At dinner after my second day of school, I told my parents on how I planned to visit my friends’ dorm room and they didn’t mind at all. It seemed like Alt-nii often went over to Harvey’s room, so he was also fine with it.
…As for the trip to the Capicastle with my friends, in which we were going to compare the two treasure chests… I need to work on that plan a bit more before bringing it up.
That night, I hardly could sleep, thinking about the two exciting lessons we were having the next day!
Magic and Physical Combat… Finally, I’d be able to take both of the classes! The magic class sounds exciting, and as for physical combat class… I need to be careful and pay close attention to what I’m going to be taught—I need to adopt the stances taught, rather than letting my style remain similar to Grabberton’s.
After rolling about on the bed for a while, I finally fell asleep.
With the chirping sound of the birds and the warmth of the sunlight on my skin, I started my day the next morning. Even if I tried to stay calm, people could still see the excitement in my eyes. They even teased me—and praised me for being so enthusiastic about school!
…which is perfectly fine, considering that I’m just a small child!! Being a child sure has its own benefits!! I have to treasure each moment and make full use of the advantages of being a child before I’m a child no more. It’s not like you’ll be able to experience a second childhood!
Correction, this is my second childhood, though…
The moment class started, Morgan-sensei instructed us to submit our choices through the holographic device provided.
Afterward, Morgan-sensei instructed us to separate into two groups: Group One was for those who selected either Physical Combat or Magic—or both, while Group Two is reserved for those who were only taking Elective. For those who picked the combination of combat and elective—they were directed to Group One first.
Hence—I was separated from Iris.
Luca picked both Physical Combat and Magic just like me, while Kiri only chose Physical Combat, and Carbuncle—surprisingly, only chose Magic.
“If it’s only physical combat, I could beat everyone with bare hands, so there is no need for me to learn it!” Carbuncle laughed, “but I will be there to observe the class! I’ll also go over to check on Little Sheep from time to time~”
That explains why she didn’t choose physical combat… that’s right, a dragon’s raw strength far exceeds our own.
As for Kiri…
“My magic capability isn’t that good. Besides, Father would want me to follow in his footsteps, so I’ll just focus on my swordsmanship.”
Actually, his line of thought isn’t all that unreasonable, so I didn’t question him—but for some reason, when I asked Carbuncle about her class choice, Kiri suddenly stated his reason as soon as Carbuncle finished speaking.
Did he think I’d not think that through and would ask him? Oh well…
“Iris… will you be okay? Nobody in our peer group is taking Elective other than you…”
I shifted my gaze towards Iris who timidly looked at us before starting to walk to Group Two.
“I will feel lonely, but it can’t be helped…,” Iris answered dejectedly. My heart ached from seeing her lonely face, but it’s true that it can’t be helped…
Perhaps noticing my worried gaze, Iris quickly shook her head and forced herself to smile, “There are some of our other classmates in the Elective course, so I’m sure that I can get along well with them! Don’t worry about me, Lyra! As the older one, I’ll be embarrassed if I make you worried for this reason.”
…I forgot that Iris is one year older than me…
And since Iris went through the trouble of putting on such an act, I’d pretend that I’m not worried anymore.
We went our separate ways as Iris and the rest of Group Two went first—then Morgan-sensei returned to escort the members of Group One to a building that resembled the Colosseum where my brother had fought against Carbuncle. However, this other colosseum seemed to be specialized for classes—as there were several floors—or layers of fighting grounds—that could be used simultaneously. Yup, it wasn’t an open arena with the audience area like the Colosseum.
Since this is our first time here, everyone (including me) couldn’t help but look up, down, left, and right—admiring the building’s structure.
We walked up the stairs by two levels before Morgan-sensei led us to the fighting grounds. There, I saw two familiar figures… but could I have mistaken?
My eyes blinked several times at the two familiar figures in front of me. By then, Morgan-sensei had said several words to the two figures and bid us farewell.
