I’m Just an Ordinary Clown at the Academy

8 – The Emperor

Unlike the current emperor, the former emperor was inept. No one would admit it directly, but it was an undeniable truth.

If only he had been incompetent, it would have been preferable. Until now, all the emperors who had ruled were not necessarily intelligent or clever. However, they recognized their shortcomings, listened to the voices of their loyal subjects, and cared for the people.

But the former emperor was different. He refused to acknowledge his incompetence.

Driven by greed and arrogance, he exploited the empire’s resources for his own gain, ignoring the voices of his loyal subjects and surrounding himself with sycophants.

With an inept emperor and a plethora of sycophants, corruption soon followed.

High-ranking officials indulged in bribery to fill their pockets, and even newly appointed officials entered with bribes. Gradually, those who cared about the empire diminished among the officials.

The ones suffering were the common people. Due to the emperor’s greed and the officials’ corruption, taxes soared, and the people starved. However, there was nothing they could do.

Even the crown prince resembled the emperor, being ignorant, inept, and overly ambitious. After saying, ‘Why should I associate with the lowly ones?’ he never even attended the academy.

As the empire’s future vanished, and only the people endured suffering, he appeared.

The Cardinal of Thieves.

Cloaked in shadows as dark as ink, he began stealing the ill-gotten wealth of corrupt officials.

‘There are too many thieves in the empire. Let me show you who the real thief is.’

At first, the officials paid him no mind, thinking he would be caught soon. Contrary to their expectations, the Cardinal was never apprehended.

He always appeared audaciously, plundering wealth and disappearing like a shadow. Growing bolder, he took from all the corrupt officials, and when the emperor tried to intervene with his entire military force, it was the emperor who got robbed.

What the Cardinal stole from the emperor was the empire’s treasure—the sword used by the first emperor of the Croa Empire. Enraged, the emperor mobilized all his forces to find it, but it was nowhere to be found.

However, someone unexpected managed to recover the national treasure.

The person who regained the national treasure was none other than the prince who had been a mere subject. He couldn’t catch the villain, but the prince managed to retrieve the national treasure. The first thing the prince did after obtaining the national treasure was to stage a coup.

Two justifications. The emperor’s incompetence and the loss of the national treasure.

Everyone said it was impossible for the prince, who had been nothing more than a subject, to stage a coup, but he had the support of the prestigious Freya House, famous for its swordsmanship, and the renowned Adelian House, famous for its magic.

With the support of these two families, the prince went to the emperor, but the imperial knights could not stop him.

The prince pondered how to break through the knights and reach the emperor. But he wasn’t the only one pondering.

At the time, Gelda, the commander of the imperial knights, also pondered while looking at the prince in front of him.

Whether what he was doing was right. He couldn’t remember if the emperor or the empire was what he wanted to protect when he became a knight when he was young.

After pondering, he made a decision.

“All knights, clear the way!”

After that, Gelda resigned as the commander of the knights to ensure that there were no more children who didn’t know what they were doing or what they wanted, and became a professor at the academy.

The prince who broke through the knights killed the emperor and the crown prince and took the emperor’s place. As soon as he became the emperor, he purged the corrupt officials and sycophants.

For a while, he didn’t think about the smell of blood being erased from the empire.

But the prince, now the emperor, elevated the Adelian and Freya families to the rank of duke and distributed food to the people for free. Thus, the empire gradually regained stability.

And since then, there has never been a single appearance of the villain Cardinal.

“Your Majesty, since you are busy, I will get straight to the point. Is Rocky, by any chance, your disciple?”

“Rocky… It’s the first time I’ve heard that name. Is there a reason you think that child is my disciple?”

[The movement of that child Loki was similar to that of the rogue cardinal.]

Rogue cardinal. Upon hearing the headmaster’s words through the communication device in the imperial palace, the emperor became lost in old memories.

He did not question the reason why he thought of Loki as his disciple, simply because he said that Loki’s movement was similar to that of the rogue cardinal.

After all, he himself was the rogue cardinal.

And the headmaster was one of the very few who knew that.

“Could you please send me a test video to confirm?”

[Of course, I can.]

Even after the communication device was turned off, the emperor remained lost in his thoughts for a long time.

.

.

.

.

The golem disappeared without a trace, leaving me sprawled on the ground. Now, I can finally rest a bit.

Some of the individuals who had just awakened after being attacked by the mage earlier rushed towards Lucas and Clara, eager to flatter them. The ones who had been unconscious just moments ago looked pitiful in comparison.

“Your Highness, it was amazing. You took down that golem in a single blow.”

“It was like a lightning-fast strike.”

“To defeat such a powerful golem with both you and Princess Clara, it’s truly remarkable!”

“Princess Clara, your magic was extraordinary. It’s an honor to be able to accompany you and attend the academy.”

Accompanying them to the academy? How foolish. Do they really think they can attend the academy?

Clara completely ignored those who spoke to her.

Lucas briefly replied to the nobles chattering and walked toward me.

There was someone coming to me before Lucas.

She bowed slightly to address me, her pink hair cascading due to gravity.

Pink hair seemed unimaginable on anyone, but the woman in front of me carried it perfectly.

The person speaking to me was Sepia Leibaiden.

“Ignore those idiots blabbering about capturing the golem together or whatever nonsense they say.”

