The ballroom Raymond had arrived at for the entrance ceremony was far larger and more magnificent than the Central Hall everyone gathered at earlier.
The gaudy stars and sun, along with swirling ocean art adorning the high ceiling.
Along with curved murals and patterns dropping from the ceiling in arcs.
And moonlight lamps containing replicated moonlight magically illuminating the entire ballroom.
The freshmen who had been screaming at the top of their lungs while checking out the ballroom were guided by the class presidents into neatly lined rows.
While the students chattered away to their heart’s content, the class presidents calmed down their respective classes, and before long, the ceremony began, starting off with the principal’s greeting.
Astonishingly, the principal was transparent.
What’s that supposed to mean—well, as the saying goes, he was ‘literally transparent’.
The principal’s figure was invisible to the students’ eyes and only his voice could be heard. According to rumors passed down, long ago his entire body had been devoured by a demon while handling a request from royalty, leaving only his soul behind.
“At Foreston—”
“Lastly—”
Although he did say something, all that remained in Raymond’s memory was the mere greeting ‘you’ve arrived well at Foreston’. In short, he simply hadn’t concentrated.
“-I sincerely wish for you to become an excellent mage.”
When the principal with the speech finished ‘stepped down’ from his position, something felt off.
‘Huh? I can see him descending?’
At some point, the figure of the principal descending from the podium began appearing. She was wearing a white suit, and mana could even be sensed fluttering from the tips of her waving hands as she stepped down.
‘Don’t tell me she made a whole body out of mana.’
While Raymond mulled over the principal’s mysterious physique, Parisha addressed the freshmen of his Class.
“Alright, Gift students come to me. I’ll hand out the schedules.”
Parisha really treated the foolish 16-year-old freshmen kindly. Who would talk about poop and farts and stuff, right? Those stupid freshmen. Actually, one brat I frequently saw nearby went on saying, “Poop! Farts! Poop! Farts!” the whole time.
No, seriously. If you’re already 16 years old, isn’t that childish joking kind of inappropriate? I’m not playing, for real.
Led by Parisha, the Gift Class students arrived at the dorm common lounge. Students of other Classes also arrived in succession, occupying spaces along one wall each to listen to the explanations.
Fortunately, Foreston’s dorm common lounge was cozily spacious enough to accommodate all 1st Years.
Parisha grasped the necklace around his neck and pulled it off as he spoke.
“First off, now that you’ve entered Foreston, you’ll all start carrying wands necessary when casting magic.”
As she waved her hand through the air once, Parisha’s necklace extended into a long rod. That seemed to be the wand Parisha mentioned. A wand was a concept like an auxiliary tool allowing mages to easily regulate and use their mana.
Right then, someone raised their hand with a question.
“You can use magic without a wand too, can’t you?”
“….A good point. What’s your name again?
“It’s Raymond.”
“That’s right, Raymond. As you say, magic can be used even without a wand. However, a wand engraved with magic circles is essential to use magic efficiently. To state it accurately.”
Parisha held up his wand straight. The wand he or she grasped still retained the form of a tree branch. A scarlet flower bloomed on the right while blue leaves sprouted on the left branch.
“The form of your wand can symbolize what you cherish the most. Mine visualizes a branch of the massive buckwheat tree that was in my neighborhood.”
“Then is a sword okay too?”
Another student, seemingly from a knight family, asked.
“Yes. If you desire, your wand can take on the shape of a sword too. You can start from a necklace like me, that’s fine too. Anything you can wield when casting magic, of any size, is okay. Freshmen will be taking Wandmaking classes for a month from now on, and you have to complete your wand before moving onto the next step. Now, everyone come forward and receive your schedules.”
In order, Raymond received a parchment piece placed before Parisha. The schedule specified lessons from 10AM to 4PM, with the remaining time assigned as ‘Autonomous Discretion’.
“What kind of wand will you make?”
“I’m gonna carve my mom’s face on my wand!”
“Mom’s precious. I miss my mom too.”
…A wand with mom’s face carved on it?
I almost blurted out what kind of nonsense was that, but well, let’s consider him a very filial person.
Raymond decided to feign ignorance of the 16-year-old’s cute remark.
After the explanations regarding wands and schedules finished, the students each returned to their rooms.
Once back in his room, Raymond examined his schedule again.
‘Does this stupid academy seriously think 16 year olds will study during the ‘autonomous discretion’ period or what?’
And this part.
‘For 1st Years, schedule fixed regardless of Class.’
Then what’s the point of having Classes?
Since the dorm itself had Classrooms connected to each other as well, students of every Class could gather in the common lounge, and from 2nd Year onwards, groups would naturally divide based on chosen career paths anyway.
‘It’s not bad for me.’
