The Professor You Chose (5)
"You want me to take exclusive charge of Nightly? Is that what you're saying right now?"
I thought I might have misheard, but there was no chance of that. Principal Kirlin couldn't meet my eyes. She just nodded.
"I'd really appreciate it if you would."
"Why, though? Sounds like you're talking about a homeroom professor. I'm the Chief Professor."
"Well, that's true, but..."
Watching Kirlin trail off and hang her head, a thought occurred to me.
"Principal. Is this because Duke Toulouse asked me to look after Nightly? That's it, isn't it?"
"That's part of it..."
"That's just something people say. He didn't mean for me to haul his daughter off and give her private tutoring."
"The truth is..."
Kirlin pressed a hand to her forehead, bracing herself to say something difficult.
"The truth is, Nightly requested a meeting with me herself."
"What, did she ask you to make me her homeroom professor?"
"Not exactly a homeroom professor. She wants private combat instruction about once a week."
"She's got some nerve. Duke's daughter or not, this is still an academy."
I clicked my tongue, and Kirlin looked up at me with desperate eyes.
"Dian. Could you help me out? Please?"
"I am helping you. Like I said last time, I've been turning the Combat Department upside down so you don't get fired."
"O-of course, I'm truly grateful for that. Ah, and I didn't get a chance to say it at the time, but... thank you for protecting me during the Duke's visit."
Kirlin dipped her head slightly. That caught me off guard.
Dark elves live in gloomy forests, and they are every bit as cold-blooded as they look. Apologizing, asking for favors, saying thank you — those are not things dark elves do.
"If it hadn't been for you back then, I probably would have been thrown out already. I'm truly grateful. I don't know how I should repay you, but..."
"No need for repayment. We both benefit from this. Anyway, so? You want me to teach Nightly once a week?"
"Mm... if you're all right with it, I'd really like that. I'm sorry. I know I'm putting you on the spot... No, no, never mind."
Then Kirlin suddenly waved her hands.
"Just forget I said anything. Thinking about it, I can't treat a Chief Professor like a private tutor just because one student asked for a meeting. That's ridiculous. No, Dian. I'm sorry. You can go."
"Are you all right? You're rambling."
Kirlin stared at me for a moment, then covered her face with both hands and let out a weary sigh.
"I never even wanted to be a principal..."
"You didn't take the job because you wanted it?"
"No..."
Kirlin sighed deeply once more.
"I was forced into it because of my father... So even though I hate it, I can't quit... If I did, I'd probably..."
She started to say more, then shot up from her chair. And then, without warning, she dropped to her knees.
"Dian...! Please, help me! I'm begging you..."
"Whoa, Principal! Don't do this."
"I really did my best... It's true I scaled back the Combat Department, but I strengthened the other classes just as much, and I secured a lot of budget..."
Kirlin planted both hands on the floor, nearly prostrating herself.
"Ever since you arrived, I've gone along with everything you've said... I'll keep doing that, so... help me... Dian... Don't let me get sent back to the forest..."
"All right, Principal. Please calm down."
"Please... please..."
But Kirlin finally broke. Tears spilled down her face as she began to sob.
"I don't want to go back to the forest... I'm scared... Please..."
"What happens if you go back?"
"Hic... nngh... nngh..."
She couldn't even answer. She just whimpered, her hands starting to tremble.
This was pretty bad. Just how terrible was that clan forest — and her father — to reduce her to this?
Kirlin's father, the Nemara Clan Leader, had supposedly betrayed the other clans during the operation to assassinate the Emperor. That was right around the time Linus and I were tearing through the battlefield. True to a cunning dark elf, he had predicted how the war would end and sided with the winners in advance.
After the war, he called in the life-debt from the Emperor and had his daughter installed as principal here — the first step toward having his clan fully recognized as members of society. So if Kirlin got thrown out of the principal's office and sent back to the forest, her father would not forgive her. She would have reduced all his plans to nothing.
And just how would he punish her, then?
The dark elves I had run into during the war had been vicious enough to make your skin crawl. Even before the war, they had made their living off dirty work like assassination and kidnapping, exploiting their racial traits. The race as a whole had nothing whatsoever to do with words like conscience, justice, compassion, or love. The Kirlin currently kneeling and crying in front of me was unusual enough that you could call her a mutant.
I couldn't even begin to imagine the horrors she would face. These were not the kind of people who went easy on someone just because she was their daughter.
Poor thing.
She had never wanted this, but her father's orders — and her fear of him — had dropped her into the principal's chair. The Second Princess and the rest of the Post-War Power Faction were not happy about a turncoat dark elf sitting as academy principal, and Kirlin, sensing that, had been thrashing around in her own way to cling to the position. If she sat still, she would be sent back to the forest she never wanted to return to. Back to her father.