After coming close to these two figures, it seemed that my eyes didn’t fail me! The two figures—they really were Keith-sensei and Norma-sensei!!
A musclehead and a magic-addict teacher… what a bad match… that’s why I didn’t believe my eyes at first.
“Welcome, future warriors!”
“Welcome, future magicians!”
The two extended their hands in a sync—oh hey, so my initial thought of them bickering like cats and dogs might be wrong!
“You may have known us from the entrance exam the other day, but let us reintroduce ourselves. I’m Keith, and I will be in charge of the special class students’ physical combat lessons. For those who practice swordsmanship or fencing, you’re automatically under my wings. For other weapons, do not worry—there are specialized tutors here who will train you in your preferred weapon of choice!”
Keith-sensei opened the speech and introduced the physical combat lesson’s know-how. In other words, Keith-sensei must be the “overseer” for all physical combat training, right?
I guess it won’t be good for him who only understand swordsmanship and fencing to be instructing archery, too. Physical combat training is quite complicated in how there are so many weapon choices.
“I’m Norma, and I will be in charge of the special class students’ magic lessons. My strongest magic attributes are [Fire] and [Earth], but I will be able to tutor you in different styles of magic just fine. However, my style focuses on aggressive attacking, so those with offensive style will be able to benefit more from my examples. There will be other tutors just in case, so there is no need to worry. I’m looking forward to seeing your unpolished gems turn into beautiful jewels!”
Miss Norma seems to in charge of the magic lessons here. I’m not sure if I should just change the way I address her to be “Norma-sensei” or not, but I guess I will just say whichever crosses my mind. It doesn’t really make any difference, I think!
“As for the theoretical side of things, you will also learn them as a part of this training,” Miss Norma added.
I just realized how the two of them mentioned that they are in charge of the special classes’ lessons—in other words, all of the special classes—from S1 to S4—will encounter them? It just so happens that the classes are held on different days—that’s how they’re able to manage the schedule, huh?
I guess special class is indeed “special”.
As we listened to their explanations—we were told how we’d be able to take all three lessons today. To put it simply, there are different batches for different periods of time, and it’s only mandatory for us to participate in a single batch—for the rest of the time, we’re free to decide. So, I can take the magic lesson first and then physical combat lesson later on.
Some allocated their time to taste each lesson—physical combat first, then the magic lesson, and lastly, take one elective! I’m not sure if they just want to acquire average skills in each one of the lessons, or if they’re overly ambitious…
There are also some who decided to take only one lesson for the whole day—in other words, practice magic all day. Practice makes perfect, I guess they all have that kind of mindset.
As for me, I decided to take the magic lesson first, and then physical combat later.
I feel bad for not accompanying Iris even though I can—but honestly, I’m not that interested in any of the Elective choices. I also don’t want to force myself to learn something that I’m not interested in, if I have a say in deciding it. That’s how I’m determined to spend this second life.
“Before we separate the class into two factions here—Keith, are you ready?”
“Haha, that should be my line! I bet I’m going to beat you!”
…Just now, I sensed a bit of hostility between the two of them—it was really surprising, as I was just beginning to think they were on good terms with each other.
“We’re going to do some honorable mentions to reward the outstanding students who captured our eyes during the entrance exams! Remember, a healthy competition can be a good motivation for you all to improve!” Norma-sensei’s glasses glinted—her eyes seemed to have turned sharp—don’t tell me that it’s just my imagination?
“Though I can’t say much about the ones who didn’t display their swordsmanship and fencing techniques to me, so warriors of other weapon choices, don’t take it to your heart!”
“I also only supervised the offensive-styled magicians, so I’d be able to say my two cents about the ones who met me at the entrance exams.”
With their words, the students showed various reactions. Those who seemed to be unconcerned to the “honorable mentions”—in other words, students who weren’t supervised by Norma-sensei or Keith-sensei only showed indifference, though some showed their interests. The rest of the students were either excited, worried, or… yawned out of boredom.
