Chapter 51

An Unexpected Storm

[HOMEROOM SESSION]

Those two words were written largely on the board, as our teacher cleared his throat before he began to write something else underneath it.

[Morgan Lafleur]

“Greetings, everyone! My name is Morgan Lafleur and I will be your teacher from now on. And yes, I am your homeroom teacher.”

…

The young boy standing in front of me—in front of the whole class was my teacher. Yes, my homeroom teacher…

Did I just make a bad first impression…?

This year looked bleak…

“If you don’t know, the homeroom teacher assigned at the first year will always be your homeroom teacher until you graduate from Basic Level’s Special Class 4, to better assess your growth and help you improve.”

…Teacher, did you just read my mind?

I changed my mind, yup, it shouldn’t be ‘this year looked bleak’—it should be ‘these 4 years will look so dark’…

Oh, how good, Lyra! Why must trouble always come after me? I just want to live a peaceful life…

In the beginning, how could they assign such a young teacher to be our teacher?

“Sensei!”

As the class went into silent, Luca bravely raised his hand.

“Yes, is there any question?”

“Yes, I’m sorry if this might be rude, but you look so young and I’m wondering…”

There’s a slight pause.

“…Ah, of course.”

Our teacher snapped out of it and finally looked at us with understanding eyes.

Morgan-sensei, it’s not just me! So, you would forgive me, right?!

“Ah, my hair. No wonder. So, to answer your question…,” Morgan-sensei put his hair at the back of his ears—and, voila, his ears are pointed!

“I am a dwarf. My real age? It’s a company secret. However, I am indeed your real Sensei… and not a Senpai, okay?”

He smiled as he explained things but I could sense how he put an emphasis on [not a Senpai] part as his eyes darted at me.

U, uhhh… Like I said, it was a misunderstanding…

I lightly bowed my head, hoping that he’d interpret that gesture as an apology.

“Okay, first of all! Welcome to Harmonia Academy and congratulations on entering the special class! You are all the chosen children of this year, so let’s clap our hands first thing first!”

We clapped our hands obediently. Some of the kids even cheered out in their happiness.

“Second, let me brief the essential rules of our school. First and the foremost—equality. You may say your full name and your family’s status, but when you’re interacting with one another, drop any kind of different treatment based on status. So, if there’s any of you who acts bad with the excuse of your family’s high social standing… please, by all means, report them to me and Sensei will definitely punish the bad kids!”

As if to make sure the kids understood he was serious, he made a tapping gesture with his teaching stick and put on a scary face.

…I thought the dwarves were quite childish, just in line with their appearances…?

I might need to revise my prior knowledge.

“Then, you need to know that Harmonia Academy is full of unique and potential students—and often, their peculiarity attracts bad people… So, please, do not reveal any of the school’s strange and unique things to outsiders, especially to those who seem bad. You can tell only your closest ones and fellow students here. You don’t want to have your friend kidnapped because you carelessly tell people about their uniqueness, right?”

What a weird rule, but it indeed has some… facts.

Tolerance and secrecy—ah, yeah, they are the codes of this academy.

Though I doubt children around my age could really adhere to them, but well, the security in this academy is top-notch, so there hadn’t been any major incident happening.

“Moving on to the next important thing—your schedule. I will distribute this paper to you, so make sure to read it well.”

When Morgan-sensei delivered my paper to me, I awkwardly smiled at him, and his expression didn’t change. Is this a good sign that he has decided to let the past be bygones?

My attention is focused on the paper next.

[ Day 1 - General Knowledge (Math, Science), Home Economics

Day 2 - Social Studies: Geography & History

Day 3* – Magic, Physical Combat, Elective (Music, Arts, Literature)

Day 4 - Moral & Etiquette, Physical Education

Day 5 – Reading, Practical Classes or Adventure ]

Day 3 seems so packed… Wait, there’s a star next to it, so will there be some explanation…?

“Okay, pay attention to Day 3, you will see a star there.”

…Sensei, do you really have some kind of mind connection to me?

“You have to take at least one of the three: Magic, Physical Combat, or Elective. You can even take all of them. They are held at different hours, so you can take them all without any worry. You can also stay in to practice more if you only choose one out of the three.”

I read carefully the lessons provided in Elective: music, arts, and literature.

…Okay, I will just take magic and physical combat classes.

“Lyra, which classes are you taking?” Luca asked.

“Magic and physical combat.”

“Ah, same with me.”

“Eh? I’ll only take physical combat, Luca,” Kiri added.

“Ah… Guess I will be the only one alone… I’ll only take Elective… it will be arts…,” Iris looked a bit disappointed…

“Uh, should I take it, too?” I began to contemplate.

“N-no! Taking two are already tiring for you, right? I’ll be fine!”

