First Impression (2)
Jaina led me to a room that was spacious and comfortable, with bedding so much finer than anything at the orphanage that there was no comparison at all.
"Are all the Academy dorms single rooms?"
"No, they’re usually for two people. This place is for wealthy students who pay extra to request it... I-I’ll go fetch dinner, so please wait here for a moment."
"Thank you."
"Y-you don’t need to thank me... I’ll be right back!"
Left alone for a moment, I went to the window and looked outside.
Is that the lecture hall?
I was judging it by the general shape of the buildings, but the riot of colors from the young mages outside was enough to sting my eyes.
That’s going to take some getting used to, too.
It felt like someone had dumped together a hundred or two hundred colored pencils that only rich kids could afford.
There were vivid primary colors like red, blue, and yellow, of course, but also sky blue, pale violet, pastel shades—an absurd variety.
In this world, remembering colors was probably far more important than remembering the crests or banners of noble houses.
Looks like plenty of groups have already formed.
The students were already wandering around in clumps of three or four, and there didn’t seem to be many who were alone.
Of course I wanted friends too. It wasn’t just for the simple joy of spending my days here in peace; it was, if anything, one of the most important things I had to do at the Academy in order to achieve my goal.
Only—
Some of that is pretty ugly to look at.
Among the groups visible outside the window, there were some whose hierarchy was painfully obvious.
All mages were nobles.
So naturally, the rank of a family was reflected in its title, and some students would even arrive already bound together by direct vassalage through their families. Even when that wasn’t the case, a minor noble would probably think it worthwhile to join a prince’s or duke’s child if they were invited into the group—no matter if they had to grovel there like a servant.
And once groups like that started competing with one another, they became factions.
"...Hah. Give me a break."
Kids who were only the age to be in middle school or high school in my old world were busy doing these ridiculous little calculations.
Just getting along with everyone is the strongest kind of connection there is, though.
No matter how much they played at being soldiers or ranking themselves in pecking-order games, no one could know what the future would bring. Even if they formed factions, it wouldn’t really help them in the end.
Yet they probably all thought they were being incredibly mature.
How childish.
That eagerness to imitate adults—that was the most childish thing of all.
Hm?
One student sitting alone on the grass caught my eye.
That’s...
Red hair, red eyes.
It was unmistakable. The girl who had first shown me magic: Philia Cryford, the daughter of a count.
She was certainly easy to spot. If you knew her colors, you could recognize her from two hundred meters away.
I’d like to get along with her.
She might not have been aware of it herself, but Philia was my benefactor. If not for her, the day I brought Doloria to justice might have come days, months, or even years later.
I heard footsteps from the door. Jaina had returned.
"Huff, huff...! I brought bread and butter!"
"Good work."
When I took the basket full of bread, the rich, savory smell brushed over my nose.
My stomach growled. My mouth watered.
I’d been putting on airs in the headmaster’s office earlier.
To be honest, I was starving. I could have eaten every single pastry and cake on that tea tray by myself.
It won’t be like this every time I use magic, will it?
If it was, was all that calorie expenditure going somewhere?
I hoped so as I took a big bite of bread. The savory taste. The fragrance. The satisfying fullness of well-baked carbohydrates spreading across my mouth.
"Deliciou—"
"P-please eat slowly!"
Jaina poured me some milk. I was grateful. The milk was good, too. I became even more grateful.
After finishing a meal that, in my old world, would have been enough for a mukbang, I found Jaina looking at me with even brighter eyes than before.
"You’re an incredible mage, Lady Student!"
"Hm? What’s that about all of a sudden?"
"I-I’ve only been working at the Academy for a year now, but... I’ve never seen anyone eat as much as you do, not even among the staff!"
"Oh... r-really?"
Wait. Was that actually true? Did using more mana also burn more calories?
"Anyway, instead of calling me Lady Student this and Lady Student that, could you just call me by my name—right."
I hadn’t told her my name yet.
"Call me Ellie from now on."
"Lady Ellie!"
I wanted to tell her to drop the honorific, but from the look in Jaina’s eyes, if I pushed that far it would probably feel like I was bullying her instead.
