Dream Life Vol II Chapter 57: “Preparation for Returning Home”

　June at Tyria Magic Academy was devoted to remedial classes.

　Those who failed to achieve a passing grade in practical skills or classroom studies would take remedial classes during this time to fulfill the requirements for advancement.

　Of course, there were classes for students who didn’t need remedial classes like us.

　It was a class like a field trip.

　Many of the magicians in the Magicians’ Guilds become not only court magicians or guild officials, but also leaders of local magic groups. These people need a wide range of knowledge, not only in magic, but also in classroom teaching. Of course, the main focus is on the kind of content that is covered in classroom classes–arithmetic, history, geography, etc., but there is still the opinion that it is better to actually see the field, and that is why field trips are conducted. The first-year students will visit the Doctus.

　The first-year students will tour the city of Doctus, where they will be divided into small groups of about 10 people to see the Magicians and Adventurers Guilds, the workshops of blacksmiths and other craftsmen, inns, stores, and so on.

　From the second year onward, in the name of broadening their horizons, the students are expected to visit neighboring villages and towns, as well as the adventurer town of Pericritor and the Rathmore Village on the frontier.

　In other words, it is a kind of excursion or school trip.

　Many students in the fourth grade and younger who come from distant places do not participate in this field trip and go back to their parents’ homes.

　I was not so interested in the field trip myself, but I had to bring my report card back to Rathmore Village, and I had to stay there until June 29, the last day of school.

　This isn’t just my report card, it’s Sharon’s report card. Although she entered the school as a student, she still has to report to her father, Guy, that he is working hard at her studies.

　Sharon and I decided to take part in what we called a field trip.

　We needed to form a group of about ten people, but we had neither the time nor the network to form such a group since we rarely attended classes.

　Just when we were about to give up, Quentin Wagman approached us and we joined his group. The group also included Elliot Wentworth, who had come with Quentin earlier to hear about Professor Ruspede’s lecture, and Anita Isherwood, Councilor Isherwood’s daughter.

　Quentin, however, has been going into the forest once a month and has been gaining a lot of strength. Furthermore, he was voluntarily studying in the library, sometimes with us. As a result, his knowledge of magic has increased considerably, and with a little more effort, he may be able to attend Professor Ruspede’s lectures.

　First, we went to the Adventurer’s Guild, but in our case, the Adventurer’s Guild is almost like a workplace. I came here with the intention of socializing, but this was quite interesting.

　Even though we had been to the guild many times, we had never been to the room of the guild leader – a common title, in this case, for the head of the Doctus branch – nor had we seen the sorting process after the purchase of materials.

　It was also a new experience for me to see the adventurers from inside the reception counter.

　While I was behind the counter, Gerald, a second-rank adventurer I worked with, spotted me and said,

“Look who it is, it’s Zack. The ‘Little Dark Magic Swordsman’ would receive me. This is quite the honor.” (Gerald)

　And he started to teased me.

　I stared at him with a bewildered expression, unable to find the words to reply.

　Then, Quentin followed up with something more.

　His eyes lit up,

“Mr. Lockhart you’re amazing! You already have a title at your age.” (Quentin)

He said.

　Of course, he had no intention of offending me at all, and he probably meant it, but I was so embarrassed that I wanted to run away from the place.

　Other tours of the various workshops, including blacksmithing, sewing, barrel making, and brewing, will be conducted over the next few days.

　Some of the things we saw were in the village of Rathmore, but as expected in a large city of 15,000 people – in this world, a city is said to be a large city if it has over 10,000 people – all the workshops were large and interesting to observe.

　Finally, we went to the Magician’s Guild, and the person who dealt with us was Mr. Miles Isherwood, Councilor of the Education and Research Committee.

　I was told that the Councilor is the same age as Councilor Wagman, but he looks considerably younger than the Councilor. He is a dashing, bespectacled man, certainly a stark contrast to the rough around the edges Councilor Wagman.

　The councilor smiled a refreshing smile and welcomed us to the guild.

“Welcome to the Magicians’ Guild. Some of you look familiar, but let me introduce myself. I am Miles Isherwood, a member of the Education and Research Committee that also manages your academy. Let me show you around.” (Miles)

　He spoke in such a friendly manner that if you didn’t know his true character, you might mistake him for a nice person.

