Lecture (3)
Lecture (3)
Among the adages I'd overheard, there was one like this.
'Life is something that fundamentally doesn't go the way you want it to.'
I'd felt that occasionally while living, and this time the adage wasn't wrong either.
While I was waiting for the plan to go meet the cardinal, a minor matter occurred.
"Hey there, are you the outside instructor who came this time?"
"That's right."
On the leisurely walk to the chancellor's office to have coffee, a man who looked to be about in his forties approached me.
Judging by his attire, he was definitely a professor.
"What might your name be?"
"It's Karon."
"Aha~ Karon the outside instructor, is it."
I could see him putting on airs, trying to strike up a conversation for no real reason despite it being our first meeting.
There was something more important than the interest he was showing me.
His appearance felt like something I'd heard about somewhere before.
The one who told me wasn't Flora or Alcyone, so where had I heard it…
While I was mulling it over, half-listening to his muttered words.
A previous conversation I'd had with the chancellor came to mind.
Don't teach the students strange things.
Keep the assignments to proper assignments.
You must not beat up students under the pretense of practical training.
And so on.
It had been the chancellor's admonishment before I started the lecture.
At the time, I'd thought nothing of it since he was stating the obvious, but there was some useful information for moments like this.
Namely.
The professors I would encounter during academy life.
To be precise, the persons of interest the chancellor was keeping an eye on.
Thanks to his distinctive mole on the lower jaw and his peculiar drawling manner of speech, a name I'd roughly tossed into my memory warehouse flickered past.
Professor Prokel.
A professor from a fairly renowned noble family who threw his weight around relying on his family name.
Simply put, he was a political appointment.
If you asked whether he was completely hopeless, that wasn't it either.
It meant he had some teaching ability, but he was a case of someone who'd gotten in through connections.
The chancellor would never normally tolerate that, so the fact he was walking around fine probably meant he'd been here a good while.
"Ahem! Forgive my late introduction. I’m Professor Prokel."
Professor Prokel shuffled around and circled me once, then nodded.
Then he abruptly blocked my path.
"There is one thing I wish to ask you, Instructor Karon."
An expression brimming with confidence somewhere.
No, to be precise, it was an arrogant expression.
Having spent a long time in the underworld, I'd seen expressions like that countless times.
I took it for a mask meant to hide how thoroughly he looked down on others.
I met his eyes and asked.
"What is it?"
"Well. The thing is."
I felt a gaze appraising me, sweeping down from top to bottom.
Immediately after, as though he'd judged his calculation complete, there was no hesitation.
"I heard from what people say that your current Level is Level 5. Ordinarily, when one speaks of an outside instructor, they tend to come from the Magic Tower…"
Curious about what he was getting at, I listened on, and he wore a smile that was quite unpleasant to see.
"Those individuals are Level 6 at minimum. I'm curious just how outstanding you must be for the chancellor to entrust the task to a Level 5 mage."
"Ah."
I hadn't expected him to bring that up so openly.
What Professor Prokel wanted to say was this.
Even outside instructors from the Magic Tower were at least Level 6, yet he couldn’t understand how someone with no skill had landed the position.
Why, in particular, had a Level 5 outside instructor caught the chancellor’s eye?
He was bored, and I had walked straight into it.
He intended to expose me completely.
It roughly felt like that.
He might have possessed some ability, but a political appointee had little room to lecture me.
When I tried to let it pass quietly, he continued with his pathetic provocation.
"If I may add a small comment, I was worried that your experience would be lacking and you'd be insufficient to teach students~ so I spoke up."
"No. I have my own methods, so it's fine."
I drew an appropriate line and immediately signaled my refusal.
The reason for that was, if I got tangled up in something like this for no reason, the chancellor would obviously nag me.
But Professor Prokel persistently bit at me.
"Come now, don't be like that! I'll have a look for you, so how about trying as you normally would? I'll let you know where you fall short."
At a glance, it sounded like a line meant to have me teach and then baselessly find fault.
It looked like a technique to cut down someone's dignity before many students by subtly emphasizing Level 5.
"Hmm…"
"I thoroughly understand your concerns as a fellow educator."
