Chapter 105 - School Life

School was in session for four out of the six days that made up each week, with the remaining two days off.

In light of this, Allen and his friends took to buying daily necessities on their way back from school on school days so they could dedicate two whole days each week to go dungeon delving.

Allen footed the bill for everyone's starting gear. He was shouldering the initial investment, but they expected to get their hands on better gear from the dungeon itself. This was not meant as an exchange, but he did ask whether he could use the money they earned from the dungeon for buying magic stones to train his Skill Levels. Everyone readily agreed.

On the first day of school, the group of four headed to the board in front of the school building. The examinee numbers that had been posted the other day had been replaced with class rosters. They looked for their own numbers, then headed to their classrooms.

'Looks like about three thousand students got in.'

In terms of college exams from Allen's previous life, getting enrolled at the Ratashian Academy was about as difficult as a moderately high-tier university.

There were thirty students per class and a hundred first-year classes.

'Only three thousand out of twenty thousand applicants. They sure whittled down the numbers.'

The signatories of the Five Continent Alliance were hardly one monolithic force. Each country within each continent had their own designs and considerations. The ones feeling the greatest sense of crisis were, understandably, the three countries that had been directly attacked by the Demon Lord Army: the Empire of Giamut on the Central Continent, the dwarven Empire of Baukis to the northwest, and the elven country Rohzenheim in the northeast.

Conversely, there were many countries located on those same continents but not on the front lines, with the Kingdom of Ratash being one example.

The two southern continents had yet to see the banners of the Demon Lord Army firsthand, though it was not clear if this was because this world was not a globe or if the Army did not know how to cross over into the southern continents.

Consequently, it was difficult to expect every country to feel the same sense of urgency regarding the threat. The nations that felt the safest were the most hesitant to send their Talented citizens to contribute to the war effort. After all, those with Talents, especially battle-related ones, were valuable assets.

Powered-up monsters threatened cities regardless of borders, and extracting magic stones and items from dungeons was as vital to national interest as excavating precious metals and oil was on Earth. Understandably, countries wanted to hold on to their Talented as much as possible.

Due to the insistence of these southern and central countries—excluding Giamut, of course—the Alliance had eventually settled on conscripting only members of royal and noble families. It was their duty to protect the common people in the first place, or so the argument went.

If commoners were conscripted too, that would mean drafting tens of thousands of Talented; if just the aristocracy, then only hundreds. The preferable option was obvious.

Naturally, sending only a few hundred commoners instead would be out of the question. Such an exception would render the moral justification for sending fewer people moot.

As Allen settled into his seat, the Five Continent Alliance on his mind, his classmates-to-be also grabbed their own. Everyone had their own way of waiting for the lesson to start. Some seemed to have come from the same village and were merrily chatting away. There was even one student who appeared to be fighting off sleep.

Suddenly, the sliding door clattered open. A man, most likely their teacher, walked in. He looked to be in his forties and had a crew cut. The phrase "rough and tumble" seemed insufficient to do him justice—he was so muscular, he seemed at risk of bursting through his uniform.

"You're all here. Good," their teacher said as he stood at the podium and scanned the room. "The name's Carlova. I'll be your homeroom teacher for the next three years. I'll kick things off by telling you a bit about myself."

The man's appearance was so impressive that all the students listened attentively without interrupting.

"Normally, I'm the guildmaster of the Adventurer's Guild in the royal capital. My Talent is Sword Master. When I was still an adventurer, the highest rank I reached was A. The Academy hired me because they heard a Sword Lord was enrolling this year."

Carlova scratched his head and shrugged his shoulders. Apparently he had been transferred to this post for the next three years on Krena's account.

'So, the Guild makes arrangements like this too. I heard that it's supposed to be independent of the kingdom, but what about the Five Continent Alliance? If the Guild obliged a transfer request like this, that means they're at least cooperative, right?' 

Allen thought back to the courteous attitude of the Guild staff who had handled their adventurer card registration.

"Me being your homeroom teacher means that I'm responsible for you now. I also teach swordsmanship, so if you've got a sword fighting Talent, I'll see ya in your practicals."

Carlova then went on to give a simple rundown of the coming year's curriculum.

