Deverick had finished grading everything in the past month. With his vast knowledge, it was easy to understand anything his students would have written on their papers. The only time-consuming part was that he had to read every paper and provide feedback on areas they could improve. With how many people were in his classes, it took him about 25 days to finish everything.
The reason he didn't have Opus do this task is that he wants to get an idea of everyone's progress. For the following year, he decided to teach two different classes than what he had this year. The main reason is that he doesn't care for the basic stuff. These topics were just set because he was limited on what year he can teach. Consider it a trial period for the professor. Should they produce satisfactory results, they can expand how many classes they can teach. Other than that, they could also decide to teach something more advanced.
Now that he has the option, he has decided to teach a class limited to sophomores and a class open to everyone. As a result, there is a high chance that the students he had for this year will be in his next year's classes. Should that happen, having an idea of everyone's progress would be a big help in pacing his lessons.
For his next classes, he doesn't plan on forcing everyone to keep up or end up failing. He already gave everyone a failing grade to pressure them. The way that class was taught was to ensure they have everything they needed as accomplished mages. Doing it anymore would just give him the reputation of an asshole. What he wants is a class that is eager to learn while he delivers some high-quality knowledge that he has accumulated over the years.
After he finished grading his paper, he decided it is finally time to kick Sylvia out. She has been holed up in her lab way too much. In fact, she hasn't left for over 5 weeks. This can't be healthy no matter how he thought about it.
When he walked into the lab, he noticed Susie is still there.
"You know you are free to leave as soon as the school year ended right?"
"I know, but I just can't help but worry about your student."
*sigh*
He couldn't help but rub his head at his troublesome friend.
"Alright, can you ask her to leave? I really don't want to be the one to kick her out if possible."
"Sure. That doesn't sound too bad."
They took the magic platform down to the 3rd floor and she knocked on the door.
He expected some resistance, but what she said made him realize her mental state was worse than he thought.
"This could be a problem," he thought to himself, "Especially left untreated. I can't exactly have one of my brightest students fall into suicidal nihilism, can I? That would be a big blow to her friends that I worked so hard to nurture. So sorry Sylvia, I will have to snap you out of it. Even if it means you will hate me."
After Deverick said his piece, he watched as Sylvia walked out in dejection.
"Are you sure that was the right thing to do?" Susie asked.
"Don't worry. In case that didn't do anything, I have other plans."
"If you say so."
Deverick then proceeded to wrap up everything he needed to do for the school year. Then he took a spatial gate back to his home region. After an hour of traveling by hover vehicles, he finally entered the town.
"Hmmm. I haven't had Aunty Helen's baked goods in a while. Let's stop by."
---Mary's pov---
I walked into school today. The atmosphere feels off today. As I walked past, the students started whispering to each other. So far everything seems normal. They always start talking when I am near. It can't be helped. I am a new teacher. A young one compared to everyone in the school. And don't even get started on what they are talking about.
When I first started, I was curious so I purposely slowed down my steps to focus on their talks. I couldn't believe what I heard.
"Darn, she's hot."
"I know man, there will be some lucky people this year"
"I get you. Getting to admire such a beauty close up."
"*whistle* Looking good, Ms. Scon"
I blushed at the last one. Since when did people become so bold? *sigh* What did I expect from a bunch of hormone-driven teenagers? After that incident, I stopped paying attention to what they were saying.
Later that day, I found out why the atmosphere was so weird. Apparently, there was a rumor going around school that a new teacher got their position from sleeping with a board member. How ridiculous. Who would believe such rumors? It clearly came out of nowhere so it would be a miracle if anyone believe it.
But I clearly overestimated the capacity of these high schoolers because, in one of my afternoon classes, I heard people gossiping about it. When I heard them spread such slander, I couldn't help but warn them to stop. I feel bad for whoever was the target of those rumors.
Over the next few weeks, I would constantly tell people to stop spreading it. But that did little to help the victim in this story. In fact, they only spiraled out of control even more. Since that didn't help, I decided to stop entertaining them and started ignoring them from that point onwards.
This apparently didn't help the situation. Over the next few months, the rumors continued to worsen. They started describing the teacher as a slut, whore, prostitute, and other nasty names I would rather not get into. The claim that she would do anything to better her position. Some really nasty stuff. Just take my word for it.
By now, even an idiot can tell that this rumor was spread with malicious intent. I decided to take this issue to the principal in hopes of helping the poor soul that is suffering from this maltreatment. The principal agreed to investigate the situation. This has become such a mess that if it was left unresolved, it could affect the reputation of the school.
When the other board members heard that, they also demanded an investigation and to calm the situation as soon as possible. Two days later, the entire school was called down to the school auditorium for a mandatory speech by the principal.
When everyone was seated, the principal got up on stage and started projecting his voice with magic.
"We have become aware of a nasty rumor that has been going around. After strict investigations by the school board, we have determined that the rumor is false. As such, I would like to remind everyone that spreading harmful slander is against school policy. Should this continue, all violators are subjectable to suspension for misdemeanor. If this issue persists, we may deem expulsion as necessary.
.
