“...What on earth happened to them?”
Kold, the swordsmanship instructor for Group B, stared at the students in the arena with bewildered eyes.
This tournament was supposed to be Group A’s stage. And yet...
“Ha...”
As Kold watched the Group B students return after securing an easy victory, a hollow laugh slipped from his lips. The dazed expression on the Group A instructor’s face only made Kold’s amusement grow.
“Mr. Kold, I heard all the Group B students are participating in this tournament. Thank you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Group B has to participate for my students to stand out more, after all. Haha.”
“......”
Back when he’d first become an instructor, Kold had ambitions of his own. He wanted to teach the students properly.
But after watching the academy keep catering to noble families and wealthy students, he eventually grew indifferent to it all.
Some walls simply couldn’t be overcome. If that was the case, wasn’t it crueler to let those children cling to false hope? He thought it was kinder to show them reality and make them give up sooner.
However—
“H-How is this possible...?!”
To think he would live long enough to see an expression like that on Instructor Ruslo’s face.
“Ahem.”
“Tch.”
The Group A parents looked no different. Count Belgial, who had come expecting his son Iron to win, sat among the others with a rigid expression.
Then, as soon as the tournament ended, the parents began leaving the arena one after another. There was no reason for them to stay any longer.
“W-Wait! Please, just a moment!”
Instructor Ruslo, who’d spent the entire event anxiously reading those parents’ moods, rushed after them. He couldn’t let them leave like this!
“Instructor Ruslo, what is the meaning of this? I didn’t come all this way to witness such humiliation.”
“T-There must be some mistake! Please, give me one more chance!”
At Count Belgial’s stern voice, cold sweat beaded across Ruslo’s forehead, palms, and down his back. It wasn’t like he’d only accepted a few favors in exchange for giving Iron special treatment.
The same went for the other Group A parents. Ruslo had boldly promised them their children would graduate as top students. To make that happen, he had ignored Group A disrupting and bullying Group B during training. Worse, when Group B students came to complain, he had only berated them and crushed what little confidence they had left.
All because he believed that those without talent or money should stay quiet and know their place.
“I’ll fix this somehow! There’s no way those idiots should’ve won!”
“Then what does that make our children who lost to those idiots?”
“N-No, there must’ve been some mistake! Please, just one more chance...!”
Thwack!
“Urgh!”
Ruslo, who was practically groveling by now, suddenly cried out as something slammed into his head.
“W-What was that?! Hng—Blood?!”
He touched the spot instinctively and froze when his fingers were stained red.
What on earth had hit him?
He hurriedly looked around, but nothing seemed out of place.
“That’s enough. We’re leaving.”
“Yes.”
“Tch.”
By then, the Group A parents were already walking away after throwing Ruslo cold looks over their shoulders.
“W-Wait... please...!”
Thwack!
“Ahh!”
Something struck his head again. Clutching it in panic, Ruslo spun around and searched his surroundings once more.
But even this time, he couldn’t find what had hit him.
***
“...Ceres.”
“Hm?”
“...Never mind.”
You’re oddly good at throwing stones for someone dressed like that.
Cheion forced a faint smile and discreetly swept the stones near Ceres out of sight.
“The cleanup is completed.”
“Cleanup? What have you been talking about this whole time...?”
Cheion could only stare at her blankly.
The smile on her face caught him off guard. She looked happier than he had ever seen her. Her eyes were fixed on the children nearby, who were hugging one another and celebrating their victory.
“Miss Ceres?”
“....?”
Just then, someone approached while calling her name. He looked to be in his late twenties. When Ceres turned, the man greeted her with an unexpectedly warm expression.
“It’s fancy running into you here. You seem to be feeling much better.”
“Who are you?”
“Ah...”
The man looked briefly flustered by her question before nodding to himself.
“I heard a little from Antonian. About what happened to you.”
“So who are you?”
“...I’m your homeroom teacher.”
“...Homeroom teacher?”
Ceres frowned at the unexpected answer. The man scratched his cheek awkwardly.
“I heard your memory’s been a little unreliable lately... Well, there’s no helping it. But you really need to start attending again.”
“Attend? What are you talking about...?”
“If you don’t re-enroll by the end of this week, you’ll be expelled.”
Ceres blinked a few times as she processed his words, then let out a long sigh.
What kind of nonsense is this now?
.
.
.
Chapter 21: The Box of Memories
“Obviously, you have to re-enroll.”
“Do I?”
“You’re planning to graduate, aren’t you?”
“Why bother?”
“Why do you keep saying strange things since yesterday?! I’m telling you, this is common sense!”
Ceres stared at Antonian as he continued arguing his case from across the table.
What’s gotten him so worked up?
A few days earlier, she visited the academy because of the school festival. Then one of the teachers had said something unexpected.
That was where this entire headache began.
As it turned out, Ceres was also enrolled in the academy. She had simply been marked absent due to illness after attempting to take her own life.
And the person she met right before leaving...
Daniel, was it?
The man who claimed to be an academy instructor, and supposedly Ceres’s homeroom teacher. He had informed her that she would be expelled if she failed to return within a week.
Ceres just assumed the matter would quietly resolve itself. After all, she had no intention of going back.
At my age?
Objectively speaking, attending the academy was the normal thing to do given Ceres Drow’s age and circumstances. Even if the Drow family was nobility in name only, it was unusual for a noble child not to attend the academy.
But I’m a different case. I graduated from the academy centuries ago. How does it make sense for someone my age to sit through lessons with children?
“I’ve been a little busy lately.”
You know I’m still paying off our debt, right?
“Stop making excuses, Ceres. You said even he understood.”
“Him?”
“The debt collector.”
“...That’s true.”
Kainel had been standing right beside her when the teacher brought up expulsion.
“You’re getting expelled, apparently.”
“Mm. I heard. Since I’m already here, I’ll just withdraw while I’m at it...”
“You need to graduate.”
“...What?”
“Come by after class from now on. I’ll deduct a day’s worth from your debt each time.”
“...What?”
Who asked for that pointless generosity?
Ceres insisted she didn’t need his help, but Kainel ignored her as usual. Somehow, Antonian found out too, and he’d been bringing it up all day.
“I’m saying, do I really have to?”
“Then I guess I should quit too.”
“What?”
“I don’t have much reason to stay at the academy either. Wouldn’t it be better if I worked and earned money with you instead?”
“...And what exactly would you do for money?”
“Anything.”
How did this conversation end up here again?
You just don’t know it, but I already graduated from an academy a very long time ago.
“Should I hand in a withdrawal form too?”
“.....”
“I’m asking if I should quit.”
...Damn it.
***
“Arti, why did you enroll in the academy? You’re part of the Magic Tower.”
Grace had been utterly baffled when she saw Artia, who was already receiving proper magical training, standing proudly at the academy entrance ceremony.
“I wanted to hang out with you, Grace.”
“The academy isn’t a place to hang out.”
“It is if I’m with you!”
“...And the Tower Master allowed that?”
“Mhm! I told him I’d leave the Magic Tower if he didn’t let me enroll. After that, he said I could do whatever I wanted.”
...Come to think of it, the Tower Master looked noticeably older the last time I saw him.
So you were the reason.
“Kainel, why are you here?”
Kainel was already receiving private education in the Principality of Persia, so he had no reason to attend the academy either. The principality even had prestigious academies of its own.
So, why was he standing at the entrance ceremony for the Imperial Central Academy?
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