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School entrance ceremony and the premonition of a new disturbance
7:00 a.m., May 4th, Year 905 of the holy calendar, on the steep hill in front of the school building of the Imperial Magic Knight Academy.
Today was the school entrance ceremony. I was currently walking with Stella and Aria up the long, steep hill that led up to the main building of the academy. In the beginning, the entrance ceremony was scheduled for early April but it seemed that some problems had arisen at the academy, and we had been informed that the ceremony would be postponed for about a month.
Furthermore, the content sent to us a few days ago made Stella very angry.
“How long will you be angry, Stella?”
“I don’t know!”
As I patted the angry Stella’s head to appease her, Aria, who was stiff from nervousness, entered my sight.
Recently, Aria as a member of Sagami Trading Firm had been moving around fervently because of business with Lieth Downtown Association.
The restaurants had started operating with the recipes and ingredients provided by the stores that had completed their renovations. Almost all of the restaurants were doing very well with almost half of them having lines of customers.
Few of the stores sold new products recently developed by Sagami Trading Firm, but rumours about it spread instantly and stores were flooded with customers.
Specifically, a kimono fabric store experimented with an automatic loom powered by a steam engine, and began selling several designs of clothing made of hemp. The furniture store sold glassware such as cups, and the precious metal store sold watches as ornaments.
Aria had consulted with Jude, the vice president of the Chamber of Commerce, and Leroy, the technical director, and presented several proposals on the regular meeting of the trading firm, from which few of them were adopted.
Perhaps because she was busy all day like this or what, she didn’t mention her father intentionally until a few days ago. Well, maybe she was just too busy that she was able to hide her anxiety and expectations.
“Don’t be so hard, this time for sure your father will not run.”
More or less, he was the Headmaster of the Academy, after all. He wouldn’t be absent from the entrance ceremony just because he would be uncomfortable to see his daughter.
Or rather, how much of a glass heart he had that he was feeling awkward to meet his daughter.?
“Ye, yes!”
As I said the word “father,” Aria’s symptoms worsened and she finally started to move awkwardly like a tin doll.
“It’s okay. You got the letter from your father, right?”
Stella stood in front of Aria, put her hands on her chest, and declared strongly.
“Yes!”
Finally, the color of anxiety vanished from her face and she became the usually cheerful Aria.
“Anyway, Grey-sama, are you really going to the academy with this mask on?”
“Well yes. There is also my older sister Aqua in this school, I’ll have to just push through.”
Besides, if that notice turned out to be true, it would become truly troublesome to have my face exposed.
However, if I talked about that matter here, Stella’s mood that had fallen to the ground might cause land subsidence.
“Tonight is a celebration of your admission. Besides, Louch and Lyase are attending the sister school of Magic Knight Academy a little earlier, so I thought we should celebrate it as soon as possible.”
For this matter, this time, the Headmaster of the Academy had told me that he wanted to thank me for the protection of his daughter, so I asked him to accept Louch and Lyase into the educational institution, and he readily accepted.
I think it was Eliza Academy, the sister school of the Imperial Magic Knight Academy. It was a school where sons of aristocrats and wealthy merchants went when they were dropped out of Magic Knight Academy. It should be an academy with considerable authority, but the impression from people in question, especially from Louch, wasn’t very great.
According to him, he’d rather have me teach him directly than waste his time on such useless things.
However, an academy wasn’t just a place to study.but also to acquire the most important things in a person, such as communication skills and cooperation. Louch and his siblings had been living in an environment that was not suitable for children to live in, especially in a mercenary group. It was essential for them to acquire the common sense that they lacked. This was also the opinion of Akuid and the rest of the Crimson Phoenix Brigade, Sekihōdan.
“Gray-sama,I’m still not convinced!”
“Stella, don’t go any farther than that.”
I strongly restrained Stella from venting her frustration. To be honest, it didn’t make much difference to me where I taught and to whom, and I was sure Stella knew it. As a matter of fact, Stella’s anger came down to the fact that she was forced to leave me.
But it was a good opportunity. I didn’t want Stella to get stuck with me forever. I also would not be able to stay with her forever. It might be a sad thing to say, but siblings were supposed to go their separate ways someday.
“…………”
I was sure she wasn’t at all convinced, judging from the frustrated, downcast look on her face.
I also smiled bitterly and moved my feet to go up the hill.
◇◆◇◆◇◆
When I parted ways with Stella and Aria and stepped into the designated faculty meeting room, all eyes were on me at once.
“What are you doing being so late, you brat!”
The white-haired old man approached me with a terrible menacing look and kept rattling off while spitting saliva.
“Time! Aren’t you supposed to be on time?”
I looked at my watch and saw it was 7:35. The meeting in the letter was supposed to be at 8:00 a.m.
“Newly appointed people are supposed to be at a meeting half an hour before!!”
I didn’t know such a local rule. If that was the case, then just write it in the letter from the start. Though saying that, I had heard about companies imposing such rules on earth too, I might be a bit inconsiderate then.
I corrected my posture and bowed lightly.
“I’m sorry about this.”
“What’s with that attitude?”
Isn’t this old man tired of being angry all the time?
“I thought I apologized for that, didn’t I?”
“Are you joking! Where does it look like you are apologizing?!”
