Facility Tour

After that, I ate sandwiches while exchanging a few words with Ronnie, and the small party came to an end.

I was kind of tired.

"Now, we will give each class a tour of the facilities. We will begin with Class A."

This school was apparently divided into five classes: Class A for high-ranking nobles, Class B for mid-ranking nobles, Classes C and D for lower-ranking nobles, and Class E for knight-ranked nobles and commoners.

The students in Class A were currently being led outside by staff members. As I watched them absently, I noticed someone watching me.

Who could it be? I narrowed my eyes to get a better look at the person. Hmm... Martine!?

Martine seemed to notice me looking at her. When our eyes met, she gave a small, satisfied smile and walked toward Stephan-sama.

No one noticed that, did they...? I nervously looked around, but no one seemed to have noticed. Safe.

I had been told that my relationship with Martine had to remain a secret. We couldn't reveal that we had met because I had cured her illness.

Apparently, we could pretend to be meeting for the first time and say that I had gotten to know her through Lucien. There was no need to hide my connection with Lucien; I should actually advertise it.

Even so, things like that were hard on my heart, so I wished she wouldn't do that...

After that, they showed us around Classes B, C, and D, and finally it was time for my class.

Finally. There were about thirty people left. Since Class A had only around ten, class sizes varied quite a bit.

"Now, everyone in Class E, please follow me. I will show you around the facilities. First, this building we're in is called the Training Grounds, and it is used for swordsmanship and dance classes. It is the westernmost building on campus."

When we went outside through the entrance at the front of the Training Grounds, the buildings were connected by something like a covered walkway.

To the left was an open area like a field. What was this place for?

"The open area on the left is the magic training grounds. It is used for magic classes."

When the teacher said that, Ronnie, who was walking beside me, went pale.

"What's wrong?"

"There are magic classes? I'm bad at magic. My magic capacity is only one, so I can barely use it..."

"Really? But there are nobles with low magic capacities too, aren't there? I'm sure it'll be fine. Maybe only people with high magic capacities take magic classes."

"I hope so..."

He had a point. If his magic capacity was only one, there wasn't much point in making him take magic classes. Maybe there were elective classes.

As I thought about that and continued straight along the covered walkway, we arrived at the entrance to a lavish building.

From the front gate, I had seen a lavish, wide building in the center, a slightly smaller, older building to its right, a small but lavish building to its left, and the Training Grounds.

So this was the small but lavish building. The staff members seemed to be going inside.

"This building is the cafeteria. The first floor is a special dining hall reserved for high-ranking nobles, so I doubt any of you will use it. The second and third floors are large dining halls open to everyone. Students can eat lunch free of charge, so please make good use of them. Now, I will show you to the large dining hall."

With that, the staff member went up to the second floor. I wish they had explained things in more detail. What was so special about the special dining hall? I would have to ask when I got home today.

On the second floor, there were many tables and chairs, with a counter at the back. It seemed we ordered food at the counter, carried it to a table ourselves, and ate there. It was just like a university cafeteria in Japan. Apparently, dedicated staff handled the cleanup, so we could leave our dishes where they were after eating.

The third floor had nothing but rows of tables and chairs, and apparently we were supposed to use it if the second floor was full.

There was probably an unspoken rule that commoners should use the third floor. For now, I could avoid complaints by using the third floor.

"Leon, lunch is free! That's amazing!"

Ronnie told me this excitedly. Well, I understood why he was making a fuss—he had grown up without enough to eat—but his voice was a little loud. If anyone heard him, someone would definitely mock him!

"Ronnie, you're being too loud."

I told Ronnie quietly. He immediately covered his mouth, but apparently it was too late.

"I knew it. Poor people really are vulgar. To get that excited over being able to eat lunch for free... It's embarrassing. I don't want to be mistaken for a commoner like you."

It was the guy who had been sitting to my left earlier. I knew he would say something.

"And aren't your clothes far too shabby? Stay away from me. I don't want your poverty rubbing off on me."

What!? The people at the orphanage had desperately pooled their money to buy those clothes, Ronnie had told me. How dare he make fun of that? I would never forgive him!

Just as I was about to open my mouth to complain, Ronnie beat me to it.

"I-I'm sorry!"

"Ronnie! You have nothing to apologize for."

