The Weight of Seniority
The hatchling had striking jet-black hair that fell to her shoulders and crimson eyes. On the surface, she looked no different from Derke—a girl barely in her mid-teens. One disappointing detail stood out: she wasn’t an SSR-rank dragon either.
‘I figured the class representative would be something special……’
A twinge of disappointment flickered through me, but that wasn’t what mattered right now. I needed information from her.
“…Excuse me, Tina?”
I deliberately lowered my voice and whispered close to her ear.
“Do you have any reason for ostracizing Derke?”
“Huh? H-Huuuh……?!”
“Shh. Keep your voice down when you answer.”
“N-No, I don’t! I-I mean, there’s no way I would—! Th-That never happened……!”
Even after I told her to stay quiet, Tina practically shouted in panic. She trembled like a leaf in the wind, stammering through every word. Maybe it was just because she was still young, but her reaction made everything crystal clear: she was involved in Derke’s bullying.
‘She’s obviously lying……’
Still, it was a relief that she was being so submissive. No matter how powerful dragons were, a clueless hatchling like her should be easy enough to handle.
“Is that so? Well, I suppose the class representative wouldn’t go around bullying her own classmates. Right?”
“R-Right……! There won’t be any more incidents like that— I mean, there never were any!”
“Understood. I’ll take your word for it. As class representative, I trust you’ll look after everyone properly.”
I gave Tina’s small shoulder a couple of light taps while whispering. That should be enough of a warning to keep her from bullying Derke directly.
“Since it’s your first day, I’ll just do a quick visual check of the dorm and head upstairs.”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
With that, I swept my gaze across the room. As expected of children, the place was a complete mess.
“Hehe……! Thanks, desu yo……!”
Derke caught my eye and gave me a shy little wave. I answered with a warm smile, careful not to draw attention.
“Everyone, make sure your rooms are tidy before roll call tomorrow evening. If anything’s still out of order, I’ll be handing out demerits on my authority. Understood?”
““Yeeees!!””
The innocent little hatchlings answered in unison. Thanks to Tina’s frozen posture, none of the others dared treat me lightly. My first impression on the first-years had gone smoothly. Whether they simply didn’t realize I was human or just found me unthreatening, I couldn’t tell.
‘Now I’m finally starting to feel like a proper dorm supervisor. Good. Let’s keep this momentum going!’
With renewed resolve, I headed up to the second floor, hoping the atmosphere wouldn’t be too different from the first.
“Second-year reporting in.”
Once again, the class representative greeted me—but her voice was oddly indifferent. She didn’t even meet my eyes.
“……Second-year total: fifteen students. No absences. That will be all.”
“……?”
The report was completely different from the first floor. A hundred years really did make a difference. The energy I’d felt downstairs was nowhere to be found. At least they were still using polite speech. Beyond that, though, every single student maintained a cold, distant attitude.
“Since it’s the first day, I’ll just do a quick check of the dorm conditions.”
“Haa, what a pain……”
Even as I walked down the hallway, I was met with openly annoyed stares. The second-year girls opened their doors with visible irritation, their eyes silently pressuring me to finish quickly and leave. If the first-years were elementary-school kids, these girls felt like moody middle-schoolers right in the middle of their rebellious phase.
‘Tsk. Still, there are three SSR-ranks here.’
Despite the hostile atmosphere, I scanned their faces and marked the SSR students on my roster. Strangely, I hadn’t seen any SSR-ranks among the first-years. No matter how important attributes were, age—basic level—clearly couldn’t be ignored.
—Tap, tap, tap……!
I finished the second-year inspection and climbed to the third floor, my steps noticeably less confident than before. I was genuinely shrinking inside.
And sure enough……
“Third-year, all clear.”
“……?”
That was the end of the evening report. It was so brief it barely counted as a report at all. Had the third-years already accumulated enough seniority?
“Huh? The dorm supervisor’s a human this time? And with that grayish hair, he looks pretty lame……”
“W-Wait, what did you just—”
“Whatever. It’s the first day, so let’s just wrap this up nicely, yeah?”
“……”
The third-year representative’s reaction left me speechless. There wasn’t even a shred of formality or respect left. In military terms, they were like a senior private who’d seen a few years of service. Maybe academy life had worn them down. To me, they just looked like delinquent high-schoolers.
“What? Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“Ahem. Since it’s the first day, I’ll still check the inside of the dorm. Please cooperate.”
From the third floor onward, I was the one using polite speech. Seniority really was something you couldn’t ignore. And these were dragons, after all.
