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It was a sudden visit from Claudie, but Ethan was not flustered.

He had predicted that Claudie would come to see him at some point.

Since Claudie had lost in the battle to decide the department representative, he would certainly want to discuss it with Ethan.

Of course, Ethan had not expected him to come to his office.

As soon as he entered, Claudie looked around Ethan’s office and frowned.

‘Could it be because the size is similar to his own office?’

Ethan wondered if that was the reason. It was an office of a size not befitting a new teacher.

“You’ve decorated your office too crudely. Don’t you know an office should have a calm atmosphere?”

However, Claudie was not dissatisfied with the size of the office, but rather with the interior decoration.

“It’s my style.”

“As expected, it doesn’t match with me at all.”

Claudie muttered quietly.

Ethan smiled faintly and offered him a chair.

“Please have a seat, Teacher Claudie. What brings you to my office?”

“I didn’t come to your office for any particular reason. When I asked the Principal, he said you had been given an office, so I came to find it.”

Even though he said that, Ethan did not respond.

“Congratulations. The battle to decide the department representative was quite impressive. I didn’t expect you to have trained those two students to the point where they could beat Max and Slos.”

“I didn’t train them. Those two students trained themselves. I just helped them a bit.”

“Sure, sure. But isn’t anything provided in this office?”

Ethan took out a flask from the safe refrigerator and handed it to him. The tea inside the flask was extremely refreshing.

Unlike Roanna, Claudie did not show a surprised reaction. He simply raised his eyebrows slightly and drank from the flask as is.

“Did you get it from a coffee house inside the Marquis territory?”

“You recognize it.”

“That’s the best one in the Marquis territory.”

Claudie frowned slightly, as if he didn’t like that Ethan knew his favorite place.

“So, what was the reason for you to visit me?”

“……”

After a brief pause, Claudie opened his mouth.

“We may have competed for the position of department representative, but in the end, it’s for the sake of the Swordsmanship Department, isn’t it? It’s only right that the teacher who guides students better becomes the representative.”

Claudie admitted gracefully.

Ethan had already known that Claudie would say that.

‘He may seem like a composed teacher at first glance.’

But in fact, he was a teacher who cared about Ivecar Academy and its students.

As far as Ethan knew, Claudie Hyde would later become a representative teacher of Ivecar and a proper master.

‘Even if he appears composed, his essence is someone who cares for the academy and its students.’

That’s why Ethan didn’t bother trying to keep Claudie in check in any other way. Everything Claudie did was simply his way of fulfilling his role as a teacher.

“So you came to offer your help? Putting your words together.”

“Yes, that Teacher Duty is not someone to be taken lightly.”

Claudie explained about Duty.

According to him, Teacher Duty was an ambitious teacher in the Magic Department, a 5th-year teacher.

He had a good eye for talent, and he was the one who discovered all three of the Magic Department’s students called the ‘golden age’.

“He’s also an excellent teacher. With his good eye for talent, he teaches each student the magic he thinks they can absorb well. You could call it customized lectures.”

“You seem to know quite a bit about him.”

“It’s basic to understand the teachers. It helps when teaching students.”

Claudie took out a few sheets of parchment and handed them to Ethan.

“Information on the Magic Department’s golden age. And this is…”

Ethan immediately looked at the parchments Claudie had given him.

“Hopefully you don’t take offense.”

Claudie had not only been watching his own students during their battle that day.

Although Ethan had officially appointed them as representatives, in a broader sense, they were students of the Swordsmanship Department.

The parchments contained detailed information about the two students, including Claudie’s own analysis on how they could be improved.

Particularly, the content about Mason was much longer than that of Ron.

‘Mason would be pleased to see this.’

Claudie had been sincere about Mason.

“Since you took the representative position from me, Teacher Ethan, you’ll naturally have to reclaim the top spot for the Swordsmanship Department, right?”

Claudie said.

“You must do that. If you lose to me and the Magic Department…”

For a moment, emotion disappeared from Claudie’s expression.

“…expect something to happen.”

“I’m curious what you might do.”

Ethan smiled as he spoke.

“But I don’t think I’ll get to see it.”

Claudie gave a rare faint smile at Ethan’s response.

Then he immediately stood up and left the office without hesitation.

“He really is an interesting person.”

In Duty’s office.

Seated in a chair, Duty began organizing his thoughts one by one.

“I had thought Teacher Claudie would naturally become the representative.”

The result of this Knight Department representative selection battle was one Duty found difficult to accept.

Currently, the ace of the Knight Department was undoubtedly Claudie. In fact, Claudie was an excellent teacher who could have been selected as the representative of the entire academy.

Though he had not observed other teachers’ classes, he had seen Claudie’s demonstration class.

From that class, he realized:

As a teacher, he could never surpass Claudie.

He could never lecture as well as Claudie.

