Homework Inspection Time
Looking back, I'd been a bit rough with Lulua from the start. She didn't seem to mind, but honestly, I'd been harboring this nagging unease in my heart the whole time. Why, though? I couldn't quite figure it out. Why had I singled her out like that?
I always kept the closest eye on Sion. With Alrun, I'd scold her now and then but handle her delicately. I'd hype Irina up just enough to cheer her mood, and rein Zigrinde in without crossing the line. All those little maneuvers—they were because everyone had their cracks somewhere. I was just using my head to avoid poking at them. I'd read about it in the original story, and I'd seen it with my own eyes too. Of course I'd tread carefully.
But if I thought about it that way, a reason did start to emerge. Lulua? She didn't have any cracks.
According to what the headmaster told me, killing the Demon King had tangled up her life a bit. So I'd ended up hiring her without knowing her past or her personality properly. Without knowing where the cracks were, there was nothing to be careful about. So I just treated her like normal. And out popped my old habits—grabbing her by the scruff, making her fetch the chandelier...
Come to think of it, all that was no different from how I'd bossed around the rookies I briefly teamed up with back under Lord Raval's command.
...Ah.
Now I got it. I hadn't been professor-ing Lulua at all. I'd just been senior-ing her like it was nothing. Sigh. And then I'd gone on about respecting her privacy while beating around the bush about Galgamau. Respect my ass. Time for some self-reflection.
So I wondered how she felt about me suddenly showing her this kindness. As someone who struggled to pour genuine emotion into things like this, I had no idea if she'd even take it properly. But whatever, I respected her decision. If she wanted to stay with Galgamau, fine. If she wanted to become my student, that too. For now, that was my mindset as I shoveled down the curry.
But Lulua, who had been quietly eating her curry, let her lips tremble with a faint gasp.
"Professor, I..."
"Yeah."
"Since things have turned out like this, it's for the best. Could you perhaps check my homework from yesterday?"
For context, I hadn't assigned any homework yesterday. All I'd done was show up at work, see all the students gathered, and get dragged off by Sion on my way out. For her to bring up something so out of left field meant she was aware of any bugs that might be planted here—ones that would raise suspicion if removed right away.
Well played.
"Let's see it."
So I took the notebook she pulled out and flipped it open. Lulua picked up her pen and wrote.
After the audience at the Imperial Palace, I received orders to submit detailed surveillance reports on Sir Joseph.
......
Isaac, that emperor bastard. Not an easy one. He'd acted like he'd give up his liver and gall at the audience, even putting Lord Raval on the front lines. But behind the scenes, he'd pulled this stunt. Not knowing about it would've been weirder. I'd been around this game for years. I figured as much. I'd even braced myself for it.
So without a flicker of reaction, I filled in the line right below hers.
I knew it.
Her eyes went wide, but she kept writing as if there was more to say.
However, this is an additional mission. There was an original mission separately.
Is that so... I figured there might be something like that.
Surveillance of Sion Lagrange.
But the moment that came up, my gaze got sucked in like an ant into an antlion pit, unable to pull away. I'd suspected as much. So it was that. Confirmed. The target of checks and surveillance was House Lagrange as a whole. Even if Sion was young and inexperienced, she'd already been placed on the same level as me and Lord Raval.
I wavered for less than a second, but Lulua must've caught it. Sure enough, what she wrote next was an inner voice I really didn't want to acknowledge.
You're not even blinking at me doing this, but you finally waver a bit when Duchess Sion comes up.
I neither affirmed nor denied it. No need. So I wrote:
Thank you for telling me, Student Lulua.
Please keep doing what you've been doing. Both on me and on Sion. Don't change a thing. Just stay in place.
Thud.
"......"
I closed the notebook and handed it back to her.
"Good homework. This level should be fine next time too."
"Ah... I see. Thank you."
"Looks like we're both done eating anyway. Shall we call it and head out?"
No point dragging the conversation further here—I couldn't learn anything more. So I ended it there.
"Then I'll head out first, Professor."
"...I'll give you a proper assignment evaluation soon. You've got good progress, so I'll try to provide something new and satisfactory."
She gave me a light nod, adjusted her glasses, and her steps looked truly light. But at the fact that Lulua had mustered the courage to confess...
I stared out the window, unsure how to react. The rain seemed about to stop, but the downpour in my heart felt like it was only getting heavier.
Sion's surveillance started before my audience. And it was more important than me.
What that meant was clear: the emperor despised House Lagrange and was keeping them in check. So my little stunt with the Imperial Inspection Corps was just a tiny variable teetering on that boundary line.
Fuck, everything from one to ten is a goddamn mess...
Ding, ding, ding—
Right on cue, the bell rang loudly for the next class. I hurriedly tied my tie and slipped out like Lulua had.
After school. Tie loosened, deep in thought in my office, when a sharp knock echoed.
Knock knock knock.
"What the— I marked myself out for the day."
How many times had the door been knocked on today? I'd told Sion she could come anytime, but the timing sucked right now.
Before I could say it was fine, the door creaked open slightly, and a face peeked in. White hair. Purple eyes.
"Sion...?"
"Knew it."
"Ah, Lord Raval...!"
Pfft.
"Lord? Sounds nice."
"—N-no, forget I said that, Lord Raval. More importantly, what brings you here?!"
"Thought I'd catch you at the professor quarters, but you weren't there long past quitting time. Figured you might be in the office, so I dropped by. Lucky guess."
As expected from someone who popped up unannounced everywhere, just like before. He always appeared without a sound. His unique one-armed attire was the same, but today something was different. On his shoulder gleamed the insignia of the Inspection Corps chief—elaborate gold embroidery that, despite being new, suited him perfectly.
But the irritation I'd felt if it were another student melted into tension the moment I saw his face. Every muscle from my eyeballs to my sphincter clenched tight.
Why? Because he might've come to chew me out.
Going to the emperor on my own, setting up the Inspection Corps without consulting...
It all needed the emperor's approval, sure. But that didn't change what I'd done. I was in for a scolding. And at this awkward timing!
So I steeled myself. Neatly hung my coat on the desk, tried to strike a proper posture.
"Still working hard, I see."
But Lord Raval didn't. He just glanced around the office—Nicer than I thought. Total opposite of your place—like some uncle chatting casually.
Drag.
He pulled out the chair in front of my flustered self—the one Sion had sat in today—and sat in silence.
"...Listen."
Silence. A long, heavy quiet. But what Lord Raval finally said was beyond anything I'd imagined.
"—As the director of the Inspection Corps you created, I've chosen our first investigation target."
...Huh?
"Orlan. Makes sense when you think about it."
What the hell. I didn't get a single bit. I'd braced for a tongue-lashing, but instead he skipped all that and came to tell me the first target?
Why? And Orlan, of all people?
"Alrun's...?"
"Idiot. Not her, of course. Her father, Count Orlan."
Truth be told, it was something I'd thought myself. If we were setting up an Inspection Corps to chase shadowy villains of dubious existence, we could always pin it on someone if there was nothing. And no house fit the bill like Orlan's— I'd mused exactly that once.
But hearing it from Lord Raval's mouth, before I'd even brought it up...
"There's a rational reason. Want to hear it?"
Rational reason or not, that name still made my teeth grind. How could I not approve of screwing him over?
...Fuck yeah, of course, bro.