The midterms are over!
The students have returned to the academy and naturally, they were buzzing about deserted island stories.
But instead of complaints or grievances about the midterms…
“I saw it with my own eyes, okay!? The Headmistress swung her fist and BAM! The Kraken just exploded!”
“Didn’t you say she sliced the Kraken in half with just a finger earlier?”
“That’s the same thing! Hey, have you ever tried Kraken leg roast?”
“………No.”
“If you haven’t tried it, don’t even talk! I seriously want to explain how it tastes, but I can’t!”
Talking about the Headmistress and the Kraken!
“Did you really survive a week on that deserted island? Is that even possible?”
“Well, after living through it, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I’m confident I could survive anywhere now!”
“I heard you were crying and screaming the whole time.”
“Pfft! Where did you hear such nonsense!? Did I give up in the middle? I completed it! I even got a special scholarship this time!”
“Well….”
Tales of survival on the deserted island.
Of course, there was a lot of favorable talk about the midterms too. To be exact, grievances and complaints about the exam were overshadowed by stories of the Kraken and survival.
In the end, the students remaining at the academy showed more interest in the Kraken and survival tales than in complaining about the exams, and most of the dissatisfied students were merely those who gave up mid-exam.
Especially since most of them were well-bred nobles, there was definitely potential for issues.
“Dad, I’m telling you! It was an absolutely ridiculous exam!”
“I’ve already received a letter from the Headmistress regarding the exams. It was very polite, asking for understanding regarding the intent and content of this exam.”
“Huh?”
“It was indeed a severe method, but it is also a fact that the academy students of the empire returned badly injured from their ordeal. More importantly, the son of the baron right next to us completed it and I couldn’t even face the count during the banquet!”
“Umm….”
“The Headmistress is who she is, and Grandis Academy is where it is! Do you really think the best prestigious educational institution in the kingdom would conduct an exam like that without any thought? You should seize the opportunity! How can you, as a noble of the kingdom, be so weak-minded?”
“Uh, Dad?”
“Get out of here! Don’t come to me with such matters again!”
“Dad!”
That too passed without major issues thanks to the arrangements made beforehand by the Finance Director.
The justification that the greatest hero and Headmistress had written personal letters to the noble houses requesting understanding.
Of course, there must have been valid reasons for Grandis Academy to conduct something like this.
And while there were many students who gave up, there were also quite a few who completed it, leading to comparisons in noble society.
Everything was as predicted.
“The banquet expenses, Magic Ship rentals, travel costs, and other expenses turned out to be unexpectedly high, but a significant portion was covered by the Kraken extermination fee. As a result, we’ve reduced costs by more than half compared to last year’s midterms.”
“Enjoying a break in between is quite the harvest, isn’t it? What are the reactions to the exams?”
“Here are the survey results from students and parents.”
“……Writing letters was worth it. At this rate, we could even do this annually!”
“It’s already in the works.”
This was the reason I was desperately trying to protect the Headmistress’s authority and the honor of the academy.
Funding? Donations? To be honest, we could easily obtain them by openly discussing our financial status or by exploiting the authority of the academy and Headmistress.
However, while this might extinguish an immediate fire, it would also mean that the Grandis Academy would no longer belong to the Headmistress. Likely, I, the Finance Director, would end up facing the consequences regarding financial issues instead of her.
Whether it be the royal family or other factions, they would continue to meddle in the academy’s operations for their own gain.
“Catching a flea while burning down the whole house.”
If I’m facing bankruptcy in three years, it’s no longer just a flea; it feels like the pillars of the house are rotting away!
For the sake of the Headmistress’s dreams and my own stability and future, I needed to solve the financial issues while pretending there were no problems at Grandis Academy.
Of course, it would be a challenging task, but I still had cards to play.
The existence of the Headmistress and the reputation that Grandis Academy had built as the best in the kingdom.
“If the last in the class does something silly, nobody will believe it, but if the top student does, it seems justified.”
Thanks to that, the event of a deserted island survival midterm, which would have uprooted a public or private academy had it been held elsewhere, had no issues here.
