The Scoundrel Professor (1)
"Well, then…"
Kallen stood at the threshold and gave his shabby little one-room lodging one last look.
It had been as good as home to him for years, yet the sight of it now felt nothing short of desolate. A bag stuffed with rumpled clothes, his well-worn canteen, a cross pendant, and a single battered old sword at his hip—that was the sum of everything he owned.
"Whew…"
Letting out a long sigh, Kallen fished around inside his coat and pulled something out. The half of a contract seemed intent on announcing the fast-approaching start of the school term, for it glowed brighter with each passing day.
"Tch."
Scowling, he stuffed the parchment back into his bag, and his gaze drifted to his hip.
"…Damn sword."
The old blade said nothing, silently enduring his resentment.
The sword. That damn sword. That godforsaken sword. In his life, the sword had always been that kind of existence—rejecting him, or grinding him into misery, or dragging him into some absurd fate he never asked for. It was all the sword's fault. The fact that he'd been reduced to a bottom-feeding drunk. The fact that he was drowning in debt with no way out. And now, the fact that he was about to play professor—a job he'd never dreamed of in his life.
That the subject he'd be teaching at Elysion, of all things, happened to be swordsmanship was a bitter irony almost too exquisite to bear.
"Haa…"
Having glared at the worthless blade for a good while, Kallen finally exhaled and muttered to himself.
"…You know what? This might actually be for the best."
In for a penny, in for a pound—he had no choice but to look on the bright side. The truth was, he'd been feeling the squeeze of his growing debt with every passing day. It had gotten so bad that, having run out of anywhere else to borrow, he'd been on the verge of reaching out to Baron Todd, the notorious brothel keeper of the red-light district.
In that light, Talisa's offer had certainly sounded impossible to refuse. A professorship at Elysion came with a hefty salary, not to mention perks like priority exploration rights to dimensional rifts and dungeons. Every single one of them was something the current Kallen badly needed—that went without saying.
The only thing that gnawed at him was that he had not the faintest idea what scheme lay behind that serpent's whim of stuffing a brothel deadbeat into a professor's chair.
"…That damn old snake."
He voiced his grievance once more, but there was no undoing it now. Putting the lectures out of his mind and milking a professor's privileges for all they were worth—that, for now, was the only revenge Kallen could manage. He already had the headmistress's promise on record, so his conscience was clear on that front. Thinking of the budding young students under his charge made him feel a little guilty, but then, that was simply how the world worked.
"Honestly, they're probably better off studying on their own than learning anything from the likes of me…"
So murmured Kallen with a dry snort.
Zzzt— A strange tremor flickered at the tip of his right hand, then raced up his arm as if to spread through his whole body. Kallen, long since used to it, unscrewed his canteen and took a light swig. Then he cast one final glance around the empty room, turned, and spoke quietly.
"…Let's go."
His figure, weaving down the stairs, looked for all the world like a drunkard who'd been hitting the bottle since noon.
"Huh?"
It was in front of the brothel that Kallen ran into some unexpected, familiar faces.
A cluster of girls, their youth unmistakable, stood huddled together with travel bags in hand, chattering among themselves. As Kallen's face twisted in alarm, one of them thrust her hand into the air and called out cheerfully.
"Kallen, big brother!"
"Huh?"
"It really is him!!"
The girls swarmed to his side in an instant, and like a flock of hungry chicks they began chattering all at once.
"We told you to wake up early!"
"Do you know how long we've been waiting?"
"Why are you only coming out now?"
"Whoa, whoa—have you all lost your minds?"
At the sight of them, Kallen's face went pale and his eyes bulged.
"Do you not know there's a curfew at this hour? What if that toad finds out? Get back inside, all of you. Now."
"It's fine, big brother."
Strangely enough, despite his frantic state, the girls only shook their heads with easygoing calm.
"Baron Todd got dragged off by the guards. They're closing the brothel down."
"What? Who got arrested?"
"Yesterday was absolute chaos, I'm telling you. Soldiers in armor swarmed in and smashed everything to pieces—"
"Of course you didn't know, big brother. You were drunk asleep again, weren't you?"
"The noble lady who came with them paid off all our debts too! Told us to go home and even handed out silver coins to each of us…"
"A noble lady…?"
"She was really pretty, wasn't she?"
"Yeah. Deep purple hair… and her face was like a prickly little cat…"
Leaving Kallen standing there in a daze, the girls had already dissolved back into their own gossip. And it was only then that Kallen finally understood the true nature of the 'small gift' Talisa had mentioned.
"…Heh."
A hollow laugh escaped him despite himself. Truly befitting an aged fox—she had a masterful talent for seeing straight through people.
Staring blankly at the girls as they giggled, Kallen at last spoke, dumbfounded.
"…Well, good for you. But what were you doing hanging around here? If you've been set free, why didn't you scurry off the moment you could?"
"What do you mean, what were we doing? Waiting for you, obviously."
"We couldn't just leave without saying goodbye."
"You're the one who saved us, big brother…"
"What? Forget the farewells, they're pointless—just hurry up and get los—"
"We heard from the noble lady! She said you found a good job too!"
"Live honestly from now on. Quit drinking in the daytime, and go easy on the drunken rants."
