The Professors' Gathering
The first day for Kizen's freshmen had come to an end; every class was finished.
Before heading home, the first-year professors gathered in the lounge, sipping tea and trading stories about the new students.
"Meyrin Bilene exceeded all expectations. She prepared Shanif poison on the very first day!"
"Blood will tell, won't it? All seven of their children are outstanding!"
"What about Special Admission #2?"
"Ah, Serne? Need I say more? There was a reason she carried herself with such confidence."
"And what about Chatel Maer? There's a prejudice that giant bloodlines fall short in magic compared to their physical prowess, but this one excels across the board."
"Professor, that doesn't mean you can just snatch our Chatel away, you know?"
"Haha, listen to you. Already acting like she's your student?"
"You know that making contact during the student protection period is against the rules, right?"
The professors bantered and sparred with subtle jabs as they continued discussing the freshmen.
Watching them, Curse Magic Professor Bahil leisurely savored his tea.
Looks like none of them have caught on yet.
Ainz Bilene, sharp as a finely honed blade, and Simon Polentia, who could blossom into tremendous potential if properly trained… It seemed no professor had yet recognized the true worth of those two.
But it's only a matter of time.
Simon Polentia was Special Admission #1. He was in a position that was hard to miss. And Ainz Bilene's name had been fairly well-known even before enrollment. Once classes got underway in earnest, the professors would surely recognize their talents and scramble to claim them.
"Hey, Professor Bahil."
Bahil nodded as if to show he was listening.
"You had Class A today too, didn't you? How were they?"
"What do you mean?"
"Come on, don't play dumb. Special Admission #1, whom Lady Nephthys herself selected, and Student Ainz Bilene, who enrolled alongside Special Admission #2."
Bahil set down his teacup and smiled faintly.
"Well… I didn't get a proper look at Student Ainz, so I'm not sure what to say. As for Student Simon, he did defeat his opponent in my class, but even with a correction device he barely managed to activate black magic. Whether he has any real talent remains to be seen."
Bahil lied without so much as a flicker of expression. He would never hand those two over to the other professors. To cultivate their talents properly, they needed to major in Curse Magic.
"…Hmm, unexpected. Still, he is Special Admission #1. Wasn't there anything special about him?"
It was a persistent question, but Bahil merely smiled gently.
"His mental fortitude was decent enough. The way he maintained his own pace even under a curse was rather impressive."
"Oh? Is that so?"
"Of course, mental strength is an important quality, but for Special Admission #1 it's a bit… ambiguous…"
Just then, the faculty lounge door opened. Aaron shuffled in, still with his disheveled hair, dragging his slippers. He gave the professors a light nod of greeting, then headed for his coat on the rack as if the conversation held no interest for him whatsoever.
"Come to think of it…"
Bahil opened.
"Senior Aaron had Class A today as well, didn't you?"
Every gaze turned toward Aaron. He collected his coat with an expressionless face.
"What of it."
"Special Admission #1, and Student Ainz Bilene who enrolled alongside Special Admission #2. How did they look to you, Senior?"
Before he knew it, every professor in the lounge was staring at Aaron with gleaming eyes. It was silent pressure to spill everything right then and there. Because Bahil had been vague about Simon and claimed not to know much about Ainz, the others' interest had fixed all the more intensely on Aaron.
Aaron let out a quiet sigh, then answered in his characteristic lethargic drawl.
"Special Admission #1…? A dull mediocrity. He did have the creativity to make original defective products. And Ainz? …He was just scheming up something weird."
"…"
As the professors murmured among themselves, Bahil alone stood frozen with the corners of his mouth turned up.
That senior just laid down a smokescreen?!
Bahil knew Aaron's nature better than anyone. Aaron was the type who simply never evaluated students at all.
The words Aaron had used to evaluate Simon…
A dull mediocrity. Creativity for making defective products.
In a way, that was the highest praise Aaron was capable of giving. If the talent were merely middling, Aaron wouldn't evaluate at all.
And Aaron's evaluation of Ainz…
He was just scheming up something weird?
Could he mean that blueprint?
Bahil himself had witnessed Ainz finish a curse faster than anyone else in his class, help the neighboring Simon refine jet-black more efficiently, and then proceed to sketch something that looked like a blueprint. Zoning out during class was rude, but the talent Ainz had displayed was more than enough to overlook that level of discourtesy.
Even so, Bahil hadn't paid particular attention to the blueprint during class, but he hadn't been entirely free of curiosity about what Ainz was up to either—so he'd had his teaching assistants investigate. The result: Ainz had been drawing something that resembled the blueprint of an undead.
