Chapter Index





    Ch.3737. Seniors, and Juniors (3)

    # Why Did Professor Muniher Accept That?

    “Resolving the questions of the early semester evaluation through a duel…”

    Though I’d always found his personality strange, I couldn’t understand why he would allow a re-examination of the class placement test.

    Unlike before, there wasn’t even a plausible reason this time.

    “Senior!”

    Renias, her horns showing, ran to Junon with a leap rather than her usual trotting steps.

    “Aren’t you angry, Junon? Why are you just standing here watching? Your grades have simply vanished!”

    She wasn’t just showing her horns—she was thoroughly enraged.

    As Junon’s partner for the end-of-semester evaluation who had witnessed everything firsthand, Renias found the decision for a re-examination completely unacceptable.

    Yet the person directly affected…

    “My stepping in wouldn’t change much anyway.”

    …was responding with complete indifference, as if it didn’t matter either way.

    Renias bit her lower lip as she replied.

    “It’s strange… It’s so strange! Why are you accepting a situation where your own efforts aren’t even acknowledged, Senior?”

    This wasn’t her usual face that smiled and showed kindness to everyone.

    She was furious at the injustice of her partner’s achievements being completely erased when they deserved recognition and respect.

    “I don’t understand why you’re so indifferent. It makes me feel like I’m the strange one for being upset…”

    “…”

    “I am upset. Really upset. Why should you have to hear such things…?”

    After adding a few more words, Renias began to sniffle with tears in her eyes, tightly gripping both of Junon’s hands.

    Though Junon should have been the most wronged person, she had become numb to it, having been through this so many times before. But onlookers felt differently.

    Renias would certainly have protested if she were in that position.

    That’s why she deliberately held onto Junon’s hands tightly, refusing to let go. As if demanding an answer.

    “Renias.”

    “Yes?”

    “You’re not strange. It’s just that this academy is that corrupt. Do you think I like this situation? Of course not.”

    “Then why… why didn’t you protest?”

    Renias wished her senior would say she was confident about the duel.

    Or at the very least, make some plausible excuse rather than appearing so defeated.

    But…

    “Because truly, I alone cannot change anything.”

    Sadly, the answer Renias received only tightened the already constricting feeling in her chest.

    So Renias could only sigh deeply with regret, unable to speak.

    If only I had known a little sooner, she thought.

    “But you know.”

    Just as she spoke, as a tear was about to fall, a rough finger approached and wiped her eye, preventing the pooled droplet from streaming down.

    “If I had stepped up, wouldn’t it have just caused more trouble for Professor Muniher?”

    “…?”

    Though she didn’t ask why, Renias’s eyes were questioning the reason.

    “Think about what kind of people have been protecting those guys all this time, allowing them such privileges.”

    The academy that had concealed its darkness for so long.

    The bullying and discrimination occurring everywhere despite violating school rules.

    For all these contradictions to continue unchecked, they must be deliberately overlooked.

    It didn’t take long to reach the conclusion.

    “Could it be… because the professors were involved?”

    “That’s right. That’s also why many professors accused of corruption were dismissed.”

    But one question remained unresolved.

    “Weren’t those dismissed professors replaced by people recruited from the Empire?”

    “You understand well. You’re asking if the problem isn’t solved now that Imperial people have taken positions in the academy’s administration and personnel management, right?”

    Renias nodded once, as if Junon had pinpointed her exact question.

    “Anyone can check their own grades. But is there a school rule that allows for such collective protests?”

    “Such rules…”

    “Don’t exist. If that were the case, they shouldn’t have approached Professor Muniher in the first place.”

    The academy’s rules are quite strict, and accumulating demerits by breaking them results in humiliating penalties.

    Students lose access to school facilities available to everyone and cannot register for desired lectures—the greatest damage for a student.

    Naturally, no student should want to break the rules, yet those people seemed to disregard them completely.

    “Then… could this also be…”

    “Just as they wanted. It means there are still many professors in the academy creating rust.”

    It’s true that positions vacated by dismissed professors for corruption and other reasons are now firmly held by people recruited from the Artena Empire.

    A prime example is Professor Nevel, who just requested a re-examination in front of Professor Muniher.

    He encouraged only certain students with words that seemed to deny the early semester evaluation.

    Sure enough, it connects to the conclusion just reached.

    “The moment I make a move, they’d likely use unreasonable tactics to escalate the situation and hinder Professor Muniher. That’s how those guys have maintained the academy’s secrets all this time.”

    They don’t just enjoy bullying the weak.

    There’s always something secondary they gain from rebuking or oppressing the vulnerable.

    Even if one counters their unreasonable behavior with sound logic, one needs power to be effective against them.

    With so many deeply embedded stones in the academy, majority rule would never work.

    Temporary protests might be effective, but without knowing how vast their influence is, it’s a hundred times wiser to be cautious.

    ‘Amazing…’

    What good is making a brilliant name for oneself on the battlefield?

    What use are countless praises?

    In the end, she was just like an outsider blind to the academy’s internal affairs.

    Renias suddenly realized she couldn’t even assess the situation unfolding before her eyes.

    She was in awe of Junon’s penetrating insight.

    “Still, I appreciate that you were upset out of concern for me.”

    Then, with one hand, Junon gently stroked her head.

    Thanks to this, Renias’s upset feelings and indignation gradually subsided.

    “By the way, this time you’ve caught me?”

    “What?”

    Caught? What?

    Renias didn’t understand the sudden cryptic remark.

    Junon slowly shifted her gaze downward, just as Renias had done earlier, to where Renias’s hands were still firmly gripping Junon’s, preventing any movement.

    Gently, the strength left Renias’s hands, and she awkwardly scratched her silver hair.

