Introductions

Mineself was approached by the church today. They’re looking for educators. It seems they plan to open a school like Saionia themselves. I believe mineself shall accept, but regardless I shall describe why below:

The Irisian church believes in the Spirit, the creator of all things, that split to create the gods that inhabit our world. They worship Iris, said to be the first human, and was the one to gain the Spirit's blessing before it split. The texts write that the blessing is the reason Humans are able to have such a variety of abilities compared to the other races, and for that reason they believe humans to be the greatest race.

That belief may indicate the school they create will accept solely humans. Allying ourselves with a group like that may be beneficial. If I get hired, mineself will receive information, and perhaps even find those who sympathize with our cause. The war may have ended, but mineself shall never forgive them. Wait a while longer, Lunia.

-Excerpt from the recovered journal of Absalon Ramorski.

♕♛♕♛♕♛♕

The sounds of pots and pans clanging together reverberate from behind as we stare at the young man.

Dirt and grime clings to nearly every surface of his body, making his black hair appear more ashen. His face has changed at least 2 shades, and his clothes have completely changed their color.

“What was that!?” the young man shouted. “Are you two okay?! Did that man hurt you?!”

The rest of the room all looks directly at the young man. Several people scoff at his appearance, one walks out entirely.

“Um…” Helia tries to cut in.

“I'm glad you guys are okay… But why’d you cover me in this? Where am I supposed to do laundry?” The young man steps forward towards us. “Seriously, if they find out I ruined these clothes already, their gonna-”

Manako motions backward, stepping behind me as the young man moves forward.

Smack

Suddenly the young man is smacked on top of the head, stammering forward before falling on his face.

“And where the hell were you!?” A young woman says, standing behind where the young man had just fallen from.

Her hair a soft pink, cut short with the back combed into a pony tail. A white cloak draped over a simple brown dress. Over he chest is light armor. She looks down at the man with scarlet red eyes.

“H-hi Eris” The young man softly says, looking up slowly.

“Haah. Get outside.” The woman, Eris, says exasperatedly.

♕♛♕♛♕♛♕

“Eris Tinea.”

The girl introduces herself as she returns into the Inn.

“I'm sorry about him. He’s… He can be a little…” She says awkwardly as she reaches the group.

Outside of the window, the young man shakes his head, which is now wet and clear of the dust. His deep black hair on display. He twists his shirt and squeezes it tight, releasing water onto the street floor.

“It’s… okay, let's just all try to get along.” Helia says. A wry smile plastering her face. “I’m Helia Baldr.”

Helia sticks out her hand toward Eris. She accepts.

“Okay! I still need an explanation!” The young man loudly says, having re-entered the Inn.

“Just sit down and we can all talk, okay?” Helia motions toward the table with the old shabby man and the silent princess.

“Huh? Sure, I just want them to-” he begins to say but is interrupted from behind.

Shriiiing

Eris had started to move toward him, looking as if she was about to smack him. However she was not the source of the sound that now interrupts the young man's squabbling.

From behind him, the old man that was at the front counter appears. His face scrunched, the scar on his face seeming like more of a threat than an injury. The source of the sound comes from behind him, in his hands is the handle of a longsword. The sword seems to nearly double him in height as he drags it slowly along the floor, leaving a deep gash in the floor boards.

“Hr.” The old man breathes out.

“Eep” The young man cries, quickly moving toward the table Helia had pointed out to him and sitting down.

“Hm” The old man grunts as he turns back toward the front desk, his longsword dragging behind him.

“Sorry…” Eris says, embarrassed, as she sits down next to the young man.

“We-well, let's just get started.” Helia says wryly.

The booth is a half-circle surrounding a similarly shaped table. As we move into the booth, Manako seems hesitant to sit next to the old guy at the back, so I move to fill in that seat. As soon as I sit down the familiar scent of tobacco shoots through my nose. The old man seems to be covered in the scent. Luckily, since Helia seems to want to stand, there's plenty of space between each person.

From the side closest to the front door, the seats go: Eris, Young man, Princess, old guy, me, Manako, and finally Helia, who currently stands outside of the booth.

“Hello everyone, I'll start with a roll call.” Helia says as she motions her hand towards herself. “Please introduce yourself when I say your name.”

“I am Helia Baldr, I’ve been assigned as the leader of this group by Miss Anael at Saionia.”

She reaches over towards a brown jacket hanging on the edge of the booth. She puts an arm and then another through the two sleeves and straightens it over her chest. An insignia rests over her left breast pocket.

The insignia depicts an open book, behind it, a tower ascends in the background. To the left of the tower is a sun, to the right is three crescent moons. At the top is what appears to be the head of a dragon, the tower within its maw. All within a circle, the insignia is that of the university of Saionia.

“The man at the back is Locke Baldr, he’s here as a chaperone and a possible hire at the university.” Helia says, pointing towards the old guy.

“And is he your..?” Eris asks.

“Dad… uh, Father. My father.” Helia corrects herself. The old man in question doesn't move an inch, simply laying with his head back as if sleeping. I'm just gonna call him Smoker.

