When I received that first offer to eat together—
‘Is spring finally coming to me?’ was the only thing I could think about.
Since she was a new professor like me, wouldn't it be natural for her to have a meal with me to bond some friendship? It was only in the midst of a burning youth that the illusion of a pounding heart just because of such a thing was fitting.
In fact, there were three more people besides me when I followed Selena.
—Two men and one woman.
They all looked unique, as if they were each shouting, 'I'm a wizard'.
"Ho ho ho. Hello."
The first person to reach out to me and ask for a handshake was a very warm-looking man.
He was plump, and his overall impression was round. I thought he was quite old, and he looked like a friendly man in the neighborhood when he laughed like that.
I shook hands with him lightly.
"I'm Ludger Chelysie. I'm in charge of magic casting."
"My name is Brino. I'm in charge of the golems in the summoning class."
The next person who spoke to me was a beautiful woman with a seductive impression and lavender hair that was growing long enough to cover one of her eyes.
"Oh my, you're so handsome. I'm glad to meet you. I'm Merilda, and I'm in charge of captivation and hallucinations in relation to curses and dispelling."
"Yes, nice to meet you."
And the last one had a little bit of a different impression from the previous two.
He was a man with dark blue hair and all-back, rimless glasses on his face, but he looked quite strict from his appearance.
He was frowning all the time and was seemingly not very happy with the fact that he was there with all of us.
When I looked at him, he also stared at me and soon turned his head away. He expressed his willingness not to even introduce himself.
‘Who is this person?’
As I was wondering, Merilda explained in a small voice with a laugh.
"He is Professor Chris Benimore. As you can see, he's an aristocrat who is different from us commoners."
‘Oh, so that's why.’
I had heard of the Benimore family. They're a Count family in the Empire that has an extensive history.
Chris didn’t want to be close to a commoner, even if they were also professors at the same Academy as him.
In my case, I was a fallen aristocrat, so it was natural for him, who was a noble, to belittle me.
"I hope Mr. Ludger doesn't look down on us because we're commoners."
"It doesn't matter to me."
“No way,” Ms. Merilda replied, opening her eyes wide and smiling softly while stepping back.
‘Well, so there are five new professors, including me.’
—One aristocrat, one fallen aristocrat, and three commoners.
But as everyone had become professors at Sören Academy, they were talented people who could go anywhere without feeling inferior in the field of teaching.
"Well, I can't stay here any longer. I was wondering what kind of new professors there were besides me; turns out they were commoners and a fallen aristocrat.”
Chris's cold voice was heard before the others even were able to start talking about eating together.
Hearing those words, Brino smiled awkwardly, Selina flinched while being embarrassed, and only Merilda glanced at Chris with an unkind stare.
Me? I just didn’t think about it too much.
It only took a day or two to see the aristocrats immersed in elitism.
I was showing an attitude of saying, 'If you're going to go, just go on your own,' when Chris gave me a sharp look.
"Get over yourself."
And then he turned around and left.
But why was he doing that to me and not someone else?
Did he know Ludger before? I didn't think so.
'I wish I could get along with the other professors, but I don't think I can get close to him.’
I ignored Chris, who had already disappeared, and looked at the other three.
I could say that they were just fellow professors who were appointed at the same time as me, but I couldn't relax just because of that.
Maybe there was a spy planted by the secret society among them.
'Is there a First Order among these three?'
‘There are currently nearly 40 secret association members hiding inside Sören Academy.’
Of course, considering the entire population of Sören Academy on that vast land, 40 was nothing, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a single chance of bumping into each other on the way.
‘Except for the Third Orders, some of the Second Orders may have infiltrated as students.’
In the case of the First Order, in particular, the professors could not escape from being the target of suspicions.
'Because Ludger occupied the professor's seat as a First Order, there's nothing that disallows the other First Order from becoming a professor as well.'
The question was: who is it?
If I had been told that they had just joined that semester like me, I would have definitely been able to narrow my scope of speculation.
The problem was that the phrase 'came in first' that the agent had said could be interpreted in many ways.
Was the period of 'coming in first' long before my arrival, or was it around the same time as me, but a little bit earlier?
Obviously, I had no choice but to suspect those who asked me to eat with them while saying that they arrived in the same semester as me.
‘Didn’t they invite me to observe me quietly?’
I really couldn’t let my guard down for the slightest bit.
I followed my fellow professors to the cafeteria while trying to keep my poker face.
I was thinking that it wasn’t so bad since I wasn’t alone.
* * *
* * *
—Selena, the new professor for Spirit Studies.
Not long ago, she was appointed to Sören Academy and became a professor for the class of summoning spirits.
She had come in proudly, but at the same time, she was quite nervous.
Sören Academy was famous not only in the empire but in other kingdoms as well. The students who enter are geniuses who will be responsible for the future, and they are qualified to be treated warmly anywhere just by the sole fact that they attended Sören.
Teaching such students itself came as a great burden to her.
'What if I make a mistake? What if I can't teach them? Besides, there are a lot of noble students here!’
The difference between commoners and aristocrats is huge.
Thanks to the development of magic engineering, the world has gradually changed, and commoners have also become members of the House of Representatives and entered politics, but the wall of status was still high.
She heard that the reason why there were five positions for professors at that time was that the professors in charge of the classes the previous year had retired.
The reason why they quit was unknown, but she still had some assumptions, as she knew how to use her brain.
Before she went to the Academy, her wizard acquaintances had warned her repeatedly about the power of aristocratic students.
“There are students who secretly look down on their professors and try to lord over them, so be careful not to be eaten because you are soft-hearted,” they had said.
Selena was suddenly frightened.
