novelraw Chapter 113 : Chapter 113
Chapter 113 : Chapter 113
Volume 2
Chapter 37 : Girls with Girls, Boys with Boys
“You—ugh!”
Faced with Muen’s sudden stubbornness, Cade was both angry and helpless.
In his view, Muen going off to study magic was nothing but a waste of time.
Never mind how disastrous his previous magic grades had been.
Just look up the Campbell family line.
Has that pack of brutes ever produced any famous mage?
Not a single one.
The Campbells had only managed, despite passing their bloodline down through a single line of succession, to produce several Crowned Ones in a row and hold firmly onto their ducal title for centuries because of their famed warrior inheritance.
If Muen Campbell really threw himself headfirst onto the path of magic and even stopped attending Martial Skills class, then his grandfather would probably leap right out of his coffin in fury and curse him as an unworthy descendant.
But there was nothing Cade could do.
Muen did not even care about credits anymore, so what method did he have left to force him?
After all, he was the Duke’s son.
Just as Muen had said, if the Campbell family were willing to spend money to buy credits... then that scumbag-bear principal, who had recently been driven nearly mad by the academy’s budget, would definitely wave a grand hand and say—
Take leave, by all means.
One Martial Skills class is not enough?
You can suspend a few more.
As long as the money is there, everything is negotiable!
And if the family paid even more, that acting principal might even present him with a diploma on the spot with both hands.
“Muen Campbell, you’ll regret this.”
Thinking of that, Cade could not help sighing in disappointment.
“You say it’s only for one month, but I’ve seen your kind too many times. People like you always think too highly of themselves, then dive headfirst into a field they are not suited for. By the time they smash into a wall and want to turn back, it is already too late.”
“Then I’ll wait until my head is cracked open and bleeding before I worry about it.”
Muen smiled.
“If I do not try, how will I know whether the wall is harder, or my head is?”
“You...”
For a moment, Cade was at a loss for words.
But in that instant, he really did see something in Muen’s eyes that had not been there before.
Such determination.
A pity.
Cade let out a sigh.
Things like gaze and resolve were precisely what hot-blooded youths of Muen’s age lacked the least.
He had seen too much of it.
And all too often, those very things blinded a person and led him down the wrong road.
“I just hope that when you finally come to your senses and turn back, it won’t be too late.”
Cade patted Muen on the shoulder and said no more.
“Then thank you, Teacher Cade.”
Seeing that Cade had finally relented, Muen thanked him and prepared to take his leave.
“Goodbye, teacher.”
“Wait.”
Cade seemed to remember something and suddenly called after him.
“You’re still attending this class, aren’t you? A new assistant instructor just arrived, so you should at least get to know him.”
“A new teacher...”
Muen thought for a moment, then nodded.
“All right.”
His time really was tight.
He wished a day had forty-eight hours.
But it was not so desperate that he could not spare even one class period.
Besides, he needed to get acquainted with the new teacher.
There might be times in the future when he would need to ask for guidance.
...
A few minutes before class began, Muen arrived early at the training ground where they usually had Martial Skills class.
On the platform, two students were sparring.
Their moves were still as flashy as ever and just as useless, the sort of thing that made one want to shout, Stop fighting already. At this rate, no one is going to die.
Still, it was obvious that the two of them were trying hard to strip away the extra flourishes and move in a more practical direction.
“So they were influenced by what happened before?”
After all, the academy invasion had been quite a blow to the lower-year students.
Muen stroked his chin, then stopped paying attention to them and walked toward the spectator seats.
A few students were already scattered here and there.
When they saw Muen arrive, a small disturbance rippled through the area.
Muen’s hearing as a second-rank warrior was fairly sharp by now, so he could vaguely make out that they seemed to be discussing things like whether Muen Campbell was a pervert and whether Muen Campbell was gay.
The corner of his mouth twitched, but Muen ignored their whispers.
After all, compared with topics from not long ago like whether Muen Campbell had been two-timing thirteen girls or fourteen, this sort of debate was already a great improvement.
At least people had started refuting the negative rumors, had they not?
Muen walked off to one side, intending to find a quieter place to sit and wait for class to start.
But when he reached the corner of the stands, he found that someone was already sitting there.
Ariel.
