Chapter 20 (2/2)

Some brave women rose up against this rule and asked for them to be added in their regular supplies, but all that returned was a harsh scolding telling them to get back to their studies. And just when they were about to waste their youth and beauty, Isaac came like a saving grace.

The price was steep, yes. But they were willing to trade their wallets for beauty. It was true that there were many times Isaac’s business could’ve been found out. But the girls were well aware that although Isaac wasn’t technically breaking the rules, it was very likely that his business would stop the moment it was found out.

So they unanimously agreed to keep it a secret. But even if they were to close their mouths about it, the boys were quick to notice the sudden change in the appearance of all the girls in the Campus. But hey, it’s much better to look at prettier girls, so they feigned as if they didn’t notice. If Rivelia didn’t expose Isaac to the public like this, all of the girls in the Campus would have lived like princesses with the fairy G.o.d parent that was Isaac supplying them for the 5 years.

“I’m sure some of you also feigned ignorance after you’ve noticed it. You are still men, no matter what age you are.”

Some of the princ.i.p.als blushed in embarra.s.sment and began to cough dryly in response. There was no way the professors didn’t notice the change in their students. They just ignored it with the excuse that it wasn’t affecting their studies. But the biggest reason would be the bribes which Isaac gifted them through Mazelan.

The t.i.tle of princ.i.p.al or professor in the Campus is one full of honour, but the responsibilities which came with it were just as heavy. They must lead with examples, so they too must follow the rule to only use the supplies which the Campus had given them. As the greatest intellectual elites in the Empire, they were very much used to using the finest products the Empire had to offer. With Isaac easing their inconvenience so willingly, it was inevitable for them to exhibit some positive feelings toward Isaac.

“What is there to worry about? We should bring him to justice immediately!”

Those impatient words were from Princ.i.p.al Mildrey, who was in charge of the 1st military school and the Dean of all the military schools in the Campus. Since Isaac was already well acquainted with the ways of war, the military school received much less gifts from him. Mildrey seemed to have no ill feelings in going against Isaac because of that.

Corduroy simply looked at Mildrey with a blank face.

“On which crime?”

“It’s just breach of the rules, plain and simple! How could a student make a business targeting other students! This is an incident that had never happened since the Campus was founded!”

“I’m asking which school’s rules did he break.”

“Well…”

Mildrey couldn’t say a word back. Isaac was a student of the Campus, but one who isn’t part of any of the schools. It was because n.o.body wanted to take in a student who was so obviously going to have the worst grades in the entire Campus, but n.o.body would have even dreamed that he would become such a menace.

“We refused to heal him as he was about to die because of the rules, and now you’ve decided on using the rules against him?”

“Then if we were to take him into one of the schools…”

“Is that so? Does that mean you’ll be the one taking him in?”

Mildrey shook his head before Corduroy even finished his words. It would only cause a headache to take in a student who couldn’t even gather mana in his body, plus his lack of talent in swordsmans.h.i.+p. Plus, if Isaac was a hot potato before, he was now a scorching boulder. Taking him in would put his t.i.tle as a princ.i.p.al in jeopardy, and he wasn’t ready to take that adventure yet.

“You may have forgotten, but all of the schools rejected Isaac’s application using excuses such as lack of talent and whatnot. But if you were to take him in now, it would mean that our decision back then was wrong. Are you ready to take the blame when that happens?”

“Then why don’t we just expel…”

Unable to let go of the situation, Mildrey put out another idea, which only earned Corduroy’s contempt.

“And are you ready to handle the aftermath?”

In truth, he very much preferred the eyes of admiration from the cute and beautiful female students rather than those sweaty boys. Imagining the girl’s eyes of admiration turn to that of hatred was enough to even scare him.

Corduroy sighed at the sight of all the professors, who were clueless as to what could be done. They indeed deserved respect in their own field of studies; they have put much time and effort to reach their position. But maybe because they’ve only been digging a single well, they were hopeless in anything that wasn’t their field of expertise.

The brutes of the Military School weren’t even a factor at this point, and the same could be said for the professors of magic. The only ones that showed some insight were the professors from the administration field, but even they were only able to just grasp the current situation. To Corduroy, his only hope was the Dean of the Administration School. The infamous Kranjit, the ‘Rac.o.o.n of Politics,’ who had entered the Campus to teach the students after he had retired from the political world.

