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An Otherworldly Scholar - 208
🕑 Added 2025-03-06 04:17:16 +0000 UTCAll thoughts disappeared from my mind, but a face I saw briefly years ago in the law firm where I used to work.
“Byrne is here?” I asked, grabbing Wolf’s shoulders. “When did you meet him?”
The orc boy gave me an apologetic look.
“He enrolled us the day we arrived at the academy.”
My mind raced. When I met the System Avatar for the first time, he told me Byrne wasn’t in this world anymore. Either the Avatar was lying, or Byrne found a way to make himself invisible to the System. I squeezed [Foresight], accelerating my thoughts to a dizzying speed. Maybe it was neither. Maybe the System Avatar told the truth, and Byrne had more portals to Earth. The man had a hundred properties where he could hide a portal.
I closed my eyes, deep in thought. Byrne dropped the deal with the Avatar because he discovered the truth—System and Corruption were inseparable. Corruption was a natural consequence of channeling great amounts of mana, and as long as the System existed, the cycle of Corruption would continue. A single question burned in my mind. Would he try to stop me if he realized I was a Runeweaver?
Byrne’s runeweaving notes were leagues above my current skills. He had knowledge of Runeweaving I could only dream of, which meant he was a threat greater than the Lich himself. Conversely, I could try to steal his investigation to improve my Runeweaving.
My brain slowed down.
I would deal with Byrne when the moment comes.
“I should have told you,” Wolf said.
“It’s okay. I understand you didn’t want to burden us, but your problems aren’t a burden. Everyone at the orphanage will always be happy to help you regardless of the circumstances.” I patted his shoulders. He was taller than me, so the position was strange. like I was reassuring a giant’s child. “How are you feeling?”
Wolf shook his head, a bittersweet expression on his face.
For a moment, he was the withdrawn boy again.
“It’s a silly thing, really. I don’t need him to acknowledge me. I just wanted to save us the awkward moment, so I changed my name to prevent him from recognizing it,” Wolf said, signaling toward Aardvark and the cadets. “I have enough on my plate with the tribe, the Academy, and this group of idiots to worry about my estranged father.”
Wolf put special emphasis on this group of idiots.
[Foresight] told me he was telling the truth. He didn’t care about Byrne.
“Wolf Clarke… it has a nice ring to it,” I said, elbowing Wolf’s ribs.
“My other option was Rosebud, but only a demented mind would mix an animal and a plant in a single name.”
We laughed, just like in the old days.
There was only one loose end in the story. Wolf alone wouldn’t have prompted Astur to summon me. Every cadet was someone’s child, and I didn’t see Astur recruiting parents left and right.
“What about you, Firana? Did you change your surname because you found enemies of the Aias House or something?”
I guessed the answer.
Firana blushed, hiding her head between her shoulders.
“She did it because she was jealous of Wolf,” Zaon pointed out.
I couldn’t help but laugh.
Firana retaliated by smacking Zaon’s head.
“Well, as flattered as I am, I will not allow you to call me dad…” I said, turning to Firana. A mischievous smile appeared on her face. “...or Robert, for that matter. I am an instructor now, so you will stick to Mister Clarke while we are on the Academy premises.”
Firana rolled her eyes.
“Aight, Robert, whatever you say. I’m an adult, and you can’t control me.”
“Oh? Do you think you have what it takes to sass an instructor, little lady?” I said, sending a wave of mana into my training sword.
Firana grinned as sparks crackled around her legs.
“Do you think you can match my speed, old man?”
Firana’s sassiness had doubled since the last time we met, and so did her mana. Aardvark and the other cadets stepped back to the edges of the bubble. However, the sound of bells interrupted our staredown. I dispelled the mana with a deep sigh.
“Where are you going?” Firana asked in disbelief. “I want to show you how much I’ve improved!”
“Maybe later. I have lessons to impart,” I replied, returning the practice sword to the weapons rack.
“You can’t do this to me! I was getting fired up!” Firana said, but my answer was final. “Come on! I’m your favorite student! We haven’t met in two years!”
The cadets laughed as the girl trailed me.
“My new students are my priority, Firana. I have new favorites,” I said, walking to the bubble’s entrance.
“You are bluffing,” she replied, standing defiantly. “Teachers don’t have favorites. That’s illegal.”
I exited the barrier, and she gave me an offended expression.
It has been a while since I had this much fun.
“Wait, don’t go!” Firana said, but Wolf stopped her.
“We have to do the debrief,” he said.
“Me too,” Ilya grunted. “What about you, Zaon?”
The boy gave her a fiendish smile.
“I did it this morning, as we were ordered, but good luck with that. I will escort Mister Clarke back to his classroom.”
“Let's meet after class. I want to hear everything! ” I said, waving goodbye while Ilya and Firana glared at us.
