Chapter 231
Chapter 231
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 231
Chapter Title: Academy (3)
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The lesson ended quickly.
“Teacher! This foolish student has failed to recognize your greatness and acted rudely! I beg your forgiveness like this!”
Oliver prostrated himself repeatedly on the ground, shouting. Demian looked at him with a satisfied expression.
“Good. It seems my persuasion worked perfectly.”
“P-Persuasion...?”
Oliver looked up at Demian with a face that said he had just been beaten senseless.
Instead of explaining, Demian stroked the cudgel with his finger. The friction between his skin and the wood produced an eerie sound.
“Yes! Y-You persuaded me! This Oliver Fortina is deeply moved by your eloquence and has resolved to mend his ways!”
“That’s the right attitude. You’ve reformed splendidly.”
Demian nodded with an even more satisfied look.
“Now, let’s go find the other students.”
“Understood!”
Oliver immediately took the lead. Demian moved with him to search for the students.
* * *
Demian crossed the academy following Oliver’s guidance.
“Isn’t that Demian Haksen?”
“Where’s he headed?”
Demian’s actions drew the attention of every student.
He was the winner of the Helian Tournament and the man who had crushed the pride of the imperial citizens.
Whether for good or ill, the students couldn’t help but focus on him.
“Who’s that behind him?”
“That’s the guy. Oliver Fortina.”
“Oh, the filth from the marquis family?”
The students’ interest poured onto Oliver Fortina as well.
Each whisper made Oliver’s face flush redder.
Demian silently observed him. Suddenly, Blanca Roshe’s words came to mind.
-The family wants it that way too.
As Demian mulled over Blanca Roshe’s words,
“We’re here.”
They arrived at the spot with the students.
The place Oliver had brought Demian to was an old school building on the academy’s outskirts.
Vines had overgrown the entire structure from years of disuse. Every window was shattered.
“The 13th class students are here?”
“Yes! Well, not all of them. Just three.”
“You know an awful lot about this.”
“They’re friends I used to hang out with a lot...”
Oliver said with an awkward expression.
“So these are the ones who knew I’d been assigned to the 13th class and planned to tell the others?”
They had time to gather here but not to attend class?
Demian felt rage boiling up.
“Let’s go in.”
Suppressing his anger, Demian entered the old building.
Inside the auditorium, three male students huddled together.
“Who’s that?”
“Isn’t that Demian Haksen?”
“What? Why is Demian Haksen here?”
The three jumped to their feet and glared at Demian.
Their defiant attitude made Demian’s hands itch.
“Oliver, did you bring Demian Haksen here?”
“You little rat. That’s why you get shit on.”
“We’ll see you in the dorm later. You’re dead.”
The three shot murderous glares at Oliver. He quickly hid behind Demian.
“Didn’t you call them friends?”
“Th-They are friends. I-I share my allowance with them, buy them snacks, carry their heavy stuff!”
Is that what friends are?
As Demian pondered deeply,
“Hey, Demian Haksen. Why are you looking for us? What’s your goal?”
“Isn’t there only one reason a homeroom teacher would seek out students who skipped class?”
At Demian’s words, the three students exchanged glances and laughed.
“I didn’t think it was true that Demian Haksen was assigned as our 13th class homeroom teacher.”
“Hey, don’t bother. Just leave. You think we’ll attend your class?”
“Yeah. We have zero interest in lessons from some knight from a puny little kingdom.”
Demian clicked his tongue in disappointment. Not a single one of them could be reasoned with.
“Oliver.”
“Yes, Teacher!”
“Go stand watch outside.”
“...Pardon?”
“It’s remote, but someone might come.”
“Ah, got it!”
Oliver hurried out of the auditorium.
Once Oliver was gone, Demian smacked his palm with the cudgel he carried.
The three boys reacted with amusement.
“You gonna threaten us with that?”
“It won’t work. Do you know who our fathers are? The Daize Count family...”
“Shh.”
Demian held a finger to his lips.
“I don’t care about your families. It wouldn’t change what I have to do anyway.”
Demian said, stroking the grain of the cudgel.
“First, I’ll ‘reform’ that rude attitude of yours.”
* * *
Oliver closed the auditorium door and stepped outside.
Soon after, the sound of something being thrashed with a cudgel echoed.
“Argh! H-Has this bastard gone mad?”
“D-Daring to lay hands on imperial nobles as a knight from Apple Kingdom?”
“Y-You’re dead! I’ll tell my father and...”
Listening to the boys’ words, Oliver inwardly admired. They were exactly like his own lines.
There was no way Demian Haksen would tolerate that. Sure enough, retaliation began immediately.
“S-Stop! Stop hitting!”
“I-I was wrong! Waaah!”
“I-I won’t tell my father! I won’t!”
Oliver sighed inwardly. They weren’t even using polite language. They hadn’t learned yet.
The thrashing sounds resumed, louder and more numerous than before.
“T-Teacher! I-I was wrong! P-Please forgive me!”
“T-Teacher! I’ll serve you with my life from now on!”
“I-I’ll serve you like my own father!”
Thwack.
The auditorium door opened. Demian Haksen emerged with the cudgel over his shoulder.
“All of you, come out.”