When I feigned deliberation, he pounced even more aggressively.
Just then, the chancellor's remark that he wanted to teach him a lesson someday crossed my mind.
Still, there was probably a reason he'd left him alone.
Likely, politically or through various entanglements with the nobility, the relationships were sensitive.
So it might have been difficult to touch him rashly.
By contrast, I had little to care about on that front.
By my standards, nobles were simply divided into two categories: nobles who crossed the line and had to be killed, and nobles who didn't.
This time I intended to handle it the nice way.
I planned to trample him with nothing but a purely magical lecture, not a trace of violence involved.
And so, putting on an innocent, unknowing air, I took the bait.
"Alright. Would it be acceptable to use my lecture?"
"That's fine, but procedurally, shouldn't we do the theory first and then the practical? It so happens that linking it with the Fundamentals of Magic I'm in charge of this period would seem good."
I could see his ulterior motive to drag this into the domain most advantageous to himself.
Naturally, I intended to play dumb and play along.
I slowly nodded and revealed a positive reaction.
"I had many worries about the teaching method; it seems truly fortunate to have met Professor Prokel."
"Ha ha! I am confident it will be a great help."
Perhaps intoxicated by the thought of making a fool of me, Professor Prokel was visibly elated.
Not stopping there, I called out a line he was sure to welcome upon hearing.
"Ah, right, would it be alright if my students participated as well?"
As expected, Professor Prokel smiled brightly.
"Of course!"
* * *
Time passed, and it became late afternoon.
I followed Professor Prokel into the 'Fundamentals of Magic' lecture room.
Unlike my lecture, which inevitably felt sparse with only four people in total, this place was packed with students.
Since we'd contacted them beforehand, I saw Flora and Ayla seated in a corner of the lecture room.
Behind them, Camilla and Gilbert quietly looked this way. Since they were fourth-years, they would have taken this lecture.
It seemed their curiosity about an instructor responsible for practical training teaching theory couldn’t be contained.
It had turned out well since this became an opportunity to show my skills.
"A-ahem!"
Professor Prokel, whose shoulders had practically been touching the sky even before entering the lecture room, cleared his throat and introduced me.
"Nice to meet you all. As mentioned beforehand, today, not I, but instructor Karon will be in charge of the proceedings. You may all behave as you normally do."
On the surface, he briefly introduced me and stepped away from the podium.
Immediately, he moved to a spot convenient for observing both the students and me at once and folded his arms.
"I will inform you later, so please feel free to proceed as you wish."
"Yes. Understood."
At last, my turn had come.
As Professor Prokel had said, I would proceed with Fundamentals of Magic.
Unlike the battlefield where responses change every moment, I only had to follow the table of contents and content set in a book, so there was nothing difficult.
Looking at it this way, teaching with only theory might be easier.
On one hand, it was dumbfounding that he was doing this at someone else's lecture when he clearly couldn't get a handle on his own teaching either.
Still, I did have some expectation that a decent method might come to mind through this incident.
Bearing the full weight of the anticipatory gazes wondering what I would do, I opened the book.
Flutter.
As befitting a title like Fundamentals of Magic, it covered the foundations of magic.
I quickly scanned the table of contents and searched for a topic that looked decent.
The Four Elements of Magic.
Magic and Magic Circle Structure.
And various other things…
While I was seeing nothing but one stiff theory after another.
'This might be decent.'
An interesting topic came to mind in my head.
That being, Mana Interference.
As far as I knew, at the academy, Mana Interference ended at the level of getting to know the theory.
Even when mixed with practicals, it ended at the level of 'Ah, so that's how it feels~'.
But Mana Interference was a highly useful fellow in the field.
With this, you could counter the enemy's magic and save your life.
Truly, you had nothing to lose by learning it.
In particular, for Ayla, who showed signs of Mana waste, precise control would be a good experience.
There was no more reason to deliberate.
I moved quickly.
"What you all will learn today is…"
Originally, after lightly skimming over the content we were supposed to learn today.
"Mana Interference."
I closed the book nonchalantly.
At this, bewilderment seeped out through the lecture room.
