I Got a Fake Job at the Academy
Chapter 68

“Flora Lumos, what the hell are you doing here?"

Flora hesitated to answer Ludger’s question.

Actually, there was something she wanted to ask him about the past event.

‘Were you really the one who used that unusual magic?’

'But how can I say that?’

The only evidence of his use of that magic was its smell.

And because it wasn't something anyone could smell—it was a unique scent that only Flora Lumos could smell.

It was because she smelled it.

“Ah, w-well, that’s…”

Why was Ludger there that night in the first place?

There were many things she wanted to ask him, but at the same time, she thought of this:

‘Why now?’

Come to think of it, she wasn't really on good terms with Ludger. Instead, it was more suitable to say that they were on bad terms with each other.

Ludger himself wouldn't be able to understand at all, but Flora still hadn't forgotten the disgrace she experienced on her first day of class.

All of them were defeats caused by her flaws, and even the revenge match that was held after that failed in a wonderful way.

Yes…

For her, who was a genius, the man named Ludger Chelysie was nothing more than a man worthy of her challenge after a long time.

Flora fiddled with the hem of her uniform skirt.

‘Yes, right. Get your senses together, Flora Lumos. Whether Professor Ludger was sick or whatever, that was none of my business, right?’

Until Flora organized her thoughts like that, Ludger just stood still and stared at Flora.

Ahem.

Flora stared at Ludger with a small cough.

“…”

And she averted her eyes to the side unconsciously.

When she made up her mind and made eye contact with Ludger, she felt embarrassed.

‘Wh-what’s with that gaze?’

Ludger was just staring at her normally, but it wasn't like that at all from her point of view.

Ludger was a man who looked like a work of art even when he kept his mouth shut. His impression was sharp, and she could feel his charisma just by staring at him.

People who he stared at automatically lost their nerves.

There was something about his unshakable gaze that made it hard for people to stare at it for more than three seconds.

It was like dealing with a noble person higher than the aristocracy.

“You don’t have anything to say?”

For Ludger, who went to work early in the morning, it was quite embarrassing to see a student standing in front of his door.

Especially if it was a student who might have witnessed his secret the day before.

‘No way, did she see it? Is she going to threaten me about that occurrence?’

Naturally, there was a mixture of vigilance in Ludger's gaze.

Flora was just flustered by Ludger's gaze that had grown more heated, as she didn't know about his thoughts.

In the end, Flora had no choice but to tell him about her purpose.

"I heard you're picking an assistant."

In fact, she didn't go there for something related to being an assistant. She wanted to inquire with him about what she witnessed the other day, but she couldn't bring herself to say it.

So, in order to change the subject, she brought up the assistant topic while pretending as if she didn't want to talk about the previous one.

Actually, when Ludger picked up an assistant, it piqued her interest.

“That should already be obvious.”

Ludger nodded his head and agreed with her words.

“But why are you asking that?”

“Th-that’s.”

Flora spoke up courageously while clenching her small fist.

“I… I… I can help with doing the assistant work, you know?"

“…”

She spoke those words by placing one hand on her chest.

For a moment, Ludger thought he had heard something wrong.

“…What did you just say?”

"W-well, I said I could help you with the assistant work."

"So are you saying you want to be my assistant?"

“No. Of course not!”

Flora immediately opposed Ludger's words.

Being his assistant, he said! That was clearly different!

“Was it not?”

"I can help you with the assistant work. Not to be your assistant!”

“I see.”

"What's with that dull reaction? It's something I said after coming here by myself after deliberating for a long time…”

Flora pouted her lips.

Still, Flora, a second-year student, said she would help him with his work after coming on her own, if it was another professor, it would not be enough for them to hold hands with her immediately while saying thank you.

But Ludger's response was disheartening—he seemed like someone who just responded to a trivial thing.

"Well, even though I look like this, I'm very talented in magic."

“I know.”

