Chapter 2 - Start and End of a normal school life
Forterra Era 254, 7th day of the 4th month
Morning of the First day of school. Since I live in the capital, there was no need to board in the dorms. Dedicated school buses are available, so my every weekday morning routine has turned into riding buses. It’s not that bad, since all buses in this country are all new and well-equipped. It reminds me of a certain academic city, but instead we also have magic out in the public. At first I was troubled about security, but it’s kinda assuring that there’s countless surveillance cameras everywhere that’s a public place, complete with cameras watching other cameras in a circular fashion, and patrolling policemen that has the atmosphere of a former soldier. Well, this is a small country that’s constantly repelling would-be invaders… everyone has served the military at least once, heck even the bus driver seem to be a war veteran.
After getting off the bus, I proceed to walk on the paved path towards the elementary school building. Due to security reasons, or I assume it is, all school buildings are at least 2 kilometers away from the outer walls, and no traffic is allowed near the buildings. To compensate for that, the school operates an internal train system. The school brochure I’m reading right now says that the internal trains could accommodate twice the school population without much issue, so I’m going to assume that it should still be comfortable to ride even during bad weather. But it’s such a perfect spring morning, I decided to leisurely walk towards the school building. Well, since it’s a kilometer walk, and the assembly time is still an hour away, I’ll just keep reading the brochure while walking leisurely.
The map on the brochure shows that only a small portion of the land is dedicated to compulsory education. Not that it matters, since each campus grounds for the three compulsory education tiers are larger than a standard university. Most of the grounds are dedicated to the research and development of the university side of the academy. If we draw conclusions here, we can see how dedicated the country is on RnD.
As for the compulsory educations, their buildings and respective facilities are all grouped up a bit of a distance away from the university site. I can imagine why. They all seem not to be divided by any kind of fence or wall, but you can definitely see that each tier have their own facilities, with the elementary division obviously more on the size factor.
Oddly enough, the brochure also includes my syllabus. Well, I can only see very standard educational topics for a first grader, nothing I should worry about. Hey, when you’re as old as I am, you would probably have went through enough education that you could just waltz into a university classroom and teach a unique subject nobody has the qualification to teach but you. Not that I’m planning to do that, since I would rather enjoy the school life.
As for the uniforms of this academy, everyone is wearing a common beige blazer, with differing necktie/bows(optional for females) colors and arm bands to differentiate year levels. Black pants for males and skirts for females. But it says here that both genders can apply to their respective principals to wear the opposite gender’s lower garments, which is subject to approval… Ok, now I’ve never been so thankful for my master in my previous life, for teaching me the absolute method of telling apart traps from real lolis. Sorry, it’s a divine technique, I can’t carelessly teach anyone about it…
Ok, since the walk isn’t exactly that long, I’ve made it to the elementary campus. Not a lot of people are here yet. Since its spring I guess I’ll spend the extra time on nature gazing. I’m glad this world has something similar to cherry blossom trees, except that they’re a bit whiter than I remember. The path beside the auditorium (where the assembly would take place) seems to be a good place to pass the time. I guess I’ll just sit down on this bench and start nature gazing on the raining cherry blossoms. Ah, this sight really brings back memories from my last life.
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Since I’m in the mood, it’s now time for a flashback. In my last life, the hero is typically chosen by pulling out a certain holy sword from a stone. It’s a cliché, I know, but it works. The day I’m remembering was a week after she managed to pull out the sword, I was lazing around enjoying the spring breeze from an overlooking hill covered with short grass. You get the scene right? I found her coming up the hill with the holy sword at hand while deeply thinking about something, and didn’t notice me. She stopped and plopped herself on a bench just a few meters away above me. I didn’t mind her much until she muttered out “Why did this sword choose me?” and stare at the sky, seemingly trying to ask god. Well, I guess I have my moments where I get motivated to do some godly stuff, and answering her seemed to be one of them. I got up and slowly approached her while speaking.
“Don’t think too much about it. Even a holy sword or some prophecy can’t tell you what you want to do. The Sword of Calistros probably sensed something in you that would end up saving this world if you become its wielder. At least, that’s how most prophetic sentient holy swords work. Hey sword, stop being silent and cheer up your master.” I said while making myself up to her bench. I plopped down on the bench myself when I started talking to the holy sword.
“My apologies, divine one. She’s the first one I deemed worthy of wielding me, and I haven’t talked to anyone for the last hundred years after my creator died.” A female disembodied voice resounded, complete with light effects from the jewel and runes on the sword.
“You can tell, huh? Well, both of you are new to this. If you have problems, talk to each other. After all, the both of you would be spending your time together till death. Even beyond that if you’re lucky.” I said while breaking into a wry smile. The girl just keeps shifting her sight between me and the holy sword.
