Walking Textbook - 3
A suffocating silence settled over the room. Neither I, Gerhardt, nor Christina could manage a single word. Of course we couldn't. Someone's entire world had just collapsed.
And the fact that the despicable personality who had shattered that person's world—or rather, their entire life—was none other than me brought on a wave of guilt I couldn't begin to put into words. I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry.
I didn't have the courage to look, so I averted my gaze as much as I could—but I forced myself to turn my eyes toward Christina anyway. Dropping a bomb like that and then playing dumb would have been too cruel.
Damn it.
The moment I looked, I immediately regretted it.
Christina's expression was the dictionary definition of a soul leaving the body. Her mouth hung slightly open, her gaze fixed endlessly on the floor. Her whole body seemed to be trembling—or was that just my imagination?
If she had at least shouted something—What are you talking about? Don't spout such nonsense!—I might have felt a little less guilty.
Well, I would still have felt guilty, but still.
"The same person? Is that truly so?"
Gerhardt, who had been watching Christina with pity, hurriedly spoke up.
Right. As her supervising professor, he must have been curious after the thesis his master's student had poured her heart into had turned into garbage overnight.
"Yes, that's correct."
Regrettably, it was true. Aridu Keza. Udesreu Zairug. No matter how you looked at them, the two names had not a shred of similarity—yet they belonged to one and the same man.
We had been pretty shocked ourselves at the time. The close-range melee fighter who'd been swinging a sword around had suddenly shown up as a ranged skirmisher with a bow. He'd even changed his name.
"The Great One has guided me onto a new path!"
We had no idea what that meant until we learned it was just a scout. Kagan had decided the guy fought well enough to bring him into his own clan from another. Changing only the clan name felt impersonal, so he gave him a whole new name as well.
On top of that, Kagan must have told him something like, "A bow suits you better than a sword," because the man switched weapons too.
And damn it all, he really was better with a bow. That bastard.
"He originally belonged to the Aridu clan, but the Heaven-Defier personally took him in and made him part of the Udesreu clan. As a result, the battlefields he mainly operated on changed, and so did his primary weapon. It's understandable that people would think they were different individuals."
"B-but there are records of Aridu Keza appearing even after Udesreu Zairug entered the scene!"
Christina spoke with desperate urgency before Gerhardt could even open his mouth.
Normally, a mere master's student interrupting a conversation between her lofty professor and a guest would have been unthinkable—but the current situation made it possible. Even Gerhardt quietly closed his eyes at the raw anguish in her voice.
And her objection was genuinely persuasive. If mentions of Aridu Keza had simply vanished after Udesreu Zairug appeared, that would be one thing—but there had been a period when both names showed up side by side.
"That was a recording error. Because he suddenly changed his name, people sometimes mixed them up and wrote the wrong one."
Regrettably, it was just a mistake. Military paperwork being what it is.
"Ah… ahh…"
A thesis she had poured her whole soul into. And the shocking truth that its entire premise had been nothing more than a clerical error.
Christina let out a long, broken sigh and finally sank into her seat.
I'm going to lose my mind.
Just before I looked away, I caught something glittering at the corner of her eye.
How was I supposed to make up for this guilt?
Christina applied for sick leave (reason: mental collapse), but it was rejected.
"Actually, this is for the best."
"Excuse me?"
What the hell.
The completely unexpected words nearly made me lose my mind. Even Christina, who had been quietly sipping tea to calm herself, turned to Gerhardt with eyes that looked ready to murder someone.
For the best how?
With my meager intellect, I couldn't see what was good about any of this. Was he saying it was good because writing a new thesis would help her academic growth?
Ah, this cruel man…!
"There is no truth that remains forever hidden. If it was going to come out anyway, better before the thesis was accepted than after."
"I see."
Fortunately, it was a normal reason, so I nodded. He had a point. Imagine being a full professor or even a chancellor and having your master's thesis dragged up from the abyss. How painful would that be?
I keep comparing her to a master's student, which feels a bit rude, but honestly, what else does it look like?
He's right, but still.
Gerhardt's words were correct. But being correct didn't make the pain disappear.
"Take a little pain now to avoid a bigger blow later." Rationally, it was a good trade—but try telling that to the person hurting right now.
This isn't "a little" pain either.
That was the shock of having all four limbs blown off, at the very least.
"And thanks to the Audit Officer, we've already found a new thesis topic."
I couldn't find an appropriate reaction to that. I had just obliterated a perfectly good thesis—what was he talking about?
"Ah."
Christina, on the other hand, seemed to realize something from Gerhardt's words, and her face brightened.
"This is a major discovery! We all naturally assumed they were different people, but they were the same man!"
Gerhardt's voice rose again, as if even he was getting emotional after saying it out loud.
