C56: Recruiting an Assistant Teacher (1)
Chapter 3/3 for last week. Sorry for the late post.
The day after the duel.
“Ugh. Tired.”
Aidan staggered down the hallway with slow steps like a zombie. Even now, as soon as class was over, some students approached him and talked to him or pretended to be friendly.
Excessive attention from other students was too burdensome for Aidan, and it was rather annoying.
“Ugh. Why did this happen?”
“It’s because you did a great job in front of everyone. Are you stupid?”
Leo, who heard Aidan talking to himself, intervened.
“Is it?”
“Ugh. You are completely unaware of this.”
Leo realized that Aidan was sincere and sighed while Aidan scratched his head shyly.
Aidan was the type of person who didn’t like to show off because he genuinely liked magic rather than having the mindset to succeed as a wizard.
How many such people were there, including Aidan in Theon?
“It wasn’t enough that you won the duel against the nobles, you even used a strange magic to get rid of the opponent’s magic.”
“Yeah?”
“Aidan, what kind of magic did you use back then?”
Tracy, who was walking one step closer than usual to Aidan, couldn’t contain her curiosity and asked. In her eyes, there was a strong will to find out the magic that Aidan used. Aidan hesitated to answer the burdensome gaze.
“Uh, um. just……I learned it when I was young. It’s nothing.”
“If that’s nothing, what are we?”
“That’s right. It’s magic that erases magic. I’ve never heard of anything like that. Don’t turn around and answer me right away.”
“Ummm.”
Aidan hesitated to answer because his Master had strictly warned him not to divulge this magic. That was the reason why he desperately refused to answer the persistent questions of his classmates. Although he doesn’t mind telling anyone he really trusts.
‘Is it really okay?’
Aidan thought for a moment. Tracy and Leo are the precious friends he made here in Theon. They had been close friends before he used anti-magic so he didn’t think they had any hidden agenda.
Suddenly, he remembered what his Master said.
‘There will always be times in life where you have to choose something. In that case, follow your heart.’
His Master spoke lightly, but Aidan never forgot those teachings and made a decision.
“I will tell you.”
“Really?”
When Aidan answered seriously, Tracy was surprised. She wasn’t expecting much when she asked the question since she saw Aidan keep his mouth shut despite the barrage of questions from other students after class a while ago.
She thought that there might be a secret that Aidan couldn’t tell and just wanted to try her luck but she didn’t expect his answer.
“Let’s go to a quiet place for now.”
The three of them headed to the rose park.
* * *
The rose park was filled with a gentle fragrance under the dazzling sun. Aidan sat on a quiet bench in the park where beautiful colorful roses were in full bloom, and thought about what to say.
“What should I say?”
Then he finally opened his mouth, thinking that he should speak from the beginning.
“What I used is called anti-magic, it’s magic that removes magic.”
“We can see that.”
“So it’s called anti-magic.”
Leo and Tracy had contrasting reactions.
Aidan smiled brightly and continued.
“It was my master, a wandering wizard, who taught me this magic, but in reality, I am the only one who knows how to use anti-magic.”
“What? Why?”
“He said it was possible only with a special body. I didn’t know either, but Master said so.”
“A special constitution…….”
“Who is that Master?”
The thing Tracy and Leo were most curious about was Aidan’s teacher. A wandering wizard who knew anti-magic? If he was that talented, they should have known him.
To that, Aidan scratched his cheek and answered.
“I don’t know either.”
“What?!”
“……What?”
At the sharp gazes of Tracy and Leo, Aidan held out both hands and made an excuse in a hurry.
“When I first met my Master, I was only 8 years old. That was more than 10 years ago.”
“10 years…….”
“Besides, he’s so free-spirited and hard to keep track of, so even now, I don’t know where he is or what he’s doing. When he left, he disappeared like the wind, so there was no time to ask for his name.”
“What? Then you don’t know if he’s alive or dead?”
“Ugh. Still, considering his skills, he should be alive. I think so.”