　He guides us on a tour of the guild, but there is not a single interesting thing to see but busy staff members.

　Since many of the members this time were of the top elite class, we were given a special tour of the council room as well. However, there was no council meeting in the room, just a round table with 12 chairs, and it looked like a mere conference room.

“This is where the policies and other matters of the Magicians Guild, which is spread all over the world, are decided. I’m sure some of you will sit here in the future.” (Miles)

　Councilor Isherwood glanced at Quentin and me while saying so.

(I know you know I’m at the top, but I don’t like the attention I am getting. I’m sure he doesn’t know I’ve been working behind his back, but he might try to use me to get rid of Councilor Wagman…) (Zack)

　Quentin thought of Councilor Isherwood as a friend of his father who often came to the house, and he smiled back at him when he met the Councilor’s gaze.

(I wonder what will happen when Quentin finds out the real nature of Councilor Isherwood. Having said that, I wonder what he would do if he knew the true nature of his father, the councilor…) (Zack)

　While thinking about that, I tried not to stand out as much as possible.

　As we left the Magicians’ Guild, I let out a sigh. I was feeling stressed because we had been with Councilor Isherwood, and Elliott Wentworth saw that and called out to me.

“Even Mr. Lockhart gets nervous at the Magicians’ Guild. I wasn’t nervous though.” (Zack)

　Apparently, he mistakenly thought I was nervous because of Councilor Isherwood, who is a great man.

　I recently learned that Elliott is the second son of a Count family in the Kingdom of Saltus – a northern kingdom where magic is thriving – and he is the direct descendant of an Count’s House that Teacher Bennet said after I entered the academy.

　Even while I was thinking about that, he continued to talk.

“…Well, I’ve had an audience with His Majesty the King, so there’s nothing for me to be nervous about at least a guild councilor…” (Elliot)

　While I thought he was an easy child, I thought that this must be normal.

(I guess Quentin and Elliott gave the normal reaction for a normal twelve- or thirteen-year-old kid. I’m sure these guys will go through a lot in the future and realize that this moment was the happiest time of their lives. Well, maybe after they are over forty…) (Zack)

　While thinking about such things, I returned to the academy.

　The 29th day of June of the year 313 of the Tyria calendar.

　The graduation ceremony of Tyria Magic Academy will be held.

　We attended the ceremony as the current students.

　This time, Councilor Wagman attended as a representative of the Magicians’ Guild, and not only the headmaster and other academy officials, but also the top student to address the graduating class as valedictorian, was tense as hell.

(Graduating at the top of the class means he will probably become an employee of the guild. If that’s the case, I wouldn’t blame them for being nervous if Councilor Wagman, the next chairman of the Council, is there. It’s like having the next president of the company you’re going to join come to your graduation ceremony…) (Zack)

　The graduation ceremony ends smoothly, and the end-of-school ceremony is held directly afterward.

　The closing ceremony was similar to those at elementary and junior high schools in Japan, with only a few announcements during the break.

　After the ceremony, the grade reports were handed out in the classroom.

　I don’t mind it at all, but those with lower grades are quite nervous. This is because there is a possibility that they will be removed from the first class, the elite class, to one of the two other groups, which are general classes, or one of the other five classes.

　The results are obvious, since the grade standings are written on the report card. If your rank is not in the top 40, you will be moved to a different class.

　For the time being, they were handed out in the order of their seats, but the homeroom teacher, Mr. Bennett, who used to be so hostile, now treats us normally.

　He calls me, “Mr. Lockhart.”, and I go over to him.

“You are the head of the 281st class. Keep up the good work.” (Bennett)

　He handed me a rolled-up report card. I thanked him and returned to my seat.

　Next, Sharon was handed her report card as well.

　Naturally, she was the runner-up, but Sharon still had a look of disbelief on her face and exclaimed, “I’m the runner-up?” She still can’t seem to get used to the fact that she is the runner-up.

　After that, the grade reports were handed out one after another to the students who had not returned home–about 30 of them.

　When the thirty-fifth student or so opened his report card, he broke down in tears. Apparently, he had failed to make the top 40.

