's coal mines, which had kickstarted a small industrial revolution that made the construction of armor suit possible a hundred and thirty years ago.

During the age of plate armor, iron and steel processing used the costly but potent wood charcoal as a fuel. However, after someone invented the necessary process, coal was purified into coke, almost as powerful as charcoal but cheaper and more abundant.

"[I am well aware that you ladies and gentlemen of the first year are more than qualified to do this task. However, we should always remain vigilant and remember, no one is invincible. Not me, not your instructors, and not you. We will support you with the preparation, but we fully expect the students of this academy to fulfill their assigned mission independently]."

"[DEUS VULT!]"

"DEUS VULT!" The students repeated.

...

Much like the college groupings in Modern Earth, the first year's students were expected to make their team independently. Specifically, each class of thirty students was split into ten groups of three students.

Even without game foreknowledge, Adrianne could easily guess the composition of the group she was most interested in. Grouping with people you were most acquainted with, personally or politically, was beneficial. Still, according to her notes, this should be another divergence point.

It was logical to assume that Garnet would form a group with Lady Olive, but that was not necessarily the case in the game. If Garnet decided to split with her, she was most likely to team up with Lewis and Timothy instead. If certain prerequisites were met, Garnet had the option to ask Theodore to join her group. Also, Reinhard was an option for players who hadn't yet committed to any of the potential love interests.

Unfortunately, in the game, Reinhard was a joke character. Not only there was no romantic progression because of his nature as a casanova, but the subsequent battle was harder without having Theodore or Lewis around. However, this would allow Garnet to build a better relationship with Olive.

But real life was not a game, and with gun nut Kazuya at the helm, Reinhard was nowhere as incompetent nor unreliable. Furthermore, spending time together didn't necessarily meant that there was growing attraction.

Adrianne had to think of her own situation, and it was unexpectedly hard. Early on, she had decided to avoid associating herself with Serena and Lina, the two toxic groupies who were hostile to Garnet from the beginning.

Yet it was hard for her to refuse when the two of them immediately approached her.

"Why me?" Adrianne asked them.

"We have seen how you performed before. We admire you from the bottom of our hearts," Lina begged. "So please grant us the honor to be part of your team."

In actuality, it wasn't as if Adrianne couldn't see the real reason why they had latched on to her. Ever since their embarrassing defeat on the first day of the orientation, they had become the designated pariah among the nobles. In-game, Adrianne covered for them, which mitigated the issue early on. However, since she never associated with them during the orientation week, no one else can or wants to elevate their position and shield them from criticism and ostracization.

No one would want to team with them willingly, and it was their fault and no one else's. Adrianne had no obligation to save them.

"That..."

Yet, why was it so hard to say no? Adrianne felt like she was back at the beginning of her awakening, easily buckling to the pressure asserted by her family members.

Adrianne didn't like it, knowing that it was one of Kuro's virtues as a maid that had become one of her flaws as a noblewoman once their memories merged. Absolute loyalty, obedience, and unwillingness to spark unnecessary conflict or argument. That was what signified Kuro as a person, and while Adrianne was the dominant identity, that didn't mean she that Kuro's personality wasn't part of her as well.

"It doesn't have to be me." Adrianne looked away, hiding away her doubts with a steely, uncaring expression. "Find someone else."

"Excuse me," Someone asked. "Can I join the two of you?"

Lina and Serena turned back so fast they almost got whiplash, only to be disappointed as they saw none other than Timothy Hill, the class's designated bully target.

"Really? Of all people who want to join us, it has to be Master Hill?" Serena eyed him suspiciously, clearly disappointed.

"Our future sure is dim," Lina cried.

Adrianne sighed heavily. This kind of reaction is why these people would remain losers to the end. They took everything they have for granted and yearned for things they could not obtain. It was human nature, yet it was not pleasant to behold.

"Like you people have the luxury to choose!" Lewis scoffed at them. "If not for him being so insistent about it, I wouldn't let him go with you in the first place. Be thankful."

Indeed, Timothy was shaken but determined. "I can't always rely on Lewis for everything... so please, the least I can do, is not to be a burden."

"Pfft, like these two can be relied upon for anything." Garnet peeked from behind Lewis and commented snarkily before running away.

Serena and Lina seethed so hotly that Adrianne couldn't help but wipe away a bead of sweat with her handkerchief. However, since Garnet was the person who said it, they had no room to retort back and could only stay quiet.

"How about this then." Adrianne proposed. "If you're willing to work together with him, then I'll help you to prepare yourselves better for this deployment."

"Really?!" Lina and Serena lightened up immediately.

"In exchange, you get to listen to everything I say... no, you should listen to what Young Master Carter says." Adrianne smiled at them. "Among all of us, he's the only one with real military experience."

Lewis didn't see that coming and wondering why Adrianne had said that. He was proud of his five-year service in the kingdom's military, but he didn't expect a noblewoman, especially someone as high status as Adrianne, would acknowledge it so openly.

"Strange, what's the occasion, Milady?" Lewis asked her suspiciously.

"I meant what I said," Adrianne told him firmly. "The death of my mentor, Sir Agravain, put a halt to my progression as a knight's disciple. Ever since I separated myself from Prince Theodore, I spent most of my time cooped up within the confines of my family's mansion and territory. I am confident with my skill, but combat experience is something I lack."

"Lady Darlington and Lady Denver's home territories were close to the Capital and didn't see as many monster attacks. And, forgive me saying this bluntly, but I doubt Young Master Hill has that much combat experience either." Adrianne frankly told them with a cold voice. "We need help."

"That's... that's right! Lewis, you should help us!" Timothy shouted in agreement.

"Who was it again who wanted to do things without my help, you little ingrate?" Lewis smacked Timothy by the back of his head angrily. Timothy did not lack skill, but what he lacked was the conviction to carry himself.

"Sorry!"

Little Timmy needed to stop being wishy-washy like that.

Lina and Serena looked at each other dejectedly and gave up. There was no way they could miss the chance of getting direct support from Lady Adrianne, even if it meant that they had to work with two pesky burghers.

"We'll follow your directions, Master Carter." Lina and Serena bowed stiffly.

"Sounds interesting. Can I join?" Theodore barged in.

"Theo?" Adrianne jumped a bit and blushed. "What... what about Gar-"

Adrianne looked around and found Garnet, Olive, and Reinhard talking together. It seemed that Garnet decided to pick Reinhard after all.

Well, it made sense. Garnet did several jobs issued by Baron Kingston. That was one of the reasons for the ruined leg joints of her Starfall. She had worked together with Reinhard a few times in the past three months.

"So, how about it?" Theodore asked Lewis.

Lewis rubbed his temple in regret, realising that he had been dragged into nobility shenanigans during his first deployment.

"Not like I have any room to refuse, your Highness."