ACADEMY'S UNDERCOVER PROFESSOR
Honestly, when Chris first offered me a bet from a duel between Aidan and Jevan…
I hadn't shown it through my expression, but I was secretly pleased.
Because it was a bet where I was bound to win.
I wasn't saying that Jevan's skill was not good enough. He was also a student who was walking on the magic path and had entered Sören. Obviously, he had some talent and sufficient skills.
Rich merchant families and aristocratic students had been thoroughly educated since childhood, so it was natural for them to be far ahead of the commoners from the beginning of the semester.
Within just two weeks after the start of the new semester…
The time was still lacking for commoner students to catch up with the aristocracy.
But it was okay.
—Because Aidan was different from ordinary students.
I wasn't recognizing the kid as a 'shounen main character' for no reason.
'Professor Chris Benimore doesn't seem to know that at all.'
If he was in charge of the first-year spell casting class, he must have checked the list of students who were unique among the first-year students.
But nevertheless, Chris didn't value Aidan very much.
I realized one fact there…
Chris Benimore didn't even give the list of commoner students a look.
'He probably only memorized the names of students from noble families that he should care about the most.'
It was a disqualification as a professor, but I understood.
He was a person who was born as an aristocrat and had been living as an aristocrat and would continue to live as an aristocrat.
Of course, it would be unpleasant to put a commoner who lived in a completely different world from him in his memory.
Rather, it was quite wise for him to choose not to even pay attention to those commoners.
I didn't intend to blame him for either committing discrimination or judging them by status.
Because that place was that kind of world.
'But he must've never thought that it would hold him back.'
Aidan was able to enter Sören, even if he lacked magical knowledge, purely because of the Uncommon Magic that he had.
He received some kind of admissions benefit, but that didn't mean Aidan had a bad ability.
The principal wanted more students who had learned rare magic to gather in Sören.
'It is probably too late for Chris to realize what kind of magic Aidan learned.'
The bet was already settled. Insisting on invalidity was rather an action that would reveal his lack of information which he did not check in advance.
Even if Chris realized Aidan's ability afterwards, he would have no choice but to continue the bet.
'But what the hell is this guy saying?'
What? He wanted to win just by using his strength?
For a brief moment, I didn't understand what the hell he was talking about.
I had no choice but to belatedly realize how single-minded and righteous Aidan was.
He was a person who came forward to help even the werewolves who had threatened his life.
I was thinking of telling him to come to his senses, but I was slightly concerned about it.
'It might not be a bad idea to take this opportunity to check it out.'
I wonder what level it was that Aidan possessed.
Yes. Just as he said, if I only pushed him to use Uncommon Magic, wasn't it just pushing him to only rely on one tool?
It didn't seem that bad to make certain of his volition and talent for learning something new.
The casting of elemental properties was so basic that it was impossible to argue about Aidan's talent with that alone.
Then…
'I'll have to teach him something more certain.'
I glanced down at Aidan.
As he felt my gaze, I could see Aidan's shoulder shudder.
"Aidan."
"Yes, yes."
"If that's what you want, then fine. For the remaining three days, I will teach you how to prepare for the duel."
"Pardon? Are you serious about that? But that's…"
"The dice have already been cast. Maybe Professor Chris will also give Jevan some advice or teach him some basic magic techniques. This isn't a match between Jevan and you, it's a matter of pride between me and Professor Chris. As professors… As wizards."
"Then… Am I also going to learn magic from Professor Ludger?"
I shook my head. Teaching magic was impossible in the first place.
"There is no victorious magic that I can teach you. There are only three days left in the first place. That's a ridiculously short amount of time to learn something in the meantime."
Implementation of elemental properties was completely basic, there was no need to review it anymore.
"But that doesn't mean there's nothing for me to teach you."
A duel between wizards did not happen purely with magic.
Speed of spell implementation?
Having a massive amount of mana?
Magic accuracy?
No.
Those alone were not enough.
It was nothing more than a preconception that when a wizard fought, they only fought with magic.
"Aidan, I'll teach you how you should fight when you fight against a wizard."
"R-really?"
