Choosing a Major
"Is this the right place?"
She'd gotten thoroughly lost, but after stopping student after student for directions, Rosaria finally arrived at her destination. She paused in front of the door and tipped her head up to look.
2-T.
Scythia Academy ran on roughly a five-year system, and Rosaria had been placed in Class T of the second year.
"...Might as well go in."
Creeeak—
At least she hadn't forgotten the name of her own class. Rosaria took a short breath, then pushed the classroom door open and stepped inside.
"What classes are you planning to take this term?"
"Hmm… I'd like Sir Revenders's swordsmanship course this time. Hope the roster isn't full yet."
"Still, I really want Professor Remillion's Complex Understanding of Elemental Magic."
"What were the required foundational majors for this semester again…"
"What was dinner tonight?"
That was the scene that greeted her inside the classroom.
In a lecture hall that looked to hold about thirty students, the tiered rows were already dotted with pairs and threesomes chatting away, the whole room buzzing with lively noise.
And then—
"...! There she is."
"Ah…"
...What? Why did it suddenly go quiet?
The moment Rosaria made her presence known and walked into the lecture hall, every gaze in the room swung toward her. The chatter that had filled the air a second earlier died into an awkward silence.
The stares fixed on her were unsettling, but standing there like a statue wasn't much better, so she walked farther in and claimed a seat toward the back where the crowd looked thinnest.
"It's the count's daughter…!"
"Is that really her…?"
"She's actually not wearing a dress?"
Once Rosaria had settled into her seat, the whispers began to drift late to her ears.
"Is she trying to play commoner or something?"
"There's been talk that House Evergarden is struggling…"
"Finally time to knock that stuck-up count's daughter down a peg, huh?"
...Wow. They really hate me, don't they?
Even Rosaria had to admit, at this point, that her reputation was thoroughly rotten.
Before the possession, the original Rosaria had lived up to her station as a count's daughter by drowning herself in luxury and treating people like dirt as a matter of course. She'd spent more time expanding her clique and mocking others than studying, and most of the academy students had thoroughly despised her for it.
But because she'd always crushed any opposition under the weight of her noble house, no one had dared push back too hard—and her arrogance had only grown.
When that same vicious personality finally reached the original protagonist, it became the spark that led to the fall of House Evergarden.
The protagonist isn't supposed to enroll for another half a year, as far as I know…
There was still no sign of the original protagonist anywhere.
Ailen, the original lead, would enter at next spring's entrance ceremony. From now—the second semester, just tipping from summer into autumn—it would take a full half-year before the timeline caught up to the original story.
For now, I just need to keep my head down and stay quiet.
With that, Rosaria resolved not to get involved with the protagonist at all. She would simply attend school in peace until next year.
"Still… this almost feels like coming back from a leave of absence."
Trying to shift her mood, Rosaria took in the classroom again and muttered under her breath.
Having taken a leave from university to enlist, she felt a little like someone who'd finished their service cleanly and returned to campus after a long break. The difference was that instead of her old major, she'd landed in a fantasy academy—and she was already fretting over how she was supposed to keep up with the classes.
Might as well memorize these faces while I'm at it.
They were her classmates, after all. To avoid another incident like the one with Eileen on the way here, Rosaria swept her gaze across the students.
"...Hic?!"
"She's looking this way!"
"Did she hear us…?"
The students whose eyes met hers went pale and whipped their heads back toward the front.
Rosaria was beautiful.
Her skin was clear, her hair soft, and she could honestly claim a decent figure. The problem was her expression.
Those sharply upturned eyes and long lashes gave her a harsh, haughty look. Rosaria was only looking—but to the students, it felt like she was glaring at them as if she meant to kill them.
What…? Why is everyone looking away?
Every time she turned her head and sent a glance their way, her classmates scrambled to avoid her eyes. She found it baffling.
Heh. Guess I really am that pretty. What a bunch of cuties.
"...Hmph."
Apparently deciding the students had been cowed by her looks, Rosaria let a smile curve her lips and even let out a soft laugh.
She had plenty of complaints about being a woman, but the fact that her current appearance was genuinely outstanding was something she rather liked.
"Sh-she's smiling…! She heard everything we said and she's still smiling!"
"That's a sneer—she's sneering at us…! She's looking down on us completely!"
"...Hmph! Just because she's a count's daughter, acting all high and mighty…!"
To the students, though, Rosaria's sharp gaze was enough to make them break out in cold sweat.
