Chapter Text
The Exelion Empire was known for its wealth and prestige among the continents. It was an empire that demanded high achievements from its citizens in both rigor and skill. Something that wasn’t seen much in the other empires that surrounded it, certainly not in the Kingdom of Eutar- mostly because the Empire had the money to upkeep that kind of thing, while Eutar just got out of a civil war. The architecture was different as well; the buildings were built thick and sealed to keep out the cold and snow. Here, everything felt light and open, with large windows, open balconies, and spacious rooms with no heat sources other than the sconces on the walls.
And despite all that, it was also really fucking hot here.
It wasn’t just summer heat because the sun was bright; it was the weight of the air too. Not a single breeze, and the dress code meant many layers on one’s person resulted in broiling your body alive. Wasn’t it supposed to be winter? Wasn’t it just snowing on the other side of the mountains?
“Does it all look right?” The Chancellor was seated in front of him, and she had this smile that was too piercing to be genuine. She had been watching him skim the contract for the past moment. It was a good contract; he had asked for a lot of perks under the impression that he wasn’t going to get the job to begin with. Imagine his surprise when he got a response to his application congratulating him on his onboarding to Theron Academy as a professor.
“It does look as we discussed it,” his brow pinched as he placed it back on the table. He still wasn’t too sure if this was a good idea. “Should we sign now?”
He just wanted to know one thing at this point in time.
Who in their right mind accepted a contract that was proposed by someone with no teaching history, and asked for the same salary as someone who had been working at the academy for five years?
And of course, there was a problem with the time gap in his research and resume that surely would draw some ire, considering a lot of his research was now considered old and outdated. He was hardly qualified to become a professor at a most prestigious academy- he had half thought that the acceptance of his resume and offer had been a joke.
However, all of this really couldn’t have come at a better time, what with the revolution having finally finished up, and his sister being distracted by the estate, he could just… do whatever he wanted to do with his career path. Which, apparently, at this point, was becoming a professor? Not something he had ever really thought himself being before, but anything other than stabbing people for a living had to be good, right?
It couldn’t be that bad; Ludger remembered his own education. Sure, it wasn’t at a school, but he wasn’t ever one to cause extreme amounts of mayhem.
And the students here were presumably all here because they wanted to learn.
It would be fine.
Ludger accepted the pen from the chancellor and scrawled his name on the parchment.
Oh, my gods. The children here are not fine.
He watched as a child, who had just been blasted through a window, stand up and rush back into the greenhouse.
Other children in the classroom were cheering.
The amount of fires, flying projectiles- including the children themselves- and minor explosions was disturbing, worrying, and actually terrifying.
Were these the children he would have to teach?
With what?! A sword couldn’t scare them into behaving- they’d probably use it to duel each other for fun.
A small unit of those things could probably have taken a small battlefield in a day's time, solely on the level of energy and manic destruction they wrought.
Not that he would send children into battle; his family was certainly the exception, not the rule, to things like that.
Or so his sister tells him.
Ludger moved around the broken glass, casting a simple spell to fix it as he walked the pathway to get to the main classroom building. It was far too hot to deal with all of this, and there still had not been a single breeze in the two weeks he had moved here.
He only owned dark black and blue clothes.
This was a horrible position to be in.
After checking his paper two more times, he found the right classroom- something he should have found in the two weeks he was already here to avoid all the fuss of screaming children, but now he knew something new.
Ludger prayed to the gods that his students were not as insane as he opened the door to his classroom- with apparently more force than he should have, considering the crack that resounded. Why the fuck were the doors so light?
Desperately praying no one noticed that he had about as much social grace as a feral cat, he swept inside the room and strode up to the raised platform at the front of the class.
Four steps, turn to the left, toe to heel, then move his feet shoulder-width apart, hand on the center of the lectern- loud enough to silence the noise from the students. After what he saw this morning, he had expected that to honestly not be enough, expected to have to raise his voice like they were a bunch of shinies getting ready for their first drills in the military.
