6. Tradition, Corruption, Malpractice, Custom

While the Finance Director, fueled by a rare surge of exhilaration, danced his mad blade-dance of salary cuts—

The Chairwoman, who had left the conference room first, was walking off somewhere with the Head of Academic Affairs and Professor Kirke.

"................"

"............."

"..................."

Step. Step.

In a suffocating silence and a heavy, oppressive atmosphere,

the Chairwoman, having reached her office, gestured toward the Head of Academic Affairs.

"You've worked hard. You may go on ahead."

"I will carry out your orders as quickly as possible!"

"I'm counting on you."

He could already hear the screams of the academic affairs staff in his head, but the Head of Academic Affairs simply wore the resolute expression of a man who would see it done, no matter what.

So he departed first,

and only the Chairwoman and Professor Kirke remained outside the office door.

"Come in."

"......Yes."

The air itself stung. It burned hot and froze cold at the same time, as if invisible blades hung suspended in the void.

Professor Kirke felt her back soak through with cold sweat as she followed behind the Chairwoman.

The Chairwoman's public image was simple. An Iron Man. A sovereign and autocrat who permitted no rebellion.

Of course, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from the perspective of a certain Finance Director who knew her actual personality, it was laughable, but the Chairwoman was an 8th Rank martial artist and a war hero.

That made it easy for her to play the part of the Iron Man. If the Chairwoman directed genuine killing intent at them, most people couldn't even meet her eyes. She could instill terror with ease.

And Professor Kirke was no exception.

Crunch!

"Ghck......!!"

Blood surged up from inside her.

Kirke had reached the 6th Rank, a mage of considerable skill, but before the Chairwoman, it meant nothing.

While Kirke fought to swallow the blood and maintain a posture of attention, the Chairwoman, having scattered her killing intent as casually as a handful of dust, took her seat.

Her black hair swayed.

From a body that at a glance could pass for a teenage girl's, a razor-sharp presence poured forth.

"I was foolish."

".........!!"

"Excessively indecisive, and far too sentimental. Even after things reached this point, I dithered. Until the Finance Director appeared."

The Chairwoman wanted no reply. Professor Kirke couldn't even form one.

It was merely a one-sided pronouncement.

"Is it impossible after all? For someone like me, who could do nothing but kill, to dream of nurturing and raising people—is that arrogance? Was establishing an academy in the first place my great mistake?"

"Kh...... ack!"

"I killed off the personality I had back then, as best I could. Because I must be the Chairwoman of the Academy, not the Human Butcher. I had to be...... precisely because I knew nothing but killing people, it seems I was used. Used a great deal."

A bitter smile crossed the Chairwoman's face. Professor Kirke now kept her head bowed, blood trickling from her lips.

Many had used her. The academy's founding deans, the Finance Department staff of years past, the self-styled investors, and now Professor Kirke before her, among others.

Gazing at Kirke, who was on the verge of collapse, the Chairwoman's eyes turned glacial.

"Still, I keep trying. No matter how much of a mark I am, how much I'm betrayed, how much I'm used—when I see students seizing an opportunity to learn and graduating, something the old me could never have done, I feel certain that I'm finally walking the right path. The students are a treasure to me. Above all else."

"Cough!"

"But lately...... I've gained one more treasure."

The Chairwoman smiled, as if embarrassed. Professor Kirke finally failed to endure and collapsed to her knees.

Why had a monarch of a vast kingdom shown her such consideration? Why did even the Empire, a continental hegemon, keep sending overtures? How could a woman who knew nothing but killing, who conspicuously lacked economic sense and any other skill for running an organization, have guided the academy this far?

8th Rank. Human Butcher. War Hero. The Kingdom's strongest.

She who, over a century ago, had been called the Mad Dragon and the Human Butcher—feared because no one could control her—now drew forth just a sliver of the senses of those days.

"So do not defy the Finance Director. Do not test my indecisiveness and my gullibility overmuch. I am doing my utmost to kill my old self, and to keep wearing clothes that have never fit me for decades now."

"Guhk......."

"And above all—

—in an academy this vast,

—a single professor could vanish without a trace, and it would take a long time to find her."

"Please."

I pray you do not make a foolish choice.

I pray the day never comes when my fists have to be drenched in blood again.

So that I can remain the Chairwoman of Grandis Academy, and nothing else—

"I ask for your cooperation."

*

Ah, refreshing.

Back in my civil-service-exam-cramming days, I had a neighbor who got hired by the Imperial Tax Office. We were pretty close—he'd drop by sometimes and treat me to meat and drinks.

'He used to say the best feeling in the world was legally seizing back taxes.'

