Chapter 13.1 - Thousand Blade Academy and Big Five Holy Festival [3] – part 1 (2/2)

(…As expected, she is pretty busy after all)

Naturally speaking, it was a matter of course, but I recognized anew the heap of work of Leia-sensei.

While being a director of the Five Academy, she is also in charge of an entire classroom.

I’m sure she is managing a terrifying amount of work, where an ordinary person would faint, every single day.

Despite all that, in order to make the class fun, she behaves brightly in front of the students. For that, I greatly admire her.

(This is an adult woman…)

She looks somewhat cool.

After enough time passed,

「Fuuu…」

Perhaps sensei had reached a point where she could pause the work, as she finally exhaled while stretching greatly.

At the same time, the atmosphere in the office immediately softened.

She turned her shoulders around alternately, and as she was massaging her stiff neck, I spoke words of appreciation.

「Sensei, thank you for your hard work.」

「Aa, it was fun.」

And then, she drank the tea in the teacup with a satisfied look.

「Is that right, glad to hear tha-… it was fun?」

…Strange.

It’s a little unsuitable to say「It was fun」as an impression of your work.

Doubtfully, I moved my eyes to see what sensei had been eagerly reading — it was Weekly Shonen Yaiba.

Weekly Shonen Yaiba – a teen comic magazine that boasts overwhelming popularity among middle and high school boys.

Apparently, that’s what she had been reading all this while.

「Man, this week’s Yaiba was good overall! Especially reading all of it in one sitting was great! Let’s make a statement – this series will definitely blow up! The art is still rough and the story is also unrefined, but how do I say it – this welling up passion, like I could feel the『soul』in it!」

Sensei flushed and spoke so excitedly, just as a teenage boy would.

「…Is that so?」

I want to chop up the foolish me who thought sensei was『cool』even for a moment.

Or rather, to think that she had us wait all this while just to finish reading a comic… my emotions had grown from anger to disgust.

It was the same for both Ria and Rose. Both of them were breathing heavily with a furious look.

(Is it really okay for this person to be the director of Thousand Blade Academy…?)

As that tinge of doubt crossed my mind, I asked sensei about something that has been bothering me lately.

「Isn’t Leia-sensei supposed to be really busy? Normally, if someone were to hold concurrent posts as the director and homeroom teacher, I don’t think they would have the time to read manga…」

And then she proudly rubbed her nose.

「Fufu, no problem. Because I’ve left all the miscellaneous matter to this guy.」

And at the end of sensei’s line of sight,

「……」

A man sitting in a small chair was silently doing paperwork at the corner of the room.

「!?」

「Hii!?」

「W-Who!?」

Ria and Rose jumped back in surprise, and I immediately stood in front of them.

(S-Since when was this person here…!?)

It’s not that his presence was weak, it’s that I didn’t realize at all that he was there until now.

「Hahaha, a good response!」

Sensei laughed happily at our surprised state.

「W-Who is this person?」

Based on the outward appearance, he should be around his mid-thirties.

In spite of being inside the room, he was wearing a silk hat low over his eyes.

A magnificent handlebar mustache with both ends pointing upwards.

The unusual white and black stick that leaned against the desk was probably his.

「Let me introduce you. No.18, a servant in charge of my miscellaneous matters.」

The man called No.18, without paying attention to us, just gave us a nod from that spot.

In the meantime, his hands continued to work without stopping and processed a stack of paper at a tremendous speed.

As I tried to approach closer to greet him,

「Oops, be careful. This is a A class criminal who has been sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour for 100 years.」

Sensei just said a ridiculous fact nonchalantly.