Chapter 6
Chapter 6
In front of the chalk-dusted blackboard.
I stared blankly down at the white stick in my hand.
Crooked handwriting filled the blackboard.
A baffling equation mixing ancient magical script and modern formulas—something that would make a normal student puke at first glance.
But to me, it was just a multiple-choice question with the answer already decided.
Because I had a special ability I got when I possessed this body.
[Solver]
If it weren’t for this horribly named power, I probably wouldn’t have been able to enjoy a peaceful life growing potatoes.
Exactly three times a day.
An ability that provided solutions to magical issues.
Thanks to it, the magic teachers in my childhood had practically gone feral.
“You have a dazzling genius’s intuition,” they’d say.
Of course, managing expectations was damn important, so my position was strictly that of a perpetual up-and-comer.
So here I was, agonizing over a problem I could definitely solve.
“Wouldn’t pretending I can’t solve it and getting expelled right now be the fastest way to be done with this goddamn school life?”
Expulsion.
What a sweet word.
That word meant going home, and going home meant getting back to potato farming.
Professor Iris’s punishment, which hit exactly what I wanted, was tempting me.
Yeah, did I really need to struggle this hard here?
One simple “I don’t know. Bite me.” and I’d be a free man.
“Should I just do it?”
Huh?
Just go for it?
When I kept silent, fiddling with the chalk, Professor Iris’s chilly voice flew in from behind me.
“Are you staring because you can solve it, or because you’re emptying your brain and spacing out?”
I didn’t even have to turn around to know what pose she’d be in.
She’d be glaring at my back, standing crooked with her arms crossed.
I answered seriously without even turning my head.
“I’m in the middle of the biggest dilemma of my life, so please give me some time. My life’s on the line here too.”
“Ha.”
At the professor’s snort of laughter, murmurs broke out all over the classroom.
They carefully lowered their volume, not wanting to get cursed out by Professor Iris again.
“That crazy bastard is talking back to the professor?”
“Just give up. What’s the point of stalling?”
“He really is a barbarian. Guess his head’s empty.”
Bark all you want, you dogs.
Big bro’s drawing a big picture you couldn’t even imagine right now.
I closed my eyes and ran the simulation.
The timeline of what would happen if I got expelled, crystal clear in my head.
Step 1: Announce failure to solve the problem.
Step 2: Immediate expulsion accompanied by Professor Iris’s ridicule.
Step 3: Pack my bags and skip happily back home.
Step 4: Arrive at the manor. Reunion with my father, Corinth.
So far, perfect.
The problem was what came next.
Step 5: Corinth’s rage.
“You worthless rice-eating bastard, you actually went and caused trouble?!”
Step 6: Crystal ashtray thrown and family registry erased.
Step 7: Confiscate the potato field, shut down the fishing spot in the back mountain, and hold a bonfire for the cornfield.
Step 8: “You are not my son. You’d be useless even if I sent you to the front-line demonic beast subjugation corps. Go crawl off to the mines.”
Step 8 might be going a bit too far, though.
But if it’s my dad.
Hmm, he really might.
Because my dad was the kind of man who’d follow through if he said he would.
Wee-oo, wee-oo.
Red warning lights blared noisily in my head.
Simulation result: life hard mode unlocked.
Survival probability: slim.
“...Ah, I’m fucked.”
I can’t resist potatoes.
My precious potato field burning down, and me swinging a pickaxe and digging coal in a mine in the future?
If I ended up with the title of expelled student on top of being called Farne’s barbarian, my father really would be the type to bury me socially.
That man never made empty threats.
“Shit, my golden expulsion chance...”
I made my decision with bloody tears in my eyes.
Goodbye, my freedom.
Looks like it’s not time yet.
I let out a long sigh and readjusted my grip on the chalk.
“Professor.”
“I don’t want excuses. If you can’t solve it, get out.”
“No, this chalk is a bit short. Don’t you have a longer one? At this rate, I’m going to scratch all my fingernails off.”
“...”
I could feel Professor Iris’s brow twitch.
But I ignored it and picked a fresh piece of chalk from the holder she’d placed on the lectern.
And then I took one deep breath.
[Ability Activated: Solver]
[Uses Remaining Today : 2/3]
*
Bwoong—
A short, mechanical ringing sounded in my head.
