A Death Row Convict Teaches at a School of Magic

“Hah!”

“Ugh!”

It was me that emitted a pathetic shriek.

Suffering from a marvelous kick in the middle, I bent my body and barely guarded myself against the finishing blow aimed at my lowered head.

“No, hold on! Stop!”

“? What is it?”

“No, no matter how I look at it, you took the victory with a single strike! Why are you still trying to finish me off so smoothly!?”

Fina, with her composed face, was poised to deal a crushing blow to me.

On the other hand, today marked the first time Fina managed to strike a blow at me during the practice session. After all, perhaps my minimal sleep yesterday and the day before yesterday was to blame.

“…I was able to land a blow on you for the first time but I am not too convinced since your movements today were so lackluster that even I could distinctly tell.”

Fina then evidently became conscious of my state as well. When I glanced across at Eto, she likewise nodded while sporting a troubled expression. Was I that blatantly obvious? Reflection on this part of mine was imperative.

“No, I am sorry. The last few days I haven’t been able to catch up on my sleep from all the work I had to perform.”

“Ah, come to think of it, you are a school nurse, Teacher Kanaki, so you must be busy with the selection rounds. It seems that Teacher Ursula is full with her own classes.”

“So that is the case… maintaining your physical health is another key component of your employment. You will be out of shape if you overwork yourself to the point of physical fatigue.”

“Hahaha… I will bear that in mind.”

Since Arti’s self-serving interpretation was convenient, I opted to align with the story. That being said, it struck me that Fina has been lecturing me more and more lately, so I supposed it was time for me to put my dignity as a teacher on the line and pay more heed.

I was a teacher in any case. I had to constantly conduct myself in a way that I wouldn’t be ashamed to be perceived by my students.

“Well then, excuse me, but today I will stick to oral instruction. The next round will be between Arti and Fina then. ―Oh, Arti, you can wield all kinds of magic.”

“Ah, I get it!”

“Wait, Teacher Kanaki! Even for me, that’s a little bit too―”

The whistle blew for the start of the match, with no regard to Fina’s complaints. At the very beginning of the match, Arti deployed her expertly polished “Chakrameth” in vain and slashed at Fina. Furthermore, Arti appeared to have achieved little progress in other areas of magic.

“Um, teacher, is your condition all right?”

“Oh, yeah, I am just a little under the weather from lack of sleep.”

Without taking my eyes off the match, my answer was given to Eto, who came up to me and voiced her concern.

“Is that so… come to think of it, how has Mr. Hansa been doing since?”

That brought back to my mind that Hansa had been nursed by Eto and Arti for a time as well.

“Oh, Mr. Hansa has been under the care of an unlicensed doctor after that and is now hospitalized. Sorry for the trouble I put you both through at the time.”

“No… Mr. Hansa was close with my father, and Arti was convinced by the explanation that you accompanied him.”

To Arti, I explained that I was an agent discreetly dispatched from the Kingdom. While this was a fabrication I had concocted on the spur of the moment amidst the flurry of turmoil involving Matthias, when I reviewed it later, I found it to be a wonderfully realistic narrative and, to my mind, a superior deception.

It was of course because of Eto’s follow-up effort that Arti was able to believe this falsehood so seamlessly. Indeed, I owed her a debt of gratitude.

“Thank you, Eto. You made a follow-up effort on your part, too, didn’t you? I know I always cause you trouble.”

“That’s not true… If I can be of help to you, I am pleased as well. Besides…”

Eto then took a pause. The silence was as if she was reserved to express something.

Eventually, I heard a gulp of breath from Eto’s side, seemingly resolved to speak.

“Um, Teacher… Didn’t you mention the other day that you would be taking some time off from your ‘other side’ of your work for a while?”

Her tone lowered slightly.

“Ah, that’s right.”

“Um, I heard one of the members of ‘Kaguya’ in class today talking about the discovery of a wanted criminal’s corpse in Miserechrom.”

“Heh.”

By corpse, she was likely referring to the one belonging to the woman who had been walking with Felt. Since the wanted criminals who were monitoring my house could have raised others’ suspicion of me given the location and the number of people, it was crucial to dispose of all the corpses thoroughly, but the woman in Miserechrom was a distance away and, at any rate, I didn’t have the luxury of time at that juncture. I had postponed it, however, there was too much other work to be undertaken, and in the end, her corpse remained untouched.

“Miserechrom is close to Arti’s house, isn’t it? Were you guys all right?”

“Yes, it was a short walk from my house, but nothing special happened to us. But the ‘Kaguya’ people were saying that a number of other wanted individuals vanished following that day.”

“So, did the missing wanted criminal kill that person?”

“…’Kaguya’ also stated that the other woman’s body was discovered the subsequent day in an inn room, along with a torrent of blood that had been splattered all over the walls, suggesting that they had killed each other.”

“Yeah, well, I guess that’s true. But it also means that this city is in a full-blown devastation state after all. It was for the best that I reduced my workload.. These days, I have been so engaged in the selection process that my sleep deprivation has been a real problem―”

“Excuse me, Teacher.”

“Yeah?”

“I am wrong, right?”

For the first time, I glanced in Eto’s direction.

The eyes of Eto were wavering with anxiousness.

That was why I put on that same reassuring smile that I always wore.

“―About what?”

And then Eto returned a warped smile―as if she was forcing herself to form it.

“…No, it’s nothing.”