A Death Row Convict Teaches at a School of Magic

“―You really are a voluble one, aren’t you?”

On the way back from the bar, Felt remarked in a condemning tone.

“Eh, what are you on about?”

“See, that’s the part I am talking about. Even though you are exceptionally powerful, all you do is keep it in the dark. You say you wish for a tranquil life despite committing such heinous acts against Sasha. That reminds me, it’s a little late to bring this up, but you’re also a teacher, aren’t you? What do you teach your students?”

“What do I teach them? Given it’s a school of magic, isn’t that obvious?”

“…Sigh.”

Even I would be hurt if someone blatantly expelled a sigh. I may look like this, but I was fairly naïve.

Feeling that the situation wouldn’t be ideal if left as it was, I decided to explain myself slightly.

“I don’t particularly like skulking around like this, either. But, indeed, my strength is not that significant. If I had to evaluate myself reasonably, I would say that I am at most an ‘S’ class criminal; anything higher would be utterly unrealistic. To put it another way, I could be more adaptable in many areas with an S-rate than I am right now… or rather, that goes without saying for Ms. Felt with a rate of S+. But once I reach that level of notoriety, the Garrisoned Corps will be more strictly on my mark, and if my face is ever revealed, that information will soon be spread all over the country. Above all things, it makes life in the outer world more complicated. Even Ms. Felt must be aware of that, right?”

“Well, that is…”

Notwithstanding her persistent stammering, Felt agreed with me.

She had a rating of S- during the time she was in Valiahar, the same as mine, except her name wasn’t as well-known. Her compatibility with Sasha, who had no magical power to begin with, and the advent of the stone that inhibited magical power, nevertheless, allowed her to eliminate high-ranked wanted criminals successively. That was exactly the case with Gato, whom I had just met, and she had an encounter in this city that she visited on the way to Seal, and Felt won narrowly, and apparently her rate has also been elevated to S+. The wanted poster currently only specified her gender; but, if her true identity was disclosed, she will no longer be able to lead the kind of life she now led. Of course, I wouldn’t be inclined to take any of those considerations into account in the future, though.

“Well, that’s what I mean. It is in my nature to accumulate things steadily and diligently rather than take high risks and high returns. That’s all there is to it.”

I swallowed the words, “I am a public servant type, so to speak.”

“…”

Did Felt have any thoughts regarding what I said? She didn’t speak again until we parted ways after that.

By now, it was around midnight when I returned to school. Since it was late at night, I hardly passed anyone on my way here in Windell, which was a secure neighborhood. To return to my room undetected was a little bit of a hassle, though. After all, Envy, who was taking my place, and the homeroom teachers were likely patrolling the dorm to supervise the students. On top of that, there must be students who were still awake and out of the teacher’s sight. From here, I would move discreetly, treating this as a rehearsal for the infiltration of the library the day after tomorrow―

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“Oh, isn’t that Teacher Kanaki?”

It took only a second for me to be exposed.

It was Shizuku, of all people, a student in my class, who spotted me.

At once, I donned the mask of a patrolling teacher. Fortunately, this was outside. Now, I might be able to bury the matter behind the curtain by rebuking Shizuku.

“That is my line, Shizuku. Why are you out here when it’s past your bedtime?”

“Haha… I couldn’t fall asleep.”

Shizuku, generally an honor student, breaking such a rule was shocking. When it came to the other students, it would have made sense for them to act recklessly after their first training session, but when it came to Shizuku, a tinge of discomfort crept into me.

“But more importantly, Teacher, were you on patrol the entire time?”

“Yeah―?”

This was unfavorable. How shall I respond here? This would be a bit tricky if Shizuku had sighted Envy inside the building. It would be even more complicated should she have spotted me coming back from outside the school premises.

If I answered too late, it would look suspicious. I decided to take a gamble.

“Right, I am on patrol on the outside. I will be replaced by another teacher soon.”

“Oh, is that so? Thanks for your efforts.”

All right, I had won my bet―

When that thought set in, I caught on to Shizuku’s gesture and saw her inner thoughts.

That was overwhelming suspicion.

“―!?”

For an instant, my poker face almost collapsed.