Now I finally understood what he meant. Watching them react to each salary-cut figure like it was a wave crashing over them—honestly, it was hilarious.

In the end, it was decided: a fifty-percent salary cut for ten years. A glorious achievement made possible by the proactive support fire from the Martial Arts and Administration professors.

'How much does this save us?'

I'd been under a lot of stress lately thanks to that damn protagonist and the Building Destroyers—felt like it all melted away at once.

There was one exception: through a very private transaction, I lowered Dean Villend's cut rate. Getting close to him would pay dividends in all sorts of ways. When I tipped him off in secret, the guy practically launched himself into the air, he was so happy.

Anyway, with a song in my heart, I went to the Chairwoman's office to make my report.

"......Huh?"

Gone.

Professor Kirke's absence was only natural, but the Chairwoman, who was supposed to be there, was also nowhere in sight.

This wasn't a simple 'stepped away for a moment' situation—we had agreed to meet right here in her office. And she wasn't the type to break a promise.

I deliberated for a moment.

"There you are."

"............."

"I've found you, Madam Chairwoman."

I located her quickly, sitting on a bench on the rooftop.

She came up here sometimes to gaze out at the academy's grounds. It was off-limits to everyone else, so I used it as my favorite smoking spot too.

But why was she up here?

"The salary-reduction plan has been finalized. Fifty percent for ten years, and over ninety percent for Professor Kirke...... Madam Chairwoman?"

"......Finance Director."

"Madam Chairwoman—don't tell me you've been...... crying?"

Around the eyes of the Chairwoman, hunched small on the bench—

tear tracks were unmistakable.

I stared at her, my face no doubt a picture of bewilderment, until she slowly ducked her head.

"I'm sorry, Finance Director."

"What's this all of a sudden? Did you make another futures trade?"

"Just...... everything. All of it."

Why is she acting like this in broad daylight? It's not even dawn.

I set the documents I'd brought aside and quietly sat down next to her.

"What's going through your mind to make you like this?"

"I'm just such a...... fool."

"Excuse me?"

"If you hadn't been here, I would've bumbled my way past this whole Professor Kirke matter too. Even if not, I never would've resolved it in this form."

"Everyone has different things they can do. You're fulfilling your role perfectly well——"

"Getting fleeced like a pushover, putting on weighty airs by pretending to be an Iron Man, and always, always dumping every single thing on you?"

"............."

Well.

Those are just facts—I couldn't really argue.

"If it's something laid down as a rule, I can enforce it clearly. But this Custom...... in the end, I started it. I did."

"What does that matter?"

"If I'd just been a little smarter, a problem like this would never have arisen in the first place."

Again, not untrue.

She keeps bludgeoning herself with pure facts, so it's awkward trying to console her. What do I do here?

"In the end, I dreamed too big a dream."

"A dream, you say."

"I wished that there would be no more children like the one I once was. I hoped that those who suffer for lack of learning would grow fewer. I knew nothing but swinging my fists and killing people, but still I wanted—desperately—to build this academy."

That was the Chairwoman's dream. One she had already realized, yet now teetered on the edge of collapse.

"I hoped that the hands which had killed could give life instead. I, who had killed, wanted to nurture. To do that, the old Human Butcher couldn't be allowed to exist, so I killed off my own nature by force."

The Chairwoman

spilled out remorse along with her tears.

"At the start, I didn't even want to be the Iron Man. But once I became her, I saw the entire academy was rotting with corruption and bribes. Realizing that couldn't go on, I overturned everything and acted the perfect Iron Man."

"............."

"Whenever I see things that defile my dream, my students, this academy—I want to beat every last one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of them to death. But I can't, can I? I'm the Chairwoman of the Academy now. So, many times, I just let it slide because they were 'family' of the same academy, or I dithered. And in the end, all those problems piled up and piled up until we reached this sorry state."

The Chairwoman was clinging to a wide-brimmed hat—a thing thoroughly unsuited to the martial artist she was.

I'd barely ever seen it myself. I'd heard it was a memento left behind by a mage-comrade from her past.

Clutching it fiercely, the Chairwoman murmured quietly.

"So I'm sorry. It's all my fault—all problems born from my stupidity and incompetence...... and I'm shoving them all onto you."

".........Mm."

"Look at your clothes, Finance Director. Worn out, aren't they? And that fountain pen you were so proud of buying just yesterday—the same. You insist on staying in that dilapidated dormitory because the finance documents can't be leaked—that's the same too."

"I thought as long as we had enough money, there'd be no problem. When I first founded the academy, I believed without a doubt that everything would work out."

"So how did it come to this? I truly wanted to do well. I wanted to be different from who I used to be."

