Magician Marigold

10.

Becoming a temporary professor at the academy wasn’t difficult.

As soon as a position opened up due to an injured professor, the son of a Baron family showed up with a stack of recommendations.

Once his skills were deemed decent enough by the professors, everything else proceeded smoothly.

“There won’t be anything difficult. Just stay at the academy during the weekdays and lightly supervise training for three hours a day. We’ll take care of the rest.”

“Sounds like I’m getting a free ride.”

“We can’t expect too much from someone temporary. Just guide them leisurely.”

The professors of the Knight Department didn’t expect much from the unofficially selected ‘temporary professor’ anyway.

In fact, they seemed to regard Lancel as a scarecrow to fill the spot until a formal professor appeared.

“Just stay here without causing any trouble until we can bring in a proper professor.”

“Of course. Though I doubt a professor will ever come.”

“……?”

Of course, a formal professor wouldn’t appear before Lancel wanted them to.

Right now, the Knight Department of the academy was under a curse where a professor position would always remain vacant. Like Baron Onis. Due to an accident of unknown cause, one spot would always be empty.

“Just saying.”

“……I see.”

The academy professors felt a chill at Lancel’s subtle tone. They were perceptive people.

In any case, the appearance of a young, temporary professor in the Knight Department was a noticeable event in many ways.

It was only natural that he would receive a lot of attention both inside and outside the academy.

“Lancel Dante? Who’s that?”

“The temporary professor.”

“I heard he became a Knight less than five years ago.”

“And that person is a professor?”

Some people, especially among the academy students of high status, expressed their dissatisfaction.

They didn’t seem to like the idea of a professor who wasn’t much older than them.

“Professor Lancel Dante.”

Some had been wearing dissatisfied expressions since Lancel first appeared at the Training Ground.

“I heard that not just anyone can become an academy professor… It seems to me that you are too unfamiliar a name for this body to seek instruction from.”

“…….”

“I’m just saying that I doubt I should be under you. Please don’t be too hurt by my honesty.”

He was softening the words, ‘Why is some nobody acting like a professor?’ as much as possible.

In the academy, the position of professor and student was nominally hierarchical, regardless of noble status.

‘Ubel Mond, the heir to Duke Mond…’

Lancel cracked his knuckles as he looked at the pretty-faced man wearing earrings.

“Won’t you respond, Sir Lancel Dante?”

The one who had been referred to as ‘Duke’s Heir’ in the game was now giving Lancel a challenging look.

“Alright.”

Lancel dumped the Wooden Swords in the Training Ground onto the floor.

The academy students watched with bewildered eyes as dozens of Wooden Swords rolled onto the grass.

“Then, since it’s our first class, shall we see what you’re capable of?”

Lancel smiled.

“I need to see if you guys are skilled enough to question the authority of a professor.”

“Are you suggesting a duel?”

“Let’s just call it a duel and an exam.”

Lancel picked up a Wooden Sword and gestured to them.

“I’ll give the highest score to anyone who can land a single hit on me. How about it?”

Murmurs spread.

It was an unconventional condition.

“Didn’t you all want to graduate at the top of your class and bring honor to your families? Come on, pick one up. First come, first served.”

Those who had been hesitant picked up Wooden Swords one by one and stepped forward.

“I’ll go first, Lancel Dante.”

“Be my guest.”

A little later.

Groans began to spread throughout the Training Ground.

“Agh!”

“I, I lost! Aaaagh! I surrendered, why are you still…!”

“Kuaaaagh!”

“A Knight crawling on the ground is a sorry sight. Next!”

“Aaaaaaaagh!”

“S, save me!”

.

.

.

“What in the world is going on over there?”

“It looks like the new temporary professor and the students are having a duel…”

“A duel? That is?”

The assault, abuse, and one-sided violence disguised as a duel, centered around Lancel Dante.

It was only stopped when it was discovered by passing professors.

“Stop! Stop! You’ll kill someone!”

Lancel put down the Wooden Sword he was holding as he looked at the academy students collapsed on the ground.

The challenging gazes that had been directed at him had turned into terrified ones in just over two hours.

Regardless of gender, not a single student in the Knight Department was without bruises.

When they thought about how limbs would have been lost if it had been a real sword, their spirits were thoroughly broken.

“Your talents are excellent, but you still have a long way to go. Keep practicing.”

After that day, no one questioned Lancel’s qualifications.

As expected of Knights, there was nothing more effective than experiencing it firsthand.

And so, Lancel fully settled into the academy.

“Today’s class is.”

Every training session, three times a week, that he was in charge of.

“Self-directed learning.”

“Pardon?”

“Train on your own.”

“Ah, yes.”

The next day too.

“Self-directed learning.”

The day after that too.

“Self-directed.”

The following week too.

“That.”

The week after that too.

“Whatever.”

“…….”

It was a class abandonment disguised as ‘self-directed learning.’

Just eating and doing nothing, Lancel had completed his position of simply loafing around and eating bread at the academy.

