Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: 5. Welcome to the Summoner's Academy. (4)
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# 39
“Ah, first, allow me to apologize to the deans and the professors of Yuglasia Academy.”
My mouth offers an apology, but my hands do the exact opposite.
Rip! Rip!
“Everyone worked hard on this, but empty words like these can’t explain how much Yuglasia has changed.”
-Owner, incredible! Taking down that thick thing in one go!
-Honestly, I was worried.
I tear up the speech everyone wrote together and let out a sigh of relief inside.
It was so thick it might not rip, which would’ve been a total embarrassment, so I put a bit more strength into it.
Thanks, my hand!
-But you just trampled everyone’s efforts! That’s too much!
-Copy-pasting is a sin!
Copy-pasting from some Naver knowledge encyclopedia for homework is something you outgrow by middle school.
There’s no way I’d say what the professors fed me all this time.
Yuglasia is already seen as the lowest among the Empire’s Four Great Academies.
Now, all I can rely on is the brand attached to the pseudonym Niserwin, and if I say the same things as everyone else, they’ll just think I’m the same as the rest.
Right now, I need to sell Niserwin as the special perk of joining Yuglasia!
When you buy something, you’re more drawn to it if there’s a bonus, even if it costs a bit more!
And I’ve properly hooked their attention.
“Honestly, summoning. Anyone can learn it. If you pay just the right amount, anyone can summon a low-grade spirit. That’s why Yuglasia couldn’t even fill its quota last time. Why? Obviously. For armament types, it’s more effective to go to Arsia and learn swordsmanship, and for magic types, it’s better to go to Marsis and study magic than to learn summoning at Yuglasia.”
First, I have to acknowledge it.
Denying the past will just make it sound like excuses.
One princess held back by her past is enough.
“But this year is different. We’ve cleaned out all the incompetent professors. And the ones filling those spots are active Imperial Army summoning officers, the Spirit King brought from the elves’ forest, and contractors of gods.”
The murmurs grow louder. Spirit Kings and god contractors are rare even across the entire continent, regardless of anything else.
Especially from a military standpoint, they’re treated as equivalent to an entire regiment.
“But won’t the numbers be limited?”
“Yes, of course. Such outstanding professors are limited. The number of professors left at Yuglasia is less than half of last year’s.”
“Won’t that cause problems with education?”
I speak slowly, guiding the questions, and a few parents start asking.
Yes, this is how a speech should be.
If it’s just one-sided copy-pasting like before, people won’t even bother asking questions.
“So, we’ve reduced the number of incoming students.”
Silence suddenly fills the space.
It could mean many things, but right now, they seem to not understand immediately.
“Professors are half, but new students are half of half the usual number. In other words, just 100. That way, even though the number of professors has decreased, the education quality will be far better than last year.”
“Isn’t 100 too few?”
“How will the school operate with that?”
Heh, questions the professors already asked. So let’s end it all at once.
“It’s fine. We’ve raised the tuition.”
-Owner, everyone’s looking at you like you’re crazy…
-It’s okay.
Pioneers are never understood anyway.
I have no choice but to walk the thorny path myself.
-To me, you seem plenty crazy.
What? Out of everyone, I don’t want to hear that from you.
“I declare it. Our tuition will be higher than even Marsis, the most expensive one.
But in return, we’ll invest that much more time in the students.
Beyond class hours, if students want it, professors will always help them. All professors at Yuglasia have already decided to live in dorms inside the academy, and even on holidays, we won’t shy away from the path of teaching. Therefore, we don’t need anyone else. Only those with outstanding talent as summoners and passion for summoning arts. We’ll accept just 100 such students.”
-Owner, the professors look shocked. Did you really make that promise?
-Ah, only to the new professors.
To be precise, we built dorms for professors without places to live, but in this atmosphere, would any say “That’s a lie!”? No way.
So, join in, you guys!
-Owner, parents’ eyes are sparkling, but the students’ eyes are dying. Isn’t this backfiring?
-Kids go to school where their parents tell them anyway.
You can tell the students are thinking, “I’d die if I went there,” or “Never go to that place,” but the parents are getting more and more motivated.
Heh heh, even when electing school superintendents, students don’t get a vote—only adults with ID do!
Education is an area where you have to appeal to parents!
Just force the students to realize how great the teaching is! And now’s the time for the finishing blow!
“Wait, are you really Niserwin Ain, the greatest summoning research authority in the Summoning Association, the one said to know the most about summons?”
-Owner, smells fishy. That’s someone you hid, right?
-Tch, sharp as ever.
“Yes, that’s right.”
The iron bat already smelled the birch burning, so no need to hide it!
I asked the dwarves heading back after the job, and for a huge fee, called in an expert from the continent’s top intelligence agency!
True to an expert, the timing is perfect!
“Is the book you compiled, the Book of Summoning, which contains everything about summons, really real? The one that goes beyond high-grade to record even legendary mythical summons—does that Book of Summoning really exist?”
The reason I became an authority in the Summoning Association is simple.
The mythical beings I knew are treated as summons here.
Thanks to that, the legend of a book compiling all that knowledge has been floating around, knowingly or not.
-From when?
