“So you’re my new roommate. I’m Alisa. What’s your name?”
“L-Lefiya. Lefiya Viridis!”
She met Alisa in one of the multipurpose rooms in the seventeenth sector of the residential layer.
Lefiya entered a two-person dorm room, taking the place of a student who had graduated. She was immediately welcomed with a handshake.
As a member of Balder Class, Lefiya was quickly blessed with good friends, starting with Alisa.
“So you’re the new student! I’m Bardain! A bull person, as you can see! I like big boobs and love even bigger boobs! So a flat-chested little girl like you doesn’t meet my standards! Sorry! But never fear! In terms of potential, you’re not any worse off than Alisa and the others! I know that a desolate plain today can become fertile ground in the future! Join me in chest exercises!!!”
“Curl up and die already, Bardain.” “Seriously.” “Stay away, Bardain.” “How would you make it up to Lefiya if your perverted thoughts got her pregnant? Begone.”
I—I can certainly tell all the girls dislike him…
Despite being the same age as Alisa, Bardain was already big and tall enough to tower over them.
Always enduring withering glares from the female students, he was, as expected, in the Combat Studies Department and, indeed, a problem child who always broke the school rules. And he had an abnormal passion for large breasts.
Generous and always smiling, Bardain was like everyone’s older brother and hurting Lefiya or the others was the last thing he’d ever want to do.
“Lefiya, you’re from Wishe Forest, right? Tell me about that odd place. I’m curious.”
“O-of course! But tell me about your home, too, Nassen!”
“I don’t wanna. It’s enough for me to learn. Other people learning doesn’t benefit me.”
“Ehh…”
That was the curious prum, Nassen, in a nutshell.
Quiet, small, and bespectacled, he was always carrying a dictionary that seemed far too big for him. He knew far more than Lefiya or Alisa and might have had the makings of a genius, but he was awful at interacting with people. With the various incidents he caused for the sake of satisfying his curiosity, he could hardly be called a model student.
Bardain often dragged him and Lefiya into fights and messes.
“I never wanted to become a fighter!”
“Don’t cry, Lefiya! If you don’t put that Wishe Forest magic power to use, it’ll build up and explode in your boobs! You have to let out your magic for the sake of better boobs!”
“That has nothing to do with anything!”
“Quit mouthing off about breasts while dragging a little girl around, Bardain. And breasts don’t get bigger just from channeling mana. If that theory were true, elves and the other races with high magic affinity would have an enormous number of women with big breasts. And if by ‘boobs,’ you mean a woman’s chest region rather than the breast specifically, then you would have to consider men’s boobs as well, thus requiring further evaluation of the relationship between mana and boobs—”
“Quit talking about boobs this and boobs that while we’re surrounded by monsters!!!”
Lefiya and Nassen, picked for their magic and knowledge, were dragged into this predicament by Bardain. Alisa often raced after them and also got drawn into many battles against monsters and people. It was an everyday sort of thing from the moment Lefiya enrolled, and somewhere along the way, the four of them were considered inseparable and were placed in the same squad.
Lefiya cried softly as she was forced to fire off magic left and right—this was the origin of her reputation for having ludicrous amounts of magic power.
“This is why I said recycling scarletite to make orichalcum would be fastest! What’s wrong with my formula?!”
“Scarletite is a miraculous metal created in the Far East. That alone is enough to make it equal to orichalcum in value and rarity. Your formula isn’t sublimation. It’s just equal exchange. If you don’t like it, then try making it from scratch, stupid four-eyes class president.”
“Nassennnnnnnnnn!!!”
“P-please don’t fight, you two!”
“Mm. Scarletite sounds more austere than orichalcum, so I like it more!”
“Be quiet, Bardain!”
Her school friends were like giant balls of curiosity molded into the form of students, and even for students of the School District, they stuck their noses into every little thing they came across.
They started debates about even the most trivial things, escalating into shouting matches at times. As young Lefiya grew, she was deeply influenced by them.
“Lefiya…I’m…in love.”
“What?!”
And beyond just studies and knowledge, there was love.
“Professor Leon scolded me, but he also smiled and gave me a serious advice! And when another instructor got mad at me for something I didn’t do, he defended me, saying that I wasn’t the sort of student who would do that and that I’m harder on myself than anyone else and that I’m always sincere with others! He’s a teacher, but he’s also my knight!”
“Eh? Alisa…?”
“And afterward, he even said, ‘Even as an instructor, I respect her’!!! That’s practically a confession, right?! Like a vow to walk down the aisle with me?!”
“No, that’s a little—”
“Aaaaaaah, I wuv you, Professor Leon!”
“W-whoa…”
Lefiya had no idea how to react when she saw hearts in Alisa’s eyes turn into hearts behind her glasses. An older female student flashed an almost godlike smile as she said, ‘Crushing on Professor Leon is a path everyone walks,’ and with that, Alisa broke free from Lefiya’s restraints and joined the LFC.
Puberty was a storm of youth, and the School District was a garden of sweet rendezvouses. Watching it unfold from a distance, Lefiya used her friend as an example of what not to do and did not experience love herself.
Studies, combat, and youth.
They enjoyed many encounters. And Lefiya was no exception.
The instructors and deities constantly introduced Lefiya to the unknown and things she never knew.
Every time, her eyes would sparkle. Gaining knowledge and learning something new was just so much fun. For Lefiya, learning was not a means to an end. She wanted to learn for learning’s sake.
And one day, she was asked the question.
“What do you want to become, Lefiya?”
“Eh…?”
“I’m going to be Professor Leon’s right hand as an instructor here! Bardain wants to be an imperial knight. Nassen wants to be a researcher in Altena…Everyone’s finding their dreams. What’s yours?”
“I—I…”
In the end, Lefiya did not answer the question.
Experiencing the world and meeting so many people had moved her heart countless times, but she had never discovered what she wanted to be.
While continuing to work on her studies, Lefiya turned inward, trying desperately to imagine what she wanted to be, not wanting to be left behind by her friends.
“There is no need to hurry…though that may not sound convincing now. In which case, go ahead and try fretting for once. This is the School District, the place to discover your path and the determination to pursue it. There is no better place to fumble in the dark for an answer.”
Balder had told her that with a smile and added, “At the same time, do not forget to rely on others.”
And so three years had passed since she enrolled, and around the time she reached Level 2 after Bardain and the others dragged her into all sorts of adventures, she arrived at the center of the world.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I can see it, Lefiya! That’s it!”
“Waaaah…!”
Stepping out onto the deck beneath a cloudless blue sky, Alisa and Lefiya raised their voices when they looked across the crashing waves and saw land coming into view.
Like the other students around them, they leaned out over the railing, entranced by a single scene.
“So that’s Orario…!”
The center of the world.
Home to Babel, the tower of the gods.
And the Dungeon.
At the time, Lefiya knew nothing of the Labyrinth City that she had dreamed of, and her innocent heart raced with excitement.