80 First Day of School

***** Rudeus' POV *****

When I returned back to my basement alongside Nanahoshi, what awaited me was the entire household waiting around us alongside my crying parents.

"Rudy! You're back!", my mother cried out.

"How could you do that to me!? Do you know how worried I was? I thought you were as good as dead!"

"Everyone, calm down! I'm alright and everything turned out ok!"

Sylphy ran up to me and jumped into my arms for a hug.

"Rudy, we thought you had died! Paul came back in a panic and was scrambling to figure out a way to get back!"

"I'm so sorry, Sylphy. I didn't mean to make you worry."

I patted her back as I tried to console her.

"Rudy... who is this?"

My mother's question snapped me back to reality. For a moment there, I had completely forgotten about Nanahoshi!

Overwhelmed by the crowd of people suddenly surrounding her, Nanahoshi had backed away off the magic circle and into the corner of the room.

"This is Nanahoshi Shizuka. She is a friend of mine and will be attending Ranoa Magic Academy alongside Sylphy and I."

"W-what? A friend of yours?"

Sylphy looked over towards Nanahoshi and then back at me before asking me that question accusingly.

"Friends? Hardly. We just met", Nanahoshi answered her.

"Well... I'm looking forward to all of us becoming good friends... is what I meant."

Paul, still upset about how I sent him off to handle things alone, confronted me.

"Rudy! Don't ever do something like that again! Do you understand me!?"

"Look, I'm sorry, but you drew your blade! I couldn't risk starting a confrontation with Orsted. He's simply too strong!"

Paul held his tongue and could only grimace in response. When he took the time to think about it, he knew I was right. I warned him about Orsted's curse and overwhelming strength and he still fell to the curse's provocation.

"Are you sure he won't come searching for retaliation?"

"Retaliation for what? We left on good terms. Trust me father, everything is ok. We're safe."

"He's right", Nanahoshi said to back me up. "Orsted would never hurt your family. He can be scary sometimes, but he's a good man."

Paul felt conflicted about the response. The only thing he knew about Orsted is that he nearly killed me in my previous timeline and that he was cursed so that everyone would fear him. Even when he thought logically he couldn't convince himself that Orsted was 'Good'.

"Well maybe I'd feel better about this if I had a chance to talk things through with him beside you."

"Perhaps so. You probably shouldn't have drawn your sword at him then."

Paul grimaced yet again. He knew I was right and now I am just rubbing it in his face. For some reason though, driving the point like this was hurting me as well.

"I'm sorry father... I shouldn't talk back to you like that. I know you were just trying to protect me and you must have been worried."

"No. You're right", Paul sighed. "I lost my cool. You were just trying to keep us safe in your own way too."

"So you WERE at fault!", Mother yelled out of nowhere. "How many times do I have to tell you to think before you act? Now your rash behavior is putting our son in danger!"

Zenith began dragging Paul back upstairs by the lobe of his ear as she continued scolding him.

'Well, nothing I can do for you now. Give it your best!", I said, rooting for him.

Since it was still pretty early in the day, I decided to escort Nanahoshi to the Magic University and help her get enrolled for the upcoming years classes. I requested that she be given status of a special student. At first, Jinas was reluctant to give her special student status, but I explained to him Nanahoshi's special circumstances.

She had no mana of her own so any classes that taught from the standard spellcasting schools would be useless to her. On the other hand, having learned from Perugius, Nanahoshi was one of the world's foremost experts on summoning and teleportation circles.

Whether thanks to the generous amount of money the magic tools I developed have made for the school, or perhaps thanks to the influence of using Perugius' name, in the end Jinas agreed to enroll Nanahoshi as a Special Student. She was given the same research lab and adjoined room as when I first knew her. I did not, however, negotiate any special rule about her being allowed to skip the monthly mandatory attendance. It will be good for her to socialize a little.

The remaining days before the start of the new school year flew by. Before I knew it, I was standing among the crowd of first year students waiting to hear Principal Georg give his annual speech.

Truth be told, I was kind of excited for my first day at school. Even I'm not sure why, seeing as I've been through all this before. If I had to guess, I'd say it's because my days here at the Academy were some of the happiest I can remember from my previous life. I listened to Georg's fiery speech filled with his passion for magic. Despite our large gap in knowledge and skill, his palpable passion for the craft gave me a sense of kinship with him.

After listening to the opening ceremony speech, Sylphiette and I made our way to the special student's classroom. The whole way there she was giving me a tour of the school. Like here is the library, you already know the lunchroom, research department, and combat training rooms, but all the classrooms teaching barrier magic are in that corner of the building. It was honestly kind of cute. I had to try my best to act like I didn't already know where everything was.

Sylphie continued to guide me until we reached the very innermost classroom at the tail end of the school grounds on the third floor.

'Beyond this point is the Special Students' classroom'.

A line had been drawn on the hallway floor. A warning of sorts for the normal students. Beyond this point is where the eccentric monsters of the academy lurked. I chuckled as we crossed it.

"Coming in!", I announced as I pushed the familiar classroom door open.

I surveyed the classroom before me. It had the same old black chalkboard, lectern and teacher's desk as well as several rows of desks for students (mostly empty). Seated among those desks were all the rest of the special students besides Sylphy and I (It would seem we were the last to arrive).

There were nine special students this year. Georg was saying it was the most the school has ever had since he had become principal. When I heard that we had nine this year, I was somewhat surprised. I only knew of eight. We had Sylphiette and myself of course, and then we also should have Linia and Pursena, as well as my good friend Zanoba and his sister Aurora, and finally Sylphy's friend Seren. Last but not least we have the new addition of Nanahoshi.

Now that I arrived in the classroom I immediately recognized the ninth special student. I hadn't expected him to arrive for another two full years from now. It was Cliff Grimoire.