"..."
After a brief moment of consideration, Rotsard took a deep breath and…
"HEY! Are you deaf or some…?! H-hey…! W-wa-fugugh…!?"
"Sir Lazalarius, what a pleasure."
To the horror of the downed upperclassman, Rotsard not only ignored his words, but actually stepped on him while extending his hand towards Vicas!
"GHH…! H-hhhgh…! Ghhhh! G-gheth ofgh ofghh mhee…!"
At first, simply infuriated by the audacity, the upperclassman blocked the sole of Rotsard's foot from stomping on his throat, only to realize that both his throat and his hands were slowly and steadily getting crushed, causing him to flail and wheeze in increasing panic.
"...young lord Vallhall, I have to implore you to remove your foot first before we can exchange greetings…"
Vicas glanced at his underling first before moving his gaze up to the hand offered by the bleached-blond-haired underclassman and only then spoke up without making any movement himself.
"Hmm…? Oh, my! That's yours...!?"
"...!"
But in response to him, Rotsard tilted his head in confusion before theatrically glancing at the young man he was stomping down on, and let out a shocked gasp…
…but didn't budge regardless of realization…
"Sir Lazalarius…! Don't you know that the people you surround yourself with are a reflection of your status?"
"...young lord Vallhall… I advise you to weigh your next words carefully…"
Rotsard pointed in a friendly manner, but the smile he gave Vicas did not reach his beastly yellow eyes, and, similarly, there was nothing but held back anger in his upperclassman's voice.
"...after you release my friend, that is…"
Vicas added, getting even more annoyed as his underling clearly struggled, unable to free himself on his own.
"That's…"
Rotsard spoke up hesitantly, looking back down at the bluish face of a young man who honestly should have more than enough strength to throw off someone as skinny as him…
"...disappointing…"
Rotsard finished his sentence, taking back his hand and only then finally stepping off of his upperclassman before passing by Vicas without any trace of intention to interact with him anymore.
"!!!"
…which caused Vicas's face to turn blank as he felt such scorching fury that his expression couldn't keep up.
"...get up!"
"...!"
But he managed to keep his emotions at bay and instead spat through his teeth at his downed friend, causing him to stir himself back on his feet while massaging his throat, making an expression that was a mixture of pain, anger, and extreme shame.
"The first years seem to be excited for their magic and physical evaluation. Please, pardon this interruption to everyone's peaceful morning."
Vicas even took it upon himself to address everyone in the cafeteria, doing a relatively good job at maintaining an image of someone who could figure out a correct way of action under pressure when the push came to shove.
"Y-young Master… there's something off about that guy…! His weight and strength don't match his appearance at all…!"
As Vicas and his friends were walking to their usual spot, the embarrassed one groaned while massaging his throat with a pained expression.
"I didn't ask about your…"
Vicas glared at him and gritted his teeth, but then he flinched, and his eyes darted to the side as if he realized something.
"...they don't match…?"
He then inquired in a hushed voice as the three of them sat down.
"That's right…! Strength is one thing. It can be increased with magic, but simply because one is strong, it doesn't mean that a scarecrow like him has what it takes to keep me pinned! Young Master, don't take it as an offence, but if either you or Klein were in his place, I would be able to lift you up. I'm not the best with the strengthening magic, but I can pull off that much. And… I did stealthily activate a spell back then and still couldn't do a thing…!"
"...!"
While their third friend called over one of the kitchen helpers and ordered food for their group, the victimized youngster, rubbing his throat, leaned in and whispered to the wide-eyed Vicas.
"Do… Do you think that little bastard is using a disguise spell on himself…?"
Vicas ended up leaning in too and whispered back.
"A powerful enough disguise spell can change one's size, but unless it's an 8th tier one or above, it cannot do anything about the weight of the target. So yes. I do think that's possible."
"...but as a member of the Vallhall family, he shouldn't be able to use normal magic…"
Vicas's friend pointed out, making the red-haired young man let out a baffled gasp.
"While there is a chance that someone else is using it on him, if that's not the case… it… It might actually mean that a deofol is involved…!"
"...!"
"...!"
All three leaned in, looking at each other with shock while coming up with a terrifying conclusion.
"A possibility of deofol or deofolized human disguising himself as a member of a Vallhall family of all things…!?"
"Young Master, should… shouldn't we inform your uncle about that possibility…!?"
The two exchanged worried glances before addressing Vicas.
"...falsely accusing someone of gedwyld is a heavy crime… but ignoring the signs of it could turn fatal… Let's observe his performance during physical evaluation, if there will be anything remotely suspicious about him, I'm going to talk with uncle."
Vicas decided, and his friends nodded unanimously at his decision.
"Young master… maybe… maybe you could use your contracted fae to make sure…?"
After their food was served and they began to eat, the other friend spoke up unexpectedly.
"...haaa…"
…but that only caused Vicas to let out a heavy sigh…
"Klein. Strig's element may be a bit sinister, but she's a fae. If she tries to suck out that guy's talent and it turns out he has deofol's mana, she will still perish like any of her kind would."
"I… I apologize, Young Master… That suggestion shouldn't have been spoken out loud…"
Vicas pointed out before returning to his food while his friend squirmed in his seat in embarrassment over such an insensitive mishap.