Shulim arrived at the preparatory school.
At this moment, many boys and girls around Shulim's age were already walking through the gates of the school.
“Morning, Shulim! Long time no see!”
“Yes, morning!”
After greeting a few familiar faces, Shulim made her way toward her classroom.
“Yo, Shulim! Arriving at this hour on the very first day of the new school year? I'm honestly amazed you've never been late!”
Just as she was about to reach the classroom, a blonde girl with twin curly ponytails blocked her path. She wore a beautiful gothic dress, fresh leather shoes beneath white over-the-knee socks, and carried a haughty expression on her face.
“Unlike me, of course! This lady arrived ages ago. Showing up early and leading by example is exactly how a noble should behave~!”
“Um... excuse me, but who are you again?”
Shulim suddenly asked.
The blonde girl's expression froze instantly.
Then, she shouted in a furious voice, “Fran! I'm Fran Bandun! How could you not remember me?!”
“Fran Bandun... Ah, I remember now. It's Fran. Sorry, you've changed so much I didn't recognize you.”
Shulim said in a completely flat, robotic tone.
However, Fran was not fooled.
“Cut the crap! We haven't even been apart for that long. How could I have changed that much? You definitely never remembered me to begin with, didn't you?!”
Shulim: “...”
“Wait, don't go silent! Why are you suddenly quiet?! You're making it look like I hit the nail on the head! This is too much, you really didn't remember me!”
“Students outside, please come into the classroom. Class is about to start!”
The teacher's voice echoing from the hallway temporarily bailed Shulim out.
“Time to head inside. Let's talk about whatever it is later, um... Fran?”
With that, Shulim walked right past Fran and headed into the classroom.
“Huh? Wait! What was with that awkward pause? Do you still not remember my name?! Hey, don't walk away, explain yourself!”
Shulim ignored the voice behind her and quickly slipped into the classroom. Behind her, Fran clearly didn't want to let things slide so easily and seemed ready to keep arguing.
“You there, student, please hurry up and get into the classroom.”
“Ugh...”
Having been singled out by the teacher, Fran had no choice but to give up her pursuit of Shulim for the moment. Glaring resentfully at Shulim's back, she followed her into the classroom.
...
“Students, congratulations on entering the new school year. You learned quite a bit of knowledge in the previous year, but~, I would really like to know how much you still remember after such a long vacation. Therefore...”
The teacher on the podium faced everyone with a seemingly warm smile, but no one knew that a sinister intent was currently hidden beneath it.
Leisurely pulling a thick stack of test papers from beneath the podium, he slammed them directly onto the desk.
“So today, I intend to give you all a comprehensive test. How about that? Aren't you excited~?”
“Eh—! Don't do this so suddenly!”
“What should I do? I've forgotten almost everything!”
“Don't do this to us right at the start of school, Teacher!”
“If I bomb this, will I get scolded...”
For a moment, the classroom was filled with groans and complaints.
However, that did not stop the exam from proceeding.
The exam began quickly. Once it was over, the teacher immediately started grading, seemingly determined to let the students' parents know on the very first day exactly how “hardworking” their children had been over the break.
Once the results were finalized, the teacher announced everyone's grades to the class.
“...In first place is Shulim Hayeral!”
When Shulim's name was read, every gaze in the classroom turned toward her. Among them, one gaze was particularly intense.
“Damn it! How is this possible? I actually got beat by Shulim!”
Sitting several rows behind Shulim, the blonde twin-tailed girl, Fran, clutched her test paper and glared intently at Shulim's back, gritting her teeth in frustration.
“This shouldn't be happening. I've received tutoring from private instructors since I was a child, and I'd already studied the preparatory school's curriculum ahead of everyone else. I even reviewed it during the break! The Hayeral family shouldn't have the spare finances to afford a tutor. Yet I... I actually lost to Shulim in grades?”
“Frustrating, so frustrating! I won't accept this! There must be some mistake!”
“I'm definitely going to find out!”