　Looking behind him, I saw two more students with tears in their eyes, and it seemed that at least three more would be replaced.

(They must be frustrated. I think this system is effective in forcibly raising their ability, but I think it’s terrible to experience this kind of competitive society at this age. …Even if I say that, it’s the same in my former world.) (Zack)

　There was a brief greeting from Mr. Bennett, and then the class was dismissed.

　As we were about to leave, Quentin approached us.

　He asked, “Are you going home for the holidays?” I told him that was my intention. He was a little disappointed and when I asked him about it, he said he wanted to go into the forest with us during the vacation.

　We’re leaving tomorrow for our home village of Rathmore.

　Liddy and Beatrice said it would be fine after we enjoyed the Midsummer’s Eve celebration the day after tomorrow, but I wanted to return home as soon as possible.

　Sharon seems to feel the same way, and in the end, we will leave Doctus tomorrow, June 30.

　On the way there, Sharon’s father, Squire Guy Jakes, escorted us, but this time, since we are now strong enough and Beatrice, a third rank adventurer, will be accompanying us, we have declined the squire’s escort.

　Although there was a graduation ceremony and an end-of-school ceremony, it is still before noon, and we should be ready to leave tomorrow by the end of the day.

　The house will be empty for about two months, but since we don’t have much stuff left in it, we decided to leave it to McLeod, the real estate agent, to manage.

　We had already bought souvenirs for the village, such as books, magic tools, and seasonings. He had also prepared a waterproof and blade resistant cloaks for Mel and Dan.

　When I bought the cloak for Mel and Dan, I also bought one for Liddy and Beatrice. Liddy remembered that I had said “I’ll buy it for you” when I bought Sharon’s cloak.

　It ended up costing 10,000 Crona (10 million yen) for the four pieces, but I was able to pay for it with the money I made from my letterpress printing technology, so there was no problem.

　I had this cape made for Dan in a camouflage woodland pattern. It was just for fun, but when Beatrice saw it, she liked it so much that I decided to add camouflage pattern for hers as well.

　This sparked my playful spirit even more.

　I had a tiger-striped one made for Beatrice, a member of the Royal Tiger Tribe.

　It was good up to that point, but two leather armor craftsmen, Rufus and Rachel, seemed to like this pattern so much that they wanted to use it as a standard design. One of these days, they might be able to make leather armor with a camouflage pattern, but I feel like it doesn’t suit the fantasy world.

　Incidentally, Liddy’s is a dark moss green like Sharon’s, and Mel’s is a dark brown with reddish tints.

　I thought about buying a new cloak, but I haven’t because it’s still good enough and there are many objections from those around me. In other words, I still use the jet-black cloak.

　The next morning, I greeted the Novello and Litorf families on both sides of the road and set out.

　We rented horses from the Adventurers’ Guild.

　The Adventurers’ Guild and the Mercenaries’ Guild loan horses. And the convenient thing about this is that you don’t have to return the horse to the place where you borrowed it. If there is a branch of both guilds, they will take it back and return the deposit.

　And this time, instead of going slowly as before, we were going to increase the distance we traveled per day. The distance from Doctus to the village of Rathmore was about 370 km; last time, it took them 17 days because of a problem with heavy rain. This time, on the safer Aurella Road, the main road connecting the commercial city of Aurella in the west and the adventurer’s town of Pericritor in the east, he planned to travel 40 to 50 kilometers per day. The Ars Road, which connects Pericritor to Ars, the capital of the Kingdom of Caum, is more dangerous, so we intend to shorten the distance we must travel, and we plan to return to the village of Rathmore in a little over 10 days.

　We left Doctus at eight in the morning.

　It was a pleasant morning in early summer, perfect weather for a departure. We headed east on Aurella Road.

　Tomorrow is the first day of July. In other words, it is the day of the summer solstice.

　Midsummer festivals are held in many places on Midsummer’s Day. Since the largest town in this area is Doctus, the town has been full of people since yesterday.

　However, there are not many people leaving the city for tomorrow’s festival.

　Normally, the main road is crowded with wagons at this time of the morning, but the road was quite empty.

　We were wary of our surroundings, but since it was the first trip for the four of us, we rode our horses in tandem.