As soon as I gave this answer, something popped out of Leona's head again. I had no idea the first time I saw this, but after seeing it twice, I had a good guess.
Leona is not human but of a different race. Judging from the fact that something lifted above her head, and not from other parts, it is highly likely that she was a beastmen. So my question is: 'Have beastmen also entered the academy?'
As the professor said during the lecture, the relationship between humans and beastmen was the worst. It's no better than elves and dwarves, who have been on rough terms since ancient times. As a result, there has never been a case where beastmen enrolled in Halo Academy.
So what about the beastmen I sometimes saw in the downtown area over the weekend? They were hired as security guards, not students. Beastmen are naturally capable of being security guards thanks to their exceptional five senses.
Above all, despite the bad relationship, the biggest reason they'd be working within human society is 'money.' Because the country of beastmen/beastkin was newly established, its situation was similar to that of a developing country. As a result, they frequently work hard while being subjected to a variety of stares.
'There must be circumstances.' But it's none of my business. She must be hiding her identity for her own reasons. Rather, it was more important to solve Cecily's question first.
"... Because humans are stupid, they can take control of the world?"
"Basically, yes."
"Sometimes I really don't understand what Isaac is talking about," Cecily said this, putting her dish down for a moment and casting a subtle glance at me. I also took a break from eating because of the red-eyed gaze that seemed to be drawing me in.
After that, she seemed to be contemplating my words for a moment, then put her hand on her chin and opened her mouth with a sigh. "Can you explain it to me so I can understand? You don't have to twist your words around like last time."
"It's not a particularly grandiose reason. It's a similar point to what the professor explained in the anthropology lecture."
"I'm curious though. Tell me quickly."
I cast a glance at Leona over Cecily's shoulder who was rushing her meal all of a sudden. Her ears, which had risen above her head, had already dipped, but her eyes remained fixed on me.
I tilted my head to see if she could hear us from this distance, then tried to ignore her and explained, "As Cecily knows, humans are good at nothing except for their excellent adaptation and learning ability. They are inferior to other races in terms of longevity, physical abilities, magic, wisdom, and dexterity. They are not even good at handling mana. A race with a short lifespan and no inherent advantages. Have you gotten a sense of it yet?"
"I don't know?"
"Humans have the advantage of being able to learn quickly, but in the ancient days when they started from zero? There was nothing to learn, so how did they survive until now?"
Cecily heard these words and her eyes widened as she began to wonder."Huh? Is that so?"
In my previous life, there were only humans so they could compete with each other, but this world is different. Right now, there are a lot of races that are born with superior abilities to humans.
Can humans compete in such circumstances? If humans were wise, they would have preferred to live as slaves, hiding or bowing their heads and not competing.
But humans, being stupid or reckless, chose to compete with other races. Perhaps, in the eyes of the other races, they wondered why they did that? Weren't they dumbfounded by such a choice? Even if it's me, even I'll also snort if a monkey tries to compete with me.
"Of course, it wasn't easy in the beginning. Because they didn't learn anything. But humans did not give up and started to imitate the strengths of other races. From then on, 'knowledge' was accumulated, but naturally, they were still lacking. In the end, imitation is just imitation."
"That's right." Cecily nodded and agreed with me. In fact, humans have a population of over 1.5 billion in this world, but among them, there are only a few who can fight evenly against the other races.
No matter how much humans progress, unless they are geniuses, their innate limitations are obvious. If an ordinary elf warrior were compared to a human, there's too much of an imbalance between the two since an elf is equivalent to a knight-level force.
"I think this is the reason why our breeding ability is superior to other races. In the early days, we had to compete with quantity rather than quality to survive, so we increased our numbers recklessly. In the eyes of the other races, they would have thought it was a simple and useless act. Beastmen have good physical abilities, but humans aren't that great, right?"
"Um...speaking of which, don't beastmen have good reproductive abilities? During the Tribal War, beastmen were slaughtered by humans, but there must have been plenty of beastmen around before, right?"
"That's when human learning really comes into play. Historically, it was the elves who first established a real civilization, but humans were the next to establish one. Based on the knowledge and abilities they learned from the elves, they built their own civilization and gathered their scattered people together to amass their strength. A tribe that lives a tribal life and a tribe that created civilization and society. Isn't there already a difference?"
"I see. The beastmen founded their own country only 300 years ago, didn't they?"
As mentioned before, the beastmen founded their country only 300 years ago. It is said that during the Tribal War, many of their people were slaughtered by humans, and they felt a sense of crisis. However, unlike human beings who were strong from the start, their society was still very unstable because it was established in a hurry. Even among the beastmen, there are various ethnic groups, and a barbaric climate is stubbornly maintained.
