[Vol 1] Chapter 12: Rules and Response. 

....... 

"Hello I am Sebastian major and this is my apprentice Subaru Konoe . I am the warden of this 9th gate of the academy . 

                                    The 9th gate represents justice. I know all of you are here to achieve your dreams. But the greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. 

Truth never damages a cause that is just. I hope the way you fulfill your goals is just and noble. Life has no limitations, except the ones you make. 

It's a pleasure to meet you all. "

He introduced himself elegantly. He said,

"Now let me clarify the rules. 

Your performance in the university isn't completely determined by academic performance. 

                         In Estart we follow the 'SDP point system'. Not having enough SDP points at the end of the semester will get you expelled. Remember if you got expelled from Estart no other university will accept you. So be careful this may be the end of your career. "

He paused for a moment. Then he continued, 

"SDP or student determined pass is the currency in the university. You can convert a SDP into ten federal dollars but not the other way around. 

You can acquire SDP by completing assignments given to you. 

                          You will receive your assignments through the smartphone provided by the university. 

There are many other ways to acquire points like treading or possessing hotspots. It depends on your branch . "

" Exams are important I remind you, you can gain SDP from there too.

There are two kinds of assignments, Tasks and Quests. Quests are more difficult but you can gain great rewards. you have the right to refuse a task offer. 

                                 Assignments could also be a double edged sword. So be careful with choosing an assignment. If you failed to complete the assignments you'll get punishment points or in some cases directly expelled. 

Remember every academy has its own rules. What I am saying are the basic ones."

He spoke in a clear voice. 

" In your first semester you will be judged not as an individual by a group collectively. 

Thus, all the students are hereby instructed to form a group of minimum seven to maximum ten students . Then your team can choose to either affiliate with another team or be independent .

 A student needs to fulfill a few conditions in order to leave a group and join another. 

                                 Independent groups will be responsible for the required task given to you. The group will be responsible for themselves. 

But if you are an affiliated team then you'll be evaluated based on your affiliated contract. A team must have minimum 3000 SDP points to be qualified as a patron team. They also must bear the negative points of their contract team. 

                            A patron team is a team that can contract other teams . In exchange for points they have the ability to provide protection like legal immunity, negating traps , negative points or play crucial roles. As you can guess patrons are made to be leaders and tested for that. 

Speaking of contracts, in this university a contract between two individuals is absolute. So beware of signing any contract without proper knowledge. Also students are allowed to venture and build careers even while being a student. There is no restriction."

"Now that all are settled you students have twenty seven minutes to decide your group. Those who failed to form a group will be placed randomly. It starts now.. " Then he left elegantly. 

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(Wow.. Sebastian ha? one of the most generic names. It's like an RPG setting. This has the classroom of the elite vive. This is awesome!!) 

Rousin was excited. It was exactly what he expected. Most of the students had gloomy faces . They probably thought about being expelled. But he was the opposite. 

                                 As a person surrounded by protagonists and being one himself Rousin was confident that he won't be expelled so easily. And he was partially right . 

---------------------------------------------------

At that moment Kotha proposed something that Rousin was thinking, 

" Hey guys look there are seven of us, let's from a team of our own. What do you guys say? "

"Ya, that's a great idea. Count me in. " Rousin supported the proposal immediately. 

One by one Gouda, Ryuuji, Mob, Fuutarou, Reku all agreed. 

"Now then let's vote to decide whether to be independent or affiliate with another group. " Kotha said. 

... 

Everyone except Rousin raised their hand. 

" What..why? I don't get why you guys want to be running dogs of someone else. "

 Although Rousin has limited knowledge about the university he knew exactly what this affiliation means.

                      According to him it's no different from the Roman patronage system. If a person affiliates with someone he basically becomes the crony of his patron and loses his freedom. Rich kids use this 'affiliation' to build armies of cronies like that. 

For a narcissist like Rousin this is unacceptable. 

.... 

"Oh that's too much Rousin. No , we are not going to be cronies. We'll just sign an informal affiliation contract with another team to douge negative SDP points. If the other team agrees then we can even form an alliance with them. " Fuutarou said. 

"Yes what's more if we stay independent we will have no protection. But if we affiliate with someone even if informal we get various perks like avoiding punishment points or traps. 

                 We just have to exchange it for nominal obligations like voting . If you really don't want to do it you can always lie. " Konta backed him. 

.. 

Luxion confirmed. " Yes master, he is right. Having patronage is more beneficial than being independent. 

                        There are five ways to do that. First is contract vassalage, the one you are thinking about. Where you ended up as a crony doing the bidding for someone else. Not much freedom of your own. 

The second is patronage affiliation.There you have many obligations. But you have to be invited by the patron team .

                         Third is contract affiliation, here you affiliate for a specific situation but remain mostly independent. 

In the above three ways you get protection from your patron group but give away any SDP points above minimum in return. So the fourth way is the alliance. Here you share all the positive points and negative points equally. 

                              The fifth and the last way to affiliate with another team is through an informal contract. It's the most non-binding way to affiliate with . Here as the name implies it's very loose and non-obligatory .

 In this arrangement the contract team has little to no obligations to the patron team except providing extra points. But the patron team must provide the minimum protection to the contract team.

                    In my opinion this is the best one for someone like you . But you actually need to be approved by the patron team to achieve that."

"Okok i got it. But hey! Let's check our points if it's more than three thousand then we could be patrons. "

 Rousin enthusiastically opened the new Estart app to find out his points. But he was disappointed immediately, it was a resounding zero. 

(Oh come on! ) 

What's more except for Fuutarou everyone else has less than 100 points. Which disappointed him.

.... 

