Unacceptable (4)

I didn't know when, but I must have fallen asleep while I was laying on the ground exhausted. I woke up in a frenzy, as I quickly pulled out my phone and checked the time. Thankfully, it was 1:45, so I could run back to the classroom without being late to my next class.

I put the archery equipment back, and retraced my steps back to the classroom. When I got there, my sweat had mostly dried out, so I wasn't a total mess. However I still received a lot of looks of disdain.

'They act like its weird for someone to sweat when we just finished a physical exercise class. If you aren't trying hard, what's the point of coming to this school?'

But I didn't say anything. Instead I just walked to my desk and set my bag down beside me. I then used this chance to look at my reflection in my phone camera, and fix my previously matted hair.

I had long straight hair that I simply tied back into a man bun. With that, while looking at myself in the mirror, I felt pretty good about my looks. I was incredibly handsome, which was probably why my charisma stat was so high, but I didn't look very approachable.

I had high cheekbones and a smooth jawline, even with my nice face, my piercing eyes were what kept people at bay.

'Well, good thing for me I guess. I don't really have anything in common with kids... How old am I now, mentally, 30?'

It was a jarring feeling having to mingle within this age group, as someone who felt much older, but it was made easier if everyone simply avoided me.

However while I was feeling that relief, it was abruptly ended by a small girl sitting next to me, and saying something that immediately irked me.

"You don't smell very good."

'!!!'

A vein on my forehead popped out.

"I know."

I said through half grit teeth.

"See, you shouldn't do things you're no good at."

I looked over at her.

"I'll have you know, I hit the target."

An expression of genuine shock plastered her face.

Two veins sprouted from my neck.

"Really?"

I looked down, pretending to read the empty notebook I had in front of myself.

"Once..."

Then I saw the girl nodding as if it all made sense. Then she put her hand on my shoulder, and had a sympathetic look on her face.

Another vein popped up on my forehead.

Thankfully, Ms. Hilton entered the room while followed by an older man and gathered everyone's attention.

"Get into a desk, I don't care which one but make sure you're comfortable. This is your magic instructor, Archimedes Fleur, a retired hero and one of the greatest mages of this century. Give him the respect he deserves."

She stepped back from the podium, and gestured for Mr. Fleur to speak. He smiled and exchanged a light bow with her, before stepping in front of the podium.

"Hello students, you can just refer to me as Mr. Fleur, I'm not here to educate you too much on manners. Instead I want to help everyone here learn to utilize their magic! Now, can anyone tell me why I specified the word 'magic' and not 'mana'?"

He looked around the room, waiting for someone to raise their hands, before his gaze landed on me. I was confused when he gestured for me to answer, but I looked to my left and realized he wasn't looking at me.

"Yes, Miss Mary?"

The girl, who's name was apparently Mary, stood up like she was giving a greeting to a military superior.

"The reason is because there are different forms of magic, some not requiring mana, such as Spiritual power."

She then sat down quickly.

'This kid is a weirdo. I better stay away from her.'

I turned back to the teacher, and noticed something strange.

'He... He IS looking at me.'

I felt uneasy, but I didn't know why.

"That is correct, Ms. Heath. Now, speaking of spiritual power, it is only by a stroke of luck that someone can have the talent to use it. However that makes it far more potent than mana, and at the same time harder to incubate."

I listened intently, as I felt this lecture was directed straight to me.

"While the most reliable method of increasing your mana pool is to expend all your mana, and then wait for it to fill again, then repeat."

He drew a circle on the board, and began filling it in, then erasing it.

"Now that's how mana works. Spirit, on the other hand, is not as easy to grow. Instead, Spirit is something that can only be developed with the growth of your mind."

He drew a brain.

I think.

And filled it up.

"It requires you to stimulate your brain in creative ways, and it will also grow when you go through personal growth."

I wrote this down. I was thinking that it sounds like I would have to do a lot of leaving my comfort zone. I finished my notes, and began to listen intently to the lesson as well. He had everyone try to feel their mana, but as expected I couldn't feel anything.