And so the misunderstandings between them began to pile up—until, at that very moment,
Rattle—
"That everyone?"
Someone pushed open the classroom door and stepped in, announcing his presence with sheer presence alone.
"Why the hell is this damn outfit so tight…! I miss my mercenary days when all I had to wear was a brooch…"
He yanked at his collar as if the formal, sharply cut high-class attire was driving him mad. His face was far too weathered for a student of this school, and for a faculty member, the rough language that spilled out of him was a little too immediate.
"Ahem—! Anyway, good to meet you, you lot. I'm Gerton, and I'll be your homeroom professor this term. My specialty is Basic Weaponry."
"Gerton…? Platinum-Rank mercenary Gerton?"
"The Gerton who took down a wyvern solo?!"
"He suddenly announced his retirement—and he came to our academy?"
The moment he introduced himself as Gerton, the classroom erupted into excited chatter.
"Oh? Looks like some of you already know me. That's right—I'm a former mercenary. Don't tell me any of you are too good to take lessons from a lowly sellsword?"
Mercenaries were generally treated as lowborn, but that only applied to the lower ranks.
Anyone who'd shed their beginner status and climbed as high as Gold Rank could make a name for themselves even among the nobility—and Platinum Rank was reserved for those who'd accomplished feats worthy of true heroes.
Those who rose that high received treatment to match, which was why more than a few Gold-Rank mercenaries had Scythia Academy alumni among their ranks.
"Of course not, Professor Gerton!"
"A chance to learn from a legendary mercenary…!"
Whether he'd overheard the whispers or not, Gerton tossed out the joke with a light laugh, and the students shook their heads vigorously in denial.
Gerton's reputation was famous enough across the empire that there wasn't a single person in that room who didn't know who he was.
"Platinum? Is that a big deal?"
Of course, Rosaria—who had zero interest in any of that—just stared at Gerton with a blank, puzzled look.
"First things first—I'll go over the schedule ahead. You can think of this homeroom as existing for exactly that, so listen up."
Basking in the students' cheers with a shrug of his shoulders, Gerton turned, picked up a stick of chalk, and set his hand to the blackboard.
"You did this in the first semester too, but the next week is the period for deciding your majors."
"Over the course of one week, the curricula for various majors will be unveiled one after another. You'll attend the lectures that interest you according to that schedule, and before the deadline, you'll pick a major and a minor that fulfill the credit requirements for graduation."
Scythia Academy offered a wide range of courses.
Beyond the required classes, there were countless others designed to let students bloom in their own talents. Students chose majors and minors suited to earning the credits they needed to graduate, then took the corresponding classes.
Is it because the author was Korean? This is basically just university.
In this world, the academy wasn't some rigid, formal institution—it was a place that prized freedom and poured itself into its students' growth. But to Rosaria, who'd lived through the modern world, the whole system felt painfully familiar.
"Any questions so far?"
"I have one! Will you be teaching as well, Professor?"
"Basic Weaponry is a required course, so you'll be looking at my face all semester long."
"But you'd better steel yourselves. I don't play favorites with rich kids."
"My goal is to turn every last one of you rookies into someone who can at least take down a goblin without breaking a sweat—so show up ready to work!"
"The schedule will be posted in the dormitory hallway, so don't go mixing up the times or locations. Dismissed!"
With that brief announcement, Gerton turned on his heel and left the classroom.
"Hmm. Majors, huh…"
Once Gerton's notice was over, Rosaria stayed in her seat for a moment, lost in thought.
I can't believe I have to pick a major even after ending up here…
She remembered the start of a new university semester in her past life—pulling all-nighters at a PC bang, scrambling desperately to snag a popular major. At least here, there seemed to be a little more breathing room when it came to choosing.
"Ah. Come to think of it, that guy's a professor too, isn't he?"
Then it hit her—her younger brother, who was also her older brother, Felix, was a professor at Scythia Academy as well.
"So he'll be teaching classes too… I wonder what he's offering."
"Ugh… I am definitely avoiding that one."
The image of Felix standing at the lectern teaching her a class sent a chill down her spine, and she muttered under her breath.
Family or not, she had zero faith that Felix would run anything resembling a normal class.
"Alright—time to head back!"
Watching the other students file out of the classroom, Rosaria stood and left as well.
"...Where's the dorm again?"
After wandering for a long while once more, Rosaria only managed to find her dormitory around the time dinner rolled around.