Content locked, enable JavaScript and subscribe to access the content.
“Is it over?”
In the sunlit classroom, Mu’en looked at Professor Plon in front of him, slightly dazed.
It felt like a dream; the content of the exam flashed by like the end credits of a movie, now blurry and indistinct, yet he felt as if something had been set down in his heart, leaving him light and relaxed.
“Yes, it’s already over. Mu’en Campbell, you did well, even better than I imagined.”
Professor Plon glanced over the exam paper in front of Mu’en. There was no noticeable change in his expression; he simply seemed somewhat gentler in his words.
He patted Mu’en on the shoulder and urged, “Hurry up and leave, stop daydreaming.”
“Oh.”
Mu’en nodded blankly and got up.
He didn’t remember how he left the classroom, how he passed through the crowd of onlookers, or how he returned to his dormitory.
When he came to his senses, he was sitting at his desk, staring at his reflection in the mirror for a long time.
“What should I do next?”
After reaching a goal he had pursued so hard, Mu’en fell into a great sense of emptiness.
It felt as though something was missing from his heart, leaving it hollow.
But he quickly regained his focus.
“Is there really a need to think about this?”
Mu’en muttered to himself.
In his bright blue eyes, the old fire had just faded, and a new flame was born.
“My goal is far from achieved, isn’t it?”
Thus, his consciousness sank into darkness.
In the darkness, an assassin dressed as a maid appeared alongside a naked man.
“It’s been a month; I even missed you.”
Mu’en snapped his fingers. “How about we change this long-awaited reunion into a more festive scene?”
Then, the darkness dissipated, and sunlight flooded in.
Mu’en bathed in endless brilliance, holding dual blades.
He grinned and smiled: “Come, let’s see how much I’ve regressed in this past month!”
……
……
“Are you done with the exam? Let me check quickly!”
After the exam, Professor Plon returned to the office with the papers but found that it was already crowded with a large number of teachers curious about the results.
Even Teacher Kaide, who usually scoffed at magic, was lingering in the corner, waiting eagerly for the outcome.
Gossip and the desire to be in the know were not just the students’ prerogative in this academy.
Professor Gran, upon seeing Professor Plon, rushed over to snatch the exam papers from his hands.
“Can’t you act a bit like teachers?”
Professor Plon swatted Professor Gran’s hand away and said angrily: “Those students are one thing, but you all being this nosy? What’s up with that?”
“Someone even personally went to supervise the exam and still has the nerve to criticize us?”
“I just wanted to ensure the fairness of the exam!”
“Oh? Shouldn’t you supervise every exam in the future?”
Professor Gran whistled, unconcerned by Professor Plon’s anger, and took advantage of his distraction to grab the exam papers.
“Let me see, Mu’en Campbell, Campbell…”
Professor Gran quickly flipped through the papers and precisely pulled out Mu’en’s exam, handing it over to Teacher Fulan, who looked extraordinarily vibrant.
“Fulan, hurry up and grade this; I want to see the result!”
“This… might be a bit inappropriate.”
Teacher Fulan hesitated, glancing at Professor Plon.
While grading in advance wouldn’t affect the outcome, it still felt a bit against the rules…
And Professor Plon was typically rigid, so this kind of irregularity…
“Go ahead.”
To everyone’s surprise, Professor Plon unexpectedly relented.
“There’s nothing to fuss over in such trivial matters.”
“Huh?”
Even Professor Gran was taken aback, staring at Professor Plon for a long time in suspicion: “Why do you seem weird after supervising the exam? Are you in a bad mood? Did that Mu’en kid provoke you again?”
“Did he?”
Professor Plon shot him a blank stare.
“Of course he did; would you have been so easy to talk to before?”
“If I’m not easy to talk to, does that mean you’ll listen to me?”
“Hey, that’s true.”
Professor Gran didn’t press further, as his attention was quickly drawn back to Mu’en’s exam paper.
“Hurry up, Fulan, grade it; Plon has already agreed.”
“Oh, alright!”
Seeing that Professor Plon had relented, Teacher Fulan wasted no time and immediately started grading Mu’en’s paper.
Other teachers also gathered curiously.
As grading progressed, Professor Gran continuously exclaimed.