Children are really honest.
“Ha! Let’s begin, then! Who can gather the most talent in their wings? I bet today is my victory!”
“Hoho, how can you be so confident? This year is my victory, for sure!”
Keith-sensei and Norma-sensei are standing on opposite sides of the arena, looking at each other with fiery gazes—fiery as in full of competition and “friendly” hostility, not that kind of loving fiery gazes, sadly.
At that time, I opened my eyes. They are truly experts! They managed to fool my eyes, made me think that they were on good terms, only to shatter that impression magnificently like this!
“First—needless to say, the royal family’s crown prince. I have heard many rumors about the royal family’s “chosen” ones, so I guess that is a given… Luca’s grasp of the rapier is amazing, I’m sure that he has trained so very hard at the royal palace,” Keith-sensei looked at Luca with a boastful gaze. Luca looked back at him confidently—as if this result was also obvious to him.
“I guess our first talent is one and the same. Yes, I’ve heard the thing about the royal family. Luca also displayed his outstanding talent for his offensive-styled magic back then. As much as I want to make him solely focused on learning magic, I know that the royal family will demand him to balance both his swordsmanship and magic, but still, I really wish that you’d have more favorability towards magic, Luca!” Miss Norma also looked at Luca proudly.
Luca only smiled as usual before finally responding, “Thank you, teachers! I still have a long way to go in both styles, so I hope you’ll treat me well.”
Ah, he decided not to touch this battle of favoring swordsmanship or magic more. A wise choice!
I can’t help but want to give him two thumbs up.
The other students only looked at Luca and clapped their hands—in their eyes, I can sense some gazes that say, “Well, that was already within expectations!”
“Next warrior! After the crown prince, naturally, we also have his close aide—the future royal knight, Kiri! With the style that you displayed—I’m sure that your father, the head of the royal knights—has trained you so harshly!” Keith-sensei turned his gaze towards Kiri who was standing next to Luca.
Kiri seemed to not expect this and flinched a bit before he finally tried to look back at Keith-sensei resolutely and thanked him for his praise.
…Kiri, why hadn’t you expected it, though? I guess that shows how low your confidence in yourself is… right? This is bad.
Some of the students nodded in understanding and clapped their hands—while some were utterly surprised. I guess they judged Kiri based on his looks and timid behavior, and that’s why they were surprised?
“Haha, I also have another talented young magician to boast! I’d like to praise little Smyrna for her amazing [Light] magic! Your ability is truly splendid—and I’m sure that you’re quite talented even among your race!” Miss Norma shifted her glance towards the only elf student in my class—the pretty Smyrna. Her beautiful white skin was quickly turning red as she blushed and said, “Thank you, teacher!”
Her voice sounded crisp and cute—ah, as expected of elves! I envy their eloquence. Though I’m part-elf, it seems that their elven characteristics are not that evident in me… Speaking of her voice, I suddenly recalled the other part-elf girl that I encountered at Chinosato. Compared to Smyrna, that part-elf girl’s voice was more beautiful and pleasing to the ears. I wouldn’t be surprised if I suddenly find her as a singer in the future.
“Seems like we’re even?” Keith-sensei smiled before he then said arrogantly, “Ha! I still have yet another talented warrior in store!”
“Who said that I’m done? I also have yet another talented magician to boast about!”
“Really? So, in the end, it’s another tie for us?”
“It seems to be the case, Keith! Why don’t we mention our last star at the same time?”
“That’s a great idea!”
“…”
I’m not sure if they really have the relationship of a cat and a dog—or if they are secretly close to each other—I mean, look! They quickly come to an agreement like this? And they’re looking at each other’s eyes, yo!
“Actually, there’s a plus point for me in this case! After all, this little one comes from a family of magicians, but she’s actually superb in swordsmanship! Now, what does this mean? It means that this girl chooses swordsmanship over magic!!”
