———Munsz———

  <11: 02 am>

  And with that css done. Time to hit the canteen. Today is pretty light on my schedule, so I have a good deal of time to rex in the afternoon, which feels way too luxurious with the accommodation in pce. I think other teachers in other schools and institutions would fume at the mouth if they found out how much we’re paid, let alone the other stuff.

  *Zoom*

  And this device in my hand is quite absurd. Having the ability to teleport to any location even without the warp pad is pretty darn ridiculous. It makes me look way more impressive than I have any right to be. It also has more features in it that makes it feels like some sort of superweapon more than a mundane gadget Mana makes it sound like.

  Anyway, time to get some food.

  “Early at this time of day as always!” The orange-haired young adult remarked as I started choosing my meal. My brain keeps screaming at me at how odd it is that we share the same workspace. It has been roughly two years at this point, so I shouldn’t feel that way, but…

  “Yeah. Unless my schedule abruptly changes, I’ll be here early.” I’m pretty sure I had said that before, but it’s neither here nor there. “You also don’t have any css to teach today, right?”

  “Yep. My schedule is lighter than yours. Just Tuesday and Thursday.” She answered concisely. “If I had to do more then I probably wouldn’t join, to be honest.”

  “Because of your family diner, I presume?” It’s a popur local shop, so it really needs all the hands it can get to make sure every customer is satisfied.

  “Yeah. Just leaving my parents alone to do it felt… really wrong.” She said with a complicated look. “They’re getting old and losing stamina, so without extra hands the diner would’ve sted for… way less years, I guess.”

  “At least you have other staff members, right?” She probably felt obligated, but I know it wasn’t just run by those two alone, there are other cooks.

  “Yeah, but they aren’t the ones at the helm, are they?” Rico replied. “Those guys are not gonna run the business in their pce if they could help it. They’re underlings without much thought to themselves.”

  “...Do you not trust them?” It seems kinda odd for her to be so distrustful of the other cooks. Aren’t they helping her parents in her pce?

  “Trusted them way too much, actually. Those mooks can follow directions, but they are completely lost without it. I make sure to tell them to only follow the two. If they’re both out of commission, then the shop's closed.” That seems like a weird system… I don’t want to pry further into it. “But enough about my life already, unless you and the rest still want to bombard me with questions and skepticism.”

  “I don’t think everyone is that critical of you…” While I do find it weird for her to become a faculty member, I know better than to scrutinize her for something the higher ups finalized.

  I still don’t know if Mana is the one calling all the shots or this third party she keeps alluding to, but all the former said about her is that she’s plenty capable.

  “Sure…” Rico said with her doubt transparent. “By the way, are you gonna move?”

  “Ah!” I forgot I was in front of her in the line! “S-Sorry.”

  “Don’t waste your breath on that.” She said calmly while I scramble to get out of the way with the tray of food in hand.

  Let’s go find a seat and eat and calm myself down. No need to embarrass myself further in front of someone a few years younger than me. It’s a really bad look for her to seem more mature in comparison…

  <11: 44 am>

  “So what happened to the student that attacked you?” I asked Mrkis.

  “He just huffed his chest and went back to his seat. It wasn’t really that big a deal.” …I feel like getting attacked just for teaching something, which is your job, is quite unfair.

  “What the heck were you even attacked for?” I asked, wondering what could’ve ruffled someone’s feather so badly.

  “It’s just that I touch the kid’s nerves. I talked a bit about the unsavory actions done in the past by all kinds of people, and he thinks I was personally attacking his grandparents.” That’s… makes it less egregious. People tend to be irrational when things get personal… but then again, I really doubt Mrkis talked about anyone in particur, let alone some random kid’s grandparents.

  “Guess it was a sensitive issue for him?” I can’t see why someone would go that far.

  “I supposed. I don’t exactly have his biography on hand.” He said while scrolling his tablet. “There are notes on some peculiar quirks of the students for us to be aware of, but all that’s listed here is his general anger issue.”

  “Hmm…” Guess that just means he’s like a ticking time bomb, so to say. Good thing no one got hurt… “Seriously, how would other schools deal with kids flinging around magic? They don’t have all the tools that we do.”

  “That is something we have no answers to, unfortunately.” He said, just as clueless as I am. This whole magic business is very hard to control or regute. There’s nothing that can be done that won’t seriously harm many people in the process. “What about you, Elrik? You came from another town, right?”

  “Yes.” He answered without giving us any more detail. Not really a man of many words.

  “...So how do you guys deal with constant terrorism?” Mrkis asked, just to be sure he gets the question.

  “Probably not an answer you were hoping for, but my partner and I are already well-practiced in magic, so we set up some defenses around it to keep any random spells from randomly destroying our house. No one in our neighborhood is really any threat, so we never look much into how the others are doing.” He dispassionately recalled.

  “Defenses?” I don’t know anything about that. Never really look into magical stuff, even though they became more prominent than ever, since it turns out to actually exist.

