Classmates

 
 
 ☆
 
 
 Flustered, the young ladies’ faces turn red.
 
 Of all the girls, Freya Astrid was the first to recover.
 
 “You… If I consider what you’ve been saying all this time, you’ve been speaking some rude words about me, who is from a noble family. Are you aware of what happens to those who insult the Astrids in this country?”
 
 Miss Freya changed the topic.
 
 And yet, the boy in traditional garb scoffed at her.
 
 “Well, I wonder what happens… Let me just say, since its founding, Runefelt has declared that 『all students be treated equally, regardless of race, gender or background』, and has strictly enforced that rule. Not even the royal family is exempt. Speech and conduct relying on one’s origins is grounds for reprimand. You wanna come to Eugray with us?”
 
 Freya glared with narrowed eyes at the smirking boy.
 And then———
 
 “Your name?”
 
 “Sharieq Baarat al-Arayn of Marakesh.”^[1]
 
 “Right. I’ll remember you guys.”
 
 “That would be an honour.”
 
 “Hmph ——— Everyone, let’s leave these dropouts and get going.”
 
 Freya’s group exited while leaving behind such sore loser remarks.
 
 After watching those girls leave, I turned around to face the boy named Sharieq.
 
 
 
 “You said Sharieq, right? Thank you for helping me.”
 
 When I gave my thanks, he got startled for a moment and looked away.
 
 “No, it’s fine.”
 
 “?”
 
 Sharieq shrunk back.
 
 (He’s extremely shy… that can’t be true. He was speaking so boldly just a while ago.)
 
 I tilted my head, confused by how much his behaviour changed from what it was until a while ago.
 Come to think of it, he was like this during the practical exam too.
 
 (Is he maybe scared of me?)
 
 Nothing comes to mind, but was there something I did that scared him off?
 
 (Hmm…)
 
 Honestly, I have no idea.
 The only possibility I could think of was that he sensed the amount of magic power I have.
 
 Even among those in Heielland, the magic power I possess was top class.
 
 Although I don’t thoughtlessly release magic power, for someone who excels at sensing magic power, they should be able to feel it.
 
 (I’d feel bad if I scared him too much.)
 
 I decided to simply introduce myself for now.
 
 “I am Letia Einwell from Heielland. Seeing as we’re in the same class, I hope to get along from here on.”
 
 “Ah, yeah. I see. Same here.——— Well, see you.”
 
 Saying this, Sharieq eagerly left.
 
 “He’s, uhh, a rather strange person, isn’t he?”
 
 While Renee expressed such opinions, Anna was huffing in anger.
 
 “I’m glad he helped us, but that attitude of his was rude! Letty even went to the trouble of thanking him.”
 
 “I’m sure he has his reasons.——— Anyway, let’s head to our dorms. We need to finish unpacking today, else we’ll be troubled tomorrow, won’t we?”
 
 “You’re right! Especially since classes start tomorrow.”
 
 With a dry sound, Renee clapped her hands together.
 
 “I hope I get the same room as Letty…”
 
 “Come now, Anna nee-san. We’re going.”
 
 Pulling Anna by her cuff as she began praying to the goddess once more, we headed to the women’s dorm where we’ll be staying from now on.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 
 The Runefelt girl’s dorm is a dignified building with the same feeling of history as the school building.
 
 It is shaped like a pentagon, with five thick cylinders arranged along the circumference and connected by corridors, with each cylinder being the dorm for each class and the administrative building in the center.
 
 By the way, the boy’s dorm on the other side of the plaza has the same design, with their dorms appearing to hold older history.
 
 There is an open space through the center of each column, and a saloon can be found on the first floor.
 Overlooking this were the corridors of each floor, with the students’ rooms lined up on the outer side.
 
 Now then.
 With heavy bags in hand, we decided to check our room allocations in Eugray’s saloon.
 In short, it seems that Anna’s wish did not reach the goddess.
 
 
 
 “Why am I the only one in a different room?”
 
