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I was sat in my designated seat in the auditorium awaiting the start of the ceremony.
Unfortunately, Letina sat a distance away. The girl sitting next to me kept glancing this way with sparkly eyes, to be honest, it was kinda annoying.
Feeling her gaze, I’m sure I put on a bitchy resting face,¹ but I’d like for that to be overlooked.
Because I wanted to avoid locking eyes with her, I forced myself to face forward stone-faced.

There were seats for parents lined up along the sides of the auditorium, I noticed many of them were in use by aristocrats.
For my part, I’d have liked for Finia to come along, but this time Cortina was sitting there, but she looked awkward to be sitting alongside the nobles, she seemed to be acting reserved.
Students are told to abandon their castes, but it seems their families didn’t quite get the memo.

After a short while, the ceremony finally kicks off.

We got an explanation of the schedule before the teacher took the podium.
Then Maxwell the chairman came up to the stage and gave a long-winded speech, midway through I was starting to yawn as my eyes glazed over.
But the contents of his speech were clearly fishy.

“…and so, that being the case, I’d like to ask you students to act without regards to social class, as befits students of this Magic Academy.”

He always took things at his own pace, but he’s starting to ramble on a bit like he’s buying time.
But why is he trying to buy time right now? Has he finally gone senile?
I was dubious about it, and as I tilted my head in confusion, I noticed there was some racket coming from the auditorium’s entrance.

“Look, if you don’t hurry, the ceremony’s going to end already.”
“I’m so sorry. Since I’m unfamiliar with this technique, we encountered some delays getting it to work.”

All eyes in the auditorium collectively gathered at the ones causing all the noise at the entrance.
When the entrance opened, who should step in but Cortina, and following behind her were two others…

“Oh. You’re still at it!”
“Nice, Maxwell.”
“My sincerest apologies to keep you waiting like this, Maxwell.”

All three were voices I was familiar with.
Or rather, why are you here, Lyell and Maria!?

My parents and current guardian came rushing into the auditorium with heavy steps.
Lyell, Maria, and Cortina.

Three of the great heroes suddenly appeared and the auditorium started booming.
Maxwell and Cortina were already well known but suddenly Lyell and Maria popped in.
The only one missing from all this was Gadius.

“So slow, the lot of you.”
“I’m sorry. Maria had some unexpected delays casting the spell.”
“Oh my, weren’t those delays because someone needed help putting on his armor?”
“It’s all my fault?”

Lyell certainly seemed to be wearing an unusual piece of armor.
It looked like the so-called scale armor, armor layered like scales. What’s more, the hue of those scales seems uncannily familiar.
Could it be made from the processed scales of the Evil Dragon Colchis?

“Ah, there she is. Nicole! How have you been?” Maria waved at me, failing to read the current situation.
And with that, everyone’s gaze converged on me.

“Ma.. Mama? Why are you here?”

For now, I’ll just ask her that while they find a place to sit.
And then Maria replied with an unimaginable answer as she chuckled, “Well you see, I memorized Teleport.”

Hey wait, what the hell did you just say. I remember that being about the limit of my thought process at the time.
Teleport was an outrageous spell from the Interference Magic system. To put it simply, it interferes with the individual’s location data to allow them instantaneous movement from one location to another.

Sure, there are similar high-level spells in the Transfer Magic system, such as Portal and Gate, but Teleport is even more difficult to master.
In comparison to learning Polymorph, which I’m currently aiming for, Teleport is even beyond that in difficulty, yet she learned it like it was nothing…

“Now I can come to visit you every day!” (Maria)
“On the contrary, please go back.” (Nicole)
“Of course I’ll go back home, I can’t just leave the village, but I can at least show up for a bit every evening.” (Maria)
“Well, not like I can’t…” (Lyell)
“Lyell, are you insinuating you’ll stay at a bachelorette’s house? Don’t you dare start doing things that’ll cause weird rumors about me.” (Cortina)
“Gulp.” (Lyell)

Cortina interrupted Lyell’s reckless statement.
You wouldn’t want to make her an enemy. He and I both know the feeling very well.

“Hahaha, taking a trip down memory lane with you guys made rambling for time worth it.” (Maxwell)
“Our apologies for taking up so much of your time.” (Maria)

A teacher standing next to Maxwell grabbed his attention as he started to make small talk from the stage, “Apologies Chairman… my sincerest apologies to have to interrupt you here, but we’re pressed for time as well….”
“Oh, that’s quite right! My bad, my bad. Well, in conclusion, do your best in your studies. That is all!”

Despite dragging out his speech thus far, Maxwell finally ends the ceremony.
The students who were seriously paying attention up to now were left flabbergasted.

“Alright Lyell, since we’re both free after this, how about joining me for a drink?” (Maxwell)
“I’ll pass, I’ll be busy with Nicole after this…” (Lyell)
“What the, how could you choose your daughter over your old mate!” (Maxwell)
“Isn’t it obvious!?” (Lyell)

This old fart always got hyped at the appearance of his drinking buddies. Speaking of, I wasn’t very strong in my past life either, so I couldn’t keep up with him.
As a result, gramps always dragged off Lyell or Gadius with him.

At any rate, my parents’ sudden appearance caused a great disturbance during the entrance ceremony.
To add to that, I feel like my notoriety has managed to spread even more now.
If this is how it’s going to be from the start, I can’t help but feel anxious about my school life from now on.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resting_bitch_face