More and more children and teens of nobility filled the halls of the academy, and Kirim was getting exhausted at the fights breaking out within the school. The nobility were constantly picking fights with everyone they encountered because of their misconceptions they could get away with their actions if Kirim wasn't watching. She punished those who went as far as trying to abuse power over other students. If they were discriminated against. She also punished those who repeatedly committed smaller breaks of the rules. It was getting out of hand. A few of the nobles had even threatened to critically harm another student. They wouldn't dare threaten Kirim, because they knew Kirim would expel them immediately, and they would be ruined for the rest of their lives, their reputation as people destroyed.
Kirim was worried for the students who were being harassed. That a noble would try and kill, to push the bounds of their abuse. The moment that would happen, Kirim would hand out the first expulsion. At that moment, she might have some regret from becoming a teacher. She wouldn't regret teaching though. The moment she regretted teaching, the moment she would lose her reason for continuing forward.
"What was that for?!"
She tuned out her thoughts for a moment and looked up from the runes she was making for a lesson tome and stood as she saw a noble and commoner facing off against each other.
"Your boring commoner face was irritating me!"
"Take that back!"
Kirim cleared her throat. The attention moved from the fighting students to her in an instant, even calling forward the fighting students' attention.
"Brett, apologize immediately. Use of the word commoner is forbidden. This is your second strike on using that word this week. Don't push your luck."
Kirim's lifeless stare made him look like he might have soiled himself. The room was full of students. It was a class where she was having them repeatedly write down the characters of the collective language used in their world. Everyone was learning. Even those with noble birth and had the education previously were failures at writing the language, so she was teaching them all equally. She answered questions still obviously if she was needed for something, but it was more of a self improvement period when she would start another task like writing her runic tomes.
The noble boy Brett looked at the girl he was insulting as boring and bowed.
"I...I'm sorry."
He couldn't bring himself to say anything else. Or he didn't think he needed to go into detail. Kirim was too busy with the runic to force him to continue. He was lucky for the time being.
"I heard something happening from the floor below, everything alright?"
Alice's voice earned a nod from Kirim.
"Oh...so that's the reason you didn't chew him out more. It was...yes, Brett!"
Brett's attention went from his lesson sheet in front of him back to the front of the classroom and he saw Alice. Even if she was a commoner to him otherwise, he and every other male student from nobility wanted to take Alice as their spouse.
"Your voice was the one I heard making berating comments about your seat neighbor. I have made it clear several times, Brett. If you do not treat your fellow students, you have no place here."
Kirim gave Alice a look that had them both understand it was time.
"It sounds like it's time for the first expulsion. Your action this time alone isn't worth expulsion, but your repeated harassment and abuse of fellow classmates has occurred to an extent we cannot permit further. You have crossed the line in the rules too many times. You are expelled. Collect your belongings. Alice, can you mind this class as well for about ten minutes? I'll be back as soon as I've escorted him out of Rulid."
Alice gave an exasperated expression and nodded.
"Please return as soon as possible. We don't have the lesson tomes ready yet."
Kirim nodded and moved Brett along out of the classroom. They collected his belongings from his room in less than a minute of being in the room, most of his belongings floating around since she wanted to vacate him from the region immediately. She kept pushing and nudging him along until he made it out of the school because he gave the impression he was purposefully slowing the process down. She silenced him, so he couldn't protest and cause more issue with others who were nearby on the way out.
People bowed or gave other soundless expressions of respect toward Kirim as she escorted him out. As soon as she got him to the road leading out of Rulid onto the plains which had the cathedral's singular spire piercing far further into the sky than Kirim's academy.
She braced her ears to hear Brett's complaints hurt her ears, but she saw his expression had become despondent and depressed when she dropped him on the road. He looked up at her, tear stained cheeks with tears at the edges of his eyes. He looked up to meet her eyes when he landed on the ground, but he gave the impression he wasn't going to say anything. Minutes of screaming and flailing and fighting to the fullest of his strength, it had left him despondent. He couldn't in fact do anything at his full strength against her.
"I suppose those loose lips of yours lost their strength in this last moment I'm giving you before you leave. I give you one last chance to reverse your expulsion in this moment. Vow to cast aside your nobility. If you come back thinking you're noble at all, I will personally throw you hurtling across the plains so you feel battered and beat up just from the tumbling your body will do from the force of my throw. There is nothing noble about how you have treated your peers. You are all equal as peers, as fellow students. Actions against your peers can only be tolerated so far. I should have punished you like this sooner. I didn't want to touch my students aside from the first few. You brought this on yourself through your refusal to cooperate with the rules designated here. You have been experiencing taboo backlash for lashing out at me. Everything you are experiencing now is because you refused to swallow your worthless pride and realize nobility is worth nothing here. A noble here is a normal person. Just like every other person."
