It happened on a day a little while after Doug and Fii started getting along.
When Fii headed to a break area, she discovered that a lot of boys were gathering around some piece of paper, kicking up some kind of fuss. Even Gorms, Slad and Remié were there.
They seemed to be having a lot of fun.
“Whatcha looking at? Show me too!”
So Fii came over as well.
“Mn? It has nothing to do with you, Heath.”
“Yep, yep. There’s not much meaning even if you get involved Heath.”
“Yeah, I think it would be better if you ignored this, Heath.”
However, their attitudes were awfully cold. Or rather than cold, dismissive, perhaps.
Being the only one excluded made Fii frown and puff up her cheeks.
“What the heck! Why am I the only one excluded!”
She jumped up and pinched Gorms’ cheek.
“Owowow, what the heck did I do!”
“Shut up! The moment you tried leaving me out, you were guilty of the same crime!”
“Alright, alright already! If you wanna see, then see!”
The apprentice knights hurriedly handed a piece of paper to the kicking and screaming Fii.
Fii took it into her hands and had a look.
It was a list of everyone in the Northern Dormitory, as well as a bunch of numbers next to their names. And at the top, a certain title was visible.
“Man… liness… rankings…?” she asked in confusion.
“The Manliness Rankings,” corrected another apprentice knight.
“It’s a ranking to decide who the manliest of all is in the Northern Dormitory.”
“The person who takes first place is the one who wins.”
“That’s why it doesn’t have much to do with you Heath.”
Fii suddenly felt very offended.
Manliness? Of course she had that!
Thumping her chest, she declared,
“As wide as this nation may be, there are few knights as manly as I am, you know. At the top are Captain York, Palwick-san, and then probably me, okay!”
“Eh…?”
“Uh…”
“No way, dude…”
It was so exaggerated that nobody knew how to respond.
Even Fii thought that perhaps she boasted just a little much. The anger from being left out had gotten her excited.
Still, she hadn’t thought that she had been too far off the mark. After all, all the maids had been kicking a fuss over her recently.
Fii had absolute confidence that she had manliness in her too.
“Anyway, I’m joining in. I’ll show you just how many I am!”
“You sure? The person who gets last is gunna get a punishment game.”
“By the way, I’ve been last every time so far…” added Remié.
His shoulders were drooped, and his eyes were a bit wet.
Because of his gentle personality and rather cute appearance, it couldn’t be helped that he was low in rankings like this.
Even Fii was confident that she could beat Remié.
“No problem. After all, it’s impossible for me to lose to Remie! I’ll join! Far from losing, I’m aiming for top place!”
“So mean…!”
Ignoring the shocked Remié, the apprentice who had explained the game to Fii suddenly crossed his arms in a manly way, and then declared in a deep and manly voice,
“Alright, got it! Heath will also be participating in the Northern Dormitory’s Fourth Manliness Ranking. Is everyone fine with that?”
“Yeah!”
“No probs!”
“Sounds good!”
Each apprentice knight bellowed their response as they posed in a manly fashion, and thus, Fii’s participation in the Northern Dormitory Manliness Rankings was settled.