I wasn’t hurt from the little catfight that occurred in the car, although saying I escaped unscathed wasn’t true either.

“So this is the school, huh?”

Ignoring my slight pain, Aliya stood on the side of the road, looking at the large gate made out of bricks that stood tall in front of the school. On top of it stood proudly the school’s name, Cutarvir Magic High School. This was the third-best magic school in the nation. Aliya was content with the third best, as the other two meant crossing the sea to different islands.

Despite being a magic school, this school also had a lot of other great programs, including swordsmanship. The Moonuvert Silver Sword that Aliya wields also used magic behind its attacks, so this school wasn’t a bad choice by any means.

“You’re wondering why this school, right? Shouldn’t you have asked that question before this?”

“Stop reading my mind!”

She crossed her arms and puffed.

“Stop being so predictable, then. Anyway, to put it simply, this school started as a magic school but evolved into a jack of all trades of sorts. Even compared to normal high schools, it was still better, so that’s why.”

She gave me a quick explanation before heading to the back of the car. I followed her and helped her unload our stuff.

“I’ll be staying here until tomorrow. Make sure you call me if you two need anything, alright?”

“Alright. Stay safe.”

“You too. Have fun.”

Martin waved at us and drove away, only to turn around at a junction not far from the school and park in front of a four-star hotel sitting across the street a few hundred meters away from us.

“Well, that was anti-climatic...”

“Anyway…”

Clearly not impressed by this turn of events, Aliya picked up her luggage and turned around.

“Shall we?”

We walked past the large gate, heading into an equally large front garden. Neatly trimmed bushes formed a hedge wall that served as a fence to the large pathway leading into the school building. A brown gazebo stood in the center of the garden, with several benches neatly placed throughout the garden. This large garden was mostly empty, though, with only a few students wondering about and eating lunch.

On the end of the garden stood a large building, built from brown bricks. The three-story building had the crest of the school on top, watching proudly over the entrance. It had the mark of a golden shield with green mountains and a silver knight holding a dark blue wand standing beside a brown horse. A rather complicated symbol, if I say so myself.

Aliya saw me looking up toward the symbol and commented.

“That thing has a lot of meaning behind it.”

“Oh? What does it mean?”

“... Do you really not read the guidebook?”

She asked, exasperated.

“Sorry, sorry. I was helping my dad, alright? I promise to read it once I got to my room.”

“Urgh, guess time to play tour guide.”

She took a step forward, passing the gazebo.

“To put it simply, the school is mostly colored brown, as to symbolize that humans came from the ground, and will return to the ground regardless of whatever they accomplish, thus humans must stay humble.”

I looked back at the brown gazebo, which was made from wood instead of bricks.

“But that-”

“Humans couldn’t live without nature’s help, that’s why the gazebo is made from wood.”

“Wow, I didn’t expect that to actually have a meaning.”

“It doesn’t, at least not mentioned in the guidebook. I made that one up.”

Aliya shrugged her shoulders and stopped not far below the crest.

“The golden shield meant valuable strength used to protect the weak. The green mountains meant the school’s students must serve this country. Not necessarily through politics or joining the military… but you get my point. The silver knight meant purity and a strong will to fight, the dark blue wand means knowledge and magic, and the brown horse meant reliability. For a longer explanation, please refer to the guidebook.”

“Alright…”

She then explained despite us being in a position where I am unable to see the crest clearly. She continued her steps, walking into a tunnel that led deeper inside the complex. Inside, two large buildings stood on each side, with a fountain in the center of the complex and a large clock tower standing behind it.

“Are these the school buildings?”

“Nope, they’re the dormitory. The girl’s are on the left, and the boy’s are on the right.”

She turned left, heading into the building, with me following behind her. She realized I followed her and took a glance at me, before stopping.

“What are you doing? Didn’t your dad say not to chase skirts?”

“What? No… what am I supposed to be doing?”

“Sigh… Your room is B23. That meant your room is on the second floor, inside the building behind that one.”

She pointed toward the building on the right. Apparently, there were more than two buildings here.

“Thanks… and I’m sorry.”

Hearing that, she gave me a wry smile.

“Come on, don’t look gloomy like that. I know you worked hard during the vacation, I’m only joking, okay? I’ll contact you later.”

