The Lord School Faction War (Part 6)
More time had slipped by than expected.
From the thunderous boom that anyone would have mistaken for destructive magic, to helping each battered student to their feet, to the collision of the battering ram, the splintering javelins, and the final unraveling of the psychokinetic spell—though the clash had felt like a fleeting blur in the heat of the moment, it had lasted long enough for onlookers to gather on the training grounds after hearing the uproar.
A full-blown catastrophe had been averted, yet one nagging question remained.
"What do you mean, you two are going to handle this?"
I had brushed it aside in the rush of running into Adele, but the doubt hadn't vanished.
The Faction War was held as a start-of-semester evaluation, meaning the participants were almost exclusively students desperate to keep their grades afloat. In that sense, Adele was no longer an enrolled student of Lebrant Academy, while Michel's academic record was stellar enough that she had zero reason to drag herself out to Sirach Lord School. Besides, her standing as a member of Team Tembris granted her considerable exemptions to begin with.
In short, claiming they had the authority to handle a rogue professor made very little sense.
"We didn't come here to compete in the Faction War," Michel said calmly. "That's why we have the jurisdiction to process him."
The moment she finished speaking, Adele retrieved an object from her pocket.
It was a pass—ordinary enough at a casual glance. Yet the insignia stamped upon such passes always told a specific story. This particular crest belonged to the kind carried by inspectors executing high-level directives from academy command.
"Wait... Then you two are...?"
"Oh, figured it out already?" Michel gave a faint, wry smile.
Students didn't just carry around the credentials of military inspectors for fun. Michel and Adele had traveled here not as competitors, but as official auditors assigned to oversee Sirach Lord School.
"Junon, why don't you head back for now?" Michel suggested gently. "We need to wake that professor up and get things sorted."
"Hmm..."
The thought of waking him gave me brief pause. Adele was a capable mage, but that old man could conjure metallic rams, hurling javelins, and raw telekinetic force lethal enough to crush bones if he felt like it. I wondered for a second whether things might turn ugly while they questioned him.
Then again, that's only a concern if she were alone.
Standing right beside her was the crimson-haired mage. Against Michel, almost no one stood a chance. Even if she had to face that corrupt old fossil in a straight duel, she would neutralize him in seconds without breaking a sweat.
"Just so you know, he's going to face full disciplinary and criminal charges," Michel added reassuringly. "Between incident reports, official statements, and eyewitness testimonies, we have more than enough."
Indeed. Michel hadn't earned the moniker of the Blue Flame by playing nice.
Besides, who was I to worry about anyone else? Lingering here only risked deepening my entanglement with Michel. To hell with the Faction War for today. I was exhausted to the bone; getting some proper rest came first.
Junon rolled his shoulders, working out the tension in his muscles as he strode away from the training grounds. Only after the man who radiated the heaviest, most suffocating presence departed did the students who had been holding their breath finally let out a collective gasp of relief.
"W-Wow... Did you see that?" Lana murmured, letting out a breathless scoff of pure disbelief. "A full barrage of spells coming straight at his face, and he just smashed through them all like an armored siege engine..."
She shook her head repeatedly, bewildered.
"He beat an actual professor..."
No matter how rotten or hollowed-out Jirbeng was, he had held a legitimate faculty position—and at Lebrant Academy, of all places. Even if he looked like a decrepit old man whose hair was turning white at the temples, he was someone who had taught magic for decades, carrying vastly more practical knowledge and experience than any student. To see his spells completely shut down before suffering an utter, humiliating defeat at Junon's hands was nothing short of staggering.
"Um, excuse me," Lana said, turning her head. "Pink-haired unnie, you came from Lebrant Academy too, right?"
"Huh? H-How did you...?"
"Well, duh! If I haven't seen your face around here before, it's obvious! I was born and raised in Sirach, you know... Anyway, are all Lebrant students monsters like that?"
Are all Lebrant students like that?
Far from it.
"...Only him," Aris answered softly.
"Really...?"
If every student at Lebrant were like Junon, there wouldn't even be a place for someone like her. More than that, what sent Aris's heart spiraling into sheer panic was the horrifying realization that she had been assigned to the exact same Lord School as him.
What am I supposed to do...? Of all places, why here...?
She hadn't anticipated this in the slightest.
After hearing that he had commanded the rearguard forces during the Scheat Great Subjugation Campaign and drastically minimized casualties, she had assumed he was sitting comfortably near the top of the quest boards. Based on what Senia had told her, Junon never lagged behind in written exams either, meaning his grades were nowhere near deficient like her own. As for practical combat, his performance during the Orthoptera defense had already rendered any praise redundant.
That was why she was completely blindsided. She had never imagined, even in her wildest dreams, that Junon would be participating in the Faction War out in the neglected boondocks of Sirach Lord School—a posting every respectable student actively avoided.
They were bound to cross paths sooner or later. When they did, would she even have the courage to look him in the eye?
No. Truthfully, she was still terrified. Far from striking up a conversation, she felt like she would turn on her heel and run the other way. Even just now, watching him from a distance while trailing behind Michel, she had frozen entirely in place. Considering Sirach Lord School wasn't a sprawling campus like Lebrant, the sheer thought of running into him suffocated her.
What if I just... forfeit the Faction War right now?
If you were terrified of getting hurt, the simplest answer was to stay away and hide. Forfeiting the Faction War and taking a hit on her start-of-semester evaluation would avoid any confrontation entirely.
