Lord School Faction War (8)
While Lana followed Junon out, Adele slipped in to check if the class was running smoothly.
What met her eyes, however, was anything but smooth. Junon was nowhere to be seen, and the students showed not the slightest inclination to study.
Some used textbooks as pillows, fast asleep on their desks. In the back of the lecture hall, a rowdy group played keep-away with a soccer ball. Others passed the time with card games, while two students casually played five-in-a-row on the chalkboard.
They really have no intention of listening to a lecture, do they?
Even so, this was Junon's class now. He had stepped up to fill the void left by an expelled professor, officially appointed as a student teaching intern. The baseline conditions for learning were present, however humble. Could students who enrolled in a Lord School to learn magic—even if it was far from the prestigious Lebrant Academy—really afford to behave like this?
"Don't you think this is a bit much, everyone?" Adele called out, unable to hold her tongue.
"Huh? What is?" one of them replied.
"What do you mean, 'what is'?" Adele asked, her brow furrowing. "Didn't you come here to learn magic? Isn't that why you enrolled in a Lord School in the first place?"
"Oh, that."
Despite her exasperation, the students remained completely indifferent.
"Everyone here is just trying to land a job through the professors anyway. Nobody in this room actually cares about the lectures."
"Excuse me...?"
"Maybe it's different elsewhere, but this place is a lost cause. Who would actually study in run-down facilities like these? The professors feel the exact same way. Since nobody wants to learn, there's an unspoken agreement. We just clock our attendance hours so we can collect government welfare subsidies."
It was utterly absurd.
To discard the very purpose of their enrollment just to network for odd jobs through instructors... And worse, merely filling attendance quotas to pocket public subsidies left her entirely speechless. While Lord Schools in other provinces served as active crucibles of education, this place had abandoned magic altogether, degenerating into little more than a welfare distribution center.
"That makes no sense at—"
"That's enough, Adele."
Junon's voice cut through her indignant retort as he walked through the door.
"But Junon... if they act like this, you won't be able to..."
"I'll handle it myself. Lana gave me the rundown, so I understand the situation. Lana, go take your seat."
"...Yes, Teacher."
Lana, who had trotted in right behind him, took her seat. Junon stepped up to the center of the lectern and addressed the entire room.
"I've heard what you're all thinking. Well, I have no intention of raining on your parade. I don't have the authority to lecture you on life, and your freedom should be respected, right?"
Of course, true freedom always came with consequences.
"I don't care if you push desks and chairs together to take a nap, or go run around outside. Attendance verification? Anyone who clocks their required hours will get a signed certificate from me."
If someone possessed no will to learn, why waste breath trying to force them? Junon placed the classroom clock down firmly onto the lectern.
"However, I won't tolerate anyone disrupting this room. So I'll give you five minutes. You choose for yourselves."
"Five minutes...? A choice? About what?"
"Either stay in this classroom and listen to my lecture, or walk in every morning just to pick up your attendance certificate and leave. Simple, isn't it?"
Leave now, and he would sign their attendance slips under the condition that he would not teach them. Stay in their seats, and they were choosing to learn. It was a straightforward ultimatum requiring very little deliberation.
Junon crossed one arm and casually flipped through a textbook, looking entirely unbothered by whatever they decided. The students, however, hesitated awkwardly, glancing around at one another. Faced with such blunt permissiveness, their minds had momentarily ground to a halt.
"What's there to agonize over?" scoffed one student, shoving his hands into his pockets. "It's not like listening to some student intern is gonna change our lives. I'm leaving. Give me my certificate."
"Figured you would. Wrote it out just now. Take it."
One walked out.
"Anyone else? Does the rest of you mean you're staying for the lecture?"
"N-No! Give me mine too!"
"I'm out of here."
"Uh... me too, please..."
Two, three, four. In the blink of an eye, the vast majority lined up for their attendance slips and abandoned the lecture hall. All who remained were Lana, and a single boy sprawled across several pushed-together chairs in the far corner, wearing a sleep mask.
