The Homeroom Teacher Is Shit
The Homeroom Teacher Is Shit
I got to school earlier than scheduled, accounting for possible delays.
The north part of the academy was swarming with golems. A few earth mages operated Magic Golems, repairing the collapsed outer walls of the buildings.
I took a side path so as not to interfere with their work.
I had a lot to do. First, I needed to look up a few magic theory books at the library.
I didn't have my student ID yet, so I couldn't just walk into the library. I spoke to the academic affairs team and was issued a temporary pass. The person who had once absolutely refused to issue a library pass, saying, "Slaves aren't recognized as having identity," was quite surprised when I showed them my academy acceptance certificate.
"Oh."
This was my first time visiting the inside of the library.
When I prepared for the entrance exam, Professor Herlein had borrowed books on my behalf. Being able to freely browse and choose the books I wanted like this felt meaningful.
[□Under Development : Maso-Energy Exchange Theorem]
First, I needed to find mathematics books to prove this theorem.
The undergraduate level probably wouldn't cut it. I went up to the 5th floor, where the graduate reading room was. The air reeked of diverged life trajectories.
I didn't need to look up theses; math books at exactly that level would suffice.
[Understanding the Four Elements Theory through Linear Algebra]
[Advanced Magic Mathematics]
[On the Application of Group Theory and Representation Theory in Fire Magic]
I decided to borrow these three.
Saying I'm terrible at math... that would just be posturing. But compared to working theoretical physicists or pure mathematicians, it was also true that I fell short in some areas.
Developing magic theory required more difficult mathematics. I went to the reading room to study this part again.
After checking the books out, I went straight to the classroom. I saw some students who had arrived before me. One of them spotted me and waved.
"Aether!"
Crimson hair and scarlet eyes.
Her shoulder-length bob was neatly combed, and her skin was fair even without any noticeable makeup. She had the appearance of a noble's daughter.
And indeed she was. Rote was the daughter of a Margrave Saliere, who managed the western frontier.
The student who entered the classroom first claiming the seat they wanted was that student's privilege. Such students usually tended to sit in the very back. This world was the same as the other one in that regard. As expected, a few early arrivals had already taken the seats by the window at the back.
Rote did not. She was sitting at the very front.
Not only that, right in front of the lectern. At this point, it felt like the teacher might find it more burdensome than the students.
Her determination to somehow make intense eye contact with the new homeroom teacher was remarkable. I liked that. It meant she was burning with academic passion.
After greeting Rote, I sat down beside her. It was a seat from which the blackboard was visible head-on, and from the closest possible distance.
Several more people came in afterward. A few of them were faces I recognized from having seen them once.
"Hey! So we're in the same class too?"
Frey. Her surname was 'Shelkerni,' if I remembered correctly.
It wasn't an Imperial-style surname. But it wasn't an elven surname either.
She'd freak out if you teased her about being short and called her a shrimp, but ironically, she proudly thought of herself as a dwarf.
Another one was a male elf student.
'Vermel Horde,' the one with the most unanswered questions for now.
The reason was simple. He had dealt with yesterday's magic beast attack with composure. Almost as if he had known it would happen from the beginning.
Could there be other Earthlings who crossed over to this world besides me?
It made me think that. From the start, Vermel had the look in his eyes of someone who knew what kind of magic I was learning. It was the complete opposite of how others looked at me and thought, 'She's a member of the Gold-Eye Tribe, so she probably can't use magic.'
[You never know. He could be a regressor.]
A regressor?
[Someone who went backward in time. He was originally an elf living in this world, but time got rewound for some reason. Everyone else, including us, forgot about it, but that elf alone might have retained his memories.]
Well, that possibility seemed unlikely. There'd be a time paradox.
Having been in experimental physics for a long time, I had a habit of not easily believing things unobserved.
I couldn't readily accept popularly known concepts like parallel universes, wormholes, or dark matter either. Until they were fully confirmed experimentally, I just considered them one of countless hypotheses.
In that regard, the hypothesis that Vermel was a regressor was quickly erased from my mind. However, the hypothesis that the Goddess had dropped someone else into this world besides me was somewhat plausible. Since I'd already been through it myself once.
If Vermel was such a case, he probably didn't come in his original form. Since there were no elves on Earth.
There were two possibilities. Either he was reincarnated as an elf from the start, or the mind of an elf who had lived well here all along was overwritten by the Goddess's power.
[People usually call that a possessor.]
Right. As the Hardcover Book had said, I decided to call him a possessor.
That then meant I had also become a possessor by borrowing the body of some girl in this world.
Thinking that, I turned my head toward where Vermel was. It was to see what kind of reaction he'd show when our eyes met.
Vermel, whose gaze met mine head-on, wore a very displeased expression, just like before the written exam, and subtly averted his eyes.
Why was he like that?
[What. Green light?]
That was nonsense.
From my perspective, having originally been a man myself, those weren't eyes signaling any kind of romantic interest.
How should I put it? It was as if he was wary of me.
[There are various types of possessors. Cases like possessing a character in a novel world while reading it, or possessing your own game character while playing a game. There's quite a variety.]
Novel? Game?
I'd never heard anything like that.
