Principal Mirlen talked a lot about the school rules, strictly prohibiting the use of banned substances, before introducing a few other things.
He also introduced the seven homeroom teachers for the seven classes.
Huh, a lot of sevens, huh?
When I saw the teacher assigned to Class Charlemagne, I glanced over at Class Arthur to see if the protagonist was there.
Like how Pokémon works, Sage of Bacillus also has a gender selection mechanic. Even though it doesn't affect gameplay much, some characters' dialogue will change depending on the gender you choose.
As a man of culture, it would be stupid not to pick the female character.
"Greetings, students. Starting today, I will be taking charge of your class. My name is Rook."
With a buzz cut, an extremely serious face, a perfectly neat uniform, and a cute little monkey holding a stick on his shoulder.
A fierce appearance but a gentle soul, huh?
"Have you all met your homeroom teachers yet? Are you satisfied?"
"Yes!!" Everyone cheered.
"Good, good." He clapped his hands and looked around.
"As you all know, although summoning-based combat has become the most common form of fighting, don't forget that the following are also very important."
He snapped his fingers, and the entire hall transformed magnificently.
"Magic."
Then he gave orders to the teachers wearing swords at their waists.
The moment the hall turned into a grand banquet with many tables and elegant decorations, the teachers shot forward and moved like a flowing stream.
"Swordsmanship and physical training."
Dishes were served at incredible speed whenever the teachers passed by.
"Archery."
Someone standing somewhere raised a finger, and a small flame shot out, lighting the candles on the tables.
"And many other things."
He clapped once, and all the students were automatically moved to their assigned tables and seated neatly.
"Whoa, he really is the only living Great Sage in this world. So many amazing spells!" The blonde girl from earlier was now sitting at the same table as me.
"..." The boy sitting in front of me was also at this table. Although his face looked quite serious, he couldn't hide the excitement that an 11-year-old should have.
'Impressive.' I was still quite shocked. Compared to the people here who had always lived with magic, I had only seen it in movies, so I was clearly more impressed than everyone else.
"Magic was once the greatest weapon humanity ever had. However, during the Hundred Years War, the Demon King clearly held the upper hand, rendering magic almost useless."
"Fortunately, alchemy began to rise and created what we call monster cards. Thanks to them, we were able to fight back against the Demon King."
"However, using monster cards did not make magic obsolete. In fact, this combat system has given magic even more room to shine and proven how incredibly important it is as support!"
"Anyway, I won't ramble any longer! From now on, you must study to understand, study to create, study for others, and finally… study for yourselves!"
He winked with his right eye, clapped his hands, and vanished on the spot.
'Nice slogan, by the way.'
Everyone clapped even after the principal had disappeared, then began eating and drinking.
The blonde girl happily grabbed cakes, pastries, and all kinds of sweets.
"So delicious!" The red-haired boy, who had been moved to this table, was devouring all kinds of meat without caring how others looked at him.
Another boy looked at the person next to him with disdain, adjusted his glasses, put a napkin around his neck, and gently cut his meat with a knife.
This table is kind of… full of weirdos, huh?
Still, I had to admit there were many delicious-looking dishes. I wasn't hungry, but that didn't mean I didn't crave good food. After all, I had spent quite a lot of money before just to eat something amazing once in a lifetime, right?
"Hm hm hm… Hm?" While choosing his food, he noticed the person sitting next to him wasn't picking anything.
The boy just stared at the dishes with a troubled expression. His hand trembled as he reached out, but he eventually pulled it back.
'…What is this? On a diet or something?' I thought, tapping his shoulder.
"Hik!" The boy flinched and glared at me angrily.
"What's wrong? Not eating anything?"
"…I'm not hungry."
Liar. Just looking at his face, it was obvious he was dying to eat.
If he didn't want to eat, maybe he was trying to stay in shape? I mean, he did look quite knightly.
I looked around and saw a bowl of warm vegetable soup placed near the red-haired boy who was eating like there was no tomorrow.
"Hey, can I take this?"
"Huh? Oh, sure! Go ahead!"
"Cool."
I grabbed it and handed it to the boy. He blinked a few times and looked at me.
"For me?"
"Yeah. It's not good to have an empty stomach."
"…Does it have fat?"
"It's vegetable soup. Why would it have fat? And even if it does, it's way less than the other dishes."
"…Thank you."
He drank the soup with relish. I turned back to my own food.
"Alvin."
"Hm?"
"My name is Alvin," he said, looking into my eyes. His red eyes met my deep blue ones.
"…Igor. Nice to meet you."
"Mm, I'll help you if you need anything."
I only gave him soup? Why did his favorability skyrocket so fast?
"Ah! Everyone's introducing themselves? I want to too! My name is Alice!" The blonde girl said cheerfully, with cream all over her cheek.
"Me too, me too! I'm Lucas! Nice to meet everyone!!" The red-haired boy gave the brightest shounen smile possible while his mouth was covered in grease.
Then everyone turned to the last person who hadn't spoken yet.
He wiped his mouth, looked at the four of us, and sighed.
"Kaiser, son of a duke. I hope you people don't bother me."
