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It’s been a few days since the meeting with the principal. Days went by in a blink of an eye and it’s finally the entrance ceremony. Only the newly enrolled will attend the entrance ceremony, the old students will not take part. There was a time when the guardians and patrons attended the entrance ceremony as well, but nowadays they don’t participate and at most are only present in the pre-opening exposition or so.

『And as such…… In essence……』
「Fwa~h……」
「Lily……」
『Which means to say…… As prestigious students of the academy……』
「Mn, sorry, I couldn’t help it……」

Saying this and that, Vice-Principal Rois’ speech has continued for about 2 hours by now, and as I involuntarily yawned, Sola who was sitting next to me elbowed my side. Quietly looking around, the other students already seem fed up with it as well, and looking at the faculty seats, all they could muster is a strained smile. If I had to guess, this is a common occurrence.

『…… And so, this will be the end of my greetings. Everyone, I applaud your success from the bottom of my heart.』
『Thank you very much, Vice-Principal Rois. Continuing on, I would like to ask Principal Peram to give his opening greetings.』　
『Students, congratulations on your successful enrollment……』

With Vice-Principal Rois’ absurdly long speech finally finished, the teacher acting as the host let out a relieved sigh. The Vice-Principal spoke for 3 hours straight, and everybody in the venue was absolutely tired of it. Though, as expected, the person in question is nodding and looks pretty satisfied with himself.

What was unbelievable was how principal Peram’s speech only lasted 10 minutes. I nearly gave him a standing ovation, to be honest. I’m sure that all the students and faculty present felt the ‌same way. If this was all planned, then the Vice-Principal is a pretty shrewd tactician.

『Thank you very much, Principal Peram. Continuing on, we will have the greetings of the first-year representative. Our top enrollee, the guest apprentice magician of the Iglesio household, Miss Lily!』
「Yes!」
「Lily, do your best.」
「Yes, of course.」

It’s finally my turn. Since the greetings from the academy officials were finished and the entrance ceremony is about to end, there’s no need to worry about what happens after this.

Wearing my modified uniform and the white cloak that symbolizes the backing of the White Peer’s household, I climbed up the stage. From behind me, I can sense the gazes of awe, envy, loathing, interest, and many other emotions. The higher I climb the stairs, the more gazes I feel on me.

As I reached the top of the stage, I headed to the center where a magical tool that looks like a microphone was. With my back straight, I walk in a quick yet elegant manner. In the world of nobility, there are people that would criticize even the way you walk. To keep those sorts of people in check, I need to show perfect movements.

I can hear both the students and the teacher being noisy in their seats. Of course they would be. There wasn’t any mention of the Igesio household employing a magician during the winter high society gathering, and the only people who know my existence are the students and examiners who saw me during the class sorting exam.

『Greetings. As introduced earlier, I am Lily, a guest apprentice magician of the Iglesio household.』

I activate the magical tool and begin my speech. After a simple introduction, I pause for a moment and survey the students here from the stage. While everybody is wearing the same uniform, I can observe a clear disparity. The people sitting in the back, in particular, the class D students if I’m not wrong, are exuding a somewhat gloomy aura.

『I would like to offer the principal and all the faculty members my heartfelt gratitude for this grand welcoming ceremony held for us first-year students today…… Please excuse me for a moment.』

This magical tool is pretty out of shape. There’s noise over my voice, and heck, the delay’s awful. The Vice-Principal was that satisfied talking so long in this crude magical tool? Let me quickly analyze this and redo its circuits. Man, the circuits are pretty sloppy. Is this really equipment from the most prominent magecraft academy?

『Thank you for your patience. As there was a slight malfunction with the magical tool, I took a few moments to repair it. Can the people in the back hear my voice? Right, it seems to be fine now.』

As a few people kindly nodded in reply, I’m glad to see that my voice is properly reaching the D class students at the back now. What I’m about to say now is something I want them to hear the most after all. I continue on with my speech. I say my thanks to my family¹, what I’ve learned ‌until now, what I want to do from now on, the usual inoffensive speech things.

『We have unlimited potential. I wholeheartedly believe that this academy offers the quality education that would assure us of that. And I will do my best to assure all of you that this is unmistakably true. As such, I would like to announce the implementation of a student council as I end my greetings here.』

This academy doesn’t have a student council, nor does it have any student organizations like clubs and such. These are present in the aristocratic schools that the sons of nobility attend until 15 years old, the knight schools attended by apprentice knights, and the schools that the red folks attend, so it’s not as if student committees don’t exist in this world.

However, in this academy, the faculty has all the power, meaning the students cannot go against the faculty, for better or for worse. While certain nobles of powerful factions are an exception, nearly every sorcerer and mage end up under the control of teachers who are backed by the faction behind them.

Considering that untrained sorcerers are like ticking time bombs, I understand that making the pecking order clear is important. Nonetheless, they’re overdoing it and it’s really unhealthy. Schools were not made for the teacher’s sake, nor are they made for the nobles, schools should be there for the students’ sake.

『Now then; next, I would like to explain the student council matter. In regards to implementing the student council, I have already received the permission of Principal Peram.』

Saying so, I pull a sheet of parchment from my chest pocket. This parchment is used for the formal documents of this kingdom and has anti-counterfeit magic cast on it. This permission to implement a student council has the principal’s signature on it. As long as I have this, even if the vice-principal or the nobles of whatever faction has something to say against it, they cannot get in my way.

The students are dumbfounded and a portion of the faculty are seething with anger. The vice-principal is saying something to the principal while he’s flustering. There are a lot of different reactions to what I just said. Barely anyone listened to my explanation on the student council but, well, I don’t really mind. For now, I’ve already decided who to invite from a quick look.

Now, our fun academy life has just begun!

1. Silva: You have a family? Where?
   Fire: Somewhere