In the Library's cafeteria, Casa and company ate their dinner around one of the bench tables.

"You sure eat a lot, huh…"

Casa poked Larissa's stuffed cheeks.

"Whavvafyu tauckim avout?"

Casa sighed and ate normally. Zanderfon sighed.

"You notice others' flaws but not your own, huh…"

"Hm? What was that?" Casa said, using a tablespoon to shovel in an entire potato.

"N- Nothing."

She chewed once, and the potato was gone. Zanderfon just assumed it was magic. He looked to Miki, who was sitting beside him. She shook her head.

"Transcends... magic…"

Zanderfon wanted to laugh, but even cheaty Fitness Magic couldn't work that way.

"Schtwill!" Larissa said, pointing up her fork.

"Swallow your food!"

Casa fenced away Larissa's fork with her own spoon. Larissa gave her a displeased stare, but relented and cleared her mouth.

"Like I was saying!" she continued, parrying Casa's spoon out of guard, "Special class, huh? We're special, huh?!"

"W- Well, I'd like to think that I am not unskilled…"

Zanderfon rubbed his chin. For cafeteria food, it wasn't that bad…

"Hmp!…"

Miki struck a smug pose.

Then her face heated up.

Then she retreated behind Zanderfon.

"Huhh—hey, Zanderfon, how does Miki manage to be so cute even when she's trying to be arrogant?" Casa asked.

"I don't know. She's just cute by default, so I guess it overwrites everything else?"

"Ehhh! You're such a doting fiancé!"

Zanderfon chuckled, scratching his head.

Behind him, Miki pouted at Casa's comment. On one hand, Zanderfon was being complimented as her fiancé. On the other hand, Zanderfon was being complimented.

But, such petty jealousy shouldn't daunt someone of her stature!

Miki sallied forth from Zanderfon's back, causing the latter to wish she'd just stayed there for a bit longer.

Miki raised her fist.

"…Classmates! Hoah!"

The others shot glances at each other, wondering what was going on. With a shrug, their fists shot up into the air as well.

""Classmates! Hoah!""

The following week, it was a Monday—the first day of classes!

Rather, the school didn't have summer vacation as a concept. It's not as if students were required to attend classes either, so everyone just moved at their own pace.

…Except on Mondays!

Casa greeted the gate guard at the edge of the Library's property. He looked plenty sleepy, and was yawning when Casa waved.

"Hello!"

"Uh… ah? Ah, it's you from the other week, huh?"

"That was just last week!"

"Ah… Ah? Ah… So… So you got in, huh? Nice, nice…"

"Are you okay?"

"Huh? Ah, it's just—it's a Monday, you know? Rather, how are you so energetic at 6AM?"

"Hehe, guess I'm just that much of a morning person."

The guard opened the gate for her. She walked through, and as the gate closed behind her with the clang of the lock, she turned around.

"Ah, mister! What's your name?"

"Ah? Uh… Carlan."

"See you around Mr. Carlan!"

As Casa hopped away, the guard scratched his head, wondering what deal with the devil that girl had to had struck just to be like that at 6AM.

As it turned out, the rest of the school was similarly populated by educated and paid zombies, though Holy Element attacks would probably have as much effect as a sports drink—which was a good thing. She didn't know how to cast Holy Magic, though.

Casa waited in the lobby of Larissa's dormitory, which was a simple two-story red-brick structure with an open courtyard. There were 50 single-person studios, or 25 between each floor. All doors faced the courtyard, while grilled windows faced the outside. Visitors were made to wait in a fairly spacious lobby that opened into the courtyard, but they couldn't step foot in the courtyard itself. By a tea table that marked the no-visitors line, a female guard played chess against the building manager. The guard wore light armor, comparable to a typical adventurer, while the building manager wore a green garb with a maroon stole. Two swords leaned against the wall where they played.

"Good morning!" Casa greeted.

"Oh? Waiting for your friend?" the building manager replied.

"Yup!"

"What's her name?" the guard asked.

"Larissa!"

""Ah, I see.""

Casa wondered why they shared a mutual understanding in that moment.

"Ah, by the way, Knight to D6, checkmate."

"Hahh, I can't ever get the drop on you, huh…"

"Then how about it? Let's have a match in the courtyard, hm?"

"Thanks, but I'll pass. Sometimes I still wonder why I was posted as a guard here when you're here, after all."

"Ha! You don't say!"

"Casa!~"

"Larissa!~"

""Ah, there's two of them.""

Casa spotted Larissa from all the way across the courtyard. Larissa merilly skipped towards Casa, then, when she was in stabbing range, lunged at a dangerous speed. Casa, the 360-degree evasion expert, barreled out of the way. Larissa ended up shooting out of the lobby itself.

"OH NO, LARISSA! ARE YOU OKAY—"

Like that, Casa sprinted out of the lobby, and out to wherever Larissa had landed. The guard and building manager chuckled.

"Again, it's boring, why don't we fight—"

"No, really, no thanks."

A little later, Casa and Larissa were skipping hand-in-hand to the other side of the Library's property, towards the Family Quarters where Miki and Zanderfon resided.

