Mm?
I looked over at Taku who seemed to have a slight smile.
Um… Is he looking at me to determine my strength or something? Sorry, but I’m not that strong buddy.
Grant continued to speak, “Now, I will go over some of the rules of not just this classroom, but the whole school.”
He had everyone’s attention.
“The most important rule, one that you should all keep in your mind: You are all equal. Whether you were born to a noble’s family or whether you were born in the the slums. It doesn’t matter, here in Heavensward, you are all students. If I catch anyone abusing the power they have from outside the school, there will be major consequences, do I make myself clear?”
After looking around and getting his answer, Grant nodded his head before continuing to speak, “The second rule: There will be no leaving campus without permission. To get permission, you first have to ask me and state your reason, no matter what it is. After that, I will bring up your point to the principle who will make the final decision. Other than that, after about six months, they’ll be a two week break where you’ll be able to freely leave the campus.”
A student raised their hand, I believe their name was Evelyn?
“Mr. Mispholfo?”
“Yes, Ms. Appleyard?”
“I have a question about the second rule. So, you said that we’d have to ask you to leave campus no matter the reason, right?” Grant nodded his head and Evelyn continued, “So, what is the reason is something super personal and something we don’t wish to share?”
“It would have to be shared no matter the reason, if it’s something I shouldn’t hear, you could take it up with the principle. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing it with the principle directly, you could ask another student you trust to ask on your behalf. There are no exceptions to this rule. Understood?”
Wow, bit invasive don’t you think?
“I understand.”
“The third rule: They’ll be no ‘Bullying’, by this, I mean verbally, physically, mentally, or any sort of it. I don’t believe I have to explain myself on what classifies as ‘Bullying’.”
Pretty obvious rule, it’s not that hard to not bully someone either.
“The fourth rule: They’ll be no bribery or exchanging of out-of-school currency.”
Out of school currency?
I raised my hand.
“Mr. Vondheart?”
“What do you mean by out of school currency? Are you saying there’s a specific currency in school?”
“Correct, every month based on your performance grade, you’ll be giving an allowance on a special card you can spend freely. In fact, when you all return to your rooms, the card will be on your desk or bed.”
So it’s like a credit card…? Debit card? Something like that.
“So, copper and silver are completely useless here? We can’t exchange what we have for the money on the card?”
“You cannot.”
Damn, if I had known that, I would of spent more money in the capitol.
“Those are the four major rules you must remember at all times. Moving on, I will now explain the class and schedule we have.”
Only four? He didn’t even say we ‘are expected to be in class on-time’ maybe attendance doesn’t really matter then.
“Class will begin at 7:30 in the morning every weekday. It’ll end at 11:00 in the morning as well. During these times, we will learn about the world, important matters that are currently going on, and .”
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Wait, what? That’s like three and a half hours of class?
“After that, you’ll be expected to head to one of the facilities in this building that matches your current want. Whether you wish to train your talent, combat skills, or anything else there is a room for it in this building. At 12:00, I will be teaching swordsmanship and footwork in the training room, that ends at 2:00 P.M. At 3:00, I will be teaching you about magic until 6:00. After that, at 7:00, I’ll be back in this room, I will teach you anything you wish to know until 10:00.”
Wait, huh? I blacked out. What did just say? I heard a lot of words and lost focus. Did he just say, ‘Class starts at 7:30 in the morning and will end at 10:00 at night’? Excuse me? Yeah, no. Sorry, not happening.
“Any questions?” Grant asked.
A bunch of students raised their hands.
“Mr. Doran?”
“Do we need to attend every class? And is there a room for blacksmithing?”
“You only need to attend the classes you want. However, I recommend attending the morning class no matter what. They’ll be tests and such. And yes, there is a room where you can blacksmith.” He paused for a moment before continuing, “There is also a library, rooms you can customize for your research, and a greenroom.”
Some students lowered their hands.
“Ms. Stallone?” Grant asked.
