Chapter 78 (Self Edited) – Seeing a Familiar Face at the Entrance Ceremony

A voice reverberated on the spot where Soma heard it even though he didn’t ask for it.

He heard it while looking forward. What he had in mind was how wasteful and boring to listen to the story of great people of this world for a long time.

He was in the midst of the entrance ceremony of the royal academy.

There were boys and girls of the same age lining up side by side, and on the front part of their head, there were significant colorful hair to represent the richness of their talents.

The eyes that looked down from the above were certainly not a kind looking eyes.

Perhaps, it would have been better if the students were divided by departments, but unfortunately, it didn’t happen.

In the beginning, the students were told to line up according to the order they came for the exam. So, it was a situation where one didn’t know which departments were the person next to them.

It didn’t matter to see it from above because of the mixed pattern.

Strictly speaking, it was possible to guess which department were they based on their hair color, but that wasn’t absolute.

Actually, other than Soma enrolled in magic department, it wasn’t necessary to have the right characteristic for such a department.

To be honest, Soma also didn’t expect that he was able to enroll in magic department.

In fact… he didn’t have confidence to take the exam in particular, but he did had confidence to a certain extent just before taking the exam.

That was due to the details of the exam. When there was no word of magic mentioned in the details, he believed that he could do it.

Because of that, Soma thought that it would be best if he did as flashy as possible. Although it was flashy as he expected… he didn’t really expect that the training ground would be half-destroyed.

He was thinking that it would be fine because he heard that the training ground was sturdy, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.

Soma truly regretted for overdoing it. However, as a result of that, he passed the exam.

The objective was to surprise the examiner with everything. There was no problem since  that was the way of the exam.

More importantly, the half-destroyed training ground couldn’t be used as a training ground since it became impossible to be utilized anymore.

When Soma heard it, he regretted even more.

Anyhow, when he was about going to the next place, the girl, who passed the exam remained still. She also got caught in the moment and waited for a while before going to the interview place.

And then, Soma also went to the same place…

“–Anyhow, the entrance ceremony is over.” (??)

It looked like the entrance ceremony has ended while he was spending time thinking about the entrance exam.

However, Soma was wondering because he thought that there was a person who wasn’t talking about important figures.

That person was precisely beyond Soma’s sight.

Speaking of that person, it was the headmaster of the royal academy.

Soma also met her during the interview. She looked like a little girl, but she didn’t talk at all.

Although it was nothing in particular, he somewhat had an uncomfortable feeling while listening to the story of important figures.

Since Soma didn’t have such an interest of listening to the wasteful and boring story, he didn’t mind not to be there, but…

“…Hmm?” (Soma)

At that moment, their eyes met.

It wasn’t his imagination.

That emerald green pupils clearly captivated Soma, but… the eyes were immediately turned away.

“Hmm…” (Soma)

Soma thought whether he should look at her for a while, but since she didn’t care, he also looked away.

To be honest, he was more concern on something else.

No… actually he had been thinking from the beginning. He was concern about someone familiar in a place where lecturers gathered.

Of course, there was a possibility of an accidental resemblance, but that was…

“– Well, you may go. Don’t repeat same mistake, alright?” (??)

“–Hmm.” (Soma)

But, before he could confirm that person, the ceremony had already ended.

He knew what to do since he was more or less listening to the talk, but he let out a small sigh since he wasn’t able to confirm.

However, since Soma judged that the opportunity would come sooner or later, he also began to make a move like people at the surroundings.

—

Talking what to do after the entrance ceremony, the students had to get in touch with their respective department.

Classes would begin starting from tomorrow, but since the preparations were done by the departments, the destination of the students were varied.

In the first place, other than the question Soma had earlier, he also didn’t know which dormitory he should head to.

Since the royal academy was applying a boarding system, everyone needed to enter the dormitories that existed in the premise.

In other words, to know such information, they should have been called for a brief explanation.

Basically, there was no fixed classroom for each department in the royal academy.

On the occasion of lesson, the students would have go to the respective classroom.

However, the problem this time was the students had to go to one of the classrooms, but Soma and others who just got enrolled didn’t know where it was.

That was why they need a teacher to guide them, but…

“Hmm… to say that the opportunity will come soon, I truly didn’t expect that.” (Soma)

“Haa? What are you suddenly talking about?” (??)

Soma shrugged his shoulder when looking up at the lecturer who responded to his mutter, and that was Camilla.