"But we can't cause a commotion while the tour is still going on, and if I apologize and that smooths things over, then it's fine."

He was right. We were still in the middle of the facility tour. Realizing that helped me calm down a little too.

"If that's what you think, Ronnie..."

I swore I would get back at him someday!

As I made that vow, it seemed the cafeteria tour had ended.

"Now, we will proceed to the next building."

We went down to the first floor of the cafeteria building, then went outside through the door opposite the one we had entered through. There was a short covered walkway, followed immediately by an even more ornate door.

This was the building in the center when viewed from the front. It was extremely lavish and stretched far from side to side.

The staff member went inside. Oh, so they weren't so discriminatory as to restrict this building to high-ranking nobles.

"This is the main building. The first floor contains the teachers' private rooms. If you wish to visit a teacher, be sure to knock and obtain permission to enter before going inside. The large room at the very back belongs to the staff who work at the Royal Academy, so if you encounter any problems, please report them there."

So the first floor was a work area for the people employed here.

The staff at this school seemed to handle all sorts of miscellaneous tasks, so they were like office workers in Japan. However, there were more of them and their duties seemed more diverse, so they felt more like servants of the Royal Academy.

Apparently, teaching was the only thing the teachers did, and they didn't handle other miscellaneous duties. The people lined up in a row at the entrance ceremony must have been the teachers. As soon as the party ended, they all left the building.

The teachers were probably nobles or lesser nobles, while the staff members were commoners.

"Now, we will go up to the second floor. The second floor contains the Class A and Class B classrooms, but there are no other facilities, so we will proceed directly to the third floor."

The staircase was in the center of the building. The building extended to both sides of the staircase, with each side eventually ending in a dead end.

So Classes A and B were on the second floor. That meant Lucien, Martine, and Stephan-sama were here.

"This is the third floor. It contains the Class C, Class D, and Class E classrooms. Since you are in Class E, I will show you to your classroom."

The Class E classroom was the room at the very end of the hallway extending left from the staircase. There were about eight similar rooms, so there must have been classrooms for the other grades too. It looked like the upperclassmen had the day off today.

It was a little larger than a classroom in Japan. At the front were a desk and chair presumably for the teacher, while the students' desks and chairs were arranged facing the teacher.

The desks and chairs were simple wooden ones. I wonder if their quality varied depending on the class?

I was a little curious... I'd ask Lucien about it.

"From now on, you will generally have your classes in this classroom. The classroom next door is for second-year Class E students. Once classes begin tomorrow, students from the other grades will be coming to school as well."

So it really was a classroom for another grade. This school apparently grouped classrooms by class rather than by grade.

There was probably a reason for grouping the children of high-ranking nobles in one place, such as making them easier to protect.

"Now, we will proceed to the next building."

The next building was the somewhat old-looking one to the right when viewed from the front. It wasn't particularly lavish; it had a plain, sturdy look. It reminded me of an elementary school building in Japan.

"This is the research building. Some students gather after school to conduct research, and this is the building they use. There are many research clubs, including the Fire Magic Research Club, Swordsmanship Research Club, and Magic Item Research Club. You may join a research club with the permission of the teacher who runs it, so anyone interested should feel free to join one."

So they were like school clubs or circles! They existed in this world too. The Magic Item Research Club sounded incredibly interesting.

But magic iron and magic stones probably weren't easy to obtain. Did the clubs receive a small allocation of them? If so, I wanted to join!

The Swordsmanship Research Club sounded fun too. Did they train every day? I would ask Lucien which one he planned to join.

"Now, this is the last building."

The building they led us to was behind the main building. It was pretty large... What could it be?

"This is the library."

"A library!! They have a library here!?"

"Students may enter freely, so you can get inside by showing your brooch at the reception desk. You may read books inside the library free of charge, but if you want to take one outside, you will need to pay a deposit. The deposit is one silver coin per book. You will receive it back when you return the book, so it won't cost you anything as long as you don't lose the book."

Wonderful... This was the first time since coming to this world that I had seen a place with so many books. I hadn't read many books in Japan, but that was because there had been so many other forms of entertainment. In this world, where entertainment was scarce, books were incredibly valuable.

The library was the best. I was definitely coming here soon.

"That concludes the facility tour. Your class teachers will now explain your classes, so please return to your classroom. Thank you very much."

My student life was really about to begin! I could hardly wait!