I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 791 - Side Story 64: A New Method (1)

Rudger gazed at Carlo, who was looking at him with an aggrieved expression. Carlo didn't back down and didn't avoid that gaze, as he had no choice but to do so.

Why was it that he had been taken to an intimidating, large beastman and made to experience real combat while being beaten in real-time, yet Robert was being treated differently?

If anything, shouldn't someone like Robert be made to gain real combat experience even more thoroughly so he could use magic?

It was something Carlo absolutely could not understand.

"Carlo. I won't say anything about you observing the lesson, but I won't tolerate interference. I'll let it slide with a warning this time."

After forcibly suppressing Carlo's complaints with just a few words, Rudger looked at Robert.

Robert appeared quite nervous with even Carlo's appearance. Although he hadn't particularly grown close to Carlo, he had noticed that Carlo had strangely changed recently.

How should he put it? If before, Carlo had been full of dissatisfaction with the world, giving off an atmosphere of just waiting for someone to cross him...

Now, such violence and anger had largely subsided. His eyes had become fiercer, but he didn't particularly express it outwardly.

The turning point of that change was definitely after receiving private lessons from Rudger Chelici.

"Robert Histon." 

"Y-yes, yes!" 

"You only need to answer once. And you don't need to be so nervous. The lesson I'm teaching you today won't be something you'll dislike that much." 

"Wh-what will you be teaching?"

Robert asked in a thoroughly intimidated state. Although Rudger had told him to relax, the last image Robert had of Rudger was during the magic duel.

The spectacle of various magics Rudger had displayed at that time had firmly imprinted just how great a mage he was and what a fearsome existence he represented.

Robert had been born and raised in a mage family, but he was still afraid of mages.

"What I'm teaching you is not simple magic. Because you already thoroughly understand all the theory behind the magic you'll use."

Robert was a coward, but that didn't mean he was completely ignorant about magic. The fact that he belonged to the special class had its reasons.

Robert was born with overwhelming talent in magic. However, while other students were born with some innate sense or peculiar power, Robert was slightly different.

He had exceptional understanding and analytical ability regarding magic, as well as the ability to systematize it.

The moment he saw magical formulas or equations, their principles or subtleties, he understood them immediately with his brain.

Ultimately, magic was a technique based fundamentally on solid understanding.

Just as someone who knows how to position themselves, how to step, and how to regulate their breathing can run better than someone who just runs recklessly.

"Th-that's true, but..."

Robert said in a crawling voice.

His problem arose right here. Robert was born into a mage family, specifically a military family that had produced War Mages.

He was the fourth child and the youngest. And at the same time, he was the only male in the Histon family.

'How interesting.'

Rudger already knew Robert's family circumstances, so he could understand why he had developed such a personality.

Robert had three older sisters with quite an age gap.

All his sisters had inherited the family tradition and were excellent War Mages or soldiers, and naturally their personalities were rough and rigid.

'A male child and the youngest born into such a family. Moreover, his understanding and talent for magic was among the best in history. No, not just among the best—he was definitively number one.'

It was enough to make the family members' eyes roll back. If this child grew up properly, it was obvious he could elevate the family name even higher.

Therefore, the Histon family put tremendous effort and devotion into Robert's early education.

'The problem was that their method was the typical Spartan style of soldiers.'

Rather than coaxing, soothing, and teaching kindly, they taught through intimidation and harshness.

Robert's sisters took turns subjecting him to training under the name of education, and young Robert had to forcibly learn magic in such an environment.

The problem was that his innate disposition didn't suit military life at all.

Robert was quiet, easygoing, and liked peace. As a result, his sisters' educational methods had the opposite effect on him.

'As a backlash from being taught too harshly, Robert ended up with trauma. This prevented him from properly implementing magic in actual combat.'

It was like a bolt from the blue for his sisters and parents who had tried to raise him as an excellent War Mage.

It was also an incident that made them realize their educational policy, which they had believed to be right, was wrong.

'Even if they're from the same family and bloodline, people's personalities are bound to be different. They pushed ahead recklessly without considering that.'

Of course, Robert too would have tried somehow to meet their expectations. But in the end, he couldn't endure it himself, and because it was difficult, he would have asked for help.

But his family didn't listen.

You're weak, that's why. You need to overcome it with willpower. Soldiers don't cry. They rejected Robert's pleas for help in this manner, and instead drove him even more harshly.

In the end, Robert couldn't endure it and broke down. Nevertheless, his talent was so exceptional that he could enter the special class, which Rudger found truly regrettable.

If he had had a normal educational environment from childhood, he wouldn't have broken down this badly.

Perhaps he might have achieved even greater magical accomplishments than now.

But that was a meaningless hypothetical. Nothing is more foolish than making assumptions about things that didn't happen. What Rudger had to do was give his best to Robert as he was now.

"Don't worry too much. I have no intention of teaching you about actual combat or anything like that." 

"Is-is that really true?" 

"Yes. Robert, look at this."

