Translator: Nox

34 - Can I Cry Now?

Chapter 34

He knew very well what kind of children had entered the Academy for the Gifted this year.

‘The nobles made a fuss trying to send their children.’

He found their desperate attempts to catch the Emperor's eye pathetic.

‘They’re all just flocking together to build connections.’

There was no way such children would take his class.

‘I hate that kind of thing.’

He was famous in the academy for being difficult and unkind.

Besides, he didn't have any deep personal connections with other nobles.

So, Professor Maless was confident that the number of applicants for his class would be zero.

But, whether there was something wrong with the child's eyes or not, he received a notification that one person had applied for his class.

‘This is a problem.’

He had planned to quietly conduct research alone at the Academy for the Gifted for a year, collect a generous retirement bonus, and then retire.

But he couldn't afford to waste time on some arrogant noble child.

‘So, I deliberately gave an absurd assignment.’

He told them to solve about 50 Advanced Mathematics problems by the day after tomorrow.

Any sane child would have run away immediately, saying, "Professor, you're crazy!"

They would already be taking another professor's class.

The moment Professor Maless opened the door, smiling as he imagined the quiet, empty classroom...

"Huh...?"

He made a dumbfounded sound.

The classroom he had been assigned was definitely a bleak place.

A plain professor's desk and lectern. And about five desks and chairs for students.

Other than that, it was a worn-out, desolate space with only a few books he had brought.

Even though it was dusty, he deliberately didn't ask for it to be cleaned in order to drive that one student away.

‘But why is it so clean?’

The classroom was neatly organized without a speck of dust.

The scattered desks were neatly aligned, and the area under the chalkboard, which had been covered in chalk dust, was cleanly wiped.

That wasn't all.

A vase with freshly bloomed flowers was placed on the professor's desk, and a cool, pleasant spring breeze wafted in through the open window.

‘Did the cleaning staff come by?’

Even so, he didn't expect them to clean it up so thoroughly.

He had deliberately chosen a run-down and secluded place, but as a person, he preferred cleanliness.

He was looking around the classroom with a satisfied expression when.

"Hello!"

"......?"

He lowered his head at the voice he heard from below.

A small child wearing the Academy for the Gifted uniform was looking up at him.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Ibi Elden. Are you Professor Maless?"

A clear, bright voice. And the expression on their face, which seemed somehow moved to see him, made him nod and answer without realizing it.

"Yes, I am Professor Maless. Could it be... are you the student taking this Advanced Mathematics class?"

"Yes, Professor!"

Ibi answered energetically and smiled.

Professor Maless was flustered.

He wondered what kind of idiot had applied for his class, but it turned out to be such a young child.

Moreover, he thought they would run away after seeing the first assignment and wouldn't even show up today.

But instead of running away, they were greeting him.

‘T, this isn't how it's supposed to be?’

Professor Maless, flustered, saw his handwriting still on the chalkboard and regained his senses.

‘Get a grip. My year will be easier if I get this child out of here.’

The child was strangely small and thin to be a noble child from the Academy for the Gifted.

Moreover, they didn't show the arrogant attitude typical of noble children.

But he mustn't waver. He couldn't be looking after a child at this point, with retirement just around the corner.

He deliberately said to Ibi in a blunt voice.

"Yes. Did you do the assignment?"

There was no way they could have.

From the start, each problem was so difficult that it would take an hour or two to solve.

No matter how gifted a child was to enter the Academy for the Gifted, they couldn't do Advanced Mathematics that easily.

Ibi's expression seemed to stiffen a little at Professor Maless's words.

Advanced Mathematics was a difficult book even for pre-majors.

There was no way such a young child could have done it properly.

‘I knew it, there's no way they could have done it properly. That's why they're smiling and greeting me so politely.’

He had seen more than once how children would pretend to have tried a few problems and then whine about how difficult it was.

Trying to get away with it already at such a young age.

It was the moment Professor Maless was determined to scold them.

"I did it, but there were some difficult parts so I couldn't solve them all."

