Chapter 37: The future shown by Altra (1)
“…You’re gathering information faster than I thought, Madam Chairman. It only happened a few hours ago.”
“I have my position. There are plenty of people on the grounds who can be my eyes and ears.”
At the slick response, Professor Anastasia just stared at Forte in silence.
Then, a few seconds later, she bit into a candy and meekly admitted to the assault.
“I’m sorry, but considering the circumstances, I don’t think it was an action that violated the school rules.”
“Really? Is that so?”
“She not only caused trouble beyond her capabilities but also refused to admit her wrongdoing. As long as there is no direct physical harm, I understand that a full professor has the authority to punish an assistant professor who causes problems.”
“That’s right. The authority to punish is given. But you went too far, didn’t you? To the point where you sent a faculty member to the infirmary in front of the students, that says it all.”
Forte took a deep breath, observing the professor in front of her.
Then, she began to unravel another ‘valid’ reason for dismissal.
“And I heard that you arbitrarily delegated the duty of supervising the students to Her Highness the Saintess. I wonder if it’s the proper attitude of a housemaster to pass off one’s responsibilities to others.”
“It wasn’t passing it off, but delegating some authority so that nothing serious would happen in my absence. That is also a right fully granted to a housemaster…”
“It’s only ‘granted’. That by no means makes it an exemplary action. Have you forgotten that Her Highness the Saintess is a distinguished guest who has come all this way?”
Forte cut her off and drew a line.
Then, she gradually pressured the young, green professor with the arguments she had prepared in advance.
“Her role as an observer is also a decision close to volunteering. But instead of showing her convenience, you’re saddling her with the academy’s internal affairs? Isn’t that a reckless act that tarnishes the prestige of Klomes?”
“…”
“As the representative of the board of directors, I have the right to recommend the resignation of personnel who bring shame to the academy, Professor Anastasia. So it’s best to stop talking about the dean like a granddaughter looking for her grandfather.”
Forte’s eyes narrowed sharply, and she neatly clasped her wrinkle-free hands.
She brought her clasped hands under her chin, assuming the posture of an interviewer dealing with an applicant.
It was a domineering habit unique to Chairman Forte, which she displayed whenever she faced a disagreeable subordinate.
“Dean Roakan won’t be able to protect you on this matter.”
Of course, Forte herself knew it was a flimsy excuse.
Although it wasn’t a perfect course of action, it wasn’t a matter that couldn’t be overlooked with some flexibility.
But she was determined to separate her and her daughter, even if it meant resorting to such trivial fault-finding.
‘I can’t let Silvia walk the path of a warlock.’
Chairman of the academy, Forte de Garcia.
Although she was a strict and thorough manager on the outside, she was also a mother who genuinely loved her child.
Her eyes, nose, mouth, and magical talent. She was willing to do anything for the happiness of her daughter, who resembled her in every way.
And in Forte’s eyes, this black mage named Anastasia was a person who would be a great obstacle in her daughter’s life.
‘She’s a child who gets completely absorbed once she’s interested.’
A genius who had been praised by every private tutor since her childhood.
And an intellectual curiosity that even Forte, a veteran magician, found difficult to handle.
Her only daughter, Silvia, was a person who possessed all the things that ordinary people would find difficult to have even one of.
And for such a Silvia to admire not just any black mage, but a warlock from an uncivilized country?
What if she becomes engrossed in black magic and becomes corrupted as a result?
Or what if she runs away from home after graduating, saying she’ll live as a recluse in the forest like a warlock?
Whatever it was, it was a reality that was hard for Mother Forte to accept.
‘I can’t make Silvia hate this professor.’
Since she had raised her daughter with her own milk, she knew her personality better than anyone in the world.
It would be easier to put a camel through the eye of a needle than to make her give up on something she was interested in.
‘So this professor has to disappear from Silvia’s vicinity.’
For this, it was right to choose a shortcut, even if it was a bit shabby.
It might tarnish Chairman Forte’s reputation, but at least it could brighten Silvia’s future.
Of course, the black magic defense class would be vacant for a while, but that could be filled somehow.
She could just make some excuse to Professor Bishop and ask her to be a substitute for another semester or two.
As she was thinking that and waiting for Anastasia’s answer.
“The prestige of Klomes? That’s an interesting thing to say.”
