“I respect that your abilities are exceptional, but as a teacher, I do not think you have the right to be here.”
No sooner had those words left Lowell’s mouth than the ceaseless clatter of typewriters in the Finance Administration Office came to a halt.
Lowell von Adrian, the Academy’s problem child and failing student, and Professor Calvi, the Academy’s most outstanding mage and professor.
Though for very different reasons, both were quite famous within the school, and everyone’s attention fixed on them.
Professor Calvi, having heard Lowell’s words, did not answer for a while.
He simply looked at the student before him.
Professor Calvi had already seen Lowell von Adrian several times.
As someone in a high-ranking position within the school, he could hardly avoid paying attention to this student, who was so often at the center of incidents, accidents, and controversy.
The Academy had undoubtedly been founded on the ideal that any student with talent and the will to strive should be able to receive an education.
However, there were expensive magic tools and teaching materials so costly that commoners would have to work their entire lives just to touch them, as well as dormitories and dining halls that fed and housed students so they could devote themselves solely to their studies.
The operating costs for all of that, not to mention the enormous expense of hiring professors of a high standard, were immense.
In the end, there had been no choice but to compromise with reality to some extent.
By the decision of the previous headmaster, Magica Academy had begun accepting vast donations from noble families who desired the Academy’s prestige, admitting their children and using those funds to operate the school.
Of course, for the majority of those children who had no talent for magic, the Academy had also begun teaching various subjects unrelated to magic.
Because the Academy already had a reputation for producing the finest mages on the continent, and because the children of influential noble houses enrolled there, it had grown into not merely an institution that produced outstanding mages, but the foremost academy on the continent.
Naturally, however, there were side effects.
The children of noble families who had neither talent nor any intention of making an effort began to enroll.
They were busy flaunting their family wealth within the Academy and took pleasure in insulting students of common birth.
No, even insulting professors of common birth who had earned recognition through outstanding ability was, to them, only natural.
And Lowell von Adrian was practically the student who represented those noble children.
He had already been brought before the disciplinary committee several times, and each time, he had shown not the slightest hint of remorse.
Could Lowell, who had no talent, made no effort, and showed no remorse—who did nothing at all—truly be worth calling a student?
“Wouldn’t the same apply to you, Lowell? Do you have the qualifications to be a student? After failing to fulfill a student’s duties for the past year, is there any reason I should act like your teacher?”
“Because I have done nothing wrong here and now.”
To the professor’s question, Lowell answered without even a moment’s hesitation.
“I have already received punishment and disciplinary action in accordance with school regulations for the problems I caused within the Academy.”
“The reason you called me here today, Professor, was to inform me that my father will no longer support me.”
“Therefore, there is no reason for me to be told by you to leave the school, nor is there any reason for me to hear you say, ‘I despise students like you.’”
I knew full well that what I had said could be refuted for any number of reasons.
After all, now that things had come this far, there were far too many things to regret.
Of course, I hadn’t done anything wrong myself, but at the very least, this body had done plenty of wrong.
I couldn’t even begin to guess just how much trouble he had caused.
But for reasons I couldn’t understand, I had possessed this body, and that also meant I had to pay for the karma this body had accumulated.
Honestly speaking, who would want to possess such a fat, ugly body?
No matter how much I had the memories of an adult who could pretend to be unaffected by the ostracism and gossip of kids who were, at most, middle and high school age, as long as I was a social animal, it was difficult to endure a situation where everyone around me cursed and despised me.
If I could at least live lavishly and comfortably as a noble, that might be one thing. But I received no support whatsoever, had not even been able to eat proper meals all this time, and I was the one serving most of the punishments that had been handed down to Lowell. My life was miserable, if anything; there was no way it could be happy.
Above all else, now was the time to choose and focus.
I couldn’t be loved by everyone anyway.
Some people would dislike me no matter how much I changed or how morally flawless I became, while others might become approachable with only a little effort on my part.
And Professor Calvi, standing before me now, was a character who remained hostile even toward the protagonist—a handsome, exceptionally talented person who had maintained a good reputation and always made the right choices—simply because he was of noble birth.
