Top Instructor of a Third-Rate Academy

186

Upon arriving at the training ground, I first sat on the floor in a comfortable position.

I wanted to feel the mana flowing through my body.

"Step back a little."

I had the two of them move behind me and quietly consolidated my Sword Intent.

Rather than any specific goal, I focused on the act of "cutting" itself.

At that, a wind began to stir around me.

'Physical force is being generated.'

Originally, when Aura was produced, the mana in the area moved.

But only that much — the mana's movement did not directly exert physical force.

That stood to reason, because mana is a kind of raw ore before it manifests natural power.

Everyone exists within mana, and mana is always in motion, but not everyone can feel it.

Even I had no idea what mana was until Teacher Berlith performed her casual human-experiment on me.

And now that mana was producing physical force from nothing more than a single act of intent?

The reason was immediately apparent.

'It is enormous.'

The volume of mana responding to my will was ridiculous.

Mana from the entire training ground — no, even further — was moving in accordance with my will.

What about my body?

I inspected my Mana Roads.

'They are holding up.'

The Mana Roads were absorbing mana without flinching in the face of that enormous current.

The reason they could endure this enormous current was that the pathways of the Mana Roads had grown thicker and stronger.

'Like muscles.'

The more wounds tear and heal, the stronger one becomes.

Right now, my Mana Roads seemed to be absorbing and transmitting mana at roughly five times the efficiency they had before the Holy Sword shattered.

'If this is just from setting an intent......'

I rose to my feet and slowly drew my sword.

The sword Rozalin had brought back from the capital.

The moment I grasped the sword, the surrounding mana began to whirl more rapidly.

The hems of Pan and Rozalin's clothes, who had followed me, flapped in the wind.

The hat on Rozalin's head shook precariously as though it would fly off at any moment.

Rozalin put a hand on top of her hat and looked at me.

I could sense a small yearning in her eyes.

"Teacher! Swing your sword quickly! Do you need someone to receive the sword?"

"Having a partner would be nice."

"Go, Pan!"

"Huh?!"

Rozalin shoved Pan from behind.

Pan — as a sparring partner, he was not bad.

But being forced out like this.

As I was thinking that.

'Huh?'

Even though I had not yet made up my mind to face Pan, the mana began to writhe unreasonably.

The sword hummed, vibrated, and released Aura, and then —

SCHRRRRK.

With a sharp slicing sound, the area of the training ground floor around Pan's precarious footing was cut.

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!

Not just once but in quick succession, dozens of blade strokes began to mercilessly gouge the surroundings around Pan.

It was only a few seconds, but in that time, every spot around Pan — except where he stood on his tiptoes — was carved out about fifty centimeters deep.

"Uh, uh......"

Pan, barely maintaining his balance, looked at me with a lost expression.

"Teacher? Did I do something wrong?"

"Ah, no. Hold on. The power is getting out of my control......"

"Teacher?"

The moment Rozalin called out and our eyes met.

SHHHWWWWW!

A storm-like wind rose once more, and Rozalin's hat was blown backward.

The wind was so strong that pressing it down with her hand did no good.

With her hair in total disarray, Rozalin blinked.

"Huh, this is......?"

If it had merely been wind generated by mana, it would not have been able to rip her hat off.

The nature of the mana was peculiar.

"That is Holy Power?"

"Not just Holy Power — it seems like other energies are mixed in too."

"Ocean Hall? No, Anti-Magic? What is this?"

Just as the two of them said, the energy I was emitting had demonic aura and divine aura complicatedly intermingled within it.

The reason I could not control the power was precisely that.

Because it was not ordinary mana, the energy ran wild with a will of its own.

It was as if the powers of good and evil were fighting each other on their own terms.

"......W-wait a moment."

I dropped the sword on the spot.

If I was not careful, I could injure the two students.

CLANG!

The moment the sword fell to the floor, as if in response, the energies that had been raging inside my body began to subside.

Only the residue of the raging energies lingered in the area.

"......It is a landmine."

Rozalin muttered, exasperated.

She was right.

Right now, I was essentially a landmine that would explode at the slightest touch.

"How is your body? Are you still at eight Mana Roads?"

"Yes. The ninth has not connected. The existing Roads just grew stronger, and the flow grew faster."

"Strengthening would be from Sacer, speed from Ocean Hall. Teacher. Do you mind if I throw a stone?"

Saying that, Rozalin picked up a shattered fragment of the training ground near Pan's feet and hurled it at me.

The stone flew at me, then at some point halted powerlessly in midair before falling to the ground with a soft thud.

"So there is Anti-Magic too. Teacher, can you ride a horse, by any chance?"

She seemed to be referring to Phantom Steed.

I imagined myself riding a horse.

But no horse appeared.

Instead.

"......I have faded."

My arms and legs felt somewhat faded.

Pan approached with a hesitant expression and tried to touch my body.

At that, his hand passed through me and groped empty air.

"Ghostification."

It seemed the Fantasies I had possessed really had been fully absorbed into my body.

Could this be called a normal human body?

My mind was in turmoil.

And responding to my heart, my body ran wild again.

