It took two and a half days to decide on my second teaching assistant.
His name was Evan Krauss.
“Nice to meet you, Professor.”
“Yes, I look forward to working with you as well.”
He had a tall and solid build.
He was well-regarded among the students, and several professors besides me had tried to recruit him as their teaching assistant.
However, he had served as the TA for the Mana Design course until last year, and it seemed he turned down other offers this year to apply for the same position again.
Of course, for me, Evan wasn’t just good—he was excellent.
Especially since he was the one who momentarily stopped Atar in the original story, that fact alone made me regard him highly.
‘Honestly, I wasn’t sure, but now that I see him in person, I’m certain. He looks exactly as described in the novel.’
Strictly speaking, the Atar in the original work and the Atar I’m teaching now are slightly different characters.
But even taking that into account, Evan was undoubtedly an exceptional student.
How many students could momentarily restrain someone who would later earn the title of “Battle Maniac”? Not many.
For now, though, all I needed Evan to do was distribute worksheets.
Somehow, I found myself in the luxurious position of having both the Academy’s top student and a princess running errands for me.
‘Isn’t this a bit arrogant for a new professor?’
That thought crossed my mind for a moment.
Still, being parachuted in as a professor because of a high dragon, while having a princess and the top-ranked student as my assistants—it did seem a little presumptuous.
Either way, Primus Academy is the main stage for the introduction of the original story.
In other words, it’s a chaotic place where all sorts of incidents occur.
“Professor Letter, you might not know this since it’s your first time as a professor, but this is actually customary.”
“Oh, customary…”
Primus was also a place where factional fights and power struggles among professors weren’t uncommon.
It was only natural that attention would focus on the new professor who snatched up two promising talents.
To the professors sitting around the faculty meeting table, I was, so to speak, “the outsider.”
Perhaps rumors about my insolent behavior toward the six Great Houses had spread, as most of their gazes weren’t particularly kind.
“Well, the headmaster didn’t say anything about it.”
“The headmaster is far too busy to worry about matters like faculty patrol duties.”
The rotund professor, who had been forcing a kind smile, said this, and I internally retorted, ‘So you’re saying I have nothing better to do?’ I merely smiled politely, thinking it wouldn’t do to stand out too much among the faculty.
After all, faculty patrol duty was nothing compared to the major incidents that would happen in a few years.
I wasn’t unaware that these trivial tasks were a way to test my discipline.
“If it’s Primus custom, I’ll follow it.”
“We’re counting on you.”
Since things had come to this, I decided to take this opportunity to examine the vulnerabilities of Primus revealed in the original story.
This way, I could preemptively block any chances of certain troublesome individuals infiltrating the Academy.
On patrol night, I called my assistants to guide me since I wasn’t yet familiar with Primus’s vast grounds.
“Well, there probably won’t be anything unusual. Just think of it as taking a walk with me.”
“Yes.”
Since I was asking them to stay out late, I treated them to dinner.
After all, this could be considered overtime work. Not buying them dinner would be no different from exploiting them.
Somehow, Isabelle ended up joining the meal with me and my assistants.
If you think about it, it was probably more accurate to say my assistants joined my meal with Isabelle.
But either way.
‘…Huh?’
However, Isabelle’s gaze toward Evan seemed a little strange.
No, not just her gaze—her hands, too.
‘Why were her fingers fidgeting like that?’
This was the same Isabelle who couldn’t even meet the princess’s eyes when they first met.
Yet here she was, sneaking glances at Evan.
To top it off—
“Um, Evan, I heard you were the TA for Mana Design last year… is that true?”
“Oh, yeah. Last year, I helped Professor Jennifer with the course.”
“I thought so. I saw you in class yesterday, and you seemed incredibly skilled.”
Isabelle was the one starting the conversation.
Her cheeks even seemed slightly flushed.
…Very suspicious.
Noticing Isabelle’s slightly odd behavior, I pulled her aside at the café we visited after dinner.
Just in case, I decided to ask her directly.
“Isabelle, what do you think of Evan?”
Almost immediately, Isabelle looked flustered, stammering incoherently.
But soon after, she lowered her head slightly and, in a small voice, confessed:
“…They say falling in love at first sight is fate.”
A line straight out of a romance novel.
Well, I suppose it was pure, in a way.
“Evan is off-limits, Isabelle.”
