On the day of the exam results announcement, I unexpectedly received a letter from the school principal and was called to her office. So here I am in the principal’s office with father and Ars. The principal was surprisingly a young woman. After exchanging greetings, she told us a shocking fact.

“Lark-kun, we cannot accept your enrollment in our school.”

“What!? Why?”

I was surprised since I never thought that I would fail. As I stood there stunned, the principal continued, “Oh, I’m sorry. I think I misspoke. It’s not that we won’t accept you because of your grades. Actually, it’s the opposite.”

“The opposite?”

“When we looked at your grades, we realized that there’s nothing left for us to teach you here in our school.”

After saying that, the principal placed the paper with my exam results on the desk. When I read it, it said the following:

I got a perfect score on the written exam. I hit all the targets with my magic in the practical exam and took down a former A-ranked adventurer in the combat exam. When I looked up after finishing reading, the principal began to explain.

“You have already surpassed the top level of the school with this score. Lark-kun is outside the scope of the school’s education,” said the principal, looking hesitant to speak.

“…Lark. Were you really that amazing?”

“Oh no, not really. The written test was certainly easy, but I struggled with the magic and interpersonal exams. I barely passed the target shooting exam in the nick of time.”

As father leaned in to listen, the principal spoke reluctantly, “…you don’t need to get all the answers right to pass that exam, you know?”

“Huh?”

“Besides, the exam is meant to test if you can use magic calmly even in a tense situation with time constraints. It’s strange to demand such advanced skills from children, isn’t it? And as for the interpersonal exam, it’s not that important. Normal children can’t even be hit by attacks from former A-rank adventurers. If your scores in the written test and magic are good, you can pass even with zero points in the interpersonal exam.”

“Really…?”

Seeing me feeling discouraged, father stepped in to defend me. “But, Naza, isn’t the school more than just a place to study?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes. But when someone is this much of an outlier, it would be better for their future to become an adventurer or a soldier for the city and develop their skills. That’s why I was considering rejecting Lark-kun’s transfer, but…yes, Guldo-san is right. I will allow Lark-kun to enroll in the school. Sorry for causing a fuss, Lark-kun.”

“No, please don’t apologize. It’s all good,” I hurriedly said to the principal, who was bowing her head.

I had been worried for a while, but now I had been granted admission to the school without any problems. After using Ars’s teleportation magic to return to the castle, father and I were packing our things in our room. We had decided to live in father’s house after discussing it with Ars when I was accepted into the school.

As I put my things in the “Useful Box,” I spoke to father, “It’s still a little lonely, isn’t it?”

“I mean, we lived here for two years, so it’s natural to feel that way. But the thing I’ll miss the most is the food. We used to eat homemade meals from the cooks, but we can’t really cook ourselves…”

“Just so you know, I have some ‘cooking’ skills,” I said, causing father to widen his eyes.

“Lark, since when did you get such skill?”

“Oh no, it’s not that. I’ve had it from the beginning. Didn’t I tell you? But I’ve never actually cooked anything, so I’m not sure if I can do it properly.”

“Well, that’s undoubtedly okay. even someone inexperienced can work as a chef. Since you have it, let me explain a bit about it…”

According to father, ‘cooking’ is an extremely rare skill. With ‘cooking,’ even if you’ve never made a dish before, you can understand the cooking method. I had heard this from Samady-san, but according to father, the benefits weren’t limited to that alone. Apparently, as the skill level increases, the cooked dishes become more delicious.

“I see, it’s a convenient skill. My ‘cooking’ skill is level three, so I can make quite delicious dishes.”

When I said that, father had a surprised expression.

“L-level three…Lark, is that true?”

“Y-yes.”

“Alright, I’ll leave the cooking duty to you when we get home!” father said with a big smile.

Well, I didn’t mind since I had liked cooking even in my past life, but I felt a little uneasy about being so highly expected of by father. He even had drool coming out of his mouth. While having such a conversation, I finished storing all my luggage and headed to say goodbye to Ars. When I went to the office, Ars got up from his chair with a smile and extended his hand for a handshake.

“It looks like you’re all set to go.”

“Yes, thank you for everything these past two years,” I shook hands with Ars and bowed my head.

Then, father also shook hands with him. “You’ve taken good care of us, Ars.”

“I’ll miss you guys when you’re gone. Come and visit me sometime.”

