There are several student cafeterias within the academy.
All of them are directly operated by the academy, offering meals at a cheaper price than outside restaurants.
However, just because they are run by the academy doesn’t mean all cafeterias are the same.
The menus differ from one cafeteria to another, and the quality of the food varies greatly.
Because of this, students tend to pick a favorite cafeteria based on their own preferences.
“I’ve gathered a lot of information, and this place seems to be the best among the student cafeterias.”
Cain confidently led the way to a cafeteria located about twenty minutes away from the First Student Hall, where the top-tier class was housed.
“Still, isn’t walking twenty minutes just to eat at a cafeteria a bit much? We should’ve just gone somewhere closer.”
“Milia, think of it as exercise.”
When Milia grumbled, her older brother, Charis, tried to reason with her.
“I’ve also heard that this cafeteria is quite good. This is a good opportunity to try it out.”
“Yeah, let’s experience it for ourselves!”
Cain stepped inside first, followed by me, Senia, Charis, and Milia.
“There are quite a lot of people here.”
“That just proves how well-rated this place is.”
Since there was already a line, we queued up and waited.
“What should we eat here?”
“Look, they have today’s menu posted over there. There are food models too, so you can choose from those.”
Where Cain pointed, there were models of two meal sets: Today’s Set A: Hamburg Steak Set and Today’s Set B: Fried White Fish Set.
But the food models were… extremely realistic.
“How do they make those? It’s fascinating.”
“Apparently, the Producing Department made them.”
At this point, I wondered if there was anything the Producing Department couldn’t make.
“I’m going with Set A.”
“Then I’ll have Set A as well.”
“Hmm, I’ll take Set B.”
“I’ll go with the same as my brother—Set B.”
“I’ll… have Set A.”
After purchasing meal tickets at the counter, we handed them over at the serving station and received our food.
Fortunately, there was a table for five available, so we sat down right away.
“This looks delicious. Let’s dig in.”
“It looks appetizing.”
Cain, Senia, and I had chosen Set A, which featured a hamburg steak as the main dish.
The brown sauce drizzled over the steak gave off a mouthwatering aroma.
“This is pretty good.”
The meat didn’t seem particularly high-end, yet it was juicy and had a pleasant texture, making it enjoyable to eat.
At this quality, it could easily be sold outside at twice the price.
The accompanying potato salad and pickled vegetables were also quite decent.
“The fried fish is tasty too.”
“Yeah, I wonder if it’s caught nearby?”
Charis and Milia’s Set B also looked good.
The crispy sound of the golden-brown fried white fish alone made it seem delicious.
“With food this good, there’s really no need to eat outside.”
“But they don’t serve dinner here, apparently.”
“Really?”
Hearing Cain’s response, I felt slightly disappointed.
“That means we can only come here for lunch? Walking twenty minutes every time is kind of a hassle.”
“Yeah, coming here regularly would be tough.”
“Ah, later on…”
Just then, Senia smiled and said,
“If we can use magic to move faster, then we could come here often, couldn’t we?”
“Oh, Senia, that’s a great idea.”
Cain laughed and agreed enthusiastically.
But at that moment, a cold voice interrupted from nearby.
“You’re learning magic only to use it for walking to the student cafeteria? The top-tier class is more common than I expected.”
We turned our heads toward the voice.
Sitting there was a female student with long blonde hair, her arms crossed.
Her hairstyle and build were almost identical to Senia’s, and she had a similarly refined aura.
However, unlike Senia, she had a proud and arrogant expression, looking down on others with clear disdain.
“Why are you all staring at me like that?”
Despite our five sets of eyes on her, she remained unfazed.
“Did I say something incorrect?”
“Well, you’re not exactly wrong.”
At that moment, Cain shrugged and spoke.
“It’s just amusing that someone who’s sitting in a student cafeteria eating a Set A meal is looking down on us for being ‘common.’ It would’ve been more fitting if you had said that while dining at some high-end restaurant.”
“…!”
The blonde girl’s pale face turned bright red.
“I normally wouldn’t be eating in a place like this—!”
“Charlotte.”
The boy sitting next to her cut her off.
“Don’t raise your voice in the cafeteria.”
“But, Helios—!”
“Don’t make me repeat myself.”
“…!”
The girl, Charlotte, had been about to stand up but eventually sat back down.
“I apologize for the disturbance, top-tier class.”
The boy had short black hair and a neat appearance.
He was as tall as Charis but had a leaner build.
“As a representative of the upper-tier class, I apologize.”
“Hmm, I think I know who you are.”
Charis, who had been silently observing, finally spoke.
“Helios Chanetis, the most outstanding student of the upper-tier class.”
“You know my name? What an honor.”
It seemed they were both from the upper-tier class.
Since the upper-tier class used a different building from us, we rarely encountered them.
“To explain a bit… Charlotte is frustrated because her entrance exam score was just short of making it into the top-tier class. Seeing you all here set her off.”
“Helios! What are you saying?!”
“As you can see, she has a strong sense of pride. Even within the upper-tier class, she doesn’t fit in well. I hope you understand.”
“Ugh…!”
Even after hearing that directly, Charlotte could only turn red with anger.
She seemed pretty hot-tempered, yet she wasn’t retaliating against Helios. Did he have some kind of leverage over her?
“I’m not particularly bothered, Helios.”
“Is that so? That’s a relief.”
Helios smiled.
“But I want you to know—it’s not just Charlotte.”
“What?”
“Charlotte isn’t the only one who resents the top-tier class.”
Hearing that, Charis stiffened and looked around.
