The final notes of the symphony came to an end, and with it, my eyes snapped open. The disc hadn’t ended; there was still more music to come, but this much silence was enough to wake me up.

I stretched my hands above my head and propped myself on the bed.

Another day began.

I slid off the bed and walked over to the windows. The curtains rolled open, the windows fell back, and sunlight entered the room. It was necessary to get some sunlight early in the day! It was the preliminary version of touching the grass.

“Haah…” I suppressed a yawn as I walked back to my bed. It was a relief that everyone had started tending to the flowerbeds together after the Lumine incident.

Since all the students were involved, it was easier for them to take care of the flowerbeds after the sun had risen.

Of course, there were also the academy's gardeners, and the staff assigned to Black Rose also helped, but only when the students weren’t looking.

I looked at the sheets. Since I barely moved, there was nothing to fix on the bed, so I just remade it every morning.

The music picked back up as I dusted the sheets and flapped them back on the mattress. It was a softer tone than the one that helped me sleep, but of course, I still liked it loud.

Humming, I put up the last pillows against the headboard and trudged to the storage closet at the back of the kitchen, where I found a broom and a fur duster.

After picking them up, I got to work. You had to clean up your room every day, and a clean room meant easier moving around when you had to.

The dust from the corner, from the mattress, and the back of the furniture.

“Oh, morning, Mister Parker!” I greeted the spider living in one corner of my room. He lived rent-free. Spiders had no sense of economy. They believed in symbiotic barter trades. I gave him board, and Mister Parker (christened by me) would clean up any annoying bugs for me.

I preferred an early bath. Once the room was clean, I took that bath in silence. Then I got out, changed into the clothes I picked out beforehand, and then made a cup of coffee to be enjoyed in silence.

Silence, for me, was, of course, keeping the gramophone blasting at max volume.

When drinking coffee, I tended not to do anything else unless someone else was in my room. It was so natural to do nothing that I would sometimes forget I was a twenty-first-century person.

On second thought, I had completely forgotten it.

None of those thoughts remained about how my parents looked, how my friends looked, what their names were, what city I lived in, or what school I went to.

Even the wish to go back had died eight years ago.

After finishing the coffee, I cleaned the cup and the dishes. Then, it was time to grab my case, put on my hat, kill the music, and step out.

There was little to do for me as a professor.

Every morning, my first order of business was to talk to the staff of the Black Rose Dormitory. I would talk to the knights and the maids, then head to the plaza closest to the Black Rose.

The lady who ran the bakery would usually have my order of cookies ready to go in two hampers every morning. I made small talk with her, then made small talk with everyone in the plaza, then made small talk with everyone visiting the plaza, and finally returned to Black Rose.

After returning, I would leave one hamper of cookies with the maids so that all the staff could share it and keep the other for the students.

If only we had more teachers in the Black Rose, too. That would have increased the number of cookies. These morning cookies were all being chalked up as the academy’s expenses anyway, and they would be until I got caught.

At this time, it was straight to class.

“Good morning!” I said as I stepped in, and all the students replied with another good morning.

The students, too, looked forward to the cookies quite a bit.

My duties as their professor were pretty limited. It was simply to complete the roll call, talk about any changes or events, and then leave them to the other professors.

The complaints about classes being boring had increased among the students with each passing day.

As they started to adjust to their academy life, they began seeking novelty in routine things.

Classes being boring was a result of the professors and the curriculum itself being too easy for the scions. They were all well beyond the academy level before stepping in. Most of them, at least.

Since that was the case, the other professors had no choice but to opt for more practical and experimental classes.

If only we had more teachers in the Black Rose, too. That would have brought more options for the teaching. It would require highly qualified individuals. Maybe I might find some.

Of course, who would want to teach a group of people being observed? How different was it from being monitored, too?

The school day would usually continue without incident. I took this time to visit Gladwin now and then and return before Club Time.

The Club had become interesting. Most students were interested in what I had taught Ier, and I was happy to teach them outside of class.

After that, I would make rounds again. Sometimes I stepped out of the academy and into the city, ok quite frequently, other times I stayed in the academy and talked to people.

When night came around, everybody went back. I would go to my room and start writing letters and receiving letters.

This part took a lot of time. I had to stay updated on things happening all over the world and make adjustments.

My funds were coming along very well. I had a hand in most significant businesses all over the continent. It solved a big problem for me.

I needed to do something about manpower now. It was tough while sitting inside the academy, but it wasn’t impossible.

I left the letters thinking of how the first step of my plans was coming to an end and how the next would begin soon. I was still powerless, comparatively, but power could be gained.

After that, it was back to the gramophone and into the bed.

All in a day’s work.