After what had happened at Domi’s 22^nd birthday party, I must admit... I couldn’t stay calm.

Various ‘what if’s ran through my head.

What if I had known that Adel-san was Domi’s fiancée?

What if I hadn’t involved myself with her at all?

...It seemed that I was a bit too partial for Domi, huh? Couldn’t help it since he was supposed to be my younger brother, even if I didn’t really feel happy with his presence.

However, my heart leaned more on Adel-san’s side.

I didn’t know what had exactly happened, but regardless of whether or not she had feelings towards Domi, I knew that someone so kind and gentle like Adel-san would be bothered by the fact that her fiancé was close to another woman—to the extent that there were already rumors about how Domi was bound to marry her as well.

As someone who romanticized the concept of ‘one true love’ so much, I wouldn’t be happy if I were in her position.

But after living for so long and meeting various people, I knew that not everyone had the same type of mindset and belief. ‘One true love’ belief might not appeal to others.

 

It seemed that things turned even worse these days... It started with Erneste’s matter, and now, add Domi’s matter...

Thankfully, my days at school were busy with festival preparation and training to coordinate my movements with Luca and Kiri.

Although there was also something bothering my mind during the whole activity...

It might be only my imagination, but I felt how people around me seemed to have significant improvements.

Take Luca and Kiri, for example. Their improvements in combat abilities were... amazing.

Meanwhile, I didn’t feel like I had really improved.

Not that my skills were bad—they were superb, I think.

...Wait.

Could it be exactly that?

Either I experienced a ‘block’ / it was about time I got stuck in my training, or... I got too carried away seeing how others around my age or even those above me were, thinking that I was still ahead of them?

How careless of me...

I really had to hold my life together from now on, huh?

 

Thus, as I tried to focus my mind on the upcoming festival, the days passed by so quickly.

And finally...

 

Day 8 Month 6 Year 981.

Day 1 of Harmonia Academy’s Quinquennial Festival!

The agenda for today would be opening ceremony, school and club open house...

Yep, I wouldn’t be playing an important role here, so I could just enjoy the event this whole day.

Therefore, I decided to wear the summer uniform.

It was technically summer right now, although it wasn’t really hot... yet. And for the festival, Harmonia Academy let us wear which uniform we wanted to—that would also depend on what we were going to do on that day.

During the festival, certain people have to wear costumes, formal uniforms, and others are free. The weather won’t be a problem since the Harmonia Academy will use weather controlling magic device to make sure that the temperature is just right to wear whichever clothes you see fit.

Although the base color for Intermediate Level students’ summer uniform was black, the material of the clothes was one that felt cold to skin, and it was somehow made to not easily absorb heat. The model of the female’s Intermediate Level summer uniform was a black sailor dress, with white color decorating it all over. The Harmonia Academy’s emblem was still present on the dress’ ribbon-like tie.

The male school uniform was basically the masculine adaptation of the female uniform, with short sleeves. The pants were now long, but I bet they were also made in a way that wouldn’t make the ones wearing them to feel hot.

I was grateful that Sphaela was such a nice world to provide us with such conveniences.

 

As usual, today I went to school with Alt-nii, Clavis, Freyr, and Freyja.

Although we should invite our parents to come to the festival, it wasn’t like my parents could attend in all days of the festival. They couldn’t take such a long time break with their important positions. Therefore, they decided to come on the day they could watch their children perform.

Day 1 wasn’t a significant day, after all.

 

Upon arriving at the school, we immediately gathered at the spacious school yard in accordance to our classes. Holographic displays were put to make sure that all of us could see clearly what was going on at the stage.

Each class representative was instructing the students in each class on how to line up—they arranged it so that the students wearing the same uniform would be in the same row, or any arrangement that would make it neat.

 

After waiting for a while, it was time for the opening ceremony.

The headmasters were giving their greetings, followed by the student representatives. Then, the one who would be the one to officially announce the event to start was the chancellor of the academy. The chancellor was actually the Master Level’s headmaster.

Come to think of it, I heard that the chancellor was rarely seen by people other than those in Master Level and the academy’s staff. It was rumored that the person was highly respected by many. No wonder the chancellor was... the chancellor.

