Temporary Professor (1)

1.

I was now completely accustomed to academy life.

Studying Divine magic was still uninteresting, and attending morning service every day was even more so.

Still, I had cleverly mastered the knack of navigating academy life, enjoying occasional deviations here and there.

There were several, but.

Recently, drinking wine before bed was the best deviation.

Once a week, after finishing evening training, I would head to the temple. Then, avoiding the eyes of the guards protecting the temple, I would sneak into the underground storage and grab a bottle of wine stored there, returning to the dormitory.

As soon as I returned to my room, I hung up my sword and opened the cork of the wine.

-Pop!

A sound that was always pleasant to hear.

I drank straight from the bottle without even pouring it into a glass.

I gulped down the wine, my cheeks bulging, and exhaled.

“Hoo…”

A matured, deep, and rich aroma.

A lingering astringency that wrapped around the tongue when I took a sip.

“This is it…!”

It gave me, a lover of alcohol and strong liquor, fantastic pleasure.

“Seriously. To think they were drinking this delicious stuff all by themselves. How dare they.”

I put the cork back in the bottle.

Because the taste would change, wine had to be drunk entirely on the spot once opened.

But unfortunately, this body of mine got tipsy with just a sip or two, so drinking a whole bottle at once was impossible.

With a regretful heart, I hid the remaining wine deep inside the closet and threw myself onto the bed.

“Haaah, I love it.”

To think that a drunkard who used to empty dozens of ales in one sitting in my previous life would be reborn and become a lightweight.

“They’d laugh, they’d laugh~”

Still, not everything had changed.

It still felt good to have a drink after training.

I closed my eyes, humming a tune, and wiggled my legs in the air as if splashing in water.

I rolled over and slowly opened my eyes.

My long eyelashes, which had been lowered like curtains, rose, and I saw the uniform hanging on the wall.

“Hehe.”

A white uniform.

It was a newly designed version of the academy uniform.

Made exclusively for me.

The day to wear it was still far off, but just looking at it made me excited.

A reward for saving the academy from the Demon King Army Commander.

That uniform was one of them.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

I closed my eyes again.

I entrusted myself to the pleasantly rising intoxication.

2.

Recently, a rumor had been circulating among the students.

The hero who saved the academy.

The swordsman who defeated the Demon King Army Commander.

The rumor was that it was the Saintess.

Not an Imperial Knight.

Not a professor in the Swordsmanship department.

But the Saintess, who was as delicate as she needed protection.

Of course, not everyone believed the rumor.

A rumor was just a rumor.

Unless something could be clearly proven, it couldn’t be believed.

“Is it really you, Nuna?”

Hoth, who had visited the temple after a long time, asked Elia.

Elia, who was treating his fractured arm from training, raised her round, rabbit-like eyes.

“What is?”

“The rumor, that rumor!”

“So, what is that rumor?”

Elia frowned at Hoth’s booming voice.

“There’s a rumor going around that Nuna defeated the Demon King Army Commander. I know that Nuna is a strong warrior who defeats Demons as easily as slaughtering livestock, but even so, the Demon King Army Commander, and the perpetrator of the massacre at that…”

“That’s right.”

“…Pardon?”

“That’s me.”

Hoth blinked his eyes.

He looked at Elia, who had a nonchalant expression as if it were nothing.

His eyes widened, and Hoth jumped up from his seat.

“I haven’t finished treating…”

“I’m sorry!”

Hoth prostrated himself on the floor as if he had committed a great wrong and was begging for forgiveness.

“I dared to doubt Nuna’s power!”

He knew very well that Elia was strong.

He had confirmed it with his own eyes several times.

But even so, he thought it was impossible for Elia to defeat the Demon King Army Commander alone.

It wasn’t Hoth’s fault.

It was a natural thought.

How could one person face a Wizard who could massacre hundreds of thousands of people with magic?

The Empire had attempted to subjugate him several times, but had only suffered great damage and failed.

To capture an existence that even the Imperial Knights could not catch as a group was a story that only appeared in ancient legends.

“Don’t make a fuss over something strange and sit down.”

“I’m ashamed of myself for doubting the person I decided to serve as Nuna.”

“Do you want to get your arm treated? Or do you want to break another arm?”

After sighing, Hoth quickly got up and sat back down.

“I was lucky. I don’t know what would have happened if it had been another Commander.”

“Can you tell me in detail?”

“There’s not much to explain.”

Elia explained it simply, as she had explained it to the Headmaster before.

Cut off the head.

Burn the head.

The end.

“Ooh…”

Hoth admired, his eyes shining like a boy listening to a hero’s adventure.

Disgusting.

His pupils were too sparkly for his size.