“Kno… no, why is your response like that if you already know?”

"Because I don't need any more assistants right now."

“Pardon?”

Flora opened her eyes wide as if she had misheard something.

Her long, dark blue hair shook along with her emotion.

“That… what are you say—”

“It’s exactly that. I've already picked one assistant, and I don't need one more right now."

"That's why I wasn’t wanting to become your assistant…”

“It's the same for taking over my assistant’s job. Most of all, I'm looking at something besides just magical skills in terms of this. I explained it to you in the last class, right?"

“That’s right…”

Ludger did not elect an assistant simply by looking at their magical skills or the background of the student.

—It was just based on their personality.

How diligent they were and how faithful they were to their role…

That was the qualification that was proposed by Ludger, and he said he would only hold a brief interview to determine it.

Flora looked slightly shocked because she didn't know that what she had said courageously would be rejected so heartlessly like thay.

She bit her lip slightly and lowered her head.

At that moment, Ludger's voice rang in her ears.

"However, I appreciate your goodwill."

“Pardon?”

Flora raised her head sharply.

“Wh-what does that mean?”

"Didn't you say that to offer your help to me?"

“N-no! A-a-a-aren’t you misunderstanding?”

“…”

Why the hell was she being like that?

Ludger thought he wouldn't be able to understand the student's mind, so he decided to move on maturely.

“Then just think of it like that.”

“Th-that’s why that’s not what I mean.”

"If you don't have anything else to say to me, I'll go in."

“No! There’s one more thing!”

“One more thing?”

‘What is it this time?’

Ludger also resolved that if she was wasting his time with trivial things, he would really give her harsh criticism that time.

When he stared at Flora with such determination, she invoked her mana while being sulky.

"Didn't you say it that time? If anyone understands how to do your spell, then they should come and find you?"

In the last class, Ludger had shown his students the Coordinate Designation spell.

And he had said that if a student could properly analyze and repeat his spell, they had fulfilled their homework properly, so he would give them award points accordingly.

A lot of them…

But that was really when they could implement the magic he showed them.

Did that mean the student in front of him could do it?

“Please take a look.”

* * *

* * *

Flora said that and created a small drop of water in the empty space between herself and Ludger.

It didn't stop there. A small piece of ice formed on the ceiling, and the wind blew from the other side of the corridor.

Ludger's eyes shone at the sight.

Yes. It was obviously the Coordinating Designation spell that he showed the other day in his class.

The spell wasn't as sophisticated and neat as he showed the students…

It was crude, and its effectiveness was also weak.

…But the foundation was obviously the same as what he had shown the students.

“You really succeeded.”

“Because I’m a genius.”

When Ludger admitted it meekly, Flora's nose naturally got higher.

“What do you want? Do you want to get an award point like I told the students before?"

"At first, I also thought I would ask to get an award point, but…"

“But?”

Flora obviously thought that it wouldn't be fun then.

And she changed her mind in the middle.

"I want another appropriate reward, not award points."

“Another reward, you said?”

“Yes. Right.”

Flora's demands were insolent, but it was well deserved for her to say that.

Ludger pondered for a moment, then nodded his head.

“Alright.”

“Really?”

She just tried to say it, so she opened her eyes wide because she didn't know Ludger would willingly allow it.

She couldn't openly ask for another magic technique, nor could she ask for his secret.

But what if she left that judgment to Ludger himself?

He boasted that he would give enormous award points with his own mouth.

If she asked him for a similar reward, he should contemplate another reward that fit the award points he was offering.

'Professor Ludger is surprisingly straightforward. There's no way a person like this would give me something weird as a reward.’

Ludger Chelysie, the man she had been watching so far, was a man who kept his word resolutely.

He was cold, stern, and sometimes spoke rashly, but he had that much confidence in his words.

Should she say that he had principles?

There was no way such a man was just talking nonsense to bluff.

“Come in.”

