Otherworld Adventure

Cecil and his entourage were touring around the campus district. With all the students and teachers wandering about, it literally brought life to the district.

It was practically bustling with activity just like in the outer district of Angla City.

Many turned their gazes to their group, but no one dared to approach them seeing the two princesses happily chatting away with the first year's number one.

Ainz was keeping pace with Cecil, but he couldn't bring strike up a conversation since Cecil was busily fiddling around with his MID.

After a long time of silence, Ainz couldn't hold back anymore and said, "...Hey Cecil. Stop playing around with that already. Look at how enthusiastic everyone else is!"

Cecil looked up and saw that the 3 girls were going from food stand to food stand and store to store buying up anything that interested them.

"Huh? Oh... oh no! Ainz we should run. Like right now!" Cecil exclaimed urgently.

"Huh?"

Cecil hurriedly turned around and tried to get away from the girls, but before he could take a step forward an iron-like grip rested on his shoulder.

"Neh... where are you going, Cel?" Lucia said darkly.

'How the heck did you get here so fast Lulu?!'

"...bathroom."

"Haha... yeah right, hold this!"

After giving him a sly smirk, Lucia immediately thrust all her shopping into Cecil's arms. On the other side, Ainz was cornered and forced to hold onto both Fina's and Eli's stuff.

"...why didn't you tell me sooner Ainz..." Cecil lamented sadly.

"How was I supposed to know?!"

Cecil just smiled and directed a pitying gaze at him.

"Oi... what's with that look? You're also on the same boat!"

They were indeed on the same boat, but Ainz's inexperience just showed that this was the first time he went shopping with other girls.

It took another hour of walking around until the girls were finally satisfied with their haul. They immediately went back to the dorms. Cecil and Ainz were dragged into the girl's dormitory since the two were their baggage men.

After settling the girls' stuff down, Ainz had to go to room 102 to deliver Elizabeth's stuff. Fina was curious and followed along with them.

Back in room 101 only Lucia and Cecil were left inside. Lucia started preparing dinner and Cecil helped on the side.

10 minutes into them cooking together, Cecil noticed that everyone else wasn't back yet so he turned towards Lucia and said.

"You're really caring Lulu."

"Hm? What do you mean? And, of course I'm caring! If I wasn't I wouldn't have learned how to cook for you!"

Cecil chuckled and stayed silent. Lucia paused for a bit before saying, "They looked like they didn't want us to mind their statuses."

Lucia grinned and gave a sidelong glance at Cecil before continuing.

"Besides, should we care where they're from? They wanted us to be friends so why should we treat them differently? Remember. You were the one who taught me this!"

The two already knew full well who Fina and Eli were. It's just that they thought it wasn't necessary for them to mind their statuses since they were the same as them, students of Arks Royal Academy.

Whether they were royalty or not, Cecil and Lucia both didn't want to mind that since the two princesses were the ones who wanted to be friends with them. So why should they treat their friends like strangers? Friends should treat friends closely and not estrange them because of their statuses.

Cecil smiled since Lucia had the same thoughts as him, he slid the cut up vegetables and mashed spices he had finished prepping to Lucia and moved on to prepare the meat that they would be roasting later after Lucia finished with the stew.

"... let's just stay oblivious then. It's not like it's going to be detrimental for them. They seem happy with the way we act around them, anyway."

"That's what I've been planning to do since the start Cel! Pass me the salt and did you finish mashing the chili yet?"

"Here, the chili is over there."

The two were harmoniously cooperating in the kitchen and this scene was taken in by 4 people who came into the dorm.

"...Lucia can cook?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yup and the food she makes is delicious and unique!" Fina replied gently with a sloppy smile on her face.

"YO! You two, what are we having for dinner this time?" Ainz said loudly, making his presence known to the two.

"Quit being so loud, idiot. Just wait patiently! Oh... who's this?"

Lucia noticed that they had an additional person with them. It was a large tigerkin girl with white fur and blue stripes. She had blue eyes and had a slim, but athletic figure.

"I'm Veli! I think I already introduced myself in class earlier? I'm Elizabeth's roommate! But this is unexpected. I didn't expect that our number 1 was so down to Earth! You even know how to cook! That's so cool!" the girl exclaimed with clear admiration in her eyes.

