Chapter 62 : Heading to the Magitech School

‘Brunhild Magitech School’.

A magitech school created to specializedly educate ‘Troopers’, the riders of Frame Gears, for the first time in the world.

It is a school that accepts five students from every country and provides the highest education as a Trooper.

Its founding dates back about a hundred years, and until recently, it was even said that you couldn’t participate in the ‘Magical Great War: Ragnarok’ unless you graduated from the ‘School’.

Now that our ‘Academy’ also exists, it’s no longer the only magitech school, though.

Unlike ‘our Girls’ Academy’, because it’s a co-ed school, girls also normally enroll there.

I feel like it’s now an unspoken theory that girls aiming to be Troopers first take the exam for the ‘School’, and if they fail, they take the exam for the ‘Academy’ next.

In fact, I’m the same.

Perhaps because of that, I can’t help but think the girls at the ‘School’ look down on us at the ‘Academy’.

“What terrible prejudice… I don’t think it has anything to do with it, you know? In fact, I only took the exam for the ‘Academy’. If anything, I was thinking of taking the exam for the ‘School’ if I failed the ‘Academy’.”

“Sherry and I also only took the exam for the ‘Academy’. Or rather, from the perspective of parents with a noble daughter, it seems they feel safer with a ‘Girls’ Academy’ than a ‘co-ed School’?”

Inside the Ether Bus (Magitech Passenger Vehicle) heading towards the ‘School’ before dawn had even fully broken, we were having such trivial conversations.

Certainly, for a noble parent with a daughter of that age, a girls-only ‘Academy’ might be safer than a co-ed ‘School’ where weird bugs might attach themselves to her.

“Nero sure holds a grudge about failing the ‘School’s’ exam, huh?”

Sherry, sitting in the seat in front, said that teasingly.

“Hold a grudge, or rather, I’m resentful…”

“Uwaa…”

Sherry let out a slightly put-off voice.

“I mean, the exam I took in Elfrau suddenly made me run a forty-kilometer marathon, you know?! And after that, a strength test weightlifting! Only a muscle-brain would pass that!”

“Ehh…? That might be a bit tough, as expected…”

Hearing the exam content, Sherry was put off, and Carrol knitted her brows.

“That’s different from the story I heard in Regulus. I wonder if it’s different from Elfrau?”

I certainly hear that the exam content differs by country. For the country, they are human resources who might become their country’s ‘Troopers’ later on. They’d want human resources as suited to their own country as possible, but it’s the school side that decides.

“Just remembering it makes me pissed off…! And the examiner at the time was a sarcastic old geezer…! He yelled, ‘What is a child here to do, you’re in the way so go home quickly!’, so when I talked back a little, he just glared at me the whole time after that. I only have unpleasant memories.”

“No, what did you say to the examiner…”

“Hm? I just said things like ‘combover baldy’ and ‘scrawny four-eyes’.”

‘Isn’t that the reason you failed…?’ Carrol and the others said, but ehhh…? For that reason? It has nothing to do with my ability… And he’s the one who suddenly yelled at me first, right?

” ‘The mouth is the source of disaster’, is it.”

“Oh, a Duchy proverb. Lirisha, you’re studying well.”

Lirisha made a smug face fufun at Sherry’s compliment.

In Brunhild, there are quite a lot of turns of phrase that only seem to be understood here.

Apparently, phrases the First Sovereign King often used spread before anyone knew it.

Come to think of it, my Master also used those kinds of words a lot. Something about ‘The crossing world is full of demons’?

While we were having such a conversation, the five Ether Buses, divided by grade, eventually arrived safely in front of the ‘School’s’ school gates.

The two magitech schools built in the east and west of the Duchy; as expected of boasting a hundred years of history, the School looks a bit more antiquated.

The school building of ‘our Academy’ is prettier.

The representative members got off the bus in front of the school gates. Led by the Principal who was riding in the lead bus, we stepped into the ‘School’.

In front of the ‘Academy’s’ school gates stood the White Knight ‘Shine Count’ and the Black Knight ‘Night Baron’, but in front of the ‘School’s’ school gates stood a sturdy grey machine and a white-and-black two-tone color machine.

I know this grey one. It’s the early mass-produced Frame Gear, the Heavy Knight ‘Chevalier’.

This two-tone color one is…

“Umm, if I recall…”

“It’s the Dragon Knight ‘Dragoon’. A machine that could be called the ancestor of the Lightning Frame.”

Ah, Koto, who had come next to me, said it just as I was about to. I know that. I saw it as a plastic model a long time ago. I’ve never built it, though…

“Look, there are wheels on its heels, right? It’s said that it used those to run around the battlefield at high speeds. Its weapons were apparently twin Kodachi swords, but because the pilot was a martial artist, it often fought with its fists, or so I hear.”

“Ooh, sense of affinity. There were people similar to me even among people of the past, huh…”

When I stated that impression, Koto chuckled kusukusu in amusement. What’s so funny?

“People of the past, or rather, he is still in good health today. The one who piloted that machine is the Principal of ‘this School’.”

“Eh?!”

That suspicious old guy… I mean, the Principal?!

I unconsciously looked up at the Dragon Knight Dragoon again.

So he fought the invaders from another world riding this… Thinking about it that way, he’s a living witness to history, and that person is also one of the heroes who saved the world. Even though he’s suspicious…

While I was suffering because the image of a fighting hero and a suspicious Principal didn’t match at all, the seniors passed through the school gates and went ahead. Whoops, I shouldn’t fall behind.