Yes, Camilla was someone Soma knew.

“By no means, I never thought that Sensei would come to the academy. By the way, I have a feeling that you’re supposed to be responsible with the mansion, right?” (Soma)

“I properly handed it over, and I had it for nearly a year.” (Camilla)

“Hmm, is that so?” (Soma)

“Aah. I handed it just before I found about you guys. In other words, I did that before that ‘incident’ happened, but… oh well, I was also think about various places where you could have been.” (Camilla)

“Hmm…” (Soma)

There was probably talk about that matter, but it wasn’t a matter of concern to Soma.

What matter was that Soma didn’t expect that Camilla was here.

“If I have to say, I also didn’t expect you to be here.” (Soma)

As Soma said that, he looked at behind Camilla.

Camilla, who was leading him, was at the front, but… the girl who had arrived and quietly hiding with trembling shoulders as if she was shocked.

“…Wha, what is it… Did you notice me?” (??)

“Well, did you think that I wouldn’t notice you?” (Soma)

She was walking behind as if to ask him to notice her, so there was no way he couldn’t notice.

However, the girl, Aina probably didn’t like that attitude of Soma. She stared at him while slightly pouting.

“Well, well, aren’t you glad that you don’t have to talk to me?” (Aina)

“No, you see, is there also a similar possibility?” (Soma)

“There’s none…” (Aina)

She was about to scold him, but she gave up the idea may be because people who would be the classmates were still around.

Well, she had already lost the opportunity to do so.

“This is all because of you… uhh.” (Aina)

Since Soma aware of that, he merely shrugged at those words.

However, he didn’t really anticipate that Aina would be here.

Just like how he didn’t expect the meeting with Camilla.

Consequently, he didn’t call Aina out even though he saw her figure during the entrance ceremony earlier.

Yeah, and the possibility of Aina look-alike wasn’t a complete joke either.

It was surely not amusing to go to the academy in terms of their age.

However, Aina’s secret about her country of origin wasn’t exposed yet, but…

“Ah, I see… I guess that’s it.” (Soma)

“Wha, what are you convinced on your own…?” (Aina)

“What… that reminds me. I just remembered  that I could grant your favor.” (Soma)

“…Uh. You’re the same as ever, aren’t you assuming stuff?” (Aina)

“It’s only if you know what it is.” (Soma)

He would care if she knew it, but he wouldn’t care if she didn’t know.

Nevertheless, he was wondering whether to use ‘that’ even though she would surely stay here, but it seemed that this wasn’t the case.

This was probably a mere favor.

Perhaps, he might include it.

“Hmm… to be honest, I was also concerned, but if you have a proper reason, I don’t mind.” (Camilla)

“As a lecturer, are you alright with that?” (Soma)

“Yes, it’s fine. The lecturer’s jobs are to give lessons to the students and do discussion. We’re not suppose to suspect them, right? Besides, if that is necessary, someone else will do it.” (Camilla)

“Well, I guess that’s how it is.” (Soma)

While continued nodding… Soma suddenly had a thought.

Although he basically believed that Camilla didn’t overlook Aina, it was probably not in his imagination that there was a small shadow next to Camilla when Aina came. In other words, the person who was next to Aina.

Speaking the order he noticed them, actually he noticed the other person first.

If he thought a bit more, he understood the reason.

It was impossible not to notice a person who stood out so much.

Nevertheless, as a result of considering the situation, Soma concluded that was a coincidental resemblance.

But, when it came to this affair, that person also…

“…For the time being, it is fine, I suppose.” (Soma)

“…? Wh-what is it…?” (Aina)

Aina slightly responded may be because she thought it was something about her, but Soma shrugged and turned around.

Well, the academy was big, but that didn’t mean that the students couldn’t receive lessons other than magic if they were from magic department, so there should be joint classes of the grade.

If that was the case, Soma would meet that person soon. Hence, it wasn’t necessary to be impatient.

As he concluded that, he put that matter aside.

After that, he was thinking the future academy life.

—

TLN:

• Some parts are quite vague, hopefully I got it right.
• Speaking of the classrooms, I suppose the academy uses a system where each department proposes subjects they want to teach and let the top management of the academy to decide the classroom for each subject. This may due to limited number of classrooms.
• On the other hand, if the academy is very big and each department has their own area, they probably have fixed classrooms. That means the classrooms are not for subjects from other departments.