---

The duel ended abruptly.

The professor, who looked like an acorn, was dragged into the health room by the students.

‘Is it really supposed to happen that an assistant faints during a magic show…?’

If it was a paid performance, they should have offered refunds by now.

How can a professor who’s supposed to teach combat faint from that level of pain?

It’s prime time for someone to get knocked out in a battle against monsters.

No, they’d probably be dead before that.

As I left the training grounds, the curious students began to stealthily retreat.

“I guess it’s too amazing, making their legs tremble.”

Well, they are using magic that’s more incredible than ordinary tricks.

I doubt they’ve ever seen something like this before.

Instead, the magic in this world is just a trick utilizing magic.

Wiping off the alcohol on my hands, Luna and Yui approached me.

Luna handed me a handkerchief she rummaged from her pocket.

“Oh, thank you.”

“…I think Luke-san might be overdoing it.”

I spoke while wiping my hands with the handkerchief.

“Overdoing what?”

You’re challenging me to prove it, right?

So I did prove it.

My magic skills were showcased.

This amount of skill surely qualifies me to teach magic to the students instead of techniques, right?

“I had high expectations for magic, but… it turned out to be way scarier than I thought…”

Yui, humans naturally feel fear in the face of the unknown!

A magic that doesn’t use magical power!?

What even is that? I don’t want to know; it’s scary.

Everyone must be reacting like that.

The cutting magic and escape magic seemed to gain decent popularity.

I could hear shrieks from outside while performing.

Maybe I’ll try some card magic next.

A trick where I throw cards to seal their eyesight.

It could come in handy during battle.

“Um… Luke-kun. Do you do hunting like this often…?”

The worry of the recently taken-away professor didn’t faze Lucia as she approached me.

“No? This is my first time showing magic, you know?”

“Should you be doing such things in front of the students?”

“Haha! What do you take me for?”

I’m a genuinely good-natured person, as long as no one messes with me first.

But if someone does provoke me, things will get quite entertaining.

“But it really is amazing.”

“What is?”

“Your raw strength, the combat style using storage magic, even how you pressed Professor Dmitri with something. It’s hard to believe it’s the skill of someone who maintained 200th place.”

Are you hiding your skills, perhaps?

It’s just pure curiosity.

Lucia asked as if she was genuinely curious.

“Yeah.”

If I said no, I’d have too many explanations to give, so I just went with that.

One troublesome person like Riche is already enough.

“I see… I’m curious about the reason, but you wouldn’t tell me even if I pry, would you?”

“Yeah.”

“Then let’s take a break and head straight to the first class after lunchtime. Coincidentally, the class that Professor Dmitri was supposed to teach is now empty.”

“Yeah.”

Thus, to prepare for the upcoming class, I left the training grounds and headed toward the restaurant.

The crowd parting in my path was reminiscent of Moses’ miracle.

Is this what respect for a professor looks like?

*

I don’t know about the student cafeteria, but the one for professors was a buffet.

Grab whatever you want and eat as much as you like on your plate.

There weren’t so many unnecessary people crowding around, and the variety of food was delightful.

‘Hooray for a free buffet…’

At this rate, I might get addicted to eating.

‘Before I leave later, I should sneak some food out.’

This moment would serve as further proof of the inventory’s absurdity.

No one would know, even if I discreetly took some.

Anyway, after lunch, we headed toward Class A, just as Lucia said.

The class that that acorn-looking Dmitri was supposed to teach after lunch ended up being Class A, so I had to substitute for him since he was still knocked out.

“Luke-kun, what class will you be holding? Will it be focused on the close combat you showed just now?”

“No? I was thinking of trying a magic lecture.”

“Please don’t do that.”

Thanks to the ominous pressure radiating from Lucia, I regrettably couldn’t hold the magic class.

She has no idea how costly magic classes have become these days.

I won’t tell her that I’ll be smacking myself in the head with regrets later.

Our teaching style involves rotating among different classes, with one class per day, just like physical education in a high school back on Earth.

“But do I have anything to tell you…?”

“If you don’t really have anything, just tell us the weaknesses of vampires or something.”

“Umm…”

Chatting as we walked down the hallway, I opened the door labeled ‘A Class.’

What came into view was a tiered classroom with students sitting orderly.

Naturally, the students gave me attention.

Several of them who recognized my face dramatically jolted their shoulders.

Those shaking their shoulders must be from the training grounds earlier.

“Y-you are!”

“?”

At that moment, a familiar yet unfamiliar voice reached my ears.

As I turned my gaze to the source, there she was—Tia Roseberry, one of the main heroines, wagging her finger at me with golden hair like melted gold and clear blue eyes reminiscent of the sky.

Beside her were Stella and Riche, with Stella glowering at me similar to Tia, while Riche wore an expression of surprise that contrasted with the other two.

Somehow, it felt like their desk was glowing brightly.

‘Ah, right. They were all gathered in Class A.’

I had completely forgotten that all the heroine classmates were crammed into Class A.