I thought that this kind of person, who was always trying to make things difficult for others, had been there …… before I was born. It would be my loss if I bent more than that. My instincts told me that.
They were really a hassle. I didn’t have the slightest intention to get along with those guys. Even if I was fired because of it, I’d already drawn up a document with the Emperor stating that from now on, the territory of Ladoa would belong to me.
I didn’t know if it was customary or not, but if they broke the contract and tried to take it away from me by force, then the Empire was my enemy. In that case, I would be independent with Radol until I started a new country.
……….Uh. I wasn’t troubled at all.
Just as I was about to say something to break this farce—
“Vice Principal, it was I who wrote that it’s okay to come before this time. It’s not Gray-sensei’s fault at all. Can you give me face and end the matter here?”
A mild-looking man with long golden hair advised the white-haired old man who was called the Vice Principal.
“Headmaster, you haven’t forgotten your ancestral position, have you?”
“Yes, I have to be neutral. I have no intention of supporting any force.”
The Vice Principal, biting his teeth and glaring at me with the eyes of a vengeful parent, expressed his anger with all his might and left the room with several attendants.
“I know you have your own feelings about this, but I hope you will forgive me.”
It was true, I didn’t care what that stubborn old man said or did. It might be useless to argue with him.
“Then, it’s about time for the school entrance ceremony. Let’s go.”
With a clap of his hands, he urged the other professors to go out of the room.
“We will also go with you.”
The young man with dark hair and narrow eyes said.
“Is that so.”
I nodded and surrendered myself to the flow of people.
As we exited the central school building from the west side, a large wooden structure the size of a university auditorium came into view.
Through a three-meter wide doorway, we entered a black-carpeted hall.
“Grey-sensei, our seats are over there.”
The young man with black hair and thin eyes led me with a big smile.
On the way here, we had already introduced ourselves briefly. He seemed to be Oscar Lanswick, a professor of the Life Magic Department.
In this world, combat magic was considered supreme, and Life Magic tended not to be considered very important. However, the most important thing was Life Magic, which extended the benefits of magic to the scope of daily life. At least that was what I thought, and I thought Emperor Georg and Sage Sieg understood the importance of it.
Perhaps because we shared such a common ideology, the conversation between this man, Oscar, and I had naturally sprung up. It was always fun to talk with people who shared the same interests.
I opened a nearby door to find a space with fan-shaped steps and chairs. At the lowest layer was sandalwood.
“Is this a theater?”
“Yes, this is a large auditorium built by the First Emperor for his students. In addition to ceremonies and other events, opera and chorus performances are held here several times a year for the students.”
Unexpectedly, an ideal venue for ceremonies like universities on Earth. It seemed that people thought the same way in every world.
With a strange feeling of admiration, I walked through the door at the back of the room to the stage where the curtain was still down, and sat down on a chair in a designated corner.
Either because of my stature or because of the mask I had put on, but all of a sudden the students’ eyes were on me.
The boys were wearing white jackets, gray pants, and navy blazer-like jackets. The girls wore the same jackets and jackets as the boys, but with knee-length skirts.
Now then, where are my students?
If my prior information was correct, my half-brother Cliff should be there.
“There they are…….”
Like an isolated island on land, suitable for Class G at the bottom, there were four men and women sitting in the innermost corner.
To be honest, I was surprised that the four students I was in charge with had a certain relationship with me.
“So Grey sensei, how did you change your magic? Is it magic?”
Rebecca, sitting next to me in a navy blue robe and pointy hat, looking like a wizard from a long time ago, whispered in my ear.
“It’s a material. I got it recently.”
With the help of the universal creation from the cheat gift [Eternal Workshop], I was able to create a voice transformer and make it sound like a grown man’s voice. I was sure my sister Aqua, half-brother Cliff, and Teresa, who I’d just met recently, wouldn’t find out about this.
“Is it a rare material!!! Can you show me some!!!!!”
I said to Rebecca who leaned her body in high spirits.
“Later, I will show you slowly. So calm down a little.”
I shouted to stop her, but Oscar in front of her also turned around and said, raising his voice,
“Really! I would also like to see it!!”
All eyes focused on me at once.
I gave up, that was a lot of attention.
Anyway Oscar-kun, you are more or less the professor of the academy but you aren’t much different from students.
“Be quiet there!!”
The Headmaster’s words were harsher than ever. The Vice Principal beside him turned to give me a deadly gaze with a thick blue vein. Hey, you are saying it’s my fault, isn’t it?
Rebecca and Oscar straightened their postures as if in panic under the glare of the Principal and Vice Principal. It was hard to tell which one of them was the student.
The meeting proceeded solemnly, with the Headmaster talking about his aspirations after entering the school, the Vice Principal telling a drowsy story about his days as a knight, and the individual professors introducing themselves.
Finally it was my turn.
“Now, Shirabe-sensei who is in charge of Class G—”
“This concludes the entrance ceremony. Dismissed!”
The Headmaster called out my name, but the moderator, a golden-haired professor, stood up and announced the end of the ceremony.
As half of the professors left the hall one after another, a bunch of students with a lot of questions in their mouths started to shout.
I didn’t really care about greetings but let me tell you this.
What are they, brats!?
I cursed silently as I received an annoyed look of pity from the surrounding.