The Academy’s Professor is Overpowered!

Richard Benett was looking for Ethan, the person who had acted like a captive and was taken away by the green-maskers. As soon as he handed the letter not to Jackie, Richard turned back around into the Velvet Veil theatre and lined up with the rest of the crowd.

A small bell rang, and all the shows were suspended at the same time. The people in masks scrawled out with the ones who were here to enjoy the normal shows. It was a perfect escape plan where people took turns to get out and gather in the lobby of the place.

His best bet was to look for the green-maskers and make them spill out everything they knew. Then maybe in their chief hideout, he would find his friend Ethan. Was it time for a rescue operation? Such thoughts entered Richard's mind, but even in his distracted state, his mind was on his surroundings.

People left the shows with the rest of the crowds of all five theaters making it impossible to tail any one person amidst the hundreds.

But for Richard it was possible. To be an educator one must teach well, but to become an educator in Glorenstein, one had to be strong.

Very strong.

A small magic circle formed with every step Richard walked, right below his boots. Small strands of ethereal mana shaped like butterflies flew out of the ground. hey carried a thread of mana connected to Richard from the tip of his finger.

It was the sign of their ability that allowed Richard to observe people more closely.

As the thread moved around, it dabbed around an object in one of the passersby's pockets.

It was the green mask!

Slyly, Richard trailed behind the guy with the green mask. He passed around the streets following the trail of the masked man. They shuffled into the deeper and deeper corners of Glorenstein.

Richard kept a small distance, trailing the man like a master.

Was it their precaution? Hours passed in his following the man. It was already late in the day, but now the sun was starting to set.

He could only guess where Ethan was and what he must be up to, but Richard could only continue trailing.

Eventually, the man seemed to make a move that Richard had been waiting for. The move to their hideout. Richard followed behind slowly, keeping his presence hidden well, but as they took the shadier turns, the masked escapee had noticed Richard already.

Their paces turned brisk. The man ran ahead and Richard followed right behind. The mask in his back fluttered side to side and caught Ricard's eye.

The man turned to a dead end.

He snapped back, Richard right behind him.

"I-I'll never lead you to our base—"

"I don't need it either." Richard shoved his elbow into the man's jaw. Knocking him out at once. He quickly disrobed the man and stole his clothes. Especially, his green mask.

"Let's see..."

He looked down at the magical thread sticking out of his finger. He had attached it to some other person he suspected of being the masked man. One to steal the identity of, and one to follow.

It was the perfect plan.

Richard put on the mask with a cold glare and stepped out of the alleyways. His eyes monitored the streets. As soon as the musty moss of the alleyways disappeared...

Richard's eyes widened. A dark shadow loomed over all of Glorenstein.

"AAAAH!"

"W-what in the world!?"

"Help! Run! Help!!"

Dozens and dozens of men and women in green masks with weapons turned to massacre the citizens. Blood spilled out everywhere as did the scream.

In the mere moments that it took Richard to grab a mask from a suspect...

The city had started to burn.

Burn from the hands of people who wore the same mask as him.

***

I pulled the mask off the girl too. She dressed in the robes of a rouge. Just as I would expect one to look. Her hair was a shade of chestnut and her eyes were sharp. A thin but evident scar ran down her cheek.

"How did you manage to break free?" She asked, dusting her hands as she took a small distance from me and checked her belongings, her weapons. “I don’t understand how people can use magic in a mana vein.”

The girl was keeping an eye on me. She acted trusting and docile as she checked her weaponry, but her awareness did not miss me. She was sounding me out.

Mana veins were a place where the magic of the world had seeped into the bedrock and changed the very constitution of the ground. These places were filled with mana to the point that summoning even a single circle without interference became impossible.

If using magic normally was like drawing with oil paints on a slightly damp paper, then inside a mana vein or other magically enchanted terrains, it became comparable to drawing on an ocean.

Impossible.

Even more so for me who couldn’t use magic in the first place.

“I didn’t use magic.”

“You did not…? How does that…” Her eyes turned to the binds that were on the ground. The mana-resistant chains which I had broken off into pieces. The proof of it was in front of her.

The girl gulped and placed her hand on the hilt of her dagger. “What group are you associated with…?”

“Oh! I am a professor at the Glorenstein Academy.”

She took a step back, her feet sent a pebble tumbling behind.

She was shaken. I could see her feet trembling and her fingertips shaking, but even then, her face remained collected.

How amusing. What a talented person. I could see why people planning a revolution had her as an asset.

“A professor… hah!” She scoffed, acting bravely. Her hand on her dagger tightened. If she could kill me here, there was still a chance to escape, huh? “So the academy got wind of it… Are the other groups who were hiding outside the city also caught?”

I smiled and crushed her hopes. “It is not just the academy, but the Ministry of Internal Affairs is here and active.”

The girl bit her lips at my words. Her hand loosened from the dagger and a sigh left her.

“This was a losing battle from the get-go,” she said. Even now, she wasn’t losing hope. It was pretty clear that she was racking her brains in another direction. “That Frock bitch and her cronies would never have succeeded.”

What to do… I felt a little bad for her. Maybe it would be fine to drop a hint.

“You seem capable of holding a conversation,” I said. “Unlike others.”

If she would work with me, a ‘conversation’ would be possible.

The girl seemed torn but did not waste time in making the most optimal choice.

No… there was something else making her hesitate. Her eyes trembled for the first time in this conversation.

For some reason, I remembered my own self when I had to act against others to protect them.

As if she had firmed her resolve, the girl clenched her fists and looked at me.

“Will you be able to guarantee my and my friends’ safety? I will only help you stop that bitch if you can.”

She would help either way…

“And you seem to have some morals.” I smiled and stretched my hand out at her. “Ethan Kalenice,”

“Oh… Uh, Shirley Be—Shirley, just Shirley.”

It felt a little bad to be tricking her. I couldn’t help her after all.

To be honest, I had no power to help her. If the criminals were caught by the civil servants, I could do nothing about it.

If, they were caught.

“I’ll guarantee your safety,” I said.

“I didn’t think it would come to this… I have no choice now. How do we get out?”

Both of us turned to the other side of the dark cave at her words. In front of us was a steep incline leading upward. A giant boulder was on the ground, the same place that I had hit.

The ascent of about 40 meters high was something that would be impossible to scale without magic. For anyone else.

“About that… brace yourself for a bit, ok?”

“Hm? Wha-”

***

A giant boulder stood deep in the forest, stretching above the tall trees. Unbeknownst to most, it blocked the entrance to a Mana Vein lost in these mountains long ago.

For decades, only some people of certain magical towers knew of its existence. The boulder alone had protected the cave for years.

Until today.

When the boulder cracked from the center, a loud explosion followed, sending the enormous boulder the size of a giant into the air.

In the midst of the exploding boulder, one voice resounded through the air.

“YOU CRAZZY BASTARD!!”