The Reunion with the Professor Was the Worst
The Reunion with the Professor Was the Worst
I heard the sound of my school life being shattered.
Even a single prince was enough to snap my nerves, and now an old nemesis on top of that.
It wasn't unexpected. I'd simply been assuming the worst-case scenario. I'd just thought the actual probability of it happening would converge to zero.
As I thought, the world really was out to get me.
Haspelt was in a position I couldn't ignore even if I wanted to. We'd be facing each other at least once a day.......
[The reunion with your former master was the worst....]
You, shut your mouth.
There was only one fundamental way to free myself from both Prince Clion and Professor Haspelt at the same time. Building up a ton of connections inside the school. I had to gather people who'd defend me if things went wrong.
Right now, the only people positively inclined toward me were Rote, Frey, and Professor Herlein. I didn't even know anyone else's name. Except for just one—I had no clue at all what that elf was thinking.
Still, since she was addressing the whole class for now, Haspelt didn't focus solely on me. Professor Haspelt explained what rules new students had to observe while living at the academy.
I didn't remember what the first through fourth rules were. The important one was the fifth.
"Fifth, to prevent interference with academic pursuits, our school strictly prohibits all romantic relationships on campus."
Oh, that one was fine.
At that, I heard a 'thud' from behind me along with the sound of someone yanking a chair back.
"Where in the world is there such a regulation?"
I wondered who it was, and it turned out to be the prince crazed with lust. Prince Clion seemed dissatisfied with Tillet's current school rules.
"What era do you think this is, spouting such nonsense?"
"The school does not prevent you from doing so off campus. This is a rule enforced only within the school grounds to foster an atmosphere of study. Do you have a complaint?"
Having lived as a slave for three years, I could tell. Those eyes were the kind you saw when the hysteria gauge hit 50%.
"If you have a complaint, I suggest you take it up directly with the Board of Directors."
"Tch."
The more I saw, the more spectacular it was. How the hell was he going on about women even in a place of learning?
Unfortunately, the women that bastard wanted to pester included me. That part was shit.
It was a small mercy that, at least while I was a student, I could block the prince's antics to some extent. The shield bearing the name Tillet was that sturdy.
The problem was after graduation. Once I graduated, I'd have to return to the cage of the class system.
It wasn't like I'd go back to being a commoner. The Emperor gave special treatment to commoners who graduated from Tillet. Put simply, he'd ennoble them. I'd receive at least a baronetcy.
But even then, I'd still have to grovel beneath the prince just the same. Now that I thought about it, being granted a title might mean I'd have to walk on eggshells even more than a commoner.
[Right. What exactly are you going to do to get by after graduation?]
What was there to worry about? If things went wrong, I'd just bolt to the elf or beastkin nations.
Or before that, I could somehow deal with the prince.
My goal before graduation was to master every Magic Art except for Air Magic. Air Magic I could complete at the academy the elves attended without it being too late. They specialized in that field to begin with, anyway.
While I was checking over my life plan, the homeroom period ended. Finally, I didn't have to see my homeroom teacher's face anymore.
Right. At least for a few hours.
**
First period began right after homeroom ended.
"The first class is Understanding of Magic Beasts. Originally I'd planned to teach Basic Fire Magic, but please note it was changed to this due to the incident that occurred during yesterday's entrance ceremony."
"Ah, class on the very first day?"
"No way. They'll just do orientation and won't get into actual material."
Grumbling erupted from all over. Not everyone in the Special Class was burning with academic passion.
Well, of course. Youth was so precious. They'd studied and trained hard until now and passed into the Empire's top academy. Didn't they deserve a moment to breathe? Jumping straight into lessons without even minimal consideration was a heartless measure.
Except for just one person.
"This is exciting. What are we going to learn?"
Rote, sitting in the next seat, already had her eyes sparkling.
This girl was the real deal....
[You're not one to talk. You've got a book open yourself, so why are you only acting like that toward the young lady of Saliere?]
I did it because I had to, even if I hated it. This was all to save my precious time.
Rote and I each read the books we'd brought to pass the interval until the teacher came. Lunch break was after this class, so I planned to eat and then go buy instructional materials.
The sliding door rattled and swung shut noisily.
The person who entered the classroom was a middle-aged man with a solid build.
He was a macho teacher whose jawline beard reached the top of his chest. Unlike the golems that roamed construction sites, his upper and lower body had been sculpted in balance.
Even with a robe draped over him, he couldn't hide the overwhelming muscle mass bulging through it. Looking at his biceps, which seemed about to tear through the fabric, admiration slipped out of my mouth.
A nice body that practically advertised, 'I am a soldier,' at a glance. The teacher, who could have been a veteran war hero come to life, thudded his way over to the lectern.
And the next moment.
"It's wonderful to meet you all!!!!!!!!"
A booming voice mercilessly struck my eardrums. Rote and I swiftly covered our ears.
[110 decibels measured. Had the volume been even slightly higher, your eardrums might have suffered.]
"I am Alex Noelheim, and I will be teaching you the 'Understanding of Magic Beasts' subject this semester!! Pleased to meet you!!"
"Excuse me, sir...?"
"Hm, the male student there! Do you have a question?"
