Botany, a Thursday afternoon lecture, was specifically established for the Awakened Special Class.
As such, it did not focus on academic knowledge like plant classification or ecology.
Instead, it covered practical knowledge, such as the appearance and effects of medicinal herbs and poisonous plants, as well as how to handle them.
According to Dyuf, we might even go out for field training later, but that was a matter for the distant future.
This week, all we did was sit still, listening to Dyuf’s explanations and peering into our books.
I will skip that scene.
I will also omit the scene of the Basic Physical Training lecture the following dawn.
Instead, I shall resume the description from the moment the problematic ten-hour lecture began.
For reference, the location was the mountain entrance situated behind Valhalla Academy.
“Nice to meet you all. My name is Bjorn Ketilsson, and my Ether Characteristic Skill is [Earth Control]… but…”
Bjorn, the professor in charge of the Mock Combat and Survival Training lecture and a supporting character in the original work, introduced himself.
He spoke in a very awkward tone, wearing an expression that looked as if he were dying of discomfort, like he was wearing clothes that didn’t fit.
After that, he fell into deep thought, groaning to himself.
Just as the expressions of all the students, including myself, were filled with doubt at his behavior, Bjorn cautiously spoke up.
“I’m a bit uneducated, so treating you noble folks with proper etiquette is a bit difficult for me. Using this polite speech is also incredibly awkward. That’s why I’m asking—would it be alright if a mere commoner mercenary like me spoke casually to you all?”
The moment I heard this, I brushed aside all my doubts and understood.
In the original work, Bjorn was a character with a bold and gruff personality who used clear and straightforward speech.
Naturally, his default way of speaking was casual.
Therefore…
‘The author, Senna, must have thought it wouldn’t suit Bjorn to use polite speech and treat the students with formal etiquette!’
However, Bjorn was a mercenary of commoner origin, and since the social system of this novel’s world adopted a class hierarchy, the author couldn’t just have him speak casually to the imperial royalty and children of the nobility out of the blue.
That was undoubtedly why this scene of him asking for permission was included.
“You speak of the obvious. Are you not currently appointed as a professor, rather than being hired as a mercenary? It would not do for such a person to feel uncomfortable around the students.”
“So… um… does that mean I can… speak casually…?”
One could tell just by the content of her words that was what she meant.
‘Was it because of Fjodra’s tone, which clearly treated him as a subordinate?’
Bjorn reacted as if he were confused about whether he had understood correctly.
“It means you may.”
“Is it really okay…? Including the Imperial Princess herself? Or excluding her?”
“Including me.”
“I’m… I’m really going to speak casually now…? I’m really doing it…?”
“Do so.”
***
After repeated rounds of confirmation, Bjorn finally spoke casually while casting wary glances at Fjodra.
Despite claiming just moments ago that using polite speech was difficult, it seemed that speaking casually in front of Fjodra was even harder.
“Uh… then shall we start by taking attendance?”
Bjorn said those words with an embarrassed expression as he opened the attendance book and called the students’ names.
Afterward, he pulled out a container from his inventory filled with several wooden sticks, clearly intended for a lottery.
“We need to divide into teams first, so everyone pick one.”
‘Could he really be planning to make us practice group battles from the first day?’
If students fought in the mountains where there were many obstacles blocking their view, the professor wouldn’t be able to watch them properly, which could lead to an accident.
If that were the case, would there be a condition not to use Aether?
I came up with several assumptions in my head before realizing it was a pointless exercise and stopping.
Even if I guessed the right answer, there was nothing I could do to prepare, so racking my brain would only make me tired for no reason.
Thus, I quietly watched Bjorn approach the freshmen and hold out the lottery container.
The ends of the sticks that Pret and Svein pulled out were teal and purple, respectively.
They were on different teams.
‘Usually, these things are made with red and blue, aren’t they?’
Thinking that, I reflexively counted the number of sticks in the container, and there were only five left.
Since Pret and Svein had already pulled their sticks, seven should have remained.
‘Wait, could it be that the colors of the lots are teal and purple, symbolizing the Imperial Family and the Austri Ducal Family…!’
Since Lausa and Yor were attached to Fjodra and me, respectively, it seemed they had been assigned to different teams from the start for the sake of fairness.
Sure enough, Bjorn walked right past me and held out the lottery container to Reysir.
“Ah…! Reysir, you’re on the same team as me!”
Svein, after checking the color on the end of the stick Reysir pulled out, looked very delighted.
Since dividing teams by lottery meant they would be decided according to the original author’s wishes, it was an expected development for the original protagonist and the original traitor to be grouped on the same team.
‘And it’s… well… only natural for Svein to be happy about pulling the same color as Reysir. Reysir is the strongest among us!’
However, I couldn’t help but feel displeased.
Still, considering the circumstances, it seemed I was on the same team as them as well.
‘Should I say it’s a relief that I can interfere so the two of them don’t become close?’
