Team Seven
The pairing of Simon and Meilyn had been born, and the news spread fast. Students nearby began to murmur.
"Wow, those two are on the same team?"
"Special Admission No. 1 and the top student of Class A on one team? That's practically overpowered."
"Who knows about that. From what I saw earlier, Simon's scores weren't anything special."
While the students who had watched Simon's recruitment threw themselves back into their own battles, a few began sidling over to Simon and Meilyn, stealing glances all the while.
"You still have an open slot, right? I'm aiming for Jet-Black Mechanics—could you let me in?"
"By any chance, do you need anyone for Magic Combat?"
"Simon! Simon! Remember me? We talked together in class the other day...!"
When students suddenly swarmed toward him, Simon startled and leaned back.
"Now, now—hold on! Just passing through! Thank you!"
At that moment, Dick slipped expertly through the crowd, waving his hands with a bright, easy smile.
"Sorry, folks, no more slots! We're still negotiating the last seat, so honestly, your fastest bet is to just look for another team!"
"And who are you supposed to be?"
Meilyn asked, narrowing her eyes. Dick planted a hand on his chest with a confident grin.
"I'm one of Simon's teammates too! Dick Hayward."
"What?"
Meilyn turned her head.
"Hey, Simon. This is the first I'm hearing about some sloppy slacker on my team."
Simon scratched his temple and laughed.
"I did tell you. That I wanted you to join our team."
"......"
So there had been a catch.
Meilyn let out a small sigh and rolled her eyes upward.
"What's your intended subject?"
"Jet-Black Mechanics, 74 points, with an overall average of 70."
"...Serviceable."
Truthfully, from Meilyn's perspective, as long as her weak spot in Summoning was patched up, the rest of the subjects didn't matter much either way.
Ninety-something across every subject except Summoning. No matter who came, no one could surpass her already.
But a 74 in the intended subject with a 70 average meant someone solid across the board. Not exactly thrilling, but as a well-rounded support player to cover her blind spots, it was a defensible pick.
"Fine. You're in."
When Meilyn waved it off without ceremony, Dick pumped his fist. Then he turned his head to look at Simon.
"Kah-ha, you're unbelievable!"
It was the look of a man gazing at a returning war hero. The two bumped fists lightly.
"You really are the fixer! How did you just go and reel in Meilyn?!"
"Just good timing, is all."
"By the way, that deal you made earlier—is it really going to be okay?"
Simon nodded. If he devoted himself to Summoning like a man possessed from this point on, he figured he could manage something by the midterm.
"You boys can save your tear-jerking friendship for later."
Meilyn said, propping her chin on her hand and pouting.
"Who's the last member going to be?"
"Anyone you want! Just say the word, and I'll bring them in!"
Dick genuinely believed he could recruit anyone.
Who would turn down a team holding Meilyn, the ace of aces?
With a silver enough tongue, he might even pry students away from teams already decided. Of course, doing so would earn him enemies for the rest of his school life.
"Hmmmm."
Meilyn shut her eyes in thought.
"First priority is landing the basic curse. I'll take the curse work."
"That'd be a huge help! So among the four tribulation subjects, are you weak anywhere?"
"I'm not weak anywhere. I'm good at all of them."
She answered, sweeping her sky-blue hair behind her ear. Insufferably smug—but with the halo of being Class A's top student, Dick let it slide with a laugh.
"If you had to say, though?"
"If I had to say... I'd think it'd be good to find someone to cover Hemomancy. Lots of calculation, and it eats up time on the solutions."
"Hemomancy? Okay, on it! You two sit tight and relax!"
And with that, Dick plunged into the battlefield where dozens of students were tangled together in frantic negotiation.
Left behind, Simon and Meilyn quietly took their seats and let the time pass.
"......"
"......"
About ten minutes crawled by in silence. Meilyn, who had been pretending to trim her nails out of awkwardness, stole a sidelong glance at Simon and finally spoke.
"Hey."
"...?"
"Simon Polentia, right? Forgive me for not knowing—but whose family are you from?"
"A baron's house in the Baldwin Kingdom. We govern a territory called Leshill."