"Is this by any chance a practical subject?"
"Hmph, practicals are held very occasionally! It is fundamentally a theory subject!"
In other words.
It felt like.... a teacher you'd expect to see during outdoor PE had come in to teach health class.
"In light of the magic beast attack incident that occurred during yesterday's entrance ceremony, the Board of Directors instructed that this subject be taught first. Especially since you lot entered with outstanding grades. How mortified you would be in the afterlife if you lost your lives to a mid-grade magic beast before becoming splendid mages!!"
We were in trouble. This teacher intended to lecture full-time for the entire two hours.
The other kids seemed to have intuited that fact as well. Sighs burst out everywhere.
After writing the names of textbooks and reference books on the blackboard, Teacher Alex immediately launched into the lecture.
"Now, the fact that magic beasts are classified into five total stages is something you automatically learn while living in this world. In this subject, rather than such trite theory, I intend to teach you countermeasures based on real situations."
"By countermeasures, do you mean manuals, sir?"
"That's right! The method of dealing with magic beasts differs completely depending on their grade! Furthermore, even among beasts belonging to the same grade, detailed methods of disposal differ according to what behavioral patterns they exhibit. All of this is a curriculum designed to keep you from dying a dog's death on the battlefield, so treat it as safety education and take it as such!"
This was worth listening to without doing other things. It was all new content.
[Oh. So, through this subject, we'll also learn what grade of magic beast the owner of the voice you heard while confronting the drake yesterday was!]
No, wouldn't it have been difficult to deduce that far from manuals alone, no matter what.......
"First, I will inform you of the ones you should flee from the moment you meet them. A magic beast capable of human speech is unconditionally Calamity-class or higher, so do not recklessly challenge them, you lot—retreat, understood?!"
Well, there it was.
[As expected, the one you met yesterday must be Extinction-class.]
Wait. It could have been Calamity-class.
I raised my hand to signal a question.
"Very well, student! What are you curious about?"
"Is there a specific criterion that distinguishes Calamity-class from Extinction-class?"
Since I'd only studied Magic Theory for the entrance exam, I didn't know much about what kind of beings magic beasts were. I'd merely glossed over it based on the criteria others had classified them by. I didn't even properly know the boundary between mid-grade and high-grade magic beasts.
"An excellent question! Usually, determining a magic beast's grade depends on the scale of damage that beast has actually caused! A level capable of destroying a single large city is classified as Calamity-class, and one that can ruin an entire country is labeled Extinction-class."
"Then, have there been countries destroyed by an Extinction-class magic beast?"
"Of course there have! The beastking kingdom in the west, as well as the nameless principality that has now become a playground for magic beasts in the Elankaya Mountains, are recorded to have been completely devastated by a single Extinction-class beast!"
I remembered skimming over that while studying Continental History.
Before the western beastkin formed their current federation, there had been a single kingdom they built. It was a widely known tale that this nation of predators, which had flourished for quite a long time, was annihilated in just a few days without any prior warning.
It was said that thick rain fell everywhere the Extinction-class beast that invaded that beastkin kingdom went. The bodies of those caught in that rain turned to iron, and as that iron gradually encroached upon their bodies, the beastmen covered entirely in metal were said to have lost their reason and rampaged.
Rote, who had been tilting her head at Teacher Alex's words, subsequently raised her hand.
"But countries have different national strengths, so wouldn't that cause confusion in the standards? If a small, weak nation happened to collapse from a single magic beast, could that beast also be called Extinction-class?"
"Oho, a remarkably sharp question! That's why a new classification standard has been introduced recently!"
The next moment, an unfamiliar term leaped from Teacher Alex's mouth.
"Are you perhaps aware of the expression Great Machines of the Nine Heavens?"
"Great Machines of the Nine Heavens?"
I was hearing it for the first time.
"It means the eight machines that rule the highest heaven—the Nine Heavens. All magic beasts are comprised of iron cores and magic stones, so there's no shame in describing them as machines!"
In the beginning, there was the Demon King who created all magic beasts.
An oral tradition has been handed down that the number of direct magic beasts assisting that Demon King was nine. From that oral tradition, the name Nine Heavens was attached, and stories have been circulating that those magic beasts are currently focusing their efforts on preparing rituals for the Demon King's resurrection rather than attacking humans directly.
"To put it simply. Those are the bastards who could endanger the Empire at any moment, but whose top priority is the Demon King's resurrection, so they've postponed it. The Mage Association recently reached a decision to refer solely to those magic beasts of the Nine Heavens as 'Extinction-class.' "
To summarize what I'd just learned, the conditions for judging an Extinction-class magic beast were three.
─ Hello. Can you hear me?
It was capable of human speech.
─ Right. The Imperials might not know it well, but the capital has half fallen into our hands.
And it possessed the power to single-handedly annihilate an entire nation.
─ But you know, if we do that, the lower ones keep throwing tantrums saying it's too boring. Resurrecting the Demon King isn't some children's game, and I really don't get what kind of fun they're looking for.
A magic beast focused more on the Demon King's resurrection than on humanity's destruction.
"You must not encounter them, even indirectly. It is said that among them there are some who can even manipulate a person's will."
As expected, that thing really was an Extinction-class.