I Got a Fake Job at the Academy
chapter-70

Ludger, who was alone after Flora left the office, recalled his conversation with her.

'I was wondering how she could find me, was it because of the smell?’

Flora Lumos was born with a physical type that perceived magic itself with different senses.

Even if they were looking at the same magic, she could see different colors and smell different scents.

At first, he was unsure, but he could be sure because of the reaction she showed him when she saw Klein's Bottle.

‘So there was a loophole in my Ater Nocturnus.’

Simply erasing his presence itself did not mean that he could avoid everyone's eyes.

It was the very subtle reverberation of mana that flowed from the magical beast…

Flora was able to smell it and found him along the trail.

Even considering her unusual case, Ludger had to admit his mistake.

‘Recognizing magic through smell and vision… There's a reason why she took the top spot among the second year students after all. It is also understandable how she has made fools of many professors so far.’

Then what should he do in the future?

Judging from Flora's reaction, she didn't seem to see what Ludger had done in the Silent Forest that day.

She was in a situation in which she had some suspicions toward him, but she had no concrete evidence.

Should he let her be, or should he take measurements against her in advance?

‘My opponent is the Duke's daughter, which the Empire is proud of. If I mess with her, I'll just gain suspicions uselessly.’

The Academy was already noisy because of recent events, so he couldn't cause more incidents.

However, it seemed necessary for him to pay more attention to Flora than usual.

He needed more information about her.

'I can just order Hans to do a background check on her. Nevertheless, I never thought I'd find someone with that physical type in Sören.’

As expected from the best academy that taught magic…

The same went for the professors and students—they were full of extraordinary people.

Even the people he had encountered so far were only a small part of the Academy.

He couldn't believe he had to endure two years in a place like that.

‘It hasn't been long since I started working here, and there have already been two big incidents. How many more incidents will happen in the future?'

And how well could he get over those incidents?

It was then…

He could feel a presence from someone who was pacing around in front of the door.

There were especially many people coming to his office that day.

“Come in. The door is open.”

When Ludger said so, he sensed that someone flinching from beyond the door, and soon, the door opened cautiously.

—It was a memorable girl who showed her face slightly beyond the half-open door.

She had elaborate facial features and clear blue eyes.

And more than anything, she had gray hair that was rare, even in Sören.

“It’s you, Lynne?”

“Ye-yees.”

"What brings you here?"

“I have… finished reading the book’s contents.”

“Book… I see.”

Ludger remembered that he had handed Lynne a book about non-property magic.

Lynne, who was only sticking out her face, came into the professor's room with careful steps.

She seemed to think that she should not make any mistakes.

"I thought I should give it back to you, Professor."

“That book, you mean?”

“Yes. This is Professor Ludger’s book, right?”

He was wondering what she was going to say… so she wanted to talk about that.

Ludger shook his head as he spoke.

“That book is not mine. It’s just something I received from someone as well.”

“Then this book…”

"Keep the book to yourself."

“Pa-pardon?”

"You must've read it many times already, but you'll need the book in the future as well. There will be occasions when you can't remember the contents of the book; it's better to carry it around just in case."

“Still…”

“By all means, items can only be valued if they have the right owners. The book of non-property magic will be more useful when you have it rather than when I have it in my hand."

Ludger took a brief breath and took off the rimless glasses on his face.

"I think it's at least a courtesy to the former owner who gave this book to me."

“…”

"So you don't have to give it back to me. Keep it."

“Is it really okay for me to do that?”

Lynne was also feeling regretful.

She had already read the book over and over again, but she wasn't able to fully understand the content.

Still, she came to Ludger thinking that she would return it to the owner because the book was not hers.

“Of course.”

In fact, Ludger offered to entrust the book to her.

"Because I believe that you'll keep the book safe without damaging it."

“Ah, that…”

Lynne couldn't bring herself to reply to those words.

What Ludger said made her mind complicated and messed up.

‘He believes me, he said?’

Lynne's head was spinning.

What Ludger said kept ringing in her mind.

‘Why does he believe me? The professor doesn’t see me that often, right? Is there a reason for that? Or is it simply because I’m an owner of non-property magic?’

Suddenly, she had those kinds of thoughts.

Ludger seemed to know about the previous owner of the book, the owner of another non-property magic.

So did he hear something from that person?

“Uh…”

“What?”

“W-well…”

Lynne couldn’t bring herself to ask the question. The only things that came out when she opened her mouth was messed-up gibberish.

It was because of Ludger's straightforward words that her brain did not work properly.

Lynne’s face flushed red.

“If you have nothing to say, just go. Class is going to start soon.”

“…Yes.”

Eventually, Lynne gave up trying to ask the question and had no choice but to leave the professor's office.

Lynne walked down the corridor with stumbling steps, as she was still feeling dizzy.

* * *

* * *

‘Ah, right.’

Only after walking aimlessly and reaching a deserted garden did Lynne manage to regain her wits.

‘I was going to ask him about being his assistant.’

But she had been so flustered and anxious that she wasn't able to even think about asking that question.

But if she went back, she thought the timing would be really strange.

'Come to think of it, I think Flora also went to see Professor Ludger. Did she go to work as an assistant for Professor Ludger?'

She was a senior who was the top of the second-year students and had the title of a genius that was rare in Sören.

Flora Lumos was also quite famous among the first-year students.

