Leamis—no, Ishmael—disappeared.
The students left in the classroom murmured among themselves.
“Do you think what the instructor said was true?”
“That the academy might shut down? Come on, no way. Would a school that’s lasted for hundreds of years just close overnight?”
A heated debate broke out.
Some were afraid that Ishmael’s words might be true, while others insisted there was no way it could be.
With no solid information, both sides sounded plausible, leaving everyone confused.
“I mean, it actually could happen.”
Before long, public opinion tilted toward the belief that the academy would indeed shut down.
All because of the serious problems they were currently facing.
“Everyone knows how much the quality of the school meals has dropped lately. We used to get pizza and hamburgers, but now it’s all braised turnips and black bread.”
“Ah…”
“Yeah, if the food—arguably the most important thing—is in that state, it’s hard to believe the school has a decent operating budget…”
The meals were a mess.
The quality of the food that took care of the students’ three daily meals had hit rock bottom.
People were even starting to miss the surströmming and pineapple pizza that was introduced a few months ago and vanished after getting cursed out by practically everyone.
At least back then, the food was cooked properly.
Now, it wasn’t even that.
The garbage being served could hardly be called food.
There were even rumors that soon, it would be difficult to get even that.
“I heard the rumor about the international subsidies being cut is true too. Just the day before yesterday, I overheard the Archduke Alcia’s daughter complaining about needing to ask her family for more money.”
“Prices are skyrocketing, and if there’s no money too… there’s no way the school can hold out.”
There were two main reasons.
One, they didn’t have the funds to purchase ingredients.
Two, the supply of ingredients itself had decreased.
With agriculture wrecked by war, high-quality food was practically extinct.
Even with money, it was hard to get anything.
As autumn passed, even the remaining stock was exhausted, and from now on, the situation would only continue to deteriorate.
‘There’s little chance it’ll get better anytime soon.’
If the academy, which managed to keep meals proper even during droughts or famines, had reached this point, things had to be bad both internally and externally.
Especially considering the atmosphere among the students had grown unstable—just as Ishmael said.
If the academy were to shut down and send the students back to their home countries, it wouldn’t be all that surprising.
The Kingdom of Allein, too, would likely prefer not to keep foreign nationals in its heartland and would pressure the school in that direction.
“Sigh… all that effort to get into this school feels like a waste now.”
“My home is on the other side of the continent—how am I even supposed to get back?”
“Even if the school shuts down, I wanted to keep learning from the instructor until the end.”
At those final words, silence fell over the room.
The teacher who had left behind a final legacy—a book for each of them—before disappearing.
Their mentor-student relationship lasted less than a year, but during that short time, they had learned so much.
These kids, once trapped in pre-modern values barely past the medieval age, were able to absorb knowledge of the future.
They escaped the rigid, outdated ideologies of the past and gained a new perspective on the world.
The lectures were difficult, and studying had been hard, but those days were more than worth it.
If only he had stayed a little longer—he could have given them even more teachings.
“Damn Goddess Church…”
Someone muttered quietly.
Normally, such a statement would’ve caused an uproar, with people scrambling to find the speaker.
But now, though everyone kept their mouths shut, no one tried to identify the culprit.
It was proof of how deeply the anger had taken root within them all.
The intense teachings they’d received over just half a year were powerful enough to shake the foundations of the faith they had once so firmly believed in.
“…Let’s go back now. We all have our next classes. Oh, and don’t forget the book the instructor gave us.”
There was no need to explain what “don’t forget” really meant—read it thoroughly, and engrave it in your mind.
Everyone shared the same feeling.
Whether it was Manuel from Hispania who received Capital, or Hermann Meyer from Allein who received The Doctrine of Fascism.
Their ideologies differed, but each of them carefully held the book Ishmael had gifted them and stood up.
‘Instructor, I’ll make good use of what you taught us in my homeland. Please watch over me.’
‘I should start an anti-Church movement. If I do it in Helvetia, people will definitely support it.’
‘First thing when I get home, I’ll ask my father to drive out all the churches from our territory. They don’t help governance anyway—there’s no reason to keep the instructor’s enemies around.’
