Primus Academy.
The most renowned academy on the continent, with a reputation and prestige unmatched by any other.
It holds such a prominent position that it’s difficult to find any significant figure in the Imperial Kingdom who didn’t graduate from Primus.
A treasure trove of connections, where all sorts of bonds by region and bloodline are tied together through the academic ties of Primus.
For this reason, its faculty are held to exceptionally high standards.
Producing talents worthy of the name “Primus” is not something that can be done with mere competence.
Perhaps that’s why, when Isabelle heard the news that Orphion had recommended me as a professor at Primus, her eyes sparkled as she bombarded me with questions.
“You said you studied under your godfather before coming to our house, right?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Then, just how much did you study? Fifty books? A hundred?”
“…I never really counted.”
“Wow…”
She looked at me with eyes full of admiration.
Believing my words as they were, Isabelle followed up with praise about how amazing that was.
Well, she’s at an age where such reactions make sense.
She doesn’t yet realize that a girl without a single proper thesis to her name being considered for a professor position is purely the result of connections.
Of course, if we’re being fair, there is some undeniable weight to Orphion’s recommendation.
After all, a legendary dragon wouldn’t recommend just anyone.
‘Still, I’ll probably have to go through an interview…’
I wasn’t particularly worried about the process or exams required to become a professor at Primus.
Either way, I figured I was capable enough to teach students.
Most of my life has been dedicated to teaching, after all.
Teaching others wasn’t something unfamiliar to me.
The only issue was the results of my teaching.
[He was trying to cheat the kids, so I just cut his tendons—]
[Wrestled with the Orc King and ended up breaking his back—]
[My brother’s spy kept snooping around my room, so I just cast a spell to take away his sight.]
[This is an elixir that explodes 10 seconds after drinking it! Mix it with wine, and anyone will go up in smoke without leaving any evidence—]
In short, disastrous.
Maybe I don’t just lack talent for teaching—maybe I’m actually in the negatives.
‘Sure, all four of them turned out well enough to hold their own in a fight…’
At this point, I couldn’t help but have a reasonable suspicion that the problem wasn’t my students but me.
Now, the only way to confirm this, as Orphion mentioned, was to see how new students at Primus would fare.
***
“What are you thinking about?”
“Huh? Oh, just reminiscing.”
“Anyway, tomorrow I would leave this mansion and board the train to Primus with Orphion.”
I said goodbye to Isabelle, who I’d spent enough time with to comfortably speak informally.
“I’ll write to you from Primus.”
“Huh? Letters? Why?”
“Well, we won’t see each other often anymore.”
Though my ties with Isabelle wouldn’t be completely severed, unlike the days we spent almost every moment together, we’d only be able to meet during academy breaks moving forward.
So I gently explained that as a professor at Primus, I’d have to spend most of my time there.
- Squeeze.
“…I want to go too.”
“Go where?”
“Primus.”
“…?”
Still in her pajamas, Isabelle buried her face in my chest and began to whimper.
She clearly didn’t want to be apart from me.
At the time, I thought I could soothe her, just as I had with my past students, by softly reassuring her.
When the maid came to take Isabelle to her room, insisting it was time for bed, I calmed Isabelle down, who begged tearfully to sleep with me just for tonight.
But a few hours after Isabelle, with her slightly swollen eyes, had fallen asleep in my arms, Orphion arrived as promised to take me.
“Godfather! Godfather!”
“What’s the matter?”
Isabelle, who couldn’t even make proper eye contact with Orphion, grabbed the hem of his sleeve with trembling hands.
Then, glancing in my direction, she stammered.
“P-please… let me go to the academy too!”
She made it clear she had no intention of parting ways with me.
I couldn’t help but wonder how Orphion would handle Isabelle’s request, curious as to how he’d turn her down.
But to my surprise, his response was affirmative rather than negative.
“Well, sure. If you want to go, you should.”
“…?”
Confused by the completely unexpected answer, I asked Orphion what he was thinking.
I was supposed to be polite in front of Isabelle, but stopping Orphion from doing something absurd was more important at the moment.
“Godfather, Isabelle isn’t suited to be a professor—”
“She’s not, no doubt about it.”
