While the exam might have ended. It wasn't like things were wrapped up. I mean, sure. No one was openly complaining anymore after the headmaster put his foot down about my admission for the second time.
That didn't mean the situation was resolved. We were all still just standing in front of the headmaster. Surrounded by spectators in the chamber with that crystal helix.
Spectators who were now all angrily glaring at me. And they had a point. I would be pretty pissed too if I was a parent who watched their child do his absolute best only to fail an exam.
An exam that someone else did worse on, only to make it through thanks to the whim of a teacher. It could be seen in the same way as watching someone blatantly cheat, and even though you point it out, the teacher just ignores it.
So I'm not mad that they are mad. I'm a little pissed, too. But for different reasons. Chiefly among them being that I didn't get in on my own merit. `I definitely failed at least the written exam. That's for sure. So I should have failed.`
And of course, I didn't want to end up in the prestige class either. But that's beside the point. It's not something I can fix at the moment anyway. Not that I can fix the way I was admitted either.
If I complain and argue with the headmaster, I might be able to argue him out of admitting me. But then I would be out on the streets. And may even shave years off my parents lives.
After all, I imagine they will be happy to hear that I made the cut for Oridalis Academy. No matter how I did it. You couldn't even call how I made it cheating, after all.
Which will surely mess up my social life around here. `This will definitely have an impact on the trout population. Except this time I'm the fucking trout population, gang.` My thoughts are, as always, completely unfit for the situation I find myself in.
But at least they distract me from all the angry stares. Not that I care overly much what others think of me. But it was definitely uncomfortable to have everyone glare at me with such righteous fury.
So for a change, I tuck my head in and don't say anything. I shut up and let things happen. Not because I'm scared. I already know I'm going to get my ass beat for this regardless of what I say. So I just think it's smarter if I don't say anything for the time being.
And luckily, things move along after everyone has settled down a bit. "Well." He begins with a loud clap to draw everyone's attention. "With this, the ceremony is also over. Brenvar over here will lead all who failed to the gate of the Academy for a ceremonial goodbye. While Lysander will handle our sole victor."
`Bruh. He is doing this shit on purpose for sure.` The headmaster's words redouble the anger everyone else in the hall feels towards me. And to me, it seems like he knew that, based on the grin he shoots me as I follow Lysander out of the hall. Followed by scornful whispers and venomous glares.
The walk to Lysander's office felt a little surreal to me. Maybe because I was still processing everything. My brain is not fully caught up just yet. So I barely notice anything around me. I don't even really know if Lysander said anything during our walk.
I only snap back to reality. Out of my own thoughts when it's just us two in his office. As I watch him lean heavily against his desk with both hands. Exasperated.
A deep sigh escapes him before he turns to me. Schooling his expression into a carefully neutral one. "Well. It seems we have a new student here." Then he extends his open hand towards me. Palm pointed upwards. Like he wants me to give him something.
And while for a moment I think he wants a high five or a shake of my hand. I rein myself in from doing something dumb and embarrassing and think. Not fast enough, though. "Your invitation letter. You won't need it anymore. So hand it over." He explains while rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Yeah. Right. Hold up." I rummage through my pockets quickly to retrieve the letter that had become such a dear companion to me. Only to watch him cruelly toss it into the lit fireplace in his office.
`Bruh. My letter.` My thoughts trip over each other for a moment. `Why the hell does he even have a fireplace? It's not like it would ever get cold in here, thanks to the atmosphere bubble.`
I'm, however, quickly brought back by his voice. "Usually, there is a bit more fanfare to this. A ceremony and everything. But seeing as how the headmaster already did away with tradition and protocol for your sake. Then I won't do anything fancy either."
That was perfectly fine with me, of course. "So I will simply do as I did before. Hand you documents with everything you need to know written down in them. Before I send you off." And just like on my first day here, he begins to walk to one of the many drawers in his room and retrieves documents from it.
But this time, he also goes to another cabinet to retrieve a key and an emblem for me. "Everything you need to know is written in here. This is the key to your personal room. As for what the emblem does. It's also written in the documents."
The way he almost throws me my things and how quick and to the point he is makes it pretty clear he wants me out of his sight. "Now go." And then he outright says as much.
