“Did you enjoy your vacation?”

Sack asked Givnen, who had just returned, as a matter of courtesy.

Sack thought he must have had a very enjoyable and satisfying leisure time. Of course, it was Sack who had booked the hotel and teleport tickets. So Sack knew that Givnen had taken time off for a trip with Riley.

“It was good.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“I had a truly valuable experience.”

“What kind of experience?”

“I drank poison while having a drink, and on the way back to the hotel, someone shot me in the head.”

Oh, that’s quite a valuable experience… Not!

“Are you alright?!”

“As you can see, I’m fine.”

In fact, it wasn’t the first or second time his life had been openly threatened, so there wasn’t much to be surprised about.

However, usually assassinations aimed at him were carried out discreetly. This was the first time someone had openly targeted him in a crowded place.

“Did you see who shot you?”

“It was quite far away, so I couldn’t chase them directly. My elder sister was also surprised.”

“Could it perhaps be the work of Count Ermeints?”

“No, he’s not the type to cause such an open disturbance. Besides, he wouldn’t have caused such a commotion at such an important time when he would be the first to be suspected. Not when his son’s future is at stake.”

“True… He’s been really quiet lately. Anyway, I’m glad you returned safely without any injuries.”

“I wonder how they found out I went to Lurat. Did information leak from the inside?”

“That could be possible, but… Didn’t you use the teleporter? Wouldn’t that have left a trail? There must be more than a few people secretly watching you, Master. Could it be them?”

Givnen shook his head with a smile at Sack’s question.

“Well, it’s only a matter of time before they figure out who I’m bringing with me.”

“Do you think they will target young lady Riley?”

“Of course, after all, the Master originally said to ‘keep her safe from their hands’. The Master’s sudden death must be related to Riley Eadalyn. She will be the key to capturing those guys and revealing the truth about the Master’s death.”

Sack blinked blankly.

Was it not simply to fulfill the Master’s last wish, but had he been considering this aspect as well? Using her for the Master’s revenge?

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Have you been considering all of this from the beginning?”

“Of course?”

“I thought it was just simply honoring the Master’s last wish.”

Instead of answering, Givnen leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling.

“If he hadn’t specifically said to kill with my own hands, I wouldn’t have even bothered with that damn last wish.”

“…?”

“The Master knows too well how to move me. Now that he’s told me to kill, it’s become interesting.”

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

Givnen replied to Sack’s words with a grin.

“You don’t need to understand. There seems to be an internal spy, so focus on rooting them out.”

There is no age limit for admission to the Academy.

However, the Empire’s curriculum typically involves progressing through the Academy’s kindergarten – elementary – middle – high school levels before graduating, and then advancing to the Academy for advanced studies.

Of course, very few of these students actually advance to the Academy, and it’s even rarer for someone to directly enter the Academy without going through the Academy’s curriculum.

In that sense, Riley was clearly a somewhat unusual new student.

“Today is finally your first day of school, young lady!”

“Yes, I feel a bit nervous.”

The semester has begun.

For Riley, who had absolutely no social life before, this Academy life would be her first social experience mingling with others. As such, Riley had exceptional expectations for Academy life.

“My goodness, it suits you so well!”

“Really?”

“Yes! The Horizon Academy robe is really pretty. I heard regular students can’t wear it! To think it’s the exclusive property of mages that not just anyone can wear! Wow!”

Richelle couldn’t contain her admiration seeing Riley dressed in the Horizon Academy robe.

A symbol of the elite and a proof of being a mage. The Horizon Academy robe was only given to mages and had the function of aiding in mana manipulation. Although it was just a simple robe with the Horizon Academy emblem embroidered on it, the symbolism this robe carried was extraordinary.

“Young lady, study hard and become a great mage! Once you become a mage, you’ll be someone no one can look down on!”

“Yes.”

Although being admitted through connections is dishonorable and unsettling, I decided to try my best since the opportunity was given. After all, even if I asked Givnen to withdraw my admission, it wouldn’t have made any difference.

