NOVEL WEB Chapter 83
“Everyone’s seated, huh? Great. Before we start, I have some good news and even better news! Which one do you want to hear first?”
“Even better news!”
After Adelia’s cheeky question, a cheerful girl standing at the front spoke up.
I remember that friend’s name well.
Letel Gronevelt. She’s the second daughter of a Count and is as bright as Yurasia.
What’s unusual is that, despite being a count’s daughter, she gets along well with commoners.
Not just the commoners in our class, but also those in the class next door, and she even seems friendly with students from Frunt who aren’t in Signia.
If we were to pick a class president, that friend, Letel, would likely be the one.
“Hmm, no. Can you tell us the good news first?”
Meanwhile, upon hearing Letel’s words, Adelia chuckled and replied.
“The good news is that as of today, a student community has opened for first-years at Karela Academy. Shall we check our devices? There should be a link in your message box to access the community.”
Adelia smiled brightly.
At the same time, an enormous cheer erupted from the students.
Yurasia, who sat next to me, also startled and quickly took out her device to check.
Co… Community, what?
Anyway… what is it that has them so excited?
Moreover, it seems like they were aware of it all along.
Just like with the devices and this commu… whatever, where are they getting this information from?
…It seems like Yurasia knew about it too.
Why didn’t she tell me?
I absentmindedly rubbed my nose and pulled out my device.
Just as Adelia said, there was a message from the academy in my inbox.
It was a long message in English… is this the link?
What am I supposed to do with this?
I subtly turned my head to sneak a peek at Yurasia’s device. Noticing my gaze, Yurasia beamed and whispered softly.
“You just press that link.”
“Ah, okay. Thanks.”
Following Yurasia’s instructions, I pressed the link.
Then, pop!, a bright white screen lit up, and…
[So what exactly happened with the Arant Museum?](1)
[I’m not the one who really steals or anything](11)
[If you don’t unblock the money within two days, I’ll put an X in the fountain](35)
[Is there a famous painter in Frunt?](2)
[I heard there was a murder in the alley yesterday](17)
[If Karela continues like this](5)
[The Eustetia Knight Order that visited the academy yesterday](72)
[Here’s the list of major items for the upcoming auction](43)
[!!!!!!!!!!!!!Papdack performance test!!!!!!!!!!!!!](1)
[Is today the day first-years come in?](16)
[There’s supposedly a total jerk in the first year, who is it?](8)
Weird posts lined up one after another.
“What… is this?”
The densely packed text and strange titles caught my attention.
Among them, the one with a ton of red exclamation marks stood out the most…
The title is about Papdack’s performance test?
What even is Papdack?
…Is it okay to click it?
Just as my finger was about to press it…
“Ah, Young Lady!”
Yurasia dashed forward, grabbing my wrist.
“What, why?”
“Young Lady, you can’t click that!”
“Huh? Why not? How do you know that, Yurasia?”
Yurasia’s blue eyes glistened with tears. Then, she trembled slightly and let out a deep sigh.
“…I didn’t want to know either.”
“Now you’ve made me curious.”
“No! Absolutely not!”
Yurasia, who usually talks casually, suddenly became resolute.
“…If you insist that much.”
I reluctantly nodded and put down the device.
Only then did Yurasia relax, returning to her usual demeanor as she looked straight ahead.
“Okay, everyone. I know you’re all excited, but first, we should hear the explanation, right?”
Then, Adelia, standing in the center of the classroom, spoke in a gentle voice.
“First, each of your devices has its own unique community ID. While the anonymity of this community is guaranteed even by Karela Academy, if someone goes overboard, the academy might unveil personal information, so be careful.”
Gasps of admiration erupted from the students.
“Unless it’s something like that, this community guarantees absolute anonymity! Of course, if your device is stolen, or you disclose it yourself, or if you regularly post something that makes it possible for others to guess your identity, then people will eventually find out, but other than that, you don’t need to worry.”
Adelia’s explanation continued.
From what I gathered… it sounds like we can post anonymously in the community, leave comments, and communicate with a lot of people.
This community also actively engages with the academy’s major club, the ‘Newspaper Club,’ so it’s said we can quickly get news both from inside and outside the academy.
It looks like it could be really useful.
Maybe that’s why everyone appeared so excited. Even Yurasia, who had just looked like she’d seen a cockroach’s naked photo, brightened up.
Once Adelia finished the explanation about the community and allowed a moment for students to chatter, she clapped her hands to regain everyone’s attention.
“Alright, enough chatter. Now, I’m going to share the even better news I mentioned earlier?”
As the students’ murmurs quieted and everyone’s gaze focused, Adelia opened her mouth again.
“In three days, the academy’s ban on outings issued by the Empire will be lifted.”
However, a faint hint of irritation and worry was laced in her voice.