An extremely fortunate situation where I could conveniently meet the King candidates without having to deliberately orchestrate coincidences.
I didn’t even need the extra effort of sticking right by that prince’s side at all times.
Securing an appropriate position to covertly aid the prince while keeping an appropriate distance.
‘Yeah, I’ll just have to be nice, somehow.’
“Young Master!”
“…You scared me. Why’d you suddenly yell?”
Glancing back, Nicole was rolling a massive foot around on the floor. Looking closely, the floor where Nicole had been rolling… had collapsed off. To think I didn’t even hear the sound of it shattering. Have I gone hard of hearing?
“I called you 3 times already! There’s been a guest waiting outside for a while now.”
“A guest?”
“Yes. Shall I let them in?”
“Go ahead.”
Who could it be? Onyx maybe? The moment Nicole opened the door and let the visitor enter, Raymond couldn’t help but drop his jaw wide open. Maybe the whole world is testing me? Yeah, that’s got to be it. Reviving without talent for magic in a world like this, the fact I was reborn itself must be the trial. And that useless status window just had to come with it.
And the useless status window didn’t warn me about this situation arising at all either.
“Hi.”
Why the hell has that so-called prince come to my room?
***
“Hi.”
“H-Hello?”
Raymond first rose from his seat. But he was perplexed.
Should I use honorifics first since his status is higher than mine? No, is that prohibited at Foreston? Although both commoners and nobles all use informal speaking outwardly…
When Raymond awkwardly spoke formally, the prince’s eyes widened before soon drawing into a faint smile.
“Why are you like that when we’re both 1st Years? Just talk casually.”
“Then, what business do you have in my room?”
“Your switch in attitude is very fast.”
Raymond shrugged. Actually, he wasn’t very accustomed to honorific speech either. Although he had lived a grueling Hunter life scraping by, he didn’t have any memories of fawning over others aside from when receiving payment. The prince approached Raymond with a bright smile on his face and held out his hand.
“Since Gift is on the smaller side, I came to get friendly in advance. My name’s Yuta. You already know my surname, right?”
“…Very unique name.”
“I gave it to myself.”
He named it himself? Wouldn’t royalty typically have a separate namer give them names?
“Because I’m about half an abandoned child.”
He seems able to somehow read minds. Although that can’t be possible.
Since I had to reply somehow, Raymond ultimately opened his dry mouth and praised him flatly.
“I see. Impressive.”
“Haha, sorry for flustering you. I dropped by to get to know some faces before lessons.”
“I see.”
“Then, see you in class.”
After waving his hand briefly, Yuta said ‘Remember me!’ before leaving the room. A knight that had been following behind him gave Raymond a short bow as well. One reason Raymond had immediately recognized the prince was because of that knight’s existence too. He had a sword worn at his waist that only royal knights carried, and the way he tailed after his master resembled a puppy desperately chasing after power.
“He has a nice personality.”
Tidying up the luggage beside him, Nicole tacked on a remark.
“I know right. Nice… —I need to go to the bathroom for a sec.”
With the status window suddenly popping up before his eyes, Raymond swiftly hid himself in the bathroom.
[Selection Confirmation]
The Kingmaker Skill had abruptly appeared, blinking. Should I press it?
[King Candidate Selection Complete]
[The qualification to become King is given to influence targets deemed suitable to become King.]
[King Candidates:
1\. ???
2\. ???
3\. ???
.
.
]
What? Doesn’t completed selection mean the candidates are my candidates?
It seemed the so-called King candidates were randomly selected by the System, and only those chosen from among them could become my candidates. In other words…
‘Looks like I’m not the only Kingmaker.’
Someone could aim for a different person to make King and set things in motion too…?
It’d actually be better if the candidates overlapped though.
‘Well, it’s not urgent.’
I’ll think more about it later. Shaking his head, Raymond clicked on [Divination] blinking next to [Selection]. After all, the information obtainable through [Divination] was quite informative.
[Yuta Studium Stern possesses qualities ‘necessary for a King’.]
So?
‘….What the hell are the qualities necessary for a King?’
Sitting on the bathroom tiles, utterly oblivious to his butt dampening, Raymond pondered deeply.
One conclusion:
For now, get close to the 5th Prince. Then get close to the next prince. Then get close to the prince after that and build my own kingdom of king candidates.
‘Good.’
The moment Master Raymond emerged from the bathroom, shaking off his brooding, Nicole immediately thought his Young Master had wet himself.
Without saying anything, he handed Raymond a fresh pair of pants. However, completely unaware that Nicole harbored such thoughts, Raymond just thanked him gratefully. Nicole’s misunderstanding deepened even further.
‘Young Master really can’t go on without me!!’