I Wanted A Typical Fantasy Isekai, Not This!-Chapter 83: Late Start…

"James! It’s time to get up!"

The young man rolled around in his bed placing a pillow over his head.

"Five... five more minutes..."

A sweet voice tried to wake him, but the deadly intent made his eyes snap open.

"Brother~~ we’re gonna be late~~"

He was about to respond that he was up now, but a delicate hand had already struck him a fatal blow.

"Yeeeoooch!!"

James screamed in pain as Clara grabbed his balls and squeezed.

He had tears in eyes as he thought ruefully.

’Sister... those are my most important assets.. be gentler..’

It was still somewhat dark outside, the summer sun had transitioned into fall as they got closer to the back half of the year, so dawn was later than it had been.

He got dressed hurriedly with the help of a few maids; his groggy mind didn’t allow him to fight them off like he usually did.

His attire was simple but refined, as he was carried downstairs, he saw Clara was in much the same state of dress. Uniforms would be provided today, so there wasn’t any point in getting completely dolled up.

He ate a hearty breakfast of mis-colored eggs and mystery sausage before being swept away to the teleportation crystal.

Orientation day wasn’t required for men, and he could’ve stayed another day at the estate, but apparently James had inadvertently agreed to participating when he signed his in-processing documents with the headmistress.

James would also get some type of credits by doing so, so he figured that it wasn’t that bad of a deal. Though, he didn’t really know what the credits did exactly.

When they arrived in Skythorn, his sisters were anxious because it was getting close to seven in the morning. That was the start of orientation, and it was mandatory for Clara.

They did a mad dash to the academy and James looked around as the streets passed by in a blur being carried by Emily.

’Looks like we’re not the only ones who didn’t leave on time...’

He would’ve pointed this out, but it was technically his fault they were almost late to begin with.

Soon, the giant iron fence and sprawling greenery of the academy came into view. His sisters groaned when they saw the line at the gate, guards were posted at the entrance checking off names.

They were about to just get in line and accept their fate when James asked a question.

"Does my privilege as man extend to... cutting in line?"

Madeline paused and Clara jumped in excitement.

"Yes! You’re so smart brother! "

James heard a few muttered insults directed at them as they passed all the girls standing in line with their guardians. The insults died out when they saw that a man was leading the group cutting in front of them.

As they approached the gate, a guard with rectangular, floating stone tablets spotted him and broke off to meet him personally.

"Name?"

Madeline responded for him.

"Prince James Cromwell and Princess Clara Cromwell."

’I totally forgot my sisters are technically princesses too... Royal bloodlines are so weird..’

The guard nodded and stepped aside after flipping through the series of floating stone tablets. He saw a couple names get selected with an iron stylus and glow faintly. James guessed that these tablets were linked to the other guard’s tablets as they looked over to see the famed Prince James.

Emily let him down and he turned to embrace Gwendolyn and Madeline in a tight embrace. When they broke apart, his sisters were a little teary eyed.

James smiled and kissed each on the cheek.

"Don’t be too sad girls, I’ll be back before you know it."

Suddenly, in surprise display of emotion, Gwen crushed him into another hug.

"I’ll miss you brother.."

James laughed a little and hugged her back.

"I’ll miss you too."

Madeline handed Veronica one of the heavy packs containing random clothes and started fussing over him again.

"James, make sure you eat your vegetables. Don’t stay up too late and take a bath before bed. Don’t trust these girls too easily and—"

He had to cut her off because her warnings started turning even more heads to them.

"Madeline! I’ll be be fine, so stop worrying so much."

His eldest sister paused and breathed in deeply.

"Sorry brother.. but one last thing.."

James stared at her waiting for her to continue.

".. have fun."

He nodded seriously and squeezed her hand.

"I will."

With that, his older sisters stepped back and watched him and Clara disappear into the grounds of the academy.

Clara turned anxious once again, noticing the time and dragged him along even faster.

"Damn it, Madeline! Was she trying to make us late!"

She led him down a few long halls and brought James in front of a large open doorway.

He looked inside this room that was being filled by other students and his eyes went a little wide.

’Holy shit, that’s a lot of people..’

It was a large auditorium, rows and rows of seats spanned a wide berth that led downwards.

’You could probably fit twenty-five hundred people in here...’

A bit less than half of the room was already filled up and the whispering conversations of students sounded like a roar with the acoustics of the room.

It seemed that all three years of the student body were here for orientation.

