Self-Introductions
"All right. Starting from this row, introduce yourselves in order."
At Willy's command, a brief round of self-introductions began.
The sudden request left most of the students looking flustered, but for me it was a welcome chance to comb through my memories of the original story.
"Desang von Oblia. Second son of the proud House Oblia. Even if Aegis Academy claims to make no distinction between noble and commoner, a clear wall still stands between the two. I ask that you do not attempt to cross it."
Desang von Oblia.
From the Kingdom of Alphaz.
Four-star.
A boy whose slightly dull golden hair set him apart from the radiant blond of a certain princess, and whose pride as a noble ran deep. That arrogance sparked early conflict in the Owl Class. He wielded the kingdom's sword arts and plant magic, and his belief that a noble must always stand at the front made him the class's frontline character.
In practice, though, player research had long since relegated him to a sub-tank closer to a supporter than a true main tank—one of those cases where lore and actual performance diverged sharply.
"I'm Kelon von Gross. Aspiring knight. Looking forward to working with you."
From the Kingdom of Alphaz.
Four-star.
A boy with deep black hair and a towering height well over one hundred ninety centimeters, eldest son of Viscount Gross. He idolized knighthood; he was not especially bright, but the raw power of that massive frame made him the Owl Class's main tank. Among four-stars he had been one of the standout performers—an excellent pull on reroll accounts—until the five-star tank Lucius was added to the banner and he was effectively out of a job. A tragic character, in his way.
"Jerry Husson. That high-and-mighty noble just finished rambling on about how great he is. I have no interest in getting cozy with some idiot who only rides his bloodline."
"Hah. An ignorant commoner who doesn't even understand a noble's duty dares to wag her tongue."
"What?! You little—!"
Jerry Husson.
From the Kingdom of Alphaz.
Two-star.
An ordinary girl raised by parents who ran an inn in the royal capital. She had taken first place on the written exam among the general admissions students; thrift was said to be second nature to her. Her character role had been supporter, though the exact kit escaped me. Honestly, remembering every skill of a three-star from a game I had quit years ago would have been the stranger thing.
What I did remember was that she and Desang were oil and water. Jerry had always resented the nobility, and Desang—whose noble pride ran far too hot—was exactly the sort of person she hated. Desang himself never held any particularly negative feelings toward her, which only irritated her more.
"What are you doing? Aren't you going to sit down?"
Even at their first meeting, Jerry radiated the kind of murderous energy that suggested she was about to launch herself at Desang—yet she couldn't move. Willy's presence, seated behind her after she finished speaking, pressed down on her until she shrank back.
So this is a Sage…!
How many people in the world could intimidate someone just by sitting there and letting their presence fill the room? Since arriving in this world I had met any number of strong fighters and high nobles, but a human who could crush others with sheer existence alone—this was the first since One.
I was used to One, so it didn't rattle me much. For an ordinary girl like Jerry, though, it had to be completely alien. Right now she must have felt as if a mountain-sized tiger were growling in her face.
Jerry returned to her seat on trembling legs; Desang looked away from Willy and tried to play it cool, but the tips of his fingers were shaking too.
"…"
"…"
The atmosphere collapsed in an instant. A heavy silence settled over the room; no one dared speak.
Willy's judgment, however, had not been wrong. In the game these two always stopped at a simple argument, but the clash of auras unfolding right in front of me was nothing so trivial. If they started like this on day one, I didn't even want to imagine what would come later. My lady would not want her classmates fighting either. I would have to keep a careful eye on them for a while.
"Next. You—step forward."
"Ah—yes!"
The sparring between those two had soured the mood, but Willy paid it no mind and pushed the introductions forward.
"I'm Pel Lucoda, eldest daughter of the Lucoda Merchantry. I've just enrolled at the academy. I know I still have a lot to learn, but I look forward to working with all of you!"
The student who had just finished was Pel. She trotted up on her short legs, delivered her cheerful introduction, and her sheer cuteness managed to thaw the room, if only a little.
Just standing there, she made the air feel gentler. No wonder she had been treated as the Owl Class's unofficial mascot. Later mascot characters always seemed especially wary of her for threatening their spot.
"T-Talon Arca… Please take care of me…"
From the Ios Federation.
Two-star.
An ordinary boy raised in a hunter family. Short on confidence. I couldn't remember his kit at all. His screen time and plot weight had been so thin that players simply called him "air." Gallery posts would slap up a photo of a nun-heroine from some novel about a transparent dragon sealed in someone's right hand and joke that you couldn't see anything, or post a yellow-clad character from a card comic where an entire universe was born on a single card and declare him invisible—always with Talon as the punchline. It became tradition to upload a completely different character of the same name from a five-versus-five tower-busting game instead of Destiny's Talon. Post the real Talon and people would flame you for breaking gallery custom.
"Lia Marx."
"Chelrn Macadia. I'm from Bargan. I hope we can all have a good school life together."