Wolf signaled the other cadets to follow him as he dragged Firana away, and we parted ways. I noticed a few curious glances at us, but nobody seemed to care enough to stop us and inquire about the strange ‘sparring’ session. Each bubble had a sound barrier, so hearing what was happening inside was impossible. The tremors, however, still managed to go out.
I made a mental note to ask them if they had landed a boyfriend or a girlfriend.
Elincia would’ve wanted to know.
I looked at Zaon. He had grown a lot. He was taller, more mature, and even more handsome, but his kind aura remained the same. Still, there was something strange in his eyes—a certain sadness. It worried me. Sadness sticks to people if left unattended for too long.
“How have things truly been?” I asked once we exited the Egg. “And before you answer, I'll let you know I’ve seen enough to know you've been lying to us in your letters.”
Zaon sighed. He knew that the little omissions would eventually come back to bite his ass. I could picture him trying to convince Ilya and Firana to tell the truth without much success.
“It’s been hard. The first month was hell, the first semester torture, and the first year pure, continuous agony. I thought I would get expelled during the first month. I didn’t get a win well into the first year. I cried a lot, but you were always there telling me to trust the process. Even when I thought I was broken beyond repair… when the old me resurfaced, the others picked up the pieces and put me back together,” Zaon said. “It was strenuous, even cruel at times, but I am happy I went through it.”
I wasn’t expecting it to be that hard. By the time Zaon and the kids left Farcrest, they had a solid understanding of fencing and combat, and the pass for the Farlands had seasoned them. They had to be ahead of the other cadets in knowledge and experience, but it seemed it wasn’t enough.
“It was that hard?”
“It was for me.” Zaon smiled. “Firana cruised through the first year and… well, the fact she’s in Wolf’s squad helped her to remain focused during the second year.”
Part of me felt hurt. It has been some time since I realized I would move mountains for the kids, but there were battles they had to fight on their own. Zaon had emerged stronger.
“Wait, aren’t you part of Wolf’s group?”
“He invited me, but I had to learn to do this alone. Ilya was the same. After the first year, there are so many expulsions that classes join and merge. After the second year, the cadets form our own squads,” Zaon explained. “I’m the leader of Squad Rosethorn. Ilya is part of Ghost Basilisk, and Wolf and Firana are part of Wolfpack… he hates the name, by the way.”
My heart skipped a beat. I never doubted Zaon’s ability to stay at the Academy, but I hadn’t expected him to become a squad leader. Just a minute ago, I thought my pride in the kids had reached its peak—now I knew I was wrong. If I swelled with any more pride, I might just burst like a balloon.
“Holy cow, Zaon, congratulations! That’s huge!” I said.
Zaon dismissed my compliment, a bit embarrassed.
“I wanted to be part of a different squad but wasn’t looking to become a squad leader. They forced me into this position.”
I playfully elbowed him.
“Come on, man! They knew you would be a good leader.”
Zaon let out an awkward laugh, but before I could ask more questions about the Rosethorn Squad, we reached the doors of Class Cabbage.
Talindra hasn’t been particularly insightful about teaching at the Academy.
It may be better to ask someone who endured the process firsthand.
“Do you have any advice for me, as an instructor? I feel a bit out of my depth,” I said.
Zaon pondered on the question. The light from the tall windows cast golden gleams against his hair, and his smooth skin shone like porcelain. There was no way he hadn’t landed a girlfriend.
After a moment, Zaon raised his head and looked me in the eye.
“That’s not the question you want to ask. I know what kind of teacher you are, Mister Clarke. You want everyone to pass the selection exams. That was your job back in your homeland, but here it’s different. This isn’t a school. The requirements are way higher,” Zaon said.
He had read me like an open book.
“What you did with us back at the orphanage isn’t enough. You must push your cadets to the limit to get what you want. And even then, some will not be prepared to make those sacrifices. Listen to me, Mister Clarke. It will not be your fault if some of them drop out. The drive needed to become a Knight isn’t something you can put inside their hearts. If something goes wrong, it will not be your fault,” Zaon said, stopping to look for the right words. “I was able to endure it because of what I saw in the Farlands. That’s not something you can teach. It’s something you have to live through. When I think about the Lich, the undead, and the Chrysalimorphs… I can’t do anything but clench my teeth and endure another training session because the next time I might be alone, I won’t have you to save me. Maybe, next time, I will be the one protecting the little ones back at the orphanage. That thought… that feeling of helplessness got me through everything.”
I nodded in silence, sad and happy at the same time. I couldn’t describe it. I didn’t know I could feel such complicated feelings. Even if it was born from hardship, Zaon had found something that pushed him forward.
I stood by the door, not wanting to let him go.
“Want to help me with my new students, Zaon? Just for today.”
Zaon’s grave expression shattered.
“Me?”
