The Duke’s Madness

Two closed eyes open.

At the same time, a familiar voice sounded like a spring breeze.

“Are you awake, Elin?”

“… ?”

“I fell asleep all of a sudden, and I’m on my way home in the car. You must be very tired?”

Elin asked with her eyes still sore.

“I… . You said you fell asleep?”

“yes. He must have been so tired that he suddenly collapsed.”

At Arthur’s explanation, Elin hurriedly gets up from her seat.

And belatedly realizing that he was lying on Arthur’s lap, he shouted.

“Mi, sorry! Was it very heavy?”

“no? It was light, so I didn’t feel anything.”

“… really?”

“yes. Why would you lie about this?”

At Arthur’s words, Elin shut her mouth.

After that, he turned his gaze to look at the thighs he had been lying on a moment ago, and involuntarily swallowed dry saliva.

‘No matter how crazy you are… . How can you sleep on someone else’s thighs?’

Along with her thoughts, Elin raises her head.

And as I was about to apologize to Arthur once again, a question passed through my mind.

‘however… Why did I fall asleep?’

Elin frowned as she worried.

However, no matter how hard I tried, nothing came to mind.

I remembered going into a nice restaurant with Arthur, but I couldn’t remember what happened after that.

‘Does this make sense? No matter how tired you are, you can’t remember just that part?’

It was when Elin tilted her head along with her thoughts.

Arthur raises the corners of his mouth and opens his mouth.

“Oh. I heard you well today, Elin.”

“… ?”

“I don’t think I’ve heard much about Mr. Holland, but please do that next time. It was fun in many ways.”

“…what did I say?”

“I did several things. Talk about the northern part of Elin’s life, and talk about each other.”

Elin’s eyes widened.

“Sir, talk about each other? What did I say?”

“I couldn’t hear it because I passed out right there.”

“at there… . You fainted?”

“yes.”

Elin looks at me with a puzzled expression.

‘A story about each other? no… . Why did we share such a story?’

Along with the question, Elin’s brow furrowed softly.

Arthur, who was watching the scene, muttered while managing his expression.

‘Looks like I don’t remember… . Shouldn’t it be enough to cover it up like this?’

Definitely Leon Madrid.

It seemed unnecessary to talk about the man.

Arthur, who had finished the situation a little while ago, stroked his chin.

It was because there were still unanswered questions.

‘hmm… . Why don’t I know the future Elin?’

I rolled my head with a murmur.

But nothing came to mind.

My future self doesn’t know about Elin.

Even if she had been driven insane by Sebischan’s poison for 10 years, she had never heard of Elin in the future after she came to her senses.

‘Holan Leverkusen… . If you’re the new Northern Commander in your father’s footsteps, then I should know.’

It is an abnormal memory that can remember all the stories that pass by.

Considering that, it was normal to have heard the story of someone like Elin at least once.

Arthur, who was troubled by that, muttered as he looked at Ellin, who had lost some strength.

‘That means to Elin… . What’s going to happen?’

Anxiety that is just a home.

However, this kind of hunch was unfortunately never wrong.

So Arthur’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Elin.

‘What happened… . I hope it’s not the bad side.’

* * *

A light-hearted Martial Dust wanted bounty request.

In that request, Arthur was able to find out two things unexpectedly.

‘Leon Madrid and Elin.’

However, finding out about it didn’t change anything right away.

It was because Leon Madrid and Elin Leverkusen lacked information in many ways to take any action.

‘Especially on the Leon Madrid side… . I can’t move hastily.’

I wonder if I would have killed him when the opportunity came.

I moved to assassinate the prince of the empire, and if I fail, I will take a huge risk.

Arthur, who had no intention of taking that risk, decided to wait and see for the time being, just like on the first day.

‘Considering the weaknesses it holds, Leon Madrid is bigger… The other side won’t be able to move hastily either.’

After sorting out the unexpected situation, I went to school as usual.

buzz buzz.

The first class is Professor Chizui’s magic engineering lecture.

It was a fun and informative class, but it was also a tricky class because of Professor Chizui’s strict and strict personality.

Because of that, there were 10 minutes left until class started, but most of the seats were already full.

“ha… .”

“Professor Chizui’s class as soon as the weekend is over… .”

“I haven’t even finished my weekend assignments yet, isn’t that why I get a failing grade?”