Lucia immediately recognized the new girl. She was the class' 10th rank student, Velicia Darkclaw.

Lucia smiled at her.

"Well Veli, nice to meet you! Go ahead and sit down, wait a bit for me and Cel to finish dinner. I'm sure you'll like it!"

"Hehe, thanks!"

Everyone went to sit down somewhere in the room. Fina however quickly came over to observe the two cooking. Elizabeth also came over and was very much surprised at seeing Lucia's practiced movement.

Dinner was soon served and everyone ate to their heart's content. They didn't linger too long since the class had to gather first thing tomorrow morning at the academy's stadium so they all went back to their dorms after they finished eating.

The next day, Lucia alongside Fina and Eli arrived first at the stadium. They looked around and saw that they were the first ones to arrive.

Not long after, Cecil and Ainz came and all the other classmates trickled in until it was almost 9.

The entire class was wearing their combat uniforms. Each gender's combat uniform was somewhat the same. It was a tight fitting battle suit that was made from a sky wyvern's skin. The material was elastic so it clung tight onto their bodies.

They had leather pads covering their elbows and knees and nether regions.

However, it was really hard for the boys. They didn't know where to place their gazes when looking at the girls. Especially for these 14-15 year old boys who were going through puberty.

Their faces blushed every time they looked towards the girls since seeing their curves made them a little bit excited. Cecil was the only exception since he was gazing blankly into the sky.

They waited, but didn't see Instructor Jin anywhere. Right when it was 9 on the dot, the instructor arrived falling from the sky like a meteor.

'So it was him up there.' Cecil thought. 'It was a pretty cool way to arrive though.'

Cecil had to give props to the instructor for the awesome way he arrived. Instructor Jin was actually waiting for them in the sky and arrived with a 'superhero' landing when the time was exactly 9 a.m.

"Hohoho! Looks like everyone is here," Instructor Jin grinned with satisfaction. "Come on, let's head in! The other classes should also be here by now!"

Indeed, it wasn't just them who were there. They could see the other 7 first year classes making their way into the stadium from the other entrances.

When they finally arrived inside the stadium, they noticed that there were other instructors sitting inside the stadium. The 8 first year classes were seated separately from each other.

The homeroom teachers made their way to the middle of the stadium's arena and waited. Not long after, a magic circle appeared on the ground of the arena and a spacial tunnel formed. The headmaster of the academy soon walked out of the spacial tunnel.

"Woah! Space magic!" Ainz exclaimed in awe.

All the first year students in every class were also excited seeing the headmaster. The headmaster looked around while smiling at everyone. He quickly spoke something to the 8 instructors and floated up into the stands, quickly taking his seat.

Instructor Jin walked forward and said in a loud voice.

"Today's magic combat assessment will now begin! Every class will send 2 students each at a time and they will be tested here on the arena!"

The classes immediately erupted into an excited bout of discussion.

Instructor Jin looked around and grinned.

"Quiet down!" After the stadium quieted down, only then did he continue. "Now listen carefully. The assessment will have two phases! The first phase will be a raw magical assessment! In this segment, each student will only have 2 chances to cast the strongest magic spell at their disposal!"

"The scores will be publicly displayed on that magic screen up there!" Instructor Jin pointed above him and a large rectangular box slowly came down from the ceiling of the stadium. It stopped about 150 meters from the ground and silently floated there.

"For those who can get a good score, we'll be providing first place a mid-tier mana seed and a chance to select any intermediate ranked spell in the fifth floor of the academy's library!"

This immediately roused the fighting spirit of every student in the stadium. Most of the students turned to look at Lucia since she was most likely their strongest competitor.

Lucia was calm and didn't seem too excited. Her composure caused the other students who turned to look at her to feel even more uneasy.

Instructor Jin raised a hand to silence the students again before he continued on with his explanation.

"The second segment will be a mock combat against other fellow students. The whole assessment will take around three days! Today being the first segment while tomorrow we'll continue on with the second segment that will go on for two days!"

Instructor Jin smirked and raised his hand to the sky.

"Now let's get on with the assessment!!! First will be our first year's representative! Lucia Yukihime!!! Come! Step right up to the ring!"

Lucia sighed helplessly and shrugged. "Me again huh..."

Cecil looked towards her and quietly said. "Don't overdo it Lulu..."

Lucia only chuckled at his words.