No one could say exactly what they would do yet,But one thing was clear:
Whatever happened in the future, it would not be in the Goddess Church’s favor.
*****
Ten days later.
“I’m here to see Instructor Leamis. Where is he now?”
“If you’re referring to Mr. Leamis, he submitted his resignation a week ago. Said he was going back to his homeland. I’m afraid I don’t know where he is now.”
“What? Why did you let him just leave the academy like that?!”
“Well… he was a contract worker. He had the right to resign for just cause, and we agreed to it. We even received the penalty fee for breaking the contract early.”
The Saint, who had returned to the academy with a full unit of paladins, tried to intimidate them into handing Leamis over—but failed.
The person they were after had long since left the school.
After all, who in their right mind would stick around at their job knowing their pursuers were coming?
“This… this can’t be happening. This ruins everything. The Church’s honor and reputation will be completely destroyed…”
“What’s this about, ma’am?”
“Well, Instructor Leamis is Isma—ah, no, never mind. If he’s not here, I’ll have to find him myself.”
Whether they had to put out a bounty or hire searchers,The Saint realized she would have to hunt him down personally, and left with a heavy sigh.
Though their influence had greatly diminished, the Church was still the continent’s largest religious and economic organization.
Using what remained of their power, they believed finding one man wouldn’t be too hard.
“…Wait, Instructor Leamis had another name?”
“If it started with ‘Isma’… no way, you think he’s that Ishmael? The writer Ishmael?”
“I need to tell the others right away.”
They had no idea that their students were now buzzing with excitement over their teacher’s secret identity.
*****
“My ears are itchy. Someone must be talking about me.”
“Is something wrong?”
“No, I just had a weird feeling. It’s nothing—don’t worry about it.”
In Allein, the saintess was probably causing an uproar trying to find me right about now.
Unfortunately for her, I wasn’t there.
Because I was traveling abroad with Kalia.
“By the way, why did we have to come so far? You haven’t told me the reason yet.”
If it were just about hiding and covering my tracks, staying at our hideout would’ve been enough.
Aside from the occasional trip out to eat, I’d be holed up writing and analyzing information—very little chance of being discovered.
Or, I could have Kalia help me with disguise magic to change my appearance.
“The director summoned us. Both you and me, Ishmael.”
“Me?”
“Yes. He said to come as soon as you resigned from the academy, so now that you’ve quit, there’s no reason to delay.”
The reason we were using the organization’s spy network to travel to a faraway land was simple.
Because someone important had called for us.
If the head of the group I belong to says he wants to see me, how could I refuse?
It’s best to leave a good impression—for the sake of my future.
“It’s curious, though.”
Even so, there were still some parts that didn’t quite make sense.
“Why did he call us both? You’re the branch director in charge of all organizational activities in the Kingdom of Allein. If you’re absent, won’t everything come to a halt?”
In our organization’s hierarchy, branch director is a very high-ranking position.
We have bases all over the continent, and among them, a branch oversees all the bases within a single country.
The head of that branch is called the branch director.
Only about half a dozen exist on the entire continent.
Above them is only the director—the leader of the organization.
“I don’t know either. But if we’ve been summoned, we must follow the order.I’ve left administrative duties to my subordinates, so it should be fine.”
Even though I expressed my doubts, Kalia didn’t give me a proper answer.
She just mumbled under her breath so I couldn’t hear clearly.
“Meeting him in person after all this time… What on earth is he going to ask us for? We haven’t even told him we’re dating yet…”
“Did you say something to me?”
“Just talking to myself! Don’t mind me!”
Something about seeing someone’s face…I hope it’s not anything bad.
Anyway, the journey itself was relatively pleasant.
Thanks to our organization’s know-how, there were no inspections or arrests along the way.
By switching between several fake identities, we were able to travel safely and without suspicion.
After crossing two borders—from Allein to Navre, and then across the vast grasslands—it took about three weeks.
When the fields and farmlands disappeared and the wide plains stretched before us,we were finally able to meet the important person who had come out to greet us.
“Oh, welcome. So, you’re the young man who’ll become my son-in-law?”
Excuse me?