  “Things like a barrier or a weakening field. Those need a terminal to keep the spell running, and we need to refuel it with mana every now and again.” He expined in more detail. “They are more advanced than throwing your raw strength out as simple offensive spells. I doubt many have even figured out that it exists.”

  “...Speaking of which. You were hired because you have a lot of knowledge on this topic already. You don’t really need the extra gadgets given to us to protect yourself. Where did you learn to do all of that?” Mrkis asked, clearly getting more and more curious.

  “Hmm… I’m afraid if I told you then your pool of questions will never end.” He pondered for a moment before refusing to ask any further.

  “Tch.” Mrkis clicked his tongue in disappointment. “And for another question. Just how often are there attacks?”

  “At least once a week. You would often hear some explosion going on in the background as you go about your day. It was annoying.” He said, clearly not finding the new reality we’re in as anything more than ‘annoying’. How does he have that kind of perspective? It makes sense for us who live in a more peaceful area, but I would’ve thought he’d be a bit more… alerted? “I might not be the best person to ask those questions, since I am more than capable of defending myself and others.”

  “I guess your perspective would be quite skewed.” Mrkis remarked. “I’m not really sure if that’s a good or a bad thing, but it does provide an extra point of view.”

  …And Elrik doesn’t really reply to that and just keeps eating.

  “Say, how much do you dip your toe into? The magic thing.” I asked Mrkis, since I never really see him do anything magical.

  “Mostly just reading about the feats. I haven’t actually dabbled into them much for my own use, but I at least try.” He answered. “And you?”

  “It’s the same for me. Once I managed to make a small ember I just stopped.” Only seeing if I can do it, and with that I’m already satisfied. There doesn’t seem to be an actual need for me to learn magic to do anything, let alone fight.

  “I suppose in this sort of environment neither of you saw the need.” Elrik said, looking like he has some wisdom to impart. “Many are not blessed with such luxury.”

  Mrkis looked at him with a troubled expression. It does make us look spoiled for not trying to put effort into it while people elsewhere most likely have no choice but to pick up any sembnce of mastery just to keep themselves safe, enough as a deterrent from bad actors who have more incentive to gather strength and kill any that would oppose them.

  Thankfully, in case things do go wrong in the future, this pce does teach kids how to do the bare basics. The P.E. teachers are those who have dabbled in the arts and can give them some demonstration and wisdom. Some are more attuned than others, but all know enough to discipline these children. It is probably…

  “...You know. P.E. teachers probably have the hardest time considering that they do have to deal with these kids using magic with very little repercussion.” I think they are probably in a situation closest to what the rest of the world is having right now. “You know how the rest of the teachers are doing? I know you, Rico, and Wana are doing way too concerningly fine.”

  “They don’t have any problem at the moment. I’m sure you’ll know if they get hurt or an incident happens.” …I was talking about more minor things, but I guess he doesn’t know about any of that.

  “...Speaking of Rico. She was in charge of ‘that css’. I know they are good kids, but it’s hard to believe that she doesn’t at least run into a little bit of an issue.” Mrkis pointed out. ‘That css’... It’s pretty damn shocking that they even excel in this new avenue that shook the very foundation of our understanding. How they managed to become so strong is baffling to think about. If I remember right, they all even go on to fight actual monsters, and that was all just within the first month since that inciting incident.

  I know that there are daredevils that jumped in at the very first opportunity, but these kids are different. They seem to have some sort of instinctual understanding of what to do. They choose to fight instead of run, and they win.

  I couldn’t even muster the courage to even get near that dungeon entrance, let alone walking down it.

  “She is way stronger than any of you gave her credit for. I’ve known her personally for over two years as a friend. She doesn’t really need to try to subdue them.” Elrik confidently answered.

  It was surprising at first to learn that he is a friend of hers, considering that he is an outsider who lives far away. They don’t really eborate on how or where they met, only that they are part of a group of friends who have interest in the magic business. “But as always, I must say that if any of you want to inquire as to where she got that vast pool of strength from, it is something you must learn from her mouth.”

  “And I’m not telling!” Rico suddenly chimed in with a smile, taking us by surprise. “I have a lot to deal with in my daily life, I don’t have the time for Q&A.”

  Both of us were still recovering from the sudden appearance, so by the time we recovered she already left.

  “There you have it.” Elrik ftly said. “Everyone has their own secrets, be it your colleagues, or your students. Some just hide theirs better than others.”

  “I’m not gonna bother looking into that. Maybe Scien would.” Mrkis replied.

  “I doubt she’s going to, or anyone else for that matter. Seems like a touchy subject.” I said, having more faith in her. “I think it’s best for us to leave it at that. We have other obligations.”

  “Indeed.” Mrkis replied in agreement. We should not intrude on anyone’s personal business and keep doing our job. We’re supposed to be professionals, after all.