The students would have general education classes in the morning, while practical lessons geared toward developing their respective Talents were during the afternoon. That meant spear training for Spear Users, sword training for Swordsmen, and so on and so forth. He then passed out copies of a parchment that listed instructors and training grounds by Talent.

"Ah, that's right. You'll have end-of-semester exams in July and February. If you make lower than a forty, you fail. Make sure you study." Carlova looked around. "You. You're Allen, right?"

'Hm? He knows of me? Well, I guess it's hard to mistake black hair.'

"Yes, sir."

"Apparently your exam score broke records. You made history. Good on you."

"I'm sorry?"

The entire class turned around to look at Allen, who was sitting in the back.

"Don't you go studying all by yourself. If you wanna graduate with the rest of your class, you better spend some time teaching your friends too."

'Uh...he's talking about Krena, isn't he? Hold on, so they did pad her grades to make sure she got in?!'

Krena, who was sitting next to Allen, gave him a look of pure respect. She clearly did not catch the implication behind what the teacher had said.

"O-Of course, sir. I'll do my best."

"Good. Now, as I'm sure most of you have caught on, there are serfs, commoners, and nobles together in this class. Your social statuses may be different, but here at the Academy, you're all students. So, drop the formal speech when talking with each other. Learn to get along."

In this school, both aristocratic students lording their nobility over others and commoners or serfs acting obsequious would be reprimanded. The class, which had been quietly listening until now, burst into a low buzz of whispers.

Cecil was currently sitting behind Allen. Without turning around, he said to her, "So, Cecil, looks like we're to drop the formalities."

The way Allen immediately complied without any hesitation whatsoever left Cecil at a complete loss for words. Her silence prompted Allen to ask, "Hm? What's the matter, Cecil?"

Krena joined in."What's wrong, Cecil?"

"Eurgh!" Upon being repeatedly addressed without a title, Cecil leaped up without warning and snaked her arms around Allen's neck into a choke hold.

"How can you switch to speaking to me so casually that easily, Allen?! Does this mean you haven't been mentally respecting me all this time?!"

"Huh?! Ughh..."

'Th-This is a self-defense move she learned at the mansion, isn't it? It's just like her to suddenly use it without warning. Th-This is pretty rough. C'mon, do your thing, Endurance. I know you can do a lot better than this.' 

Although Allen had leveled up and raised his Endurance, he had a feeling the stat was not quite pulling its weight in his everyday life. In fact, he thought Attack also seemed somewhat low; perhaps this was an effect to prevent stats interfering with normal life.

"Go on, say it. What have you been calling me inside your mind all this time? Just 'Cecil,' right?" Cecil whispered furiously.

Carefully choosing his words, Allen forced his words out through the chokehold. "It's been 'Lady Cecil,' o-of course. How could you suspect otherwise? I respect you from the bottom of my heart every moment of every single day. It truly pains my heart that the school is forcing me to do this."

Carlova cleared his throat and said wryly, "Uh, you two back there. I know I said to get along, but I didn't mean for you to get that close..."

***

When Carlova finished explaining everything, the class moved to the auditorium where the entrance ceremony would be held.

This school had, among other buildings, several auditoriums and open squares, all of which were remarkably spacious. The students from the second and third years were also present at the ceremony, both groups wearing slightly different uniforms. As it turned out, the design changed with every year.

Allen had not seen the Hero or the headmaster, who had mentioned the Sovereign of Spirits or some such, since exam day. He figured that they would summon him or seek him out of their own accord if they needed him for anything.

One thing that Allen had learned from the Appraisal Ceremony was that the Hero was in Normal Mode. Furthermore, the headmaster, who had supposedly seen the Appraisal results of tens of thousands of students, had never seen anyone with all their stats ranked "E." In other words, it was highly likely that Allen was the only person in this world who was in Hell Mode.

And with that, classes began. The first course was called Monster Studies, which started off covering the ecology and behaviors of goblins and orcs. It was truly a class befitting a fantasy world. The teacher went on passionately about each monster's weaknesses, how to kill them, and what to watch out for while fighting them.

Afternoon classes were based on each student's Talent. Naturally, there was no Summoner course. When Allen consulted Carlova, he was told there was no curriculum by which he would be tested, so he was free to join whichever class he was interested in. He decided to check all of them out, starting with swordsmanship and magic.

There were classes only four days each week, which Allen thought was a rather leisurely schedule.