"Instructor, isn't it too early to do that now?"
"Today is supposed to be the day for Magic Circle Structure."
The students, who now looked set to learn Mana Interference normally reserved for the next semester, sent me skeptical looks.
At this, I sensed from Professor Prokel an air of having half-won already.
"Hoho~ Mana Interference, is it…"
For now, he was probably just quietly watching me and tossing in a word or two.
But it was obvious he would be aiming for the moment the lecture stalled—the prime time to pounce.
Wasn't it just a matter of teaching Mana Interference to everyone in the lecture room and being done with it?
Before that, I intended to drive in a wedge first and seize the high ground.
"This lecture mainly focuses on theory, but since I believe practical application is important, I will also conduct a simple practical exercise in parallel."
Regardless of what anyone said, I calmly stated the lecture objective and proceeded with the class.
"First, let's dissect the structure of a Magic Circle."
I wrote down all the theory I knew on the blackboard.
I drew a Magic Circle and completely broke down its structure piece by piece.
"This is the core. It handles amplification, distribution, and output. That means it's also influenced by Mana Interference."
In an instant, I laid out the Magic Circle structure at a level even a child could understand.
I emphasized the important areas multiple times and summarized them again.
"You might have to memorize the entire thing for the exam, but the important circuits are the three places I just mentioned."
Amplification, the circuit that increased Mana's power.
Distribution, which became the path for the amplified Mana.
And finally, output, responsible for manifestation.
I cut away the unnecessary side-branches and taught only the core points, so the pace increased.
Thanks to that, the students who had been tilting their heads at first gradually began to nod.
I paused the explanation briefly and looked around.
'Everyone's doing better than I thought.'
Not a single one among them was lagging; they were all keeping up well.
Since they had learned the Magic Circle structure at an accelerated pace, I moved to the next stage.
"Next, Mana Interference is."
I picked up a piece of chalk and drew a diagonal line through the core circuit.
"Literally, the act of interfering with an opponent's Mana. This applies to most magic, and it varies according to the user's skill."
I scribbled theory across the blackboard.
At that, the students busily focused on taking notes in their notebooks.
I waited for everyone to put down their pens.
Once I confirmed the last student had finished taking notes.
"It would be quicker to see this with your own eyes than to explain it in words, wouldn't it?"
I turned my head and met eyes with the teaching assistant who had clearly been dragged along because of Professor Prokel.
His slightly shifting pupils spoke for the confused situation.
"Is there something you need…?"
Even without me speaking, he spoke first; he was quick on the uptake.
I got a rough sense of the kind of life he must have led.
I carefully asked the tightly wound teaching assistant.
"Are there any teaching materials for Mana Interference practical exercises in the storage room?"
"Yes. Of course there are."
"Please."
Then I glanced briefly at Professor Prokel.
Perhaps because the development differed from his expectations, he had his mouth firmly shut.
I considered it a good situation.
Having lightly landed a punch, I immediately spoke to the budding sprouts who were growing fast.
"Since it will take a little time to prepare, I'll give you a simple quiz. Please solve it while you wait."
Right then and there, I cast Multicasting.
Since I'd been sick and tired of using only fire all that time, this time I mixed in water magic and created an impromptu problem.
The structure was simple.
If you pierced the Magic Circle with the correct method, a water droplet would form in the air.
If you failed, a flame would appear.
"Now, please work on it from your seats."
Once I'd displayed the Magic Circle largely in the air and sat in a chair, everyone picked up their pens and began analyzing the Magic Circle.
Just in case, I emphasized that there was no penalty.
"It's fine even if you can't solve it, so please do it comfortably."
In the meantime, Professor Prokel came rushing over with quick steps, utterly appalled.
He looked around here and there, then whispered in a small voice.
"Your Multicasting proficiency seems strange. Are you really Level 5?"
"This much is nothing. Everyone at the Magic Tower can do it. Haven't you also dipped your toes into the Magic Tower, Professor?"
"…"
At those words, a flustered Professor Prokel.
He seemed to have sensed something was wrong.
But it was already too late.
You just got bitten by a mastermind.