The Hero Gets Roasted (1)
The next day. Today was finally the day of the first class for the Royal Academy’s Special Class. However, my expression wasn’t bright. More accurately, it was filled with fatigue.
‘I only slept for one damn hour, and I had to have that shitty dream…’
Creating the community had been finished around dawn. The real time sink had been scattering the papers throughout the Academy. Because of that, I’d only managed a single hour of sleep. On top of that, I’d dreamed about my old days in the Hero’s party. Specifically, a dream where the Hero mocked Master’s magic.
It was based on something that had actually happened. The Hero had subtly looked down on Master’s magic, which focused on all sorts of miscellaneous spells. Back then, I hadn’t had the power to talk back to him. But things were different now. I had obtained tremendous strength. Furthermore, I had combined it with Master’s magic to create something extraordinary. The Academy was probably about to descend into chaos because of the magic Master and I had created.
‘I wonder how long it’ll take?’
The Academy was already quite noisy. Overnight, bundles of paper had been scattered all over the school. And these weren’t ordinary sheets. They were clean, neatly lined pages, as if they had been printed. Of course, the students pretended not to care.
“What’s this?”
“Did someone throw away paper?”
“Hey, don’t just leave it here.”
“But this is brand-new paper.”
“Oh my, are you actually going to pick that up?”
“N-no! Why would I?!”
Paper was surprisingly expensive. If this had been outside the Academy, everyone would have scrambled to grab it. But this was the Royal Academy, where nobles gathered. Even the few commoners came from wealthy merchant families. They couldn’t afford to stoop so low as to pick up paper from the ground. Still, a few eccentrics paid no attention to other people’s opinions. I watched several of them quietly pocket the sheets.
‘Reactions should start coming soon.’
I had no worries about failure. Once anyone tried using it, they wouldn’t be able to escape. A Korean-style community dropped into the Middle Ages? They were going to lose their minds.
While walking and observing the situation outside, I soon spotted the classroom. It had the clean, spacious feel of a university lecture hall. As soon as I stepped inside, I felt many eyes turn toward me.
“It’s the Mercenary King…”
“Jace Allen…”
The atmosphere was quite different from before. Previously, some gazes had carried a hint of avoidance—after all, I had been a mercenary. But after the cafeteria incident, that seemed to have disappeared. At least the plan to win over the Academy students was progressing smoothly. I gave a slight smile and looked for a seat. Sitting at the very front would have been ideal, but those seats were already taken.
‘Constantine and Lucien.’
Surprisingly, those two were sitting together. They even seemed to have some degree of familiarity.
‘Hmm… Did they already know each other?’
An elven princess and a grand mage being acquainted was intriguing, but I didn’t need to know the details.
‘Yeah, not my problem.’
I took a seat somewhere in the middle. There were no more empty spots in the front rows. Just as I sat down—
Creak.
The door opened, and two people entered.
“Kyaa! I-it’s the Saintess!”
“The Hero…?”
The Saintess and the Hero had arrived. But the reactions to them were completely different. People still treated the Saintess with reverence. The Hero, however, was another story. His image had already changed considerably. Even if they didn’t outright dislike him, they were clearly seeing him in a new light. As proof, the cheers were directed solely at the Saintess. The Hero pretended not to care, walking as usual, but I could see it—the slight trembling at the corners of his eyes.
‘I knew it. There’s no way someone as scheming as you wouldn’t be bothered.’
Seeing his reaction improved my mood. Of course, this was only the beginning. I needed to chip away at his image even more until he was completely buried in the mud. Only then would the Hero suffer a serious mental blow and fail to perform at his best.
‘In the meantime, I’ll gather money, win over the students, and strengthen Pantheon.’
It wasn’t a bad plan, even by my own standards. Though there was no guarantee it would go exactly as intended. The Saintess and the Hero didn’t sit near me this time. The Saintess looked somewhat disappointed, but it couldn’t be helped. Sitting me next to the Hero would only cause another fight. It was better for her to keep her distance. I let out a relieved sigh.
‘Whew, at least the Saintess has some sense.’
With a brighter expression, I prepared for class. This was a core subject for the Special Class, mandatory for all students here. That was why I had signed up even though it wasn’t combat-related. Still, it wasn’t bad. In fact, it was perfect.
