When I entered the room, I saw two clean beds and two desks. There were two magic lightbulbs that lit up the room.
It had a cozy feel. The room had a gentle lily fragrance permeating through it. Looking closer, I saw a room freshener on the wall, probably attached by my roommate, Hazel.
I looked around the room and soon discovered a person lying on a bed and watching me.
With long, cascading curly brown hair pulled into a ponytail, she was lying upside down and scanning me from top to bottom. There were nail files and different colored nail polishes lying next to her, as if she was in the middle of doing her nails.
"You're Shuraina?"
Hazel asked, tone off as she kept her eyes on her nails. She had the overall air of a delinquent upperclassman, and had a well-toned body with a coy face. She looked like she was used to forcing people around instead of the other way around. I was slightly worried that I may have gotten a bad hand.
Even in my past life, I had never lived in a dormitory. We had no money to begin with, and I could never leave the house because I had to take care of my younger siblings.
Because of this, I was never used to living with strangers. I never really dealt with people with this kind of personality. Was being proper and polite the right answer in this case? I haphazardly placed my belongings on my bed and opened my mouth.
"I'm Shuraina West. Please take care of me from now on."
After responding politely, I didn't avoid her eyes. Hazel continued to work on her nails and raised one eyebrow.
"You might have seen it on the door, but I'm Hazel Minimiez."
After I introduced myself, Hazel introduced herself too. The Minimiez household was a Count family. The Minimiez family worked in trade, and they were renown and well-trusted enough to have been in the industry for decades. She finished her nails and looked at me straight on.
"A first year…..and a newcomer to boot."
Hazel crossed her legs and muttered. She then smiled and spoke to me again.
"Honestly, before you came in, I was using this room by myself. And they just told me that I was going to have a roommate after all this time, so I was kind of pissed, you know?"
Hazel walked towards me.
"But you're a polite underclassman, and you even look my type. Not bad."
"Ah, yes. Thank you."
She said that she liked me. Thank goodness. I was kind of embarrassed, so I scratched the back of my neck and responded.
"Puhahaha!"
Her expression shifted slightly as she saw my reaction. Then, she burst into laughter. In her hand was a handful of my hair that she kept stroking. I was slightly nervous that she would rip my hair as she laughed.
Hazel wiped the tears in her eyes and talked.
"Why are you so nervous? I'm not going to have you go through a hard time, so don't worry. All you need to be cautious of when you're sharing the room with me is one thing. I hate when people hide things from me, so you have to tell me everything."
Hazel put her arm around my shoulders and talked.
"Shuraina, what did you choose as your major?"
"Swordsmanship."
Her wide eyes shut into a half-moon shape as she laughed.
"Whoa~ That's pretty cool, you know?"
She thumped my back a few times and tilted her head in curiosity.
"But why swordsmanship? So you can be a knight?"
"Yes. I would like that."
I responded to her words as I slowly organized my stuff. She sat down on a chair near me and watched as I put my stuff away.
"Why? It's going to be hard to marry if you become a knight, you know?"
Hazel blinked her big chestnut colored eyes a few times as she asked. Her eyes glinted of curiosity and interest.
"If you marry, you don't get a retirement pension. I feel nervous without a steady income."
Hazel grabbed her stomach and rolled around on my bed. She snorted like a pig in between her laughs. I didn't think it was that funny, so I frowned as I was folding my socks.
"What a rare, independent kid you are. Haha. You are a noble, right? If you're a West, doesn't that make you a baron? I heard that you guys already make a decent income. You're a strange kid."
I smiled bashfully. For a moment, I worried if it was a compliment or not. Hazel watched as I awkwardly placed my hand on the back of my neck, and her eyes glinted as she grabbed my hands.
"I like kids like you. Kids who can take care of themselves. Let's be friends from now on."
I thought she was going to be terrifying, but she was just a social butterfly who just stood up for herself. And my roommate seemed to have a lot of questions for me. Hazel helped me put my belongings away and told me various stories of her life. She knew a lot about the school and gave me a lot of useful information.
For example…things like where the 'Lights off magic rune' was located, and where the 'School security visual magic rune' was located.
Once I was done putting everything away, I continued to listen to her stories as Hazel helped me with my nails.
"Anyways, you're so lucky, Shuraina."
"...?"
I tilted my head in question when she sounded jealous.
"Apparently you guys got a great batch of incoming male freshmen?"
Hazel flashed a smile when she saw my puzzled expression.
"Well, it doesn't look like you're interested, but all the female academy students are going absolutely nuts right now."
"What happened?"