Calling it sitting was not quite right. She was more sprawled there like a salted fish, limp and lifeless, her eyes vacant, as if she had completely lost the will to live.
It inevitably brought to mind a certain old man named Gran.
What was wrong with her...?
After hesitating a moment, Muen still walked over and asked cautiously,
“Ariel, are you... all right?”
“...”
Ariel’s dull eyes shifted.
When she saw that it was Muen, not the slightest ripple appeared in her gaze.
“Don’t bother me...”
She waved a hand weakly, as if brushing away a mosquito.
“Let me be alone for a while. I want to think in peace.”
“Class is about to start. Jingjing probably doesn’t want you thinking about her, either.”
Muen kindly reminded her,
“And Teacher Cade doesn’t have the best temper.”
As a Martial Skills teacher who was forever burning with passion, what Cade could not stand most were students who showed up to his class looking half-dead.
So even though Muen, last term, had dared to sleep through even Professor Prang’s lectures, in Teacher Cade’s class alone... he had always stood there daydreaming instead.
“I said don’t bother me.”
Ariel rolled her eyes, and the salted-fish aura pouring off her only grew stronger.
Yet within that aura, Muen could faintly smell something like the sorrow of a seabird that had lost its mate and could only fly on alone over the boundless sea...
Sorrow?
Hm?
Sorrow?
She was an ultimate Soaring Phoenix heroine who dared to cross two whole ranks and exchange blows with a villain boss.
What on earth did she have to feel sorrowful about?
Could it be...
that she had discovered her chest had gotten smaller?
Muen’s gaze drifted across Ariel’s entirely unremarkable chest, and he could not help entertaining that malicious thought.
But very quickly, that trace of malice turned into a chill that ran down his back.
Because he saw that in Ariel’s hand, she was clutching a neatly cut stone.
A transmission stone!
That transmission stone was in a half-activated state, faintly glowing.
It looked as though Ariel wanted to contact someone, yet for some reason she was still hesitating.
“My beauty, my beauty. Ever since I left the hospital, I’ve been looking for you, but everyone keeps telling me you were fake, that you never existed.”
Ariel gently stroked the transmission stone and let out a melancholy sigh.
“But I am the only one who firmly believes you were real, because back then, you exchanged transmission-stone frequencies with me.
If you were someone who did not exist, then how could you have had a transmission stone? And how could you have exchanged frequencies with me?”
Damn it. This is bad!
The moment Muen heard Ariel’s words, his head buzzed.
He finally understood why she had suddenly come here to play the brooding poet.
That damned lesbian was still hung up on him from back then!
Could she not learn from all those other harem protagonists and move on already?
Were there not enough beauties in the academy?
What was the point of fixating on a woman who did not even exist?
No, I need to get out of here. Fast.
Muen suddenly realized the gravity of the situation.
If he stayed here any longer, then...
“The whole world doubts you, but I do not. So right now, I will prove to the world that you are real. Wait for me, my beauty!”
After brooding over it for so long, Ariel finally stopped hesitating.
Her finger struck the transmission stone sharply, activating the frequency.
And then—she heard the ringing of a transmission stone coming from somewhere not far away.
“Hm?”
Ariel raised her head in confusion, only to see Muen, who had just turned and taken two steps away, stiffly pull out his own transmission stone.
In his hand, the stone trembled slightly, its ringing bright and clear.
Eh?
Ariel blinked, looked at the transmission stone in Muen’s hand, then at the one in her own, and her thoughts seemed to tie themselves into a knot.
A trace of confusion appeared on her pretty face.
Strange. She had connected to her beauty’s frequency, so why was it Muen Campbell’s transmission stone that was ringing?
Could it be...
“Hello? Oh, it’s you, Senior.”
Ariel snapped back from thoughts that were rapidly heading somewhere dangerous.
Muen lightly pressed his stone, silencing the ringing, then raised it to his ear, his expression turning grave.
“Yes, I’m in class right now.”
“What is it? Oh, you want me to bring the textbooks to the library afterward?”
“Mm-hm, I understand. Don’t worry, I’ll be there on time.”
Muen chatted into the transmission stone as he walked away.
He kept talking until he had slipped into the crowd and disappeared from Ariel’s sight.
“Was that just a coincidence?”
