Chapter 210 : Chapter 210
Chapter 210
It was not as though Cassian had completely abandoned his classes.
He came in every day.
He simply rarely conducted the class himself.
"Jacy, Shasha. Today as well."
While the two teaching assistants split the students between them and guided them, Cassian sat on the podium and gazed blankly at the students.
Of course, the students did not leave such a Cassian alone.
"Teacher. Our group put together a swordsmanship like this. What do you think?"
One student brought their group along to see Cassian.
Cassian stared at their swords.
In the past, he would have found the answer before they even reached him — reading their gait, their hand and foot movements.
That monstrous intuition had been Cassian's weapon.
"Not bad."
But now, rather than give an immediate answer, Cassian listened more to what the students had to say.
"It is good, but...... shall we think on it a little more?"
And gave a vague reply.
Good. Bad.
Why it was good, how it should be improved — no detailed explanations.
The students could not tell whether they were right or wrong.
"What you are thinking is valid. But I do not think it is the best answer. Think on it a little more."
"Okay......"
Somehow, they had come to ask a question and left feeling as though they had been given one.
And an extremely high-level, difficult one at that.
"Why is Teacher acting like this lately?"
"No idea."
Pan, sporting a bruise over his right eye, shook his head.
"He seems to have gotten more contemplative."
"Does he do it to you too?"
"Yeah. You asked him too, right?"
"I did."
Bridget clicked her tongue.
After seeing Rozalin's sword, something had felt as though it was on the tip of her tongue, so she had gone to Teacher.
Cassian had given the same response.
He listened to the question, said whether it was good or bad, and did not give the answer.
"But is it not a little strange?"
At Bridget's words, Pan nodded.
"Yeah. It is strange."
"The direction of his 'good' and 'bad'...... It feels like there is a path."
"You felt that too?"
Cassian's abstract responses were puzzling when you heard them, but when you kept training, they somehow became a single thread.
Mid-swing.
'Ah, I think Teacher said this one was bad.'
Mid-movement.
'Did he say to think more about this one?'
Oddly, Cassian's voice lingered in their heads and forced new thinking.
The students at Akarind Academy were the smartest students in the world right now.
Because Cassian had been so disproportionately brilliant, their own creativity and reasoning had never had room to breathe.
Now that they had begun to think, a swordsmanship unlike anything they had ever explored started to spread — slowly, ever so slowly, yet in an entirely new direction.
That afternoon.
Gwen summoned Cassian.
***
"I am thinking of holding an academic exchange conference."
An out-of-the-blue declaration, but on reflection, more than feasible.
If anything, overdue.
The purpose of an academic exchange conference was to showcase an Academy's scholarly achievements while opening new horizons through inter-student academic exchange.
In short: a venue for declaring "our school is incredible" and challenging "let us see what your school has got."
Akarind Academy's reputation had been spreading quietly since last year.
This year, the Kingdom of Namress crisis and the exchange conference with the Imperial Royal Academy had pushed its renown to its peak.
Any other academy would have held at least two such conferences by now.
"A fine idea. But with midterms so close, it would be hard for us to travel......"
"What are you talking about? Obviously, we bring them here."
"Ah. That works. There would be travel time on their end. But why am I hearing about this now......?"
Gwen's eyes sparkled.
"Managing two thousand students is hard, yes?"
"Well, somewhat."
"Could you manage four thousand?"
My eyes went wide.
Four — what?
The current number was already insane, and she was proposing to double it?
An absurd figure.
"Obviously not. Two teaching assistants are not enough to control even the current number......"
"So we need to restructure the curriculum a bit."
"Restructure?"
"We are going to invite the Imperial Royal Academy for the exchange conference."
My mind raced.
And reached a conclusion.
"This was not your idea, Chairman."
"I received advice from Her Majesty Queen Charlotte. Of course, I considered it carefully and approved it in my capacity as Chairman."
Charlotte could do something like this.
She was an elite who had completed through graduation-year in administrative science at the Imperial Royal Academy.
Someone like that could produce a scheme this clever.
"It is called an academic exchange conference, but this is an asylum support operation for students, faculty, and their families."
The Empire's situation was spiraling toward its worst.
The Emperor had vanished, the imperial household was fractured, enemies overran every border.
On top of that, a colossal demon had appeared and devoured the Empire's entire north.
If the mood was this unsettled even at distant Akarind Academy, imagine the Empire's atmosphere.
In that situation, inviting the entire student body under the banner of an academic exchange......
'It is essentially pushing them to defect here.'
Would only students come?
Unlikely.
The Imperial Royal Academy's students were overwhelmingly upper nobility of the Empire and its vassal states.
"To assist students traveling from so far away, we will need to permit retinues as well. For those fussy students, I am thinking up to fifty attendants per person."
That was telling entire households to come.