Kirim's words were repetitive, but they were genuinely trying to convince Brett away from being the first expulsion in truth. She could give him back his student sacred task easily, but he needed to earn it. To beg for it.
He continued to stare long enough that the tears began to fall again. New tear lines formed on his cheeks. He began sobbing again, fell to his hands.
"Please...don't take my life from me. Please, I beg of you...make me a student again. Teach me how not to be the kind of person you would throw out of here..."
He begged between sobs and choked on his words frequently. Kirim smiled. It didn't take much at all in the end to convince him. Brett was desperate to have a life. She was certain there would eventually be a vile noble who wouldn't care about their life being ruined. She needed to prepare for that time.
"I spare you. Be sure to remember this moment well into the future. All life is equal. The only reason I place myself above the students and other teachers here, is because I'm setting the foundations. I'm in direct contact with Administrator, and she's correcting the taboo index with what I've developed here. You and everyone else here is simply preparing for the future being developed by this school as reference to the taboo index's changes."
He looked up to meet her eyes again and quivered in fear.
"...you...with highest minister...oh no...what have I done...?"
"Nothing worth mention to me. You will start with apologies, and working hard to make up for your bad actions to your fellow students. There is no fast path to making up for a past of cruelty. You may not have committed the countless atrocities nobles of the past collectively did, but you as a youth need to stand up against such a past and firmly deny such a thing. A future with discrimination and abuse of power doesn't belong in this world. You must step up with the other nobility taught here against traditional nobility, make a truly noble nobility. One which protects those who aren't fortunate enough to have the ability to protect themselves."
His expression went from fear, to confusion, to exasperation, to hopelessness and then disbelief.
"Isn't someone who protects those who can't protect themselves a knight though? Why would a noble become a knight?"
"Because of ability. Nobility boast all the time about having better blood than the common folk, yet I haven't met a single person of nobility with any intention of directly protecting the people around them. They are always their number one priority, their only priority. And they rely on people supposedly weaker than them to escape dangerous situations. Nobility have no excuse here not to become strong and worthy to inherit positions within the ranks of the strongest protectors of the light lands. Wouldn't it feel better to walk out in public and be thanked for your protection, than to stay cooped up in some boring building wasting away your time? My advice to you is to become strong enough to protect the people around you. Pass this along to your fellow nobility."
Her words somehow made sense to him. He didn't understand right away, but he realized as she explained. Nobility had a stronger base ability to grow than commoners because of selecting stronger partners. Nobility enhanced themselves over generations. Yet most nobility had nothing special about them because all they did was sit around and order commoner knights around. She could bring out their potential. She would bring out their potential, but only if it was used for good. A noble who had nefarious goals with their newfound powers she would provide, would be dangerous and she herself might need to contain or eliminate them. He understood, when he thought about it.
People who were the result of selectively guaranteeing great strength had some responsibility to become fittingly strong. Yet they weren't. That was a correction Kirim would make. If the personalities weren't fit for the strength, she would cripple them. That was the unfortunate reality of the light lands. While the dark lands had its problems, the light lands had some as well. Nobility who lazed around instead of refining the inherent strength they bred into, versus an innate desire for violence and sating selfish ends.
Kirim admitted several times to those close to her, that she was far from selfless. She was bringing out the strength of those around her and who would seek it from her, so she could protect herself, surround herself with strength fit enough to possibly defeat Vector. There were selfless ends within her acts, but her priority was having people around who would protect her. The majority of the student population wouldn't know of her selfishness, that they were potentially going to be used as shields.
Everything was a shield. From the school itself, to those she brought out strength within. She could never be sure just how strong Vector really was. Not until she would have to confront him herself. He overpowered her to an insane extent previously, with such simple and unintentional methods. If he were intentionally trying to kill her, she currently didn't stand a chance. An uncontrolled breath could kill her. A mere thought was more than enough.
Kirim trembled at the thought of facing Vector alone again. It would need to be a planned encounter, one where he would have to face all of the obstacles she had set up for him. Where she could set him up and defeat him through prolonged effort.
"Let's get back there and get you set up with something that'll let everyone know you should have been expelled. I don't want to burden Alice with waiting too long for me to get back, and you need to serve some sort of immediate measure for your previous actions. You will be making up for it over time."
Kirim took in a deep breath, and as she sighed out the breath, she released a binding magic on Brett. The magic appeared in the form of black shackles on the neck, wrists and ankles having runic writing on them.
