Chapter 78
“…What on earth happened to you all?”
B Group’s swordsmanship instructor, Cold, couldn’t take his eyes off the students fighting in the match, looking utterly dazed.
This swordsmanship tournament was clearly supposed to be a stage for the Group A kids…
“Ha…”
Seeing the Group B kids leisurely returning after their victories, Cold let out a hollow laugh.
His laughter deepened as he saw the blank expression on the face of Group A’s swordsmanship instructor.
‘Instructor Cold, I heard Group B students participated in this tournament too—thank you.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, our students shine brighter thanks to theirs being here. Haha.’
‘……’
When he first took up the position as a swordsmanship instructor, he had ambition.
He had wanted to teach the children well.
But after watching the academy’s structure—clearly skewed in favor of wealthy households—he gradually grew indifferent to everything.
It was a ceiling impossible to break through. In that case, wasn’t giving them false hope even crueler?
It seemed better to reveal the truth and have them give up early.
But now…
“How, how is this even possible…?!”
To think he’d get to see that kind of expression on Instructor Ruslo’s face, who was in charge of Group A.
“Ahem.”
“Tsk.”
The parents of Group A weren’t much different.
Count Belgial, who had arrived confidently expecting his son Iron to win, and the other Group A parents, all watched the match with stiff faces.
And once all the matches ended, they left the arena in a hurry—none of them waiting even a moment longer.
There was no reason to remain here anymore.
“W-Wait a moment! Please wait!”
Instructor Ruslo, who had been watching the parents nervously throughout the tournament, quickly chased after them.
He couldn’t just let them go like this!
“Instructor Ruslo, what happened here? I didn’t come all the way here to witness this.”
“T-This must be some kind of mistake. Please, just one more chance!”
Faced with Count Belgial’s angry tone, sweat beaded on Ruslo’s forehead, palms, and even his back.
He had received more than a few gifts for “personally watching over Iron’s training.”
It was the same with the other Group A parents.
He had confidently promised they’d graduate as top students…
For that purpose, he had turned a blind eye even when Group A students bullied and sabotaged Group B’s training.
He even harshly punished Group B students who came to complain—crushing their spirits.
With a heart full of contempt, he had thought: If you have neither skill nor money, then just sit quietly and stay out of sight.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to reverse the results! It doesn’t make any sense that those idiots won!”
“Then what does that make our children, who lost to those ‘idiots’?”
“S-Some sort of mistake must have occurred! Just give us another—”
SMACK!
“Khugh!”
While desperately clinging and pleading, Instructor Ruslo suddenly felt immense pain as something struck his head.
“W-What the?! Ugh! Blood!”
When he touched his aching head, he found a bit of blood.
What had hit him?
He quickly looked around but saw nothing suspicious.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
“Tsk.”
Meanwhile, the Group A parents cast cold stares at Ruslo as they walked away from him.
“W-Wait just a moment—!”
SMACK!
“Ack!”
Again, something struck his head!
Ruslo held his head, spinning around to find the culprit.
But again, he couldn’t find what had hit him.
—
“…Ceres.”
“Hm?”
“…Never mind.”
You sure throw rocks well… even dressed like that.
With an awkward smile, Chaian casually started pushing the rocks near Ceres aside, hiding them behind his back.
“Looks like it’s settled now, Janitor.”
“Janitor? You’ve been saying that for a while now—what do you mean?”
At Ceres’ soft whisper, Chaian turned to her—and his mouth fell open.
Seeing her smiling more brightly than ever, he was speechless.
Following her gaze, he saw the children joyfully hugging each other, celebrating their victories.
“Miss Ceres?”
“……?”
At that moment, a man approached, calling out to Ceres.
He looked to be in his mid-to-late twenties.
When Ceres turned her head, the man greeted her with a bright, familiar smile.
“Fancy seeing you here. Looks like you’ve gotten a lot better.”
“Who are you?”
“Ah…”
At her question, the man looked slightly flustered, then nodded with understanding.