Ibi brought out their notebook with a dejected voice and held it out in front of him.

Professor Maless took the notebook and checked it.

‘It's obvious what it'll be like.’

He had been teaching for a long time.

They would pretend to have worked hard on the first few problems and then complain that it was too difficult.

Thinking that, the moment he opened the notebook, his eyes widened.

The first page was densely filled with equations.

Professor Maless involuntarily followed the neat, round handwriting that densely filled the solutions with his eyes.

"Hmm."

An exclamation escaped his lips.

It was a very clean solution. Good enough to be published in a book as is.

His eyes hurriedly scanned the next solution. This time, the solution was perfect as well.

After looking at the solutions to several problems, he finally found one that hadn't been solved properly.

Professor Maless was more disappointed than pleased to finally find something to criticize.

"Why couldn't you solve this one? It's a problem that uses the same formulas as the previous ones."

"From that problem onwards, I think I need to apply the Pirna Formula together... but I haven't learned that yet. I looked at the explanation in the book, but I didn't understand it well..."

Ibi's voice grew softer and softer as they answered.

They had managed to solve the previous problems somehow, even though it took time, but from there on, they couldn't solve any more.

"Hmm, this is something. This won't do!"

Professor Maless pounded his chest as if frustrated.

Ibi shrank back even more at the sight of the large professor unable to contain his anger.

Would he get angry? Would they be scolded for entering the Academy for the Gifted without knowing this?

Then Professor Maless went to the desk and said to Ibi.

"You, sit here!"

\ \ *

And an hour later.

"Now, child, this is..."

Professor Maless was explaining to Ibi in a very gentle voice.

"Now, do you see the starting point here? If you draw a straight line like this from here..."

Professor Maless held a piece of chalk and drew various graphs and shapes on the chalkboard.

Ibi watched him draw and diligently followed along in their notebook.

"It ends here like this. Do you understand?"

"Yes!"

A bright smile spread across Professor Maless's face at Ibi's energetic answer.

It was such a bright smile that anyone who knew him would have rubbed their eyes, wondering if they were seeing things.

Professor Maless was famous for being stern and lacking in smiles.

When he taught at the academy, he was also famous as a professor who made students cry.

Even the academy students, who were never behind in their studies, didn't want to face him.

But here he was, explaining kindly. Even smiling.

"Tell me if it's too difficult. I'll explain it again."

"No! It was a bit difficult when I looked at it in the book yesterday, but I understand it all after listening to Professor's explanation!"

"Really? What kind of idiot wrote the book..."

Professor Maless was about to say that when he remembered that he had written the Advanced Mathematics book he had given to Ibi and cleared his throat.

"Ahem, I did write it a bit difficult. No, but that's because it's a book for adults at the academy. If I had known a young child like you would be reading it, I would have written it more easily."

He made excuses in a hurry and picked up the chalk again.

Just then, the sound of the clock tower rang in the distance. It was time for class to end.

"It's already over."

A look of regret appeared on Ibi's face at the sound of the bell.

Professor Maless found that look very endearing.

‘Yes! This is what a student should look like!’

Instead of rushing out as soon as the bell rang, shouldn't a student regret not having learned everything?

Thinking of how others would shake their heads if they heard him, Professor Maless looked at the book.

‘I've almost finished Chapter 1 after teaching for just one day.’

It was truly an amazing speed. When he used to teach at the academy, it took two weeks to finish Chapter 1.

But it was almost finished in just one day.

‘Their understanding is very fast.’

Moreover, even though the class was over two hours long, their concentration didn't waver. Instead, their eyes lit up whenever he taught them something new.

Thanks to that, Professor Maless also got excited.

‘I don't know how long it's been since I taught this enthusiastically.’

He had only ever seen people with sleepy faces sitting slumped over.

But now, seeing a student who listened attentively to his explanations, asked questions about what they didn't know, and tried to understand, his heart swelled.

‘This is exactly the kind of student I wanted to teach.’