I was very curious on what kind of person the chancellor was.

Would it be an old and wise man? A strict elder?

 

The time for the chancellor to make an appearance in front of everyone finally came. A lone figure stood up and walked towards the stage majestically. The holographic device helped us to see the chancellor up close. The chancellor was a woman—...wait a minute.

Instead of a wise, elderly woman that I imagined, the one standing up on the stage was... an unbelievably young woman. She was a petite girl with a very long wavy blonde hair. Although it was true that her face showed youth, her expression was solemn, her gesture was majestic that she didn’t seem to be as young as she looked like to be.

Appearance-wise, she was probably around a 13-15 year old human girl. But her aura spelled otherwise.

In any case, she continued to walk with both of her eyes closed. Even when she gave her speech, her eyes were still closed.

“Valorous day to all of the staff, students, guardians, and all of thee who has gathered here. On this wonderful day, I, Sarrifissia genährt von Harmonie, as the chancellor of the Harmonia Academy, shan't prolong this any further and shall declare this year's Harmonia Academy's Quinquennial Festival--as a commemoration to the academy's 475th birthday--to be opened. Glory to Harmonia Academy, glory to Riviera!”

Her voice was majestic, and she spoke in an old-fashioned way. However, that just added to her ‘wise’ appearance.

 

A round of applause followed suit. Before it was even over, Chancellor Sarrifissia put her two hands together in front of her shoulders—her middle and index fingers stood up while she folded the other fingers. Then, she seemed to be murmuring something seriously.

Following her murmurs, magical sparks gathered around her and...

When the sparks were shining the brightest, Chancellor Sarrifissia opened her eyes for a while before closing them again. I caught a glimpse of red—it seemed that her eyes were red.

The sparks of magic gathered at her hand and was launched to the sky. When it was high enough, the spark was then scattered into small lights that fell slowly all around us. It was as if they were giving us blessings.

 

Not long after that, several beasts’ shadows ascended to the sky—ah, I managed to identify two of them! They were none other than Valerie and Dmitria’s beasts—with the miracle twins riding them, of course.

While Dmitria’s peryton could fly up to the sky with its wings, Valerie’s hippokamp managed to ‘fly’ up to the sky with the help of magical water that became its foothold.

They flew so high up to the sky, performing beautiful turns and movements in the sky before spreading some banners—

[WELCOME TO HARMONIA ACADEMY’S QUINQUENNIAL FESTIVAL!]

[HAPPY 475^TH BIRTHDAY, HARMONIA ACADEMY!]

Such kind of words were written on the banners spread.

The applause turned even louder with some cheering.

I also clapped my hands even louder—as if trying to send my cheer to Valerie and Dmitria.

Their figures as they rode their partner beasts were so dazzling, I was so moved that I even thought of getting a beast partner that I could ride in the future.

 

“Hee— If only I could make it merrier by flying in the sky. Imagine what an uproar it would be, with everyone cheering for me,” Carbuncle smiled.

“...Yeah, it would definitely be an uproar, indeed,” I murmured.

...An uproar of terror as there was a big dragon flying...

Carbuncle’s existence would be revealed to everyone else if she were to perform as well, so there was no way the school would request for her cooperation.

“What did you just say, Lyr?”

“Nothing! I just said that Valerie and Dmitria were quite amazing, don’t you think?” I shifted the topic of the conversation immediately.

“Well, wait until you see me!”

“...”

I remained silent at her declaration.

 

As I turned my face away from the overly confident dragon, I caught sight of Iris who remained silent.

“Iris? Don’t you think so?” I asked.

“Eh?” Iris turned at me in her surprise and immediately added, “...uhm, yeah. They are amazing, indeed...”

She said with a small voice as she continued to clap.

I felt like there was something off with Iris, but I couldn’t identify it.

“Iris? Is something the matter? Did you catch a cold?” I asked in concern as I extended my hand to try to touch her forehead.

“N-no, I’m fine...,” Iris immediately averted her gaze from my inquiring gaze and lightly shoved my hand away.

I was surprised by her unusual reaction.

