CHAPTER 139
CHAPTER 139
Color Swap.
Idnia was worried about the disappearance of the auditing students, but the other students thought differently.
“They wouldn’t bother coming to attend a lecture by a Blue Tower mage anyway.”
“Well, only if it’s worth watching.”
As was the case anywhere, at Dunaise Academy, regular professors and part-time lecturers were on completely different levels. Moreover, didn’t Lecturer Nibles look too much like Gibles?
“Uh, is it okay for a Blue Tower mage to work as a lecturer at the academy?”
The students asked Lecturer Nibles.
“Baroness Vilem and Professor Deneuve both hold Blue Tower licenses.”
“Ah.”
The students of Dunaise Academy accepted it.
“There’s no reason for a regular professor at Dunaise Academy to flaunt a Blue Tower license….”
“This person is only a part-time lecturer, so he’s probably emphasizing things like his Blue Tower license or his Diamond rank in the Adventurers’ Guild.”
“He looks like a fat weasel.”
“Let’s just remember him as Nibles the weasel. There are plenty of other adventurers with Diamond rank anyway, so rather than Diamond’s Nibles….”
The students had already decided on his nickname.
“Alright, then let’s begin the class. You’ve all already learned basic detection magic, right? Dormitory head!”
“Yes?”
Idnia was startled by Lecturer Nibles calling her and stood up.
“Have the Euros students learned basic detection magic?”
“I do not have a grasp of each individual’s progress.”
“Isn’t it the dormitory head’s job to know that?”
At first glance it sounded reasonable, but it was nonsense. Was a class representative supposed to know the learning progress of every student?
Idnia began to feel irritated, but she controlled her expression and, since she had stood up anyway, turned to look at the dorm students.
They all seemed confused.
“If that’s the case, I’ll check now. Students who cannot use basic detection magic….”
“Hey now. We’re supposed to be holding a class here, so wouldn’t checking now disrupt class time?”
“Then what do you suggest?”
“You should apologize to me. If Idnia Katze Betelgeuse, the daughter of Duke Betelgeuse, who bears the responsibility of being dormitory head, admits that she has fallen short in preparing for class and apologizes to me, Nibles of Diamond, I will let this pass without penalty.”
Just as one would expect from a palette swap of Gibles, while Gibles was obsessed with bestowing favors upon students, Nibles was obsessed with receiving apologies.
In the end, this man intended to satisfy his vulgar desire by receiving an apology from someone of noble status like Idnia, the duke’s daughter of Betelgeuse.
“No, I mean, in the original, you get killed by Idnia.”
For a brief moment, Idnia was seized by the impulse to follow the original story.
In the original, Nibles also tried to extract forced apologies from the villainess Idnia and the saint candidate Marie in this manner, and Idnia would respond with a light, smiling apology.
But afterward, Nibles was found murdered by assassins in the academy-affiliated town of Black Cow.
“In the original, should I be placing an assassination request through the Scarlet Pimpernel? I can’t do something like that. But we’ve already deviated quite a bit from the original so far… maybe it wouldn’t hurt to follow the original here at least once….”
Idnia suppressed the urge to follow the original and smiled at Nibles.
“So you’re asking me to apologize while staking my family name?”
The students began to murmur.
Demanding an apology while staking one’s family name was no trivial matter.
Even for a mere gentry family, asking for an apology under the family name would only be possible in cases like murder. And yet he was demanding it not from another family, but from an elector house?
Even Nibles stepped back here.
“No, I didn’t say to stake your family name… just a light apology, that’s all.”
At that moment, someone suddenly stood up.
Surprisingly, it was Marie.
Though she showed visible fear and anxiety she could not hide, she rose to her feet.
“I-I can use basic detection magic!”
“Hmm?”
Starting with her, the dorm students began standing up one by one.
“I can use it.”
“I can too!”
All the Euros dorm students stood up.
“……”
Idnia looked at the scene and felt deeply moved.
“This is like Dead Poets Society. Even Sedia Aspinal’s group stood up.”
She felt especially grateful to Marie, who had been the first to stand and lead the atmosphere. Thanks to her stepping forward first, the other students were able to follow.
“As you can see, all Euros students are capable of detection magic. I apologize for taking up class time, so let’s proceed with the lesson.”
“Hm. Ah, understood.”
Seeing how respected Idnia was among Euros, Nibles did not dare argue further and began the class properly.
“Detection magic is often looked down upon as a beginner-level magic, but in order to grasp the essence of magical engineering, it is absolutely essential. It can truly be called the art of magic.
Now then, those who wish to learn more about detection magic are encouraged to read the book I personally wrote, ‘Nibles’s Ten Great Insights on the Methodology of Detection Magic.’ It is available at the academy store, so you can purchase it there. From now on, I will consider only those who purchase the book to be taking my class seriously, and only then will you be qualified to discuss grades.”
“So that’s basically saying you won’t give grades unless we buy your book.”
Idnia chuckled softly as she listened to Nibles’s blatantly petty conduct.
