The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 28: It Was The Worst Reunion With The Professor

That was the sound of my school life shattering to pieces.

The Prince was already on my nerves as is, and now there was this old toxic relation.

It wasn’t that I hadn’t thought of the possibility, only that I considered it as a worst-case scenario. I thought the chances of it actually happening would be close to zero.

The world truly wanted to fuck me over.

Hasfeldt was in a position in which I couldn’t ignore her even if I wanted. I’d have to see her at least twice a day.......

[It was the worst reunion with the former master....]

You need to shut up.

Prince Klion and Professor Hasfeldt. There was one essential way to be simultaneously free of both of them. That was to establish as many connections as I could within the school. I needed to gather those who could stand up for me when the time came.

The only ones decent to me at the moment were Lotte, Freyr, and Miss Heerlein. I didn’t even know the names of anyone else. Besides one, that elf whose thoughts were a complete mystery.

For now, at least, Hasfeldt wasn’t solely focused on me since she was speaking to the whole class. Professor Hasfeldt explained the rules needed to be followed by freshmen as they lived at the Academy.

I didn’t remember what numbers one to four were. The important one was the fifth.

“Fifth, we forbid any dating within the school so as not to disrupt anyone’s learning.”

Oho, that was a good one.

Then with a ‘clack’, someone at the back stood from their chair.

“Where in the world does such a clause exist?”

It was the sex-crazed Prince. Prince Klion seemed to have objections about the current school regulations at Tilette.

“How can you still say such things in this day and age?”

“The school will not stop you from doing so outside of campus grounds. The regulation only applies within the campus for the sake of cultivating an academic atmosphere. Do you have a problem with that?”

I could tell as someone who had been her slave for three years. Those eyes meant that her hysteria gauge was at fifty percent.

“If you do, it can be taken up directly with the board.”

“Tsk.”

This guy just keeps getting worse. How was he still going after girls in a place of study?

Unfortunately, I was included as one of the girls he was targeting. That was the shitty part.

If there was one good thing in all of this, it was that I had some defense against the Prince’s fuckery while I was a student. The shield called Tilette was that solid.

The problem would be after graduation. I’d have to return behind the fences of the status system upon graduating.

Not as a commoner, though. Commoners who graduated from Tilette received special commendation from the Emperor. In other words, they were honored as a noble. One could receive the title of a Baron at the very least.

Yet I’d have to grovel beneath the Prince all the same. With the granting of a title, it might even be more restricting than as a commoner.

[Actually. What are you supposed to do after graduation?]

What was there to think about? If things went wrong, I’d make a run for it to the country of elves or the beastkin.

Or do something about the Prince before that.

My goal was to acquire all the spells besides Air Magic before graduating. I could learn Air Magic at the academy for elves. That was their specialty in the first place, after all.

While I was revising my objectives, the introduction finished. At last, I wouldn’t need to see the teach’s face anymore.

Yeah. For a few hours, at least.

**

After the morning meeting, the first period started.

“The first lesson is Understanding Magic Beasts. It would have been The Basics of Fire Magic originally, but the change has been made in light of the incident at yesterday’s ceremony so please take note.”

“Man, a lecture on the first day?”

“No way. It’ll probably just be an orientation.”

There was grumbling from here and there. Just because they were in the gifted class didn’t mean that everyone was serious about studying.

Well, of course. Youth was an incredibly valuable thing. For all the studying and training they did until now to get accepted into the Empire’s top Academy, shouldn’t they be allowed a break? It was cold-hearted to go ahead with lessons without such accommodations.

Th𝓮 most uptodate nov𝑒ls are publish𝒆d on ƒreewebηoveℓ.com.

Except for one person.

“This is exciting. What’ll we learn?”

From her seat next to me, Lotte’s eyes were already sparkling.

She’s the real thing....

[You shouldn’t be talking. Why do you only say that about Lady Saliere when you also have your book open in front of you?]

Because I had to do it even if I hated it. This was all to save precious time.

Lotte and I read our respective books that we brought until the teacher came back. After this class, it was going to be lunchtime so I planned to eat and go buy some teaching materials.

The sliding door opened and closed noisily.

And in stepped a middle-aged man with a burly figure.

He was some macho man type teacher with a beard coming down to his chest. Unlike the golems lumbering around the construction site, he appeared to have built his upper and lower body equally.

Even with the robe, the bulging muscles couldn’t be hidden. I couldn’t help but vocally admire the way his biceps were about to burst through the sleeves.

It was a nice body clearly broadcasting ‘I’m a soldier’. The teacher who could only be a seasoned warrior stamped his way to the lectern.

Then in the next moment.

“IT’S GOOD TO SEE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!”

His boisterous voice relentlessly drummed against the rim of my ears. Lotte and I quickly plugged our ears.

[110 decibels measured. A little louder and it would’ve hurt the eardrums.]

