"Phew, it's a good thing the dwarf girl is cute..."
Finally returning to her room and lying down on the bed, Adel muttered to herself.
Elves, both male and female, are slender and tall.
In contrast, dwarf women are shorter than humans and have a slightly rounder appearance, but not to an extreme degree. They are not as stocky as dwarf men, and of course, they do not have beards. If they were human, they might resemble a slightly plump, pre-adolescent girl...
Therefore, there are many aspects that balance out with the elf physique, and as a result, Adel's physique was not significantly affected, just a bit shorter.
However, when it came to her chest, the shortcomings seemed to amplify each other...
No, it's not decided yet.
This is just a mere guess.
If I ask the nanomachines, I'll know the truth...
"Can you hear meeeeee!!!"
"Listen, what would you do if it really is like that!"
"It's scary, right! It's too scary, aaaaah!!!"
"Did you call me?"
"I didn't call you!"
Adel shouted without thinking.
Pant, pant, pant...
She suddenly realized and quickly looked at the walls on both sides, but fortunately, it seemed that no one had returned to their rooms yet, and there were no complaints about the noise.
The following week, Adel went to school in a good mood. She had earned two silver coins from her part-time job over the weekend and received a lot of leftover bread, which she stored in an item box that doesn't deteriorate.
However, as soon as she entered the classroom, she froze.
"Good morning, Adel!"
"What did you do over the weekend?"
"Let's have lunch together today!"
The boys' attack!
In fact, Adel was quite a catch.
She had the academic ability to enter Class A, the athletic ability to become a female knight guarding a noble lady, and excellent magical talent. She also had a modest personality that tried to hide these qualities.
Moreover, although she was from a commoner background, she had been admitted without an exam, and it seemed that her family was paying for her education rather than relying on a scholarship.
At 10 years old, everyone in the class knew that in three years they would enter society, and two years after that, they would become adults. In this class of intelligent students, it was not uncommon for some to start building connections for the future or to look for potential partners.
"You guys, again! Look, Adel is having trouble, right!"
The class president, who had helped her before—let's just call her the class president—came to her rescue.
"Thank you. I don't really talk to boys much..."
After thanking the class president and having a brief conversation, Adel realized something.
(This, this feels like having friends! It feels like having friends!!)
This was Adel's first friend, including her past life.
Some of the boys thought, "Maybe being too pushy is counterproductive..." and decided to hold back, but others thought, "If she doesn't have much experience with boys, I can push harder!" and became even more aggressive, leading to Adel openly avoiding them later.
The first week was mostly lectures.
Of course, they didn't start with practical martial arts or magic training right away.
The classes continued with general education, as well as theoretical and safety aspects of martial arts and magic. Practical training would start the following week.
For Adel, the lectures were easy. With the memory of a 18-year-old from a world a few hundred years ahead, it would be embarrassing to fall behind.
Her thinking and memory were the same as they were in her previous life. Perhaps the gods thought it would be a problem if her intelligence decreased, or maybe in this world, despite the lack of technological advancement due to magic, human intelligence was still relatively high.
Adel spent her days peacefully, not pointing out any mistakes in the content taught by the teachers in magic theory and other subjects.
Then came the day before the rest day.
"Adel, I'd like to talk to you for a moment later."
Adel was elated at the words of Marcella, the third daughter of a baron, who was accompanied by two friends.
"Y-Yes! Where should we meet...? Ah, my room is spacious, so how about there!"
Marcella, looking a bit puzzled, replied, "Eh? E-Okay, that's fine..."
Marcella, the third daughter of a baron, Monica, the second daughter of a mid-level merchant, and Oriana, a commoner who had been admitted on a scholarship, appeared to be a noble girl and her entourage from the outside.
Marcella, who seemed to be a typical haughty noble girl, was actually quite considerate. She and Monica, the daughter of a merchant who was a friend from before school, had helped Oriana, who was a commoner and unfamiliar with the school, with various things.
Helping a struggling commoner was a duty of the nobility, they said.
Now, the three of them usually acted together.
"But, what do you mean by 'my room is spacious'? All the rooms have the same layout, don't they?"
"Well? Let's just go and see.
Anyway, we'll teach that cheeky girl a lesson!"
"Understood!"
Marcella was not pleased with Adel.
She had shown exceptional talent during the pre-admission test, though Marcella hadn't seen it herself.
That was fine. Everyone has their strengths.
However, it was unacceptable that she was being pampered by the boys just because she was a bit cute.
Marcella, who would return to her territory after graduation to undergo bride training and, in two years, become either a second wife to a middle-aged noble or a rich man's wife for the sake of connections with the nobility, or at worst, a mistress to a powerful noble, needed to catch a good man on her own by then.
Many of the girls in this school were in the same situation, and it was unacceptable for someone with the talent to rise on her own to monopolize the boys. She needed to be put in her place.
With this thought, Marcella, the poor baron's daughter, was determined to take action.
Monica and Oriana, being the daughters of merchants and a commoner, were not as desperate and were just going along with Marcella, who had been taking care of them.
Knock, knock
At the sound of the knock, Adel hurriedly ran to the door and opened it.
"Welcome! Please come in!"
Having classmates visit her room was a first-time experience for Adel, both in this life and her past life, and she was both excited and nervous.
She suddenly realized...
(Ah, I forgot! There are no chairs!)
She had been careless.
It would be rude to have guests sit on the bed, and having the three friends sit on the bed while she sat in a chair would make her look down on them, and a 3-to-1 situation was not desirable.
Realizing this, Adel quickly said,
"I'm sorry, I forgot to prepare chairs! I'll go borrow some from the recreation room downstairs, so please wait a moment!"
Without waiting for a response, Adel rushed out of the room.
"What a flighty girl!"
"Yes... But now we understand what she meant by 'my room is spacious.'"
Monica responded to Marcella's comment.
Indeed, it was spacious.
The room had the same layout as the others, but there was not a single piece of furniture, not even a chest or a trunk. There were no decorations, no ornaments, no candlesticks, no stuffed animals—nothing. It was no different from an empty room.
"Truly, there is nothing here..."
Oriana, a commoner, was surprised. Even her room had a carry-on bag, a cheap used chest bought in town, and various small items given to her by the villagers.
Marcella grabbed the handle of the built-in closet.
"Miss, that's going too far!"
Ignoring Monica's frantic attempt to stop her, Marcella opened the closet.
"No civilian clothes..."
Inside were only the uniforms and sports clothes provided by the school.
Next, Marcella opened the bottom drawer.
"No, no, you can't do that! That's not right!"
Monica tried to grab Marcella's hand, but the drawer was already open.
"Nothing..."
And there was nothing inside.
"Ugh..."
At that moment, a stifled groan was heard, and Marcella and Monica turned to see Oriana, who had been led by Marcella to open the desk drawer, looking at its contents with tears in her eyes.
"What happened!"
Marcella rushed to the drawer, and Monica, feeling a bit guilty, followed.
When the two of them looked inside the drawer, they saw...
"Ugh..."
Marcella stood there in shock. Monica's eyes were brimming with tears. Oriana's tears were already streaming down her face.
Inside the drawer was a single thick bone.
A bone on a plate, with no trace of meat, a single bone that had been gnawed on multiple times, perhaps from the kitchen.