My body shimmered as though it would disappear, then rippled as if it would flow away in one direction.

"Teacher. Focus!"

Rozalin looked at me with a serious expression.

"In the past, there were those who absorbed too many Fantasies."

"There are precedents?"

"Not by absorbing energy like you, Teacher — there were people who embedded Fantasies directly into their bodies like tattoos."

"And what happened to them?"

"Similar to what is happening to you. They gradually became demons...... and eventually fell. The entity is called the Fallen One."

An entity name meant they were no longer human.

And I might become one too.

"Seriously...... I thought we had just barely managed to save you from dying because of mana, and now you might become a demon...... what is with your life, Teacher?"

I did not know either.

Ha ha — it seemed this world did not particularly want me alive.

The whites of Rozalin's eyes grew slightly red.

Her emotions seemed to be running high.

Pan also wore an expression full of worry.

"Do not worry."

Whatever my own feelings, the first priority was to reassure the two of them.

That was what it meant to be a teacher.

"It is just that I cannot handle the energy well yet. So one way or another, I will control the energy properly and make it my own. That will do it."

***

Latrine, adjutant of the Crownhardt Ducal House, stared at her superior with eyes full of discontent.

"This Cassian fellow is being rude. Sending an alchemist to stall for time. I hear he has already regained consciousness, has he not?"

"Do not act rashly. We are fugitives who have come to apply for asylum in the most superior territory of the current age."

"It was not we who wanted to seek asylum. We were building a faction in our own territory. The one who asked us to come was them. And yet such a rude attitude is unacceptable."

"He is someone who can afford such posturing."

Duke Crownhardt murmured without particular emotion.

Despite holding the title of Duke, he was insensitive to things like social etiquette.

Because when you rolled on the battlefield, what you needed was not social decorum but pure ability.

In that sense, Cassian was a man of astonishing ability.

Aura aside, his scheming mind for handling people was meticulous.

Had he not, just a few months ago, accurately predicted how the Empire would proceed based solely on his mentor's death?

On top of that, recently on the battlefield, he had reportedly driven off hundreds of mages.

Every single one of those mages was a figure who, in a kingdom, could be called an archmage or a royal mage.

"I too know that man is formidable. But we are not a group of slouches either. We are the Empire's finest elites, are we not? After all, they called us here because they needed us."

As Latrine was venting her anger.

"He is here."

Sensing the presence outside, the Duke rose to his feet.

Thanks to his heightened mana, he could precisely feel the energy approaching from a distance.

"Your Grace. There is no need to receive him by rising — such deference lowers our position needlessly......"

"Silence. That is an order."

The moment the word "order" fell, Latrine's expression stiffened.

On the battlefield, orders took precedence over all else.

Which was why Duke Crownhardt rarely used the word "order."

Except in emergency situations where their safety was at risk.

Click.

The door opened, and Cassian entered the office.

For a moment, Latrine felt her breath catch in her chest.

'Is he human......?'

A peculiar atmosphere emanated from Cassian — enough to make one think so.

It felt similar to Holy Power, but also similar to the demon aura she had briefly caught on the battlefield once.

Whatever it was, it was an energy that should not have been felt from a human.

The only thing that gave her some reassurance was that Cassian himself also looked somewhat discomfited, as though he too found them difficult.

"You are here."

"I was a little late. There were a few tests I had to run."

"......Tests."

But that peculiar atmosphere vanished the instant Cassian opened his mouth.

Because her superior had even uttered the word "order," she had tried to bear it, but what kind of rudeness was this?

Not even health reasons or urgent business — just a test?

Emotion welled up within her.

And in that instant.

CLANG!

Duke Crownhardt's massive greatsword — which she had not even seen him draw — was completely blocking her front.

It felt as though a wall had suddenly appeared in midair.

Latrine had experienced situations like this several times.

When her life had been in danger on the battlefield.

Her lord had likely saved her in this exact way hundreds of times.

But in a place like this, during a meeting?

"......Is that the test?"

Duke Crownhardt asked with a serious face.

And beyond the blade, Cassian was wearing an extremely troubled expression.

"You have harbored hostility toward me."

"......?"

"My apologies. I cannot control it right now...... Hostility itself seems to be accepted as a kind of 'Sword Intent' by me."

What was that supposed to mean......

So this insane Teacher — who was late, then angry about being late, no, even someone internally swallowing their anger over his lateness — this person who could not even bear that had sent his sword flying?

To the point that her own lord had to personally draw his sword to defend her?

"Are you a lunatic?!"

Latrine could not hold back and let out something close to a shriek.

The next moment.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Sword aura far faster and sharper than before targeted Latrine in rapid succession.

Every spot where the resonance of the blade trailed was a lethal pressure point.

"......The problem is serious. Let us dismiss the adjutants and the students. It seems we will need to speak one-on-one."

"Will you be able to control it?"

"Please, stay as far from me as possible. If you are about three meters away, I think I can somehow hold it back."

Duke Crownhardt said with a tense face.

Lord — my lord, no one ever told you that the man who invited you to defect is a lunatic more unhinged than the Imperial Emperor!

Latrine's vision went black.