The Beginning After The End

Pondering what the director had said, I just sat there, my eyes blankly staring at something off in the distance. Like she’d mentioned, there was no real benefit for her to hire me as a professor, which is why I found it so suspicious. It was so ingrained in me to be wary of other people’s motivations no matter who they were. I guess as a figure of authority and power, you naturally become suspicious of everyone around you, which was why I couldn’t fathom why she’d asked me to do this.

Practical Mana Manipulation was a class that didn’t have any extra work to grade, which would make it even easier for me to just teach the class. Even if it wasn’t easier, it would help build a good position for myself and would be a lot more interesting. Seeing as how I probably couldn’t escape attention from the students anyway, I might as well do things a bit differently. Of course, I didn’t plan on revealing my full set of skills to anyone just yet, but I didn’t see the point in trying to be completely inconspicuous anymore, especially after today.

"...Arthur?" I snapped out of my thoughts to see that Director Goodsky was looking at me with a rather worried expression.

"Ah, yes. Although I’m not sure how competent I’d be in that kind of role, I’d like to try my hand at being a professor." I looked over the document stating my duties and responsibilities as a teacher.

"I’m sure you’ll do an excellent job," she smiled.

Looking at her, I asked, "Were there any other classes that Professor Geist taught besides mine?"

"Fortunately, no. We hired him this year after he retired from being an adventurer. For this semester, the other professors and I decided to only have him teach one class, as a sort of test run." She shook her head at the pitiful results he’d produced.

"Before I sign, I have one last question," I stated as I read over the final paragraph of the document.

"Go on," she urged.

"Wouldn’t it be counterintuitive that I’m not allowed to hurt students while being part of the disciplinary committee?" I quizzed.

"Ah, good question. The ’not hurting students’ rule is for inside the classroom. While the situation is always investigated for every case, as long as it is for the safety of other students, such as using a certain degree of force to quell a fight or suppress a rampant student. As for outside of class, during your disciplinary committee duties, I’ll trust your judgment on that."

With that, I nodded and signed the document. "I expect great things from you, Arthur, and I’m sure I’m not the only one." She gave me a gentle pat on the shoulder before ushering me to go eat lunch.

CYNTHIA GOODSKY’S POV:

"Whew, what is it about that boy that always keeps me on my toes? Negotiating with him is more heart-straining than dealing with the royal families. What is your take on him, Avier?" My bond gently landed on the arm I held out, his intelligent eyes pondering what to say.

"He is... different. Do not view Arthur Leywin as a child. Whether it is mental acuity or emotional maturity, there is much more to him than the eye can see." The clear words that came out of my bond didn’t seem natural from the movement of his beak.

"What makes you so certain?" I leaned back in my seat.

"His bond. That white fox’s true form should be that of a dragon..."

I bolted up from my seat. "What?! How is that possible? How do you know?"

"It is because we are of the same kind. I may be of a lesser species of dragons but Wyverns are still the dragons’ descendents." Avier went back to grooming himself.

"Are you saying that bond of his is more powerful than you?" I couldn’t help but be utterly baffled by all of this.

"No, that child has yet to mature. She shouldn’t have hatched more than a few of years ago. However, I suspect that when she does develop, my strength will not be even comparable to hers," he stated matter-of-factly.

I couldn’t imagine anyone stronger than Avier. The fact that he was my bond was only because he grew a liking to me when I happened by him, deep in the Beast Glades. He usually did his own thing and I didn’t dare treat him like pet, but the fact that Arthur’s bond was actually a dragon and that it seemed so subservient to him made me wonder what that boy really was.

"Do not make him your enemy, Cynthia. If treated with trust and respect, he will become the greatest ally, but if betrayed, he may be the cause of this continent’s demise." With that warning, Avier flew off.

I leaned forward in my seat, rubbing my throbbing temples as I recalled what happened a couple hours back.

___________________________________________

"Director Goodsky, I request that you remove the boy named Arthur Leywin from my class!" One of my professors slammed the door open as he stormed inside.

"Professor Geist, you look shaken up. What’s wrong?" I was taken by surprise by the sudden intrusion.

"The boy has no respect for me, his professor! Please do not listen to any of the rumors that you may hear. I’m being framed!" The man’s wide face was filled with desperation and anger.

Two brisk knocks sounded from the door.

"Please come in," I stated. At least this person had the decency to knock.