It was all made possible due to the Headmistress, who had been extremely mindful of the quality of education and the well-being of the students.
Perhaps for that reason, the face of the Headmistress receiving my report was lit up with joy.
In a way, it proved that she was right about something.
“Hey, when is Sir Julius coming?”
“He should arrive within three days. He’ll be quite busy, but Kaern is someone Julius cares for a lot.”
“Then we have a little time to spare.”
“Time to spare?”
“Since the midterms are over, I need to reconnect with the bribery students, including Lisa.”
Before the midterms, one of them had asked me to give them the exam content in advance, but I had refused.
I couldn’t tell if they were just probing or truly disappointed, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious.
Bribery is the art of relationships.
In other words, bribery means that the Finance Director, as the artist, has to go crazy painting a picture.
The others? They are simply the ones providing the colors for that painting, blissfully unaware that they’re actually the ones in the dominant position.
“I’ll go around the bribery students again to either receive bribes or at least placate their mood. And I’ll handle all the paperwork related to this midterm that’s piled up, make sure I give a customary percentage back to the nobles who provided expenses during the journey, study the management thesis that I’ve been slacking on for a week, meet with the Head of Food Ingredients Management or Laura to check on their progress, and then talk to the Student Affairs head and the exam supervision officer who must have had a hard time.”
“Remember to meet and confer with the Planning Director and Academic Director as well and ensure that the Illusion Magic department is actually donating 40% of the invested funds.”
Alright, just this amount should do for today.
Still, having gotten a week’s worth of good rest made this pile of work feel less overwhelming.
This is just part of everyday life after all.
“It’s just another day.”
“Indeed it is.”
Even though there was a week’s worth of papers to be signed piled high on the Headmistress’s desk, it was merely something she did daily.
The Headmistress and I smiled at each other.
After a brief holiday, it was time to return to our thoroughly ordinary daily lives.
*
Ruth sat on the dormitory bed.
Though he had placed restrictions, he was still a Rank 6, allowing him to enter the best dormitory. But Ruth refused that and rented an entire small dormitory with the money he got from investing in the salt mine.
It would have been nice to live with Mina as a roommate, but ‘according to the admission documents,’ students of different genders couldn’t share a room. A given.
Thus, all he could do was sigh.
“…It’s just too inconvenient.”
It was quite hard living while pretending to be a different gender.
At the same time, it was a decision looking far into the future.
Strapping down his chest and using magic to alter his skeletal structure was all to get closer to Professor Circe.
“For some reason, in the Sacred Nation, Circe only used male subjects.”
Known as a genius and a master of life magic, it was unclear if she had gained her knowledge through human experimentation or if she conducted human trials using her knowledge.
What was certain was that Circe had a somewhat odd preference for male subjects.
“If possible, I wanted to get things done at the academy. And even if there was a failure, they’d just see me as a guy, so I was planning to approach them in the Sacred Nation.”
However, that very Professor Circe was not doing anything for some reason. I’d seen her briefly during the midterms, and she appeared to have weakened compared to before.
Why on earth did a Rank 6 Mage drop to Rank 5, even if only for a moment?
…Really.
“I don’t know too much.”
It’s not that I don’t know anything. I know the ways to get to Rank 6, the salt mine situation, Professor Circe’s matters, Adam’s stuff, and the academy’s future.
But what Ruth knows is merely the big results; he knows nothing of the processes in between.
That’s why the salt mine faced a crash before some merchant groups could even arrive.
Let alone the academy’s stuff, it’s even more unclear.
“I’ve always been the bottom student.”
In the past, I just focused on my own growth, knowing almost nothing about the detailed circumstances or secrets of the academy.
I remember the incidents that occurred at the academy but hardly know their causes. I only know that they will happen in the future.
And now even that ‘knowledge’ seems useless.
“What could have gone wrong?”
Why isn’t Circe doing anything? Why haven’t there been any incidents like the summoning rituals of the professors? Why did Adam meet Beatrice instead of Chloe?
No matter how I thought about it, Ruth couldn’t find an answer.
And with the recent deserted island survival midterm, which had undergone a tremendous change that had originally not existed at all…
“For now.”