“Speak your opinion.”

Kranjit shrugged his shoulders when Corduroy asked for his advice.

“There isn’t much to think about actually.”

“Not much to think about?”

“Yes. We can simply cover up his shortcomings with his great achievement in the name of the Campus.”

“What achievement did he accomplish in the Campus?”

“You are well aware that all the students in the College are the greatest talents in the Empire in their own field right?”

“What are you playing at? Aren’t you one of the College graduates yourself?”

“I’m saying it because I’ve been there. I personally know what monsters those students are.”

Even the royal family cannot enter the College if they didn’t have the talent for it, which is why entering it is the greatest pride and honour to those in the Campus. The College was where countless feats of accomplishments beyond the scale of average men were made.

“But because of their overflowing talent, many of them are too proud and self-centered.”

“They have the talent to make up for such things.”

“It’s nice that they have so much talent that they can afford to be arrogant, but they also lack the drive for their studies. I mean they do put some effort, but not many of them are, how to say, desperate.”

“We can’t blame them since they’ve never been put into such situation. Isn’t that what it means to be young?”

“Do you know the number of stars College graduates get on average?”

“It’s 9 to 12, is it not?”

“That’s right. But our estimates show that the number of College students that will graduate this year and the next will skyrocket.”

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PR Note: If you remember from chapter 15 (Mazelan’s graduation), stars are used to denote the number of years it takes for individuals to graduate the college. If you have 8 stars on your emblem (like Mazelan did), it means you graduated in 8 years. In essence, the author is implying in a very roundabout way that for the current and next year, more students will graduate with less stars on their emblem. Those students with less stars on their emblem mean that they graduated in an even shorter time period, which adds even more prestige to the students and the teachers that taught them.

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Kranjit’s words put the meeting room in a commotion. The more students graduate the College in each year, the more it will bolster the reputation of the College and the professors in it. But there was no way these numbers would rise without reason.

“It is indeed something we should congratulate, but why is that happening?”

“Kranjit smiled bitterly at Mildrey’s question.

“It’s because of Isaac.”

The professors fell into a deeper confusion. The College indeed had some interaction with Isaac, but it was nowhere enough to make any impact of significance.

“It started with Rivelia. Were you aware that Rivelia had even stopped her duties as a Student Council to prioritise her training?”

“Oh! For the genius such as Rivelia to show so much effort even in the College, she is indeed miles above everyone else. I guess she has become the s.h.i.+ning example for all the students to follow.”

Mildrey and the other professors nodded in agreement and started to compliment Rivelia and the Pendletons.

But what Kranjit spoke afterwards stopped them on their tracks.

“You are aware that both the College and the Campus distinguish who the Sunbae and Hubae are by looking at which year they graduated right?”

“Who in here wouldn’t know of that?”

“That is what made Rivelia desperate. She said she would rather die than become Isaac’s Hubae.”

“…”

Silence fell in the meeting room. Becoming a Hubae to Isaac, the greatest troublemaker, whose lack of talent was unmatched by all. The students of Campus may go over it without much issue, as they have a strict schedule to follow. But what about the students of the College? Those who can choose when they can graduate just by putting more effort into it? It was obvious that internal discrimination would take place in the College based on whether they graduated before Isaac or not.

“Her training has become so intense that even her master, the man who would drive the students to near death in the name of training, is telling Rivelia to rest. But Rivelia continues her training because of Isaac, and other College students who have heard of this quickly realised that they too may become Isaac’s Hubae if they go about like they’ve always had.”

“That’s an unexpected series of events.”

As Corduroy muttered those words, all of the professors were in deep thought. They weren’t sure If they should be happy or sad about this. But what was important was that being professors in the year which the highest number of College graduates were produced would do well to raise the reputation of the professors and their family.

The Campus may seem detached from all this, but any benefits that have been missed by the College would all trickle down onto them.

“Ahem. Why should we bother about him when he’ll be graduating in 2 years anyway? He can continue his n.o.ble deed for us and we will be there for our students who are very motivated.”

Everyone agreed on Mildrey’s words and decided to overlook on Isaac’s actions as long as it wasn’t too significant. There was more to gain from keeping Isaac rather than to remove him.

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