005

I still don't feel like the person reflected in the mirror is actually me. Especially with the previous hairstyle that took ages to fix up. But starting today I don't need to stress about styling anymore, since Uncle Pasha went back to Kastopel yesterday.

I just randomly tied the end of my hair with a rubber band, then draped it over my left shoulder.

"Simplicity is perfection."

I tried various poses, making sure I'd still look fashionable even without wearing gold-layered accessories.

The small clock on the nightstand showed half past seven. Today is Wednesday, September 1st, 302R. A weird time to start the odd semester. Let's pray we don't get hit with midterm questions the second we walk into class.

"Martha! You haven't left yet, right?"

A familiar voice came from outside the room. I called back, "Yeah, just a sec!", then ran to the door. The real-life version of my favorite comic's main character started to appear as soon as I opened the door.

"Where's Astesia?" I asked.

"She left earlier. Her friends picked her up at the crack of dawn. I was so shocked, you know, having visitors at three in the morning."

"Huh? What? Three in the morning?"

"Yeah, I'm not making it up! Geez, and today's September 1st."

"Well, they're a month too early—wait, that's not it! I mean, what does it have to do with September 1st?"

"Hm? Obviously it's the first day of school." Gloria let out a breath. "Honestly, I'm nervous. Am I dressed right like this? I was having doubts before coming here... but seems okay."

She looked me over from top to bottom. I also checked out how she was dressed. Nothing weird. She was dressed correctly with all the stuff attached where it should be.

"You're confident now, right? In that case, let's go, the ceremony's about to start."

"Okay!"

We walked toward the main hall. From my room to the main hall was just one straight corridor, and we'd go in through the south door of the hall.

"By the way, what were Astesia and her friends doing at 3 AM? Eating burgers?"

"Who eats hamburgers at 3 AM." Gloria giggled. "She's in student council. I heard they just got the final list of new student groups. So the teachers asked for their help to make copies and post them on the bulletin board."

As I recall, there's a bulletin board next to the hall door. As we walked closer to our destination, a bulletin board appeared up ahead. There were 8 papers with lists of student names. One paper had 2 groups, so you could figure the new batch had 16 groups.

"Looks like Astesia and the others managed to post it before the ceremony started."

I searched for my name there. Gloria seemed to be doing the same thing.

"You're in Social Sciences and Magic Law?" Gloria asked while pointing to my name on the third paper. "I thought you'd take Magic Practice and Research."

Right, in the end, I took social sciences and magic law. Considering my role doesn't even exist in the main scenario, it's obvious I shouldn't be hanging around the main characters. Sure, there are also important characters from this major, but at least I'm keeping my involvement in the main story to a minimum.

I also thought about the kind of lessons in each major. Magic practice and research seems like it could be interpreted as a pure magic major, where even I myself have never and don't get how to trigger magic.

Spiritual Magic also means I'd have to at least know the spiritual concepts in this world. Put bluntly, I want to worship but don't know which God to worship.

Then, the magical military division. Well, obviously not picking this.

The baggage I brought to this world was just the experience of reading comics, without getting to read the novel which has way more details, and never touching the Whispers of the Enchantress encyclopedia online.

I like this comic. Love this comic. But that doesn't mean knowing everything. I'm not the author. I wasn't involved in making it. I'm just a fanatic consumer who still has other priorities in life. So even though in the comic there are instructions on how to trigger magic by focusing magical energy to your palm, I've never been able to do it. Plus, I don't know what magical energy even feels like.

Yesterday, I tried practicing it myself in my room. I figured, maybe the concept's the same as taking a dump. So I growled and pushed hoping something would come out of my hand. But what came out wasn't magical energy, but gas from my butt. Thank god Gloria didn't visit my room. If I got caught, I'd die of embarrassment.

"I'm not that good at using magic. Besides, why else would my parents send me all the way to school in Soverus? I mean, what else if not international relations, right? That's why I took the social sciences major."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

Gloria seemed satisfied with my answer. I looked again at my name written there. Class SL 1-A. Seems like that's the code for Social and Law. I shifted my view to the spiritual magic major. SM 1-D, roll number 10, Gloria Rosalin. This is just like in the comic. In that case, PR 1-A roll number 1 is... yep, Prince Alex.

She jumped back. "Well, whatever class you pick, please don't forget I'm your friend, okay?"

Friend....

She said something so incredible so casually. My heart nearly jumped out with unbelievable happiness. My mouth froze, confused about how to answer her and at the same time scared my reaction would be over the top when responding.

An announcement echoed in the corridor, "Attention, to all students, the ceremony will begin shortly. Please enter the main hall right away. Once again, ...."

Hearing that, Gloria spoke again, "Come on, let's go in."

With a big smile, Gloria skipped into the hall.

But there was a group of students coming out instead. Gloria bumped into someone and bounced back a step.

"S-Sorry," she said.

The person who got bumped just stayed silent with a cold stare. Meanwhile, the people around him were the ones getting mad.

"How rude of you!"

"How dare you take the chance to bump into His Highness!"

"New kid, huh? Seriously, no manners!"

I stepped in front of Gloria. "My friend already apologized. Please don't drag out such a petty matter."

The person called "His Highness" by the students around him immediately turned away and kept walking out of the hall.

"I've marked your faces. If you dare mess around again...." He made a throat-slitting gesture with his thumb.

"Yes, once again we sincerely apologize," I said.

The saying "problems will always find the protagonist" is real. Move a little, get in trouble. Stay still, get in trouble. Everything's trouble. Hang in there, Gloria.

After that group went far away, I said again, "Let's go in."

Gloria nodded.

***

"... Lastly, I want to say welcome to this year's new students. A new school record accepting more than 500 students for the new batch."

Loud applause echoed in the main hall. That was no doubt a warm welcome from the school's side. But it was kind of different with the welcome from the students' side. Me, sitting near the group of non-noble students, felt like I was getting really intense unpleasant stares.

Seriously an unhealthy atmosphere. I can't imagine what the fate of these commoner students would be if Gloria wasn't here to fix the image of ordinary people. Relax, proletarian buddies, your savior's here, sitting right next to me!

The first arc of Whispers of the Enchantress is about how Gloria beats Vladilena—the main female villain—for the first time in a duel. This becomes the turning point for the nobles to stop being so pushy toward scholarship students.

"... and as a representative of the new student batch, we ask for a few words from His Highness Prince Alex. We invite him to come forward to the podium."

Suddenly, Gloria tugged on my shirt sleeve. "Hey, Martha, he's the one...."