Chapter 117 Class Selection

"Hey, I see it!"

Zen pointed to a series of wooden billboards erected on a nearby wall.

A crowd of students formed around the billboards as they huddled to see which class they were in.

Like when they saw their entrance examination results, countless students lamented their results while a select portion cheered in glee.

While their class placements weren't completely permanent, rising or falling from their respective classes was a real possibility.

If they didn't get placed in a high-tiered class from day one, rising in the future would be far harder.

Everyone knew that what they got here would be almost guaranteed to be their permanent class.

Walking up closer, Zen exclaimed in surprise.

"I'm in the S class!"

Hearing his proclamation, the nearby students turned to him with shock evident in their eyes.

"Did he just say he's in the S class? Who is that boy?"

"Wait, I recognize him! He's the son of the war hero!"

"He's THE Zen Silvercolt?"

"I heard his elder sister is a student council member as well!"

"It makes sense for someone like him to be in a special class."

Realizing that he spoke too loudly in surprise, Zen hurriedly clasped his mouth.

Reyna shook her head and sighed to herself.

"Come guys, let's see what classes we got placed in."

She started after Zen with August cradled in her arms.

Lydia, however, froze and stared at Zen, her mouth gaping open.

Arvell turned to her with a raised eyebrow.

"Is everything alright, Lydia? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Lydia slowly rotated her head to look at Arvell in an almost robotic motion.

"H-h-he was THE Zen Silvercolt???? So he's the son of the war hero???"

"Yes? Did you not know?"

"NO?!?"

"Oh, I guess he never mentioned his last name when he introduced himself. He did the same thing with me back when I first met him."

Lydia ran up to Arvell and desperately grabbed his shoulder.

Not sensing any malicious intentions, Arvell didn't bother dodging and let her grab him without retaliation.

She lightly shook Arvell's collars with a slightly crazed-yet-fearful look.

"D-do you think I said anything rude to him? I'm just the daughter of a farmer's family! I can't afford to disrespect any noble, especially the son of a duke! What if I made him feel uncomfortable or insulted him without thinking?"

Arvell's mouth curved into a small smile seeing Lydia's outburst.

"Zen's not like that. There's no need to worry. If anything, I think he has a relatively positive impression of you."

'Plus, if you really insulted Zen, there would be no way Reyna would keep silent and watch.'

However, Arvell kept the last bit to himself.

"D-do you really think so?"

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"Of course, plus Zen isn't the kind of person to abuse his authority to punish weaker families. None of the Silvercolts are like that."

Looking into Arvell's eyes which seemed to only reflect the truth, Lydia let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank the lord...."

Arvell gestured to Reyna and Zen, who were busy inspecting the wooden boards, "Let's not make them wait any longer."

Lydia nodded her head.

"...Yeah."

Arvell and Lydia wormed through the crowd as they reached the signboards and joined their two companions.

As they neared them, Zen turned his attention from the board to face them.

"What took you two so long?"

Arvell let out a sigh from Zen's oblivious tone.

"Lydia had a mini-panic attack."

Lydia's face flushed to the point where her head became as red as a tomato.

"It wasn't a panic attack! But, I was a little worried."

Zen raised an eyebrow.

"Why did she have a panic attack? Did something happen?"

"She realized that you were the son of a duke."

"Oh right, I never told her."

"Let me guess, you didn't want her first impression of you to be 'the son of the war hero,' but as Zen, right?"

"You know me quite well, as expected of my sworn brother," Zen nodded his head, "I have nothing against dad or my family, but... You can see it in their eyes."

Zen gestured with his head towards the countless students watching their group.

They were intently watching them but were too nervous to walk up and talk to them.

"These people don't see me as Zen. Instead, they instantly think of my father or even my sister whenever my name comes up. Nobody sees me for who I am."

"So you're trying to make a name for yourself?"

Arvell asked with a curious tone.

"I wouldn't go that far just yet. Let's just say... I want to make friends who like me for who I am. Kind like you."