She gave a small nod of her head.
Ah, so he's from Baldwin. Leshill was a territory she'd never heard of.
"And you?"
At Simon's question, her pupils widened.
"Wh—you don't know who I am?"
"Nope."
Tch. Her pride stung a little, but she could hardly lash out at him when she herself hadn't recognized his house either.
She forced a smile.
"I'm from an Ivory Tower faction family."
Simon sifted through what he knew about the Ivory Tower in his head.
The one thing he did know: the platinum-blonde girl who had sworn the entrance oath alongside him was said to be the Ivory Tower's heiress.
"Oh, the Ivory Tower—then that's where Serne, Special Admission No. 2, is from—"
"I'm sorry."
Meilyn's smile deepened into something considerably more frightening.
"Could you not go any further than that? I'm begging you."
"...S-sure."
She turned her head away, cold as ice.
What's with her?
Simon was baffled. Meilyn seemed to realize he hadn't brought it up deliberately—she didn't get any angrier—but her expression was deeply uncomfortable.
He had clearly said something he shouldn't have.
So noble houses really are a minefield.
Still, he'd simply have to learn these things one at a time, carefully.
While Simon was filing away this new teammate's touchy topic in the back of his mind, Dick came strutting back from across the hall with a swagger in his step.
"Miss me?"
Beside him stood a girl.
...Huh?
She looked familiar.
Small of stature, with the gentle, docile air of a puppy. A gaze fixed on her own toes, as if shy around strangers.
Then it clicked—she was the very girl from Magic Combat class who hadn't been able to mount the hippopotamus on her own, and Simon had given her a hand.
"My instincts were right, as it turns out."
Dick gave Simon a meaningful look and waved his notebook. Then he introduced the girl to the two of them.
"This is Camibarez Ursula. A Hemomancy applicant with an 87."
Eighty-seven!
Meilyn gave an impressed whistle, and Simon smiled too.
Camibarez bowed her head politely.
"C-Camibarez Ursula! If my name's too long, please just call me Kami. I know I'm lacking a lot, but I'll work hard so I'm never a burden to any of you!"
"We're in the same year—you can speak casually, you know?"
At Simon's words, her face flushed crimson.
"...Ah. Um, I'm sixteen, and I only just entered Kizen, so... um..."
Dick chimed in too.
"What does age matter? I hear there's even a twenty-year-old among the freshmen."
"...Oh. Yes. Then if everyone prefers it... I'll speak casually... sir."
Apparently, casual speech was the harder register for her. Simon and the teammates decided not to push it.
And so, having safely completed their team of four, they gathered around a single desk.
Fifteen minutes remained of Professor Jane's thirty. Exactly half the time had slipped by.
"Haaah, now I can finally breathe! I swear I was about to give myself a stress disorder."
Dick muttered, stretching his arms overhead. Simon's head throbbed too—from caring so intensely in such a short span of time.
Camibarez, freed from the stress of team selection as well, had visibly relaxed, and was now chattering away happily with Meilyn.
"Wow, seriously! You're the Ursula I've heard about, right?"
"Yes!"
"This girl is actually incredible!"
Meilyn exclaimed, eyes shining.
"Ursula is a great vampire house, you know!"
Simon startled and turned to look at Camibarez.
This girl is a vampire?
Looking again, he noticed the pair of distinctive, pouting little fangs peeking out from her gentle face.
"I have wings too. They're hidden under the uniform, so you can't see them."
Something behind her back wriggled and shifted.
"Don't they get uncomfortable?"
"They bothered me a little, so I asked the administrative office to alter my uniform! From next week, I'll be able to keep my wings outside of it."
"Glad to hear they'll fix it for you."
Dick, who had been listening to the conversation in silence, crossed his arms.
"But something's odd here. A daughter of the Ursula house comes to Kizen, and you're telling me there's no buzz about it at all?"
"Ah, that's..."
She hunched her shoulders, cheeks going red. Meilyn shot Dick a glare and scolded him.
"Hey, you can't just ask people things like that outright!"
"Huh? What's wrong with it?"
"Ugh, seriously... you're not nobility, are you?"