Professor Anastasia suddenly spoke in a calm, composed tone.
Then, she glanced at her and the board of directors’ members behind her and muttered softly.
“Speaking of which, it occurs to me that it’s the same for students who tarnish the academy’s prestige, right? Depending on the severity, they could be branded for life.”
“…?”
Forte narrowed her eyes and glared at her opponent.
She couldn’t grasp what she was talking about out of the blue.
But when the warlock’s mouth uttered her daughter’s name.
“Silvia de Garcia.”
The color visibly drained from Chairman Forte’s face.
“Like that child who used high-risk explosion magic in the Group A test and almost caused great harm to the other students.”
“Are you, by any chance, trying to threaten the chairman’s daughter?”
Before Forte could even react, Vivian interjected.
She adjusted her glasses and rebuked Anastasia in a high-handed tone.
“Given the circumstances, we were willing to tolerate some rudeness. But you’re making it increasingly difficult to turn a blind eye. If you continue to show such insolent behavior, the board of directors will no longer…”
It was then.
“Excuse me, Vivian? I’m talking to the chairman right now, aren’t I?”
Anastasia rolled her eyes and looked at her.
She shot back in a blunt tone, devoid of any emotion.
“So don’t interrupt and stay quiet. You’re not some untamed colt.”
“Wh-what did you say?”
Snap. The corners of Vivian’s mouth, who had finally lost her temper, rose menacingly.
“You… you’ve been talking so annoyingly since earlier? For a barbarian, you have a talent for provoking people with your words…!?”
Vivian, who was sneering with an angry smile.
Just as she was about to raise her voice.
“Ugh?!”
Suddenly, she staggered and fell to her knees.
For some reason, all the energy in her body, including her magic power, had evaporated in an instant.
A dizzying headache, as if she had been stricken with malnutrition, was an added bonus.
“Ugh, uwegh!”
Vivian, unable to hold back the nausea that followed, doubled over.
Although she had nothing to throw up since she was on an empty stomach, it was a pain as if she couldn’t bear not to vomit something from her stomach.
“Miss Vivian? What’s wrong?”
“Are you okay?”
“Get her outside, quickly! To the school infirmary!”
“Ge-heuk! Wegh!”
The bewildered members carried her out of the Canary’s Song.
Even as she was being carried out on her subordinate’s back, Vivian was too busy vomiting to come to her senses.
Finally, when the commotion had subsided, Anastasia looked at Forte again and said.
“Then let’s resume our conversation, Madam Chairman. She’ll be back to normal soon, so don’t worry about her.”
‘Absorption spell!’
Forte’s cry as she realized what Anastasia had done.
Temporarily stealing the energy in her body using black magic.
Making her suffer from extreme dizziness and nausea by sucking out all her energy.
‘Vivian was defeated without even being able to lift a finger?’
Feeling a slight tension, Forte looked back at Anastasia.
Of course, the board of directors had also been informed of the warlock’s skills.
They had all seen her cut down a top-class combat golem with a basic spell, and without any incantations at that.
But Vivian was also one of the talents carefully selected by the board of directors.
And for her to be defeated in an instant without even sensing it…
“As I just mentioned, Miss Silvia caused a huge accident at the Group A test site.”
As she was biting her lip, Anastasia held a lollipop stick like a cigarette and said.
“She tried to chant an explosion spell by combining her own magic power with the physical energy of the next Hero. A dangerous spell that could have resulted in mass casualties if it had gone off.”
“Th-that’s…”
Forte, at a loss for words, showed a sign of agitation for the first time.
She had received a report on the incident at the Group A test site on the same day.
But since it had been passed over without any major repercussions, she had erased it from her mind.
To think she would bring it up again…!
“In the end, there were no casualties, Professor Anastasia.”
Forte managed to argue back, her words stumbling.
Her composure, which she had maintained so well, crumbled at the mention of her daughter.
“The test ended safely, and the grades were all given according to procedure. Isn’t that the end of the matter?”
“That’s right. It’s a matter that’s already over. But thanks to whom, I wonder?”
Crunch! Anastasia crushed the candy between her molars as if to threaten and pushed coldly.
“If I hadn’t stopped Miss Silvia’s magic, or if I hadn’t shown leniency as a supervisor and immediately opened a disciplinary committee? What do you think would have happened then?”
