Chapter 18
“I have no intention of joining the delegation..”
That obnoxious brat, Kane Hover, seemed to have picked up on Elaine’s gaze and deliberately said it loud enough for everyone to hear.
Kane, with the same blonde hair as Elaine but a much darker shade, was looking our way, arms crossed and one side of his mouth curled up in a smirk that suited his image perfectly.
“I don’t need you either. You can’t even control your magic properly.”
“Wh-what did you say?! There were clearly other distractions at that time! You filthy commoner!”
“Oh, there are more people watching today, you know? Want to try again?”
“…Ugh. Someday, I’ll show you, you filthy commoner…”
Kane seemed rather pleased with himself for announcing that he wouldn’t be joining the delegation, but he flared up immediately at my single comment. Yet, when I raised my fist slightly, he faltered and took a step back.
Looks like he still remembers the pain from that day.
So, now it’s down to six people instead of seven.
“Oh, sorry, but I don’t think I can join either…”
“M-me neither!”
Almost as soon as Kane finished speaking, two girls seated further away, Agnes and Marie, jumped in as if they’d been waiting for the chance. Judging by Kane’s sneering glance in their direction, it seemed he’d already persuaded them beforehand.
So, now it’s four people instead of six.
Sigh.
Elaine sighed deeply, as if she’d expected this outcome, pressing her fingers to her forehead.
I hadn’t said a word, but the classroom now felt as though I were recruiting members for the school competition team. Naturally, the remaining gazes turned to the two students who hadn’t yet spoken up.
One was Cynthia, with purple hair, sitting in front of me, and the other was Emily, sitting in the corner by the window, observing the situation.
Out of the seven of us, five are girls—Crescent Empire sure has no shortage of female talent.
“Cynthia? Are you not joining either?”
“Me? I…”
I decided to ask Cynthia, who was sitting right in front of me, and to save my question for the girl in the corner for later.
Cynthia looked between me and Elaine in response to my question. I didn’t think much of it, but Elaine looked at her with a very earnest expression.
“Well, if the first-year representative is asking, of course, I should join. After all, our grade’s reputation and the honor of Class 158 are at stake.”
Sigh.
“Hah. What would a commoner know about honor?”
No sooner had Cynthia finished speaking than Elaine breathed a sigh of relief, while Kane snorted in mockery.
That guy, Kane Hover, is exactly the type I hate.
If this weren’t the academy, I’d drag him up to the northern snowy mountains and leave him there for half a day.
“Alright, that’s three of us.”
“We haven’t asked her yet, have we?”
Elaine, who seemed eager to get as many members as possible, looked over at Emily, who was sitting in the corner with oversized glasses, fidgeting and casting her eyes about nervously.
Emily, suddenly the center of attention, twisted her blue hair nervously, unsure what to do.
“Um… so, you heard everything, right?”
“Oh, y-yes! I heard, but…”
“Want to join us?”
With my simple question, I could feel all five gazes shifting to Emily.
“Well, I, um, that is, uh…”
‘I had a feeling…’
As the question and the focused gazes bore down on her, Emily visibly panicked and didn’t know where to look.
The moment I saw her reaction, I knew.
This girl, she’s one of my kind.
The kind with stage fright, even worse than mine.
At least I had the experience of living in Arkaria, so I could bear being the center of attention in a situation like this.
Besides, hadn’t I recently given a speech in front of over a hundred people at the entrance ceremony?
But Emily, it seemed, was not used to it.
As the silence dragged on, her face turned as red as her hair was blue, her discomfort evident as she adjusted her perfectly fine glasses repeatedly, her gaze darting around.
“Well… joining us could be a great experience. Don’t you think so?” said Elaine, adding to my invitation, apparently uneasy with my silence after my initial question.
Elaine’s added question seemed to make Emily even more anxious.
If there’s anyone who knows how to handle people like her, it’s me.
“Come on, let’s join together. We can make good memories, yeah? So, I’ll take that as a yes?”
“Oh, well, I… uh, uh…”
“Great. You said ‘uh.’”
I pushed her a bit, remembering how I’d been pulled in by others before.
If she’s the type who has trouble speaking up in front of others, a little nudge like this might make her feel like she has no choice but to join in.
