Teachers
“Is this really the right way to do it?”
I had set aside my sword for a pen, determined to review what we had covered in class that day, but it was nowhere near as easy as I had expected.
I was reasonably sure I was not the stupid type. If I had been, I never would have survived by taking the countless books I had read in the Demon World Forest and applying them in real life.
This, however, was a completely different kind of problem.
I simply lacked the fundamentals.
Having enrolled starting in the third year, I was missing the first- and second-year foundations, so even when I read the material I could not properly grasp what it was saying. Chasing down terminology, I found myself swimming upstream like a salmon, tumbling all the way from the third-year textbook back to the first-year one.
Ha. I’m definitely not the dumb type…
In the middle of stuffing knowledge into my head while feeling unreasonably stupid about myself, the door rattled open and Tana and Eve walked straight in.
Wait—this is the boys’ floor. How are they just strolling in and out like this?
“Daniel! Where are you going?”
“No matter how I think about it, Vatian is the best, right? We could go see the cathedral!”
“What are we supposed to do at a cathedral? Pray? That’s boring! It’s the third-year field trip—we should go somewhere at least a little exciting! If we head to the Taeman Highlands we can ride horses across the open plains and feel the great outdoors!”
They barged into my room and immediately started arguing. The two of them rarely disagreed, so I was wondering what this was about when they both turned to look at me.
“Where do you want to go? It’s one-to-one, so you’re the deciding vote!”
“Think carefully and wisely!”
“…What are you two even talking about?”
I was drowning in studying and these two were babbling about something else entirely. Eve held out a sheet of paper, and I read the large printed text aloud.
“Third- and fourth-year field trip…?”
Ah. The external educational activity meant to give students experiences and culture beyond just studying at the academy.
That was the official purpose, but to put it bluntly it was basically just the students going on a trip together to have fun.
“That’s not exactly my biggest concern right now.”
I pushed the paper aside and sighed. The two of them glanced at my desk, then started trying to hold back laughter.
“Pfft—Daniel, did you get scolded for bad magic theory grades?”
“See? I told you we should study together.”
“Haah. I thought I could just cover it with practicals.”
Normally my practical scores were so outstanding that even a rock-bottom magic theory grade would not have been a real problem. Ares did the same thing—covering theory subjects with raw combat ability.
The issue was my attendance record, plus the fact that professors and parents had started complaining. Being merely “good at practicals” was no longer enough to skate by.
“Let me see. Hmm… you’re looking at first-year material?”
Eve’s expression was pure disbelief. I made excuses about hunting down terminology and simple formulas, then sighed again.
“Now that you know, get out. I have to study. Decide the trip yourselves.”
I might not even be able to go if I get expelled.
“That’s a little inconvenient. Hmm… Daniel, come here. I’ll teach you.”
Eve pulled out a folding table and plopped down on the floor. Tana, clearly not interested in studying, scowled and immediately turned away.
“I-I’ve got something to do real quick!”
She kicked the door open and fled. Eve made no move to stop her. Her target was locked firmly on me.
“Shall we begin? Which part don’t you understand?”
“…From here.”
It was a little embarrassing, but putting on airs and pretending otherwise would have been even stupider. Eve was weak in practicals but strong in written exams, so I honestly asked for her help.
“Ah, from here? Don’t worry, Student Daniel.”
“Ha—student?”
“Ahem. Don’t interrupt the teacher.”
Eve pushed her glasses up slightly, looking thoroughly pleased with herself. Watching her grin so happily, I decided to just play along and picked up my pen.
“Daniel, I heard you were studying, so I brought snacks.”
Rin rattled the dorm door open with a smile. At this point it no longer mattered whether this was a private apartment or the boys’ floor of the dormitory.
I kept scribbling diligently and thanked her—then felt a sudden chill from behind.
“But who’s this?”
Her eyes lost focus the moment she spotted Sen lying on my bed, munching on snacks.
“She just barged in saying she was going to supervise whether I was studying properly.”
For the record, Sen had not used the door. She had climbed in through the window. Still holding a snack in her mouth, she made a V-sign with her fingers, radiating pure shamelessness.
The excuse seemed to work well enough. Rin paused for a moment, then gave me a bright smile.
“Eat the sandwich. And I’ll help you study a bit. Magic theory, right?”
Eve had already taught me that morning; apparently the afternoon belonged to Rin. With Adrina the witch having left the school, third-year magic theory was essentially Rin’s personal stage. Her magical talent and skill were at a level even the principal coveted.
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
Having already learned from Eve how valuable a real teacher could be, I asked without much hesitation. Rin seemed surprised I accepted so easily at first, but then—
“Okay!”
—she beamed and nodded vigorously. I was the one receiving the lesson, so why was she happier about it? Then she scooted much closer than expected.
“Alright, where are you?”
“…Isn’t that a little too close?”
With Eve I had needed some distance because her figure was far too voluptuous for an eighteen-year-old, but Rin was different. I had thought sitting side by side would be fine—yet she was practically glued to me.
