Chapter 130: Does Magic School Still Do Arithmetic?

- Abelis Academy City, Abelis Academy Class S, Several Days Later - Rose's POV -

The next few days passed without incident, except for an overly sexually aggressive slime, and we finally received the go ahead to return to the Academy. While sad to leave Momma, Papa and, most importantly my future little sister, I managed to pull myself together and actually look forward to returning to the mundanity that was school. At least until a certain panicked Succubus pulled me out of the bliss of scheduled life.

[Rooooooose! Help me!] - Veronica

[...grades are bad.] - Shade

[Again?!? How did you survive before Rose showed up, oh wait I know how...?] - Malaise

[Heheh, you're making me blush.] - Veronica

[That wasn't a compliment!] - Malaise

[I-I could use some help as well. As much as it pains me to burden my Lady.] - Argent

[I'm fine but I won't object to a study session.] - Karen

[No fair! Why are your grades so good?!?] - Veronica

[...not... fair.] - Shade

[Heh! Call it a homefield advantage, contrary to my dazzling good looks I'm also smart and funny. Some would call me the ultimate catch if I do say so myself. Isn't that right Rose?] - Karen

[C-Calm down everyone, what do you need help on specifically?] - Rose

[Everything!] - Everyone Other than the two Smarty-pants

That's right, makeup exams. Apparently, the school had thought of what to do to keep the returnees caught up enough to stay competitive with the entering students and had come up with a curriculum designed to push forward in one fell swoop. Similar in complexity and difficulty to the entrance exams taken to place students in specific classes the subjects ranged from maths to practical magic application for general studies. While most students only took general classes their first year certain individuals, such as Malaise and Karen, also had more advanced class tests to worry about. In this Karen had a bit more of an advantage than even I did since she was in a PhD program back on Earth and, while some of the science was slightly different due to the inclusion of Mana, most of the lessons were basically the same. Although her recent experimentation around Alchemy had been getting a bit much.

Blushing as I attempted to return the topic away from any potential development between Karen and myself I was a bit startled when everyone other than Malaise and Karen answered my question.

- Abelis Academy City, Abelis Academy Library - Rose's POV -

The trip to the library from class was uneventful. We did end up picking up a few more people along the way but other than that nothing major happened. What was impressive however, was what had been done to the city and the Academy itself. While on our trip back to the Academy the day before we'd shared a train with a massive number of tradesmen and carpenters on their way to the city itself. Apparently, in their bid to remove the city as much as possible from the tragedy, the King's daughter had commissioned a complete rebuild of most of the city proper as well as an expansion of the defensive structures both within and without. Each section of the city was now in the process of being cordoned off by various gates that, while kept open most of the time, would always feature a guard attachment and the ability to completely cut off each city section to prevent the kind of issues that had led to such chaos previously.

Moreover, the city guard had officially been sworn in under Royal control making the entire contingent more centralized similar to the kind seen in my own home country of Anguis. This move had apparently been seen negatively by the nobles but with the recentness of the events that their fellow noblemen had caused their complaints were kept at mere grumbling. This shuffling of power wasn't the only one as well, much to the dismay of traditionalist and anti-royalist powers, although the latter was much diminished due to many of their members being directly, or indirectly, connected with the attempted coup d'état.

[Whoa, we saw it last night when we got here but the city really looks different during the day...] - Rose

[Ah! I wonder if the local brothels were left al- OWW! Hey?!?] - Veronica

[Quiet you horndog! You've been even worse since we visited our parents. E-Even on the trip over you wouldn't stop t-touching... <blush>] - Malaise

[Wait touching?!? Where? And how much?!? Also where?!?] - Karen

[N-Nowhere!!! Hmph!] - Malaise

[I'll tell you lat- OWW! Why?!?] - Veronica

[Hah... those two are so affectionate with each other... while I'm just...] - Argent

[ARGENT! WE HAVEN'T BATTLED IN WEEKS! FIGHT ME!] - Ogi

[This is what I was talking about FOOL!] - Argent

[M-Malaise c-can I hold your hand? T-The city looks so different, and I don't want to get l-lost.] - Urz

[I-If you want I-I could-] - Yeetsil

[M-Me and Yeetsil?!? Awu...] - Urz

[So, is it like this all the time or is this just a special occasion?] - Robin

[Honestly? A bit of both.] - Rose

[...study?] - Shade

[At least one of us is focused though.] - Rose

[SHHHHHHH! There are other groups actually focused on studying, either do it quietly or somewhere else please!] - BAMF Librarian

