NOVPUBTwo full hours had passed since the start of Ludger's lesson on numerology and magic squares.
Before he knew it, the end of class was fast approaching.
Time to wrap it up.
“There are five minutes left. I’ll be clearing the board after that, so if anyone hasn’t finished their notes, do it now.”
If there was one thing I never did, it was ending class early—or running late, for that matter.
I finished right on time, down to the second.
That was my personal policy.
“Wait—five minutes already?!”
“No way! I haven’t finished writing everything yet!”
Ever since the very first class, I'd made my punctuality clear.
The students had quickly learned I wasn’t bluffing.
Panicking, they scribbled away furiously, pens dancing across the pages in a desperate bid to copy everything down before the clock ran out.
And five minutes later, when the board was finally wiped clean, they slumped forward over their desks, drained.
“Hhhrrggh... I-I got it all down...”
“If I’d missed even one line, I wouldn’t have slept tonight...”
Exhausted voices, but satisfied expressions.
The look of students who truly wanted to learn—that hunger alone made it all worth it for me.
Yeah. This is what learning is.
The desire to do something. The craving to know something.
Learning is a sacred pursuit that no one should interfere with.
“I’ll announce it now. The upcoming second test will be based entirely on today’s class—and it’ll be a practical.”
Just like that, any sluggishness vanished. The mention of a test snapped the students upright, backs straight as they gave me their full attention.
“The subject is, of course, the magic square. As you’ve seen, just drawing a square doesn’t make a magic formation.”
Yes, there’s the arcane processing behind it, but more importantly—it isn’t only squares that can be used in place of circles.
There are triangles, hexagrams, even star formations.
Breaking free from the standard “circle” doesn’t just change the shape—it opens up limitless potential. 𝔫𝖔𝖛𝖕𝖚𝔟.𝖈𝖔𝔪
That’s exactly why I chose the magic square as the theme for the second test.
“Using what you’ve learned today, create your own original magic formation. That’s the assignment, and also the content of the second test.”
At that, the students erupted into murmurs.
It wasn’t just that I’d revealed the test subject early—it was that I was asking them to invent an entirely new magic circle.
Most had probably expected the second test to be another written one.
That was usually how Seorn structured its curriculum.
But I had no intention of following that mold.
Even if I was only under a two-year contract, I planned to give it my all while I was here.
And that meant doing things my way.
“I expect nothing less than excellence.”
With that, I left the stunned and despairing students behind as I exited the lecture hall.
* * *
After class, as announced, Ludger posted the test results on the classroom bulletin board.
As soon as he was gone, the students rushed over in a frenzy to check their rankings.
From 1st to 80th place—every student’s score and placement was listed on the sheet.
“Damn it. What is this score?”
“I got that question wrong? I should’ve gone over it more carefully...”
“Ugh... I scored below average...”
The average score for the test was 65 out of 100.
The top performers had «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» broken 90, but most couldn’t even cross the 80-point mark.
Naturally, those who didn’t make the top five but still scored above 90 stood out.
6th place – Iona Obelli: 92 points
7th place – Clara Hanis: 91 points
...
But all eyes were drawn to the name right after 5th place.
An alchemy student came in 7th—so who was 6th?
When they saw the name Iona Obelli, the students were momentarily confused.
Then recognition dawned... and their expressions twisted.
With her bronze skin and tall stature, Iona stood out on sight.
Especially with the pair of beast ears poking out from her dark hair—she drew attention whether she wanted to or not.
And the fact that a beastkin like her had claimed 6th place? That wasn’t something people were ready to accept.
Wait. A beastkin placed sixth? Seriously?
I thought those people were just a bunch of violent savages.
Beastkin were still largely seen as brutish and uneducated.
Unlike elves or dwarves—who occasionally integrated into human society—most beastkin remained fiercely hostile toward humans.
That animosity was the result of their brutal defeat and colonization during past wars.