"Hey, this is a house, isn't it?" Casa craned her neck. They stood in the shadow of Miki's abode.

"Uh-huh."

"They still call it a dormitory, huh."

"Uh-huh."

"What would you do with three floors, just all to yourself?"

"Invite my friends over?"

"That's not possible."

"Ah! Good morning, Zanderfon!"

"Eheyy, Sandyboii~"

Zanderfon joined them, parasol in-hand. Casa and Larissa shared a look.

—He totally wanted to walk Miki to class like this, huh.

""How romantic.""

"W- What of it?"

""Nothing~""

While the guy blushed his way out of the situation, the door to Miki's house opened. For some reason, the person in question was still in her pajamas.

"Larissa, I found it. I found the not-morning person."

"Woahh, Miki, you're not a morning person? Ah, actually, it quite fits you, huh?"

Zanderfon sighed. "Again, I must wait…"

He paused and snapped his fingers. He looked towards Casa and Larissa, who gave him curious looks.

"Why don't you two help Miki prepare for the day?"

""Ehh, why us?""

"No, you see, if I, a man, walk in there, the witnesses, surely peeking out of their windows right this moment, will report to their respective Families, and then rumours will spread, then I will have to answer to my father's scolding once again. I'm— I'm not going through that again."

""So?""

Zanderfon sighed.

"It's going to take Miki two hours to get ready at this rate, you know?"

Casa and Larissa stepped back, confronted by an invisible force. Zanderfon continued.

"She'll keep falling asleep midway through doing her hair, and then midway through putting on her socks, and then midway through accounting the articles in her handbag—hehe I remember how her head fit perfectly inside—"

Casa and Larissa raised their hands to stop Zanderfon.

"Okay! We get it!" Larissa cried.

"Rather, how'd you know these things, huh, Zanderfon?" Casa shot 'the look' at him.

"…Again, I did say I'm not going through that again—did I not?"

"W- Woah… You're both older than your age, huh…" Casa remarked.

"Wait— Casa! What does that mean!" Larissa huddled closer to Casa, who started whispering scandalous things. The increasingly interested expressions on Larissa's face tipped Zanderfon off about Casa's mischief, and his face heated up.

"n- NO, NOT LIKE THAT!"

Finally, the gang was assembled in their school uniforms: pants for guys, dresses for gals, and blazers for everyone; though, pants were also offered to girls who were somehow concerned about being able to move in a fight. That there was such a policy only meant that there were enough girls in the premises who were in that mindset. What's a Librarian, anyway? None of that was Zanderfon's concern, as he walked alongside Miki, holding a parasol for his lady.

Casa struggled endlessly to keep Larissa from stabbing herself with a syringeful of insulin.

Finally out of the sun and into the shade, they prowled the halls of the school, all the while Zanderfon carried a bladder of tea on his back. A tube snaked from it all the way to Miki's mouth. She was tailing the group, and they could hear the tiny slurp slurp sounds every now and then. The poor gal didn't like coffee, and absolutely loved tea, but because it didn't have as much caffeine, she was stuck with drinking copious amounts of the stuff.

"Is this okay."

"She'll be okay."

Casa couldn't help but voice her concern. Apparently, this was normal—which wasn't exactly comforting, but what could she do?

Their class was all the way up in the 10th floor, which was a small workout for Miki. Zanderfon ended up using the tea as a type of encouragement for her. "Come on! You're almost there!" Pant~ pant~ sluuurp—like so.

By the time they reached the 10th floor, the tea bladder had been emptied, but Miki's weight somehow remained the same. The only non-magical explanation was that she sweat out all that she drank, so things zeroed out in the end; though, after seeing Casa's Disappearing Potato act, anything went, really. They also had to wait for Miki to get changed, lest a daughter of the Zotelo Family entered the classroom all sweaty and unkempt.

Such a thing would become a dinner topic for Toth's Families.

—Personally, I wouldn't mind… but as expected, we must remain dignified in our image.

Casa could practically read a certain person's mind.

At first, Larissa tried to pull the door open. "Ah, I know this!" then she started pushing, but it still wouldn't open.

The door flew open—sideways—and their teacher looked at them a bit puzzled.

The Lord Master Deluxe Grand Librarian, Amerilus Lockefeldt, looked each of them in the eyes. He was a hunking skyscraper of a wizard whose power levels were blasting out of his eyes, which occasionally flared white like miniature solar flares. He was wearing black pants, a bluish polo shirt, and a white necktie. His black hair, streaked with white, grew long like an elf's, and so they had to be braided past his neck.

"Well? You're late. Come in."

His voice was gentle, but quite low, and exuded so much sageness that if he presented a potato and said "Potato," it would still sound wise and the whole scene would be like a revelation to any who laid eyes upon it.

The group entered, eyeing and being eyed by four other students in the room, all seated apart, and in opposing corners of the block of seats—there were more seats than students. It was as if all the ones in the middle were left for the newcomers to occupy.

Larissa picked out a seat, and the others followed. Casa sat beside Larissa, then Miki followed, strategically placing herself between Casa and Zanderfon.