‘But since Arthur isn’t here, I guess he’s still buried down below even after getting an opportunity.’

Months have passed since the transmigrator took over, yet he remains hidden?

In short, what an absolute fool.

I elegantly ignored Tia’s finger-wagging and moved to the podium.

“Don’t ignore me!”

From the back, Tia interjected, but I smoothly ignored her.

Standing at the front, I casually looked around. It was clear Class A had fewer students than the other classes I’d seen earlier.

While other classes had approximately 30 students, this one had maybe around ten at most.

The gazes of the students upon me were full of questions.

From their perspective, their intended professor didn’t show up, and a shabby substitute stands there.

Typically, this would be the time for self-introductions, but I conveniently didn’t need to introduce myself.

Honestly, how many of these kids don’t know who Luke is?

I probably got roasted by them in the past.

“What are you staring at, you morons? Is this your first time seeing an adventurer?”

“…Luke-san. We’re not here as adventurers right now.”

“Oh, right.”

I totally blanked on that.

“I’ll be the one to find out everything anyway, so just proceed with your self-introductions.”

I searched for the chalk while Luna and Yui introduced themselves behind me.

“I’m Luna, your temporary teacher starting today. I look forward to working with you.”

“I-I’m Yui… Likewise, please take good care of me…”

I heard their self-introductions, but there were no particular reactions.

Come on, back in my day, when the teachers did self-introductions, everyone would cheer for them?

Ah, I found the chalk.

I marked a dot on the large blackboard with the chalk.

The very first dot would be a corner, followed by a solid line connecting it to form another corner.

Tap. Tap.

The refreshing sound of chalk resonated in the quiet classroom.

What I wrote down was:

Self-study.

“”…?””

Upon seeing the letters I wrote, the students displayed various reactions.

Some wiped their glasses, while others squinted to see better.

What’s the issue?

Are you unhappy with self-study? You should know how to reflect on what you’ve learned and review it.

Always expecting to be spoon-fed without thinking for themselves; that’s what keeps them from growing.

‘Maybe I should start shoveling some work on my plate soon.’

I took out a blanket from my inventory, laid it on the floor, and put my head on a pillow.

“Luna, Yui. Wake me up when class ends.”

“Are you serious…?”

“I’m always serious.”

It’s rarer for me to lie than it is for me to speak the truth.

Shuffling.

I heard the sound of someone’s footsteps coming down the classroom stairs.

I was thinking that the only ones who would bother me while resting were Riche or the meddling Tia.

“Who are you?”

The voice coming from behind was that of a deep-voiced boy.

I turned my head back to check who it was, revealing a male student with dark blue hair and striking blue eyes.

Honestly, I don’t remember male characters’ names, be they supporting or lead roles.

For someone like Arthur, I might know him as a frequent character in the narrative, but…

This guy in front of me looks so much like a character I know that I couldn’t help but remember his name.

“Daio Brando.”

“Do you know who I am?”

Sure, I know well.

Arthur’s rival position.

He might have some innate talent, but he’s the type who believes he’s the strongest, lacking any effort.

He starts to put in some work only after seeing Arthur catching up to him swiftly, but due to protagonist buff, the gap keeps widening.

In short:

“A selfish loser, full of pride and lacks friends, who mistakenly believes he’s the strongest.”

At that, Daio’s eyes darken.

Several students swallowed hard, and the atmosphere changed drastically.

“You dare to speak such words knowing who I am?”

“If I know, what’s stopping me from saying it?”

Still sitting comfortably on the throne, huh?

Weaker than Tia and Riche, yet occupying the vacant throne in their stead, the hollow king.

Not that he’s weak, but he becomes weaker as the story progresses.

To be precise, he weakens in relation to his opponents.

Arthur, being the protagonist, obviously grows stronger, and so do the heroines accompanying him.

But he’s just stuck where he is, so naturally, he would appear weaker by comparison.

“Well, I suppose you need a bit of guts for that.”

Daio stretch out his arm and extends his hand.

A handshake request.

I generally dislike shaking hands with guys, but curiosity got the better of me, so I clutched his hand, only to feel it freeze solid.

“Cough cough. I look forward to working with you from now on.”

He released my hand with a sneer full of mockery.

Then, with a swift turn, he went back upstairs.

‘Isn’t this a character of plagiarism…?’

“Luke-san? Are you okay…?”

“Hmm.”

I applied some pressure to my hand, shattering the ice that had frozen me.

“I guess I’ll need to enforce some discipline here.”

I pulled out a leftover shell from the previous raid from my inventory.

“Luna. Wind.”

Luna layered a gust of wind atop my shell.

“Please don’t kill him…”

“So, if I don’t kill him, that’s enough, right?”

“At least leave his life intact…”

Okay, understood.

I turned to grab Daio by the left shoulder as he attempted to ascend the stairs.

“Hey.”

“What is it?”

The moment Daio, smirking with one side of his mouth lifted, turned around.

I slammed the wind-stirred shell into his abdomen.

“Rasengan!!”

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

Plagiarism deserves plagiarism.

 

---