NOVEL NEXT Chapter 23.2
“Now we will be starting the academy entrance ceremony!”
After the formal announcement of the moderator, the entrance ceremony hall took on a more serious atmosphere.
“Director Soniel Di Cairos and President Byrne Susis are entering!”
At the same time as that announcement was made, was I the only one who felt that the auditorium was slightly brightened?
Soniel’s brilliant blonde hair shone even brighter today.
She walked slowly to the podium wearing a pure white dress.
The clothes were neither too modest nor too revealing that they showed off her fine figure to the crowd, and seemed to add a pair of wings to her beauty.
The appearance of the grandfather walking beside her in a suit made the scene out to be like a bride entering with her father-in-law at a wedding.
“Academy entrance exam, overall best. Nicholas Bondrania! The above student is—”
Even while the director was handing out the certificate to the grey-haired prince, I couldn’t take my eyes off Soniel because she was just so pretty.
With everyone wearing school uniforms and suits around her, her clothes stood out even more.
If Soniel, dressed in her usual white robe, was a tidy shaman, then now she was like an angel who had come down from the heavens.
“Academy entrance exam, best in the practical test. Jung Ji-hoo! The above student is—”
Soniel came right in front of me.
As she handed me the certificate and shook my hand, she whispered in a low voice—
“Husband-nim, I missed you a lot.”
As she said that, I smiled lightly, but I just wanted to ignore everything and take her straight to my bedroom.
Seeing Amer wince beside her, she must have overheard Soniel’s whispers.
The entrance ceremony went rather quickly.
We swore in front of everyone that we would do our best in our academy life for the sake of the empire, and the entire process was concluded with the director’s congratulatory speech.
As expected of such events, the president’s speech was long and boring.
This is another unfortunate similarity between Earth and this other world.
But it wasn’t without its interesting parts.
“—This is a prosperous empire, but behind us are the noble sacrifices of the nobles and knights who fought for peace. Demons and monsters still roam unexplored regions, terrorist organisations are aiming to overthrow the empire, and cultists serving demons, etc. Countless troubles. The strength to face all these adversities is now going to be cultivated at the academy—”
I had guessed it from what Ian-senpai said, but it appeared that this other world was not as peaceful as it seemed.
There were demons and monsters, blue bird-like terrorist organizations, and cultists.
And cataclysms where one could never know what would occur.
At the entrance ceremony that marked the beginning of a new school year, I finally got the impression that my life in this other world had finally begun.
***
After the entrance ceremony, the new students returned to their respective dormitories with a few sheets of paper.
Today was Friday, and the first classes would be held the following Monday.
While the schedule for the day was over, there were still many important things left to do for our academy lives.
We have to immediately apply for classes.
If we wrote down the classes we wanted to take on a document and submitted them by tomorrow, we could take the classes from next week as they would be timetabled for us by then.
Thanks to the ample capacity of all of the classes, it was said that there were almost no cases in which a course registration would be rejected.
And now, I was contemplating how to go about filling up my timetable for the first semester with Jihye and Hyerin in the common room of the dormitory.
“Now that we have arranged all the compulsory classes...”
[Elementary Accelerated Studies Level 1, Compulsory, 4 credits]
[Mana management Level 1, Compulsory, 4 credits]
[Physical training Level 1, Compulsory, 1 credit]
[History of the Empire, Compulsory, 3 credits]
It totalled to 12 credits.
“The compulsory classes look pretty good...”
Hyerin muttered as she put a few check marks on her application form.
I looked at her and then reflected on my last 3 months.
Since when had she become an indispensable presence?
Hye-rin and Ji-hye started hanging out with me.
When I was in my senior year of high school, Ji-hye and I occasionally played with Min-ho and A-young, but basically, it was just us two together.
Hyerin became a voluntary loner by putting up an iron wall around her, and Minho and Ayoung mainly hung out with the top dogs in the class like Choi Jihoon.
When I was dragged out of the forest and briefly imprisoned, I comforted Hye-rin, who had been suffering mentally from the intense interrogation for several days.
Perhaps it was then.
The moment she opened up her heart to me.
She allowed me to approach her and gradually started talking to the other kids in our class, starting with me.
Even so, seeing as we are usually together, it seems that she felt the most comfortable around me among my classmates.
“Guys, look at this! Did they even have classes like this here? Doesn’t that look like a lot of fun?!”
Hyerin and I looked at where Jihye’s fingertips were pointing.
[Sex Education, liberal arts elective, 3 credits]
[—For a wholesome and harmonious couple relationship, the right sex education is essential.
ᅳThe purpose of this class is to eliminate the false prejudices that many people have, and to provide knowledge and tips for the day and night life of prospective couples.]
“···Wow.”
“······.”
A blunt name for a course and rather serious explanations beneath it…
“Th-that? That... Is it related to what the seniors said? There seem to be a lot of them...”
Hyerin’s cheeks turned slightly red.
Hyerin was ashamed of sexual content.
She was so pretty.
Of all the information I heard during the orientation from the seniors, the following information impressed me the most.
If you lived at the academy, you may occasionally observe couples having sex.
Three of the seniors said that they had heard it at least once.
In a way, it was natural.
In one’s 20s, hormones were on fire.
The level of beauty would have risen to the max after awakening.
And it was an independent dormitory life away from one’s parents.
In addition, the academy was a literal venue for male and female engagement.
One of the important conditions required of a spouse was only revealed when they would turn 20 years old, so was pretty much a fact that engagements that took place while the participants were of a younger age were very rare.
“Jihoo... Do you want to go to this together...?”
Ji-hye shyly held my hand under the table so that Hye-rin couldn’t see it.
I took a closer look at the course description.
Unfortunately, it didn’t appear to be a practical class.
Perhaps they taught something slightly more advanced than the sex education we learned in high school?
“I can’t miss out on such an informative class. What about you, Hyerin?”
“Me, I... Um...”
“Let’s go to it together.”
Hyerin avoided my gaze.
“Ugh, I’ve completed my timetable already.”
“Then I can’t help it. I have no choice but to use it...”
“?”
I had missed the time to use it and forgotten about it for a while, but I think it would be best to use it now.
“You were supposed to do me a favour if I won the duel, right?”
“Ah!”
To be able to see Hyerin’s embarrassed expression twice a week—
Opportunities like that were rare.
In the end, she had no choice but to check off the course on the registration form.
That was 15 credits in total.
The maximum number of credits a freshman could take was 20 credits.
I did not have any plans to fill it up, but I didn’t think it would matter if I took one more class.
There happened to be an impressive class that caught my eye while looking for other interesting subjects while I was going through the list of courses.
[Murder practice, liberal arts elective, 1 credit]
—Mistakes on the battlefield are directly related to the lives of your allies. The number one mistake of those who go to the battlefield for the first time is hesitating to end the life of an enemy.
ᅳThe purpose of this class is to teach the weight of life by experiencing the execution of heinous criminals who have been sentenced to death in court.
ᅳSlaughter practice completion is recommended.]
The slaughter practice class was a goblin-killing class for students who had not passed the academy practical exam.
I didn’t have to take it as a practical class.
“······.”
I looked back at the time I hesitated to stab Kyle in the eye in the duel, and then added one more tick to the course registration form.
Jihye followed me in doing so.
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