Chapter 97: Entrance Ceremony (part one)
The entrance ceremony of the magic academy is done in a large auditorium.
It is not a building like a gymnasium in my previous life, but it is a building with an atmosphere similar to a stone church or an old castle.
The freshmen gathered inside the large auditorium in formal wear, which consists of a black robe over the white-based uniform.
Some of the Ignitian students are telling their escort dragons to be quiet.
The prefects, which are called the Gold Cuffs, are urging us freshmen to line up.
The prefects are special students chosen by the principal among the students who are within the top seven in the senior grade.
They have the right to correct the student regulations, play a special role in school events, and sometimes penalize students.
I guess it is similar to the image of a public moral committee.
Embroidered on the sleeve of the Gold Cuffs’ uniform in golden thread is the crest of a lion and the founder’s words ‘Nobility shown with action’.
This year, there are 30 freshmen in each dormitory.
Since there are five dormitories; East Dorm, West Dorm, South Dorm, North Dorm, and Central Dorm where the scholarship students stay, there are 150 freshmen in total.
The freshmen made a row for each dormitory, and with the prefects in the lead, entered the auditorium.
There is no lighting in the auditorium, and when the prefects closed the door, the surrounding becomes dark.
Suddenly, a small fire glowed on the stage of the large auditorium.
An old man wearing a gray robe was standing on the stage, and that fire seemed to be lit up in front of his staff.
The old man cast a few words of spell and breathed on the fire.
Then, the fire at the tip of the staff scattered golden sparks and expanded greatly.
The flame released from the staff flew around the ceiling of the large auditorium and lit the candles of the hanging chandelier.
It’s like a living thing.
Perhaps it’s an artificial spirit made with flame.
When the interior of the large auditorium became bright, I noticed a lot of people were standing beside the old man on the stage.
Among them was Elric Actorius-sensei.
Which means, those are the teachers of the magic academy.
“Young students, welcome to Lindis Magic Academy.”
The mage with gray robe – the principal of this term, Reuel Twr, opened his mouth with a gentle smile.
Seen in the bright place, the principal was tall and had a masculine built.
Twr family, which was distinguished for its magical constructions, had many marriage relationships with aristocrats.
As a result, I heard that the principal inherited the blood of the four royal families.
After the short speech from the principal, the introduction of the teachers and this term’s lessons began.
First of all, Enid M?r.
A beautiful woman of unknown age dressed in black robe with glossy black hair.
Although she originated from a Marquis house and many asked her hand in marriage, as of yet she still maintained her unmarried status.
There was a rumour saying that she is married to the academy and that the classwork is her spouse.
The one I am familiar with, Elric Actorius-sensei.
Actorius-sensei would also become a new teacher starting this term.
After his graduation, he was employed as an association member of the Essentia Magic Society.
He seems to have been chosen as a temporary faculty member from the Magic Associations because he acquired the teaching qualifications while studying abroad.
He is in charge of the freshmen’s Magizoology.
Actorius-sensei, who is 26 years old this year, is still as youthful as ever.
His appearance hardly changed ever since I first met him.
He is as clumsy as usual; when he was saying his greetings, he bumped his head against his own staff due to his nervousness.
His eyeglasses were misaligned due to that, but he didn’t mind it and was smiling honestly.
Then, the introduction of the remaining teachers continued.
When I had confirmed the faces of the teachers in charge of the lessons I wanted to choose, I decided to check another important matter.
I secretly took out the wand I put inside the sleeve of my robe.
I took out Raptor Sight.
It is a wand that can obtain the effect of telescopic vision and magnified vision.
The target should be in the row for the Central Dorm in which the King’s Scholar belongs.
Judging roughly, she shouldn’t be in front of me.
Looking back, I found the figure of the target at the end of the line.
(Yup, there she is. She is conspicuous just by being there.)
Ice-blue crystal clear eyes which seemed to draw gazes unconsciously.
Light brown hair with a gentle hue like milk tea is in a thick braid.
Her skin is white with blood vessels thinly shown through.
Slightly rose-colored cheeks and lips.
When she looked down listlessly, her long eyelashes formed shadows on her cheeks.
A beautiful girl with both sharp ice-like cleanness and sweet and lovely facial features.
Heroine of the girl game 『Liber Monstrorum』, Chloe Cloacina.
She was such a girl.
Beside Chloe, there was also Beatrice Glaw of the second timing.
She had coral-colored eyeglasses and her black hair was in simple braids.
The eyes behind her eyelids and her long eyelashes, which tended to be cast down, were gentle hazel that mixes light brown and dark green.
She was indeed a girl with an impression of being too serious, modest, and fragile.
(I hope we both can survive.)
When I was staring at Beatrice while feeling an affinity with her, our eyes accidentally met each other.
Beatrice had a surprised expression on her face, and my body froze.
S-sorry.
I didn’t intend to intimidate you!
Please forgive me because the look in my eyes is naturally evil!
Let’s smile with the atmosphere of ‘I have no animosity towards you, you know~’ as much as possible.
—Bang!
From the platform, I heard the sound of a staff being hit strongly onto the floor.
I corrected my attitude in spite of myself.
The surrounding students also straightened their spines.
Brad Clochydd was introducing himself.
He was in charge of Summoning Magic.
While he was a teacher, he was also the Earl of the Clochydd territory at the south of Lindis.
He was a capture target of 『Liber Monstrorum』, and he was reputed as being extremely difficult.
Pale white skin and lustrous black hair.
