The New Professor Is a Lunatic (2)
"Wow, it's enormous!"
Olicia gasped in awe as she stepped down from the carriage at the Imperial Special Task Academy.
She wasn't wrong. The academy was vast beyond all reason. The Grand Parade Ground, where ceremonies and major training exercises were held, was the size of several soccer fields from my previous life laid end to end, and the main buildings — including the administration hall — stood arrayed around it.
Beyond them, a sprawl of lesser facilities stretched out until the whole place rivaled a modest town. There was even a densely wooded hill within the grounds. And wrapping around every last bit of it was a solid wall some five meters high. Magic to keep out intruders was almost certainly woven into that stone.
"Welcome, Sir Dian. I'll escort you to the Principal. Might your companion be your younger sister?"
The administrative director who had come out to greet us asked the question while looking at Olicia, whose brown hair was similar to mine.
"She's my maid."
"I see. In that case, we'll have her taken to the residence to unpack."
The carriage carrying Olicia rolled on past us, and I followed the administrative director toward the main building.
"Principal. Your successor has arrived."
Waiting for me in the office was... Huh? What?
Something dark slowly rose from behind a desk buried under a mountain of paperwork. A dark elf.
Ruby-red eyes. Raven-black hair. Skin as dark and smooth as chocolate. Aside from that distinctive slender frame and those long ears, she looked nothing like an ordinary elf.
The instant I confirmed the Principal's race, I understood what Linus had meant. He'd said the current Principal was outstanding in personal combat but considered lacking when it came to running an organization.
Dark elves were a race that might as well have been born to become assassins. Their distinctive agility, their extremely developed senses, their innate talent with concealed weapons — none of it had an equal. The problem was that the race itself was vanishingly small, and they lived in dark forests, which put all sorts of limits on holding high office in civilized society.
So how on earth was a dark elf sitting in a seat like this?
And this particular dark elf was a little unusual. Her skin wasn't the pitch-black of ebony but a somewhat lighter chocolate tone, and her face — why was it so round and innocent? She was trying her best to look fierce, but compared to most dark elves, who tended to look like snakes, she came across more like a cute cat.
"Hello, Principal. I'm Dian."
I offered a greeting, but the dark elf Principal just stood there staring at me. Does she not like something about me?
"Hello?"
Still nothing. Just those wide, blinking eyes. What's with her? As the Principal's silence stretched on, the administrative director cleared his throat.
"Principal. This is the successor Principal. The one we received word about from the Imperial Palace."
"I know. I was just... taking a closer look at what kind of human he is."
Only then did the dark elf Principal mutter something and look me up and down.
"Hello, Principal. My name is Dian."
"I am Kirrin Nemara. So, what did you do in the past? What kind of career do you have that the Imperial Palace sent you as Sir Linus's proxy?"
"Didn't the Imperial Palace tell you? If they didn't, then I won't say either."
According to Linus, when I left the Imperial Palace, they classified all my records as confidential. They'd wanted to use me for propaganda, but I'd run, so they were worried it would reflect poorly on their public image. If the Imperial Palace hadn't sent a resume for this so-called successor Principal, there was no reason for me to volunteer anything. They were probably worried that putting me in as a professor with my actual record would throw the chain of command into chaos.
"Still, your appearance is surprisingly normal. When I heard you were coming in place of Sir Linus, Hero of the Continent, I figured you'd at least be some barbarian the size of a troll or an orc, going around shirtless with a thick pelt of chest hair, gnawing on a deer leg bone."
"It's actually pale, unassuming types like me who last longest on the battlefield. Though..."
I thought for a moment, then went on.
"If it's Nemara, is that the Nemara Clan I know? The assassination team that infiltrated the Imperial Palace."
"Yes. That Nemara."
I see. Now every piece of the puzzle clicked into place as to why a dark elf was sitting as Academy Principal.
Originally, the dark elves had been on the Demon King's side during the war. They'd operated as assassins and inflicted enormous damage on our forces — a genuine, persistent headache. Then, right around the time Linus and I had stopped the dragon Hindrastar and been promoted to Captain together, dark elves had infiltrated the Imperial Palace.
The goal was, of course, to assassinate the Emperor. They failed. Because the Nemara Clan, assigned to the assassination, had defected.
For reasons never fully made public, the Nemara dark elves — who hadn't been on great terms with the Demon King's high command — slaughtered every other dark elf who'd infiltrated with them and surrendered along with their entire clan. Using this as a pretext, the Emperor lavishly rewarded the Nemara Clan, and as part of that repayment, he appointed a dark elf from the clan as Principal of this academy. The Emperor's promises were, after all, inviolable.
"This is an honor. It's my first time actually meeting the Nemara Clan."
"Yes... And this will probably be the last time..."
"Pardon...?"
"Because I'm about to be kicked out and sent back to the forest where my clan lives... And I'll never be able to come out into the human world again."
Then, suddenly, tears began welling in the Principal's ruby-red eyes.
"Oh dear..."
Seeing this, the administrative director lamented in a voice just barely loud enough for me to hear.
"Um, you probably haven't received word from the Imperial Palace yet. For now, I—"
"No. Stop."
The Principal squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them and cut me off with a cold demeanor.
