Valet


 * This term is alternatively translated as page (Yen Press).

A Valet (き), also known as a Valet Trainee (き), is one of the top 12 novice trainee freshmen at the Sword Mastery Academy in North Centoria. These trainees are chosen by one of the second year Elite Swordsmen-in-Training to attend to the needs of their mentors as well as to receive guidance from them. Valets are not the only ones who can compete for the position of an Elite Swordsman-in-Training during the Advancement Examination, so a valet does not necessarily become an Elite Swordsman in their second year.

Selection
Valets are selected by the Elite Swordsmen by using a system where the twelve students who became the new Elite Swordsmen single out and pick one of the 12 top freshmen to become their valet. Their turns are based on their ranking among the new elites, the first ranked being given the right to be the first one to choose his valet.

Being a valet is usually considered as an honourable thing within the Academy, and usually become targets of jealousy from their peers. However, some of the higher ranked nobles who are the most proud of themselves intentionally lower their rank to avoid being valets so that they would not have to listen to the orders of a mentor.

Daily Life
Like other novice trainees, valets have lessons and practical training until 3 PM, except that while regular novice trainees are tasked with cleaning the dorm, repairing equipment, or taking care of the Sacred Flowers in the garden after lessons conclude for the day, valets instead proceed to the Elite Swordsmen dormitory, where they have to clean the rooms of their mentors, serve their mentors personally and be their sparring opponents, thus gaining additional training and advice on how to improve their swordsmanship styles from their mentors as well as allowing their mentors to practice their styles.

Usually, a valet is very nervous in the presence of their mentor during the first 2 months of the school year, since the fact that there are only 12 Elite Swordsmen in the Academy leads the novice trainees to feel more scared of the elites than the instructors themselves. If the mentor the valet had to follow was a bad person who deliberately littered, made a ruckus, or had the tendency to sometimes go out and disappear, the valet would be troubled every day. However, a valet can only be dismissed from their position with the consent of the Elite Swordsman-in-Training and the instructor-in-charge, with another valet being chosen from the novice trainees instead of the one dismissed.

Uniform and Dormitory
Valets, like all students at the Sword Master Academy who are not Elite Swordsmen-in-Training receive a dark grey-colored uniform. Male students wear a long jacket and pants while female students wear a cropped jacket and skirt. All jackets have a collar and cuffs, which are usually folded back, revealing the inner, white part of the jacket. Jackets also have white edges along the collar, and down along the buttons, though this is usually covered by a white, tie-looking flap that extends over the buttons. On this tie-like design, two sword insignia can be seen, one directly below the neck, and another farther to the bottom.

Like regular novice trainees, valets live in the old-looking, 2-story novice trainee dormitory and have to share a room with about 10 other students, who may be other valets or even regular novice trainees. Strict rules have to be followed within the dormitory and, like other first years, valets must return to the dormitory by 5 pm.

Trivia
A design resembling the insignia of the Knights of the Blood could be found near the top and bottom of the tie-looking flap.