“Nonsense! Then, it’s all the more reason she should view my last star’s magic capabilities! It will make her blood boil and that she’d want to learn magic to surpass this one’s amazing ability! And she has another plus point for me personally, as she’s the daughter of the magician I admire!”
…Wait.
Wait, wait, wait.
Why do I feel like I know who they’re talking about?
Why do I feel like they’re talking about the same person?
…No, actually—I have had this bad premonition ever since they mentioned that they wanted to award “the honorable mentions”. I just pretended to not notice it, since it’d make me dizzy…
And yep, now, I’m feeling dizzy.
But… you reap what you sow, so I guess I’m now reaping what I sow.
“Haha, I’m sure that she will still pick the way of a sword! Let me show you!”
“She’s born from a genius—so you can say that she is a prodigy that rarely appears! Behold, the future’s greatest magician, the future head of magician who takes after her mother!”
…Norma-sensei’s last sentence convinced me. Keith-sensei’s previous mention of “born in a family of magicians” also confirmed everything.
And that’s how the two of them pointed at me simultaneously.
“…”
Everyone looked at me as if I was some kind of a rare creature. Luca and Kiri were silent as they also looked at me—their gazes indicated that they weren’t surprised at all.
“Eh?”
“W-what did you say?!”
The two teachers realized that they pointed at the same person and were very surprised. They quickly turned their “proud” gazes at me—which have been converted into “shocked” gazes—and looked at each other in disbelief.
“She is Ophelia-sama’s daughter!! What nonsense are you talking about, her being fascinated by the way of swords?!” Norma-sensei said as if she just heard the biggest joke of the year.
“You have to see her swordsmanship before you can say that! She is in love with a swordsmanship family’s style, and she has an amazing grasp of it!”
“Likewise, you have to see her magic and you can cease your wishful thinking and delusion!”
“…”
“Whoa, seems like the human I chose is really something else, haha!” Carbuncle muttered next to me.
Uhm, did I just pull their last straw of competitiveness? Because their attitude is starting to get out of control …
“I’m glad I decided to come back here just in case. Keith-san, Norma-san, can you just drop your arguments? You’re scaring my students. Really, every year, this is what you do… Why do I feel like this year is the worst? Or is it that your competitiveness is getting worse and worse?”
A familiar voice could be heard from behind us—so we spontaneously looked back at our savior—Morgan-sensei!!
…Every year… that means, this is some kind of a habit—but, but! I’m sorry, I must be the cause of their worsening competitiveness this time around!
“My dear students, don’t be intimidated by these two teachers. They’re just way too competitive as they love their specialties way too much. Being competitive is fine, but keep it healthy and moderate,” Morgan-sensei said as he walked to the front, and then he stopped between Keith-sensei and Norma-sensei.
Morgan-sensei then glanced at the two teachers who went silent as the two of them slightly cast their eyes downward.
”I think it’s time to break the group to two and start your own classes before you scare them even further.”
With that, we started our mobilizations and split into two corresponding groups.
Luca and I decided to take magic classes first, and needless to say, Carbuncle also went along with us.
Norma-sensei’s eyes sparkled, and she was about to say something to Keith-sensei after she looked at me joining her group—but then Morgan-sensei was already looking at her with reprimanding look, so Norma-sensei closed her mouth again. Keith-sensei stole a resentful glance towards Norma-sensei, but he also backed down after Morgan-sensei glared at him, too.
…for some reason, it felt as if Morgan-sensei was like their son—who’s tired of reminding his mother and father over and over again to stop arguing over trivial matters.
But then again, Morgan-sensei is a dwarf… Could it be that I have the wrong mindset for thinking that every dwarf has a childish disposition or is it just that it’s only the majority of dwarves, and Morgan-sensei is an exception?
I still have a lot to learn from this world—about life, about people, and about everything—maybe since I haven’t learned anything from my first life, that ball-of-light god was upset and decided to grace me with this reincarnation?
Well then, I’d better learn many things this time around!