In the old days, I would have kicked his butt for opening his eyes like that.

“As expected of Nuna!”

Even though she hadn’t explained anything in detail, Hoth was excited, breathing heavily.

“I thought you were a warrior from another dimension, but I didn’t know it was this much of another dimension. I respect Nuna even more!”

“Be quiet, my ears hurt.”

“Yes!”

After answering loudly, Hoth shook his arm and continued to praise Elia in a small voice.

I needed to treat his arm, but he kept moving it.

He was really ignorant.

To shake a fractured arm like that.

“Stay still.”

Elia suppressed Hoth on the floor so he couldn’t move and continued to treat his arm.

Even in the midst of that, Hoth’s mouth didn’t stop.

He spewed out words of admiration like he was praising a god.

It was as if a new religion had been established.

“I’m going to become as strong as Nuna!”

“Okay. It’s good to have a goal.”

Hoth, who was still lying on the floor and chattering like a gossipy middle-aged woman even after the treatment was over.

Elia, who had been watching how long he would keep doing that, suddenly thought of something.

“You want to become as strong as me?”

“Needless to say! If I could become as strong as Nuna, I’m confident I could throw myself into the Gorge of the Ancient Dragon.”

He was saying he was prepared to give his life.

However, Elia’s reaction was unexpected.

“Hmm hmm, that’s definitely a good method. Even if you rot in the Drake nest in the depths of the Gorge of the Ancient Dragon for a year, you’ll become stronger than you are now.”

She was telling him to commit suicide.

To survive for a year in the largest habitat of Drakes.

Even Hoth couldn’t do that.

As soon as he set foot on the barren land, the Drakes would scream and rush at him. Endlessly. And they would try to bite off his limbs.

It would be fortunate if he lasted even a week.

“Have you ever tried it, Nuna?”

Elia nodded.

“I have.”

She crossed her legs and rested her chin, as if reminiscing about the past.

“It was really hell back then, but looking back, it’s a decent memory. I even made friends.”

“Weren’t you only in the convent, Nuna?”

Elia shuddered as if she had hiccupped.

She hesitated for a moment about what to say, then smiled and said.

“Don’t try to know too much about my past.”

Hoth felt a primal fear at the pretty but eerie smile and stiffened.

“Yes, yes!”

“Anyway, back to the main point, you want to become as strong as me?”

“Yes!”

Elia crossed her arms and stared at Hoth.

Hoth straightened his back and puffed out his chest so that Elia could see him well.

Elia, who was pondering something while looking at him, nodded and turned her eyes away.

Hoth was expectant.

He was excited at the thought that Elia might train him.

He had wanted to learn from Elia for a long time.

Elia, who had been staring at Hoth, closed her eyes and nodded a few times.

“Are there any students around you who you think would be good to become stronger?”

“Who would be good to become stronger?”

“I asked the wrong question.”

Everyone would like to become stronger.

“Is there anyone Hyung likes?”

Gasp! Could this be…!

Hoth felt one thing from Elia’s words.

He had recently dealt with several female students and had learned a few things about women’s words and actions.

He had heard those words recently too.

‘Is there anyone Hoth likes?’

And he had received a confession that she liked him.

Not confessing a sin.

But a confession to start a relationship.

With Nuna…?

In the forest.

Nuna leaning against a tree trunk, sticking her butt out.

Wiggling her plump butt towards him with a seductive look.

Hoth felt his face flush with embarrassing thoughts.

“N, no! That won’t do! I respect Nuna, but how could I do such a thing? Of course… it’s not that I don’t like it… but still, to do such a thing, I’d have to at least reach Nuna’s level first…!”

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

Elia slapped her lips.

“Oh, a mistake. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but my question is this. Are there any people around you who have talent as swordsmen?”

“Ah… that, that’s what you meant?”

“What on earth were you imagining?”

“Hahaha! N, no, nothing… it’s nothing.”

Hoth, who had even thought about marriage in his delusion, returned to reality.

“Um… talent as a swordsman… three come to mind right away?”

“Tell me.”

“Yuriel, Yohan, and Estel.”

“Two are within my expectations, but Estel?”

If it was Estel, she was definitely the female student who was with Yohan.

Her grades were in the middle to upper-middle range.

In the academy, that was quite high, but she wasn’t a student with particularly outstanding talent.

“Her instantaneous destructive power is no joke. I had a sparring match with her once during class, and I was pushed back for a moment. Ah, of course, I won that sparring match.”

“I see.”

Elia nodded again and fell into thought.

“But why are you suddenly asking about that?”

“I’m going to use it as a reference.”

Elia smiled at Hoth.

“I have to select a few students.”