Chapter 782
Finally, it was time for the much-discussed Summon Funerology class.
The students bustled into the lecture hall, whispering among themselves, each letting their imagination run wild about who the new professor might be.
“If it’s a visiting professor, then it must be someone who’s been on the field until recently. If she’s a high-ranking necromancer and a woman, then maybe it’s Lady Forella?”
“That makes sense! And she’s also a Keyzen graduate.”
“I think it might be Count Rudiha…”
Speculations of every kind filled the air. Just then, Simon arrived at the lecture hall, set his bag down, and took his seat. Beside him sat Loraine, who had gotten there earlier.
“Loraine, do you know anything?”
Loraine simply brushed her hair back.
“Who knows.”
She knows.
She definitely knows.
Though she looked expressionless as usual, Simon noticed the faintest trace of a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
Step, step, step.
Following the students, the teaching assistants began entering the lecture hall one by one. Their faces looked familiar, turns out they were Lin and Rune’s assistants.
It seemed that since the guest professor had arrived in haste, they hadn’t formed a separate assistant team, and were simply using the existing assistants of Summon Funerology.
The head assistant marched up to the podium, then snapped into a disciplined at-ease posture.
“The professor is entering. Everyone, please rise.”
Crrrk.
Creak.
The students rose from their seats, dragging desks and chairs.
Their first meeting with the new professor.
Every face was tense as they looked toward the direction from which the professor would appear.
Thud, thud.
A sharp, disciplined cadence of footsteps echoed.
Simon focused on the sound. It was like shoes with heels, yet the stride felt more like a soldier’s boots. Forceful, precise, filled with authority.
Amid the tension-heavy silence, the long-awaited guest professor finally appeared.
“……!”
Gasps escaped from all corners.
Her black hair, pale as the waning moon, her piercing hawk-like eyes, and beneath them, a beauty mark that only intensified her sharp aura.
Unlike the other Keyzen professors who preferred neat suits or robes, she draped across her shoulders a military commander’s uniform.
The students could not take their eyes off her as she walked up the podium.
Click.
She stopped with a crisp, commanding movement, then swept her gaze across the students.
“Greetings.”
Her lips parted.
“I am Jin Arskalt. I shall be your acting professor for this semester.”
──────!!!
A deafening roar erupted, forcing the assistants to cover their ears with smiles.
-Woooahhh! Waaahhhh!
-Arskalt, as in, the Northern Grand Duke? Right?!
-She’s an active Legion Commander!
-I knew Keyzen had great connections, but this is unbelievable…
-Wait, the Northern Grand Duke is a woman?!
The lecture hall boiled over with frenzy and excitement. Everyone knew it was improper to speak so casually in her presence, but emotions ran too high for such thoughts.
Some rubbed their eyes in disbelief, others were already staring at her with faces that looked smitten.
‘I had my suspicions, but still…’
Simon crossed his arms with a bitter smile.
He had heard that after the war with the North Star, she had taken an interest in education.
She had even written in a letter over the break, saying she was preparing something and for him to look forward to it. But to meet her again so soon, not even half a year later, was beyond expectation.
She too seemed to be searching for someone, scanning the room. Then, when her eyes met Simon’s, an irrepressible smile bloomed on her lips.
Simon felt his chest swell, and gave a discreet nod in return.
‘How strange.’
To meet her here, at Keyzen of all places. He felt an urge to shout his joy.
“Our professor is the Northern Grand Duke!”
Next to him, Eshu jumped up and down excitedly before catching her breath.
“Isn’t this amazing, Death Knight boy?”
Eshu turned her head as he spoke, but Toto, sitting beside her, was too captivated by Jin to hear a word.
“Enough, maintain yourselves.”
The seasoned head assistant stepped forward, calming the students, and they reluctantly fell silent.
“Professor.”
“Yes.”
Jin strode forward.
“It seems I don’t need to introduce myself further.”
The students, embarrassed at having blurted out her entire history, scratched their heads awkwardly.
“As you find me fascinating, so too do I find you fascinating. Yes, you are the famed students of Keyzen.”
Her voice carried a strangely lingering weight.
She scanned the class again, then slowly closed her eyes.
“On the battlefield, half of you would die instantly.”
“!”
“I have been forged in the field since youth. When I look at people, I cannot help but distinguish between those who will live, and those who will soon die. Consider it a sort of occupational hazard.”
Thud!
She slammed a baton she had somehow already drawn onto the floor, then leaned on it, hawk-like eyes sweeping over the students.
“I do not know how the previous professor conducted this course, but mine will be far harsher. My instruction will proceed as if in real combat, and sloth or negligence will exact a price. Your vacant expressions do not leave the best first impression, but when class begins, I expect sharp discipline.”
Her presence radiated the aura of a soldier. It no longer felt like a lecture hall, but the middle of a military training ground.
She frowned.
“Your answer?”
“Yes!”
The students roared back, their voices thunderous.
The awe of meeting the Northern Grand Duke in person faded quickly, replaced by dread. Some unconsciously stood at attention.
Having completely seized the room from the start, she turned her back.
“Assistants, issue the training uniforms. From now on, you will wear them to every class.”
The assistants, waiting for the signal, rushed forward and handed out uniforms to the students.
‘…What the heck is this.’
Simon smiled bitterly. They were plain military green outfits, with lots of pockets and good mobility.