“I heard the rough story from Antonion. He said something bad happened.”
“So who are you?”
“…Your homeroom teacher.”
“…Homeroom teacher?”
At the unfamiliar word, Ceres furrowed her brows. The man scratched his cheek awkwardly.
“They said your memory’s fuzzy… But it can’t be helped. You really need to come back now.”
“Come back? What are you talking about?”
“If you don’t re-register by the end of this week, you’ll be expelled.”
Ceres blinked slowly, trying to make sense of the situation—then let out a long sigh.
What kind of mess is this again?
***
<Memory Box>
“Of course you have to re-enroll.”
“Seriously?”
“Aren’t you going to graduate?”
“That’s why I’m asking, why bother?”
“Why are you saying weird things since yesterday! This is obvious!”
Ceres stared curiously at her younger brother, Antonion, who was passionately arguing in front of her.
Why is he so worked up again?
It all started a few days ago, when she dropped by the academy for the school festival.
And the words from the teacher she met there.
That’s what triggered this commotion.
Turned out Ceres was still technically enrolled at the academy.
It’s just that, due to her previous suicide attempt, she had been marked as on medical leave.
And the teacher she met last—
‘His name was Daniel, I think?’
That teacher, supposedly her homeroom teacher at the academy, said she would be expelled if she didn’t return within a week.
Ceres thought the whole matter would blow over quietly.
Because she had no intention of going back.
‘At this age?’
Sure, considering public opinion and the age of “Ceres Drow”, it made sense to attend.
Even if she belonged to a ruined noble family in name only, it was still unusual for a noble child not to graduate from the academy.
‘But I’m different.’
She already graduated long ago.
You want me to sit through classes with little kids at my age?
“You know I’m kind of busy these days.”
You know I’m still paying off debt, right?
“Don’t make excuses, sis. Didn’t he say he’d understand?”
“He?”
“The debt collector.”
“…Yeah, he did.”
Back then, when the teacher was talking about expulsion, Kainel had been there too.
‘They’re saying expulsion?’
‘Yeah, I heard. Since you’re here, just submit the withdrawal form—’
‘You still need to graduate.’
‘Huh?’
‘From now on, come after classes end. I’ll even deduct one day’s worth from the fee.’
‘…What?’
‘Why are you being so needlessly nice!’
It’s not like she asked for it!
Ceres had protested that it wasn’t necessary, but Kainel ignored her.
And somehow Antonion found out—and he’d been bringing it up all day today.
“I’ll say it again, why bother?”
“Oh yeah? Then I should quit too.”
“What?”
“There’s no real reason for me to keep attending either. It’s better for both of us to earn money than just you doing it alone.”
“…And how exactly are you going to earn money?”
“Whatever it takes.”
Wait a second, how did this conversation go here?
You don’t know this, but I already graduated a long time ago.
“Should I submit my withdrawal too?”
“……”
“I said, should I submit my withdrawal?”
…Damn it.
***
“Alti, why did you enter the academy? You’re from the Magic Tower.”
I was honestly dumbfounded to see Alti—who was already learning magic systematically in the Magic Tower—standing at the academy’s entrance ceremony.
“Grace, to hang out with you.”
“The academy isn’t a place to hang out.”
“But if I’m with you, then it is!”
“…Is the Tower Master okay with this?”
“Yep! I said I’d leave the Tower if they didn’t let me in. So he told me to do whatever I wanted.”
…No wonder the Tower Master looked so aged last time. That was all your doing.
“Kainel, why are you here?”
Kainel also had no reason to enroll at the academy, since he was privately educated in the Duchy of Persia.
The duchy even had excellent academies of its own.
So why are you at the Central Imperial Academy entrance ceremony?
—
Read More at – GENZNOVEL.COM!!
PLEASE JOIN OUR DISCORD AND SUBSCRIBE THE ROLE TO RECEIVE LATEST NOTIFICATIONS!!
Click here -> https://discord.gg/S8c2kGVr2g
Comment