“Do we need to stay in the building for the whole day?”
“No. You are free to leave whenever. If you look on the board over there, you’ll find a list of classes that’ll be going on outside of Class C. For example, Ms. Chipperfield is having a class about horse-riding tomorrow at 1:00 P.M. If you wish to attend that one, you’re free to go.”
I looked towards Rio who seemed to be taking notes.
Huh. Good idea, I probably should of done that too. I’ll copy his notes later.
“Any other questions?”
There were a few more people who asked some questions, but to be honest I completely zoned out. Eventually, I snapped back to reality hearing the teacher’s words,
“I will be giving you all a test now. You have the rest of class to answer the questions. This is only to get a gauge of your current knowledge and set a base-line. Once you are finished you may leave.”
Ah-Okay.
The teacher passed out two pieces of paper and a pencil to every student before continuing to speak, “You may begin.”
To be honest, I thought I wouldn’t do that bad. Considering I was the one who wrote this world, I figured I’d at least get some of the questions right. But when I flipped over the first page and saw the first question, I immediately knew.
I’m screwed…
[Who is the founder of Heavensward?]
The founder…Yeah, I have no idea. I wasn’t thinking too hard when I originally wrote it… It was just kind of already there when I started the story, haah…
I scribbled down, ‘No idea.’ Before moving on to the next question.
[What is magic, to you?]
‘Magic is pretty cool, a useful tool or a deadly weapon. It can be whatever you want it to be.’
[Describe the weak point of an Orc.]
‘The head?’
I mean, if it’s alive, then cutting off it’s head would do the trick, right? As far as I know, whenever I had someone kill an orc, they just stabbed it to death. If it bleeds, it can die. Right?
[Solve this equation.]
‘No.’
[Who is the current king of Plough Kingdom?]
‘Richard Vandersun’
[What is the kingdom to the west?]
‘…’
[Describe talents and skills.]
‘Talents are something you’re born with, skills are something you achieve.’
[Do you know your own flaws?]
‘Probably?’
[Solve this equation.]
‘I cannot.’
[What is your goal?]
‘TBD.’
[What is the kingdom to the east?]
‘Don’t know.’
There was a bunch more questions, some of them being equations, some of them being knowledge about the world. I could only answer the best I could. Eventually, I came upon the last question.
[Do you wish to change?]
‘Sure.’
After I finished, I looked around and could still see a lot of people writing. It seemed like there wasn’t much others who had completed their test.
Mm…Yeah, I’m definitely failing.
One of the other few people who had finished was Taku Frostborne, he looked at me and signaled to follow him out of the classroom.
I stood up and followed.
We headed outside of the building, just off to the side of the dirt path.
“Do you need something?” I asked first. He had been looking at me in class, so I’ve been wondering what he wanted for a little bit.
“Straight to the point, huh? I like that, Leo Vondheart. Anyways, no. At this point, I do not need anything from you. I simply wanted to have a small conversation.”
“Okay, sure. What’s up?”
“The princess’s birthday. Do you remember it?”
“Yeah, I got paid quite a bit from it. You were there? I remember seeing your father.”
“Yes, I was. My sister and I were near the back. But never mind that, I was quite curious about you.”
“Oh-Before you continue, sorry man, I’m not too interested in you romantically if that’s where your going.”
“W-What?! Huh?! Uh-Pardon me, I was just a little befuddled with your sudden statement. No, I’m not romantically interested in you. I was curious about your voice and skills, could you tell me about that?”
“Your moving a bit fast here man. Let’s slow it down a little. First, you’re talking so stiffly it’s a bit uncomfortable. Second, I could tell you more about myself in the future, but we’re strangers at this point. I don’t really feel compelled to tell you anything right now.”
“Uh…Okay. So you wish to be friends before continuing communications with-”
“More like acquaintances at least, and you’re still doing that stiff speech. Anyways, think about that to yourself for a bit. I think my brother’s finished his test, see you later.”
“Oh-Okay…”