40. We're Friends, Right?
40. We're Friends, Right?
When I stepped into the lecture hall, I spotted Eurasia sitting by the window, chin propped in her hand, staring blankly into space.
Good.
I walked straight over to her.
"Eurasia, good morning."
"Oh, ah... my lady. Yes... good morning."
Unable to meet my eyes, Eurasia kept glancing here and there, her face flushing bright red as she started letting out weird little breaths like "hup, haah..."
She was definitely still hung up on yesterday.
Well... rather than bringing it up and making things even more awkward, it'd be better to just act normal.
So I simply held out my hand.
"Gimme my card."
"Huh?"
"The card you gave me yesterday. I couldn't eat breakfast because I didn't have it, so I'm starving."
"Breakfast... heh, hehe."
At that, Eurasia smiled sheepishly and pulled something out of the paper bag she'd set down beside her.
"I figured as much, so I bought yours in advance too, my lady."
A pork cutlet sandwich and milk.
"Huh?"
"You were tired yesterday, my lady, and it seemed like you didn't sleep, so I thought you'd want something simple today... is it not to your liking?"
"No, no. This is exactly what I was about to go eat."
"Oh, really? Hehe... that's great."
Grinning from ear to ear, Eurasia pulled back the chair I was about to sit in.
"Please, have a seat. There's fifteen minutes left, so you can take your time eating."
"Yeah. Thanks."
I plopped down into the chair and immediately unwrapped the sandwich she handed me. At the same time, the aroma of freshly fried pork cutlet and what was surely a sweet sauce wafted up.
The vegetables inside looked incredibly fresh, as if they'd been picked this morning, and the bread was toasted just right—crisp on the outside and soft within.
"Thanks for the food."
"Heehee. Yep."
I swallowed the saliva pooling in my mouth and—chomp!
I took a huge bite of the sandwich.
The juices from the cutlet flooded my tongue. The tender meat practically melted before I could even chew a few times, and the sweet sauce made my mouth water so much the base of my tongue ached.
"Mmm. Mmm... so good..."
The bread was moist enough that I didn't even need the milk.
The vegetables tucked inside cut through any potential greasiness and blended with the sauce to add a fresh note.
I licked the sauce off my lips with my tongue, then—chomp!
Another big bite.
Nom nom nom.
Chewing away at a mouthful so full I could barely breathe, I glanced over at Eurasia, who was quietly watching me.
...Not watching me, exactly.
She was staring at my chest.
I chewed and swallowed diligently, then opened my mouth.
"Eurasia?"
"Hup?! Y-yes?!"
"That, um..."
I washed the lingering taste of cutlet out of my mouth with milk, then continued.
"Don't worry about it so much."
"No, I, well... ugh..."
"Besides, like I said, we're both girls. So it's really not a big deal."
Eurasia tilted her head slightly.
Confusion bloomed on her face, and bewilderment seemed to pile up layer by layer in her eyes.
"I-is that so...? It's really... not a big deal?"
"Yeah. The person who was seen says it's fine, so you don't need to be that conscious of it either."
With that, I took another bite of the sandwich.
The thing that had been churning in my mind was settled, the pork cutlet sandwich was delicious, my stomach was filling up, and the breeze coming through the window felt refreshing.
The corners of my lips rose softly, and my gaze relaxed.
This is the life.
"Heh, heheh."
I swung my legs back and forth, my feet just barely brushing the floor, and stuffed the rest of the sandwich into my mouth in one go.
As expected, the last bite is always most satisfying when you cram your whole mouth full like this.
I wiped the seasoning off my hands cleanly with a wet wipe, rummaged through my pocket, popped a post-meal peppermint candy into my mouth, and pulled out a hair tie.
Just about when I'd finished tying up my hair.
Click-clack, click-clack—
"Good morning, everyone."
Adelia walked into the lecture hall.
"Did you all sleep well last night? Fufu. A few of you look like you tossed and turned. That's understandable. You must have been excited, nervous, and worried."
With a crystalline voice that rang like rolling glass beads and a gentle tone, Adelia softened the atmosphere of the lecture hall.
She gave a bewitching smile and snapped her fingers.
Then, flutter—! Out of thin air, over a dozen sheets of paper arranged themselves neatly onto each person's desk.
Some students flinched in surprise, some gasped in admiration, some screamed as if they'd seen a ghost, and others were intrigued by magic operating on a completely different wavelength from ordinary magic.
After taking in the flood of reactions, Adelia chuckled and clapped her hands.
"Still, we do have work to do. Now then, today is the day regular lectures begin. Normally, you'd be attending elective lectures starting today, but you haven't made your schedules yet, have you? So today, you'll be putting together your schedules and taking some time to go check out the various clubs."
At the clap of her hands, the stacks of paper sitting neatly on the desks moved on their own and spread out for easy viewing.
If you touched them, wondering if it was illusion magic, the rough but mostly smooth surface—and the way it seemed like it would tear if you applied force—told you it was real paper.
So, what if I put some Mana into it?
Riiip—
"What the."
It tore.
Why?
"...Ah, my lady...?"
"No, I mean, it's not like I tore it on purpose..."
The lecture hall went dead quiet in an instant.
I turned my head to find everyone staring at me.
Eyes full of shock and horror.
"This, I mean, Mana... no, what the..."
I scratched my head irritably and looked down at the torn paper.
I heard four tearing sounds.
But even at a glance, there were more than twenty pieces. Did it make any sense for this to happen just from channeling a little Mana into it?
"Oh my... Miss Eliarnes? No matter how much you don't want to attend lectures, don't you think tearing up the application is going too far?"
"That, I didn't— haah... I'm sorry."
