On the first day of the second semester, a semester-opening banquet would be held in the Central Hall that evening.

The first semester, however, began differently.

Early in the morning, all students gathered in the Grand Auditorium for an orientation that also served as the welcoming ceremony for the new first-years.

As the start of a new academic year, there were schedules to announce and countless other matters to address.

So, after finishing breakfast outside the Academy with Reisir, Yor and I headed straight for the auditorium.

I had no idea how they'd managed it during a mere two-month break.

The auditorium, which had been reduced to ruins during the Demon Realm Transformation, had been restored perfectly.

Even the trees that had sprouted from the cracks in the collapsed structure seemed to have been carefully transplanted and incorporated into the new landscaping.

"What's that?"

While I was admiring the restored building and its surroundings, Reisir noticed something installed at the entrance before I did.

Only then did I get a proper look at it.

Isn't that...

A walk-through metal detector?

I'd never actually been inside an airport before, but I'd seen enough videos to recognize the shape.

A doorway with an open center for people to walk through.

An LCD display mounted on top.

No matter how I looked at it...

It was unmistakably modeled after an airport metal detector.

Unlike Reisir, however...

I wasn't curious about what it was.

I was wondering why it had been installed.

The students here experienced the Demon Realm Transformation firsthand during the closing ceremony.

Many of them have probably started carrying weapons for self-defense.

Is it really wise to install something like this?

If the professors had protected the students that day, things might have been different.

But as matters stood...

Valhalla Academy had earned a reputation for failing to protect its own students.

No matter how many combat professors had since been replaced...

Why would the students trust people they'd never even met?

Trying to ban ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) weapons under those circumstances would surely provoke fierce opposition.

While I was turning that over in my head, a student wearing a sword at their waist casually walked through the detector.

Yet...

It didn't beep.

Even more surprising...

The staff member standing beside it made no attempt to stop the student and simply waved them through.

Which meant—

Although it looked like a metal detector...

It clearly wasn't one.

The instant I reached that conclusion, another possibility flashed through my mind.

No way...

"What exactly is this device?"

"I don't know."

"I was simply instructed to have each student walk through it."

"If the alarm sounds, I'm to direct them to the seats prepared on the right side of the auditorium."

"That's all."

The exhausted-looking employee answered Reisir almost mechanically.

Judging by the tone of his voice...

He'd undoubtedly been asked the same question dozens of times already.

And we'd arrived quite early.

He still had dozens—

Perhaps hundreds—

More explanations to repeat before the ceremony began.

Reisir seemed to realize that as well.

Rather than pestering the poor man any further, he merely nodded.

"I understand."

Then he stepped through.

Beep!

The LCD display immediately lit up.

DETECTED

When I walked through...

The same thing happened.

That settled it.

This isn't a metal detector.

It's an Awakened detector...!

There was a reason I hadn't realized it immediately, despite mentioning back in Chapter 153 that an artifact capable of determining whether someone had awakened would eventually be developed.

The device from the original story had been a portable scanner.

It looked more like a handheld inspection wand.

Not only that...

It hadn't appeared until roughly a year after Reisir left the Academy.

More importantly...

This is a world where modern-looking equipment actually exists.

After showing me countless machines that functioned exactly as they appeared, the author suddenly throws me something like this?

I had actually been considering removing the metal accessories from my uniform to stay in character.

Fortunately...

I'd realized what the device truly was before embarrassing myself.

"That thing..."

"It looks like a device that checks whether someone has awakened."

"I came to the same conclusion."

"But why place it at the auditorium entrance and separate the Awakened?"

"Could they be planning to create a special class consisting only of Awakened students?"

"..."

As we headed toward the seats on the right the employee had mentioned...

Reisir casually voiced an unsettling possibility.

I desperately wanted to tell him not to say such ridiculous things.

Unfortunately...

His theory sounded perfectly plausible.

All I could do was frown in silence.

If I ended up placed in an "Awakened Special Class" alongside the protagonist...

Then getting dragged into one incident after another would become all but inevitable.

That was already bad enough.

But...

There wasn't any Awakened Special Class in the original story... was there?

That was the real issue.

If Reisir remaining at the Academy had caused an entirely new special class to be created...

How exactly was I supposed to interpret that?

It's still too early to jump to conclusions.

Don't panic yet.

The original story never explicitly stated that such a class didn't exist.

Perhaps it had simply never been mentioned because the protagonist withdrew from the Academy before it became relevant.

Likewise...

