I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

“Yes. Well, first of all, a Sören professor did solve it."

[Do you know who the professor is?]

"He is Professor Ludger Chelysie, he is the newly appointed professor."

[A new professor? Hmm. I see. Understood.]

“Does that help you?”

[Yes. For now. I'll have to meet Professor Ludger Chelysie as soon as possible.]

"I hope there will be progress in your investigation, Dame Terina."

[Thank you for your concerns, Your Highness.]

“Yes, goodbye then.”

[Oh, yes, Your Highness Elendil.]

“Yes. What’s the matter?”

As Elendil was about to hang up the communication, Terina Lionhowl remembered something.

[The First Princess said that she wants to hear from you. She said that she was disappointed because she hasn’t heard anything from you recently, so she asked me to tell you in her stead.]

“…My sister? Yes. I understand.”

[Yes. Then farewell.]

After the call ended, Elendil had no choice but to let out a sigh while dropping her shoulders.

She was so uncomfortable to hear that her sister, the First Princess, was looking for her.

But she couldn't even argue about it.

Because Elendil knew that her sister was being as considerate as possible when she conveyed her message through Terina.

Yes. She thought that she could at least say hello.

'More than that, is Dame Terina going to come to Sören?’

The werewolf case seemed to be more serious than she thought.

Otherwise, the Security Department and even the Knight Captain of the Security Department wouldn't have moved directly.

If there was anything she could get from visiting Sören, then that would be a good thing.

Elendil didn't think more than that about the case.

***

“What did she say?”

Lieutenant Lloyd, who was waiting for Terina to finish her call, asked while flashing his glasses.

"She said that the werewolf situation in Sören was solved by a professor."

“A Sören professor, you said?”

“And she also said he is a newly appointed professor. Maybe I should meet him in person and talk face to face with him. Maybe he noticed something strange at the time."

“Then are you going to go there right away?”

Terina shook her head at Lloyd’s question.

“The investigation in Leathevelk is not over yet. Enya, do you have anything special to report?"

“Yes!”

Enya, who was standing by, responded energetically.

“I'm certain that the burned-out factory zone was a secret laboratory that studied or developed something."

"The important thing is who was there and what was going on in that place."

“That’s still…”

“Other than that?”

“Hmm. Other than that, there seems to be nothing but the recent chaos in Leathevelk's underworld."

"It wasn’t only a day or two that the underworld was in chaos."

Knights were the ones on the stage who received everyone's attention, but those in the security department were different.

Since they had been moving so secretly and seeing so many dirty things, they had a deeper connection with the underworld than with the normal route.

In fact, the place where they got the most information about the incident was the underworld.

Enya continued the report after a slight pause at Terina's words.

"Well, I heard that something unusual happened this time."

“Something unusual?”

"There's a group that dominated the underworld of Leathevelk called The Crimson Society, do you know about them?"

“I heard about them. They're quite a bother, but I didn't feel the need to get rid of them directly, so I just let them be. I remember that their scale was quite large."

“Yes. Recently, that Crimson Society was destroyed and disappeared within a day."

“A day?”

The darkness that existed behind the city…

It would not be surprising to hear that someone was dead, because there were all kinds of organizations fighting there.

It also had something to do with the news that some organizations had suddenly been cut off.

However, the Crimson Society couldn't just be called 'some organization'.

They were the organization that dominated the underworld of Leathevelk.

Since Enya said that such an organization had disappeared overnight, even Terina had to be curious.

"That's a little interesting. Do you think it's related to this case?"

“Oh, hmm. I don’t think so. However, I think it would be better to keep a close eye on Leathevelk's underworld for now because it seems that a quite great and talented group of people has shown up there—they might pose a threat to the empire."

She didn't know how many people did it, but seeing that the Crimson Society was eliminated overnight, there must be a lot of talented people involved in it.

Knights? Or were wizards involved in it?

Only God knew if they had any ill intentions.

Terina shook her head contrary to Enya's concern.

“No. It’s fine. We're currently still too busy, so you don't have to worry about that. We should be more focused on the investigation we're on right now."

“Ah, yes!”

"Once it's confirmed that there's nothing more to look for in Leathevelk, we will head straight to Sören."

“Understood.”

Terina, who was left alone after the lieutenants stepped down, tapped her arm with her fingers as she folded her arms.

‘Sören, huh.’

Although she did not speak about it to her lieutenants, Terina had been paying keen attention to Sören ever since she had spoken to the princess not long before.

She had a vague conviction that there might be a definite clue to the case in Sören.

It was just a hunch, so she didn't bother to tell her lieutenants, but considering that she was a Knight in the captain position, even such a hunch was enough to be an indicator.

‘Even though I'll have to go there to see the details myself…’

There would certainly be something in that place.

Her instincts kept telling her that.

* * *

* * *

Even after the principal told me about the Omnipotent Stone, rumors still circulated in Sören about the stone that granted wishes.

No, it was much worse than before.

'Somebody's behind the scenes trying to stir up rumors.'

It was difficult to identify exactly who they were.

The people who were living in the huge territory of Sören reached thousands.

Although it was named an academy, it was basically a small city, so it was practically impossible to identify all the people here.

Even the place where the rumors spread was called the Akashic Records, which could only be used by the students, and it was difficult to find the source because the security for their anonymity was thorough.

