The Beginning of Classes

The Beginning of Classes

The Beginning of Classes

It was the day after the fellowship gathering and classes were due to begin. The students in the Ehrenfest Dormitory had eaten breakfast, making sure to squeeze in a few extra moments of studying whenever they could, and were now preparing for their first lesson.

The victory conditions for the Better Grades Committee were the same as last year: either have everyone in your team pass their classes the fastest or produce the most honor students. The new students balked when they saw their seniors working so hard from the very first day and rushed to open up their textbooks as well. Charlotte was doing her best to lead them, but she had no prior experience with the dormitory, meaning she was one step behind us.

I passed a letter to Rihyarda while keeping a watchful eye on my surroundings. “Deliver this meeting request to Professor Solange while I am attending my morning lessons,” I said. “We will need to register the first-years at the library.”

“Understood, milady.”

I was skimming some notes I had written to help me remember some particularly important details when I noticed Charlotte looking at me with puffed-out cheeks. “You certainly are moving at your leisure, Sister...” she said.

“Of course,” I replied. “I was afforded an entire year to prepare, after all. And while I understand that you and the other first-years are bemoaning what little time you had to make your own preparations, I think you are forgetting that you spent this winter and the last studying history and geography in the playroom, and that you have generously been given my textbooks. Last year, the Better Grades Committee wasn’t established until after our arrival at the Royal Academy, so the first-years were forced to adapt almost overnight. You have it much easier than we did.”

The laynoble and mednoble second-years nodded, having struggled a great deal with history and geography at the time. They had looked like death itself, but this year they looked healthy and fine as they prepared for class. Incidentally, my target for the second-years was for everyone to pass in one go and with the highest possible marks.

“It’s about time,” Rihyarda announced. “Everyone, move to the entrance hall.”

Everyone put away their study materials and gathered in the entrance hall with confident yet also somewhat anxious expressions. We needed to be ready in time for second-and-a-half bell, when our morning classes began. After checking that the first-years were wearing their brooches and capes, we told them what to be aware of and then exited the dormitory.

First- and second-years went to the central building while third-years and above went to the buildings for their respective courses. These first-years were going to have practical lessons in the morning and then written lessons in the afternoon, while we second-years were going to have written lessons in the morning and practical lessons in the afternoon, much like the year before. This morning we were focusing on history and law.

“This will be your first practical lesson, then,” I said to Charlotte. “I hope you are able to wield mana without issue.”

“Indeed,” Charlotte replied. “You and Wilfried are aiming for everyone to pass their written lessons on the first day, correct? I look forward to hearing reports on your success.”

I gave a firm nod in response and then headed to the auditorium with the other second-years. “You must not leave until we come to get you,” our retainers stressed before going on their way. Once they were gone, we looked for the seats designated for Ehrenfest—that is, the ones labeled “ten.” Distinguishing them was very easy indeed, since the desks and chairs were separated into duchies.

“Lady Rozemyne. Lord Wilfried. How do you do?” came a familiar young and gentle voice as students from the other duchies started to gather. It was Hannelore. I turned around and saw that she was standing in front of the other blue-caped Dunkelfelger students. Rather than her guiding them, it seemed more like they were her stalwart defenders.

“Good, Lady Hannelore,” I replied. “I trust you are just as well.”

“Are you and the other Ehrenfest students once again aiming to pass all of your classes on the first day?” she asked with a soft smile, as if she found the sight of us desperately reading our notes heartwarming. “It was quite a surprise when you accomplished it last year.”

Wilfried replied that we hoped to accomplish the same again.

“Much to our embarrassment, during the awards ceremony last year, we were praised for our speed but criticized for our low grades,” I admitted with a smile. “Although we still intend to pass on the first day, our goal for this year is to improve our efforts and achieve high grades that we can take pride in.”

Hannelore looked at me and the other Ehrenfest students with wide eyes, as did the Dunkelfelger students accompanying her. “I suppose that if anyone can perform such a feat, Lady Rozemyne, it is you,” she said. “I look forward to hearing of your duchy’s exploits this year.”

Lady Hannelore is expecting great things from me?! As a fellow Library Committee member, I need to secure grades that won’t disappoint her!

I steeled my resolve to achieve grades befitting of a Library Committee member, at which point my motivation shot up to a level that was entirely unprecedented.

“I will strive to meet your expectations, Lady Hannelore,” I said. “I shall also pray for Dunkelfelger to find just as much success this year.”

“I thank you ever so much, Lady Rozemyne.”

After watching the platoon of blue-capes head to their seats, I returned my focus to my notepad of weaknesses. Our first class was history, which was going to be more complex and in-depth than what we had studied the year before. There was a lot to memorize, but most of the information was just building upon things we had already learned, so it wasn’t that bad. First- and second-years were taught the general flow of history, while third-years and above learned about particular figures and their achievements, depending on their course.

“I’m so nervous. I was the only one who barely passed history last year...” Philine muttered while preparing her writing utensils, no doubt remembering what the teacher had said to her last year.

“You’ve got nothing to worry about,” I tried to reassure her. “You studied as well as anyone. Isn’t that right, Wilfried?”

“Don’t talk to me right now, Rozemyne. Feels like the names of all these kings are going to spill out of my ears at any moment.”

“They certainly are long and similar-sounding...” I agreed.

The years in this world weren’t numbered; instead, Yurgenschmidt history was neatly delineated into eras based on the reigns of different kings, with the King X era being followed by the King Y era, for example. As I continued memorizing them all, it occurred to me that the system was quite similar to how periods were represented in Japanese history. The names were harder to memorize, but not having to remember numbers made up for that. You just needed to get the general flow down.