I just need to do well in Academy life. Get good grades, work hard… and make this admission by connections not seem like it was by connections. Even if I’m not confident I can do well, I’m confident I can work hard. And if I work hard, there will come a moment when I shine. So,

‘Do well, Riley.’

There is a difference in the start dates of the semester at Horizon Academy.

For mages admitted through the mage selection process, classes start a month earlier than for regular students, and they also graduate a month earlier.

In fact, since mages only make up about 30% of the student body at the Academy, I thought there wouldn’t be that many people during the first month of the magic department’s semester.

I expected it to get crowded around the second month when the regular department’s semester also starts, but this was a big misconception.

Although mages only make up 30% of the student body, due to the sheer number of students at Horizon Academy, even that 30% was no small number.

‘There are so many people.’

When I visited Horizon with Givnen last time, it was during the Academy’s vacation period, so it felt relatively quiet with only those taking summer classes or staying in the dormitories. But now it was bustling with an enormous crowd.

An interesting thing was that the seasoned upper-year students and the new students were clearly distinguishable.

There was a strange juxtaposition between those with shabby appearances and rotten expressions that exuded extreme fatigue, as if they had lived their entire lives, and those neatly dressed, looking around cluelessly or with eyes sparkling with anticipation.

Of course, Riley belonged to the latter group, so she looked around as she moved towards lecture hall B-0512 where the “Practical Magic Interactions” course was scheduled to take place.

In lecture hall B-0512, filled with chick-like freshmen, people who were obviously “new students” were taking their seats and chatting with each other.

Since she didn’t know anyone, Riley sat in a corner trying not to stand out as much as possible.

Although they were all surely new students, there were quite a few groups chatting friendly, either having already made friends or being acquainted from before.

“I heard the Horizon Archmage came to the Academy?”

“Yeah, a few weeks ago. They say he brought some woman with him.”

“A new lover?”

“If it was a lover, wouldn’t he have gone straight to a hotel instead of coming here?”

“I heard rumors that she might be his disciple.”

“Pfft, what? He’s already taking on a disciple at his age?”

“What does age have to do with it? Look how he became an Archmage at that age. With his achievements, there must be no shortage of mages begging to be his disciples. Maybe he’s trying to train a successor early on instead of struggling to nurture disciples when he’s old.”

What should I do?

Riley bowed her head in embarrassment as the topic of conversation among the freshmen was the ‘Horizon tour’ sighting from 3 weeks ago. Where did they pick up these rumors to still be so excited about a sighting from 3 weeks ago?

“It must be a disciple, right? There’s supposed to be an incredible new student among this year’s freshmen.”

“Ah, I heard about that too. Immeasurable. A great mage level talent. And they even got a perfect score on that difficult written exam.”

“So they’re the top student?”

“Must be. Those who should know, all know. The rumors are spreading like wildfire.”

“One thing’s for sure, they’re not from Blestidge. If they were from Blestidge, we would definitely know.”

“That’s right. Wonder what rural backwater such a talent was hidden in. Anyway, they say it’s the disciple the Archmage brought.”

“Has their identity not been revealed?”

“They’re keeping it really hush-hush, you know. Anyway, we need to find out who it is and build a good relationship.”

So the Archmage’s disciple has also enrolled here.

He didn’t mention anything, but to be the top student is really amazing. I got a perfect score on the written test too… but I bombed the practical. I wonder if the others here also found the written test easy?

Riley heaved a deep sigh.

No matter how I think about it, I must have barely scraped in at the bottom here. Will I be able to avoid failing grades in the upcoming exams? I heard this is a place where you can’t even graduate if you don’t meet the grade requirements, and many people get stuck in an endless cycle of not graduating.

“Hello?”

Riley raised her lowered head.

“Is this seat taken?”

Shake shake.

“Then can I sit here?”

Nod nod.

A girl with short brown hair and a cute impression took a seat next to Riley. Then she carefully extended her hand towards Riley.

“I’m Hila, Hila Dürre.”

“…R-Riley Eadalyn.”

“How old are you?”

“…Twenty-five.”

“Really? I’m twenty-five too!”

