episode_0044

Mid-September, when the intense heat, a mere child’s play compared to Korea, had subsided.

A major incident occurred in the academy, which was becoming increasingly distant from peace.

Students from the Artyom Empire and the Nabre Kingdom engaged in a large-scale brawl.

“They fought? I thought something would blow up soon, but they actually threw punches?”

“Yes. The instructors who went to stop them said they fought like they were going to kill each other, using magic and even weapons…”

“We’re doomed.”

A total of 130 people were involved, with 74 injured.

It was even a mass brawl that resulted in fatalities.

A major incident of a scale that was difficult to find a similar case even throughout the academy’s long history.

The inside story was quite special, befitting its size.

As the elites of the entire continent were selected, students usually maintained their dignity with each other.

But this time, there was none of that.

They genuinely tried to kill each other with their usual weapons and lethal magic.

“Who participated? Some commoners?”

“Some of them. But there are also children from count and marquis families mixed in. They just gathered anyone, regardless of status.”

“Why are these young masters and ladies, who have eaten well and grown up delicately their whole lives, waging a senseless war of slaughter?!”

“That is…”

Even this alone would be talked about for at least hundreds of years, but there was an even more serious problem.

It was the cause of the brawl.

‘Hey, look at those retards walking by.’

‘Eastern bumpkin bastards. What confidence do they have to participate when they can’t even fight a war properly?’

‘Who knows? Maybe their brains froze living in that ice cube land.’

A month ago. The Artyom Empire’s expeditionary force fought against the Nabre Kingdom’s army and suffered a crushing defeat.

They failed to adapt to the sudden climate change after coming from a cold place, their combat power decreased, and they were thoroughly beaten.

It was only one defeat, but its impact was devastating.

The expeditionary force, which numbered 100,000, collapsed, and many units disintegrated due to desertion.

After barely finishing the cleanup, the number of remaining troops was only about 30% of the original. It was a terrible level of damage.

‘Hey. What did you say?’

‘Why, did we say something wrong? Isn’t it true that your country’s army sucks? How does 100,000 become 30,000?’

It was famous news, as victory celebrations were held for propaganda purposes and it was featured prominently in newspapers.

Nabre students used this as an excuse to make fun of Artyom students.

‘Well. No matter how bad our army is, it’s better than a country that opens up three fronts and gets beaten from all sides.’

‘What did you say, you little bastard?’

‘Isn’t that true? Try to refute it if you can, you idiot.’

‘You bumpkin, you really wanna die!!’

The Artyom students, enraged by this, retaliated, and an argument ensued.

Even then, it might have been okay. Even if the parties involved got into a fistfight, at most one or two people would get hurt and it would end.

‘Hey, it’s a fight! All Nabre people gather!’

‘Let’s trample on those damn things this time!!’

‘Everyone take out your weapons! Don’t be lenient, just kill them!’

However, the two countries had the worst mutual favorability due to the war.

When there was a cause, students of the same nationality gathered one after another, and the small fight quickly escalated into a large-scale brawl.

As the scale grew, the mobilized force also grew, and it eventually became a small battle.

The result of this was… well, as it is now.

“Damn it. How the hell are we going to fix this? How do we explain the situation to the students’ families?”

“I think we should worry about our own jobs first. We let the students die, how can our heads be safe?”

“Should I write a resignation letter now?”

The academy instructors clutched their heads at the sudden bolt from the blue.

They had no idea how to fix this situation.

However, not everyone was like that, and some were just smiling and enjoying the situation.

“Wow, there’s fighting here now. If we wait a little longer, the students will be directly terrorizing and shooting.”

That was our ideological criminal, Ismael, or rather, Raemis.

* * * * *

When an organization or group weakens. One of the first symptoms that appears is internal division.

Internal factions, which were previously bound together for various reasons such as vested interests or political circumstances, turn against each other.

Because they no longer think they need to be with this group.

‘This incident is nothing more than the starting point.’

A whopping 130 people. A full 4% of the total academy students were involved.

Knowing the school rules that causing harm to other students would result in expulsion, they willingly participated in the killing war.

This means they don’t give a damn about the school rules.

“Miss Calia. Do you think something like this will happen again?”