"And shave that beard! You look like a proper old man because of it. I don't get it—you've got such a handsome face, why do you do this to yourself?"
One by one, they threw their arms around him and fired off their scolding. Even Kallen, who'd been wearing a scowl the whole time, eventually cracked a smile and burst out shouting.
"Quiet, you brats! You worry about keeping your own heads straight first. Don't go falling into the hands of any more slavers, you hear me?"
"Eee, he's getting all embarrassed and angry again!"
"Big brother, your face is turning red!"
"Live well, Kallen, big brother!"
All they did was giggle and wave.
"Good grief…"
Feeling as though a storm had just swept over him, Kallen paused to catch his breath. Then, from the back of the group, where she had hung far away from the others, a girl with an unusually shy face stepped forward at last. She twiddled her fingers in front of him, then steeled herself and opened her mouth.
"…Big brother, can't I come with you?"
"What?"
"I—I'm good at cooking… and cleaning… and, um… and…"
Her cheeks flushed crimson, the girl averted her eyes and murmured as if to herself.
"…Thanks to you, I'm still… untouched…"
"…"
On her face, the innocent bloom of a first love was laid utterly bare. For a moment, Kallen's eyes went cloudy. His gaze seemed to be looking not at the scene before him, but at something lingering far beyond it.
But he quickly recovered his focus and let out a soft laugh. Then, without warning, he delivered a sharp smack to her backside and bellowed.
"You little minx! Barely weaned and already this shameless!"
"Hyiit…! B-big brother…!"
The pain lit her eyes up with stars, and she leapt clean off the ground, blinking back sudden tears. Rubbing her backside, she shot Kallen a look of deep reproach.
"You tangle yourself up with a man like me, you'll end up in real trouble. Got it?"
Kallen paid her grievance no mind whatsoever, casually squaring his shoulders.
"You take your chances when they come, that's all. Didn't you say your dream is to study hard and get into the Academy? Find yourself some green, sheltered young lordling there someday and put a ring on him."
"Meeeaaan…"
At his teasing refusal, the girl's lips pushed out into a full pout—but it didn't last. Before long she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug like the others had, and murmured in a somewhat subdued voice.
"Don't talk about yourself like that. You're… a good person, big brother."
"Yeah, yeah. Thanks."
Kallen chuckled and gave her shoulder a pat as she pulled away. Still visibly unsatisfied, the girl looked up at him and said with a pout.
"You're going to regret turning me down someday. And by then it'll be too late?"
"Sure. Go on and make me bleed tears for it."
"Hmph."
Sticking her tongue out at him, the girl ran off after the others toward the far end of the alley. Halfway there she spun around, waved at Kallen one more time, and shouted.
"You have to live well, big brother!"
"…"
At his silent wave, she seemed finally reassured; she smiled, then turned and was gone. Kallen stood staring blankly at the spot where she'd vanished, until from behind him the slow clip-clop of hooves began drawing closer.
Then an elegant black carriage drawn by two horses came to a stop precisely in front of him.
"Carriage bound for Caliburn. Would that gentleman be the one called Kallen?"
"…That'd be me."
Kallen nodded and boarded without another word. The carriage soon turned northwest and pulled away, shrinking into the distance until it vanished entirely. In the back alley of Kroghall, abandoned by everyone, only a suffocating silence settled in.
"Welcome to Caliburn—the most livable fiefdom in the Empire."
At the end of a long journey. Stepping down from the carriage to the sound of that hackneyed greeting, Kallen couldn't help but let a gasp escape him.
"Whoa…"
Caliburn was a fief as serene as a cradle. The Talaran Mountains, piercing the clouds in their lofty heights, wrapped the territory gently on all sides like curtains of sheer rock face. Along the river that cut through the heart of the bustling town, white-sailed ships glided back and forth, ferrying goods without pause. In his travels he had seen plenty of fine vistas, but even for him, scenery of this caliber was a rare experience.
"…"
It was unquestionably his first time setting foot here, and yet a strange sentiment was quietly welling up in Kallen's chest. As if to shake off the pointless thought, he shook his head and turned to take in more of the surrounding view.
That was when an odd, out-of-place structure—standing alone atop a low stretch of the mountains just beyond the fief's edge—caught his eye in an instant. Kallen knew at once what it was. A mystic fortress hidden in the mists of the mountains, the bulwark of humanity that had produced emperors, kings, and heroes without number; the cradle of learning that drew in intellect after intellect. The alma mater of his forebear, the Sword Saint—and the place where Kallen himself would work for the next year.
That place was Elysion Academy.
"…It's smaller than I expected, though."
He was still murmuring idly to himself when—
"More like a fortress than an academy, somehow…"
"A fortress is exactly what it is."
At that oddly familiar voice, a shadow fell abruptly across Kallen's back. Before he knew it, a hulking figure clad in imposing black armor and a dark cape had walked up and was standing tall, looking down at him. Kallen recognized the man at once—he had crossed swords with him before. Taking in the man's face, he raised an eyebrow slightly and spoke.
"The Caliburn Guard, was it?"
"Apologies for the late introduction."
The rugged-faced man nodded, laughing heartily in a way that seemed to fit him surprisingly ill.
"Fabian, captain of the Guard."