“Yeah, I was worried that I would spend the entire semester alone without friends since it’s hard to mingle with kids five years younger. You looked gentle, so I talked to you, and I’m happy that we’re the same age! Let’s get along!”

Hila was a very cheerful and nice girl, enough to make anyone feel good.

So the expectations were high that this academy would be filled with kind and good people like Hila. But these expectations were shattered in just 10 minutes.

“Excuse me, can you move?”

“This is our seat.”

A group claiming ownership of the seats they had first occupied appeared.

This group, consisting of one male and two females, brazenly requested the seats they had arrived late for. Hila immediately packed her major textbooks and stood up, but Riley just stared at them.

“Why? I thought the seats were on a firstcomefirstserved basis…”

Upon Riley’s response, a woman with a leaderlike aura leaned in.

“What’s your name?”

“Riley.”

“And your surname?”

“…Eardalyn.”

The woman snickered and tapped the desk with her finger.

“You didn’t come from the academy, did you?”

“…Huh?”

“Country folks always give themselves away like this.”

“…….”

“To explain kindly since you don’t seem to be from Prestige, the priority for seat reservation here is not firstcomefirstserved, but by status. That’s how it is everywhere.”

Was it a longstanding custom here? It was hard to understand, especially since Horizon was said to treat everyone equally, regardless of status. The rules explicitly stated that statusbased discrimination should not occur.

If there were customs that favored some and discriminated against others based on status, wouldn’t that be corruption, contrary to Horizon’s educational philosophy?

As Riley was about to retort, Hila grabbed her hand.

“Let’s go over there.”

“…….”

“Hurry, the professor will be here soon.”

Riley had no choice but to move to the front row with Hila.
It was not a satisfying spot compared to the one initially claimed. The more Riley thought about the situation that had just occurred, the more absurd she felt.

She would not have been so astonished if the other party had kindly asked if they liked this spot and would not mind yielding it.

“There’s no good in getting involved with the nobles here. It’s common for them all to act so arbitrarily.”

“……Why?”

“They take pride in being central nobles of Prestige. They are complete elites. They don’t even talk to those of common birth, as they are of such noble stature. Of course, there are hardly any commoners, but still. Outsiders here are no different from commoners. It’s best to avoid getting involved as much as possible. If you get involved, your future life will only become more tiresome.”

“How do the Prestigeborn recognize each other?”

“Well, they know just by hearing the name. If you are a central noble from Prestige, you would have debuted early in social circles and built up connections in advance. They’re close to each other, look over there. See those groups? They’ve known each other from the start. They’re from the same academy.”

Riley was too ignorant of the ways of the world.

Because she was from a rural area? No, because she had never experienced proper life outside.

To Riley, life in the Eardalin mansion was everything, and she thought the wider world would be different, but it was not. Ultimately, wherever people gather, it’s all the same.

In the Eardalin mansion, there was only one Claire, but thinking that here there were hundreds of Claires sent shivers down her spine.

Hilra’s friendly approach was ultimately because she recognized at once that I was of the same class. Prestigeborn and others. A place where the boundaries are clearly distinguished and cannot be mixed.

In the end, birds of a feather flock together.

Riley, now convinced of the situation, nodded her head.

“Thank you for telling me.”

It seemed that life in the academy would not be entirely smooth.