What a carefree reaction to a teacher who taught him an extraordinary magic called anti-magic. Tracy bit her lips, trying to say something to him.
Tracy felt sad.
‘I wanted to know more about Aidan.’
Suddenly, Tracy realized that she was overly interested in Aidan.
‘Ahhh! No! It is only important to me to bring my family back to life!’
Tracy immediately cleared her thoughts and shook her head violently from side to side. Her red hair, tied in two ponytails, swayed to match.
‘It’s just curiosity, it’s just curiosity. Yes. That’s all.’
Leo, who had been listening quietly, raised his question as Tracy was distressed.
“It’s more exciting than that. Even 10 years ago, the anti-magic you used was not so well known.”
“Ugh. Maybe it’s because it’s so rare?”
“The rarer the magic, the more famous it has to be. Even more so if that magic erases other magic.”
Anti-magic has no lethal power. Compared to other wizards, there were certainly few things that could be done with anti-magic. But for one thing, when dealing with wizards, anti-magic showed incredible performance.
“Aidan. That anti-magic, does it all work regardless of the magic hierarchy?”
“Well. I don’t know that either. To be honest, this is the first time I’ve used it properly. Up until now, I haven’t had any use for it.”
“Didn’t your teacher tell you that?”
“I was never given a detailed explanation because teacher is not like that. Besides, I also liked learning magic at that time, so I just learned it without thinking.”
“Ugh.”
Leo sighed in response to Aidan’s answer. It was a collaboration between an irresponsible and secretive master, and an immature rural kid who simply liked magic and thought about learning it.
“Leo, why are you asking that?”
“I think I heard something a while ago.”
“What?”
“Your master. Do you know his name?”
“Uh, huh? I didn’t ask for his name. Maybe he told me, but I don’t remember.”
“Probably he didn’t say his name. There hasn’t been any news from such a person for the past 10 years and that’s strange. If he’s that talented, it wouldn’t be surprising to have his name adorned on a page of any newspaper.”
“Really?”
Aidan was illiterate in this field, so he couldn’t answer properly.
“I think it’s because you aren’t aware of it yet, but anti-magic is magic that can make noise just by itself, especially in the magic world.”
“But after going through that, I noticed that the other guys didn’t know about it.”
“That must mean that it was that secret. It is difficult for students who are learning magic now to understand something like that.”
Then Tracy, who was listening, intervened.
“Didn’t the teachers know? If they didn’t know, the teachers wouldn’t have left Aidan alone.”
“Some of the teachers had their eyes wide open as if they were surprised. They knew about anti-magic, but they were surprised to see people actually using it.”
“Did you check that?”
Leo nodded.
When everyone in the audience watched Aidan, who used anti-magic, blankly, Leo focused on the reaction of the audience. Among them, there were some people who showed a natural reaction as if they knew this from the beginning.
People who know about anti-magic, know how Aidan uses it, and were not surprised to see it in front of their eyes.
“First of all, the president.”
“Well, the president is a great person, so she probably knew. Anyone else?”
“There was Mr. Hugo and Mrs. Marie Ross, who seemed to have been in the teaching profession for a long time. Other than that, the new teachers were unaware. But….”
“But?”
“Mr. Rudger Chelici was different.”
“Mr. Rudger……?”
“Yes. Ms. Rudger had a natural reaction, as if he had known about Aidan’s anti-magic from the beginning.”
Aidan suddenly remembered the figure of Rudger that day. He was always a consistent person, so he thought it was strange, but his attitude was still strange even though he used anti-magic.
“Perhaps Mr. Rudger knew a little about the anti-magic Aidan used?”
“Did he know? If so, to what extent?”
“I don’t know about that but I’m guessing it may have something to do with Aidan’s master.”
Then Tracy came forward and responded.
“That’s too much of a guess no matter how you think about it. Didn’t you ever think that Mr. Rudger might not have noticed in the first place?”