But they got quiet immediately.
Okay, recovery. “My name is Sir Ludger Cherish. I will be your manifestation professor for this class.” Was he allowed to claim the title ‘sir’ in this environment? He was knighted, of course; his whole family had to be, but this was a completely different kingdom, and neither his history nor title had any bearing here. Not to mention his house's current status in the world. “This class will focus on the application and theory of manifestation with magic- I will be teaching forms, systems, and safety procedures when using magic. Secondly, I will be opening up the class to first years-”
That- surprisingly- got a rise out of them, immediate muttering and turning, the once silent and peaceful room now filled with the whispers of his students.
Oh shit, had he already messed something up? “Silence, now.” Ludger allowed his voice to echo through the room, and they slowly calmed down. “Do not think that means I will be lowering any standards of this class; you will all be expected to perform at the academic rigor expected of this class, regardless of who else is in the room.”
A student raised her hand and, without being called on, spoke.
So what was the point of raising her hand in the first place?
“Why will you allow first years to hear your lectures?”
“If a first-year student can keep up with the academics of the course, then why stop them from taking the class?” Ludger answered easily; it didn’t seem that odd to him. Wasn’t this school built on the foundation that anyone could learn, regardless of their personal status in life? Besides, he had already witnessed that the first-year students were the least likely to burn his classroom down.
Frowning at the class, he sharpened his tone. “Finally, I leave you all with a warning: just because I am a new professor doesn’t mean you’ll get an easy A in this class. If there’s anyone here who thinks that, then as an educator, I will make sure you regret ever being so complacent.” A simple speech he gave to all new recruits.
This is going well, I think.
“Now, any questions?”
“Haha!” John laughed loudly, eyes squinted, before he abruptly stopped and stared. “You what?”
“Is it so odd to inform one’s students of how decisions can impact them?” Ludger tipped his head as they moved through the halls of the school. He had been put on patrol with John for the first week of class. Something he was grateful for, as he was not yet drowning in paperwork. “All I did was ask them not to perform at a lower level than what I know they are capable of.”
John stared at him for a long moment, and he got that look on his face that he had on the train. Ludger thought it meant that John was running through a list in his mind of what he wanted to say and was trying to find an acceptable way to say it. “Okay, and you did that by threatening them?”
“It was hardly a threat-”
“Okay, intimidation then,” John waved his hand, easily cutting Ludger off. He turned left around the corner, making Ludger stop short to turn as well, as Ludger was just going to keep walking forward. Ludger had a sneaking suspicion that John did things like that intentionally.
“I wasn’t being intimidating; I was going over rules and procedures- guidelines I expect them to follow throughout the course's semesters.”
John gave him another look that Ludger couldn’t quite decipher. “What other guidelines do you have in your class?”
“Anything to prevent my class from being set on fire in the first two weeks?” Ludger turned a corner this time, just to see if John would follow, and he did, but he changed course far more gracefully and smoothly than Ludger had. I suppose that’s a point for him, no? “Just safety regulations, and when it’s an appropriate time to use magic in the class. It’s all on the packet I gave them.”
“You think they’re going to read that? Willingly?”
“Why wouldn’t they?” Ludger frowned sharply at the tone in John’s voice; he had taken a lot of care with those handouts, and they were hardly dry. “It’s all interesting information-” Ludger began, only to be cut off by shouts down the hall, echoing from around the tutoring center.
“YOU CAN’T JUST TAKE MY PENCIL AND DECLARE YOURSELF KING!”
A second voice roared back with the confidence of someone who had never once been right in their life:
“I CAN IF YOU’RE TOO WEAK TO STOP ME!”
John pinched the bridge of his nose. “Great. We’ve got a monarchy forming.”
Ludger blinked, mildly alarmed by the implications of that.“A monarchy cannot be established with a pencil. That is not a legitimate symbol of authority.”