 Standing at the entrance to the room, Anna laments with a miserable look on her face.
 Seeing her like that, I gently patted her on the shoulder.
 
 “There, there. We’re right next door, so we can all come and go right away, no?”
 
 “… now that I think about it, the walls of these rooms are nice and thin, so even if I broke through the wall a little, it’d still be fine to call it an 『accident』, right?”
 
 “N-, no way. Absolutely not!”
 
 I hurriedly scolded my sister for saying something so dangerous.
 
 This waiting maid of mine might actually do it if left alone.
 
 I reached out my hand, and touched Anna’s cheek.
 
 “Hey, sister. This is a chance for each of us to become more independent. We’ll be together when we leave the room anyway, so let’s try communicating and living with our roommates while we’re in our rooms.”
 
 Ever since Anna ran away from home and came knocking on our door, we’ve been living together all the time.
 
 Neither Anna nor I have many real friends, so it will surely be good for both of us to try putting in effort to expand our circle of friends.
 
 “Uugh…”
 
 “Look, sister. The people behind us are troubled not being able to get into the room.”
 
 I pulled my sister’s sleeve, who was blocking the entrance, and apologized 『Sorry about that』 to the two girls behind us.
 
 And then———
 
 “Excuse me.”
 
 A girl about my height, with long, flowing black hair said this grumpily as she entered the room.
 
 Following in after her was a slightly petite girl with short, blonde hair,
 “……”
 who glanced at us with a cold stare, passing by without saying a word.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 With our roommates’ arrival, Anna reluctantly went into her own room.
 
 I said to Renee 『Anyway, let’s go greet our roommates』, and called out to those two who had gone ahead and started unpacking.
 
 “Umm, would it be alright if we said hello?”
 
 The black-haired girl looked puzzled at my words.
 The other girl looked on silently.
 
 A-, awkward…
 
 Somehow holding my smile together, I began introducing myself.
 
 “I’m Letia Einwell from Heielland in the Northern Continent. And this here is my friend———”
 
 “I’m Renee Janson from the Astrid territory. Nice to meet you!”
 
 Renee neatly bowed her head.
 I too joined her with a bow.
 
 ““……””
 
 An unpleasant silence.
 
 The first to open their mouth was, unexpectedly, the blond-haired girl.
 
 “Reina Celian… Reina’s fine.”^[2]
 
 Although her expression was as cold as ever, she did more or less respond.
 
 “Thanks, Reina. Nice to meet you.”
 
 When I said this, Reina nodded so slightly that you wouldn’t have known.
 
 We then turned to look at our other roommate.
 
 “Sigh…”
 
 The black-haired girl sighed, as though to say she wasn’t in the mood.
 
 “… Olga Hellqvist.”
 
 She introduced herself with a truly reluctant look on her face.
 
 (She’s properly groomed, I wonder if she’s a noble lady from somewhere.)
 
 As I was thinking this, Renee spoke to Olga.
 
 “Um, by Hellqvist, do you mean 『Freezing』 of———”
 
 “I’m not fond of prying.”
 
 Olga flatly cut her off.
 
 “Ah, uhm, sorry…!”
 
 In response to the unexpected rejection, Renee apologized in a hurry.
 
 Olga, on the other hand, frowned and this time glared at me.
 
 “You too. Sorry, but could you not bother me? You don’t have to talk with me just because we’re in the same room.”
 
 That sharp gaze pinned me down.
 
 “S-, sorry. Just wanted to say hi.”
 
 Yikes… scary.
 
 And so, Renee and I dejectedly headed back to our own beds.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 Looking back, I suppose the first day at Runefelt didn’t go all that smoothly.
 
 We got involved with Freya, and Olga rejected us. Well, it was pretty rough all around.
 
 Still, I can look back and think that it wasn’t so bad only because the days after brought even worse trouble and shocking events.
 
 That’s right.
 
 My first school life in this timeline was truly filled with troubles.