Watching Muen’s somewhat hurried retreating back, Ariel scratched her head and did not think much more about it.
Because at that moment, her heart was overflowing with tremendous joy.
The frequency in her transmission stone had definitely connected.
The other side simply had not answered.
That meant her beauty truly existed!
The scene of the two of them exchanging contact frequencies beneath that romantic starlit sky, in a hall filled with drifting flowers, under the solemn witness of a priest, had not been her imagination after all.
“Is my beauty unable to answer right now?”
Ariel smiled, then hung up the transmission stone.
She could not be too hasty and leave a bad impression on her beauty.
Since she now knew the other person truly existed and that she had a way to contact her, she could take things slowly.
Playing the long game has always been the best way to win over a girl.
“Come to think of it...”
Now restored to full spirit, Ariel rubbed her smooth chin and began to think.
“At the time, there seemed to be a senior girl who was very close to my beauty. If I find her, maybe I can get more clues about her.”
...
...
“Damn, that scared the life out of me.”
Elsewhere, Muen hid himself among the other students and patted his chest in lingering fright.
Just a little closer.
Just a little, and he would have been stabbed to death by the protagonist Ariel for the ridiculous reason of forgetting to silence his transmission stone, becoming the blond villain with the most absurd death in recorded history.
Thank goodness.
As a special magical device, the transmission stone worked more or less like the mobile phones from Muen’s previous life.
It could be silenced without being answered.
And he had reacted quickly enough, his acting convincing enough, to pretend in an instant that it was Anna calling.
Otherwise, if Ariel had realized what was happening and forced him to answer it right in front of her...and then discovered that he, the person she hated most, was actually the blond beauty she had been yearning for...
Muen did not dare imagine it.
Being stabbed to death would have been the lightest possible outcome.
“It looks like I’ll have to find a chance to change my transmission-stone frequency later. If Ariel keeps chasing after this without letting go, sooner or later something is going to go horribly wrong.”
Muen made up his mind.
Unfortunately, they were in the academy now.
If he wanted to change the frequency of the transmission stone, he would probably have to wait until the academy’s next open day.
...
...
“Did you hear? That new assistant instructor was personally recommended by Principal Pink Bear.”
Because Muen had moved over, the students’ topic of conversation had shifted away from Muen Campbell and onto the new teacher who would be appearing shortly.
Muen, too, listened with interest.
“The principal personally recommended him? Does he have a huge background?”
“No idea, but I heard some of the other teachers say that he made a major contribution during the invasion.”
“What? Then is he some top-tier powerhouse?”
Some of the students immediately grew excited.
Who would not want a truly powerful expert as a teacher?
“Probably not. If he were that strong, he wouldn’t be just an assistant instructor.”
Other, more rational students quickly noticed the inconsistency.
“If he isn’t strong, but still managed to render distinguished service during the invasion, then he must be a very brave person.”
“Like Muen Campbell before?”
Someone blurted that out too quickly, then remembered that Muen was sitting right behind them.
He stole a nervous glance at Muen’s reaction and awkwardly shut his mouth.
Muen gave him a slight smile and did not mind.
Still, hearing them say all that, even Muen could not help growing curious.
What kind of person would this new teacher be?
But no matter what sort of person he turned out to be, he absolutely could not repeat what had happened with Teacher Flan.
This time, he was definitely going to build a good relationship with the new teacher.
Muen silently made that vow to himself.
...
...
“All right, class is starting. Quiet down, you little brats.”
As Teacher Cade’s unmistakable lion’s roar rang out, the noisy training ground instantly fell silent.
Cade swept his eyes across all the students and nodded in satisfaction.
“You’ve probably all heard by now. Our Martial Skills class has a new assistant instructor. He’ll be helping me guide your training, and I hope all of you will get along with him.”
“Let me say this in advance. This new teacher is an excellent man. I hope you will not look down on him because he is only an assistant instructor. You are to treat him with the same respect you give me. Otherwise...”
Cade cast a cold look over the entire class.
Though he said nothing more, every student immediately felt a tremendous pressure descend upon them.
At the same time, they grew even more curious.
If even Teacher Cade held him in such high regard, then who exactly was this new teacher?
Even Muen could not help stretching his neck to look.