.
.
We are a school that will not allow such atrocity to exist among us. So I would like to ask our students sitting here to stop spreading these rumors. Be the better person in a situation that is clearly wrong. Thank you."
The audience clapped after the principal finished his long speech, for formalities' sake. I can tell the students don't mean it by the bored looks on their faces.
A few more weeks passed by. Since the principal's speech, the rumor has died down at school. Life continued as normal. At least that's what it seemed. I say seemed because apparently, the rumor popped up again. This time, it was among the parents. There was a big outrage at the school for allowing such corrupt practices. They demanded the teacher be fired because she is a bad influence on their kids.
I can't really blame them. I would react in a similar way if my child was in such a school. Maybe even worse. What I don't get was why did this come up again? It was distinctly stated that the rumor is false. So why did it spread even further? It really feels like someone is targeting the teacher in the story.
The school had to come out with another statement saying that everything was a malicious rumor spread to harm the reputation of a promising teacher. The parents were calmed by this, but some kept their doubts.
These doubts sprang up again when more rumors about the teacher appeared. With it, there was also blurry video footage that serves as "undeniable proof."
The video consists of two naked people in a classroom and some inappropriate actions for any public space. Among the static audio of moans and grunts, there was a very clear conversation. To sum up everything, the teacher of the rumors is doing all the board members a special "favor" to ensure that she stays in her position.
I really don't understand how they call that irrefutable proof. The video is way too blurry to make out anything, let alone say one of the people is the teacher in question. Also the entire time, the audio was static. And when the subject reveals incriminating evidence, the audio coincidently becomes clear. Like how big of an idiot does it take to believe that?
When I brought this up with the principal, he says there is not much he can do about it. Even if it is false, the media will eventually blow it out of proportion for attention. By then, no one will care about the truth.
His fears came true when more "footages" showed up on a certain network form. Outrage was at an all-time high as the school year approached its end.
On the last teacher day, I was sitting in my office, finishing everything for the year. Right as I finished my last grading, a knock came from my door. The principal came in with a heavy look on his face.
Apprehension filled my heart.
He sighed.
"I'm sorry Mary, but I came to inform you that this is your last day."
This was an ominous sentence. I decided to play dumb in hopes that everything was a joke.
"Of course, it's my last day. After today, it will be summer break for me."
"No. That's not what I meant. After today, you don't need to show up again."
I froze. "But why? I did nothing wrong!"
He sighed again. "Mary. It's not a matter of you being wrong. It's a matter of reputation."
"So I am getting fired just like that?!?!"
"You need to understand. There's just too much pressure on the school. If we keep you, our hard-built reputation will be destroyed under my administration. I can't afford to disappoint all my predecessors like that."
Tears started streaming down the sides of my face. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. What did I do to deserve this?
"Can you answer one last question? Why did the Intitulé1French for entitled. Entitled meaning family take it this far when I only gave their son a warning?"
"You might not know this, but they are notorious for their tyrant-like behavior. And the son might not have taken kindly to being called out in front of everyone."
"JUST FOR THAT!?!??!"
"They have acted for less."
"BUt WhY!?!? DOesN'T ThE lAW FoRbID nObLeS FroM aBUsInG ThEIr POwERS lIKe tHis?"
"You might not know this, coming from common origins, but that really is limited to physical abuse."
"So they can just ruin someone's life and be fine?!"
"The problem is that it's very hard to investigate such incidents. The Intitulé are very proficient in covering things up. That's why they are one of the few magic families with a bad reputation. Everyone knows they did it, but there is no proof to punish them."
This revelation broke my spirit. Just because of this one incident, I will never become a teacher again. My record, tarnished for nothing but the enjoyment of a spoiled brat. It would be a lie if I say I wasn't resenting them. How could I not? But what can I do about it? I am nothing but a commoner that was born with magic talent. At that realization, I quickly packed my stuff and took a transportation service back home.
Tears burst out as I unleashed everything inside me. Why was the world so unfair? What did I do to deserve such treatment? I buried my face into my clothes and screamed. The driver only looked at me with sympathy as all of this was happening.
When I got back home, I unpacked and decided to take my mind off everything by helping mom like the good old times.
A few minutes into my shift, I saw someone walk up to me. He looks somewhat familiar, but I couldn't remember when I saw him.
"Hey Mary, haven't seen you in a long time."
"I have been pretty busy trying to become a teacher and all in the past few years."
I don't really know who he is, but he seems to be familiar with me. I guess he must be a customer from when I was working here. I had quite a good relationship with them.
"So care to tell me why you're so sad?"
I see. He must have seen my pink, puffy eyes. That explains why no one has come up to me.
"Stuff came up in life."
He noticed that I didn't want to talk about it and changed the topic.
"Well, I am here to talk anytime if you need it. Now can I have a folachi galamo2another made-up pastry name?"
"Sure."
I am glad someone treats me normally after everything.
I handed the customer his order and watched him walk about. When he got past the doors, I saw his lips move as if he was talking to someone.
I couldn't make out what he said, but he had a scary look on his face.
"Opus, investigate everything."