After exchanging farewell greetings, we left Ars’s room and headed for the main gate. At the front gate, Lia and Emma had come to see us off.

“Aww~~, Lark-kun. Are you really leaving?” Lia remarked with a lonely expression.

“Haha, but we’ll be able to see each other again soon at school, right?”

“But…”

“Ara, Lia, if you’re being selfish, Lark-kun will be troubled, you know,” Emma said while gently stroking Lia’s head who seemed as if she was about to cry. Then Emma continued, “And if you want to meet outside of school, why don’t you visit Lark-kun’s house next time, Lia? We won’t stop you,” and threw a glance toward me and father, asking, “Is that okay?”

When I looked up at father, he smiled and nodded, saying, “Yes, please come over.”

“I’ll definitely go!” Lia said loudly and then burst into tears.

Although I felt sad seeing her like that, but I didn’t want to be too fussy so I got onto the carriage prepared by Ars. Our destination was not my father’s house but the commercial district in the capital city, where we would buy the daily necessities needed for our future life. We arrived at our destination after about thirty minutes and got off the carriage while watching it head back to the castle. I looked up at father.

“What are we going to buy, Father?”

“Hmm… let’s see. First, we need a bed, food, and cooking utensils. We should also get tools to heat the bathwater.”

“Okay. Where should we go first?”

“Let’s go to the bedding store first. There’s a store run by a friend of mine.”

So we headed to that store. After walking for about ten minutes, we entered a shop in the center of the commercial district.

“Welcome!” The man behind the counter exclaimed. “Oh, isn’t it.Guldo-san! How have you been?”

Father casually chatted with the man who was surprised to see him. According to him, this man was someone he was close to when he was an adventurer and the person had been a skilled woodworker even then. He had continued to improve his skills over the years and was now the manager of the best bedding store in the country. The beds he made were very popular, with reservations fully booked for several years in advance.

“So, what brings you here today, Guldo-san?” the store manager asked us.

“Oh, I came to buy my son’s bed. Do you have any children’s beds left, even if they’re used?”

When father answered, the store manager opened his mouth and froze in surprise. Then he muttered in disbelief, “…Guldo-san’s son?” The store manager stared at me behind father and suddenly shouted again, “Guldo-san’s son!?”

For some reason, everyone who knew father reacted like this. The store manager was flustered for a while, but after receiving an explanation from father, he regained his composure. “So that’s the case. No wonder I haven’t seen Guldo-san recently. I thought he might have gone back to his hometown away from the capital.”

“Well, I didn’t go out much in town… I’ll do some greetings for a while. By the way, can I order a children’s bed?”

“Leave it to me. However, it needs some polishing, so could you come back around evening?”

“Ah, I see.”

After thanking him and paying for the bed in advance, we left the store. After procuring the bed, we bought groceries at the market. We also bought cooking utensils such as frying pans and pots at the sundries store, so we were all set for cooking. During shopping, it became lunchtime, so we bought sandwiches from a food stall and ate together on a bench in the square. While eating, I spoke to father.

“I was walking around the city and realized that you’re quite popular, Father.”

“Is that so? Well, I’ve been living as an adventurer in the capital after leaving the countryside, so I have a wide range of acquaintances.”

“Oh, so you’re not originally from this city. Where are you from?”

“Well, it’s from a distant place. Although it is still in this country…” father replied nostalgically and put the remaining sandwich in his mouth, then stood up. “Well let’s buy Lark’s clothes next,” he exclaimed and started walking.

Seeing this, I quickly put the remaining sandwich in my mouth and hurriedly followed after him. As we wandered aimlessly through the commercial district, the sun began to set. When we finally returned to the bedding store, the store manager greeted us with a smile.

“Oh, Guldo-san, I’ve been waiting for you. The bed is ready,” he said.

“Thanks,” father replied.

“How are you going to take it home? If it’s alright with you, I can deliver it tomorrow around noon,” he suggested.

“Hmm… let me see, Lark, can you store it for me?” father asked, turning to me who was accompanying him.

“Sure, no problem,” I said.

The store manager looked puzzled, as he was not aware of my skill, but he guided us to the bed nonetheless. The bed he had prepared for us was of high quality. I expressed my gratitude to father and the store manager, before storing the bed inside ‘Useful Box’.

“You have a storage skill, don’t you? That’s convenient,” the store manager remarked, impressed.