“Go ahead and introduce yourself, Teacher Koren.”
Cade stepped aside and, quite rarely, revealed a kindly smile.
“And remember to speak loudly.”
“I know!”
A man with a huge scar on his face stepped forward with a hearty grin, flashing a set of dazzling white teeth.
“All I have to do is tell everyone who I am, right? I used to do this sort of thing all the time. I’m very familiar with it.”
At that instant, as the scarred man’s face grew clearer and clearer in Muen’s sight—The expectant smile on Muen’s face stiffened bit by bit.
He even thought, for a moment, that he had seen wrong.
He rubbed his eyes again and again.
But no matter how much he rubbed them, the man on the platform still looked so damned familiar.
What the hell?
What has gone wrong with this world?
Or was he dreaming?
Why was this bastard here of all places?
Muen plunged into a profound crisis of faith in life, while the new teacher on the platform, Koren, began his self-introduction.
“Hello, students. My name is Koren. I’m currently an early third-rank warrior. I used to be an adventurer, and the thing I’m best at is occupying a mountain stronghold and patiently lying in wait...”
Just as Koren himself had said, he really was good at introducing himself.
In only a few short sentences, he not only gave everyone a clear impression of him, he also left a hearty, open, heroic image in their minds.
Everyone except Muen.
Because right now, Muen’s mind contained nothing but shock.
“Welcome, Teacher Koren!”
After Koren finished introducing himself, quite a few students even took the lead in applauding excitedly.
“Thank you, thank you, students.”
Koren scratched his bald head shyly.
Teacher Cade let the students make noise for a while, then said,
“All right, if you have any questions, ask them now. Don’t wait until later and disrupt class.”
The moment he finished speaking, Cade saw an entirely unexpected person raise his hand first.
“Hm? Muen Campbell, do you have a question?”
“I don’t have a question.”
Muen stood up, his expression so severe that it looked as though he had just discovered a cross-dressing deviant mixed into a crowd and making a beeline for the women’s washroom.
“But I do have a report to make.”
“A report? About what?”
Teacher Cade was baffled.
“There’s a bandit in the academy! A bandit snuck in!”
Muen pointed at Koren and roared,“Don’t you people investigate a teacher’s identity before hiring him?”
“A bandit?”
Teacher Cade turned to Koren in confusion. “Is that true?”
“A bandit? What bandit? Surely you can’t mean me?” Koren looked innocent.
“It’s not ‘surely,’ it’s absolutely you, damn it!”
Muen slammed a hand onto the desk.
“Did you really think that after only one month I’d forget your face? I’d recognize that mug even if it were reduced to ashes. Playing dumb is useless!”
“Muen, how can you say something like that about your teacher? You’ll hurt your teacher’s feelings.”
Koren answered with complete solemnity.
But then his face immediately collapsed.
His rugged, masculine features drooped into a look of utter sorrow, like a pitiful little dog whose tail had been stepped on.
“But I understand why Muen would harbor such prejudice against me.”
As he spoke, he touched the highly conspicuous scar on his face and revealed a pitiful expression.
“After all, because of this scar, people often mistake me for a bad man.
But—even though I am so often misunderstood, I am proud of this scar. And do you know why?”
Koren straightened his chest and declared in a ringing voice,
“Because this scar was left behind when I fought a bloody battle for three days and three nights against a gang of bandits in order to save a poor little girl who was being surrounded by them!”
“Wow—!”
The students below erupted in astonishment.
So this new Teacher Koren had been that brave?
To save a single little girl, he had fought alone against a whole gang of bandits for three days and three nights?
Just imagining it was enough to know how dangerous it must have been, how much courage it would have required, and how kind his nature must be.
No wonder an early third-rank warrior like him could still accomplish a feat so great during the academy crisis that even the principal praised him for it!
“Lies!”
Only Muen stared with his eyes wide in disbelief, inwardly wondering how anyone in the world could have skin this thick, and shouted back furiously,
“What do you mean, saving a poor little girl who was being surrounded? Weren’t you and your gang the ones surrounding her in the first place?”
Not only were you surrounding that girl, you were eyeing my body too!
Fortunately, Eluca had been reliable back then.
Otherwise, he would have lost something very important.
“That’s enough, Muen Campbell!”
