My second day at the academy ended like that.
There had been a brief commotion after school, but only Richard and I knew about it.
And after a little time passed, I quickly became a rather famous existence throughout the entire academy.
At first, it was only the students in Class A of the first year of the Faculty of Magic Knights.
During breaks, they would cautiously approach and pat my head,
ask if they could touch my ears, and look at me with sparkling eyes as they said they wanted to see my tail.
Up to that point, it was fine.
The problem was that the rumor spread far faster than I had expected.
Not only students from the same faculty, but students from other classes, students from other faculties,
and even upperclassmen from other faculties began coming to see me.
“That kid is Lady Valerion’s familiar, apparently.”
“I heard its resonance is incredibly high?”
“They say the light spirit saw it and said something strange?”
“There’s even a rumor that touching it improves your luck on exams.”
……Who the hell spread that last one?
In the end, within only a few days, a sort of waiting order to pet me had formed.
Rules were added, like which year and class from which faculty could come at what time.
Before I knew it, it had become half-official schedule.
Of course, I was the one who allowed it.
It was annoying, but the students approached so cautiously that it felt awkward to refuse every time.
Besides, most of them really were only coming because they found me cute.
Still, even so, it was too fast.
As someone who, in my previous life, had only attended an all-boys school and then a university department packed with men, this was a completely unexpected result.
To think rumors about me would spread through the whole academy in less than a week.
‘……I never thought there would come a day in my life when I’d become popular like this.’
To be precise, maybe I should call it my fox life rather than my life.
In any case, it was a strange feeling.
And time passed, bringing the first weekend since I had entered the academy.
Morning.
As usual, I opened my eyes in Elysia’s room.
Sunlight pouring in through the window had settled softly over the blanket,
and Elysia had already washed up.
Perhaps because it was a day without academy classes,
instead of her usual neat uniform, she was wearing light indoor clothes.
Her hair was also loosely tied, giving her a far gentler impression than usual.
I was sitting on a small chair.
To be exact, I was sitting on a fluffy cushion placed atop the chair, while Elysia brushed my fur.
Brush, brush.
A small comb passed softly over the fur on my back and the nape of my neck.
At first, the very fact that a fox body needed brushing had felt extremely awkward, but after a few days, to be honest, it was rather nice.
No, not merely nice. It felt quite good.
The problem was that I did not want to admit it.
‘……I used to be a human man.’
But whenever she brushed the fur along my back, I couldn’t help my ears relaxing on their own.
At that moment, Elysia suddenly spoke.
“Ah, come to think of it, our academy has something called the Crown system.”
‘Crown system?’
I flicked my ears slightly.
Elysia paused the hand that had been brushing my back for a moment,
then slowly moved the comb again as she continued explaining.
“Yes. It’s a system that evaluates students based on their abilities and achievements as a whole.
Depending on the rank, the influence they can exercise within the academy changes too.”
‘Influence?’
“Rights to establish clubs, priority use of training grounds, applications for research rooms, official duel requests, things like that.
Of course, not all of them are available from the lowest rank. You have to be above a certain rank.”
It was probably something like a ranking system.
Though this place bore the name of an academy, it was not simply a school where people studied.
It was a place where the children of nobles, knight candidates, mages, magitech engineers, and familiar researchers gathered.
It wasn’t strange for such a place to have a system that displayed the students’ abilities and value.
‘Then how are the ranks divided?’
“Triple Crown, Double Crown, Single Crown, and No Crown. Four stages like that.”
‘Triple is the highest?’
“Yes. Only truly special students can receive a Triple Crown. Enough for the Empire or great houses to immediately take notice.”
Elysia’s voice was calm, but I sensed a very faint tension within it.
The hand brushing my fur slowed a little too.
I turned my head and looked up at Elysia.
‘Do you have to receive one too?’
Elysia did not answer for a moment.
Instead, after carefully tidying the fur at the nape of my neck, she smiled faintly.
“I carry the Valerion name. Naturally, those around me will expect a high evaluation.”
‘That sounds burdensome.’
“A little.”
She said a little, but it did not sound like a little at all.
Elysia was the young lady of House Valerion, a ducal family.
Not only that, she was the daughter of the house known as the Sword of the Empire.
The people of her family must have expectations for her as well.
Even if Duke Leopold did not show it on the surface, he would be watching the results, and Lady Isolde would be worried.
Elysia spoke again.
“But you don’t receive a Crown immediately after enrollment.
New students start with temporary badges at first.
After about a month of classes, practical training, and observations by the professors, we take the first Crown examination.”
‘So the first evaluation is in a month.’
“Yes.”
Her hand gently brushed my back again.
After thinking for a moment, I asked.
‘Then is there something like a student council too?’
“Yes, there is.”
Elysia nodded.
“Its official name is the Exelia Academy Student Autonomous Council.
Usually, people call it the student council, but during official events, it’s called the Starlight Council.”
‘Starlight Council?’
“Yes. It also oversees the Starlight Festival,
and partially manages disputes between faculties, club budgets, duel requests,
and student discipline.
Of course, the professors hold the final authority,
but among the students, its influence is quite large.”
I quietly blinked.
The Starlight Council.
Even the name did not feel like an ordinary student council.
The words Starlight Festival also bothered me.
From the sound of it, was it a cultural festival?
‘Then the student council president is a pretty high-ranking person at school?’
“That’s right. In particular, an upperclassman who has received a Triple Crown often becomes the student council president.
Among the students, some even say they’re scarier than the professors.”
‘A student council president scarier than professors, huh.’
It seemed very different from the student councils I knew in my previous life.
The student council I remembered mostly prepared festivals, held meetings, and occasionally appeared on school broadcasts.
