While Court and the others couldn’t hide their surprise at Strauss’s frontal assault, Balvenie himself looked at me with a question mark.
“New teacher? She doesn’t look like a beastman, maybe the fourth or fifth daughter of a baron?”
He gave a rough guess. As I furrowed my brow at this, Strauss said “No,” denying Balvenie’s words.
“Aoi isn’t a noble. I thought it was well-known, but you don’t know? She’s a commoner, but was hired as a senior instructor, which is quite unusual.”
“…………A commoner as a senior instructor? Huh.”
Hearing Strauss’s words, Balvenie skeptically looks me over.
“……Unless she’s a court magician from some country, I guess she must be a genius on par with Headmaster Glen. In that case, may I ask a question?”
“……A question?”
As I repeat, Balvenie’s lips curl into a smile.
“I’m interested in manipulating the weather. Do you know of any magic experiments that have successfully done this in the past?”
“Only rain-making magic to turn clear skies into rain. The method combines fire, water, and wind magic. First, you float a sufficient amount of water, heat it with fire, and then use wind to control air currents……”
As I explain, Balvenie freezes with his mouth agape.
Puzzled by Balvenie’s strange reaction, I turn to Strauss for help.
However, Strauss and Eliza are looking at me with similar expressions.
“W-wait a minute! Rain-making magic is said to be a secret technique hidden by some country. How do you know about it?”
Balvenie approaches me excitedly.
He grabs my shoulders and shakes me vigorously, which irritates me.
“Calm down. If you think about how clouds form, it’s obvious.”
“How clouds form? The reason clouds are created? Well, tell me. I have some hypotheses, but I want to hear it from you.”
“No, well, now is not……”
“What? Are you going to demonstrate it now? Alright, tell me everything. I’ll help. Personally, I think since it creates rain, there must be countless water spheres in the sky……”
As Balvenie won’t stop shaking me no matter what I say, I finally thrust out my fist.
One hit to the stomach. It’s a vital point of the human body called the solar plexus.
The impact on the diaphragm characteristically makes it impossible to breathe. It’s a spot where nerves are concentrated but lacks protective bones like ribs, and muscle mass is irrelevant. Especially when struck diagonally from above, it has enough power to make anyone writhe in pain, whether muscular or overweight.
Of course, Balvenie was no exception.
“Ugh… huff……”
Unable to inhale after exhaling. Balvenie crouches on the ground, curling up from the shock that pierced through to his back.
I acted without thinking, but it’s too late now. Looking down at the suffering Balvenie, I open my mouth.
“……Calm down. Do you understand now?”
As I say this, Eliza answers with a dry laugh in place of the groaning, teary-eyed Balvenie.
“……I don’t think he can answer right now……”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
Having physically silenced Balvenie, I turn back to Strauss.
“It seems he’s not the one. I’ll apologize to him personally later, so let’s go meet this Hiram person.”
Hearing this, Strauss and the others nod slightly.
“W-wait……”
I bow deeply to Balvenie, who’s trying to say something, and turn on my heel.
“Th-this way!”
“Senior Hiram specializes in wind magic, so he’s probably in the classroom for his last lesson of the day!”
For some reason, Belle and Liz start leading the way more efficiently than before. Court and Aisle come to my side.
“My brother mainly majors in earth magic, so he doesn’t often have classes with Senior Hiram. I’m good at wind magic like Senior Hiram, so we often have classes together.”
“Oh, I see. Are you perhaps close friends?”
“No, no. We just exchange greetings.”
The two chat amiably.
Then, Eliza speaks up anxiously.
“Um, is it really okay to leave Balvenie like that…… He is the fourth prince of the Bushmill Empire, after all.”
“I’ll apologize later.”
“…………Sigh, I’m not getting involved anymore.”
As Eliza sighs and mutters words of resignation, I press on towards where Hiram is.
Perhaps everyone happened to have no classes at this time, as all seven of us walked through the academy and arrived at the intended classroom.
We reached a classroom on the third floor, west side. Classes seemed to have just ended, with several students exiting the room.
We slip past them and enter the classroom.
Court is the first to spot the person in question and raises his hand.
“Senior Hiram.”
At the call, a blue-haired boy surrounded by female students pokes his head out. Perhaps due to his baby face, he seems to be around the same age as Shenly and the others. The boy notices Court and smiles.
“Hey, Court. It’s been a while. Have you been well?”
“It’s been a long time, Senior Hiram.”
Greeting quite casually, the boy comes towards us. It seems this is indeed Hiram.
His blue hair is spiky, and his eyes are large and round. He has an androgynous aura, and his smiling face appears friendly and approachable.
The surrounding female students are fawning over Hiram, calling him cute.
