Chapter 5: The Entrance Ceremony

Centrior Imperial Magic Academy.

In a place surrounded with mountains, rivers, lakes and grasslands, it stood like a fortress in the vast nature. Inside the huge academy there were school buildings, training grounds, student dormitories, and even a shopping district.

The whole campus was enclosed with barriers and it was covered with illusion. Only the students and school personnel could see it. For three years, except for long vacations, they would sleep and eat together at this academy. Depends on how you look at it, some would say it was a ‘paradise’ while others would say it was a ‘prison’. In particular, there were many aristocratic children who entered this academy for the status. So, even if it was a peaceful place for Razé, to those kids, it was a place of trial that could affect the future.

Currently, all the new students dressed in new uniforms were gathered at the hall. With a mix of anxiety and hope in their hearts, they listened to Principal Harlens’s speech earnestly.

“Congratulations on your school admission. From this day onwards, you will learn and experience a lot of new things with your peers. The three years’ time seems to be long but it is also short. I want each of you to enjoy a meaningful school life-”

Just 3 years… I can experience a peaceful school life for 3 years only. Razé felt a bit sad. She listened to the principal’s speech with sincere eyes. People with high status were also blessed with good looking faces. It was so dazzling; she was about to go blind.

Once the principal’s speech ended, it was followed by the greetings from the representative of the new students. It was the famous Emperor Gaius’s son. He had short golden hair and blue eyes; appearance worthy of a prince. His aura was totally on a different level. More than half of the female students were beaming heart on their eyes watching Prince Ruben’s dignified look. Considering that this guy would be her ‘big father’, her top superior in the future, Razé didn’t have the heart to join the other love-struck girls. Once his speech ended, the hall was filled with applause. The Empress, who was sitting in the VIP guest seat, also smiled happily.

“Next, we will announce the class grouping.”

The entrance ceremony had ended; next will be class grouping. Each class had 30 students and there were 5 classes in total. The shocking part was that the classes would be grouped based on their performance. This grouping criteria was impossible in her past life. But here, it was recommended because they wanted to make sure each student’s learning experience matched with their capability.

To be honest, Razé thought that she didn’t care about the rank of her class because just getting admitted to this school was enough to improve her status in the society. Well, the aristocratic children have their own aristocratic dilemma.She was not going to deny those kids’s effort, so Razé quietly waited for the announcement.

I hope there are other commoner in my class.

The new students this year were all born in the Year of Seira, so the scale was different. Among them, there would be commoners who managed to defeat other nobles’ kids and get admitted to the academy. She would love to be friends with those kinds of people.

“Now, we are going to introduce the teachers.” Once the host made the announcement, six teachers appeared on the stage.

“From the left, Cyrus May Hugan-sensei from Class A, Hanna Way Cocotte-sensei from Class B, Gil Tsen Zone-sensei from Class C, Leygues North Sangue-sensei from Class D, Chris Law Vangeance-sensei from Class E, and lastly Meryl Yun Ferir-sensei from the infirmary. If you feel unwell, don’t force yourself and please go find her.”

Razé looked at the teachers standing on the stage and sighed in admiration. They were all very good looking, which made her want to ask ‘are you a model?’. No matter which class she got in, she won’t be disappointed.

“Now, we will announce the class grouping. In a moment, a badge with class name will appear in front of you. Check your class info and pin the badge on your collar. After that, please move to your classroom. There will be homeroom session later. You can ask the rest to your homeroom teacher. Everyone, I hope you will enjoy your school life.”

When the host snapped his finger, a badge appeared from a bright light in front of each student. The one that Razé got had a hawk drawn on it. How am I supposed to know which class I’m in? thought Razé. She turned the badge over and saw the letter ‘A’ engraved on it.

Σ(￣□￣lll) She let out a weird sound out of surprise. The kid sitting next to her turned to look at her with a suspicious face. She thought that there must have been a mistake. But at the back of the small badge, other than class, her name was engraved on it too so it definitely was not a mistake.

“Class A will move first. Follow me.” Hugan-sensei’s voice echoed through the hall. Razé put on her badge hurriedly and stood up.

Oh, right. I’m a scholarship student. It was normal for a scholarship student to be in Class A. She saw Prince Ruben stood up. Then, it was normal for her to be there as she was the bodyguard for the VIP. Razé hit the floor with her new black lace-up short boots and lined up right behind Ruben.