"Yes, but the remaining time is three days. What I can teach will be a very basic thing because the time is tight. It will be very hard. You may fail as well. Do you still want to do it?"
"Yes! I will do it!"
Aidan answered loudly in determination.
Yes. That was a good attitude.
Of course, I didn't mean to go easy on him, even if he refused to learn it.
"Then let's get started today."
"P-pardon? Are you sure?"
Aidan's face became slightly stunned because he didn't know that we would start right away.
I nodded and glanced at the two people who were watching both of us from a distance.
"The same goes for both of you."
"Pardon?"
"Us… us too?"
Leo and Tessie. When I called them, both of them were confused but couldn't refuse me.
Of course, it wasn't like Aidan was the only one who was going to move, and they seemed like they were going to stay together forever.
If I was going to improve the skills of one of them, I had to pour my teachings to all three musketeers.
The remaining time was three days.
Chris and Jevan must have been celebrating it early, thinking that they would win.
I had no intention of disturbing their toast of celebration.
It was up to them if they wanted to celebrate prematurely in their imagination.
However, would they be able to enjoy their freedom even after seeing what was going to happen in three days?
Just a little bit…
I started to look forward to it.
* * *
* * *
"Aaaargh. I'm dying."
On a dark night when the sun was completely gone…
Returning to the dormitory, Aidan dragged his tired body to lie down on the bed.
He was proud to have never missed a single training since he had arrived at Sören, but Ludger's training was beyond his imagination.
Was it because he was a soldier?
As Aidan recalled Ludger's hard training, who was teaching Leo and Tessie along with him, he massaged his aching body.
'I didn't expect that I would use my body that much.'
What Ludger taught them was not spellcasting or spell technique, but it was literally how to use their body.
Well, they did use their brain.
It was because they had to use their body and brain at the same time.
Aidan didn't know how many times he rolled on the floor in the training ground because of that.
He couldn't believe he had to do that for another two days.
'Still, I feel like I've improved.'
Ludger's teaching was hard enough for him to overwork his body, but Aidan carried it out silently without complaining.
Because he instinctively felt sure that the method was helpful to him.
'More than that, why did Professor Ludger say he would trust me?'
Did it mean that he didn't think Aidan would lose to Jevan? Then what on earth was the reason for that?
'Is it because of the magic I use?'
There was that kind of probability. Professors basically had the right to browse through students' information.
He still didn't understand why Ludger had certainty in him with that alone.
Ludger had never seen him using Uncommon Magic himself, so why was he so sure?
The magic he learned was passed on by his teacher himself, so it would be hard to understand the magic just by hearing its name.
'Does Professor Ludger happen to know anything about my teacher?'
Aidan closed his eyes with that thought.
The day was so tiring that he fell asleep without even thinking about changing his clothes.
***
Two days later…
Aidan was running on the outdoor training ground until he was out of breath.
"Haah haah."
Ludger stood with his hands behind his back on the street where Aidan was running.
Aidan accelerated his run further as he saw Ludger.
Ludger, who was keeping his hands behind his back, stretched out his right hand.
At that moment, a white mana sphere flew toward Aidan from Ludger.
"Urgh!"
Aidan turned sideways while clenching his teeth as he looked at the sphere, and when he was about to cast a spell at the same time…
Tak.
"Oh?!"
He twisted his legs and fell on the spot.
Aidan had avoided the magic, but he had to roll several times on the ground.
Ludger slowly approached Aidan.
"Mana circulation and moving your body are separate things. Don't try to overlap them, but perceive them separately."
"Yes, yes!"
Aidan, who was covered in dirt, stood back up from his spot.
"You failed again this time, so do another lap. Run around."
"Yes!"
Aidan ran around the training ground once again.
Leo and Tessie, who were resting on chairs in the training ground, stared at Aidan like they were looking at a devoting monster.
"Oh, my God. We are already tired and don't have the strength to run anymore, but Aidan really has the stamina."
Tessie was purely admiring Aidan's tireless physical strength.
She had been building up her physical strength even before she had entered Sören, but it was not at a level that was even close to Aidan's.
She had tried to catch up with Aidan by clenching her teeth, but she had eventually put up the white flag.
"He's very determined."
