Assistant Professor (3)
A week later, Springwind Department of Swordsmanship.
“Hey, did you hear that rumor?”
“That God is coming to our department as a professor? Of course I did!”
The entire lecture hall was abuzz.
Amid the commotion tinged with a strange excitement and fluttering anticipation, there was only one topic of conversation.
“Ah~ I can’t believe I’ll get to see Lady Grace in person every week, not just on a screen. It’s like a dream.”
“I read online that Professor Grace stepped down from her position as the Captain of the Royal Guard to train new knights!”
“For real? Wow…… No wonder everyone calls her a goddess……”
Even as class time approached, the fervor showed no signs of cooling down.
And for good reason. To knights and aspiring knights, ‘Grace Euclid’ was a divine existence.
All the students fell silent the moment the front door quietly opened.
“…….”
As Grace took one step forward, the students watched her with eyes full of admiration.
I silently followed behind her.
Looking around the tiered lecture hall, which could easily seat 300 people, memories resurfaced.
Ah, just a few years ago, I was sitting among those students too.
“……Nice to meet you.”
Standing on the podium with her hands clasped behind her back, Grace spoke.
With her perfect posture, every student, myself included, tensed up.
“I am Grace Euclid, and I will be teaching you from now on.”
There was no need to mention the rare Weapon Master of the Empire, the Royal Guard Commander idolized by all knights, or the hero of the Second War of Humans and Demons.
Grace Euclid.
The feats she had accomplished could not be adorned with mere titles, and her flawless appearance defied all description.
To forcibly attach words would only diminish those words and tarnish the meaning embedded in her name.
The elegance that flowed from her figure was the tradition of the Euclid family.
Like a beauty unique to Grace, who naturally harmonized with any space simply by breathing.
“This is my first time teaching anyone, but if it helps, I’ll teach you everything I know.”
No student responded to her greeting.
Everyone, without exception, held their breath, doing everything they could to etch Grace into their eyes for just a second longer.
“Any questions…… It seems not.”
Grace, sounding troubled, glanced sideways at me as the silence hung in the air.
Snapped out of my daze—having been just as mesmerized by Grace as the students—I finally came to my senses.
“Nice to meet you. I’ll be assisting Professor Grace in teaching you. I’m Assistant Professor Rohan……”
“Holy, I can’t believe Lady Grace is really our professor……”
“This isn’t some hidden camera prank, right……?”
“Guess my mom wasn’t wrong to pester me about going to Springwind……”
……No one was listening to me.
In the lecture hall, I was just air.
Only Grace filled the space completely.
The students were absorbing every bit of her presence.
It was the reaction I had expected.
Even if not me, the person called ‘Rohan’ was bound to be overshadowed by a Weapon Master, no matter how skilled a Sword Master he might be.
But this is the important part.
Perhaps everything began from this moment.
To spoil just one thing in advance,
“Well then……”
This lecture would be the catalyst for the students’ perception of Grace to change completely.
“Let’s begin.”
Grace brought her hand to the training sword at her waist.
She drew it and held it upright before her eyes, closing them.
Tzzzt!
From the very start, she unleashed an ‘Aura’ so intense even I struggled to withstand it.
***
It was nature itself.
Like the herald of spring, a cool and gentle breeze blew.
Then, we were hit with a merciless storm.
Mana burst in all directions, soaking our faces and shoulders, and before it could dry, another storm came crashing down upon us.
Before her, we were scarecrows.
Caught in the unpredictable storm of 「Aura Storm」, we stumbled, unsure when our ankles might snap.
By the time the ordeal ended, our mana-drenched bodies were frozen solid.
The illusion of a snowflake blooming mid-air was no illusion.
Her blade danced silently in the stillness.
When all was over, the fallen mana had accumulated on the ground like snow.
“……This is the 『Four Seasons』 technique that I mainly use.”
Though it had only lasted a moment, and despite the intense swordplay, Grace spoke without so much as a single breath out of place.
“This is how it’s done.”
At her words, a student—mouth agape—raised a hand without thinking.
That student probably didn’t even realize they had spoken.
“Uh…… How?”
All the students’ expressions suddenly became identical.
I sighed as I looked at the faces full of question marks.
Grace Euclid.
Even someone as perfect as her had something she wasn’t perfect at.
That was……
“In other words.”
Tzzzt⸺
⸺Bang!
“Like this.”
……she had no talent for teaching.
“Do you understand?”
Not at all.
***
Many people live in the world, but only a few are considered special.
And it is always the few who change the world.
Unfortunately, because they are few, they are never understood by the many.