"Dian... I'll do whatever you say and I won't get in your way at all... You can spend the entire budget I've been saving however you want... Just... just don't let me get kicked out of the academy and sent back..."
"I was going to do that even if you hadn't said so, Principal. Things are easier for me — and for my friend — if you're here."
I crouched down and patted Kirlin's shoulder.
"I'll check in on Nightly from time to time. I don't need to take exclusive charge of her. That should be enough to satisfy both Nightly and the Duke."
Honestly, I wasn't losing anything here. When I had first learned Nightly existed and flipped through her academic records, her grades had been excellent. A little help from the sidelines and she would soar even higher. If we raised the caliber of the first graduating class, Kirlin would earn the Second Princess's recognition, she would get to stay on as principal, and Linus and I would have an easier time.
Besides, once a week wouldn't really eat into my time, and a Duke who owed me his life wasn't in any position to complain. If anything, he would be thrilled I was taking an interest in his daughter. Doing something that cost me almost nothing, getting credit for it, and letting Kirlin run the academy in peace — everyone won. Me, Kirlin, Linus, the Second Princess.
"So calm down already. This is unbecoming."
"Thank you, Dian!"
I took her still-trembling hands, and Kirlin suddenly pulled me into an embrace. A dark elf's skin was surprisingly cool, and soft. First I'd ever noticed.
"Ah, sorry..."
I was still registering that pleasant sensation when Kirlin, flustered, shoved me away.
"Feeling a bit better now? Stop crying. This is honestly the first time in my life I've seen a dark elf cry. The tears aren't black, though."
I tossed out the joke, and Kirlin, her mood lifting a little, gave a shy smile. First time I'd seen a dark elf smile like that, too.
"I'll be going, then. Figure I should at least get a look at this noble young lady named Nightly."
"Thank you so much, Dian. Truly, thank you."
Kirlin kept bowing at the waist as if I were the principal, which was so embarrassing I hurried out of the office.
Man. How does someone suddenly look that pitiful?
And she kept going on about the budget — just how much had she been stashing away?
After Dian left, Kirlin wiped her eyes with her sleeve and staggered over to her desk.
Nightly had shown up at the principal's office unannounced and demanded, without preamble, that Professor Dian be assigned as her homeroom professor. It was an absurd request. Kirlin wasn't a fool. She knew perfectly well that something like that was impossible. Even so, she hadn't dared refuse the Duke of Toulouse's daughter to her face. Which was why she had gone to Dian for help yet again.
And once again, Dian seemed to have decided he would protect her.
Kirlin had graduated from the Imperial Public Academy against her will, and she had been sent here as principal against her will as well. Behind it all stood her father, the chieftain of the Nemara Clan, and Kirlin feared disappointing him — feared being thrown out of the principal's chair — more than she feared death.
She had thought about running away and disappearing thousands upon thousands of times. But she had no confidence she could escape other dark elves. Kirlin was a half-blood, mixed with human. Evading a pursuit by pure-blooded dark elves was impossible from the start.
And that was precisely why Kirlin alone had been sent out of the forest to make use of the Empire's education system and enter public office. In a half-blood, the cold-blooded cruelty unique to pure-bloods was somewhat blunted, which made her a suitable first member of the clan to send into imperial society.
This was why Kirlin had come into human society as her clan's representative — and also why she felt gratitude toward Dian, why she apologized to him, why she showed him her tears, and why she harbored a fondness for him.
Dian had patted Kirlin's shoulder and taken her trembling hands. He had comforted her with kind words and a gentle expression.
That wasn't actually the case, but if that was how it looked to the person involved, then that was how it was.
How many times had Dian saved her already...? No words of thanks could ever be enough.
At this point, Kirlin began to flesh out the vague plan taking shape in her mind. The outlandish plan of stepping down to become an ordinary Subject Professor specializing in assassination and kidnapping, and elevating Dian to principal. The Second Princess would be happy to get rid of the Emperor's troublesome parachute appointee. Dian would be happy in a higher position. She herself would be happy to shed all the pressure. And her father might be at least somewhat satisfied if she were still a professor.
Then a thought suddenly occurred to Kirlin, and she hurriedly looked up the academy regulations.
Let's see, let's see... If you get married and have a child, can you take a leave of absence...
Just in case. She was looking it up just in case. When Dian had held her hands earlier, the look in his eyes hadn't been ordinary.
That wasn't actually the case, but if that was how it looked to the person involved, then that was how it was.
I wondered if Kirlin had calmed down and gotten a grip on herself by now. I'd keep helping her just like this, so she needed to hold the center and stay glued to that principal's chair.
Was this even the right place, though? Class should be letting out any minute.
Right on cue, the lecture hall doors opened and students poured out from their theory class. Among them, I spotted a particularly striking young woman with golden hair and golden eyes.
"Nightly Toulouse. A word."