‘A certain teacher’s monologue.’
My name is Verde Limone. A teacher within the royal academy.
I hailed from the 2nd largest mercantile house in the country, ‘Limone Trading Company’ but because the largest mercantile house is an aristocrat, one could say that we are the most influential one amongst the commoners. The point is that although I’m filthy rich, I don’t plan to succeed in the family.
That aside, I was in charge of the magic tools research department. The department involves itself in researching the inner workings of magic tools, assembling one, and a little bit on how to use them properly.
I would very much prefer to just teach magic directly instead but, unfortunately, the church, having antipathy towards the use of common magic, is fully exercising its influence against it. Thanks to that, the only ones who can use magic outside of magical tools are either foreign adventurers or those who hail from the only house within the country that specializes in its use, the House Whitey, including the current queen and her two sons.
The sacred magic that the church endorses isn’t suitable for attacking, and I must say that relying on that alone would put us at disadvantage in case of an attack from other countries. Those among the sacred church emphasize that there wouldn’t be a problem as long as we have the saintess on our side, but I can’t help but doubt the sanity of the people who would place the fate of a whole kingdom on the shoulders of a single woman.
—Is what I want to say but, I’m nothing but a mere teacher. The only ones who have a say in the country are those who sit at the top. The only thing I can do is to teach the students how to use those magic tools. That’s right, even if the students that attend this academy are commoner scholars who are cut above among the rest, and aristocratic younglings who will shoulder the country for the next generation. I do not have the power to do anything at all. None at all.
‘—That’s about it, Teacher Verde. Are you listening?’
‘Yes…?’
No good, I was too caught up with my train of thought that I didn’t listen at all. The academy senior staff with faded purple hair said so, handing me some sort of booklet; though rumors says that it’s not actually the color that is ‘fading’.
‘My apologies, what were we talking about again?’
‘Your lack of attention is troubling, Sir Verde. This is why commoners are… never mind, sir. As I was saying, this is the bookmark of the program of the orientation, sir. Please use the duplication magic machine to create copies to distribute to the students.’
The senior staff said so, looking down on me as I sat, combing down my bangs. From what I hear, this senior staff was the one in charge of the first prince’s education and his aggressive manner of speaking even towards Prince Leddorio, himself had seen dislike from the other students. Similarly, even I don’t want to have to deal with this person either. I’d rather be saved from the trouble.
‘Is there no other teachers around to do it, instead?’
‘What are you saying now? You were the one in charge of leading the orientation.’
Wha!? What the heck, I heard nothing about this! I gazed around the faculty but all the surrounding teaching staff avoids my gaze. I guess it makes sense. Nobody would want to do it. After all, there are two saintess candidates attending this school year.
◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆
The royal academy does dungeon-crawling twice every year, the first would be during the orientation after admission, the second one would be the joint training at the end of the school year. The principal motive behind this was to nurture female students who were acolytes-in-training. Of course, sacred magic alone wouldn’t be able to defeat the enemies, so the male students are tasked to register themselves in the adventurer’s guild and form parties with the acolytes. Although they are permitted to do extra-curricular dungeon crawling in their day-offs, they aren’t allowed to go to dungeons above intermediate-level dungeons to be safe.
Now, at the day of the orientation, I was leading the first-year students to the adventurer’s guild. I explained to them the registration, aptitude tests, weapon, and armor rental, among other things. The male students are in their gym uniform while the female students wore their habit garments, a scene that I’ve gotten familiar with every year. It would be nice if everything went smoothly but…
‘Nable is a “Warrior-class” huh. You already have your own weapon and armor so you don’t need to rent.’
‘Teacher, am I not a “Knight-class?”‘
‘Knighthood is a title and not a job. Besides, you’re still an apprentice, aren’t you?’
General Nable’s son sulks but I urged him onwards to the reception desk. The lady from the House Walter approached me for an inquiry.
‘Teacher, I am still not a full-fledged merchant, so should I not write that?’
‘It doesn’t matter if you are, female students are to write “Clergy”. If you want to pursue a different class, you are free to do so after you graduate.’
The Walter surname of the lady, refers to the same Walter Trading Company that eclipses the Limone. I heard that she was also the fiancée of the eldest son of the minister to the left but, the combination of her neatly braided sky-colored hair and the black-rimmed glasses seems to mismatch that salacious… *couch*, that sensual young lord of the House Bruno.
‘Ah, wait a moment. You are Lady Sereknight, right? We are in the middle of class so it’s forbidden for an attendant to tag along.’
I spotted the young lady from House Sereknight seemingly done with the reception and was about to leave and hurriedly called out to her. This young lady is the first and foremost problem child that all of the teachers want to avoid as much as possible. She was the fiancee of the crown prince as well as the one chosen to be the “Interim-Saintess”, Chloe Sereknight.
