C11: First Class (1)
Will spring finally come to me too?
Since she is a new teacher, like me, I can have a meal to make friends. In fact, when I followed Selina, there were three other people besides me, two men and one woman.
They all look unique as if shouting, “I am a wizard.”
“Hello.”
The first person to reach out and shake my hand was a very warm-hearted man. He seems to be quite aged but he smiled haphazardly like the friendly man next door.
I shook his hand lightly
“Rudger Chelici, I am in charge of the manifestation system.”
“Bryno, I am in charge of golem summoning.”
The next person who spoke to me was a bewitching beauty with long purple hair that covered one eye.
“You are a handsome man, nice to meet you. My name is Merylda, I’m in charge of charms and hallucinations.”
“Yes. Nice to meet you.”
The last one left felt a little different from the previous two. He was a man with dark blue hair all-white and rimless glasses on his face, and his appearance alone looked quite strict. He had a frown on his face all the time, as if he wasn’t very happy with the fact that he was here with us.
When I looked at him, he looked at me, and then he turned his head. It was an expression of his will not to even introduce himself.
As I was puzzled, Merylda laughed and explained in a low voice.
“Mister Chris Benimore. As you can see, he’s a nobleman, different from commoners like us.”
Ah. So that was it.
For Chris, even if he’s an academy teacher, he probably doesn’t want to be friendly with commoners. In my case, I am a fallen aristocrat, so it is natural for him to look down on me.
“Isn’t Mr. Rudger going to ignore us because we are just commoners?”
“I don’t care.”
When I answered Merylda opened her eyes wide, and then withdrew with a soft smile.
Hmm. After all, there are five new teachers, including myself. One noble, one fallen noble, and three commoners. However, since they became teachers at the Theon Academy, they must be talented people who went far in the field they teach.
“I can’t stay here any longer. The newly appointed teachers besides me, are commoners and fallen nobles.”
Chris’s cold voice rang out. Bryno smiled awkwardly at those words, and Selina flinched, while Meryl glanced at Chris with a sullen face.
Me? I don’t care.
It’s hard for nobles to get used to mingling with commoners in only a day or two. As I was showing an attitude saying, ‘If you’re going to just go, go on your own,’ Chris looked at me sharply.
“Don’t be pretentious.”
You wanted to leave, why are you looking at me like this? Were you originally acquainted with Rudger? It doesn’t seem like it at all.
‘It would be nice to be friendly with fellow teachers, but I think it would be difficult to get close to him.’
I ignored Chris and looked at the other three. Maybe there is a spy planted in the secret society among them.
‘Is there a first order among these three?’
Currently, nearly 40 members of the Secret Order are hiding inside Theon Academy. Of course, considering the total population of Theon Academy with it’s large size, 40 is an insignificant number, but that does not mean that there is no chance that I will not run into the other members along the way.
Except for the Third Orders, some of the Second Orders may have infiltrated as students. In particular, in the case of the First Order, teachers cannot escape suspicion.
‘Rudger took the position of a teacher and he’s a First Order. There’s no way other First Orders wouldn’t do that.’
The question is who.
Since they’re new teachers like me it narrows down the range. Of course, I had no choice but to be suspicious of those who asked me to eat because they might be trying to trick me.
I have to be vigilant. I struggled to keep my expressionless face and followed my fellow teachers to the dining room. Still, I don’t eat alone, so I’m holding on to the idea that it’s not bad.
* * *
Selina, the new Elemental Teacher. She recently joined Theon Academy and teaches spirit summoning. She couldn’t help but be quite nervous when she arrived.
Theon Academy is well known in other kingdoms beyond the Empire. The students who enter here are geniuses who will take important positions in the future. It came as a great burden to her to teach such children.
‘What if I make a mistake? What if I can’t teach? Besides, there are many noble children here!’
There is a big difference between commoners and nobles.
Thanks to the advancement in magic engineering, the world has gradually changed, and the common people have become members of the House of Representatives and intervened in politics. However, the wall of status was still high.
The reason why there were 5 teacher positions this time was because the teachers who were in charge of the class until last year had retired and the reason why is unknown.
Before coming here, her wizard acquaintances warned her about the territoriality of noble students. There are students who secretly look down on their teachers and try to win over them.
Selina was terrified.
‘It is said that even royal family members attend this school.’
It was mentioned that the third princess is a sophomore. She’s in charge of her first year, so she won’t be related right away. It seems that the orientation on the first day of class went smoothly, but it is also true that she is still anxious due to low self-esteem.
Selina didn’t want to be like this, so she decided to make friends with the other new teachers, like herself. If she had colleagues she could share hard work with, life at the academy might be better.
