For some reason, wanting to tease my cute junior a little, my Hell Mouth personality popped out.
“Hmph. That’s right. Isn’t there a saying about not judging a book by its cover?”
“Yes! That’s correct!”
“You’re agreeing? What the hell. So you’re saying we looked like a bunch of trash human beings on the outside?”
“I-I’m sorry! Th-that wasn’t what I meant at all!”
“Kuhaha! Rye. You scared the kid!”
While Cain and I high-fived, Thompson smiled shyly, not knowing what to do. Seeing that, I think I understand why Cedric keeps talking to me.
“Pfft. Don’t be scared, Junior Devier. You won’t grow tall! Ahaha!”
After laughing to my heart’s content, I thought—I guess I really am a villain after all. Anyway, about two or three more people came after Thompson to greet us.
‘If Cesare gets more juniors who support him, he’ll feel a bit more energized too. Right, Mitche?’
Mitche grinned and hugged my finger. I hoped Cesare would be encouraged seeing the kids who support him. After all, having visible results puts your mind at ease.
* * *
If there was one biggest change for me this summer semester, it was that with magic classes gone, my schedule became slightly different from Cesare’s.
Since Cesare declared he’d rather study magic on his own through self-study, I headed to South Hall to attend the orientation for “Understanding Economic Activities,” which I’d added as an elective course.
“Ugh. Maybe I should’ve just chosen self-study too.”
However, the Imperial Academy’s management, general knowledge, and liberal arts classes were of such high quality that it was hard to give them up. I quickened my pace while looking over the temporary list I’d made. It was because I’d spent time with Cesare until the very end of lunch period, so time was running tight.
‘Professor Ginger Pithes… I’ve never heard that name before. A new professor? Looking at how it’s assigned to a large lecture hall, there seems to be a lot of students enrolled.’
When I opened the door to the large lecture hall, I saw students sitting quietly without even making a sound, as if the class was about to start.
‘Huh. It’s too quiet for an orientation? There are lots of people, and the class hasn’t even started yet.’
I tried to quickly find an empty seat and sit down, but the atmosphere was strange. Everyone had severely frightened faces. Besides that, mixed in among them were students wearing green or black ribbons as well as the navy ribbons that symbolize juniors. And even Cedric sitting over there!
‘Wait. If it’s an economics class where Cedric is present, then maybe. Fuck. This is.’
Getting a sense of déjà vu, I quickly read the list again.
「Instructor: GINGER PITHES」
For some reason I don’t know, my eyeballs rolled rapidly with a slowly creeping sense of anxiety. The letters spread out wildly in my head, then gradually formed into one different name.
‘PETER HIGGINS.’
Farewell, everyone. I’m going to escape from this crazy professor.
The moment I turned around, a dignified gentleman holding a mug blocked my way. Seeing the large shoe visible below, I couldn’t even lift my head and just trembled while clutching my crossbody bag tightly.
“Pfft! Hic!”
Even Mitche, who hadn’t been scared in front of monsters, hiccupped in surprise at the bear-like man standing before us. So did I.
“…I entered the wrong, hic, lecture hall…. Professor Peter….”
“Haha. No. You’re right. You’re absolutely right. This is exactly where you should be, Mellans. Welcome to the delightful ‘Understanding Economic Activities,’ where we’ll create with our own hands the small cogs that mesh together with the great economic cogs carved out by the sweat of the Empire’s citizens!”
“I’ll correct my sche—”
“It’s time, so let’s start class!”
My words about correcting my schedule weren’t even finished. Professor Peter smiled broadly while personally taking me to an empty seat at the very front of the lecture hall. As I sat down, I timidly grumbled in complaint.
“Th-this is fraud. The professor’s name is different.”
“Classes don’t sell well under my name, so I just changed the brand. Doesn’t a merchant know that much?”
“If it doesn’t sell, you should change what you’re selling, not the name…. We call that tag-swapping, or fraud….”
— Glare.
“Hic.”
Mitche hiccupped again at Professor Peter’s intense gaze directed at me. Unable to back down, I secretly sighed and put Mitche in my hand to soothe him.
‘Right. I’ll just go correct my schedule after this ends.’