She waved to me and dragged her bag inside. I followed the main pathway north, heading for the fountain. The entire complex soon came into view, with four five-story buildings standing across the dormitories. All of them had the same shape and same brown color with a white roof. The only one that had a different shape was the clock tower, which was two stories taller than the other buildings and was significantly thinner in width. Beside the clock tower existed two different paths that led somewhere, but I turned right and follow the wide cobblestone road leading to the B building. The dormitory was shorter when compared to the buildings sitting across them, with each building having only three floors. It had a light brown color on its walls, with the roof formed by brown roof tiles as if contrasting the color from the buildings that stood across it.

To add to that, those buildings sat at a higher elevation than the dormitories, requiring a student to climb a set of stairs to go there. The stairs weren’t much, only around seven steps, but I could see how it would be a pain after some of the more physically demanding subjects.

Looking back at the dormitories, I could find a large B symbol above the building’s entrance, and unlike the A building that stood on its west, it didn’t have a side door.

I entered, founding few people inside. Granted, this was the Saturday right before a new school year, so the other students probably spent most of their remaining vacation in their homes. I past the few who were inside, heading for the stairs. The interior had been painted in a largely white color, with the exception of the doors which had a light gray color to them. Metal plating showcased the room's number. After arriving at the top of the staircase, I turned around, founding the row of rooms on both my left and my right.

The rooms on the left had even numbers, while the ones on the right had odd numbers. I arrived in front of my room, number twenty three, which stood second closest to the stairs after room number twenty one. I opened my sling bag and looked for the key. The small silver key had no markings for it, so I probably should mark it myself to prevent myself from forgetting my own dorm room. I put the key into the keyhole and unlocked my room.

The room smelled fresh as I entered. The white-walled room had brown wooden flooring tiles and gray ceiling. It featured a single white bed, a decently-sized wooden wardrobe, and a study desk right beside the wardrobe. Left of the desk, a medium-sized window stood with orange curtains covering them. The air conditioning unit stood on the wall left of the bed, facing toward the window, an air freshener hanging on its closed flap. Its remote was attached directly below it. I opened the curtains while wondering if they have a meaning to them. They do stand out in this mostly white and brown room, and maybe they represent the sun?

The bright sun shined into the room, giving a fresh feeling. I then unlocked the window and pushed them open, letting fresh air enter. I then went back toward the door, but this time turned right into the toilet that was beside it. The clean toilet featured a sink with a mirror, a toilet seat, and a shower beside it. Pretty luxurious for a dormitory if you ask me. To be fair, I heard a lot of nobles went to school here, so naturally, it was this good. This may be small compared to their own personal rooms, though. I walked back toward my bag that lay above the brown wooden-tiled floor, opening it. I searched through the various stationery that I brought and took the guidebook under it.

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The guidebook featured the school’s crest and an explanation of it behind the cover. I put it on the desk but decided to wash myself first. While I did shower myself after waking up, I couldn’t do it properly thanks to Aliya who was waiting for me. Upon entering the shower, I immediately tested the water heater. I was pleasantly surprised to find the heater working as warm water flowed through my tired body. I then changed into my room clothes and headed back to the desk. My phone, which I placed beside the guidebook, had its screen turned on. It showed a notification from my messaging app, with Aliya’s name on it.

Have you settled in?

I picked it up and typed in a reply.

It’s awesome. Why a single, though?

I heard the rooms on the upper floor had the capacity for two or three people, so why did they give me the single room? The one made for nobles?

I got a single room, so it wouldn’t be fair if you don’t get one. Wanna meet up at twelve and go get lunch?”

… How is that unfair?

I looked at the clock. I have an hour and thirty minutes before twelve.

Alright.

Okay, see ya.

I put the phone back and picked up my guidebook.

She’s probably trying to cheer me up.

I wonder if she felt bad for criticizing me for not reading the guidebook.

I sometimes wonder why I acted like a downer around her. She did all these things for me, and yet I couldn’t even smile in front of her. Was this what her guard was supposed to be doing? She would naturally be pissed if I relied on her for a basic explanation like before, so why was I putting up such a sad face when it was clearly my fault?

Why did she even want to be with me in the first place? She had no obligation of taking care of me, so why? Why did she go this far? Can I ever achieve the dream of being of use to her?

I was then suddenly reminded of the stacks of cash she gave me and jumped off the bed. I looked for it in my bag, founding it inside my top pouch. I got it out and counted the contents. I nearly spat when I realized they had given me one hundred EC, an equivalent to twenty-five days worth of food, assuming I spent four EC a day.