“…”
“And even if it’s a matter that’s already over. It’s entirely possible for me to reignite that fuse.”
Ignoring the faintly trembling Forte, Anastasia continued.
“How about it? Should I send a letter to all the parents of Group A right now? That their precious children were almost injured in droves because of one Silvia?”
“If you do that, you won’t be safe either, Professor Anastasia. The responsibility of failing to control the situation and letting it escalate…”
“I don’t care whether I’m safe or not. I’ll just go back to the Northeast after being fired, so I can just forget about it as a bad experience. But Silvia won’t be able to, will she?”
Flick! Anastasia sneered, tossing the bare stick into the trash can.
“A promising genius is branded with the stigma of almost harming her classmates because she couldn’t control her competitive spirit? What do you think will happen to your daughter’s future, Chairman Forte de Garcia?”
“…”
Chairman Forte maintained a heavy silence, but inwardly, her heart sank at the unexpected counterattack.
‘…To think I’d meet a warlock who knows how to use political maneuvering in my lifetime.’
This time, I was too careless.
Grind. She gritted her teeth slightly and reflected.
Her opponent was a warlock who had only lived in the forest.
So she had carelessly underestimated her as a greenhorn who lacked social experience.
A rustic bumpkin who had lived away from civilization her entire life, and thus had a political sense that converged to zero.
Wasn’t that the most common image of a warlock?
Because of that, her response to her daughter’s misdeeds had been very inadequate.
Forte had tried to oust Anastasia for the sake of her daughter’s happy future.
But when her opponent came out with a suicide attack, that decision had turned into a checkmate.
‘If my political enemies were to take this bait…’
No, what if this warlock were to join hands with them before that?
Although she was a competent chairman, Forte de Garcia also had many enemies.
If a pack of hungry hyenas decided to make a big deal out of it, her daughter’s life, which had just begun to bloom, would be ruined.
Forte herself didn’t care if she was summoned to a Magic Tower hearing or ridiculed by the board of directors…
‘Silvia, my daughter’s future must be protected!’
Of course, she knew it too.
That she, who was usually rational, would become unusually emotional when it came to her daughter.
But even if she knew, she couldn’t easily change it.
In the end, Forte de Garcia was just a mother.
‘In this situation… what would be the best response to avoid any backlash…’
Just as she was taking a deep breath and devising a self-help measure.
Sip. Anastasia, who was savoring the remaining coffee, said something completely unexpected.
“But I have no intention of doing that, Madam Chairman.”
“…Pardon?”
Forte blinked, her face surprised.
Looking at her, I quietly put down my coffee cup on the ceramic saucer.
“I am a professor at the academy and the housemaster of Obsidian. I want my students to grow up well, and I have no intention of maliciously tormenting them.”
Rather, it’s you and your daughter who are maliciously tormenting me.
I’m just trying to get through the semester peacefully.
For me, the professorship at the academy is both a means of revenge and the only way to make a living in the future.
I don’t want to shorten my career by causing unnecessary trouble.
Although Silvia is an annoying brat, I have no intention of abusing my position as a housemaster to put her in a difficult situation.
“I am certainly a barbarian from an uncivilized country. But now that I have been appointed as a professor, I intend to always do my best. So that all students, including Silvia, can have a safe and enjoyable school life.”
I pushed back my chair and stood up, acting like the most exemplary educator possible.
Judging by Forte’s reaction, my checkmate was already achieved just by revealing my cards.
“So you can understand the story I just told you as a final ‘insurance’. A ‘request’ to not break my heart, which is concerned for the students.”
“…”
“Ah, and… although you’re doing this for Silvia, I think it’s an action that will only have a negative influence on your daughter.”
Chairman Forte, her lips tightly sealed, couldn’t say a word.
As I was about to turn my back, I suddenly remembered something and added.
“Do you think a daughter will respect a mother who fires a professor over a single tantrum? On the contrary, she’ll see you as a foolish mother who is easy to manipulate. I hope you’ll consider what kind of influence that will have on Silvia’s values, Madam Chairman.”
“…”
Silence again. Perhaps I had hit a nerve, as Forte couldn’t say a word, her face stiff.
Thinking there was nothing more for me to say, I was about to turn my back.
“You… you don’t… you don’t even…”
Forte’s shoulders trembled as she opened her mouth.