Is it such a big deal that we’re the same age? As Riley tilted her head in confusion, Hila blushed shyly and said,

“Late enrollees like us aren’t very common. Most people enter at twenty.”

I see, normally people enter right after graduating high school when they’ve just become adults, so entering at twenty-five is late. Then everyone here must be young kids.

“What courses are you taking?”

Hila seemed to be the type who was very interested in others.

Riley didn’t mind her interest, so she handed over the notebook she was holding. It was a notebook with her class schedule written in it.

Hila checked the notebook and smiled brightly.

“We have a lot of overlapping classes.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah, let’s be friends.”

“…Okay, sure.”

To make a friend on the first day.

Riley thought she was lucky.

Given her very shy personality, she thought it would take a long time to make friends, but she was happy that a cute and friendly girl approached her first.

“Maybe it’s because we’re the same age, but I feel a sense of kinship.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah, I was worried I might end up alone all semester without any friends since it would be hard to mix with kids five years younger than us. I talked to you because you looked kind, and I’m so happy we’re the same age! Let’s be good friends!”

Hila had a really good and cheerful personality. To the point where it made people who saw her feel good.

So Riley was filled with expectation that this academy would be full of kind and good people like Hila. However, this expectation was shattered in just 10 minutes.

“Sorry, but can you move?”

“This is our seat.”

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

This group, consisting of one man and two women, boldly demanded that the seats be vacated despite arriving late. Hila immediately gathered her textbooks and stood up, but Riley just stared at them blankly.

“Why? I thought seats were on a first-come, first-served basis…”

At Riley’s retort, the woman who seemed to be the leader of the group leaned in close.

“What’s your name?”

“Riley.”

“Family name?”

“…Eadalyn.”

The woman snickered and tapped her finger on the desk.

“You didn’t attend the Academy, did you?”

“…Huh?”

“This is exactly how country bumpkins give themselves away.”

“…”

“Since you don’t seem to be from Blestidge, let me kindly explain. The priority for seat selection isn’t first-come, first-served, but based on social status. That’s how it is here.”

While wondering if this was a longstanding custom here, what didn’t make sense was that Riley had heard that within Horizon, everyone was treated equally regardless of social status. The clause prohibiting discrimination based on social status was explicitly stated in the school rules.

If there were customs where some received preferential treatment and others were discriminated against based on social status, wouldn’t this be contrary to Horizon’s educational philosophy?

Just 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 seats with Hila.

Compared to the seats they had initially occupied, these weren’t particularly appealing. The more Riley mulled over the recent situation, the more dumbfounded she felt.

If the other party had kindly asked if they could give up the seats because they liked them, it wouldn’t have been this ridiculous.

“It’s no use getting involved with the nobles here. They say it’s common for all of them to act so selfishly.”

“…Why?”

“They take pride in being from the Blestidge central nobility. They’re complete elites. I heard they’re so noble they don’t even mingle with commoners. Of course, there are hardly any commoners here anyway. Outsiders here are basically treated like commoners. It’s best to avoid getting involved as much as possible. Getting involved will only make your future life here difficult.”

“How do they recognize each other as Blestidge graduates?”

“Well, they know just by hearing the name. If they’re from Blestidge central nobility, they would have debuted early in social circles and built their connections in advance. They’re close-knit among themselves, look over there. See those groups? They’ve all known each other from before. They’re from the same Academy.”

I had been too ignorant of the ways of the world.

Was it because I was from the countryside, as they said? No, it was because I had never had proper experience in the outside world.

For Riley, life in the Eadalyn mansion was her entire world, and she thought the wider world would be different, but it wasn’t. In the end, places where people gather are all the same.

In the Eadalyn mansion, there was only one Claire, but here, thinking that there were hundreds of Claires made her shudder.

Even Hila’s friendly approach was probably because she immediately recognized that I was of the same kind. Those from Blestidge, and those from outside. A place where the boundaries that can never mix are clearly divided.

In the end, it meant that like should stick with like.

Riley, now understanding the situation, nodded her head.

“Thank you for telling me.”

It seems that Academy life won’t be entirely smooth sailing.