At some point… the hundred or so students in the cafeteria had begun glaring at us.
“This cafeteria is close to the Second Student Hall, where our upper-tier class is. In other words, this place is practically our territory.”
“Even if the upper-tier students are gathered here, the number of people glaring at us seems a bit excessive.”
“Those are probably the mid-upper and mid-lower students. They use the Second Student Hall too, and they’re… quite cooperative with us.”
I wondered just what kind of method had been used to make them so “cooperative.”
“You’re making this interesting, Helios.”
Cain, who had been watching silently, smirked.
“So what’s your plan? Are you saying the prestigious upper-tier class is going to gang up and beat us up for daring to eat in your cafeteria?”
“Why would we do something so crude? I just wanted to give you a warning.”
“A warning?”
“If you plan on coming here regularly, it might not be very comfortable for you.”
“Does that start today? Because from what I heard, our class was eating here just fine yesterday.”
“It looks like our stance has finally been decided. We just finalized how we’re going to deal with your Top Class.”
Helios spoke in a relaxed tone.
“The Top and Upper Classes will be clashing quite a few times from now on. First and foremost, we’ll be competing in the Rookie Tournament.”
“So?”
“The academy’s practical assessments are always graded on a curve, aren’t they? If all of us in the Upper Class want to advance with outstanding grades, your Top Class is an obstacle.”
With that, Helios shrugged.
“So let’s keep our distance as much as possible. We’re going to be rivals from now on, after all.”
“I’ve never really thought about being hostile toward you.”
“That’s too naive, Cain Trigger.”
“How do you know my name?”
“I know all the promising students in the Advanced Class. Senia Artian, Charis Morpheus, Milia Morpheus…”
Helios’ gaze turned toward me.
“And Eriol Valencia.”
“……”
“Our professor just told us a moment ago to be particularly wary of you.”
The Upper Class’ professor was Inies from the Elemental Department.
Did she take note of me when she saw me throwing fireballs during practice?
“To be honest, I’ve been interested in you for a while.”
“Why?”
“You were the top-ranked entrant who gave the freshman oath at the entrance ceremony. It’d be hard not to pay attention.”
“……”
“Besides… you’re also Professor Kaisel’s nephew.”
The moment he mentioned Kaisel’s name, Helios’ eyes sharpened slightly.
“If I defeat you, then Professor Kaisel will take notice of me too. Don’t you think?”
“You must respect my uncle quite a bit.”
“How could I not? He became one of the ten greatest archmages on the continent at such a young age.”
“……”
“To be honest, I joined the academy because I wanted to study under him. My goal is to enter the Principles Department.”
I recalled something I had heard on the entrance exam day.
Back then, Kaisel had drawn a clear line—only students he personally approved of would be allowed into the Principles Department.
“My uncle won’t take you as a disciple, even if you rank first in the entire school, unless he takes a liking to you.”
“I’ve heard that too. But if I beat Eriol Valencia and take first place, he’ll have to acknowledge me. Don’t you think?”
“……”
I hadn’t fully grasped my uncle’s personality yet.
But if I were to lose to Helios… he might lose interest in me.
And there was a good chance that interest would shift toward Helios instead.
“Helios.”
“What is it?”
“Sorry, but that’s not going to happen.”
I popped the last piece of hamburger steak into my mouth and got up from my seat.
“For the next year… not even once will you surpass me and take first place.”
“……!”
As I stood up, the others followed suit.
There were hostile gazes directed at us, but none of us looked intimidated.
We headed toward the return counter to drop off our trays when several large male students blocked our path.
“Hey, you!”
“You think you can talk to Helios like that and just walk away?”
The atmosphere turned threatening, as if they were about to throw a punch at any moment.
Cain and Charis frowned and stepped forward, but I raised a hand to stop them.
“Just ignore them.”
“What?”
“You little—!”
One of the male students reached out to grab my shoulder.
But at that very moment—
“Huh?!”
Thud!
He slipped on the floor.
Losing his balance, he crashed into the other students, and they all tumbled down together.
“Let’s return our trays and go.”
“You little—”
Cain glanced at me and grinned.
He must have noticed that I had gathered the water element to make the floor slippery.
“Eriol Valencia.”
Just as we finished returning our trays and were about to leave the cafeteria, Helios’ voice called out from behind.
“The words you said earlier… we’ll find out soon enough whether they were empty or not.”
I didn’t turn around, but I could feel Helios’ gaze drilling into the back of my head.
“I’ll see you in the Rookie Tournament.”
His voice was filled with hostility.
“Man, I feel bad. I just wanted to show you that the food there was good.”
On our way back to the First Student Hall, Cain scratched his head apologetically.
“It’s fine. As an apology, I’ll treat you all to hot dogs!”
“No, I don’t really need one.”
“After eating hamburger steak, a hot dog is a bit too much…”
“I’d rather pass.”
“Honestly, I’m sick of it.”
“You guys are so mean!”
Cain slumped his shoulders after being rejected by all four of us.
But he quickly lifted his head and turned to me.
“By the way, Eriol. About what you said earlier… are you sure about that?”
“Sure about what?”
“Your bold declaration to Helios.”
Cain’s voice was serious.
“I overheard something the other day. Apparently, Helios is ridiculously talented, and Professor Inies is giving him special training.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Shouldn’t you ask Professor Kaisel to train you too? Or maybe Professor Klein?”
“Professor Klein, maybe, but my uncle isn’t the type to do that.”
“Then…”
“Don’t worry.”
I shrugged.
“I have no intention of losing to them.”