Rousin said, "Ok who the hell could have three thousand points at the moment? Fuutarou has more than 95% marks but they just gave him 105 points. So there is no way it's possible." 

"Ah..those guys seem to have it. " Doremon pointed at the crowd . 

" But how? " Rousin asked confused while looking at the crowd. There the crowd was surrounding a few groups and asking them to affiliate with them. 

"Hey how about a patronage contract with us? We'll do everything that you ask . We can negotiate. "

"Young master please let us be your servants. We'll be loyal and faithful only to you. "

"Hey boys how about an alliance with us? We might agree to go to dinner with you if you agree. "

(Hey that's shameless. Where is your dignity?) 

                          He couldn't comprehend how these people could have more than three thousand points or how could the crowd know that. 

.. 

"Because they are scions. " Ryuuji explained. "It's not like they have more points than us but because they are aristocratic scions many want to affiliate with them. "

"Now don't go ask them to affiliate with us there is no way they'll agree to affiliate with commoners like us. Let's find somebody else." Fuutarou agreed with him. 

"Come on you can't be serious. Commoners? Really? I definitely heard it wrong." Rousin said in disbelief. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

.. 

                   This world is very similar to his previous world. So naturally assumed to be similar. 

                                       Although Rousin theorized that there is an aristocracy in this world, he never thought it would be actually true. He definitely didn't think that they are so open about it. 

( Master unlike your previous world this world has a solid but surprisingly fluid class system. I thought you already realized it by now. ) Luxion spoke in his mind. 

( I know! But i can't accept that people actually believe this in principle. ) 

                         Rousin asked his group about the aristocratic system and was disappointed to find that no one thought there was anything wrong with it. 

Rousin didn't like it all. All three souls in his body agree that they'll not accept anyone else on top of them. He was way too much of a narcissist to allow that. 

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"What are you trying to say ? Isn't it normal to give preference to the exceptional individuals ? Think logically. " Fuutarou said. 

"No! That's different! Ahh now don't get me started. Whatever, okay who are those guys ? " Rousin pointed at a group surrounded by girls. 

"Isn't that Levi Ackerman? Wow we got someone from the Ackerman family in our class. No wonder why the girls are swarming at that group. " Kotha said in understanding. 

"L..Levi A...Ackerman? "

(Ooo don't tell me it's the guy from AOT! ) 

"O don't you know? Well they do deliberately keep a low profile. The Ackerman family is one of the most important among old families. Some say that they literally own an entire planet. It's wise not to be on their bad side. " (Kotha) 

(pic) 

( So he really is that guy. And lets forget about the possibility of that planet is where the Titans exist. This world is more dangerous than i thought.) 

Rousin also heard something that he really didn't want to hear. 

"Sasuke-sama let us team up! You can do anything you want with me. "

"Get out of here bitch, Sasuke-san will join our group. Right Sasuke-san? "

(pic) 

(Ooh fuck!! I hate my life.) 

"So we also have a scion of the Uchiha family in our class. This will be tough. " (Ryuuji) 

.... 

                                Rousin didn't say anything. He walked straight towards Levi Ackerman. Levi also noticed him. But before he could reach Levi a handsome blonde boy stopped him. 

"Where are you going mister? '

"Who are you? "

"Apologies for not introducing. My name is Tamaki Suoh. The heir of the Suoh family. " He introduced himself with a noble bearing. 

(pic) 

"No idea. " Rousin didn't even pretend to know him. 

 "Well then please tell me the reason for coming here." Tamaki asked with a bitter smile. 

"I am here for obvious reasons. I want our team to affiliate with your group. "

" What's your name? " A handsome boy with grey hair asked. 

"I am Rousin Mikoshiba. Nice to meet you. "

" I am Yuki Sohma, it's a pleasure. " He greeted him with a handshake. 

(pic) 

"Well, do you have anyone with a family name in your group? "

"No. We don't need family names to prove ourselves. "

"That's a commendable spirit. But sorry we won't be able to affiliate with your team. I am sure you'll be able to find a better team." Tamaki replied politely . 

"You just let those girls group join you. They don't seem to have any family names. So why the difference? "

"According to rules we can't reject the first five girls group . Sorry we don't have enough points to upkeep another nameless group. " Yuki explained. 

"Is having an aristocratic family name that important? " 

"It might not seem much to you but for us it's very important. But if you really insist then we can only sign a vassalage contract with you. " Tamaki said to him. 

Rousin stood there for a moment and observed the reactions from others. All of them had a poker face as if they were saying ( This is not a place for you commoners like you.)

Although they didn't say any bad things, their attitude was very clear. Even Levi lost interest and looked the other way. Rousin only ever felt like this once in his previous life. Just like that one he would remember this very well. 

---------------------------------------------------

Without saying anything he turned around and came back to his group. He spoke to his friends, 

"See guys they refuse to affiliate with us. So, let's go independent. It's better to be expelled as free than remain here as slaves. "

After a moment Fuutarou spoke, 

"You spoke very rudely with them. And didn't I tell you.... "

"I think Rousin is right. We will see what happens later." ( Ryuuji ) 

"Yes I think so too." (Gouda) (Mob) 

"Ya, It's better. " (Kotha) (Reku) 

"Wait but." Fuutarou paused for a moment and looked at Rousin then said, 

" Thanks guys, I really appreciate it. "

Rousin was genuinely grateful towards his friends for accepting his proposal. 

                        Though his conversation with those guys was brief he knew there is no way they'll treat him as an equal. It was the first hand experience of this world's class system. And he wasn't willing to compromise . 

( I will not bow my head to anyone under any circumstances. ) 

At that moment warden Sebastian came out. To get everyone's attention he clapped and said, 

"Clap clap, okay students the time is over. Now follow my lead. "