'Oh, it's him. The early-game rival.' I twirled some spaghetti with my fork.
"What?! What do you mean by that?!" Lucas suddenly got angry and shoved his face close to Kaiser.
"Especially you, you greasy slob with zero table manners," Kaiser sneered, leaning back in disgust.
"Say that again!!"
Bam!
Both Lucas and Kaiser clutched their swollen heads and looked at Teacher Rook standing behind them.
"Why did you hit us?!" Lucas whined, almost crying.
"What did I do?" Kaiser looked wronged.
"You two were being quite loud. Keep eating."
Rook left while the monkey stuck out its tongue and teased them. Lucas and Kaiser watched Rook walk away, then glared at each other, veins popping on their foreheads, before turning away.
…Whoa, so Kaiser already became rivals with someone else instead of the protagonist? I didn't know that.
Lucas is the hot-blooded type who lets his emotions control him. He's not the most reliable teammate, but the rewards for befriending him are huge because this idiot gives the player all his rare items.
Kaiser, as mentioned, is the cold and arrogant type—perfect rival material. However, a better rival appears mid-game and he gets sidelined. But if you befriend him, he becomes an extremely reliable tsundere and gives the player rare items just like Lucas.
…Should I befriend both of them?
"Ahaha! You two just met and you're already so close!" Alice laughed cheerfully while pointing at them.
"Who's close to this guy?!" Lucas and Kaiser pointed at each other with faces full of disgust.
"DID YOU HEAR ME OR NOT?!" Rook shouted from afar.
"Kuh…"
Alvin finished his bowl of soup, set it down, and rubbed his stomach contentedly.
I looked at all four of them, smiled, and continued eating.
I don't know why, but I had a feeling these people would become close friends, just like Yugi and his group.
…Hopefully not like Jaden Yuki's group.
Right after the meal, everyone was assigned to their dorms with different room numbers.
"Remember, you are not allowed to leave your dorm rooms after curfew, or you will be punished," Rook said, looking at all the students.
Each class was assigned to one of the seven dorm buildings corresponding to their class name.
Senior students had rooms on the upper floors, while new students got rooms right away.
I took the key with my room number on it and watched as the students said goodbye to each other and carried their belongings to their assigned rooms.
"What room are you in?" Alvin came over and asked.
"103. You planning to visit my room?"
"Nah, not right now," Alvin smiled for the first time, then picked up his bag.
"See you in class tomorrow."
"Mm."
"Me too!" Lucas suddenly appeared with a cheerful voice.
"You should go sleep."
"Aww…"
Even though this was a co-ed dormitory, the girls' side had priority. Every door on their side had stronger magical protection and stricter security than the boys' side.
Understandable… but a bit unfair.
Click!
I opened the door to room 103 and looked inside.
It was spacious enough for one person to live comfortably, but definitely not for two. Four people would be a real squeeze.
I put my stuff to one side, pulled open the curtains, and opened the window to get some fresh air.
"Phew…"
Alright, I have to admit—I've been surprisingly calm and composed since earlier.
Worried? Of course I was. But for some reason, I stayed normal.
Is it because I merged with Igor Snowy and our personalities combined? If not, where is he?
Don't tell me it's like Yugi Muto and Atem—two souls in one body.
If that's the case, I should be the Atem type, the one watching from behind and taking control during duels.
"Hmmm, whatever. No point overthinking it. I hope we merged into one. At least that makes me feel less guilty."
I took off my ushanka hat and started removing my thick coat—
"?!"
Cold.
Extremely cold.
Freezing cold.
"Huu!!" I quickly put the coat back on. My whole body shook from the thermal shock.
"What the hell?" I breathed out a puff of freezing air and looked around in shock.
The area around me… was lightly covered in frost.
"…Are you kidding me? I only took off my coat."
Cling.
"Huh?"
I looked down and realized I had been wearing a necklace I hadn't noticed before. A glowing crystal orb hung there.
"What is this?"
I grabbed it, and the coldness in my body decreased significantly.
This thing… I'm not sure, but it seems to be warming my body a lot. Is it absorbing the freezing aura coming off me?
"Igor Snowy… what kind of secret are you hiding?"
Damn it. I had a feeling I'd have to uncover this mystery and then get hit with 7749 plot points that explain my power-ups.
I sighed, zipped my coat all the way up, and climbed into bed. My thoughts were simple:
We'll deal with everything tomorrow!
Besides, stay positive. The moment I take off my coat, my body releases such intense cold that it freezes everything around me? If I can endure a little chill, this is basically a surprise weapon.
"…Now that I think about it, I was clearly wearing a thick fur coat different from everyone else, yet neither the teachers nor the principal said anything. Did they already know about my condition?"
Even though I played this game a lot, I obviously don't know everything. Since this is now the real world, there must be a lot of information the game never mentioned.
"Whatever. Just go to sleep. Thinking too much will only give me a headache."
I turned off the lights. Darkness enveloped the room. I closed my eyes.
Tomorrow would be an important day for all the new students, because that's when they would first experience the main combat system of this world.
Monster Cards!