02-05 – Restless entrance ceremony
On this day, the entrance ceremony will take place in the great hall north of the school. The great hall is flooded with students ranging from the ages of twelve to sixteen, based on the school admission criteria.
Dozens of teachers are organising students by making them stand in lines. Of course teachers and students are mixed with races: animal people, dwarves, elves, as well as the common man.
The pair, Alysia and Fian, are also present and move to the back of the line as per the instructions given by the staff, somewhat confused by the number of people.
It’s starting soon. The princ.i.p.al’s greeting is performed in the great hall as he explains the school rules and usage of equipment. Although a long, boring speech by a princ.i.p.al is normal, here it seems they don’t speak for long.
Though it seems three princ.i.p.als are necessary in this school. And it’s said that they hail from three different countries: the Mearu Empire, the Rirenefu Empire and the Irukusu Kingdom.
Normally one person speaks for a long time, but with the combined length of all three of their speeches, most of the students were already bored. Of course, Alysia and Fian fit in this category.
“…Well in this magic school, we will teach you magic and cultivate your curiosity…”
“…Spare time…spare time…”
“Are you OK, Alysia?”
The crazed repeating of “spare time” by Alysia worried Fian. The only thing Alysia said to Fian was this very phrase.
“Free time….free time….kukuku~tsu, I want to burn that princ.i.p.al…”
“Changed personality?!”
“…What did I do?”
“Be quiet over there!”
They were warned by a teacher patrolling the area and apologized immediately. Alysia also seemed to stop muttering “free time” over and over.
At the end of the long, long speech, all the freshman got ready for the magic inspection and cla.s.s selection.
The speeches can all be summarised as:
“For seven years, please stay healthy and work hard to become respectable adults”
Students previously in the great hall gathered to the middle hall making a strangely long line.
A crystal ball with the diameter of one Therme (25 cm) was situated in the center of the hall on top of a desk.
The hands of the students are placed atop the crystal ball. It seems to be the method of carrying out the magic inspection and Alysia had reached the “do not advance” sign.
“The next is Alysia-san.”
Alysia who was lost in thought, suddenly regained her attention. When did I get to the front of the line?
When she faced the front, she saw Mr Fizz, the teacher who had helped her with enrollment, standing behind the desk with the crystal ball.
“It’s been while, long time no see, right?”
“It was a long time for me.”
“Haha, I see. Well first of all, I need your school ID, so I can a.s.sign you to a cla.s.s.”
Alysia took the school ID out of a pocket in her skirt and handed it to Mr Fizz. He had the ID in his right hand and placed his left hand on the crystal ball.
“Please place your hand on the crystal ball and wait a moment. Nothing usually happens, so don’t worry.”
Alysia cautiously placed her hand on the ball. It felt cold and hard, and then—-
CRA~CK (BISHI—-PAKI—–)
The crystal ball emitted bright light and cracks appeared on the surface. The cracks spread out from where Alysia had touched, but luckily the crystal ball didn’t seem to be broken.
“This is…?!”
“You said nothing would happen, but…”
When the light settled, information was written on the ID card in the right hand of Mr Fizz. Alysia and Mr Fizz gingerly looked at the ID card. Dorm room, cla.s.s and magic power was written, but there was more, it was too strange.
Normally, the card there should just have magic power and magic amount, but it was complete with magical power, spiritual power, mystic power, divine power, and especially the values that were written, each of its amount was expressed in number.
The magic power written on Alysia’s card far exceeds an average person, at 7500. Spiritual power is at 121, mystic power is at 142 and divine power is at 643. Items other than magic showed a decent score as well.
As for her cla.s.s, the “S” symbol was written, signifying the highest cla.s.s.
When Mr Fizz realised what she had seen, he solidified from shock and started thinking out loud.
“Hmm…indeed…the King did recommend her…what is spiritual power and mystic power? And divine power should only be handled by the G.o.d race…even with divine power, general humans only have around 100, why does a vampire have almost 700…who are you, really?”