Hearing the students whisper, Arthur went to his seat and sat down.

After that, it was time to wait for Professor Chizui, taking out writing instruments and notebooks.

A dark-haired girl opened the classroom door and entered.

“… .”

Yenika Hazel.

She was the eldest daughter of Hazel’s entrepreneur, who is known for having the best looks among freshmen this quarter.

It must have been a month since she got used to it, but the male students in the classroom couldn’t take their eyes off her.

‘and… . It’s new every time I see it. How could a person be like that?’

‘Aren’t you a doll? There’s no expression, and pretty is filthy pretty.’

‘It could be a doll. That look is enough.’

In the midst of that focused attention, Yenika glanced away.

Then, I find Arthur sitting in a corner of the seat and staring blankly at the blackboard, and I move on.

“Hello, Gongja?”

“… Jenika?”

“yes. Did you have a good rest over the weekend?”

With a question, Yenika slumps down next to Arthur.

“Yes, I had a good rest. But why are you sitting next to me?”

“Can I sit down?”

“Go to the empty one. I don’t want to be near Jenika.”

Jenika raises the corner of her mouth.

“That’s why I want to be by your side more. It reminds me of what Confucius did to me.”

Arthur tilted his head.

“Am I? What did I do to Yenika?”

“oh. Are you going to pretend not to know?”

“I really don’t know, so I can’t pretend I don’t know. What have I done?”

The smile on Yenika’s lips grew even thicker.

“Martial Dust.”

“… .”

“Did Gongja know that the man I caught was a fake?”

Arthur exclaims.

“oh… . Is he fake?”

“… You pretend not to know until the end.”

“Then you have to pretend you don’t know. I’m not even friends with Yenika, so why would I share that?”

The smile on Yenika’s lips disappears in an instant.

“You’re so mean, Gongja-nim.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Can we talk separately later?”

“Can I refuse?”

The corner of Jenika’s eyes flinched.

However, Arthur, who rejected the offer, did not budge.

Jenika, who was looking at the figure sideways, sighed.

“I’ll give you a drop of blood.”

“… .”

“Two drops of blood.”

“… .”

“Three drops of blood. No more.”

Arthur turns his head and smiles.

“Where shall we talk, Yenika?”

“… .”

“There is a cafe I know, would you like to go there?”

It was when Yenika twitched the corners of her mouth.

The classroom door opened and Professor Chizui appeared.

“uh… . hmm… . hello?”

The atmosphere in the somewhat noisy classroom subsided at once.

In the meantime, Chizui Yuola, who stepped onto the podium, opened her mouth.

“Then I’ll call the rolls… .”

“…”

“After calling the attendance… . I will evaluate the assignment given last week. Students who have any questions… . do you have?”

The students answered no with one voice.

Professor Chizui nodded and called out the attendance sheet.

After confirming that everyone was present, he lifted up a thick pile of papers.

“This is the scoring sheet for the evaluation of this assignment. The rating is… from A to F. The evaluation was based on the level of understanding of the interpretation of the thesis written by you.”

“… .”

“The reflection of the assignment score is big… . Students who received grade D or lower, please work harder… . If you get a failing grade, you have to take the class again.”

With these words, Professor Chizui passed the scoring sheet to the assistant next to him.

The students watching the scene were nervous and trembling.

Then, feeling a subtle excitement, he swallowed dry saliva.

It was because, among the assignments the freshmen had recently taken on, Professor Chizui’s assignment was the most vicious.

“…”

That was when the scoring sheets were distributed to all students.

Sighs and exclamations erupt at the same time.

“uh?”

“under?”

“… this is right?”

The students who had been exclaiming along with the whispers also burst into sighs.

While Professor Chizui was watching the atmosphere, a student stood up and shouted.

“professor! I have a question!”

“yes… . Please speak.”

“Can you tell me about the criteria for scoring?”

Professor Chizui answers.

“I told you, but… . Understanding of the thesis written. It was based on that.”

Another student raises his hand.

Professor Chizui nodded, and the student who raised his hand quickly opened his mouth.

“I feel that the grading criteria are too vague. Understanding is very subjective, and I think I need a detailed explanation on this part.”

Professor Chizui nodded again.

“you’re right. Understanding is… . It’s subjective. Then the student who raised his hand…?”

“yes?”

“The name… Haskal Brain… . Is that correct?”