Iris quickly shook her head as she looked at me in a worry.

Well, I don’t think it would be a problem with me having one lifetime’s worth of experience and lessons stored in my head, but to be honest, I’m not that interested in any of the Elective, so well…

“Ahem! Can I talk again?” Morgan-sensei, whose existence was kind of forgotten because the students were noisy due to Day 3’s menu, cleared his throat and started to talk again.

“Your teacher for Day 1, 2, 4, and 5 will be… me! At least for this year. For Day 3, your teachers will depend on the classes you take. Hmm, okay, I shouldn’t be bombarding your small and cute heads with more information, so that’s it for now! More explanation will be given when the real classes start. Now, can I have your introduction?”

Which means, I will be meeting Morgan-sensei a lot. Morgan-sensei, you are not a petty person who’d hold such a grudge against a little girl like me… right?

“My name is Kiri Elsworth, just call me Kiri… Nice to meet you,” Kiri briefly introduced himself in front of the class, bowed down, and quickly went back to his seat.

…Poor Kiri, he became the first to come up and introduce himself!

Some who recognized the name [Elsworth] gasped.

They seemed to realize who Kiri is and speculate something else… which will be confirmed soon as Luca’s already standing in front.

“My name is Lucius Aideen seo Navarrete, but just call me Luca. Nice to meet you!”

Yes—an uproar happened so quickly as Luca’s identity was confirmed.

“We’re in the same class as the crown prince?!”

“Oh my, my parents often say that if I make some foolish blunders in front of the royal family, my mommy and daddy will be in trouble!”

“Whoa, is this the real life?!”

Noticing the uproar and uprising tension, Luca clapped his hands.

“Hey, hey, remember the school rule? Nothing is going to happen! I’m just your classmate!”

His expression already showed his disappointment. Ah, well… Luca, you can’t expect them to just be calm and say, “Oh, the crown prince’s here. As expected. Howdy, Luca?”

…Ekh, which means, it’s my turn now!!

“I’m Alrescha Lyra Hartmann, please call me Lyra. It’s nice to meet you and I hope we all can be good friends.”

I can hear the other kids’ reaction, and they’re like…

“Eeeeh, her eyes are of different colors?!”

“It’s the Hartmann, of course it’s natural for them to have hete… hete… I forgot, but Papa has told me about it once.”

“Eh, everyone from her family’s got different eye colors?!”

“Whoa, we have the crown prince and his future-knight aide… and now we have one of the four dukes’ daughter here? This is [Special] Class, indeed!”

I can only smile stiffly and sit down. Iris turned even more timid because of the other kids’ uproar before her turn…

Forgive us, Iris!

“My name is Iris Soreil, and uhm… it’s nice to meet you!”

Her voice was small but by the time she said [it’s nice to meet you], it sounded like a shout for Iris’ size!

Ahaha, speaking of her shy personality, that’s just so adorable!

I feel the impulse to hug her right here, right now, at this very moment, but I shouldn’t be asking for more attention and trouble on my first day at school.

The introduction continued as I realized some were from noble houses while there were also those who came from ordinary families.

11 students in my class are humans. Some also have the genes of other races mixed in, but only a small portion of it—just like me.

There are 3 beastmen, one dwarf, and one elf… Ah, we’re missing oni, eh?

But well, we still have members of the [Black] faction and [White] faction!

…I didn’t mean to discriminate or group them, but we simply grouped them based on the faction that most of the races took.

[Grey] or [Neutral] faction is us—the humans and mixed breeds might be categorized here, but that depends.

[Black] or [Dark] faction consists of Oni and Beastmen.

[White] or [Light] faction consists of Elves and Dwarves.

Meanwhile, the remaining race—the dragon race stands alone, turning blind eyes on our conflicts. They’re kinda cool, huh?

So, yeah, my class essentially has all three factions present.

Morgan-sensei then shared his entertaining stories and some other important matters before realizing what was in the next agenda.

“Ah, after this, we will be taking a tour of the academy… Since it’s your first day and all, be happy that the real lessons will start tomorrow instead!”

All of us cheered at Morgan-sensei’s announcement! Some were cheers of disappointment—wait, do you like to study that much? Those who got disappointed over such a joyous announcement, come to me, let me lecture you right away!

Oh wait, this is their first time at school, perhaps they couldn’t wait to start studying for real…?

Ah, really, children… They don’t understand the sufferings that they will experience soon…

Unless they really love studying.

I remember somebody had announced that their hobby was studying during my lifetime as Reinst… Ah really, what a hobby.

After the cheers calmed down, Morgan-sensei opened his mouth, like he wanted to say something, but then—the speaker in our class made a sound.

