That was right—becoming Greg Sass's personal instructor had not been Alice's own choice.
She was merely a young scholar without backing who had only recently secured a teaching position.
It was Adele Kent who used her authority as Year-level Chief Professor to force Greg Sass—a student who was then still a freshman yet already infamous—onto Alice, who had no room to refuse, under the pretext of "helping a novice professor gain guidance experience and interact with different types of students."
Facing Adele's question in front of everyone, Alice's face turned even paler.
Her lips trembled several times before she answered in a voice as soft as a mosquito's hum, "Y-Yes, Professor Adele... Student Greg... indeed has not returned to class yet..."
Aside from fear, if one listened closely, her voice seemed to hide an extremely faint trace of... relief, something even she herself had not fully realized.
Yes, relief.
Greg Sass's disappearance was, to some extent, a liberation for her.
She had no idea whatsoever how to guide such a student—one with a terrible personality, arrogant and condescending, possessor of mediocre magic talent, yet running amok by relying on his family background.
In the past, rather than calling it guidance, it was more like one-sided endurance and passively bearing his unreasonable tantrums and covert bullying.
Even worse, because of Greg's terrible academic performance and repeated violations of school rules, multiple budget applications for her research projects had been repeatedly rejected by the Academic Committee under the excuse that "as an instructor, your primary duty is to ensure your assigned student's academic standing and code of conduct."
So when Greg went missing for days on end, she had made token efforts to search and report, but deep down, she could not help thinking, Perhaps this is for the best.
Adele seemed not to notice Alice's embarrassment, nor did she pay attention to the surrounding whispers.
The smile on her face deepened slightly, and her tone remained gentle as she continued:
"However, this cannot be blamed entirely on you, Professor Alice. For a child from a background like Student Greg's to suddenly suffer a family misfortune and be publicly expelled, it is understandable if he cannot accept reality for a time, giving up on himself or even committing some extreme acts."
She deliberately placed a subtle emphasis on the word "understandable." It sounded full of tolerance, but in truth, it cemented the labels of fragile psychology and extreme behavior onto Greg.
Hearing this, a faint sliver of hope flashed across Alice's violet eyes. She subconsciously raised her head and looked at Adele.
Could it be... Professor Adele was finally willing to let her off the hook, allowing her to throw off the burden of Greg and guide a normal student instead?
However, Adele's next words instantly extinguished the tiny spark of hope that had just flared up inside her.
"However, as a formally employed teacher of the academy tasked with the sacred duty of educating students, one naturally cannot remain in a state of having no student to guide for a long time."
Adele elegantly lifted the teacup in front of her, took a gentle sip, and then unhurriedly said:
"As it happens, I heard there is a commoner student among this year's freshmen with decent talent named... Victoria Cecil, correct? Her performance in the Placement Exam was passable. I think she should be transferred under your name, and you can take charge of guiding her. Consider this... an opportunity to make up for your previous lack of guidance, Professor Alice. What do you think?"
Alice's head, which had just raised slightly, abruptly dropped lower than before.
Her pale complexion turned into a desperate, ashen gray.
Victoria Cecil.
Of course she had heard that name.
The commoner prodigy girl who had performed brilliantly during the Placement Exam, even engaging in a fierce battle with Her Highness Lilith.
Her talent was indeed countlessly superior to Greg Sass's.
The problem, however, was—she was a commoner.
In this Glory Cael Academy, where noble students made up the majority and class concepts were deeply entrenched, a standout student of commoner background often meant a dual predicament:
On one hand, they might receive some attention due to talent; on the other hand, they would inevitably draw even more rejection, harassment, and hostility from noble students and the forces behind them.
By extension, the instructor responsible for guiding her would very likely be dragged into these invisible conflicts as well.
What did this mean?
It meant that what she would face in the future might not just be guiding a talented student with a complex background, but also coping with invisible pressure from those who, out of hatred for commoner prodigies, might vent their anger on her, trip her up, and sabotage her research.
