April 5th, 2052.
City of Saiun (formerly known as Hachioji city)
A hole connected to another world appeared right in the middle of Hachioji.
After the truce with Lemuria Federation, the j.a.panese government engaged in an official alliance with the Astoria Kingdom in Hachioji.
It was then, as a symbol of their alliance, that Hachioji’s name was changed to Saiun.
For the sake of transferring between the two worlds via the hole, construction of an airport began. In 50 years, half of the citizens were natural Astorian while the other half were born from interracial marriage, being half Astorian and half j.a.panese.
Astorians and Lemurians are similar in appearance to mankind on Earth, to their physique, and their genetic structure is not that great of a difference. The only difference is their ability to use magic.
Because of that, the people of j.a.pan were able to cast away their uneasiness and accept the Astorians. Saiun became the hub for intermingling with Astorians.
Astoria sent a capable person to invest in Saiun city to focus on its magical academy. Thus Saiun Acamdey was born.
The premises of Saiun Academy.
After the long school entrance ceremony ended, 1 boy was left standing about while the rush of student exited. His eyes were drooping and his shoulders sagging. He looks unreliable due to his hunched back. His height averaging about 170cm.
It’s Yuuki Mamoru.
After leaving the a.s.sembly hall where the entrance ceremony was held at, he moved a short distance away from the rushed students who queued in a line.
With the entrance ceremony finished, Mamoru hid by the huge gymnasium and took out his MAD.
The MAD vibrated, notifying an incoming call.
Confirming who’s calling, Mamoru sighed in depression and answered the call.
“……….Yes”
『Why didn’t you immediately leave?』
“Cause it was in the middle of the entrance ceremony…….”
You’re the one who placed me into the academy and should have an understanding of the ceremony already… as he thought to himself, but knew Lilicia’s that type of person.
Hearing the words, entrance ceremony, Lilicia unexpectedly muttered
『Did you honestly attempt to leave?』
“What does that mean…..”
What does that princess think of me.
Feeling like this might turn into an hour long interrogation, he easily imagined his heart crumbling but thought to not be so pessimistic.
『Surely you could have made a valid excuse to not attend. After all, you’ve always been absence from Astoria’s ceremony』
“Don’t lump an entrance ceremony and another world’s ceremony together…… It’s a general rule for all students to show regardless…”
『Since when did you abide by general rules. You’re saying you became an adult in just a short while since we haven’t met?』
Her att.i.tude felt like it’s cruelly humiliating him, daring Mamoru to retort back.
He thought of retorts one by one, but knew this would become longer than necessary.
“Well? What is it. Princess”
『Good, I have a few message for you. First. Only the princ.i.p.al and your homeroom teacher knows your true status. Please try to keep your status as a Knight concealed as much as possible. It’ll be an uproar if known.』
“I understand that. And? The other?”
『Has there been any problems….at the academy?』
“Mybad, a person’s coming”
Mamoru felt the presence of a person approaching his direction and apologized to Lilicia in a whisper.
『I guess it can’t be helped. Since I’ll be busy tomorrow, I’ll explain the day after. Well, before that I think you realized by now』
Leaving with those profound words, Lilicia hanged up.
After hearing those words, Mamoru pondered what she meant. And so while hanging his head down, he returned the MAD inside his pocket.
Then he saw the person coming.
Black seems to be the school’s color, as a girl wearing the school uniform, that uses black in various ways, in a black blazer and black checkered skirt came towards him.
The girl has long black hair that’s half up, with almond eyes that seems to have perceived Mamoru. Her eyes widen in surprise yet she soon expressed a tender smile.
Comparing to the same girl he knew, she had a small face and chin. Paired with her face is a lovely nose and lips.
Without being conceited, he was used to seeing beauties so she didn’t exactly strike him as being very beautiful.
“Are you a first year?”
“Well, tentatively. And you?”
168cm, or rather he rounded himself up to 170cm, he would be about 10 cm taller than her. She had to face upwards when she introduced herself.
“My name’s Kujyo Misaki. A first year student like you.”
As she answered, Mamoru pictured the “13 distinguished families”.
Half of Russia, China, and Australia’s lands were possessed by the Lemuria Federation, and the same holes in j.a.pan and Eastern Russia are considered targets.
Its due to Eastern Russia and j.a.pan’s holes being directly connected to Astoria.
Most particularly would be j.a.pan’s hole, as it’s connected nearby Astoria capital, Regalia. If they were to seize that hole, they could easily overturn Astoria’s predominance state of the battle.
Naturally, Astoria acknowledged that so they dispatched their strongest Knight to j.a.pan for protection.
That doesn’t mean j.a.pan sat on its thumb, doing nothing.