"Commoner, actually."
"And this is why talking to you is pointless."
She crossed her arms and shook her head. This time it was Dick's expression that turned cold.
"And there go the ladies with their noble superiority complex again. I'm a commoner—so what's it to you?"
"You're annoying, so don't talk to me."
"P-please don't fight!"
Camibarez cried out. When every head turned toward her at once, she apparently realized her voice had come out too loud—she covered her mouth and ducked her head.
"I-I'll tell you. The truth is... my mother's side is ordinary human..."
At those few words, Simon grasped the situation at once.
A daughter born outside the main line of a vampire house.
Her father was surely the great vampire of the Ursula house—but her mother would have been a human-born concubine.
Born between a necromancer and a priest, Simon carried family complications of his own that were second to none, so he could understand exactly how she felt.
"...I'm, uh. Sorry about that."
Dick scratched the back of his head, looking sheepish.
"That's not what I meant when I asked."
"No, no! I'm really fine! Heehee."
"It's a poor trade, but since you told us about your family background, I'll tell you mine. I'm the son of the Guild Master of the White Cow Merchant Guild."
Dick threw the words out, then glanced around with faintly expectant eyes.
Camibarez gasped and covered her mouth—but the other two's reactions were lukewarm at best.
Simon, honestly lacking the background knowledge, simply didn't know, while Meilyn, though inwardly a little surprised, turned her head away rather than show it.
"To be precise, I'm the third of the eight sons the Guild Master has."
A trace of bitterness seeped into the end of Dick's words.
"Father intends to pass the guild down to my eldest brother, the firstborn. All the family's educational resources are concentrated on him. And me and the rest of the brothers... we're nothing more or less than second plans, used however they see fit."
"However they see fit?"
"Yeah. In my case, I showed a talent for dark magic, so I was sent to Kizen. My mission is to figure out what necromancers need and conduct market research for the family."
Here was the reason Dick had said that going to Rochest on weekends mattered more than weekday classes.
"But I haven't given up yet! I'm going to graduate from Kizen properly, and in Rochest I'm going to build a huge merchant guild with my own name on it—not the White Cow's. And who knows? Maybe then Father will look at me differently."
Simon grinned.
"That's admirable."
Camibarez clapped her hands too.
"I'll cheer you on, Dick!"
Meilyn, with her bristly attitude, let slip only a grudging good luck or whatever.
Simon and Camibarez burst out laughing.
"My, my, such a lovely atmosphere already~"
A teaching assistant approached with a smile. When the four started to rise, the assistant told them to stay seated and set a single sheet of paper down on the table.
"You're Team Seven. Please write your teammates' names here, along with your intended subjects beside them."
"Yes, ma'am!"
"And you'll need to choose a team name and a team leader."
Simon blinked.
"A team name?"
"Yes. Honestly, it doesn't really matter—Professor Jane will just call you Team Seven anyway. You've still got some time, so take it slowly and think it over."
The assistant left, and the four of them exchanged glances. Meilyn spoke first.
"I'll be team leader. Any objections?"
There could hardly be any. It was no exaggeration to say that Meilyn was half of Team Seven's total combat power.
When the three of them nodded, Meilyn inscribed her name in the leader's box with a flourish of elegant penmanship.
"So, what should the team name be?"
"You heard her—it doesn't matter. Let's just go with anything."
Dick propped the back of his head on his arm and snickered.
"How about something like... Meilyn Hardcarry?"
Meilyn flushed with delight and actually started to write it down, at which point Dick screamed that it was a joke and frantically talked her out of it.
"S-Simon! You got any ideas?!"
Dick asked desperately. Simon answered without much thought.
"Team Seven."
"Come on, that's way too lazy!"
"Ooh, how about this one? Pink Rabbit Girls...!"
"We're a co-ed team! Think about us guys a little!"
Once again, every gaze turned toward Meilyn.
Her cheeks coloring faintly, she gave a dainty little cough and said, pretending to relent.
"W-well, that thing Dick said earlier wasn't bad, was it? Meilyn Hardcarry—"
"Let's just go with Team Seven."
"HEY!!"