Chapter 9: Group Assignment (1)
The next day dawned.
Today, as usual, Sion, alone, was rustling something under the desk.
“It’s groaning.”
It was the Hell’s Flower.
“…Just cute.”
Sion, who had been quite upset yesterday, had confided his worries to Mary.
-“Y-You gave that as a gift to a girl?!” (Mary)
-“Y-Yes, My Lord. Your aesthetic sense is a bit unique… P-Please, Lady Mary.” (Gawain)
-“Young master, you need to listen carefully. …Since there aren’t many who understand your taste, keep it hidden at school.” (Mary)
Not only Mary, but even Gawain.
Sion couldn’t believe reality.
“Eh? Gawain said that? Well, I can’t speak for everything, but your taste seems just fine, master.” (Echidna)
Only after hearing Echidna’s words could he realize reality.
That only the undead understood his taste.
‘Making friends is difficult.’
In the face of cruel reality, Sion despaired.
“Hey there.”
Sion quickly put the flower of hell into the space and looked up.
‘Since when.’
Surely, there was no one around him. However, there was a girl in holy attire standing in front of him.
He immediately remembered who she was.
The priestess from the sect, Lydia.
Since she was a character not in the game, he remembered her.
“What do you need from me?”
“Can I sit next to you?”
‘Ah.’
Today’s lesson was seated.
Looking around, there was only one empty seat here.
“I don’t mind.”
Sion said indifferently.
It was roughly as expected.
‘Another lost soul like me.’
But it was somewhat unexpected.
How could Lydia get into the academy? She seemed like a child wondering about such things.
Moreover, she was quite cute even at first glance.
It was hard to understand why such a child would be a loner.
“Thank you.”
Lydia sat down next to Sion.
Silver hair, red eyes. She really looked like a rabbit.
However, she kept glancing at Sion and repeatedly biting her lips as if wanting to say something.
Even though Sion was oblivious, he noticed.
“Say it.”
“…Can I see what you had earlier?”
Sion blinked.
It was a question too unexpected.
“Do you really want to see it?”
-‘Since there aren’t many who understand your taste, keep it hidden at school.’
Mary’s voice played automatically.
But the “Hell’s Flower” was already in Sion’s hand.
“Wow.”
Lydia, who had been expressionless until now, blushed.
“So cute…!”
Honestly, Sion, who hadn’t expected much, was pleasantly surprised.
“Can I touch it once?”
“Yeah.”
Lydia held the Hell’s Flower very carefully and observed it with sparkling eyes.
‘It must be an act.’
She wasn’t as easygoing as she seemed. She’s a priestess, after all. Aren’t priestesses usually kind to everyone?”
“Do you really think it’s cute?”
“Huh? Yeah. It’s cute in an ordinary way.”
“…Where?”
“With that voice that sounds like it’s about to die, and those big eyes.”
“…!”
It exactly matched what Sion had in mind. The cuteness points of the “Hell’s Flower” were those two aspects.
“You’re a good kid.”
Sion was certain.
“…Me?”
Lydia looked at Sion with a surprised expression.
“I’ll give you this.”
Lydia’s shoulders twitched.
“Are you really going to give this to Lily?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”.
“It’s a gift.”
Lydia made an incredulous face.
“…It’s the first time I’ve received a gift from someone.”
Then she hugged the Hell’s Flower and said with a bright smile.
“Thank you. I’ll cherish it.”
Sion closed his eyes.
It was to savor this gentle emotion once again.
‘This was the reaction I wanted.’
In truth, it would have been nice if Aria had shown a similar reaction, but he was very happy to meet someone who understood him.
Thud-
At that moment, the door opened.
The students, who had been chattering, fell silent for a moment.
The man who entered the classroom with sleepy eyes was a familiar face to everyone.
It was Gabriel, the principal of Eden Academy.
“Nice to see you all again. I am Gabriel, the principal of Eden Academy. I am currently standing before you as the instructor of ‘Basic Character Education’.”
“Instructor! But we thought this class was for magic…”
Eden Academy is similar to modern university systems.
Registration for classes starts next month.
After experiencing various classes, students can apply for the lectures they want to take.
Of course, Sion plans to follow Aria.
“I’m sorry, but there are too many students who signed up for my class. It seems like I’ll need two or three more bodies. So, I considered my own solution. That is,”
Gabriel said, opening his eyes.
“With great power comes great responsibility. Just like lack of skill, lack of character means you cannot take my class.”
“Above all, this is an academy that seeks future warriors to fight against the Demon King. Character is a very important aspect here.”
‘Why is everyone staring at me?’
Sion couldn’t figure it out at all.
“Now, for your first assignment. Form groups of four and register with me. But you must choose carefully. Because from now on, you’ll be in the same group with the four you choose for my class.”
Buzzing.
principal Gabriel was quite notorious. Even the entrance ceremony he conducted was the most difficult exam.
But isn’t this exam too easy? There was no test in the world as simple as this.
‘One, two, three, four, five, six…’
Except for one person.
Sion was diligently counting the number of students.
A total of 30.
Fortunately, other students seemed to have noticed too as they raised their hands.
“So, there are two left.”
“Those two are eliminated.”
As soon as the speech ended, the students moved busily.
Meanwhile, Sion remained frozen, unable to move.
“Eliminated, eliminated, eliminated…”
The principal’s voice kept replaying in his head.
‘This is getting awkward.’