Surely after this class ends, students wanting to correct their schedules will line up and flock to the community center. An economics professor who swaps tags to sell lectures. This country is screwed too.
As I gloomily took out my book, Professor Peter set down his mug, stood in front of the podium, and began the lecture in a robust voice.
“Gentlemen. The reason I, who normally only teach seniors, called all grades is to teach what’s most important in economics regardless of age.”
He went up to the blackboard and wrote the word “competition.”
“The market is like flowing water. Just as stagnant water rots, markets also lose diversity and fail to circulate without competition. If we just follow this simple principle, everyone receives fair wages, proper working conditions, and reasonable, high-quality goods are produced. Then one question arises here. ‘Why doesn’t such a rational society come to be?’ That’s right, the junior who raised his hand there. Answer.”
“It’s because of individual self-interest that ignores the public good. That’s why monopolies and oligopolies occur in the market, and innocent Imperial citizens suffer damage. It means that no matter how hard they try, they can’t receive compensation.”
Jayden, sitting right behind Cedric as if assisting him, proudly raised his hand and answered.
“Good answer. Your name?”
“It’s Jayden Fellox!”
“Ish Jaydun Phelloksh, yesh. Ugh….”
His arrogant tone was annoying, so I mimicked him with my lips, and the two freshmen next to me ended up bursting into small laughter. Because of that, Professor Peter looked this way and placed his hand on my desk.
“You seem dissatisfied with Fellox’s answer. Are you saying you don’t think so, Mellans?”
Ha. I knew this would happen.
Looking at Professor Peter’s face, nostrils flaring and eyes gleaming, he seemed to want some interesting answer like last semester. At his question that seemed deliberately testing, a pointless competitive spirit raised its head.
So I honestly brought up the reason why I found Jayden’s answer just now annoying.
“…The answer is in Fellox’s response just now. From the moment he called innocent Imperial citizens ‘them,’ he’s already decided he won’t belong to that group. Professor, you mentioned earlier that competition is important. However, as you can see from his answer, ‘our competition’ is already unfair from the starting point.”
It was a bold, provocative, even dangerous statement. To soften the ending, I continued speaking.
“I absolutely didn’t intend to criticize other Academy students because I’m a commoner. For example, second and third sons of noble families are pushed out of competition for economic inheritance rights for the sole reason they were born later. Can I choose what year to be born? No. This is a very unfair competition from the start.”
Some students’ faces frowned, but some students nodded. The former would be eldest sons, the latter would be second sons or beyond.
“But is giving everything to the eldest son due to individual self-interest? This is naturally just the best choice for the complete preservation of the family. I hope there’s no misunderstanding.”
At those words, even the students who had frowned smiled.
It was a historic moment when Hell Mouth ‘Jiju’ rose in status to Glory Mouth ‘Yeongju.’ When doing business, you have to flatter here and there. Because you never know who might become a customer. And although I was called Hell Mouth, I was originally good at talking.
The past me seemed to have failed to look after my surroundings, thinking I only needed to flatter Cesare, but now the situation has changed.
‘I have to pull in even one more person to become Cesare’s strength.’
Anyway, I’ll leave Jayden’s gang with Cedric alone since they’re out of the question.
“Interesting answers from orientation day itself. This is friendly competition! Uhaha!”
Pleased with my answer, Professor Peter additionally wrote the initials P/F on the blackboard.
“First, this lecture has no written exam as stated in the course plan. It’s evaluated with only two options: pass and fail. However, I intend to unconditionally give passes to 70% of you here.”
Right. I applied for this class seduced by that sweet 70% pass course plan too.
“This figure comes from the fact that only about 70% of our Torusian Empire’s economic population maintains a decent living income. Therefore, what you must prove in this class is whether you can enter this 70%.”
The atmosphere in the lecture hall stirred slightly.
“Of course, for freshmen with shallow knowledge, this class may feel unfair. I don’t deny that the assignments I’ll give are classes advantageous to seniors. But since what I wanted to teach on orientation day was ‘the competition we currently face,’ it can’t be helped! Haha! The world is inherently unfair, gentlemen! If you want to correct your schedule, go ahead. There’s no penalty for it.”