Not wanting to waste time and draw more attention with excuses, I tossed out a half-hearted apology.
"Fufu. Yes. The rest of you should take note as well. No matter how much you don't want to attend lectures, you still have to meet the required credits. So if you don't want to be held back, think carefully and divide your time well when making your schedules."
Snap! Adelia flicked her fingers, and new sheets of paper appeared on my desk.
"Next time, I won't make new ones for you, so don't tear them. Understood?"
"...Yes."
I wasn't the one who tore it.
Grumbling internally, I flipped through the neatly arranged papers.
[Don't scrunch up that pretty face—try smiling^^]
Elegant handwriting caught my eye.
"...For fuck's sake."
"Gasp... my lady...! Proper and refined language...!"
Eurasia smacked my thigh.
Ignoring her, I glared at Adelia standing in the center of the lecture hall.
Adelia, catching my gaze, gave a bewitching smile and looked away.
"Now, let me start the explanation again. First, as you can see, the first page is the application. You just write in the lectures you want at the times that fit. If you look at the items below, there's an explanation of how to do it. That alone should be enough. There's also a guidebook on your Device, so feel free to reference that too."
I skipped past the infuriating handwriting and took in the neatly arranged blank spaces below.
Monday and Wednesday were common lectures.
Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday were individually selected lectures.
And there was even a section where you could list a club for free activities.
The common lectures covered Mana-related subjects and tedious theory.
And below that, it split into three branches.
Tiers and Circles.
On the Tier side, there were vanguard-type classes and archers.
In the Circles, there were Wizards.
"Now then, shall we move on to the next page?"
No sooner had Adelia finished speaking than the paper turned on its own.
"Our class is in the Combat Department, right? As you can see, the lectures suited to the Combat Department are listed here. The left side is vanguard, and the right side is rearguard. There's no separate lecture capacity. That means even if everyone crowds into one place, all Signia students can attend. So there's no need to hesitate or worry about what others are doing—you can take every lecture you want."
There was no point in looking at the right side.
I immediately turned my eyes to the left and quickly scanned the lectures.
Even lectures about swords were all different.
Spears, axes, shields—none of them were the same lecture. They were divided by professor, divided by style, divided by the direction the student wanted to pursue.
It was... how should I put it?
Like someone had said, "I didn't know what you'd like, so I just threw everything in."
The sheer number of lectures cluttering my vision was enough to make my head spin.
Of course, I didn't need to take lectures on handling weapons. But I was curious.
Because here and there, I could see the names of professors who caught my eye.
I could see the surnames of heroes who had been active even four hundred years ago. I wondered what they were like now.
Had they risen to a level comparable to their ancestors?
Or maybe they'd already surpassed their ancestors with ease.
Was there any way to sample a lecture?
I was curious...
As I was licking my lips and scanning the lecture categories, Adelia continued her explanation.
"It's incredibly complicated, isn't it? You'll be agonizing over which lecture to put in which time slot. That's why the Signia Class gives you plenty of time to make your schedules. Today happens to be Friday. You only need to finish by next Monday. If you've thought it over and racked your brains and it's still difficult, come to me anytime. I'm a kind homeroom professor who treats everyone equally and will welcome you even on weekends."
Basking in the admiring gazes of the students, Adelia folded her arms beneath her chest and walked, click-clack.
"Now then, let me tell you about some precautions that aren't written on the paper."
Click-clack, click-clack—her steps grew heavier.
An eerie Mana spread through the lecture hall, taking the wind out of the students' sails.
At that chill, even Eurasia instinctively reached for her waist.
"Students who've made it into Karelai Academy can first be considered talented. Taking it a step further, those of you admitted to Signia can be considered even more exceptionally talented."
Click-clack, click-clack—her steps didn't stop.
From the front, from behind, from the side, sometimes from above.
The sound of her shoes kept echoing.
"But that doesn't mean you should take lectures you can't understand. It'd be a shame to waste your time like that after making it into the Signia Class. In fact, there are students who did exactly that and got held back—they're still stuck in the second and third years. So I hope you clever students won't do anything that foolish."
The sound stopped.
Adelia, who had been pacing the lecture hall and stopped at the back, was now standing at the very front, looking around at us.
"And I hope you won't do anything stupid because of that talent, your pride, your self-esteem, or your honor. If you really can't stand it, Karelai Academy has a system called dueling. Of course, you can't kill your opponent, but you should be able to vent your frustrations."
In other words.
"Don't try to settle things among yourselves."
Her red eyes, as if soaked in blood, glistened.
A bewitching tongue slipped out between her crimson lips to wet them, and a whisper that seemed to tickle you from the inside drifted from her mouth.
"Because a professor of Karelai Academy has the authority to summarily execute a student the moment they judge that someone's life is in danger."
At the whisper that even carried the stench of blood, the students' faces went pale.
Having forcibly gripped the atmosphere for a while, Adelia smiled brightly again and withdrew all the Mana from the lecture hall.
"Oh dear... really. It's been so long since I tried to set a mood that it just feels awkward! Anyway, you all understand, right? If anything is hard or difficult during academy life, don't suffer alone—come find me, Adelia Baros, anytime. I'll always welcome you. Now then, any questions?"
At Adelia's question, the students averted their eyes in dead silence.
No one could ask a question.
As if they could.
"If there are none, I'll be on my way."
I gently patted the back of Eurasia, who had been on high alert, her senses sharpened as she watched the thoroughly terrified students.
"Ah, right. Miss Eliarnes?"
At that moment, Adelia called my name.
"Miss Eliarnes, please follow me for a moment."
Everyone's eyes gathered on me.
"Haah..."
Two days since enrollment.
Everyone seemed to think I was a delinquent.