Even now, raiding bands of beastkin were still active in the southwestern frontier, stealing and pillaging.
Which meant the general opinion of beastkin was far worse than that of other non-human races.
To these students, the quiet girl now staring at her rank with a blank expression was someone they did not want to accept.
It was already infuriating to have commoners scoring higher than them—and now a beastkin?
The noble students glared daggers at Iona Obelli.
A barbaric race, not even human, ranking that high? Unforgivable.
“She definitely cheated or something.”
“Exactly. There’s no way a savage got 6th place without some dirty deal.”
“Come to think of it, didn’t Professor Ludger barely say anything to her during the elemental manifestation lesson? He grilled everyone else.”
Overhearing their whispers, Iona’s furry ears twitched.
Her heightened senses made it easy to tell who was talking about her.
Expressionless, she looked at the group talking trash—then turned and walked away without a word.
That reaction only fueled the fire.
“Did you see that look?”
“She made eye contact and just walked off?”
They stared after her retreating figure... then turned to each other in silence.
A few exchanged glances and nodded.
There was a dark glint in their eyes.
* * *
So this is the framework, huh.
After class, Leo recalled what had happened in the faculty office.
He’d gone right after the lesson, as instructed, to receive his reward.
—“Leo, is it? You’re early. The first one, in fact.”
Apparently, he’d been the first to show up.
True to his word, Ludger had handed over the framework without hesitation.
It’s only a quarter of the full thing, but even so... this is incredible magic.
The framework was just one piece of the larger Source Code system, but its structure was intricately complex.
A spell for constructing other spells—Leo could barely begin to analyze it before giving up.
This on its own isn’t enough. I’d need all four pieces to complete the formula, and without them, any analysis is basically useless.
Now he understood why Ludger could hand this out so casually.
The framework was worthless on its own.
No one could activate real magic with just this fragment.
And reverse-engineering the full Source Code from a single piece? Impossible.
Like trying to reconstruct someone’s entire life from a handshake.
Same idea.
Still... to make something this brilliant, and just hand it to a student? Who the hell is Ludger Cherish?
At first, he’d assumed Ludger was just another washed-up noble trying to rebuild his name.
Plenty of instructors had used Seorn as a platform to restore their fallen houses or gain prestige.
But Ludger was different.
His fame came not from clout-chasing, but from pure, undeniable talent.
Other instructors flaunted their Seorn credentials to boost their image.
Ludger, meanwhile, made his brilliance so obvious that the Seorn title felt like a restriction rather than a badge of honor.
Sure, people talked about his past achievements...
But now that Leo had seen him up close, he realized those past evaluations severely understated the truth.
With this level of skill, Ludger didn’t need to be at Seorn. If anything, the job looked like a cage holding him back.
Leo was certain.
A man like Ludger Cherish wasn’t just some fallen noble.
He’s hiding something. That much is clear.
The werewolf incident. The spatial coordinate spell. The insane level of his teaching.
There were too many red flags to ignore.
Leo had looked into Ludger’s background in secret and discovered something surprising—he’d played a critical role in the recent terror incident at the banquet.
For someone who's supposedly just a new instructor at Seorn, he's way too capable. Definitely someone worth keeping an eye on.
That thought was running through Leo’s mind as he headed toward the spot where he was supposed to meet Aidan—when a disturbance nearby caught his attention.
...What’s that? What are they doing over there?
Leo stopped walking, eyes narrowing as he observed the scene.
Two boys and two girls—clearly upper-class from the way they carried themselves—had surrounded a single girl.
The air of aristocracy practically oozing off them made it clear: they were the kind of nobles Leo hated most.
And the one they’ve surrounded... that’s Iona Obelli, isn’t it?
The beastkin girl. She was hard to forget, especially given her appearance—one of the most visually striking students in the class.
If I remember right, she placed sixth, didn’t she?
Right below him in the rankings. Her 92-point score had been particularly memorable—especially for a beastkin.
Leo immediately understood what was going on.
