Chapter 1 - I am a professor. Not a war hero.
Chapter 1 - I am a professor. Not a war hero.
"Professor Klaus-nim. I will acknowledge your military prowess. However, I am not so sure about your combat magic. I heard that while you commanded troops on the front lines, you rarely stood at the very vanguard to clash with the demons yourself. I believe the subject you should be teaching is not combat magic, but military science."
The next day, just as Klaus had expected, a professor sidled up to him and immediately started picking a fight.
He had planned to just rest quietly until the official lectures began, but he wouldn't mind completely crushing a guy like this and making him roll around in misery for the rest of his life.
Klaus stared blankly at the petty noble mage who was blatantly provoking him, conscious of the eyes of others.
"Both the demon records and the Alliance records should state that I am proficient in using combat magic, Professor Ritent-nim. The President also judged my abilities objectively before appointing me to this professorship. It is quite unpleasant for me when you come at me like that all of a sudden."
"I think there are various possibilities."
"Are you trying to say something like, 'A war hero wouldn't look good if his martial strength was weak, so they added those claims to hype him up a bit'?"
The opponent signaled his agreement by remaining silent.
At that reaction, Klaus had to let out another exasperated sigh, even though it was a situation he had encountered many times before.
It wasn't often that he personally stepped into battle.
But it wasn't as if he never did, and above all, once he did step out, he would fly around and slaughter enemies to a degree that most demon warriors couldn't even hold a candle to.
The reason he didn't step out was solely for Yulia—or to be precise, to avoid raising Yulia's guard and to secretly occupy her entire body and mind.
'I didn't hold back from running wild in the war just to be picked on by the likes of you.'
Even the elves and beastmen belonging to the Western Alliance respected him, a war hero, in their own way.
Even the demons, who had to give up on the First Continental War because of him, considered him a formidable existence.
Yet, the human kingdoms that barely survived thanks to Klaus had seen their noble supremacy become far worse than before the war, and they were treating even a war hero like trash simply because he was a commoner.
He had no real power anyway, had laid down all military authority, and was just an academy professor, so they must think he's an easy target.
It seems they are provoking him right now with that kind of thinking...
"Then I will show you this time. Whether or not I am qualified to handle combat magic."
"Very well. Since I don't lose to anyone when it comes to magic, I will be more than enough to prove Professor Klaus-nim's skills."
Yeah. No, you idiot. The problem is you're way too lacking.
He's probably planning to use this opportunity to shoot down the old war hero who dares to keep gathering everyone's attention despite being a commoner, thereby suppressing the morale of the commoners within the kingdom, and on top of that, he probably wants to boost his own recognition as a noble-born professor.
'Keep dreaming.'
Even after the sparring match began, Klaus stood his ground.
His opponent was full of openings, looking like he couldn't even distinguish whether this was a sparring match or a magic performance.
He was drawing formulas and chanting spells, and the sight was so absurd and ridiculous that it left him speechless.
What kind of moron would give you time to prepare something like that while fighting face-to-face?
General magic and combat magic are completely different from their very foundations.
They are incomparable to that kind of stuff where things just explode, flames rise, or things freeze.
Dealing the most effective damage with the least amount of mana—that is the absolute basic of combat magic.
Therefore, it does not take on the forms that usually come to mind when one thinks of 'magic'.
It simply condenses very pure mana to attack the enemy and defend oneself.
"Haaah!"
The moron was practically advertising, "I'm attacking now!"
Without needing to see any more, he simply shot out mana and precisely dismantled the noble professor's magic.
He had been acting like a dick, drawing all sorts of formulas, but since Klaus broke it with a single hand gesture, the noble professor seemed extremely flustered.
The sight of him hurriedly preparing the next spell was just funny.
To talk about combat magic with such skills—if the demons who died by his hand saw that human, they would probably try to tear him limb from limb.
'An idiot who knows nothing. There's nothing more to see.'
He sent out mana that was compressed several times more than before.
That lump of mana pierced through the giant fireball created by the noble professor, shattering it to pieces, and then struck the back of the man who was trying to turn around and run away without a shred of mercy.
Crack!-
"Arghhh!"
The petty noble collapsed, letting out a quite impressive scream.