Compared to this, Greg had at least carried the title of a Duke's son, so those who wanted to curry favor with Professor Adele while making things difficult for her still had to exercise some caution regarding Greg's noble background and make excuses.
Now, replaced with the rootless commoner student Victoria... that hostility would likely become far more direct and brazen.
She felt as though she could already foresee her future academic career becoming even more arduous than that gloomy period as Greg's instructor, or perhaps even...
Alice felt a cold wave of suffocation grip her heart. She bit her lower lip hard to keep the desperate whimper in her throat from escaping.
She could only stare fixatedly at her hands resting on her lap—knuckles white from clutching so hard—as if that were her sole connection to this cold world.
Silence reigned around the conference table.
Most of the professors averted their eyes, either pretending to flip through the documents before them or sipping their tea with heads bowed.
No one spoke up on Alice's behalf, not even to offer a polite word to smooth things over.
No one was willing to offend a powerful Year-level Chief Professor—and the forces she might represent—for the sake of an insignificant novice professor.
Even Grace, another Chief Professor, merely swept her light brown eyes calmly over Alice, who radiated an aura of despair, without the slightest extra sympathy or emotion on her face.
In her value system, the root cause of Alice falling into such a plight was her own lack of strength and weak background, rendering her unable to protect herself or effectively fulfill her duties as an instructor.
The weak being dominated and utilized by the strong was the most natural rule of all.
She would not actively bully the weak, but she would certainly never waste energy sympathizing with or rescuing them.
The air inside the conference room grew even more stagnant and oppressive because of this interlude.
Just then—
"Bang!"
The thick carved wooden door of the conference room was slammed open from the outside, striking the wall with a heavy thud.
A male student wearing the Student Council uniform rushed in out of breath, his face flushed red from sprinting and excitement. Before he could even salute, he shouted toward the conference table in a cracked voice:
"P-Professors! It's... it's been cleared up! The cause of the dungeon tremors has been found!"
The sudden intrusion and shouting instantly shattered the deathly silence of the conference room.
The eyes of all the professors turned in unison toward this reckless student.
"Panicking like this—where are your manners?!"
Professor Martin scolded with a frown, though urgency tinged his voice. "What on earth is going on? Speak clearly!"
The Student Council member panted heavily a few times, barely steadying his breathing, and announced loudly in a tone as clear as possible yet unable to conceal his shock:
"It's... it's the First Layer Lord! The Area Lord of the dungeon's first layer—Lady Eight-Legs—has been slain!"
"What?!"
"That's impossible!"
"The First Layer Lord was slain?!"
"By whom?!"
The conference room instantly exploded into an uproar!
The professors, who had been sitting upright moments before, lost their composure one after another and stood up, their faces filled with disbelief.
Even Grace, whose face had remained expressionless, had a light as sharp as a blade flash across her light brown eyes.
The perfect, gentle smile on Adele's face froze, and her fingers gripping the teacup tightened slightly.
Professor Martin pressed further in an urgent voice:
"Are you sure?! The dungeon's restriction has no record of any abnormal activation, which means absolutely no one other than students has entered! Then the First Layer Lord... who on earth defeated it?!"
This was also the greatest question and source of shock in the hearts of all the professors present.
The First Layer Lord, Lady Eight-Legs, was as high as LV35—a troublesome entity confirmed through multiple academy surveys to possess formidable power and a special area blessing.
There were indeed a small handful of top students in the academy, such as a few representatives from the fourth year, who might possess the strength to fight it.
Yet for these noble-born, highly promising darlings of heaven, their magic was a tool to display power, win honor, and secure interests—not something to use to fight for their lives against a dangerous monster in the dungeon.
That did not align with their values, and the risk was entirely out of proportion to the reward.
So, who on earth was it?
Who possessed both the capability and the motivation to slay such a powerful magical beast?
And succeeded at that?
Every professor present harbored this exact question in their heart.
Rate on N.U.
