episode_0240

Episode 240: The Suspicious Professor (1)

Tak, Senior Ruina gathered the scattered lecture materials into one pile. That action meant one thing. The lecture was over.

“Lecture’s over.”

The moment those words came out of the senior’s mouth, all the students in the lecture hall slumped at once. And then they said in a weak voice.

“Ugh…”

“I’m going to die…”

“Professor, please save me…”

Combined with their hollow eyes, the students looked as if they were about to die any minute.

It wasn’t like this in the first semester. I wonder where the passion I saw back then went. Of course, it’s understandable, since it’s the second semester, and we started learning more in-depth content, unlike the first semester.

Senior Ruina quelled the students’ complaints with a single word.

“You don’t want to graduate, do you?”

“……”

“……”

Graduation. At that word, the students clutched their heads in anguish. After all, the reason the students entered Tianis was to obtain a diploma from the best academy on the continent.

Senior Ruina gave those students words of encouragement.

“Study. If you don’t know this, you’ll be a freshman forever. You can’t become a sophomore.”

Of course, that would be based on her standards. Seeing the smug look on her face, my thoughts became even more certain.

As if proving it, the students’ faces were dyed with darkness. Those words meant that if they didn’t understand today’s content, they wouldn’t be able to move on to the next grade.

At Tianis, you had to exceed a certain level to move up a grade. The purpose of Tianis Academy’s existence was to foster talent for the empire.

Still, it seems to have been a good stimulus. I saw some students who looked like they were about to run to the workshop right away. Seeing scenes like this, I think Senior Ruina has grown quite a bit as a professor.

“Ah.”

Just as I was about to leave the lecture hall. Senior Ruina stopped walking and stood in the center again.

“There’s no class tomorrow. I have a business trip. Instead, submit a deliverable based on what you learned today.”

“Ah, assignment…”

“Ugh, I have to be holed up in the workshop again…”

The students groaned again at the existence of the assignment. Even I thought it was something they would have to work hard on.

Then a question suddenly popped into my head.

‘Did she say she had a business trip?’

Senior Ruina would always tell me first if something was up. After all, I was still working as her teaching assistant. Therefore, schedule sharing was necessary to discuss what to do regarding the lectures.

But she didn’t say anything separately today. She tells me at least before the lecture starts. I approached the senior and asked.

“Did you have a business trip?”

“Yeah. It came up suddenly.”

I didn’t see any contact coming in. Or did she simply forget to tell me? Maybe it was the latter. Because there had been a series of hectic events in the last few months.

Especially with Ariel’s coronation, there wasn’t a quiet day. And it’s been the same ever since.

“How many days will you be gone?”

“One day. I’ll be back as soon as the work is done.”

“If it’s just one day, I can teach the lecture instead.”

The senior shook her head.

“It’s okay. It’s okay to miss one day. The kids need time to study, too. And you haven’t been able to rest recently.”

“Well, that’s true…”

It’s not just recently. I haven’t had much time to rest for the past few months.

Not to mention before the coronation, it wasn’t easy after the coronation either. There were a lot of people to take care of, and I went in and out of the Imperial Palace at least three days a week, mainly to help Ariel.

In the meantime, I was also working as a teaching assistant and preparing for graduation in a few months, so I was having a pretty busy life. Of course, graduation was as good as confirmed, so there was no need to do anything excessively like other seniors.

Anyway, those days are happening in the present progressive tense. I shrugged and replied.

“Okay. So I don’t have to go find you tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah.”

Senior Ruina, who nodded, handed me the lecture materials and said.

“I have to go quickly. I’ll go first. Take care of this.”

“Yes. I’ll take care of the cleanup.”

“Thank you.”

She raised her heels, patted my head, and then left the lecture hall as it was. Judging by the fact that she’s running unlike usual, it seems like it’s an urgent matter. Seeing that, I think it might be related to the Philosopher’s Stone.

“You guys get out of here too. You have the next lecture.”

Shoo, shoo, I gestured and chased out the students who were still in the lecture hall. I don’t know why they’re slacking off when they still have lectures left.

“Yes, yes, we’re going.”

“There’s still time left, but the Saint is being too strict.”

“If you don’t want to get scolded like last time, go quietly.”

When I glared at him slightly, one of their faces turned blue.

“I, I don’t want to turn into a rat! I suffered for hours because of that!”

“So go quietly.”

“Ki, kids, let’s go quickly…!”

And then they took their friends and hurriedly left the lecture hall. Well, I’m not particularly angry. They’re kids I’ve been seeing since the first semester, so they just look cute.

Anyway, after that, the students left the lecture hall. As they did, I heard various conversations.

-Professor Ruina goes on a lot of business trips these days. And there are a lot of days off.