If I compared it to the military, it would be like a division commander making a private use informal speech—while claiming he liked equal footing.
"Ahem... Anyway, Jaina, if you don’t mind, could you show me around the Academy a little?"
"M-me? I only know the rough layout of which building is which, and I haven’t really gone inside many of them..."
"That’s enough. Please."
Still, for someone so lacking in confidence, Jaina knew the Academy grounds and buildings remarkably well.
"That over there and that over there are the lecture halls... the one a little way off is the professors’ dormitory and research labs, and those two are the dining hall... and the one in the center is the administrative building. The headmaster’s office where Lady Ellie was earlier is on the first floor there."
"Ah, I see."
As I walked around the campus, I occasionally felt glances slide toward me, but no one stared too long.
It took me a while to realize why.
They think there’s no way I’m a student here to begin with.
It wasn’t discrimination or anything like that; it was just obvious. I didn’t have the colors of a mage family, and I didn’t have a staff or wand either.
Come to think of it, do you buy a wand? Is there a dealer? If so, are they mass-produced? Or custom-made one by one?
It struck me again how much I didn’t know.
I’d managed to learn the basics of how this society worked by asking the adults at the orphanage in secret, behind Doloria’s back, but I had no knowledge at all that only a mage would know.
I should ask Melitt or the headmaster later.
I hoped I could stay close to Melitt from now on, too. Besides Headmaster Scathach, she was the only ally I had at the Academy.
Please don’t get transferred somewhere else or quit, okay?
"And that over there is the workshop... Lady Ellie? Are you thinking about something?"
"Sorry. Could you repeat that?"
"Umm... where should I start again—"
A disagreeable voice cut in.
"Hey. Move."
"Eek!?"
Jaina made a strange little sound.
One of the students passing by us had tried to shove Jaina aside, but she hadn’t fallen because I caught her.
Seriously, now.
What a pathetic thing to do.
I said "one of the students passing by" because they were traveling in a group. It was the same group I’d seen from my room earlier, one of the seeds of what would become a faction.
And the one who had shoved Jaina was the leader.
In other words, the male student strutting at the very front.
They’re all rotten from the root up, aren’t they?
Including the leader, there were five... no, six of them in total.
They all wore the same expression.
The sort of look people get when they believe power comes from belonging to a group, and they’re drunk on the feeling of being able to wield that borrowed power. A vulgar gaze, full of excitement without restraint.
The scene unfolding before me was truly disgusting.
"What do you think you’re doing? Why are you walking right through the middle of the road like that?"
"S-sorry!"
"Is that all you’ve got after saying sorry? Get your face on the ground. Huh? And you, too—if you don’t want to see this girl stripped and hanging there, you’d better kneel with her."
"Pwahaha! Young Master Edwick, that would be hilarious!"
Their antics were so ridiculous that I watched for a moment, and Jaina really did start trembling as she bowed her head. I had to hold her by the shoulder.
"L-Lady Ellie..."
She was so stiff and frozen that when I rubbed her shoulder a few times, the muscles locked in fear gradually loosened.
"Oh?"
The male student called Young Master Edwick laughed.
"You’ve got nerve, don’t you?"
"...Haah."
I had no intention of humoring a brat calling other people brats.
"I can understand why you’d misunderstand, but I’m going to be a student here too."
"...Huh? What did you say?"
He sounded genuinely thrown off.
"And this girl—"
I pulled the hand resting on Jaina’s shoulder and drew her closer to me.
An short, startled breath slipped from her lips.
"—is my exclusive maid."
Everyone at the Academy had attendants of one sort or another, anyway. If I asked the headmaster to assign Jaina to me, she’d do it immediately.
"!?"
Though Jaina’s face, pressed close against mine, had flushed bright red.
"And another thing."
Since Jaina seemed calm enough now, I let go of her shoulder and stepped forward instead.
That put Jaina behind me and Young Master Edwick in front of me.
"Would you apologize already for picking a fight with my maid for no reason?"
Teaching foolish children is part of an adult’s duty, after all.
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