"I apologize for the intrusion, Director." The petite Kathyln gave me a small bow before walking up next to the now pale-faced professor.

"What’s the matter, Kathyln?" I leaned forward, taking a look at the both of them.

"This sorry excuse for a professor needs to be fired," she said expressionlessly.

Professor Geist grabbed Kathyln by the arm, pulling her close to him. "How dare you! ’Sorry excuse’? Me?"

"You dare touch me with your filthy hand?" Her expression didn’t change, and she somehow seemed to be looking down at Professor Geist.

"Professor, I suggest you immediately remove your hand or else, whatever the case may be, it will not be in your favor." I stood up at this point. Using force to get your point across was deplorable.

He immediately let go of Kathyln’s arm before talking. "Ahem... as I was saying. Please do not take to heart the rumors that you may hear. I swear that this was all a misunderstanding and that I’m being framed."

"I have not yet heard of any rumors. Do you mind indulging me, Kathyln?"

"This scum dares to pick on students to feel good about himself. Even ignoring the fact that he utterly humiliated Feyrith, if Arthur didn’t step in, I would’ve..." Without finishing her last sentence, she glared at the professor.

I turned to Professor Geist, who was desperately denying this accusation. "I’m telling you that it was a misunderstanding. I simply wanted to demonstrate in front of the class the level the disciplinary committee is at; you know, for the other students to know."

"If that was simply what this was, then there would be no reason for you to come into my room and insist that Arthur be removed from your class." I couldn’t help but sigh internally at the thought of handling this dilemma.

I turned to my secretary, who had peeked in to see what the fuss was about. "Tricia, please gather information for me from Professor Geist’s class regarding this incident."

My brunette-haired assistant bowed before running off.

"Now, please be patient as this is sorted out. I will do my best to be just about this." Before I was able to dismiss the two of them, Princess Kathyln walked up to me.

"I trust that you will handle this fairly, but just know that, if it wasn’t for Arthur, you wouldn’t be handling this professor’s ethic case but a student’s injury case. MY injury case. I bid you good day, Director." She turned around, completely ignoring Professor Geist, who was taken aback by her last statement.

_____________________________________________

Recalling the testimonies I received, it seemed like Arthur completely overwhelmed Professor Geist. While this professor’s personality never did sit well with me, his skills were more than enough to teach a basic mana manipulation class. Even while being a light yellow core augmenter, and a quite capable one at that, he had been completely defeated by a twelve-year-old.

I let out a sigh in regret that I didn’t measure the level of the boy’s core while he was just here.

A twelve-year-old defeating a veteran adventurer using only his wind and earth attribute mana, which I remembered him mentioning were his weakest, and who also had a bond with a dragon. What more was there to him? If I asked, would he tell me?

ARTHUR LEYWIN’S POV:

"Art! Over here!" I saw Elijah waving at me across the dining hall.

I noticed he was sitting with a girl when I came over.

"This is Charlotte! Charlotte, this is my best friend and roommate, Arthur Leywin." He stood up, gesturing the both of us to shake hands.

"Hi Arthur, I’ve heard a lot about you." She gave a coquettish smile while twiddling her hair.

"Mmm... It’s a pleasure," I responded brusquely before focusing my attention on Elijah.

"How were your classes?" I asked my friend while I fed Sylvie a piece of broccoli.

"Kyu!" ’Noo!’

"Aww~ your little mana beast is so cute! Do you mind if I pet it?" Charlotte got awfully close to me, almost leaning on me while she reached for the top of my head.

But before she got the chance to pet the growling Sylvie, I grabbed her wrist.

"Sorry, she doesn’t like strangers touching her." I looked her dead in the eye, making her blush by how close her face was to mine.

"O-Oh, I’m sorry!" She shrank back, focusing back on the food.

Seemingly ignorant of what was happening, Elijah responded, his mouth full of food. "Classes were great! I especially like my basic chain-casting class and mana utilization class. Although for mana utilization, I feel like the professor that’s teaching is going over the exact same thing that you told me to do. By the way, I met Charlotte in my chain-casting class! She’s really good!"

"Haha, please, you’re making me blush." Charlotte put on a bashful face as she squirmed in her seat.

"..."

"Anyways, how were your classes?! I heard you already beat up a professor! What happened to keeping it cool, man?" He gave me a smirk while he pointed his fork at me accusingly.