"Should you commit further acts against the rules, each time you do will remove a rune from the shackles. When all runes disappear from a shackle, the limb it is bound to will close entirely, removing what was separated from you and making it impossible to heal with magic. So keep this in mind – further defiance of the rules only puts yourself in danger. If you graduate, I will remove the shackles. All shackles don't close at the same rate. The first to close would be on the left foot, then the right. Left hand then the right. And finally the one on your neck. You would only have yourself to blame for not following the rules should you lose anything. The rules are easy to not break. They are hard to break if you are a decent person. So in this, you have essentially been granted both an easy punishment and the most difficult. Since your personality up to now has been in defiance of the rules, you are fighting yourself. I have a challenge for you. Graduate without breaking any more rules. If you graduate without losing a single rune from the shackles I will give you a gift befitting such a task."
Brett nodded with a determination in his eyes. His cheeks were still stained with tears.
"I will make full use of this chance you're giving me. Thank you for this chance."
He bowed, showing his respect to her. It was baffling how immensely she overpowered him. He didn't think even with his heritage that he could ever catch up with her. After all, he had no idea if she was nobility as well or not. He didn't even know if he should consider her on the same scale.
After they returned to the classroom with Brett having his student sacred task restored, they realized quickly it wasn't much better of a situation to return to.
"-no commoner can refuse me, not even you!"
Kirim was instantly on her last nerve with nobility for the day. Brett wasn't the first to be scolded, only the first to be nearly expelled, given the last resort.
"Welcome back Kirim, sorry to welcome you back with another troublemaker from the nobility..."
Alice was equally annoyed.
"Well since I finally made use of this, I'll have to just make this a common practice. Troublemakers, eyes on Brett here. You see the shackles on him? They're magically enchanted to remove a rune when a rule is broken. If all runes are removed from a shackle, it closes. You must understand with that much. Since much of the nobility have been breaking rules repeatedly, I'll be placing this magic on every last one of you. Any noble who graduates without losing a rune, will get a special gift. It is also your own fault for breaking the rules if you lose appendages. You need to be held accountable, and continuing this pointless breaking of rules only disgraces yourselves. Your nobility is worthless here. In fact, it will hurt you if you don't reel it in."
She took in a deep breath, and placed the same magic on all nobility in the classroom.
"I may attach this magic to all of the students for fairness sake, but you must realize this is all for your sake. You're here to learn and grow. Holding onto a weakness like the pride of nobility is counter intuitive to the environment here. I will not tolerate students who refuse to grow. Breaking the rules is a sign of weakness and a lack of awareness of your situation."
Everyone, including Alice were wide eyed with shock. It seemed to be a lot of chances she was giving, but they still had no frame for how long they would be there. How long would they need to abide the rules? Was risking the permanent loss of important limbs worth continuing at the school?
"You can always quit your studies here and return to your previous experiences. You graduate as soon as you reach the goal you set out for here. I teach here with the intent of growing all of your potentials in the basics of living, surviving and then add on martial arts and magic so that you are all around prepared for whatever type of life you want to lead. You graduate when you have realized what purpose you will achieve in the future. If you immediately think of this as a risk, then you need to think about how breakable the rules are, if you would break any at all by living here normally. Otherwise, the shackles have zero effect. They don't even prevent you from cleaning yourself. Just remember that you're using the time of the people teaching here, whether they be myself or your fellow students. Time is precious, so if you waste it with breaking the rules, you work toward punishment."
Everyone nodded in understanding, intimidated with Kirim's overwhelming explanation. If anyone were to drop out from just that, they would be deemed a coward and unlikely to have much of a future. The risks weren't so great they needed to worry so much. She put it obvious in such a way that they couldn't argue her sense in that they were there for a reason, and wasting her time which was so valuable was the worst offense they could commit when she was so kindly offering to help them better themselves.
"I can't believe this. Who do you think you are anyways?! I'm the eldest son of the royal guard captain in Centoria! Father sent me here to obtain the power you're offering here, and you insult us for wasting your time?! What about my time?! My time is more valuable than anyone else here! Get on your knees and apologize for wasting my time!"
Some of his classmates started bowing but Kirim walked right up to him, grabbed him by the collar of his uniform shirt and threw him against the back wall of the classroom. She continued toward him, where he was trailing a puddle as he tried squirming away from her but she stepped on his stomach before he was able to stand up.
"Get on my knees? Wasting your time? Your waste of breath father begged me to teach you proper manners because he realized how badly he failed in teaching you. You broke three rules in that one statement. Four runes per shackle besides the neck. One more and you'll lose your left foot. Shall I magically knit your mouth shut so you don't spew useless words in front of your classmates? You should have realized from the moment you came here that you have no power here. You won't have any power even should you return home without graduating here. Your father said that if you didn't graduate, to let you know you're not allowed to return home. It turns out you've been committing a lot of disgusting crimes in Centoria. As the guard captain, of course he'd want to clean up his image which has been so thoroughly tainted by your ego. If you don't want to be thrown out the window this instant so you can try the emergency lesson for flying with magic, you'd better get on your knees and beg forgiveness as soon as I lift my foot."