He had sometimes seen northern warriors from Carlos wearing them.
‘Your Grace. This is a Summon Funerology class, not a military boot camp!’
Simon cast nervous glances at his peers, but they examined the uniforms with deadly seriousness.
“Do you think these have hidden meaning?”
“They might be cursed with black magic.”
…They were just ordinary training uniforms.
Still, thanks to the aura of the legendary Northern Grand Duke, the students treated them as if they were relics.
Simon, knowing her true nature, resolved to speak with Jin as soon as possible.
At that moment, a male student shot his hand up.
“Professor! I am Matt Comer! May I ask a question?”
“Permission granted.”
Matt Comer’s face flushed with joy, while those who had been eyeing the chance to ask their own questions closed their mouths in frustration.
“I am truly a great fan of yours, Professor! I was born in Carlos, and I grew up listening to stories of the Northern Grand Duke! My favorite is the battlefield story where your Ancient Undead, Hate, was caught in danger! I always wondered—when you were surrounded by the enemy’s encirclement, how did you come up with the idea of hiding beneath the frozen river to escape?”
Jin narrowed her eyes.
“Tell me, what relation does that question have to my class.”
“Y-yes?”
“I came here to teach you, not to indulge in trivial stories. I shall not accept any personal questions unrelated to the lecture.”
“I apologize!”
Simon covered his forehead with his palm.
‘…Still, answering a student’s question is the basic duty of a Keyzen professor.’
He glanced around, worried this might be taken as a problem, but the students were all nodding with solemn faces.
“She’s so damn charismatic.”
“Of course she’s the hero of mankind.”
Everyone was already completely captivated by the Northern Grand Duke.
Whatever she said, the atmosphere was such that they would excuse it as her profound wisdom.
In any case, Matt Comer had been harshly scolded, and no one else dared to ask a question. After a few more words related to the class, Jin finally spoke.
“Before teaching funerology, I would like to fix your rotten mental state first, but Professor Aron told me to let the first day pass quietly, so I shall endure.”
When she turned around, the cloak of the Grand Duke swayed with authority.
“That will be all for today. For the next class, come prepared in both mind and body. Dismissed.”
The head assistant announced the end of class, and Jin left the lecture hall.
The students began packing up, their faces still flushed with excitement as they chattered.
“My heart nearly burst!”
“I can’t wait to brag about this to the other departments!”
Simon was walking alongside his peers when—
“Simon! Simon!”
“Yes?”
One of the assistants hurried up to him, then whispered so only Simon could hear.
“The professor wishes to see you.”
Simon nodded in acknowledgment.
He quickly excused himself from his group, saying he had something club-related to take care of, then slipped away and headed back toward the lecture hall.
In the corridor, the head assistant was waiting.
“This way.”
He followed the assistant across the hallway until they stopped before a door.
On it hung a freshly inked nameplate.
<Professor Jin Arskalt’s Office>
Seeing this, Simon finally felt the reality of her being a professor sink in. The head assistant knocked politely.
“Professor, Simon has arrived.”
“Let him in.”
Click!
Simon entered.
There, seated on the sofa, was the Northern Grand Duke, Jin, sipping tea with a stern expression. Simon bowed respectfully, Jin acknowledged the greeting with a nod, then turned to the head assistant.
“You may leave us.”
“Yes, Professor.”
The head assistant closed the door with a squeak, his footsteps fading down the hall.
At last, the surroundings grew quiet, leaving only the two of them in the room.
“You haven’t changed, you arrogant thing.”
The corners of her mouth, once so stern, broke into a radiant grin she could no longer suppress.
“Your Grace!”
Simon too beamed with joy, and the two rose to share a brief, warm embrace.
The Commander of the 7th Legion, and the Commander of the 2nd Legion, meeting again within the halls of Keyzen.
“How have you been?”
“Thanks to you! But why didn’t you tell me you were coming in as a professor? You startled me!”
“Isn’t it more fun to meet dramatically? I nearly burst from wanting to tell you.”
She laughed easily, nothing like the commanding figure who had just drilled military discipline into a hall of students. This was the side of her only Simon knew.
They sat down, reminiscing about the battles they had fought together in the northern front of Carlos as if they had happened only yesterday.
‘This too, it’s been a long while.’
Simon savored the bitter northern Carlos tea, then spoke.
“So Professor Lin and Professor Rune leaving for the battlefield, that was actually your request…?”
“No, that is a real circumstance.”
Jin set down her teacup.
“My original plan was to finish the Keyzen tour, begin as a probationary professor, and only after observation take the post. But Lady Neftis suggested otherwise. She told me the Summon Funerology class was vacant, and asked if I would take it.”
Simon looked at her with concern.
“Are you confident with the lectures?”
“Of course.”
She picked up the Summon Funerology textbook from the table, waving it lightly side to side.
“If the condition is simply to teach the techniques listed here to the children, then I already tried them all before coming. They were simple.”
Simon clicked his tongue in awe.
As expected of a Legion Commander. The funerology spells of a student level were child’s play to her.
“I have always had to maximize the efficiency of the northern army’s scarce undead. Naturally, I learned this branch’s tricks along the way.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Yes. Of course, aside from Lady Neftis’ proposal, there is another reason I came here.”
“What is it?”
She cleared her throat, then turned her head slightly, an uncharacteristic hint of embarrassment in her expression.
“Because of you, obviously. You arrogant brat.”
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