The eyes behind the glasses, which had intellectual and sadistic impression, were reddish purple.
With almond-shaped eyes and thin lips, he was exuding a cold-hearted and strict atmosphere.
He covered himself with a black robe over his immaculate aristocratic outfit.
He seems to be in the same generation as my brother and Actorius-sensei, but I don’t know his actual age.
“How deplorable, it seems that some of you think that there is nothing to learn in this school any longer.”
While Brad said such a thing, he was looking this way with a scornful gaze.
I feel like I’m being stared at, but is it just my imagination?
“A lot of those with power will get conceited, forgetting about respect and caution. Sometimes there are those of you who deviate greatly from their duty to study……but, you shouldn’t forget. We are always watching you.”
Brad looked around the students, finally gazed at the area where I was in, and then returned to the row of teachers.
That surprised me. I thought that the fact I was using a wand was exposed.
I wonder if he said such a thing because he knew about it.
I become worried a bit as I was planning to select Summoning Magic lesson.
After the self-introduction, the teachers came down from the platform.
In exchange, the Gold Cuffs and the student council which is called the Dynameis1, with two sets of students from each group, appeared.
Dynameis is an organization aimed at self-governing within the academy.
If the Gold Cuffs is selected from the senior grade by the nomination of the principal, the Dynameis is elected from among the students by nomination of the current members.
It seems that they basically selected the students who are rich in talent and blessed with looks and background.
Eduart-oniisama seems to belong to the Dynameis during his academy year.
The Dynameis has variety of roles.
Flashy things such as festival management when All Souls’ Day Festival starts.
Modest things such as reciting holy scriptures during the weekend prayers.
To make up for imposing many duties and responsibilities on the Dynameis, they gain some privileges.
For example, the use of a special discourse room dedicated to the Dynameis, and they are allowed to modify their uniforms as long as they don’t deviate too much.
Some of the Dynameis lined up on the stage are flashier than the others.
While looking absentmindedly, Klaus and Auguste also climbed onto the platform.
Speaking of which, they both said that they had entered the student council.
Unlike other student council members, they seem to have not modified their uniforms.
The two of them who are 16 years old now have become much more mature.
Klaus grew taller and his shoulders became wider and had a firm body.
His voice became low and his face looked serious, but when he was with me or Auguste, he could show a childish innocent expression.
It is just like a transition period from a boy to a young man.
His short black hair is as smooth as ever, and his blue eyes are clear like sapphire.
In a serious occasion like right now, he expressed a slightly troubled, sharp facial expression as if he was exhausted.
Unlike the gloomy and ruthless feeling like in the original game, he has a strict but gentle atmosphere.
I also feel that his personality has grown into a caring worry-wart, rather than an ‘Ore-sama Do-S’.
(It’s understandable, as he is labouring with Eduart-oniisama every day.)
Auguste also became tall but had a silhouette that seemed to be more delicate than Klaus.
Even if I said that, while he looks slender in clothing, he is in fact a thin man with well-defined musculature who trains himself without slacking.
He seems to be feeling inferior about his musculatures.
I think his sweet and delicate features suit him as it is right now.
His shoulder-length blonde hair looked like fine silk threads. And his violet-colored eyes had a mysterious hue.
His pure white skin and fine texture is the envy of the female population.
In the original game, he had a sexy atmosphere and dark skin, but those were probably due to his fusion with Palug.
His expression is bright, like a prince who grew up comfortably in an orthodox school.
Both of them have lived a much different life from the original game, but I feel relieved that their expressions are bright.
The appearance of those two people was gathering the longing looks from the freshman girls.
(They are very popular, huh~ well, that’s just natural though.)
While turning around from the charming gazes, suddenly my eyes met with Klaus’.
He furrowed his eyebrows and stared at me with sharp eyes.
Apparently, he seems to have noticed that I was observing using Raptor Sight.
(Klaus-sama is as serious as ever, huh. But, this should be fine, right?)
It seems that Auguste also noticed Klaus’ glance at me.
He laughed a little bit and winked towards this direction.
Auguste elbowed Klaus and whispered something, Klaus looked away from me with an unhappy look.
Anyway, I wonder if I may have a face that is easy to spot by people from Hafan.
Not only Klaus, but Brad also has stared at me.
It feels like the situation where I was being watched blatantly by a senior due to some discrepancies.
The Dynameis’ greeting was over and the principal and Brad came out onto the platform once again.
“Now then, we’ll perform magical power judgement on every freshman. I’ll ask Clochydd-sensei to take charge of the judgement.”
“From here, you will be moving to the 〈Judgement’s Room〉. I will ask you to follow me quietly. Senior students should guide the freshmen so they will not get lost.”
The Gold Cuffs and Dynameis divided and guided the freshmen rows according to Brad’s instruction.
Will I be able to receive the lessons I wanted to receive?
Not only me, but the other freshmen also seemed to be excited with anticipation and tension.
1 Dynamis (pl. dynameis) is a Greek word means “Virtue” or “Power”. But this term seems to be linked to the group of angels of Second Sphere, which is the Virtues or Strongholds. (source)
Just to remind you, the students will only be able to choose the lessons after the magical power judgement. Depending on the result, they may not be able to choose the lessons they wanted.
As an additional information, we can tell the characters’ origins from their names:
Welsh names mean they came from Hafan.
German names mean they came from Aurelia.
French names mean they came from Ignitia.
Names with ‘son’ attached on their last name mean they came from Lucanrant.
And Latin names mean they came from Karkinos.