She then became friends with Merylda and after calling people one by one, she went to find the last one left, Rudger Chelici.
A man of noble origin, not a commoner, however, since his family had fallen, he was not a burdensome person to approach. Until she met him, she certainly thought so.
‘Wow.’
At first, she wondered what was going on as the crowd in the hallway split left and right. Could it be that the imperial family, who she had only heard of, came?
It was a man in a well-groomed outfit that broke her expectations and slowly went her way. Gray suit, black frock coat and a silk hat on his head.
‘Wow, my God.’
When she first met Rudger, Selina’s feelings were the highest of admiration.
She was told that he was a fallen aristocrat but as she watched him, Selina was forced to correct her own narrow thinking.
Slowly walking, scattering his majesty around him, he seemed far nobler than any noble she had ever seen. Every step he took was like a painting, so she stared blankly without realizing it. Selina recalled her purpose for her belated visit to her Rudger, and she hurriedly went to him.
‘I’m scared.’
As he paused and turned around, it felt like her heart was dropping. Still, Selina grinned as she struggled with her smile, and cautiously told Rudger that she would like to eat with him.
It seemed that Rudger would immediately look at her with contempt and say something unpleasant.
“Sure.”
But Rudger accepted her offer with all too much ease. As she walked in her path, he matched her stride and kept his distance from her. His consideration for others was felt in his every little action.
‘You have a very warm personality unlike how you look.’
Even when introducing him to other colleagues, Rudger didn’t care whether they were a noble or a commoner. Although Mr. Chris Benimore showed an openly hostile attitude towards him, Rudger did not respond much.
He is usually irritable but he never loses his nobility. It was as if he was alone standing on a cloud in the sky. As I heard later, it is said that he was a former military officer and a great man who even submitted several academic papers to the Tower.
‘Mr. Rudger is a wonderful person.’
She also wanted to become a teacher with such charisma. Even when eating, Rudger simply ate quietly without saying a word.
His posture in handling forks and knives was restrained as if he was living in a different world by himself, even the passing students were glancing at him.
In fact, he acts as if it is natural or as if he doesn’t care about the reactions of those around him. Rudger’s attitude was the same even when we greeted each other after dinner and dispersed to our private dormitories or teachers’ buildings.
When everyone waved to see you later, Rudger greeted me with a nod of his head.
Selina, returning home with Merylda, remembering her brief meeting with Rudger today. She tried to make her face deliberately expressionless as she inhaled deeply. Merylda, who was walking by her side, noticed her behavior and asked.
“Selina. What are you doing?”
“Merylda, doesn’t it make me look a little older?”
“What?”
Merylda burst into laughter as she tried to ask what that meant.
“Ahaha! Selina, are you pretending to be Mr. Rudger now?”
“Yes? Oh no, that’s not it……”
Merylda waved her hand to Selina, who was spurring gibberish in embarrassment, saying it was okay.
Mr. Rudger is so unique that it is hard to believe that he is a new teacher like us. But considering that person’s past, it was worth it.”
“Yes?”
“You didn’t know? I checked out who all the people who came in this time were and he was a military officer.”
“Really?”
“What’s even more amazing is that Selina, you, me and the others came here with a tower or an elemental society on their backs and got recommendations. That man didn’t. He didn’t belong anywhere, but he came in on his own.”
“Wow. No wonder.”
“The teaching method of such a person must be great. Still, we have no choice but to teach our students our way. Don’t be too swayed by others. It’s okay if you don’t pretend to be strong for nothing, because we also became teachers at Theon.”
“Ah yes!”
The two met for the first time today, but quickly became close friends, chatting warmly and heading to the teacher’s dormitory.
* * *
Three days have passed since the orientation on the first day of class.
Since these three days are the course correction period, it must have been quite a busy time for students who have not yet made a choice about which lectures to take. Of course, that didn’t matter to me.
The long-awaited first class came and I crossed the hallway with excited footsteps.
Three days ago I gave enough warnings.
My class is like a landmine.
Rumors about me must have already spread widely among the students. Having said that, I wonder if there are any students who want to take my class?
There will be some. When the other classes are full they will have no choice but to choose with tears in their eyes in order to forcibly complete their credits.
The important thing is that the fewer students I teach, the more comfortable I am.
Classes can have a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 80 students. Lectures are not closed because there are few people, so if there are fewer people, it is enough to lead them well.
Of course, there is no possibility of a minimum of 15 people, so I can compromise with 30 people in moderation. With that thought, I opened the door and entered the classroom.
‘What?’
I saw students filling the inside of the classroom. That number was more than double the 30 people I had thought of. No, it was actually the maximum number of people the classroom could accommodate.
Why are there so many?