"Does that guy always sleep like that?" Junon asked.
"...Yes," Lana replied softly.
"Fine, then. No need to wake him."
In a hollow classroom containing only two students, Junon calmly began his lecture as if nothing were amiss.
Scoring points in the Faction War is going to be nearly impossible at this rate...
Adele watched him with worried eyes before quietly slipping out of the room. There was nothing she could do for him right now. Even if they reported the deplorable state of this school, the evaluation rules strictly dictated that student teaching interns substituting for faculty had to bear such circumstances as inherent handicaps.
Ethan always slept through this hour.
Attending lectures was out of the question, and once the rowdy students cleared out to goof off outside, his secluded corner of the room became the perfect nap haven. He only had to stick around long enough to secure his attendance stamp, so sleeping with his head down was his daily routine.
Mumble... mumble...
Whisper...
Yet today, voices grated on his ears. Everyone usually slacked off and cleared out by this time, leaving the room dead silent. What was different today?
Damn it all.
Ethan pushed up his sleep mask with a scowl, only to realize an unfamiliar figure was standing at the podium giving a lecture.
A lecture...? Ah, right. Professor Jirbeng screwed up and got kicked out.
A substitute instructor had arrived. And looking around, there were only three people left in the entire room—two, excluding himself. Come to think of it, wasn't the opening date of the Faction War right around the corner? That explained why someone was dispatched, but instead of an actual professor, a student was teaching another student. The man didn't look much older than Ethan himself. He had to be the student teaching intern.
How naive. Guess he's desperately trying to scrape together participants for the Faction War.
Maybe he ought to bring earplugs tomorrow. Ethan let out a massive, unhurried yawn. Nothing ever changed here. Even if the guy was from Lebrant Academy, what could a lone student really teach? Ethan decided to watch with crossed arms, convinced the lecture would be utterly useless.
If it turns out to be garbage, I'll just tell him to pack his bags and brag that I could teach better.
Not to boast, but Ethan was fairly capable with magic. His theoretical grasp was solid, and while his written exam scores hadn't topped the charts, they had consistently sat well above average. Having once operated as a rear-line sorcerer at Lebrant before his disciplinary transfer, he could spot an amateur from a mile away.
"Y-You want me to channel mana along the Alpeid Line right here?" Lana asked, her voice trembling.
"That's right," Junon answered evenly. "Fire magic is fundamentally geared toward concentrated firepower, which is why you must saturate the Alpeid Line first."
"Into the Alpeid Line... the inner skeleton? How do I even do that...?"
The pattern Lana had sketched was the basic circle for standard fire magic: Fire. In practical terms, it was a utility spell barely fit for kindling campfires or lighting cigarettes. And he wanted her to pump mana into the Alpeid Line first?
Just as I thought. All talk, no substance.
The Alpeid Line was the core skeletal framework of any magic circle. Common sense dictated that it received mana last. At the bare minimum, mana had to circulate from the base circle through the external incantation formulas, past the Deltis and Gammut lines, before finally reaching the Betrine Line and the Alpeid Line. No competent mage in history had ever suggested injecting mana straight into the innermost core. The guy lacked even kindergarten-level fundamentals.
"Let's see. Channel your mana out first," Junon instructed. "I'll guide the injection and show you."
It looked like Junon intended to demonstrate using Lana's mana and magic circle. Ethan grinned, preparing to humiliate him the exact second he deployed it. He would instantly erect the magic circle for Flame Strike, a spell three tiers higher, completely putting this arrogant intern in his place. That would be fair payback for disturbing a man's precious sleep with nonsensical drivel. The guy could crawl back to his dormitory in utter shame and kick his blankets all night!
Just as Ethan began mentally tracing the geometric formula for Flame Strike—
Fwooosh!
"W-Whoa..." Lana gasped.
Ethan's drowsy, half-lidded eyes snapped wide open.
What just happened? What in the world did he just witness?