'I'd rather get rid of the Omnipotent Stone quickly and get the incident over with it.’

Among the students, people who said, 'Shall we look for the stone?' began to appear one by one.

Did they not realize anything from the last werewolf incident, or did they think that that case was different?

More and more students became distracted from their studies and focused on strange rumors.

‘I'm just letting them be because there's no one crossing the line yet, but that won't last long either.’

They were told to stay inside during the werewolf crisis, but the people who went outside chose to catch the werewolves.

But honestly, I wasn't in a position to say anything about the Omnipotent Stone.

Finding the stone didn't mean that anyone would get hurt because of it.

Rather, if I tried to prevent them even more, the students might be more suspicious of the existence of the Omnipotent Stone.

‘Never mind. The principal will take care of this anyway.'

Just as a student had their duty as a student, I, as a professor, also had my duty as a professor.

And my duty as a professor was to teach my classes well, after all.

“Now. Focus.”

As I was conducting the class as usual, their attention was drawn toward me when I spoke with a little strength in my tone.

However, I didn't feel the same enthusiasm as at the beginning of the semester.

I thought I knew why.

The Source Code spell had raised their initial expectations too much.

In fact, since then, I'd been teaching them what was written in the textbook and not mentioning any new magic.

Among the things I taught was Visualization of Elements, but it seemed that it was not enough for the students who were in the age of learning.

Some students were starting to complain about my class.

Tap.

I ended up closing the teaching material that I had in my hand with a loud noise.

"A lot of you seem bored, so I'll show you something fun instead of my lesson today."

“…?”

The students, who were about to slam their heads on their desks, raised their heads at my words.

They were starting to get interested.

‘It reminds me of the old days.’

There was a time when I had lived on Earth when I was also a student.

I woke up at 6:30 a.m., took the zero hour class, and studied late until 10 p.m.

I spent 15 hours a day studying.

I was that desperate, but there were certainly times when I couldn't stand it because I was too bored to continue my classes.

At that time, teachers would always relieve the students' boredom by telling stories that were not related to classes, but when I became a teacher myself, I felt like I knew why my teachers had done that.

"Wizards always use the magic immediately around them."

When I began to speak, the students responded as if asking what I was saying.

—With expressions instead of words.

I continued while ignoring those reactions.

"Typically, elemental magic is always used while revolving the spell around the spellcaster."

I said so and used the first-tier flame magic, Pyro.

A small flame broke out at the tip of my finger.

It was the most basic magic that any student in the class could use with their eyes closed.

It was a spell that didn't even require complicated techniques, so it wasn't that surprising.

But…

"If you improve this spell a little bit, it's possible to do this as well."

After removing the flame from my fingertips, I soon casted the spell again.

That time, it was the same first-tier flame magic, Pyro.

The only difference was…

The flame wasn't invoked above my hands, but in a place that was quite far away from me.

“Whoaaaaa?!”

A male student, who had almost been on the verge of falling asleep, screamed in amazement when he saw the flame right in front of his nose.

But no one laughed at the student.

Everyone's eyes were nailed to the flames floating in the air.

Their reactions were all the same.

“What’s that?”

"It's 10 meters away, but a flame was invoked there?"

“How did he do that?”

“Isn’t it a deception?”

I knew that such words would come out, so I immediately ended the Pyro spell and invoked a different spell.

Small sparks of electricity splashed throughout the classroom, water droplets formed, and wind swirled slightly.

Their locations were all different…

But I was the only one who casted the spells.

Only then did the students' eyes turn to me, as they had realized there was really something special behind it.

There was silence in the classroom, and it was to the point that I could hear someone swallowing their saliva.

“Do you have something you’re curious about?”

Then, most students raised their hands.

Their reactions were the opposite of the boredom that they shown me just before.

I smiled inwardly and pointed at a student.

“Yes. What are you curious about?”

"How on earth did you do that magic?"

"The intent of your question is vague."

At my critique, the student organized his thoughts and opened his mouth again.

"Normally, magic revolves around the spellcaster. It's because the magic’s base material, which is mana, comes from the spellcaster."

I nodded my head.

—Because it was obvious logic and common sense.

“Yes.”

"But your magic was triggered at a distance beyond common sense."

Most people would be curious about that.

So I decided to show it again.

“Now, take a look at the spell.”

I invoked a flame on my palm.

"Although magic is said to be centered on the spellcaster, the magic doesn’t touch my skin. Instead, it's stuck in the air, five centimeters above my palm."

"But it has a certain degree of freedom."

The other female student cut in the middle and said that.

I didn't bother to point her out or criticize her words.

I just quietly…

Nodded my head.

“Yes. Usually, the limit is one meter. And according to what I just did, it's practically impossible to cast a spell from this podium that reaches the very back of the classroom."

“But Professor Ludger…”

‘You did that.’

I understood what the students were talking about.

The impossible thing…

A mysteriousness beyond one's understanding…

That was the magic I had shown them.

"In the end, the principle is similar to what I’m showing you now."

I got rid of the flames floating on my palm.

"Even though one meter is the limit, it's actually not impossible to go beyond that limit—it's only that the mana consumption will only be more intense. However, it is possible if you use a different principle, as I did just now.”

Instead of casting spells around the spellcaster…

I used a method of casting spells at a distance by creating a spell at a particular coordinate.

"This is the Coordinate Designation spell."