‘Introduction to Earth? This is free points.’
After all, it was a class about Earth. For me, it was basically a guaranteed A+.
‘Who here could possibly know more about Earth than I do?’
I was confident I’d take first place. It would be harder not to. About five minutes later, a middle-aged man with a receding hairline entered the classroom.
“Ahem, nice to meet you all.”
He wasn’t the professor I had met during the interview. From what I knew, he had originally been part of the Royal Academy and had been assigned to this newly established subject.
“My name is Marvin Bender. I’d appreciate it if you called me Professor Bender.”
“……”
“Cough, you’re all quite quiet. As expected of the Special Class…? Haha!”
He gave an awkward laugh, quickly took attendance, and dove straight into the lecture. It seemed even professors felt pressured by the Special Class students.
“Well then, let’s begin the class.”
Medieval academies were different from modern universities. Usually, the first lecture involved no actual teaching. But here, we jumped right in.
‘Tsk, no flexibility at all.’
I clicked my tongue inwardly and prepared to listen. Of course, I had no intention of taking notes. The answers were already in my head.
‘I’ll just jot down anything I don’t remember.’
But as the lesson continued, my expression grew increasingly serious. It couldn’t be helped.
“Now, let’s take a closer look at Earth. First of all, Earth is flat, just like our Newpan. When you reach the edge of the continent, there are towering cliffs.”
“……?”
“Furthermore, Earth is said to have a massive underwater city. Atlantis, was it? I hear it’s truly beautiful.”
The students diligently wrote down the professor’s words. As expected of the Special Class, their enthusiasm for studying was impressive. I, on the other hand, was simply dumbfounded.
‘Wait, what? Earth is flat? And Atlantis exists?’
His explanations only grew more absurd.
“Unlike Newpan, Earth has three races: white, black, and yellow. Naturally, the white race is the most superior…”
‘What the hell kind of nonsense is this?!’
Now he was spouting outright racism without hesitation. I felt a headache coming on. I had come here for Introduction to Earth, but this wasn’t that. It was just a patchwork of rumors about Earth that had spread through Newpan.
‘Haah, looks like I’ll have to take notes after all…’
Even I didn’t know these kinds of wild misconceptions. I was going to have to write them down. Just as I was sighing inwardly, a commotion suddenly erupted from behind.
Whispers, whispers.
“Ah! W-what is this?! The writing is appearing by itself!”
“M-me too! This was a magic item?!”
At least it wasn’t all bad news. The students had finally discovered the existence of the community.
‘Oho, faster than I expected.’
They had mistaken the papers I scattered for ordinary sheets. So someone must have tried writing on one. Surprisingly, the writing instantly appeared on all the other papers as well. From everyone else’s perspective, words were appearing without anyone doing anything. It was an unbelievable phenomenon. Naturally, they couldn’t help but shout. The professor, however, had a different reaction.
“A-ahem… It’s getting a bit noisy…”
His words were nothing more than an empty protest. The Special Class students all held high social status or possessed exceptional talent—many of them more impressive than the professor himself. Controlling them was difficult. Only someone like Serge Geis or Armel would be able to manage this group. A few students quieted down, but not everyone listened. One such person was the genius young master of a count’s family.
‘His name was… Pierre Baumann, right?’
He wasn’t on the level of the Hero or the grand mage, but he was still quite well-known. Reaching the 2nd Awakening at only his late teens was impressive enough. However, being constantly praised as a genius by those around him had probably affected his personality. He wasn’t exactly pleasant. You could call him the delinquent type. The fact that he was still loudly chattering in the back was proof enough.
“Look at this, it’s amazing! The writing is appearing by itself!”
To a teenage noble, this must have been an incredibly novel sight. He was making a huge fuss all by himself.
‘Of course. It’s magic that’s never existed before.’
I couldn’t help but feel smug. There was no way I’d feel bad when someone was marveling at my magic. The Hero, however, was not amused. His nerves were already on edge due to his recently damaged reputation. On top of that, he saw himself as the students’ representative—essentially suffering from protagonist syndrome. So, out of nowhere, he spoke up.
“Could you be quiet? It’s class time.”
“Who do you think you—!”
In an instant, the classroom fell silent.