Rather, it was more plausible to think that an entity like the Goddess marketed such products based on the world she managed and then reeled in those who got hooked. Since the existence of the Goddess had already been observed within myself. I might not understand it, but I could accept it. Just like how physicists first accepted quantum mechanics.
[Maybe it's better to think of it that way.]
But it was still at the hypothesis stage. Unless confirmed, I had to approach it by setting up multiple hypotheses and testing the most likely ones.
But I couldn't just come out and say, "I'm in the same situation as you" from the get-go. That would seem odd. And if Vermel wasn't actually a possessor, I'd be the one left embarrassed.
Vermel sat a little distance away from Rote and me. Even so, the glances he kept sending drilled mercilessly into the back of my head. I felt like I was being blatantly monitored.
I now had reason to keep an eye on that elf in terms of human relationships. I got along quite well with Rote and Frey, after all.
"Are you the slave who was under Duke Haspelt?"
What was with this bastard?
The next guy who came in looked exhausting just to see.
He wore gold rings on all his fingers, and on top of that, he was decked out in necklaces, bracelets, and all sorts of body ornaments. He gave off the sense of loudly proclaiming to everyone that he was a person of high stature.
How should I put it? It was like watching a Russian palace just before the Bolshevik Revolution come to life and walk around.
"Who are you?"
"Oh my, being of low birth, you don't know who I am? I suppose that's to be expected. Ordinarily, you wouldn't even be in a position to speak face-to-face with me, after all."
The guy had manners in negative amounts.
I briefly recalled why I had strived to get into Tillet Academy. Then I realized why this guy in front of me was picking a fight.
The Philiut Empire's Second Prince.
This asshole was probably that asshole.
My luck was rotten as hell once again. Talented too, was he? I'd heard rumors he applied for the entrance exam, but I never expected him not only to pass but to be placed in the Special Class.
It wasn't really an issue at this point. The stupid scenario where I'd be sold off to the palace had long since collapsed.
I had one thing to do: master all the Magic Arts while being protected on Tillet's grounds so I could return to my original world.
And while I was at it, develop a way to hunt extinction-class magic beasts. Because if I didn't, the continent might perish before I mastered all the magics.
"Then allow me to introduce myself. I am the next Emperor of this nation."
At that, Rote beside me furrowed her brows slightly and whispered into my ear.
"That's Clion Philiut, the Second Prince. He's famous for being a womanizer. Apparently, if someone's of lower status and reasonably pretty, he tries to hit on them first thing."
That figured.
"Are you the young Saliere lady? What did you just whisper about?"
"I told her your name, Your Highness."
"Is that so? Ah, but don't misunderstand. I'm of the principle that I'll accept any beautiful woman, regardless of status. I don't get tied down by things like family names."
I thought it took some skill to package it like that. Since messing with anyone from a count-level family or above might incur resistance, wasn't he basically saying he deliberately sought out daughters of barons or commoners to pick and prey on?
I had half a mind to go to the Emperor right then and ask why he hadn't raised his kid properly. If the self-proclaimed next Emperor was like this, how was the country going to turn out? Ah, I was dying of curiosity!
"Let's leave it at that since it's our first meeting today. There's plenty of time, so let's talk slowly from now on."
My first impression of the prince was awful. At least from my side. So now that my body had become a woman, I got hit on by some complete jackass.
I felt a bit of heat rising. Why, out of all the many humans and elves on this continent, did I have to end up in the body of a minority girl from the Gold-Eye Tribe?
As soon as the prince left, I whispered to Rote.
"That person, the prince—has he always had that kind of personality?"
"No, when I met him as a child, he wasn't this lecherous. At some point, he started going crazy over women to a cross-the-line degree. I don't know why he became that way either."
The remaining students had now come in and found their seats one by one. The sound of a bell rang from the gothic-style spire. It was the bell signaling the morning assembly.
The lower years at the academy were practically no different from a high school system. In that each class had a homeroom teacher, students took lessons in a single classroom, and one teacher rotated among several classes to give the same lecture multiple times.
Of course, that didn't mean the university-style academic system was completely absent.
First, seating during classes was free. You could keep textbooks and other belongings in lockers in the hallway and fetch them as needed.
Hmm, were there any universities with assigned seating? It would be funny if there were.
"The teacher's coming!"
I heard footsteps from out in the hallway. The sound drew nearer and nearer. It was like...
[Supplementary Theory: Doppler Effect]
Ah, for fuck's sake.
Couldn't you just stay quiet at times like this?
[Sorry. But this is automatic.]
Fine, this much was okay. Given what day it was.
My spirits were high right now. Returning to the position of being taught after a long time, I was somewhat looking forward to it. If only the homeroom teacher was a good person, there would be nothing more I could ask for.
Squeak. The sliding door opened. A scent of lavender mixed with the smell of tobacco stung my nose.
The person who was to be our homeroom teacher met my eyes, then walked right up to the front of the lectern. The woman, reeking of smoke, picked up a piece of chalk rolling around haphazardly on the lectern and began writing her name letter by letter.
─ Kleis Haspelt
"...Nice to meet you. I'm Kleis Haspelt, your Special Class homeroom teacher this time. Let's get along well for the year."
After finishing her words, the chain-smoking teacher glanced down at me briefly.
[Oh ugh...]
I decided I should sit in the back starting tomorrow.