“Haa? Didn’t you hear me say we should keep things pleasant? Who do you think you are?”
When I tried to inspect the rooms properly, the third-year representative stepped forward aggressively, brows furrowed. She had a black ponytail and red eyes. At third-year level, she was about my height—not quite tall enough to look down on me, but her presence alone was enough to make my knees weak. It felt like running into a gang leader in a back alley.
“……”
“What? Didn’t hear me? I said let’s just get this over with—”
“…Tiana? That’s enough. If we waste time here, we’ll be the ones getting scolded by our seniors.”
Just as Tiana was about to grab me by the collar, another voice cut in from behind—calm to the point of being cold.
“Sairin’s right. He’s just a human who won’t live long anyway. We can afford to be understanding on his first day~”
More than one voice joined in. Another tone, completely different from the first, brushed against my ears.
“……Haa? Sairin? Raylin? This is my business. Stay out of it.”
Looking toward the voices, I saw two women—one with red hair, the other with blue—holding Tiana back by the shoulders. Their hair colors couldn’t have been more different, yet their facial features were strikingly similar. Their personalities, however, seemed to be polar opposites.
“C’mon, there you go again~ I’m just giving you some advice as the former representative. Congrats on becoming the new one, by the way.”
“Raylin’s actually making sense for once. You don’t seriously think the real power shifted just because the representative changed, do you?”
“Tch……! Weren’t you two supposed to hate each other?”
Twins? The word made my eyes widen. Sairin and Raylin. I’d definitely heard those names before.
‘I remember now!’
—Flip, flip!
I glanced at my roster and cheered inwardly. There had been a pair of twin dragons among the SSR-ranks. The red-haired one was the younger sister, Raylin, wearing a red qipao with her hair tied into two buns. The older sister, Sairin, wore a simple sky-blue dress, her narrowed eyes giving her a composed air.
“By the way, Tiana? I heard your little sister enrolled in the first year this time~ What’s her name?!”
Raylin bared her pointed fangs and threw an arm around Tiana’s shoulders, turning her gaze toward me. At the same time……
“Well then, if you’re so curious about our room, why don’t you come take a look right now?”
While Raylin distracted Tiana, Sairin smiled with her eyes and gestured invitingly. Her words sounded gentle, but her voice carried no warmth—only a faint chill.
“……No, that won’t be necessary. I’ve already overstepped.”
Their attitude made me change my mind. Something about the situation felt off. Besides, according to the roster, the only SSR-ranks in the third year were these twin sisters. There was no reason to linger any longer.
“Hmph. Wise choice. I suggest you avoid making the same mistake on the fourth floor……”
Sairin shook her head as if the whole thing were tedious.
“W-Well then, I’ll be going……”
I hurried up the stairs. I wanted to finish the inspections as quickly as possible. The fourth-year check would be brief—I’d already done it earlier in the day. No need to provoke anyone.
‘Just dealing with the third-years was suffocating enough. No matter what, I absolutely cannot upset the fourth-years……’
With that thought, I climbed toward the fourth floor.
*
—Murmur, murmur, murmur……!
Roll call was unusually noisy today. It was also taking far longer than usual. Before I became a fourth-year, the management staff had always handled the evening reports, receiving them quickly and leaving. But something felt different tonight. Had some kind of problem arisen……?
The lower floors had been loud for a while now.
—Sofia? The atmosphere downstairs feels off.
—Yeah, it does. Don’t tell me the duty professor is doing rounds on the very first day?
—Damn it, I’m still in casual clothes……?!
Students poked their heads out into the hallway, whispering to me—their class representative and student council president. They must have sensed the same unease I did. How could a simple evening report that usually took less than ten minutes drag on this long? Something was definitely wrong.
“I-I agree. It has to be the duty professor personally patrolling!”
As class representative and student council president, I had to make a quick decision. If we stayed careless, this wouldn’t end with just demerits. Depending on who the duty professor was, we could even end up held back a year.
“……So everyone, get properly dressed and come out according to protocol!!”
—What the heck, on the first day……?!
—Tch! How annoying!
—The third-years are done for! They should’ve reported this earlier!
—Maybe we should all gather tomorrow?
—Haa, I already want to go home…… The break was way too short……
At my command, everyone sighed and retreated to their rooms. I needed to change quickly and prepare for the inspection. If I was late, I had no idea what kind of scolding I’d receive.
‘I thought I heard footsteps near the central staircase just now. I’d better hurry.’