-From when I entered Yuglasia.
-Huh, our owner. My owner, but so devious!
Hey, I have to save the academy. It’s my workplace until I can breathe easy.
“Are you talking about my Book of Summoning, containing all my knowledge? I’ll give it if you want. Look for it. I wrote down everything about every summon in this world!”
Cool and without regret.
Like a certain pirate facing execution, I shout boldly and return to my seat, leaving the cheering parents behind.
-But, owner. Do you have something like that?
-I’ll make it now.
I’ve hyped the mood… Hide it in the library after making it?
#2 Their Circumstances: The Circumstances of the Great Demon’s Owner.
“Our Arsia receives support from all the great sword families on the continent, and we get all armaments at below cost. Also, those knights over there will take turns guiding you and swear to teach all swordsmanship knowledge as if you were their own disciples! Swordsmanship is not just a fighting technique but an academic path to greatness. We need those with the greatest passion, effort, and challenging spirit!”
It was obvious from the burly Arsia professor who looked like a knight, and then the other schools started repeating similar lines.
-Mental torture? Among mental demons, there were crazy ones who’d visit favorable contractors every time and repeat the same words for 24 hours to seal the deal. Are these professors like that, owner?
-Don’t know, not listening anyway.
I flip through a book next to my uncle, who came instead of my father and is lost in old memories.
I tried listening at first, but no need to hear repeats.
I’m the type who remembers everything after one listen.
“Reia, doesn’t the speech appeal to you?”
“Yes, Uncle. It’s just repeating the same things over and over.”
“…Well, even when I attended the academy, they said stuff like that.”
Even my uncle, lost in nostalgia, admits it.
As expected, ignoring was the answer.
After the sturdy professors, the robed ones, then the ones all wearing glasses, finally the unremarkable Yuglasia professors finished their speeches.
Useless speeches anyway.
Excluding commoners, those from families are destined for the academy best suited to their house.
In my case, Marsis. With the granddaughter of the Magic Tower Master going to Marsis, supported by the Magic Tower, it’s fate.
It’s Marsis, called the Education Magic Tower and United Magic Tower.
The connections formed there will greatly help when I become an adult mage, so no loss.
Even so, most of the people I saw at family parties will be at Marsis anyway.
-But, owner. You’re a summoner who commands me, Great Demon Surtr. Wouldn’t going to Yuglasia be pretty good?
-Huh? What’d you say? A mage who uses Great Shield Surtr as a shield has to go to Marsis?
-Owner, you’re pulling this on me! After I went out of my way to acknowledge you!
-Then please, be useful for once. You can’t even block a single wooden stick every time and get reverse-summoned.
-Would you have endured it, owner?
-Uh, sorry. My bad, I misspoke.
The pain from that moment suddenly hits my body, making me shudder.
My uncle next to me seems startled, but I say it’s just chills and calm myself.
“Then, next speech: Professor Niserwin Ain of Yuglasia.”
It was right then. As I try to forget that terror, the instructor’s face appears before me.
-Why, why that bastard!
-I-Instructor?!
Niserwin Ain.
The supreme authority on summon research, residing in the elves’ forest. Top researcher of the Summoning Association, a legendary figure credited with elevating summoning arts by a whole level.
Rumors abounded: lifelong illness keeping him in the elves’ forest, or Niserwin Ain being the collective name of continent sages gathered for research, or a great prophet relaying words from gods of another world.
But that face was one I knew well.
However.
-N-No, it’s not. I got startled.
-What are you talking about, owner! Have you lost it? Looks exactly the same!
-No, the vibe, voice, speech pattern—all different. No one who can naturally make such a gentle smile like that, not him.
Even if.
He was in the Evil Organization.
Even if.
He showed us a hell that even great demons would fear.
Even if.
I was under him for less than two years.
Even if.
Really. Really! Even if I wanted to blow him away someday when I got strong!
Still, I learned so much under him, and he was the one who found my family crest in the end. That doesn’t change.
And someone who fled to the continent’s edge in just a few months wouldn’t come to the capital on his own.
-R-Really?
-Yeah, look. That kind smile. The Evil Organization’s big bad—no, great demon—instructor wouldn’t smile like that. That’s the smile of someone living peacefully with elves, surrounded only by flower fields.
No one who can use mana would tremble like that tearing a speech written with other Yuglasia professors.
Probably guilt toward the other professors. If it were the instructor I know, he’d set the speech on fire and throw it while yelling, “You expect me to read this bland trash?”
And the instructor wouldn’t rant about talent and passion for summoning.
He’d just find another sucker demon and force a slave contract.
He wouldn’t limit to 100 either.
Gift slave demons to all 400 incoming students and order them to sweep the Imperial Tournament—then Yuglasia wins for sure.
And finally, the instructor is the type who makes you break your own limits rather than teaching directly. He pulls your talent to the limit, and once you’re used to it, pushes to the next—yet he says he’ll wait and teach students anytime.
No way the real instructor would say all that.
Plus, if it really, really were the same person as that instructor.
“You have outstanding talent as a summoner. How about joining our Yuglasia?”
“M-Me?”
While being chased by that princess, he wouldn’t grab my hand and say something like that, right?