Now at the teacher's table, Lockefeldt looked at the strange formation in front of him. It was somewhat like an atom, with the nucleus as Casa and company, and the four far-flung students as the orbiting electrons. Interesting.

"First of all, thank you for attending my morning class," Lockefeldt started, "Especially that going to classes is optional, you all have honored me with the thought that I may yet meet your expectations of an educator. I sincerely thank you."

Some of the students flinched as the 《Lord Master Deluxe Grand Librarian》 himself gave a deep bow.

"W- What are you doing?!"

From a seat in the front row, to the right, a blonde girl in a fiery red coat, trimmed with gold and adorned with a dragon's crest, stood up in indignation. She also wore pants of a darker maroon shade. She continued.

"Reserve such decorum for the Magilian Emperor, not somebodies as lowly as us!"

Lockefeldt looked up and straightened himself. He gave an amused chuckle.

"Miss Lilian, this is not decorum. This is truth."

She couldn't reply anything. She bit her lip and sat down.

"S- So it is, then…"

"Haha, well— Once again, I am…"

He hesitated for a moment. The title was long and unruly to the tongue and mind.

"…I am Lord Master Deluxe Grand Librarian, Amerilus Lockefeldt. Please call me by only one of those things, but I consider Lord Lockefeldt the most neutral among them. Again, I am thankful. I had invited you to be part of my special class, and by coming to this class, you have accepted."

He spread his arms wide. Behind him, chalks flew and began etching magic circles, squares, and triangles all at once onto the blackboard.

"May it be known that you have acquired a most excellent teacher, and you will need no other. If there is any subject that meets your interest, I can show you its deepest secrets. Rather, please try not to approach other teachers. For their own sake. A number of them might break down if you ask questions they can't answer."

—'And you will need no other', huh?

Not a few students thought Lockefeldt's declaration to be brash. Indeed, the sheer length of his title implied nothing about his actual capabilities as a teacher.

"…Alright, that was myself."

Lockefeldt sagely sat down and kicked his feet up on the desk.

"Self-introductions. Go."

""Ehhh?!"" "Yay!"

Larissa sprung up.

"Larissa O'Dulie! Star of the room! Big heart! Big hugs! Photocopy Magic!"

She said, smiling. Casa and the others were prepared. Lockefeldt won a staring contest against a sun once, so he was fine. The other four students in the four corners, however, were caught off guard, and instead of hearing her odd self-description, some of them experienced tinnitus for the first time.

Larissa sat down.

In a flash, a blaze of red appeared in front of her.

"How dare you, lowly commoner!"

It was the princess of Magilian.

"I, Lilian Magilian, cannot let this slip! Fight me!"

Just as she created a magic circle—the start of an offensive spell—the circle shattered, knocking the princess back.

"Who dares?!"

Tracing the shot to a back corner of the room, Miki's eyes widened.

"Ruan!" she shouted.

—She said my name?!

"I, Ruan Zotelo, acted to destroy a spell that would have hurt my younger sister!"

Well, Miki wasn't really gonna get hurt; the spell that Lilian was using was just a simple flash spell, probably just to return the favor, but anyway—Gotta act cool!

He stylishly holstered his personal magi-gun, allowing it to spin in his hand around 15 times. Truth be told, even if he was trying his hardest to be cool, the princess was angry enough that he was slightly intimidated. The tense air broke when another corner—the front row to the left—started laughing.

"Me! Me! Shoot me next!"

There, a student had clad himself in jet black armor. Strange, because he wasn't wearing any of that a while ago.

Ruan just sort of gave him a blank stare.

"Ah! Sorry, I was rude—my name is Arnor Steelmore! Now, shoot me! I need to test this new material composition!"

Truth be told, Ruan really wanted to shoot him just because he was weirded out, but he didn't have much magic to begin with, and elemental bullets cost a lot of magic to fire—which he could circumvent by using magic powder cartridges, but those were generally expensive and took ages to refill.

Besides, he couldn't risk that maybe the armor had magical effects on it that deflected magic bullets. If that happened and Miki got injured, he wouldn't forgive himself—

BANG!

"Wow react. Interesting armor. Bullet is shattered, return True."

From the other back corner, a student was seated with a smoking gun—an actual handgun in this day and age!

—How old-fashioned!

The student had short, black hair. He wore something closer to a black suit than a uniform. His handgun was fully mechanical, and had no magic whatsoever.

"Debug discourtesy. Garbage collection proceeding."

He picked up the spent brass case—still warm—on the floor and pocketed it. His classmates were still looking at him, so he thought maybe they wanted to know the name of the madman who shot his classmate just to see what would happen.

… Even if Arnor looked plenty happy with the result. It can't be helped.

"Public static void. String firstname XML; String lastname 1.13.2."

"Ehh? You're speaking kinda funny, but—XML? What sorta name is that?" Larissa asked.

"Pull request. Delete 'XML'. Insert 'Samuel'."

Crickets chirped for a bit.

""AHH! THAT'S HOW YOU PRONOUNCE IT!""

Lord Lockefeldt smiled the whole time.