SRS 43

Yohan turned his head to follow the hand, and he blinked when a finger suddenly poked his cheek.

“……”

He looked at the owner of the finger without saying anything, and Mikael cleared his throat with a rare embarrassed smile.

“Sorry. I heard the music and got excited so I played around a bit.”

“Ah.”

Yohan rubbed his cheek when he realized Mikael was teasing him, it felt a little unfamiliar.

“I didn’t know.”

“Suhyeok didn’t mess with you like this?”

“He didn’t.”

“Ah, he didn’t do it to you. The reaction would obviously be boring. Look.”

Suhyeok heard his name and joined the conversation. Yohan didn’t understand what Mikael was trying to do with the joke, so he only blinked, then he belatedly forced himself to smile awkwardly so he wouldn’t embarrass Mikael who tried to match the mood.

“You don’t need to force yourself.”

Mikael sighed like he couldn’t believe it and turned down Yohan’s gesture.

“Alright.”

Yohan immediately erased the fake smile and continued looking around the district. As the rumors said, the commercial district was huge, colorful, and lively.

Restaurants and all sorts of shops lined the street, a fountain could be seen far away, and an outdoor stage like a theater also came into view. Somewhere, someone played real instruments, and since performances seemed common, Yohan’s heart beat a little quickly. He really hadn’t visited a place that felt this fun since he entered the school.

“Return here by 20. Late arrivals get penalty points.”

The guide who gave the first-years plenty of time to admire everything spoke with in a clipped tone. The students reined in their excitement and nodded.

Shhh.

The guide disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared. His clothes and the unique aura around him made it obvious he wasn’t ordinary, so all the new students let out a small sigh of relief at the same time.

“Then let’s actually look around now.”

Excited, Suhyeok took the lead.

“We need to find the weapon shop first.”

Kylus looked desperate to get a new sword. Yohan suggested they split up to look around and meet again later, but surprisingly, Mikael, who seemed like he would prefer walking alone, refused.

“It’s our first time here so it’ll be easy to get lost. Even if it’s a commercial district, we still don’t know what danger might be here. At least two people, or better, groups like in our rooms, would be safer.”

“But it’s a commercial district. Would anything dangerous happen?”

“You forgot where we are, Yohan.”

Mikael’s reminder made him realize his mistake.

Right, even if it was a commercial district, it was still inside Fantasiademia. No one knew when a phoenix might attack, and if they ran into the wrong professor, they might get seriously hurt, so Yohan cautiously changed his attitude.

“Your judgment is right, Mikael.”

When he immediately insisted that their dorm roommates should move together, Suhyeok looked a little confused but admitted it made sense and agreed with Mikael. Other students didn’t have strong objections either, so Yohan managed to walk separately only with the friends from room 304. After the four put their heads together, they stretched out their fists. Suhyeok spoke.

“If you don’t pick, you lose, rock paper scissors…!”

The version of rock paper scissors Suhyeok taught them was very useful when they needed to decide something. The headmaster himself even became headmaster through rock paper scissors after all.

Yohan quickly checked his friends’ hands. He had scissors, Mikael had paper, Suhyeok had rock, and Kylus had rock, so they had to redo it. They repeated it, and this time a winner came out.

“A hunter chooses rock.”

Like last time, Suhyeok stuck with rock and defeated all three of them in one round, taking first place.

“Where are you going?”

Kylus stared at Suhyeok with a slightly grim look. If Suhyeok said any place besides the weapon shop, he looked ready to cause a scene. Suhyeok flinched a little, put his hands on his waist, muttered that he couldn’t stop him, and turned his head.

“Well… I’m curious about the quality of weapons in the commercial district, so the first stop should be the weapon shop.”

Kylus clenched his fist happily. Yohan had secretly hoped for the bookstore, but seeing Kylus’s reaction made him think the weapon shop would be fine first, so he agreed with Suhyeok’s choice.

“That’s good, Kylus. I hope you can replace your sword this time.”

“I’m not sure if there’s a sword that can beat the Phantom Sword Master’s sword.”

“……”

Yohan thought that beating the swordsmanship professor with just a weapon was an unrealistic thought, but he decided to bury it for his friend’s hope and courage.

“But… do you know where the weapon shop is?”

“Of course we don’t know yet. I planned to look around first… or maybe since this area looks like the shopping street, we can ask a shop owner?”