The original timeline placed the development of the portable Awakened detector roughly a year later.

That didn't necessarily contradict the existence of a large stationary prototype now.

Suppressing the unease gradually growing inside me, I took my seat.

Unlike the ordinary students, who sat on simple folding chairs placed directly on the floor...

The area reserved for the Awakened had thick black carpeting beneath it.

Even the chairs themselves were noticeably sturdier and more comfortable.

Every detail seemed deliberately designed to emphasize that we were special.

The arrangement might as well have been shouting:

Look over here!

Students throughout the auditorium kept glancing toward us, whispering among themselves.

From my perspective...

I feel less special than I do like an animal on display at a zoo.

It wasn't exactly pleasant.

For some reason...

Nidr came to mind.

The villain who'd once been obsessed with being special.

Could this have been where it all started?

Had Valhalla Academy always separated the Awakened and lavished them with conspicuous treatment like this?

Was that what eventually twisted him into developing such a profound inferiority complex toward the Awakened that he wanted to kill them?

"Judging by that expression..."

"I take it you don't know anything either?"

"No matter how influential my father may be as a duke..."

"How would I know something like this?"

"I'm hardly part of the Academy administration."

"Fair enough."

"What about you?"

"Didn't Professor Djúpr tell you anything?"

"No."

"Not a word."

Just then...

The very man we'd been talking about entered the auditorium alongside his daughter.

Djúpr disappeared behind the curtain behind the podium.

Helga walked over to us instead.

"Helga."

"Didn't Lord Djúpr tell you anything either?"

"About what?"

"About the detector at the entrance."

"Or why they're separating the Awakened."

"I asked him on the way here."

"But he only said I'd find out soon enough."

"I think the faculty were instructed not to tell the students."

Maintaining her usual innocent demeanor, Helga sat beside us after answering Reisir's question.

If she was right...

Then Djúpr definitely knew something.

Somehow...

I'm starting to feel that his appointment as a professor and whatever's happening today aren't unrelated.

As my uneasiness deepened...

Another figure entered the carpeted area instead of joining the ordinary first-year students.

His orange necktie immediately marked him as a freshman.

Carrot-colored hair tied into a ponytail.

Brown eyes.

A face covered with freckles.

The moment I saw him...

Someone from the original story came to mind.

No...

It can't be.

That character never enrolled at the Academy...

Orange hair isn't uncommon.

Neither are brown eyes.

Freckles aren't exactly rare either.

It's probably not...

...him...

Back in Chapter 56...

I'd briefly mentioned one particular character.

Pret Grymur.

The heir to the Information Guild.

When his disguise skill was finally dispelled in the original story...

His true appearance matched the young man before me almost perfectly.

"Wow~! Hello, seniors!"

"My name's Pret Hulid!"

"I'm just an ordinary commoner, so you don't have to remember my family name!"

"Just call me Pret!"

Not only did he wear that same ever-present smile...

Not only did he possess the same effortless sociability...

Even his given name matched.

Only the surname differed.

So...

He's probably someone else...

...As if.

In the end...

Reality left me no room for denial.

I couldn't yet state with absolute certainty that this freshman was the very same mercenary who appeared in Chapter 56.

Although...

That cheerful "Wow~!" had certainly increased the odds considerably.

For the moment...

That wasn't the important part.

What mattered was this:

He was unquestionably one of the original story's major characters.

And nowhere in the novel had he ever attended Valhalla Academy.

"You seniors are Awakened too, right?"

"I think we'll be seeing each other quite often from now on."

"Why don't we introduce ourselves and get along?"

"We'll be seeing each other often?"

"What makes you so certain?"

Reisir lightly tapped my knee twice.

It seemed he'd mistaken my stiffened expression for nervousness at being approached by a complete stranger.

Then, turning toward Pret, he questioned him with unmistakable caution.

"Well..."

"Isn't it obvious?"

"They've already prepared separate seating just for the Awakened."

"They clearly want all of us to get along."

"And..."

"This is only my personal guess..."

He lowered his voice into a whisper.

"...but I think we'll probably receive combat training together."

Coming from anyone else...

Those words might truly have been nothing more than speculation.

But they came from the heir to the Information Guild.

Which meant...

They were almost certainly confirmed intelligence.

At that moment...

The existence of an Awakened Special Class ceased to be a possibility.

It became a certainty.

...Should I just withdraw from the Academy now?

Whether Hárðr would actually allow it was another matter entirely.

Even so...

For the first time, I seriously began considering whether I should at least discuss the possibility with him.