Freedom's Heart

Chapter 13

The auditorium is vast. There have to be several hundred students here, yet it doesn't feel cramped at all. It is probably because every other noble and I sit in booths on the second and third floors while the commoners huddle together below us. At the front of the hall is a small stage where our principal stands. He is a small man from a dark elf tribe, but his blood-red eyes feel like daggers when their stare at you. I should know he glared at me when Bozzair caused several girls to squeal in delight.

"Welcome, students," The principal smiles, but it feels forced. is too cute for his own good as he runs in his sleep while laying down on my lap.

"Sister, pay attention," Noah says, nudging my shoulder.

"I am," I assure him as I stroke Bozzair under his chin.

"You will now begin two years of training to horn your magical abilities," The principal continues his speech. "Those of you who do well will be invited to work at the Ministry of Magic or serve the royal family directly. Those of you who fail will soon find yourself on your way back home."

It looks like the school is just as strict as it is in the game. When I was just a player, I received multiple game over screens for failing pop quizzes that would appear at the end of every month. The quizzes aren't challenging. They are just three random questions about stuff you learned in class that month. As long as I pay attention, I won't have... aww even when Bozzair sneezes, he's cute.

"Sister, you need to pay attention,"

"I am,"

"Over the next two years, you will be pushed to your limits and grow far more than you ever thought possible," The principal says, looking around the room. "Anyone who feels like they can't keep up is free to leave. We don't have time for those who are looking to just goof around to leave now. With that said, you are free to head to your homerooms now."

Well, his personality isn't any better than his in-game characters. I shiver, remembering him telling me game over while I was still only a player. But if things play out as they did in the game, then as long as I don't harm the heroine, I should never see the principal again. I can start by not being late for homeroom, but Bozzair is making that hard by refusing to wake up. I have no choice. I pick up my sleeping baby dragon and carry him as is drawing more attention than I would like.

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This is more fancier than I was expecting. Every year, this school has four classes with thirty students in each class. One for high ranked numbles, two for lower nobles and the children of wealthy merchants and one for commoners. While playing the game, I only caught brief glances of this room from the eyes of the heroine, but it is more than I expected.

Each of us has a comfortable looking seat and a spacious table. I can see the maid my family sent along with me, and Noah stood to the side of the room next to a station for making tea and containing snacks. Even the way the walls are painted and the floors carpeted screams lavish. The heroine's class, for example, has wooden benches and two students share a desk, and she is only in the lower-ranked nobles class. With the drop in comfort between our class and the heroine's, I fear to imagine what kind of condition the commoners have to endure.

I find a free seat, and Noah and Marshall quickly take the seats next to me. Zeno enters the room next and quickly takes a seat in front of me. He hasn't changed at all since I last saw him as Zeno asks me if I reconsidered his marriage proposal even with Marshall sitting right next to me. Our engagement may only be for show now. However, Marshall still had no choice but to respond with so many people overhearing Zeno's words. Thankfully the teacher showed up soon after, so nothing happened.