But they wouldn’t accept returns, so I reluctantly returned them to my bag, while putting ten EC into my wallet. I would try to live off this as long as possible so that I could secretly return some when the school year ended. I returned to my bed and picked up the guidebook, thinking that she might be annoyed if I didn’t read it. Besides, it was for my own good anyway. I couldn’t keep relying on her, or else, how am I going to repay all this kindness she gave me?

I realized that thinking about it wouldn’t help me for now. What would help me was this guidebook in front of me. I lay on the soft bed. I stopped my mind from thinking about Aliya and started reading through the pages. The guide started with my private information, along with the dormitory room I was assigned to. The next page featured the school’s vision and mission, followed by the general rules of the school, followed by the dormitory rules. The dormitory allowed students to stay outside the school, but the gates would be closed by nine at the night. No one would be allowed access after the gates closed, for the safety of the occupants inside.

Considering the number of nobles and important people here, that should be a given. The rules were then followed by a general map of the school. A total of ten buildings stood above this lawn. The school occupied four buildings to the north, named building A to D from west to east, with the clock tower standing in the middle. The A to C building consisted of mostly classes. There were some classes in the D building, but the library and the auditorium occupied most of the building. Further up north would be the Keeper’s Training Area, the indoor gym on its west and an outdoor field on its east.

There were also six dormitories, capable of housing the school’s four hundredth-fifty student capacity, but since not everyone lived here, some rooms were destined to be empty. Three girls' dormitories stood on the west, and three boys’ stood on the east. The left-side building was named the A building, the middle B, and the right side named C, this applied to both the girls’ and boys’ dormitories.

South of us would be the administration building. It had three floors, but the lower two had a large tunnel in the middle, so it might as well be considered two separate buildings connected by a bridge, although ultimately the map counted it as one. The cafeteria stood west of the tunnel occupying all three floors, while the teacher's room along with various other school-related rooms occupied the east. The garden occupied most of the space south of the complex. I turned the page and found the uniforms for the school for both boys and girls. Both the boys and girls wore white collared shirts, with light brown vests and the school crest on the right side of the chest. The boys wore black pants while the girls wore black skirts. The winter and summer clothes differed only in the length of the sleeves. Finally, both genders wore white socks and black shoes, with no difference between them. The book didn’t mention any meaning to the clothes, but Aliya probably had a thing or two to say about them.

The page was then followed by a list consisting of the names of all the new students. I searched for my name and Aliya's. My name was below hers, with her id being 0009522 and mine being 0009523. I wonder if we would end up in the same class? The guidebook proceeded to quickly list the classes with their basic explanation. What caught my eyes were the Keeper's class and the nobles’ class. Keepers, short for Knights of Eesper, were warriors that fought to protect this nation from all kinds of threats. Keepers tend to be loosely affiliated with the nation, connected through the Keeper's Association.

As attendants of a magic school, we were expected to be Keepers that would protect the nation in the future. Meanwhile, the nobles’ class was an optional class that would teach how a person could manage territory and resources, basically a class on how to be a good noble. While this was optional for most students, it was required for nobles.

I flipped the page, to find no more content in the book, except a congratulation for being a part of the Cutarvir Magic School family. I closed the book and stood up, returning it to the desk. I grabbed my phone, its screen empty of any notifications. Dad should be working at the fields, considering time, while Aliya may be resting in her room…

Or since she was more outgoing compared to me, maybe she already started making friends? Would she forget about me if she found new friends? The idea of her dumping me played in my mind, and while I have no right to say anything about that, the thought made me uncomfortable. I shook my head and went to the toilet. I washed my face, clearing myself up, despite just taking the shower a few minutes ago.

I decided to change into my outside clothes and walked around the school complex. I heard the school buildings themselves were off-limits, but the dormitories, administration building, and garden were open. I got outside and locked the door. After making sure that the door was locked and that I brought both my phone and wallet with me, I head back down to the first floor and went outside the building. The dormitories themselves have little more than bedrooms and a laundry room, so I walked toward the cafeteria, intending on seeing what meals they offered. Like before, not many people roam the school’s grounds. Only a few students could be seen chatting with each other. I wonder if they just met today or if they had already known each other before coming to the school. Or maybe, those were our upperclassmen, who came to greet each other after the long break.

