Their continued progress only affirmed Maria's notion that this practical test was a means to cull the vapid, stupid and useless from the school population. There had been the hallway with the whirling disc saws erupting from the walls at neck and waist level (they'd crawled under it. Thankfully the score along the wall had prompted Maria's suspicions). There had been the gouts of flame from the ceiling. This had been followed by ice-slicked ground immediately after, towards a wall of spikes. Then a long hallway where the ceiling grew spikes and started to descend while they were in the middle of it. The cold eugenics of the nobles of Sorcier was brutal, ruthless and final.

She supposed this explained the general apathy of the staff to things like her assault, Lord Gramont's philandering ways, Lord Byron's nocturnal excursions out of the school, Lady Claes' many lovers and her alleged garden, and the lack of discipline and uniforms. Byrgenwerth had required uniforms of its students, from what she'd seen when she'd been there. Why enforce such things when they would have a chance to eliminate the truly useless anyway?

Maria wished they'd leave her out of it. She was a peasant, after all!

She sighed, waiting for the large spherical stone to roll past her and Lady Hunt, whom she'd pushed under her into the corner where floor and wall met. Prince Alan, she'd pushed towards the opposite wall, since there wouldn't have been enough space in their corner otherwise.

When the sphere had rolled past, slamming into the end of the hallway behind them and blocking that avenue, Maria stood up, wary of where she placed her foot, lest it be another trigger. "Lady Hunt," Maria said evenly, two lifetimes of experience in not letting people in, not letting them see, and pretending to be the good girl she always had to be allowing her to perfectly mask her anger, "I don't mean to accuse you of anything, but are you sure Lord Ascart gave no indication that the practical exam's defenses would be so… enthusiastic?" She held out a hand to the other woman to help her up.

Lady Hunt wore an expression that said she was unhappy and intended to pass that unhappiness along. Thankfully, it didn't seem to be directed at Maria. "No, he didn't," she said, accepting Maria's hand.

"Well he was probably sworn to secrecy," Maria said. "I'm sure he had good reason for not warning you in advance."

If anything, Lady Hunt's expression darkened further. Maria gave no reaction, even as she internally nodded at the confirmation of the currents within Lady Claes' harem. "Yes, he probably did," she said flatly. "Prince Alan, are you all right?"

The prince was wincing, but looked none the worse for wear. "I'm fine," he said. He gave Maria a scowl, but it was a neutral on the Alan scale. "A little warning next time would be nice," he grumbled. "Thanks though."

Maria gave a deferential bow. "Of course, Prince Alan. Shall we continue?"

They resumed walking, Prince Alan using his magic to move water ahead of them. Stone that triggered traps tended to bubble, allowing them to avoid the things most of the time, but not always. Despite the many candles, it was easy to miss subtle bubbles in the flickering light. And this didn't do much to let them past traps that were more magical in nature.

"Did you hear that?" Maria suddenly said. The two stopped, and with their footsteps stilled they could hear the murmurs ahead of them. Ahead, Maria could see vague shadows. "I think there are people ahead?"

"Hopefully, a teacher," Lady Hunt grumbled. "Come on, I want to wring the neck of an authority figure!"

…

Lady Mary's intention to wring the neck of an authority figure was, alas, not meant to be. This was very convenient for Lord Ascart, as he was the closest authority figure in attendance. It was less convenient that this was because Lady Claes had apparently disappeared. Not squashed, stabbed, crushed, drowned, burned, rolled on, or frozen in a block of ice, disappeared.

If it were anyone else in any other group, Maria is certain their fellows would have just shrugged and continued on their way, resigned to the fact one of the traps had done as intended and culled the student population. But this was Lady Claes, whose insatiable lust had drawn half of Sorcier's princes, and her own brother, among others. Maria was not surprised they decided to drop everything to recover her. She was surprised and annoyed that they expected Maria to do the same. While she understood why they were doing what they did, surely they understood she had a practical exam to pass?

She did NOT say this, however, because she was a peasant and they were nobles, and she didn't want her lifesblood being used to fill a bathtub for their hedonistic escapades. So Mary stood aside and, when they had used wind magic to listen for Lady Claes, she reluctantly followed after them at a more sedate pace. She drew a handkerchief from her pocket to cover her mouth as she saw dark smoke along their path. Had someone used bad oil for their lantern…?

…

So, apparently, they all passed. For some reason. Despite there being only one magic stone and two teams. It was probably Lady Claes exercising her connections, and probably an attempt to entrap Maria into her harem through some sort of perceived debt. Maria decided not to poke at this particular jar of eyes.

She had fully expected, upon their return to the dormitories, to find servants discretely but efficiently packing up deceased masters' belongings for return to their estates along with their mutilated body. Surprisingly, however, everyone seemed to have managed to survive, and Maria was forced to increase her estimations of the competence of her schoolmates. She supposed that, after a generation or three of such exams eliminating the truly hopeless, those who survived would have passed on the traits needed to do so down their bloodline, allowing for generations of nobles to be both pointlessly pretentious yes still capable of survival despite it.

Maria had also not expected many of her classmate simply throwing away their new uniforms after the final exam. In hindsight, she supposed she should have. After all, they were allowed to wear whatever they wished in class, and while nobles would allow themselves to be seen in some signature ensemble, such as the Third Prince's white suit and red cape, actually wearing the same look day in and day out as imposed on them by some outside force was apparently anathema to them.

As such, Maria had been able, by dint of politely asking, to get the maids who had been tasked to get rid of said uniforms to give them to her instead. While many of the maids serving her classmates were noble bastards like herself, some were the peasants she appeared to be, and when offered an alternative to throwing away a perfectly good set of clothes, took it and told others. The result was that Maria found herself with nearly all of the Ladies uniforms' and even some of the Lords', all stuffed into her little dorm room. It was probably more clothes than Maria had ever owned in this life, and possibly even in her previous life as well. Hunters, contrary to what many would think, usually managed to get most of the blood out of their garb after a hunt, so they did not need to regularly buy a new set of clothes.

Maria, now no longer a tall woman, was able to fit into nearly all of the clothes, after a little alteration. Some, like the set that used to belong to Lady Zerbst, were much too… ample… for her without extensive modification. Maria set aside the Zerbst Set for last, along with the ones from Lady Phryne, Lady Piggot and others who, by virtue of height, girth or large… vials of blood would need too much time to modify.

This still left her with several sets that were perfect just the way they were, as well as several sets of trousers. After stripping off the braid, the uniform did in fact make for a serviceable set of hunter's garb, which meant it was perfectly useable as schoolwear.

She wished she could commission a nice coat to go along with it– all those fabric on the skirts would certainly be good for it– but unfortunately she lacked the resources to indulge herself in the urge. If she were going to spend wealth like that, better it be on a proper sword instead of the well-balanced stick she'd found and wrapped some rags on to serve as a grip.

Well, they could serve as extra padding on her bed in the meantime.

Stifling a yawn, Maria got dressed for bed and settled back on her marginally softer bed. Tucking her dagger under her pillow, one hand on the grip, she closed her eyes as she drifted off to sleep.

Her dreams were filled with blood, beasts and patients with grotesque, swollen heads wrapped in bandages. Smiling in her slumber, she remembered the taste of thick, rich blood filled with echoes…