Chapter 28

After talking with Barn and the other two, Ruisha also interacted with the other classmates.

Yuri had said that he had gathered a bunch of weirdos, so Ruisha was a bit scared, but surprisingly, most of them were friendly.

"Ha-ha-ha!! My name is Pardio!! My specialty is transformation magic, so!! Nice to meet you!!"

"Ah, yeah, nice to meet you."

Still, the percentage of weirdos was quite high.

However, there were also those who were not friendly to Ruisha.

One was a young man who appeared to be a beastkin with wolf-like ears on the top of his head.

He glared at Ruisha, who was trying to greet him, with a murderous look and growled, "Grrr..." to drive him away.

Feeling snubbed, Ruisha said, "Did I do something wrong...?"

Seeing this, Sharo came to Ruisha's defense.

"Don't worry about it. Many beastkin dislike humans. It's probably not that he dislikes you, but that he dislikes humans in general."

"Why do beastkin dislike humans?"

When Ruisha asked, Sharo explained with a displeased look.

"You might not know this since you're from the countryside, but in the cities, there are still many 'beastkin slaves.' Since the current king took the throne, the slave markets have become less abusive... but there are still people who mistreat beastkin in secret."

"...I see."

Hearing this, Ruisha looked at the young beastkin who had treated him so rudely, standing alone.

"Maybe one day we can be friends."

Seeing Ruisha's sad expression, Sharo gently said, "You can do it, Ruisha."

And then there was another person.

Another who was not friendly to Ruisha.

This person was a strikingly beautiful girl in the classroom.

With hair as golden as gold and eyes as red as fresh blood, and a face as perfectly sculpted as a statue, such a beautiful girl would be rare even in a kingdom where people gather.

Despite being intimidated by her beauty, Ruisha tried to greet her.

"Hello."

"..."

She was ignored.

Ruisha was ignored so completely that it was almost refreshing.

Although his voice must have reached her, the girl propped her cheek on her hand and gazed out the window with a melancholic expression.

The scene was so picturesque that Ruisha couldn't help but wonder, (Did I just speak to her?).

Feeling uneasy, Ruisha tried to speak to her again, but Sharo raised her voice before he could.

"Hey, you! How dare you ignore him!"

With that, Sharo slammed her hand on the desk.

The girl finally turned her face toward them and opened her mouth.

"...I'm sorry. You were speaking to me. But I have nothing to say to you. Excuse me."

With a flat tone, she said this and turned her gaze back to the window.

Realizing she was being completely mocked, Sharo clenched her fists and was about to attack, but Ruisha held her back.

"Sharo, calm down!"

"Get out of the way, Ruisha! I can't stand it!"

After a while, Sharo calmed down thanks to Ruisha's persistent soothing.

After talking to all the classmates, the two of them returned to their seats.

Then the classroom door opened, and familiar faces entered.

"Hey, have you made friends with your classmates yet?"

"Hey, Ruisha, Sharo, long time no see~"

The ones who entered were Prince Yuri and his guard, Ibuki.

They were, of course, also part of the "Z Class."

However, they were not chosen for their unique talents but were assigned to monitor and report on the progress of the class.

"Ugh, you're in the same class too?"

"Hehe, tough crowd. I'll sit next to you, Ruisha."

Yuri, brushing off Sharo's sarcasm, sat down to Ruisha's right. Next to him, Ibuki took a seat.

Incidentally, this seating arrangement was also orchestrated by Yuri. To him, Ruisha was the most important subject to observe.

"Looking forward to working with you, Ruisha."

Ruisha responded enthusiastically to Yuri's words.

"Yeah, looking forward to it!"

Thus, a total of 14 people.

Talented individuals from all over the world, who would never have met otherwise, gathered in the classroom.

They would grow in this class, deepen their bonds, and get caught up in events that would shake the world...

But that was a story for another time.