I was lying on my bed and reviewed all the documents I had prepared for the lessons. I was given a specific curriculum that I had to teach the students, but it wasn't set on how I was supposed to teach them it..
'Combat theory, practical combat, and Depths theory, huh?'
I sighed in relief as I reconfirmed everything.
'It's good that I didn't have to teach magic theory. Even though I am capable of teaching everything, I am not able to showcase it to them.'
I cannot use mana after all.
I then put the documents away, closed my eyes, and relaxed.
The last two weeks I had spent all of my time with making myself familiar with the school campus.
As expected of Sylpheon, it was gigantic.
There was everything here, ranging from cafes to clothing shops and even dueling centers.
I also spent some time getting familiar with all of my colleagues.
After all, I had to have at least an idea of whom I'm talking to, right?
I had observed them and memorized almost everything about them. At least from all the professors that were present at the colleague as of that moment.
I've heard that there were some other new professors, but they didn't arrive at the academy yet.
'They will probably arrive tomorrow, when the semester starts.'
While some of the professors returned to the academy early to prepare for their courses, it wasn't needed.
You could also prepare everything from home or just decide to enter the lesson and try to freestyle everything.
That wasn't really my style, though. I preferred knowing everything about the situation beforehand and preparing accordingly.
After all, fugitive errors could take your life on the battlefield.
***
***
And then the first day of the school started.
Students who were gone for vacation returned one by one, and with the start of a new semester, new students also came in.
The first years passed by the school gates, expecting an exhilarating experience in their new academy, and the second and third years returned, dreading the stress that comes with passing the exams of Sylpheon.
However, there was still a thing that connected almost all of them.
They were all eager to learn.
Although they dreaded the stress, everyone enjoyed their stay at Sylpheon. It wasn't famed as the best school for no reason, after all.
Throughout the whole campus, the sound of students cheering and laughing spread around as friends who didn't see each other for multiple months met once again.
Although that too was, of course, divided between different groups.
There existed many different kinds of students.
Quiet ones, loud ones, talented ones, hardworking ones, and many more.
Naturally, the atmosphere between all of these different groups differed.
Not only that but there was also another big difference that played a big role in the creation of those different groups.
The races and their status.
Inside Sylpheon, there were many different people of different races and statuses, ranging from a mere human commoner who got here because of a recommendation to the heir of an important devil family or even princes and princesses of their respective races.
Needless to say, that caused a rift between the groups of students in Sylpheon. Although there also were some interracial groups, they were massively in the minority.
As every race has different cultures and worldviews, their atmosphere and interests also differ.
Occasionally, there were also conflicts between the students, discussing their different opinions and ideals.
However, in the upcoming combat theory class, inside of the training center, all the students only discussed a single topic.
"Oh god, I really want to beat someone up right now!"
"Come on, man. The Semester had just started! You can't be starting trouble so soon."
"Oh, have you heard? There's a new teacher in this class!"
"A new teacher is teaching the second class?"
"Well, they can't help it as the former teacher suddenly disappeared."
"Right! I heard about that! There are rumors about him suddenly getting swallowed up by the depths."
"Ugh. How scary..:"
Ellen, who changed into her combat attire, sat down beside Seraphir, who was eavesdropping on her fellow classmates.
"What do you think about it?" Ellen leaned to Seraphir, saying that directly into her ear, as it was hard to understand anything due to the loudness of the room.
"What am I supposed to think about it?"
"Like about the new teacher. Or what happened to our former one?"
Seraphir put her head onto her hands, which were lying on top of each other. She then lazily glanced at Ellen, looking at her with a bored look.
"Well, regarding the former one...it is quite possible that he got swallowed by the depths. Even though it's rare, there are cases where gates to the Depths just suddenly appear randomly and suck people in."
Ellen nodded.
"Yes, and we already experienced how dangerous the Depths are. If it wasn't for Mr.Voidwalker, we would've been done for."
Seraphir chuckled lightly at the mention of his name, and her expression lightened up a little.
"Yeah, he's amazing. I really do admire him a little."
Ellen raised an eyebrow.
"Just a little? Didn't you talk about his swordsmanship for a whole week? You were literally gushing about how beautiful and cool his swordsmanship looked the whole time. You literally acted the same as when you are talking about some amazing magic you just found."
Seraphir turned red as Ellen said that, turning her head away in embarrassment.
"You didn't see it, so you have no room to talk."
Ellen shrugged her shoulders before she threw a mischievous look in Seraphir's direction.
"Or could it maybe be...that our little Sera has a cruuuush?"
Ellen especially emphasized the 'crush' part, trying to annoy Seraphir.
"Huh?!"
"I mean...even I have to admit that he's quite the looker. I wouldn't blame you if you fell in love at first sight."
"Just shut up, will you? It's really just admiration."
Seraphir sighed as she lightly punched her friend's arm.
"Ow. That hurt."
'It doesn't."
"You're right. It doesn't."
She then shook her head before she returned to her previously bored position.
"Now, back to the topic. The new teacher, huh? I don't really care about them as long as they are competent in their job."
"What about Mr.Voidwalker? Didn't he talk to the principal about something?"
Seraphir put her finger on her lip, pondering about the thing Ellen just said.
"That might be possible, but I don't want to take any chances."
"Why not? Our new teacher will be a new professor who's in charge of the second years. Don't you think that he would be qualified enough?"
Seraphir raised her eyebrow at Ellen's suggestion. Not because she didn't understand what she was saying but because it made sense in some strange well.
"Now, that's assuming that he really is a teacher. Who knows? Maybe he's just the boyfriend of the principal?"
Seraphir stroked her chin as she continued to talk.
"And besides that, the only reason why the new teacher is teaching this class is that the former one disappeared."
Ellen nodded.
"However, there are multiple new teachers. And giving a class about combat to a new teacher would have to mean that he was competent at the very least, as it is something that could decide the fate of our life."
"You do have a point..." Seraphir shrugged her shoulders, not wanting to discuss the topic any further as they would get their answers soon anyway. "Well, let's just see how it plays out."
And speaking of the devil, not Seraphir, the large gate at the beginning of the training center opened, showing the silhouette of a man.
The whole training center quit down. All of the attention was focused on that single man.
-Damn, he's hot.
-Oh god, is he really a teacher?
-Do you guys think he's single?
-Is he even real?
The man walked forward, his steps not making a single sound. He walked with the grace of a king and the confidence of a ruler.
His sharp and serious gaze intimidated everyone, whose gaze crossed that of those beautiful grey eyes.
"Isn't that...?"
Ellen whispered, barely audible.
"Yes, it's him."
The man walked to the middle of the room and turned his face to the students, looking up at them.
Even though he was the one looking up, all the students felt like he was looking down at them, analyzing them like tools, not people.
"Hello, everyone."
His voice brought everyone back to reality as they realized that the person in front of them was indeed a real person and not just a figment of their imagination.
His deep voice rang out, powerfully filling the entire room with it.
"My name is Zenith Voidwalker, your new teacher."
He then shortly closed his eyes, seemingly thinking about something, before opening them again.
"But you can just call me Mr. Voidwalker."