"Don't need to tell me twice." Not that I mind. I'm already at the door the moment he finishes. I need some time for myself to work through everything. So instead of trying to figure out where my new room is, I shamble back to my previous dorm room.
My stuff was still here after all. So I would have had to come back here anyway. And at least here no one bothers me. Though on my way here, I caught some strays in the form of glares and angry whispers.
So I'm happy once I'm all alone in my room. Sitting down on the bed with a deep sigh. "Well. I'm not sure if I should be happy or not. Nobody else really seems to be too happy with me being here. But it's not like I really care about the opinions of others."
I pause at my own words. I feel like I've been saying or thinking that a lot over the past few days. That I don't care. But in reality, I do. Not in the way others might. But I definitely care about having enemies.
After all, if some little noble shit decides to try and bully me. I won't be tactful about my responses. I'm just not the type to let anyone talk shit about me. Not without pushing back in some way if I think it's warranted.
So I can only hope no one takes things too far. Though I feel like someone eventually will. And then I'm going to get in trouble. Real trouble.
"I have to try to keep the peace. At least until I hear from the parents of this boy." I've been referring to them as my parents for a while now in my own thoughts. However. I'm still very much aware that they aren't. And that they deserve to know the truth.
Not over a letter. I want to tell them and apologize face-to-face. I also want them to consider that having me as their son might not be a terrible thing. Which was partially why I decided to go through with the whole exam thing.
Now that I had made it, however, I was standing before a different problem. If I wrote a letter to them that I made it into the school, they'd probably be overjoyed and encourage me to stay at school.
And that would mean I would be stuck here at least until the next summer vacation, which was in ten months. Which in turn would mean that for ten months, I would be lying to or at least leaving them in the dark.
"I definitely don't want to write a letter explaining everything that happened. They'd just think I've gone crazy or I'm trying to mess with them." I've seen as much when I tried to be honest with Myra and the other Outriders.
News like that would be even harder to accept for this boy's parents. Especially after everything that they had already gone through. Probably believing and mourning their boy's death. Only to learn months later that he had survived and made it into the most famous academy in the kingdom, despite what happened.
"Ahhh. I don't know." I ruffle my hair in frustration. "Whatever. I'll think about that once I'm writing the letter. Which I should do soon. But first." I reach for the documents given to me and begin to read through them.
Since I'll have to do that anyway. Reading them might also give me a hint on how to write a letter in the first place. Since I'm fairly certain the Academy has its own postal service or something like that.
`Would certainly fit the elite school with dormitories vibe.` And as so many times before, I'm right. The documents indeed have information about services the academy offers, like its letter and package delivery system.
Other than that, however, the documents also have lots more useful info for me. Even more than the previous stack of documents that is now sitting in my locker with my backpack and other items.
The documents talk about how exactly the school works, too. And it turns out it works based on a point system. Which is both simple and complex. Simply because it's straightforward. And complex because it means things constantly change.
Students are all ordered in three ranks based on how they did on the exam and other factors that the documents don't go into. But I assume it's to do with status and money.
Either way. Students are ranked based on points. Points that can be given or deducted at the teacher's or staff's behest. For example, when a student does well on a test or demonstration, they gain points.
And in turn, if a student does poorly or misbehaves, they lose points. Pretty straightforward so far. But where things get complicated is the class rankings and privileges or chores that come with them.
The three ranks students are put in based on points are the Foundational Class. Esteemed Class. And of course, Prestige Class. With Prestige Class obviously being on top and Foundational Class being at the bottom.
So far, so good. But the problem is that those classes have point limits. Both ascending and descending. Meaning that if you fail a test or get caught doing something bad, you might just lose a point that decides if you are in the prestige class or the esteemed class.
And considering how many privileges one gets to enjoy in the prestige class, that would be a pretty bad thing. So I'm sure there is a lot of blackmailing and coercion going on between students as well as between students and teachers.
Scholarship students have it even worse. They have to be in the prestige class; otherwise, they are kicked out of the school altogether.
Which is completely messed up if you think about how nobles would treat scholarship students if they were commoners. And how easily the system here might be played.