She had a background of a great family, but unlike other nobles, she did not carry herself in a faction and went around everywhere with only one childhood friend.

But no one messed with her, nor did they try to gain her favor.

—Because she was such a person.

She couldn't believe that Flora Lumos went to Ludger's office. She was, naturally, bound to feel curious.

‘No. Let's refrain from paying unnecessary attention. I have to prepare for the next class using the rest of my time at the library.'

As soon as she thought so, she heard a conversation from over the trees in the garden.

Oh?

Lynne had no choice but to stop walking when she saw the students who appeared afterwards.

—They were the aristocratic students who stood out, even from afar, at one glance.

And they were the ones who were not on good terms with her.

‘Ah…’

Among them, the man with a greasy impression who stood in the lead was someone whom Lynne was very uncomfortable with.

Not long ago, he had approached Lynne and asked her to go on a date with him as if he was giving her mercy.

Lynne, who couldn't be unaware that he approached her due to her looks, turned him down as carefully as possible.

But a student who had a high pride due to being an aristocrat couldn't listen to a commoner in the first place.

Eventually, Lynne pushed him away cold-heartedly, and naturally, he held grudges toward Lynne.

‘I really hate it.’

In addition to that, the students who were jealous of Lynne’s good relationship with the Third Princess had recently joined forces and formed a group secretly to provoke a quarrel with her.

‘What should I do with this? I didn’t know that I would encounter them here.’

They wouldn't let her be, as she was alone.

Lynne has learned from her past experience that it was better to avoid unnecessary collisions.

She immediately looked away and found a place to hide.

‘L-let’s go in for now.’

Lynne headed deeper into the uninhabited garden.

Since Sören's land was so large, even the size of the garden and park was different.

—Marble fountains, colorful flower fields, and long street trees.

There were some artificial forests or small open spaces that had been built, and sometimes students socialized outdoors.

Some said that there was a secret place in the large garden that other people couldn't see, but she didn't know that much.

‘Let’s hide for now.’

Lynne moved right away.

She went deeper into the garden.

Vines and beautiful pink flowers grew, and arched pergolas that blocked the sunlight stretched as long as a tunnel.

As she walked inside, she felt like she was passing through a door to another world.

When she got out of the pergola, she saw the lush greenery.

‘So there’s a place like this, too,’

It was not long after she entered the school, so she was still unfamiliar with the geography and structure, and it was just amazing whenever she encountered a new place.

Lynne pricked her ears and examined the situation outside.

‘Did they go?’

She could still hear them chatting among themselves.

Were they going to spread a mat around there?

‘But I don't think they're going to come this far.’

She could kill some time around there to avoid the aristocratic students and go back to the detour.

With that thought, Lynne leaned her back against a pretty big tree and suddenly turned her head in a certain direction.

‘This is a song?’

A song was heard from the inside of the forest.

‘Is someone here?’

It was something she could just pass by with the thought that someone was singing a song, but Lynne was strangely curious.

She also liked to listen to some songs, but it was because she felt deja vu as if she had heard the song somewhere.

‘It's a similar feeling to when I got a book from Professor Ludger.’

Curious, Lynne unconsciously stepped toward the source of the sound.

‘Let’s just check it out.’

There was still some time left until Ludger's class, anyway.

It was a small, vacant lot that greeted Lynne, who was heading into the forest with such thoughts.

It wasn't a place that was created naturally. The vacant lot was very clean, as if someone had been managing it before she found it.

In addition, there was even a small flower bed nearby.

‘Who is it? Did the gardener do it?'

With that thought, Lynne walked slowly toward the center of the vacant lot.

The melody that she heard a while ago was no longer heard.

‘Has the person that was here already left?’

It was when she was thinking about that.

“Who is it? This should have been a place where no one was around, though?”

The voice came from behind her, exactly from midair.

Lynne turned back in surprise.

A fairly large tree occupied a corner of the open space, and someone was sitting on a thick branch of the tree and looking down at her.

“Who… who is it?”

“Hm?”

The young man, who appeared to be the owner of the flower bed, questioned Lynne's reaction, and eventually realized that she had just gone there by accident.

He let out a low laugh and jumped out of the tree, landing lightly in front of Lynne.

Lynne opened her eyes wide with such a quick movement.

"Did you just happen to come to this place?"

“Ah, that…”

Lynne was able to find out who the other person was afterward.

His name tag showed that he was a sophomore, and most of all, his dark blue hair color was hard not to recognize.

“Se-senior Freuden…?”

Freuden Wolfsburg.

The eldest son of the Wolfsburg family, one of the three duchy families of the Exileon Empire that symbolized the wolf.

And he was a student who was considered the head of the aristocratic faction in Sören.

'Th-this is the flowerbed that Freuden manages?!’

Lynne realized she had entered the tiger's den.

Rumors about Freuden were already prevalent among other students.

His notoriety was high among the commoners, in particular.

No matter what anyone said, he was the head of a faction of aristocratic students who openly despised and harassed commoners.

He also played a role as the eldest son of the Freuden family, to which no one could compare except for the royal family.

So the commoner students were afraid of Freuden. The people even said that the fact that aristocratic students despised and bullied the commoners was because they had been given orders from that man above them.

For ordinary students, Freuden was the ultimate boss to be wary and afraid of more than anyone else.

She couldn't believe she was alone with Freuden Wolfsburg in a place like that.

‘I-I’m doomed.’

Lynne was wondering if she should run away right then.