Chapter 1509: The Groups Within The School

I met up with my girls again back at the dorm room.

Obviously I had to tell my girls that I was now apparently marked by the supposed Enforcer Committee after that and the girls had mixed reactions about it.

Mixed in the sense where they had differing opinions on what we should do with them.

Odeta punched her fists together, "We can just go beat them up! Make it such that they wouldn’t dare to tell us what to do! Wahahaha!"

Lisa giggled, "Ehehehe~ Why don’t you just go and seduce the girls in that group, Aster? Then you can make them support you instead~ Ehehehe~"

Katsuki turned to me, "Would you like me to deal with them for you, Mistress?"

Ok, first of all... I’m not going to just beat them up, Odeta... I don’t believe I have made myself into someone who would just beat up people for no reason... Even if I wanted to beat them up, it should be because they have already done something to me to warrant it.

And Lisa... I’m not going to do that, ok? To begin with, you’re making me sound like I’m trying to seduce the entire school to make them subservient to me or something...

Also, what do you mean by ’deal’ with them, Katsuki?

Emilia grinned, "Boss~ We should just extort them for all the money they have~ I can dig up some stuff and ruin them if you want~ Make sure they don’t even have a single Crea to their name~"

I know you like money and all, Emilia... But let’s not ruin the lives of our fellow students who have yet to do anything that would justify such a consequence to them... Ok? Because I have a feeling that with the plan that you have, you’ll not only ruin the students you’re targeting but also their families too...

Tiara turned to me, "Mmm... If they end up hurting you, Big Sister... I could always just get Father to exile their entire family if they are from the Kingdom."

Not you too, Tiara... I’ll give you a cookie later so don’t do that, ok?

Ira swung her feet at the edge of the bed casually, "We could always just kill them if they’re too annoying."

Tsara nodded beside her, "I agree on this one. If they were so brazen as to dare hurt you, then they should be punished for such transgressions."

Oh wow... Ira and Tsara agreeing on something instead of butting heads? That’s rare...

And no, don’t kill your fellow students, girls...

Both Minnera and Lilith didn’t really seem to care about them and didn’t really have much of an opinion on what to do with them. Though I believe it was more because these two saw those students as kids who were all bark and no bite, not because they were feeling compassionate towards them.

Delmare moved over to my side, sliding herself to sit beside me on the bed while giving me an innocent look.

"I think we can just leave them be, Aster. They’re only doing this because they believe you are doing something wrong, right? Aster isn’t doing anything wrong~ So we don’t need to do anything to them~"

She’s so cute~ Head pats for you~

I looked back at the rest of my girls, "Let’s just leave them alone for now, ok? They’ve only just threatened me so far and have not actually hurt me yet."

"Only dealing with them after they have hurt you would be too late, Mistress," Katsuki pointed out.

I patted her head as well, "I don’t think they will go out of their way to do that if I have yet to do anything really bad. And I don’t plan on doing anything really bad, at least for no reason."

All of my girls shared a look with one another and I couldn’t really tell if they agreed with me or not, so I decided to just change the topic instead.

"Speaking of which... How are your classes, everyone? I mean... I’ve been telling all of you about mine but I realised you girls don’t really tell me about yours."

Odeta grinned and seemed to be the most enthusiastic out of everyone as she gestured at herself proudly.

"I beat up several of my classmates today, Sister Aster! Wahahaha!"

Under normal circumstances, that would have sounded quite bad but... I believe she had Martial classes today so she literally had to fight her classmates to advance herself so it’s actually a good thing that she beat them up, ironically.

Lisa giggled, "Ehehehe~ I found some... Interesting boys today~ I think I might have found my targets that I might be interested in, Aster~ I’ll have to trouble you to help me with the finishing touches once I’m done preparing~"

I’m actually scared of that but I’ve already decided that we’ll go this path so I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear anything.

Katsuki then spoke up while bowing her head, "If I may, Mistress... I do have some things I would like to report about the Academy. More specifically, about the various movements within the Academy."

Eh? Reports? Movements? What is she talking about?

I wasn’t sure what she meant but I just nodded at her to go ahead.

She straightened herself, "There have been several groups and factions that have taken note of you, Mistress, as evidenced by the Enforcer Committee approaching you today."

I frowned slightly, "What do you mean by that? What other groups are there, Katsuki? What do you mean by ’factions’?"

"A mix of both official, student created groups inside the school and also unofficial factions that students have formed amongst themselves."

"Ok... The groups I can understand but... What are these factions for?"

"The Nyarel and her followers that we have met the other day could be considered a faction, Mistress. In fact, we are also a faction as well where we are centred around you, Mistress."

"Ah... Isn’t that basically just a group of friends then? Why are they making it sound so official?" I pointed out.

Lisa plopped herself down beside me, "Ehehehe~ Did you forget, Aster? People in the school are always competing with each other~ Whether it might be for resources or even study materials~ There’s people who would try and secure the best student in the class into their circle so they can increase their own chances of rising up through the ranks too~"

Emilia nodded at me, "If you had come to the Academy alone, there would probably be different factions fighting over to claim you right now."

"Not to mention the Circles of the school as well," Minnera added almost like an afterthought. "They seemed to also be planning some stuff right now. I was approached by a few others asking if I had plans to join a Circle today."

Hmm? A Circle?

Ahh... I remember now... Those were the more... Official groups that the students can create, like the frat groups that I was more familiar with.

Damn... This Academy is already more complicated than I thought...

"So let me get this straight..." I groaned, massaging the bridge of my nose in between my fingers. "We have the Committees which are basically student interest groups that are made up of students with similar interests or hobbies... Then we have the Circles which are like frat groups made up of students who are seeking cohesion and camaraderie amongst their peers in order to better themselves... Then you have the Factions which are basically just groupies made up of a bunch of people who vibe with one another? Did I get that right?"

Katsuki nodded, "That’s roughly about it, Mistress."

"And what if someone is a member of all three?"

"There’s nothing stopping anyone from being a member of all three, Mistress. In fact, you could be in different committees at the same time without any problems. In those self proclaimed factions, it would depend more on the interests and rules of the factions but some might even accept their group members joining other factions too. The only one that does not allow multiple memberships is the Circles."

Well... I guess it’s because the Circles compete on an official level where the Academy will also reward the best performing Circle of each year as well, so it’ll be difficult to compete if the members are also in different Circles as well.

That was when I realised something...

I swivelled to look at Minnera, "Wait... You were being recruited to a Circle?"

She nodded, "There were some people that approached me asking if I wanted to be part of a Circle."

"What did you say?"

"I rejected of course. Any Circle without you is worthless."

I looked at my other girls, the silent question hanging in the air.

A few of them also nodded their heads.

"I had a few invitations myself, Sister Aster! I turned them down, of course! Wahahaha!"

"Same here~ I’m pretty sure they only want me for my body though. Ehehehe~"

"Umm... I had a music committee inviting me because of my singing..."

"Heh. Some nobles from merchant families also approached me, Boss~"

...

Ok, this won’t do. I think I might need to start my own Circle and Faction at this rate...