“Yes, Zaon. There’s no one else around. You have way more experience at the Academy than me. I want to see how hard you’d go with them,” I said. “Holst has Ilya as his assistant. I can’t hold back if I want to keep the title of the greatest Scholar of Farcrest.”
“Firana will be jealous,” Zaon grinned.
“I will take her out for dinner or something,” I replied, opening the door.
Talindra had already turned the amphitheater classroom into the sparring arena. Before I could introduce Zaon, [Foresight] pinged my brain. There were fewer students than before—a lot less. I opened the [Classroom Overlord] layout. Several entries had disappeared. Of the original twenty-four students, only ten showed up.
“Am I early?” I asked.
My inner clock told me exactly an hour had passed.
Leonie raised her hand.
“Is it true that you killed an Imperial Knight?”
My body stiffened. I felt the cadet’s glances like needles. Killing an Imperial Knight was not only taboo—it hit close to home. Leonie and Yvain’s fathers were Imperial Knights. I scanned the room. Yvain was sitting near the corner, watching in silence. His name was still in the [Classroom Overlord] layout.
“Let me tell you about myself,” I said, channeling my mana.
Teachers had a secret weapon for difficult situations: talking about their personal lives. My mana swirled and took the shape of a stylized, simple version of a man dressed as an office worker—brown shoes, blue dress pants, and a cheap white shirt. The man walked over a cartoonish wooden floor and free-fell through a hole.
The illusion entranced the cadets. Flashy moving pictures might be the ultimate form of entertainment.
After a few seconds, the little illusory office worker fell into a forest surrounded by little cartoon wolves.
“I arrived at Ebros in a portal accident as a low-level Scholar. During a routine inspection at work, I fell into a portal and landed in the Farlands. Suffice to say, the welcoming committee wasn’t particularly friendly,” I said as the little man ran away from the wolves.
I took the creative license to remove the shotgun from the picture.
The little man stumbled down a crevice in the ground and bumped into a beautiful faceless half-elf with platinum hair. Together, they defeated the wolves after a flashy combat.
The cadets were enjoying it.
“The woman I met was an Alchemist collecting ingredients in the Farlands. She offered me help to get on my feet and a job in the orphanage she ran,” I said as the picture changed into Lowell’s manor. “Despite her efforts, things were not going well. A former teacher had poisoned the crops before leaving, and the orphanage was running out of funds. But that wasn’t the greatest problem. The oldest kids were about to turn fifteen and would be drafted into the army as Lv.1 combatants or support classes. You know what happens with a Lv.1 in the Deep Farlands, Leonie?”
The girl shyly nodded.
“They die,” she said.
“The Imperial Knights would’ve protected them,” Yvain rose from his seat.
“Like when the Osgirian forces decided to reinforce the vanguard for the last scraps of honor instead of helping the Vedras troops in the rear?” I snapped back.
Yvain sat down, his face red as a tomato. There was a reason why Lord Vedras had killed Enric Osgiria—a blood feud. As much as I disliked the monarchic political order, Vedras was a man of honor raised by Lowell himself. A murderer, yes. A man who deeply cared for his people, also yes.
“Anyway,” I said. “We decided to get the older kids in the Imperial Academy to dodge the draft.”
“That’s impossible,” Fenwick said. “How would you fool the System into giving orphans good Classes?”
I grinned.
“By changing the contents of their soul, evidently.”
The cadets whispered in disbelief as if I had revealed that my father was a cricket and my mother a narwhal.
“For half a year, I trained them from dawn to dusk. At first, they were doubtful, but they held to that sliver of hope, and they got better and better. A feisty human girl, a sassy gnome, a stalwart half-orc, and a shy elf,” I continued the illusion, showing simplified versions of Firana, Ilya, Wolf, and Zaon, sluggish at first but mastering the basics of Liechtenauer's tradition.
As the four cartoonish kids fenced, the cadets were on the edge of their seats.
“The orphans improved so much that they caught the attention of two allies, Captain Izabeka Kiln of Farcrest, a Lv.51 Knight, and Sir Janus, the Imperial Knight,” I continued. “They vouched for us and allowed the orphanage to participate in the Stephaniss Cup. Do you know what that was about?”
Malkah raised his hand.
“Two years ago, the royal army was stationed in a frontier town during the winter. They celebrated a junior tournament to commemorate the previous Marquis. Prince Adrien invited every noble house to participate, but the tournament was cut short due to a Monster Surge,” he said. “I was there with my father, but I was too young to participate,” he added as the cadets turned around with quizzical faces.
If I recall correctly, the Kigrians were eliminated in the early rounds.
“Malkah is right. The youth of the kingdom fought a tournament. Many participants must be second and third-year Cadets right now,” I explained. “The thing is, Captain Kiln and Sir Janus vouched for us, and we were allowed to participate as the city’s third team. The first team comprised nobles and the second team of young cadets of the City Guard. We were the absolute underdogs!”
