Combat Practice Professor Jon Hayton
Combat Practice Supervisor, Professor Jon Hayton
“Yeah, yeah, I’m telling you it’s real!”
“Near the dorms?”
“Yeah! He was wearing some kind of mask…”
The classroom felt noisier than usual the moment I walked in.
“But he was in a cadet uniform?”
“Yeah. The weird part is, he looked all blurry somehow.”
“What is that supposed to mean? Some kind of suspicious stranger?”
“You just said it was an Academy cadet.”
Looks like the girl I ran into last night had already started spreading rumors.
Well, my identity hadn’t been exposed, so it was fine.
No—wait. What if someone digs into the fact that I bought a whole pile of cat masks at the store…
The thought crossed my mind that I could get caught that way. But what idle freeloader would go that far?
Besides, thanks to the perception-interference magic, they probably hadn’t even properly seen that it was a cat mask.
If something had been stolen, someone might investigate. But all I’d done was check a letter. I’d put everything back exactly the way it was, so even the post office staff wouldn’t notice anything off.
I’d been especially careful, half-hoping that if word got out about an intrusion at the post office, Leo might cancel the duel challenge. The duke who was supposed to receive that letter couldn’t be allowed to sense anything strange, so I’d opened it without leaving a trace and only confirmed the contents.
I hadn’t changed or disturbed a single thing.
Rather than wrecking Leo’s plan, it was better to pretend I knew nothing and make use of it.
What I needed to watch carefully from here on were the remaining materials listed in the letter—everything except that potion.
I let those thoughts churn while first period slipped by. The next class was combat practice.
The entire class headed for the training grounds.
And what greeted us there was a man sprawled across a chair in the middle of the grounds, snoring away.
Combat practice professor, Jon Hayton.
If I had to sum him up in a single word: a good-for-nothing layabout.
Judging purely by his everyday behavior, it was hard to believe he’d ever become an Academy professor. Honestly, if it weren’t for the skill he occasionally displayed, I’d have suspected some shady connection to the headmaster.
“Hwaaah… Everyone here? Self-study today.”
His voice was thick with pure, undiluted laziness.
…Self-study “again” today, Professor.
Some professors—like the magic instructor—taught diligently right up to the end of the year. Others, like the man in front of me, figured the school year was almost over anyway and just told everyone to amuse themselves while they killed time.
Anyway: a combat practice class that used the training grounds, plus a professor who assigned self-study every single session. It was the perfect period for a duel.
Leo had known that when he suggested we settle things during combat practice.
I turned my head and met Leo’s eyes—he’d already been looking at me. Both of us grimaced at the same time, then started toward the professor, who was already trying to cover his face with his hat for another nap.
“Professor.”
Jon Hayton cracked one eye open at the sound of footsteps.
“Hn? What do you two want?”
“We wish to request a duel.”
Leo spoke. At those words, the professor who had looked ready to die of boredom a second earlier shot upright.
That was Jon Hayton’s bad habit. He treated everything else like an enormous chore, but the moment something interesting appeared—especially something that looked like it would put someone in a tight spot—his interest flared to life.
“Oho, a duel. Perfect timing. I was getting bored.”
You’re bored because you never teach, you know.
“Fine, approved. Wait here while I grab the application form.”
With that, he vanished from my field of vision in an instant—before I could even finish saying “Professor, wait—”
He hadn’t even asked why we were dueling. He was just going to approve it like that?
I stared after him, dumbfounded. From beside me came Leo’s sneering voice.
“What, getting cold feet all of a sudden? You idiot.”
“Whether you’re the idiot or I am, the result will decide.”
I answered flatly—then froze for a split second.
Wait. That wasn’t a flag just now, was it?
Leo laughed.
“Hah. How cringeworthy. You should’ve become a clown instead of a swordsman.”
While we were busy sniping at each other, the professor reappeared just as suddenly as he’d left, application form in hand.
“Here, fill it out already! Scribble something down and let’s get straight to the duel—”
His impatient urging made me look even more incredulous. Leo, meanwhile, looked genuinely flustered.