It was a crisis of life and death in Sion’s 16-year life.
This was a more difficult task than killing the Demon King or conquering the world.
After all, Sion had no friends…
‘Friends?’
Sion immediately looked at Lydia.
Would she agree to be in the same group if he asked?
After all, he had given her a gift.
Thud.
She had already stood up from her seat.
“Where are you headed?”
“Lily doesn’t know how to use magic. She just picked a random class, but since it’s popular, she ended up here. But since it’s not what she expected, she’s thinking of choosing another one.” (Lydia)
“Oh, I see.” (Sion)
“…Could you release my hand?” (Lydia)
Sion mustered up courage for a moment and asked, “Wanna be in the same group?”
Of course, it was a very indifferent voice, but still.
“Sure.”
Lydia readily agreed and settled back into her seat.
Sion’s mouth lifted by 1mm.
‘With this momentum, let’s form a group of four.’
The first one that came to mind was Aria, of course.
Even though they ended on a bad note yesterday, having fought together once could still make them friends.
But—
“Dorothy, would you like to team up with Aria?” (Aria)
“Aria, would you like to form a team with me?” (Dorothy)
“Sigh, it’s annoying but I guess I have no choice. I’ll accept you as a teammate.” (Ludric)
“Ah… okay…”
The three main characters had already formed a team with Aria.
Sion was in despair!
‘If I’m cut off here, my classes with Aria will change.’
Unlike just regular electives, Gabriel’s lectures were quite important in this game.
This class was also a chance to become closest with Aria. It would be troublesome if he got cut off.
But no matter how much he thought, he couldn’t see any hints to overcome this crisis.
“You’re that famous Rockefeller? Nice to meet you.”
At that moment, the savior appeared.
It was a man with a somewhat unfortunate smile.
Behind him, three people were looking at Sion with slightly fearful eyes.
“I’m Maximus, the son of Duke Reinhardt. Looks like you’re worried about finding a group, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then why don’t you join us? We happen to have a spot open.”
‘How can there be such a kind person.’
Sion was touched.
But accepting the offer right away would be awkward.
“We’re only two.”
“Haha. You’re joking, right? It’s obvious to ditch hopeless trash like her and come with us, isn’t it?”
“…”
Sion looked at Lydia.
Avoiding Sion’s gaze, Lydia spoke.
“It’s okay. I wasn’t planning on taking this class anyway.”
Today was a lucky day.
Both Lydia and Maximus.
He made several new friends.
‘Friends…’
After a moment of contemplation, Sion pulled out the “Hell’s Flower” from the void and handed it to Maximus.
“What do you think of this?”
“Damn, what’s this? It feels disgusting.”
A golden line was drawn on Maximus’s friendly mask. A clear expression of disgust.
“…”
Sion put the Hell’s Flower back and said.
“I’m sorry, but we can’t be friends.”
Maximus didn’t understand Sion’s words for a moment.
“…Are you rejecting my offer?”
“Yeah. Sorry.”
“Ha.”
Maximus laughed with an incredulous expression.
“There are six left now. Even if you reject my offer, you’ll be eliminated, right?”
“I don’t care.”
“…I never knew you’d be this foolish.”
Maximus turned away without hesitation. And as he passed by Sion, he muttered.
“You’ll regret this.”
He then took one more person and went to Gabriel to form a group.
Lydia grabbed the hem of Sion’s clothes and asked.
“Are you really okay not taking this class?”
“No.”
“…?”
“I never said I’d give up.”
Sion blinked.
Lydia blinked as well, tilting her head.
“So why…”
“Come to think of it, I had friends too. Finding two people should be easy.”
Lydia couldn’t understand even more now.
Well, there was no one left who could form a group.
“Is this the end? Sorry, Sion Rockefeller. Lydia. You two…”
“We’ll form a group.”
After saying this briefly, Sion went to Gabriel with Lydia.
“What’s this about?”
“We’ll form a group.”
“To form a group, you need four people.”
“Yes. There are four of us.”
Sion reached out towards the ground.
“Undead summon, courteous gentleman skeletons.”
Paaah.
Two skeletons popped out of the black magic circle.
“…”
“…”
The students watching couldn’t find words to say.
“Sion. I’m sorry, but the undead…”
“They’re my dear friends.”
Gabriel raised his hand to his forehead.
He had a skill called ‘clairvoyance’ so he could detect lies…
‘What should I do?’
Yes. Sion genuinely believed these undead were his friends right now.
So he couldn’t bring himself to say, ‘The undead aren’t your friends.’
“This is a joke!” (Ludric)
Ludric suddenly stood up and approached Sion.
“How can these undead become comrades? This is an insult to Eden!” (Ludric)
“But, Professor didn’t say that the ‘team members’ had to be ‘students of Eden’.”
“How dare you!” (Ludric)
“Enough,” Gabriel scolded Sion with a troubled expression.
“Sion, my definition of ‘team members’ means trustworthy comrades. These undead are certainly impressive, but they can’t even speak a word, so we can’t call them a team…”
Sion said confidently.
“The undead have their own consciousness.”
Then he looked at the skeletons and said,
“Of course, they can speak. Introduce yourselves.”
All eyes turned to the two skeletons.
The skeletons simultaneously bowed.
“Nice to meet you. My name is Skeleton. I’ll do my best in the future.”
“If you need any help, please let us know anytime.”
“…”
Silence filled Gabriel’s classroom.