As he made sounds like a dying man—gack! cough!—a few people rushed over to check his condition.
The sound of bones breaking was clearly heard, and the professor was wheezing, showing the reaction of a dying man.
However, the surrounding students were just looking at Klaus with expressions of interest or letting out exclamations.
Although he was an annoying noble, it was certain that Professor Ritent was quite skilled in general magic.
Yet Klaus had crushed that professor with just two shots of mana orbs.
With this, the controversy over Klaus's combat magic skills would be quiet for a while.
'It was a success to get the students to show more interest in the combat magic lecture because of today's event. Plus, I delivered a clear message as a bonus.'
A few years had passed since the war ended, and during that time, they had gradually forgotten.
Why the Western Alliance survived, and why the Eastern Demons were defeated.
Who it was that turned around a war that could never have been turned around.
With just two mana orbs, Klaus reminded them of that.
Not to forget that the person who made that possible is working right here as a professor.
Not to let just any Tom, Dick, or Harry act up, and to only have those who at least have the 'class' to properly face him stand before him to make proposals, threats, or whatever.
Klaus deliberately clapped his hands together to dust them off, making a sound, and opened his mouth.
"I feel sorry for the President. He went through the trouble of hiring him, but now he'll have to find a new professor."
He would never see that petty noble again.
Because his spine was broken and his nerves were compressed, leading to quadriplegia; he would live the rest of his life like that.
Since he turned a noble into a cripple, there would be a lot of talk, but the one who requested the sparring match first was that guy, and he had taken the stance of 'defending' against the attack, and since the guy had turned his body to run away and got hit directly in the back by that 'defensive' mana orb, they wouldn't be able to strongly retaliate.
Above all, it wasn't just human students present here.
Elves, beastmen, and even demons were all mixed in, watching this sparring match.
No matter how you look at it, the guy who picked the fight first paid the price due to his lack of skill, and they want to pressure the academy professor, especially one who was called a war hero in the past?
Not only would that not work, but it would also ruin the reputation of humans in front of other races.
Therefore, there wouldn't be excessive interference just because one noble was crushed.
Klaus knew all of that from experience, which is why he made the opponent a cripple.
'Let's see, Yulia is... Okay, there she is.'
The Demon King, Yulia Agnesa, who had been watching Klaus's sparring match mixed in among the students.
She was currently enjoying the satisfying result with a faint smile on her lips.
Because it was absolutely impossible for the man who was called a devil by the demons to lose to some human noble.
Klaus was more pleased that Yulia was satisfied than that he had made a cocky guy a half-cripple.
Like this, he just had to approach her one step at a time, and then devour her in one bite.
Just as he was about to turn around, thinking that today's events were over.
Suddenly, a woman's voice was heard from beside Klaus.
"Professor Klaus-nim. If it's possible, would you spar with me as well?"
Do I look like a punching machine? Go grab someone else for your combat power assessment. Klaus, who was about to mutter this and coolly ignore her, checked the opponent's face and completely revised his plan.
Even if not quite on Yulia's level, a top-tier item who was easily on Natasha's level had appeared.
'It seems the branching point was set for her to step up at this timing this time around.'
This woman asking him for a spar was right after he crushed the human noble professor.
And it is divided into after his curiosity about him has amplified while conducting lectures in full swing.
It seems the former was chosen in this iteration.
"Name."
"I am student Cecily Leblanc of demon origin."
Cecily Leblanc, the youngest daughter of the Leblanc family, one of the prominent noble families in the demon world.
Originally, she was an entity who stood on the side of Yulia's uncle and opposed her, but because her combat ability and beauty were quite a waste, Klaus had personally trained her and used her to good effect.
On the outside, she was a loyal subject guarding the Demon King at close range, but in reality, he had turned her into a woman who would leak plenty of sexual fluids every night, thinking, 'I wonder if Klaus will call for me tonight,' or 'Since I served the Demon King diligently as ordered, won't there be a reward?' and fawn over him, begging him to put it in quickly.
'Whether I make that woman mine or just eat her and discard her, it didn't really matter.'
Perhaps because she was a character who clashed with the Demon King from the start, there had never been a problem where the progression got twisted just because Cecily disappeared.