"Noir von Leonhart. Heir to the Leonhart ducal house of the Epios Empire. I look forward to working with you."
And those three, one after another, were the absolute core trio who drove the main story. I had zero desire to get tangled in the main plot; I only wanted a happy, perfect maid life. But as long as my lady was a key character in that story, I would have to watch every move Lia and Chelrn made. Chelrn especially—she was tied to that whole princess maid-bikini incident—demanded extra caution.
"I am Blanc, exclusive maid to Lady Noir. If there is anything you require, please do not hesitate to ask."
With my introduction finished, only one student remained.
"All right. Last one—come up."
"Yes."
I returned to my seat. The girl who had been sitting quietly at the very back walked up to the podium. Slightly brownish black hair and red eyes.
Was there someone like this?
"Hello. My name is Ruz Hari."
Ruz Hari? A name I had never heard, and a face I had never seen. In the original, that last seat had belonged to a boy from the Federation. I couldn't remember the missing boy's name, but one thing was certain: this Ruz Hari did not appear in the source material.
"I'm a dancer with the Moulin Troupe, which operates in the Federation."
Ruz bowed with a flourish that looked exactly like a curtain-call greeting—glamorous and meticulously polite.
The original flow had just shifted without warning.
Why did it change…? Was there even a reason for it to change? Hmm… no idea! Probably nothing important.
It was over.
With the introductions finished, the entrance ceremony truly ended.
There was no death match between new students in the forest.
No rampaging magical beasts crashing the ceremony hall.
Not even a mysterious organization targeting the freshmen.
This is an entrance ceremony? Aren't entrance ceremonies supposed to be heart-pounding festivals where everyone fights each other? Why did nothing happen at all?!
"B-Blanc? Ahem. About the things Bokja swallowed…"
"You mean the items you placed in Bokja's mouth, my lady?"
"Y-yeah, those. I think it's safe to spit them out now…"
Please. Please don't ask anything. Please, Blanc.
"Yes. Once we reach the dormitory, I will instruct Bokja to return them."
"Mm…"
"Still, contrary to your expectations, my lady, nothing happened at all."
Ah… it's over. The entrance ceremony is over, and so is my life. I'm sorry, Grandfather. This worthless girl will take her leave of the world first. As an honorable noble of House Leonhart, rather than endure this humiliation, I would rather—!
"As expected of Aegis—it truly is different from other academies."
"Huh?"
"At any other academy those items would have been necessary. But Aegis's entrance ceremony is simply different, so they turned out not to be needed, don't you think?"
"Wha—? Oh! Right! That's exactly it! Aegis really is completely different. Yeah! I was thinking the exact same thing! Aegis is different from other academies in so many ways."
Huh? I'm alive, right? Right?! I survived, didn't I?!
By some miracle, Blanc's misunderstanding had gotten me out of this disaster!
Wait—was it even a misunderstanding? Maybe Blanc was right and Aegis's entrance ceremony really was just different. For all I knew, the entrance ceremony at that Jerip Kazin Academy had already turned into something fun—no, something serious. Maybe I should have just gone to Kazin…
Aegis was a boarding school. No matter how close your home was, the moment you became an Aegis student you were required to live in the dormitory.
In most academy manga and games the dorms were split by commoner/noble, grades, or gender into buildings of different ranks. Aegis, however, had only one dormitory building. Floors were divided by year and gender, but in the end everyone lived under the same roof.
Across from the main building of Aegis Academy stood the massive dormitory called Hearth. The name had been chosen in the hope that students would grow close like a happy family gathered around a fireplace. Players used to joke that the students must really love card games—on the day that joke first appeared, the concept board went completely feral with posts claiming Aegis was actually a dueling academy that taught card games.
Hearth was divided into Building A, Building B, and Building C. Building A was the men's living area, Building B the women's, and Building C the shared common area. Living zones were further split by year; the first-years occupied the fifth floor.
"I'll go unpack first, then."
"Allow me to assist you, my lady."
"No, it's fine. You need to unpack too, Blanc."
As for my own luggage, it amounted to a few books and seventy-three sets of maid uniforms, so I hardly needed to tidy a room. My lady knew perfectly well I traveled light. The fact that she was using unpacking as an excuse to refuse my help meant her suitcase was almost certainly stuffed with an ungodly quantity of light novels.
"In that case, while you finish unpacking, my lady, may I take a short look around the dormitory facilities?"
"Sure. I already told you that you don't need my permission for every little thing. Blanc's time is for Blanc to spend however she likes."
"Yes, understood. I will return before dinner."
And with that, my time as an Aegis student was over.
Now it was time to return as the ultra-perfect☆ maid Blanc-chan.
First order of business: inspect the condition of the dormitory cafeteria.
Hehe… a maid of the student dormitory where all that youthful energy gathers…
Truly… truly magnificent…♥