“Why? Why?!”
“Because, to Evan, you’re just a kid. He doesn’t see you as a woman…”
I felt sorry for Isabelle, but if I remembered correctly, Evan already had someone in his life.
I couldn’t remember her name well, but she was a girl specializing in healing magic.
I was pretty sure she was Evan’s childhood friend.
In other words, the lively young girl standing before me right now didn’t stand a chance.
‘How could Isabelle compete with a pure, enduring love that had grown from childhood into their school years?’
“L-love is something you fight for! Age doesn’t matter in love!”
“What kind of dangerous nonsense is that?”
Anyway, for now, I had to patrol the campus with my assistants, who had returned with warm coffee and sweet smoothies to-go.
Before heading off, I carefully reminded Isabelle, who had to return to her dorm, to focus on the assignment due for the next Mana Design class instead of her hopeless crush.
“I won’t go easy on you just because you’re my sister, so do your assignment properly.”
“…Okay…”
***
The campus patrol finally started a little later.
Though, walking beside me, Evan seemed like he was going to be pestered by Isabelle for a while.
-Thump, thump.
Without thinking, I patted Evan on the back a couple of times.
Evan looked down at me with a puzzled expression, but I just offered him a quick “Good work.”
‘Hmm, I feel strangely guilty…’
Even though I hadn’t technically done anything wrong, I couldn’t shake a slight sense of unease.
For now, I focused on patrolling the campus with my two assistants, starting from the main building.
We carefully checked if anything seemed out of place or if any students were wandering around late at night.
Primus Academy’s campus was vast.
I knew it was the continent’s most prestigious academy, but experiencing its scale firsthand far exceeded my expectations.
From the main building to the Grand Library and the Sacred Hall of Knowledge, which served as a massive lecture hall, everything was impressively grand.
Even the parks and walking trails were meticulously maintained, with not a single area feeling inadequate.
At this point, the campus was comparable to a small town or even a city.
As I marveled at the academy’s immense scale, my eyes landed on a colossal structure visible in the distance.
I turned to Evan and Irina, tilting my head slightly in curiosity.
“What’s that place? It’s not on the patrol list.”
“Oh, that’s the facility for the Field of Advancement. I believe it’s still under construction right now.”
“Professor, you’ll likely get to visit it soon. The Mana Design course assignments are part of the Field of Advancement.”
Evan and Irina briefly shared their recollections of last year’s Field of Advancement.
For example, there was a story about the student council president passing out in a maze created by one professor.
“Some say a student went missing during the Field of Advancement and still hasn’t been found.”
“…That sounds more dangerous than I expected.”
“Well, it’s just a rumor, so don’t take it too seriously.”
The kind of eerie tales perfect for a late night, like a student disappearance, accompanied us as we continued our patrol.
***
Before long, we reached the border of a vast forest that bordered the academy grounds.
Knowing that a horde of monsters would pour out of this forest a few years from now, I examined the defensive magic circles in place.
‘What kind of ancient magic is this?’
As expected, it was extremely outdated.
The magic circle wasn’t something mindless monsters could easily break, but for anyone plotting something dangerous, it would be child’s play to dismantle it.
I decided to replace the magic circle and began drawing out mana.
But then I noticed Evan and Irina looking not at me, but somewhere farther away.
“What’s wrong? Is there something over there?”
“Well… I thought I saw something small moving just now.”
“I’ll go check it out.”
As soon as Evan finished speaking, he started walking toward the area.
However, I quickly followed and yanked him back forcefully.
-Swish!
“…Tsk.”
A sharp slash cut through the spot where Evan had been standing.
And then, the sound of someone clicking their tongue.
As expected, the mysterious presence tried to vanish again, but I immediately deployed a barrier.
Of all nights, it had to be tonight.
“Why does this have to happen during my patrol?”
Muttering a complaint, I grabbed hold of the shadow trying to disappear into the ground and pulled it up.
Strangely enough, the face of the person I captured felt familiar.
“Mmph! Mmmph!!”
“…Huh?”
Suspended by thin strands of mana was a woman whose face I definitely recognized.
‘Was her name Arita?’
‘If I remembered correctly, she was someone Karian had once described as his most trusted subordinate.’
A growing sense of foreboding filled my chest.
Even my head started throbbing slightly.
I had no idea where to start fixing this mess.