Unable to watch any longer, Teacher Cade barked angrily,
“How can you slander an outstanding and upright teacher like this?”
“Outstanding and upright? He deserves neither!”
“Muen. Campbell!”
“It’s all right, it’s all right, Teacher Cade.”
Koren stopped Cade with one hand, though Cade had not really been about to go forward in the first place. Smiling, he shook his head.
“I don’t mind. Even though I fought a savage battle for three whole days and three nights against vicious bandits in order to rescue that little girl, and even found time in the middle of it to have some tea and a bun, gently comfort her, and even, during this academy crisis, render distinguished service—so much so that saying I helped save the academy at its most critical hour would not be an exaggeration—in the end, these are all trivial little things to me. I truly do not care what others say. I really don’t.”
“But you—ugh.” Teacher Cade choked for a moment, inwardly wondering how there could be such a righteous and broad-minded man in this world.
And compared with him...
“Muen Campbell, can’t you learn something from him?”
Teacher Cade scolded him in a tone of frustrated disappointment.
“As a man, how can you judge another person’s character solely by appearances? You must understand that what matters in a person is not his looks, but the nobility of his soul!”
“Nobility my ass. This bastard’s soul is pitch-black, all right?
He’s the kind that even Hell itself would refuse to take!”
“Muen Campbell, this really is enough. Slander wasn’t enough, so now you’re resorting to personal attacks too?” Cade’s face had already turned black as the bottom of a pot.
“But—”
Just as Muen was about to continue arguing, he heard someone say softly,
“Muen, how can you do this?”
“Hm?”
Muen frowned and followed the voice with his eyes.
It had been very quiet, but in that brief silence it sounded especially clear.
Yet the speaker seemed to be deliberately hiding in the crowd, and for the moment Muen could not tell who it was.
Normally, Muen would not have cared about a remark like that.
But after that first sentence, the students who had not dared say anything before because of Muen’s status suddenly seemed to gain courage, and one after another, they began to speak.
“Exactly. Muen, how can you act like this?”
“Even if you don’t like the teacher, you can’t just slander him like that.”
“Teacher Koren is obviously such an excellent person.”
“Back then, when you made that leap, I really did think you looked cool. Sigh...”
“...”
Muen narrowed his eyes and swept his gaze over them.
Aside from the first comment, which had clearly carried a hint of deliberate provocation, the rest seemed like ordinary indignation on the teacher’s behalf.
Which made sense. After all, with the two powerful boosts of “personally recommended by the principal” and “rendered distinguished service,” plus the convincing performance Koren had just put on, it really was very easy for him to win the favor of hot-blooded adolescents.
Compared with that, Muen’s reputation had never been very good to begin with, and he had opened with such a sharp accusation that it was difficult not to think he was deliberately picking a fight.
Was I being too aggressive?
Muen took a deep breath and slowly sat back down.
“Forget it. Since Pink Bear brought him in as a teacher, he must have his reasons. There’s no need for me to fret uselessly over it.
This is the academy, after all.
With that man’s early third-rank cultivation, he probably couldn’t even beat Ariel. It would be hard for him to cause any real trouble here.”
And besides, perhaps Muen’s own preconceptions were at fault. What if the man had actually reformed?
So calm down, Muen Campbell.
Do not get angry over something like this.
You are the Duke’s son.
You must preserve the grace and composure proper to a noble.
...
...
“Teacher Koren, was there some special reason you joined the academy as a teacher?”
With the brief disturbance caused by Muen now over, the pleasant question period resumed.
One of the very few girls in Martial Skills class raised her hand and asked curiously.
“A reason? Of course there was.”
“Oh? What was it?”
The instant such gossip surfaced, every student’s curiosity was immediately stirred.
“It was...” Koren cradled his burning cheeks in his hands and spoke shyly, his eyes drifting now and then toward a certain direction.
“It was to find my tru—”
“Shut up!”
Before he could finish, Koren heard a thunderous roar.
And then—
a fist rapidly enlarging in his vision.
Under the shocked gaze of everyone present, including Teacher Cade, Muen did not know when he had already rushed up onto the platform.
His eyes were cold.
His punch was merciless.
To hell with staying calm. I’ve had enough.
“Drop dead, you damned homo.”