Yet, the students seemed oblivious to that and cheered even louder than when they heard about the community.
Before heading to the royal family, from a message I exchanged personally with Fabiana, the ban was supposed to last at least over two weeks…
Why is it being lifted so quickly?
And why does Adelia have that expression?
I tapped my lips, observing Adelia’s expression. Just then, she caught my gaze and looked at me with a meaningful glance.
*
Today is the day for elective classes.
So, I made up an excuse to tell Silina to think of reasons why I should.
While heading towards my first class of Thursday…
“Hey! Eliaernes… you…!”
I ran into Stella.
pat pat-
Stella, clutching a messy pile of papers, approached with an angry look plastered on her face.
“How could you not contact me at all?!”
“What contact?”
“I… I sent you so many messages! You even read them! So why haven’t you replied?!”
How does she know I read them?
Is she just fishing for a reaction?
“I didn’t read them.”
“Huh, really? You’ve gone from being quiet to outright lying? I saw the read receipt on the message I sent!”
I had no idea messages had read receipts.
They really made an annoyingly useless feature…
“…I must have read it half-asleep.”
Honestly, I thought it wasn’t that important, so I kept postponing replying until I forgot. It wasn’t important anyway.
[Eliaernes, are you okay?]
[They said you’re going to the Treasure House? I heard it from Yurasia.]
[What?! You’re going to the Forbidden Library?!]
[I’m at 4th Circle!!! Pina finally created a circle too!! How about that? Pretty quick, right?]
[Well, it can’t be helped. I’m your mentor!]
[Wait, are you 5th Rank? When did that happen…?]
[Hey!! If you’ve read it, reply!!! (Angry cat)]
[—— Reply, I said.]
[Hey.]
[So annoying.]
[Up yours.]
Just useless chat filling the messages.
And that last one. At first, it looked like a typo, but the more I looked at it, the worse it made me feel, so I intentionally didn’t reply.
Anyway.
I hid my fluster behind a warm macaron I had bought that morning. Today, I had three!
“Congrats on reaching the 4th Circle.”
“…Huh? Whatever. It’s not like I’m bowing down for you to thank me.”
Her words might seem rude, but her lips were curling up, and her body language gave away her happiness.
“And, you said you read my message half-asleep? How do you know I reached the 4th Circle?”
smirk! Stella snatched the macaron from my hand, carefully tucked it into her pocket, and then grinned widely.
“Still… thanks. I’ll enjoy the macaron too…”
For just a moment, she looked at the textbook in my hands and tilted her head.
“Huh? What’s this? You also taking [Mana Manipulation C]?”
“Yeah.”
“Ugh… we have overlapping classes?”
Her lips curved again. Each time she pretended not to care while she clearly liked it, it honestly made her seem a bit… odd.
“Is it really necessary for you to take it? Wouldn’t it be better for you to just take practical application courses instead of just aiming for theory?”
“I’m taking practical application too.”
“…Aren’t you skipping all of Friday afternoon’s classes to learn with the Vice Headmaster?”
“That’s right.”
Stella’s expression turned strangely distorted.
“…Then you don’t attend any of the practical classes, like combat or subjugation?”
“I do well, even without those classes.”
“I see, you don’t use weapons, so I guess it doesn’t matter.”
I couldn’t tell if she was teasing me or genuinely believed that.
…It annoyed me for no reason.
Just as I was about to poke Stella in the side with my finger, I noticed the messy stack of papers she was holding.
“What’s that? Why do your textbooks look like that?”
“Uh, uh? Ah…”
She awkwardly hid the mess of… what looked like printed textbooks, clumsily tied together, behind her back while avoiding eye contact.
“I… lost my textbook.”
“How long has it been since we started school that you lost it? No way, you didn’t…”
Stella looked anxiously into my eyes.
I gazed into her navy blue eyes and scrunched my face.
“Did you sell your textbook? Sold it and bought some sort of crappy artifact, didn’t you?”
“…W-What?! No, I didn’t lose my mind!”
“Then where did your textbook go?”
“I don’t know! I said I lost it! If I lost it, why are you getting mad?! I’m the one who’s annoyed!”
Suddenly, Stella turned bright red and shouted, “AHH!”
On top of that, her wide-open eyes were glistening with tears.
…What’s up with her?
She’s reacting weirdly today.
Her reaction is the same as usual, but somehow it feels… uncomfortable.
“What’s wrong? Is something going on with you?”
Stella, who had been fidgeting her lips, turned her back silently.
“…Nothing.”
Her usual haughty attitude was gone, and the typically proud tone was replaced by a downcast voice that wasn’t really Stella.
I watched as Stella walked away. I scratched my cheek and followed her into the classroom.
…Since it’s that day, I should probably be nice today.