Chapter 16: Summary
“You worked hard.”
Aaron Patrick thought this sincerely. Yet, the eyebrows of the person receiving the praise showed no signs of relaxing.
“You’re late, Professor! I really thought you were gonna die! Whoa, is this really what you wanted us to catch? Way beyond a normal troll. Our amazing Professor. Please explain~”
Renya’s dying voice made Aaron lower his head politely. He added no excuses.
“I’m sorry.”
The students in the hall couldn’t hide their surprise. They had expected an apology for the actions shown so far, but bowing his head with such formality was unexpected.
“As the overall responsible party for this exam, I apologize. Although I must investigate the exact details, the troll’s abnormal strength is clearly evident. The parts where I failed to check properly and caused danger, I will take responsibility later.”
The students were unable to calm down from Aaron’s polite yet sincere apology. After all, they were students, and he was the professor. Moreover, no one had been seriously injured or killed, so there was no need for such formality.
Renya, having no complaint about receiving an apology from Aaron, looked uneasy. She scratched the back of her head and said,
“……Raise your head. It was just a word. Thanks to you, my life is saved. These bastards too?”
Upon Renya’s words, Ivan and Hillary secretly nodded. Nevertheless, Aaron shook his head.
“If you’re sitting in a position of responsibility, you should bear the corresponding responsibility. Let’s not speak of this anymore. You all should return to the auditorium. By now, the Chairman should have noticed the issue and sent reinforcements.”
“How scrupulously honest, really.”
Upon Aaron’s words, as Hillary was returning to the auditorium, she remembered something she had forgotten.
“Ah! Professor? There’s still someone left in the exam hall. It’s a knight aspirant…….”
“I’m aware. In the first place, to find the remaining student, I sent you ahead. Don’t worry and go rest.”
“Yes.”
Only after Aaron, the rest left the exam hall. The exam hall, being filled with trees, wasn’t particularly large, so it wasn’t difficult to search directly. Aaron soon found the last student not far from the bodies.
“W-who are you!”
The discovered student was terrified. Although the temperature was warm, he was trembling. He pointed his sword at the suddenly appeared person, but the tip was shaking violently.
“Who taught you to swing a sword like that? I doubt even a goblin could be cut properly.”
Upon Aaron’s remark, the student finally realized who had come. He fell to his knees and clung to Aaron’s legs like a savior.
“Professor! I was waiting! Please get me out of here…….”
“I never gave permission for you to cling to me.”
Aaron stepped his foot into the student’s abdomen.
“Kyahk! W-why?”
“Why? Rather, I want to ask you, student Cal. Why were you here.”
“Even if you’re a professor, threatening a student! Kyaaah!!”
“You seem to have difficulty understanding what I said. I asked, didn’t I.”
Aaron Patrick’s foot was pressing down on the student’s arm. With just a little more weight, the bones would break.
“While the three students were fighting the troll, where were you.”
The grey eyes didn’t allow the boy to turn his head.
─Crack.
A scream echoed in the exam hall. The boy who dreamed of becoming a knight writhed in pain.
“Don’t look away. If you acted, you should bear the corresponding responsibility.”
The student’s pupils wandered without focusing. Even seeing this, Aaron Patrick felt no emotion.
“Even if the troll is stronger than originally planned, it wasn’t particularly dangerous for you. Do you know why?”
“I-I don’t know.”
“In the first place, your team was already outside the average standard with only Renya and Hillary students. Nevertheless, including the two was to see how to adjust this discord. But what I saw when I arrived was the crisis itself.”
Who caused the crisis? Aaron was asking this. He took out a book from his pocket.
“Petty personality. Avoid causing discord in relationships with others. When conflict arises, there is a tendency to mediate.”
“W-what is that.”
“It’s your profile. Information provided by the Academy. Of course, I’m not foolish enough to blindly trust this profile.”
He pointed at his grey eyes.
“But what I see with my own eyes, I believe. And the impression I have of you who took the exam is the same as this profile. You seem to be petty and didn’t want even small conflicts to occur. So why did you cause this discord.”
“What the hell are you talking about……!”
“When I arrived, Renya and Hillary students clearly distinguished between merit and demerit in battle. If given enough time, with their level, they would likely have caught them, albeit with difficulty.”
In reality, if Aaron hadn’t intervened, the newly received student would have died. The student who was not present there.
“No escape route. Please explain properly.”
Aaron Patrick, scrutinizing Cal, sensed something strange. Because it was too subtle, he could only feel it up close.
“Someone used magic.”
It was a type that disturbed the mind by looking at the structure of the spell formula. Unlike the demonic he caught, it wasn’t something he could immediately dismantle. As he reached out to examine closely, a spark occurred.
“Kyaaah!!”
Cal clutched his head in pain. Seeing this, Aaron Patrick clicked his tongue. It was too late to intervene directly as it was a trigger that destroyed the brain. Soon, the struggling boy collapsed limply.