“…Then why?”
“She can go as a student. That’s not a problem, is it?”
I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from calling him a crazy lizard.
With a forced smile, I asked Orphion to step into the empty room nearby for a quick talk.
Once inside, I confronted him.
“If you’ve got a kid to take care of, you won’t go off doing something stupid.”
“Something stupid?”
“I mean staying at Primus only. Don’t go off looking for other kids to mentor.”
He admitted that agreeing to Isabelle’s request was a way to keep me tied to Primus.
Feeling a pang of guilt, I averted my gaze and denied his accusation.
“…I wasn’t thinking about that.”
“You’re lying. Your mana is trembling.”
“D-don’t use your eyes for something like this!”
“Why shouldn’t I use my own eyes however I like?”
“…Damn lizard…”
In the end, I fell for Orphion’s words again.
I couldn’t entirely deny the possibility that I might show up in front of my former students someday.
And so, Isabelle’s belongings were loaded into the carriage.
My foster father and Isabelle’s biological father, Dreven Yurt, didn’t raise any objections this time either.
After Isabelle and Dreven said their goodbyes, I sighed deeply as I climbed into the carriage with her.
‘No matter what Orphion said, didn’t he worry about Isabelle? He’d probably jump off a cliff if Orphion told him to.’
“Hah…”
“Letter, do you hate being with me?”
“No, it’s not that. I’m worried about you. Isabelle, you get terrible motion sickness.”
Seeing Isabelle’s slightly hurt expression, I scrambled to offer any excuse I could think of.
It didn’t matter anyway.
The fact that she was likely to become a student at the academy was already half-decided.
Meanwhile, the troublesome godfather sitting across from me smirked.
- Squeeze.
“This is why I brought Isabelle along. Honestly, you’re just so soft-hearted.”
He pinched my cheek as if he were genuinely concerned about me, all the while wearing that infuriatingly smug expression.
I barely managed to hold back the urge to drive an ice spear through his face.
***
By the time we were halfway to the station for the train bound for Primus, I was deep in thought about the subject I was supposed to teach, “Mana Design.”
That’s when I noticed Isabelle had become unusually quiet.
Worried, I glanced at her face, and my concerns were confirmed.
“…Urp.”
“…Feeling dizzy?”
“I-I can hold on…!”
It was obvious she was suffering from motion sickness.
Just as I had feared earlier.
Because the academy’s location was magically shielded to prevent external attacks, teleportation magic was out of the question.
In other words, Isabelle would have to endure motion sickness not only during the carriage ride but also on the train to Primus.
In the end, I gently asked her to lie down on my lap.
I drew mana softly and cast:
[Sleep.]
Forcing the pale-faced girl to sleep on my lap was the best way to ease her discomfort.
As she slept peacefully, Orphion silently observed me.
“…What now?”
I asked him in a slightly curt tone.
For some reason, the lizard seemed oddly sentimental.
“You really look like sisters. My own sisters were like that too.”
Bringing up his long-deceased family was his way of silencing me.
So, until we arrived at the station, I silently stroked Isabelle’s hair while she slept.
‘Talking about his family to guilt-trip me… How unlike him.’
***
When the train to the academy finally departed, it wasn’t long before an unexpected attack occurred.
“Godfather! Hurry!”
In the chaos, Isabelle’s young, determined eyes turned toward Orphion, who sighed as if reluctantly giving in.
“Fine…”
The heavy aura of a legendary dragon filled the train, spreading an oppressive presence that sent shivers down everyone’s spine.
- Crack.
With the transformation of his aura into pure Dragon Fear, cracks formed in all directions, forcing not only the attackers but also the passengers to their knees.
As the commotion subsided, mana began to envelop the train.
[Gravity.]
[Reverse.]
With the two spells uttered from the lips of the young girl, waves of mana lit up the surroundings.
Soon, the long train, which had been derailed during the attack, began to float in the air.
Freed from the broken tracks, it glided through the skies, guided toward the academy.
***
“I’ll have to explain myself when we arrive,” I muttered.
“Well, at least you’ve left quite the impression on them,” Orphion replied with a smirk.