Chapter 5 - Monitoring

Towering in front of me was a huge school building.

The seven-story height is majestic, but the scale of each floor is literally vast.

Even from a cursory glance, the number of windows seems to be extraordinary.

The pyramidal structure of the school building gets smaller and smaller the higher you go.

The total number of windows visible on the first floor is probably more than 150.

If we count six windows in each classroom, there are more than 20 rooms.

Even with such a wide width, the depth of the school is almost the same as that of a square school building.

In fact, there are probably more than 300 rooms, even if not all areas are occupied by corridors and stairs.

The second floor would have about the same numbers of rooms,

Even though the are gets smaller little by little,

The third floor and beyond seems to be of considerable size.

A simple sum of all the rooms in the school building.

A thousand may not be enough to count.

It’s such a huge school building, which is probably why it’s called the largest school in the Republic.

I don’t know much about the rest of the academy,

But it’s hard to believe that there are several schools as huge as this one.

The truth is that I don’t think the Republic has that much financial power, but it’s hard to imagine there are buildings scattered around the country that are comparable in scale to the royal castles of other countries.

I had heard rumors before I came here, but this was definitely the largest school in the Republic.

I looked up at the school building in silence, not paying attention to the other students walking around me.

There are a few upperclassmen who seem to be looking at me strangely, but there are also a few other freshmen who are looking up at the school building as well.

I guess I’m not acting so crazy.

I could take my time to look at the school building without worrying about the people around me.

Let’s start from here.

I’m going to climb up from here.

I am only a novice at the moment, but I intend to act with the goal of eventually reaching the top of the school in mind.

There is a reason why I have to get at least that level of competence.

One day, I will make my goal come true.

That’s all I’ve ever wished for, and that’s how I’ve survived until now.

It’s been about 15 years since I lost everything.

Although it took longer than planned to raise the funds to enroll in the academy.

These hardships are only minor events when I think about what is to come.

I have only one goal.

In order to achieve that one goal, I really need to become stronger.

I need to gain enough power to override the impossible.

That’s why I came to the Republic.

To grow and become stronger as a mage.

I came to Genos Magic Academy, which is called the largest port town in the Republic.

And finally.

As a result of all the hard work I put in to get here,

I was able to successfully complete the entrance ceremony on this day.

I’m currently in the middle of walking around the school grounds by myself after leaving the ceremony venue.

Although I want to study magic first and foremost.

The first thing I want to do is to check.

I’m sure I need to know about the school as a student.

If I don’t know anything and just drift along, my wish will not come true.

I need to figure out for myself what I will learn and what I will gain here.

Time is not infinite.

I can only stay in the school for a limited time.

I don’t know if it’s because of the school’s age limit or because I run out of money and have to leave,

Either way, the amount of time I can stay at this school is limited.

In my case, the longest I can stay is three years.

I’ll be forced to leave the school when I turn 22.

I’d like to graduate before that happens.

However, with the money I have on hand, I’ll probably only be able to live for a few months.

If I think about the need to raise money from somewhere else, the amount of time I can spend on my studies might be even less.

That’s why I think I have to use my limited time as effectively as possible.

That’s what I was thinking as I walked around.

As I walked around the school, I looked around and saw that most of the students I passed seemed to be upperclassmen.

I don’t think I can find many students who have just finished the entrance ceremony like me.

It is no that there are none at all, but there are not that many of them.

To put it bluntly, there are only a few.

I could see some of them near the entrance of the school building where I was, but I rarely even passed them anywhere.

It’s hard to say for sure, but apparently there are not many new students walking around the school.

Most of the new students were probably heading for the school dormitory first.

Checking my room and organizing my stuff is one of my priorities.

For the future of my school life, I think I should also check the materials that were handed out at the entrance ceremony.

Of course, there are several other things that need to be done.

Although I should probably do the same, I’m not going to go there just yet.

I don’t have that much luggage on hand, so I’m walking around the school with it.

I can always check the paperwork.

I can head to the dorm later.

Although right now it’s hidden behind the school building and not completely visible.

If you look to the east, you can easily see that there are several boys’ dormitories.

It seemed to be quite a distance from the school building.

Although we had time,

It would take about half an hour just to walk there and back.

I’m just eyeballing it, but considering the amount of time it would take, it seemed like a waste of time to go back and forth to a place I would need to go to later.

I’m sure I’ll be back to my room at night.

There’s no need to force myself to head there now.

Thinking about the efficiency of my course of action, I decided to leave the school building and start walking in a direction that has nothing to do with the dormitory.

Of course, I don’t have any particular goal in mind.

It’s not like I have anywhere to go.

Still, it would not be a waste of time to gather information about the inside of the school.

There is also information that can be gleaned by watching the students pass by.

Some information can be learned by listening to conversations that are overheard.

Be mindful of the location of the school building and other buildings.

Gradually expanding the scope of my activities may come in handy one day in the future.

…There’s a possibility that he won’t show up, but at least we can avoid the possibility of getting lost in the school.

The reason for this is that I am trying to avoid getting lost in the vastness of the school.

To others, it may look like a freshman lost in the school, but I don’t care what people think of me.

Well, I’m sure they’ll think I’m lost, but there’s one person for sure who won’t think I’m lost.

Only my tailgater, who must be following me at the moment, is probably resisting the urge to click their tongue.

I’m not going to force them to leave, but I’m going to make sure they have to go through the appropriate amount of trouble.

I chose a path with as much visibility as possible and went in a direction that would make it difficult for them to hide.

And occasionally, as I pass through the gaps between students, I’ll unexpectedly change my path and try to hide my appearance.

I try to get the tailgater, who was panicked by my behavior, to rapidly approach and check the other person.

…At the same time.

I’ve been trying to get back to the road I came from and approach them from here as well.

I deliberately kept my appearance within sight of the distance and pretended not to notice the tail.

The reason for this was to weaken their alertness.

If I don’t let them think I’m unaware of their tail, they may intensify their surveillance again in the future.

I don’t think it would matter if it was just one person, but if there were too many, it would be troublesome.

That’s why I repeatedly play little pranks on them, but after a while, I suddenly don’t feel their eyes anymore.

Had they finally strayed?

Or did they lose sight of me because he failed to follow me?

Or did they give up on tailing me?

I don’t know what the answer is, but I don’t feel the stares I felt earlier anymore.

If I don’t care about the reason, I don’t need to worry about it.

Because I think it’s true that I feel a little better now that I’m not under surveillance.

If they’re not there, there’s no need to worry about it.

I will be free to move on from here.

Let’s make some more progress while we’re at it.

Finally alone, I loudly yawned and walked further away, not caring about being seen.

As I continued my leisurely stroll through the school, I arrived at what seemed to be one of the several rest areas in the school.