Knowledge and Power: Reborn into a society that only values strength.

As I walked in the door to my room I nearly froze stiff as I met Isy's scowling face, Rune staying at my hip, ducking slightly behind me at the same sight.

"I thought you said you were coming to class… Teacher got all mad at me when you didn't show up you know!"

I sighed. "Sorry about that. I was doing… Something… He, wait, that's not even a lie, I really was doing something."

She let out a dull growl. "I heard you jumped out the window…"

"That's… Uh…"

She sighed, her face finally relaxing. "You're starting to worry me you know..."

"Sorry…"

Rune let out a soft groan and hugged my side, turning her head to Isy. "Why are you making her sad you big meanie? She can do what she wants. It's not her fault you're worried! She can take care of herself you know!"

'She's… surprisingly outspoken.' As their eyes met she suddenly squeaked and hid behind me, making me smile again. 'Especially considering how shy she is, even with her friends.' "It's ok, Rune. She's right. I said I would do something and then I didn't, she should be upset. And I should feel bad, even if I did have a good reason for breaking my promise."

Isy sighed. "So what happened that made you skip class?"

I felt a sudden chill. "Oh… Uhm… That."

Her once apologetic and trustful face suddenly turned suspicious of me once again. "You said you had a good reason…"

'I can't really say that I was practicing magic and wore myself out, can I? "I took a shower and tried moving around a bit because I skipped training… And that wore me out so much I collapsed. By the time I woke up, I felt a lot better, but class was already almost over."

She narrowed her eyes, looking more worried than angry. "Are you really ok? I mean. It's been three days. Your injuries weren't that bad when we found you… Well, they were, but I thought they were all healed somehow weren't they?"

"Don't worry about it… I'll go to class tonight, but I'm skipping training again." 'I finally cracked that new technique, but it's still hard to use. And I'm not used to it at all… If I can crack it, then I'll be able to permanently enhance my body without constant loss of manna right? And then I can layer that on top of what I've been doing with balancing expenditure equally with consumption… Then again it's already a combination technique, so combining it with another technique might be difficult… And I'm already enhancing durability, strength, and speed, so would it be like casting 9 spells at once?'

"You better not be lying…"

My eyes suddenly widened slightly as I remembered we weren't done talking. "Pft. Of course not… Although… Can Kal even make me come to class if I don't want to? Like…" 'We don't actually get graded on anything...'

"He said that if you don't go to class he's going to punish you."

'Oh… Right… This isn't a normal school…' "Punish me how?"

"Like tie you up and do horrible things to you."

"Wha-what?!? Horrible things… Like what exactly…"

"I don't actually have any idea, he wouldn't say what the punishment was, that was Mo's guess."

As I looked at her she quickly turned to the side. "I'm already embarrassed enough without you putting weird thoughts in my head!" She just chuckled. "Sorry." She grinned. "Although I think the weird thoughts are all yours…"

'I might have actually liked her better when she didn't smile… Honestly…'

"You're embarrassed?" Rune asked, looking up at me.

Before I could respond I heard a man's voice coming from behind me. "There you are."

I reflexively grabbed Rune in my arms and pulled her to the other side of me, making sure my back was turned to him and she was at my front.

"Uh… Little Lizard?"

Letting out a tense breath I slowly turned to confirm it was Bear and eased up. Although, honestly he was still a guy, so for one reason or another I still felt a bit skittish.

"What's with that reaction?"

I looked down at Rune who stared back at me, silently. "Uhm… Good question… Maternal instinct?" 'I'm the one skittish, but it was like I was trying to protect her too… Weird.' 

"Planning on having kids anytime soon?" Isy teased.

"Shut up…" I groaned…

Bear sighed, standing just outside the door. "Anyway, I asked around. Turns out the punishment for skipping classes is that they just make the exams a bit harder. If you fail an exam though, even one, they have the right to take away your nobility or expel you. I'm sure you have your reasons, but I figured you'd want to know the risks when weighing them."

I slowly eased my grip around Rune and she and Bear slowly started to stare at each other, each one nodding silently, instead of bothering to use words.

'Is that how they normally communicate?' "Thanks… That information helps a lot actually…" 'At this point, the more I can pressure myself into going, the less likely I am to chicken out…'

He left without another word and I spent the next few hours with Rune carving little blocks of wood for a card game I came up with to secretly start teaching her magic. Perhaps even more importantly, it helped redevelop strength in her little fingers. She wasn't very good at it… But seeing her smile every time she finished a tile made me somehow inexplicably filled with enough courage to stop hiding.

"Siya, it's time to go."

I sighed, spinning one of the square tiles on its point. "I know…"

Rune rested her hands palm up on the table, no longer moving them at all as they curled up like dead spiders. "Are you going to break the curse now? When you get back we should celebrate!"

"Sure. I'll buy you some more Bison meat after training, how does that sound?" Her mouth slowly started to hang open as she started to drool again. 'I guess that answers that.' "Take it easy while we're gone, you're hands are pretty worn out, if you work when they are too tired you might slip and cut yourself, then I'll be sad."

She looked down for a moment with a grimace before looking back up at me. "Ok. I won't… Instead. I'll get washed up and do the laundry."

'Is she just doing those things because she's bored? Hm… She certainly doesn't have any friends. And it's not like school is a real thing here. I could probably find her some work but that's not what I want for her… Even if she knew magic it's not like she needs to cultivate more manna… And having her play with it would be risky. I know. I could have her do some training, like rehabilitation…'

Before I knew it I was sitting down in my classroom and by the time my head came out of the clouds everyone was staring at me. "I-isy… What's going on?"

"You killed a demon the size of a building by riding a tree off of a waterfall and setting it on fire… People talk about you a lot, you know? Even before that, you won the guild war in record time with the minimum guild size. I bet it feels good getting all that attention." She sighed.

"Not… Not really…" I mumbled, unsure where I was supposed to look, unable to meet all of their gazes.