“Tell that to the new King of Tutors,” John muttered before swiftly switching to a bright smile and patted Ludger’s shoulder. “Welcome to teaching. I hope you stretched this morning.” Then booked it to the tutoring center.
I fear for the sanity of the teachers here.
I do not think they are okay.
Ludger needed to rethink his approach to teaching at this place. He had assumed, based on the fact that Theorn had a long-standing tradition with research, that his focus within the school would be more research-based than education-based. However, there was a tiny problem with thinking like that, being that he had a class the size of a well-stocked garrison of children, all with their own individual needs.
Ludger had come up with a sort of individualized selection chart- a web of you will- of how the first three conversations with a professor told you everything you needed to know about how they taught within the classroom. For example, things like personality, language, and even your standing in gossip could get you thrown into the selection of ‘bad with children, would rather sit and count samples than teach students’ just as easily as it could place you in ‘good with content, knows the academics so well that it is simple to explain it to students’; however, there was another. A special section that in Ludger’s mind was the ultimate goal to reach at this school, and it was without a doubt ‘good and fair with the students AND knows the content well enough to teach easily to students.’
Once Ludger had gotten the base of the concept down, he had taken it upon himself to slip into the group he thought best fit the characterization of that goal within the professors who were in their first year of teaching.
He hadn’t had time to have three conversations with each first-year professor yet, but he still had time. However, this group of four that he had collected for his sample were all highly invested in their students, well-versed in the content, and were incredible academics in their own right.
People Ludger respected very much.
It was strange, though; only two of the four he had looked into had a decent amount of research papers sent out publicly- they could have more private research done, or research that had been under a different name. But Ludger still thought it strange that these highly capable individuals wouldn’t have more to send out.
Nevertheless, what they did have sent out intrigued him greatly. He was not an expert in any of the subjects that the other professors taught, and he had a lot of questions for them. If he ever had the time to ask and they would be okay with it, he’d have to reach out at some point. You never really did know what could go into Manifestation Theory, as fickle as the subject was, and Ludger liked to entertain many different ideas about what could impact the physical concepts of manifestation.
The group that Ludger had slipped into gathered at the front of the school once classes had ended; Professors Bruno, Merida, Selena, John, and himself had gathered after the thirty trials of man- paperwork- had been finished. The bureaucracy was left behind, and fresh air was a blessing, if not for another who had approached them.
The gentleman had the voice of a particularly perturbed bird, like he was trying to find his thirteenth reason and had found some conveniently placed professors to achieve this goal.
Simply put, the five of them were just not up to the caliber that this particular professor wished for them to be at.
Through no fault of their own, of course.
According to this man, it had everything to do with their status and nothing to do with their capabilities as professors. ‘And if not for the fact that I had just fought a war about the power and social dynamics between those at the bottom of the food chain and those at the top, in an effort to better manage and protect the people of the land, I would have found this situation cliché and funny. However, I have watched thousands of people die over this exact sentiment.’
As the noble in front of them continued to speak in that grating voice that sounded like someone had taken to caressing a metal cheesegrater over Ludger’s nervous system. (Ludger briefly considered adding some more iron to his diet- in the form of a well-placed bullet to his own skull.) And what really didn’t help the situation as a whole was that Ludger could feel John next to him, practically vibrating out of his skin in an effort not to respond to the other noble.
Ludger, hoping to smoothly pass under the radar of the other noble, shifted just a bit closer to where John was about to achieve spontaneous combustion and pressed his arm to the other man's, and shook his head slowly in what he hoped communicated ‘Don’t do anything that would get you fired.’ but based on the sudden glee that lit up in John’s eyes, probably communicated something closer to ‘I’ll help bury the body if you shoot him’.
Which, if it came down to it, Ludger would have a higher chance of making sure no one got caught if he helped- but that was hardly the point! If John murdered the man here, he would make Ludger an accomplice, which was not in his plan while here at Theorn.