They can’t accept someone doing better than them, so they go after an easy target. Typical noble trash mentality.
It wasn’t the first time he’d seen this kind of thing. Far from it.
He hesitated.
He could’ve just ignored it. Walked past like he saw nothing.
But having witnessed it now... he couldn’t.
If something happens and I just walked away, that’ll sit with me.
If this were the old him, he would’ve looked the other way without a second thought.
But not anymore.
Tch. Damn that soft-hearted idiot Aidan—guess he’s rubbing off on me. Fine, whatever.
Leo decided it was best to step in, break things up quickly.
But then he saw something—and his face hardened.
His footsteps quickened.
* * *
“Hey. She’s not even reacting, huh?”
“Seriously. What the hell is a dirty, stinking beastkin like you doing in our class? Disgusting.”
Iona Obelli stared at the sneering students in front of her with a face that betrayed no emotion.
The more her expression remained blank, the more irritated the noble students became.
It felt like this arrogant beastkin was looking down on them—ignoring them.
“Y’know, someone like you wouldn’t even have anywhere to complain to if something ‘accidentally’ happened.”
To prove he wasn’t just talking, the male student who seemed to be leading the group raised his hand—and a crackle of mana sparked to life.
Electricity surged across his palm with an audible crackle.
Iona calmly stared at the display.
“Got it? So don’t go strutting around like you’re hot shit. You reek like an animal.”
For the first time since the confrontation began, Iona spoke.
“If I say no?”
“...What?”
“What are you gonna do about it?”
Her face still didn’t change. But the male student who had threatened her suddenly felt a flicker of unease.
“Y-you filthy savage—!”
“How about we stop there?”
A new voice cut in.
Everyone turned.
Leo had arrived.
“...And you are?”
“I said, cut it out. Or are you planning to go all the way with this?”
“...Excuse me?”
“That’d be real entertaining. Four nobles ganging up on one girl, threatening her with magic. I saw the whole thing.”
“You little—”
“Oh, and don’t pretend you don’t know. The professors have been paying real close attention to noble students acting out lately. Remember Jeban Pellio? He dropped out just a little while ago. Want to end up like him?”
Leo kept talking, not giving them a moment to breathe, driving the group into a corner with nothing but his mouth.
“Of course, if you’re not worried about that, go ahead. Keep doing what you were doing. Just be ready to deal with the consequences. I was just about to go see Professor Ludger Cherish to pick up my framework, you know.”
“......!”
The name Ludger Cherish made the nobles freeze.
Even these brash, arrogant kids knew to fear that name.
Since the start of the semester, Ludger had made one thing clear: he didn’t give a damn about noble titles.
He’d already made an example out of more than one noble student. His ruthless reputation was well established among their ranks.
The same man who even dared throw barbed words at Flora Lumos?
There was no way they'd be spared.
Leo smiled coldly.
“What’s wrong? Weren’t you just about to do something? Go on, then.”
“...You—don’t get cocky just ‘cause you’re a smart commoner. It doesn’t change anything.”
“Then do me a favor and stop acting like it does.”
“...Tch. Let’s go.”
Grimacing, the noble students turned and left.
Leo watched them disappear down the corridor and muttered just loud enough for them to hear:
“God, they can’t do a damn thing alone, but that pride of theirs? Indestructible.”
“...Why did you help me?”
Iona couldn’t hold back anymore and asked.
She hadn’t expected a fellow first-year—a boy a full head shorter than her—to step in on her behalf.
Leo clicked his tongue, like it was the dumbest question in the world.
“Help you? Me? Don’t kid yourself. I didn’t step in because I was worried about you.”
He sighed in irritation as he stared at the beastkin girl, who still looked at him with those wide, clueless eyes.
Ugh. So we’re playing innocent now?
He folded his arms and stared her down.
“You. If I hadn’t stepped in just now, you were about two seconds away from killing those guys, weren’t you?”
“...”
