Owls and Dragons

 
 
 ☆
 
 
 Such unbearably insulting words.
 Hearing them, we turned around to face the one who uttered them.
 
 “Freya ojou-sama…”
 
 Renee’s face twisted in terror.
 
 Just as she said, there stood Renee’s elder sister by another mother, Freya Astrid, along with her followers.
 
 “I was surprised to see the results announcement. To think that this school would take in an incompetent, uncultured girl like you. ——— Well, it must’ve just been a fluke. After all, you’re in 『Eugray』.”
 
 With insulting smiles, Freya and her followers cast a condescending gaze our way.
 
 I stepped forward, hiding Renee, and asked Freya a question in return.
 
 “What’s Eugray?”
 
 In return, Freya scoffed at me.
 
 “Oh my. You don’t know? The Eugray you lot have been assigned to is called the 『Eugray of Idiots』, and is a class for those who barely passed or a problem children with bad behaviour. Oh, Eugray is an ancient word here meaning 『Owl』.”^[1]
 
 Hearing what she said, several students nearby turned around, startled.
 
 Perhaps they’re our classmates.
 
 But Freya and the others paid them no mind, and began talking amongst themselves.
 
 “If I ended up in Eugray, I’d be too embarrassed to even attend class.”
 
 “Me too.”
 
 With that unnatural little skit, her followers all giggled.
 
 
 
 “Foreigner?”
 
 “Letia Einwell, from Heielland.”
 
 “Right. It would be understandable for you to not know much about this school if you were an overseas student. ——— I’m Freya of the Count Astrid Family. To put it simply, Runefelt has 5 classes, which are 『Draag (Dragon)』, 『Falk (Hawk)』, 『Leuwen (Fox)』, Uolv (Wolf)』, and 『Eugray (Owl)』.”
 
 ——— Ah, I see.
 
 So the animal designs drawn at the very top of the class assignment paper represented that, huh.
 
 I glanced at the bulletin board.
 
 And sure enough, drawn above every class name were animals like dragons or hawks.
 
 “Each class has its own specialty, for example, 『Falk (Hawk)』 gathers those wishing to become sorcerous warriors, who fight while endowing sorcery upon their weapons, 『Leuwen (Fox)』 is for those who take pride in their magic manipulation, and 『Uolv (Wolf)』 gathers those proud in their sorcery invocation.”
 
 There, Freya paused, a condescending smile upon her face.
 
 “By the way, our 『Draag (Dragon)』 is one which only those who excel in note-taking, magic manipulation and sorcery invocation can join. 『Eugray (Owl)』 is the complete opposite. The class assigned to you during enrollment never changes, even till graduation, and it also decides your assigned rooms, so I’m sure you and your merry friends will lead a happy school life. But, well…”
 
 Freya sent us an appraising glare.
 
 “Idiots are an eyesore, so I wish you wouldn’t enter our sight. You small, incompetent Owls should just scurry behind us magnificent Dragons.”
 
 “So true.”
 
 ““Fufufufu””
 
 Freya and her friends sneered at us.
 
 Snap.
 
 In that instant, the sound of something breaking rang out in my head.
 
 The owl is the symbol of my and the Owleyes Marquis’s House.
 
 To ridicule it is unforgivable.
 
 
 
 “Is that so? Freya-san, you seem to have been raised with some rather antiquated values.”
 
 The moment I spoke, the room seemed to freeze over.
 
 Freya turned toward me with a terrific expression.
 
 “… Wait. Did you just insult my territory?”
 
 “Of course not. There’s no way I would speak ill of my friend’s homeland. I was saying that 『you』 were a frog in a well, Freya-san.”
 
 “What did you just say?!”
 
 The Count’s daughter opened her eyes wide.
 
 “Let me tell you about one incident which made the news last year in the Northern Continent.”
 
 “An incident?”
 
 “Yes. One small owl, with the aid of two bears, drove off a flock of dragons who were attacking a castle. An owl protecting its friends was stronger than a dragon.”
 
 Saying this, I puffed out my chest.
 
 As a daughter of Owleyes and together with Coco and Mel, I had driven off a flock of wyverns^[2] that attacked the Heielland Royal Castle a year ago.
 
 Meaning an owl drove off dragons.
 
 
 
 Freya and the others looked momentarily stunned by what I said.
 
 However———
 
 “Pfft. Fufufufufu!!”
 
 “Ahahahahaha!!”
 
 “Hey. Even though this girl tried her best to think up a story, it’s pitiful to laugh at.”
 
 Her followers continued laughing while giving me a quick glance.
 Eventually Freya spoke with a disparaging look in her eye.
 
 “Listen, you. Telling such a tall tale just because you have nothing to say… That’s far too unseemly. No matter what, there’s no way an owl could ever beat a dragon.”
 
 The Count’s daughter said this with a malicious sneer.
 
 “I’m not lying.”
 
 “Yes, you’re right. It certainly seems to have happened in your head.”
 
 Freya and the others scoffed.
 
 “Well, you see—”
 
 Right as I was about to say something.
 
 “These guys really are country bumpkins.”
 
 Unnoticed, a boy in navy blue traditional clothes had stood beside me, and apathetically dropped a bombshell.
 
 
 
 He was the boy who surprised everyone around him and briefly spoke to me during the practical exam.
 
 “You, what did you just say?”
 
 Freya glared at the boy, her fists trembling in anger.
 
 However the boy, whose head and face were hidden by a cloth and mask, responded without any sign of flinching.
 
 “I said you’re country bumpkins who don’t even know of the incident which was talked about around the world.”
 
 “Y-, you, what?!”
 
 The boy thrust his finger at the Count’s daughter who had lost her temper.
 
 “You should try asking your father. Any decent noble would have heard rumours. One year ago, Heielland’s royal castle was attacked by a neighbouring country’s soldiers mounted on wyverns. The one who repulsed them was a young magic-toolsmith girl accompanied by her teddy bears, and the fact that her House’s crest was an owl has been communicated to each country in their newspapers. In other words, that kid’s story is entirely true.”
 
 “-!”
 
 Freya and the others were at a loss for words.
 
 “The rumours even reached the Southern Continent where I was. Even taking into account that you’re separated by the Northern Sea, I suppose it’s undeniable that a girl of the nobility who doesn’t know this would be called a 『country bumpkin』.”
 
 “Wh-, wh-, wha-!!”
 
 The boy had put Freya and her followers in their place, who were now at a loss for words.