"The stay will be rather long. We will not hold a half-baked conference but a genuine exchange across every field — swordsmanship, administration, politics, ethics, philosophy, magic."
Bring your libraries too.
"We will provide basic lodging, but amenities will be billed. Students should bring a basic sum."
Bring your treasuries too.
"Come to think of it, that will be right after midterms. Transfer application season. I plan to open a window for second-semester transfer admissions."
Meaning: once you are here, file for asylum and Akarind Academy will actively accept you.
Charlotte — I had thought she was muddling through as Queen, running the Belmein Kingdom by the seat of her pants.
To think she could craft a scheme this insidious.
A terrifying person.
"So that is why you brought up restructuring."
"Akarind still has room to grow."
Akarind Academy had admitted five hundred new students this semester.
A scale equal to the entire pre-existing student body.
Add knights and soldiers, and a full two thousand were gathered.
Double that, and it would be unmanageable.
But viewed not as an academy but as the Akarind territory, the picture changed.
The massive Academy City had been designed, and Abrahal — effectively the official successor to Goldline — had invested nearly his entire fortune.
The Belmein Kingdom's capital had effectively relocated here, with new buildings going up every day.
Talent was always in short supply.
"Students are students. We need people who can do practical work."
"People who can be deployed to real tasks immediately."
"So I am thinking of hosting a graduate-level exchange conference as well."
Graduates should defect too.
"We only have two graduate students."
"Strictly speaking, we do not even have a graduate program. You are an instructor-lecturer, not a professor."
True enough.
For now I was using Jacy and Shasha as de facto teaching assistants, but under Akarind Academy's faculty regulations, it was not formally possible.
It was only because I had too much on my plate that the arrangement had been tolerated.
"So, as part of this curriculum restructure, I plan to officially appoint you as a professor."
"A professor?"
"Yes. A professor."
The word "professor" rang like a bell, beautiful.
The tangled thoughts of recent days seemed to blow away all at once.
Whether Gwen knew my feelings or not, she beamed and continued.
"Now that you are an official professor, you can accept graduate students. A recruitment notice...... should go out this semester if we want to open in the second semester, no?"
"Ahem. I assume the notice will go out after midterms."
"During the exchange conference, please hold a colloquium on swordsmanship. Graduates will attend, and then they will inquire about admission with you — excuse me, Professor."
An offer too enticing to refuse.
It was not the title of professor that tempted me.
Rather, the prospect of gaining fellow researchers as graduate students.
'People from across the land who approach swordsmanship academically will gather.'
If I brought them together for joint research, the level of swordsmanship could leap forward at once.
"Understood."
I left after a satisfying conversation with Gwen.
The road ahead was going to be very busy.
As I exited the building, the distant sound of clashing sword and spear rang out.
CLANG!
"———!"
Several students seemed to be shouting and moving in coordinated formation.
Multiple people stepping in unison, shifting a group stance.
I had a good idea who.
I walked toward the sound.
"Hahaha! Your tricks have improved today! Let us see you grovel!"
"Block the spear's range! Two people, stick together! Support from behind!"
CLAAANG—!
It was Zelta's group sparring with the Spear God.
'Impressive.'
From what I had heard, Zelta's group had chosen the Spear God as their midterm target.
They had apparently challenged and been crushed repeatedly.
Any other group would have given up and picked a different target, but Zelta's group had not.
Even when the knights and soldiers had left for the World Eater deployment, they had kept working to crack the Spear God.
And now.
'They have become capable fighters.'
I had only heard rumors — this was my first time seeing them fight in person.
Zelta and his ten people were moving with something approaching a unified Sword Intent.
They deflected the Spear God's thrusts with practiced ease and drove sharp blades into the openings.
"Where do you think!"
Of course, the Spear God was not about to sit still for that.
His spear shaft spun, and the old man's hunched body shot skyward.
Their attacks swept through empty air, and before long all ten challengers were rolling on the ground.
"Tsk tsk. Younglings. Have you no finishing move?"
The Spear God clucked his tongue at the sight and walked away.
His words said one thing, but his expression betrayed something like admiration.
"Ugh...... Everyone all right?"
Zelta was first to rise and check on his teammates.
The Spear God had apparently pulled his punches; not a single student was badly hurt.
I watched the students and Zelta a while longer and became certain.
'This will be fun.'
If "that" was completed by exam time, Zelta could absolutely beat the Spear God.
The Spear God did not seem to have noticed yet.
This was going to be entertaining.
'As I thought.'
There were many students good with a sword.
But students who were sharp of mind were rare.
Decision made.
Once the professorship was finalized, my first graduate student would have to be Zelta.
He was still a long way from graduation, but there was always the student-graduate-student track.
"Uuurrrgh?"
"Zelta, why are you shaking? Are you hurt?"
"No, just, something, feels, off?"