At Last, Dormitory Orientation
At last. Finally. Dormitory orientation!
The Bailiff turned the unconscious black magician over to a patrol that had been lying in wait nearby. As they dragged the chained body away, he offered me his thanks.
"I ought to thank you once more, Anastacia. Who knows what might have happened, if not for your quick thinking and your gift of foresight? The Faculty Guild will convey its gratitude before long as well. Perhaps even the Headmaster himself."
"Oh! A reward! Yes, well... I'll be waiting."
Modesty would have been the proper note to strike, but honestly—after everything I'd already done for them? I'd reported the smuggled black grimoire, the timing of the intrusion, even the route the black magician would take. I'd handed them the whole thing on a platter.
"Should anything you ought to know come to light while the black magician is being interrogated, I will have it passed along to you separately. Once the inquisitor arrives, however, the prisoner will have to be delivered into his custody."
"Yes, sir."
Mm. I could smell it. The unmistakable scent of a follow-up quest.
From a gamer's point of view, this black-magician incident was the main quest that started automatically the moment you enrolled at a magic academy. You'd spend a while clearing side quests—showing up to class, making friends—and then, sooner or later, someone would say the interrogation was finished, and the next main quest would kick off.
Which meant that for the time being, at least, I could probably consider myself safe from a game over. I wanted to believe that.
And so I saw the patrol and the Bailiff off. Time to get back to ordinary life.
I flopped onto the bed to catch my breath, and by the time I looked up, the world outside had already sunk into a dark late evening.
Knock, knock.
"U-um... Anastacia... are you in there...? W-we need to go down for the dormitory orientation..."
At the sound of Olivia's voice beyond the door, I hauled myself up, opened it, and headed down the stairs with her.
"Did you eat?"
When you've got nothing else to say, do as a Korean does and lead with food.
"Eat...? Oh, you mean a meal...? Y-yes... And you, Anastacia... the person you were supposed to meet... did it go all right...?"
"Yep. Wrapped it up nice and clean!"
"C-congratulations... not that I know what for..."
"Ah, you're down. Come in this way!"
We'd been trading bits of nothing on the way down, and the senior with the dark circles—what was her name again?—was there to meet us. She led us into the dining hall, where a large table was already ringed by what I assumed were the other upperclassmen.
"Hello."
"Ah... g-good evening..."
We traded greetings and little bows and took the empty seats. The dark-circles senior, standing at the head of the table, clapped once to call for attention.
"All right, then! We will now begin the long-awaited spring semester of 1444 orientation for the new students of Villa No. 4! Everyone, applause!"
Clap. Clap. Clap...
The seniors offered a few halfhearted, listless claps and let it die. Olivia and I exchanged an awkward look through the middle of it.
"First order of business! Self-introductions from our brand-new freshmen! Please stand and tell us a little about yourselves!"
Ugh. I really wasn't built for this kind of atmosphere. Not that it had anything to do with my own freshman year of college. Absolutely not.
I stole a glance at Olivia. Better I go first than leave it to someone as timid as her. I'd once stammered my way through a self-introduction at a freshman orientation, lost the thread of my own sentence, and been involuntarily exiled to the outcast table.
"Good evening! I'm Anastacia of Talin! I came in as an Ecclesial Scholarship Student, and I look forward to your guidance! That is all!"
Once I'd broken the ice, Olivia caught on, stood, and modeled herself after me.
"Ah, g-good evening... I'm Olivia... of House Claudel... P-please look after me..."
"Everyone, applause!"
Clap, clap, clap, clap...
"Next, introductions from the seniors! Starting with the second-years, who handle the practical affairs of our dormitory!"
When she finished, the first to speak was a senior in large, round, rimless glasses. Her long brown hair was tied back in a single loose tail—the very picture of a model student.
"Hello, I'm Dorothea. I'm with the school of Applied Magic, and my major is alchemy. If there's anything you don't understand about enchantment or alchemy, feel free to ask."
Oh. The pretty older-sister type who was actually good at teaching. That was the vibe. For the time being, so I wouldn't mix anyone up, she was Glasses Senior.
Next came the pink-haired senior seated beside her.
"Hi! I'm Hannah! Theoretical Magic major! Nice to meet you!"
Okay. Dorothea—Glasses Senior—alchemy—model-student face. Hannah—Pink Senior—Theoretical Magic—seems energetic. Logged and confirmed.
"And me. Cecilia Potter, Elemental Magic major. I'll be the dormitory representative for the year, so if anything comes up while you're living here, just tell me. Got it?"
The last of the three second-years was the dark-circles senior, with whom my internal affinity meter was already pleasantly maxed out. Cecilia Potter—Dark-Circles Senior—Elemental Magic—dorm representative.
