The Lecture Plan
Vibrant teenagers living and dying by their pride was, in a way, perfectly natural.
And if their skills were good enough to get into the academy and stay in Solaris Dorm, all the more so.
"Eh, this should do it."
After finishing her introductions on the third floor, she headed down to the second and first floors.
She met a lot of students.
Unlike the top floor, the lower levels had over a dozen rooms each.
Among them were some notable heirs from southern noble families, and foreign princes studying abroad like Kassel.
After exchanging 'introductions' with them as well, she left Solaris Dorm and glanced back.
The scenery on the second floor was no different.
Onlookers. Silence.
"The third-floor kids were all so obedient."
"Urgh...."
A student lay sprawled on the floor, clutching his stomach and groaning.
It was the heir from the southern viscount's family.
He was paying the price for picking a fight with her.
"Let's get along, yeah?"
She glanced back and said.
The student nodded weakly.
Picking the fight, and her responding in kind.
It was the perfect Northern-style introduction.
"What a hassle."
She enjoyed watching fights, but being the center of one still put her off a bit.
If it were someone on her level, maybe.
But they were all just chicks that toppled over with a poke.
There was no fun in dealing with them.
"Hmm."
Leaving the dorm shrouded in heavy silence, she wandered the campus.
"......I'm starving to death."
She needed to find something edible for non-grass-eaters.
"Meat... carbs...."
She'd been hungry to begin with, and now she'd even used magic.
She shuffled across campus like a zombie.
Solum Imperial Academy provides equal educational opportunities to all.
Or at least, that's what it claims.
Commoner or imperial crown prince, within these walls, status makes no difference.
Of course, that's only for students.
The professors, each with their own ranks, held authority one step above regardless.
"How could true education not involve the rod?"
— Words uttered by the empire's founding emperor at the academy's establishment.
They became one of the academy rules.
[In cases where a student disrupts academy order or challenges an educator's authority, professors may use magical or physical means for immediate correction.]
[Any minor bruises resulting from this are considered part of the educational process.]
Oswald stared absently at the academy rules booklet in his hand.
"Tsk tsk...."
He chuckled.
This rule, rarely invoked over more than a century, had been little more than a symbolic relic of equality and rigorous education.
But Oswald turned his gaze to his desk.
Already, four or five protest letters were piled there.
All saying the same thing.
Ruen Eternno.
The name of the new invited lecturer who'd recently taken on the role of Solaris Dorm supervisor.
Letters claiming she'd used violence on students, demanding discipline, wrapped in flowery rhetoric.
"All written by nobles, well now."
Whether embarrassed at being thoroughly thrashed by a young lecturer their age, or scared of retaliation.
The writers' names weren't signed.
But the ornate script screamed nobility.
"Newbies who haven't shed their privilege yet...."
It was par for the course.
Privileges that didn't fly here at the academy.
Students who couldn't shake them off got weeded out.
"Hoo.... What will become of the empire's future."
Oswald sighed. Not at Ruen's alleged violence.
He pulled open the desk drawer with a creak and took out a large stamp.
"They got the rod early. Good for them."
Having spent his youth on battlefields, he disliked the fragility of today's young.
Correcting them with a few whacks? A blessing.
Bam!
Oswald stamped each protest letter in turn.
Each bore a red mark.
"One day left till term starts, well now."
He'd been chancellor for thirty-seven years now.
New years, new terms—they were routine.
But this time felt different.
"Something to look forward to...."
Oswald, one of the Four Sages.
He felt like he was young again.
This invited lecturer named Ruen.
Her skills and temperament in the interview had impressed him.
Oswald pulled out a document that had flown through his window days ago, shattering it.
Lecture Plan
Ruen was the youngest educator in academy history.
But there had been others around her age.
Young. Academy instructor.
Their lectures were always esoteric.
They were geniuses. And eager to show off.
"Tsk tsk...."
The lecture plan in Oswald's hand was different.
"How to use magic, eh...."
Her topic was, predictably, magic studies.
But How to Use Magic.
No one entering the academy lacked that knowledge.
And it didn't suit an invited lecturer.
Full professors handled theory.
Invited ones: unique, specialized niches.
Hence the protests. No approval till the day before term started.
Overreach, they said. Lousy topic.
But Oswald had just stamped the protests dismissed. His mind was set.
Bam!
The stamp hit Ruen's lecture plan.
A different one this time.
"Show us what you want, as you please."
Oswald sipped his coffee, smiling to himself.
A whiff of untimely winter scent drifted through the window crack.
"Hiiiiaaah!"
She stretched as she woke.
Solaris Dorm third floor, supervisor's room.
Her blackout spell kept out all light.
She snapped her fingers to dispel it. The sun was high already.
Term start day.
Still no reply on her lecture plan.
"Whatever happens, happens...."
She sighed, dressed, and headed out.
Stairs were a hassle, so she used the window.
Hop.
"Uh, whoa...?"
Her casual jump put her eye-to-eye with a strolling student.
Ignoring his flustered stare, she headed to the Central Academic Building for the faculty office.
A week since sending the plan. Term started, no reply—she'd complain.
As she trudged on, scowling.
"......"
Campus-goers' eyes locked on her.
Students with curiosity. Familiar assistants with glares.
"What."
She'd felt stares before, but today they were blatant.
Absurd. They tsked instead of answering.
She considered smacking one, but only for education.
Would it work if my position's higher?
She could call it educational.
Almost at the building, enduring the stares, her foot caught a scrap of paper.
A discarded new course notice.
Students staring had held them too.
Normally trash, but the name was too familiar.
"What."
She stopped, bent, picked it up.
[New Course Announcement]
Understanding of Magic
Instructor - Ruen Eternno
Every Friday.
※ The first class will be a public lecture.
Her hand trembled slightly holding the paper.
"......Huh."
Something different from her plan.
'Friday, Grand Auditorium Public Lecture' highlighted in red, helpfully.