The Academy is Doomed

Chapter 25

Amon was collapsed on his bed.

He had returned to the Academy late at night after running away from Reinbelt.

Since it was late, I thought the crazy old man would have gone back to his crib.

But instead, the crazy old man was standing at the front door with a broom.

‘Oh, no, what the hell…….’

‘Kahaha, the gate guard position just happened to be vacant, so I’ve decided to work here for a while!’

‘Ugh……!’

Amon quickly retorted.

‘Why would you want to work in the world when you have no taste for it? Go back to the mountains!’

‘Kkkkk, I might, but do you think Ray should?’

‘……?’

‘Ray has become a Sword Master, he doesn’t need me to look after him. Besides, isn’t it time for him to get an education appropriate to his age?’

He wasn’t wrong, Raymond was about Boris and Chloe’s age.

‘You don’t mean…….’

‘Yes, I do. Ray has decided to enroll here as well. You may not know much about swordsmanship, but you’re a strong believer in education, so you’ll make a good teacher.’

‘K, k, k…….’

Who knew that raising Chloe so well would come back to haunt me!

Reinbelt chuckled.

‘But the tuition was quite expensive, so I decided to work here.’

‘……ugh.’

In Boris and Chloe’s case, the academy took them in and took care of them because they had lost their parents and home.

Raymond, on the other hand, has to pay his own way in!

That’s why Mr. Reinbelt, a penniless man with no estate and no title, is willing to work here and pay for Raymond’s education.

‘So take care of him, Mr. Amon.’

It was a plausible reason, but Amon could guess the madman’s intentions.

‘Yes, but I have one request. I have my own circumstances, and I cannot devote myself to the sword while abandoning the secular world. So please do not force me to become your disciple.’

Reinbelt nodded, unexpectedly cordially.

‘Yes, the path must be walked of one’s own volition. Don’t worry.’

With that, Amon looked at Reinbelt’s smiling face and muttered.

‘You don’t seem to have given up……at all.’

How did it happen?

‘Is this a dream?’

He pinched his cheeks together in frustration.

“Ha, shit…….”

Rolling over, Amon pulled the covers over his head and closed his eyes.

‘Let’s get some sleep. I have to start planning the curriculum tomorrow.’

His own class, the one he’s been waiting for, starts next week.

‘I’m sure I’ll be able to teach History……well, right?’

He drifted off to sleep with a little anxiety.

***

A sudden knock on the door jolted him awake.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me, the vice principal.”

“……The vice principal?”

“Yes, may I come in?”

I straightened my robes and opened the door, and Brestle walked in casually.

Amon grumbled at the sight of her.

“What are you doing here at this late hour?”

Brestle answered with a smug look on her face, as if he had no shame in the world.

“When are you going to eat the potatoes you brought today?”

I got a sack of potatoes from my mother!

The potatoes that Amon had stashed away because he was sure that Brestle would have a fit if he left it in the cold!

Amon rolled his eyes.

“Did……come to me for potatoes at this late hour?”

“In case you didn’t know, dark elves are most active at night, so it’s only natural that I eat.”

“Uh……uh, yes. Excuse me.”

Brestle’s ears began to flap furiously as Amon pulled out a sack of potatoes he had hidden in the closet.

“Hmm…….”

Amon pulled out a few potatoes for Brestle.

Now that he thought about it, he was a little hungry.

‘Maybe I’ll have a little something to eat at night, too.’

Amon’s mouth watered as he remembered the flavor of the potatoes he ate every day back home.

‘Yes, our potatoes are especially easy to digest. It’s nighttime, but I can eat them and go straight to sleep.’

I bring out more potatoes, and Brestle is overjoyed.

She thinks it’s all hers.

“Half of it is mine.”

Brestle’s heart sank.

* * *

As I walked down the hall with the potato colander, I bumped into Boris.

“Hey, Boris, what are you doing up at this late hour?”

“I just came out to get some water and am on my way back. Why are you bringing potatoes…?”

He glanced at Brestle, who was following me.

“The vice principal said she wanted some, so I thought I’d have some.”

“Aha.”

“Do you want some, Boris?”

Boris smiled broadly.

“Yes, sir!”

I said in a low, joking tone to the grinning boy.

“Let’s not tell Chloe and keep it to ourselves.”

Isn’t it true that the best food is the one you don’t tell anyone about and eat in secret?

But Boris’s complexion changed drastically when he heard that.

“Ah……Ugh, I’ll bring Chloe too.”

“Uh, huh, why?”

“Uh, because she wants to eat with you.”

“Really? Um, okay.”

Boris ran back to his room, panting.

If he didn’t tell Chloe about this and if she found out about it…….

‘Chloe might kill me.’

There was no need to take that risk, so Boris hurried to his room.

“Take Chloe and bring her to the training ground!”

“Yes, sir!”

Amon continued walking as Boris moved away.

Meanwhile, Brestle, who was following Amon, had a grave look on her face.

‘I’ve barely had enough to eat for myself, and now you’re adding another mouth…….’

Brestle bit her lip and shook her head.

‘No. How much will they eat if they try it?’

Brestle didn’t know.

She doesn’t know how much kids eat when they’re growing up.

Amon arrived at the training grounds and gathered branches for a bonfire.