“Now, one student from each duchy come forth to fetch the exam papers.”

Philine collected the papers as our representative and then handed them out. This was always the most exhilarating moment of school, in my opinion. It made me feel like a hero of legend, brandishing my sword and preparing to fight any valiant foe who would dare challenge me.

Although, when I’m not so confident about passing, it feels more like I’m pleading for my life.

This was a test I was confident about, so I finished it in the blink of an eye. It seemed that everyone else from Ehrenfest found it equally trivial. Philine and Roderick in particular looked a lot more at ease than they had the year before.

“Done,” Philine eventually announced after staring down at her test with a deadly serious expression. She was the last Ehrenfest student to finish, so we turned in our papers and started studying for our next exam while the professor graded us.

It was while we were studying law that an announcement echoed through the auditorium: “All passing grades for Ehrenfest.” We glanced up from our notes and exchanged celebratory looks; the girls smiled at one another while the boys traded more self-assured grins.

Some other duchies received a one hundred percent pass rate as well, but Ehrenfest came in first. Hopefully we could keep it up and pass our next one together too.

Now on to law!

History hadn’t been a walk in the park for me, but law was another story entirely. Here, memorizing the content wasn’t enough; one needed to understand it as well.

Laws applied to all nobles in Yurgenschmidt, including royalty, and were recorded in what was appropriately titled The Book of Laws . We were studying from transcribed copies, while the original was a magic tool in the Sovereignty. The laws were focused almost entirely on interactions between duchies and things that applied on a countrywide scale, such as the appropriate process for marrying into another duchy or how successors were decided upon. One thing that stood out to me was how detailed the instructions were for when an archduke passed away without settling on a successor.

On the whole, the country’s laws were pretty ambiguous and crudely written; a lot of sections said nothing more than “the king will arbitrate” or “a decision shall be made during the Archduke Conference.” There had been more than enough times when I wanted to cry out that the laws provided no real guidance—that there was no purpose in them even existing. Did anyone here even understand the point of having them?

According to Ferdinand, it was exceedingly difficult to expunge outdated rules once they were added to The Book of Law s. Many were kept vague on purpose as a way to future-proof them.

In the past, there was a king who took issue with how many incidents depended on his arbitration. He introduced one detailed law after another to reduce how often he was consulted on legal matters, which worked well for his time, but as future generations came and went and the country became more modern, these laws became outdated. Still, the people had to follow them.

The king of a new generation had wanted nothing more than to eradicate the laws, but there were many nobles who wanted to keep them as a matter of tradition. Thus began an unending dispute. Decades passed in this state, and every spat among duchies resulted in calls to nullify what some considered to be archaic laws. It wasn’t long before the yearly Archduke Conference descended into a state of what could only be called utter chaos.

In the end, it was collectively agreed that the laws were best kept ambiguous. Any excessively detailed rules were removed, and individual problems were instead dealt with through discussion. Ever since then, those who called for more detailed laws were mocked as having been “charmed by the Goddess of Chaos.”

I had wondered why the rules went unchanged during such a prolonged period of chaos—surely it was better to change them if discord was expected to continue either way—but rewriting laws was more complicated than I realized. As it turned out, the process took an exceedingly long time, and it was a lot of work for the king to determine which sections to keep and to remove.

And after so much debate, what they ended up with were these unclear as heck laws...

During a conversation with Ferdinand, I had muttered that having such vague laws only made the resolving of disputes a more drawn-out process. In response, he had muttered that having less restrictive rules was more convenient for those in power. It was a fair point indeed.

It was hard to understand why the laws existed at all, but their ambiguity at least made them easier to remember. I just needed to memorize universal rules which would absolutely never change, rules that allowed for some leeway depending on the king’s judgment, rules that were decided in discussions between archdukes, and rules that archdukes could decide on their own.

Compared to all the library and patent laws I had to learn in college back in my Urano days, however, this is a piece of cake.

Everyone turned in their papers, and we began studying for tomorrow’s classes. As we waited to receive our grades, I noticed that the professors had started arguing at the front. One of the proctors, Fraularm, was calling it suspicious that we had all finished so quickly and with such high scores, while the other professors chastised her, saying there was nothing suspicious about it at all.

Despite us having turned in our papers first, the second and third duchies to finish received their passing grades before us, while we were made to wait. The tension must have started getting to the others; Philine couldn’t help but let out a quiet whimper.

“Lady Rozemyne... Lord Wilfried...”

“We’re going to be fine, Philine,” Wilfried said. “We know for a fact that we haven’t cheated. Hold your head high and be patient.”

“You and the others worked hard for an entire year; it’s only natural that you’d achieve high grades,” I added. And no sooner had the words left my mouth than a voice rang through the auditorium: “All passing grades for Ehrenfest.”

It had taken the professors some time to reach an agreement, but we had all passed—and we could tell from Fraularm’s shrieks that we had done so with aplomb. Our actual grades were usually kept from us, so it was nice to know that we had all done so well.

We put away our things and rose from our seats, ready to return to the dormitory. Before we could, however, a group of emerald-green-caped students from Drewanchel stepped in front of us.

“Seems like you guys are having another good year, Wilfried.”

“Ortwin! I appreciate the compliment, but I could say the same about Drewanchel.”

I took a step back and watched as Wilfried and Ortwin nobly extolled each other’s victories. Everyone in Ortwin’s group looked pretty smart, but maybe that was just because I knew Drewanchel was a duchy known for producing highly skilled scholars in droves.