After that, Nibles did not properly conduct the class and instead voiced complaints.
He went on about how he had wanted his own book to be used as the textbook, and that the academy’s judgment was questionable for not adopting it.
Since he kept insisting that students buy his book instead of a textbook and only aired his grievances, there was no way the class could progress.
In the end, teaching assistants appeared.
“Haah….”
It seemed this was not their first time, as they sighed and proceeded to teach the students the concepts, theory, and practice of how to use detection magic that is difficult to reverse-detect, how to input energy to read the responses of magical tools and equipment, and how to avoid curses or reverse-detection traps embedded within them.
It became clear through the assistants’ instruction that detection magic is a very important foundation of magical engineering and is far from simple.
After Nibles’s class ended, Idnia looked around at all the students.
“Thank you, everyone.”
“Oh, n-no, not at all. We’re all in this together.”
Christian said this, his face flushed red.
“What kind of togetherness is that?”
Idnia wondered at Christian’s reaction and approached Marie.
“You were the first to stand. Thank you. I won’t forget it.”
“Oh, no. It was just that I felt really uncomfortable sitting there.”
“By the way, we should start preparing dinner soon. We’ll need to harvest some vegetables from the Wizard Ball dorm’s garden. Would there be any volunteers? About five people should be enough.”
“Five people?”
“Yes. Of course, I will provide coupons.”
Although the purpose of the coupons was unclear for now, the number of coupons would represent the number of times one contributed labor for the dormitory.
“We’ll handle it.”
The Wizard Ball members volunteered themselves.
“Thank you. Then let’s go.”
That evening, dinner time arrived.
The dining hall was in chaos.
“What’s going on?”
Idnia, who had brought food directly from the kitchen, asked the surrounding students upon seeing the commotion.
“Oh, Idnia-sama.”
“Well….”
“Prince Karl got into an argument with a lecturer and was taken away.”
“……”
There was no need to ask which lecturer it was.
“Understood. Then I will go with the other dormitory heads to petition for Prince Karl’s release. Everyone, please distribute this. Since it’s the first day, it will be free.”
Idnia set out the meals she had brought from the kitchen and went to find Rudolph to begin efforts to secure Karl’s release.
“…Going out of your way to do that for another dormitory head? If you do that, you’ll end up earning the lecturers’ resentment.”
Sedia Aspinal muttered as she watched Idnia rush off to help with Karl’s situation.
Even though Euros students had stood up to help Idnia earlier, she was now going out of her way to incur the displeasure of a lecturer.
The earlier support from the Euros students had been something the lecturer could not reasonably object to, as the students had simply answered when asked about their mastery of existing magic.
However, this was different.
Petitioning for Prince Karl was essentially the same as declaring that the lecturer was a bad person, someone Karl had to rebel against.
Was it really alright to directly challenge a lecturer like that?
Thinking this, Sedia looked over the food.
“What is this?”
The tasteless sheep biscuits and plain stew were unchanged as usual. With the same ingredients, it was natural that nothing different could be made.
However… the fish stew had changed.
The broth had become much clearer, and instead of grotesque innards, bones, and fish heads, there were round fish balls floating inside.
“Since we’ll be distributing small portions for free today, please try it.”
At Idnia’s direction, Atos, who was in charge of distribution, prepared a pot of stir-fried vegetables and a seasoning sauce to be added to the stew.
“Wait a second. It’s good that you prepared the food… but if you weren’t using the kitchen, wasn’t it supposed to be free anyway? What do you mean it’s free today? Are you planning to charge money going forward?”
As Sedia pressed the issue, Atos explained.
“Ah, of course. Dorm students can eat for free by presenting coupons.”
In other words, if one participated in the labor assigned by the dormitory head, they would receive coupons, and those coupons could be used to eat for free.
If one didn’t like that, they could pay with money.
That was what it meant.
“Wait a minute….”
Sedia looked back at her friends.
Her friends seemed troubled as well.
“So you’re telling us to work?”
“Well, if you’ve got plenty of money, you can skip the work and pay in cash. Honestly, Idnia-sama handled almost everything, so we felt bad even receiving coupons.”
Idnia had brought the Wizard Ball members along and handled the cooking, but in truth, the others were not of much help, and Idnia had done nearly everything herself.
For the Wizard Ball members, who were effectively Idnia’s faction already, it was something they felt deeply grateful for.
“Even so! Taking away what we’ve been eating for free all this time and then trying to sell it? What kind of outrage is that?”
“Well, it’s free today, so please try it. If you don’t like it, we’ll switch it back, so try it first and then decide.”
Atos focused on distributing the food, regardless of Sedia and the others’ complaints.
“I used to think highly of Idnia-sama, but this won’t do. After defending her when she was being harassed by the lecturer, to stab us in the back like this….”
Sedia said that as she received her portion and brought the fish stew to her mouth.
But then…
“Oh.”
At the unexpected taste, Sedia’s mouth dropped open.