"Hmmm…"
Melinda Fenrioette leaned back into her seat and looked out of the window.
It was already the middle of the second semester at the Jade Academy, and the deadline for students to suggest a place where they wanted to have their two weeks of on-the-job training was rapidly approaching.
It wasn't that easy for her.
As a foreign royalty, she had to consider what working for another country would appear like in the eyes of other nobles from her kingdom, even if that work would last for just two weeks.
Not only that, the prestige of the business or facility had a lot to do with that, too, since her honor not only as a member of Diamondium Kingdom's aristocracy but also the fiance of the crown prince could be easily put in question with a wrong choice.
Honestly, from her perspective, that brand new initiative came into existence only because of her, as the faculty of Jade Academy was desperate to catch her off guard so that her perfect score would be ruined.
Was it very self-centered of her to think that?
Sure.
But was it actually plausible?
Yes. Yes, it was.
Welcoming an exchange student into their prestigious Academy was one thing—it was good for creating friendly relationships between their nations—but then having that student absolutely dominate every single subject, leaving all the native students in the dust?
That certainly was something that the Jade Academy's staff didn't want, and it was a clearly palpable sentiment… not to say blatantly obvious with how most teachers tried to catch Melinda off guard with surprise questions that were outside the curriculum for the first and even second or third years.
Since it wasn't actually causing Melinda any trouble until that point, it was fine for her.
Long story short, the initiative was conceived with one purpose only - put a dent in Melinda's score.
Silly.
Truth be told, Melinda wasn't troubled because of any of the prior reasons.
At al...
In fact, she was torn between a few options and was putting off the decision because, despite her best wishes, one of them was almost impossible to implement.
"Miss Catherine, do you mind talking to us briefly?"
"...?"
While Melinda was buried deep in her thoughts, imagining different scenarios depending on her choice, her black-haired friend was approached by three other girls, which was uncommon enough to get her attention.
"Y-yes o-o-of course."
The timid girl a few seats away cowered as she usually did and responded with a quiet voice.
"..."
Melinda furrowed her brow, got her stuff from the desk, and slowly walked to the door, where she stopped. She waited there like that, giving Catherine an option to get out of the situation by using her as a lifeline.
"You've already completed the on-the-job training course, didn't you?"
"E-eh…? Y-yes… in the adventurers guild."
"Hm~"
One of the girls asked in a polite voice, surprising the timid girl and making Melinda smile and hum in relief.
"Could you tell us about it? For example, is it necessary to hunt monsters, or is it possible to just do the whole thing without ever fighting?"
The first girl inquired, and her friends nodded their heads vigorously while looking at Catherine for answers.
Melinda already knew the answers to those questions as both of them saw each other often enough, regardless of attending lectures.
"If we apply there too, will we have to tame a monster like you did?!"
The second girl couldn't stop herself and blurted out, her eyes sparkling with excitement, making it more than obvious that she hoped for a positive response.
"E-eh? Oh, n-no. T-taming Ross was m-my idea…"
"Hm~"
Catherine flinched and hurriedly shook her head, glancing apologetically at Melinda, but the gold-haired girl merely smiled and winked at her in response.
"Ohh…"
The girl who asked about the monster taming grumbled and slouched, losing all of her enthusiasm.
"A-as for the o-other questions… You w-won't be forced to g-go hunt strong m-monsters, b-but you w-would go w-with a party of a-adventurers to g-go complete s-something like a s-simple gathering q-quest or low-level monster e-extermination quest t-to keep their numbers i-in check. Th-that means that y-you will have to get g-guild card. Once y-you have it a-and go on a q-quest, at the t-time of your r-return the card w-will be checked."
"...?"
Catherine took a deep breath and began to answer the other questions to the best of her ability, mentioning a detail that made eavesdropping Melinda furrow her brows.
"Check the guild card? What is that about…?"
Luckily, the other girls seemed intrigued and didn't hesitate to ask Catherine about the same thing.
"I-it's pretty simple. It's to make s-sure that p-people kill what they s-say they kill. There are r-rare cases in wh-which the monster's b-body isn't p-possible to be retrieved. That's when th-the guild c-card comes in h-handy. Although it c-can't update the i-information about the level, i-it stores the information a-about the creatures y-you defeated."
"It does? How?"
"..."
Catherine revealed, making the other girl ask curiously while Melinda blinked a few times before her expression turned blank.
"I-it's a part of the spell inscribed i-in the c-card. You can a-always check what and wh-when you d-defeated by i-infusing the card w-with more of y-your mana. I-I'll show y-you."
The black-haired girl shrugged her shoulders lightly before taking out a green guild card and holding it falt with both hands;
After a few seconds of concentration, pale-blue light particles arose from the card and formed an image of a Boarkin Orc with the date of the day before.
"EH?! Miss Catherine, you are strong enough to hunt Boarkin orcs?!"
The silent until now, the third girl let out a baffled gasp.
"Ehehe… Y-yes, J-just recently I g-got to level th-thirty-"
"To level 30?! You are so brave to hunt them already!"
Catherine laughed nervously and admitted, but before she could say her actual level, she was interrupted by the other girls' cries of amazement.
"A-anyway… eh…? AH!"
The black-haired girl raised her hand and waved them dismissively, looking to the side to dodge eye contact. By doing so, she looked out the window and spotted a large hooded figure waiting by the gate, making her call out in exasperation and standing right up from her seat.