As I walked in front of the boys’ dormitories building A, my phone vibrated, indicating I received something.

Where are you at?

Near the fountain.

Wait a bit.

I walked and stood beside the fountain, watching it as the water burst from the top of the fountain, falling down to its base. It was relatively small when compared to the massive open area I stood in. I soon heard footsteps approaching me. I turned around and found Aliya bringing a girl with her. Should I be surprised that she found a new friend already?

“Ranold!”

She waved, the girl followed timidly behind her.

“Hey. Found a new friend already?”

“Yeah. Mina, this is Ranold. Ranold, this is Mina.”

She introduced the short, white-haired girl who stood shyly behind her, her clear blue eyes peeking from behind Aliya. She wore a pink dress, with a beautiful ruby necklace on her neck and a diamond bracelet on her left hand.

I wonder if wearing that many accessories to school are a good idea…

“A boy…”

“Huh?”

Was there something wrong with me being a boy?

“... He… hello.”

She stuttered, for some reason. Was there something wrong with the way I look? I looked down at my clothes, making sure I wore proper clothes and that nothing funny was attached.

“Hi.”

Aliya quickly realized that things weren’t going well.

“It’s a bit early, but how about we grab some lunch?” she said as she walked off toward the exit, I followed behind her.

“Who is that?”

I whispered to her while glancing at Mina who walked a distance away behind us, her eyes glued to the ground.

“Mina Poverlista. Her dad is the governor of Pover Island. I found her struggling to open her room. She’s a bit shy, so try not to spook her, okay?”

Aliya said slowly. I nodded slightly, before walking a bit away from her. We slowed down our steps, letting Mina catch up. Mina started walking toward Aliya’s right side, while I walked on her left. It felt slightly awkward as neither of us said anything. Aliya started glancing at me, then at Mina, before glancing back at me, and then Mina again, clearly confused about something. What did Mina say before this? This didn’t seem to be what Aliya had in mind. Did she expect me to say something? Or was Mina more talkative before this? Should I try walking further from her? Should I instead say something? She mumbled about me being a boy before… does something bad happen in the past?

Ouch!

I felt a slight pain in the right side of my stomach. Aliya gave me a weird glare, but she didn’t say anything…

Was she trying to tell me to not fall into thought? I could only assume my thoughts were somehow showing on my face, and she tried warning me about it.

We passed the school’s garden and walked outside the gate.

“So, what do you want to eat?”

Aliya asked, turning her back toward us.

“Some fried rice would be… nice…”

I said, but I realized Mina didn’t say a thing. She shivered, despite the air not being the slightest cold.

“Mina?”

Aliya approached her. The sudden call spook her and she took a step back.

“Uhh… umm… north marloin steak…”

Aliya froze.

“Umm… I don’t think I know a place that sells those.”

“I’m sorry!”

“Ah, no. It’s fine!”

North marloin steak… a very, and I do mean very, expensive steak that used the meat of the north marloin cows. These cows could only be found in farms on the northern side of the country, high up in the mountains. Their limited number and transporting difficulty made their prices skyrocket. I guess in the end, regardless of how she acted, she was still a noble.

“Would normal steak do?”

“Umm… of course.”

Are we really going to a steakhouse? Those places are expensive, right?

Aliya turned around and started walking off. I sped up to catch up with her, Mina walking behind us. Aliya then elbowed my hand and handed me her phone, which had the map set to the nearest steakhouse. The closest one was five hundred meters away. Apparently, a lot of cafes and restaurants sat around the school. Considering many that attended the school came from wealthy families…

That meant the prices are even higher!

I exclaimed internally. The image of me spending my days eating instant noodles sprung into my mind. While I have no problem with that, I did have my own room to eat after all, what would I do if Aliya found out about it? Would she be angry at me, infuriated by my lack of care for my own health? Or maybe she would forget my existence by the time that moment came.

“Umm… Ranold?”

Huh?

I looked behind, to find Aliya pointing toward her right. I looked down at the map and realized that I should have taken a right.

“My bad.”

I said while going past them, back onto the right track. While we walked, I checked the steakhouse information.

“Fast service… delicious food…”

The place was rated highly… which meant a nightmare for my wallet. I really hope I could afford a bottle of water with what little I have.

My days are numbered here.