There was some time to rest since the introduction ceremony would only begin in half an hour. I looked for the book I had been reading before. I picked up the book and continued to read.

About fifteen minutes in, I realised someone was approaching me. I decided to not bother looking up from my book, and let them talk to me instead. 

"What'chu reading?" said a cheerful voice from a young male. 

I looked up from my book and showed him the cover. "I'm reading about Georgius."

"Georgius huh.. magnificent right? I heard he single-handedly defeated fifty demons in a battle without breaking a sweat!" said the boy, again with pure joy leaking from his voice.

The boy was roughly my height, roughly 170 centimeters but he was clearly older than me. He had marine blue hair and deep blue eyes. He had a pure smile that shone greater than the sun.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Interesting how one man is capable of such great things."

"I'm Meran," said the boy. "Nice to meet you."

He held out his hand, and I got up to my feet to shake it. "Daniel. Nice to meet you as well."

I sat back down and Meran did the same. 

"So, I see you're a first grader." said Meran. 

"Eh? How'd you know?" I repsonded, puzzled at how he had guessed.

"You have two golden rings on your cuffs. One gets added for every year. So three things for a second year, and four rings for a third year.." Meran answered my question.

The next thing I did was to check how many rings he had. He had three, which made him a second grader.

"So, you might've noticed that there are a lot more first graders this year," Meran said. "which is odd, considering this school only accepts the best of the best."

I looked around. He was right - there were maybe a hundred students with two rings in the yard, but much fewer were the ones with more rings. "Why is that?" I asked Meran. 

"That's my question as well. It's why I've been going around asking first years if they knew. None have an answer yet.." he sighed. "Maybe it's because the nation suddenly decided to recognise dragonoids."

"Dragonoids?" I asked, puzzled. "The hell are those?"

Meran looked at me, confused and answered. "You haven't heard of them? Dragonoids are a seperate race of humans who have lived under the protection of dragons. Although they're still humans, they are much stronger compared to us as they have been bathed by the dragons' mana." 

"Are there any distinct differences between us and them?" I asked, trying to see if I could tell who was a dragonoid or not.

"No physical differences," he shrugged. "but they'll make themselves clear when they are up against humans."

Right after this, the bell chimed signaling that the time for the ceremony had come. I had not realised how quick the time had passed.. but unfortunately our discussion with Meran had to be left for some other time.

I went to the massive amphitheatre building, which was seperate from the school for some unknown reason. The student body had gathered in massive numbers, possibly in the thousands. I found a place to sit near the top of the theatre and sat down. I still had my bags with me, which made climbing up the stairs a huge pain. Meran had disappeared off to somewhere, and had left me alone. I had zero context for the event, which Meran might have had had he been here as he was a second year student.

Before long, a tall man in a suit got on the stage at the center. He had graying hair, but despite his obvious age, was clearly well-built. In front of him stood a tall sound-amplifying device, which reached up to his chin. He was clearly taller than said device, however he paid it no mind.

He gave a slight bow, and began his speech. "Greetings to our new and returning students, and welcome to yet another year of the Academy. I go by Rade Loc, the Headmaster here at the Academy."

He cleared his throat and continued, "I am sure the more attentive of you has noticed that we have taken in more first years this year than normal, and that is for a very clear reason."

All emotion he had in his voice dropped suddenly, and took a serious turn. "Our nation is itching closer to war by the second. You, our youth, are our only hope if we wish to survive yet another struggle like the gruesome war just a few years ago."

Murmurs started going around in the crowd. It was clear that all the students were baffled at the thought of war. The Headmaster continued, "Silence, please. Nothing is clear at the moment, as our Regent has ordered all military academies in the nation to increase their student capacity. Additionally, with the succession coming up later this this year, this may very well simply to guarantee a safe ascension to the throne. However, that is in doubt as I personally cannot see a reason to prepare multiple academies."

"There you have it, my dear students." the Headmaster said, with a less serious tone. "This does also mean we will be having a stricter curriculum this year in order to ensure the increased numbers do not decrease the quality of our Academy. We have full faith in you all."

And with that, his speech ended. Or so I thought, but as soon as the crowd calmed down once more, the Headmaster spoke.

"Now with that out of the way, I would like to introduce the newest instituion in our Academy - the Security Squadron." 

Everyone was intrigued once more, and seeing this, he continued on with his explanation. "Again due to the aforementioned increased numbers, I deemed it fit to create a new squadron specifically to ensure Academy security. This squadron will be entirely composed of Academy students, and the members will be picked by the Captain."

"I would like a round of applause for the first Captain of the Security Squadron, Meran von Absberg!" The crowd began clapping, although I did not join in. 

I was more intrigued at the fact my new friend was not only the Captain, but also a noble from the Absberg family. The Absbergs were high nobles, which meant they were closer to royalty than they were to us commoners. 

Meran stepped onto the stage with a pure white uniform, similar to that of the military uniform but slightly different in design. He had a revolver and a sheathed sword on his belt.

The Headmaster gave way for Meran to speak, to which Meran responded by itching closer to the amplifying device. Meran gave a salute, and began with his speech.

"It is with great honor to see you all again, and to see the increased first years among us. Most of you should remember me as last year's first grade honor student, and to those who do not, allow me to formally introduce myself."

Meran gave an elegant bow, truly befitting that of a high noble, and introduced himself. "I am Meran, third son of the Absberg family."

The crowd began to cheer, but it was cut short by Meran clearing his throat. "I will be picking new members for the Squadron very soon, so if you believe you are fit to be a candidate, do not hesitate to come find me for tryouts."

And with that, he got off the stage. Shortly after, the ceremony finally ended and we were dismissed. A piece of paper hung outside the amphitheatre gave us the location to our dorms, for those who lived too far away to walk to the Academy. Basically, me. I also found a school employee handing out keys for our respective dorms.

I began the walk to my room, which I found in a seperate building that closely resembled industrial apartments. I walked up the stairs to find a room, which had the number "405" on it. I looked at the key in my hand once more and prepared to unlock the door when I realised that the door was already open.

I took a deep breath and opened the door to find a room that seemed larger than it was on the outside. There was a large glass window right across from the door, and two beds that were beside a wall right in front of it. There was even a bathroom for the use of both occupants of this room. 

I finally turned my eyes to the left of the room. Sitting on top of the bed, there was a boy reading a book. He had golden eyes, which did not fit well with his jet-black hair. I tried to recall the name of my roommate, but I hadn't paid enough attention to the other resident of Room 405. 

Billy? No.. that's not it.. I thought to myself. I placed down my bags next to my bed and greeted my new roommate. "Hello, I'm Daniel." I said with a cheerful voice.

The boy averted his eyes from the book for a split second, and continued reading. "William.", he added.

Nice to meet you too, I'm sure we will be the best of friends! I thought in a satirical tone. There was still some time before dinner time, so I decided to take a rest on the bed. I found immense comfort, unreal to what I had felt before, and soon after I found myself deep asleep.

Note: Hi everyone! I'm not dead, I swear. I've just been crazy busy with real life stuff that I had to take a short break. I also changed the name of the series and will soon be uploading a new cover (hopefully!)

Hope you all haven't forgotten me yet!