I Got a Fake Job at the Academy-Chapter 781

Chapter 781 – Side Story 54: Back to the Original Place (4)

'Wait, what the hell was that just now?'

Except for Rudger, who was trying to proceed with the class as if nothing had happened, all the students gathered in the classroom were filled with astonishment.

Even Carlo, who had been harboring a strange rebellious spirit toward Rudger, had already lowered the leg he had placed on his desk. The students gathered here were children belonging to the special class with outstanding talent even within Theon.

Although not precisely, they knew that Rudger had just done something utterly absurd.

'That teacher, did he forcibly drag those kids from far away? Even transcending space?'

At least that's what Hermoa saw. Those two class-refusing students, whose whereabouts were unknown, suddenly appeared out of thin air and fell.

Hermoa's mind spun furiously. She fitted together the puzzle of what Rudger had done from start to finish, drawing one complete picture.

'He spread his mana very thinly and widely. That sensation I felt was something that occurred as the mana spread.'

Spreading mana was probably to search for where the students who refused class were located.

The method Rudger used was close to search magic, but was distinctly different from scattering one-dimensional waves.

Literally like moisture in the air, he sprinkled mana so thin and fine that it was invisible, even imperceptible to the skin, then fixed it like fog around the surroundings to dominate the entire space.

'The reason for that was probably to reconstruct the mana scattered there anew and deploy new magic.'

If it had been simple search magic, those two students who were forcibly dragged would have taken some kind of action as soon as they felt it.

Either hiding themselves further, or fleeing to another location. Then the mishap of finding the opponent's location through search and missing them the moment you go to catch them would have occurred.

Rudger chose the primitive method of spreading mana itself widely, rather than search magic, to prevent that.

But even though he used a primitive method, honestly Hermoa couldn't understand with her common sense how he found the hidden students.

If you manipulate mana to find people in the surroundings, countless people in Theon would all be detected by it.

With thousands of people throughout Theon, is it really possible to specifically find only the 2 students you want from among them?

Even though you're specifying students who aren't attending class during class time, students who possess mana.

For instance, couldn't there be students walking around because it's their free period or they have other business?

Nevertheless, Rudger accurately found only the two class refusers among those countless possibilities and simultaneously, after wrapping the two students with the scattered mana.

'He forcibly dragged them here.'

It was far from simply dragging them with telekinesis. The two students appeared in the classroom suddenly, without knowing what happened as if they had moved through space.

'And that scene he just showed.'

When that small white girl tried to escape, as soon as she went outside, she ended up coming back inside as if space itself had been twisted.

The girl who appeared also seemed to realize this, as she gave up trying to go outside anymore. Then she looked at Rudger with a hesitant expression before sitting in a corner seat.

Even though he hadn't given a proper self-introduction, Rudger had captured the students gathered in the classroom with just what he had shown.

A flame of yearning rose inside Hermoa's pupils.

'That person is among the most outstanding of any mage I've seen!' 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Hermoa's mind spun rapidly. Beyond countless calculations and crossroads of choice, she quickly reached one conclusion.

'I need to become close with Teacher Rudger!'

Just becoming close with that person would greatly increase the feasibility of her path to success.

Hermoa had thought this special class was just a stuffy prison to bind them.

But that wasn't it. This was a rope descended from heaven.

If she just grabbed this, she could instantly ride the updraft and fly beyond the clouds.

"Everyone's eyes have changed."

Rudger spoke with a somewhat satisfied face.

Children called geniuses by others, and who also took pride in being geniuses themselves.

He had shown these children what real magic was, the difference in level, right before their eyes. In Carlo's case, his initial presumptuousness had diminished, and Elmara, who had been ignoring everything and just trying to sleep, straightened her back.

After examining the 6 students, Rudger recalled their names and information.

"Then, I'll call attendance. Hermoa Entiro." 

"Yes! Teacher!"

Hermoa raised her hand and actively appealed herself. At that sight, the other students' eyes widened as they looked at her.

Wait, weren't you full of complaints about the world until just a while ago? When other teachers called your name, you only responded indifferently?

That was the kind of look they gave, but Hermoa responded with a light snort. How could those who don't know of her grand dreams understand the weight of her footsteps?

Rudger was also a bit puzzled that Hermoa, who had seemed most unmotivated, was suddenly showing enthusiasm, but decided to just be glad and move on.

"Next. Carlo." 

"......Yes."

Carlo answered in a somewhat delinquent tone. However, compared to his initial attitude, he was in such a docile state that it could be called a world of difference.

He himself seemed to still maintain a slightly rebellious attitude due to his pride. But to others, he had already sufficiently tucked his tail.

Of course, his eyes were still not dead. Rudger had an intuition that he would probably clash with Carlo at least once in the near future.

'He's very rebellious, so other teachers also had trouble with him.'

Carlo was from a commoner background, and the environment where he was born and raised was a slum in a city. Considering that harsh environment, it felt natural that Carlo was so rough and twisted.

Because it's a place filled with violence, fraud, betrayal, and robbery, where drunken husbands beat their wives every time, prostitutes walk around, and garbage and smoke fill the air.

In fact, the area where Carlo grew up had a very high crime rate in that direction. Carlo was said to have lived there serving only his mother.

'In a sense, he's an impressive fellow.'