She took her foot from his stomach and he let out a whimper followed up by getting on his knees but trying to kiss her feet.
"Don't touch me."
She moved her foot to his head and pressed his forehead into the floor. She wasn't having anymore. The nobility like him needed to learn she wasn't putting up with their outside status in her school anymore, and they needed to know what punishment was like.
"Please! Please stop! I'll do anything!"
"Too late. You should have rearranged your useless mind as soon as you arrived here like your father warned you. This is your own fault, not anybody else. You have wasted another five minutes of lesson time on top of Brett's ten today. Apologize to your classmates for wasting their time they could have been studying in peace. Apologize to the floor for pissing on it. Apologize to my clothing for trying to defile it with your touch. Beg forgiveness. Beg with your head firmly planted on the floor like this and your hands firmly planted beside your head."
Kirim's domineering position over him made everyone collectively get out of their seats and back away to the other end of the room. She wasn't even using a fraction of her strength, and she was forcing him into submission so easily.
The noble cried, sobbing and shaking and spitting up clear fluid from his mouth as he forced out choked apologies, begging with everything he had to be forgiven.
"Better. Now let's move your desk to where you currently are so you can study on your own, since you're such a special student. Use magic to clean up where you soiled the floor, and clean your uniform too. You have five minutes. Everyone else, please return to your writing lesson. You can still ask me questions if you're having trouble with your studies. You will not receive help, boy."
The noble boy yelped as she returned her focus to him, and busied himself with recalling how to use the magics she told him to use. He got them out of order.
"Wrong order! You need water magic first to cleanse!"
He yelped again, feeling cold water splash on his back. He shivered as he got back to work. He finally got through the first part of cleaning up the mess on the floor, using water magic on it. He then followed it up with heat magic.
"Wrong again! You need to pull the moisture together with wind magic!"
He sobbed and used wind magic to pull it together. He was a mess beyond compare, snot dripping from his nose, still having trouble controlling his bladder and still having tears relentlessly rolling down his cheeks.
Brett was thankful that he didn't end up that example, trying his best to focus on the writing lesson.
The floor was finally dealt with when it was evaporated with heat magic. He then had to do it to himself. Having been reminded how to do the cleansing order, he started by getting himself wet, but he got the floor wet again.
"Get yourself together! No more splashing!"
His chest, stomach and head hurt from it all. The crying and the pressure from where she touched him with her foot. He desperately tried to get it all done at once and found himself quivering on the floor still wet from using up what little energy he had for magic. He was still weak in capacity despite being of nobility.
"What a disappointment. You can't even clean up after yourself. Time is up. This is how fast you should have been able to do it if you had been paying attention to your lessons and practicing every day."
She surrounded him in water magic in the form of a large bubble, and used wind and fire magic simultaneously to keep the moisture where it was and evaporate the outer moisture. The floor and him were clean and dry when she dropped him into his chair. He slumped on the desk from exhaustion and she sighed.
"Such a disappointment. This is why I said my time is being wasted by some of the nobility. You're tasked with practicing every day after you've learned something. Once you have learned something sufficiently, you only need to practice for a few minutes a day to retain it. But he obviously didn't think magic was useful. I feel he's utterly hopeless...perhaps I should send him home to his father with a letter explaining how he's the first real expulsion?"
The rest of the class were back to staring at her.
"I...I think he's had enough punishment for today, Kirim. Maybe he'll have learned from this..."
Alice's words reminded Kirim that she was still there instead of teaching her class. She felt a little embarrassed to have shown such a side of herself to her. She didn't show it though.
"He will have to prove he learned from this. For now, yes his punishment has been enough. Future misdemeanors will result in appropriate punishment. Also, for those who worry about losing a limb to punishment – you won't be able to heal it even with the the strongest magic in this school. You'll just have to learn how to replace the limb with magic. They're only ever temporary though, so be sure to keep yourselves in like with the rules."
Kirim returned to her desk and sat down. Alice returned to her classroom and as soon as everyone had calmed back down, working on their lessons, Kirim felt a chill stabbing through every inch of her.
"That's no way to teach your students. I would think you're better than resorting to violence. I suppose you'll always have been from the dark lands...perhaps I should lift your banishment...? No, I won't let such a violent teacher return home. One more outburst like that, and I will end you."
Vector's voice echoed through her head and she vomited from the sensation of him stabbing her through the insides with chilling magic. Kirim fell to the floor, convulsing from the magic continuing to be too much for her body. In the end, it didn't seem to matter that she was putting so many shields between her and Vector. He could always reach right into her with magic and kill her in an instant. Black smoke emanated from her mouth as her students frantically called for help.
