"Now now Bayle, that's quite rude of you to say to our fellow students," the leader of the group of nobles said with a laugh. "Don't you see that's Gareth Brightmane!"

Jun glanced at the man from the side of her eye, doing her best to remain unnoticed. He was tall, nearly as tall as Gareth, with blond hair trimmed to just below his ears, clean shaven, with bright blue eyes and an athletic build. On Earth, he probably wouldn't have looked out of place in a boy band or as a model.

"I apologize for my lack of manners, Lord Ignacius," the boy called Bayle said, bowing his head slightly.

"It is unbecoming of a nobleman to behave in such an uncouth manner," Ignacius said, lightly reprimanding his friend before turning to Gareth with a smile. "Gareth, It's been such a long time! Why don't you come join us, we're about to head out for a drink."

Setting his utensils down again, Gareth looked up at Ignacius with a frown. "Unfortunately, I will have to decline your invitation Ignacius," he said politely.

Ignacius looked around the table Gareth sat at, eyes flicking to each person's school medallion. "Are you sure? We could offer you company more befitting your station," he pressed.

"I'm quite sure Ignacius."

"I see." Ignacius met Gareth's eyes before glancing at the others at his table. His gaze lingered too long on the women at the table, and Jun couldn't help but notice the flick of his eyes running up and down her body, planting a seed of unpleasant feelings in her mind. "Well, I will admit you have quite pleasant company this evening, so perhaps another time," he said with a smile as he looked away from Jun and back at Gareth.

"Perhaps another time," Gareth said noncommittally.

Murmuring his goodbyes, the blond nobleman and his friends left as students quickly made a path for them through the crowd. All students that Jun couldn't help but notice wore bronze badges.

Jun couldn't help thinking over the nobleman's words as he left, and the look he'd given her. The feelings left behind were complicated and confusing, and she wasn't sure she liked them. Suddenly, she didn't feel hungry any longer and quietly pushed her half-eaten tray of food away. Next to her, Sara did the same, though Cecilia just continued to eat as if nothing happened. The men and Cecilia quickly finished their food in silence before the older students each made eye contact with each other and with Gareth.

Seeing the looks, Gareth glanced around the table and landed on Jun, before nodding to himself. "Why don't we retire for a drink of our own and help Jun go through the rest of her papers?"

Jun gave a start as her name was mentioned, and looked around to see the rest of the group nodding and nodded along as well.

"That sounds good, your room?" Sara asked, moving to stand from the booth and let the others out.

"My place," Gareth confirmed.

The group took their trays back to the kitchen, all but Jun's and Sara's empty, and left the cafeteria with Gareth in the lead.

It wasn't long before they arrived at a building that Jun could only describe as a mansion, with multiple wings and a large pair of double doors manned by a pair of armed guards. The guards nodded at Gareth as he approached and opened the doors, letting the rest of them through. The interior was even more magnificent, the entry decorated with statues, tapestries, and fine paintings depicting scenes of battle and glory, while the halls and rugs even seemed to be accented with gold. It was a display of wealth bordering on obscene to Jun, who's past life had been one of living in a small rural town.

Gareth led them up a grand staircase and down several corridors before stopping at a set of doors and swiped his medallion across it, the lock clicking open as he did. His room turned out to be a suite of rooms still lavishly decorated, though noticeably less ostentatious than the rest of the building they had passed through. Gareth's suit of armor sat on an armor stand, his chipped and broken shield on the side. The rest of the room held racks of shields and other weapons, most of them utilitarian in design, but some clearly ornamental. A seating area with two couches and a fine low table was off in the corner.

After the group filed into his room, Gareth closed and locked the door, sighing as the lock clicked shut. "Well, running into Iggy was unpleasant," he said moving to a liquor cabinet where he pulled out several bottles and glasses. Opening a dark green bottle with a pop, he poured a measure of honey brown liquid into each glass, handing them out before pouring one for himself and throwing it back. "Much better!" he exclaimed pouring himself a refill and joining the others on the couches.

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Jun absently sipped at the glass in her hand, barely noticing the taste of apples over the bite and burn of strong liquor. It took a few long seconds for her to notice everyone watching her carefully, before Gareth spoke again. "Jun, we realized perhaps too late that you probably aren't familiar with nobles. Nobles are the backbone of the nation's government, and while commoner families have risen to wealth and influence in recent times, noble families hold a lot of influence. Most are used to getting their way, and it's best to avoid their attention if you can."