“The name’s Alex Noelheim, your teacher for the subject ‘Understanding Magic Beasts’ this semester!! I hope we all get along well!!”

“Um, sir...?”

“Mm, you over there! Do you have a question?”

“Is this a practical subject?”

“Hm, on occasion! Fundamentally, this is a theory class!”

Well.

It was like.... A teacher who you’d see outdoors for gym class coming in to teach about health and physical education.

“With regards to yesterday’s incident of the beasts’ attack on the ceremony, the board has instructed that this subject should be taught first. For you guys especially since you entered with excellent scores. Imagine your outrage in the afterlife if you die to a mid-level beast before you become a magnificent mage!!”

Shit. This teacher was going to lecture for the full two hours.

The others seemed to have sensed this as well. There was a bunch of sighing everywhere.

Once Mr. Alex wrote the name of the textbook and reference books on the chalkboard, he went straight into the lecture.

“Mm, as you live in this world, you automatically come to know that there’s a total of five levels that beasts are classified into. In this subject, I will teach you strategic responses based on real situations rather than these common theories.”

“By strategic response do you mean a manual?”

“Exactly! Beasts of different classes require different methods! Also, there are specific strategies for dealing with different beasts of the same level depending on what behavioral patterns they exhibit. This is all part of the curriculum to make sure that you won’t die miserably on the battlefield so take this as a safety lesson!”

This would be good to listen to without being distracted since it’d be something new I was learning.

[Oho. Then we should be able to learn the level of the beast that we heard when facing the Drakes yesterday!]

Um, even so, I don’t think that’d be doable with the manual alone.......

“I’ll first tell you the ones that you need to immediately run from when you encounter them. Any beast that can speak human words is unmistakably a Calamity or higher, so soldiers do not attack rashly but retreat, understood?!”

Or not?

[Then the one we met yesterday was indeed a Cataclysm.]

Wait. It could be a Calamity as well.

I raised my hand to ask a question.

“Yes, miss! What would you like to know?”

“Is there a special standard for differentiating Calamity from Cataclysm?”

Since I only studied magic theories for the admissions test, I didn’t know much about the beasts. I’d just follow what others had already classified and leave it at that. Furthermore, I didn’t even know the line between mid and high-levels.

“Excellent question! Normally, a beast’s level is distinguished based on the actual amount of damage that they cause! Something that could destroy a large city would be considered a Calamity, and anything that can decimate a country is called a Cataclysm.”

“Then are there countries that have been ruined by a Cataclysm?”

“Of course there are! It’s recorded that a single Cataclysm annihilated the kingdom of beastkin in the west as well as some unnamed principality in the Elankaya Cordillera, which is presently the playground for the beasts!”

I recall skimming over that while studying Continental History.

Before the beastkin of the west formed the current federation, there was a kingdom once built by them. It was widely known how the long-standing country of predators was destroyed within a few days without warning.

They said that it rained wherever the Cataclysm that invaded the beastkin’s kingdom went. Those who were hit by that rain turned to steel, and as that steel steadily consumed their bodies, the beastkin who were covered in metal lost their minds and went feral.

Lotte, tilting her head at Mr. Alex’s words, raised her hand next.

“The strengths of countries vary, so wouldn’t the standard be confusing? If a small nation happens to fall to a beast, then is that beast also called a Cataclysm?”

“Ohh, a rather astute question! So recently, they’re implementing a new classification standard.”

In the next moment, an unusual word came out of Mr. Alex’s mouth.

“Do you know the expression ‘The Great Nine Mechas of the Heavens’ by any chance?”

“‘The Great Nine Mechas of the Heavens’?”

It was the first time I heard it.

“It means the eight machines that have dominion over the Ninth Heaven which is the greatest of them all. Since all the beasts are composed of metal and mana stones, they can surely be described as machines!”

In the beginning, there existed the Demon King who created all the Magic Beasts.

A tale was passed down that there were the nine beasts who served directly under the Demon King. From that tale, the name ‘Nine Heavens’ was attached and it was rumored that those beasts were concentrating on preparations for the ritual of resurrecting the Demon King rather than directly attacking the people.

“I’ll explain this simply. The ones who are threats to the Empire but delaying destruction for the sake of prioritizing the Demon King’s resurrection. The Mage Association have recently made the decision to call those beasts of the Ninth Heaven ‘Cataclysms’.

To organize what I’ve just learned, there were three criteria to determine a Cataclysm.

─ Hello. Can you hear me?

A beast that can speak the human language.

─ Yeah. The Empire folk may not know this but half the capital is in our hands.

And had the power to single-handedly devastate a country.

─ But you know, the lower ranks keep bitching about it being too boring. Resurrecting the Demon King isn’t some game for brats so I don’t know why they keep demanding entertainment.

But was making efforts towards resurrecting the Demon King over the destruction of humanity.

“You should avoid encountering one even indirectly. Some are even known to manipulate a person’s will.”

Indeed, that guy was a Cataclysm.