Proceeding a little past the school gates, the suspicious Principal I was just thinking about had come to welcome us with other teachers and students. Even though summer is near, he’s wearing that muffler today too.

“Welcome to the ‘Brunhild Magitech School’. Let us have a famous match that will go down in history again this year.”

“Thank you for having us.”

The Principal and the Academy Principal exchanged greetings, and from behind them, a familiar boy stepped forward.

The black-haired rank number one of the ‘School’ I met at the Academy Principal’s part-time job, Kou Shirogane.

“I am serving as the President of the ‘Inter-School Match Bifrost’ Executive Committee, Kou Shirogane. Everyone from the ‘Academy’, I look forward to working with you today.”

Saying that, Kou Shirogane bowed his head pekori. He has such a humble attitude, it’s hard to believe he’s the rank number one of the ‘School’. That pale gourd should learn from him.

The more I look at him, the more he just looks like an extremely ordinary boy… I wonder what it is? This feeling that something is bothering me…?

Noticing me standing behind the upperclassmen, Kou bowed his head slightly. Drawn in, I also ended up bowing my head similarly, as if saying ‘Sup’.

“Now then, we don’t have much time. Rushade-sensei, please show everyone from the ‘Academy’ to the waiting room.”

“Yes, Principal.”

Following the Principal’s words, a single teacher stepped forward from behind. He looks to be in his late twenties, but his ears are pointed, so that person is a long-lived species too. Not an Elf. A Demon… his skin is pale, and I caught a glimpse of fangs, so a Vampire maybe?

“Then, Grade Representatives, please come this way. Teachers as well, please.”

Led by the ‘School’s’ Rushade-sensei, we walked through the school grounds.

Even though it’s still early morning, it seems several students have arrived at school. They are whispering to each other while looking this way from afar. …Or rather, the ones who are here are almost exclusively male students, though.

Perhaps noticing my gaze, Sherry shrugged with a wry smile.

“They’re after the S-Rank Onee-samas, right? Men are the same everywhere.”

“I wonder if they have too much free time…”

“For the students who can’t participate in the ‘Inter-School Match Bifrost’, they have free time today. They probably consider themselves lucky just to be able to see celebrities from another school.”

Looking closely, passionate gazes are directed not only at Zelda Onee-sama and the others but also at Sophie-sensei and Flare-sensei. Both are participants of the ‘Magical Great War: Ragnarok’, after all… Celebrities are celebrities, I guess.

We see them almost every day, but from the perspective of the students here, they might be admired figures they rarely get to meet.

Eventually, we were guided to a building with an elegant design within the ‘School’. Ooh? This building is new and sparkling.

The inside is also refined, feeling almost as if we’ve come to a first-class hotel.

A large Ether Vision (Spirit Particle Video) is installed in the lobby near the entrance, and apparently, matches can be watched here as well.

Since the ‘Inter-School Match Bifrost’ isn’t fought with actual Frame Gears but in a virtual space, they say we’re free to watch it on the venue’s video monitor or watch it here.

Of course, participants must head to the match venue.

“Participants, please relax here until the opening ceremony. We also have private rooms prepared, so please let us know if you wish to use one. This is today’s schedule. Please review it.”

What Rushade-sensei handed to us was today’s program schedule and the member list.

“Hmm… The first and second years, and the third and fourth years will have their matches at the same time.”

“Isn’t that obvious? There’s the comprehensive match after the grade-level matches, you know? If we proceeded separately, it would become midnight.”

True. As Lirisha said, if we did them one by one per grade, the sun would set.

First-years and second-years in the morning, and when that’s over, third-years and fourth-years will have their matches simultaneously, and finally the fifth-years, and then the comprehensive match… Huh? What about lunch?

“Bentos will be provided for lunch, so we will eat during our respective free times. The spectator seats are doing the same.”

What a jam-packed time schedule… Well, since we only fight for an hour and a half at most, maybe watching the seniors’ battles while eating lunch afterwards is a nice touch? …Hmm?

“What is this banquet…?”

After the comprehensive match. Next after the closing ceremony, a banquet is scheduled about two hours later. What is this? No, I understand the meaning of the word, but.

“It’s a dinner party to praise each other’s good fight and deepen friendships. There’s no dress code, and it’s all-you-can-eat, so eat as much as you want. Whether you win and savor the taste of victory, or lose and eat out of desperation, I don’t know!”

Flare-sensei answered what I was wondering about. A dinner party, huh. That sounds fun, but as Sensei said, if we lose, we might not even be able to taste the food.

I looked at the member list I was handed. The names of the twelve first-years from the other side, including reserves, were written on it. Well, since we’ve researched it too, I already knew, but.

Huh?

“This is different from what we researched.”

“Eh? …You’re right. There’s one unfamiliar name.”

Carrol next to me also checked the member list in her hand and muttered that.

The last of the reserves was supposed to be that pale gourd. But he’s been moved up and is in the eleventh spot. And an unfamiliar name is in the twelfth spot.

“Ah, about that. Apparently, the guy in seventh place got sick, so everyone moved up.”

Flare-sensei answered our doubts. So that’s why. In other words, the guy in thirteenth place slipped into the reserves.

One player we have absolutely no information on. How will that affect this match…

Pim Lauri. From the Great Sea of Trees Union, huh. I wonder if he’s another huge guy like that Dread-senpai?