“It’s our first time here so let’s walk a bit and look around.”

They shared their thoughts while looking around the commercial district. Since the Nameless Realm mixed beings from many different dimensions, every shop sold something different. One place sold instruments Yohan had never seen since he was born and wigs so heavy and large he couldn’t believe anyone would wear them on their head. Another place sold items he had never seen once in his life, calling them traditional goods from unknown dimensions. Yohan curiously scrutinized each thing, then he saw Suhyeok suddenly put on an animal shaped mask.

“Why did you try on a mask out of nowhere? Are you interested?”

“No. It’s just fun. Ah, can I try this one too?”

“Yes, yes. Fantasiademia’s students can try everything here.”

The shop owner encouraged him with a friendly smile. Even though they had never met before, Suhyeok somehow already looked close with the owner and handed strange masks to his friends.

“You try these too. They look funny.”

The mask Suhyeok wore looked the strangest. Yohan awkwardly accepted the mask Suhyeok had chosen and checked the shop owner’s expression. He worried that the owner might lend them the masks unwillingly just because they were Fantasiademia students, but the shop owner didn’t look that concerned.

Feeling a little relieved, he hesitated and clumsily put the mask on. Suhyeok burst into laughter.

“Wow. It’s perfect, really perfect. Yohan, just buy that mask. I never saw anyone suit a rabbit mask like that.”

“…Buy what?”

A little embarrassed, he declined and looked at the others. The mask Mikael got was a pure white mask with white feathers, and since Suhyeok seemed to have good taste, it matched with Mikael’s bright white hair very well. When Mikael asked how it looked, Yohan raised his thumb the way he learned from Suhyeok, then stared at Kylus who wore a mask that looked uncomfortable and scary.

Kylus’s mask was red and even had horn on top, so to Yohan it only looked suspicious and ominous. Suhyeok grabbed his stomach laughing, saying it matched a goblin perfectly and asking if he wanted to hold a club, then Kylus hit him with his scabbard.

“Ah, I laughed a lot…”

After enjoying themselves for a long time with just masks, Suhyeok bowed to the owner in thanks and returned the masks.

“Thank you so much!”

“No, watching you play with them was cute and nice.”

“…Um, if it’s not rude, could I ask how people here buy things, and what method they use?”

Yohan didn’t miss the opportunity created by Suhyeok and approached the shop owner carefully. The owner’s eyes widened.

“You came into the commercial district without even knowing that?”

“Ah… we’re first-years.”

“Ah. Right, this was supposed to be a first-year group tour…”

As he belatedly remembered, the owner exclaimed.

“This doesn’t happen often so I forgot and treated you like usual… For students, of course the currency here is points. When you enter through the pass, the points you’ve saved automatically turn into money and go into your pockets. When you leave, the leftover money turns back into points. Do you understand?”

It was a kind explanation, but it took quite some time for them to accept it.

So the points they get when they received penalties or bonuses, those points become money?

Suhyeok leaned toward Yohan and whispered.

“…What do we do, Yohan? We didn’t get any points, right?”

“We didn’t.”

“Then what about Kylus…”

“……”

Yohan and Suhyeok looked at Kylus who was frozen on the spot like he was glued to the ground. The student who had shown obvious excitement about finally having a chance to change his sword had lost all emotion and turned into a statue adorning the street.

What should we do about that?

Yohan exchanged a glance with Suhyeok. They silently discussed how to calm Kylus down, and while they did, the shop owner exclaimed with a short “ah.”

“Even if you came in without points, don’t get too disappointed! If you meet professors and help them with work, you can get points.”

“……!”

It was the only way to save the frozen Kylus. They didn’t like the idea of running errands for professors, but if they wanted to buy anything, they had no choice. After thanking the owner and listening carefully, Yohan lost a small staring match against Suhyeok and carefully tapped Kylus’s shoulder.

“…Let’s go, Kylus. Check if there’s a sword you like in the weapon shop, and if there’s something you want to buy, let’s look for a professor.”

While Yohan used a gentle tone to comfort him, something happened.

“Is this the currency by any chance?”

Mikael took a small silver coin out of his pocket.

“Oh, that’s it. One point is one silver coin, ten points is one gold coin. You somehow earned points.”

When the shop owner confirmed it, Yohan and his friends all stared at Mikael with surprised eyes.