Chapter 37

“You’re the one who sent me here to observe!”

“You were the one who threw a tantrum and refused to go to such an uncivilized place without a bookstore, so this is what happened!”

“Even so, there’s no way a person from Magic Tower could end up this low!”

Apparently, the two were affiliated with the Magic Tower.

Geographically, the Magic Tower was located in Ernon, the capital of the Barcan Empire, but in reality, it was an independent entity free from the influence of the imperial authority.

This was because mages from all over the world, regardless of their nationality, had gathered there. Incidentally, they were here. They had hired a mage affiliated with Magic Tower as a liberal arts teacher.

Arrogant and self-willed, they would not budge even at the words of nobles, let alone the emperor. This was especially true for those who were obsessed with research and holed up in the Magic Tower.

How on earth did Duke Brioche manage to get them to move?

Her curiosity was piqued for a moment. But then, her attention was drawn to the conversation that followed.

“I don’t know why Ezekiel took a guy like you as his disciple!”

“Well, because I’m a genius! Who else has contributed as much as I have to that unknown research?”

“You’re just blinded by gold and only care about research!”

“What’s with you? How could you say that to someone who’s opening a new era of healing magic!”

“That’s funny.”

“You old fool. You don’t know anything.”

“Are you ignoring someone from the Magic Tower?”

“You only know existing knowledge and have no pioneering spirit!”

“You b*stard!”

As he began to lose the battle of words, Grosh resorted to force.

“Aaaagh―!”

Gerald screamed as his ear was grabbed and pulled.

“You’re just an old fool with brute strength! Agh! It hurts!”

At this point, he should have given up and calmed down, though Gerald seemed to have a talent for talking back, and he continued to chatter even more.

Izeline felt a complex emotion as she watched him.

The man who was supposed to be a liberal arts teacher did not show even a speck of culture. However, Robert seemed to have a different impression of his future teacher. He opened his mouth in a voice that had become noticeably more cheerful.

“You know…”

Grosh flinched at the sound of his voice.

Seizing the opportunity, Gerald freed himself from the old man’s grip and rubbed his ear to ease the pain. A white light flickered from the mage’s palm, and the red and swollen earlobe subsided as if by magic.

Gerald’s purple eyes turned to Robert.

“What?”

“How do you make money?”

Robert, the son of one of the five wealthiest men in the world, had red eyes that sparkled as if he were born poor.

“Rob…?”

Izeline couldn’t help but be taken aback by his appearance.

‘No, why is a kid who has so much money acting like this?’

Gerald, on the other hand, tilted his head slowly with a ‘gotcha’ expression and a leisurely smile on his lips.

“It’s no fun if I just tell you.”

“Can you really make money?”

“Knowledge and information have immense value. The harder it is to obtain, the more valuable it becomes.”

His glowing purple eyes, which were filled with greed, made him look like a man who had sold his soul for money.

Izeline was amazed by the mage’s corrupted soul and couldn’t help but reassess Duke Brioche’s judgment in hiring such an unusual teacher. Nonetheless, Robert seemed to have developed an unshakeable trust in those eyes.

He listened to Gerald’s words with rapt attention, his gaze filled with admiration.

“Just planting one person in an information guild can be quite profitable.”

As he spoke, he rubbed his thumb over the tips of his other fingers. It was as if he was expressing the smell of money.

“Rob… Don’t be fooled by strange things.”

Although she tried to dissuade him with a worried expression, Robert was already looking only at Gerald as if he had been hypnotized. He had already decided to accept him as his teacher, and his tone of voice had become noticeably more polite.

“Where should I start?”

“Anything you learn will be useful somewhere.”

“When does class start, teacher?”

At that question, Gerald curled his lips into a smirk as if he had been waiting for it.

“I’m available anytime.”

* * *

The account opened under the pseudonym Lemo held Robert’s own allowance.

At the time, Oren helped him open the account and lent a hand whenever he made a withdrawal—although there were no deposits made afterward—and the dwindling balance left Robert heartbroken.

In any case, the thought of secretly amassing a fortune appealed to him, and he wanted to earn money at a young age, if at all possible.

Still, what could a seven-year-old possibly do?

“Where did the other one go?”

“He’s gone to the city, Master.”

