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While the newly arisen questions remain unanswered.

The Royal Academy of the Third World is largely divided into four factions.

It’s not a division between foreigners and locals.

There’s the Verification faction, which insists on clearly distinguishing right from wrong.

There’s the Separation faction, which wants to completely separate living spaces, classrooms included.

Then there’s the Combat faction, which believes we must fight until the opposing side bows their heads.

And lastly, the Indifferent faction, who claims to have no relation to this incident.

At first glance, the Verification faction might appear to be the most reasonable, but in reality, it’s not just about confirming the facts. Underneath it all is the psychology of wanting to thoroughly retaliate against those found to be in the wrong.

And such emotionally charged verification tends to outweigh the actual facts.

So, what about the Combat faction, you ask?

They’re all about punishing anyone who makes them feel uncomfortable. They don’t care much about the mistakes. There’s not much of a difference between them and the Verification faction.

They just want to trample on their enemies, regardless of the side. If we were to distinguish, the Verification faction is rational mixed with emotion, whereas the Combat faction is emotion mixed with rationality.

In fact, the faction closest to neutrality would be the Separation faction.

Given all this friction, they’d rather just separate and live in ignorance of one another.

The Indifferent faction are those who fall outside of that.

They’re the people who particularly belong nowhere.

In other words, it’s people like me. For the record, there are hardly any commoners here. Why, you ask?

Because the commoners who enrolled did so for the opportunity to join noble factions elsewhere. They’re already affiliated with something.

It’s originally meant for talented individuals to have their children enroll in the Royal Academy.

By living here, they naturally become aware of the power of class. In a way, it’s a policy of assimilation, and in another way, it’s a coercive measure.

It’s a mechanism to maintain power. They invite those who can ascend, only to teach them they’ll always remain at the bottom of this hierarchy, no matter how hard they try. To those observing, it appears as if the person is moving up to another world.

It’s a clever mechanism.

It appears as if they are rising through the ranks, but in reality, there’s no real change. They’re just getting job recommendations.

Yet, for those watching them, it gives the illusion of having opportunities. It creates a delusion of ascending into noble society.

Even if you voice your dissatisfaction, it merely looks like the whining of someone who’s already reached a high position.

Building such a system may very well be efforts to maintain the royal family.

Anyway.

That’s why there are hardly any Indifferent folks.

Even Kanna and Polaris belong somewhere.

For the record, Polaris is part of the Combat faction. Kanna is in the Separation faction.

However, it’s different in that if Polaris is one faction of the Combat faction, Kanna is the leader of the Separation faction.

Additionally, here’s Kanna’s inner thought as she leads the Separation faction.

She’s just hoping to survive another year because she’ll graduate this year anyway.

It’s a choice that’s almost neutral and on hold.

And the ones best off here are those of the lowest status in the royal academy around the Count.

Remember when I said?

Suddenly, with the increase of higher-ups, the pent-up stress has exploded.

Now this opportunity to relieve that stress has come, and they’re viciously tearing into one another. The outcome is that it’s quite hilarious that they don’t expect to get hit themselves.

Even if they do, they trust that those above them will solve it for them. It’s like a fox flourishing by borrowing the tiger’s might.

But because of this, conditions should ideally worsen, yet an unexpectedly interesting phenomenon occurred.

The dormitory has become more peaceful.

To be precise, the dormitory, previously fractured into countless factions, has consolidated into three major alliances. This means the areas they roam around are easier to understand. Since they’ve become bigger blocks, their moving space has widened.

You might wonder why there are three.

The Indifferent faction isn’t in the dormitory.

Inherently, those lacking power tend to be disliked everywhere. So, the Indifferent faction isn’t in the dormitory. To be exact, the dormitory is a space that makes it difficult to stay indifferent.

Dormitories are easy to get caught in collective actions, right? If you declare neutrality, you won’t get a moment’s rest in the dormitory.

Maybe that’s why Victoria has joined a faction.

Victoria isn’t particularly heated but has, for now, allied herself with Polaris in the Combat faction.

Of course, there are factions within that faction as well, but from an outside perspective, it appears there are a total of 3 +1 forces.

Me?

I’m indifferent.

I’m deliberately taking the risk of being a target for focused attacks because I have my reasons for not wanting to belong to either side.

Firstly, I don’t want to show any tendency towards one side of the royal family. Being an object works best when it has no ego. And the intended user of that object, Solindiges, is part of the Indifferent faction.

To be precise, I’m the one trying to calm this situation.

To Solindiges, the current situation resembles a guest arriving to start a fight with his subordinates. Engaging in such a battle would tarnish Solindiges’s reputation. It would further harm the nation’s prestige.

They’d get slapped with a label of being unable to control even one subordinate. So, he’s making an effort.

The problem is that those efforts don’t seem to bear much fruit…

But that’s not something I need to think about.

And the second reason.

When blood flows, being indifferent makes dealing easier.

When you belong to one side, others will grab your ankles when you act.