Chaos, pure and utter chaos. The kind of chaos that makes a writer on a third-party website get a headache from realizing that they've introduced waaaay more major"ish" characters than they intended. Ignoring that super specific fourth-wall breaking thought I attempted to regain at least some control back from the Mongol hoard that our group had turned into as we made our way to the newly renovated Academy Library to study as a group. Apparently my own, fairly high, grades had attracted a lot more interest from those we were at least partially familiar with than expected.  Luckily, for both my own sanity as well as the increasingly low chances of us actually getting any real studying in, one of the roaming Librarians finally decided to intercede in our general mayhem making as she loudly shushed us.

[S-Sorry] - The Troublemakers

[Good. Now that we've gotten everyone under control why don't we split up evenly via grades? Each group should have someone included that has higher grades in case one of those they are partnered with needs help on a question. I'll take one group. Rose, Karen and Urz- actually why don't we have Robin take one group instead?] - Malaise

Finally brought under control by the seemingly demure and polite librarian I failed to notice the supposedly adult, glasses wearing, woman gaze our way with a bit of a blush on her face and a fervent glint in her eyes. Nor did I know of the secret fan club that had formed around our group that she herself was the President of. Bringing that bit of completely unexplored side story that will never be expanded on to a close was the look of panic on a certain Kappa's face when she was nearly put in charge of her own group. Noticing the tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes our observant foxgirl immediately appointed the next highest grade instead. The look of relief that crossed Urz's face was all that needed to be said as those of us that were called out took our groups and made our way to separate tables. The slight confusion on the Harpy's face however nearly broke me as I internalized the giggle that was threatening to burst forth.

- Abelis Academy City, Abelis Academy Library, An Hour Later - Rose's POV -

[But I wanna learn from Rooooose! You're too me- OW!] - Veronica

[Pay attention! This figure goes here and when you solve for Y you get X! Now stop glancing over at their group and do one yourself, you're distracting them!] - Malaise

The next hour was more or less what anyone that has had a study session with friends would expect. Or at least what one would expect when half of the curriculum is what you would think of as normal, and the other half felt more like something you'd see in a video game or fantasy novel. The first bit of time had been occupied mostly by maths. As a reincarnated person I was, despite my general dislike of it, actually quite advanced in my maths studies. Learning all the way through modern day high school will do that for you. As a result, I spent most of the last hour helping those less fortunate with their own equations since I was significantly ahead of anyone other than perhaps Karen and Malaise. Karen made sense, she was learning to be an honest to god scientist after all, but Malaise being fairly close behind her, in some subjects, was a bit of a surprise. She didn't have a head start like the two of us yet was only a few years behind Karen in knowledge and pretty much equal to myself. Come a few more years and I'd likely be turning to her for help rather than being relied upon. Unfortunately, for certain individuals however, we had split up the groups to make them easier to manage. And one of those individuals was making quite a bit of noise on a nearby table.

[She's... quite loud isn't she, My Lady?] - Argent

[You still don't need to- oh never mind. Anyways yeah but I didn't really expect any different to be honest. Actually, thought she'd be worse.] - Rose

[Ah yeah that makes sense My Lady, I can se-] - Argent

[CAN I GET SOME ASSISTANCE WITH THIS EQUATION? I CAN'T SEEM TO FIGURE OUT WHAT I NEE-] - Ogi

[D-Don't get so close fool! Y-Your stench is overpowering!] - Argent

Taking advantage of the lull in questions I'd ended up finishing up my own work and relaxed slightly while watching our nearest group. Headed by Malaise they were also nearly finished with maths and only one of those present had yet to finish their work. Luckily this had been anticipated beforehand and the only one capable of handling her was the one she'd been paired with.

Warmly watching the pairs antics, I was caught off guard by a certain loyal knight of mine that insisted on calling me by some sort of title. We'd finally agreed that using a formal, polite way of addressing me was more than enough but even now the way I was doted on was a bit much for me. Sure, I was taken care of by multiple maids, had a personal servant that had literally been with me since birth and had basically gotten used to being taken care of in every way possible but... where was I going with this again?

Fortunately for my faltering sense of independence in the face of my enjoyment of being pampered we were interrupted by a massive blue hand as a certain Ogre attempted to call for help. His plea, oblivious to how a certain lovestruck noble felt, bringing him within inches of Argent as she smacked him ineffectually in the face. Cute.