The next morning, Iris woke up to a loud clattering sound. She rubbed her eyes before slowly sitting on the bed and looked at the source of the sound. Then, she froze. Her mind was trying to register things as she looked at the figure rummaging through a… treasure chest?
The figure stopped her movements as she sensed Iris' waking up. She then turned to look at Iris and happily smiled.
"Little sheep, you're awake already?"
"…"
Iris finally opened her eyes wide.
So, it's not a dream…?
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing much, I'm sorting my stuff and preparing to go to school today. You should start preparing too."
Iris stopped rubbing her eyes and stared at Carbuncle. Yes, the thing that she was rummaging through just now… was a treasure chest. It was a beautiful and luxurious red treasure chest etched with gold. Carbuncle had put the it right in front of her bed. There were various strange items lying about on the floor around Carbuncle next to the treasure chest.
Since she was just a normal seven-year-old girl, Iris couldn't help but feel curious. Therefore, she moved closer to take a look at Carbuncle and her treasure chest—and the other things around the floor. She became stunned when she looked at several huge items on the floor and the abyssal darkness inside the treasure chest.
"…Wait, just how deep is the treasure chest?"
"It's a magical treasure chest! It is equipped with a storage magic, and its capacity is a lot. It's pretty convenient."
"…"
Having a thing equipped with a storage magic was quite rare. But Carbuncle spoke as if it was natural.
"Is it normal for dragons to have this kind of treasure chest?"
"Yep! But the quality and the quantity vary. Non-Draconis don't have such thing?"
"…"
Iris realized that culture gap existed in this world. She shook her head, as based on her knowledge, it wasn't a common thing. She wasn't sure of the culture outside Riviera, though…
-
After Iris finished preparing, Carbuncle was pretty much done. Iris noticed that Carbuncle seemed reluctant to use the wardrobe that was provided for her, as she preferred using the treasure chest that she brought from her homeland.
However, since Carbuncle wanted to learn of Non-Draconis' customs, she forced herself to use it normally, and Iris sometimes gave a few pointers.
The two of them walked together to the class, and Iris stole a few glances at Carbuncle during their ways to the class.
Upon arriving at the class, Iris quickly saw Lyra and ran towards her.
Lyra was delighted to see Iris and extended both of her hands to accept Iris, as if she was a mother missing her daughter. Lyra noticed that Iris came together with Carbuncle and curiously asked.
"Did you two come here together? Were your dormitory rooms close to each other?"
"Ehehe, guess what? I'm her roommate!"
Carbuncle proudly answered.
Iris clung to Lyra as she only nodded. Luca and Kiri were also there, and they chattered before Morgan-sensei entered the classroom.
"I thought that dragons would be more arrogant and that they would look down on us, but you seemed to be quite friendly," Luca said after he pondered for a while.
"Well, there are some that act as you described. …Wait, it's quite the majority. Only a few dragons like me are curious and would love to mingle with Non-Draconis like you."
"I heard that dragons decided to live secluded in the Dragon's Heritage and they never left the continent to visit other places. How was it when you decided to come here, Carbuncle? Did nobody oppose you?" Lyra asked with eyes full of curiosity.
"Lots of them opposed me! However, I insisted and they gave up. Besides, my friend, the crown princess of the Pyrpgrntia kingdom supported me, so all is good, haha!"
"…"
Iris could only look from Lyra's side as she digested Carbuncle's words.
Her friend… a crown princess of some dragon kingdom… If that's the case, then Carbuncle's identity shouldn't be simple, right?
Iris was lost in her thought until the class started.
The sitting arrangement was adjusted a bit to accommodate Carbuncle.
Carbuncle had a special seat arranged between Iris' seat which was next to the window and the teacher's desk in front.
That way, her body—which was bigger than the average children inside this class—wouldn't disturb the others behind her to see the board.
Morgan-sensei entered the classroom and started Day 2 lessons immediately.
Day 2 lessons consisted of two branches of social studies: geography and history.
Morgan-sensei skillfully incorporated the two lessons and blended them into a story-telling session that managed to keep the students interested.
He knew that it wouldn't be good to go all serious with young children like his students, so he decided to take this approach.
At first, Lyra thought that no matter how boring and sleepy this class would get, she'd definitely try to pay a close attention to Morgan-sensei's classes!
She left a bad impression on him when they first met, so she couldn't afford to offend him more than that. Thankfully, with Morgan-sensei's approach to the lessons, focusing to the lesson wasn't a hard task for Lyra.
Lyra tried to be an exemplary student and ended up being an active student who answered most of Morgan-sensei's questions until Morgan-sensei calmed her down.
"Okay, so far, Lyra's been answering my questions and I haven't heard the other students' voices. Everyone must store their voice today, so who is willing to answer my previous question?"
Morgan-sensei asked with a friendly smile on his face.
Meanwhile, Lyra had a delicate heart and was sensitive enough to his words.
She felt that… Morgan-sensei softly reprimanded her for taking too much credits on this first day of lesson?
Though it was only her negative mindset appearing again in her mind, she didn't notice and remained worrying over her awkward relationship with Morgan-sensei until the rest of the lesson.
Carbuncle sometimes chimed in during the lesson and actively participated.
She has learned the history and geography from her kin, but there were some differences from the version that she learned. She was glad that she took the classes from the very basic.
Luca didn't want to lose to Lyra, so he took up Lyra's place after Lyra became quiet.
He sometimes would urge Kiri to follow his example, but the shy little Kiri could only try once or twice before he retreated to his shell…
Iris looked at her four friends with a blank gaze, feeling a bit out of place…
So, when it was break time, she only remained quiet and didn't act as clingy to Lyra.
Lyra was very worried over Iris' weird conduct and noisily asked her all the way until they reached the school dining hall for lunch.
There, the group met Altaire's group of friends.
Seeing the only constant variable in her life, Iris quickly ran over to Harvey and poured all of her worries to him.