"Yes. Anyway, in conclusion, humans were stupid enough not to give in and just die. Knowing their own weaknesses, if they were 'smart' from the beginning, they would have given up long ago, right? There were nations and peoples around us who were better than us, and humans naturally would have been desperate and discouraged."
"It's paradoxical. Not dying out quickly because they're stupid?"
"No. Like I've already said, being the stupid and reckless race that we are, humans chose to compete even though they had few advantages."
"Ah...you mean grit?"
Cecily finally got the point right. Although I explained it at length, the biggest reason why human beings have survived to the present day and have been able to take the lead in the world is their 'spirit' to never give up.
Humans are the race that made it possible by delving into what everyone thought was impossible. The race that fought to the end during the war against the Great Devil 3,000 years ago was also human. Nothing else but human grit made human civilization possible, which could be seen as a kind of racial 'ability.'
However, there was one more decisive reason why humans have been able to take the lead in the current world.
"What I've said is all true, but humans are also much more united than other races. Normally, they are busy fighting among themselves, but when a real crisis comes, they come together and defeat it."
"Like the Tribal Wars and the Demon War?"
"Exactly. The tenacity that never gives up and the cohesion that brings humans together in times of terrible crisis. These two factors combine to give humans the upper hand."
What's even scarier here is that human potential is limitless. Humans are more aware of their own shortcomings than anyone else, so they strive to constantly improve. I know this because I have memories from my past life. But that doesn't mean there aren't any concerns. As I poked my food with a fork, I opened my mouth again.
"Of course, this 'tenacity' and 'unity' isn't always an advantage. It can be turned into a heinous sin, such as the beastmen massacre. Most worryingly, such an incident is likely to occur again in the future. I am certain of it."
"Why do you think so?"
"Even if you don't want to go far in the past to look at history, the demons were slaughtered thousands of years ago, right? Who do you think was the mastermind behind that massacre?"
"......"
Cecily's face stiffened slightly at my question. Although it may be straightforward for her, there is no better example than this.
"Anyway, do you understand now?"
"...Yes. Thanks. Humans are very complex beings. I need to study a little more."
"It's good to know about humans, Cecily, but I don't want you to learn just the bad parts. As you can see from the demon massacre and the beastmen massacre, humans often commit worse things than demons."
"Thanks for the advice. Still, I'm glad that there are only good people around me." Cecily said so softly and smiled. I chuckled at her smile and then shifted my gaze to Leona in the distance.
She was staring at me, forgetting to eat. Looking at her expression, it was as if she had heard everything I was saying.
"Where are you looking?" Cecily asked.
"Ah, it's nothing. By the way, are you done with your meal?"
"No. I couldn't eat because I listened to your story. Do you have any more classes?"
"I don't. What about yourself?"
"I have Math."
"Is it difficult for you?"
"Not really. It's actually easy, isn't it?"
There was an incident that Cecily was not aware of, but the meal itself went smoothly. I had a great time chatting with Cecily in the cafeteria until classes resumed. Sometimes the girl would play a silly prank on me, but it wasn't a big deal because no one was around.
However, it looked like Leona was a little nervous. Seeing her looking at me with her characteristic blunt eyes, I felt strangely overwhelmed.
"It's already time. I'll get up first."
"Yeah."
"What about you, Isaac?"
"I'll eat some more before I go. Go on ahead."
"Okay. See you next time~"
With lunch over, Cecily smiled brightly and waved goodbye as she left. I waved my hand in turn and sent her off warmly. After Cecily left, I was left alone in the originally unoccupied cafeteria with only Leona, who was sitting far away.
"......"
I stared at Leona, and Leona was staring at me. As I was thinking about what to do, I came up with an interesting idea and took action. First, I placed my clenched fists on both sides of my temple, then opened my tightly clenched hands.
It was an expression of the ears that popped out above Leona's head earlier.
"...!"
The effect was awesome. As soon as I expressed it in mimicry, Leona's eyes widened and her body stiffened.
Perkk—
As a bonus, Leona's ears popped out as she lost control. After that, it seemed that she was urgently trying to fix it, but it was meaningless because she was already caught.
UP! As I was grinning inside, Leona jumped up from her seat. I also started to get up from my seat, wondering if she wanted to talk about it separately.
Tup—!
"—Huh?"
"Follow me for a minute." —Until she suddenly appeared in front of me, grabbed my collar, and dragged me. I didn't even realize it until it happened. I blinked, wishing I knew the beastmen language, and hurriedly shouted at Leona, who yanked me by the collar. "Hey, I need to clean up our dishes first...!"
"Krunggg...!" As soon as I retorted, Leona barked ferociously.
– – – End of Chapter – – –