Chapter 256: First Class

Starting today, we were to attend the academy. Led by our homeroom teacher, Instructor Quantro, we arrived at the Class A classroom.

As soon as we entered, countless gazes pierced us.

” ” ” ” … ” ” ” “

This is… curiosity, and hostility.

It’s a familiar sensation I felt to the point of disgust in both my previous life and the one before that.

“Today, I will introduce the transfer students to you. As you likely already know, they will be studying alongside you for a while. It’s a short period, but please get along with them.”

“Even though we passed the entrance exam, it’s a ‘short period’… huh.”

At Instructor Quantro’s words, Mina-san smiled wryly in a low voice.

I see, we are only temporarily enrolled for a short period. Knowing that, he pre-emptively declared that we’d be gone soon.

What a considerate teacher.

“Now then, you all take your seats as well.”

After the introductions, Instructor Quantro urged us to sit down.

That being said, where should we sit? Can we just sit anywhere we like?

It was then. A student in the corner of the classroom beckoned to us.

“…”

We looked at each other, then headed over to the student who had called us over.

“No one is using these seats, so it’s fine for you to sit here.”

The student who called us over kindly let us know it was safe to sit there.

Thank goodness, there are kind people here too.

“Thank you very much. I’m Lexus.”

“I’m Jairo! Nice to meet ya!”

“I’m Liliera, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Nn, Meguri. Nice to meet you.”

“I am Norb. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“I’m Mina.”

“My name is Sden Nammarbie. Nice to meet you all.”

Sden-kun returned our greetings with a friendly smile.

Having a surname means he must be a noble too.

But for a noble, he’s quite friendly.

Many nobles in my past life were insufferable or looked down on commoners, so I was a bit worried when I heard this academy had many children of nobles.

“Now, let the class begin.”

With Instructor Quantro’s words, the class began.

It began… but…

“Therefore, compared to the Fire attribute, maintaining a spell in Ice Magic is more difficult.”

Surprisingly, Instructor Quantro’s lesson was extremely rudimentary, covering the absolute basics of the basics.

Honestly, since I heard this was the top class in an academy specializing in Attack Magic, I fully expected lectures on more aggressive, complex, and bizarre magic.

In my life before last, there were tons of crazy magic researchers who made me wonder, “How on earth did you come up with this?”

But Instructor Quantro was different. He taught the basics solidly.

I understand his intention. He surely wants to have us students reconfirm the fundamentals.

The geniuses from my life before last were undoubtedly owners of unbelievable talent, but because of that, more than a few of them forgot to learn some of the basics and ended up stumbling in unexpected places.

That’s exactly why Instructor Quantro was implicitly telling us to value the rudiments.

“As expected of a first-rate teacher.”

I wish my masters from my previous life, who always started with high-difficulty lessons right off the bat, could have learned this level of consideration.

“The most important thing to be careful about when using Attack Magic is injuring yourself with your own magic. Now then, what do you think is a problem you must be careful about when using Ice Magic, other than direct injury? Triton-kun, please answer.”

“Yes. The most important thing to be careful about in Ice Magic is that lowering the temperature too much will cause frostbite for the caster and slow down their movements due to the cold.”

Despite being called on suddenly, Triton-kun answered fluently without hesitation.

His response was very practiced.

If it had been me who was called on, I definitely would have stammered.

“Indeed, that is correct. Then how can we solve that problem? …Hmm, let’s have the transfer students show us their capability. Karks-kun, please answer.”

As the instructor directed his gaze toward us, Mina-san stood up.

Ah, right, Karks is Mina-san’s grandfather’s surname.

“By using magic manipulation to activate the Ice Magic at a distance away from the caster and their allies. Activating it at a distance consumes more concentration and magic power, but once mastered, you can activate magic far away from yourself, allowing you to catch the enemy off guard.”

Ah, this is what I talked about when I taught Mina-san Area of Effect magic.

Though, due to the nature of spells like Fire Arrow that are shot from the caster toward the enemy, they aren’t designed to be activated from far away, so the burden isn’t worth it.

Rather, shifting the activation point is more effectively utilized with Area of Effect magic.

For example, designating the starting point of the activation right in the middle of an enemy group.

Unlike Jairo-kun and Liliera-san, who use magic as a supplement to combat, Mina-san treats magic as an academic study.

That’s why even after learning a spell, she asked detailed questions about the theories and incantations of the formulas, as well as their applications and points of caution.

Because she had built up such steady, grounded knowledge, she was able to answer Instructor Quantro’s question smoothly.

“Indeed, that is correct. As expected of Former Principal Karks’s granddaughter.”

“However,”

When Mina-san spoke up, everyone in the classroom thought “Eh?” and turned their gazes back to her.