Piecing the circumstances together, Bahil had surmised that Ainz was already designing an original summon. If it had been an ordinary student, he wouldn't have gotten his hopes up over something like that. An original summon from a brand-new enrollee? He'd have laughed it off as overambitious dreaming.
But if Aaron had happened to see that blueprint—and if Aaron of all people had actually evaluated it? That was proof Aaron had taken an interest in the blueprint, and in Ainz himself. It meant he had judged both Simon and Ainz as possessing talent far from ordinary.
…This is getting more and more appetizing.
Simon—the boy Nephthys had chosen, and whom that finicky Aaron had marked. Ainz—whom Nephthys herself had arranged to enroll as a companion to Special Admission #2, and whom she'd placed in the same class as Simon.
Bahil felt his thoughts about Simon and Ainz hardening into ever stronger conviction.
"By the way, Senior."
In that case, the war had already begun.
"That declaration you made last year—that you had no intention of taking any more direct disciples. May I take it that still holds?"
"…"
Aaron, who had been heading for the door, stopped dead in his tracks. The other professors fell silent and looked toward him. A taut tension suddenly filled the lounge.
"…Pro… Professor Bahil."
The female professor beside him tried to stop him in a small voice, but Bahil waited for an answer with a smiling face. Just as Aaron's mouth was about to open—
"Hi hi, everyone!"
Out of nowhere, a silver-haired girl bustled in with quick little steps.
"Lady Nephthys!"
At her appearance, the faculty of Kizen—who were said to hold the continent in their grip—all bowed at the waist in unison.
"Welcome."
Bahil, who had greeted her like a gentleman, was the first to approach Nephthys and pull a chocolate ice cream from his coat to offer her. The only person at Kizen who always carried ice cream in a subspace enchanted with freezing magic, solely for the chance of meeting Nephthys, was Bahil.
"Ah, honestly! I told you to stop treating me like a little kid!"
Nephthys said so, yet snatching the ice cream from Bahil's hand all the same.
"Preparing a lady's snacks is also a gentleman's virtue, after all."
"Hmph. You talk a good game."
Nephthys took a bite of the ice cream. Soon her cheeks flushed, and her expression melted into something soft and girlish. Several professors who saw that bit their lips. They could not allow themselves the blasphemous thought that the great Witch of Death was "cute."
"Please have a seat, Lady Nephthys."
A professor hurriedly prepared a seat. Nephthys gripped the armrests of a somewhat oversized chair and clambered up with little grunts of effort.
"There we go! How were the freshmen on their first day?"
She asked while eating her ice cream, and the professors scrambled to report their impressions. Rather than verified special admissions like Serne or Chatel, the conversation focused on high-performing students such as Meyrin and Hector of Class A, and Kaez of Class B.
Nephthys nodded along as she listened, then asked a single question.
"Mm, is that so? Then what about that kid?"
"…Pardon? Whom do you mean…?"
"…Hmm, never mind if you don't know. Looks like they're still keeping quiet."
"Is there a student you're particularly concerned about? Come to think of it, Special Admission #1 was brought in by you personally, Lady Nephthys…"
"Ah, not that one. A different kid, I suppose?"
Hmm?
At those words, Bahil caught a peculiar scent. It almost sounded as if something more important than that existed. Come to think of it, there was one more student in Class A whom Nephthys had selected for enrollment.
…Is she talking about Ainz Bilene?
He happened to share a surname with Meyrin Bilene of the same Class A, a student with excellent entrance scores. The Bilene name was also that of a house that stood as a peer to the Aindark family within the Ivory Tower.
…I'll have to look into this.
He wasn't a special admission, but he was a fairly well-known figure in his own right; the talent he'd shown earlier even surpassed some of the special admissions; and if Nephthys—who had never spoken that way even about special admissions until now—was talking like that, there was definitely something there.
"Well, it seems they intend to keep quiet for now. Report if anything comes up, and since it's the first day, head home early and rest."
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Lady Nephthys."
That was when it happened. Amid the professors' unanimous reply, a single voice called out to her. It was none other than Summoning Magic Professor Aaron Deia.
"I'd like a word with you alone for a moment."
The other professors' eyes went wide. Of course, a position as a Kizen professor permitted audiences with Nephthys, but boldly requesting a private meeting like this was far from common.
"Mm, sure."
Nephthys smiled and climbed down from her seat. Aaron bowed his head once, then followed her outside.
Still as direct as ever.
After Nephthys left, Bahil sat back down, crossed his legs, and let a smile play at the corners of his mouth.
But Lady Nephthys won't tell you so easily, Senior.