Chapter 35
Chapter 35
‘It feels a little unsettling to be watched, but it should be fine. Besides, from now on, I’m just going to take it easy.’
All the running around and struggling I’d done up to this point had been solely to pass the appointment process.
There was no need to put myself through any more unnecessary hardship now.
‘The first year is only provisional, but it’s not like I’m going to cause any trouble. Obviously, I’ll become a full professor after a year.’
After exchanging the appropriate greetings, I left Former President Randolf’s office.
Maybe it was because I was feeling so light and cheerful?
The Academy campus looked beautiful to me.
The mood around the Academy was actually quite buoyant, too.
‘They must have posted the admissions results.’
I saw students who had passed embracing their families and celebrating with them.
‘That looks nice.’
A smile came to my face.
I’d never had an experience like that when I was a child.
My father was addicted to alcohol and gambling, and my mother was always in the hospital. I’d never had my family properly celebrate anything for me.
So whenever I saw people like that, I couldn’t help feeling warm inside.
But then a voice intruded on my peaceful mood.
“What’s with that obnoxious smile, for someone like Ban Trash?”
It was the Toxic Young Lady, Joanna!
Perhaps she was just in the mood to pick a fight, because she glared down at me with a fiercer look than usual.
‘She must be in a bad mood. She did end up failing, after all.’
To be precise, she’d come in third.
Katrinne had taken first place, and Libel second.
The two of them had earned a great deal of extra credit by taking the lead in fighting the Monsters.
That was an unacceptable result for Joanna, a candidate to become the next head of a Prestigious Magic Family.
‘Hadn’t she decided to apply to Amethyst Academy instead?’
Fortunately, the entrance exam schedules for the Four Prestigious Academies didn’t overlap, so anyone who failed one could apply to another.
If she took a Portal right now, she’d still make it in time to sit the exam.
Joanna looked around Rubiness Academy and scoffed.
“It’s probably for the best. Better to go to Amethyst, the greatest of the Four Prestigious Academies, than attend Rubiness Academy, where someone like you gets appointed as a professor.”
Even though we were about to part ways, Joanna was still saying things that made me want to flick her on the forehead.
But instead of getting angry, I found myself thinking about something else.
‘If things keep going like this, she’s going to “fall behind.” What should I do?’
Joanna would easily take first place in the entrance exam at Amethyst.
The problem came after that.
Unless someone intervened, she was sure to “fall behind.”
The keyword that represented her future was “setback.”
‘From here on, she’s going to keep falling.’
Since there was a good chance she was on Hard difficulty, I needed to plant a seed ahead of time, so that Joanna wouldn’t break under the weight of her setbacks.
“Anyway, for that filthy Katrinne to come in first. The grading criteria are a mess. The standard of this Academy is—”
I quietly watched Joanna, then spoke.
“You don’t have to be so furious just because you lost.”
“…What did you say?”
“I’m telling you not to delude yourself into thinking you’re something special. You’re only a student who’s just starting to grow. Of course you can lose. You can fail, too.”
“!!”
Joanna abruptly fell silent.
It was probably something she’d never heard before.
She’d grown up with people always demanding that she succeed.
‘…There’s no way my words are going to sink in right away.’
Given Joanna’s personality, she’d probably only get angrier.
But Joanna reacted in a way I hadn’t expected.
“…What would you know?”
She did get angry.
The problem was—
“I-I’ve spent my whole life struggling with everything I have just so I wouldn’t lose!”
Plop.
Clear liquid welled up in her sharp eyes, then spilled down.
‘Huh? Why is she crying?’
Only a single tear fell from her eye.
But considering that Joanna normally refused to show weakness in front of anyone, it was an enormous thing.
Joanna bit down hard on her lip, as if trying to hold back her tears.
“I will never lose to you. Not you.”
Then she spun around and stormed off.
I stared blankly after her.
‘…I should check next time we meet and see if she’s all right. Even if she goes to another Academy, we’ll have chances to run into each other.’
Hero Academy had no fewer than sixteen protagonists and four Academies.
Naturally, the Academies interacted with one another.
Joint classes, training programs, festivals, competitions, and so on.
Through all those exchanges, the sixteen protagonists would be made to cross paths.
‘There’s also a system for professors to be sent to other Academies.’
That was for later.
I decided to put off worrying about it and enjoy the present for now.
Today was a happy day for me, too.
‘At last, I passed the appointment process! It’s only provisional, but I’m a professor now!’
Just then, some loud voices reached me.
“Wahaha! Congratulations on passing, Young Master! At last, a star named Professor Ban will rise in the magical world. Sob, this Hans will continue to follow only in your footsteps from now on!”
“C-Congratulations. I-I never thought Ban the Trash would actually get appointed. I mean, it’s not that I didn’t want to go to graduate school and was hoping you’d fail, Senior Ban!”
I ignored Linden’s nonsense and looked at Hans.
“Hans, aren’t you going back to the Ducal House now?”
For reference, Hans had come along as my attendant.
Now that I’d passed the appointment process, he was supposed to return to his former workplace, the Ecclesia Ducal House.
“I already handed in my resignation to the Ducal House. I’ve found a new job.”
“…What? A new job?”
“I’m going to join Young Master Ban’s lab as a graduate student! I look forward to working with you! Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty!”
I stared at him, dumbfounded.
A Five-Star Supreme Mage, and he was going to be a graduate student?