“I believe a simpler method is to wear clothes with high heat retention. As long as you dress warmly, there is no problem with activating magic at close range up to a certain point.”

“Wh-? Dress warmly!?”

“Because, the situation in which a mage would activate magic at such close range essentially means the enemy has closed in on them.”

“Mu!?”

“In such a situation, unless you are highly accustomed to combat, let alone concentrating, even activating magic is difficult. At the same time, because you can reduce the magic power and concentration used to increase magical precision, you can focus on evading the enemy’s attacks.”

Yeah, when it comes to magic that causes low temperatures, dressing warmly is the easiest solution.

Since it also minimizes magic power consumption, it’s an ideal answer.

“The person who taught me the practical use of magic in combat when I became an adventurer told me that not wasting magic power is the most important thing in magic. And the more I actually used magic as an adventurer, the more I truly understood the importance of those words through firsthand experience.”

” ” ” ” … ” ” ” “

The students held their breath at Mina-san’s dignified words.

Come to think of it, I did say something like that.

Back then, I meant it in the sense of trying to keep magic power consumption down, but I was surprised she actually proposed a method that uses absolutely no extra magic power.

Yeah, this is an entirely original idea from Mina-san.

She isn’t just using the knowledge and techniques I taught her as they are; she thoroughly understands their contents and is able to apply them.

As expected of Mina-san!

“Also, I am just Mina. Karks is my grandfather’s surname, so please don’t mistake it.”

Saying only that, Mina-san gracefully sat back down in her seat.

“…Hah!? Y-Yes. Karks-kun’s…”

“It is Mina.”

“M-Mina-kun’s answer was not only a solution grounded in magical theory but also held a persuasiveness unique to someone who has experienced actual combat. Splendid.”

“I am humbled.”

“…Kuh.”

When Instructor Quantro praised Mina-san, Triton-kun let out a frustrated sound for some reason.

Ah, come to think of it, he had shown signs of harboring a rivalry toward Mina-san.

It seems he felt frustrated that Mina-san answered not just with magical theory, but with a coping method for actual combat.

Ah, thinking about it that way, maybe he was so tense because he was too conscious of Mina-san.

When humans are too conscious of someone, they can accidentally fail to exhibit their usual strength, after all.

After that, Instructor Quantro’s class continued, and several other students were called on. Some were able to give the correct answers, while others gave wrong answers and were scolded.

◆

“With that, we will end the morning classes. Make sure not to be late for the afternoon classes.”

Saying that, Instructor Quantro ended the class and briskly walked out of the classroom.

“Haaa~, it’s finally over…”

“Nn, magical formulas and stuff are all Greek to me.”

Perhaps unable to handle how boring the class was, Jairo-kun and Meguri-san were slumped over their desks.

Well, those two learned magic without studying magical theory, using chantless magic.

I guess this is the negative side effect of learning magic purely as a means of combat rather than an academic study.

Hmm, maybe I should teach magical theory to these two—no, make it three, including Liliera-san?

Even if it’s a temporary enrollment, we are currently students of this academy.

It might be necessary to thoroughly teach them magical theory so they can keep up with the cutting-edge classes.

” ” ” Hiek!? ” ” “

“Wh-What’s wrong, everyone!?”

Norb-san looked surprised as the three of them suddenly turned pale and let out small shrieks.

“I-I’ve got a bad feeling about something…”

“What a coincidence, me too…”

“M-Me too…”

Huh? For all three of them to feel a disturbing presence at the same time, what could it be?

Hmm, fortunately, Instructor Quantro seems to be starting from the absolute basics, so maybe it’s best if I just give everyone the bare minimum of study to prepare them just in case?

“Ah, I feel like the chill weakened a bit.”

Huh? Was it just their imagination?

“Haaa~, now that I’m relieved, I’m getting hungry~…”

With his stomach growling, Jairo-kun slumped back onto his desk.

Ah, now that he mentions it, I might be hungry too.

I see, class ended so we could have lunch.

The other students seemed to feel the same, as they all stood up and left the classroom.

Now then, what should we do? Should we leave the academy and go eat somewhere outside?

“I’m heading to the cafeteria, but what are you guys going to do?”

The one who called out to us was Sden-kun.

“Cafeteria?”

“Yeah. The academy has a cafeteria, and both students and teachers eat there.”

Heeh, they have a facility like that. I never heard about things inside an academy in my past life, after all.

“If you’re going together, I can show you the way?”

“What do you guys want to do? I’m thinking of going to check it out.”

“Wouldn’t it be fine? Going all the way outside is a hassle anyway.”

“As long as I can eat quickly, I don’t care either way.”

“If it’s cheap, either is fine.”

Since there were no particular objections, we arrived at the cafeteria.