`I'm probably gonna suffer the same fate. I feel like everyone will try to make me lose so many points that the school will just throw me out.` If I'm not thrown out first for getting into a fight because someone stepped over one of my lines.
This was all exacerbated by the privileges each rank gets. For example, as a prestige class student, all I need to do is show my emblem anywhere on school grounds, and I'll get things for free.
This includes the student uniform. Textbooks. Food in the cafeteria. Access to the library and other training facilities. As well as free entrance to things like the school's observatory.
People in the esteemed class also get a lot of the same privileges. But they don't get free access to extracurricular buildings like the school's observatory. At least not without permission from a teacher or staff member. And they also don't get textbooks for free.
The foundational class, on the other hand, has to pay for almost everything. Including food and housing. They have to pay for being allowed to stay in rooms that aren't too different from the room I spent the last two days in.
Except they have to share them with others. While prestige class students get their own personal rooms with attached bathrooms.
Even their personal servants get accommodations within the school grounds. Not that I had a personal servant or maid. Nor did I want one. That would be weird and creepy to me personally. I've never liked those kinds of dynamics. With a power balance clearly in one person's favour.
I just personally don't think it would allow for any real, fair, and lasting relationships. Romantic or otherwise. So I was not keen on the possibility of getting a servant. Even if I am a noble now.
I would rather handle everything myself. Like moving my stuff to my new room. Which I do after I finally finish reading the documents. And since I didn't have many things, one trip was more than good enough.
One trip that leads me to the biggest, most opulent dorm on the school grounds. A building so magnificent and awe-inspiring that it's only rivaled by the main building of the school itself.
It's also situated closest to the main building of the school. So the prestige class students wouldn't have to walk far. Though based on the carriages out front and parked on the side of the building, I assume not many of my fellow prestige class students walk a lot.
"Bruh. I don't think I'll ever fit in here." I mutter to myself as I enter the foyer of the dorm building. Which, just like the foyer in the main building of the school, made my head spin.
It was all white marble. Red satin carpet. Gold ornaments with studded gemstones and exquisite wooden furniture. Obviously, all expertly made. But so obviously unnecessary that I can't help but squint disdainfully at it.
Just thinking about what all this costs made me cringe inwardly. So I hurried up to my own personal room quickly. To room two zero four. The fourth room to the left on the second floor.
Though, as it turns out, my personal room was no less opulent than the foyer. I felt like I had stepped into a museum about some eighteenth-century king. Were they preserved in his bedchamber one to one?
The room was dominated by one king-sized poster bed with curtains that felt like silk. The bed, like the rest of the furniture in the room, was either white marble, like most buildings in the academy. Or some kind of dark, luxurious, polished wood.
The actual curtains were also made from the same material as the bed curtains. They just weighed more and were thicker. The carpet on the floor was a material akin to wool but felt much softer.
The bathroom was also more luxurious than anything I'd seen before. The bathtub and separate shower even had golden accents. Made from actual gold, if I'm not wrong. It felt like it. Warm to the touch.
There was also a fireplace I knew I'd probably never use and a whole walk-in closet. Though one could almost call the closet a separate room with how big it was. The one remaining pair of good outdoor travel clothes looked quite lonely after I put them away.
But they were all I had, so there wasn't much I could do about it. In fact, putting my things away was a lot easier than coming to grips with this being my room now.
I even felt weird when I eventually pulled out a chair to sit down at my work desk. The chair was too soft and fancy. And the table was a beast made of the same dark wood as so many other pieces of furniture in the room. Polished until I could almost see my reflection in it.
And it wasn't just a table. It was a cabinet. Multiple, in fact. As well as having multiple other functions. It could even tilt the work surface like some old school desks from back on earth.
"Very ergonomic. I like it." I muse while looking through the cabinets built into the desk. Where do I find everything I need to write a letter? Paper and pencils. As well as quills and normal pens.
All kinds of writing utensils lay out before me while I ponder what to write to my parents. Or rather. To the parents of the person whose body I inhabit now.
A task that proves to be quite difficult for me. I hum and ha while drafting sentences in my head. Before dismissing them again, because they don't sound right. Minutes tick by without me touching a single one of the things I meticulously laid out on the table.