Clearly, such insidious magic was a specialty of Isaac and his subordinate. Since Isaac was the one he killed himself, only one remained.
“Isaac’s subordinate.”
He didn’t get information from Cal, but there was no lack of harvest. The student’s brainwashing, the demonic appearing inside the Academy. All of this was not a coincidence but a planned crime.
“So you’re moving, Demon King.”
It was chilling.
Aaron collected the bodies and returned to the auditorium. In the auditorium, injured students and priests treating them occupied the space. At best, the unharmed were Renya’s team and Haren.
When Aaron appeared in the auditorium, an old man approached him. It was the Chairman of the Academy.
“We should have resolved it before the accident occurred. I’m sorry.”
The Chairman waved his hand at Aaron’s words. It wasn’t something anyone would do out of courtesy.
“No need to apologize. Rather, thanks to you, we prevented the worst situation. There are no casualties, but…… it was unavoidable.”
“Still, as a matter of duty, I seem to have to take responsibility.”
“Enough. This was something no one could handle even if they came. If there’s fault, it’s rather this old man. The Academy’s defenses being weak is something I, the Chairman, must take responsibility for.”
Upon the Chairman’s dissuasion, Aaron eventually nodded.
“That’s aside……”
The Chairman’s eyes moved to the demon’s corpse. It was a small one he had raised after hearing about it, but it was only a young man in his twenties. Even looking at the demon’s corpse, it was hard to believe this man alone had stopped it. Especially.
“How exactly was the door to the exam hall broken. It was designed to withstand large-scale magic easily.”
Aaron Patrick simply shrugged his shoulders. The Chairman didn’t seem to be asking for a response to the question, so he didn’t pay much attention.
“The reward will be called after the investigation of the incident is over. ……And I’ll ask about the details of that student then too.”
“I’m waiting.”
He didn’t refuse to give it. After the Chairman left his seat, Aaron moved to where the students were.
The students’ eyes no longer held doubt from their first meeting. Instead, they were filled with admiration, respect, and gratitude.
In the previous life, I had thoroughly avoided creating relationships with others, so such gazes felt unfamiliar.
“Thank you for saving me, Professor!”
“Kyaa! It was so cool!”
Although injured, none of the students were so severely injured that they couldn’t move their bodies. They all clung to Aaron, regardless of gender.
“Professor, you’re not a magician, right? How can a magician send a troll flying with one punch? If I learn rune magic too, can I catch trolls with my bare hands?”
“I didn’t use rune magic. It was purely my physical ability. However, I recommend you take my classes. Whether magic or knight, if you learn rune magic, even if not the main subject, you can use it usefully as a supplement.”
“Wow! Then I’ll definitely take Professor’s classes!”
“Me too! Me too!”
The female students were clinging to him with kyaa, kyaa sounds. It was natural that they did so, with the appearance of a life savior. Among them, several approached with blushing faces.
Renya was looking at them from behind with a contemptuous gaze.
“Appearance is really handsome though.”
Inside, it was so evil that even a demon would flee. It was enough to make one go crazy just recalling during training.
“Well, if I hadn’t trained like that, I would have died.”
The first meeting was a mess, but even so, he was a grateful human.
As the offensive of the female students intensified, Renya felt a chill. Turning her head to where the chill was felt, goosebumps rose.
“Professor?! What’s going on!”
The noisy atmosphere became quiet upon the appearance of a woman.
Overwhelming beauty
Just looking at the face, it was seductive and bewitching. The beauty close to nobility made it difficult to approach. But the expression and behavior had a familiarity as if one could talk to her immediately.
Was she having come all this way? Her clothes were soaked with sweat, making the lines of her body overtly visible. Some male students turned their heads with blushing faces, and most couldn’t take their eyes off her.
Only Aaron Patrick frowned.
“You weren’t supposed to come to the Academy today.”
“I heard there was an accident at the Academy. I came running right away because I was worried!”
Skadi smiled brightly and extended both hands to Aaron. Anyone else would have hugged her immediately. Aaron pressed his throbbing forehead.
“Even if you heard the news and came immediately, it’s too fast.”
“Why are you so suspicious. It’s possible. Well, there is something I need to tell you though.”
“Something to tell?”
“The professor with that thick mustache is waiting at the mansion. He said he’d watch the joint practical evaluation with me.”
At that moment, a man who appeared to be an Academy staff member came running.
“Is this Aaron Patrick Professor?”
Aaron nodded his head.
“We have brought an artifact containing the process of this exam. Please use it to help with the performance evaluation.”
“Thank you. But shouldn’t it be used first for the investigation?”
“Ah, that was separately given to the Chairman as a copy.”
“Then I won’t refuse and accept it. By any chance, is there a scene of me fighting with a student inside?”
“The entire exam process that happened today is included.”
Aaron nodded satisfiedly. He called Renya, Haren, and Skadi.
“We’ll return to the mansion.”
To receive the prize for the bet, Aaron took a step.