Academy’s Undercover Professor

I told the class I would select a few students who kept up well with the material and teach them the source code.

After dangling that carrot, the students fell silent and paid close attention to the rest of my lecture.

Deng. Deng. Deng.

The bell rang from the clock tower, signaling the end of class just as I finished explaining mana release theory and its basic applications.

I let out a quiet sigh of relief in my mind, grateful the lecture had ended without any issues or interference.

By mixing textbook content with some practical tips, I managed to deliver the lesson smoothly, and judging by the students’ reactions, none of them found anything suspicious.

The first button had been sewn on cleanly. All I had to do now was carry this momentum into the next class.

My lecture schedule was four hours a week—two classes, each two hours long—so I had plenty of time until the next one.

As I gathered my coat to leave the lecture hall, I noticed a few students hesitating as if they wanted to approach me.

I paused for a second, then realized something I had forgotten.

“Ah, just so you know, I won’t be assigning any homework on the first day. For now, go home and review what we covered.”

“Nice!”

“Whew, thank goodness.”

The students beamed with relief and grinned widely.

Even in a place full of geniuses like this academy, they were still students at heart. The way they reacted to a simple homework announcement was almost endearing.

Well, I’m not the kind of person to dump assignments on the first day anyway.

The other instructors will no doubt give them plenty of homework themselves.

And frankly, teachers who hand out homework on the very first day get cursed at behind their backs for the rest of the semester.

When it comes to my teaching methods, every so-called “kindness” I extend is carefully calculated.

The more they complain about the other instructors, the less attention they’ll pay to criticizing me.

With that thought, I grabbed the student list from the podium and exited the classroom. Though I could feel the students’ eyes on me as I left, I ignored them naturally.

I needed to plan how I’d handle the next class, review the basic profiles of all 80 students enrolled in my lecture...

And think about the unsolved issues surrounding the secret society.

I needed to act quickly.

* * *

‘Wow. Seriously.’

Aidan, a first-year student at Seorn Academy, finally felt like he had truly arrived after attending Ludger Cherish’s lecture.

‘I had a vague idea it would feel like this, but that was incredible.’

Aidan was a commoner from the countryside, but he took great pride in his passion for magic—more than anyone else.

Thanks to years of hard work and a bit of luck, he passed Seorn’s entrance exam and was now attending his first class, full of hope for the future.

The lecture was on manifestation-type magic, taught by Ludger Cherish.

Honestly, he hadn’t been expecting much.

When he’d entered the classroom and eavesdropped on the upperclassmen, all he heard were rumors—none of them good.

—“There are two manifestation classes, and this one’s taught by a fallen noble.”

—“He’s a new hire who wouldn’t have gotten in if five instructors hadn’t retired last year.”

—“Everything you’ve heard about him on <Akashic Record> is exaggerated nonsense.”

Naturally, those kinds of comments came from talkative nobles who liked looking down on others.

But Aidan, fresh from the countryside, didn’t recognize their titles and took their words at face value.

‘Is Professor Ludger Cherish really that unimpressive?’

He started to regret his choice, thinking he had signed up for # Nоvеlight # this class without much thought.

But the moment Ludger appeared, Aidan realized how wrong he’d been.

Just standing on the podium, Ludger had an aura that overwhelmed all 80 students like a soldier standing on the brink of war.

And what happened after that stunned Aidan even more.

He had a brief exchange with a senior student about the impossibility of shortening spell formulas—and then, he demonstrated a spell.

The moment Ludger revealed the magic he called “source code,” Aidan felt his blood boil in excitement.

It was like an explosion of fireworks in his mind.

It was the brilliance of knowledge that only came when one witnessed true mystery with their own eyes—a paradigm-shifting moment when one’s perception of the world widened dramatically.

It might sound like an exaggeration, but that’s exactly how Aidan felt.

When he was younger and didn’t know anything, a wandering mage had once shown him magic.

It was only a 1st-circle spell, and looking back, the structure was rough and incomplete.