Forcing out a voice that wouldn’t come, she glared at me resentfully.
“You don’t even care about that child. Do you even know what kind of influence your existence will have on her?”
“…”
Come to think of it, she had said Silvia was from a single-parent family.
Because her father had died miserably while participating in a witch hunt with Chairman Forte.
But that was only in the realm of ’empathy’.
It by no means meant that I had to accept the tantrums of someone who had nothing to do with me.
“I care a lot, Madam Chairman.”
“What did you say?”
“You seem to be misunderstanding something. Since Silvia chose Obsidian, I am her housemaster. In other words, I also bear a certain amount of responsibility to guide Silvia on the right path.”
Alber, Silvia, and Krimhild.
I continued, thinking of the three troublemakers who always gave me a headache.
“If I can’t fulfill that responsibility properly, I’ll be fired from my professorship immediately. So for my own sake, I have no intention of doing anything that will have a negative influence on a student.”
It was vexing that she held a grudge just because she was scolded during the test, but since I had to stay at the academy, I had no intention of constantly clashing with Silvia.
Whether I buy her a sweet strawberry cake, or have a private meeting with her later.
I intended to resolve all unnecessary grudges.
Thinking that, I declared strongly with conviction so that she would not have any more doubts.
“Of course, the same goes for Silvia, Chairman Forte. You can fully trust me on this.”
At my confident declaration, Forte just trembled her plump lips and couldn’t say anything.
The black mage professor whom her daughter had slandered in every way. But upon meeting her, she was surprisingly a person of common sense, so she must have been surprised.
“Is that… really true?”
After a long silence, she asked cautiously.
“You really… have no ill intentions towards Silvia…”
“If you’re really worried, Madam Chairman.”
I sighed and reassured her again.
“If Silvia really does something bad, you can hold me responsible immediately.”
I don’t know what Silvia had whispered to her to make her so sensitive, but it was clear that she believed her daughter would go astray because of me.
Aren’t all doting parents like that?
If their child dislikes someone, they automatically treat them as an evil and wicked teacher.
So it would be better to address this part properly.
“If Silvia causes an irreversible accident? Call me back to this seat.”
Although Silvia is a cunning brat, she is also a model student who works hard on her studies and career management.
No matter how much she dislikes me, she wouldn’t suddenly commit a misdeed that would make her mother’s eyes pop out, would she?
“Then I will also seriously consider my resignation. As the housemaster of Obsidian, who is responsible for Silvia’s guidance. Will that do?”
Finishing my words, I put my hand into my pocket.
Just as I was fumbling around, looking for a lollipop to hide my turmoil.
BOOM-!!!
“Kyaak!”
“Ugh! Wh-what!”
A tremendous roar from afar.
The people in the cafe, terrified, jumped up from their seats.
Then, they rushed out of the cafe in a group to check the situation.
Of course, me, Forte, and the members of the board of directors were no different.
“W-what happened…?”
A quiet corner far from the main campus building.
A cafe staff member who was looking there muttered with a dazed expression.
“Isn’t that… where the Coral Hall used to be?”
“Wh-where did it go? Why is there only smoke and no building…”
Although it was far from the main building, the old Coral Hall should have been located within the campus.
A place where the witch Altra’s memorandum was written, and a large building that should have been visible to the naked eye even from here at the cafe.
It had disappeared without a trace, and instead, only smoke from an explosion was rising.
But the color of the smoke was a little strange.
Not the ordinary hazy smoke, but a mysterious smoke with a bluish glow.
One of the board of directors’ members who was staring at it shouted.
“Th-that’s! Miss Silvia’s blue mana?!”
Silvia de Garcia, who had such exceptional talent that she had awakened her unique spell.
It was a magical smoke containing her exclusive mana.
“Miss Silvia… blew up the Coral Hall with an explosion?”
“What happened! Why did Miss Silvia!”
“S-Silvia! W-what on earth happened…!”
The outcry of the chairman and the board of directors’ members, who were bewildered and didn’t know what to do.
But not a single word clearly entered my ears.
A student from my dormitory, Obsidian, had personally destroyed a campus building, the Coral Hall.
In other words…
“H-heh… hehehe…”
A hollow laugh escaped my lips without my knowing.
Letting it out, I quietly mouthed a name.
“Sil…vi…a…!”
You crazy, explosion-loving b*tch-!