Retired S-rank father becomes a teacher

Aethelgard Academy was ranked first on the Hunter Association charts and naturally the most prestigious academy in the world. With top of the line training facilities, expert teachers and of course the highest success rate of graduating hunters. It had become a household name since its establishment after the awakening. Because of that all of its students had an inflated ego.

Right now in a particular classroom, a very grumpy professor was reading out grades for the midterm exam. A combat professor having to teach theory sucked.

His voice boomed through the classroom.

“Jessica, Mizuri, Meilin. You had the highest grade at 9.9. The rest of you were below 8. Do better next time,” he said.

Instead of being happy, celebrating their high score the three girls sitting in the front row frowned. Jessica shot first, “Professor Vane this isn’t fair!”

Mizuri, “Vane-sensei, this is absurd.”

Mei Lin kept quiet but her glare said it all.

Silas raised an eyebrow at them. They were a trio of best friends, inseparable and usually very popular. To him, they were the three musketeers. Three annoying mice that kept asking to be his teaching assistants, asking questions and overall getting in his face with their perfectionistic attitudes.

Now they weren’t wrong to be upset. Grades mattered as much as actual strength at this academy and the Hunter Association. The top three students from each academy were guaranteed an internship with any of the big guilds. A life changing opportunity for hunters.

So Silas glanced back at their tests. Sure they got all answers correct but did that mean they deserved a 10? Maybe. He looked up at the three girls. What excuse would work this time?

“Listen ladies. The way I grade you isn’t about just getting the right answers. It’s about showing you know more than the textbook, you must think outside the box and think creatively while also maintaining the fundamentals,” he said.

They were not convinced. One of them threw in a ‘baka’ for good measure. They stood up.

“That’s nonsense, what is the point of having a test if you can just decide to grade however you want?” Jessica argued.

He had no answer to that; he was bullshitting after all.

So he smiled, putting on a gentle demeanor. “I see that this is a matter that needs further discussion. Please meet me after class and I’ll be sure to address all your concerns,” he said, motioning to their seats.

After class the trio went to his desk, looking like they were ready to bite his head off. Silas didn’t mind a challenge but he didn’t want his precious time wasted on them when he could be observing Henry. Meilin was the first to speak.

“Vane-Laoshi , we have worked hard for this class and to be given a lower grade just because you are...”

“I’m a what?” Silas interrupted, leaning back on his chair with a smirk. The girls gulped, seeing a shift in his eyes.

“You... are a S-ranker with unreasonable expectations, professor.” Jessica finished, but her voice was not as strong as earlier.

Silas stood up, towering over them.

Blonde hair, red hair, black hair, they were a colorful bunch. Too bad all the color drained from their faces. Rubbing a hand through her long blonde locks Jessica looked away. Mizuri swallowed loudly, the black haired beauty shrank under his gaze.

Meilin was the only one who held his stare. She was the brave one, only in small groups though; in class she’d be as quiet as a mouse.

“You three want a 10 huh?” he asked. A nod from Meilin. “And what do you offer in return?”

Another silence fell over them. Their eyes went wide and their faces flushed red. One of them, Jessica, managed to squeak out, “You can’t... be seriously implying... that...”

“That is sexual harassment, Vane-sensei!” Mizuri yelled, but she was shaking slightly. Her hand moved to cover her modest chest as if she could protect herself that way.

He laughed and sat back down.

“I’m joking. Geez what kind of person do you think I am? A pervert?” Silas shook his head and pretended to look offended.

The three musketeers looked embarrassed but relieved. He was their teacher. Of course he wouldn’t ask them for sexual favors. Right?

“So... how do we get the perfect score then?” Meilin asked hesitantly.

The clock ticked in the background. Silas walked to the window and looked out. The training field was busy. Some of his students were there and they were sparring.

“Do you three actually want to become hunters or do you just want to be ranked number one at the academy?” he asked, looking at the blue sky. Clouds rolled over the school.

They looked at each other before answering, “We want to become hunters, professor. That’s why we came here.”

Turning back to them he crossed his arms.

“Then stop caring about your grades.”

That got them confused. Their heads tilted in sync. Jessica scrunched up her nose.

“But professor, we need good grades to get into a good guild or we’ll be stuck in small dungeons forever...” she protested.

Right. Bureacracy was a thing. Something that didn’t matter at the beginning of the new era when everyone was fighting to survive. But as time passed and society re-established itself, this kind of system reared itself again.

He shrugged.

“Tell you what, if you actually manage to impress me with your skills by the end of the semester, I will put in a word with the President of the Association. How does that sound?”

The girls stared at him, stunned. His announcement as a teacher was known worldwide by now and signalled his return to the limelight. Old fans were ecstatic and new ones emerged, fawning over the forgotten S-ranker.

The offer he made was too good for them to refuse. But also too good to be true. They had their doubts mostly because he literally drew sperm on their first day as a teacher. That was hard to forget.

Mizuri was the first to recover from the shock. She straightened her back and said, “Put it in writing and you have a deal.”

He snickered. They were already trying to take advantage of him. Maybe he misjudged them.

Grabbing a pen and paper, Silas wrote down his offer and signed it with his name.

Jessica took the paper and read it carefully.

“This says we have to impress you with our bodies...” she trailed off, her cheeks turning pink.

Meilin grabbed the paper and looked at it.

She read out loud, “If the three students named above... are capable of using their bodies to their fullest potential... then I, Silas Vane, will recommend them directly to Berlin for a guild placement.”

With a smile Silas leaned against the desk and said, “Words have more than one meaning, don’t they?”

Mizuri snorted. She seemed to like him despite everything. Meilin covered her mouth, trying not to laugh and Jessica just shook her head.

“I don’t trust you,” she said, but put the paper in her bag. The other two did the same.

As they walked out of the classroom he called after them, “Remember, it’s not just about grades girls. I’ll be watching you three carefully so don’t disappoint me.”

They glanced back and nodded before closing the door behind them. They didn’t notice the space magic following them, marking their mana signatures. Silas had the feeling that they would be useful in the future. It was not everyday you encounter, death magic, curse magic and contract magic in one academy and one class.

Three illegal magic types that they hid by being hybrids, each using a primary magic type. How cute. He would let them have fun for now.

But once he figured out what was up with Henry and Lucas, he would turn his attention to the musketeers. He had to prepare his daughters for all sorts of threats. Even the cute ones.

Checking the schedule on his laptop, he saw that his next class was in half an hour. He had time.

Closing his eyes, he sent a pulse of mana to Henry’s glasses. After confirming its unique mana signature he sent a pulse around the world. With spatial tracking, he would find other similar objects with the same mana signature.

Seconds passed before he felt multiple connections being made. Hundreds, thousands even. Some in the same country, others on the opposite end of the world. Strange. This many? And why had Berlin not noticed this suspicious amount of enchanted artifacts?

Silas rubbed his temples and closed the spatial connection. There was no way he wanted to investigate all of those people and their items. Too tedious. He decided to just keep an eye on Henry’s movements instead.

“Oh... they have physical strengthening today. How nice,” he said as he watched Vic and Kat go to their locker room. Should he peek? Of course he should; there could be other peeping toms out there. And if there were, he would teleport them to the sun.