“Yeah, it looks like it. And since it’s purple, Karbaldr must be on the same team too.”
It seemed the original protagonist also immediately realized what the color at the end of the stick signified.
However, Svein seemingly did not.
As if he couldn’t understand why I would also be on the same team, he asked back, “Huh?” and showed his bewilderment.
Feeling a hint of reluctance in his reaction, it seemed Svein also found me quite difficult to deal with.
‘Well, it’s not like I haven’t shown my distaste for him once or twice. It would be stranger if he didn’t find me uncomfortable.’
Reysir explained to Svein why I was on the same team.
Bjorn then held out the lottery container to Liolikin and said that Reysir’s explanation was correct.
Then, Liolikin—
“Purple, purple, please, purple…!”
—shouted this as he squeezed his eyes shut and pulled out a stick.
He seemed to desperately want to be on the same team as me.
“Is it… is it purple…?”
As if he didn’t have the courage to check the result himself, Liolikin kept his eyes tightly shut and thrust his hand holding the stick forward, leaving the task of checking the result to someone else.
I wasn’t really in a position to judge, given that I felt uncomfortable being on the same team as Svein, but I wondered why he felt such desperation over something like this.
“There’s no color on it.”
“Eh? What do you mean by that? Don’t joke around with me. I am very, very serious right now.”
“I’m not joking either. Right, Karbaldr?”
Reysir was telling the truth.
When Liolikin still didn’t believe his words, Reysir called me as a witness.
“It is as Reysir says.”
Only after I said that did Liolikin open his eyes and look at the stick in his hand.
After confirming that it really wasn’t painted with any color, he spoke to Bjorn as follows.
“I think I pulled a defective one. Please exchange it. Preferably for a purple one.”
“Ah, that? It’s not defective.”
“Then, what is it?”
“There are nine of you, so if you divide into two teams, one person will be left over. But I heard there’s one incredibly strong kid among you.”
“Do you mean… Reysir?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
I saw Liolikin’s pupils tremble.
He must have realized it after hearing Bjorn’s answer.
The fact that he couldn’t be on the same team as me.
Even so, Liolikin denied reality and asked again.
“I don’t understand. What does Reysir have to do with this stick…?”
“If the team with the strong kid also has more people, the power difference becomes too great for proper training, right? So I put in one stick without a color. The person who pulls that goes to the other team to balance things out against Reysir.”
“That, that means…”
“You’re on the teal team.”
At Bjorn’s confirmation, Liolikin looked at Reysir with a resentful expression, but…
“You shouldn’t blame me. You should have just pulled a purple stick.”
It was an irrefutable point.
Thus, Liolikin couldn’t bring himself to argue and fumbled for words before making a whimpering sound, “Heeing…” with a tearful face.
“Does Karbaldr have honey slathered on his body or something?”
When Liolikin made such a fuss just because he couldn’t be on the same team as me, Bjorn shook his head with an incredulous expression.
“It’s not like that. It’s because Liolikin is very shy around strangers.”
“In all my years as a mercenary, I’ve never seen anyone act that loud while being shy…”
Bjorn reacted with disbelief at my words, but a situation soon unfolded that forced him to believe.
Vigdis pulled out a purple stick, and upon seeing that, Liolikin collapsed with an expression of despair.
It was only natural—
“Three sticks and the one without a mark have all been pulled, so there’s no need to even pull the remaining ones. They’ll all be teal.”
—because with this, Liolikin was now on a team with Fjodra, Hailga, Risi, and Pret.
Except for Hailga, they were all strangers, and Liolikin found Hailga the most uncomfortable among the second-year members.
I believe all you readers know why without me having to explain it.
“I… I hoped that at least Vigdis would be on the same team…”
For the incredibly shy and timid Liolikin, this was the worst possible team combination.
Perhaps feeling sorry for him, my sweet baby dragon approached him and patted him on the back.
Then, Liolikin uttered some very insolent and ungrateful words.
“I wish I had been born as Master Karbaldr’s familiar too… Then we would have been on the same team no matter what…”
Yor no longer comforted the person who dared to covet his position.
In fact, as if to taunt him, Yor snuggled into my arms, drawing Liolikin’s envy.
“But what would happen if Reysir had pulled the unmarked stick?”
‘Was she simply indifferent to how Liolikin felt?’
Without sparing him a single glance, Hailga threw this question toward Bjorn.
Normally, one would think of the answer being to put the sticks back, mix them, and redraw, but—
“Then the teams would have been split into three.”
After saying that, Bjorn grinned, showing his teeth.
One of the three teams he mentioned would likely be a one-man team consisting only of Reysir.
No matter how I thought about it…
‘This is foreshadowing that we’ll be fighting a mock battle with that kind of team combination someday, isn’t it?’
That time would likely be after Hailga, Risi, and Svein became able to fight properly.
That way, when Reysir won alone against us as a team, his skills would stand out even more.