It's the very next day, and I am standing in a corridor next to one of the classrooms. I've been waiting for the third period to end for about 45 minutes already. A period in this place lasts for an hour, and there is a 5-minute break in between to change classes.
The idiot I'm going to stalk, whose name I found out to be Hector Marfont, from Keswick, is in there right now learning about arteficing. I am here to find out if he really has no friends or loved ones in this academy, because if one of them decides to meet up with him during the break, the plan could be messed up.
After the remaining 15 minutes pass, the period ends, signified by the clock tower chiming. Students start walking out of the classroom, and I maintain my distance from the door they are coming out of because I do not want to get noticed.
I look for Marfont in the crowd of students coming out of the room. He's supposed to have about average height, blond hair, pale skin, and green eyes. And yeah, there he is walking out. Not many really look at him or acknowledge him for that matter, but those that do look at him with disgust. I almost feel a little bit of kinship with him before I remember that I'm not a bastard; Ustos is. I'm just taking the idiot's place.
I continue stalking him, following Marfont to his dorm. What Keswick said seems to be largely correct. The fact that he's supposed to live among the commoners also seems to be correct, although I didn't find that out from Marfont directly. I found out because a couple of the students were gossiping about where they were going to spend their break, and one of them mentioned Marfont's unfortunate future accommodations.
All right, I guess the plan holds strong. Next, I have to recruit those goons to hold Ustos and Marfont captive.
I fed Ustos, changed out of my clothes, put on my mask, and headed out to the good old, bad old slums. There, I made a deal with some thugs: in about a month, they would care for two people, and they wouldn't hurt them in any way. If they did, I would use some rich people magic to find and curse them for the rest of their little lives, which I made up, of course. In return, they would get a single gold coin to share amongst themselves, probably the most money they've ever seen in their miserable little lives.
After that, I returned to my dorm and helped Ustos train his atrophied leg muscles. No immediate signs of improvement have been shown from him, but that's probably normal.
And so the remaining month passed. I helped Ustos and trained his leg muscles, and he got better. Although he can't walk normally, he can still limp, and that is enough for me. Hmm, I should tell the idiots I hire to make Ustos do some walking exercises too.
Nothing else really happened this past month. The only real thing of note is that Keswick broke through to the fourth step, through the power of classism again, of course. If she really believes that nobles and commoners should be treated equally, she should probably stop utilizing classist luxuries, the damned hypocrite.
Whatever, currently I'm standing near the only exit and entrance of the academy, waiting for Marfont to come by. He should be leaving along with most of the students in the academy.
And I find him among the crowd; he's carrying three bags, probably all of his possessions, and approaching the line for the exit. He gets into line, and I follow, getting in line just after him.
After some time, it finally becomes Marfont's turn to exit. He shows the doorman his soul-bonded necklace, and the doorman lets him pass. I follow, and the doorman lets me pass by also.
There are a lot of wagons parked by the academy's entrance, and the nobles probably don't want their high-class children to walk the savage streets and carry their luggage.
However, Marfont doesn't go for any of the wagons; he just continues walking by, and I follow. Finally, he makes it to some random hotel. But before he has a chance to enter, I grab him into a chokehold and pull him into a random alley.
He starts flailing his hands around. I thought it was a sign of struggle or something, but suddenly a fireball appears in his hand. I immediately let go and back off before he does anything with it. I forgot this idiot is a second-year.
He starts shouting like a moron, "Back off, commoner, or else you will get burned by my magic!".