Hashkal, who was pointed out, flinched for a moment, but then calmly nodded.

“yes. That’s right, Professor.”

“Hashkal student, how I graded… . You want to know?”

Hashkal pondered and answered.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“great… . Hashkal student. I would like to ask you a question about the paper you wrote. The student explained about the physical power of ＜Magic Engineering＞… . So can you tell me what your definition of physical force is?”

Hashkal swallowed dryly and answered.

“Eh, the physical power of magic engineering is the power to understand or judge things. Among them, it defines the power of magic engineering… .”

“Wrong.”

“… ?”

“again… . Please tell me.”

Hashkal gave a different answer.

However, Professor Chizui shook his head again.

Seeing that, Hashkal asked in a harsh voice as if he felt unfair.

“Ha, but Professor! This is the book the professor gave me… .”

“yes. I shared… . It’s what’s in the booklet… . That’s why it’s wrong.”

“… ?”

“That’s just my opinion… . Isn’t that your opinion?”

Hashkal shuts up in surprise.

In the meantime, Professor Chizui looks away and opens his mouth.

“What [thesis] is… . My academic argument or hypothesis… . Theoretically, to the proper procedure and formality, the argument . . . . I mean possible writing… .”

“… .”

“But what you wrote down… . Not your opinion… . Most of my comments were… . How can such a writing be called a dissertation?”

Most of the students keep their mouth shut.

Professor Chizui declares in the atmosphere that is different from before.

“So, the book I gave you… . Most of the students who copy or write down the contents of the book as it is… . I gave it an F.”

“… .”

“On the other hand, my opinion… . Students who add and write down plausibly have a grade of D or higher.”

With these words, Arthur looks at my test paper.

Grade A.

The highest grade Professor Chizui said was on my exam paper.

“A student who accurately grasps my intentions… . Grade A.”

“… .”

“For reference, there is only one student who received an A grade. That student is the only one with my intention… . Got it. Do you have any more questions?”

The students are silent at Professor Chizuga’s question.

Professor Chizui, who was watching them, turned around and took out a piece of chalk.

“then… . Let the lecture begin.”

With these words, the creaking sound of the pen began to echo.

Arthur, who was rolling his pen in it, raised the corner of his mouth without realizing it.

‘A grade… I’m alone?’

Although I worked hard, I never expected to achieve such results.

Is that why?

After a long time, the feeling of joy rose from the tip of my throat.

It was a time when Arthur was leisurely savoring that emotional line that was subtly different from when he captured Ares Arekis.

Jenika’s test paper next to her suddenly caught my eye.

“… .”

After checking the grade on the test paper, Arthur’s eyes lit up.

After that, I tore up a part of the note, made it into a note, and handed it to Yenika.

[Are you stupid, Yenika? Is it grade F?]

Yenika, who found the note, widened her eyes.

And after glaring at Arthur for a while, he wrote down a reply.

[What is Gongja’s grade?]

[A grade ^^]

[So what are you bragging about?]

[Proud? no? Are you kidding Jenika?]

Yenika trembles.

Then I narrowed my eyes and handed the note again, but Arthur didn’t respond anymore.

It was when the red spots on Yenica’s fair skin became hot.

Professor Chizui, who had abruptly stopped class, turned his head.

“ah.”

“… ?”

“arrive… . did you?”

With these words, the assistant standing next to Professor Chizui muttered something.

Professor Chizui, who listened attentively to the story, sighed.

“… really. That student is still there. I’m a failing student… . To be late again from the first day.”

“… .”

“Come in… . do.”

The assistant, bowing, steps back.

In the meantime, Professor Chizui, who looked away, declared.

“Your classmates… . one person. increased… .”

“… ?”

“I’m a whopping 5th grader than you all… . I’m a senior, but that’s why I’m formal… . You don’t have to. Whatever happened now… . It’s because we’re in the same class.”

The students in the classroom raised their eyes.

5th grade senior.

That said, many students who were 5 years old were coming in now.

And in the case of Arcane University, you will finish in the 4th year under the assumption that you will be promoted properly.

In other words, the student who is coming in now has failed 5 times.

Because of that, when everyone opened their mouths in disbelief, Arthur blinked his eyes.

“what?”

With that exclamation, the classroom door opened and a student entered.

Arthur, who was watching the scene, burst out laughing.

“This again… . What is the situation?”