“Is it okay to form a team with kids from other classes?”
“It should be fine. That’s probably why they gathered us all together in the first place. Besides, our group formed not because the teachers decided our teams, but because we ended up sticking with the people we’re comfortable with. Do you really think expanding that to other classes would cause a huge problem?”
In the elite class of the academy, you’d only get to meet kids from other noble classes. Meeting commoners was simply not on the radar.
This was also true for the commoner class, which meant that unless you were a weird case like Jake, who actively sought out a specific friend, they wouldn’t even think about mingling with noble kids.
Moreover, this year’s noble class, especially Class A, was so ridiculously powerful that even the student council couldn’t touch them.
There were two beings who could potentially become the next emperor and one person who might become the future king… Sure, there was Count Crowfield, but there was also a Duke in the mix.
And with such people all stuck together, nobody—nobles or commoners—would even think to approach them. Reflecting on it, I could almost count on my hands how many times I saw other noble kids speak to me all semester long.
“Hmm? What’s wrong?”
As I stared at her face, Claire tilted her head in confusion.
Just how big is her social bubble?
Leo, who had recently gotten somewhat used to it, would turn pale every time he came near us at first.
Once I decided she was an ‘older sister’, Claire came right over and spoke to me with confidence, so it was clear that being a member of the Grace family had more than a normal amount of pressure.
Well, even in the original story, she was a character who casually talked back to Alice.
“…It’s nothing serious.”
“Oh really?”
Claire tilted her head again but didn’t say anything further.
“Anyway.”
Claire continued her conversation with Alice.
“The motto of the academy is ‘all students are equal within the academy’. I know that it’s not exactly followed, but at least that’s the idea. If you think about how I can talk to you like this.”
“That’s true, but…”
“So that’s the reason we’re all gathered here. While it would be a massive waste of time and money to send us in groups of four, I think they might actually want the kids in the academy to cooperate.”
“That’s pretty insightful of you—cough!”
Leo was yanked by his collar for saying something unnecessary next to her.
As if this was a usual occurrence, Claire glanced over at us with a smirk.
“Anyway, I’m in favor. Having Roti in the group won’t put us in danger, especially since Jake has proven his skills.”
“Hmm.”
Alice turned her head towards Charlotte.
“I agree… The beasts from the Southern Continent are notoriously ferocious. I’ve only seen them in a zoo, but wild ones would probably have a far worse temperament, right? Having an extra pair of hands wouldn’t hurt.”
Hearing Charlotte’s opinion, Alice turned her gaze back to Roti.
Roti looked like a doll.
No, not just because of her appearance, which was doll-like, but because she hardly reacted to our conversation.
She just kept her gaze down, waiting silently to see if we were going to take her with us.
“Roti, are you feeling uncomfortable?”
Alice probably didn’t ask just because of her social status. From spending time together, she had picked up on how perceptive Roti was.
Jake wouldn’t just drag someone along by saying, “Let’s go!”
“I will follow your decision.”
Roti spoke in a calm and gentle voice.
“No, what I want to hear isn’t that…”
But then again, I wouldn’t really want to hear her say no.
Alice seemed to finally hold back a small sound, deciding to directly ask.
“You also… must have friends in your class. At least someone you hang out with or form a group with like us.”
If they suddenly snatched a child with many friends away, the kids she used to play with might feel bad.
But—
“…”
Roti didn’t give any particular answer.
Alice looked even more confused because of that lack of a response.
It was hard to judge whether this meant ‘I don’t want to but I have to follow you’ or if it just meant ‘I really don’t have anyone to go with.’
I knew the answer.
Roti had no friends.
The reason was that she was a colonist.
If Roti were Jake’s maid and a citizen of the Empire, it might not have been a problem at all. Rather, that fact might have even made her popular among the kids.
However, discrimination against colonists was prevalent even among the Empire’s citizens.
In a world without minimum wage or any job rights, workers were perishing left and right. And those dying in the Empire were mostly fair-skinned citizens.
Typically, such situations would lead to the kind of labor movements seen in Earth’s history, but in this world, there were none in sight. I wasn’t well-versed in the historic period of actual communist revolutions, but it felt like the story was unfolding a bit differently here.
The Emperor advised that wherever there were rebellious workers, they should just eliminate all the laborers and replace them with colonists.
Colonists were not slaves.
But even if they were paid amounts that were essentially slave wages, they had no say in it.
In the mainland, colonists were a thorough minority, existing in an environment that exploited them harshly.
With just a small number of colonists, there wouldn’t be a shift in the market. There simply weren’t enough of them to group together to resist, and they purposefully mixed them with classes that had issues or social tensions, making it even harder to unite. After all, they were forcibly gathered from completely different countries or tribes.
However, the workers in the Empire, who had never been taught these facts, only saw them as “those who steal jobs with astoundingly low wages.”
This setting was not presented in the main story but was instead included in the setting guide as an answer to questions like ‘Why didn’t a nationwide independence movement occur in the colonies?’ or ‘Why didn’t the workers unite to revolt?’
There may be some holes if we tried to apply it directly to actual history, but in the end, this is a world created by those people, and since it operates this way, there’s no reason to argue against it.
“Hmm…”
As Roti’s atmosphere grew gloomier from the discussion, Alice’s expression turned helpless.
Alice glanced my way. It was a look that pleaded for rescue.
Sister, huh?
A part of me wanted to tease her with that, but it felt too inappropriate given the mood, so I held back.
“Can Roti’s skills be trusted?”
I asked while looking toward Jake.
“Of course. Honestly, she might help even more than I do.”
Jake’s words seemed to resonate with everyone oddly.
Despite Jake’s appearance and slightly goofy demeanor, he had built a lot of trust after completing several requests together.
The only one who tilted her head curiously was Sophia.
“Well, she said she uses firearms.”
Alice shot a quick look at Rena and me.
“Okay, then.”
Alice nodded.
“Let’s have her join us. Oh, and if you have any friends you want to bring along, just let us know. It’s fine if you want to bring someone along.”
“…I understand.”
But seeing Roti in that state…
Hmm, considering the original, there were other options. The commoner’s class was one I hadn’t touched, so there wasn’t much that could be changed there.
If I recall from the original story, not long after we started moving with Roti, there would be a girl who would approach us.
We could take her along.
As I was distracted by such thoughts, Alice looked at me with a suspicious glance.
…What’s this? Can she now read my mind?
*
“Since Leo and Claire already went on a request, let’s take it easy today.”
Alice said, directing her gaze at Jake.
“After all, you said there’s a lot to do, right?”
“Yeah.”
Jake answered nonchalantly at Alice’s question.
“It’s super vast here, and there’s almost no one to ‘manage’ things like us. You guys went hunting beasts, right?”
Jake spoke after noticing Leo and Claire nodding along.
“There are many other tasks available besides that. Since this trip lasts a week, let’s take it easy. I can guarantee you there won’t be a lack of work to do or any issue filling your quotas.”
Hmm, well.
I wonder if our earnest protagonists actually intend to lounge around like that?
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