Academy’s Undercover Professor-Chapter 345: Objection (2)

“Ah, no, how is this...?”

Martin stammered as he stared at the suddenly manifested magical beast.

Sure, they’d been pushed hard to summon a magical beast, but to succeed this quickly?

‘This is a process that takes at least half a year, isn’t it? How can it be this short?’

Martin turned a bewildered face toward Ludger.

Ludger’s gaze was fixed on the student who had summoned the magical beast.

‘As expected, Flora Lumos.’

The first to summon a magical beast was, of course, Flora, the one known to possess the greatest talent.

She had already been gifted, but now—thanks to the possession incident—she was even tapping into the future potential she was destined to develop.

‘Even so, summoning a magical beast is no easy feat if you don’t fully grasp the feel of it.’

Flora herself looked rather dazed that she had succeeded in summoning it.

Ludger carefully observed Flora’s magical beast.

It had taken the form of an animal.

A jaguar with deep navy-blue fur, similar to Flora’s hair color.

The large jaguar circled around Flora, who looked at it with wonder, and rubbed its head against her.

‘An animal form, huh? The most typical. I thought, since it’s Flora, something a bit more unusual might appear.’

Of course, one couldn’t judge a magical beast by appearance alone.

A magical beast was, after all, a being made of mana.

Its abilities were influenced by the innate quality of that mana, and you couldn’t accurately predict them without seeing it firsthand.

‘Other than that, though, it does resemble her quite a bit.’

Thinking of Flora’s sharp eyes and usual demeanor, she was indeed rather catlike.

Perhaps that reflected in the magical beast, which was also a feline.

Though for a cat, it was far too large.

If Ludger recalled correctly, jaguars were among the largest in the feline family, right after lions and tigers.

‘At the very least, it carries an imposing presence.’

The students around Flora were curious about her magical beast but didn’t dare to approach.

The jaguar was growling lowly, its golden eyes gleaming.

“Martin Kandark.”

“...Y-Yes?”

“Return to your seat. What you’re worried about won’t happen.”

“B-But I...”

At the moment Flora summoned her magical beast, Martin realized that Hugo’s plan had completely failed.

But even so, he had already shown dissent toward Ludger in front of everyone.

Even if he’d been forced into it, Martin still had some sense of honor about what he had done.

There was no way he could just go back to listening to class as if nothing had happened.

“The conversation you and I just had is completely blocked by my magic. The students don’t know what we talked about.”

“E-Even so, you and I... we know...”

“Do I, now?”

Ludger canceled the sound-blocking magic immediately and spoke to Martin with a blank expression.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Martin Kandark. You must be tired from class—go rest and focus on awakening your sense for summoning a magical beast.”

Martin’s eyes widened at Ludger’s deliberate choice of words.

Before Martin could say anything, Ludger spoke first.

“As a member of House Kandark, wouldn’t it be frustrating if you couldn’t summon a magical beast? Return to your seat.”

“...Yes.”

Ludger watched Martin’s slumped figure as he walked back to his seat like a man in a dream.

‘I thought he’d raise his head again after some time, but...’

Since becoming Chief of Planning, Ludger had dealt a heavy blow to Hugo’s faction.

Not because the Headmaster ordered him to.

Since he had already drawn the nobles’ hostility, he had needed to chip away at their power.

He’d taken advantage of Hugo’s weaknesses, and now the noble faction, fractured from within, could no longer speak as loudly as before.

‘I thought it would take a long time for them to regain their internal unity. Was I too complacent?’

Or maybe Hugo’s charisma in managing people was greater than he had assumed.

No.

Hugo, who had nothing to boast of apart from his noble birth, couldn’t possibly possess a leader’s qualities.

But that didn’t mean he was entirely clueless either.

A man who knew better than anyone when to keep his head down—pulling something like this?

‘The trigger that pushed him to act after staying quiet until now must have been the terrorist incident during the field trip. And if I consider what the Headmaster said then...’

The answer formed in Ludger’s mind.

‘Hugo Burteg. He’s found backing.’

That backing would most likely be one of Seorn Academy’s major patrons who donated vast sums every year.

Whether it was multiple backers or just one individual, Hugo had clearly allied with them.

‘From Hugo’s perspective, who wants to solidify his position within Seorn, it wouldn’t have been a pleasant alliance.’

But now, with the balance between the Headmaster’s faction and the nobles completely broken thanks to Ludger, Hugo must have been desperate enough to borrow even a devil’s hand.

Which meant he couldn’t afford to refuse the patron’s offered hand.

‘If he can’t have what I have, he’ll bring in outside forces instead, is that it?’

Amid the chaos that would follow, he was likely planning to snatch whatever profit he could.

‘Throwing away a noble’s pride to gain practical benefits. In that sense, he does have a sharp mind for reading the situation.’

The patrons supporting Hugo were predictable enough.

Seorn was a massive organization.

As such, it needed enormous funding and had many sponsors.

But not all sponsors were the same.

Of course, sponsorship rank was determined by how much money was contributed.

‘Like major shareholders in a corporation.’

And these people didn’t sponsor Seorn out of goodwill.

What they were doing was proper “investment.”

And investors always wanted rewards proportional to their investment.

Namely, the right to interfere in Seorn’s affairs.

‘Until now, Seorn managed to fend off external influence, despite all the internal noise. But this field trip incident created a massive crack.’

Ludger thought the situation was developing in a very troublesome way.

