Chapter 70 70 - Opening Ceremony for the new semester
The next morning, though both of us did not have enough sleep, we still ended up feeling refreshed and energized. We quickly had our shower together, wore our assigned uniforms and went down to the cafeteria for an early breakfast. As usual, there are many eyes watching our every move but it seems that what happened during yesterday's breakfast taught them not to blabber nonsense in my presence. Sometimes, I feel confused as to why these extras bother too much about my life and that of Ioannis'. All I can say to them is "None of you matter to me" and all I can think of is "Ioannis looks amazing in his new uniform". What I found weird was that the other 26 summoned women are wearing casual and pretty dresses while I am wearing the assigned school uniform. Are they going to a cocktail party that I don't know about this early in the morning?
We ate our breakfast quickly and we both went through our own class schedules which I arranged in a notebook the other day when we were at the library. I wanted to ensure that we know where to go at certain times of each day. My first class is under one of the required classes about this world and its people which were specially catered to summoned ones like me. As for Ioannis, he's going to start his day on his self-defense and weapons courses like early morning P.E. classes. I am planning to send him over to his class before going to mine later but for now, we have to proceed to the hall where I and the other 26 women first appeared when we were summoned here.
The school said that an opening ceremony will commence but for all I know, we will just have a meet and greet with those unmarried men sent by their rich and powerful parents to look for wives, connections and to flirt. Well, I do not have a choice but to attend but I do have a choice if I will pay attention to the opening ceremony or to any of the guys that they will be introducing. This guy beside me and that drama queen back in the inn are already a lot for me to handle. I haven't even woken up the other four and the tree has not taken its human form yet. I also have those four that I have been hiding from so you get what I mean when I say "I don't want anything to do about this opening ceremony."
When I entered the hall, I suddenly felt a little nervous for some reason. My thoughts went to the increasing number of spies lurking around me and the school recently. I just feel that those spies are working for either those four men from the entertainment district that I am avoiding or just maybe for the families that sent these rich kids in this academe today or even possible, some of the mystique races that became alert due to the earthquake I did not mean to cause when I opened the new realm. Well, there is no point in wondering who sent them and the last one I thought of is a little farfetched. Who cares if they are observing everything I do? As long as they do not endanger me or my people, we are good. I can just be as nonchalant as I can for now. As for the guys, again, it's not like I have to accept everyone that approaches me. I can just hide my mana, my soul's resonance waves and my pheromones as much as I can manage to avoid any potential problems with any of these men.
As the students, attendants and instructors settle in, the academe's principal takes the central podium again for his speech. He started with, "Welcome to the start of this academic year in this prestigious academe. We here at Gnosis are glad that you have chosen to entrust your education with us. I am Grandmaster Frederick and I believe our new students have met me already a few weeks ago. I want to greet you all a pleasant morning. For today, I will introduce you all to some new students that will be staying with us just for this semester. They come from some of the well-known and powerful families not only from this empire but also from other territories and kingdoms around. I hope you show them hospitality during their brief stay here." He then continued with introducing the names of the men that are standing in front and he talked about their family backgrounds, age, talents etc. like some auctioneer selling men to the highest bidder. The grandmaster was quite passionate in his advertising of these men so I guess he must have received a substantial amount of benefits from these families for the academe. Honestly, there are quite a lot of them and by the time he's introducing the 7th man, I aready felt bored and decided to stop paying attention. It is not like I have to memorize their names. They'll reintroduce themselves anyway in case we have to speak to each other. The meet and greet lasted for almost two hours since if I remember it right, there were 42 men that were introduced today. I did not even try to use my mana to sense my resonance with any of them since I have already learnt my lesson from what happened at the entertainment district. I don't want to have more stalkers.
For some reason, though I am ignoring all the men presented today, some of them were blatantly staring at me like I have owed them something. I am quite sure I have never met any of them before though. It won't hurt me even if they stare at me all day so I stopped paying attention to any of them but why do I feel like I am being targeted. Were they the ones that sent those spies? There is a high chance indeed. Hmmm... This is very interesting.
When the opening ceremony was about to end, I held Ioannis hand and we slowly went towards the back of the crowd so that once it ends, we can exit the place and be on our way to our classes. As the grandmaster told us that we are allowed to go, me and Ioannis almost bolted out and we went to the practice grounds where he would be taking his self-defense and weapons classes. I am not sure if he has any classmates but we only see the instructor as we arrive at the practice grounds. I greeted the professor, introduce myself and Ioannis and provided a small token of gratitude for taking Ioannis in and hoping he will take care of him in the future. The professor smiled and thanked me for my generosity. He also smiled at Ioannis and told him how lucky he is to have a master like me. Wow. We have a sweet talker here. I bid my goodbye and told Ioannis we'll see each other again by lunch time. We arranged our classes together so that we have separate classes in the morning, have lunch together and we then have shared classes in the afternoon for every single day. To show the professor how much I valued Ioannis, I hugged my puppy and gave him a kiss on the lips before I left.
I then went straight to my own class with the other 26 girls summoned a few weeks ago. When I entered the room, they suddenly became quiet as if they don't want me to hear whatever they are talking about. "Not that I care", I thought. I took the seat farthest at the back near the window since watching the cloud and the trees swaying in the wind is my favorite stress-releasing past time. As I sat at the back and looked outside the window, they continued with their chatter. The professor came in a bit late and when he came in, he had 14 people in tow. This class has a lot of students was all I thought then I looked outside the window again. The men introduced themselves one by one I think but I wasn't listening so I am not sure if they said anything else.
The class lasted for about an hour and the teacher talked about how Athanoviya was built and the ruling families from past till the present time. He also talked about the different professions and sources of income for the empire. He also touched topics about how marriage works and the importance of having children at this time when the population is on a steady decline for the past few years. He ultimately connected it to why we were summoned to this world and why the academe is giving us several chances to meet outstanding men that we may be interested to build a future and a family with. I almost scoffed and the thought that popped in my head was, "Way to go, professor! You are pushing further this huge matchmaking scam that the grandmaster started early this morning!" . Honestly, there was nothing discussed in this class that I have not read about in the books I have borrowed from the library before. I hope the next topics would be more worthwhile.
The next classes was nothing but pure boredom and I couldn't help but wish for this morning to end sooner so I can have lunch with Ioannis. After a total of 4 classes this morning, I finally went back to the practice grounds to fetch Ioannis from his classes.
When I arrived, I saw that he was not the only one taking the course. Surprisingly, there are 3 women and about 7 men in the same class. They are all tidying up the grounds after the class.
I approached Ioannis from behind and gave him a hug. His shoulders jerked up but he looked back with a smile and held my hands. I buried my face on his back and asked, "Are your classes done?" He answered, "Hmm... Let's have lunch."
I released him from my hug and he turned around. I can see the curious faces of his classmates especially the evident envy in the men's faces. One of the braver men approached the two of us with a congenial smile and introduced himself, "Hello! My name is Vaughn. You must be Ioannis' master?"
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