“Announcement: there’s a sudden thing occurring, so all students and teachers should quickly make their ways to the auditorium. I repeat—”

Morgan-sensei closed his mouth and murmured, “Hmm, I wonder what it is… Could it be that…? Oh well…”

I was hoping he’d give some kind of explanation, but no. He immediately gathered us together to form a tidy line as he led us out of the room, joining the other teachers and students who also formed the tidy lines.

“Lyra, I wonder what’s this about?”

“Hmm, Iris, I wonder about it, too. Hey, Kiri, Luca! Got something in mind? You two were inside the classroom longer than us.”

“Well, we didn’t really talk to the others that much…,” Kiri timidly said.

“We were more focused to talking to each other,” Luca confirmed.

…Not good.

I want to find out!!

Guess I need to obediently walk and wait patiently for the announcement in the auditorium.

But as soon as we didn’t talk to one another, we managed to pick up gossips from the other students.

“Could it be about… that?!”

“Ooh, the rumored girl?!”

“Really, who heard about it first, is it even real?”

“Oh, I hope it’s real! I’d like to see that girl!”

“Are you sure that the rumored girl is really…?”

“Yes! I heard that she is a pureblooded dragon!!”

…Say what?

Wha?!

A… D-dragon?!

The four of us seemed like we had the same thing in our mind, as we observed one another’s surprised expression.

“L-Luca, you really haven’t heard of anything? Y-you’re the crown prince, and if there’s indeed such a matter as the appearance of a pureblooded dragon…” (Lyra)

“I really have no idea…” (Luca)

“L-Lyra, if Luca didn’t even know about it, could it be that it was only a gossip?” (Kiri)

“A dragon here? Oh my…” (Iris)

We kept walking despite our confusion and speculation, but then a senior shouted.

“Hey, change of venue! My friend said that there’s going to be a battle between the dragon and the [Void] user in the stadium!”

The teachers were surprised and they quickly conversed with one another to figure out what they should be doing—but then the students—starting from the older ones—all started to run in the same direction: to the stadium!

Some teachers were like, “Screw it!” and followed the students, so the other teachers also followed and guided their remaining students to join the others to the stadium.

On the other hand, I froze.

A dragon… and the… what did he say? A battle between the dragon and the… [Void] user?!

Is there other [Void] users here?

Or… is it my…?

Wait a minute, it could be a prank that the naughty child devised to trick us—

Yes, that must be it!

Suddenly, another ringing voice resounded throughout the whole school building as another announcement telling us to stay calm and to head towards the stadium could be heard.

“…”

I was wrong. I’m sorry, dear senior. You were telling the truth, after all.

“L-Lyra, your older brother’s a [Void] user, right?” Kiri asked me after he heard the content of the announcement and deduced that the rumor about a battle between a dragon and a [Void] user might be true.

Cold sweats started to drip from my forehead. I nodded.

“Then, is your older brother…?” Luca asked.

I couldn’t deny nor confirm it—I was wondering of the same thing.

Mom would definitely know and talk to Alt-nii if she knew of another [Void] user, but the two of them didn’t say anything about another [Void] user, so chances are…

…Alt-nii is fighting the dragon girl?!

A dragon’s power is said to be so strong that the appearance of a single mad dragon could induce chaos in a city bustling with humans or elves or oni.

A dragon is said to hold way a lot more power—both magical and physical power—in comparison to other races.

What’s a single human in front of such creature?

The image of my brother being beat around the bush by a ferocious dragon was projected into my mind against my own will.

Heck, my mind, what are you thinking?!

I snapped out of my thoughts and quickly ran to the same direction as the other students.

That’s right, it’s better to clarify the situation with my own eyes.

“Ah, Lyra—wait!” Iris shouted from behind me, but I didn’t let my steps slower at all.

“After her!” Luca commanded, and I guess that was when they started to run after me.

I don’t understand. I can’t comprehend the things happening in my second playthrough of the game called as [Life].

My first playthrough was relatively boring and… well, monotone. No notable ups and downs, or events…

But this?

Troubles kept happening, and now, I’m going to encounter a real and living pure-blooded dragon for the first time in forever?

I mean—the history books said that the dragons all decided to move away to another continent with harsh environments, not wanting to get involved with the other races’ battles, and from then on, it was near impossible to encounter them here?

And a dragon was last seen at around… 300 or 400 years ago when the most influential female ruler of Riviera was on her way to take the throne?

A dragon appearing again—does this mark some kind of big event that’s going to happen in the future?

…And there’s my brother, as the user of the legendary element—[Void].

…Both of them are rumored to be up against each other at this very moment.

So, do the troubles come after me, or do they come after my big brother?

Will I be a close witness to a future keynote change in the history?

For the time being, let’s focus on our nearest future.

Alt-nii… Please be safe!

I continued to run with all my might while chanting my words that seemed more like a prayer at this point.