"I don't want to hear it. It's my dismissal notice anyway. Obviously."
"Um, for the record, I'm not here as Principal. I came as a professor."
"Of course you would.... Wait— WHAT?!"
"What did you just say?!"
At my words, the administrative director and Principal Kirrin shouted at the same time.
"The Principal's seat was too much of a burden. The Second Princess told me to do it this way, too. You know — the Head of the National Security Office. Your boss."
"I'm not getting fired?!"
The Principal threw both arms up in delight, and daggers, garrotes, and all manner of concealed weapons came pouring out of her sleeves and from inside her clothes. I guess a dark elf was still a dark elf.
"Oh, for heaven's sake. No, don't touch those. They're dangerous."
Crouched on the floor, the Principal stopped me from helping and picked up the weapons herself.
"Sorry. That was undignified."
"Haha... It's fine. So what should I be doing now?"
"There's actually a vacancy right now, so this works out well. Talk to the administrative director."
At the Principal's words, the administrative director grabbed my arm and pulled me along.
"This way, Sir Dian."
Once we were out of the office, the administrative director bowed his head and apologized.
"I apologize, Sir Dian. You must have been quite startled because of the Principal."
"No, it's fine. There are all kinds of people in the world. But isn't the Principal being a little too openly happy about this?"
At my words, the administrative director offered a faint smile.
"When she heard the rumor that the Imperial Palace was considering Sir Linus, Hero of the Continent, as her successor, she went days without eating or drinking. That should tell you everything."
"Really? That bad?"
"The Principal does not want to go back to the Dark Elf Forest."
"Why? Is she that attached to the position?"
"It's not that. There's a somewhat complicated situation."
The administrative director briefly explained Kirrin Nemara's background to me.
Her father was the chieftain of the Nemara Clan — the very man who had betrayed and massacred the other dark elf clans during the Imperial Palace infiltration. The Emperor accepted the Nemara Clan's surrender and, as repayment for saving his life, the Nemara Clan Leader demanded that his daughter Kirrin be appointed Principal of this newly established academy.
Given that they had originally been on the Demon King's side and then defected, there was of course enormous opposition. But the Emperor couldn't go back on a promise he'd already made, not without losing face, so he brought Kirrin in. He had almost certainly never imagined such an absurd demand would come up. He'd likely expected land, or money, or something along those lines.
"The Principal's father was apparently overjoyed when she came here. He said that dark elves, who had been marginalized from the mainstream, had finally been recognized as members of civilized society."
In other words, it was like some nowhere village producing a kid who became a prosecutor. That kind of deal.
"So do you understand now? Why the Principal doesn't want to step down from the Principal's seat and go back to the forest? Because it would disappoint the entire clan."
After hearing the administrative director's story, I could roughly piece together the Imperial Palace's situation as well.
The Imperial Special Task Academy was a critical institution, so the Second Princess, as Head of the National Security Office, had been agonizing over how to get rid of this dark elf the Emperor had installed by promise — and had eventually pulled out the Linus trump card. If it was Linus, savior of the continent who had slain the Demon King, even the Emperor's parachute appointment wouldn't be able to stand against him. That had been the calculation.
But as it happened, Linus had married Celine and a baby was on the way, so he wanted to retire. The Second Princess then made the ridiculous proposal that she'd let him go if he found a suitable replacement. As if there was anyone in this world who could replace Linus.
And then, coincidentally, the fact that I'd gotten into a scrap with those Ferenchino types reached the intelligence department. Linus figured out it was me and came asking for help.
Put simply: an acquaintance who'd done the chairman a huge favor got his daughter parachuted into a post, and the chairman's own kid — the executive director — cooked up a whole scheme to kick her out. This whole mess was tangled up in the most complicated way. I never imagined it would be this twisted.
"In any case, it's fortunate in many ways that you came as a professor rather than Principal, Sir Dian. The Principal can keep her position, and our academy gets to welcome an outstanding professor."
"So what am I supposed to do?"
"Please take the position of Combat Chief Professor. Given that you were considered a candidate for Principal by the Imperial Palace, your abilities have already been verified."
"Never mind that — isn't there just a regular Subject Professor post at the bottom of the ladder? I don't want to do anything difficult."
"I'm sorry, but there are no vacancies among the Subject Professors. The previous Combat Chief Professor just resigned, so please take that post."
Combat Chief Professor... a bit of a gray area, but still better than Principal. I'd compromise at this level, if only for Linus and Celine's sake.
"So why did the previous one resign?"
But the administrative director didn't answer. He just gave me a meaningful smile.
"I'M SAVED!!"
Just as we started walking, a scream-like cheer erupted from behind the closed door — Principal Kirrin's voice. She apparently didn't realize we were still standing in the hallway.
For a dark elf, that woman is a real airhead.
Anyway, looking at that mountain of paperwork earlier, it was clear that sitting in a high position wasn't exactly comfortable. Even in my previous life, the agency heads and CEOs who looked like they were just coasting were actually insanely busy. Work isn't just sweating it out in the field or sitting in an office all day. That's something you can never know unless you've actually been in that seat.
And given the scale of this academy, it would have been weirder if she'd had free time.
I really made the right call not becoming Principal.