“I don’t know about the scale… but if it’s a similar situation, probably so. Everyone’s emotions are completely hurt.”

“I think so too.”

Once the reins are released on violence, it will quickly spread like an epidemic. There’s no reason why I can’t do it if others have done it.

Everyone will unite with people from the same country and inflict armed sanctions on foreigners.

Perhaps the target will extend beyond students to instructors. It’s completely insubordinate, but does that matter?

Originally, in front of the combination of nationalism and ultra-nationalism, such trivial things are not important.

The only solution is to severely punish the ringleaders of this incident, such as expulsion, and severely warn the students…

Well, there’s no way it’ll work properly.

‘How are you going to handle the parents’ backlash if you punish them all?’

No matter how prestigious the academy is as an international institution, it is not free from the influence of aristocrats.

If royalty enters, they will be all smiles, and if they are children of grand dukes or dukes, special treatment is basic.

But punish hundreds of students for the same crime at the same time?

Are the instructors crazy enough to do that?

In the end, there is only darkness in the future of the academy.

I made it that way.

‘Ah, I feel good.’

As I was caught up in a strange sense of accomplishment.

A student opened the door to the faculty room and came in.

“Instructor? I’ve finished writing the report you mentioned last time and came to submit it.”

“Already? It’s only been two days.”

It was Herman Meyer.

The third son of the Meyer count family belonging to the Elaine Kingdom, and the most intelligent student in the political science course.

“The topic was to analyze ‘The Wealth of Nations’ and deduce the side effects it could cause. Wasn’t it difficult?”

“It was easier than I thought. The content was interesting, so it was easy to read.”

“That’s a relief then.”

Adam Smith was an educator, so he wrote easily.

Still, it’s not content that can be understood with 17th century level knowledge.

It would have been impossible unless he listened to my class very hard and reviewed it.

In that sense, this guy definitely had talent. He also had enough passion.

‘What a waste.’

If this was Earth, I would have kidnapped him to my lab.

If I rolled him for 5-6 years as an integrated master’s and doctoral student, he would grow into a useful junior.

“Huh? Where is this chill coming from…”

Ignoring Herman, who was trembling with inexplicable fear for a moment. I skimmed through the contents of the report.

[The pursuit of excessive efficiency can rather threaten the lives of workers essential for the production of goods. Wages that fall as much as the falling production cost will fall to a level that threatens livelihood, and perhaps even below that.

This situation will cause workers to struggle for survival or engage in collective action, inevitably causing social unrest and resistance for survival–]

Not bad. The logic structure is a bit clumsy, but it still hits the point properly.

It’s enough to give a passing grade as a two-week assignment, if not a thesis.

I would have to review it more closely to check the specific problems.

“I’ll grade it and let you know next Monday. Thank you for your hard work, and I’ll see you in the next class.”

“Yes, Instructor!”

Looking at the writing tendency, he seems to like communism.

I should give him a few Lenin’s works as a gift later. No matter how much you raise budding instigators, it’s never enough.

[Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism] and [Concerning the Question of Markets] would be appropriate? [Materialism and Empirio-criticism] would also be good.

Or it wouldn’t be bad to publish and spread it later under Ismael’s name.

When the war ends, this country will be fucked anyway, so if I distribute it first, they will use it appropriately in reality.

‘It would be great if they started a revolution.’

Anyway, after sending Herman Meyer back, we got up from our seats. It was almost lunchtime.

“Miss Calia, shall we eat at the school cafeteria today?”

“I looked at the menu and it’s not good. I’ll cook for you, so let’s go to the dorm.”

“What came out that made you say that?”

“Pineapple pizza and pickled herring.”

Oh. What kind of pseudo-food waste did they bring?

“Then we’ll have to eat in the room.”

“That’s a wise decision.”

As we were walking through the academy grounds, humming, we suddenly heard the voices of newspaper sellers shouting from outside.

“–Extra! Extra!”

“News you can’t see unless it’s now!!”

Extra. Did a scandal break out involving high-ranking officials? Or did a country get crushed in battle again?

The following voice was a little different from my expectations, but it was something I had been waiting for.

“The King of the Alkione Federation has been assassinated!!”

Finally.