    “Ahaha… I’m sorry…”

    Junon said they were even now.

    Renias’s lips protruded slightly, asking if she really still remembered that.

    The senior and junior let the incident pass without making an issue of it, reminiscing about the mishap from their first meeting.

    “I was going to tell her the guidance would have to be postponed, but it seems she was already considering this.”

    Professor Muniher, who had been eavesdropping on Junon and Renias’s conversation from a corner, smiled slightly.

    “And it seems there’s some commotion over there.”

    -BANG! CRASH!

    That was the sound of a female student named Silvia, who owed a debt from the end-of-semester evaluation exam, punishing some students in violation of school rules.

    Though his title as professor would normally require him to intervene, this time he intended to let the disturbance slide.

    ‘A good friend. Or perhaps it’s because of that guy?’

    Professor Muniher nodded a few times before leaving with a satisfied expression.

    “Anyway, she always exceeds my expectations, so I’ll need to prepare accordingly.”

    Many students had sought out Muniher, but all they received was brief instruction, and due to his exacting standards, he had no official disciples.

    Yet one person had made Professor Muniher’s lips twitch.

    The lips of this difficult and fastidious man who had never been satisfied by anyone before.

    ***

    “Ugh…!”

    Meanwhile, in one corner of the training room, Charlotte was struggling painfully, biting her lip as she tried to suppress her magical power.

    She increased the rotation speed of the magical power swirling within her body, accelerating its circulation.

    As a result, unrefined dark blue, thick, and murky magical energy was gradually escaping, heating Charlotte’s circuits and causing pain.

    “Hng! It hurts…!”

    Though Charlotte was groaning in pain, this large instructor wasn’t about to let it slide.

    “Endure more. Is this the extent of your determination?”

    “Ngh, no, it’s not!”

    “Good. You’re doing well. Push a little harder until the murky magic reveals its bottom. Until you feel like not a single drop of magic is circulating in your heart. Squeeze it out to the limit!”

    To overcome her constitution rooted in magical power surges.

    Charlotte was spending time on magic control, undergoing Spartan training with Goden.

    “Michelle, is something going on with you lately?”

    “Huh? Ah, no. Nothing special.”

    When Senia pointedly asked Michelle, who had been staring blankly into space, she finally seemed to come to her senses.

    “It doesn’t seem like nothing. Don’t you know you should be honest when we’re all in the same boat?”

    “Just… things aren’t going well with the orphanage, that’s all.”

    “Hmm, is that so?”

    In fact, regarding the lack of funds, they now had some leeway thanks to Charlotte’s help.

    And with her unique magic awakening officially recognized by the academy, she could now face magical beasts on her own, so there was no way the noble alliance could find fault with her regarding money anymore.

    Therefore, what was currently occupying Michelle’s mind wasn’t the orphanage, but one person.

    ‘Is it… you again?’

    It was him—found covered in blood after Charlotte’s reckless charge.

    That male student who became the center of an incident known only to very few during the early semester evaluation.

    The person who had sprinkled Mistellis in the underground waterway as if knowing the Giant Cud Rat would appear.

    Junon.

    All of Michelle’s questions pointed to this one person.

    She looked around.

    Goden teaching Charlotte how to suppress her magic, Erika healing the small wounds that appeared beside them.

    Senia, appearing indifferent but with inscrutable inner thoughts, and Charlotte facing her own trials to avoid harming others.

    They hadn’t even reached the minimum number required to form a team, let alone a party.

    “Seems like we’re missing one position, doesn’t it?”

    Senia, apparently thinking the same thing, initiated the conversation with Michelle.

    “With Goden here, the vanguard is essentially solidified with the two of us, Erika as the buffer, and considering your and Charlotte’s firepower, the support position is more or less covered. But don’t you think we’re missing the most important position?”

    “That’s true…”

    Michelle couldn’t deny Senia’s words.

    Someone to handle offensive-defensive transitions and flexible responses to unexpected situations. In other words, the center position, best filled by someone skilled in strategy and tactics.

    It’s a position that might be unnecessary if each party member has the skill and insight to report on all situations.

    Based on their mock battles, their responses were still ambiguous, which could lead to accidents in real combat.

    Therefore, the Tembris party currently lacks someone to fill the center position.

    ‘He would be perfect for that role.’

    The purification agent he had prepared as if foreseeing the need.

    His bold decision to send Noel and John during the unexpected situation when Charlotte went berserk.

    His hidden ability to successfully subdue Charlotte, the only breakthrough in an extreme situation.

    Although he ended up as the only seriously injured person in the early semester evaluation, Junon’s choices were essentially the best possible.

    Michelle thought that the person who would perfectly fit the empty center position in their party was, somehow, the very Junon she had just recalled.

    -‘In return, I hope we won’t get involved with each other in the future.’

    ‘Still… I should at least talk to him about it.’

    Though his words when handing over the money bothered her, he was too valuable a person to let go.

    ***

    Tick-tock-

    The hand of the temple clock turns once more.

    “It just moved again!”

    “The interval is twice the previous measurement, and the direction is the same—counterclockwise. However…”

    “How are we supposed to interpret this oracle that we can’t even begin to grasp…”

    All they could tell from the outside was that it turned counterclockwise at regular intervals.

    Despite bringing in high priests and all the sages of the Kempton continent, they couldn’t even find a clue as to what this clock signified.

    And then.

    【 I shall turn the second and third clock hands. 】

    【 To you who have committed the sins of disbelief and hatred. I shall bestow upon you the karma of the past. 】

    【 Remember. What results your blades have produced. 】

    Just as with Charlotte, fragments of the past were revealed to two people.


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