From, “Who do you think you are to save that?” to “Who do you think you are to save someone else?” the questions will fly.

What if someone heals in between?

During that time, you’d want to take advantage of being uninterested and turn them into a harvesting machine.

So I maintain my indifferent stance.

Anyway, without Victoria, there’s hardly anyone to talk to.

One time, I publicly declared in class that I wouldn’t belong anywhere, and it was somewhat amusing when Victoria attempted to interrupt my chat.

Creating a gathering truly emphasizes how powerful it can be.

As for me?

I didn’t really react. No, in fact, Polaris was struggling to stop Victoria.

Lately, Victoria has been pulling the killer inside herself at every opportunity.

I can understand it. If killing someone is easier than getting a book from a high shelf, who wouldn’t do it?

Moreover, these days, the stares are intimidating.

Ever since I mentioned I can manipulate fluids inside my body, gazes strangely seem to peer inside my flesh—like they’re watching the flow of my bodily fluids.

Yeah.

That’s why having power feels good.

Naturally, it leads to a mindset of wanting to suppress others with that power.

Even if I don’t do anything, a powerful person will gradually change.

They lose their hesitation about using their strength.

Hence, when I create a harvesting machine, I don’t have to take any action. Even the once good-natured Victoria has changed this way before meeting me.

Do you know how fast others fall when they’re not like that?

Much faster.

Of course, it’s not just strength that develops but also cleverness to gauge the situation.

However, the reality is always harsh, and just a little bit of bad luck can quickly bring about a dangerous situation if they don’t apply their strength.

There are plenty of examples.

Among the harvesting machines from Brightshin currently working in transportation, the only ones who’ve never given me warmth are the internal staff.

When they go out and meet dangerous bandits, they’ve learned that smashing heads is easier than talking, persuading, or running away.

There is a belief in this world that one shouldn’t easily kill. But bandits aren’t people. This is not rational thought; it’s highly emotional judgment.

Because the triggers that lead someone to kill a bandit usually happen when comrades get hurt or die. It’s not when they get attacked themselves.

They act because not killing would put those beside them at risk.

This shows that humans tend to be specialized in protecting others.

For someone else’s sake, a person can easily kill another.

And those harvesting machines, who have killed people, seem to have hardly any PTSD symptoms, so it makes sense that people are inherently designed to protect those close to them.

They can easily shunt the responsibility onto someone else, too, right?

The fights happening at the Royal Academy right now are just like that.

The fuel might be the anger and frustration boiling within, but the reason is to protect their comrades beside them.

That’s called a pretext.

So, while they’re all snapping at each other, waiting for that moment to pounce.

I stand in a position that takes neither side.

First, I calmed down Victoria, who was intimidating a classmate who came to tell us not to talk to opponents since we’re all from the same faction.

No, now she is intimidating people with just her gaze, without even making a menacing face.

It’s similar to Yasle or Tisah after they’ve reigned a while as kings.

Not sure if it’s because they needed it or if one gains it by killing another.

I approached a classmate who was trying to solidify their faction and make their position strong amid this chaos, trying not to be victimized.

It’s strange that the gaze looking down at me carries both contempt and fear. Shouldn’t the fear be directed at the intimidating Victoria?

Hmm. Well. I guess I don’t need to worry too much.

Becoming a mere tool like in the Fourth World would be the easiest way, but since they’re treating me like a person, I might as well let a teensy bit of greed show.

“Everyone. No matter how injured you get in this school, how broken you become, even if your life hangs by a thread, don’t worry. I’m here for you.”

Just create a harvesting machine, and it’ll be fine.

And most nobility know that I can create harvesting machines.

“Don’t be anxious. Feel free to do what you want. Even if you get an irreparable wound while fiercely fighting, as long as you’re alive, I can definitely save you once.”

It’s just throwing out a bait to create harvesting machines ahead of time.

So they can call for me anytime.

“My name is Bell. Please don’t be scared, and do call my name.”

…Oh?

“They ran away.”

To my query, Victoria stared at me and said this.

“It sounds like you’re only promising to save their lives.”

“I heard it that way, too.”

Polaris chimed in beside me.

“I only told them it’s okay to get hurt, didn’t I?”

“Bell. Ordinary people fear getting hurt.”

“No, I can understand being affected by Victoria, but oh my. Tori. If you glare like that, I’ll get scared.”

Polaris acted like he was trembling at Victoria’s gaze and approached me, pointing at her with a finger.

“Bell. She’s the Steel Woman. Compared to her, everyone else is like fragile and sickly kids, so please don’t use her as a standard.”

Well. I know very well that Victoria is that kind of person.

“Can’t you ask that of others?”

“According to Polaris, even the Steel Woman has been humbled. Let’s temper those expectations.”

Is that so? I get the general idea.

But since I don’t want to show that I understood, I spat out a line taken from somewhere:

“I don’t get it.”

Everyone looked at me with expressions of disbelief and laughed inwardly.