-They say she fills in as much as she’s gone… but it’s difficult when she’s not in her office. There are a lot of things to ask.

-She took good care of us in the first semester. That’s right, I heard from a friend that they saw her at the academy on a day off due to a business trip.

-Then shouldn’t she have just held the lecture? Or…

-I don’t know. Maybe she had something else to do. Professor Ruina is so outstanding.

Well, I heard things like that. It’s not something to worry about, and it was a complaint they could make.

Besides, I know why she was away…

Woo-oong-

At that time, the pager in my pocket rang. There was only one person who would call me with this. It was just in time for the cleanup to be finished. I immediately cast teleportation. The place I arrived at was the entrance to the Imperial Palace.

The knights gave way to the familiar sight, and I headed to Ariel. She was in the office today as well.

“You called?”

“Welcome, Kyle.”

Ariel greeted me happily. I sat down in the chair across from her and asked.

“What’s wrong? You even called me directly. Did something happen?”

Ariel is certainly talented. But that’s only when you look at her as an individual, and she’s still lacking as an emperor.

So I gave her this pager. I told her to call me when she has trouble solving something on her own or making a decision. I had the skills and experience to help her with her worries.

“Yes, something a little troublesome has come up.”

She scratched her cheek and replied. Well, otherwise there was no need to call. She was actually doing well as an emperor.

“What’s wrong?”

“Traces of black magicians have been found in various parts of the empire recently. They’re probably the ones who escaped from Arden’s territory.”

“Hmm.”

Certainly, it’s about time the black magicians started to be pushed back. Arden is not an ordinary family. It’s commendable that they’ve been fighting Arden for over a year.

“As you know, Kyle, we can’t just leave the black magicians alone. Just look at what they did at the academy last year…”

Ariel gritted her teeth, as if recalling what happened back then. Many students were injured and sacrificed around last fall, so it was worth getting angry.

“Do you need me that much? What about the imperial knights and mages?”

“They’ve already been dispatched. However… the traces have been found so widely that it’s a difficult situation. We’re also keeping a certain number of people in the capital in case it’s a trap.”

That was a good thing to do. In the game, if the number of people staying in the imperial capital was below a certain level, the black magicians were designed to attack. The black magicians are morons, but they’re not stupid.

“So what do you want me to do?”

“It’s not a difficult task. I’d like you to investigate a city called Allencia, northeast of the capital. It’s one of the places where the traces of black magicians have stopped, but something is suspicious.”

“That’s nothing. Okay. I’ll go. It’s good timing, so I can go and come back today.”

The timing was good. I would have had to refuse if I had a lecture tomorrow.

“But Ariel.”

“Yes? What’s wrong, Kyle?”

Her sparkling black eyes turned to me. A mischievous feeling welled up inside me for a moment. I smiled slightly and said.

“For free?”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re not asking me to do it for free, are you? You know our social status. There will be a lot of talk if I just do it?”

Of course not. There’s no way the people of the world could know about what we were talking about alone in the office. The reason I’m doing this is just because I wanted to tease Ariel.

“Uh… that’s…”

Ariel hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth.

“What… do you want, Kyle…?”

“How far can you go?”

“Anything I can do…”

As she said that, Ariel hung her head. Her flushed face came into view. I got up from my seat and approached her. And then I whispered.

“Anything?”

“How far did you go with Lana and the Saintess…? If it’s up to that point, I’ll…”

I chuckled inwardly at the increasingly faint voice. I approached her again and whispered.

“I didn’t do as much as you think. Unfortunately.”

“I, I wasn’t disappointed at all…!”

Ariel was startled. She took a step back before the sound could reach. This was quite fun in its own way.

I waved to her, who still couldn’t raise her face.

“Then I’ll come back to report a little later. Do something about that face until then.”

“Kyle…!”

Ariel’s red face was quite a sight until the moment I teleported away.

After that, I moved to the city she told me about.

***

Thud, the ice cream in her hand fell to the ground. But Ruina couldn’t bring herself to pick it up. That’s because she saw a familiar man’s face in the distance.

Ruina looked around and hurriedly hid nearby. It didn’t end there, she used all the magic tools she had to completely hide her presence. And then she peeked out from behind the wall, only showing her face, and observed the other person.

“Why, why… is he here…?”

Kyle Arden. Her one and only disciple was here. The moment Ruina saw Kyle, one thought filled her head.

“I, I can’t get caught…”

Yes, I can’t get caught. If my disciple finds out what I’m about to do here, our relationship could be completely ruined. He was a saint, and I was a dirty black magician.

Ruina didn’t want that at all, even if she had to give up alchemy. She led her trembling body into the darkness.

In order not to be caught by her disciple.