“- appears that the standards of this academy have gone down, because all I see are some commoners and a fallen noble.” Benimore sniffed, and Ludger heard Selena whisper behind him.
“Is he allowed to say that?”
Probably not, it certainly wasn’t professional, but Ludger was just glad words were the only thing happening. If this were before the civil war in the Empire, there would have just been bombs and death threats.
But if the worst did happen, would John even ask for help?
Hmm, perhaps John shouldn’t ask for help. Because it sounded like the kind of help he wanted was militarizing children. Which was, of course, within the Cherish wheelhouse, so it wasn’t that surprising that John would ask him.
But it was the principle of the thing. Surely the chancellor wasn’t on board with this whole thing.
“Come on.” John smiled brightly (and once again, he hid his eyes behind a squint and a smile- did he genuinely think Ludger hadn’t noticed?), “This is a great way for the students to have a friendly competition with each other!”
Ludger highly doubted there was going to be anything friendly about all of this. “I assume that means you’re not betting against Professor Benimore then?” Ludger may be giving John the benefit of the doubt when it came to the man’s integrity, but he wasn’t stupid; he had heard about John’s little bet for Aiden.
He was also well informed, thanks only to Merida.
“Please, do I seem like a betting man to you?”
“Absolutely.”
“Rude.” John tapped the door behind him three quick times before sitting on one of the couches in Ludger’s office. “What if I told you it was for a noble reason?”
“Tell me how betting on a dog fight between students, just to stick it to another professor, is a noble thing to do?” Ludger asked, leaning his chin on his hand to watch John squint at the wall- already scheming something, no doubt. Ludger was already going to do what John asked and show the student a few things to defend himself, but he was genuinely curious how John was going to spin this.
“Professor Benimore was the one who proposed the bet; however, Aiden has been getting picked on by the other boys for days now.” John frowned, “I just want Aiden to defend himself.”
“By accepting Benimore’s bet?” Ludger raised an eyebrow. It was interesting how John was pointing fingers at Professor Chris Benimore for proposing the bet, but made no mention of how he had accepted it in the first place.
“By accepting a school-sanctioned duel between two students.” John corrected easily, waving away Ludger’s concerns as if they were naught more than a gnat.
“School-sanctioned, as in the chancellor knows about this?”
“School-sanctioned, as in the chancellor doesn’t need to know about this.”
Oh boy. “So you want me to teach him how to attack another student-“
“Defend himself against.”
“So you won’t mind if he loses, yes? As long as he’s not hurt by the other student.”
“Well, I want him to win-“
“So attack another student, and win, and not tell the Chancellor about it.”
“Exactly! I knew you’d understand, Cherish!” John smiled and stood up from the couch to walk out of Ludger’s office.
“John,”
The other man turned and smiled.
“Is this for Aiden, or for your pride against Benimore?”
John tapped the door handle three times before looking at Ludger, watching him carefully. “… before I answer that, can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
“Do you know what Theron stands for?”
“Of course, it’s the pinnacle of research and education. It stands for the progression of knowledge.” Ludger answered rather easily; it’s what the academy was known for after all.
“No, it stands for the progression of knowledge for all,” John replied almost sternly, as if the answer Ludger gave had disappointed him in some way. “And do you think that anyone has the right to take away education from someone they believe is lesser than them? Do you think any professor should be able to pick and choose a student's worth based on how much it lines their pockets?”
And perhaps that was something Ludger needed to hear again, because it would seem that no matter how many times he took a blade to the face and bullets to the knees, there was always a lesson that he had to learn twice.
“I was not questioning the morality of a student’s right to learn, John,” because even though that was something that needed to be said and listened to, it was not the question Ludger had asked of John. “I was questioning the morality of two teachers encouraging students to solve their problems through violent means as a way to gain something for themselves.”