“This is the cafeteria. If you line up over there, you can get food.”

Looking in the direction Sden-kun pointed, there was a counter where lined-up students were receiving meals from the staff.

“The cafeteria cooks decide the menu every day, so you don’t know what kind of food it is until you get it.”

Heeh, that sounds a bit fun.

“Ah, crap, I forgot my wallet.”

Jairo-kun panicked, saying he forgot his wallet.

“Oh, the cafeteria expenses are paid out of the tuition fees, so it’s fine.”

“I see. But since we’re temporarily enrolled, we haven’t paid any tuition fees. I wonder if that’s okay?”

“Is that so? But I don’t think you need to worry about it. The majority of the students at this academy are children of wealthy nobles and merchants, so they should prepare more than enough ingredients to have leftovers. Besides, even if it’s temporary, you are enrolled as students of the academy. If you haven’t been told otherwise, I don’t think there’s any problem.”

True, there was nothing written about food expenses in the guidelines for attending the academy.

Which means it’s probably exactly as Sden-kun says, and we don’t need to worry about it.

“Alright! Then let’s go get some grub!!”

As Jairo-kun rushed toward the counter to be first, giggles could be heard from the surroundings.

“My, what a vulgar person.”

“A commoner, after all. Their magical ability seems decent enough, but we can’t expect much in terms of refinement, it seems.”

The kind of forced, aristocratic trash-talk I often heard in my past life reached my ears… however.

“Uhhya! Looks delicious! You guys hurry up and get yours too!!”

The very target of their sarcasm, Jairo-kun, was completely absorbed in the food and wasn’t listening to their snide remarks at all.

” ” Kuh!! ” “

Ah, these kinds of people hate being ignored more than anything else.

“Right, let’s hurry up and eat.”

Mina-san also headed toward the counter.

“Shall we go too?”

“Yes.”

Heading to the counter, we received trays with our meals from the staff.

The menu consisted of bread, a stew with large chunks of meat, a salad, and fruit for dessert.

Yeah, it’s quite a luxurious spread.

Having received our food, we sat in the seats near Sden-kun.

“Let’s eat.”

“Thanks for the food!”

“Munch…”

“Yeah, this is good!”

“Whoa, this is delicious!”

The food didn’t just look fulfilling; it tasted great too.

“This is amazing.”

Liliera-san voiced her surprise.

“Is that so? I think it’s a pretty standard menu, though?”

“Not necessarily. True, the menu itself is standard, but the bread is fluffy, and the meat in the stew is large. On top of that, there are many types of vegetables in the salad, and the fruit for dessert is a fairly expensive item.”

I see, now that she points it out, they are using high-quality ingredients for every single dish.

“For a commoner, this is the kind of meal you’d order as a rare luxury when there’s a celebration or a large income. Plus, it’s not just the ingredients; the chef’s skill is the real deal. But they’re providing meals like this covered by the tuition fees, right? From our perspective, that’s a very extravagant story.”

I see. We can hunt our own ingredients, so we don’t worry about prices much, but if you think about ordering this at a diner in town, it would end up costing quite a bit.

“Who cares? As long as it tastes good. It’s free for us anyway.”

While Liliera-san was trembling at the high quality of the food, Jairo-kun decisively brushed it off, saying it didn’t matter as long as it was delicious.

“Ahaha, that’s true too.”

“Well, I suppose so, but still…”

Indeed, now that he says it, Jairo-kun is right.

As long as the food is delicious, that’s all that matters.

“Haha, commoners must be happy, being able to make a huge fuss over something like this!”

“Eh?”

While we were chatting and enjoying our meal like that, someone cut in.

Looking over, the owners of the voices were the classmates we had seen in the classroom earlier.

However, their demeanor was refined, and considering they called us commoners, they must be nobles like Sden-kun.

“Hmph, you all have such utterly mediocre faces.”

Mediocre? Me?

“…”

“What is it? Do you have a complaint, even though you’re a commoner?”

My emotions must have inadvertently shown on my face.

Misunderstanding my reaction as a defiant attitude, he took a domineering stance toward me.

However, for me, that wasn’t the case at all. Rather…

“…No~, not at all! Not in the slightest!”

I was genuinely overjoyed from the bottom of my heart at being called mediocre.

“U-Umu? I-Is that so?”

Oh man~, is that so~, do I look mediocre~.

In other words, it means I’m managing to live a plain, inconspicuous life exactly as I aimed for!

Lately, everyone’s been telling me I’m completely abnormal and stuff, but if these nobles—who are skilled at seeing through a person’s true intentions—say so, then there’s no mistaking it!!

“Yes! I am just a plain, inconspicuous, completely ordinary commoner, after all!”

Right now, I was experiencing the greatest moment in my third life.