“Well, regardless, he’s not too friendly… but he’s not dangerous, so please ignore him.”Helia says. “Okay, let's continue… Nerissa Orlaith?”

Helia turns toward the back corner, where the “Princess” sits.

“Oho?” the Princess in question says as she stands. Her legs bump into the table, pushing it towards Manako and me.

Her dress is a striking deep blue, lined with black accents and frills. The accents move like waves over the base of the blue dress.

“I shall allow you commoners to refer to me as Nerissa! Ohohohoho.” She says, laughing.

Wow

“Wow” The young man lets out.

“Haah?!”

“Hm?” Nerissa turns toward the one who made the noise. “Do you have a problem commoner?”

“I- Commoner?! You rich-folk really feel like it’s okay to talk to us like that? You lazy pieces of sh- crap.” Eris calls out, leaning in toward Nerissa. She caught herself at the end there…

“Ohohoho, You commoners could not fathom the complications of the Nobility.” Nerissa said, leaning toward Eris.

“You sit on your ass eating cake and doing whatever daddy tells you. You wouldn't recognize nobility if it punched you in the face” Eris replies, lifting her hand up and balling it into a fist. Tension fills the room as the two women stare each other down.

“Now, now. Please don't fight.” Helia asks, attempting to grab Eris.

“Eris, please calm down.” The young man, stuck between them, grabs Eris and pushes her back.

“Oho, a commoner has no place to speak about the life of a noble. Especially when that commoner is a slave to the church” Nerissa said, sitting back down in her seat. The target of her ire the necklace hanging around Eris’s neck.

“You-”

“Please! I understand where you're coming from but please don’t fight.” Helia says, grabbing Eris and preventing her from continuing.

“I-”

“Please”

“Hah, fine.” Eris relents, leaning back into her seat.

“Okay. Okay, then Eris Tinea.” Helia says, motioning for Eris to go.

“I’m Eris, Eris Tinea. And as she rudely pointed out, we're Irisian.” She says as she holds up the necklace around her neck. The young man does the same. It's a seven pointed star, split into seven sections each a different color of the rainbow. The star is outlined in gold, with a quartz-like crystal embedded in the middle.

“I look forward to traveling with you guys. Most of you anyway,” She mumbles under her breath.

“Nice to meet you… Next is Neia Samsa?” Helia looks around the table for a moment before stopping at me.

“Uh, That's me.” Should I sit or stand?

“I’m Neia Samsa. Neia is fine.” I decide to stay sitting.

Everyone lets out a “Nice to meet you” except for the Smoker.

Sorry my introduction isn't as interesting as theirs…

“Next is… Yos-hi-da Hiiro?” Helia looks at a piece of paper that she brings out of her pockett.

“Yoshida. Yoshida Hiiro.” The young man says. “I’m looking forward to learning with you all.” He bows.

““Huh?”” Manako and I exclaim.

“What do you mean ‘Huh’!?” Yoshida asks.

“Hiiro… as in Hero?” I point out.

“Hk.” He pauses for a moment. “I know what it sounds like but that’s not... My mom is, um… eccentric"

“I see…” Helia says wryly. “You said Yoshida Hiiro, right?”

“Yup, but Yoshida is my family name so please call me Hiiro, most people do. ”Yoshida says, a strange smile on his face.

“Your family name comes first..?” Helia says, confused.

“Commoner, are you perhaps from the Pleiaros isles? I had heard the people there do the same.” Nerrisa questions him.

“Huh, really? I’m not, though that does sound pretty cool.” He says, scratching the back of his head.

“The elves do the same, actually.” Helia says, turning to look over at our side of the table. “Isn’t that right, Manako?”

“Huh, uh… Yeah.” Manako, who had shrunken herself to avoid taking part in the conversation up to that point, responded.

“Hm? Elves?!” Yoshida reacts to the realization by leaning forward onto the table. “Are you really an elf?!”

“Eeep” Manako pushes back into her seat as far as possible in surprise. Bringing together her four limbs to her center, She shakes uncontrollably.

“Hey.” I say as I move to cover her. “Calm down.”

“Eeep.” A similar sound to Manako rings out. However, it doesn’t come from her, but from Yoshida himself. I don’t think I was that mean…

“S-sorry.” Yoshida says dejectively as he leans back down, pulled back by Eris’s arm.

“W-well then. Where are you from? If you don’t mind my asking, of course.” Helia asks curiously. “You look like you may be from the Eastern Continent, but I don’t know anywhere there that has that naming convention.”

“That’s fine, I’m from-” Yoshida begins to answer.

“Hiiro-” Eris cries out, attempting to stop him.

“Japan.” Yoshida reveals,

“Hm?” The Smoker tilts up his head

“Oho?” Nerissa lets out.

“Hah” Manako breathes.

“Shit” Eris curses.

“Fool” I say.

An awkwardness settles over the table. Time feels as if it’s having doubts deciding whether to move forward or not.

Eventually, after what felt like multiple minutes, somebody decided to ask.

“O-oh? Where is that? I think I’ve heard of it before but I don’t think that it cou-” Helia attempted to save the situation, however:

“Oh? You probably haven't heard of it, it's in another world after all.” Yoshida Hiiro says without a care in the world.