The illusion continued with a series of fights.
I put special effort into making them fast and flashy.
The cadet’s eyes shot wide open.
“We defeated Lord Nara, a vassal of the Osgirian House, in the first round. Then, we defeated Lord Herran’s children. As we were put in one of the favorable brackets, we reached the finals,” I said, slowing down my narration to show the highlights of the matches. Firana dodging Belya Nara’s stone spikes, Wolf holding his ground against the Berserker Jorvin Herran, Ilya flawlessly winning versus Vigdis, the snow mage, and Zaon controlling the pace of the combat against Lino, the Lv.9 Soldier.
I took the liberty to enhance the special effects with mana explosions, sparks, and arcs of multicolor light.
“The finals, however, were cut short by the Monster Surge,” I said, cutting Firana’s fight against the Harpy Cadet short. “There was a problem, though. My students performed so well that Janus got jealous. You might not know this, but he is the only Imperial Knight of humble origins in Farcrest. He is… or was, a living legend, but we put his legacy in danger.”
The scene changed into a fight in the alley.
“Janus lied to everyone. He wasn’t a Shadow Fencer anymore. He had gotten his Prestige Class long ago,” I said, expanding the illusion to encroach the whole classroom and sending it into darkness. The cadets recoiled. Then, a small light broke the shadows. “Izabeka was also concealing her class. She wasn’t a Knight, but a Lv.51 Radiant Knight. Janus severed her arm, but she gave me enough time to escape. Then, I grabbed the kids, and we fled to the only place where he couldn’t find us. We rode toward the Monster Surge into the Farlands.”
Life-sized Ice Wraiths, Undead Harpies, and Blood Eagles filled the classroom. I abandoned the cartoonish style for the real deal. We fought against Mana Stingers and Chrysalimorphs. I dropped the narrative for more shocking imagery. The five of us turned into blurs, clashing against the monsters in a frenzy. The Corruption Spire, Wolf’s triumphant ride, Izabeka’s return, the Elven Citadel, the Lich Dragon, and the Teal Moon army escorting us back to Farcrest, everything in a quick succession of chaotic images.
Even Talindra was absorbed by the pictures.
“The danger wasn’t over for the orphanage, though. When I returned to Farcrest, I challenged him to a duel. After all, he had tried to kill the Captain of the Guard,” I said as the illusion disappeared, and two figures stood in the middle of the sparring platform.
Their duel started slowly, testing the waters, but in the blink of an eye, it became aggressive. Frantic. Almost feral. Our faces turned into bestial masks of anger. And then, Janus opened my stomach and kicked my sword away.
The kids gasped, and the illusion dissolved into thin air.
“No! Wait! How does it end?!” Aeliana asked in her thick, southerner accent.
The shadows disappeared, and the classroom returned to normal.
“I won, of course. How? That’s a secret for later,” I said. “So, to answer Leonie’s question… yes. I killed an Imperial Knight.”
The cadets exchanged hushed murmurs.
Fenwick raised his hand.
“So… the rumors are true. You are a child soldier apologist!”
For a moment, I was too dumbfounded to defend myself from the accusation.
“I don’t know who spread those rumors, but they aren’t true,” Zaon stepped forward, his voice resonating through the classroom.
“And who are you?” Fenwick asked.
Zaon channeled his mana, projecting the illusion of a cartoonishly meek version of himself.
He smirked in a way that would put to shame Firana’s best shit-eating grin.
“I’m just an orphan.”
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AN: Hey there! Sorry for the delay! I was moving my things back from my parent's house. Friday's chapter should be on schedule.
Comments
Ben Bass
TYFTC! I love Robert’s use of his illusions as a teaching method, so very powerful when building a narrative. Now let’s see how they deal with Zaon, and how many will show up for the next class.
Paul McGlynn
Considering that everyone wants to be a combat class and that kids get their magical powers at age 15, I'm surprised that the concept of child soldiers even exists as something despicable.
Jouni Osmala
Let's see so 10 out of 24 are left. Those 10 will spread the truth to their comrades, and some 3rd year cadets will go correct attitudes of rest of the missing students. And class is suddenly a lot more full in the morning.
Weird_Medic
Great chapter! The delay was worth it.
I Dare Korval
Now there is no way Lord Astur isn't going to find out Robert trained all 4 of them. Too many people have heard things. It'll be interesting to see how he changes his teaching to try to help the students pass now knowing how difficult it will be for them.
Matthew
Hell yeah! Love the chapter, love Rob's story to the cadets. And I'm gonna love it even more when all the students who did/do stay manage to make it past the first year. It will be pretty hard to argue he doesn't deserve to be there when he has a 100% graduation rate, Of the students who actually stuck around and tried at least.