Well. Looking at it that way, it really was a major discovery. I'd be pretty shocked myself if I learned that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were the same person.
"The only issue is the submission deadline… but a discovery of this magnitude is worth enduring another year for."
I don't think so.
Christina's expression was a half-and-half mix of relief and sorrow. Finding a new topic right away was fortunate, but the thought of enduring another full year of that horrific master's life clearly wasn't filling her with joy.
Nothing for it. When you cause an accident, you take responsibility.
"Might I ask who oversees thesis examinations?"
"The Ministry of Education. More precisely, the Compilation Department."
Gerhardt answered despite looking puzzled by the sudden question.
The Compilation Department? That was the place in charge of textbooks—so they handled this as a side duty? Well, it was another department's business; no need to worry about it too much. What mattered was that it fell under Compilation's jurisdiction.
I know someone there.
Fortunately, I was on decently friendly terms with the head of the Compilation Department. And I had put him under a small obligation or two.
Connections were meant for moments exactly like this.
I sat blankly in my seat, staring up at the ceiling. It felt as though a storm had just passed through.
"If you'll excuse me for a moment."
The Audit Officer, who had said he needed to make a quick contact, returned before long.
"They said as long as it's submitted by February of next year, that will be fine. Accepted theses are registered all at once in March, so adding one more makes no difference."
And he brought enormous news with him.
The Compilation Department, famous for its inflexibility, had made that concession. This was the same department that was said to never grant extensions unless a submitted thesis was destroyed by natural disaster.
"It's my fault that Miss Christina has to write a new thesis. It's only right that I handle the cleanup."
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
Miss Christina bowed her head again and again to the Audit Officer, who spoke as if it were nothing.
Of course she did. I would have done the same.
Acceptance is as good as guaranteed.
If she had still been bound by the original deadline it would have been impossible, but February of next year was more than enough. This wasn't even a full teacher's thesis—just an assistant teacher's.
Even if it had been a full teacher's thesis, there would have been no problem. The topic overturned what everyone had taken as common knowledge. Unless the writing was catastrophically bad, submission alone would mean certain acceptance.
Frankly, the subject was almost too good to use for an assistant teacher's thesis—but that, too, was simply Miss Christina's luck. For a scholar, luck is part of ability.
"Congratulations, Miss Christina. The day you drop the 'assistant' from your title isn't far off."
Watching her tidy the bookshelves with rare energy, a smile rose to my face on its own. So this was what it looked like when someone left hell for heaven.
"It's all thanks to you, Teacher! Thank you so much!"
"Haha. Even if it's just flattery, I appreciate it."
I laughed and took a sip of tea. How was any of this thanks to me? It was all thanks to the Audit Officer.
I had brought him here expecting great help for research on the northern nomads. I never imagined we would experience upheaval like this on the very first day.
But if this was a miscalculation, I would gladly accept it. The fog had lifted and the truth had been revealed.
"I'll come again at this same time tomorrow."
"W-will that truly be all right?"
"I'm just an idle freeloader with nothing to do outside club hours. I'm more worried about whether Mr. Gerhardt will be all right with it."
"Of course! Absolutely!"
I received a firm answer. Not a one-time meeting, but continuous ones—and advice in proportion.
Truly a joyful day.
I had barely avoided becoming a master's-student mental assassin. If it hadn't been under the Compilation Department's jurisdiction, I would have been in real trouble.
Thank goodness.
I let out a long breath, trying to calm my still-racing heart. Reaching out of the blue to someone I normally never contacted had been mortifying.
Still, I had piled up enough small favors with the head of Compilation that everything went smoothly.
"Understood. I've received help from the Audit Department Chief myself, so of course I can grant a convenience of that scale."
"Thank you. You've just saved one innocent assistant teacher."
"Haha! I like the sound of that. If that young friend succeeds, I'll be sure to take the credit."
As expected, life is all about connections. A fellow civil servant you can help and be helped by is far better than a boss who constantly nags you.
But something still felt uneasy. An accident like this on the very first day—would things be all right going forward?
At least today was before submission.
If I were unlucky, I might end up shooting down a thesis Gerhardt had already submitted. Just imagining it was terrifying.
Then again, looking at Gerhardt's passion, he might actually be happy about it. No—rebutting a thesis written by your past self with your present knowledge was proof of growth, wasn't it?
…Yeah. Let's just think of it that way.
And during club time, I asked Tanian whether he had written the answers the way I had taught him.
"I believe what Brother taught me is correct, so it just came out unconsciously. Once you know the truth, you can't write a falsehood, can you?"
That was what he said.
Even so, he seemed a little embarrassed himself and gave an awkward smile.
Well. That could happen too.