Professor Goldstein, who dared to give Ishtar a C grade in his mandatory second-year Adventure Department class, opened his mouth with a strained calmness.
“Ishtar, second-year student. While I share in your disappointment over your C grade, this was ultimately the result of a fair evaluation.”
“So, you’re saying that you happened to create an extremely easy exam that everyone aced, and then due to the momentary hesitation I showed before answering the difficult question thrown my way, my learning attitude score was deducted, leading to me receiving a C as a result of fair competition?”
“Exactly. It’s all just a string of coincidences.”
Some professors shot silent glares of scorn, wondering if he was even human for the nonsense he was spouting. Professors who behaved in such a way were nothing but beasts, devoid of human compassion.
In fact, comparing someone so abhorrent to actual beasts was also a metaphor that would anger hybrid beings, who were half-human and half-beast.
“That professor is worse than a beast! Get out of our dungeon at once!”
The villagers who were so protective of their home felt extreme anger toward the monsters that came raiding and the knights who came to pillage food as rescue fees.
The warrior who came to rob the village’s treasure as payback for slaying a perfectly symbiotic field boss.
Even the saintess, worried about the contagious disease spreading through the village.
The reason Xenia screamed for all beings in the village to just get out was linked to such frustrations.
When professors behaved like scum, it felt like a wide-scale attack against hybrid beings, who’d only ever had memories of being beaten down for being hybrids.
“I’m always grateful for the students’ hard work. How about we clear up any misunderstandings? Given the circumstances.”
As the remaining Empire faction professors attempted to reconcile, Ishtar’s upright posture leaned a bit uncomfortably.
She stood with legs crossed, eyes alight with mischief, hands itching as she swirled her Holy Sword in the air, charging its energy against the Holy Mirror.
“If you had something to say, you should’ve filed a complaint during the designated period. I had a lot to say back then, but I don’t anymore.”
“Don’t act as if you’re the top dog! In dungeons, it’s only the Goblin Warriors who benefit from the struggle. I don’t know how you got this far, but we need to make it out alive!”
“Why do you think we are in the same position as you professors?”
The professors tried to appeal to their past relationships, but the students, who had been through numerous events thanks to Oknodie, were no longer in the weak position they once were.
“Have you ever thought about how we managed to get this far?”
Students had to show absolute obedience to professors.
Because of grades.
Because of graduation.
Because that different value as a human post-graduation determined their future trajectory in elite society.
Because they clung desperately to every connection and every single professor.
The professors who exploited such relationships were not few.
Some received bribes.
Some borrowed magical tools indefinitely.
Some plundered family support.
Some even attempted to exploit students’ bodies.
Of course, that level of trash had long since met their end at the hands of either Ishtar or the Goblin Warrior.
The professors were not oblivious.
Rather than be associated with the lower trash, they subtly cut off ties and led everyone to a natural demise.
At this point, the remaining Empire faction professors were just a handful.
In fact, more than half of those present were professors from the Border Region, while Empire faction professors stood around gawking as they begged for mercy.
They clearly recognized the disparity in their circumstances.
“Have you opened a [Dimensional Gate]? Have you captured the coordinates altered by the cosmic upheaval?!”
“It’s slow, but you do understand. Have you realized how our relationship has changed?”
They had no choice but to acknowledge it.
Professors were no longer the absolute authority over students.
Especially not the Empire faction professors.
“We… we also… please take us with you!”
“How much do you know?”
If they were professors from the Border Region, she might accept them readily.
Though strange, their harassment was based on ‘education.’
The Empire faction professors had nothing of value to teach.
Their harassment served merely as harassment.
Bribery, favoritism, chastity.
They were worse than a foundation—no, more trash than a foundation.
The foundation Ishtar thought of was Oknodie’s.
She had envisioned a future filled with ridiculous commands by becoming a scholarship student, but the commands she actually experienced had solely favored her growth.
It wasn’t that she didn’t receive some commands through a different channel, but ignoring them didn’t lead to any negative consequences.
There weren’t any relationships, or weaknesses that could be considered family left outside the Academy.
Unlike the healthy and straightforward foundation, Empire faction professors dared to demand tribute even from Ishtar.
Ishtar ignored them, resulting in a bang in her grades.
If she didn’t feel ecstatic about the opportunity to repay that grudge, she’d be no human.
“I’ll raise your grades.”
