Chapter 21: Dunce

(T/N: Just in case someone misses the past T/N, all first-person POV are Kanaki’s, and the other characters are translated in third-person POV until the end of the second series that is. And also, I have made a major mistake in the translation of Chapter 9, it’s both Karen and Rain that Matthias needs to assassinate, not Rain alone, sorry for the mistake.)

With the familiar sound of a bell striking, an air of looseness pervaded the once solemn classroom.

“…Looks like time is up. Please pass the printouts around from the back. Whoever still has hesitations, please come to the infirmary to meet me by the end of the day.”

Before even the words flowed out of my mouth, the students in the back of the class began to hand out printouts to those seated in front of them. The students’ eyes were roving aimlessly as the handouts eventually made it to the very front row, where they were received directly by the students.

“Hey, Luis. Your home HR isn’t over yet. I can understand that club activities are of high priority, but please bear with me just a little bit longer… Oh, Leena, you don’t have to be in such a rush. If on the fence about whether to participate or not, I’ll be staying at school until 5:00 today, so you can come to the school infirmary before then.”

Part of being a committed teacher was to be attentive to all students. Among the students, more than a few of them would assume that with so many students in the class, the teacher would not be keeping an eye on them. Such students generally lacked self-recognition, a flaw that would gradually be ironed out by my day-to-day interaction with them, facilitating openness toward their teachers. With this in view, I constantly exercised attention throughout the classroom, speaking to students even on minor matters, and deliberately emphasizing my willingness to consult with them whenever their behavior seemed even mildly off. In recent days, a certain degree of rapport has been established with my students, hence I endeavored to call all the students in my class by their first names.

To my recollection, this sort of approach was called chance consultation.

With a vague remembrance of the knowledge I studied so long ago, I carried on with the HR session.

After Karen, the class’ representative, gave a greeting, the rest of it was my turn to talk about the matters to be discussed.

“Well then, I have two announcements for today. The first is that the application for next weekend’s student knight tournament, which you were asked to fill out earlier, must be turned in by today. Following this, I will be in the infirmary until 5:00 p.m., so anyone taking longer than 5:00 p.m. should come directly to my house to submit the form.”

A brief round of chuckles ensued in the classroom.

“There is another matter. Ms. Sitry Harley, who has been missing for two weeks, has just been officially recognized as a victim of serial street crime. I believe many of you know Ms. Harley as she was the one who cooperated with the medical magic class last month. Please keep me informed if you ever catch a glimpse of Ms. Harley.”

“If you do, please let ‘Kaguya’ know as well.”

Fina added after my words.

The other day, the news of Fina and Karen joining “Kaguya” reached my ears at once.

As anticipated, the two have been outstandingly active, having already achieved results that can outshine those of their seniors, despite only having been with the Corps for ten days or so. Even for me, the addition of the two members came as a heavy blow, spurring me on self-restraint in my hobby. Not to mention the fact that sales of magic crystal stones have come to a standstill because I can’t get my hands on the materials.

Stifling a smile that was about to twitch with mental strength, I ended the HR session.

Now, for a rare occurrence, no counseling was scheduled for the day. As I was wondering if I should return to the infirmary to organize the collected printouts, Fina came up to me.

“Teacher Kanaki. Um, are you free now?”

“What is it?”

“Actually, I have an urgent matter to consult with you about…”

“―Yeah, I get it.”

I instantly accepted her offer and momentarily looked down at the printouts I had retrieved.

As I thought, Fina has not yet turned in her application for the student knight tournament.

“When you are ready, please drop by the Student Counseling Office.”

The conversation shouldn’t take place here.

Cutting the conversation short, I took a quick look around the classroom and stepped out into the hallway.

It was then that I noticed Andrei, a student in the middle row of the classroom, peering at me.

A boy with pure white skin, the polar opposite of Luis, he was a rather reserved student in the class, but like Luis and the group, he belonged to “Kaguya”.

Although types like him often approach me for advice, with my glance over his direction, his gaze hastily averted.

A somewhat puzzled look crossed my features, but I left the classroom promptly to prepare for Fina’s consultation.