If he were still just a mere new instructor, he wouldn’t have needed to care about any of this.

But now he was Chief of Planning at Seorn, and this incident was far from irrelevant to him.

‘Who’s behind this? It’s not the Imperial Family, that’s for sure. Nor the Mage Tower.’

As for the Imperial Family, thinking of Princess Aileen’s personality, Ludger doubted she’d ally with Hugo.

Aileen wanted Seorn under her influence too, but considering her pride, she would have chosen a different approach.

The Mage Tower, on the other hand, could easily take such a route, but they were unlikely to succeed due to the checks in place.

The New Mage Tower, the Old Mage Tower, and the School Alliance—each had equal influence over Seorn.

They held perfectly balanced shares, and considering the field trip incident, they were probably more eager to offer more support, not less.

If even one of the three tried something reckless, the other two would interfere.

And even if they pretended to work together, they’d sooner betray each other than truly cooperate.

Their relationship was, in some ways, so antagonistic that even Ludger trusted their rivalry to keep them in check.

Even after eliminating the biggest suspects through process of elimination, plenty of possibilities still remained.

Lacking any immediate clues, Ludger shook his head slightly.

“Professor.”

At that moment, along with a low growl, Flora’s voice reached him.

“I did it.”

There was no need to ask what.

Flora spoke as calmly as she could, but her expression betrayed her happiness—her lips twitching slightly.

Ludger could see it, even if no one else could.

“Yes. You succeeded faster than anyone else.”

“Well, of course. I was born with the greatest talent.”

“Your success will serve as a model for the other students. But don’t grow arrogant. Summoning a magical beast is difficult, but what comes after the summoning is the real challenge.”

In other words, Flora was only now standing at the starting line.

And Flora knew that.

She had only spoken that way because she wanted at least a bit of praise from Ludger.

“...I understand.”

Flora felt Ludger was being unreasonably cold.

She thought they had opened up to each other somewhat, but perhaps that was just her own delusion.

Just as she was about to turn away, feeling slightly hurt, Ludger spoke in a quiet voice meant only for her.

“Well done.”

“What? What did you just say...?”

Flora tried to ask, but Ludger had already moved away.

“As you can see, training this way guarantees efficiency. You’re all starting to get the feel for it now, so it won’t take long.”

Flora’s success had actually benefitted the other students.

There had been doubts about this class, but Flora had erased those doubts spectacularly.

Of course, some students still couldn’t shake the thought that Flora had managed it only because she was an older student and a genius.

Even so, the atmosphere in class was undeniably better than before.

The students once again closed their eyes and sank into meditation.

Perhaps it was the hope sparked by someone’s success.

No one slacked off now.

Especially Martin Kandark—he held his position longer than anyone else, working the hardest.

And finally, his effort paid off.

“Wh-what? Martin, you—!”

The friends who usually hung around him stared in surprise.

But Martin had no time to listen to them.

His eyes were fixed on the mysterious lifeform that had appeared before him.

It was in the shape of a girl, smaller than a human head.

Her body was tiny and short, her head disproportionately large, which only made her look strangely cute.

The girl, made entirely of mana, looked at Martin with transparent, round eyes as she circled around him.

“A humanoid form.”

Ludger, who had approached after witnessing Martin’s success, spoke as he looked at the magical beast.

“A... humanoid?”

“Yes. Magical beasts usually take the form of animals, plants, or tools. But on rare occasions, something resembling a human appears.”

Ludger observed Martin’s magical beast carefully.

“It’s even rarer than tool-type forms. Considering the Kandark family’s history with doll-making, it might suit you perfectly.”

“...You know about my family?”

“Yes. Nowadays, with the development of mechanical engineering, automata are far more common than dolls. But once, the Kandarks were considered unmatched in doll-making.”

Martin was deeply surprised that Ludger knew such details.

It wasn’t just empty words when Ludger said he remembered every student he taught.

In truth, Martin’s family had been in decline because automata and steam golems had replaced magically controlled dolls.

His father had been trying to revive the family by bringing about change.

But change required significant energy and funds.

And the declining Kandark family had no such funds.

The Burteg family had provided that support, which was why the Kandarks owed them a heavy debt.

“If it’s a humanoid magical beast... does it have any special qualities?”

“The abilities of a magical beast come from the summoner’s will and magical disposition, not from its appearance. But considering how rare this form is, there’s a high chance it possesses abilities others can’t replicate. Humanoid magical beasts are almost never weak.”

Martin’s expression brightened.

For Ludger to say something like that, when he rarely offered praise, meant this really was something special.

“Don’t get too excited. Summoning a magical beast is one thing, but how long you can maintain it and how much you can draw out its power depends ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) entirely on your own effort. If anything, now is the time to work even harder.”

“Yes! Understood!”

Martin nodded seriously.

Judging by his expression, there was no need for further lecturing, so Ludger gave him a single approving nod.

Martin’s success poured fuel on the students’ determination.

Flora’s success had been acceptable—she was a genius, after all. But Martin, who had never stood out, succeeding? That was different.

The students trained furiously, desperate to summon their own magical beasts.

Ludger hadn’t told them to, yet they even ran laps around the training hall to burn through mana.

This was something Ludger hadn’t expected at all.

And the results were just as surprising.

Three days after Martin and Flora’s success—

Every single student attending Ludger’s special lecture succeeded in summoning their own magical beast.

An achievement accomplished in barely half a month.