Free Web NovelChapter 80: Temporary Classes
In the classroom of the red class. Or rather, the classroom of the silver-red class.
Between the teacher’s podium and the first row, Leydan was on one knee with his head hung low.
"Leydan. I heard that you caused quite the commotion this morning. What happened?" Cail Maystra, who sat in the first row, demanded an answer.
His arms were crossed and his chin lifted.
"M-Mika Elbar returned, sir..." Leydan replied nervously.
"And?"
Cail’s gaze remained stern and unfazed.
"W-we tried to put him into his place, but we got interrupted by Rachel Troa and-"
"I heard enough. Go back to your seat." Cail said, heaving a sigh and waving his hand up and down.
"Y-yes, sir!"
Thus, Leydan hurriedly went to his seat.
"So how should we proceed from now on?"
"Are we going to take care of Mika Elbar?"
The students around Cail voiced their opinions eagerly.
"No."
A vile smirk crept onto Cail’s face.
"I will make sure that he will be the last one to drop out." he stated intimidatingly.
However, at that moment, another student appeared right in front of him.
Unusually for this classroom, someone with a silver uniform was there.
"When will you stop with this stupid game of yours?"
The brown-haired student’s dark green eyes were sharp and filled with hostility.
"Gerard Armwright."
Cail’s smirk vanished at the sight of Gerard.
"What do you want?" he asked annoyed.
"Didn’t you hear me? How much longer do you want to pull this crap?" Gerard replied with a hint of rage in his tone.
"I don’t know what you mean." Cail replied ignorantly as he shrugged his shoulder.
"Cut it out!"
Gerard slammed his hands on Cail’s table.
"I know damn well that you’re the one who is pulling the strings here! What is your goal?! Why are you trying to make the black class students drop out?!"
"..." frёewebnoѵēl.com
Cail sighed again.
"So that’s what you wanted to know."
Cail leaned back on his chair with his arms behind his head.
"Have you taken a look at the academy recently?"
Cail started to explain calmly.
"The number of second-year students was reduced to less than half. Two of four first-year teachers are missing. Our four classes had to be combined into two classes temporarily. Now tell me..."
He leaned forward this time with his elbows on the table.
"...how much more will the academy’s reputation sink if people would know that this year’s black class consists of more than 100 people?"
"But-"
"We’re students of the magic academy Loogam! The best magic academy in the world! And I, a proud red-class student, won’t allow those black-class students to sully this holy grounds with their presence!" Cail raised his voice as he stood up from his seat.
"If there are things I can do to help the academy, then I will gladly do anything in my power to return its previous glory!"
"Great speech!"
"As expected of Sir Cail!"
"Away with the black class!"
"Let’s bring back Loogam’s reputation!"
Mostly red-class students cheered in the background for Cail, however, Gerard also spotted a few of his own classmates doing the same.
Gerard clenched his fists. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
"If it weren’t for you, then those students and Ju-"
"Everyone, get to your seats!"
But Gerard, who was muttering a few words, got interrupted by Erwin Linster, their new teacher.
At the same time, in Mika’s classroom.
Ralph Arma arrived and peacefully prepared his things on the podium.
The classroom was still void of any other black,class students besides Mika.
"I see... So because Ms. Ross and Ms. Werensten, the guide for Sylvia and Lily, who’re doing one mission after another without a break, are missing, the classes got put together into equally sized classes, am I right?" Mika said.
"Yes. The silver and red class were put together, leaving the black and white class in one." Belian complimented.
"The teacher for the now so-called black-white class is Mr. Arma, whereas the others have Mr. Linster, our previous teacher." Harik added.
Then, the bell rang, however only after a few minutes passed, students from Mika’s class started to arrive.
Their teacher seemed to understand their current situation and therefore did not scold them for being late.
Furthermore, the students apparently did not notice Mika at first as he was hidden and surrounded by the white-class students. It was only during the lesson that they started to recognize Mika. The tone of the chatter ranged from surprised to worried.
