Emilia's new benchmate after the hero abandoned his seat from the second day onwards turned out to be the very same girl who had taken a chalk to the face from Mr. Jefferson on day one.
And if Emilia's conjecture of the hero getting beaten at home due to the slander at school was correct, this same girl was also responsible for an indirect punch to the hero's face.
It was unfortunate that the rumors surrounding the hero seemed to be already dying down, but it already did much more damage to him than she expected. After all, her initial expectation had only been to make people believe that the fault lay with the hero himself instead of her when it came to his show of open disgust.
In that sense, her goal was more than achieved. And the credit for that was shared by both Dixy and her latest recruit.
While Dixy hadn't yet been cautious against her, the girl managed to take a seat on Emilia's other side. But although the silly girl was a bit overly friendly and touchy feely with her, Emilia didn't really care about it too much.
She was quite cute, so Emilia wasn't instinctually disgusted. And more importantly, her newly appointed knight seemed to pay very close attention to prevent any touching. A bit too much, perhaps.
Her name was also quite simple—Koko, with no last name. And the girl's mother ran a chain of beauty parlors. In terms of background, Emilia estimated that this might be one of the poorest in class S.
Most people in her circumstances would be quite cautious and insecure, but Koko was straightforward in both thoughts and actions. Emilia found it quite endearing, however, and very useful as well.
Dixy showed signs of loyalty to her, but she had her own judgement and would not obey her instructions blindly. For example, she already knew that if Dixy could keep her from knowing of a bullying incident, she just might.
But after only a couple of hours of getting along with Koko, Emilia now had a much better connected and completely unfiltered source of information.
If Dixy was her knight, then Koko would be her informant. And she performed her duty very well, gathering valuable information before even being told to do so!
"You mean someone's already being bullied?"
Koko tried to wrap her arms around Emilia's waist, but got a painful swat from Dixy instead.
The freckled girl pouted with tears in her eyes, although they were barely visible through her thick glasses. "Yep! I heard that a bunch of boys from class B shook him up for money yesterday! One of my friends saw it and wanted to go with him to the office to make a complaint but he refused."
Emilia smiled and ruffled the girl's short brown hair. "Good work, Koko. If we can catch them today, I'll give you your reward!"
"Ehehehe…"
----------
And so, no matter how much Dixy tried to stop her, Emilia arrived at the back of the cafeteria building where the bullying had last taken place.
If Koko's friend heard correctly, the boy would be here again every day from today at around this time to 'pay protection fees'.
It seems like they were a little late though, since the bespectacled boy was already lying on the ground clutching his stomach with a big footprint on his shirt.
Although she already knew it was a boy from her own class, she was surprised to see that it was the very same boy who had wanted to sit on the first bench but was too shy to sit next to her.
The bullies in this case turned out to be only a pair of boys from another class, presumably class B according to Koko's friend.
The one with the bulkier build of the two seemed to have seen them coming towards their location, and turned to them with irritation clear on his face.
"Whatchu lookin' at? Get lost!"
Dixy was already lamenting in her heart, wondering if today she would get beaten to a pulp by this big boy while protecting her 'princess'. She regretted not enrolling for the karate classes already, she'll definitely do it today!
Emilia seemed completely unaware of her situation and just smiled at the two mean looking boys. "If you guys don't want to get your rear ends beaten right into the ground, I recommend removing yourself from my sight. Please."
"What the fuck did you just say, you fairy looking bitch slut?!"
The booming voice almost made her heart stop, and Dixy's mind blanked. "It's over."
The bulkier boy seemed to want to stomp over to them and start hitting left and right. Dixy moved in front of Emilia with her eyes closed and arms spread wide, and even Koko was clinging onto her arm with wide eyes.
But fortunately or not, the bigger bully was held back by his companion.
"No wait, Don, don't be impulsive! Just look at her! If you really hit her, think of what will happen!"
The boy tried to shake his arm free, but his companion's grip was quite strong. "The fuck will happen? Just a bunch of girls, I can take them all alone!"
The other boy was no saint, but he had a better presence of mind than his friend. They were not full time delinquents to whom grades and reputation didn't matter. It was alright to get a little extra pocket money, but not at the cost of their future.
"No no, have you really grown dumb or something! Bro, you used to be the smartest guy in our school, tell me what happens if you hit a girl like that?"
"Ugh…"
Don seemed to have been shaken out of his rage from his friend's words, but still did not see what had his usually daring buddy so scared.
The athletic boy shook his head at his bulkier friend. "Bro, look at her! Look at that smug face. She knows she can get away with anything. Do you want to fight an army of simps and white knights that will come after us after we hit her today?"
Don didn't seem so determined to beat the girls up after hearing his friend's words, but he was still not fully convinced. Those boys who chased after skirts all the time only enacted justice on the weak. They'd probably piss their pants at just the sight of him. What's there to be scared of?
"Besides, that smug bitch will definitely tattle on us if we do anything, do you want to get us expelled?!"
The bulkier boy's expression froze as if cold water had been poured all over him.
Dixy didn't know what the two bullies were whispering to each other, but all she saw was Emilia ask them to fuck off and they really did! They even looked scared!
"Is this… real life? They just left because you told them to?!"
Even Emilia didn't expect to not have to fight. But she wasn't complaining. After all, although she was fairly confident in her skills, if she could achieve her goals without a fight it was always for the better.
She could definitely beat them up, but wouldn't their hard faces leave bruises on her soft skin?
"I should look for a stick or something next time before coming, just in case."
Her system also agreed. "It's always better to be armed! A villainess must always be elegant and poised, even while beating people up! You can't have bruised fists from knocking people's teeth in! Break them with a rod!"
Thankfully, this conversation was private between Emilia and her system, or Dixy might have had a brain aneurysm.
Her 'knight' had already taken support from the nearby wall in relief once the bullies left. She swore to definitely start her karate lessons today!
The boy on the ground had shakily stood up by now and was looking at her with shame clear on his face.
"S-Sorry you had to see that."
Emilia shook her head. "Nevermind that. What's your name?"
The boy dusted off his shirt to remove the shoe print and any other traces. It looked like he was quite used to these things.
"Harry Burns."
Emilia smiled. "Alright, Harry. If they bully you again, just let me know. I'll take care of it."
The bespectacled boy shook his head. "No way, you shouldn't get involved with this. Nothing good will come out of it. What can they even do to me? Just take some money, maybe hit me a few times. But you…"
Harry looked at Emilia up and down and gulped when he thought of all the things that can go wrong if she got involved with such unscrupulous guys.
Emilia frowned, feeling a little upset at being looked down upon like this by someone she just saved. "You worry too much. Do you know who I am?"
Surprisingly, the boy gave her a knowing look.
"I know more than you think, Emilia White. Your family is better off than mine, and your parents love you very much, unlike mine. But that doesn't mean they can protect you all the time. So listen to me, stay away from this in the future."
After making this cool speech, the bespectacled Harry bolted off without letting her get another word in. In his mind, he was very, very cool today.
Emilia felt a headache as she watched him run away.
"This guy is even more unreasonable than the bullies, right?"