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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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‘Not even half was filled.’
Currently, a total of 64 students were classified as failing students at Rahel Academy.
However, the number filling this old lecture hall was less than thirty.
Surprisingly, even the failing class had an orientation.
Usually, an orientation allows students to judge whether a lecture is suitable for them or not.
However, the orientation for the failing class was a bit different.
It could be seen as an orientation where students decided whether to remain enrolled at this academy while enduring the disgrace of being a failing student, or simply drop out.
The gazes of about thirty students sitting in the lecture hall were squarely fixed on me, concentrating.
Or rather, they were not.
Almost all of them propped their chins up, visibly displaying their discomfort.
They had the expressions of livestock being dragged to the slaughterhouse, as if forcibly brought to a place they did not want to be.
“You guys are really stupid.”
And with just that one line, I captured the attention of the students who had been zoning out.
Even Charlotte, who had been blankly gazing out the window, turned her head to look at me.
Countless gazes pierced toward me.
Far from feeling tense, I felt relieved that things were going according to plan.
The numerous experiences I had as a Vampire King were still deeply ingrained in my body.
Even if hundreds or thousands of subordinates below me were looking at me, I would not feel tense.
After the interview, I read the orientation script every day.
And through repeated revisions, I finally created an orientation to save the protagonist.
If there was a script, then this was merely a play.
It wasn’t difficult at all.
I just had to wholeheartedly go with the flow.
“I’m Adrian. Don’t bother remembering this. It’s not a pleasant meeting for either of us.”
The intended psychological backlash had occurred.
As expected, some students muttered my name with their lips.
“I don’t differentiate between schools of magic, but the ones I’m most proficient with are elemental magics.”
At the mention of not differentiating between schools, some students furrowed their brows.
Even the principal, Violet, had reacted that way, so it wasn’t surprising.
They were probably thinking, ‘Does he really have that level of skill?’ or ‘If he does, then why is he in this lecture hall?’
“You there.”
I pointed at one female student.
She had a peculiar two-toned hairstyle, with the outer hair white and the inner hair green.
She was likely seeing me for the first time, but I knew her.
Michelle Meinens.
A prodigy of Telekinesis.
She would later become a 9th-rank mage and a formidable rival with a bitter connection to the protagonist.
‘There were quite a few bad endings where the protagonist died at Michelle’s hands.’
Currently, she was sitting in this failing class lecture hall purely due to ‘bad luck.’
In truth, Rahel Academy evaluated students through duels, and she simply had poor matchmaking luck, going up against the legendary powerhouse Hamilla.
The result was this pitiful state, with bandages wrapped around her broken left arm and right leg, making the noble young lady look miserable.
As I called on her, she stared at me wordlessly.
“Fundamentally, what is magic?”
“It is the study that pursues the truth of this mana-filled world,” Michelle enunciated clearly without the slightest stumble.
There was no denying that her answer was correct.
“Let me rephrase the question, what is magic to you?”
“It is akin to a calling.”
“A calling, you say?”
“Yes. Magic is the only tool that allows humans to draw answers from the realm of mana, which had existed as an unexplored domain. The more answers we draw, the more human beings naturally become higher dimensional entities. I have a calling to advance to a higher dimension.”
If the textbook were the standard for answering, this would certainly be an excellent, succinct response.
The other students seemed to think so as well, regarding Michelle with admiring gazes.
But after surveying the students, I spoke.
“Do the rest of you think that way too?”
Most of them nodded.
There was no reason not to go along with such a textbook-perfect, clear explanation.
They had apparently all decided to agree.
Even Michelle had the look of someone who had been ‘one-upped.’
“As I thought, you guys are really stupid.”
A ripple passed through Michelle’s green eyes.
And not just hers, but all the students’ eyes seemed to waver.
“…Since when has the word ‘failing’ become an adjective applied to higher dimensional beings?”
Michelle flinched, her shoulders trembling slightly.
A good reaction.
“If there are students who claim to seek the truth and want to become higher dimensional beings as their calling, there is only one thing I can say to them.”
Now I took off my coat.
A heavy silence fell as I hung my coat on the rack.
The students, who until just moments ago had been zoning out, were now scrutinizing my every move.
After hanging up my coat, I spoke again.
“You should drop out.”
The students began to murmur loudly.
Most of them were upperclassmen, not freshmen.
Since the failing class gathered students based solely on the criteria of ‘failing,’ it did not separate them by year.
While freshmen could brush it off thinking ‘Is this how it usually is?’, the upperclassmen were greatly shaken, knowing the failing class was not originally like this.