Mika heard some of them but decided to focus on the lesson. Compared to Ophelia’s lessons, Ralph was teaching at a faster pace. Almost too fast.
He understood that there were now white-class students in their ranks, but even then the pace was unnaturally fast. The students from the black class could only keep up barely.
From time to time, he took a glance at his seat neighbors.
"..."
Rachel was sleeping peacefully.
Harik had nothing on his table and only stared to the front with crossed arms.
"I should have known better..." Mika muttered with a wry smile.
He threw a side glance at Belian.
"?"
To his surprise, Belian was the only one of the three, who seriously took notes.
"Oh, would you look at that? It seems like I got through the lesson faster than expected again." Ralph stated clumsily.
"There are still 20 minutes left, however, I don’t think that it would be wise to start the new topic, thus I give you permission to leave early." he added with a smile.
The students packed their things.
"He’s doing it on purpose." Belian stated.
"Hm?"
Mika tilted his head.
He wanted to know more but then, a horde of students approached him.
"Mika, is that you?"
"We heard that you were absent due to health problems!"
"Are you fine now?"
"Since when were you here?"
"Did you already encounter someone from the other classes?"
His classmates flooded him with questions. He tried to answer them without revealing too much about the rescue mission.
"Everyone, it’s time!" someone from the back shouted.
"..."
They all look disheartened.
"Sorry, we all would like to talk more with you, but we have to go or else, the others will come to the cafeteria before us." a classmate explained sheepishly.
"Sure..." Mika replied confused.
Thus, Mika and the white-class students were left behind.
"This is what their daily life here looks like right now. Every day they have to go earlier than the other class in order to avoid the others’ gazes and discrimination." Belian said.
"We try to help as much as we can, but there are too many students for us three to look after." Harik added.
"..."
Mika looked concerned in the direction they left.
"Mika Elbar. Could you spare me some time?"
"?"
Mika turned around, only to see Ralph in front of him.
"Mr. Arma?"
"I would like to talk alone with you." he said with a gentle smile.
Understanding the situation, Belian and Harik decided to leave the room.
"We will head to the cafeteria first." Belian stated.
And because Rachel still did not wake up, Harik had to carry her on his shoulder.
"Oh, it seems like you already get along with them."
"Well, kind of, haha..." Mika laughed wryly.
Ralph walked over and sat down beside Mika.
"Did you encounter any problems since you’re back?" Ralph asked while staring at the teacher’s podium.
"Problems? Hmm... I guess, I ran into a troublesome student this morning, but thanks to Rachel the situation was solved quickly." Mika replied in thought.
"I understand. As a teacher, I shouldn’t be prejudiced, but was it a student from the silver-red class?"
"Yes."
"..."
His mouth formed a straight line.
"You see, in the entire history of this academy, there were of course records of discrimination towards peculiar classes. However, those were on a smaller scale compared to nowadays."
"Then, what’s the reason for it being such a great conflict this year?" Mika asked puzzled.
"Hmm... I think that one of the reasons is this year’s number of black-class students."
"!"
"Usually, we would only have less than 30 black students each year, which is due to them barely passing the exams. But this year something happened, which caused the number to quadruple."
"A lot of students seemed to be quite dissatisfied by this fact and started to drive them away."
"I see..."
Mika, who had a shocked expression and a pale skin tone, cast his eyes down. Agape, he thought back on that day. The day, when he took the entrance exams. The day, he fought Ophelia for the first time. The day, he made a bet.
The bet was, that everyone, who was still conscious, would pass if Mika won against Ophelia.
The bet, which resulted in more than 100 black students attending this academy.
"H-hey, system..." he muttered with a trembling voice.
Despite sitting beside him, Ralph did not hear anything as he continued talking.
[Yes?]
He pressed his fists against his thighs.
"Was... Was it my fault...?"