"Some, like Gareth and Lane, aren't bad though," Sara added.

"Though in our first year when they were assigned to lead our party, they were pretty snooty," Cecilia snickered over her glass. "Remember the first trip into the Forest when Lane demanded we clean the mud up while it rained? He got so mad when he slipped face first into the mud and ran around cursing out the rain! Such a dispaly of 'noble etiquette' he put on," Cecilia finished with a snort, breaking out into full on laughter as Lane blushed with a grimace. Everyone started laughing good naturedly at the memory, and Jun couldn't help but giggle at the mental image of a mud soaked Lane cursing like a sailor.

"I changed though," Lane said with an embarrassed laugh.

"I was even worse, ordering everyone around like you all were my house's guards," Gareth shook his head and took a sip from his glass.

Sara saluted Gareth with her right arm, setting off a new round of snickers.

"The point is," Gareth continued, chuckling but growing more serious, "that we brought Jun to the Academy and yet I didn't prepare her for it."

"We didn't," Sara stressed.

"Well, let's start now then," Gareth said, leaning forward. "I mentioned this in the cafeteria, but the Academy now gives a lot of favor to nobles even if most of the students are not from noble families." Gareth motioned to the obviously fancy room they were sitting in and his own gold medallion. "Nobles and the wealthy are given extra luxuries, higher tiered medallions, and even get exempted from some of the course requirements. Iggy, or Lord Greygarten, is a good example. He is the son and heir of Duke Greygarten, a high noble and distant cousin to the royal family. He's a student in the Governance and Arcane Studies Branches— Yes?" Gareth asked as Jun meekly raised her hand.

"Governance and Arcane Studies Branches?"

"You forgot she's literally only been a student here for a couple hours didn't you?" Lane asked with a smug look on his face.

"Oh." Gareth blushed a bit. "Right, well it should be enough to say that he's a high noble, he's entitled, and a lot of the other noble students behave like him or worse," he finished with a cough.

"But the branches?" Jun asked, confused.

"Most of this should be in the packet the Registrar gave you..." Lane said as he began rifling through the documents. "Right, here we are!" Lane handed Jun a sheet of paper with the Academy's crest at the top and titled "Academic Branches." There were five branches of the school with several departments under each. Remembering the Professor that had helped get her in, she looked for the Artifact Research Department, finding it under the Arcane Studies Branch.

"There's five major branches of academics at the Academy. The first is the Governance Branch, which includes the Law, Economics, and Civil Service Departments. The second is the Military Branch focuses on training students for martial pursuits, whether as members of the nation's military or as adventurers. The Arcane Studies Branch covers the teaching, research, and development of spells and all types of magical knowledge. The Production Branch covers all types of engineering and artisan pursuits from building fortifications and bridges to crafting paper and general goods. The final Branch is General Studies, which covers all the other disciplines. Not very many nobles are in that last branch as our family tutors are normally more than sufficient to give us that knowledge." Lane dug out another sheet and handed it over to Jun before continuing.

"As a student, you'll have to complete at minimum three of the branches of study to graduate, including the General Studies Branch," he said, tapping on the sheet he handed her. It was a blank course selection form with spaces to fill in which classes she wanted to take. "Since the Administrative Building is closed now, you'll have to go back tomorrow to select classes," he finished.

"T-Thank you Lane," Jun said, stifling a yawn. "So that Iggy guy is in the Governance and Arcane Studies Branches? What about everyone else?"

"We're all in the Combat Branch as a school sanctioned party," Gareth said, leaning forward. "I'm also in Governance."

"Production and General Studies," Cecilia said with a nod.

"Arcane and General Studies," Corin said quietly.

"I'm in Arcane, Governance, and Production," Lane said brightly as the other three groaned.

"Boo! Overachiever! Enough about the boring academics!" Sara shouted as Lane stuck his tongue out at her, drawing laughter from the group.

"Me? You're the one in all the branches Sara!" he retorted.

"A-nyways, let's get to the important bit! Where's Jun's room?" Sara said, snatching the pile of documents from Lane and digging through it rapidly. "Ah, here it is!" Waving the paper in the air, Sara handed it to Jun to with a smile on her face.

Taking the document, Jun read it out loud as everyone leaned in. "Room assignment, Tilden Hall, Room 217, Roommates... Cecilia Broadtooth and Oinarsan no Sara...?"

Exchanging a smile with each other Cecilia and Sara looked and Jun and shouted. "Hi roomie!"