The wave of students shuffled into the auditorium, bringing the four of us with them. I gazed at the room, and tried not to frown in confusion.
The auditorium was made entirely of various colors of marble. I had never seen marble co in any color other than white, but despite the oddity of the room, I had to admit it was lovely. I took a closer look at the room, and realized that every slab of material was one massive, unbroken chunk.
Probably made by an alchemist, I decided. Materials didn't look like that if they were processed by machines instead of magic.
I shook my head, and turned my attention back to the horde of children. Now that the orientation was finally starting, I could get a head count. I wanted to know how many children this school accepted each year.
In total, there were around 100 students present. Only the first years ca today, so there should be about 800 students total in the school.
There aren't that many prep alchemy academies in the country, I mused to myself. If each academy only accepted a few hundred students a year, what did everyone else do for education? Was there so sort of standard education for children, or had that not developed in this world? If it hadn't, perhaps I could earn so Achievent by making it part of this world's culture? I felt that making education accessible for kids wasn't a bad 'life goal,' if I needed sothing to spend my ti on.
As I mused about ideas for the future, an older man stepped to the center of the room. He had short salt-and-pepper goatee, and he was on the taller side. He wore a classy, tailored suit, and he was in his mid-forties. He was probably the headmaster of the academy.
“It’s good to see all of you,” said the headmaster, giving us a practiced smile. “I’ll spare most of the long speech, since I assu you're eager to et your classmates. But I still have a few words to say.
“This academy will teach you the basics of alchemy, one of the most important jobs in modern society. Alchemy and machinery are the two beating hearts of the new age - and by stepping into this academy, you have the opportunity to access one of them. I hope that you won't waste this opportunity. Many people don't have the money or ti to study Alchemy. By learning it, you can improve the lives of you and your family mbers by leaps and bounds,” he said. I resisted the urge to frown. I felt that the headmaster's speech was a bit pretentious. Then again, he was the headmaster of an expensive private school. Perhaps I should have expected that.
The headmaster gave us one final critical look, before his gaze grew less stern. He gave us a lukewarm smile, before gesturing towards the other adults standing in the auditorium.
“That is all I wanted to say. Your teachers will give you a more detailed breakdown of how classes and this school work. We’ve already created your classes based on your own personal requests, as well as the requirents of your teachers. When I call your na, please step forward and stand where I point. Tallia…” the headmaster began naming people, one after another. Whenever soone heard their na, they joined one of the adults in the center of the room.
Each class seed to have twelve to thirteen people in it.
When my na was finally called, I grinned.
I was in the sa group as Felix and Anise.
It would have been a huge bumr if we all went to the sa school but ended up in different classes.
Sadly, we weren’t in the classroom with the ability-using teacher. I had been hoping that he would teach us a few useful things about ability potions. A few monts later, I shrugged.
I said, not needing to fake my cheer at all.
said Anise.
Felix sent a wave of ntal chuckles at us as the headmaster continued naming students. Anise, Felix and I started ntally chatting until he called the last na. Then, I took one final look at our group, and chuckled. Iselde was also part of our group.
She gave a bright, cheerful smile, and I gave her a small wave. I hadn’t gotten to know Iselde very well yet, but she seed friendly. Making another friend would be fun.
I turned my attention to the teacher, who gave our group a quick scan eye. I examined him while he eyed our class.
He was a bit younger than the headmaster, and appeared to be in his thirties. He also wore a suit, although it was a bit sloppier than the headmaster's. He had a warm smile when he looked at us.
“Six girls and seven boys, huh,” he said. “Almost exactly even. My na is mister Delmont. It’s a pleasure to et all of you. Let’s head to the classroom, and then we can do self-introductions.”
He led us to another classroom. I noticed that his classroom also used alchemically-made construction materials as decorations. The stones on mister Delmont's walls were also colored, creating natural landscape paintings. They looked quite nice.
“All right, let’s see... For your introductions, tell us your na and one thing you like,” said Mister Delmont.
The other students started introducing themselves. The first few self-introductions were a bit stiff - probably due to nerves.
Iselde was the fourth to introduce herself, and was the first to break the tension of the room a bit.
“My na is Iselde, and I want to see if tennennt farrs drink fertilizer potions to grow!” she said.
Mister Delmont had a rather curious expression on his face after that. It almost looked like he was constipated, but I was pretty sure he was trying not to laugh.
“Erm… is that so?” he said. “That’s… a very interesting hobby. I imagine that the tenant farrs don't drink fertilizer potions. They don't really agree with humans, you see...” Iselde gave mister Delmont a suspicious look, but didn't say anything.
After Iselde broke the tension in the room, the next few students seed more relaxed. The seventh student seed rather interesting. He was a boy nad Vance, and he claid that his hobby was fencing.
said Sallia, after Vance introduced himself.
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