Robert answered stiffly, watching as Gerald frowned as though something was amiss. He had become completely deferential as if he had decided to treat the mage as a teacher from heaven. If Oren had seen him, he would have collapsed with his neck in his hands.

“Why is he at Ernon?”

“There’s a birthday celebration for the Crown Prince.”

Gerald grumbled impatiently as if Robert had never replied.

“He left his post when the teacher himself came down.”

The liberal arts class began right away, and despite having invited a mage, there were no plans to teach magic. Even so, there was no better resource than a mage for thoroughly learning about the knowledge and principles of the world.

From the first day of class, Gerald showed up with several heavy-looking books.

Unlike Oren, who was staying at the Armanty mansion, he spent his days with Grosh at the Hidden Path Bookstore, and he planned to torment the children with an enormous amount of teaching materials every time he came for his weekly lesson.

‘…I bet the source of those books is the Hidden Path Bookstore.’

Had she been mistaken about the quaint atmosphere of the bookstore? Izeline felt a sense of foreboding as if all the books that had densely filled the shelves were going to become class materials.

“Let’s start without the absent one.”

Gerald opened his mouth, placing a thick book on the desk and propping his chin on it.

Izeline envied Michael, who wasn’t present.

‘That’s great. He doesn’t have to study.’

She wasn’t good at physical labor, but she hated using her brain even more. Studying was out of the question for her.

“Excuse me, teacher.”

Izeline raised her hand timidly with a small glimmer of hope. When Gerald gestured for her to speak, she opened her mouth.

“Michael won’t be back for another three months, so won’t it be difficult to keep up with the progress?”

So, how about starting class three months from now? Hehe…

She tried to be charming, though it was no use.

“We can just make him do extra work.”

“But if his brain gets overloaded…”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

The last one was Robert.

Despite himself, he had a look on his face as if he knew it was true. Michael was more outstanding than the average person, even if he was a bit annoying.

“He says it’ll be fine.”

Gerald looked at Izeline meaningfully. She realized that her hopes of delaying the class had been dashed and hung her head in disappointment.

Robert, on the other hand, was brimming with enthusiasm. He imagined his future trading in a cool manner at the information guild, and he wanted to lay the foundation for his learning as soon as possible.

In particular, after learning that Gerald was only ten years older than him, that future didn’t seem so far away.

“Any more questions?”

Despite being only seventeen, the erudite Gerald didn’t wait for an answer, as if it wasn’t a question, and opened a book.

A bitter expression crossed Izeline’s face.

‘The first textbook is already that thick…’

She was shedding invisible tears inside.

“But what have you been doing for three years?”

Robert, who had been eager to start class, unexpectedly hit the brakes. Gerald flipped through the bookshelf as if checking the progress he was going to cover today and answered nonchalantly.

“Research.”

“What kind of research?”

The mage glanced up at Robert as he asked the question, then returned his gaze to the book.

“There is such a thing.”

Was it some kind of secret research going on in the tower? Since he wouldn’t tell her, Izeline’s curiosity was piqued, and she asked, her eyes sparkling.

“Is it research that makes a lot of money?”

She remembered Grosh’s words in the bookstore the other day when he had exclaimed that he was blinded by gold and only cared about research. Robert showed an unusual interest when money was mentioned.

Sensing the change in atmosphere, Gerald raised his head and met the wide-eyed gazes of his two students, then shook his head dejectedly.

“I did receive a lot of money from the Duke.”

Robert’s eyes widened.

“Is it research that my father is sponsoring?”

“The Duke sponsors a lot of things here and there. Other nobles do the same.”

But still…

He seemed to want to ask something more, but Gerald held out the textbook in front of the two of them as if to say that he was no longer taking questions.

“The history and heroes of the Barcan Empire.”

The first lesson was history. Izeline’s face darkened. She could see a bleak future ahead of her, buried under a mountain of memorization.

“According to the myth of the founding of the nation, the first emperor received the divine sword, Caliburnus, as a gift from the gods…”

The teacher’s voice, beginning his lesson helplessly, filled the air. She barely managed to stifle a yawn, feeling as if she were already falling asleep.

Robert, on the other hand, approached the lesson with a thoughtful expression.

There was something that didn’t sit right with him. It might just be his own sensitivity, but… he had a feeling that Gerald was deliberately evading the subject of his research.

—