But at the time, Aidan thought it was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen.

He later studied under that wandering mage, and though he never again felt the euphoria of that first experience...

He still remembered how joyful it was to learn magic.

Thanks to his passion and a surprising natural talent, Aidan improved quickly and eventually earned a spot at Seorn, passing through intense competition.

He believed this academy would satisfy his hunger for magic and open the doors to a new world—and now, in his very first class, he’d witnessed something extraordinary.

‘Professor Ludger Cherish is incredible!’

He’d suspected from the start that Ludger was no ordinary person, and now he was sure of it.

This wasn’t just someone showing off fancy tricks—he’d unveiled a completely new kind of magic, something the world had never seen before.

Aidan could barely contain his excitement and felt genuinely lucky to be in this class.

“Hmph.”

That’s when it happened.

A sharp, scornful voice sounded from beside him.

Turning his head, Aidan saw a fellow first-year male student looking at him with his arms crossed.

The boy was good-looking, but the way his blond hair was parted to expose his forehead gave him a greasy, overconfident vibe.

“This is why commoners are hopeless. Getting all amazed over something like that.”

“...Huh? You talking to me?”

“Who else here is a commoner besides you?”

Aidan looked around. Most students had already left the lecture hall. Only a few remained.

“Oh! So you were talking to me!”

That innocent response made the noble student’s face twist in irritation.

“You... are you mocking me right now?”

“Huh? Mocking you? No way.”

Aidan chuckled awkwardly, trying to say he didn’t mean it like that—but the other boy had already lost his temper, convinced he’d been insulted.

“You dare mock me, the eldest son of Baron Pellio—Jeban?!”

Cold sweat formed on Aidan’s back. Clearly, this wasn’t going to be resolved peacefully.

‘Now what do I do?’

Just as he was wondering how to defuse the situation, a helping hand arrived.

“Baron Pellio? Isn’t that the house on the Empire’s outermost border?”

“Wha—What?! Who the hell are you?!”

Stepping forward to back Aidan was a small boy with sky-blue hair, notably shorter than everyone else.

Jeban Pellio glanced at him and sneered.

“Pfft. What, does Seorn admit brats now?”

“Better than admitting half-baked baron brats like you.”

“What?! You dare insult the Pellio family?!”

Jeban clenched his teeth and began to draw on his mana, but the blue-haired boy—Leo—didn’t lose his smile.

“You’ll pay for insulting a noble—”

“Go ahead.”

“...What?”

“I said do it. Let’s see what happens if you actually cast magic and attack us here.”

Leo’s bold challenge made Jeban hesitate.

He thought a commoner would cower if he raised his voice a little.

“You think this place is like your home where everyone pampers you? Wake up. If you cause even the slightest disturbance here, noble or not, you’ll be punished. Didn’t you get that memo before you enrolled?”

“Y-You...!”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“If all you can do is glare because you’ve got nothing to say, then shut it and sit down. And next time, watch your volume. Can’t you see where you are?”

At Leo’s pointed words, Jeban finally noticed that several other students were still in the lecture hall—including the children of nobles far above his own status.

“I-I’ll remember this!”

Jeban shot Aidan a death glare, hissed his parting words, and stormed out of the classroom.

Aidan didn’t know what to make of the situation.

But for now, the most important thing was to thank the classmate who had helped him.

“Thanks for stepping in. I’m Aidan.”

“I’m Leo. Ah, and you don’t have to thank me. I just stepped in because I couldn’t stand that wannabe noble acting all high and mighty.”

“You’re a really good person, huh?”

“...What did you hear just now?”

Leo stared at Aidan like he was some strange creature, then shook his head.

“Whatever. I’m heading out.”

“Oh! I’ll go with you!”

“How do you even know where I’m going?”

“Your hand—you're holding the textbook for the alchemy class under the Manifestation Department, right? That’s my next class too.”

“...Tch. Do what you want.”

