071

“I want to take my daughter, what gives you the right to allow or deny me, spout nonsense?”

“Hahahaha, I am the Chairman of this school. Naturally, I have the authority over the student’s academic records.”

“The student wants to quit her studies!”

“Then the student should come and say it. Not the parent.”

“She’s still young, hasn’t even made her debutante! Shouldn’t my will as her parent be more important than the student’s?!”

“No.”

The Chairman looked at Viscountess Telmasier.

He looked at the Viscountess with his characteristic relaxed expression and a beaming smile. His glossy, bald head and generous flesh shook with every laugh, provoking the other person.

“What’s important is education. A person’s mind has limits. The younger they are, the faster they absorb new knowledge. But it wouldn’t do for a parent to become a stumbling block during the student’s peak growth period.”

“Stumbling block? Did you just call me a stumbling block? How daaare you, how daaare youuu…?!”

“Hahaha. As her mother, you must know the student well. But when it comes to education, aren’t our academy’s teachers much more expert?”

Conversely, Viscountess Telmasier’s face swelled as if it would explode at any moment.

And she realized.

“Chairman.”

“Haha. Look at this. Isn’t Teacher Cassian, the homeroom teacher, also keeping his seat because he cares for student Freizier?”

“May I speak with the Viscountess alone?”

The Viscountess’s fierce gaze turned to me.

It was filled with such resentment that it seemed like she would pierce me to death with her gaze alone.

“Let’s go outside for some fresh air and talk.”

“If you intend to do something futile…”

“Whatever happens, it will be better than talking to that Chairman.”

“Excuse me, Teacher Cassian. What did you mean by ‘that’ Chairman? Teacher?”

Viscountess Telmasier began to take deep breaths, ‘Hoo’.

Her expression began to stabilize, and her heaving chest slowly subsided.

“...Fine. Let’s go hear what nonsense you have to say.”

As I left first, the Viscountess slowly began to follow me.

Unlike when she was in the Chairman’s office, she didn’t say anything in the hallway.

Only the sound of her clicking heels seemed to represent her feelings.

With every step she took, a deep resentment seemed to stab me.

Soon, we stood at the crossroads leading from the new building to the old building.

“Ah.”

For the first time, the Viscountess opened her mouth.

I glanced back at her.

Her gaze was fixed on the Akarind Tree, the guardian tree of Akarind Academy.

We had passed the beginning of spring and were now entering the full spring season.

Perhaps because of that, the Akarind Tree also had flower buds sprouting all over its branches to bloom, emitting a pale green light blended with its leaves.

In about a month, white petals would be in full bloom, continuing their brilliance until autumn.

Realizing I was looking at her, Viscountess Telmasier withdrew her gaze.

“...The building is far.”

“With the increase in students, we’re also expanding and using the old building, which wasn’t used in the past. My Class F uses the old building.”

“It must be old.”

“Repair work was completed during the vacation. A 4th-circle mage working at Akarind Academy built it solidly, so only the exterior looks somewhat old, but the interior is sturdy.”

Following the path leads to the entrance of the old building.

Past the entrance and through the passageway, there was a training ground, where various students were devoted to their training.

And there was student Freizier.

“Hah!”

Freizier, with her dark gray hair tied up tightly, was running around holding a short sword.

Her sparring partner was Eleveth.

Stopping in place, she brought her sword to the opponent’s path with minimal movement.

To break through Eleveth, one had to move more erratically and quickly than Eleveth’s predictions.

Therefore, ordinary students were reluctant to spar with Eleveth.

Sparring with other returning students was difficult too, but sparring with Eleveth required one to be more diligent and move a lot more on top of that.

Freizier was a student who deliberately chose to fight in sparring matches that others avoided.

Freizier, who seemed to be aiming for Eleveth’s right side, slid her foot straight forward.

I thought she was attacking the front, but using her front foot as a pivot, she bounced her body to the left as if jumping.

And at the same time, a horizontal slash swung from left to right.

Clang!

However, as if she had predicted even that movement, Eleveth’s sword struck the center of Freizier’s sword and bounced it off.

She hadn’t even moved her sword much.

It was as if Freizier had aimed for Eleveth’s sword and swung her own, and at some point, Eleveth’s sword was already there.

“Keep going!”

Freizier didn’t give up even though her attack was nullified.

Sometimes she rolled on the ground, and sometimes she tried to confuse with her gaze.

Among the numerous attacks, there wasn’t a single effective hit.

“...”

The Viscountess watched the entire process with clenched teeth.

From the moment she first spotted Freizier, she hadn’t moved a single step and was fixed to the spot.

Her hands, wearing white gloves, were gripping both sides of her dress tightly, and her fingertips were trembling visibly from the force.

“Would you like to go and talk to her yourself?”

“...No. I’m tired from walking so long. There’s too much sunlight too. I want to talk in a proper room quickly.”

“Just a little further.”

We walked a little more and arrived at the faculty office.