Then, are there many mistakes?
Is it wrong not to pretend to understand, not to feign a positive reaction to the unique that no one else can imitate?
The atmosphere in the lecture hall today was of that nature.
“……Rohan.”
“Yes, Professor.”
Grace, sitting slouched on the office sofa, lifted her head.
Her expression was the same as always.
Only, her slightly hunched shoulders and curled fingers spoke for her heart.
Grace was always someone who spoke with her body.
“How was today’s lecture… in your opinion?”
Should I pretend to understand, or answer from the same perspective as the students?
What would the real Rohan have said?
Truthfully, the moment I entered the office, my answer was already decided.
“It felt like asking a baby who can’t even walk to try flying.”
“……I see.”
Grace hung her head again.
Damn, my chest ached.
Still, this needed to be said.
Perhaps this was why I was here—to change her fate.
“Have you ever heard of a painting called ‘Billowing Landscape’ by Ivan Leonhart around Imperial Year 743?”
At my question, Grace looked at me.
But my eyes were fixed on one of the office walls.
Following my gaze, she looked at the painting hanging there and tilted her head.
“This painting?”
“Yes.”
“First time seeing it.”
“Then, what did you feel when you first saw it?”
“……Hm?”
This was bad.
Seeing Grace’s ‘deflated’ look in real life was far more overwhelming than just reading about it.
She looked at me with such helpless eyes—so heartbreaking and adorable……
……Focus. I’m Rohan right now. I must act like Rohan.
“Can you guess what meaning is contained in this painting?”
At my question, a faint wrinkle appeared between her brows.
That wrinkle meant she was intensely focused.
Also, I didn’t know.
I made up the painting, the artist Ivan Leonhart, ‘Billowing Landscape’, Imperial Year 740, all of it.
“I don’t know. It just looks like… a beautiful painting.”
“That’s exactly what the students in the lecture hall must’ve felt.”
The truth from my lips turned into a cold reality that froze her.
As I watched her turn into a statue like the Venus de Milo, I continued.
“They didn’t understand it at all, but they knew it was beautiful. That’s all.”
Geniuses aren’t those who know what others don’t.
“Just like how one doesn’t know where the beauty starts or ends, the students couldn’t tell where the mana began, how it moved, or where it surged.”
Geniuses are those who understand what others already know on a deeper level.
Newton discovered gravity through a falling apple.
Everyone saw apples fall, but only he pondered why.
“Today, Professor Grace’s 『Four Seasons』 was perfect as always. But what students needed to see wasn’t ‘who to kill and who to spare,’ but ‘how to swing and thrust.’”
Grace flinched, like someone in clothes that didn’t fit.
My words must have made her uncomfortable.
She likely didn’t understand what I was saying at all.
That was natural.
Just as we couldn’t understand Grace, Grace couldn’t understand us either.
Her inner thoughts were probably something like:
‘Why can’t they understand this?’
A cognitive error.
Assuming that what I know, others must know too—a common generalization.
That’s why we fail to understand each other.
But a ‘professor’ isn’t someone who forces their knowledge.
They are someone who understands ignorance and fills that void with knowledge.
That is the reason for the seat Grace now holds.
And the reason I am by her side.
“Then how should I lecture?”
Grace turned to me.
As she slowly approached, my heart skipped a beat.
“Professor Grace, you should continue just as you did today.”
The intrigue was more than enough.
If I stepped in without a clear reason, it would not only hurt Grace’s pride but also undermine my own position as ‘Assistant Professor.’
My plan was simply that.
“May I handle the explanations instead?”
Grace would voluntarily delegate the lecturing to me.
“Rohan will explain?”
“Yes. From my humble perspective, I believe you intended to focus on 『Four Seasons』 in today’s lecture. I apologize if I presumed too much.”
“No, you’re right.”
“That’s a relief. Since I’ve observed 『Four Seasons』 many times from close by, I believe I can explain it sufficiently.”
Grace wrapped her arms around her waist and hesitated.
At the same time, a flicker of guilt crossed her gaze toward me.
She likely never expected this outcome.
Even when she had hesitated so much in offering me the assistant professor position, to think she had become the obstacle herself—she must have felt deeply sorry.
Finally, she nodded.
“Then, I’ll leave it to you, Rohan.”
Done. With this, I could shift the future’s course……And that’s when it happened.
〔 Development Modified 〕
As soon as I read that message.
〔 10P Acquired 〕
One thought naturally arose.
……Perhaps, someday, I’ll end up reading a story I don’t even know.
Such a strange thought it was.