93. Golden Apple
93. Golden Apple
Late at night, in an empty academy conference room, a single candle flickered to life.
Though no one had lit it, the candle that had ignited on its own steadily multiplied until the entire room was illuminated.
Into the brightly lit space, people entered one after another.
All of them were faculty members currently employed by the academy.
The gathered faculty naturally found their seats and sat down.
And lastly, one more person... Professor Buckingham strode in and took the seat of highest honor.
"Now, I know you are all busy, so thank you for gathering once again today."
The existence of faculty gatherings at the academy was well-known.
Among them, the most famous was the 'Golden Apple,' led by Buckingham Houston, who was in charge of Introduction to Combat Magic Theory.
The Golden Apple was a small circle that only the carefully selected bloodlines of prestigious families among the academy faculty could join; mere skill alone made it impossible to even enter.
On the surface, it was a small gathering that met for the sake of student education, just like any other faculty circle, but the reality was entirely different.
It was a gathering of petty people who slandered and schemed to ostracize faculty members who couldn't get into the Golden Apple, gossiped about students of concern, and discussed what disadvantages to levy against them.
Though Buckingham himself was completely oblivious to this fact.
"The very first topic I wish to raise is this."
"Atlas Nemea... should we simply continue to watch and do nothing?"
Buckingham was the first to broach the topic.
He was the professor with the highest seniority after the Headmaster, yet here he used honorific speech.
This was because while most of the faculty in this place were beneath Buckingham, a few were the scions of families far more powerful than Buckingham's own background.
"Yes, that is correct. This new student called Atlas Nemea is turning the academy into a complete mess...!
Just think about all the incidents that have occurred at the academy since that bastard enrolled! It hasn't been long since the semester started, yet there have already been two demon attacks.
The number of students he's assaulted has surpassed double digits and is approaching triple digits... The Headmaster has essentially washed his hands of that student, so we must step forward."
To Buckingham, Atlas was a thorn in his side.
Aside from the fact that Atlas had sent roughly half of Buckingham's assigned class to the infirmary, there was no other entanglement, but ever since that day, Atlas had constantly grated on Buckingham's nerves.
After the first duel, Phrygia had made moves through the Newspaper Club to bury Atlas, and Buckingham had thought the matter would finally be resolved. However, it was withdrawn overnight, and instead, the two had adopted a favorable stance toward Atlas.
"... But weren't those incidents not a problem caused by the student himself?"
A middle-aged man wearing glasses with lenses on both sides, unlike Buckingham who sported a monocle, spoke up.
"..!!"
Buckingham barely managed to suppress his expression from souring.
Having his words contradicted was unpleasant, but the one who spoke was not someone Professor Buckingham could treat carelessly.
William Stanhope, the professor of Magical Humanities, was the younger brother of Earl Stanhope.
He was younger than Buckingham, but because of the Stanhope background, Buckingham could not handle him recklessly.
One's position within the academy was invariably tied to one's external background.
Even if he could disregard the Stanhope name, crossing William—who had taken a professorship without coveting the position of family head and remained on close terms with the current head—was dangerous.
"The accident in the dungeon was also in his class... and the Clover Academy students all transforming into demon-touched happened immediately after he had pressured them to an excessive degree. It is difficult to say he is completely unrelated."
Buckingham had to somehow rally people to his side.
He didn't know why, but the Headmaster was in an exceedingly lenient state toward Atlas.
He couldn't pressure him with 'scholarships' like the exam admission students, nor was it easy to do anything through force.
It had already been verified multiple times that no student was capable of matching Atlas.
How could the students possibly handle someone who had defeated the captain of Clover Academy—who possessed Expert upper-rank skill—with a single finger?
But if a professor stepped in directly, the matter would escalate.
Even if a professor personally using force might appear to resolve things, the aftermath would become complicated.
And the biggest problem was...
'I'm not even certain I could win if I fought him...'
Professor Buckingham suspected that if Atlas could smash an Expert upper-rank, then Atlas was probably stronger than himself.
So he devised a method of having the professors band together and harass Atlas to induce him to voluntarily withdraw from the academy.
"I shall recuse myself."
"What did you say??"
But Professor William refused outright.
"That student... it is true that he causes many incidents. But I do not wish to incur Russell's disfavor. He dueled Lemnos twice, yet they get along well, do they not?"
"Urgh..!!"
The moment Russell was mentioned, he had nothing to say.
Lucia Russell, one of the successors of the Five Pillars who had entered as a freshman this year, had once declared that she would place Atlas under her personal protection.
If they attacked him underhandedly and Russell's furious decree came down upon them, it wasn't something Buckingham could handle.
A Buckingham who had to walk on eggshells even around a Stanhope, talking about moving against someone under Russell's protection—it was clearly madness.
"Professor, your passion is commendable, but for one who is an educator no less, speaking ill of a student who received a 'Recommendation Letter' does not look very good.
It seems there is nothing more to discuss on this matter, so let us leave this topic here... Now, does anyone else have something to say?"
William smoothly and naturally seized the floor from Buckingham.
He appeared reluctant for Atlas to become a topic of discussion.
"Do you all know of the exam admission student Rio, who is insolently trying to claim the top spot of the grade without knowing his place?"
"Oh dear... to think one should be satisfied merely by attending on a scholarship... how could such a thing be."
"Exactly. We treated him rather well because his skills are good, and now he doesn't know his place and is trying to go over our heads... I would like everyone to participate in imposing a penalty for this."