In such a place, he was born with innate talent that was counted among the best even within Theon, where elite students gathered.

Truly a lotus blooming from mud. But on that lotus stem, sharp thorns like roses sprouted. As if he wouldn't tolerate anyone trying to break him.

Rudger immediately called on the next student.

"Elmara Poale." 

"Yees~."

She had a somewhat dragging, powerless voice. Whether it was due to fatigue or boredom was unclear.

However, the surrounding students were looking at her as if it was amazing just that Elmara responded to the call.

Just from that reaction alone, you could tell how indifferent she was to everything around her.

'Elmara Poale is an elf.'

Not from the Elf Kingdom, but from one of the other small separate tribes. While ordinary elves showed outstanding talent in spirit magic or druid abilities, Elmara was different.

She possessed tremendous magical talent above all else. Especially when Rudger scattered his mana, she was the one who reacted most intensely and sensitively among all the other students.

'To put it simply, she's incredibly quick to notice things.'

According to surrounding evaluations, Elmara was relaxed, easygoing, and even lazy. She doesn't respond even when called by those around her, and just sleeps as if living in her own world.

Due to that elf's distinctive beauty and atmosphere, it creates a kind of picture-like beautiful situation.

But unlike a picture that can be touched if you reach out, she was like an illusion that could never be reached.

Therefore, according to other people's evaluations written in her file, she was described as a child who would never move even if the sky collapsed.

But in Rudger's view, Elmara was never lazy. Rather, she was a child who was far too observant, and would therefore move briskly when the necessary moment came.

To put it nicely, she's not as lazy as you'd think.

'To put it badly, she's quite cunning.'

Even now, she was somehow responding according to this side's attitude, but Rudger read the emotion contained in Elmara's eyes.

Probably waiting for an opportunity, if this side seemed easy to deal with, she would regain her previous appearance.

On the surface, she looked gentle and kind, like a well-fed bear just before falling into hibernation. But inside, she was hiding a quite venomous snake.

"Robert Histon." 

"Yes, yep!"

Robert tried to answer energetically, but his voice trembled. Thinking he had given a strange answer, he bowed his head even deeper.

'Robert Histon. A mage from a military family that produces War Mages. He possesses outstanding talent, but conversely, due to his excessively timid attitude, he's said to be an outsider even in his family.'

If it's a family that produces War Mages, the basic tone had no choice but to be formal and rigid like soldiers.

And such a timid child was born in such a place. From the perspective of the family elders, it must be more than just frustrating.

Moreover, Robert's talent was enough to be called legendary even within his family. Could there be anything more regrettable than such a child not being able to demonstrate his abilities due to his personality?

The family elders probably somehow harassed Robert to reform his personality.

'But looking at his personality now, it seems that kind of aggressive education method characteristic of soldiers had the opposite effect.'

Robert became even more timid, and his self-esteem became lower. That's probably why he's bowing his head despite having such talent.

"In my class, if you bow your head, I'll consider it secretly sleeping."

When Rudger threw out that one remark, Robert quickly lifted his head. Then when his gaze met Rudger's, he tried to lower his head again, but remembering what was just said, a subtle situation was created where he could neither raise nor lower his head.

That was a mental problem before talent, so even Rudger couldn't do anything about it right away.

'Now then, shall I take a look at the other two problem children?'

At least the four called earlier showed the sincerity of coming to the classroom if there was class. But the latter two refused the class itself and didn't even come to the classroom.

"Mina."

When Rudger called her name, the white girl sitting in the corner raised her cute hand.

"If your name is called, don't just raise your hand, answer as well." 

"......Yees."

Mina spoke in a crawling voice. At the same time, the subtle light flowing from her body became slightly stronger.

'I already encountered this in the documents, but seeing it in person makes it even more unbelievable.'

The child named Mina had a very unique constitution. That is, the amount of mana she was born with was absurdly large. How much? Even compared to Clinton, a 7th Circle mage, her pure mana reserves were much greater.

'That light flowing from her body is a phenomenon that appears when mana that isn't properly suppressed emits light on its own. Rather than a person possessing mana, it's closer to mana naturally taking the form of a person.'

Even her snow-white skin and snow-white hair color. That probably isn't her own. Due to the excessively powerful mana, even her skin and hair color changed like an albino.

Hermoa, whose hair was partially dyed pink like two-tone due to her talent, was impressive too, but there was no precedent for not just the hair but the entire body being dyed white.

'Moreover, even her appearance looks several years younger despite being the same age.'

Because she harbored such powerful mana, her physical growth had been delayed instead. With mana that powerful, an ordinary person might get burned just by approaching her.

In fact, when forcibly bringing her to the classroom, Rudger had to consume considerable mana.

If Mina had sensed something and raised her magical power to resist, he probably wouldn't have been able to bring her.

'The smallest physique, but harboring the greatest mana.'

A mana reserve amount that would laugh dismissively even at Lexer mages. Could there be such talent?

Rudger turned his gaze from Mina and looked at a boy with disheveled hair wearing high-prescription glasses.

The last special class student, and one of the problem children who refused class.

"Eric Willow."

Even the fellow's surname was extraordinary. Right. That fellow was the nephew of Theon's Chancellor, Elisa Willow, belonging to her family.