“Deputy Headmaster, steamed potatoes would be fine, right?”

“Sure.”

Amon was excited to eat steamed potatoes, which he had eaten to the point of vomiting in the manor.

And as he watched the potatoes half-submerged in the boiling water.

“What is this, the vice principal and Amon? What a rare combination.”

“What, Marion?”

Marion appeared, drunk and staggering!

Apparently, he had just returned from a bender outside the academy.

“So, what are you doing?”

“We’re just eating steamed potatoes for a midnight snack.”

“Oh, are those from your estate?”

“Yes. Would you like some?”

“Hahaha, that sounds good!”

Brestle’s ears perked up as Marion quickly sat down.

‘You’ve added another mouth?’

But inwardly, Brestle was relieved.

‘I’m not sure how much she’ll be able to eat.’

When you’re moderately drunk, food just keeps on coming.

Soon, Boris and Chloe arrive at the training ground, accompanied by an unexpected visitor.

“What is this banquet at this time of night?”

Anar’el appeared with a big smile on her face!

“Ha, what are you doing here, Headmaster?”

“I was trying to warn Boris and Chloe about wandering around at such a late hour, and they told me that Mr. Amon was having a midnight snack, so I came over.”

I know, I shouldn’t have done that as a teacher.

Eating late at night with students who are growing up and should be in bed early!

“Would the principal of……like to join us?”

Anar’el sat down as if she had been waiting.

“Hehe, it’s a late night snack.”

Brestle’s ears perked up at the sight of Anar’el’s appetite.

‘Oh, no. This can’t be.’

It’s widely known that “Elves eat sparingly,” or so the rumor goes.

In fact, the elves did eat sparingly, but Brestle knew that it was limited to ‘food other than vegetables.’

‘That elf eats several bowls of salad in one meal!’

I’ll bet she can empty a colander full of potatoes, too!

‘Yes, an unexpected foe.’

Amon brought twelve potatoes but there were already six heads.

‘That’s only two potatoes for each person.’

Brestle was getting nervous.

“Mmm……smells delicious.”

Amon frowned at the sudden appearance of Sloth as she sneaked up on them.

“What kind of day is it? They just keep showing up one by one.”

“……Do you have any for me?”

“Um……not much.”

“That’s okay, I won’t eat much.”

By this point, Brestle was shaking.

‘You’re not going to eat a lot?’

Sloth was swallowing hard!

Amon didn’t say anything, but he guessed that she had come here after a grueling training session at another training ground.

How hungry she must be!

‘If I had known, I would have brought more potatoes.’

I thought to myself.

“Hoo, where does this delicious smell come from?”

Reinbelt and Raymond arrive with big appetites!

Brestle jumped up and shouted loudly as soon as the obviously hearty-eating old man and boy appeared.

“Mr. Amon, bring more potatoes, no, bring all of them!”

Amon heard her and yelled back.

“You’ve been so quiet, and now you’re showing your true colors!”

“Shut up, bring me all the potatoes you have……No, I’ll go get them!”

Amon shouted after Brestle, who took off like a bolt of lightning.

“You gluttonous dark elf!”

“Kiaak, let go……ahhh, my head!”

* * *

Eventually, I came back with a whole sack of potatoes.

“……gulp!”

Brestle, who had been grabbed by the hair by Amon, muttered through her snotty nose.

“My potatoes…….”

“……Why are these the Vice Principal’s potatoes?”

Amon said, clicking his tongue as he rummaged around in the large pot he’d brought with him.

“Well, they’re cooked anyway, so let’s eat.”

Amon laid out the potatoes, and one by one, they reached out and grabbed them.

Then they all took a bite.

“What, what, what is this?”

“……These are potatoes?”

“What have I been eating all this time……?”

I was proud to see them stunned, unable to swallow the potato in their mouths.

“Our potatoes are good, right?”

“……wooooooo.”

Brestle was eating the potatoes with tears in her eyes.

‘Woohoo, our potatoes are the best.’

Amon wiped his nose, then looked at Reinbelt.

He took a bite of the potato and glared at him.

“What’s wrong? Doesn’t it fit in your mouth?”

“……I see now.”

“What?”

Reinbelt swallowed the potato and smirked.

“I see now why you’re so strong.”

“What?”

“It’s no wonder, you’ve been eating food with such strong mana every day. Your body has adapted to the mana itself.”

“Hmm……?”

The words made me realize something.

‘Now that I think about it, there really isn’t anyone in our territory who isn’t pretty strong.’

Was it all because of the potatoes?

‘But why?’

The potatoes themselves weren’t anything special.

As far as Amon knew, they had simply planted and grown seed potatoes from a nearby city.

‘Is it because the land has good air and water?’

Amon shrugged his shoulders, as if it didn’t matter.

‘I don’t know. Let’s eat some potatoes. If I keep doing this, other people will end up eating them.’

Reinbelt didn’t seem like he was going to say anything more, so Amon quickly grabbed a potato and took a big bite.

“Amon.”

Amon, who had been eating his potato in silence, turned his head at Sloth call.

And the moment their eyes met, she said.

“I want you to marry me.”

“Poohooh!”

A fountain of chewed potato spewed out of Amon’s mouth.