“Do you have some business with me?”
Saying this, Hiram looks at me.
“……Wow! You’re Sensei Aoi Konominato, right!? I’ve wanted to meet you, but our schedules never matched…… Would you let me attend your class sometime?”
“Ah, yes. Anyone is welcome to attend my classes, but……”
As I answer, Hiram happily takes my hand.
“Sensei Aoi, said to be the second coming of Headmaster Glen! I’m looking forward to it!”
Hiram expresses his joy with exaggerated behavior. But frighteningly, when said with such an innocent, childlike smile, I can’t help but smile back.
“……Ah. Well, that’s fine, but I came here today for a different reason. May I ask you a question?”
When I ask this, Hiram tilts his head slightly.
“My three sizes?”
“No, that’s not it.”
As I immediately deny it, Hiram laughs heartily.
This is no good. This boy is hard to deal with. He keeps throwing me off balance.
I clear my throat and try to regain my composure.
“This is serious. Please listen carefully.”
“Sensei Aoi, you’re interesting. You’re not used to being teased, are you? Want me to teach you some tricks?”
“Tricks?”
When I question Hiram’s words, he laughs amusedly again.
“That’s it. First, don’t answer everything seriously one by one. When it’s your turn to speak, either don’t give them a chance to interject, or always make the other person the one answering. If they don’t engage, people like me can’t do anything.”
Hiram says this while laughing.
I see. So he’s saying I should go at my own pace.
“I understand. I’ll remember that.”
When I answer, Hiram nods with a smile.
“Yeah, that’s good! I’m rooting for you, Sensei Aoi!”
“Yes, thank you very much.”
As I express my gratitude, Hiram waves his hand laughingly and turns his back to walk away. As I watch Hiram leave with the female students in tow, Strauss sighs.
“……Hiram is leaving.”
“……Ah!”
I hurriedly chase after Hiram.
I quickly catch up and call out to Hiram, who’s about to exit to the courtyard.
“Hahaha. Sensei Aoi really is interesting. I like you.”
Hiram says this in a light tone, and I scold him slightly angrily.
“Please don’t mock your teacher. Now, about what I wanted to ask…”
I preface and begin to speak.
“I hear that someone has been interfering with my classes. Do you know anything about that?”
When I say this, Hiram’s smile fades and he narrows his eyes.
“……I wonder who told you such a thing?”
Switching to a seemingly forced smile, Hiram asks back. Feeling uneasy about this, I reply.
“Could it be you?”
When I ask so directly, Hiram plasters on a mischievous grin.
“……What if I said it was? Does a commoner upstart teacher have any complaints against me, a prince of the Holy Empire of Maple Leaf?”
As Hiram says this with an overly theatrical attitude, the surrounding female students cheer excitedly.
“Senior Hiram looks so bad!”
“Scarily cute!”
Hiram laughs happily at these strange cheers.
Seeing this farce, I sigh.
“……It doesn’t seem to be you. Well, the possibility isn’t zero, but I’ll leave suspecting you for last.”
As I say this and turn on my heel, Hiram lowers his voice.
“You’re right that it’s not me, but what would you have done if it really was?”
“As long as you stop putting strange pressure on others, that would be enough.”
When I stop and answer, Hiram chuckles.
“That attitude towards royalty from another country…… The rumors are true. I’m getting interested in you too. Maybe I really will attend your class sometime.”
“Status and position beyond that of teacher and student are unnecessary.”
“Hmm…… Is that so? That’s an interesting way of thinking. How about we have dinner sometime?”
“……I’m not particularly inclined to.”
Hiram bursts out laughing at my response. I could feel the glares from the surrounding female students, but in contrast, Hiram mutters to himself in a good mood.
“Foar Pernod Roses…… He’s first-class magicians that our Holy Empire of Maple Leaf is proud of, but surprisingly childish. Probably, this woman Aoi who suddenly appeared and stole the spotlight must be an irritating existence to Foar……”
After muttering this, Hiram shrugs his shoulders with a “well, well.”
I turn back and look at Hiram.
“Did you forget something?”
“……No, it’s nothing. Thank you very much.”
I bow in return and turn my back again.
Although I was thrown off balance, in the end, Hiram provided me with information. He’s quite a likable boy.
Still, I never thought it would be Foar. He’s a veteran and a senior instructor. Would they target a mere new teacher? If anything, I had the impression they weren’t very interested in others.
“……It’s hard to believe right away, but…”
As I mutter while walking, Court chuckles.
“Well, Sensei Foar’s elitism is well-known, so it makes sense to me.”
Court says with a sigh.
An elitist senior instructor. It seems this might become quite troublesome, but for now, it appears the most suspicious person has emerged.
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