Although her looks are extraordinarily good, she is a whimsical lady with pride as high as the mountains themselves, very typical of a noble daughter.
Just thinking about her becoming the mother of this country makes me worry for the future of the kingdom itself. Although my worries are likely insignificant, as far as the kingdom is concerned.
At her side was a handsome young man so refined that one could mistake him for a prince of a foreign country. Although he was rumored to be a vagrant youth picked up from the slums, a single glance at his facial countenance makes sense on how he piqued the interest of the lady. Although of course, that doesn’t sound so admirable of her.
‘Goodness, teacher. He is not my attendant. He is my pet. I was told that we are allowed to bring animals so long as the academy is informed beforehand.’
That’s only for monsters and spirit tamers that use them for attacking or defensive purposes. Still, she may be the daughter of the minister to the right and the fiancée of the crown prince, but it’s still surprising how the academy allowed her to do that. But then again, she’s also the “Interim-Saintess”, so I believe it’s actually the Church who had a hand in that matter.
‘Are you fine with being treated like a pet? Even if they are master-and-servants, all students are to be treated equal within the academy premises, you know?’
‘……..’
While the young attendant with a beautiful face kept his silence, the ducal lady merely lifted his chin with her fan and giggled.
‘Shin is talented so he is properly aware of his own position. There is no need to worry, sir. He is properly equipped with weapons and protective armors sent from home so your supply of rentals for the poor and needy shall not fall short.’
That’s not what I’m worried about though? Also, wearing a nun habit with a fan in your hands? That’s quite the mismatch…, or is that thing a weapon too? I sighed and watched the ducal lady walk away, leaving an ear-jarring high-handed laugh in her tracks. I kept myself together to helped the students form their parties.
◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆
‘What should I do, we need 1 more person…’
Having mostly sent off the freshmen to the dungeon, I saw a pair of ladies seeming to be at a loss within the students who remained. After talking to them, it seems that one of them accidentally overslept. She hurriedly went to the guild to register, but she couldn’t find anyone else to party with, save for her friend who remained to wait for her.
By the way, the aforementioned friend was a new member of the newspaper club which is under my advisory, Chaco Brown. her father owns a newspaper so she has the opportunity to get used to the profession by first-hand experience, couple that with her daring and bright attitude; she was said to be a promising aspiring journalist.
‘Ah, tea~cher! This girl made a mistake and ended up being ostracized. Can we explore the dungeon with just the two of us instead?
‘No, you can’t. It would be dangerous for two acolyte apprentices alone.’
Brown cheerfully waves her hand to me while informing me of their predicament. But of course, I cannot allow two female students to explore the dungeon alone.
‘Well, I’m beat. It hasn’t even been long since you enrolled, and it’ll probably hard to ask others too… I guess there’s no other choice. Should I explore the dungeon with you two, instead?’
‘Is that okay, sir?’
The pink-haired student next to brown timidly replies.
‘If you don’t mind being with a teacher.’
‘I don’t mind at all~! What about you, Momo?’
‘T-Then… I’m in your care, sir. Ah… I’m Momo Palette.’
Saying that, the pink… no, Palette bows her head. Although she is a commoner just like Brown, unlike the majority of wealthy students here, she is a scholarship student chosen from the countryside.
Brown, introduces me as the adviser of the newspaper club to her friend.
‘Teacher Verde is a commoner too but his house is superbly wealthy, you know? Not to mention, he’s good-looking too. Wouldn’t he be a much better target than aristocrats?’
‘Oi, where do you think you’re placing your aims at. We are teacher-and-student, you know?’
Giving Brawn a chop for her teasing remarks, I noticed Palette staring at me.
‘But, I also think Sir Verde is quite wonderful. You even made it on top of fan polls which is why they released a fan disk…’
‘Fan disk?’
‘*cough*, I mean, the female students are quite fond of you, sir.’
I’ve never heard of that. I am just an uninteresting teacher in general. Not to mention, I’m about to reach thirties so wouldn’t the female students see me as nothing but an old man? It would make much more sense for the first prince, or the son of the minister to the right, to be the target of admiration. After all, their age is much closer, though both of them have their own fiancees.
Now back to the Novice-level dungeon that was prepared by the adventurer’s guild; it’s a place where even the most beginner of the adventurers can safely learn what dungeon-crawling is all about. It’s a tutorial dungeon with carpet and lighting, and it was even nice of them to include a water station inside. You wouldn’t be able to raise your level in killing the small fries here, and it’s not advisable to stay if you are seriously considering becoming an adventurer.
The three of us casually chatted as we stepped inside the dungeon.
‘Sir, has anyone told you that you look like Count Glinda?’