"Even that Custom—it was only because I wanted to lure good professors in and have them start teaching the students, just a little bit faster."

"I'm sorry, Finance Director. I'm sorry, Adam."

"For all of it, all of it, I'm so sorry.........."

.........I had always thought of the Chairwoman as an 8th Rank transcendent, a being beyond mere humanity who had lived well past a century. Her economic sense and management skills might be severely lacking, but still—I'd never imagined this kind of fragility could remain inside her.

Yet, in the end, she was human too. Someone who strove to change, who held a dream, who kept a comrade's memento. And someone who shed tears.

And so.

"Madam Chairwoman—sitting here sniffling like this, what does that change?"

"Finance...... Director?"

"Of course, you are a massive pushover and lack many skills. You've made me want to tear my hair out more times than I can count. When I first took the Finance Director post, the workload was so crushing I genuinely considered fleeing in the dead of night."

"................"

"But are all our current problems solely your fault?"

From this rooftop, the entire sweep of the academy's grounds was visible.

The endless rows of lecture halls and research buildings, the training grounds and duel arenas ringing with cheers, the forests and artificial lakes, the streets bustling with laughing, darting students, the market, the shops—all of it, and more.

Every last inch of this vast, sprawling academy

was built with the Chairwoman's personal fortune.

"It is ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rare to find someone who pours their entire wealth into a dream. Rarer still when it isn't even a way to earn more money but an educational institution."

".........."

"You have always thought of the academy and the students first. That isn't something just anyone can do."

I, for one, could never have done the same as her. I was just an ordinary civil-service-exam hopeful.

Whatever the present outcome, no one had the right to disparage the Chairwoman's dream, her conviction, or her effort.

And that included me.

"Mistakes? You've made them. Errors? Many of them. Problems? A mountain of them left to solve."

"Finance Director.........."

"But this academy—your dream—hasn't gone bankrupt yet. Late as it is, we're both working to do something about it, aren't we?"

She'd even set aside her convictions a little, as with the Professor Alon matter.

And while I at least clocked out and went home, the Chairwoman had effectively taken up residence in her office, living and sleeping there while buried in work.

Of course, she was an 8th Rank transcendent and I was just a 1st Rank, but even so—the fact that she worked almost without rest wasn't exactly normal, was it?

"Whatever happens, we ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠go forward. We run flat-out until our lungs burst. And if we fail after that—only then is it time to cry."

"............."

"As this academy's Finance Director, I'm going to keep working to the end. I'm going to keep your dream from crumbling. I'll keep this academy going...... and then I absolutely, definitely intend to milk it as my lifetime, golden-parachute job."

A lifetime job. The cushy life that comes after resolving the bankruptcy crisis.

Yes, I really do want that. That was my motivation for deciding to take this Finance Director gig seriously in the first place.

But, for some reason—

watching the Chairwoman from up close like this, the one who never lets go of her dream and sees her convictions through to the end...... Mm.

'I don't really know how to put it.'

So, anyway.

Maybe because I'm not used to this kind of thing, I'm not very eloquent.

I just wanted to help the Chairwoman with her dream.

It'd be a shame to just let it shatter like this, you know?

"So, stop crying already. Shouldn't you be receiving the salary-cut report now?"

"......I'm sorry, Finance Director. I'm always so sorry."

"Please stop saying you're sorry. I'm sick of it by now."

"I'm saying sorry because it looks like I'll keep making you suffer. Adam."

At those words, the Chairwoman looked up at me, her tears stopped, wearing a smile bright enough to make me

awkwardly pull a cigarette from my pocket and stick it between my lips. I turned my head away because I found it a little hard to face her.

Embarrassing.

For some reason, it felt ticklish and mortifying.

"Oh? Finance Director? Why won't you look at me?"

"I'm about to smoke. If you come over here, you'll inhale it."

"Look. This hat—doesn't it suit me rather well? I originally bought it for myself, you know, but my comrade snatched it away. Don't you have something you want to say?"

"Yeah, yeah, it looks great on you."

"Shouldn't you at least look at me when you say that? I'll close my eyes. Now, hurry up and look."

"Can't hear you, I'm deaf."

While I burned a precious cigarette and averted my gaze,

the Chairwoman had, before I knew it, reverted to the person I recognized.

Though even this, I suspect, is still a long way from the "original personality" she mentioned.

"Thank you, Finance Director."

"This time it's gratitude?"

"I never had anyone I could talk to about this. We were already comrades in a shared fate, but now we're even more bound together, wouldn't you say?"

"I'm truly honored."

I can't explain why,

but for a while after that, I found it awfully hard to meet the Chairwoman's eyes......