“…I think I’m just an ordinary vampire.”
Although Mr Fizz was murmuring impossible things in a low voice, Alysia casually answered him.
After that her school ID was returned to her and Alysia immediately exited the hall which became noisy due to the mysterious phenomenon.
After the inspection, Alysia was going to Fian and her meeting place, which was near a flower bed outside the middle hall.
When she arrived at the location, Fian was sitting on a bench waiting.
“Oh! Did you finish?”
“I wouldn’t have come if it didn’t end. So, what’s your cla.s.s?”
“Say your’s first, then I’ll tell you.”
She couldn’t say why, but Fian wished to say her cla.s.s after Alysia did.
It must be a sign of Fian’s confidence, but Alysia would not want to say much about her result.
“Well.. it’s good, cla.s.s S.”
“That’s the same cla.s.s as me! Show me your ID, here’s mine.”
It seems Fian was also placed in cla.s.s S and both of them were relieved to hear that.
But for Alysia, the relief lasted a brief moment, when she looked at Fian’s ID, she saw that she only had 515 magic power and was placed in the S cla.s.s.
When seeing this, Alysia realised how much magic she truly had and was uncomfortable with showing her own ID.
“My school ID, I guess you really want to see it…?”
“Please show it to me!”
“Wait a moment…”
Fian had swiped the school ID from Alysia’s now empty hands. Because Alysia didn’t want to give her ID, she had no choice but to dance under Fian’s lifted hand.
“Because I showed you mine, you should show me yours! It’s unfair~”
Fian’s attention turned to Alysia’s ID card while acting funny and trying to escape. Alysia tried to block Fian from behind but she was too late.
“E~e~eh! So good!”
Fian, who previously had a smiling face, now had a expression of despair. She felt hopeless.
“U~u~u…my confidence…”
“I said before, it’s just because I’m abnormal…”
“…”
Fian fell silent after that last remark.
They should get to cla.s.s in the afternoon, so for Fian to get back up on her feet, so until noon, Alysia was comforting her.
At noon, that pair traveled towards the school building. It was necessary to wear the designated school shoes and robes, which was worn over their clothes.
The school is far away from the dormitory, the thought of having to walk such a distance every day was depressing. Fian and Alysia were aristocrats after all. Most of their travelling was done in a carriage, not a long distance walk. Finally, the pair had arrived at the school building. The first-grade S cla.s.s was located on the third floor of the first building. Many people who had just come from the same entrance ceremony as Alysia were coming and going in the corridor.
After advancing in the corridor for a while, they entered a stairway with a ceiling that goes as high as the fifth floor. An expensive chandelier was suspended from the ceiling. The spiral staircase was connected to the respective floors.
——GA!
“Waya~!”
When Alysia had started climbing the staircase to get to the third floor, she had collided with a person and rolled on the floor.
Fian looked back to find the one who suddenly collided with Alysia. There he was, a somewhat skinny, brown-haired dog-man.
“Look where you’re walking, girl!”
“What?! You’re the one who b.u.mped into me!”
It was clearly the man who was at fault. Fian whose anger made her hair stand upright, expected the man to apologise.
“Hey, blackie…your shoe sc.r.a.ped my leg…”
“…Be quiet.”
Alysia raised her face while saying intimidating words. Feeling provoked, the man raised an angry expression.
“Apologise, or do I have to force you to…”
“I feel the same way, I’ll also get to use force.”
Fian, completely frightened, hung her tail between he legs, literally. Fian backed away from the entrance of the stairwell and escaped into the crowd that has gathered.
“What can a shorty like you do? I the president of the fourth-grade S cla.s.s, you know?”
“…What did you say to me? Prepared to die?”
The air around them became heavy. Disrespecting Alysia’s small stature was a big thing.
“It’s impossible for me to be killed by you. Prepare yourself!”
The man rushed in front of Alysia and jumped in front of her to start the fight.