7. Back in my day
7. Back in my day
"Final Exams are coming up soon, how long are you going to keep this up?"
"Can't I do this?"
"Setting that aside, I'm starting to get seriously worried about your grades."
"There's no problem with that."
"......."
Since they say they're fine, maybe it's too much of a 'boomer' move for me to keep nagging them about it.
They are, after all, much younger than me.
In this regard, I found myself seeing them as much younger without even realizing it.
Of course, kids that age hate exams and studying... but setting that aside, I couldn't help but worry.
Basically, the Imperial Academy was quite an expensive place.
As far as I know, that Noah kid... is a commoner.
If they don't take the exams properly, won't there be problems with tuition and various other things?
Since I've become an adult, I've started thinking about these things.
"Sigh... fine, I'm sure you'll handle it yourself......."
"I told you, there's no problem."
"Yeah, yeah, do your best. First-year exam season is... well, you can get away with it once."
But since they were saying it like it was genuinely fine.
I just looked at that Noah kid and shook my head.
They'll handle it themselves.
Actually, well, everyone acts like that once at that age.
At that age, I.......
Didn't really do that, though.
"You're in the Swordsmanship Department, right?"
"Yes, that's right?"
"Hmm... do the kids in the Swordsmanship Department still get their fingers cut off whenever they're bored?"
"...What are you talking about?"
"...Ah. Do they not do that these days?"
...I suddenly pulled a 'back in my day,' the kind only real old folks do.
It wasn't intentional; I was genuinely curious. Since Noah happened to be in the Swordsmanship Department, I just asked because I was a little curious about how they were doing.
Come to think of it, I hadn't talked about academics at all since meeting this black-haired brat.
Just really simple parts.
Which department they attend, talk about the academic schedule.
Actually, since I opened a shop inside the Academy, I do get shared information about students, but there's nothing better than hearing it directly from a student, right?
So I only talked about that much.
I had surprisingly never asked about anything more detailed than that... for 4 months.
"Hmm...."
"...Did the old Swordsmanship Department play by cutting off fingers?"
"No, it wasn't playing, but sometimes among themselves, you know daggers? They'd take a small knife like that, spread their hand out, and stab between their fingers as a sort of test of courage...."
...Even after saying it, I felt embarrassed because it sounded like I was just talking about playing in a barbaric way.
It wasn't like I even did that in the first place!
I wasn't one of the ruffians in the Swordsmanship Department either.
I was in the Natural Magic Department to begin with.
I had never, ever done such a stupid thing.......
...Though I did do it once as a joke with a friend.
I didn't do it after that.
I naturally told them 'no' in response to their question.
"It's just that there were guys who did stupid things like that."
"Aha?"
"So how are the kids in the Swordsmanship Department doing these days? Swordsmanship... you skip class sometimes, so maybe you don't know."
"They're just doing things normally. Final Exams are coming up soon, so in line with that?"
"I can see that normally while running the convenience store, so you don't have to tell me that."
Well, actually, that's how life is for everyone.
Even though it's been nearly 10 years since I graduated.
In the end, the Academy hadn't changed completely, so it was only natural.
"You're not going to study anyway, right?"
"Haha."
"Sigh."
Anyway, why does this kid really not study at all?
Judging by how they come to visit like this whenever they're bored, their grades should be terrible....
Yet they claim there's no problem with their grades, just saying they're normally fine.
I couldn't help but be quite suspicious.
Are they actually lying or something...?
"But seriously, are you not studying for the exams?"
"I'm in the Swordsmanship Department, after all. Physical training takes priority over studying."
"Hmm... I guess that's true."
Well, like they said, it is true that the Swordsmanship Department relies much more on physical labor.
Unlike the magic users, they did overwhelmingly more physical work, so there was definitely credibility to that statement.
"If you're not going to study anyway, just stay for a bit and then go back. I can't keep chatting with you if customers come."
"Yes, Nunim."
"And do you want a coffee?"
"I'd be grateful if you gave me one... but is it okay for you to just give it away like that?"
"It's only 10 Copper, what's the problem?"
Like that, I ended up letting that Noah kid invade my convenience store's break room to his heart's content again today.
At this point, I feel like a pushover.
But this brat is more like a stray cat... no, more like a dog.