At the same time, my vision blurred, and the world’s saturation dropped a notch.
The feeling of my body floating half-numb, as if anesthetized, was both extremely familiar and strangely alien.
I felt an invisible, shapeless force seize my wrist against my will.
My right hand began to dance on the stage like a skilled puppeteer tugging on strings.
My brain, freed from the need to think, became a spectator.
Ttok, ttodok, tok!
The scraping sound of chalk striking the board echoed through the silent classroom.
White chalk dust scattered like snow.
The complex, nauseating equations that had filled the blackboard collapsed all at once under my hand.
Unnecessary calculation processes deleted.
Inefficient mana circuits streamlined.
Roundabout logic cut straight through.
I didn’t know about the process or the principles.
My hand was just moving like, “Oh, yeah, this is right.”
Tak!
The instant I put down the final dot, the floating sensation enveloping my body receded like a tide.
[Ability Deactivated]
[Uses Remaining Today : 2/3]
“Hoo.”
I exhaled briefly and took a step back.
I looked up at the blackboard.
The equations that had been packed so full they’d nearly overflowed onto the side board were now neatly condensed into just three lines.
“...What?”
I tilted my head in confusion.
“Did this lady give me some pathetic problem because she felt bad about expelling me? Why is it so short?”
Normally, a problem meant to publicly humiliate you should at least use two or three blackboards, right?
But this ended before I even got the ramen water boiling.
Feels like I wasted chalk.
I dusted the chalk powder off my hands and looked to the side.
“I solved it.”
“...”
Professor Iris said nothing.
She stared hard at the answer I’d written on the board, then began darting her blood-red eyes back and forth across it.
Her eyelids trembled behind her glasses.
“...Huh?”
Somehow, the atmosphere was dangerous.
That was not an impressed expression.
She looked like she might ask, “What kind of half-assed answer is this?” at any moment.
I was a little scared.
“Ah, shit. Did I solve it too carelessly?”
I’d only done what the ability told me to, but I guess I’d skipped too many intermediate steps.
Then again, I’d summarized a whole blackboard’s worth of writing into three lines, so she had every right to be pissed.
This was a matter of sincerity, after all.
But it’s not like I wanted to do this.
It was awkward to say I’d solve it properly again. Would that clicky little thing really go all out and add annotations for me this time?
If I did the same thing on my second try, then it wouldn’t just be suspected insubordination—it’d be confirmed insubordination.
I cleared my throat and cautiously checked her reaction.
“Um, Professor?”
Why was she acting like she'd swallowed honey and gone mute, damn it? It was making me nervous.
She wasn’t going to say something like, “Even though it’s correct, I simply can’t forgive your lack of sincerity and rudeness,” was she?
No. I’ve done the math.
I can’t get expelled.
“...It is correct.”
“Then may I go back to my seat?”
I want to wrap this up fast and make it irreversible.
At my shameless request, gasps rose from all around the classroom.
“Th-that scoundrel...”
“The professor was letting him off, and he can’t even say thank you, how could he...!”
What, you guys? So what?
But then—
“...Go sit down.”
“Pardon?”
“I said go sit down.”
Professor Iris nodded blankly.
Her gaze was still fixed on the blackboard.
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
I quickly left the lectern.
As I trudged back, the gaze I felt on my back was decidedly unpleasant.
Normally, I should’ve been getting a lecture like, “Be more careful next time,” or “Your class conduct score will be deducted.”
Not a word.
It was so quiet it made me even more nervous.
Before sitting down, I glanced back.
“...”
I knew it.
Professor Iris was watching me with only her head turned.
The cold lenses of her glasses flashed in the light.
The red eyes behind them looked eerie, like the eyes of a carnivore you’d only see in an animal documentary.
Fuck, chills.
“...What. Wasn’t this over?”
Why is she looking at me like that?
Did she still have a grudge?
No, if she had a grudge, she could just yell at me or deduct points or something.
Why look at someone like that?
That gaze wasn’t just creepy; it was sticky.
It’s not like I was some gazelle with chewy hind legs or anything.
This was a hundred times scarier than when she was threatening me with expulsion.
I’d clearly done what she asked, and probably even gotten the answer right, so why was she looking at me with the creepiest expression of all?
