TL/Editor: raei
Status: 5/week mon-fri
Illustrations: none
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'...Morning already.'
Ian yawned lightly as he watched the rising sun.
Yesterday had passed in a blur.
After dining with Inglan, Eredith, Salvador and Belenka, it was already midnight before he knew it.
He wanted to meet Kira and Maria, but they were staying in the women's dormitory, and there was no way for Ian to visit them in the middle of the night.
The distance was enormous too.
Ian suddenly realized just how vast the Imperial University was.
'Campus special: unnecessarily huge.'
For some unknown reason, the Imperial University was absurdly large like modern universities.
Because of this, Ian ended up just chatting excitedly with his acquaintances before returning to his private room.
Time passed, and the next morning.
Ian headed to the open lecture hall early to properly attend classes.
'They say over half of Imperial University's lecture halls are open lecture halls.'
This was information he'd heard from Inglan and Eredith yesterday.
Since Imperial University pursued free sharing of knowledge, anyone could freely attend classes in open spaces.
Though professors were in charge of classes, if you wanted to give your own lecture, you could just go up to the podium and start teaching.
If such personal lectures became popular, they'd even be registered as official courses.
'Better do this right.'
Though he'd dabbled in another subject yesterday due to nostalgia.
Despite everything, Ian was a wizard.
Even if he'd gotten momentarily distracted, he hadn't forgotten his true calling.
'I came to study.'
He'd even paused his mystery exploration journey to visit this university.
If he gained nothing from this, it would be a massive waste of time.
After washing his face with modern mindset, Ian grabbed his books and headed out into the empty streets.
'University student special: avoiding first period.'
Whether modern or medieval, university students' slacking was the same everywhere.
Students attending first period like Ian were extremely rare.
If parents sending expensive tuition knew, they might be appalled (though noble parents probably wouldn't care at all).
"Caw!"
On the street, he saw a huge pigen[1] pecking at feed.
Even the birds seemed to be living the easy life, befitting a university.
"Hehe. You're really eating well, aren't you?"
A female student with long brown hair crouched by a statue, absorbed in feeding birds.
The huge black pigen suddenly fluttered up onto her shoulder.
"Eek!"
The female student let out a delighted scream.
"Oh my. Do you like me?"
"Caw!"
"Aww, you're so cute! You're such a clever crow, aren't you?"
"Caw! Caw!"
When the female student stroked its head, the pigen rubbed its wings affectionately.
"...?"
Ian rubbed his eyes.
...The pigen was too black.
He'd thought it looked black because it was dark, but looking closer it was just a plump crow.
Ian approached the crow in disbelief.
"What are you doing there?"
"Caw!"
[Ah! Master, you're here~?]
"Cut the 'master' crap."
The pigen... no.
The suspiciously plump crow's name was Oberon.
Oberon was a free crow who would hang around Ian when bored, cadge meals, and then disappear into the forest for days before returning.
Both Ian and Oberon had long considered each other just good friends.
Not a pet but... an animal friend maybe?
"Ran out of food?"
"Caw! Caw!"
[There are too many owls in the mountains~! I'm gonna stay with humans for a while~!]
"Must be nice not having to worry about predators."
Ian was freshly impressed by Oberon's crow-cunning.
Having perfectly learned to use humans, Oberon would use Ian and other humans as shields to avoid predator attacks whenever things got dangerous.
Ian didn't really care whether Oberon used humans or not.
When Ian held out his arm, Oberon instantly hopped onto it.
The female student stared at Ian.
Being an Imperial Princess didn't mean she had fairy wings on her back or cried silver tears.
She was just a person like Ian.
The only difference was that she was more confident than others, giving her a lively charm.
"Lady Hastria, did you sleep well last night?"
"Did you also sleep well, Lady Belliera?"
Though there weren't many people out in the morning, every passing student greeted Elia.
Amazingly, Elia returned every single greeting.
So the greetings kept coming non-stop.
'Well, I'd want to greet her too.'
A kind, pretty, well-mannered Imperial Princess acknowledging my greeting?!
It was enough to make medieval university students' eyes roll back.
Elia walked proudly while receiving students' greetings.
She glanced sideways at Ian.
As if showing off what kind of person she was.
"You're really amazing."
"Oh my. Suddenly?"
At Ian's surprise compliment, the corners of Elia's mouth turned up slightly.
...Actually, she had already researched the man called "Ian Eredith Raven" quite thoroughly.
Recently they'd been busily cleaning the best room in the men's dormitory, and professors had been making a fuss about a "special" guest coming to the university.
A socially awkward university student might think "whatever" about anything happening at school.
But naturally, Elia Hastria was the top female student on campus.
When commotion arose even in the distant men's dormitory, news would inevitably reach her ears.
'Ian Eredith Raven?'
Elia immediately deployed people to gather rumors about wizard Ian.
The results were beyond surprising, bordering on absurd.
Something about a crow wizard~ patron saint of coffee~
There were even rumors about him being a dragon slayer.
'No way.'
As a sensible medieval person, Elia had filtered the rumors about Ian.
That was obviously the right approach.
The more rumors pass from mouth to mouth, the more sensational they become.
If there's nothing sensational to begin with, rumors don't even spread!
Why would people go around telling boring stories?
'But he can't be completely unremarkable.'
Even filtering out wild rumors, Elia had noted the "Eredith's disciple" part.
The Rising Star of Drawald, Fire Wizard Eredith.
Such a terrifying fire wizard that soldiers who witnessed her summoned flames were shocked into idiocy.
As that excellent wizard's disciple, he must have something special - that was Elia's thinking.
...So she had deliberately waited in front of Ian's dormitory.
She wanted to attend classes with Ian and verify his abilities.
'For now... he seems a bit countrified? Hehe.'
Receiving countless nobles' greetings was perfectly normal for Elia.
But...
How would it look to Ian, a farmer's son!
'Golly, must be some super important person~!'
'All the passing ladies are bowing real deep-like~!'
Just now, Ian had definitely been amazed watching the nobles greet Elia.
'Is it because he's a commoner? He's kind of cute~'
Elia found Ian freshly adorable as he marveled at her.
And Ian was indeed marveling at Elia.
'...Young ladies are greeting her as they pass?!'
'They're using formal greetings like "Did you sleep well~"?!'
'They're all university students going to morning lectures?!'
Ian felt like he'd fallen into an isekai within an isekai.
Is this... really the Holy Empire I know!
Where are the knights swinging swords around! Where are the nobles making wizards play jester!
'...This is civilization.'
Ian struggled to hold back tears of emotion.
Imperial University.
This was, without doubt, a civilized world.
A sanctuary where he could briefly forget the post-apocalyptic atmosphere!
"...? Ian. Are you crying?"
Elia was momentarily flustered seeing Ian about to tear up.
Is this really worth getting teary-eyed over?!
'Is it because he's a wizard?'
She struggled to understand Ian's sensitivity.
---
[1. raei: Pigen -> pigeon + chicken. Basically these pigeons are so plump and fat that the author is calling them pigeon chickens, but with the back half of the kr chars for chicken attached to the front for pigeon. Doesn't really work for english. How do I combine pigeon and chicken?? pigken? picken? in the end I just stopped thinking and went with pigen.]