Saying that, Rudger displayed geometrized mana before him. With complex and splendid patterns engraved on it, this was one of the frameworks comprising a certain magic.

"Ah."

Robert stared at it blankly. Like someone whose soul had been stolen, his eyes momentarily contained an emotion of sweetness.

"Do you know what this is?" 

"It's a magic I've never seen before. But...I think I know what it is."

Robert murmured as if possessed by something.

"The surrounding space is distorted, and mana is accelerating tremendously through the gaps. And it even redirects external forces outward." 

"You observed well. Then how about this one."

Rudger displayed another framework.

Robert tightly closed his mouth and stared intently at the framework with both eyes.

"Scattering and gathering, seemingly free yet with a certain pattern. Like a butterfly's wing beats. This is like a dream..." 

"How perceptive."

Rudger erased the frameworks he had created and spoke to Robert.

"Robert Histon. You have exceptional talent. The outstanding judgment to instantly analyze magic you're seeing for the first time." 

"I-it's not that much." 

"You don't need to be embarrassed. Rather, you should take pride in it. Even active magic researchers don't have talent like yours."

Was such praise unfamiliar to him? Robert blushed and smiled awkwardly.

No matter what he did in his family, all he could hear was a sharp command to do it properly.

His sisters, rather than these theoretical aspects, only pressured him saying that running on his own two legs and training magic more sharply and keenly was a War Mage's destiny.

Robert hated that so much.

"Robert. Your talent is not something like a War Mage. It's far greater than that." 

"R-really?"

Robert's expression brightened at the words that he didn't need to become a War Mage. Everyone in his family, starting with his parents, had forced him to become a War Mage, but Robert knew well that he didn't fit as such a combat mage.

But he couldn't outright say he disliked it. Because he knew that treating him harshly was the family's expectation.

Openly betraying that expectation was more frightening than anything else in the world. Perhaps because he realized this fact, Robert's expression darkened again.

"B-but I..." 

"Robert. Focus on what you can do and what you want to do. Right now, you're not a person of the Histon family, but Robert, a student of Theon." 

"B-but still..."

Robert's hesitation might have seemed frustrating, but Rudger quietly listened to what Robert had to say.

"I can't betray my family's expectations." 

"I see. As a teacher who's only met you a few times can't deny and break the path you've lived just with a few words. I have no intention of forcing that either. So how about this?" 

"Wh-what method is there?" 

"You like theory and have an aptitude for it, but your family wants you to become a mage who shows excellent results in combat. So I'll help you satisfy both."

At the mention of teaching combat, Robert's pupils trembled greatly.

"I-I'd like to do that too, but...it doesn't work out as easily as I'd like."

Robert had tried several times to overcome this trauma of his. But whenever he tried to use magic while facing an opponent, his breath would catch and his mind would go blank.

Because he saw overlapping images of his sisters using magic on him under the name of training, he instantly fell into a state of panic.

It wasn't something that could be overcome simply with willpower or anything like that.

"Robert. Is it when you face an enemy and cast magic directly that you become afraid?"

Robert thought for a moment, then nodded his head. Facing an opponent, exchanging gazes with them, and preparing magic—that entire process returned to him as considerable pressure.

"Then can you use magic on something like that tree over there?" 

"I-I can do that much." 

"Then what about in the case of animals?"

Robert shook his head. It wasn't easy to use magic on animals either.

"Hmm. So you have a kind of aversion to all acts that harm an opponent."

In other words, he couldn't perform acts of harming and acts themselves that evoked such behavior.

"I-I tried my best to do something about it, but it didn't work out as easily as I'd like." 

"Yes. That's inevitable. Trauma from wrong methods accumulated since childhood isn't something that can be easily overcome."

Robert's family probably thought they could remake him with a drastic remedy, but that was only having the opposite effect.

Rudger felt a different approach was needed.

"There's a method." 

"R-really?!" 

"Yes. There's magic that can be used in actual combat at minimum without triggering your trauma."

"Wh-what is it?" 

"However, to master this method will require considerable effort from you. It might not be something you can overcome with talent alone."

Even at that warning, Robert didn't back down.

"A-anything is fine. If I can just fix this condition. If I can just gain recognition from my family. I can overcome anything."

Seeing that firm voice and unwavering eyes, Rudger smiled and nodded.

"You're sincere. Good. Then I'll teach you. This is the magic you need to learn from now on."

Saying that, Rudger displayed a framework. Naturally, even though no one told him to, Robert naturally analyzed what that magic was.

Robert's eyes widened as he confirmed the magic.

"T-teacher, that magic is..." 

"Yes. As expected, you recognize it at once."

He couldn't not know that the magic Rudger showed was [Curse]-type magic that was even taught at Theon.

"Mages don't always have to shoot elemental magic from the front."

Enchanters, curse mages, necromancers. They too, though their methods differed, were called mages within the larger framework.

"Also, weakening and incapacitating opponents using curses falls within the category of combat."

Rudger spoke toward the flustered Robert.

"From now on, you're going to become the best curse mage."