I focused on what she was telling me.
"You guys have the royal prince in your year, and you have that one family from the upcoming marquis family. All of them have insane visuals. The girls in your year are probably screaming in joy right now…Every single female student in the academy is jealous of your year right now. Well, we also have a student in my year who has riches and looks, but he doesn't come to school often, so…"
Hazel seemed to be included in the group of people who were jealous.
"Aaah, I want to be in the same class as the handsome royal prince~ He'd probably never join our club, right?"
I watched Hazel complaining with a pitying gaze. Hey, I'm sorry, but all of those beautiful boys who came in connected like sausage links…aren't for us.
This entire setting was a set up for Hestia and only her. All the other girls would probably fantasize about the hot new students. Then, like me in the novel, they would be sold off to the highest male bidder and married off. Times had changed so there were women with occupations and women who founded merchant guilds, but it was a fact of life that if you weren't rich enough, you would be married off to a rich household. It was a sad reality.
I patted Hazel's back as I smiled bitterly.
***
Thankfully, my fears were abated as I was assigned a different class than the prince.
I was suddenly reminded of what he told me last.
"If I ever see you again, I won't let you go so easily."
I can't even begin to fathom the meaning behind those words. He said it with an expression like he was ready to bury me alive...
Anyway, Hestia continued to clap gleefully about us being in the same class as I continued to worry about staying alive because of one of her love interests.
During morning classes, Hestia sat next to me and grilled me about my new roommate.
But I couldn't respond well to her because I was worried about my imminent meeting with the prince in my afternoon class.
Time passed quickly during morning classes, probably because Hestia was sitting next to me. The classes like math were mostly teaching things that I learned before I entered the academy, so I could catch up even if I wasn't paying attention.
To begin with, classes in this world were a lot easier than what I had to learn in my previous world. Magic was a lot easier in theory than science as well. There was a lot of magic I could create even with the rudimentary knowledge I had of it.
It looked like I would be getting a high class ranking for a while. Haha, that's kind of embarrasing.
Afternoon classes were based on chosen classes. When I entered the gym for my swordsmanship class and looked around, the majority of students were male students from my year. The gym reeked of sweat and eagerness as students worked on their basic exercise drills that the teachers directed.
Because I was the only girl, there were boys whose eyes flitted to me. There was one student who stared at me like I was a zoo animal. Most of them stared at me with disdain.
I raised my head and stared at a particular someone in the hall. My face shuttered as I stared at the boy at the end of the hall.
"As expected."
It was the royal prince that I saw yesterday, Hylli. I moved to the other end of the hall to stay as far away from him as possible. Hylli didn't seem interested in the others around him. He was purely focused on the sword, so I felt a bit of relief.
What would he do if he knew that I was the person who embarrassed him last time? Based on the original novel, it looked like he had…a bit of a personality.
And considering how close the royal palace was to the academy, he probably would amass a ton of power even within the academy itself.
"It's okay, Shuraina. You were in disguise, so he probably won't be able to figure it out."
I calmed myself down and continued to work on the exercise drills. I liked that they didn't give me less drills just because I was a girl. Everything up until now was flowing like water. But problems arise suddenly.
When the swordsmanship teacher pressed the magic bell, he raised the sword that proved his status as a knight to gain the attention of the sudents.
"Alright! It's the first day today, so we'll have to figure out everyone's skill level! We'll be doing this tournament style, so can you get into two lines?"
'Wait. Hold on.'
My eyes widened in surprise. As soon as the teacher finished speaking, all the students split into two rows. Hylli finished his individual practice and came over to get in line.
Hold up, wait a minute.
I was worried that Hylli's gaze would find me, so I rushed to try and hide my hair and face with a towel. This might have brought more eyes on me, but thankfully Hylli didn't seem to care about anything that wasn't bothering him.
I didn't get in line, and instead tapped the teacher on his shoulder. The teacher checked who tapped him, and leaned forward with a smile. There were students still getting in line, so the room had an anxious air to it. I hurriedly spoke to the teacher.
"Teacher, I joined this course because of my interest in swordsmanship, but I feel as if this is too early to duel with someone else."
I tried my best to avoid looking at the black haired prince right behind me. I was a bit desperate.
"I would like to work on my drills by myself in the back."
The teacher stared at me with a strange glint in his eyes. It looked like he thought I was afraid to duel with male students. He smiled benevolently as he locked eyes with me.
"You said your name is Shuraina, right? Yes, I've heard about your love and passion for swordsmanship."
He grasped both of my shoulders with his big hands and continued to speak.