On the third day after the opening ceremony.
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"Everyone! This is the information I have gathered!" Bianca, a student from Class Three called her classmates to the classroom. She brought a pile of papers with her and put them on the teacher's table.
"So fast? How did you do that?" Ozi asked while being both curious and also surprised.
"Hehe, it is easy if you start by befriending others." Bianca looked proud. "Anyway, I'm not the only one who is doing this, and I have to trade for this information with ours as well, so yeah, it is an information exchange."
"What have you got?" Eric questioned while approaching the teacher's table and taking one of the papers.
"The first year classes' conditions, and some of the students' personalities. It is not much, and they are quite tight-lipped since they know I'm gathering information as well. Also, I don't know how accurate it is. If you guys want to know more about the students' backgrounds, we can hire someone from the outside, but that will get ... pricey." She sighed.
"No, this is enough. If we rely on outside help, it won't help us improve," Eric replied. "Everyone who is good at management and evaluating, please help. We need to sort this information out."
With Eric taking command, those who had the relevant skills began to move. After nearly an hour, the information had finally been organized.
"So, first of all, we and Class Four were the ones who did training during the first day. Class One is joining together through socializing, and Class Two has internal conflict, which is good for us. Class Five is mysterious, and none of them are willing to spill anything, but it also gives us a clue that something big truly happened among them. Class Six already made up its organization, good but still immature, since they don't know yet whether they will be fit for their jobs or not. Lastly, Class Seven, the special class, which is said to be a class for those with the highest potential," Eric explained in front of everyone.
"We don't know much about Class Seven, their classroom isn't in the same building as ours, which is weird. Unless we meet them, we won't know about their capabilities."
"Class One, while it doesn't seem to have a leader, is actually being led by Roman Prugis. He is the one that initiated the socialization and is controlling the flow of the class. Class Two divided into two factions, Leonhart and Ferlando." At the two last names, Eric sighed.
"These two are troublesome. But that is not all, currently, there is yet another faction that rejects these both, stating that if one of the two factions wins, it will ruin the entire class. It is currently being led by Joshua," Eric added.
{'Oh? Joshua finally stood up.'} Kyle smiled softly. {'So that's why he looks serious and avoids the topic. He is deeply involved with his class.'}
"Class Four ... the strongest one in this class is not clear. There are four candidates, but none of them overwhelms the others. Aside from that, they seem to be like us potential-wise."
"Class Five ...." Eric stopped for a moment. "Nobody knows much, but everyone knows that the leader of Class Five is Miranda Ascot. Students from Class Five seem to be tense when near her. She did something, and she now controls Class Five completely."
"That's insane; how could she do that?" Tucker questioned.
"With enough power or influence? Miranda seems to be someone dangerous," Quinton added.
"Yeah, but seriously, nobody can stop her in Class Five?"
"If that is indeed so." Eric pulled everyone's attention again. "Then we need to be careful and find out more about her before engaging with Class Five."
"Lastly, Class Six, the hierarchy of their internal organization is clear. The President of the class is Phillips Winburg. He is the son of the famous Winburg Mage."
Albus Winburg, the strongest mage in the Gollia Empire. He was unmatched in magic, or so it was believed, at least. He had mastered many magic spells and was even able to dispel magic spells before they were cast successfully.
Phillips was his son, and evidently, he had a lot of influence. As for his strength, according to the information, he was said to be a genius in magic, but nobody knew just how strong he was exactly.
{'Well…. I already assessed them, but this Phillips is indeed strong. Anyone with just normal detection skills would think he is just above average. But in fact, he hid it well …. I would have missed it if I was not paying attention carefully,'} thought Kyle.
{'However ... the real one is this Miranda Ascot.'} Kyle frowned slightly. {'She is a mystery ... but her power is real.'} She didn't bother hiding her strength. She let it out like a beacon as if she was inviting a challenge against her. However, he hadn't sensed her back during the opening ceremony.
{'This is actually bad, isn't it? With how many talented people here, and probably in other countries as well, I can't help but feel that something troublesome will appear.'} From his experience, when the trouble began to appear, those with the ability to stop it would appear as well.
"So what do we do?" asked Friena in a bored tone.
"For now, we will keep watching them. But today, I would like some of you to go to observe Class Seven," said Eric. He turned to Kyle. "Kyle, I would like you to be in this since your eyes are useful for this kind of work."
"Alright, leave it to me. Who else shall be coming with me?" Kyle wouldn't refuse this kind of chance.
"Ninia, will you go? In case they are hostile to us, I think it is better to assess them through combat, and I believe you can do that well."
"Okay." Ninia accepted without much problem.
"Then the last one is Bianca." Eric turned to Bianca. "If they are friendly, talk to them and initiate a good relationship. While we will compete against each other in the future, it won't bring us any harm to befriend them."
Eric prepared for two scenarios. He needed the three of them to observe Class Seven from afar first before making contact. If they were hostile, he would go for a straightforward plan to assess Class Seven's strength, but if they were friendly, he would take his time slowly. He wished they were friendly, though, and he hoped Class Seven was truly isolated and had not yet formed a good relationship with other classes. This was because if they had a good relationship, they might have a chance to spar against each other or even share information.
"Got it." Bianca nodded.
{'While we have not yet formed our intern …. Eric has already taken over, well, he isn't bad, and there is no one that shows leadership capability aside from him,'} Kyle mused inside.
.
After the meeting ended, Kyle, Bianca, and Ninia gathered, while looking at the map of Costina Academy.
.
"Class Seven has their own dorm and class building, which is actually not that far from our class building," told Bianca while pointing at the map.
"I wonder what the academy is thinking by separating them from us. Won't it cause conflict?" Kyle wondered. Having Class Seven away from the others and them being known as a special class would make the others dislike them. It was simple to raise a fit of jealousy about why Class Seven was treated so special and given such privileges.
"Who knows, but that's what the academy wanted?" Bianca offered while shrugging her shoulders.
"Are you saying the academy wants us to be hostile to Class Seven?"
"Maybe? Class Seven can't isolate themselves, they are bound to interact with us sooner or later. So when they try to interact with us, the regular students, they might receive cold shoulders and have to work hard to get closer, or they can choose to ignore us."
"So Eric wants us to form a bridge for them. If we are becoming their friends first, the others will have less hostility," Kyle concluded.
"Exactly, now, shall we go?"
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Author: Aida Hanabi
Proofreader: Teppo
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