“Wow, all the first five questions are correct? That kid is really something.”
“Ah, the sixth question was so simple; how did he get that wrong…”
“The thirteenth question seemed a bit difficult for that kid; he must have spent quite a while on it.”
“Wow, he didn’t even attempt the last big question—smart.”
With a score of one hundred, the content wasn’t extensive, so grading finished quickly.
The score soon appeared before all the teachers.
The office fell silent.
Because everyone was silent.
They stared at the score, in silence.
After a long while, one teacher sighed and shook his head.
“Seventy-nine… what a pity.”
That’s right.
Seventy-nine.
This was the number printed at the top of the paper.
Bright red and clear, so eye-catching, yet so real.
Just one point away from the passing mark, yet ultimately failed to cross it.
A tiny difference, forever more regretful than a far distance.
Even Professor Gran, looking at that number, couldn’t help but lose his smile.
“All I can say is… it was bad luck, right?”
Because a score of seventy-nine couldn’t be said to reflect a lack of ability.
From three to seventy-nine.
The huge difference between these two numbers allowed all the teachers present to clearly feel how hard and how much effort that youth had put in during this short month.
He created this miracle that almost everyone thought was impossible with his hard work and sweat.
But the more it was like this, the more regretful it made one feel.
That one point of difference seemed like a small joke played on the boy by the god of fate.
“Give me the exam paper.”
Just as everyone was lost in pity for the boy, Professor Plon suddenly reached out and took the exam paper.
His gaze quickly swept over it, as if confirming something.
Pointing to a part of the paper, he said:
“Here, it was graded incorrectly.”
“Huh?”
Teacher Fulan blinked, her gaze sweeping to where Professor Plon pointed.
Her beautiful eyes widened, and her delicate face turned bright red.
“Ah, really? I’m… sorry, I really graded it wrong. I might have been a bit nervous being watched by so many people for the first time…”
“Fix it.”
Professor Plon remained expressionless, as if he had no intention of laying blame.
He quietly watched Teacher Fulan correct that question before recalculating the score.
Actually, there was no need to calculate.
Seventy-nine plus one was a result any street vagabond could figure out.
Eighty.
An excellent score.
The office fell silent once again.
Clearly, just moments ago, everyone was regretting it, but the moment that number appeared before them, they couldn’t help but feel a shock.
As teachers of St. Maria, they were all elites in the education sector; what kind of students had they not seen?
Some shining like bright stars but suddenly facing unexpected setbacks or spiraling down, their results plummeting.
Or the wayward scion from a good family suddenly awakening, turning their lives around, and gradually succeeding.
But someone like that golden-haired boy, in just a month, drastically jumping from a three to an excellent score of eighty…
Honestly, that’s unheard of.
“It can be called a miracle in education, right?”
One teacher couldn’t help but exclaim.
“Truly, Mu’en Campbell, whether good or bad, will always astonish people.”
“That means Mu’en Campbell did it, didn’t he? What he said a month ago.” Another teacher responded, amazed:
“I heard the odds were twenty to one, heh, there must be quite a few students on the rooftop now—should we put up barbed wire on the railings?”
“No—”
Another teacher lamented tragically:
“My bonus, without you, how am I supposed to live?”
“…”
Professor Plon glanced at the lamenting Teacher Kaide and said expressionlessly: “Tomorrow, give me a ten-thousand-word reflection; also, your bonus for this semester is gone.”
The wailing became even more intense.
However, after a brief uproar, everyone fell silent again.
Several pairs of eyes secretly glanced at Professor Plon.
Professor Plon disliked that Mu’en Campbell; he wouldn’t be angry at a moment like this, would he?
No, he might actually already be angry, considering how badly Teacher Kaide was being hit!
If they stayed any longer…
“Um… I’m feeling a bit unwell; I’ll take my leave first.”
Teacher Fulan was the first to take her leave.
“Yes, yes, I’m a bit under the weather too…”
“I left the gas on at home…”
“My wife is giving birth…”
A large number of teachers, as if their memories suddenly improved, all of a sudden remembered they had matters to attend to at home, swiftly made their escape.
In the end, only Professor Gran remained in the quiet office, staring at the perpetually expressionless Professor Plon for a long time before he finally couldn’t help but say:
“I think, as a professor, you don’t need to be angry with a child.”