“So I changed my approach. And it worked out really well.”

He took a completely different tack.

If he couldn’t become the best at the academy through his teaching skills, he would become the best at discovering students.

And that strategy worked precisely.

He discovered the current golden age of the Magic Department and was able to bring the Magic Department to the top.

The academy still considers Claudie as the representative. But if he wins the upcoming department exchange and then performs excellently at the academy exchange in the winter.

“Everything will change.”

His name will spread far and wide, and his family will once again gain attention.

“It will be a great help in making a new challenge for the Twelve Stars Families.”

Duty will become the trailblazer for that role.

Furthermore, he will be properly recognized by his family and receive their full support.

“Ethan Whiskers, huh.”

If Claudie had won, Duty would have devised a proper counterstrategy to decisively suppress him.

The Swordsmanship Department has outstanding students like Max Jurod and Slos Pallo, but the golden age of the Magic Department is so exceptionally skilled that no one can defeat them.

Roanna was at the center of it all.

Roanna was a genius. More so than any student Duty had seen before.

No, she was far more talented than any mage.

“She does have the flaw of being scatterbrained, but as long as she’s interested in this, she’ll function well as the center of the golden age.”

However, one problem arose.

Contrary to expectations, the new teacher Ethan had become the representative of the Swordsmanship Department.

Coincidentally, there was almost no information on Ethan.

There was also no information on Mason Yeld, Ron Bears, or Yuna Garnet.

Initially, these three were not outstanding students to the degree of becoming department representatives.

“They were apparently those kinds of students, but it seemed like they became completely different people?”

The Magic Department teachers talked about how Mason and Ron had completely changed.

They said that until recently, those two did not have such skills, but their abilities demonstrated in the battle were not to be taken lightly.

All the teachers unanimously said that Ethan Whiskers was at the center of this transformation.

That Teacher Ethan had changed everything.

“Hmm.”

This made things difficult. But Duty did not dwell on it for long.

Instead, he decided to think that the situation was working in his favor.

“There’s no way Teacher Ethan is more formidable than Teacher Claudie. But he probably didn’t just win by luck alone.”

If that’s the case, then there was no need for special preparations. If Duty just prepared more diligently as usual, there would be no problems.

“If I just proceed as I have been, I shouldn’t have any trouble winning.”

Duty grinned.

With this, he would surely win the department exchange and bask in that glory.

Ethan was walking northward, out of the Marquis’s territory.

His destination was the desolate valley to the north.

“So, why are you going there?”

“I heard there’s a shrine there.”

“A shrine?”

Yerica asked with a puzzled expression, as if she didn’t understand what he was talking about.

“You know I have a deity I believe in, right?”

“Ah, yes. You’re a descendant of the Moon Goddess.”

Yerica recalled the events in the Spirit Forest.

Back then, Ethan had gotten entangled in trouble with the spirits and ultimately defeated the Poison King who had intoxicated the forest.

Yerica learned at that time that Ethan was a legitimate descendant of the Moon Goddess.

‘Of course, I’m not actually going to find a real shrine.’

The place Ethan was heading to was the desolate Titi Valley, where there was a clue to obtaining the second class through the trait [Double Caster].

Moreover, not far from Titi Valley was the desert that the Mountain King White Tiger had mentioned.

The real shrine was there, but it seemed difficult to handle everything at once since it would take a lot of time.

‘I’ll first register it in Wind Cloud, and then come back here again when the academy’s vacation starts.’

He planned to take care of all the miscellaneous tasks then.

“A shrine in Titi Valley? No matter how much you search, I don’t think you’ll find one.”

“As you know, the Moon Goddess is now treated as an ancient deity, and even her name has been forgotten. Of course, her shrine would have to be in a place like this.”

The desolate Titi Valley had once been a valley full of greenery.

“This place was once filled with green, like the Spirit Forest I saw before. And it was a very prosperous place.”

“It doesn’t look like that at all. Look over there. There are only the remains of completely collapsed houses, and this whole place is just a world of yellow soil.”

Yerica spoke as if she couldn’t believe it.

Even Ethan wouldn’t have believed it if he didn’t have the information.

‘This place ended up like this because it incurred the wrath of the Thunder God.’

The second class Ethan was trying to obtain.

That class was one that could be obtained from the one who incurred the Thunder God’s wrath and ruined this valley.

‘The Lightning Guardian. In terms of offensive power, it’s a class without equal.’

Surely there was a clue somewhere in this valley that connected to that class.

‘If I can obtain the Lightning Guardian, it will definitely be a great help.’

Ethan scanned the valley and found a small glimmer of light, so faint it was almost invisible.

Focusing his eyes and activating the Eye of Horus, he spoke to Yerica while running toward it.

“Follow me.”

“Huh?”

Ethan firmly stepped on the ground.

Author's Thoughts

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