James saw that there was a stage at the back of the room with a podium in the center. A row of young women who looked like students were off to the left side and a line of older ones seemed to represent the faculty off to the right.

Clara started pulling him down the stairs when a weird popping nose came from his side. He heard Veronica and Emily tense, beginning to draw their weapons before a familiar voice called out.

"Oh good! You showed up today!"

He looked over to see a woman that was definitely not standing there earlier.

"Uh.. hello headmistress."

’Did she just fuckin’ instant transmission? What the hell is that skill?’

"Good morning, Prince James. I’m glad you came for orientation, take my hand and I’ll help you down to the stage."

James raised his eyebrow at this.

"To the stage? Why would I be going there?"

The headmistress laughed lightly and took his hand anyway.

"You came for the credits did you not? Stop being shy and come on!"

With that, the familiar feeling of being sucked through space assaulted his senses. When he got his bearings, he looked around to see he was on stage next to the line of younger women.

The headmistress let go of his hand and left him there.

’What the hell?’

He looked out over the sea of people and shifted uncomfortably.

’I swear.. if I have to give a speech...’

James turned his to look at the girl next to him.

She had pitch black hair that cascaded down her shoulders. His eyes went wide as he noticed her back half.

’Oh no. Absolutely not. I am NOT getting freaky in this barnyard.’

The girl, if that’s what you could call her, had a distinctly equine lower half. She stood on four legs that ended in hoofs. James’s mouth fell open as he gawked at the centaur thing.

’That’s downright unnatural...’

The ’girl’ noticed his stare and turned. She looked away with red coloring her cheeks and James’s face went black.

’There is no lust in my eye’s you idiot! Stop blushing!’

Suddenly, a voice snapped him out of his internal monologue. The gathered audience went silent as the headmistress spoke.

"Ahem ahem.. *tap* *tap* *tap*... is this enchantment working..."

Her voice rose and lowered until she found the right... setting? When she was satisfied with the volume, her speech began.

"It is now exactly 7 o’clock, so I will start orientation now. Please inform your fellow students if they miss anything pertinent to your specific class. With that out of the way, let me welcome you to another exciting year of learning here at Skythorn’s Academy!"

Quite a few claps followed her brief pause.

"First off, let me start by saying all students are required to attend one battle magic or fighting class, regardless of if you’re a third-year student or first year. The second-year dormitories are almost rebuilt from the.. ’incident’ last semester, so until it’s finished you will be crammed inside the first-year dormitories."

A few groans followed this pronouncement and headmistress Dorothy put a hand to stall any further noise.

"It will only be for a couple weeks, so suck it up. Now... let’s see.. what do I miss.. hmm.."

Dorothy paused for a long moment before snapping her head up again.

"Oh! Almost forgot, silly me. Starting this semester, all three years of the student body will have their own disciplinary committee. The regular student council will remain the same though, third years only."

Surprisingly, a few cheers went up at this as the headmistress smiled.

"Once again, let me welcome you to Skythorn’s academy. Now please, give a warm welcome to those standing behind me. We have quite a few exchange program students this year, and I hope we’ll all get along wonderfully!"

James looked at the girls he was standing next to and realized they were all some sort of humanoid creature. He was startled to see a familiar face; a certain lamia was up on stage with him.

As the claps and cheers died down, headmistress Dorothy ruined James’s morning.

"Now, before I let the professors take over, let me introduce Prince James Cromwell!"

A wild applause and whistling broke out as his face started twitching.

"Please come up and say a few words!"

Headmistress Dorothy turned to him with a wide smile, not noticing James’s dour mood.

’Of fucking course... it’s always a damn speech... every single time..’

He walked up to the podium robotically and full of defeat.

When he got in position, the noise quieted down to barely a whisper. James could’ve sworn he could hear his own heartbeat with his quiet it was.

He cleared his throat and awkwardly started talking.

"Uhh.. hello there.."

The audience went crazy.

It was like he just said the most motivational words of all time. He somehow found Clara in the crowd and watched her giggle at his distress.

"I.. hope we all have a good time... and stuff. Thank you in advance for taking care of me."

He gave a strained smile, but that was apparently too much for the girls. They all stood and clapped loudly.

Some of the catcalls he received made his ears turn red as he walked back to his spot in line.

He barely paid attention to the rest of orientation as his eyes tried to focus on different points in the room. James was very aware that most of the girls were still looking only at him.

’I should’ve skipped this shit...’