'To be fair... I never took you along because I liked you,' Arvell thought.

While Arvell's views on Zen had changed substantially from when the two first met, he initially saw Zen as nothing more than a burden that he didn't have the heart to abandon.

Furthermore, he wanted some kind of monetary gain from saving Zen.

But like Angela, his friendship with Zen was slowly becoming less forced daily.

Arvell even began to somewhat enjoy Zen's presence every time.

"That is valid. People that aren't befriending you with ulterior motives would indeed make much better friends."

Zen lightly chuckled before his gaze fell slightly.

"By the way, Arvell, we checked the classes... and found your and Lydia's classes."

Arvell narrowed his eyes.

From Zen's tone of voice, whatever occurred seemed to be somewhat problematic.

"For you, Arvell, there isn't any real concern. You're in the same class as Reyna and me. It's just that Lydia got placed in the B-class."

Zen turned to her with an apologetic expression.

"I'm so sorry about that. It looks like we aren't able to be in the same cla-"

"WAIT, I GOT INTO THE B-CLASS?" Lydia exclaimed in surprise.

Right after her outburst, the realization that she accidentally cut off Zen dawned on her as she hurriedly apologized to him.

Zen, however, waved it off with a detailed look.

'Didn't this girl want to be with Arvell and them?'

Seeing Zen's confused look, Lydia shook her head.

"While I'm a little bit upset that I wasn't placed in the same class as you, I expected to be far, far lower. Truth be told, I came to the academy with the sole goal of passing the entrance examination. Now that I found out, I got into the B-class? I couldn't have asked for a better result! But..."

"But?"

"I'm not going to stay in the B-class forever. I'll get stronger and join the S-class with the rest of you, so keep a spot ready for me, alright?"

Hearing her confidence claims, the nearby students threw her pitying looks.

"Does she not know how hard that is?"

"Anyone can claim they can climb into a higher class, but it's known to be incredibly challenging for a reason."

"She wants to climb not just one, but two classes? How deluded can you be?"

Reyna shook her head when she heard the countless students gossiping behind Lydia's back.

Placing her hand on her new friend's shoulder, Reyna gave Lydia her encouragement.

"Don't let other people tell you what you can and can't do. Instead, believe in yourself, and that's all you need."

'I know, right? Don't those people have anything better to do? But, seriously, just shut up. You'd be doing the world a favour,' Lykos mentally agreed.

Lydia nodded her head with a motivated expression.

"I will do it!"

Zen gave Lydia a thumbs up.

"That's the spirit!"

Arvell smiled softly at the sight before walking over to inspect the board.

'Hmm... Looks like Titus and Lily are in my class. It seems I'll have a lot of time to have my questions about both of them answered in the upcoming years.'

Arvell knew that there was no way Lily would have been placed into any class other than the highly acclaimed S-class, being the only princess of the country.

As for Titus, the soft-spoken bald youth had helped stop a massacre.

Arguably the worst calamity to befall the academy since the war.

Even if they couldn't publicize Titus's contribution during the fight, the academy knew just how strong he was.

He accidentally ripped the door off a carriage, crying out loud!

Although he managed to somewhat fix it, that scene left a lasting impression on all those who were present to witness his raw show of strength.

Arvell turned to Zen, who was busy chatting with Lydia and Reyna.

"Do you guys want to head to our classrooms? This place is starting to get quite crowded."

Looking around, the three nodded their heads.

It was true, the number of people around them had almost doubled in the short time they were looking at the board, and from the looks of it, it would still keep increasing.

"I'll see you four later then!"

Lydia walked up and nuzzled August's cheek with her fingers before breaking off from the group.

She waved to Arvell, Reyna and Zen and headed off toward her class.

"Bye, Lydia!"

"See you later!'

"Let's meet up again sometime."

"Kyuu!"

Seeing Lydia disappear into the crowd of students, Arvell gestured to Zen and Angela.

"Let's get going."