"Yeah, about that, so I ended up becoming a professor for that class," I responded coolly, shoving a piece of meat in my mouth while avoiding Sylvie’s attempts at trying to steal it.

Elijah spluttered the food he was chewing towards us as I instinctively leaned back, trying to get out of range.

The girl named Charlotte screamed as received the brunt of my friend’s attack.

"Elijah, that’s gross." I wiped some of the stray food particles that I couldn’t manage to avoid from my face.

"Sorry, sorry...what? You’re going to be a professor?" He wiped his mouth before trying to wipe Charlotte’s face, but Charlotte rejected the offer.

"Mm... I ended up replacing the professor that was teaching the class. So you may now call me Professor Leywin." I smirked at my friend.

"Professor, my ass. But maybe I should ditch my class sometime and go to yours. It’d be interesting to see you teach," he retorted.

As we continued talking, I grew annoyed at the flirting attempts from Charlotte, and even more annoyed at the fact that Elijah was clueless about it all.

"Oh yeah! Charlotte and I were going to go to Downtown Academy to do some shopping. Do you want to join us?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Yes! Arthur, you should join us." She leaned in closer again. There was a small strip on the corner of the academy where fancy restaurants and cafes, along with shopping booths were located for the rich nobles to spoil themselves. With that, you could imagine how enormous the academy was.

"I have three more classes, remember? I’m taking the upper division classes after lunch."

Elijah just shrugged at this. "Oh yeah, I forgot. No big deal! I guess it’ll just be me and Charlotte."

Charlotte smiled awkwardly at Elijah’s happy-go-lucky face and responded, "Ah, sorry. I totally forgot that I had other plans today. I’m so sorry! We should definitely go next time, though! All three of us! Bye."

With that, she walked off, leaving my friend and I alone at the small dining table.

"I guess she was really busy." Elijah looked a bit disappointed.

Oh, Elijah...

Leaning close, he asked me in a serious voice. "So, what did you think about Charlotte? She’s pretty, huh?! Do you think I have a shot with her?"

Oh, Elijah...

"I think you can do better, buddy." I patted my clueless friend on the back as we walked out of the dining hall together.

Elijah decided that he wanted to go to the library after his plans suddenly washed away, so after walking him there, I made my way to my first upper division class, Team-Fighting Mechanics I.

The classroom, or should say field, to be more accurate, was on the other side of the academy, where all of the upper division classes were held.

The "room" consisted of a huge grass field with several obstacles placed randomly, encased by high walls with runes engraved in them. On top of one of the walls was a separate little room protected by a glass encasing. I assumed that the room was used as a viewing platform for the rest of the students.

I saw some students had arrived before me, talking to each other, and I immediately noticed some familiar figures.

"Ah! I didn’t know you’d be in an upper division class, Arthur." Curtis Glayder waved at me as soon as he realized who I was. Grawder, Curtis’ bond, was lying with his eyes closed right next to him.

"Yeah, I didn’t think I’d have a class with you. Please take care of me." I grasped his hand.

"Good to see you again, Arthur!" Claire Bladeheart put her arm around my neck while smiling brightly. "We have to do our best not to embarrass the disciplinary committee, right?"

"Haha, I’ll do my best. Is this everyone that’s going to be in the class?" I replied, turning back to Curtis. I heard that this class had a fairly small number of students, and that it was one of the most popular classes.

"Hmmm, there should be a few... ah, there they come!" Looking back, I saw several more students and I couldn’t help but smile wearily.

"Princess Tessia is as beautiful as always, isn’t she?" I heard one of the students murmur.

Walking this way amongst the small group of students was Tessia Eralith, my childhood friend, and Clive Graves, the student vice president.

She noticed me and I could tell she was about to greet me but she noticed that I had an older woman’s arm around my neck, so instead, she shot me a glare before snapping her head away, pouting.

Clive, oblivious of why she got angry, straight up gave me the death glare as his narrow eyes became even sharper.

"Good afternoon, Princess Tessia!" Not bothering to remove the arm around my neck, Claire smiled and waves at Tess.

"Pleasure," she responded, her expression fierce.

After she walked past us, she secretly snuck in a pinch to my side, jolting me up.

"Hmm, I wonder if she’s in a bad mood today," Claire pondered.

It’s because of you!

As Claire removed her arm from my neck, I turned to see someone behind us in the back of the group. As soon as I recognized who it was, my face started burning in anger while my clenched fists turned white. It was Lucas Wykes.

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