Why should I go out of my way to treat such a character kindly and pour my emotions into him?
In any case, there was nothing Professor Calvi could do to me right now.
Most of the Academy’s disciplinary measures had already ended in the form of bans from using certain facilities, and the letter sent by Lowell’s father, Sir Karafin, merely stated that all future charges should be billed not to him, but to Lowell.
It was true that I had answered a professor somewhat rudely, but wasn’t he the one who had first told me to quit and said I was disgusting?
At any rate, now there were only two possibilities left.
Either Professor Calvi would prove to be a little more of an adult and think, even slightly, about what I had said, or he would stop dealing with me altogether.
Or else he would be struck where it hurt and fly into a rage. But after a long silence, Professor Calvi let out a short laugh.
Rather than anger, it was closer to a disbelieving snort.
“Lowell von Adrian. I am beginning to think the record saying you could not avoid failing logic class may have been mistaken.”
He closed the stack of documents on Lowell that lay on the desk and sank deep into his chair.
“Very well. You are saying that since you have systematically settled the karma of your actions, you have nothing to be ashamed of. In that case, as you said, I will ask not as your teacher, but as a party to your debt. How do you intend to pay the enormous tuition and facility fees your father has cut off? You now have no money, no talent, and no family to rely on.”
Lowell did not avoid Professor Calvi’s gaze.
Instead, he took one step closer, steadied the heavy breath made labored by his corpulent body, and opened his mouth.
“That is a problem I must solve. It is not a matter for you to worry about, Professor.”
Professor Calvi’s eyebrows shot up.
The air in the Finance Administration Office grew so cold it seemed it might freeze over at any moment, but Lowell did not stop and continued speaking.
“If I fail to secure the money needed to remain at this Academy, then even if I say nothing, I will be expelled according to school regulations. The disgusting student you so dearly wish to see gone will disappear from before your eyes.”
Lowell paused briefly and caught the tremor reflected beyond Professor Calvi’s glasses.
“So do not waste your emotions discussing my qualifications over something that has not happened yet. If I am driven out because I cannot pay the price, it will not be too late for you to laugh at me to your heart’s content then.”
Having finished speaking, Lowell turned around after leaving only a short bow, just enough not to violate etiquette.
Because of his massive build, each step he took made for a comical sight, but unlike usual, no voices mocking or slandering him could be heard.
He could feel Professor Calvi’s cold gaze being withdrawn from behind him.
By the time the typewriters that had stopped began clacking one by one again, Lowell was already pushing open the heavy door of the Finance Administration Office.
###
The moment the heavy door closed and he was completely cut off from the gazes inside the Finance Administration Office, Lowell exhaled all the breath he had been holding at once.
“Haa…… I thought I was going to die.”
The back he had held so stiffly upright collapsed in an instant.
His spine was already damp with cold sweat.
On the outside, he had acted with an adult’s composure and struck at Professor Calvi’s sore spots, but on the inside, he had been terrified that a spell might come flying at him at any moment, feeling as though ten years had been shaved off his life.
He had barely taken a few steps with his corpulent body, yet his heavy breathing was already rising to his chin.
Leaning against the wall, Lowell thought.
No money, no talent, a body like this, and with the need to earn an enormous amount of tuition from now on, the future was obvious even without looking.
“I should at least drink some water before thinking about this.”
He was walking down the corridor, feeling a thirst that scorched his throat, when it happened.
Whoooosh—
A cool, alien sensation brushed around his shin.
Lowell furrowed his brow and stopped walking.
It was strange.
Every window in the corridor was certainly shut tight.
And yet what he felt now was a clear, sharp wind that could not have arisen indoors.
The wind wound once around Lowell, then flowed slowly toward the dead end of the corridor as though guiding the way.
As Lowell swallowed dryly in tension and looked around, an unfamiliar voice, seeming to ride upon the wind, reached his ear.
“Hello. You’re Lowell von Adrian, right?”