Due to the incident this morning, Fran already held quite a grudge against Shulim. Now, seeing herself surpassed even in the academic results she took pride in, she felt a profound sense of humiliating defeat. Combined, the two incidents made Fran swear a furious oath in her heart that she would reclaim her honor.
Meanwhile, Shulim was entirely unaware that someone had set her sights firmly upon her, maintaining her usual expressionless face.
On the other hand, due to the results of the grades, the classroom was quite noisy now. Many were worrying about how to face their parents back home and had no heart to listen to what the teacher was saying, which gave him a bit of a headache as well.
So, he opted to announce some news.
“Alright, quiet down, everyone. I am about to announce something.”
The classroom quieted down temporarily.
The teacher scanned the room before saying slowly, “Most of you have probably guessed it by now. Yes! Starting tomorrow, you will officially begin receiving magic instruction!”
“What, for real?!”
“Right, there was that too!”
“Oh! It's finally starting? Magic instruction!”
The classroom instantly erupted with excitement, and any worries about good or bad test scores were immediately thrown to the wind.
Seeing the classroom grow even more rowdy, the teacher couldn't help but regret his decision slightly, wondering if he should have waited until school was dismissed to make the announcement...
Magic instruction was the most crucial curriculum of the preparatory school.
In fact, it could be said that the preparatory school was built precisely for this purpose. The reason magic education wasn't initiated immediately upon student enrollment was that, considering their age and breadth of experience, it was unrealistic to expect students to learn magic directly. Therefore, academic education was prioritized first.
After all, magic was a legitimately complex discipline, involving knowledge and theories that could easily be described as profound and esoteric. Expecting someone who couldn't even read to learn magic was nothing short of a joke.
Some might wonder why the preparatory school possessed the ability to teach magic to such a large number of students.
This required mentioning the preparatory school's background.
The preparatory school was founded entirely by the world-spanning organization, the Adventurers Guild. Funded by the Seven Heavens Church and staffed by resources from various races and nations, it was a public institution that spanned nearly every country.
Its purpose was to train as many combat-ready forces as possible on a large scale who could be drafted at any time. This was to avoid a shortage of military strength and the plight of civilian defenselessness when facing world-threatening crises.
Normally, a preparatory school with such grand objectives and complex backing from various factions would be impossible to establish.
However, precisely due to a severe lack of low-to-mid-tier combat forces, Shimulir had suffered a devastating defeat during the second-to-last Demon King invasion war. The entire world was on the brink of falling, and victory was only secured in the end when the Six Heroes perished along with the Demon King.
The toll of that war was rare even in the entire history of Shimulir. The world order was nearly completely shattered, and civilization was almost wiped out, so much so that even the calendar was changed to the New Era, known as the New Divine Calendar.
The agonizing price of that war forced the survivors to reflect deeply and resolve to address Shimulir's shortfalls.
Subsequently, the preparatory school was founded.
The emergence of preparatory schools brought a massive influx of low-to-mid-tier combatants, particularly at the lowest levels. One must understand that most people in this world possessed magic talent rated at only D-Class or E-Class. Before the New Divine Calendar, such individuals were deemed untalented, lacking even the qualification to receive a magic education. However, the preparatory schools treated everyone equally, providing the same systematic training to all.
In the end, countless low-talent individuals, who in the past would never have even had the chance to touch magic, came to possess magic. The common populace, who once could only flee in panic when facing a single slime or goblin while waiting for adventurers whose arrival was unpredictable, now gained the capacity for self-defense.
Admittedly, the education provided by preparatory schools also brought about a series of social issues, but after the stunning results delivered by the schools during the last great war, all opposing voices vanished.
Today, the preparatory school system has nearly eight hundred years of history and has long since developed a highly efficient method of education—one that is far more effective than the private magic tutors hired by average nobles.
This was precisely why noble children like Fran, despite having families wealthy enough to hire home tutors or even magic instructors for private education, still chose to attend the preparatory school.
Rate on N.U.