'I heard that even the royal family goes to this school.'
They had said that the third Princess was in the second year. Selena might not see her immediately because she taught the first year, but the tension doubled with someone of such a high status attending Sören.
The orientation seemed to have ended smoothly on the first day of the semester, but it is also true that she was still nervous because of her low self-esteem.
Selena thought she couldn't stay like that, so she decided to make friends with other new professors who were appointed.
Still, if she had colleagues who could share difficulties with each other, her life at the academy might be better.
In that way, she became close to Merilda, and after meeting people one by one, she went to the last one.
Ludger Chelysie.
—A man of noble birth who was not a commoner. However, it was not a burdensome status to approach because his family had collapsed.
Until she met him, she had definitely thought so.
‘Whoa.’
At first, she wondered what was going on because the crowd in the hallway split from side to side.
‘Has the royal family member that I've only heard of appeared?’
It was a man in neat clothes who came slowly toward her, breaking such expectations. He wore a gray suit, a black frock coat, and a silk hat on his head.
‘Whoa, Oh my God.’
Selena's thought when she first faced Ludger was extreme admiration.
She had heard that he was a fallen aristocrat.
Looking at him, Selena had no choice but to correct her prejudice.
Walking slowly while spreading dignity around him, he was much more aristocratic than any other aristocrat she had ever seen.
Each of his steps was like a work of art, so she stared at him blankly without realizing it. Selena hurriedly called out to him as she belatedly recalled her purpose for seeing him.
'S-scary.’
When he stopped and looked at her, her heart felt like it was dropping.
Still, Selena tried hard to smile and told Ludger carefully that she would like to have a meal with him.
She bit her tongue after she said that.
She thought Ludger would look at her with contempt and say, 'A commoner like you?'.
"Sure."
But Ludger accepted her offer too easily. When he walked with her along the road, he adjusted with her steps and maintained the proper distance between them.
She felt his consideration for others in his small behaviors.
'Unlike how he looks, he has a very warm personality.'
When introduced to other colleagues, Ludger did not care whether his talking partner was a noble or a commoner.
Even though Chris Benimore was openly hostile to him, Ludger did not respond much.
Usually, someone may be angry or irritated, but his nobility did not dim for the slightest bit.
It was like he was standing alone in a cloud above the sky.
Later, she heard that he was a great man who was a former military officer and who had even submitted several academic papers to the magic tower.
'Professor Ludger is such a great man.'
She wanted to be such a charismatic professor as well.
Even when eating, Ludger just ate quietly without saying a word.
His attitude of handling the forks and knives was also restrained—as if he was the only one living in a different world.
Even the passing students glanced at him, and they already spoke many words.
He acted as if it was natural, and he seemingly didn’t care about the reactions around him.
He was like a living statue, and in the whole process, she could even feel some kind of faith.
Ludger's attitude was the same when the professors shared their farewells after the meal and scattered to their own private accommodation or professor's building.
When everyone waved while speaking about seeing each other afterwards, Ludger nodded instead.
He seemed to be in a bad mood, but she thought that he was just like that.
Selena, who was returning to the accommodation with Merilda, recalled the short meeting with Ludger that day.
Selena took a deep breath and deliberately made an expressionless face.
Merilda, who was walking with her, noticed her behavior.
"Selena, what are you doing? You are frowning."
"Professor Merilda, don't you think I look strong like this?"
“What?”
Merilda was about to ask again what she meant with that but soon burst into laughter.
“Hahaha! Selena, you're imitating Professor Ludger, aren't you?"
"What? No, no that's not…”
Merilda waved her hand at Selena, who was flustered and spouted some gibberish, telling her it was okay.
"Well, that's understandable. Professor Ludger is such an incredibly extraordinary person that it was unbelievable to think he was a new professor like us, but when you think about his past, it makes sense."
“What?”
"Oh, you doesn't know about this rumor, right? I checked what kind of people entered Sören together with me. He used to be a military officer."
"Is… is that so?"
"What's greater than that is, Selena, you and I were both recommended to be the professors here by the support of the magic tower or the Spirit Society, but he's not like that. He isn't affiliated to any place and came here on his own ability."
"Whoa. It's no wonder… His first impression was different."
"I'm sure he has a great way of teaching. Still, we have no choice but to teach the students in our own way. Let's not be swayed by others. You don't have to pretend to be strong because we've become Sören professors as well."
“Ah, yes!”
The two women, who had just met for the first time that day and quickly became close to each other, chatted happily and headed to a professor-only accommodation.
***
Three days had passed since the orientation on the first day of the semester.
Since those three days were the period of class revision, it must have been a busy time for students who had not yet decided which classes to take.
Of course, it didn't affect me.
—It was the long-awaited first lesson. I walked a little excitedly across the hallway.
Three days before, I had issued enough warnings—my class was like a landmine.
Rumors about me must have already spread widely among students.
Would there be any students who would want to take my class after I said that?
Well, I was sure there would be. In the case where there was no room for other classes, they had no choice but to choose my class with a heavy heart and force themselves to complete the credits.
There's a lot of consideration to it. The important thing was that the fewer students I had to teach, the more comfortable I would be.
There were a minimum of 15 to a maximum of 80 students who could take the class.
The class would not be closed just because there were few students, so if such was the case, it would have been enough for me to take the lead well.
Of course, there was no possibility that my students would be the minimum of 15, so I figured it might reach about 30 people.
With that thought, I opened the door and entered the classroom.
‘Hm?’
And I saw it…
Students filled the inside of the classroom.
The number was more than the 30 students that I had thought, even beyond 60.
No, it was actually the maximum number of people the classroom could accommodate.
‘What?’
‘Why are there so many students?’
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