After all, it was an educational institution whose sole purpose was to rank Knights. As long as the evaluations were done properly, the content of the classes didn’t matter much.

This was especially true for the Knight Department. What theories could those who had been holding swords since they could walk possibly learn now?

Experience and practice were more important to them. The Wizard Department and the Department of Public Administration, where they used their heads to learn, were very different.

‘Is Marigold still an outcast?’

Around that time, Lancel looked for Marigold, whom he hadn’t seen in a while.

“What are you doing?”

Three weeks after becoming a temporary professor at the academy, Lancel found the guy munching on a sandwich with disheveled hair.

“I heard that making friends lowers your human durability.”

“…….”

“It’s the completion of a world where no one gets hurt.”

Her condition seemed strange after not seeing her for so long.

11.

———

[Fallen Noble Lady Simulation]

Create a schedule for the 4th week of March.

Mon – Magic Theory Class. (Location: Lecture Room)

Tue – Applied Magic Practice. (Location: Training Ground)

Wed – Magical Tool Creation. (Location: Workshop)

Thu – Basic Magic Class. (Location: Lecture Room)

Fri – Applied Magic Practice. (Location: Training Ground)

Sat – Jenis’s Magic Research Assistant.

Sun – Jenis’s Magic Research Assistant.

※Goal: Make 100 friends!

———

Unlike the Knight Department, which was just a place to gather and compete, the Wizard Department was a proper educational facility.

Professors carefully selected from the Imperial Capital lectured the academy students on their Magic theories.

And it functioned as a ‘university’ to develop Magic by selecting researchers from within.

“You’ll be late for class at this rate, Miss!”

“Ugh!”

“I told you not to doze off. You already knew no one would wake you up.”

“I didn’t know Pina would fall asleep too!”

“Are you blaming me right now?”

“Not blaming, but……!”

“Just hurry up and run!”

Urged by Pina, Marigold ran down the hallway with a pile of books in her arms.

With her tied-back hair and grimy Robe fluttering, she hurriedly ran towards the Lecture Room where class was probably already in full swing.

“Ah!”

The next moment, she twisted her ankle and crashed to the floor.

The books and papers she was holding scattered everywhere.

“No……!”

“I can’t live like this. What are you doing when there’s no time?”

“Ugh!”

Just as she was frantically picking up the documents, a pure white hand appeared in front of her and helped her.

“Are you okay?”

When she looked up, a pretty-faced boy was looking down at her.

“I’ll help you pick them up.”

“Ah, it’s okay.”

Marigold shook her head so fast that it made a whooshing sound.

As if afraid he would step in, she quickly picked up the fallen items.

“I’ll do it. Yep.”

“…….”

The boy looked awkwardly at his outstretched hand and blinked.

“I’ve been wondering for a while, are you avoiding me, Mary?”

He was a boy who looked noble enough to be mistaken for a girl at first glance.

Blue bobbed hair, drooping eyes, a faint smile always lingering on his lips, a beauty mark, a pure white Robe.

He was a young Wizard with a sophisticated appearance that everyone who passed by would turn around to look at at least once.

“Are there kids who hate it when I’m friendly? Is that why you’re avoiding me? If that’s the reason, should I say something to them?”

“No. It’s not that.”

“If it’s not that, then it doesn’t matter. I want to be friends with Mary…….”

“It’s just, it’s just not that!”

Marigold ran down the hallway without even looking back.

“Ouch!”

She fell again not long after, but this time too, she retrieved all the documents without his help.

“…….”

The boy stood still and stared at Marigold, who had disappeared into the distance.

“Ah! Aldehar! Why are you here when class is starting?”

The boy turned around at the sound of a girl’s voice from behind him.

A researcher from the Wizard Department approached him with a bright face. Her eyes sparkled endlessly as she looked at the boy.

“Are you late? It’s unlike you, Aldehar, to be late. It’s a strange thing.”

Someone who made you feel happy just by being able to talk to them, that was the image the boy usually had.

“I’ll walk you to the Lecture Room, Aldehar. Hehe.”

The boy, called Aldehar, pondered something for a moment before opening his mouth.

“Hey, do you think I’m hated?”

“Pardon? B, by who? You, Aldehar?”

“Yeah.”

“No way! That can’t be! Who would dare hate you, Aldehar! The heir to the Lucia Kingdom and the youngest 4th Class Genius Magician! Who in this continent would ever!”

“Really?”

“Of course!”

Aldehar didn’t feel anything special even with the praise flowing out so easily.

“But it’s not easy to become friends with Mary.”

“Ah, Mary is…….”

The researcher glanced away.

Marigold.

She was already a famous outcast in the Wizard Department.

“Mary is a bit of a unique person. Hahaha…….”

“Is that so?”

“There are some rumors…….”

Rumors about Marigold were already widespread in the Wizard Department.

Commoner, orphan, Jenis’s disciple, a newbie who had just started learning Magic, a pretty-faced kid, and so on.

Among the many rumors, the one that had the most devastating effect on her was, of course, what had happened when she first came to the academy.