“Uh, P-Professor? We’d already agreed to hold the duel during the next combat practice session…”
Leo stammered. I let one corner of my mouth curl up and answered in the most irritating tone I could manage.
“I don’t mind doing it right now, though?”
Of course actually fighting today was impossible. Watching Leo panic was entertaining enough on its own.
Still—what was Professor Jon thinking, trying to start a duel immediately?
“Ah, th-that’s… Professor, we still have to arrange a faculty observer, and, uh, get permission from higher up… don’t we…?”
Leo’s rambling left the professor looking thoroughly deflated.
“Right, that was a thing. Completely slipped my mind.”
You forgot?!
“Well, damn. Shame. Anyway, so the duel’s next combat practice period?”
Leo’s face flooded with relief. We started filling out the form—date and time, reason, stakes, and so on. Leo wrote that I had insulted him and the rest of the party. I wrote the exact opposite.
Truth didn’t matter. The winner’s version would become the truth.
We handed the completed application to the professor. Since the duel wasn’t happening right away, the man who had been so interested a moment ago was already sprawling out and closing his eyes again.
I gave him a faintly pitying look and walked off. Just standing near that bastard Leo was enough to make my skin crawl.
I headed for a quiet corner of the training grounds and sank back into thought.
Swarlin Parchment, mana ink, alchemical solvent…
No matter how hard I racked my brain, nothing in my knowledge told me what they were for.
In the past I probably would have just asked Veronica. She acted like an idiot most of the time, but she was still the successor chosen by the master of the Red Magic Tower. When it came to magic, she would definitely know.
Speak of the devil—or rather, think of the devil—and she appears. I hadn’t even said her name out loud, only thought it, yet Veronica materialized right in front of me.
My mood soured instantly. I tried to leave. I had no desire to fight her again and drain myself the way I had last time.
“Hey, Louis! Where do you think you’re going!”
Veronica clearly had other plans. She shouted after me. I turned and glared at her with my face twisted in open irritation. She flinched—then jabbed a finger at me and yelled anyway.
“Apologize for hitting me yesterday!”
She said it with such pure, unshakable confidence that for a second I actually wondered whether I was the one who ought to apologize.
“Haa… Still stuck on the apology? Get lost.”
When she showed no sign of vanishing, I simply started walking again. Fine. I’d be the one to disappear.
“W-Wait! Listen to me until the end!”
Her high-handed tone still grated. But whether I liked it or not, Veronica barreled on with her speech.
“You’re going to duel Leo, right? Last time he lost to you and now he’s the one challenging you first—doesn’t that seem weird?”
She was spelling out the obvious.
“It’s crystal clear that Leo has some underhanded scheme!”
She gave me a look that said, Bet you didn’t think of that, huh?
“So what.”
My lack of reaction made her voice turn urgent.
“So! If you just apologize to me, I’ll dig up Leo’s real plan and tell you everything! A-And… I’ll apologize too…”
The last part trailed off so quietly I almost missed it, but I understood perfectly well.
If I swallowed my pride, bowed my head, and apologized, she would tell me Leo’s scheme.
Typical of her to cling to her pride until the bitter end. She spent all her time tearing me down, yet the moment she got hit she acted like the world’s greatest victim.
“No.”
I answered simply.
“Yeah, that’s more like it! Heh, hurry up and apologize—wait. What did you say?”
Veronica’s face said she must have misheard. She froze solid, as if this particular scenario had never even crossed her mind.
The “scheme” she was offering to uncover was something I’d already confirmed last night. More than that, I planned to keep watching him with the new item I’d obtained right up until the duel.
Accepting her offer would have been the safer route, sure. But I had zero desire to bow my head to her, and more importantly I couldn’t trust her.
I could have asked her about the three materials listed in the letter, but I had another option now. There was someone else I could ask besides Veronica.
I was still the Academy’s official loner, but I’d recently gotten close to one person. She was the student council president—and a senior. She’d probably know.
“If that’s everything you wanted to say…”
I almost told her to get lost, then decided it was easier to just leave myself. She never listened to anyone else anyway.
Behind me Veronica called my name in a sudden panic, but I was already heading back toward a quiet corner of the training grounds, looking for a place to bury myself.