The Teacher of Budding Villains Suffers Today, Too - Chapter 73

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 73
Creak—
As she pushed open the heavy door and stepped inside, light flooded in. The Chandelier that Rachel had shattered into a thousand pieces had been replaced—when, she couldn’t say—and now hung intact, casting its radiance down upon the hall below.
Rachel stared upward, her mouth slightly agape.
What a foolish expression. First time seeing a Magic Stone?
Probably. When would a minor nobleman’s daughter ever have the chance to see one?
She reeks of the countryside. Her whole bearing’s beneath us.
So the Magic Tower’s truly finished, is it?
Though her gaze was fixed upward, her ears were equally open to her surroundings—and not ten paces away, the cold voices of strangers reached her. What they said was colder still.
‘I only expected them to ignore my greeting. So they’re throwing the first punch?’
The harassment began immediately, and Rachel was stunned. Yet she understood one thing clearly: if she lost her temper here, she’d lose the whole battle before it began.
‘Pretend I didn’t hear.’
Rachel walked forward as though she’d heard nothing, and it was the other mages who fell into confusion.
Did she genuinely not hear, or had she been raised with such poor manners that she simply ignored people?
The latter, obviously. You could see it written all over her.
Whoever knows how much she manipulated the Crown Prince, her true ability will expose everything in the end.
The insults came pouring down again.
‘Is that all she’s got? Just empty boasting?’
She’d thought that if she ignored them, they’d approach and hurl direct insults. But their nerve wasn’t quite that strong; they merely continued their curses from behind.
‘This much I can handle without breaking a sweat.’
Had she prepared herself more than necessary? They were nothing but hothouse flowers with nothing but hot air.
Perhaps they weren’t the final boss, just small fry, but either way, the beginning had been easy. With a lightened heart, Rachel pressed onward.
‘Hmm?’
As she walked ahead, one of the mages subtly extended a leg in her path. He was clearly trying to trip her.
‘How should I handle this?’
After a brief moment of thought, Rachel simply stepped past him as though nothing had happened. Then another mage tried the same trick.
‘So that’s how they want to play.’
At the crude repetition, Rachel’s patience wore thin. She’d thought ignoring them was the answer, but if they were going to be this blatant, she wouldn’t just sit idle either.
Rachel stepped down hard on the mage’s foot.
“Ow!”
The mage cried out in unexpected pain.
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry.”
Rachel apologized as politely as she could.
“Are you insane? I saw you step on me!”
“Of course I did.”
“Then why did you step?!”
“Well, if I’d known you’d be in this much pain, I would’ve stepped on the first one instead.”
Rachel’s eyes moved to the mage who’d first tried to trip her, and she spoke with perfect composure. He let out a breathless, bitter laugh.
“You’ve got no sense of the situation.”
“And you clearly can’t read people.”
Rachel didn’t yield an inch.
Perhaps they’d expected her to back down immediately. The mages’ faces began to flush with anger.
“I came here to study Magic, not to waste energy on foolishness.”
“Trusting only in the Crown Prince has made her blind to everything else, apparently.”
“Think what you like. I need to see the Tower Master, so I’ll go ahead.”
Rachel spoke with quiet firmness.
“If any of you are thinking of tripping me again, I’d suggest you reconsider. Next time, I’ll stomp with everything I have.”
With her warning issued, Rachel turned and walked toward the Tower Master’s chamber. Behind her, a chorus of voices erupted—but she heard none of it.
‘These people never intended to get along with me anyway. There’s no reason to grovel.’
Rachel knew the type well: they bullied the weak and crumbled before the strong. The moment you showed backbone, their spines turned to jelly.
Understanding this perfectly, Rachel harbored not the slightest regret for her actions.
“You’ve arrived.”
The Tower Master greeted Rachel with a bow.
“Master, there’s no need to speak so formally to me.”
Whether she’d study here for a single day or far longer was still uncertain, but he was her teacher nonetheless—a person offering instruction.
