After seeing off Saturn and his group, we headed over to the new Class-1 classroom.

Stepping inside, I found that almost all our guild members have already gathered.

"Good morning, everyone! Looking forward to a great term with you all!"

A cheerful greeting was just common courtesy, after all. Instantly, I feel the eyes of everyone in the room zero in on me.

"Took you long enough! You're late! And good morning, Zephyr."

Lana was the first to respond. Rather, I sometimes felt it'd basically become an unspoken rule that she'd always be the first to return my greetings, and it continued to be even in our new class.

"Good morning, Zephyr. Looks like we're in the same class again. I look forward to it."

Sierra chimes in next. I could tell from the subtle warmth in her voice that she’s genuinely glad we ended up together. And the feeling was mutual—I was just as thrilled to share a class with her again.

"Same here, Sierra. Glad to be with you again."

I added to my reply.

After that, a chorus of greetings washed over me, mostly from the original Class 1 students, and I returned them one by one.

Well, thanks to guild members rushing over to say their greeting, I had yet to completely step inside the class. But that suddenly came to a stop (?) when a hulking wall of muscles loomed up behind us.

Since my guildmates make a point of rushing over to say hi, I end up stuck right at the doorway.

However, this little roadblock comes to an abrupt end when a hulking wall of muscle looms up behind us.

"Listen to me, Leader Celestin, and Grandmaster Zephyr. I've been separated from my fellow muscles!"

The one delivering this tragic news with a surprisingly mournful expression was Alan, the only mid-ranking Job holder in Class 1. Honestly, I was still blown away that he actually made the cut.

No, hold on a minute. What the heck was Grandmaster?

"Morning, Alan. But seriously, what's with the 'Grandmaster'?"

"Well, you're the lord our esteemed Leader, Celestin, serves. It only stands to reason that you be called the Grandmaster, does it not?"

Stands to reason? Like hell it does.

I had no idea how his brain made that leap. ......Whatever, I'd let it slide. It did sound pretty cool, anyway.

"Good morning, Alan."

"Morning, Celestin. I know it's still early, but listen to me! The muscles... the muscles have...!"

And just like that, Alan locks onto Celestin.

Those two have been friends ever since the Inter-Class competition. Sadly, the other four machos didn't make it to the Class 1, which was clearly breaking Alan's heart.

As a side note, just the other day, Alan's old guild, Machos, was dissolved—or rather, absorbed into the «All Hail the Muscles!». They'd successfully and officially become a B-Rank guild. And now, we had the emergence of a guild entirely composed of beefy machos. Ugh, just the thought gave me shudder.

Still, the members themselves seemed to be having the time of their lives, so nobody had the heart to tell them otherwise. Well, I also heard their guild room was so sweltering with body heat that no one dared go near it.

Leaving Celestin to deal with Alan, I brought Tomoyo over to the girls in our guild to introduce her and ask them to show her the ropes.

Just as I'm doing that, another of the guys calls out to me.

"Zephyr."

"Oh, Mert... Uh, what exactly am I looking at here?"

"Are ya the guildmaster for Mert-han and Misato-han?"

Turning toward the unfamiliar voice, I see a fox-kin girl. For some inexplicable reason, she had Mert's left arm, and Misato's right arm, wrapped in a tight hug.

It was as if I was staring at the best friend forever kinda group scene. ...Hmm, maybe that's how 'Flowers in both hands' idiom came to be, eh? Well, one of them, Mert, wasn't exactly the flower.

They look like the best of friends. Talk about having a flower in each hand... well, except one of them is Melt.

"Zephyr-kun, please, you have to do something! This girl, Haku, refuses to let go of Mert-sama! Tell her off! And you, let go of my arm already!"

Wow, Misato was snapping with an uncharacteristic deep voice. I could practically see the dark aura radiating off her.

"Aww, you don't have to be so cold, Misato-han! And here I am, lovin' you and Mert-han to pieces!"

"Wait, you're way too close! Quit nuzzling my rabbit ears! Let gooo of me!"

Haku pulled Misato's arm even closer, practically gluing herself to her. Misato's ears were twitch frantically in protest, but Haku remained unstoppable with her aggressive cuddling . Even so, it didn't seem like they actually hated each other... I think.

"Haa..."

"Looks like you've got your hands full, Mert."

"I figured this was your first time meeting her. To formally introduce her, this is Haku. She is the one with the «Hundred Flame Fox» Job and is easily one of the strongest freshmen in the academy."

"Oho! So she is the famous «Hundred Flame» you barely managed to beat!"

"Ever since that match, she's been clinging to us like this."

"Hey, maybe she just wants to be friends? Forging a bond through the clash of magic is a classic trope, right?"

Taking a closer look at Haku, she's practically radiating a massive "endearing" aura toward both of them.

It was something I came to know later. It appeared Haku had a huge soft spot for fellow mages who proved stronger than her. And in the competition, Mert and Misato had pushed her to the absolute brink.

Well, making friends was never a bad thing.

The next person to approach me was Reglam, though he had three other boys in tow.

"Good morning, Zephyr."

"Reglam! Glad we made it into the same class."

"Likewise. I look forward to working with you. Oh, and I figured I should introduce you to the rest of the male minority here."

"That'd be a lifesaver, thanks."

Indeed. The already minority of the Class-1, the boys population, had taken another hit in this reshuffle.

The male population in the newly formed Class 1 has plummeted even further.

Despite how they'd acted, Saturn's group and the machos were a precious commodity as far as gender ratios were concerned, but even they've all been completely swept away, save for Alan. We lost eight guys in one fell swoop.

In their place, we welcomed five new replacements—Mert, Reglam, Lamda, Sedan, and Kiel.

Counting me, Celestin, and Alan, that made us a grand total of eight guys in the entire class.

Male solidarity was an absolute necessity right now.

"Morning, Zephyr. I heard how you were caught up in another chaotic situation after the competition."

"Indeed a good morning, Lamda. Come to think of it, we haven't seen each other since the meeting at the Intermediate-high Dungeon, huh? I'm stoked we're in the same class."

I exchanged a firm handshake with him. He was the holder of both an enviable high-ranking job and the prowess to display. It was a no-brainer he would be in Class-1.

"I believe this is our first time actually speaking face-to-face. I'm Sedan. As fellow classmates, I hope we get along."

"Yeah, things were a bit too hectic during the competition. I'm Zephyr, and I hope the same."

I shook Sedan's hand next. Even though he was the leader of the former Class-2 and suffered an elimination in the first match—technically placing dead last—his sheer individual prowess earned him a spot in Class 1. Getting singled out during the awards ceremony probably played a huge role in that, too. I was genuinely delighted to have him as a classmate.

"My name is Keel. I got knocked out pretty early in the finals, so this is essentially our first meeting. It's a pleasure."

"Pleasure's all mine. Do you mind if I just call you Keel? Feel free to call me Zephyr."

"Then I shall call you Zephyr-kun."

The final handshake went to Keel, a guy sporting thick, swirly-lensed glasses.

Ah, I know these glasses... Those are the «Glasses of Beguilement»! They boost the proc rate of several debuffs. In fashion, they'd utter crap design, but, they're actually a super rare drop.

Back in the game, a lot of players wore the swirly glasses just for the meme. Girls also had these, though in their case, they would almost always have re-designed frames through the «Modify Design» option. I, of course, did both depending on my mood.

To refresh memory, Keel was the reaper who got taken out by Reglam during the competition. It appears they, too, sparked a friendship in the battle.

Well, with that, I'd officially done the rounds with all the guys. I was looking forward to friendship with fellow boys.

I really hope we can all become good friends.