“U-uhm... sorry...,” Iris seemed to realize that this wasn’t like her, so she immediately apologized.

“No, it’s fine. I must have frightened you with my sudden movement, right?” I smiled back at her.

“Uhm... A bit...,” Iris softly said.

“My bad, Iris. Are you sure you’re fine?” I asked again, since Iris was acting a bit unusual.

“Uhm, yeah. I might be a bit nervous as after this, I’d be with the Alchemy Club for the open house...”

“Ah, you’re right. Do your best, Iris! I know you can do this!”

“T-thank you...”

“Ah, look, the beasts are descending. Whoa, Valerie and Dmitria were so good at riding their unusual beasts, huh? I wonder if they could teach us how to do that, too...,” I wanted to make her turn her mind away from the source of her nervousness, so I immediately made a comment at the spectacle in front of us.

“...Yeah. They’re amazing... Meanwhile, I...”

“Hmm?”

Iris’ last words were so small that I didn’t get to hear what they were.

“...It’s nothing. They stole the others’ attention with their unusual rides, didn’t they?” Iris finally smiled like usual.

“Yeah, as expected of having a peryton and hippokamp as their partners.”

 

With this amazing spectacle, the Harmonia Academy’s 475^th Festival was officially opened.

The students, especially those in charge of the event today, immediately went to their places.

Iris went away to the Alchemy Club.

Since our parents—and perhaps the other students’ guardians, too—decided to attend during Day 2-4, where there were many events and student performances to see, we decided to walk around the school together today.

As you see, tomorrow, I’d be going with my family to see the twins’ performance. /The others might also be going with their family members.

Not that all the guardians skipped Day 1, though.

I saw that there were many students with their parents on this day as well.

There were also some people without any relative here, coming as they were invited by the students who were their friends.

Some didn’t seem like they had any connection here, but they dropped by as they were interested in having their relatives enroll here.

There were also children not from this academy who came to see around the academy.

Well, as expected of the academy’s open house.

 

Iris was gone to the Alchemy Club. Harvey was gone to the Blacksmith’s Club.

Valerie and Dmitria were members of the Tamers’ Club.

Meanwhile, Briar-Rose was actually a member of the Dancers’ Club.

Since she was quite a problematic child in the past, she was estranged from the club that she often skipped it. However, since becoming our friend, she started to face the others and showed her sincerity in dancing. Though the other members of the club were still wary of her, they weren’t as hostile as before.

Thus, Briar managed to reclaim her place in the club. She still had quite a lot to do in order to better her position in the club, though.

With the five of them gone to their clubs, I was left with Kiri, Luca, Carbuncle, Ein, Alt-nii, Clavis, Freyr, Freyja, and Leticia.

We began to walk around to see various open clubs and open house activities that were present.

Obviously, we had to visit our friends’ clubs and cheer on them! That would be our top priority this time.

 

When we visited Valerie and Dmitria, we managed to try riding on various beasts that the members of the Tamers’ Club had. I was worried when the young ones enthusiastically wanted to ride... some big beasts. I was worried they’d fall or something, especially Freyja who couldn’t sit still during the ride.

Thankfully, the experience we had in the Tamers’ Club was a pleasant one, with no one falling or getting injured. It was all thanks to the beasts’ owners who kept close eyes on us and guided us patiently.

...Some of the visitors were laughed at by them because of how nervous or scared we looked like. Or when we asked questions that seemed to be natural for us, but the questions were like stupid to them.

For example...

“Eh? What did it just throw out? A ball? Food?”

“Pfft, it’s their feces, why are you carrying it? Here, throw it here.”

“...What.”

 

...or...

 

“...Do they eat humans?”

“Yeah, it seems like you’re their favorite type—just kidding, hahaha! There’s no need to look that frightened! Now, come here, no need to step back. Go and stroke it. It’s a very kind beast, here.”

“...”

“Oii, why are you still there?”

 

Still, it was fun!

I even thought of entering the club just because I wanted to interact with the various beasts they owned. It was sad that to join, you must at least have a beast partner as well...

The beasts that were here weren’t Familiars, though.