Leo sounded gruff, but he didn’t push Aidan away or reject the idea. And from his behavior, Aidan could tell—despite the tone, this guy was genuinely kind.

As Aidan packed his materials for the next class, Leo suddenly spoke again.

“You’d better learn to tone things down a bit.”

“Huh? Tone what down?”

“That country-boy vibe. The commoner look. The way it shows you haven’t had proper magic training. Everything about you screams it.”

This chapt𝙚r is updated by freeωebnovēl.c૦m.

“Oh... really? Sorry. I guess I didn’t realize.”

“Don’t forget. This is Seorn Academy. It's crawling with all sorts of elite bastards.”

“Elites? Ah. Just look at Professor Cherish, right?”

Leo sighed at Aidan’s naive reaction. Clearly, this guy was going to need a lot of explaining.

“Listen closely. Now that you’re attending class, you need to get a feel for how this place operates. There are certain students you need to be cautious around.”

“Certain students?”

“There are people at Seorn who have overwhelmingly powerful standing—even among the elite. We first-years don’t really know yet, but starting in the second year, it gets serious.”

The most obvious example was Flora Lumos.

“Flora Lumos, second-year. Didn’t expect her to be in the same class, honestly. You’d better stay away from her.”

“Why?”

“She’s got a reputation for having a nasty personality. They say the manifestation instructor last year suddenly resigned because of her influence. Honestly, I thought this year would be the same...”

Leo thought back to Ludger Cherish’s class. The groundbreaking source code spell he had shown truly was something else.

Even that Flora Lumos hadn’t been able to talk back—she backed down completely.

But Leo didn’t believe for a second that someone like her would fall over such a thing. More likely, she’d turn her anger elsewhere.

“Anyway, stay away from her as much as you can.”

“Anyone else I should know about?”

“Oh, there are definitely more. One of them’s a royal.”

“Ah, I heard the rumors too. There’s a princess in the second year, right?”

“The Third Princess, Erendir von Exilion. Born of imperial blood. She’s here because the Emperor dotes on her. Obviously, it’s not in our best interest as commoners to get involved with someone like that.”

“Ah. Her.”

Aidan remembered the woman with golden hair.

Blond hair wasn’t especially rare—but that kind of noble, regal gold? There was only one person who matched.

“And finally, Freuden Ulburk.”

“Ulburk? You mean that Ulburk? One of the Three Grand Ducal Houses...”

“Is there any other Ulburk in the Empire? Freuden, heir of the House of Ulburk. He leads the largest faction among the second-years—a high-ranking noble faction composed entirely of upper-class aristocrats.”

“Upper-class... faction...”

“They treat commoners like bugs on the street. Best not to get involved. Thankfully, Freuden doesn’t take this class. Oh, and that idiot who picked a fight with you earlier? He’s probably part of that faction.”

“Well, I guess that was just bad luck. Are there any other people I should know about?”

“...You just got marked, and you’re still curious about more? Should I call that boldness or cluelessness?”

Leo couldn’t get a clear read on this guy Aidan. But he was certain of one thing—Aidan wasn’t malicious or fake.

“There are a few more, yeah.”

“Oh really? Who are they?”

“I’ll tell you on the way.”

“Sweet! Oh—and want to grab lunch together later?”

“...What? Why would I?”

Bantering the whole way, Aidan and Leo exited the lecture hall—

Completely unaware that someone still remaining inside was watching them.

* * *

‘Hmm. So this is the private faculty office.’

Standing in front of the door labeled as either the staff room or research office, I felt a strange sensation.

As expected of Seorn—they had provided a spacious personal office even to a new hire like me.

The nameplate at the entrance bore the name Ludger Cherish.

‘Let’s take a look inside.’

Curious to see how the interior looked, I reached out and opened the door.

And immediately froze when I saw who was waiting for me inside.

“Oh my. Professor Ludger, welcome.”

One of the top people I needed to be cautious around.

The Headmaster of Seorn Academy was sitting inside.