I opened the door, went inside, and tidied up around the desk and chairs.

It wasn’t a space meant for someone wearing a cumbersome dress to enter.

The Viscountess fanned herself and looked around with a displeased expression.

But how should I put it.

It was an expression that looked anxious rather than simply displeased.

When she fully entered, I closed the door and sat on a chair.

“Now that there’s no one watching or listening, you can stop acting.”

“...What did you say?”

“You’re very worried about your daughter. Enough to insist on acting out of character.”

At my words, the Viscountess’s eyes wavered behind her fan.

The malice from before slowly disappeared from her eyes, replaced by a look of bewilderment.

“How?”

It was a simple deduction.

Slapping my cheek as soon as she saw me, reacting emotionally to the Chairman’s words.

Every word and action was something a difficult parent might show, but it was too excessive.

“You were typical. To the point where I couldn’t understand why you were acting like that.”

Even a difficult person needs logic for all their actions.

Like not letting someone get away with ignoring them.

Or poking out their eyes because they caused them a loss.

Or bullying someone because they dared to use Sword Aura when they couldn’t.

‘Somehow, all the regressors around me seem like difficult people.’

No, maybe it’s because they are difficult people that I can properly distinguish between real difficult people and fake difficult people.

“...They said you were an excellent teacher, but I didn’t know you could see even that.”

The Viscountess slowly lowered her fan.

For the first time, I could see her face calmly.

She was a woman with a plain and ordinary impression, similar to Freizier.

She seemed to be in her early 30s, not much different in age from me.

‘Because early marriage is popular in the Empire to manage the birth rate.’

She put down her fan and lifted her hair.

The updo, voluminously filled with pearls and secured with jewels and hairpins, was a wig.

Underneath, gray hair fixed with a net existed, a lighter gray than Freizier’s color.

“I am Demacia, Freizier’s mother.”

“I am Cassian, Freizier’s homeroom teacher.”

“I sincerely apologize for slapping you earlier.”

“It’s alright. I would like to hear the reason why.”

At my question, Freizier’s mother glanced around and sighed.

“The new building hasn’t changed.”

“...Were you from Akarind Academy?”

“Yes. It’s already been 15 years. I attended briefly and dropped out after 2 years. I had no talent.”

“Our Akarind Academy is not a place that abandons students because they lack talent.”

“It seems like that kind of place now. But it wasn’t when I attended.”

Suddenly, the conversation I had with the Chairman a few days ago crossed my mind.

The most excellent and traditional academy in the Belmein Kingdom.

The one that adopted the Empire’s system the fastest and managed its manpower by driving students into competition...

“Clumsy talent becomes poison. And I survived because I had no talent.”

Her gaze sank dimly as she chased her past.

“I am Viscount Telmasier’s second wife. He has three wives including me, and eight children. And Viscount Telmasier’s young lord has a bad personality. Enough to kill any talented sibling.”

It was a common story.

A story of a greedy heir killing all his siblings to monopolize all the power.

“That’s why I sent her here. So my daughter could be disappointed in her talent and run away. If not that, just to be neglected. Not clinging to a mediocre talent and working hard, just moderately spending her academy life and returning to find a marriage partner.”

“Is that why you had her take bride lessons from a young age?”

“If she at least has an arranged marriage, she’ll prove her necessity and won’t be killed.”

The Viscountess’s gaze turned to me again.

Unlike when I first saw her, it was a serious and clear gaze.

“But this academy has changed in the meantime. No, the academy hasn’t changed, the teacher has changed.”

Freizier had never once been discouraged.

Not only Freizier, but other students as well.

If they were lacking, they worked hard right there.

And I had prepared a curriculum to lift up those hardworking students.

“In your opinion, teacher... what is my daughter’s ability level?”

“Looking at swordsmanship alone, she doesn’t have much talent. But as I said, she has the ability to work diligently. At this rate, she should be able to receive a knighthood upon graduation.”

“Diligence, diligence. She’s diligently approaching death day by day.”

It was a self-deprecating laugh.

“Do you have children, teacher?”

“I’m still single.”

“I see. Then you probably don’t know this feeling. The feeling of wanting to support your child living a rewarding and hard-working life day by day, but knowing that living like that is a path to death.”

Certainly, I couldn’t know that feeling.

Only those who were qualified entered the Empire’s Royal Academy.

There were plenty of people who could take from others and protect their own.

They were more faithful to their lives than anyone else.

“I’ve stopped acting, but I haven’t given up on taking my daughter. I’ve spoken sincerely to this extent, so I think you understand enough. I’m taking my daughter.”

That’s why she had no choice but to be stubborn.

“You can’t.”

“I think you understand the situation well enough.”

“Understanding and agreeing are two different things.”

Because I also lived my best at the Royal Academy.

And I know the frustration of realizing that living my best like that was worthless.

I couldn’t let my student experience that.

“Have you ever told student Freizier all of this?”

“...”

“Let’s hear the student’s opinion first.”

And then we just have to find a way.