During my walk down the hallway, greetings were exchanged with students as we passed one another. Most of them had sought my advice at one time or another. One of the know-hows I have picked up over the past few years was to call out the students’ names when greeting them.

“Ah, Teacher Kanaki…”

“Oh, it’s you, Eto. It’s been a while.”

Right before the infirmary, I bumped into Eto after a long time.

Her shoulder-length hair used to be worn down directly, but recently it had been pulled back in a ponytail, possibly owing to the gradual heat of the weather.

“Your hair is tied up. It suits you too.”

“…T-Thanks.”

There was an awfully long pause before she thanked me for whatever reason. Did she erroneously assume she was being seduced as she subtly shifted her focus away from me?

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Indeed, I acknowledged that Eto, or Arti, whose presence wasn’t here, had a well-developed visage, and I can’t deny that appearance played a role in the reason behind our constant intimacy. Nevertheless, supposed I was to have a physical relationship with Arti, in the case of Eto, the likelihood of such a relationship would be close to zero. After all, Matthias was beyond fearsome.

“T-That’s right! W-Will you participate in the student knight tournament? Registration is supposed to be open until today for all grades.”

“I-I am…”

“Ah, no, you’re right. Don’t say Arti, even you would not participate in the tournament.”

“I-I am participating…!”

“…No way.”

I had intended to ask an obvious question to force a shift in the subject, but the answer returned proved to be too confounding. Yet, after hearing the ensuing words, both my understanding and mild discomfort were aroused.

“Um, my father asked me to participate. It might be of use for something…”

“…Ma, I mean it’s your father’s decision huh…”

Utilization was presumably related to the huge job at hand. Expanding the range of options when eliminating two of the city’s most powerful and competent individuals was undoubtedly a plus… but Matthias’ idea of introducing even his own daughter into the mix was unacceptable to me.

“…I am well aware of my meddling but I can speak with your father on your behalf. If you don’t want to, I can lend you a hand.”

“No, that’s okay. Thanks to my father, I am provided with meals.”

“That is a duty that every child should be conscious of, but being selfish with one’s parents is another child’s right. You have a lot of excessively philosophical viewpoints for someone your age. Once in a while, it’s all right to express your aversion to things you don’t like.”

“…Teacher, you are very kind.”

“I can proudly say to myself this is not true. All I want is for you to have a happy life.”

A spontaneous smile graced my face. These were undeniably my true feelings.

Because in the future where happiness will be yours, if Mathias had died, I would be free to do whatever I wanted with you, wouldn’t I? That would be an irresistibly blissful moment for me, right?

Eto then became fidgety and suddenly lowered her head.

The ears, bare and shapely due to her hair tied up in a ponytail, were tinged with a hint of vermilion.

“Um, Eto…?”

When I called out to her, Eto lifted her face vigorously.

Her eyes were faintly moist―

“Teacher, then, I―”

“―!”

Right when Eto was on the verge of saying something, a blast of chilly wind swept behind my ear.

Turning around in a fluster, what struck my eyes was the look on Xenia’s face, saying, “I did it!”

“Hahaha. It has been more than two years since our first encounter, yet this is the first time I have been able to catch your back. Did you let your guard down?”

“Teacher Xenia… please spare me the shenanigans…”

“This is a school,” I whispered to which Xenia stuck out her tongue and replied, “Haha, I’m sorry. Teacher Kanaki?” No reflection whatsoever was found on her.

But fortunately, no students were in sight when I looked around. No, strictly speaking, there was the figure of Eto glaring at us right before our eyes…

“…Glaring…?”

“~~~~! Teacher Kanaki, you are a dunce!”

“Whoa!”

At the moment I thought Eto had exclaimed, she stormed off down the corridor. The paper that was written “Don’t run in the corridor” was fluttered in the air by the wind from Eto’s sprint. She was the daughter of an ogre, after all. Her fundamental physical ability also seemed to be fairly high.

“…Or rather, Ms. Xenia…”

“This is a school, Teacher Kanaki.”

“Ah, enough! That smug face of yours drives me crazy, so please knock it off!”

It goes without saying that I had an even tougher time fooling Xeth, who heard my seldom yelled voice and came out of the infirmary to check out what was going on.

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