The Rumors Grow Wings
The rumor that Marius had lost the duel spread like wildfire. Not only that, but his professorship had been on the line. According to the results of the duel, he was required to submit his resignation. The news sprouted wings and flew all around the academy.
“What are you looking at, you bastards!” Marius shouted. The students who had been whispering while stealing glances at him scattered at once.
With a heavy expression, he headed for the dean’s office. There sat Jean-Louis Lopez, the dean, whose face somehow looked positively delighted. As usual, he occupied his customary seat.
Marius bit his lip lightly and produced his letter of resignation.
“Uhhuhung~. Hm? What’s this?”
He was even humming. The man was clearly thrilled. Marius couldn’t stand watching his old mentor so happy. His disciple is suffering like this!
His defeat had undoubtedly been caused by some despicable trickery. Yet here was the dean—his own former teacher—not even considering getting angry, but instead growing excited for some incomprehensible reason.
If he were a proper dean, he should have been tearing apart the hidden conspiracy behind the incident. Even if he were investigating Altair down to the last detail, it still wouldn’t be enough, yet the man was grinning like a fool!
In his heart Marius wanted to snap at him, but he had something he needed to do first.
“Here is my resignation.”
“Resignation? What on earth are you talking about!” Lopez raised his voice. Yet his expression didn’t match the tone; there was no real shock in it. In short, his heart wasn’t in the words.
“Have you not heard about my duel? As always, Professor, you remain ignorant of worldly affairs.”
Lopez’s face nearly stiffened, but the expression quickly melted away.
“Ah, that matter? Of course I know. You mean that duel between you and Altair, yes?”
“Yes. I don’t know what method she used, but that person’s wicked tric—”
“I heard you were overwhelmingly defeated. The entire academy is buzzing with the story. A professor losing to an instructor—what a disgrace! So what does that have to do with your resignation?”
“...In that duel, I wagered my entire position as professor.”
“Oh, is that so? So that’s why you came to submit your resignation.”
“Yes, that is correct.”
Lopez shook his head. “It would be far too wasteful to let you go over a single duel. Think it over one more time. You are a valuable talent of this academy… cough, cough!”
Lopez coughed repeatedly as if something had caught in his throat. Listening to him, Marius felt secretly pleased.
“No, sir. A swordsman’s promise must be kept. No matter how vile the trickery I fell victim to, I must honor my word. No matter how underhanded she may be…”
“Understood. It can’t be helped, then.”
Lopez snatched the resignation letter straight out of Marius’s hand.
Huh? This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Marius stared at the dean with a dumbfounded face.
Just once?
Wasn’t he supposed to dissuade him at least three times as a matter of courtesy? Was this really the end?
“...Professor, what I meant was—”
“Since you are a swordsman yourself, it seems I spoke out of turn. A swordsman must take responsibility for his own words. This isn’t a problem that can be solved simply because I try to stop you.”
Nodding, Lopez gazed at Marius with a resolute expression.
“Um… Professor?”
“I will process this resignation as quickly as possible. It has been a pleasure being with you all this time!”
“That’s…”
“Go on, leave now. I’m sorry, but I have urgent work to attend to.”
And so Marius was unceremoniously chased out of the dean’s office.
Once the door had closed, Lopez let out a long sigh of relief.
“Phew, I thought my heart was going to shrivel up.”
He had been worried that Marius might withdraw the resignation after the very first attempt to dissuade him.
“I must never gamble like that again.”
The corners of his mouth curved upward as he looked at the letter.
“How was your first day after the opening ceremony, Your Highness?”
Nathan, Ditrua’s guard knight, asked her.
“It was fine. Simply not having to see those idiots’ faces is enough to cure my stress.”
The idiots she spoke of were undoubtedly her brothers and sisters.
“Ahem.”
A dry cough escaped him.
“What is it, Nathan?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. Forgive me, Lady Ditrua. For me to commit such rudeness before the princess…”
“It’s alright. I’m not a personality disaster like my older sister, brothers, or younger siblings, so there’s no need to apologize for something so small.”
Ditrua smiled brightly.
If I handle this poorly, I might be executed for insulting the royal family…
Nathan’s face turned pale. Of course, since they were not in the palace the likelihood was extremely low, but caution never hurt. He needed an escape route to change the subject.
“...How was Instructor Altair’s class?”
“Ah, you mean the instructor who instantly crushed you and Ethan?”
A mischievous spark lit up Ditrua’s eyes.
“I have no excuse.”
Nathan bowed his head deeply.
“There’s no need for that. The opponent was simply too strong. Hmm… Did that sound humiliating just now?”
