By Zephyria 
On Thursday, before course registration, I spent time looking over each other’s timetables with the friends I had taken the Camping Class with.
Everyone agreed to register for the Camping Class, which takes place on Fridays and Saturdays. The explanation that it would be good to take all the weekend classes during our first year because studying for exams becomes much harder in the second year made me apprehensive from the start.
Among the classes we hadn’t coordinated, there were a few overlaps.
Demian said he would also take the Artifact class with us, and Jenny and Ivan promised to meet in the Imperial Genealogy class. However, the only class Marianne and I had in common was the Camping Class.
Marianne’s timetable had four Magic classes.
Not only Professor Angela Sting’s class but all the others were also fascinating. Magic and Spell Formula Theory Basics, Magic Closely Related to Daily Life, Modern Interpretations of Classical Magic, and Utilizing the Seven Magical Languages.
Just hearing the names made my head spin.
“Because of the rumor that Mikael won a sparring match against Edwin after taking Spell Formula Theory Basics, a huge number of students from the Swordsmanship Department have enrolled. I almost suffocated while registering for courses. It’s all Mikael’s fault.”
“Then Marianne, tomorrow…”
“No! Our angelic Professor Angela Sting doesn’t turn away students who want to take her class. I heard she increased the enrollment capacity. …Why are you laughing?”
“No, it’s just funny to imagine the students from the Swordsmanship Department rushing to take a Magic Department class.”
“Wow… Is that a monster?”
That was indeed the case. If this Magic Artifact class hadn’t been held in the Management Department building, I wouldn’t have registered for it.
The Sierran Empire was a vast empire. Therefore, the important institutions in the capital were all enormous. Shierun Academy alone had over two hundred buildings.
Among them, the Swordsmanship Department and the Magic Department were at opposite ends.
For ordinary people who didn’t train separately, it took well over an hour and a half to walk the path from the Swordsmanship Department to the Magic Department.
Due to my habit of using Light Footwork, my strides were wide and my pace fast. Even so, last semester, I allocated a generous hour to get from the Swordsmanship Department building to the Magic Department building.
When I ran with all my might, fearing I would be late due to Professor Sanson’s class running long, it still took over an il (15 minutes).
Even considering that my limbs were shorter because my body hadn’t fully grown, and that I understood the principles of Light Footwork, it was no easy feat.
I could only hope that my fellow students from the Swordsmanship Department had allowed ample travel time before and after their Magic Department classes.
Hearing this, Shayden shrugged his shoulders and tidied the timetable laid out before him.
“Sword mages were the dream of the previous generation. Now that people who dream of becoming sword mages have disappeared, it’s natural for the buildings of the Swordsmanship and Magic Departments to be far apart. Someone who is smart and also good with their body—that’s something you’d only find in fairy tales. It might look good, but it’s not something a human can do.”
“Still, it’s cool, isn’t it? I’m the one who envies the students from the Swordsmanship Department doing somersaults the most.”
“I’d rather take dance lessons.”
Shayden’s retort made us all burst into laughter.
Except for the courses I was taking with him, Shayden filled his timetable with classes from the Management and Academic Departments.
These two departments were located close to the dormitory, making the burden of travel relatively less.
Both are among the faculties where one can least afford to neglect physical training, and yet the travel distance is short… No matter how I thought about it, the design seemed flawed.
We all opened the academy map section of our notebooks and discussed various things while measuring the travel distances between lecture halls.
When we calculated it, it was quite amazing that Demian, Ivan, and Jenny often attended classes by just going up or down different floors within the same building.
When the children saw the distance I had traveled last semester, they all gasped, and I just smiled.
“Do you even know the names of the students from the Swordsmanship Department taking Magic Department classes?”
“Uh, I don’t know their names. I just heard it through rumors.”
“I know. It seems like there are about eight people who want to register.”
As expected, Shayden was well-informed. To Marianne and Demian’s voices asking why he didn’t stop them, Shayden sighed and shrugged his shoulders again.
“I tried to dissuade them, but they said they might not be able to do morning training in the Martial arts training ground, but they could at least run for an hour after lunch. They said if Mikael could do it, why couldn’t they?”
“Even though running is more effective on an empty stomach.”
“I told them that too, but it was no use.”
Laughter erupted again.
Since we were all gathered, we also made plans on when to do assignments and when to study for exams.
As we talked about various things, I felt my heart flutter with anticipation for the next semester.
After carefully checking the course registration forms several times, we submitted them to the department office.
Thinking that we wouldn’t have many opportunities to gather like this again, considering how busy we would be even on weekends, everyone insisted on going out for dinner.