Yet, she couldn't bring herself to believe that taking the easy way out was the right choice.
In that moment of hesitation, Senia's earnest advice resurfaced in her mind.
'Aris. Go to him and beg for his forgiveness properly. I honestly believe... that's the only right path for you.'
It was the counsel Senia had whispered into her ear at the banquet hall after the Scheat Campaign, while they peered through the crack of the terrace doors at the two figures standing together outside. That advice came echoing back with startling clarity.
She knew running away wasn't right. And yet... still. Still, she couldn't summon the courage to walk in his footsteps. Not yet.
"Do you know him?" Lana asked, tilting her head curiously.
"You mean Junon?"
"Oh, you know his name! So you really do know each other!"
"Uh? Well... that's..."
"Since his name is Junon... should I call him Senior Junon? Or maybe Instructor Junon? Ugh... I don't know."
They were acquainted, yet at the same time, they weren't. Unable to neatly define their relationship, Aris hesitated, but Lana's next observation caught her completely off guard.
"By the way, why are you fidgeting so much? If you two know each other, shouldn't you be happy?"
Aris was the kind of person whose emotions were written plain across her face, making her inner turmoil painfully obvious to anyone watching. In the end, only one option remained.
"...I'm sorry. I haven't been feeling well since earlier."
She fled.
Once again, without ever facing him head-on.
"Ah... sorry for prying. My bad!"
"It's fine. A little rest will fix it... I'll be going now."
She said the words, but in her heart, she knew the bitter truth. This wasn't a wound that a little rest could ever heal.
Day two of my stay at Sirach Lord School.
After a deep, restorative sleep in my assigned quarters, I began my morning routine with light conditioning exercises, just like any other day.
"Breakfast is here!"
A tray was set down outside my door. It felt noticeably late, and when I checked the clock, it was indeed several dozen minutes behind the standard meal schedule at Lebrant. Every institution had its own rhythm, so I couldn't complain too much, but running on this timeline would make making it to morning lectures a nightmare. Perhaps that was just my Lebrant habits talking.
The sluggishness wasn't limited to breakfast. The mail slot beside my door, which had remained barren until now, was finally stuffed with papers. Notices, circulars, and bulletins were typically distributed at dawn so that students could review campus updates before leaving their dorms. It seemed like a trivial detail, but it revealed just how disorganized and neglected this Lord School truly was. If administrative notices weren't communicated on time, the whole system was rotting from the top down.
"I've got a headache already."
Not that it was my place to lecture anyone. I didn't run this school, nor was I in a position to boss the administration around. I certainly didn't hold supreme command authority like I had during the Capital Relocation Campaign. Right now, I was merely an academy student trying to scrape together passing marks in a regional faction tournament.
Sitting down to eat my belated breakfast, I skimmed through the freshly delivered bulletins, lost in thought.
"So that professor's name was Jirbeng. Guess he really was on the faculty at Lebrant after all."
◈ Professor Jirbeng Collapses Foaming at the Mouth During Duties in Sirach...
◈ SHOCKING: Professor Jirbeng Apprehended and Bound for Lebrant Custody After Crushing Students with Psychokinesis!
◈ Flood of Eyewitness Testimonies: Continuous Record of Violent Tyranny Against Both Students and Local Residents.
◈ Showing Zero Remorse, the Suspect Attempted Escape Before Being Subdued by Team Tembris Member Michel. Severe Circuit Trauma Expected to Delay Interrogation for Several Days.
The gazette neatly summarized the old man's crimes from yesterday and confirmed he was currently facing justice. It wasn't particularly surprising news, but it brought a certain sense of relief. While leaving his punishment to someone else had felt slightly unsatisfying, knowing that Michel had stepped in settled the matter completely.
What usually happened to people whose mana was incinerated by Michel's Blue Flame? If I remembered correctly, victims spent an entire week dry-heaving violently while feeling like their skin was being flayed alive day and night. Rumors in my past life claimed that anyone who took the full brunt of her azure fire suffered burnt-out mana circuits that wouldn't circulate energy for a month. Since he had tried to break custody as an active criminal, he was probably a drooling invalid by now.
His sentencing would be brutal too. There was no way he was walking away with a light penalty.
"Looks like Michel and Adele handled the reporting thoroughly. Now let's see... What else is on this sheet...? Holy shit."
A curse slipped out before I could catch myself.
My eyes had snagged on a cluster of words that looked completely absurd.
"No way. I must be reading that wrong."
I rubbed my eyelids vigorously, blinking hard against the morning light.
The text didn't change.
"Come on! This is a dream. Definitely a dream."
I grabbed my cheek and pinched with all my might. The skin stretched, burning with sharp, unmistakable pain.
"Ow, fuck... That hurts like hell..."
The ink wasn't smudged.
My eyes weren't playing tricks on me.
And I certainly wasn't dreaming.
Then what on earth was this absolute madness?
◈ To fill the instructional vacancy left by Professor Jirbeng, a student currently participating in the Sirach Lord School Faction War is hereby appointed to the provisional post of Student Teaching Intern.
◈ Having personally neutralized Professor Jirbeng's violent outbreak, said student has been assessed as the most qualified individual on campus to maintain order and continuity of instruction.
◈ The designated student intern shall assume instructional responsibility over the affected class until a replacement faculty member arrives from the capital.
◈ Academic bonus points may be conferred depending on instructional progress and class performance.
...Fuck.
I was truly, comprehensively screwed.