“Screw it... I’m definitely hiding through this class for the whole semester.”
* * *
After crossing the hallway and leaving the main building, the warm afternoon sunlight greeted me.
“Haa.”
This is the good stuff.
Crisp air filling deep into my lungs.
Now that I’d escaped that hellish classroom, it felt like I could live again.
Why does that professor have to make people so damn uncomfortable?
All I did was try to nap with my head down.
If this were a Korean university, huh?
The professor would, huh?
“So you’re not being rude and sleeping in the front row, but quietly sleeping in the corner, huh? Fine, let’s just leave each other alone and live our own lives,” they would’ve said.
Seriously, is this academy so dirty I even want to keep attending?
Now all I had to do was head to the carriage stand, lie down in the back seat of the carriage Uncle Thomas drove, and doze off on the way home. Perfect day.
Just as I was about to hum a tune.
Ssssh...
A chill ran down my spine.
It was a clear, windless day, but goosebumps rose on the back of my neck as if every balcony window in midwinter had been thrown open.
“...What? Why is it cold when the weather’s so clear?”
Was it just my imagination?
No, it wasn’t. My sixth sense had never been wrong.
This was the same feeling I’d once sensed from my father.
Someone was watching me.
And it was someone like my father.
...What the fuck?
“Why is there someone like my father at the academy...”
...There are a few characters who come to mind.
Unable to shake the unease, I instinctively turned my head.
What came into view was the second floor of the main building, the corridor window overlooking the terrace.
And there, from that spot—
“...Huh.”
Silver hair gleaming so brightly in the sunlight it was almost blinding.
Beneath it, neatly set purple eyes were looking down at me with a cold, razor-sharp glare.
The empire’s officially certified villainess.
Elisia von Rosenberg.
The way she stood with her arms crossed, leaning against the window, was like a painting come to life.
But the moment our eyes met, my head went blank.
My breath caught, and it felt like time had stopped.
“...But why is she looking at me?”
Even from just the second floor, I could see her face fairly clearly, yet she kept such a perfect poker face that I couldn’t tell what she was feeling or thinking.
Noble assholes really have annoying faces.
I get out of the classroom, and now she’s the one acting up.
The circuitry in my brain started running faster than a supercomputer.
After analyzing my options, they were as follows.
Wave?
-> 99% chance of getting publicly executed while being cursed at with, “My, my, how dare that vulgar bastard pretend to know a noble lady? Don’t act familiar with me.”
Bow politely?
-> I don’t want to. It’s about as unpleasant as greeting your boss on the way home from work.
Wink?
-> Summary execution. Add insult to the imperial family. Even if our relationship was already in tatters, she’s still the crown prince’s fiancée.
The answer was obvious.
“...Let’s just pretend I didn’t see her and bolt. That’s the answer.”
I acted as naturally as someone about to stretch a stiff neck.
I cracked my neck once and sent my gaze off into the air.
“Ow, my neck. The clouds are really pretty.”
Then I whipped my head away.
There was probably no one in this world better than me at treating someone like invisible air.
I increased my pace by 1.5 times.
“Hey! Uncle Thomas!”
“Oh, Young Master! You’re out already?”
I practically flew, opened the carriage door, and jumped in.
The back of my head prickled as if it were being seared by a laser.
She’s not using magic, right?
Thud!
The moment I shut the carriage door, I peeked outside through the crack in the window.
The second-floor window.
Elisia was still there.
The only difference was that she no longer had that haughty attitude from before.
She gripped the windowsill tightly and watched me recede into the distance, covering her mouth with a fan in one hand.
I could feel the purple flames blazing in her eyes all the way from here.
“Jesus, look at that glare. She’s definitely pissed. I’m totally marked now.”
Seriously, why is she acting like that?
When did we get close enough to greet each other just because we happened to pass by and see each other’s faces?
Since when?
Cold sweat ran down my back.
*
She brought the fan she carried close to her lips.
Otherwise, it felt like her expression would spill out everywhere.
Blue veins stood out on Elisia’s pale hand.
She was speechless at the unbelievable sight that had just unfolded before her eyes.
“That... that man just.”
Her lips trembled.
“He ignored me? Now? Even though our eyes met?”
It was something she had never even imagined.
Because she was a Rosenberg.