Nathan saw that the playfulness had vanished from her gaze, replaced by genuine apology.
“No. It is simply the truth.”
The difference between Altair and himself was that overwhelming. It was a gap so vast he couldn’t even feel humiliation. It was strange that someone possessing such skill had remained relatively unknown until now.
“Good. Then I’ll answer your question. My first impression was very favorable, but the class itself was quite short because of the incident…”
“An incident?”
She briefly recounted what had happened during the lesson.
“Students still gathered despite her releasing that much aura?”
“Because she achieved a complete victory over an academy professor.”
“Even so… Well, I suppose that makes sense.”
Nathan understood. After all, he was a swordsman before he was a knight.
“Though they are not yet complete, they are all people who have chosen to wield the sword. Their desire to stand at the pinnacle is second to none.”
“Even with the truce in place.”
Even now, having signed a truce with the very monsters they would normally cross blades with, it seemed their desires had not died.
“It may be that they have not yet adapted to peace. Besides, it is only a truce—the war has not truly ended.”
“You are correct, Your Highness.”
The conversation had drifted slightly. Nathan finally asked the question he truly wanted answered.
“That person… Instructor Altair. Are you truly comfortable with her?”
“Mmm. Yes. Nathan, you worry far too much. The academy would never hire someone with an unclear background.”
“I am here as Your Highness’s guard knight. I cannot help but be concerned.”
“Hmm… Even if that were the case, I doubt the result would be any different from last time, would it?”
Ditrua posed the mischievous question with a matching mischievous expression.
“It doesn’t matter. A result is a result, but I must still do what must be done.”
Nathan answered the provocative question with perfect calm. The princess nodded.
“That’s right. That is how it should be. In any case, you needn’t worry. I trust that person, after all.”
Since she had said this much, Nathan felt somewhat relieved.
Well. Perhaps I am being overly cautious.
Besides, he owed her a debt. Altair could have suppressed him and Ethan—who had attacked first—far more brutally. Yet she had not left a single wound on either of them. At the very least, he should feel grateful for that. As her guard knight he would maintain the minimum line of vigilance, but he decided to refrain from excessive suspicion.
“It must be because it’s the first day—I feel rather tired.”
The words were a polite request to be left alone.
“Understood. You have worked hard today.”
Nathan bowed and withdrew.
Once he had left, Ditrua changed her clothes and lay down on the bed.
When will the news arrive?
The method to suppress the curse that Altair had requested.
If he truly obtains it.
It would be more than enough to win her favor.
No matter how you look at it, he is not someone who should rot away as an instructor in a place like this.
The instructor position at Delphiana Academy was by no means insignificant. If she advanced steadily and became a professor, it would be an enormous honor. Yet even that seemed like a tiny seat compared to her true ability.
She should be placed in a key position.
The rumors surrounding Altair swelled larger with each passing day. Her tremendous skill. Her striking appearance. The aura she radiated. It was only natural that the stories kept growing.
On top of everything else was the story of her first class—an extreme test in which, out of nearly eighty students, only four had survived. That fact poured even more fuel onto the flames spreading Altair’s name.
“It felt exactly like my heart was being squeezed. The instant I shook hands with her, that single moment stretched into eternity…”
The blond student recounted the test with dramatic flair, performing with the passion of a musical actor.
“A vicious aura seized my entire body and tested my very will to live…”
“Whoa!”
Several students clustered around the failed student, hanging on his every word.
Honestly, it wasn’t quite that bad, was it?
Another student who had also failed happened to overhear the tale from the neighboring seat in the café. He twitched his lips.
“Hey, is that actually true? You tried to take that class and failed too, right?”
His friend sitting across from him asked.
“It was about that level…”
Wait. The momentary confusion cleared, and he finally understood why the blond was exaggerating.
“Ahem. Uh, yeah, yeah. It’s surprising but it’s true. It was seriously intense. Looking back now, it’s a miracle I survived at all.”
Honestly, admitting you couldn’t last five seconds in a handshake against anyone was simply too humiliating. A little seasoning was necessary to save face.
“Really? You failed that day too?”
A female student who had been listening to the blond turned to him.
“I thought it was an exaggeration. Is it actually true?”
Several other students followed her lead and looked his way.
“Of course! Exaggeration? It might sound like it, but every word is true!”
At that moment the two accomplices’ eyes met.
Nod. Nod.
Sharing a light smile of mutual understanding, the pair became comrades in exaggeration.
And so the inflated rumors about Altair were fueled once more.
And finally, those rumors reached even the theology department, which lay at some distance from the swordsmanship department.