Though spoken by a young lady, her tone was unexpectedly tough.

Yet, mixed within was concern if I had been hurt by their words.

“hehehe, if an elegant and resilient lady like Ms. Sepia acknowledges me, that’s enough for me. And their claim about capturing the golem together is certainly incorrect.”

“Yeah. The golem was by you three—”

“We all captured it! If it wasn’t for someone like Ms. Sepia handling the magic, we couldn’t have done it.”

Sepia stared at me blankly for a moment, seemingly perplexed by my words.

“······ Fool. Behaving so kindly will make it hard for you to survive in this academy, you know?”

The sound of rustling wind echoed. Suddenly, a wind spirit landed on Sepia’s hand.

“Here, I picked up the thread.”

In Sepia’s hand was the thread I had used to bind the golem. I thought it was all gone after Lucas and Clara’s attacks, but some remained.

“As a token of our newfound friendship.”

“When did I become friends with you?”

“hehehe, what else is it if not exchanging stories like this?”

“Now I see, you’re not a fool, but a sucker. You must know how great this is, right?”

“Shil, there were a lot of idols in the virtual space anyway. If it’s Sepia, she can handle Shil well by using spirits.”

“If becoming friends with someone as cool as Sepia is a good deal for me, wouldn’t it be a profitable business?”

Upon hearing my words, Sepia murmured in a very soft voice and left the room.

“Thank you.”

After she left, Lucas came up to me and started talking.

“It seems like you’re having a hard time lying down?”

“hahahaha, it’s not that I’m having a hard time. It’s just that I have a hobby of lying down occasionally and looking up at the sky.”

“But there’s a ceiling, so you can’t see the sky.”

*Kiik*

Just as Lucas burst out laughing at my joke, the sound of the auditorium door opening was heard, and the professors entered. The students who were chattering became quiet when dozens of professors entered at once.

“Now, I will announce the assigned classes. And this academic year, a special class will be created separately.”

At the same time as those words, a woman with ashy hair entered the auditorium.

“This person has been specially brought for this special class.”

The person who entered was someone I knew as well. She was famous for manipulating students even in Croaca, but she was also called the demon instructor because her abilities were greatly enhanced.

She was walking, holding the neck of Professor Hydra, who was famous as a mad professor, with one hand.

“I’ll call the students in the special class first! Lucas Leonhardt, Clara Adelian, Sepia Livaden, Kuran Issar, · · · · · Loki, you are now part of the special class.”

The ones the professor called were the main characters even in Croaca. The reason I worked hard at the entrance ceremony was to be part of this special class.

“Next are the students assigned to Class 1 · · · ·.”

The professor called out the students from Class 1 and Class 2 like that.

“If you haven’t been called yet, raise your hand.”

Quite a few students raised their hands.

“You are all expelled. Leave the academy immediately.”

“What? What is this!”

“How did we get accepted then!”

Both the students who were being expelled and those who weren’t were surprised by the professor’s words. Who would have thought they would be expelled at the entrance ceremony?

“Hey, even that guy over there got into the special class. Why did I fail!”

One student pointed at me and said. Are they trying to blame me in this situation? Have they not seen me fight?

“Haa… Afro Ganish, you must have panicked and fainted when the demon appeared, right?”

The professor sighed as if it was familiar. Well, it’s natural to get used to guys like this after a few years of being a professor.

“That, that’s because the demon suddenly appeared and I got confused!”

“I will explain in more detail.”

The one who spoke was the demon instructor with gray hair. The woman who put Professor Idra down on the ground stood in front of Afro Ganish. Afro Ganish, who stood before her, was trembling.

“My name is Elysia. I will now tell you why you are being expelled.”

Right after those words, she disappeared in an instant in front of Afro Ganish. Feeling a sense of crisis, I instinctively moved my body backward.

In the place where my face was, there was suddenly the demon instructor’s blade.

“Did you see it?”

“Yes? What?”

This time, the demon instructor charged at Afro Ganish. Compared to when she attacked me, her speed was very slow. However, Afro Ganish couldn’t defend himself and was sent flying.

“This is why you are being expelled. This student is just a surprise attack, yet you could barely dodge it, but you knew it was coming and still couldn’t dodge it.”

In this absurd situation, it was Professor Idra who embraced me and comforted me. What’s wrong with this crazy professor?

“Director, what’s going on here? I’ve been suspicious since you suddenly took charge of the special unit! Loki, you must’ve been really surprised, right?”

“Yes! I was incredibly surprised! My delicate heart almost burst out of my chest!”

“Oh my, oh my. Loki, were you really that surprised?”

Come to think of it, when Hydra was an adventurer, was the leader of the place an evil instructor?

“Hmm…”

The devilish instructor scratched their head and handed me a pouch. What’s this?

“I’m sorry, this is new to me. It’s modest, but consider it compensation.”

I opened the pouch the devilish instructor gave me.

Inside were numerous gold coins. Wow! How much is this?

I quickly distanced myself from Professor Hydra.

“Please step back, Professor Hydra. Professor Elysia might not approve!”

“Loki?”

Ignoring Professor Hydra, I approached the devilish instructor and bowed my waist at a 90-degree angle.

“It was an honor if I could assist Professor Elysia!”

hehehe, gold coins! Gold coins!

From now on, I’m not an infernal instructor but a divine one.