"Rio, you say... a student who attends my lectures. I shall give him a C grade on the next evaluation."
"He is a student who performs extremely well on exams, so let us deduct points through attitude scores and group assignments."
"Haha, shall we see to it that he can't even qualify for the scholarship this time? He'll only realize what he did wrong after getting burned once."
"If a commoner can't get a scholarship, he won't be able to attend the academy, will he?"
"If his skills are that good, he'll manage somehow. Wouldn't that also be a lesson in navigating society?"
"Now that you mention it, there was a transfer student recently, wasn't there?"
"Yes... he didn't seem to have a family name... it appears he entered with a recommendation letter."
"Heh heh... a recommendation letter without a family name... could he be some sort of illegitimate child?"
"They say the Headmaster approved him directly... hmm, this one seems like a hornet's nest as well, so let's not poke it unnecessarily."
"Indeed. There was once an incident where someone messed with a recommendation letter admit without a surname, and it turned out they were an illegitimate child of the Imperial family, causing absolute chaos."
The moment the conclusion was reached to leave Atlas alone, they shifted their target.
Atlas, who had solid backing, seemed likely to cause them indigestion if provoked, so they gave up, but the exam admission students were a different matter.
They didn't even know who this Rio student was, but the faculty members were greatly enjoying the prospect of ruining Rio's life.
This scene—of them destroying a person's life for the sole reason that their mood had been soured, without showing the slightest hint of guilt—was the true nature of the Golden Apple gathering.
They cheerfully selected a few students to be their scapegoats, reached a mutual 'agreement,' and then dispersed.
In the conference room that emptied out in a rush, only Professor Buckingham remained alone.
-Kwang!!
"Those... bastards...!!! What was that about it not being good for an educator to speak ill of a student with a recommendation letter...??"
Buckingham, who had been sitting in a daze, slammed the desk hard.
"Why don't they understand! The fact that that bastard will become a being of nothing but harm to this academy!!"
He knew it in his head.
The fact that attacking Atlas would only result in his own loss.
He was at least aware that the reason he had remained unscathed so far was purely because he had not attempted a direct attack on Atlas.
That guy had taken revenge without fail on anyone who attacked him.
All Buckingham had done, at most, was tell the withdrawn Lemnos why Pleasure had withdrawn, and conduct a single interview.
Thus, despite going around saying that Atlas must be expelled, Buckingham had done practically nothing to Atlas.
Just then, he sensed someone's presence in front of him.
"That's right... I agree as well."
"Who's there?!"
One professor had remained.
He remembered who it was: the person in charge of the liberal arts course, Introduction to Public Administration.
A person with an exceedingly faint impression, barely memorable to that extent.
'Since when has he been sitting there...?'
The strange thing was, even though he had confirmed everyone had left before shouting, why was there still a person remaining?
"I wholeheartedly agree with Professor Buckingham's words. That student is far too dangerous...."
"Right!! That bastard is a cancerous being!!"
But Buckingham quickly forgot his suspicion.
What mattered more was that there was someone who sympathized with his opinion.
The professor, having listened to Professor Buckingham's passionate performance, pondered for a moment and then spoke.
"However, expelling a student with that kind of background is difficult... Yes, that's right."
"That's what I'm saying... Why don't they understand that we must drive him out quickly, for goodness' sake..."
"In that case... how about doing it this way...?"
Buckingham lent an ear to his words.
---------------------------------
After the regular meeting of the Golden Apple ended, there was one person in the girls' dormitory who couldn't fall asleep late into the night.
It was Shara Phrygia, slumped onto the bed in thin pajamas, her voluminous golden hair cascading over the bed like a waterfall of gold.
Illuminated by a small candle, the deep eyes in her lovely face, like the night sky, were fixedly glaring at something.
It was a single small piece of parchment.
[... This concludes the report on the contents of the Golden Apple meeting.]
On the parchment, writing was inscribing itself even without Shara touching it.
The contents were what had just transpired in the 'Golden Apple,' one of the academy's faculty circles.
Shara Phrygia sat in her room, receiving a report of everything they had said.
After reading through all the contents, Shara picked up a quill and scribbled onto the parchment.
[Good. 'Stanhope,' keep blocking it just as you are now.]
[I shall follow your command.]
The power of the Five Pillars extended across the entire Empire.
Even if it was the academy, there were no exceptions.
Even if it was the Golden Apple, a secret faculty gathering, it was within the grasp of Phrygia, which controlled the flow of 'gold' throughout the Empire.
Having dismissed Stanhope, Shara organized the information written on the parchment and sorted through them one by one.
"Sanctions against recommendation admit students... aren't my business, and the transfer student isn't something I need to worry about either... As for Atlas-nim..."
For a moment, Shara's hand stopped.
What Buckingham had said about Atlas was truly nothing.
It had been silenced by Stanhope before it could even become a proper opinion, and if Professor Buckingham were capable of attempting something that could actually harm him on his own, he would have done it long ago.
"...It's nothing major, but I should inform him separately."
However, she could use this as a pretext to arrange a private meeting.
Imagining such a thing, Shara wore a lovely smile that no one else would see.
"... Now that I think of it, Russell returned early. Did things go according to plan?"
Lucia Russell had asked her to recommend a place for a date with Atlas, and Shara had found it so irritating that she deliberately told her only a few strange places.
She had only learned later that Atlas had been hospitalized.