Chapter 5
“I-I thought you were going to throw up….”
“We’re here, Teacher!”
In not even ten minutes, Miriam had run across the rooftops and arrived in front of the academy’s main gate.
“My vision is spinning….”
“Hehehe, I just wanted to get my heavenly teacher here as quickly as possible.”
I mumbled, practically draped over Miriam’s back.
Once I had regained some of my senses and looked ahead over Miriam’s shoulder, I saw people in dark-blue uniforms spread all around the towering walls.
It didn’t take long to figure out what they were all doing, thanks to the Magnus Academy emblem emblazoned across their chests.
“There are… a lot of guards.”
“Because this is Magnus Academy!”
Though I had only muttered it to myself, Miriam smiled and answered me.
“There’s a prince attending the school, along with plenty of children from noble families. If security weren’t this tight, there’d be chaos.”
“I see.”
As I quietly watched the formidable security, a strange thought suddenly occurred to me.
Academies in web novels are breached, looted, and smashed to pieces day in, day out. I wonder if this novel will be the same.
‘Then maybe I’ll have to stop it…?’
After all, I was an instructor. I couldn’t just wash my hands of it and tell the students to deal with it themselves.
And this wasn’t even a novel where a student was the protagonist. The protagonist was an instructor, so perhaps the academy would be robbed and destroyed even more often than in other academy stories….
“Excuse me.”
Just then, while I was lost in thought, three guards in impeccably neat uniforms strode toward us.
It was obvious even through their thick uniforms that they had trained to nearly the level of active magic knights.
I could even sense a faint amount of mana from the guards. That meant they were elite personnel capable of basic mana applications, such as physical enhancement and mana barriers.
‘At that level, they seem like they’d be a match for most lower-ranking magic knights.’
“Could you state the purpose of your visit to the academy and your identities?”
“Ah, yes.”
Not wanting to give them any reason to detain me, I quickly pulled Lord Roses’s letter of recommendation from inside my clothes.
“My name is Haru, and I’ll be serving as an instructor at Magnus Academy starting this year.”
“And the student with you?”
“I’m a third-year, Miriam!”
Miriam grinned and pulled a business-card-like piece of paper from inside her clothes.
“What’s that?”
“This is the academy’s student ID card.”
Miriam tilted her head slightly toward me and whispered.
“Once you meet the principal, Teacher, you’ll get an instructor ID card too.”
“Your identities have been confirmed. Third-year student Miriam…. Are you entering the academy?”
“Uh… yes! I’m with this person, though. May I wait here?”
The guard nodded instead of answering. Then he turned back to me and spoke.
“The gentleman here will need to undergo a physical inspection.”
“A-A physical inspection?”
“We’ve confirmed that the letter of recommendation is genuine, of course… but it’s the rule. I ask for your understanding.”
The guard raised a hand over his shoulder and gestured lightly. At his signal, another female guard who had come with him pulled on a pair of snow-white gloves and approached me.
“Eek….”
“Spread your arms out to the sides. Yes, this will be over quickly.”
But, as was usually the case, that was a blatant lie.
For a full two hours afterward, I had to sweat it out while the guards kept me there.
=
“Two people receiving letters of recommendation in less than a month. What a coincidence.”
After receiving word from the guards at the main gate that someone bearing a letter of recommendation had entered the building, Principal Ludwig slowly stroked his beard with a faint smile.
Ludwig remembered the magic knight who had come to see him just yesterday, carrying a letter of recommendation from Lord Paris Lucilante.
The hero of the Western Front, with dull-blond hair and a tall frame.
He was an easy man to understand. Strong, pure, and straightforward. No matter what anyone said, he had the unmistakable bearing of a hero.
But no one could be perfect. When it came to teaching others, he fell somewhat short of what was required to serve as an instructor.
He was a hot-blooded man who placed excessive emphasis on grit and believed that anything could be solved through effort. The archetypal genius who applied the same standards to others because that was how he himself had lived.
However, Ludwig paid more attention to his ability to lead others than to his ability to teach them.
There were four most famous students in Magnus Academy’s third year.
Maximilian Marcud, the eldest legitimate son and crown prince of Marcud III, the Knight King and supreme ruler of the magical kingdom of Atlas.
Ayla Lucilante, the eldest daughter of House Lucilante, one of the kingdom’s three foremost noble families.
Karen Gatling, the second daughter of House Gatling, renowned for its valor on the Southern Front.
And Igor Ivanov, eldest grandson of Sir Ivanov, the ‘Grand Strategist’ hailed as a hero of the Northern Front.
These were the names of four students who stood out even among the third-years known as the so-called ‘Golden Riders.’
They had long since passed the point where further instruction could help them grow.