“I’m not angry.”
“That’s nonsense; look at you like this.”
“I’m not angry.”
Professor Plon emphasized, then suddenly raised his hand and, under Professor Gran’s shocked gaze, smashed his beloved antique desk to pieces.
Professor Gran was stunned, and after a long pause, he reacted and said weakly:
“Uh, actually, I thought you were joking back then.”
“But I wasn’t joking.”
Professor Plon picked up a piece of wood, hesitated for a moment, then put it in his mouth.
Chewed.
Then swallowed.
“I never joke.”
Then, picking up another piece, he put it in his mouth.
With his crowned physique, he could still manage to eat some wood.
However, while this expensive mahogany had a natural fragrance, it tasted quite bitter.
And it was heart-wrenching.
“I’m not angry.”
Professor Plon re-emphasized:
“How could I be angry?
As an educator, as a teacher, isn’t it the happiest thing to see your students finding their way back after straying, a wayward child turning around?”
“I’m just a bit ashamed, ashamed of my inadequacy, ashamed of my lack of insight. I prided myself on being a seasoned educator, yet it was only during the previous exam that I saw what was hidden in that boy’s eyes.”
“—What a burning flame it is, roaring like a lion under the sunset!”
Professor Plon clenched his fist, crushing a corner of the desk further, continuing to shove it into his mouth.
He gritted his teeth, chewing on the mahogany, as if trying to squeeze out tears to cleanse his murky eyes that couldn’t see people clearly:
“That boy, Mu’en Campbell, he is not the spoiled rich kid we think he is; he’s the true son of a duke who can inherit the name of Campbell!”
“No, I have a feeling that his future achievements will even surpass those of his father!”
“Surpass Duke Campbell? That Lion King?”
Hearing this, Professor Gran couldn’t help but widen his eyes, not expecting Professor Plon to suddenly hold Mu’en Campbell in such high esteem.
It’s worth noting that Long En Campbell is one of the finest among the past Dukes of Campbell.
“That sounds too difficult.”
“Difficult?”
Professor Plon didn’t refute, merely asked back:
“Do you know where I last saw that kind of gaze?”
“Whose?” Professor Gran froze.
“The one you saw before.”
Professor Plon lowered his eyelids, his tone deepening:
“My other foolish student, controlled by the Love God.”
The Holy Maiden.
That great saintess who disappeared twenty years ago but still had many statues standing and numerous followers today.
That strong girl who never yielded to the Love God, even unto death.
“…”
Professor Gran fell silent, even more shocked.
After a moment, he seriously questioned:
“Are you saying… Mu’en Campbell will also become a Holy Maiden in the future?”
“…”
Professor Plon’s expression stiffened, almost choking.
Professor Gran, however, patted him on the shoulder with a grin: “Alright, alright, don’t feel guilty anymore, even the best teacher can’t see through all their students.
At least, you didn’t hinder him, did you?”
“But a genius like him scoring eighty after just a month, yet in the last semester, he only learned a single illumination spell from me.” Professor Plon replied gloomily.
“…”
Professor Gran’s expression also stiffened, and he then angrily said:
“Alright, you just admitted you’re angry!”
“I’m not.”
Professor Plon continued to diligently chew on the corner of the desk, saying:
“And even if Mu’en Campbell didn’t score eighty this time, I would still keep my promise.”
“Huh?”
“You forgot, at the beginning of the semester, I also said the same thing: as long as Mu’en Campbell truly changes, I would eat my desk.”
Professor Plon sighed: “So, when the exam ended, I knew that no matter the score, I had to eat this desk.”
……
……
After truly eating an entire desk, Professor Plon hurriedly left, no one knowing what he would do next.
Leaving only Professor Gran alone in the office.
As if he thought of something, he picked up Mu’en’s exam paper again and examined it carefully.
Finally, on the question that Professor Plon had just identified as incorrect, he faintly detected a weak aura of magic.
“Wow, I said, Teacher Fulan’s understanding can’t be low; there’s no way she’d make such a basic mistake, especially under so many watching eyes.”
Professor Gran rubbed his chin, happily squinting as he smiled:
“That old codger Plon occasionally pulls such little tricks too.”
