Chapter 31: Chapter 31 – First Day
Matthew felt silly using a uniform to go to school. His old high school didn’t require a uniform, so the last time he used one was when he was 13.
People kept staring at him on the bus making him self-aware. The Laufgraan School was a prestigious school and most of the people who went there came from money. Seeing a student taking the bus was an odd sight for the other passengers.
The Laufgraan uniform resembled the old military uniforms from the 17th and 18th century. The dark green coats had gold buttons on the sides, instead of the middle, a high collar with golden leafs decorating it, golden shoulder pads and gold cuffs. The pants were dark gray. The women could also wear tight fitting gray skirts that reached just about the knee.
Matthew was almost hiding his face inside his coat when he arrived at the school. But then he saw Faralynn waiting for him at the gate. She was dressed on the school’s uniform, with a skirt and boots showing only her knee clad with a pantyhose. She looked so beautiful dressed like that the he forgot his own timidness.
Faralynn gave him a small wave almost as if only shooing of a fly. She looked around scanning the people who were watching them. Her face was still like she was angry at him.
"Heya." He said getting close to her. "Everything alright?"
"Yes. Why do you ask?" Her voice sounded like she was in a hurry.
"You look angry."
"I’m not angry." Faralynn said grabbing something on the pocket of her skirt. "Here, your ID. You’ll need this to get in. Hurry up."
Matthew looked at his ID as he took it. The school logo, his name, his picture, his student number and a microchip.
"Come I’ll show you how the way." Faralynn said picking her briefcase from the floor and quickly walking inside the school.
Matthew just then realized. She was not angry. She was nervous. He smiled. It was the same as when they first met. She looked angry, but was just nervous. He adjusted his backpack on his back and his eye patch on his face.
The gate had a simple turnstile system that opened with the student ID. Guards monitored those who went in and out. Now Matthew was surrounded with people wearing the same uniform. He felt more at easy with himself wearing one with everyone wearing the same around him. But mostly because he saw himself and Faralynn with matching uniforms side to side and thought they looked great.
Faralynn guided him two steps ahead the whole time. Like she didn’t want people to know they were together. They soon arrived at the classroom. Erin was there talking to other students. As soon as she saw Matthew her smile opened like a ray of sunshine. She went to him almost running.
"You look so good in the uniform!" Erin said holding his hand. "Sit here with us!" She said guiding him to the back of the room where she sat near Faralynn and surrounded by her female friends.
Matthew saw himself surrounded by women. Again. Erin on his front, Faralynn to his right, a tall, taller than him, long black haired girl named Tina to his left. Other two girls, both blondes, one with a ponytail and the other with short military hair named Mia and Helen, were sat on both sides of Erin. And on his back was the wall.
He could see in the eyes of the male students he just sat on the most wanted spot in the classroom.
He was silent the whole time while Erin made the introductions. Faralynn sat on her seat and just looked forward, stiff as a board, pretending not to be interested.
"You’re the guy who saved Erin and Faralynn from the goblins that day right?" Mia asked retying her ponytail that came loose.
"Yes." Matthew answered trying not to sound conceited.
"He was also there when we went to hell!" Erin said like it was a school trip.
The mention of hell brought a shadow over Matthew’s and Faralynn’s face. Suddenly the room changed moods. The girls quickly realized it was a touchy subject for them. And soon tried to change subjects.
"So..." Mia started trying to bring back the mood to a more happy tone. "What level are you?"
"I just got to level 7 recently." Matthew said taking surprised gasps from the girls.
"That makes you the highest level on class." Helen said.
"And you’re Lynn’s boyfriend? Is that why you got a scholarship?" Mia asked nonchalantly.
"He is not my boyfriend!" Faralynn screamed bringing all the eyes in the classroom to them. "He was just there twice when I was in trouble..." She said in decrescendo until you could barely hear her words.
Faralynn looked at Matthew as if asking for forgiveness for diminishing his contributions to her safety. Which took a smile from him accepting. He knew now that she was shy and didn’t want people thinking they were in some kind of relationship.
"Lynn’s father was just thankful to him for saving her twice that he gave him a scholarship." Erin explained trying to take the weight away from Faralynn. "But he’s a nice guy. Did you know that he’s Sarah Lordstone brother?"
"That model you like?" Mia asked.
"Yeah! The other day when we visited him in the hospital to give him the scholarship letter I met her! Look, I got her phone number!"
"You went to see in the hospital?" Tina said with a low evil laugh.
Faralynn’s ears got flushed pink, but her face remained unchanged. Matthew laughed to himself. She really showed her emotions through her ears.
"Why was he in the hospital?" Helen asked.
"I was inside the gate during the Red Moon Massacre." Matthew said touching his eye patch.
"Was there where you lost your eye?" Helen continued.
"Yeah..."
"But you will get it back soon, right?" Mia asked referring to the Regeneration skill from the Surgeon class. On their level of wealth, they could just hire an adventurer with that skill to regrow lost limbs and organs. She thought he was only waiting for one to be available.
"No... This was not an injury. I overused my mana." Matthew answered making everyone silent for a moment.
"Shame." Said Tina breaking the silence. "You have pretty eyes." She commented with an evil smile.
The comment made Faralynn look at Tina as if she had just insulted her. Helen burst into laughter seeing Faralynn’s reaction. Mia and Erin also laughed hiding their mouths. Tina just stood there pretending she said nothing with an evil smile on her face. Matthew was too dumbfounded by the comment to notice Faralynn’s reaction.
It was then that a professor came in. It was Orpheu. The same professor that put Faralynn and Erin together with Matthew.
He first introduced Matthew to the class saying that his performance inside the dungeons granted him a scholarship to the school. Matthew stood up and briefly introduced himself before sitting down.
Orpheu taught survival tactics in the dungeons. He was also responsible for the field activities of that class. He taught the techniques to survive in various kinds of hostile environments, from deserts and snowy mountains to volcanoes and magical dungeons. He also taught monster anatomy and other important things to know.
Matthew soon realized how he was lacking in terms of dungeon crawling. He had no idea about those stuff. He was really reckless when first diving and really lucky until now.
Class progressed smoothly. After Orpheu, they got introduction to law taught by a haughty and very beautiful teacher named Lydia. Each class lasted 2 hours. The lectures were really demanding, much more than Matthew could take. By noon he was already mentally exhausted.
"Don’t worry, Matthew." Erin said in the cafeteria, that looked more like a shopping mall food court than a campus eatery. "You’ll get used to it with time. But Professor Lydia has the worst lectures."
"But she’s hot." Said Fred, the other student that almost died during the goblin incident, who was now sitting with them. He had come by to thank Matthew for saving him that day.
Erin rolled her eyes while Fred fist bumped a reluctant Matthew.
Tina, Helen and Mia were sitting at another table talking among themselves while Faralynn, Erin, Fred and Matthew were together. The food in the cafeteria was included in the tuition and included from burgers and pizza to lavish meals with expensive meats and wine. Meaning it was free for Matthew, so he was really enjoying it with a very big plate of shrimp.
"This afternoon we got training." Fred said eating a burger. "What did you pick to train, Matthew?" He asked with his mouth full.
"I’m getting swordsmanship. I realized that only hacking away with my machete is not enough." He answered with a half smile.
"Oh, Lynn is doing that too." Erin said.
"So we’re training together this afternoon." Matthew said.
"Yeah. I guess." Faralynn said hiding her smile behind her hand as she pretended not to care. But her ears twitched a little bit.
"Uh... Cold." Fred said not noticing her real feelings.
"Yeah... She’s like that." Matthew said smiling at her.