“You’re the one who doesn’t know, Tracy.”
“What?”
“Let’s think. Why was it that Mr. Rudger was so good to Aidan?”
At Leo’s words, Tracy frowned.
“Did you forget? When giving the lecture on elemental attributes, Mr. Rudger complimented Aidan.”
“No, that’s because Aidan did a good job…….”
“That cold-blooded one? Have you not seen Flora Lumos-senpai? It was Mr. Rudger who did not spare any bitterness or harsh words against that genius. And what’s important next. Do you remember the bet Mr. Rudger had with Mr. Chris?”
“Of course.”
“At that time, Mr. Rudger was betting that Aidan would win. He said it without a single hesitation. Isn’t it strange? Up until now, Aidan has been an ordinary student with little known information.”
“That…….”
“What was it about Aidan that made Mr. Rudger so convinced that Aidan would win against a noble student? And why did he spend his personal time teaching him the [Moving-Magus] as well?”
The more Leo spoke, the less Tracy spoke. After listening to him, it seemed that Leo was right.
“I checked and the [Moving-Magus] is a practical technique used only by special people in the military.”
“Mr. Rudger served as a military officer.”
“That’s the part. Lessons learned in the military. Military officer. A sense of knowing a little about anti-magic. I found a connection here.”
“What?”
Tracy asked, and Aidan was also interested in Leo’s guess, waiting for his next words.
“Maybe Mr. Rudger may know something about your teacher.”
“Mr. Rudger? But how?”
“I don’t know details about that. However, my guess is yes. Mr. Rudger must have met your teacher while he was a military officer. The reason your master has such skills and is not famous and secret is probably because he came from a secret unit in the military that should not be known.”
Leo was convinced in his heart that his reasoning was almost correct.
Hearing those words, Aidan felt his head tilted a little. If he was a soldier he knew, he was disciplined and always thrifty, so to speak, he would have been like Rudger. However, in his memory, his Master was more like a free spirit than a soldier.
‘No, if he was from a secret unit, he might be different from a normal soldier.’
In a way, he thought that Leo’s guess might be right.
“Does Mr. Rudger know about my teacher?”
“Considering the behavior he showed, I think it is possible. If he doesn’t, there’s no way he’ll be nice to you. Maybe the two of them were close to each other.”
It is the same with accepting anti-magic naturally and also because Rudger, who does not seem to be interested in others, spent time teaching Aidan the [Moving-Magus].
Leo’s words certainly made sense.
“Then, if I ask Mr. Rudger, won’t he tell me about Master?”
Aidan pondered for a moment at Tracy’s question and then shook his head.
“No, because I’m still not sure. Besides, I don’t want to bother teacher again for nothing, he has already been helped enough.”
“…….If you think so.”
As the conversation slowly ripened, Tracy opened her mouth as if she had remembered something.
“Ah, have you guys heard that rumor?”
“Rumor?”
“What rumor?”
* * *
I was sharing a meal with the new teachers.
First of all, they have the same motives for joining Theon, and it is essential to maintain a minimum number of personal connections no matter what country you are in.
It’s not that cumbersome. If you sit still and eat your meal, the other teachers will take care of themselves and ask for news, and then they will exchange it with each other. In particular, Ms. Selina likes to chat so much that she babbled nonstop while eating.
Of course, she’s not annoyed or anything. Rather, teacher Selina’s behavior was the mood maker of this meeting. Still, I didn’t pay much attention to the information that was asked, as it was close to ineffective.
“Oh. Doesn’t Mr. Rudger do that?”
However, I guess these news are different from the usual ones.
I turned to Selina and asked.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Mr. Rudger has been working alone all this time. From collecting data, organizing textbooks, and checking assignments. Right?”
“You’re right.”
‘Isn’t that the teacher’s job?’
Just as I was thinking about it, Selina asked me innocently.
“Why doesn’t Mr. Rudger have an assistant?”
“…….”
……Was there anything like that?
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