Junon had barely grazed Lana's magic circle with his fingertips, and in an instant, mana burst outward from the Alpeid Line, deploying the entire circle from the inside out. How was that mechanically possible? Fire magic was notoriously sluggish during its initial formation, yet this manifested in a heartbeat. Furthermore, it was absurd to believe that spell utilized the same meager quantity of mana Lana had offered. The sheer density and heat radiating from that simple Fire spell rivaled the Flame Strike Ethan had been preparing to cast.
"How... how did that happen?" Lana breathed.
Ethan desperately wanted to shout the exact same question.
Just what on earth had he done?
"The Alpeid Line is the internal skeleton situated at the dead center of the spell. You know that much, right?" Junon asked.
"Y-Yes... I know that part..."
"Then why would anyone leave such a vital skeleton to be filled with mana last?"
"Huh...? Well... why?"
Neither Lana nor Ethan could answer. Just as Junon said, every mage naturally left the central Alpeid Line for the final phase of casting; none of them had ever stopped to question the underlying logic.
"People instinctively try to contain mana from the outside in," Junon explained, his voice calm and matter-of-fact. "They're driven by the subconscious fear that their mana will leak out. Because of that anxiety, mana is forced to navigate complex external formulas and pass through three peripheral lines before it finally touches the Alpeid Line. By the time it arrives, barely any energy reaches what is effectively the spell's core. That is where the structural flaw lies."
Is he insane? What kind of logic is that?
"Because of that," Junon continued, "even a tiny disruption to the Alpeid Line causes the entire circle to shatter. The formulas snap, turning the most critical structural core into an exposed vulnerability..."
"Wait... what? What does that even mean?" Lana shook her head, completely lost. "I don't understand a single word of this..."
Even Lana, the only active student listening, was thoroughly bewildered. Ethan, who had woken up halfway through and focused every ounce of his concentration, was equally baffled. Junon drew supplementary diagrams and tried explaining the concept from several different angles, but neither of them could grasp the theory before the lecture drew to a close. To ordinary academy students, the concept was entirely too alien, divorced from everything standard magical doctrine taught.
Chime—
"Ah, there's the bell," Junon said, dusting off his hands. "I'll teach you the rest tomorrow."
Yet one undeniable truth remained.
Even if they hadn't understood a fraction of the theory, nobody in that room would be sleeping across desks tomorrow.
That man... he's real. He's the absolute real deal.
Ethan had enrolled in Sirach Lord School only after being expelled from Lebrant for causing trouble. Ironically, his capabilities would have placed him comfortably in the upper ranks back at Lebrant. His specialty lay in fire-attribute explosive magic. Confident that his combat prowess wouldn't fall short anywhere, he had found every lecture since the Faction War announcement dreadfully boring, nothing ever resonating with him.
Today was entirely different.
He had barely understood anything. He had only managed to grasp a vague sliver of the explanations Junon broke down midway through. Just because Lana couldn't do it didn't mean he couldn't, or so Ethan had arrogantly thought. But attempting to inject mana straight into the Alpeid Line was monstrously difficult.
He had lost count of how many times he failed during his private attempts.
If he forced mana in recklessly, the sharp concentration disparity shattered the balance, preventing the magic circle from activating at all. If he focused purely on dispersing the mana evenly, the inconsistent deployment direction warped the incantation formulas. All the while, he had to constantly rein in his own output—a single lapse leading to Mana Down would end the attempt instantly.
It demanded an insanely delicate degree of mana control, an impossible feat unless one minimized the margin of error to near zero.
Before long, the intense strain overloaded his mana circuits, forcing him to halt his practice entirely. Injecting mana starting from the Alpeid Line required the simultaneous mastery of three distinct factors: mana density, deployment velocity, and the stable ignition of the formula and circle. That single demonstration proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Junon was a master.
How much more did that man know? An uncontrollable anticipation swelled in Ethan's chest. Anyone truly walking the path of magic could never afford to let an opportunity like this slip away.
"Oh, look who decided to show up. What took you so long, Ethan?"