“I have to if I’m going to teach. My eyes aren’t that good, you know.”
“Your eyes aren’t good?”
This was the same girl who used to watch everything I did through my house window from the hill at the edge of the village, and now she claimed she could not see at this distance?
“Daniel, you shouldn’t doubt your professor. Looks like you need private tutoring.”
It sounded strangely suggestive, so I just told her to hurry up and study. Rin looked a little disappointed but still refused to move back, continuing the lesson pressed against me.
She really was first in third-year magic theory; even the hard parts she explained with ease.
“…Teach me too.”
Sen, who had been lying on the bed watching us, quietly slid over to my other side.
I could only snort.
“A girl who lives off practicals wants to teach me what, exactly?”
Sen was the classic same type as me and Ares—all-in on practicals, scraping by with just enough written scores. She flipped through my textbook a few times but clearly was not understanding any of it.
“Forget it. Go eat your snacks, kid.”
A seventeen-year-old trying to teach a twenty-eight-year-old? Ten years I could accept. Eleven I would not.
I said it with deliberate arrogance. Sen’s face twisted in irritation and she retreated to the bed again.
Thwack!
A pillow smacked the back of my head, and the sauce from the sandwich I was eating splattered all over my face.
“…Hey.”
“Bleh.”
With a completely blank expression she stuck her tongue out and immediately fled through the window.
That little…
I sighed and looked around for something to wipe with. Rin pulled out a handkerchief and gently cleaned my face.
“I-I’ll do it.”
“No, stay still.”
She smiled softly as she wiped the sauce away. I offered to wash the handkerchief for her, but she said it was fine and took it back herself.
Moments like this showed the side of her that had once been the first love of every boy in the village.
Even Ares fell for her, after all.
Thinking about it, wasn’t Rin even more impressive than Ares? Both of them were popular with the opposite sex, yet Ares liked Rin. Didn’t that make Rin one step above him?
Just as the thought crossed my mind, a finger poked firmly into my cheek.
“Student Daniel, you need to focus.”
Rin smiled playfully. My heart skipped a beat before I could stop it, but I pretended not to notice and hurriedly suggested we get back to studying.
“Daniel! My husband! I’m here to help!”
A voice that stabbed straight into the eardrums. True to her delinquent reputation, even her projection was on another level.
May Flove barged into my room holding a workbook—and immediately looked bewildered.
I had no idea what she had been planning, but the “pajamas” she was wearing were rather revealing. If it had just been the two of us, things could have gotten dangerous.
“What the hell? Why are there so many people?”
Still looking dazed, May pointed at the maid Bertia who was currently teaching me.
“Why is this lady teaching you?”
“Apparently she mastered all sorts of subjects in order to teach Elise. She’s actually really good at it.”
“You flatter me.”
Elise’s identity as a princess was secret, so Bertia was posing as a simple servant, but as the person responsible for a princess’s education she was naturally top-tier in magic theory as well. The biggest difference from Eve or Rin was that she actually knew how to teach. Those two were specialized in learning, so absorbing from them had been easy; now it felt like I was chewing on the foundation they had given me with the food Bertia provided.
“And what are those two doing?”
I pointed at Hayun and Elise sitting neatly on my bed, facing each other. Elise answered for them.
“Isn’t it only natural that I, Bertia’s master, would be here?”
“I came to help Daniel study too, but it didn’t look like he needed it.”
May eyed the two of them skeptically.
“So you’re playing cards on Daniel’s bed?”
“…It’s more fun than I expected.”
Hayun looked a little embarrassed and averted her eyes, but Elise confidently shuffled the cards and invited May.
“Would you like to join?”
“Hah.”
May glanced at me once, then quietly sat down next to Hayun.
“What game are we playing?”
“Can’t you all just leave?”
I was trying to study and these people were just hanging out.
Had I not said it already?
I am not that stupid.
Looking at the specially prepared exam paper where every single question had been marked correct, I proudly raised my nose. The principal even gave me a short round of applause, calling it impressive.
“So… no expulsion now, right?”
“Yeah, no expulsion… no expulsion.”
“No expulsion…?”
Something felt off.
The principal pressed his temples as if a headache was coming on and sighed.
“Lately we’ve been getting a ton of complaints from the male students.”
“…Excuse me?”
A cold sense of dread rose from my heels and smacked me in the back of the head.
“The professors held a meeting and decided to strengthen surveillance of the boys’ and girls’ dorms, and that students who are degrading the academy’s morals need a sharp disciplinary measure.”
“Wait, hang on—”
I was the victim here. What was I supposed to do when they just kept barging in on their own?
“I get how you feel, but this is like a pilot run, so we’re only punishing one person each. One third-year, one fourth-year.”
“…”
“Besides, you proved your magic theory grades, but your attendance is still short, so…”
Looking at my hollow expression, the principal apologized as he delivered the verdict.
“For this field trip… I’m afraid you’ll have to sit it out.”