I was a completely normal person in this world, without my system. I had some questions on why I had it, but for now I simply accepted it as a blessing.

The class was two hours long, and when it ended we had a monster study class. For the first month, the class was about learning how to identify the weaknesses of different monsters, but after that first month we would be fighting monsters in class.

I took notes diligently, and nothing else happened for the day. I was starving by the time it hit 6 PM, so I quickly gathered my things and followed the other students to the dining hall. Once there, I got a plate and began loading my plate with an assortment of foods.

Being an academy where many nobles attended, the food had to be up to their standards just a little, and that meant I got to experience fine cuisine for the first time in this world.

After getting a bunch of food, I looked around the dining hall. It was really reminiscent of higher end college cafeterias from my past life, because there were many different booths I could sit at. Every table was somewhat private, and you could tell which tables were open at a glance because there was a red light above the booths, that indicated they were already in use.

I made my way to an open booth, and set my plate down. I took off my backpack, set it next to me, and opened up my phone. I had recently overheard some students talking about a video platform called ManaTube, or MT for short, which reminded me of a popular website.

I downloaded the app, which took me a while to figure out, and eventually I had access to all sorts of videos. I was watching a video about archery right now, while I ate my food.

Turning my phone sideways, I cut a square of what looked like steak, and brought it to my mouth.

The savory smell tickled my nostrils as I brought it to my mouth. A drop of the sauce fell onto my tongue, and from that single drop my expectations were raised to the max.

"Watching a video won't help you get better."

I slammed my fork onto the table, the piece of meat jiggling on the end.

"WHERE DO YOU KEEP COMING FROM?!"

I shouted in exasperation. Standing next to my table was the petite sword girl, Mary Heath, with an equally impressive plate in her small hands.

She completely ignored what I asked, and sat down.

"I don't have any friends to sit with, and I saw you sitting alone, so I figured I'd sit with you to make you feel better."

My anger began to boil.

"Did you ever stop to think I was sitting alone on purpose?"

I asked. My knuckles growing white from holding the fork.

She began digging into her food, and replied to me with a mouth full of food.

"I fwought of fwat. Bwut." (I thought of that. But.)

*gulp*

"I thought it was more likely no one liked you."

I begrudgingly shoved the piece of meat in my mouth, but the moment had passed. While it was definitely good, it didn't taste the same when I was in a bad mood.

"Whatever. Just eat your food quietly, then leave."

I said to Mary, not even looking at her anymore as I tried to just enjoy my meal. I began eating the other stuff I got. Sausages from a mystery creature, unknown vegetable like plants, ice cream.

Yes, there was ice cream.

There was a large cylinder in the center of the table, with buttons to choose your drinks, and your drink would get poured at the table. I clicked on an option for strawberry milk, and watched as a cup was quickly filled. I grabbed the cup and took a long drink.

'Ahhh... This is nice. It feels like it is pretty packed with protein, since I already feel better even with the exercise I did today.'

I looked up from my glass and watched Mary eat.

She may be small, but she was devouring her food. I watched with interest. She had shoved a mouthful of mashed potatoes into her mouth, and also shoved pieces of some braised pork.

After she fit as much food as she could, she was chewing when she looked up at me staring at her.

"Vwat?" (What?)

I shook my head, and realized it was a little rude that I was watching her eat. I went back to eating my food, when I noticed a small hand reach forward and press the strawberry milk button.

I looked up with my eyebrow raised, and saw Mary looking down at her lap without making eye contact with me.

'She's oddly... Embarrassed about weird things.'

I didn't say anything, and instead went back to eating again. After we both finished our plates of food, I stood up to drop my plate off on the conveyor belt, but I felt a small tug as I was leaving the conveyor belt.

I turned around, but had to look down at Mary. She was tugging lightly at my uniform.

"You're not going to get dessert...?"

I looked at her, and realized something.

'Maybe she isn't reserved, and instead just bad at expressing herself in social settings? She is unintentionally rude as shit though.'

I looked over towards the food counter, and decided it couldn't hurt. As long as I worked hard every day, I could afford a few treats.