It was just that losing one fuckable hole was a little bothersome.
What should he do with this woman? Klaus fell into deep thought.
Because Yulia was the final goal of everything, and Natasha was a woman from an elf family with many aspects to utilize, he had approached them slowly.
However, the Leblanc family, to which Cecily belongs, is a faction that supports Yulia's uncle.
That means, from Yulia's perspective, they are an annoying existence that must be wiped out someday.
Considering his relationship with the Demon King, it was better not to form ties with a demon from the Leblanc family.
While he was agonizing over it, perhaps thinking his silence was permission, Cecily stood before Klaus.
Following the sparring match between the commoner professor and the noble professor, and now, it was a sparring match between the human professor who led the past Continental War to victory and the student of demon origin who was defeated in that war.
As they got to see an interesting spectacle not once, but twice, the students were all excited.
In particular, the aspect of a sparring match between a demon and a war hero was enough to greatly shake the demon students.
'...Whether I eat her and discard her, or take her with me, I'll think about that later. Since all eyes are gathered like this, I can't just let her go easily.'
He, who built his reputation against demons, loses to a demon student?
Ugh, it was a terrible thing just to imagine. There would be no greater disgrace than that.
He wouldn't inflict direct harm on her body; instead, he would trample her even more miserably.
He would clearly let them know that he was still a crazy bastard who could fully perform in active duty.
And he would shout to the women he had marked, including Yulia, not to look elsewhere and to focus only on him.
"Shall we begin?"
"Yes, Professor Klaus-nim."
Shaaaa-.
At the signal to start, two mana arrows appeared around Cecily.
It could be said to be a different form from the orbs that Klaus used, and although the output intensity was weaker than the orbs, it had the advantage of being relatively easier to control.
Swish!-
One of them flew accurately, aiming for Klaus's arm.
From the perspective of the other students, it was a level of mana control that would make their eyes widen, but in Klaus's view, she could be seen as a fledgling still full of downy feathers.
'Even the current Yulia is faster than that.'
He lightly flicked his finger and sent out the mana orb he had prepared in advance.
Then, the arrow that was rushing fiercely toward Klaus suddenly turned into translucent powder with a pop! sound, crumbled, and soon disappeared.
"?!"
Not only the surrounding students but even Cecily looked clearly shocked.
It couldn't be helped, as it was a natural result that when defending against magic with magic, an explosion, whether small or large, would occur due to the collision between mana.
However, Klaus's counterattack showed a completely different appearance, as if mocking that natural result.
"There's no need to be surprised. This is the difference in level between me and student Cecily."
"What..."
Cecily, who had reflexively opened her mouth, bit her lip and prepared mana arrows again.
This time, she moved the position from her arm to her stomach, and composed the mana density much more densely.
The previous strike could be said to be a power reconnaissance to some extent to grasp the opponent.
That's why she aimed for the arm, and she attacked by adjusting the mana density appropriately.
However, the opponent, the man who was called a war hero in the past, crushed it laughably with a level of mana that was just a flick of a finger, as if watching children's antics.
'As expected of the Devil of the South, many people in our family also died at the hands of that man and the Southern Army.'
She didn't want to admit it, but she had to accept it.
That man is strong, much stronger than her; honestly, she couldn't win even with this attack.
Even so, since it was a fight she initiated, she would do her best.
Because she was a proud member of the Leblanc family, and the daughter her parents loved dearly!
"Haaah!"
If you let your guard down, even you will get hurt badly.
Muttering that to herself, Cecily watched to see how the Devil of the South would respond.
And soon, she had to let out a foolish exclamation, "Huh?"
Fashik!-
Fasseu....
The mana attack, which was her strike of confidence, turned into powder and scattered before her eyes once again.
There was no massive mana explosion; it was just the haze crumbling down so miserably, as if to say that your level is exactly this much.
'I-it can't be.'
Does that make sense? How is this possible? No, this isn't it!
All sorts of thoughts crossed her mind. That, how could that...
"I have seen student Cecily's skills well. Now then."
The man who was called the Devil of the South took a slow step with a calm smile.
"I will begin a special lecture on the parts you are lacking."