“Kyaa-” A girl who were trying to get out of the aisle stumbled down, probably because she was nervous. Razé quickly reached out her hand to catch the girl before Prince Ruben could turned around.

“Are you alright?”

“Y- Yes! Sorry. Thank you-” said the girl as she raised her face.

“!” Razé were stunned. The girl had a very cute face with milk tea color fluffy hair and fresh green eyes. How could such a cute girl exist? thought Razé as she pulled her up.

The girl stared at Raze with a fidgety and worried look, saying, “Were you hurt? I’m very sorry!”

Razé was bewildered when she realized the girl was frightened. Could it be… this girl is a commoner? Razé was originally disappointed because she thought that only aristocrats were good looking. Such a cute girl is a commoner–. This made her really excited. “I’m okay.” Then she whispered “I’m also a commoner” to the girl and smiled.

The girls’ face instantaneously turned bright. They walked together exiting the hall. The girl said to her, “Thank you for just now. My name is Folia Cresias.”

What to do? A very cute girl approached me! Razé smiled unconsciously. It was a situation that rarely happened when she was in the military. She couldn’t help to feel excited. “I’m Razé. Yoroshiku ne, Folia.”

Folia smiled like a blooming flower and said “Un!” while nodding her head. She already found a commoner friend right from the start. This was an auspicious beginning.

After walking through the wide corridor, they arrived at a large classroom. Based on Razé’s memory, this classroom looked similar to those huge lecture halls in the university. Although she felt that the room was too big for 30 students, she simply convinced herself that this was an aristocratic standard.

Hugan: “Fixed seating. Check the blackboard and sit.”

— There is a royal member here. Is it ok to speak so casually like that, sensei? It must have been hard for him too, Razé said inwardly as she walked away from Folia and sit at her place. What made her happy was that her seat was at the last row on the left side. She could see everyone from that position.

Folia was seating towards her right, closer to the front. She looked nervous because Prince Ruben was seating right next to her. Actually, there was a huge gap between the seats so she shouldn’t have to be that nervous. But perhaps because the person was a prince, even that gap was not enough. Her attitude that looked like an innocent puppy was so cute. Raze let out a giggle and cheered inwardly for Folia.

However, the next moment, Raze’s stiffened up. Her seat was on the most left out of three blocks of long table. There was an aisle separating her from the block in the middle. After seeing a boy who was climbing up the steps, her cheeks started twitching. She had never met him before, but the face was extremely familiar.

The Prime Minister’s son?!!!!

Although the hair color was different, there was a boy who bore a striking resemblance to His Excellency the Grim Reaper walking up the steps. Dreamlike silver eyes peeking through his shiny blue hair. Although it was frustrating, just like the Prime Minister, there was nothing she could diss about that beautiful face. This was what a pretty boy looked like. She was so envy of his hair that was smoother than hers. He must have been eating good food and living a good life.

Oh yeah, the Prime Minister’s son was also born in the Year of Seira. It was my bad. I was avoiding any topic about His Excellency the Grim Reaper; it totally slipped my mind…

It was not easy for her to get away from the military, but even here at the academy she still had to take a glimpse of the Grim Reaper. She felt like she was pushed from the sky down to the ground. She watched him as he climbed the steps to see where he was heading. Finally, he sat down on the last row of middle block across the aisle.

Aargh, the seats are too close, Razé complained inwardly. She tried to sneak a look at him but ended up catching his eyes.

“Yoroshiku.[1]”

“… Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.”

Your cynical smile looked just like the Prime Minister’s. Razé cursed in her heart and was very disappointed that there was no one she could whine about it with.

[1] yoroshiku: a greeting that has so many meaning depends on the situation. When it was used during self-introduction or first time seeing someone, it means ‘nice to meet you’ or ‘let’s get along well’. The different level of politeness; yoroshiku (very casual), yoroshiku ne (cute casual), yoroshiku onegaishimasu (standard level polite), yoroshiku onegai itashimasu (business level polite), yoroshiku onegai moushiagemasu (extremely polite). ↩

T/L Note: In the raw’s comment, the author explained that the seats were lined up in curve, so the middle block is slightly behind the side blocks.