In order to oppose the threat Lemuria posed, they sought for those with the most extreme magical disposition and saw that the 13 magicians protection was vital.
They pursued for the strongest powers and the future generations then inherited that mission.
The required magical power quant.i.ty for the use of magic fluctuates but generally, one’s natural quant.i.ty does not change.
Therefore, it was impossible to obtain an enormous amount of magical power.
However, if it’s impossible to acquire, then it can be possessed congenitally.
The j.a.panese government understood the 13 magicians being vital to the nation’s protection and half-forcibly hastened the marriage between those blessed with natural dispositions.
That showed how impatient j.a.pan was.
The truce between Lemuria Federation was only temporary. It was also understood throughout j.a.pan that they could not entirely depend on Astoria patronage, as they would eventually have to return the favor.
As a result, the 13 magicians were the origins of the 13 distinguished families. The 13 families were ready to serve.
The 13 families are located in Kyushu/Okinawa, Chugoku, and Hokkaido where each area had 3 families apiece, totaling to 9. The remaining 4 were placed in Chubu and Kantō to be ready in an event of an emergency.
The Kujyo family is one of the 4 a.s.signed in that area, and could be called the first on the list of the 13 families.
j.a.pan’s princess eh as Mamoru thought while finally giving his name.
“Name’s Yuuki Mamoru. Regards”
Misaki blinked countless time at Mamoru’s natural self-introduction and wore an astonished facial expression.
Wondering if it was weird and it becoming uneasy, Mamoru cramped a smile.
As if she noticed Mamoru’s change, Misaki couldn’t respond as she barely recovered.
When the chime echoed.
“c.r.a.p! I’m gonna be late for homeroom!”
“Ah! Um, Yuuki-kun!”
“What?”
“Were you informed of your cla.s.s?”
“If I recall…F cla.s.s. And its in that way?”
Listening to Mamoru’s words, Misaki once again became astonished but suddenly comprehended and nods her head.
With a smile, Misaki walked up towards Mamoru
“I am with A cla.s.s”
“I see. Then my regards if our cla.s.s has lessons together.”
As Mamoru spoke while parting from Misaki’s gaze, walking towards his own cla.s.s.
“Yuuki. Can you come help me for a moment”
After finishing his self-introduction, Mamoru wanted to speak with his neighboring male students but was called by the homeroom teacher, Matsuoka.
By appearance at first glance, Matsuoka seems like a dull middle aged teacher
He’s not an ordinary person since he knows of my status as Mamoru thought to himself and it soon met his expectation.
“Ok. Mybad guys”
Mamoru apologized to his fellow cla.s.smates he was talking with and soon walked towards Matsuoka’s location.
Matsuoka’s glance seemed to indicate at Mamoru to bring along the lapis.
“Handle those with care”
“Roger”
After saying so, they both exited the room and began walking through the corridor.
Since Saiun Academy obtained an enormous about of land, it’s school ground is also grand.
And in the middle of it all, they entered the strictly guarded magic storage room filled with lapis and gears. Until now Matsuoka has been silently, but he suddenly spoke
“Sir Dreadnought. I’m a half between an Astorian and an Earthling. For the time being, I’m a man serving under Astoria’s royal family. Shall I treat you as a Knight as well?”
“That is unnecessary. That’s only because I’ve been forcibly given the t.i.tle of a Knight. I also have no interest in accompanying such authority.”
Matsuoka broadly grinned as he laughed, pulled out a chair nearby and sat down.
“You’re just like I’ve heard you are, which saves me time. But as for me, it’ll help if you looked more like the other students.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Would you like to hear?”
“Yes, since it’s been arbitrarily decided for me to attend”
Matsuoka bitterly smiled while turning on the PC in the storage room.
There, the cla.s.s of the 1st year showed.
The cla.s.s of the 1st year ranges from A cla.s.s to F cla.s.s, numbering to six. A and B cla.s.s are specially selected, making those selected having a sense of self-importance by its t.i.tle.
A cla.s.s has lesser amount of students if compared to other cla.s.s, with only about 15 names.
“The cla.s.ses were divided based on their entrance exam that this Academy holds. To use magic, one’s magical power is necessary. Those who have an abundant amount of magical power and excel in manipulating it are placed into specially selected cla.s.ses. In contrast, those who simply have magical powers are then divided into the remaining cla.s.ses. Do you know why?”
“Because of the different methods of teaching? Those with scarce amount of magical powers cannot continuously use it, whereas those with numerous amount can do so. Magical power is the same as physical strength. There are limits in teaching a cla.s.s if one with scarce amount and one with numerous are in the same”
“That’s generally the impression. The teachers also agreed upon being arranged into each specialized cla.s.ses. I wonder if this is entirely possible due to Astoria’s complete backing of Saiun.”