Yet because of their overwhelming talent, they had never experienced defeat.
As gifted as they were, they were arrogant. And far too audacious.
The battlefields they would eventually face were nothing like the academy’s playground. Unless they learned at least basic restraint and technique, who could say whether they might die a senseless death despite their shining talent?
They needed an instructor who could instill patience in them and guide them, teaching them how to lose and exercise restraint.
And Rex was perfect for that role. He was stronger than them, renowned as a hero, and possessed leadership skills honed in the military. His experience and sense of responsibility had been forged on the battlefield, and would surely influence them for the better.
Even his excessive emphasis on grit was something the Golden Rider students would be more than capable of keeping pace with.
There was one more commoner-born student who could be compared to them, but in both good and bad ways, she was an ‘exception to the rule.’
What she needed was not to realize her arrogance, but to develop proper restraint under proper guidance.
In any case, including Rex, there were four dedicated instructors to lead this year’s ‘practical training program.’
White Flame Knight Rex.
Storm Knight, Pascal Roses.
Glass Sword, Rahil Bergamot.
Sage, Jin Calliostro.
But even counting him, there were only four.
‘We’re short one.’
Among this year’s third-years, twenty students had been selected for the ‘combat track.’ Following tradition, they would be divided into five classes of four, leaving them one dedicated instructor short.
During the Seven Years’ War, many of Magnus Academy’s instructors had gone off to war, and many of them had either lost their lives or suffered injuries severe enough to prevent them from continuing as instructors.
It was only natural that Lord Ludwig was troubled by the current shortage of dedicated instructors.
“But if he’s someone that fellow recognized… perhaps I can afford to place some hope in him.”
He had heard the news. It had already been a few days since he had received word from Carlmonte Roses, the commander of the Eastern Front.
Carlmonte Roses. The current head of House Roses, a senior magic knight better known as Count Toad.
His ample build was unbecoming of a senior magic knight, and his character was blatantly materialistic. There was even a rumor that if all the bribes he had accepted were laid out, they could fill five wagons.
It was widely said that more than ninety percent of the reason he had risen to the rank of senior magic knight was his passionate political maneuvering rather than his skill.
But there was one fact people did not know.
Lord Roses was one of Ludwig’s own men and had once served as an instructor at Magnus Academy.
Even at the time, Lord Ludwig had been serving as the principal of Magnus, and unlike everyone else, he had valued Roses highly. His ability to recognize people was practically innate. While serving as an instructor, he had an uncanny knack for identifying not only talented students, but also those who possessed talent yet were unable to spread their wings.
Every student who passed through his hands grew into an eminent magic knight. Roses’s success in the military through what people called political maneuvering owed just as much to the relationships he had formed with those former students as it did to his own abilities.
So when he decided to leave the academy and join the military, Ludwig handed him a letter of recommendation.
He believed that anyone capable of obtaining Lord Roses’s recommendation would certainly possess genuine ability.
“…I’m looking forward to this.”
And so, Ludwig thought with an expectant smile. Just what sort of talent was the person who had obtained a letter of recommendation from the greedy Roses?
-Knock knock.
“Um, excuse me….”
‘Well, that was quick. It seems the visitor has arrived.’
Ludwig muttered inwardly before speaking aloud.
“Come in.”
The moment Ludwig’s words left his mouth, the large door creaked open, and a woman dressed in traditional Eastern clothing entered.
Ludwig studied her intently, paying close attention to the flow of her mana.
This was always the first step when meeting a ‘candidate instructor’ bearing a letter of recommendation.
Reading the other person’s mana.
There was a saying among magic knights.
Humans lie. But mana does not lie.
This was not some profound saying with a special hidden meaning. Rather, it was a fairly direct proverb whose meaning was exactly what the words said.
Mana contained a great deal. Someone who had mastered reading its flow could distinguish not only the approximate amount of power a person possessed, but also their general personality and humanity, the twists and turns of the life they had lived, and ultimately even their goodness or wickedness.
The last time he had read Sir Rex’s mana, it had been enormous, to put it simply. It meant that the power he possessed was on a level far beyond common sense.
In terms of pure mana volume alone, it had even surpassed Ludwig’s own.
And at the same time, his mana had been pure and upright. He was the kind of person who could not lie, paid little attention to the opinions of those around him, and spoke his thoughts bluntly. The sort of person people described as speaking before thinking.
‘Miss Haru, was it?’
Recalling Lord Roses’s voice over the telephone, singing her praises incessantly, Ludwig read Haru’s mana.
And immediately afterward.
‘…Hmm?’
Lord Ludwig widened his eyes without realizing it.
‘Her mana… I can’t read it?’