At his command, the three filed out in a line, scurrying along.
Their bodies were unscathed, but their faces were etched with the terror of death.
“Oliver.”
“Y-Yes?”
“Where to next?”
“I-I’ll guide you.”
Demian walked on with Oliver’s guidance.
The three students followed behind like criminals.
* * *
After that, Demian roamed the academy with Oliver, subduing the 13th class students one by one.
“Who are you! Who do you think you are to do this to me!”
“I’m your 13th class homeroom teacher. Stay still and it’ll just be a light beating.”
“Bullshit! Do you know what family I’m from? You’ll regret this!”
Naturally, every 13th class student resisted Demian.
Each time, Demian swung the cudgel without hesitation.
“Teacher... I was truly foolish. Seeing you has enlightened my life. So please... please stop... stop hitting me!”
“That’s more like it. Obey quietly and I won’t hit you anymore.”
Under Demian’s merciless beatings, the students had no choice but to join the procession meekly.
“T-Teacher! This guy isn’t 13th class! Don’t hit him!”
“Oh? Sorry about that.”
“Y-You think hitting a guy on the head with a cudgel and apologizing ends it? I won’t let this slide... Ah, I’ll let it go! I’ll let it go, so don’t hit me!”
“As expected of an academy student. You can be reasoned with. Take notes, 13th class.”
There were minor slip-ups, but luckily nothing escalated.
Demian held the perfect tool for communication, after all.
“One more left here.”
Finally, Demian arrived at the last location.
Demian couldn’t help but be baffled by the place Oliver had guided him to.
“A 13th class student is here?”
“Yes!”
Surprisingly, it was the outdoor training ground.
“This doesn’t suit the 13th class at all...”
The 13th class had claimed spots like the old school building, forest caves, and forbidden rooftops—shady, grimy hideouts.
An outdoor training ground out of nowhere left even Demian flustered.
“Teacher, the others are listening too.”
Oliver glanced at the gathered 13th class students behind them. Demian, of course, ignored it.
“Teacher, be careful with the one inside.”
“Careful?”
“She’s the most notorious hardhead in the 13th class.”
Demian’s expression turned intrigued.
Every 13th class student he’d seen was beyond saving. One called a hardhead even among them?
He was more than curious now.
“Let’s go in.”
Demian entered the training ground. The sound of sword swings rang out.
A female student in workout clothes swung a wooden sword.
“Hah! Haat!”
The ground was soaked with sweat from how long she’d been at it.
“Teacher, that’s her.”
Oliver pointed at the girl. Demian tilted his head.
“She’s the hardhead?”
She looked anything but—more like an exemplary student.
“Who’s there!”
Sensing the presence, the girl turned and shouted at Demian Haksen.
“Snooping on someone’s training. Who are you to commit such rudeness?”
She clearly had no idea who Demian was.
“Penelope. This is Teacher Demian Haksen. You’ve heard the name, right?”
“Demian Haksen...? The Apple Kingdom knight who won the Helian Tournament? What’s he doing here?”
“He’s been hired as the academy’s swordsmanship instructor starting today. He’ll be in charge of our 13th class for a while.”
At Oliver’s explanation, bewilderment crossed Penelope’s face.
It was shocking enough that the Helian Tournament winner had become an academy instructor, let alone assigned to the 13th class.
“So you’re Teacher Demian Haksen. I was unaware, being out of touch with outside matters.”
Demian was stunned by her polite speech.
Politeness from the 13th class? Had he been force-assigned due to some paperwork error?
“Penelope, was it?”
“Penelope Borja.”
Demian was startled by the surname Borja.
The Borja family was one of the empire’s three ducal houses.
‘Hardworking, polite, from a ducal family—why is she in the 13th class?’
Based on what he’d seen, Demian already rated her highly.
“Penelope. You seem passionate about the sword. Come back to the 13th class with me. Under my guidance, you’ll improve far beyond—”
“No need.”
Penelope replied instantly. Her tone was so firm Demian wondered if he’d misheard.
“You’ve heard my name, so you know my skill level?”
“I have no intention of accepting anyone’s help, least of all from teachers.”
Intense hostility flashed in Penelope’s eyes. She seemed to despise teachers as a concept.
“And I train with the sword not out of passion. I have someone I must avenge.”
She pointed at the training ground entrance and added,
“So get out. I’m busy training.”
Demian finally turned to Oliver, who wore an I-told-you-so expression.
Indeed, not a single normal person in the 13th class. Demian felt a twinge of sadness.
“You seem to have your reasons. Can’t be helped, then.”
“You understand?”
“Of course. I have someone to avenge too, so I get it to some extent.”
Penelope’s expression flickered slightly at the unexpected words.
“But I have my own circumstances.”
“...Pardon?”
“Mine are more urgent, so I’m taking you.”
No sooner had he spoken than Demian struck Penelope’s head with the cudgel.
“Squawk!”
Penelope let out a bizarre shriek and fainted.
“I can’t indulge such nonsense. Oliver, carry her. We’re taking her to the 13th class.”
“......”
Oliver stared at Demian in disbelief. Demian scowled.
“What’s that look?”
“N-Nothing.”
Oliver hurriedly hoisted Penelope onto his back.