So I walked with Mary to the food counter and we both got a serving of chocolate cake. However instead of going back to our table, I did something that made Mary open her eyes so wide I thought they might pop out.

I just grabbed the cake with my bare hands and walked out of the dining hall while munching on it. I then heard a small squishing sound and little footsteps running behind me.

Mary came up next to me while eating her cake the same way as me. I glanced at her, thinking how she looked so dumb, but remembered I was doing the same thing.

We made our way to the hedge maze, and started our trip to the dorms. I didn't know where I was going, so I just started walking randomly again. Thankfully today I didn't have any homework, but the hedge maze would give free pass to people with their student IDs at 9 PM. Just like it did at 9 AM. 

However, it was only 7:30 PM right now, so we had to find our own way.

"Are you just walking randomly? Do you not understand how to find your way through the maze?"

I looked at her in slight surprise.

'This moron knows the trick to get through the maze?'

"Here, follow me."

She then confidently took the lead, and I began to follow behind her. My opinion of her was steadily rising.

30 minutes later, my opinion of her dropped to rock bottom.

"I thought you said you know how to get through the maze?"

In embarrassment, she was looking down at the ground, kicking dirt.

"I was going based on my feeling... It worked this morning..."

*sigh*

I rubbed my temples and gathered myself. We began walking around randomly, just resigning ourselves to our fate of waiting till 9 PM, and were enjoying nature.

"Thank you..."

I looked at Mary confused.

"For what, I don't recall doing anything."

She looked around, and I noticed her gaze was tinged with a hint of sadness.

"Everyone seems to get the wrong impression of me... They assume, because I'm the disciple of the Sword Saint, that I feel like I am better than them... Most people don't like feeling like they are lesser than, so they just avoid me entirely."

When she said this, I stopped briefly in my spot. I was staring at the sky painted with the colors of dusk, and thought about my brother.

'Did he feel.. Alone?'

I began to think about how I could have misunderstood my brother. Being a genius comes with its own burdens, and I was ignorant to that. Only thinking of the benefits he reaped.

Mary noticed, but she didn't say anything. She waited for me to come back to the present time.

"Mm... Don't thank me for being a decent person. Anyone could have done what I did."

This time Mary stopped, and she grabbed my arm.

I turned around, and looked at her eyes that were like two deep sapphires.

"Anyone could, but only you did. Take pride in being a decent person."

Pride.

"Maybe you're right... The way I've been seeing myself has been unacceptable. I should be proud. Thanks, Mary."

I flashed Mary a small smile, and turned around again. If I had kept looking at Mary, I might have seen her eyes twinkling as they looked at mine.

"Look! Seniors! Let's hurry, if we follow them we'll get out of here faster."

Mary came out of her daze, and hastened her steps. Although she was smaller, I was quickly overtaken. I watched in awe as with each step, she traveled close to six feet.

'I need to get stronger... Is it a skill or is she just built differently than me?'

With the desire to improve myself, I ran forward, and slowly caught up to Mary who was already behind the seniors.

****

I opened the door, and steam quickly escaped the bathroom. I had my hair wrapped in a towel, with another one wrapped around my waist, and I came to sit down on the bed. I was looking through the shop, thinking to myself while I waited for my hair to dry.

'I really wish there were more ways for me to farm gold for the shop. I know progress is slow, but I need more than just the one skill to be able to stand out... I wonder when the next quest will appear, and what triggers it.'

As I was thinking about random things, I scrolled through my phone. I was reading the news while I started to get tired. Once my hair was dry enough, I changed into a pair of shorts and put my phone onto the charger.

After I turned off the lights, I began to relax, and decompress the stress of the day. Tomorrow would be a shorter day, with only the weapons class and our monster class. The rest of the day was for self study, as in the students could do whatever they liked.

I knew many would probably choose to just call it a short day, and head back to their dorms. I didn't have that luxury though. I would spend the day exercising and training my archery. The gym at the academy was supposed to be incredible, so I was excited to see it.

I grabbed a book on general monster types, that was mandatory for class, and began reading in the moonlight. After a short while, I began to gently snore and slept soundly.