Rachel respectfully told the Tower Master he need not maintain such formality. But he slowly shook his head.
“The very fact that you’ve entered this Tower is proof of your value as a talent. I wish to treasure each and every one of my students.”
‘A teacher with such righteous principles, and yet his disciples are like that.’
The Tower Master’s values seemed quite sound. So why did his students behave so shamefully? She couldn’t quite understand it.
“I trust the other mages outside haven’t been speaking nonsense to you.”
“Well, it was within acceptable range.”
Not wanting to lie to her teacher, Rachel kept her answer vague and diplomatic. At this, the Tower Master’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Changing people’s values is no easy task. There are plenty among them whose minds are more rigid than my own, despite their years. So I’d ask that you understand them with generous tolerance.”
“Yes, of course.”
“I called you here to give you a textbook for apprentices. Take the book and proceed to the Practice Hall next door.”
Having finished speaking, the Tower Master left the room. Rachel quickly examined the book.
‘Practically all practice work.’
No matter how much theory one knew, it was useless without the ability to channel mana. The textbook, unsurprisingly, was structured almost entirely around practical exercises. Having gauged the course from the book’s contents, she gathered it and headed toward the Practice Hall.
The Practice Hall was a vast chamber. Its ceiling too was illuminated by a chandelier crafted from Magic Stones. Beneath that beautiful light, roughly twenty mages sat at individual desks, their textbooks spread open before them.
After assessing the room for a moment, Rachel took a seat in a corner. She resolved not to miss a single thing from today’s lesson.
She had attended many classes before, but since finishing her doctorate, she hadn’t sat in on lectures often. Because of that, she’d expected her concentration to flag, but to her surprise, she found herself drawn deeply into the instruction.
‘This is actually quite engaging.’
The lesson was captivating enough to eclipse all the accusatory glances directed at her. Rachel’s new notebook was packed solid with notes. Everything from the fundamental principles of channeling mana to the minute details one had to mind while doing so. Not a single point escaped her attention.
‘This must be content all the other mages already know.’
The Tower Master had said that such vital information could never be over-explained, but Rachel couldn’t help reading between the lines. He was deliberately going over it for her benefit—someone with virtually no foundational knowledge.
Since she’d grasped this much, the other mages would have noticed it too. The difference was that while Rachel felt grateful, they were likely in a decidedly foul mood.
‘It’s not unreasonable for them to see this as preferential treatment.’
Rachel exhaled quietly. Still, it was better than having strange rumors circulate if she received one-on-one instruction from the Tower Master. She made an effort to think positively and tidied her notes.
‘My throat’s dry. I should grab some water before we continue.’
A break had just begun. Rachel rose quietly from her seat and headed out of the Practice Hall.
Perhaps because it was a place where such elite personnel gathered, the area outside the Practice Hall was laden with ornate refreshments and an assortment of beverages. After taking a moment to admire the spread, Rachel reached for the nearest glass of juice.
The mysteriously hued juice offered a flavor unlike anything she’d ever tasted, and Rachel found herself smiling without thinking.
‘Now that’s what I call a perk.’
The class would be worth attending just for this drink. Rachel sipped another glass of juice and thought of Lucas. It would have been nice if he were here too. The sweetness of this taste felt too precious to savor alone.
Carefully setting down her glass, Rachel headed back into the Practice Hall.
‘Hm?’
The atmosphere had changed from before.
The shift in mood was unmistakable. As Rachel’s eyes swept across the Practice Hall, troubling thoughts began crowding into her mind.
‘Surely they wouldn’t stoop to something so petty?’
Trusting that the Empire’s mages possessed more refined sensibilities than that, she made her way back to her desk.
“Ha.”
And she was left speechless.
In that brief absence, Rachel’s notebook had been utterly destroyed. The pages, once crowded with meticulous notes, had lost all form, and her pen lay shattered into pieces.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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