Here, it felt more like some small noble assembly.
But then Elysia added with a slightly troubled expression.
“And…… the Starlight Council may bring up matters regarding Haku soon.”
‘Me?’
My ears perked up.
Why was my name suddenly coming up?
Elysia put down the comb and picked up a small stack of documents placed beside her.
“Our homeroom professor told me yesterday. Since so many students keep coming to meet Haku,
the Starlight Council may create temporary rules to maintain order.”
‘……What?’
I looked at the document.
Written on it in neat handwriting was the following title.
Temporary Guidelines Regarding Contact Requests for Registered Familiars and Protection of Rest Periods
Wait.
What?
‘My petting…… became a document?’
Elysia smiled with a slightly apologetic face.
“I didn’t think it would go this far either.”
‘No, I did allow it, but isn’t this a little strange?’
“Yes. That’s why I made sure they included several conditions.”
Elysia traced down the items with her finger.
“Do not pull on the ears or tail. If Haku avoids you, immediately remove your hand.
After lunchtime, guarantee at least one hour or more of rest.
Do not lure him with snacks. Do not try to take him away secretly.”
‘What’s with the last one?’
“Yesterday, a second-year senior from the Faculty of Elemental Magic asked if they could take Haku to their research room for a little while.”
‘I’m absolutely not going.’
“So I refused.”
Elysia’s answer was firm.
I stared at her for a moment, then moved my tail slightly.
At times like this, Elysia was strangely reliable.
Normally, she was cautious and had a tendency to lower herself,
but when it came to matters related to Haku, she drew the line more clearly than expected.
That was not bad.
No, to be honest, it was a little reassuring.
As Elysia began brushing my fur again, she said,
“And someone from the Starlight Council may come to check directly.”
‘Me?’
“Yes. More precisely, to check whether Haku truly doesn’t dislike contact with students,
whether you’re not under stress as a familiar, and whether there are any safety issues.”
‘By safety issues…… do they mean whether I’m safe, or whether the students are safe?’
Elysia was silent for a moment.
That silence alone told me roughly enough.
‘Both, huh.’
“Yes.”
I wanted to sigh, but in a fox body, only a small puff of air came from my nose.
This was strange.
I had only intended to stay quiet while acting cute.
Yet before I knew it, I had become the popular familiar of the entire academy,
my petting hours had turned into a reservation system,
and now some place called the student council or the Starlight Council was supposedly coming to check on me officially.
‘Is this really right?’
No matter how I thought about it, it was strange.
I was just a small fox registered as Elysia’s familiar.
Of course, in reality, this was the body of an ancient nine-tailed fox, and inside it was the mind of a modern man,
and I could sometimes create foxfire, and spirits did react strangely when they saw me.
……Now that I thought about it, I wasn’t an ordinary familiar.
Still, wasn’t becoming the subject of administrative paperwork a bit much?
Just then, a cautious knock sounded from beyond the door.
Knock, knock.
“Lady Elysia, may I come in?”
It was Mina’s voice.
Mina was one of the maids of this mansion.
Judging by the atmosphere, she felt almost like Elysia’s personal maid,
but I still did not know the details.
“Yes, come in.”
The door opened, and Mina carefully entered the room.
In her hands was a small silver tray.
On the tray were a small dish of milk, soft bread torn into small pieces,
and soup mixed with a little chicken.
It was breakfast for me.
Over the past few days, Mina seemed to have almost memorized which foods I ate well
and which foods made me turn my head away after only smelling them.
“Master Haku, today I tried making the chicken soup a little thinner.
It’s less salty than yesterday, so it should be all right.”
‘You can drop the Master.’
Of course, Mina could not hear my thoughts.
I brought my nose toward the dish.
The smell wasn’t bad.
It did not seem too salty either.
I carefully licked a mouthful.
It was warm.
Not bad.
When I licked it a few more times, Mina’s face brightened radiantly.
“He’s eating……!”
Why are you so moved?
Elysia also laughed softly beside me.
“It seems Haku likes it.”
“I’m so glad. The chef actually paid a lot of attention to it too.
The duchess personally instructed that Master Haku’s food should be prepared without anything too stimulating.”
I stopped licking the soup.
The duchess.
Did she mean Elysia’s mother, Lady Isolde?
‘……The news has already gone that far?’
Mina seemed to find my reaction adorable and clasped her hands together.
“Oh my, it seems he understood.”
Elysia looked a little embarrassed for a moment.
“Mother asked about you. She asked whether Haku was doing well, and whether you were overexerting yourself.”
‘Shouldn’t she be worrying more about you than me?’
“I think she’s worried about both of us.”
Elysia smiled gently, but her expression held somewhat complicated emotions.
Perhaps the family had begun to notice Elysia’s changes little by little.
Whether the familiar called Haku was merely a cute pet,
or whether he was an existence exerting some sort of influence on Elysia.
There was no way House Valerion would fail to know.
I licked the soup again.
A warm taste spread through my mouth.
‘Well, for now, the food is good.’
It was not a problem I could solve by thinking about it right now.
The Crown system.
The Starlight Council.
The Starlight Festival.
The students’ reservation-based petting.
House Valerion’s attention.
It had not even been a full week since I came to the academy,
yet all sorts of matters had already begun piling up around me.
I had only wanted to live quietly.
At that moment, Elysia gently stroked my head.
“It’s all right, Haku. No matter who comes from the Starlight Council, I’ll be by your side.”
I raised my head and looked at her.
Elysia’s blue-gold eyes were quiet, but unwavering.
Seeing those eyes somehow calmed my heart a little.
‘Okay. I’ll trust you.’
As if my thoughts had reached her, Elysia smiled ever so faintly.