I couldn't just let them loiter inside the convenience store, and if I kicked them out, it was obvious they'd just wait outside the door again.
So I just left them be.
I just spent my time quietly preparing the order.
Skadi lay quietly on the bed, looking over the latest new products, while Noah quietly studied for exams at the edge of the bed.
The two didn't even have much of a conversation.
They just continued in that atmosphere.
5 PM, the number of students visiting the convenience store was slowly trickling down to an ambiguous level.
A time to rest for a moment.
Even so, there were students coming into the convenience store for the upcoming dinner....
"Yawn...."
To finish the remaining work for the day, Skadi came out from the break room to the counter, rubbing her stiff lower back, and began preparing for counter duties.
And outside the convenience store... there was a girl quietly watching the inside of the store and Skadi.
"Noah definitely went in here......."
That was Iris, Noah's hometown friend and childhood friend.
She was quietly looking inside.
Naturally, since Noah was resting inside the break room behind the counter, she couldn't know anything.
Instead, with her face pressed against the glass wall, looking inside, her curiosity only kept growing.
A curiosity that would never be resolved until Noah came out.
"The owner here is super pretty again today...... Ah, that's not it, I had to find Noah!"
Students returning to the [Dormitory] had already gone back, and students doing club activities had already gone out to classrooms or outside.
Fortunately, there was no one around the girl or in the hallway.
"Ummmmm......."
'Where did he really go? I'm pretty sure the last place I saw him was here.... He disappears somewhere whenever he's bored these days, but I have no idea where he actually disappears to....'
As her curiosity kept growing, Iris pressed her face harder against the glass wall, staring inside.
In fact, it was just a convenience store.
Naturally, she searched, but Noah wasn't found, and in a situation where no other customers were visible, Iris's gaze was drawn to one snow-white beauty.
A snow-white beauty.
That was the expression that literally came to mind when she saw Skadi.
Due to the racial characteristics of being a Snow Woman, her skin was pale yet simultaneously had pure, clean white skin, and even her hair was on the snow-white side.
"...So Snow Women really are pretty."
A Snow Woman, belonging to the demi-human race.
As there was generally no chance to encounter them, Skadi's existence was quite famous even within the Academy.
"......Hmm."
It wasn't exactly that Snow Women had the ability to bewitch people like a Gumiho.
In the first place, in this world, there are Succubus, not Gumiho.......
Iris, who had been looking for Noah and then had her gaze stolen by Skadi, the only person inside the convenience store, quietly began to move her steps from outside the convenience store toward the inside.
"Welcome."
"Ah, hello...!"
"......?"
The words spoken as a formality—she took the casual greeting way too seriously—she stood in front of the counter without realizing it and answered the greeting.
Skadi reacted to Iris's behavior by tilting her head slightly.
In the process of working at the convenience store, situations like this almost never happened, and since she was just staring at her quietly after the greeting, she couldn't understand what the situation was even more.
If she were trying to buy cigarettes, she would understand.
Wearing the Academy uniform, and a pure-looking female student wearing a flower petal hair clip didn't look like she was trying to do that.
And she certainly wasn't a student she knew.
Skadi was just flustered by the situation.
"...Is there a problem?"
"Ah, oh... I'm sorry...!"
"......?"
Flustered again by Iris's following words.
She asked for the reason, but the female student immediately answered with an apology, so she started thinking about what mistake she might have made today.
No such mistake came to mind at all.
"Are you looking for Mana Herbs or something?"
"N-no, it's not that! I just have something I'm curious about... would it be okay if I asked just one question?"
'Does she have to do an interview for an assignment or something.'
Skadi, having heard Iris's words as she continued talking while racking her brain, still couldn't easily understand the situation.
She had definitely spent the whole day inside the convenience store, before and after going back and forth to the warehouse.
The reason why a pure, beautiful female student suddenly came to find her was as hard to understand as why Noah kept skipping class.
"Do you happen to... know Noah?"
"...Noah?"
And out came a quite familiar name.
An answer that was more surprising because it wasn't expected.
At that answer, a question arose as to whether she was something like Noah's girlfriend, and since this kind of girl was looking for Noah, but it was hard to understand why Noah kept following her around... the moment her head became slightly complicated....
"Ah, Iris."
"......Noah?"
"?"
From behind the counter, the protagonist began to quietly emerge from the break room.