Ch.347Chapter 347 – I Thought It Was Strangely Quiet!

“Student Guidance Officer. Here’s today’s list of rule violators.”

“Ah, yes. Bring it here.”

It’s been one week since I was appointed to the weighty position of Student Guidance Officer.

My daily routine, confined to the Guidance Office under the title of Student Guidance Officer, is extremely simple.

The Guidance Committee members under my command diligently patrol the academy, catch rule violators, and compile a list.

Then they bring that list to me in the Guidance Office, and I review it to determine the level of disciplinary action for the violators.

In other words, I’m just a machine that stamps documents.

“The number of rule violators has decreased quite a bit, hasn’t it?”

One interesting fact is that the list of rule violators has become considerably thinner.

When I first took office, the list of violators was about half a finger thick, but now it’s only about three or four pages?

“Yes, sir. Since you became the Student Guidance Officer, there has been a noticeable decrease in students breaking the rules.”

It had decreased this much in just one week since I became the Student Guidance Officer.

“That must be because all of you have been working hard on foot to catch rule violators.”

“No, sir. It wasn’t like this when we were on the committee last year.”

Is that so? I don’t know much since I wasn’t at the academy for long last year.

Well, if the committee members say so, then it must be true.

“Are there any cases of noble students looking down on commoners?”

“Last year, there were occasional instances of students using their status to pressure committee members, but this year, not a single person has done so.”

Hmm. It’s commendable that the children of noble families aren’t using class differences to pressure commoner committee members.

No matter the social gap between nobles and commoners, if someone makes unreasonable demands based on that difference, what would happen to that noble’s reputation?

They would be ridiculed or subtly mocked in social circles for a long time.

Commoners surely have their own social circles too, but not as prominently as nobles with their formal banquets and balls.

For nobles, the social world is another battlefield without guns and swords, and to minimize damage there, one must reveal as few weaknesses as possible to enemies.

“As I said when I took office as Student Guidance Officer, if anyone uses their status or family name to interfere with the committee’s activities, don’t hesitate to tell me, or feel free to use my name for your duties as committee members.”

The highest-ranking nobles studying at the academy are from ducal families, and even if they’re children of dukes, they themselves aren’t ‘dukes,’ right?

But on this side, though it’s an honorary position, I hold the much higher rank of ‘Grand Duke.’

Moreover, since I’m now married to a member of the imperial family, I’m treated more like royalty than nobility.

No matter how deranged someone might be, no one is foolish enough to openly antagonize the Grand Duke who is the husband of an imperial princess.

Well, actually, nothing immediate would happen if someone did challenge me.

I rarely make appearances in social circles these days.

But that doesn’t mean I have no influence in those circles.

Many noble families have received help through my abilities.

Many prominent and powerful families within the empire have resolved long-standing issues through my abilities.

These people have become my strongest allies, and quite a few of their children are among the new students who enrolled this semester.

In short, my name carries significant weight in noble society.

“Thank you, Student Guidance Officer!”

“Yes, yes. I’ll review the documents and take them to the Chancellor myself, so you can all go now.”

I dismissed all the committee members who had completed their tasks. After all, their activities are only conducted during regular class hours.

I don’t have the bad habit of detaining people when there’s nothing for them to do.

“Yes! Then we’ll be going now!”

“Ah, yes. Go ahead.”

After the committee members left the office one by one, it took about 30 minutes before I could finally get up from my seat.

Although the number of rule violators wasn’t large, I had to strictly follow the academy’s internal regulations to determine the appropriate level of disciplinary action.

“As expected, these are all minor rule violations.”

Looking at the reasons for recent rule violations, most were truly minor infractions.

Typical examples include ‘No dragging shoes while walking within the academy’ or ‘No excessively loud noises during meals.’

From the beginning, the academy’s rules weren’t unreasonable or forced but were connected to the most basic and fundamental etiquette education.

Today, most rule violations were minor as well, so I imposed the punishment of ‘2 hours of rule re-education’ for everyone.

When I take these documents to Sister Regina, she will notify the rule-breaking students through the student management system.

Then, those students will have to spend 2 hours on the weekend receiving education about academy rules.

‘Taking away 2 hours of weekend time from those who can only rest on weekends is indeed the strongest punishment.’

Just as I was about to leave the office, thinking I had done a good day’s work—

“Student Guidance Officer!”

“Oh! You startled me.”

One of the committee members burst open the door of the office, looking for me.

“Student Guidance Officer! You’re here!”

“What’s the matter?”

I calmed my startled heart and asked what brought them to me.

“There’s big trouble! A major incident has broken out among the students!”

“What?”

A major incident among students? What kind of sudden calamity is this?

I asked the committee member who had burst through the door for a detailed explanation of what had happened, and their story was as follows:

A male student who had enrolled in the academy was interested in a female student and approached her, but she flatly rejected him.

However, the male student didn’t give up and continued his pursuit, until the exasperated female student asked him to please disappear because she wasn’t interested.

It would have been good if the male student had given up and backed off, but apparently, he harbored resentment for being publicly humiliated.

Using materials he had pilfered from alchemy practice, he created a substance that could easily damage skin.

Then, to punish the female student who had publicly humiliated him, he threw the substance on her face.

The female student’s face began to grotesquely distort after being hit with the substance, and a passing committee member intervened.

“…That’s what happened.”

“Well, well.”

The female student has now been taken to the infirmary, and the male student has been subdued by committee members from the Magic and Martial Arts departments.

“Lead the way.”

I followed the committee member’s guidance to the scene of the incident.

“Stay still!”

“We are committee members of the Student Guidance Committee led by His Grace Grand Duke Patos Severio Aurelion!”

“Let me go! Release me! I’m being wronged!”

Following the committee member’s guidance, I soon saw a shaggy-haired male student restrained by two people, lying face down on the ground.

“Student Guidance Officer!”

“You’ve arrived, sir!”

The committee members greeted me as I approached, while continuing to restrain the male student.

“You’ve worked hard. This male student threw a substance on a female student’s face?”

“Yes, sir!”

“No! I’ve been wronged!”

The shaggy-haired male student shouted loudly in response to the committee member’s words.

“Stay still!”

The committee members applied more force to hold him down whenever he tried to move.

“You’ve been wronged?”

I approached to ask if he was truly being wronged, as he claimed.

“Yes! I’ve been wronged! The substance I made wasn’t what they’re saying it was!”

The shaggy-haired male student was reacting as if he was truly being wronged.

“But the substance you made distorted the female student’s face? And you’re still trying to deny it?”

“No! Absolutely not! The substance I made wasn’t something that would distort someone’s face!”

The shaggy-haired male student continued to look at me even while lying face down.

His eyes were filled with a sense of injustice as he looked at me.

“Then as the Student Guidance Officer, let me ask you. What was the substance you made?”

“The substance I made was a Dispel Potion using welcome grass and sea wind flower as ingredients.”

“A Dispel Potion?”

If it’s a Dispel Potion, it would be one that removes magical effects cast on someone.

If this student’s words are true, a Dispel Potion alone wouldn’t distort someone’s face.

But since I couldn’t determine whether his words were true or not, I called in an expert.

“What is it you need from me?”

It was none other than my potential wife and the academy’s Alchemy professor, Professor Emelda Carmen.