“I’ll give you points.”
“Want magical tools?”
“If you need personnel, feel free to summon as many assistants as you want.”
The professors, feeling the pressure, started to pull out their cards one by one, but what surfaced on Ishtar’s face was a cold smirk.
“What are you doing, professors? You’re supposed to be professors of the Gift Academy, yet you’re engaging in such trifling negotiations?”
The professors’ faces flushed with embarrassment.
‘This impudent girl was planning to humiliate us!’
‘Acting all high and mighty as a warrior.’
‘But ultimately, she’s just a girl of her age.’
‘She’s too caught up in pride to secure her own benefits!’
‘I’ll gladly endure the humiliation. Once we leave here, your grades are going to be demolished!’
The professors, tightly wrapped in malice, tried to hide their true feelings with servile grins or resolute faces.
“Is that so? I’m sorry to have bothered you. My thinking was shallow. Begging for your life in exchange for money, that would undoubtedly be insulting to true heroes who help people without conditions.”
“Your noble heroism has indeed moved this old professor, and I shall be reborn as a kind professor who helps people upon leaving here!”
Ishtar chuckled dryly.
“What on earth are you saying? What you mentioned was all just the ‘basic conditions.’”
“Huh?”
“What?”
“Grades, points, magical tools, and assistant releases. They’re all just the basics that must be provided and honored. I’m asking what more you can offer beyond that.”
“…!”
Children learn from adults.
Like how one shouldn’t speak carelessly in front of children, Ishtar had learned all too well of the professors’ evils.
Although she was close to adulthood at her age, the experience of working in a pure profession allowed her to retain some inner kindness.
That innocence was ripe for being trampled on and exploited by adults.
But that same innocence became her strength today.
“Camela, do you have the ‘Pet Contract’ with you?”
“Of course. To be able to preside over unfair contracts like in the old days really excites me! One of the professors was the one who prevented Russo from advancing.”
If there was a Contract Scammer Velocasio in Class 980, then in Class 981, there was Camela, the Queen of Pets and Propagandist of Love.
After her duel with Oknodie, she became linked with Instructor Russo and was clearing her past as an emotional manipulator, but…
Today was the day to unleash those long-forgotten wicked unfair contracts once again.
“Everyone gets a grade even if they don’t attend lectures during lecture time. Knowledge will only be delivered as summaries in the teaching textbook without unnecessary harassment. Points and magical tools will be provided and personnel for gathering lecture materials and slaying monsters will be supplied. Additionally, I’d also like to receive a declaration of support for the ‘Student Council President’ and sponsorship for the Warrior activities separately.”
The crux lay in those last two points.
Student Council President support.
Sponsorship for Warrior activities.
The former would isolate her from the strong seniors within the academy.
In effect, they’d be entering into a hostile relationship with the families behind them too.
This was quite a burden for those whose foundations had completely disappeared.
The latter was similarly burdensome.
Even in the Empire faction, there would be complaints about what kind of nonsense this is, further alienating her within the few remaining factions.
It was as if she were being forced into risky actions that would make her lose all the scant power she had left, inside and outside the academy.
But did she care?
The professors didn’t pay heed to the students’ circumstances.
There was no reason for Ishtar to consider the professors’ situation either.
“How foolish. While I might’ve been willing to accept if the conditions were fair, you’ve crossed the line. You didn’t realize that when you figured out you could open the Gate, a third option was opened for us?”
━━━
[Communication] + [Connection] + [Ambush] + [Reverse Engineering] + [Breakthrough] + [Transmission] + [Mana Control]
7th-tier communication link [Phase Shift]
━━━
One professor suddenly unleashed mana and sent a will through the faint connection between Ishtar and the Dimensional Gate.
The recipient was the new Empress of the Empire, Empress Masugaki.
“Your Majesty, the professors of the Empire have volunteered to submit to you, so please watch over us!”
“Huh? I don’t need any junk without Dark Mana♡”
The communication was abruptly cut off.
An awkward silence enveloped between the Empire faction professors and Ishtar.
The Border Region professor, who had been standing around in the back, spoke up.
“Wanna sign quickly and move aside? I’m busy.”
With gloomy faces, the Empire faction professors slumped their shoulders and formed a line in front of Ishtar to draft the contract.
Of course, Ishtar reflected the grievance in the contract by adding new conditions, and the professors had no choice but to sign.