She has already seen through my deception. Had she seen Envy in the structure beforehand? No, she didn’t need to try to keep the information a secret in that circumstance; all she had to do was say it simply. Why did she act as though she was now convinced in this way? Her performance was so subtle that I would have been fooled for sure were it not for the numerous counseling sessions I had experienced at Selbeth.

“Speaking of which, Teacher Kanaki. During your school days, did you engage in similar nighttime frolicking in your training program? Being so aware of your students’ activities, did you used to be a bit of a troublemaker in your youth?”

Shizuku questioned me in jest, with a note of mischief in her tone. Until a few minutes ago, I might have been delighted to discover a new side of my student, but now I can’t help but think that even this gesture was an act on her part. Why, for what reason would she harbor doubt about me? What was she suspecting about me in the first place―?

“―I came over because I thought I heard voices, but when I got here, I spotted Teacher Kanaki and Shizuku instead.”

That was when an unforeseen savior made an appearance.

I turned around simultaneously with Shizuku, and Fina emerged from the corner of the dormitory.

“…Fina, what are you doing here?”

“I happened to hear something talking outside, so I figured anything mustn’t go wrong with Lady Karen and came to check out the situation. But then I… didn’t expect to witness my homeroom teacher having a date with a pupil from his class.”

“What? A date?”

“H-Hold on, Fina, that’s absolutely wrong!”

Fina gave a nod of understanding to Shizuku, who emphatically refuted the claim.

“It’s fine, Shizuku. You are not the first student to engage in such a relationship with him… Inviting his own seminar students to meet him at his home on holidays is a standard routine for that man.”

What was this? I was starting to feel like she was losing more and more trust in the way she was calling me.

To top it all off, Shizuku eyed me icily, as if I were trash. Even I was close to crying.

“W-Wait, Fina, what you just said was out of line―”

“Fina, this was merely a warning from him about me going out after bedtime. There is nothing beyond that, really, nothing at all.”

Shizuku stressed each word, punctuating every line. Fina silently nodded under the weight of her words.

Perhaps persuaded by this, Shizuku turned toward me and lowered her head at a neat angle.

“I apologize for the inconvenience I have caused you this time of night, Teacher. I shall accept any disciplinary action from now on, so may I return to my room for the day?”

“Y-Yeah. You have only been here a short time, so I will overlook it this time…”

“Thank you most graciously.”

After saying that, she left at a quick pace. It was probably not my imagination, but her demeanor throughout the conversation was cold. Even if it was a deception, I was hoping to see her fully demonstrate the acting ability that she had exhibited earlier.

Once the two of us were alone, Fina emitted a sigh. She then reverted to her usual tone of voice replacing the thorny tone she had adopted a moment ago.

“Sigh… Teacher, please don’t provoke Shizuku too much. Even though she looks like that, she is a terror when she’s furious.”

“No, I sense it was you who made her upset…”

“Well, I made a follow-up effort to help you when you were in trouble. Please be tolerant of that.”

To my utter amazement, I stared at Fina’s countenance. Her eyes wavered subtly, and she averted her gaze from me.

“Were you listening to us?”

“…No, I couldn’t make out what both of you were saying… but the atmosphere didn’t strike me as particularly peaceful…”

“…So you felt the same way after all.”

If so, it was not my misperception. Things were starting to grow shady for real. Looking back, when I first encountered Shizuku, her behavior was odd.

The day after tomorrow, I had a major task to carry out. I didn’t want to devote my energy to superfluous matters but…

“Was I being uncalled for?”

“…No, you have been extremely helpful. Thank you.”

“S-Stop it.”

When I patted her on the head, Fina brushed away the shame in her protest with her hand.

“Yeah, it would be awful if the other teachers saw you anyway, and you should head back to your room too. Starting tomorrow, you will have a joint class with the students of Academia, so you should also take a rest.”

“H-Hmm. If I could, I would spend the entire remainder of my time with Lady Karen in preparation for the main tournament of SKT, but it can’t be helped.”

“For that I am truly apologetic.”

Having offered my apologies to Fina, I watched her leap with wind magic to the window of her room on the third floor, and this time, I made my way back to my room, unnoticed by anyone.

More obstacles have unexpectedly surfaced, but first, while taking a hot shower, I will figure out how to take care of the students who will be participating in the SKT main tournament―

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T/N:

Actually, there are more unreliable narrator that didn’t get but well, I will just do it for the major one