For reference, the achievements of the Academy’s lower-ranking professors—in other words, its “Junior Professors”—were generally at the Fifth Star Rank.
“Ah, Senior Ban. Please do something about that shameless old man.”
“Shut up, you slick little brat! I, Hans, will keep a close eye on you and make sure you don’t slack off!”
“Ugh, seriously. You’re the one who’s more of a slacker, old man. All you ever do is make a racket, and you never actually get anything done.”
Linden had a point.
Honestly, even to me, Hans seemed more of a slacker than Linden.
Still, he should do a good job of keeping everyone in line. Hans is the classic old-fashioned, overbearing middle-aged man.
I nodded to indicate my approval.
“Hwahaha! Since it’s a happy occasion, how about a staff dinner tonight?! Let’s go have a drink!”
“…Are you paying?”
“Ah, of course I have more money than you, young master, but how could I possibly do that? I, Hans, am a middle-aged man who knows his manners! I’m not so ill-bred as to open my wallet in front of my superior!”
“……”
“Linden, what are you doing? Aren’t you going to praise young master Ban’s generosity?!”
“…I don’t want to go to a staff dinner. N-no, that’s not it! Thank you! Long live Ban the Trash—no, the great Professor Ban!!”
Just as I was starting to wonder if these guys were deliberately messing with me, an unnecessary sight caught my eye.
Katrinne and Libel.
“……”
The two of them stood motionless, looking at the list of successful applicants.
Alone.
Unlike all the other students, who were sharing their joy with their families, neither of them had anyone by their side.
…Let’s not pay attention to them. I’ve already drawn far too much of their attention. I can’t get any closer.
I steeled myself and was about to walk past them when—
I suddenly stopped beside the two of them.
A certain “materialistic” thought had occurred to me.
“Let’s have the staff dinner at La Rene.”
“What? Weren’t we going to that cheap tavern?”
“Why would we go there? Isn’t La Rene where families go to celebrate getting into the Academy? And, more than anything, it’s expensive.”
La Rene was an upscale restaurant catering to families.
The equivalent of a family restaurant back on Earth.
As Linden had said, it was a popular spot where successful Academy applicants went with their families to celebrate getting in.
I’ve wanted to try it at least once. It’s a famous place that shows up in the scenario several times.
The problem was, it was too much for my impoverished wallet to handle.
But there was a way around that.
“You two, if you’re free, why don’t you come have a meal with us?”
“…Professor?”
Katrinne and Libel looked at me with their eyes wide like squirrels.
I spoke in as chilly a tone as I could manage.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. It’s not that I’m particularly concerned about you. I’m only making use of you because with the two of you there, we can stack the ‘successful applicant discount’ twice over.”
That was right.
I was a commoner who never let a discount go to waste.
It absolutely wasn’t because the memory of always being alone as a child had come back to me and made me stick my nose in where it didn’t belong.
The problem was that neither of them seemed to believe me at all.
“…Who does he think he is?”
“Th-thank you.”
“I said not to get the wrong idea. I clearly—”
“Guh, young master Ban! What a warm heart you have! I, Hans, am moved!”
“Ah… the Senior Ban I know isn’t like this. Why is he acting like that? He’s a demon to me.”
…Shut up, all of you.
In any case, it was a happy day.
We had a staff dinner for the first time in a while, and I drank quite a lot.
And then, the next day.
When I came to in the single room in the Slum that I’d rented as my lodgings, I was startled out of my wits.
An official notice had arrived from a place I never would have expected.
[Ministry of Education Notice]
-Notice to those slated for appointment as Temporary Professors at Rubiness Academy.
For reference, the Ministry of Education was the administrative body responsible for overseeing education at academies throughout the Empire.
As befitted an empire that considered education its most important undertaking, it wielded tremendous authority.
The problem was—
“What the hell is this bullshit?”
A curse slipped out of my mouth.
It couldn’t be helped.
The notice contained something absurd.
Something I could never accept.
Rubiness Academy has hired an excessive number of Temporary Professors.
The number of Temporary Professor positions will be limited to one per faculty.
The Temporary Professors already hired will be evaluated based on their performance over the first semester, and only the single best performer will be selected.
For reference, this time Rubiness Academy’s Magic Faculty had hired no fewer than five new Temporary Professors. There had originally been four positions, but I had been added as the fifth.
In other words, I would have to compete over the course of the first semester and outperform the other four if I wanted to stay.
What the hell? Why? This was never in the scenario!
In that moment, a certain possibility suddenly occurred to me.
Could what I did in the Dreamworld a while ago have provoked those Ouroboros bastards?
I swallowed hard.
Ouroboros.
Especially considering the “identity” of the “Maestro,” who had likely been behind the Phantom Dream Dungeon incident…
If my guess is right, this isn’t something I can take lightly. This is definitely a scheme aimed at me. They’ll do whatever it takes to get me disqualified.
There was a reason I thought so.
At that time, in a garden somewhere far from Rubiness Academy,
a beautiful man was looking at the flowers.
He was Maestro, an Apostle of Ouroboros.
But his expression was different from before.
All traces of ease had vanished; his face was rigid.
“…Maestro, Viscount Vermont’s death has been confirmed. We believe it was the work of a newly emerged Ascendant.”
But Maestro gave an unexpected answer.
“Was it really the work of an Ascendant?”
“…What do you mean?”
“The Mysterious Star mentioned in the Prophetic Celestial Ark.”
“!!”
“That star has been troubling me ever since.”