Ludger said so and opened the door of the professor's office.

“P-pardon?”

“I told you to come in.”

“…”

Flora gulped down her saliva.

Was he telling her to go into the professor's office with him alone?

Flora unconsciously had a devious thought, but soon she shook her head and brushed it off roughly.

‘Yeah. He just asked me to go in. Let's not think about weird things by myself!’

She followed Ludger into the professor's office while saying yes.

She had a strong realization that the inside of the professor's room was just like what she would have expected of Ludger.

It was quiet and neat…

It was well organized and she felt a strange sense of calmness…

The pleasant smell of hardwood and the scent of ink and paper…

Even the light that softly shone on the interior space…

‘So this is Professor Ludger's private space.’

“This way.”

Ludger guided Flora through a door on one wall of the professor's office.

It was a professor-only private laboratory where assistants stayed and Ludger himself conducted magical experiments and research.

Ludger opened the door and went inside first, followed by Flora behind him.

‘It’s wide.’

Flora looked at Ludger's lab and had that kind of impression.

Usually, professors had labs of similar size, but Ludger's seemed to be especially big when compared to other professors.

That was because there was almost no junk taking up the space.

He was a soldier indeed.

He didn't place anything there except the minimal amount of books, documents, and materials he needed.

On a long blackboard on one wall, Flora could see dense magic circles and theories drawn in magical chalk.

‘What on earth does he study?’

Most of them were just excerpts from theses or books, and that was what Flora also knew.

However, seeing a single pattern on one end of the magic board, Flora had no choice but to stop without realizing it.

‘What on earth is this…?’

Various spell beginnings that Ludger studied…

She didn't feel much inspiration from the board, but the pattern she was looking at was different.

‘Pattern? No. Was it a technique?’

But the shape of the technique was strange.

Basically, spell techniques took a three-dimensional form, as if drawing through lines and surfaces with mana in the air.

The appearance varied widely depending on the spell, but there were many techniques that basically created glamorous or colorful, picturesque patterns.

But Ludger’s drawing was so strange.

It looked like an ordinary cube.

She could draw it with her eyes closed.

However, if there was another small cube inside the cube, and if each corner was connected by a line, it became a different story.

‘Did he draw it without particular reason? No. It’s not a mere drawing.’

As soon as she went closer to check out the technique, Ludger opened his mouth.

“I contemplated what to give you. Since I've decided to give you a lot of award points myself, if you want something similar to them, I have to give or show you something equivalent to them."

Flora looked back at Ludger.

He seemed to have already finished his contemplation.

"The Coordinate Designation spell that I showed you… It was to express magic at a long distance by setting mathematical formulas and coordinates from around the spellcaster, just as you felt and used. You control the mana that you use as much as you can, you fix it in the midair, and you cast another spell in that empty coordinate."

Of course, students who didn't understand wouldn't be able to understand even if he said that.

In fact, Flora Lumos was also like that.

She could only imitate the spell because she followed the process according to what she saw with her own eyes. Her natural talent made it possible.

"If it's you, I don't mind showing you this."

Ludger said so and began to draw a spell technique in front of him.

But it was extremely different from the usual spell technique.

‘Wh-what’s that?’

Flora’s shoulders unconsciously shook.

He did not make a single shape by drawing the spell technique.

The one stroke didn't stop there and went on and on.

He drew the curves elegantly, it formed one side and then penetrated the existing side.

It was a revolution that went beyond spell technique.

It was a basic art that created a three-dimensional picture by drawing a line of mana in the air.

But what Ludger just showed to her…

It was a form that was called Klein's bottle on Earth.

It was a technique and magic that showed that there was a possibility of another dimension beyond three dimensions.

“…!”

At the same time, Flora's 'synesthesia' was triggered.

It was a sense of transcendence beyond the limits of a human’s five senses

As soon as she faced the magic with her sight and smell senses, Flora could not bear the shock and fainted.