On the other hand, Leo was the first to take a break because he was physically weaker than Tessie because his body was small.
But Leo's ability to see things was sharper.
According to what Tessie saw, he looked fine, but Aidan had actually reached his physical limit.
Nevertheless, the fact that he kept running was probably due to his determination to not lose in the open duel.
"Hnggg."
Tessie listened to Leo and stared blankly at Aidan.
A boy who didn't say that he didn't like her even though her treatment toward him was so bad…
He had smiled and asked her to eat together and reached out his hand as her friend first like a stupid person.
She couldn't take her eyes off Aidan's appearance as he was working hard in his training—he looked dirty with all the sweat and grime, but was it too much for her to think that even that was cool?
Before they knew it, Aidan had already run around a full lap and rushed toward Ludger.
Ludger raised his hand.
'It's coming.'
Leo and Tessie were nervous at the same time.
A cold sweat flowed in their clenched fists.
Ludger's magic flew toward Aidan, who was gasping and almost on the verge of exhaustion.
It was a basic spell of Shining Stone.
It would hurt if he got hit, but it would be easy for Aidan to avoid if he just focused on the magic, as Ludger was going easy on him.
The problem was that it was not easy to avoid the magic while running.
But…
Tessie, who saw Aidan twist his body sideways in a running position and avoid Ludger's magic, jumped up from her seat unconsciously.
"He avoided it!"
"Not yet. The important thing is the next step."
It was as Leo said.
—Aidan needed to avoid the magic and then strike back.
Aidan immediately gathered his mana. Without stopping his run, he used his mana and deployed a spell technique.
It was a technique that required a wizard to use their head and body separately in order to cast magic while moving their body.
At first glance, it might seem simple, but nothing was more difficult than that for a person who had not yet mastered magic properly.
It was more difficult than drawing a square with one hand and a triangle with the other hand.
—A division of thought.
And he had to move his body and cast the magic separately.
'Aidan. If it's you, you can do it.'
Leo clenched his fist.
A wizard must concentrate his mind to the extreme in order to cast their spell—that was why the process of carving magic was important.
—Because a wizard couldn't move when they used magic.
That was why wizards were always exposed to danger.
Wizards had taken the method of wrapping a barrier around themselves or shortening their spellcasting so they could safely cast their magic.
However, there were some people who took a completely different method.
There were people who thought that if it was dangerous if they could not move when using magic, they should just use magic while moving.
They were wizards, but they did not just stay still but practiced their magic by training their bodies to the limit.
Unlike those who learned and explored magic, they were eccentric people who moved around the world and adventurers who always challenged the unknown to fights.
—War Mages.
The method that Ludger taught him was Moving Magus, the most basic way of fighting that those war mages learned.
"Hap!"
Aidan took a deep breath and boosted his mana.
He did not stop his legs from running; he didn't even have time to catch his breath.
There was no need to talk. The important thing was his will.
He moved his body and charged his mana separately at the same time.
A magic emerged on Aidan's hands, who was running nonstop. Leo and Tessie, who were watching the scene from a distance, opened their eyes and mouths wide.
And the spell that Aidan casted…
It was a basic first-tier spell, the same Shining Stone that Ludger shot at him.
Even though it was more insignificant than Ludger's spell and more like a blurry spell than a shining one…
He clearly casted the spell properly and it flew towards Ludger.
Baam!
However, Ludger lifted his gloved right hand and grabbed Aidan's Shining Stone easily.
Leo and Tessie, who were watching the scene, unwittingly exclaimed, "Ah!" and expressed their frustrations.
They thought he could land at least one shot.
"Haah, haah."
Aidan, who was gasping, stopped in front of Ludger and regained his breath.
"Aidan."
"Haah, haah. Yes, Professor."
"You passed."
Drop.
As soon as he heard Ludger's answer, Aidan sprawled on the ground.
—With a complacent smile that he finally did it.
"The duel is tomorrow, so get enough rest for the last time today."
"Haah. Haah."
Aidan couldn't afford to answer that.
Ludger smirked at the sight and turned his back.
"If it's you, then you can do it."
Aidan was too tired and couldn't hear it.
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