“Then let me be clear, Aiden will get training to win against whoever challenges his place here, and he will fight publicly because it makes it a statement.” John wasn’t squinting or avoiding eye contact anymore as he spoke. “If nothing else it proves that there are professors here willing to publicly stand by their students!”
“What it proves and how it will be seen are two very different things, John,” Ludger wished that how Doe saw the world around him was real; that a single fight could prove something, that beating a single opponent could lead to victory, that all it would take is a single life for the greater good. The problem with that, though, was perception and the unspoken- the problem was humanity. Messages could get twisted so very easily.
“So you're worried about your reputation then?”
Case in point. “I’m worried that you will be painting a target on your back as well as Aiden’s,” Ludger clarified, though he had a suspicion that John might have been purposefully playing obtuse, to see how Ludger ticked- like when he turned corners to see if Ludger would follow him, to see if Ludger would question it.
Ludger couldn’t help but get the feeling that John said things and ‘jumped to conclusions’ just to see how people would react, to see where they fell. As if covertly gathering information about another was a way to see how much John could say and not get in trouble for it. It was the same way he interacted with Ludger on the train.
“Painting a target on yourself like how you helped Rene in the training hall? You punished a noble student so that one of your students wouldn’t get hurt.” John wasn’t really even asking if it was true or not, and Ludger had to admit that John must have sources somewhere because that had happened no less than two hours ago. It was impressive how quick on the uptake John could be.
“And did you expect me to say yes to your request, John?”
“Technically speaking, Cherish, you haven’t really said no yet.”
“Remember to keep your arms steady, and don’t rush in,” Ludger reminded Aiden as they walked to the dueling room. The boy was… excitable, something that Ludger appreciated in the classroom as it made the boy more motivated to learn; however, in a duel, there was a real risk of Aiden getting too impatient or distracted.
“Of course, Professor!”
The boy was far too excited for what was essentially an honor duel that would be deciding a class system for the rest of his education here at Theorn, and should he lose, the consequences could be dire. “And don’t get too focused on one thing; feinting is typical in spell duels to allow longer time to cast magic.”
“Right! And don’t use my strongest spell first, because I have to conserve my mana!” Aiden recited one of the lessons Ludger had been all but beating him over the head with since they started the young man’s training.
“You’re going up against someone who has had years of education before even attending this school,” and Ludger really couldn’t stress that enough. “He’s had time to build up his power; you’ll have to rely on thinking ahead and being quick. Take as few hits as you possibly can.”
“I’ll be fine, Professor!” Aiden was practically prancing to the dueling room that had been set up, “This will be fun!”
Mercy on my soul- does he think anything about this duel will be friendly?
“Ah yes, fun.” Someone really needed to protect this child from the harsh realities of the world; it was a scary thought to consider this manic child suddenly becoming too aware. “Don’t unsheath your sword either-“ there was a very high risk that Aiden would hurt himself that way- “- it’s nonlethal combat.”
“Oh, wonderful!” John came from who knows where. Ludger was getting better at not flinching when the other professor chose to do that. “Are you ready, Aiden?”
And the smile John gave the kid was sweet. Too sweet.
It wasn’t mischievous enough.
“Did you do something?” Ludger asked as Aiden all but pranced off.
“Who? Me?”
“John-“
“Don’t worry, I didn’t actually do anything,” John hummed and patted Ludger’s shoulder, “I just had a nice chat with Professor Benimore.”
Oh Luminese, is Professor Chris dead?
Damn- Ludger hadn’t even thought to map locations in the dark forest yet, not that he needed to know where to hide a body. But you never know when you’d have to slip somewhere unnoticed-
“My, what do we have here?”
“Chancellor,” Ludger blinked and straightened, “it’s just a duel-“
“A friendly duel between two friendly students! They’re quite excitable, and this is a wonderful way to display some school spirit, right?”
“I agree!” The chancellor smiled, and Ludger suddenly had a horrible feeling. “We should go watch. Come now, John, Ludger, the students are waiting!”