Mamoru nodded in agreement with Matsuoka.
They have superior and stronger magicians that spearheads the frontline. It’s their precious war potential after all.
Not just j.a.pan alone, but various other countries found it hard to find capable magician due to its insufficiency.
However, due to Astoria’s complete backing of Saiun, many instructors of magic came about.
It was not just Astorians, but Earthling as well.
The people that Astoria sent are approximately those who can use either magic, sorcery or both and must have a reputation as a leader.
There are 7 other magic academies besides Saiun in j.a.pan and those are sponsored by the 13 families.
However, various children from the 13 families also attend Saiun.
Showing how much Saiun is blessed by those with exceeding talent.
“However, there are plenty of those in society that fails to understands this. That is, those who have learned magic from a young age would generally have a large quant.i.ty of magical power. Therefore, they must be placed into A or B cla.s.ses; however, as a result those kids, you guys, have a false sense of superiority.”
“In actuality, its true for those excelling right? Since I’ve almost never “studied” anything related to magic, I’ve probably scored low on the entrance exam and have been divided into this cla.s.s. But I think of myself as having tackled magic once when I was young, being blessed with such character and do think of myself as superior you know?”
“Haa…..you sure? The specially selected cla.s.s are burdened with being the core of this nation’s defense and is a cla.s.s intended for rearing talented individuals. In regards to this cla.s.s, they are the cream of the crop. The selected cla.s.s, to make use of their abundant magical powers, are trained to repeatedly use their magic first, then trained on improving its accuracy. The other cla.s.ses are instead focusing more on the delicate control of magic, and then moving onto repeatedly using magic as much as they can. “
With the exception of A cla.s.s, the other cla.s.ses’ course does not differ much.
Or how Matsuoka wanted to say.
Though he would probably say something like that, the problem would be with B cla.s.s as Mamoru thought before sighing.
“Is it cause B cla.s.s is overconfident?”
“Truthfully, those who say they’re superior would often aim high. From the top, they can look down upon another person, where others would be affected, with you as an exception. Then there’s people like you. Blessed with half-baked characters that are in B cla.s.s and is under the impression that they’ve obtained dominance. As for the teachers, they want to display their feeling of not losing but must maintain professionalism.”
“I’m not superior, alright? Rather, I’m inferior compared to those around me. And, I never had any intentions to attend a magic academy”
“So you say but you also hold feelings of not losing just as much as the next fellow, and that’s why you exhibited your unmatched strength at the battlegrounds right? No less than half of the alumni’s from the academy entered into the police or military sector. Since 2 years ago, selections and courses have been increased to being more combat orientated. And then there’s the increase of magical powers. Ordinarily, they’ve been taught to pa.s.s the bridge in studying how to better manipulate their magical powers, then there’s those who just rides it out…….Is there something you want to say?”
Matsuoka gripping his forehead while asking Mamoru.
Mamoru shrugged and while frowning, he muttered
“So you’re saying the guys from before are basically sent to die….is what’s going on?”
“Aah. Those who don’t know how the battlefield works would die. Those who can’t grasp an understanding of their strong and weak points. Those who can’t understand their weakness fate is death. The death of the students……if possible, I’d want to ask for forgiveness.”
Feeling his facial expression exuding affliction, Mamoru’s eyes narrowed.
Matsuoka’s facial expression is something Mamoru have seen and remembered countless times.
It’s an expression a commander puts when a subordinate doesn’t come back.
He’s experiencing that same expression as his student’s can’t return.
3 years ago, j.a.pan and Lemuria met for their truce, for the 7th time.
But it’s not like the truce will forever hold.
There have been countless numbers of times where Lemuria violated the truce during their invasions.
“So? What does that have to do with me?”
“This problem does not lie with the teacher alone. The students, or even the higher ups won’t move for a change, which causes for no solution to be reached, or so I think”
“And you want me to solve it?”
With an unpleasant face due to his cramp being shown from Mamoru,
Matsuoka smiled bitterly while nodding his head.
“Ah, it’d be fine if you just get the higher ups to move. You can get in contact with a director right?”
Hearing Matsuoka’s words, Mamoru cramped face cramped even more.
In short, he wants him to contact the princess.
He doesn’t understand how long would he have to be stuck with listening to her cold words, whether it be in person or during a phone call.
Mamoru rigorously shook his head.
Seeing his action, Matsuoka broadly grinned and laughed!
“Yuuki, your records are considerably low. Though your practical skills are alright and as a result of you not studying magic efficiently, are you not in a tight situation in cla.s.s. Do you want additional help?”
“tsk……just a phone call is fine right? I can’t guarantee whether that person would actually do something”
And so, Mamoru undertook Matsuoka’s request.