The area in front of the academy’s main gate and the marketplace were bustling with newly arrived students, and it felt vibrant, which was nice.
❖ ❖ ❖
And then, Friday.
I stood in front of the department office in dismay and wrote my name on a lottery slip.
Fortunately, there was no problem with Professor Maelo Sanson’s class. If there had been, I would have been three times more troubled and anxious than I was now.
The problem occurred with Professor Wilton Roberts’ Practical Flying Dagger Technique class, which I had scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
The lecture by that professor, whom I hadn’t seen even once last semester, had only ten available spots.
Since the class was only held on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and I had planned to take the “Praise of Fine Horses” lecture with my friends, I couldn’t switch to another time.
When drawing lots in the Central Plains, they used to use long sticks painted red at the tip.
At Shierun Academy, the lottery system involved writing names on slips of paper, putting them in a large box, and the department office staff drawing the required number of names.
Staff members carrying boxes for each course walked among the students, checking the lists and handing out slips.
A sense of tension hung in the air among the students who had come to draw lots.
The slips of paper for writing names were all of the same type, and the person drawing the lots treated all students fairly.
Although it didn’t matter much when you put your name in, all the children tried to put their names in later, so I also delayed.
Even though I tried to calm my mind, telling myself that I could learn Flying Dagger Technique alone without a professor, I was swept up in the surrounding atmosphere and became anxious myself.
I folded the neatly written slip of paper, filled with my wish, in half and put it into the box.
The boxes before me were all white. Seeing that the corners of each box were worn down, I could tell they had been used multiple times.
The department office staff repeatedly announced loudly, “If there are any students who wish to cancel their registration now, please come this way,” but no one gave up.
One of the staff members, after conferring and writing something, picked up the box I had been looking at and moved it to another table. The gazes of the children followed the box.
“Students who registered for the Practical Flying Dagger Technique class, please come this way.”
Benjamin and I, along with about thirty other students, stood up simultaneously.
Half of them were familiar faces, and half were strangers. One student, who appeared to be a senior, was pleading with the other students with a desperate expression, which was striking.
“Is there really no one willing to give it up? This is my second time taking it, and if I can’t pass this, my graduation credits will be in jeopardy.”
“Do you think there is? It’s Wilton Roberts. Now, close your eyes and pray. Please let me take this class.”
“Hoo hoo hoo…”
“Wilton Roberts?” I wondered if Professor Roberts was also famous.
Maelo Sanson had mentioned before that Professor Wilton didn’t come to school often, making him difficult to see, and Shayden Rose had only said he didn’t know much about that professor.
I also remembered Rubel Anti Searon mentioning last semester that he was close with Professor Roberts.
I regretted not asking Rubel about him beforehand.
Still, nothing would change.
A staff member with her hair tied up high quickly drew papers from the lottery box with practiced movements and called out names one by one. Joy and sorrow were mixed with each call.
“Michael Ernhardt.”
“Hmm.”
My name was called fourth.
I let out a deep sigh of relief, a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. However, even after waiting and waiting, Benjamin’s name was not called.
Benjamin, who was always quiet and dignified, lowered his eyebrows considerably, unable to hide his disappointment, which made me feel somewhat sorry.
After calling all ten students, the staff member looked around at the students and clearly called out the list again, then tidied the lots.
The senior who had pleaded earlier had apparently not had his name called and was leaning on his friend’s shoulder as if he were about to faint.
“Thus, ten students will be taking Professor Wilton Roberts’ Practical Flying Dagger Technique class. If you wish to give up your spot for any reason, such as wanting to take the class with a friend, please speak now.”
“Uh… Me.”
One of the less desperate classmates, looking pityingly at the senior, raised his hand and gave up his right.
The academic affairs staff member, with a stern attitude, said, “Very well,” and drew another lot.
This time, it was not the senior’s name.
The students who failed to register for the course moved to receive a list of available classes.
I followed Benjamin over to watch. The academic affairs staff handed out a list of classes available on Thursday afternoons, and the Needlework and Knitting classes were quite impressive.
I jokingly suggested one to Benjamin, but he grumbled, and I apologized.
In the end, Benjamin Claudian ended up taking a suspicious-sounding course called “Three Methods of Overcoming Adversity” instead of the Flying Dagger Technique class.
Since the syllabus for that lecture was very simple and straightforward, I asked him to share his impressions after taking the class.
Although I would be taking the Flying Dagger Technique class alone, I didn’t feel too worried.
After all, it was only after coming to Sierran that I started having people around me all the time. I wasn’t raising a child or a direct disciple, so it was natural for me to be accustomed to being alone.
I was just genuinely curious about what those methods of overcoming adversity might be.