Chapter 198: The Person I Admire
By some twist of fate, Zex suddenly found himself standing face-to-face with the person he admired more than anyone in the world.
“R-Ryu-sama……………………?”
Ryu casually flipped through a stack of documents, the pages fluttering noisily in his hand as he checked the class curriculum with a look of complete indifference.
“Let’s see… the first magic lecture for first-years is… ah, right. Fire attribute magic.”
The letter requesting his assistance from the academy headmaster had only arrived that very morning. In other words, this man had come here without preparing a single thing.
That said, there was hardly any cause for concern.
Although Ryu normally specialized in lightning magic, he could still wield every other elemental attribute with absurd proficiency—far beyond the level of most academy instructors.
“Zex, what’s wrong? Heeey, Zex~ come back to us~”
“………………”
(That jet-black hair… that breathtakingly beautiful face… that tall figure and sharp way of speaking… and above all… Kurikara, that legendary blade at his side… There’s no mistake. That person… that man is the very one I’ve dreamed of all this time…!)
Unlike the completely frozen Zex, the rest of the class—especially the female students—had already erupted into excited chatter.
“Waaah~ who is that teacher? Isn’t he way too handsome?!”
“And he’s super young too! I wonder how old he is?”
“I’m from the frontier region, so I know who he is. That’s Viscount Arden-sama.”
“Wait, seriously?! Then does that mean the one who opened diplomatic relations with Hinomaru is him?!”
“That’s amazing… I wonder if he has a girlfriend?”
“I heard he already has two wives.”
“Right? There’s no way someone like him would be single…”
Then one of the girls enthusiastically shot her hand into the air.
“Yes! Yes!! Is it okay if we call you Ryu-sensei?”
Ryu lifted his gaze from the papers for only the briefest moment.
“Call me whatever you like.”
“““““KYAAAAAAAH!!”””””
For some reason, Zex found himself grinding his teeth hard enough to creak.
(To address the great Ryu-sama as merely “sensei”… what outrageous insolence…! Later, I must personally correct these female students’ behavior…!!)
Yet even stronger than his indignation was the overwhelming joy flooding through him at finally meeting Ryu in person.
His vision blurred. His knees threatened to buckle.
“I-One week…! To think I shall receive magical instruction directly from the divine Ryu-sama himself for an entire week…! Fuuuh…! Fuuuh…!!”
“Zex, pull yourself together!!”
“S-Sorry… I lost composure for a moment…”
Meanwhile, Ryu continued reviewing the lesson procedure for fire magic.
(Hm? One student’s breathing sounds awfully ragged. Slight fever too… and his magic power is unstable.)
“You there. Second seat from the right in the top row. If you’re not feeling well, go to the infirmary immediately.”
“…………!! I-I-I-I-I-I am perfectly fine, thank you very much!!”
“I see. My apologies, then.”
(What’s with that suspicious samurai-looking weirdo? One of Ryoma’s disciples? …Eh, whatever.)
Ryu dismissed the matter almost instantly.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, everyone. Let’s begin today’s lecture on fire magic.”
At long last, the class officially started.
◇◇◇
“…………Am I going to die?”
“You’ll be fine. You’re not going to die.”
After first period ended, Zex lay collapsed across his desk like a man whose soul had already left his body.
Throughout the entire lecture, he had not looked at his textbook even once.
Instead, he had stared at the instructor the entire time without blinking.
Ryu had naturally noticed.
However, since he had absolutely no interest in Zex—and didn’t even know the student’s name—he simply ignored him from start to finish.
Eventually, Ryu concluded the lecture normally and left the classroom.
And Zex… could do nothing.
Unable to even muster the courage to speak, he merely sat frozen in his seat, silently reaching a trembling hand toward Ryu’s retreating back as it disappeared through the door.
And that had led to the present situation.
(Damn it…!! I couldn’t even speak to Ryu-sama…!! What the hell are you doing, Zex Mondo?!)
BAM!!
Zex slammed both hands onto the desk hard enough to rattle it.
“Next class… I must submit homework at one hundred million times the required amount and earn his praise…”
“That would just make Ryu-sensei suffer, though.”
“It’s not Ryu-sensei… it’s Ryu-sama!!”
“Seriously, Zex… are you okay? You’re always calm and collected, but now you’re acting super weird and honestly kind of scary.”
“I am exactly as I always am… Fuuuh… fuuuh…”
“No, you’re definitely acting strange…”
One of the male students cautiously asked,
“Could it be… that you’re into men or something?”
“I am a perfectly normal lover of women, so rest easy.”
“Then why are you so excited over Ryu-se— uh, Ryu-sama?”
“That should be obvious.”
“?”
“───Because that person is a god.”
“Uh… that doesn’t answer the question at all…”
◇◇◇
Later that afternoon.
Ryu had completely taken over the office of the academy’s pharmacology professor.
“As expected, the head chef’s lunches are incredible.” munch munch
“Indeed. They are so ridiculously delicious it borders on criminal.” nom nom
“…………” jiggle
The third figure in the room remained silent, though something notably large trembled slightly with the motion.
“Speaking of which, how was the first-year lecture?” Estelle asked casually.
“No different from any other grade. Lena wasn’t there, after all.”
“Will you stop using Lena as the universal standard for everything?”
From Ryu’s perspective, every class was basically identical.
The only thing that truly mattered was whether Lena was present or not.
That alone determined the entire value of the lecture.
“Ah… though there was one strange guy.”
“A strange guy? But weren’t you assigned to the top first-year class this time?”
“It was Class 1-A. Same class Lena was in last year.”
“And yet there was still someone weird in it?”
“Yeah. There was. A really weird one.”
Ryu then explained about the student who had acted suspiciously for the entire lecture.
“Hmmm… probably a girl, wasn’t it? Your face alone tends to cause problems, after all. Just your face.”
“It was a guy. Also, you said ‘face’ twice.”
“Oh? A male student? What did he look like?”
“Don’t remember. But his magic power was pretty refined.”
“Oho? How rare. You actually complimented a brat for once.”
Estelle thought for a moment.
“Could he perhaps be the youngest son of House Mondo?”
“Ahh… yeah, that’s possible. It was Class 1-A, after all.”
“You should ask him about the Mondo duchy’s mines.”
“Good idea. If possible, I’d like to legally extort mining access permits using my authority as a lecturer.”
“Make sure you actually remember him by the next lecture.”
“I’ll recognize his magic power. Don’t worry.”
“Try remembering faces too, would you? Honestly… whenever something doesn’t interest you, your memory becomes worse than an old man’s. A disgrace to dragonkind.”
“Don’t praise me so much. You’re making me blush.”
“That wasn’t praise, you idiot!! You weakest-dragon-in-bed!!”
Thus, secretly hoping that the suspicious student truly was the third son of Duke Mondo’s family, Ryu headed off to prepare for his next lecture.