‘Count Glinda? Was there a Count by that name in our kingdom?’
‘No, sir. He was a Count of a neighboring country and was also an adventurer at the same time. He has a silky rainbow-colored hair and…’
‘Then I guess he’s different. I have a perm pea-green-colored hair after all.’
I touched my hair as I answered Palette’s question. This curliness has always been my complex. At any rate, Count Glinda… I feel like I’ve heard that somewhere…
‘I guess so… but you have the closest color to him so rumors says that Sir Verde seemed to be the most plausible. In actuality, sir is quite handsome too. Ah, but some people say that it can’t be because you’re capturable in the fan disk so…’
‘Hey, what have you been muttering about? Let’s go’
As I called out to Momo who was left behind lost in her thoughts, she hurriedly tried to catch up and fell down. She’s quite the careless girl.
◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆
‘Teacher, there’s an enemy!’
Having explored around for a while, we finally encountered an enemy. Although I know that they are pre-arranged, appearing suddenly like this is still bad for my heart. The two students are in the healing and support role, so I had them go behind me. I only started attacking after deliberately taking an attack once.
The first enemy is ‘Taiko Man’, a monster with a round drum-like figure. It’s main characteristic is that it attacks you by hurling its extremely scorching body. By the way, my weapon is a teacher’s cane.
‘Wha…, we won’t be able to defeat it with just that, sir!’
‘Ah, it looks to be working, though.’
The truth is I can easily defeat it with a proper weapon but there’s no meaning to me defeating it easily. The main purpose of this tutorial dungeon is to show the students what a battle is, so it was more adequate to just let it retreat. After the Taiko Man retreated, I asked the two of them for healing.
‘I’ll have ‘blessing’ from Brown and ‘Strengthening’ from Palette, then.’
‘Tea~cher, please try to show us your cool side~’
‘Don’t be unreasonable, I’m an uncle in his late twenties, you know? If you want to complain, do that to that wigged senior staff who shoved this responsibility to me.’
Brown and I exchanged frivolous talks as she blessed my cane with sacred magic, but another enemy suddenly appeared.
Isn’t the pacing, too fast?
‘Ah, it’s another Taiko Man!’
‘No, it’s a different monster with the same type, Oyakki. It’s gonna fire peas with its mouth so be careful.’
‘It’s hard to tell between them…’
I tried to avoid the Oyakki’s attacks but, it’s firing the peas in massive quantities so I couldn’t dodge everything. Although the damage of its attack is low, it would be bad for them to accumulate.
I can hear the sound of something being deflected. What’s happening?
I started to realize that the peas were rebounding before hitting my bdoy. Isn’t this ‘Barrier’? This shouldn’t have been possible at their current level.
‘Now’s the time, sir!’
‘R-Right.’
I came to my sense at Palette’s signal and swung my cane at the Oyakki, splitting the monster in half.
‘…..Huh?’
‘Amazing! You did it, sir Verde!’
‘N-No, Palette… this is your…’
‘But still, how gory. What’s with these insides? Why is it giving off a sweet smell?’
A strengthening potent enough to slaughter an enemy with a single strike. I suddenly remembered the rumor about a kid from the rural areas that have divine magic potent enough to be compared to the “Interim-Saintess.” Looks like I ended up involving myself with quite the outrageous student.
◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆
‘T-Teacher~…’
We have arrived at the water station, the person who suggested that we take a break, left behind a homemade cupcake and still hasn’t come back from washing her hands. I was about to rise to my feet to check up on her but Palette suddenly returned and timidly spoke.
‘Teacher, please help, I came to upon something terrible~’
…her voice sounded somewhat intentional though, was it just my imagination?
‘Taikoman’s nest?’
‘They keep coming from that muffin tin-like thing.’
The thing that Palette described as a muffin tin are Taikoman’s eggs. Their slimy bodies are hardened with high temperatures making them spun until they fly off. Calling it a muffin tin was a very apt description, but this is not the time to be impressed.
‘I was on the way back after washing my hands when I noticed the wall seemingly crumbling. I touched it lightly then it crumbled apart revealing all this.’
‘Looks like the adventurer’s guild’s management was too loose. They’ve gone completely feral and are increasing their numbers. There’s even “Ostoandel”, something that should only be seen in the intermediate dungeons… this is pretty bad.’
‘I really can’t tell them apart.’
Ostoandels attacks with transform magic. If you get hit, you’ll become a Taikoman and remain that way for your whole life until the it is defeated. As I explained that to the two acolytes, Palette and Brown’s face stiffened.
‘No! I don’t want to be a Taikoman for life!’
‘Keep it down! Now they’ve found us!’
‘No good… with that numbers, Teacher Verde wouldn’t be able to defeat them alone.’