It’s not like I haven’t been in her shoes before.
“So, that’s four. Not bad, right?”
“…Sigh. Ryu, while it’s fortunate that we’ve gathered four people, it’s still not enough. If we can’t recruit from our class, we should consider asking other classes…”
Swish—
While Elaine was passionately advising me, the door opened, and Professor Amilion walked in, looking quite worn out.
Normally, Professor Amilion kept her hair neatly tied back and maintained a clean appearance, but today, a few strands had come loose, and one side of the collar on her academy robe, which symbolized her status as a professor, was slightly folded.
She looked undeniably exhausted.
“… I’m sure you’ve all heard the news by now.”
Amilion glanced around the room as soon as she entered, then began speaking.
All seven of us, including myself, turned our attention to Professor Amilion.
“First, here’s the most important announcement. This year’s interclass competition has a new rule: only students from Class S can participate as part of the delegation.”
“What?”
“Hah!”
Elaine’s shocked question and Kane’s amused laugh erupted at the same time.
That guy, Kane… Someday, I’m definitely going to bury him in the northern mountains.
***
“… If I try, maybe I can still convince either Agnes or Marie to join us.”
“It’s probably no use… They already seem completely under Kane’s influence.”
Sigh.
Lunchtime.
Elaine, Cynthia, Emily, and I were sitting at the same table, eating lunch together.
While Elaine and Cynthia were regulars, Emily, who had been half-forced to join us, was staring down at her food without saying a single word.
Well, it looked more like she couldn’t speak rather than wouldn’t.
“Mmm. This is good. The academy cafeteria does chicken dishes well.”
“… Sigh. Ryu.”
“Don’t you think, Emily?”
“Oh?! Uh, y-yeah! It’s good! Haha.”
“…”
Elaine glanced at me and Emily, then shook her head and jabbed her fork into her chicken dish irritably.
“So, I’ll let Professor Amilion know after today’s class that the four of us will be representing our class in the interclass competition, okay?”
Sigh.
“It can’t be helped.”
Elaine let out a deep sigh at my words, and Cynthia nodded as if resigned to the idea.
Emily, still unable to lift her head, seemed uncertain if she was even listening.
‘Alright. This works.’
Four members.
While the competition’s events hadn’t been decided yet, four members felt like a good number to me.
Since last year’s event was dungeon exploration, a team with a good combat balance would be beneficial.
Elaine would take the frontline as the knight, Cynthia would cover the rear with her bow, and we’d have two mages in the center.
I did think we might be a bit weak in the front, but I’d join as a mage this time around.
“But… Emily, what’s your specialty?”
“Huh? Oh?”
“Now that I think about it, I’ve heard you research magic a few times, but I don’t actually know what you specialize in. Since we’re a team now, we should at least have a general idea of each other’s abilities, right?”
Elaine and Cynthia turned their attention to Emily at my question.
Elaine’s Sinclair family was well-known as a knight family, and Cynthia’s Surplus family was famous for archery—basic knowledge anyone could find out.
But Emily’s family, the Franz family, was one neither Elaine nor Cynthia had heard of, and Elaine speculated it might be a small noble family from a remote area.
“Oh, well, my best magic…?”
“Right.”
Emily opened her mouth a bit quicker than before.
It seemed easier for her to talk about her area of expertise.
“Well, how should I put this… um, last night, I did an experiment related to maintaining freshness according to temperature differences. I wanted to see if there was a way to preserve plants a bit longer! So, using the same herb leaves, I divided them into two groups—one stored at room temperature around 23 degrees, and the other under the exact same conditions but kept at a temperature just between 0 and 1 degree…”
“… What?”
I wasn’t the only one taken aback by Emily’s sudden flood of words.
As expected, Elaine and Cynthia were also staring at Emily with bewildered expressions.
A moment ago, she was so conscious of our gazes, but now that she’d started talking, it seemed as if she didn’t even notice us anymore.
“… And last time, I tried it with animal products—commonly meat. I found that keeping it at lower temperatures really does help maintain freshness, so I wondered if the same principle would apply to plants and decided to test it out! Oh, and as for how I measured freshness…”
“W-wait a moment.”
“Huh? Oh! I-is this all pointless information?”
So… what kind of magic does she use, exactly?
—
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