With superb piloting, the School District made its way through the lake channel and docked in Meren after three years away—though for Lefiya at the time, this was her first visit.
“They’re baaaaaack!!!”
“Welcome back!”
“What sorts of adventures did you have this time?!”
When they entered port, Lefiya was moved by the heart-pounding scene.
A great crowd of people lined the bay, waving hands and banners and playing music just to welcome them home.
The School District’s return to port was the biggest event for Meren, and plenty of visitors from Orario had come to see the spectacle as well. And they weren’t just lining the harbor. People were standing on platforms and rooftops, leaping and waving flags, and little children were running alongside, waving.
This was the port that gave birth to the ship that traveled the world with its students. But today, Meren seemed like a proud parent celebrating its child’s homecoming, marveling at how much it had grown.
“This is amazing, Alisa! We were welcomed in the other towns we stopped at, but this is the first time I’ve seen so many people come out to see us! This is our triumphal return! Just like the stories!”
“Yes, it is. I enrolled after the last time it left Orario…so it’s my first time seeing something like this, too!”
Lefiya and Alisa were standing among the excited students lining the outer edge of the academic layer. Their chests swelled with the expectation that something wonderful might begin here.
“Orario is off-limits until the practical begins, but you have permission to enter Meren starting today. It has been a while, so please enjoy your time on land…is what I would like to say.”
“We expect Orario familias to be in Meren, scouting students before the official recruiting season begins. It’s only natural to get a little hasty with this much excitement in the air. As long as you choose your own path, the faculty will have no complaints. However, take care not to be carried away in the heat of the moment.”
The School District’s return was a special event. Unlike at any of their other stops, a full school assembly was held, with the principal, Balder, and the top professor, Leon, providing warnings and official guidance.
It was startling to learn that there was a harbor anywhere capable of berthing the entire School District, and after being overwhelmed by Meren’s welcome, Lefiya braced herself for the next shocking development. She would only learn later that their arrival also sparked numerous complaints from ships from many different countries, much to her chagrin.
“All right, it’s the night before we head to Orario! Time to cut loose! There’s apparently a brothel in Meren, too!”
“If you go, I really will sever all ties with you, Bardain.”
“Wh-whoa, that’s actually scary, Alisa! Your eyes are filled with disgust! Don’t make me develop a new fetish! I’m a boob man through and through!”
“Lefiya, lend me some money. I spent too much on research.”
“I don’t mind, but…where are you going, Nassen?”
“Meren Raaamen.”
“R-Ramen?”
“No, Meren Raaamen. Despite being a port town, it is a restaurant that takes the most heretical, unorthodox approach of making a pork-based dish instead of using a seafood base. But it’s delicious. Words can’t begin to describe it. Even knowing that I’m partaking of something malignant…that oil…my body craves it…”
“Wh-what…? And what is this raaamen anyway?”
“A soup-based noodle dish with various ingredients added is all I can say. There are many noodle dishes throughout the world, but there are none as addictive as this one. Even I became enthralled during the last return to port.”
“Huh…w-wait?! So you were enrolled three years ago, too?! Wait, are you saying that you’re older than me? With that baby face?!”
“Who are you calling a pretty little boy, you jerk? I’ll kick your ass.”
“Ugh?!”
Impatient to see the alabaster-white tower piercing the heavens, the students flooded into Meren with frenetic energy that made it seem like the night before a festival, just like Bardain said. (This was where Lefiya learned so much about the shops in Meren.)
The School District would stay docked in Meren for an extended time to undergo its overhaul. That vague notice was all that they were told, and the specific length of stay had not been announced.
It might be half a year or maybe even a full year.
Without flawless preparation, it wouldn’t be possible to travel the world for three full years, and if it stopped functioning and sank somewhere along the way, it would negate everything they had set out to do. (Ultimately, it would turn out to be a one-and-a-half-year stay, its longest overhaul ever. During that time, Lefiya would enter Loki Familia.)
Because it stayed in Meren the longest of anywhere, it was customary for student hopefuls to crowd into Meren and Orario. In fact, the most common homeland for students attending the School District was Meren and Orario. Part of the reason such an enormous crowd gathered to welcome the massive vessel home was because many of them were their parents. More than a few students would return home and spend this eve with their families.
In many ways, the School District’s return to Meren was a milestone. It was also when the closest thing to a graduation ceremony was held, which was the source of so many of Orario’s adventurers—though more precisely, it was an all-school party to celebrate people like Lefiya who had enrolled during the past three years as well as send off those who were graduating.
And that graduation ceremony would be held after the special practical in Orario.
Or rather, in the Dungeon…