It was exactly as Brown said, no matter how you think about it. There’s no other choice but to retreat. However, I cannot possibly expose the other students to monsters with these numbers. While I was wondering what to do, I suddenly heard a voice.
‘Help young master!’
‘!?’
‘Turn every single one of them into full of holes!!’
The familiar voice was followed by the terrific sound of numerous gunshots. Before I even noticed, the hive of the Taikoman had turned into such a tragic sight. The entire place was blood splatter, or rather, like a wasted batter of sweets. Was it just my imagination due to the sweet smell that drifted within the surrounding?
(Why the heck do their innards give off such a delicious smell?)
I could have mistakeably eaten some if I didn’t bore my hunger. Shaking off such dreadful thoughts aside, the men who looked just as dreadful approached us with guns in their hands.
‘Are you alright, young master!?’
‘Stop it, you stupid. We’re in front of my students!’
I even gave him the hand sign to silence him, but my efforts were for naught. The men fired their guns randomly before, went bustling around, crowding over me.
‘Young master, were you hurt?’
‘The boss was worried, you know?’
‘You should show your face to the house sometimes, young master.’
Give me a break… I just want to live a peaceful life as a normal teacher. Brown looked amazed as her gaze alternates between me and them and after seemingly coming to conclusion, clap her hands together.
‘I see. The rumors that the president of Limone Company was a mafia boss were true. Then, teacher Verde would be the second generation, right?’
‘I’m not gonna inherit it! Also, I wouldn’t be able to remain a teacher if they found out, so keep it confidential.’
‘I know that, sir. Reporters sometimes have the freedom to not report what they don’t want to. Besides, it would be troublesome for the newspaper club if a teacher is forced to quit because of them.’
Thankfully, this new member is sensible. From what I heard afterward, the Brown publishing company already knew the underside of the company since way before. They still haven’t revealed it to the surface even now but… maybe there was some sort of shady relationship or something. That was the moment when I realized that there’s no justice in this world.
◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆
After the Mafia (company employees on the surface), had left, we left the dungeon after confirming that the two were not injured. Apparently, the assault of those bastards was treated as my attack, which inadvertently raised the two’s level beyond expectations. We kept secret how we defeated the taikomans and only reported how they made a nest.
‘Sorry, Palette. Looks like I put you through something so frightening.’
I called out to Palette who has not talked for a while. The fact that the cordial and kind teacher (self-alleged) was actually a son of a mafia boss might have been quite a shock to the lady. Or so I thought but, Palette who raised her face, didn’t seem to show any sign of bewilderment.
‘Not at all, sir. You were very cool…’
‘I didn’t do anything though.’
‘You can’t, Momo. We have to take the path of honesty so you have to find a much more proper love.’
I am also trying to take the honest path, but if they’re gonna try to hit it off with a teacher, I would like them to stop by all means. Rather, there’s nothing scarier than laying your hands on a saintess candidate. If she was chosen as the ‘True Saintess’, the royal family wouldn’t let it slide.
‘I guess, you’re right. Even the contents of the fan disc officially denies the rumor that Sir Verde is the Count Glinda. Although the teacher being a mafia boss is interesting in its own way… who the heck is “Glinda of the twin blades” then?’
She’s fully immersed in her mutterings again. I guess she’s in the age to daydream like that. I chose to deliberately avoid broaching it instead and reunited with the students who cleared the dungeon first.
Later on, I had a company employee investigate that ‘Count Glinda’ she talked about. Apparently, it was a noble house from the neighboring Corundum Kingdom, whose head often undertakes as the Knight Commander. However, the only son of the current count had died years ago and was not blessed with any heirs. Maybe Palette is fond of men as old as my father?
Anyhow, that’s as far as my involvement with her goes. From then on, she got closer to his highness, Leddorio causing troubles, which prompted his highness, Leddorio to seek the newspaper club’s assistance in condemning his fiancee, Lady Sereknight, who bullied her. Although I warned the newspaper club to not get entangled in their troubles, they apparently moved on their own without informing me.
Brown and Palette have gotten along so well before, but Brown has kept her distance from Palette’s issue ever since they became 2nd years. I asked her whether they had a fight or something but, Brown had only given me inconclusive answers. Well, I guess life just turns out like that sometimes.
As for me, I’m continuing my teaching just like always. Although my father kept pestering me to succeed him but, I’m not fit to be the boss of the underworld at all. I prefer just teaching the students all about magic tools. It’s about time for me to have an adorable girl friend; hopefully, someone without two faces… and right now, I’m accepting applications.
As promised, but the quality might be bad. I didn’t have enough time to edit something this long. I’ll most likely get back on editing this one after I get more free time.
Now back on the main story this Sunday.