"We almost died waiting for you. Usually, you wake right up the second we make noise."
"No, no, the lecture must've been so gentle and soothing that Ethan got the best sleep of his life, right?"
"Bwahaha!"
The delinquent crowd burst into laughter, but Ethan's expression remained deadpan.
"...Hey, what's with you?"
"Why's he acting so weird today?"
Ethan, who normally laughed and joked along with them, stared back with an unusually grim look in his eyes.
"...Starting tomorrow, all of you attend that lecture."
His sudden demand was completely out of left field.
"What? Attend the lecture...?"
"You're messing with us, right?"
"Ah, I heard a member of Team Tembris arrived in the class next door. You telling us to go there?"
"I'm not joking," Ethan cut in sharply, his voice dropping low. "Attend Teacher Junon's class. He's not some pathetic small fry like the ones you've seen before!"
There was not a trace of humor on his face. Yet the others scoffed dismissively.
"Give me a break. Did you hit your head or something? What's listening to that gonna change?"
"Like always, we're way better off hunting weak magical beasts together, saving up coin, and begging the professors to recommend us for city guard posts."
"Even if we miraculously score points in the Faction War, it's not like we have a future anyway. We'll never get admitted to Lebrant."
"Besides all that, Ethan, who do you think you are? We're not your lackeys."
"Yeah, exactly," chimed in several others. A few openly glared, having long harbored resentment toward Ethan's cocky attitude. "Guess Ethan thinks he's too good to hang around with us anymore. Let him go."
"...You're going to regret this," Ethan warned through gritted teeth.
"Regret? Keep dreaming. Just make sure you don't come crawling back to us when you regret it. Because we won't take you back."
With that, they turned their backs and walked off in a cluster, kicking away the greatest opportunity of their lives with their own feet.
"You'll regret it a hundred percent," Ethan muttered under his breath, glaring at their retreating backs. "You f***ing morons."
Day two at Sirach Lord School... or rather, my first official day lecturing as a student teaching intern.
I walked the quiet road back toward my lodging after dismissing class. The lecture itself... well, I had to call it a failure. I had tried breaking down the concepts into simpler terms so Lana could understand, but the results were mediocre at best.
"Still, I ended up with one more student."
The boy named Ethan, who had sprinted after me drenched in sweat. Counting him, that made two. Seeing him fast asleep earlier, I assumed he had zero interest, so I was genuinely surprised when he slammed his head to the floor, practically begging me to instruct him.
Leaving that aside, the real question remained.
"How am I supposed to teach them...?"
Just the two of them. If I focused on training Lana and Ethan to compete in the individual matches and the Leader Battle, achieving a baseline score would be enough to fulfill my obligations.
"It's just my luck that I'm half-baked myself, making it impossible to demonstrate properly."
I paused and sketched the exact same Fire magic circle I had used to explain the theory to Lana. The formula was entirely basic, completely unadorned. After drawing it, I channeled mana directly into the Alpeid Line. The deployment speed was identical to earlier. However...
The magic circle violently rejected my mana. The formula was mechanically flawless, yet my own body could never produce the intended result. Since Lana's mana and circle had operated without issue, the theory itself wasn't flawed enough to be unusable by ordinary mages. Yet all that manifested in my hand was a pathetic, flickering candle flame, barely enough to light a pipe.
"Even so, this is the only way I know how to teach."
How could someone who couldn't cast proper magic teach it through conventional methods? The only knowledge I possessed was carved into my flesh through blood and survival. How ordinary mages trained? The textbook theories celebrated by the world? I had no way of teaching things like that.
All I possessed was battlefield experience—breaking and destroying. Relentlessly targeting the critical vulnerabilities and blind spots of an opponent's spell, shattering their magic circles, and obliterating their core. That hard-won instinct and intuition were the only inheritance I had to offer.
That was why I couldn't treat this Faction War as a trivial chore. I intended to put some genuine effort into it.
If only to find the answer to the question I kept asking myself: whether I had been right all along.