“I have no intention of teaching you such lofty things.”
“Then what exactly are you going to—”
“Raise your hand to speak.”
“Ugh,”
Michelle’s words were cut off with a grunt.
She hurriedly raised her unbroken hand.
Of course, she was unbroken not just in her hand.
Her family’s noble pride was still intact.
“Then what exactly does the professor intend to teach?”
“Education will proceed strictly according to my calling.”
“…Calling?”
She furrowed her brow.
“Yes. My calling is to expel every single student I dislike from my class, without leaving a single one behind.”
“What kind of nonsense is…?”
“Why, Michelle, don’t you want to be expelled to the top class?”
At those words, the noise in the lecture hall fell silent.
The bewildered gazes of everyone pierced me like arrows.
Being expelled not from the academy, but to the top class, was something the students could not even imagine.
“My lecture will focus on practical combat training. Rumors about the Demon Race have been ominous lately, so the academy has been increasing related subjects tremendously. We’ll concentrate on that.”
I did not simply blurt out such statements thoughtlessly and haphazardly.
I had the trait of a King’s Evil Eye, as well as a stockpile of vitality.
I intended to study all the textbooks in this academy’s library thoroughly enough to lecture on them properly.
Since my goal was the happy ending, something like that should be no problem, right?
Another student asked with a look of disbelief,
“Are you saying you’ll promote us? But how exactly will you teach us?”
“If you’re curious, just keep attending. You can see for yourself how it will go with your own two eyes.”
Doubt grew on the questioning student’s face.
“Well, let’s do a quick skill assessment for today.”
Simultaneously, I snapped my fingers.
With a crisp sound, a magic glyph appeared on the blackboard.
It was a complex glyph with small fragments forming similar geometric shapes to the whole – exhibiting self-similarity.
“This will give you a sense of what I mean by practical combat training. Does anyone recognize this glyph?”
No one could answer.
“Self-replication based on self-similarity. This tendency is prominently exhibited in explosive-type glyphs. I think I’ve given enough hints.”
Looks of puzzlement grew on everyone’s faces.
The appearance of a glyph beyond their level left them all looking troubled.
Except for one person.
The eyes of just one person, who until now had been propping up her chin without even looking at me, began to show interest.
“Flame…”
It was Charlotte Fortier who started moving her lips.
Of course it would be.
This was a chain explosion glyph that existed solely to kill the target.
Aside from Charlotte, filled with a desire for revenge against her parents’ killers, ordinary students would find it difficult to even show interest in such a glyph.
“Flame…the Flame Extinction glyph.”
“You’re interested?”
She nodded her head.
“Come up front.”
Charlotte walked to the front of the lecture hall.
“With just one more stroke, the output doubles. Go ahead and draw it.”
Charlotte extended her index finger and raised her hand.
But then she froze for a long while before lowering it again.
Of course.
The current Charlotte was filled only with hatred towards the Demon Race, but completely lacked the ability to actualize that hatred into reality.
Her index finger wavered in the air once more before she said,
“…I don’t know how.”
“Pathetic.”
Charlotte flinched as if a spike had pierced her body.
“If you can’t increase the output, then for the Demon Race it would just be a mildly stinging explosion. All show with no real substance. You haven’t engaged in any deep study at all at this level.”
“No.”
Sounding indignant, Charlotte clenched her fists in denial.
“…I can kill them. If I encounter any Demons, I can just kill them.”
“Return to your seat then. If you face them a hundred times, you’ll die a hundred times.”
But as expected, the girl did not return to her seat.
“I can kill them!”
Charlotte raised her voice loudly.
“I can kill them! Flame Extinction isn’t the only magic I know. I can kill them. I can kill them!”
“Ha.”
I let out a derisive laugh.
With my chin, I gestured toward the training grounds outside the window.
“Want to prove it?”
“…Yes.”
Charlotte took the bait immediately.
“If I prove it…you have to get on your knees and apologize. I’ll make sure you do.”
Tears welled up in the girl’s eyes.
I must seem very hateful to her.
But the teardrops in her eyes were born not just from hatred towards me, but hatred towards this whole world.
There were five endings where she committed suicide after serious conflict and defeat against other students.
Five more bad endings where she barely won but was still expelled.
Three endings where she collapsed from recklessly overusing her mana.
Eight endings where she encountered Demons outside the academy, rushed in recklessly, and died.
‘To protect you for just this one day…’
This was the only way.
“Very well then.”
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