“That’s it for today. I think it’s about time the king summoned me. I look forward to teaching you, heroine.” I said while standing up, passed by the girl, tapped her on the shoulder, and jumped down the steeper side of the hill platform.
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Ah memories. Now that I think about it, that event was probably what started it all on my last life. I better remember to be more careful when consoling downhearted females.
A loud but calming electronic tune resounded. I guess I should head inside for the assembly.
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In front of me right now are 1200+ students, comfortably inside the seated auditorium. One would expect more students for being the only school in the country, but since this is a small country with a long life expectancy even after being in constant war with our greedy neighbors, most adults are working. I’m not too sure on that though, since I can hear my parents ‘working’ in their bedroom every night.
Moving on… Hmm, there are labeling for each year level. I guess I’ll just head over to the first grader’s area. Along the way, I spot a signage saying “For the first day of classes, sit wherever you like in your respective grade area.”
… Wow, how convenient. I guess they also anticipated those wondering where to seat. If I wasn’t so sure that my mind isn’t being read right now, I would have thought that whoever placed this sign here did. Oh there’s an additional note under the sign. Let’s see… “P.S. No, we’re not reading your mind.”
… Okay, that’s creepy. But I guess someone must have been fed up with people asking every start of the school year, and made this sign. Yes, I will believe with all my might that nobody is reading my mind to a degree that even I, a supreme god, can’t even detect.
Moving on, I arrived at the area assigned to first graders. There are a few groups of kids already talking to each other, seating near each other. I guess I’ll assume that they already know each other. Surprisingly, nobody is being too rowdy. As for me, I’ll just take a seat near the edge of the area. Sadly for me, I’ve spent most of my time working on my physical and magical capacities. And to top it all off, I couldn’t interact much with kids my (physical) age due to my father’s work and mother’s secret identity. Not that I mind, since it’s very exhausting trying to pretend that you’re a kid when you’ve lived longer than eternity.
The school assembly and the school life following after that were pretty… normal. I know you’re disappointed that I’m fast forwarding, but there’s nothing much to say. I made a typical buddy named Tajima Tadashi. If I had to describe him, then he would be the popular blonde and refreshing class pretty boy. Not that I’m jealous since I’ve already lived a few lives as one in the past. As for me, I’m mostly viewed as the cool and calm person. I made it like that so most people wouldn’t have any purpose of talking to me except when asking for advice. It’s really convenient when you have someone else take all the attention for you.
I spent most of my time in the background keeping quiet with a faint smile until someone decides to join me into the conversations. While nobody is looking; I also helped out the loners group together, and while at the attention of others; mediated between groups. Well, fights rarely broke out, as this country’s convenience made it so that even children don’t shamelessly discriminate. With the situation like that, time went by until eighth grade. The start of eighth grade also started some events that I am most likely compelled to enumerate to you.
First up is this one. Here in this Kingdom of Forterra, its common knowledge that all citizens are all reserve soldiers, mostly due to the small size of the country compared to our neighbors. At the age of 14, or eighth grade, everyone is expected to undergo basic military training, provided by the academy. Basic training only includes memorizing military terms and codes, with basic magic and combat training. The purpose of this early training, or at least formally stated in the introduction of the course, is to find out a child’s latent talents so they could be given proper training and roles. Additionally, formal military training only starts at high school.
The second important event is that the First Princess, daughter of the crown prince, will finally join us in school. According to the princess’ public data, she’s around our age. According to the same source, the princess did not attend school until now due to the fact that she was undergoing specialized education for royalty until now. Well, I won’t poke around much about that, since I’m not currently interested in that.
More data about her says quotes that she is ‘Unmatched in her beauty and a genius with the sword’. Apparently, she’s good enough with a sword that she would be an assistant instructor in combat training for our batch. Well, I guess we’ll find out more about that later.
As for the third and last important issue, it’s more of a personal family event. My parents have decided to adopt a little sister. Almost a year younger than me, she was found, or rather rescued, by father during one of his missions outside the country. Apparently, her parents were murdered and herself taken as a slave due to her latent magical talents. I must say, if she has a proper mentor and training, she would probably be able to rival mother. Well, I wonder what would happen now, since the person in question, my mother, would be the one to actually mentor her. She was introduced to me around the end of my seventh grade. It was decided that she would enroll in the academy as my classmate to guide her around. I heard that my mother has quite the influence over the middle school principal.
Well, let’s end this monologue and proceed with the story… after the commercials.
Author notes: The next two chapters will be short stories will be about the kingdom’s economy and the little sister introduction. After that would be the continuation of the main story. I don’t really know how long the two chapters will be, as I might enjoy myself too much on writing them. Oh and I call them short stories but they’re basically plot material in another character’s perspective.