Hmm. All three had different majors. It felt like one of those structures where your second class-advancement tree decided which senior became a key character. In dating-sim terms, my major would pick the senior's route.
"Next, our very busy third-year seniors! For the record, between their studies, graduation prep, outside activities, and everything else, they're insanely busy, so don't expect to run into them much. Still, learn their faces as you come and go, and don't bother them over trifles. Understood?"
"Yes..."
"Yes, ma'am!"
The third-years, at least—hmm. I could be certain I'd never seen these faces before. And no wonder. Neither of the remaining two was human. They were otherkin. If I'd passed either of them in a hallway, I would absolutely have remembered.
"Me, Isobel. Imperial tongue, not so familiar. Major, Arcane Magic. From southern rainforest. Welcome, new students."
The first to speak had pale blue skin covered in scales. What did you even call that? Lizardman? Lizardgirl? Reptilian? Some kind of reptilian beastkin, anyway.
"As you can see, Senior Isobel is lizardfolk. She's cold-blooded and very sensitive to the chill, so unless it's the height of summer she tends to keep her words short. You see how thickly she's dressed?"
An imagined portrait of Senior Isobel.
She wasn't exaggerating. Isobel really was bundled in several layers of clothing far too heavy for the weather—the sort of outfit that, back on Earth, would have meant a thermal undershirt, a fleece, and a down parka, with a hand warmer stuffed in every pocket.
"Next, Senior Saldoriel!"
"A pleasure. I am Saldoriel, an exchange student from the Nomad Empire. At Oxenbridge I study the traditional magic of humankind. For the record, asking my age, or whether my ears are truly that sensitive, is a rude question. Kindly refrain."
The senior named Saldoriel was a desert elf—bronzed skin, silver hair worked into a striking set of dreadlocks. From the look of her, the cold-beauty type: chilly, and cool.
An imagined portrait of Senior Saldoriel.
And the last one...
"...Huh? Why are there only two third-year seniors? I thought I heard there were three of you in each year."
At my question, the dark-circles senior gave an awkward laugh and let the words trail off.
"Ahaha... that person?"
...That person?
The third-years answered in her place.
"Book thief. Caught. Taken away. Mage-tower labor. Twenty years."
"P-pardon?"
"A friend with a bright road ahead of her. But she could not master her endless thirst for learning, and yielded to greed. She broke into the library's preservation stacks to steal a forbidden book, and was caught. Expelled from the school on the spot, and dragged off to the mage tower."
"Whoa."
Even book theft was operating on a ridiculous scale. An anecdote that extreme was definitely a hint.
Get caught stealing a book from the library, and it's an instant game over! Either don't steal in the first place—or, if you do, make very sure you aren't caught.
I'd really rather not have any occasion to steal anything, if I could help it.
"That concludes the meet-and-greet! At our school, upperclassmen and underclassmen who share a dormitory are as good as siblings, and as good as mentor and mentee, so keep that in mind. If anything happens, don't hesitate to ask for help. We'll always be glad to give it. And now, our busy third-year seniors may be excused!"
The moment she finished, the third-years rose and vanished in a blink. They really were busy.
"Next, a brief explanation of the dormitory rules. This is communal housing, so everyone has duties they're responsible for. Right now you don't know much magic, so you won't have many tasks—but as you learn, the work the dorm assigns you will gradually increase. Here. Look this way first."
She flipped back a carpet on one side of the dining-hall floor, and a hidden trapdoor came into view. We followed her down to find an enormous cylinder vibrating with a low, steady whoom. She rapped it with her knuckles and explained.
"This is the mana tank that supplies mana to the dormitory's facilities. Starting tomorrow, it's yours for a year. Every night before you sleep, and right after you get up in the morning, come down and check that it's running properly. If it isn't? Cast an ignition spell on the firing stand down here. You've learned Ignis, haven't you?"
We nodded.
"Now, if it has stopped—Restinguo. Like this."
At her spell, the busily vibrating mana tank came to a halt.
"Then you cast the spell right here. Ignis."
Fire caught on the stand-like device beneath the tank, and the halted cylinder began to vibrate again, pouring out that whoom. She gave it another satisfied thump.
"Well? Cool, right? This thing runs all the magical installations by itself—the lights, the vents, the plumbing. You could call it the very essence of magitech engineering."
"H-how does it work...?"
Olivia asked, startled into open awe.
"Huh? If I tell you, will you even get it? It turns a turbine. You'll learn about it later in Applied Magic."
"W-wow..."
A turbine. Here. Out of nowhere.
You again, turbine?
It was so far out of left field that a hollow little laugh escaped me before I could stop it.