I decided to keep the fact that I’ve returned to the past a secret.
Feeling frustrated with the changes happening without knowing the reasons, I was contemplating revealing it to Mina or Adam, but…
“That could actually create problems.”
Having seen the overlap of ‘previous’ Adam and ‘current’ Adam on the deserted island, I changed my mind.
The future is already changing in ways Ruth doesn’t understand. If I carelessly reveal that I’ve returned to the past, who knows what kind of butterfly effect it might cause? Nothing could be certain; Ruth could only be cautious about this irreversible adventure.
Revealing my regression is something to be done at the very end. Even someone not very bright like me knows how massive the repercussions of such an action would be.
However, that doesn’t mean I can sit around irresponsibly.
“…Let’s figure it out.”
Even though I’m not very knowledgeable, and I’m a failure who couldn’t save the world and Adam…
This regression is surely a miracle that won’t come again.
With a composed mind, Ruth clarified a single goal.
──To find out why Grandis Academy collapsed.
If the academy doesn’t fall apart and the Headmistress doesn’t die,
Then surely Adam won’t fall into corruption either.
“First, it’s not an internal issue.”
There’s no way it’s an internal issue within the academy. After all, there weren’t any problems until Ruth graduated.
If it were an internal problem, it might be issues like finances or internal conflict among faculty, but the Headmistress is the wealthiest in the kingdom and absolutely dominates at the academy. It wouldn’t suddenly have issues. Even Ruth was sure of that.
Moreover, it was unimaginable that the Headmistress, who exploded the Kraken in one blow, could die simply due to betrayal from her staff.
The only concerning issue was Circe’s potential scheme.
“I can keep tabs on that.”
Most importantly, even if Circe tried, she couldn’t possibly bring down an academy with the Headmistress at the helm.
The only possibility I could think of was one.
“External enemies.”
After Grandis Academy’s fall, the entire kingdom was thrown into chaos, and since I happened to be in a foreign land then, I had to rely only on rumors that were floating around. As they were rumors, I couldn’t guarantee their truth, and the content was mixed with inconsistencies, but…
One common phrase circulated widely.
“The empire and the royal family tried to interfere with the academy.”
So, the conclusion is straightforward.
While living my life at the academy, I’ll monitor Professor Circe and check on key figures like Mina and Adam, preventing any external interference.
Finally determining my genuine goal, Ruth firmly nodded.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I need to act immediately. Realizing it was already late, Ruth strapped his chest again and slightly altered his skeleton.
“Such a hassle.”
But if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to hide my ever-growing chest and hips. The aftereffects of becoming a Rank 6 Mage were an explosive growth in my body.
At this rate, I might not be able to hide it even with skeletal transformation within a year. Should I just start wearing armor like the youngest knights? Sighing, I left the dormitory.
Nevertheless, today was the day the general store was suddenly selling eggs at a discount. I hadn’t forgotten that from ‘previous’ memories attached to it.
“Back then, I had forgotten to bring money and couldn’t buy any.”
But now it’s different. Ruth was indeed a regressor. While he did have substantial savings due to the salt mine investment, he had to be thrifty to prepare for the future.
Nonetheless, there was no longer a past where he was so poor he couldn’t buy discounted eggs.
Ruth stepped forward to change the past when…
“Hey, you.”
“…Huh?”
“Are you Ruth Spero?”
With fiery red hair tied in a black ribbon ponytail and an annoyed expression, a female student blocked his path.
The moment Ruth saw her face, he couldn’t help but freeze.
After all, she was someone he had killed directly in the past.
“…Chloe Pisty.”
“Of course, I know it’s me. No, maybe you’re the more famous one? Anyway, I have something to say.”
“What’s… what is it?”
“I heard you talked to the Finance Director during the entrance ceremony. Is that true?”
“………….”
“I’m looking into that person a bit.”
Chloe Pisty. She was once so close to Adam that they left together after the academy collapsed.
But now she stood before Ruth, in a completely different form.
“I have a question for you.”
“About Adam Keynes.”
“Tell me about him.”
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