Speaking of Familiars, Alt-nii brought Rurune along. Rurune’s interactions with the beasts were also funny.

Generally, Rurune seemed to be a fearless Familiar. She floated and approached the beasts without fear, sometimes she seemed to be laughing at the beasts.

One beast that looked fierce seemed to be bothered by Rurune’s behavior that it scared Rurune by looking like it was about to eat Rurune in one go. Rurune immediately went away from the beast and clung to Alt-nii.

 

In the Blacksmith’s Club, we managed to see various equipment and how they were made or enhanced.

Harvey seemed to be quite prominent with his creative weapons.

They were even selling some equipment, and I almost wanted to buy a sturdy sword that caught my eyes... until I realized I had my own good sword with me. Besides, this kind of a sword seemed like they were swords that would be used by knights such as those from the Grabberton lineage.

In this lifetime, I aimed to change and to be a magic swordsman instead of a pure swordsman. Therefore, my current sword was the most suitable to me.

 

Next, the Dancers’ Club.

As expected, we were treated by some dances. The dances’ styles varied. There were some beautiful dances, there were some cool dances, and so on.

We cheered on Briar who seemed to be trying to do her best with the others. Even if she didn’t seem to be close with the members there, she seemed to have a better relationship already with the ones who danced with her.

Perhaps it was akin to how people managed to bond during a sport or a game.

I could tell that Briar seemed to really like and enjoy dancing, even if she might not be the best or the star of the club.

I’m sure the ones who danced with her managed to feel Briar’s love towards dancing, and thus, bringing them closer.

I was happy to see Briar smiling.

 

And last but not the least, the Alchemy Club, where Iris was.

Similar to the Blacksmith Club, the Alchemy Club was also selling several potions or items they made.

There was also live demonstration on how to make several items. The visitors were even allowed to take part in the demonstration.

The twins were so excited in this club as well. To them, it was similar to science experiments... ah, we ought to visit the Science Club, then.

We were so eager to see the demonstration from Iris. Iris seemed to be less nervous since it was us.

“Amazing!”

“Cool!”

Freyr, Freyja, and Leticia were the ones most excited throughout the process. It was so magical for them to see how alchemists synthesize the items.

Iris blushed a bit and said, “T-this is nothing! I’m not that expert yet, so I can’t make difficult items yet...”

“It’s fine, Iris. It’s still amazing! You can definitely improve more in the future. You’ve got love and passion for alchemy, right? It will be fine,” I said, trying to encourage her.

“...Yeah, thank you,” Iris smiled wryly.

 

After that, we went to see the demonstration from the Alchemy Club’s current leader. As expected, he managed to make a difficult item, and he even did well in making it seem easy to do...

 

As we walked away while discussing on what just happened and where we would be going next, I stopped when I saw Erneste in the direction where we were going.

Luckily, he didn’t seem like he had noticed me.

...I knew I told myself I’d have to face him sooner or later, but... not now.

“Guys, shall we take that way instead? Let’s visit the Archery Club first, shall we?” I immediately turned around and persuaded my friends not to proceed to the path where we would encounter Erneste.

I wasn’t ready to pretend that nothing had happened—or more precisely, to pretend that I hadn’t heard anything.

It made me feel uncomfortable even to think about it.

Luckily, my friends all agreed.

Thus, I managed to avoid having to meet Erneste.

 

And just like that, Harmonia Academy Festival’s Day 1 passed by with much fun.

 

***

 

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Lyra and her friends, a boy happened to see them and his gaze lingered for a while at Lyra.

“Cousin, why did you stop over there? Let’s go this way!” An energetic girl’s voice could be heard, urging the boy to continue walking.

The boy pulled his hoodie up, tidying it and preventing it from falling.

“Alright, El,” the boy said as he walked leisurely to the girl who was calling him.

“Hurry! If you doze off again, we won’t wait for you! There are lots of things we still have to see! Right, Karina?” The girl tugged on her maid’s sleeves and said with her cheeks puffed.

“Haha, right...,” the maid was a bit conflicted in how she should respond, as both of them were her masters.

 

Soon, their paths would cross again.

 

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