The Entrance Ceremony and Class Assignments
About two weeks had passed since the exam, and a letter arrived at the inn where I was staying.
It was a stately-looking letter, affixed with a red stamp.
When I opened the envelope and looked inside, the two words “Passed” were written there. …Breathing a sigh of relief at those words, I took out another piece of paper.
On it, my scores for the written and practical exams were listed.
Written Exam—Language, Arithmetic, Magical Knowledge, History, and Adventuring Fundamentals, each out of 100 points for a total of 500 points—I scored 500 points.
Practical Exam: All five out of five matches were marked as victories.
“Alright!”
“Yesssssssssaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!”
Just as I gave a small nod and a fist pump, an incredibly loud voice came from the next room. That voice turned into boisterous, clattering footsteps, and then into the sound of my room’s door banging open.
“Haito, I passed-nya!!”
“Nya?”
It was Ragna. …However, while Ragna does have cat ears and a cat tail, I don’t recall her character having a verbal tic of adding “nya” to her sentences…
“I-I just stumbled over my words!”
“Really? It was a little cute, though.”
“…W-Well, if you say so, Haito, I wouldn’t be opposed to adding ‘nya’ to my sentences… nya-t that I would.”
As she said that, her voice trailing off a bit, Ragna blushed so deeply it put her hair color to shame.
“Pfft… Well, if it’s embarrassing, you don’t have to force yourself, you know?”
“I-I’m not forcing myself! …My bad, stuff like this cute act doesn’t really suit me.”
Considering you have such striking cat ears and a cat tail, I think saying cute things don’t suit you is a bit of a stretch.
“M-More importantly, Haito! Look! I passed!!”
“Ooh. Congratulations.”
Ragna then showed me her acceptance paper. Practical exam: five wins, zero losses. Written exam: 270 points across five subjects… Lower than I expected.
From what I hear, class assignments at the Hero Academy are somewhat based on entrance exam scores, so it looks like Ragna and I will be in different classes.
“You sound so detached. …Don’t tell me, Haito, did you pass…?”
“No, I passed. Got a perfect score on the written exam, too, for what it’s worth.”
“A-A perfect score?! Th-That’s amazing! Just like you, Haito, but if you got a perfect score, don’t look so glum, celebrate more extravagantly!!”
“Even if you tell me to celebrate… By the way, was I making a gloomy face?”
“…Now that you mention it, not really. But if you passed, let’s celebrate with more gusto!”
Saying that, Ragna spread her arms wide.
A-A hug, maybe? It’s true that when something happy happens, you can’t help but want to hug someone, and passing an entrance exam is a major life event… Just for today, this much should be okay, right?
I timidly hugged Ragna, and was promptly thrown towards the ceiling. My head slammed hard against it with a thud.
“…What do you think you’re doing?!”
“S-Sorry… I meant to toss you up in celebration, but I guess I overdid it!”
“Well, it didn’t hurt, so it’s fine, I guess.”
In these past two weeks, my level has risen further to 20. My defense stat is decent enough that bumping my head on the ceiling is nothing.
…Actually, I was more worried about damaging the ceiling, but when I looked up, it was unscathed, which was a relief. If they’d asked me to pay for damages later, I have no idea how much it would have cost.
In that case, I would’ve definitely made Ragna split the cost.
And so, with the acceptance letters received, all that was left was to complete the enrollment procedures and wait for the entrance ceremony at the beginning of next month.
And that entrance ceremony arrived in no time at all.
◇
“April, when the cherry blossoms dance and fall. We new students are enrolling in this Hermenia Hero Academy starting this month, but I, standing on this platform, acknowledge that I am not the most outstanding individual among this year’s freshmen.”
The entrance ceremony. A ritual that marks the start of academy life, an event filled with dreams and hopes. …In my previous life, listening to someone else’s unoriginal, copy-paste-like freshman address while sitting down was agony, and the act of just sitting for a long time was simply tedious. To be honest, it was an event I leaned towards disliking, but this life is different.
The Hermenia Hero Academy, famous in many ways, in the world of my beloved JRO. That alone makes my heart pound, but delivering the freshman address up front is Reina, who was my fiancée until the month before last. …She’s become so distinguished.
It was I who raised Reina, you know. Well, no, that’s not true.
However, thinking that this academy is filled with the quirky and eccentric characters who appeared in JRO, a sense of excitement naturally wells up inside me.
“This academy brings together many people from this country, and even from other nations, who possess the qualities of a hero. Among them, there are surely those who are stronger than I.
Conversely, there may be those who are currently weaker than me but will eventually surpass me in strength.
Nevertheless, I vow here to strive to surpass those stronger than myself, to avoid complacency so that I do not become weaker than those weaker than me, and to make unceasing efforts to become a noble and righteous hero.
Freshman Address. Reina Hermenia.”
Reina gave a graceful bow before descending from the platform.
I clapped powerfully for Reina’s speech. Others, perhaps also moved by Reina’s presence, were shedding tears or applauding, and the venue echoed with a sound so loud it seemed it might shatter.
This might just be me being self-conscious, but I felt like Reina was looking my way throughout her speech. It’s just a thought that would make me happy if it were true, though.
However, that aside, after being thoroughly moved by Reina’s speech, I, on the contrary, started to feel restless.
That’s right. The announcement of the class assignments.
For the class assignments, the homeroom teacher comes forward, and for example, for Class A, names are called out in attendance order for Class A. That’s when you find out your class for the first time.
Incidentally, students whose names are called must answer in a clear voice.
In my previous life, I would have hated this system, and honestly, I’m not too keen on it in this life either, but I’d hate it if I spoke softly and was told, “I can’t hear you. Please say it again,” so I plan to answer in a loud, clear voice to get it over with in one go.
While I was thinking about such things, the names of students in Class A, B, C, and D were called out. Among these four, A has the most outstanding students, and D could be called the most mediocre class.
And the only remaining classes are E and S.
Class E is the class where the particular dropouts among the academy’s entrants belong.
In contrast, S is a class for those who are particularly outstanding or possess exceptional talent.
For example, Reina, who gave the freshman representative address, will undoubtedly be in Class S. And I, who got perfect scores on both the written and practical exams, am also probably guaranteed a spot in Class S.
Conversely, Ragna’s written exam scores weren’t great, so she’s likely in D, or if she hasn’t been called yet, then E. If she had mastered True Beast Transformation, I think S would have been a definite possibility, though.
Leaving Class S for last to give hope to the Class E folks—this academy sure has a nasty streak. Well, most people probably know their own abilities, so I doubt anyone is seriously holding out hope.
While waiting for the announcement of Class S, which I was sure to be in, I was half-listening to the names of the Class E students being called.
“Haito. Haito-kun. Please answer! Class E, Haito.”
“…Huh? Y-Yes!”
…And yet. Huh? Me, in Class E, the lowest-ranked class?
“Now then, we will proceed with the announcement for Class S. The students in Class S are—”
“Haito, we’re in the same class!”
“Huh? Ah, yeah…”
Giving Ragna a noncommittal reply, I stared into the void. …Me, in Class E?
Me, who got perfect scores on both the written and practical exams? Class E?
I have a vague idea of the reason. It’s probably because of my ‘Profession’.
But even so, I couldn’t help but lament the absurdity of this world.
“‘Farmer’ is the strongest profession in this world, you know… Treating it so unfairly all the time, are the people in this country idiots or what?”