Chapter 55

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Translated by Sylph

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net.
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The main building, located in the center of the Gifted Center, was a place where the Director’s office, the faculty office, and the head professors’ offices were gathered.

As such, there were only a few classrooms in the main building.

Obtaining a classroom in such a place was a source of pride for a professor and a point of boasting for the students who took classes there.

At that moment, Professor Malles was shrugging his shoulders.

“Behold! Your new classroom!”

He straightened his chest and pointed at the door proudly.

“Now you won’t need to walk a lot to go to other classrooms. Moreover, since no other students besides you can use it, you can leave your heavy belongings here. Anyway, I don’t have any other classes besides this one, so there’s no need for other students to use it!”

It wasn’t that he didn’t have other classes, but rather that he had stubbornly refused to do them, but there was no way the children would know that.

“Wow! It’s a real new classroom!”

In front of Professor Malles, Evi raised both arms to express her joy.

For several days, she had been going back and forth to the math classroom while holding hands with Irene.

Still, on days when other classes ended late or the weather was bad, they had to hurry quite a bit.

Eventually, when Evi fell once more and scraped her knees and hands, Irene had glared at Professor Malles with terrifying eyes.

“Oh my, you’re going to hit the professor at this rate!”

“Huh? Am I allowed to?”

“It’s just a figure of speech! A figure of speech! Look at this girl’s eyes bulging!”

Despite saying that, Professor Malles eventually took Evi to the infirmary on his back after the class ended.

“No, how can you only wrap that much bandage!”

“It’s hard to move if I put more than this on just for a scraped knee.”

The sighing staff member asked Evi a question.

“Besides that, you have many fall injuries; do you run around often? It’s better to be careful. You’ll end up with scars.”

At his question, not only Irene but even Ruska and Arcel, who had followed along, stared intently at Professor Malles.

As if to say that he was the culprit who made Evi like this.

And today, the following day, the professor had brought the four of them here, saying that the preparation of the new classroom was finally finished.

“May we enter?”

“Of course, child. Go ahead and take a look.”

Once the professor’s permission was given, Evi knocked on the door.

“Excuse me.”

Professor Malles smiled warmly at the sight.

“Whose disciple is she that she is so polite?”

“…”

At his murmur, the other three, except for Evi, exchanged glances for a moment and then shook their heads as if to say it wasn’t worth commenting on.

* * *

The classroom was simply perfect.

Since it was originally used as a professor’s office, it wasn’t very large, but that was actually better for the four students.

If there was too much unused space, their concentration would naturally falter.

Moreover, thanks to various deals Professor Malles had made with Seraphina regarding his retirement date, the classroom was filled with many things.

Not only various types of math-related books but also a long sofa and a table where they could lean back and rest if they were tired.

They weren’t placed there just to make Professor Malles feel good.

“Use it comfortably if you have nowhere to go between other classes. It must be tiring to go back and forth to the dormitory every time.”

“Yes!”

Evi answered energetically to the professor’s words.

“Then let’s end today’s class here.”

“Yees!”

To those words, Ruska raised his hand and answered.

“This boy, he’s just happy because class is over.”

Professor Malles clicked his tongue and glared at Ruska.

But that was only for a moment; soon, a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

‘At first, I only wanted to teach Evi, but this… the other kids are quite useful too.’

Initially, he had thought the other three were just bothersome extras who came along with Evi.

However, after conducting classes, Professor Malles gave all four of them a passing grade.

‘Irene Terence is indeed from a merchant family; she’s very quick with calculations.’

She didn’t seem to have a great passion for deep academic exploration, but she understood very well when taught.

Moreover, she was quite prideful, so if she didn’t understand something, she would hold onto him and ask again several times until she finally understood.

‘Ruska is the same.’

The one who couldn’t keep his body still the most during class was Ruska.

He would yawn loudly or sometimes lie down on his desk, saying he couldn’t do it.

But he would often come up with peculiar solution methods that even Professor Malles, who had dedicated himself to mathematics for decades, had never considered.

Of course, most of them were nonsensical calculation formulas.

But among them, a few yielded the correct answer.

They were things that even Professor Malles had to stare at for a long time to understand why they could produce the answer.

‘Heh, such kids sometimes find really amazing formulas.’

Of course, when he saw him groaning that it was too hard after solving one problem, he wanted to give him a little noggin.

‘Arcel goes without saying.’

In terms of academic achievement alone, Arcel was simply flawless.

Everyone in the Empire had already known Arcel’s name for several years.

Since every professor had been boasting that the son of the Kaylan family was a genius.

Moreover, among the four, Arcel was the only student who had mastered all of advanced mathematics.

A talent that could truly be called a completed form.

‘To be able to gather only such children and hold a class.’

Professor Malles clenched his fist.

To think he would obtain such great fortune in the late years of his life.

‘I must work harder.’

He shouldn’t be satisfied with just obtaining one classroom.

He had to contact old connections that had been cut long ago and gather his disciples again.

‘Only then will Evi have a strong support after graduation.’

Unaware of how important that gathering would become in the Empire later, Professor Malles hummed a tune and headed toward the faculty office.

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As soon as Professor Malles left, the four of them immediately organized their books.

“Ugh… I’m tired…”

Irene made a groaning sound while stretching her arms.

Separate from working hard, long class hours were difficult.

“Are you tired?”

When Evi, who had organized her books, approached worriedly, Irene stretched out her arms and hugged Evi like she was hugging a doll.

“Mmm, the classes are tiring, but I think I was more tired because I was worried about the weekend.”

While saying that, Irene pinched Evi’s cheeks gently.

Was it thanks to her working hard to feed her at every meal lately?

‘She definitely gained some weight.’

The cheek fat caught in her hand had become softer compared to the beginning.

Of course, it was still a long way from the ideal image of a 7-year-old that Irene had in mind.

“Whys the weekenn?”

Because her cheeks were caught, Evi’s pronunciation slipped, but what she was saying was clear.

“This weekend is the first weekend since classes started that we can go outside.”

“Ah.”

At Irene’s answer, Evi remembered what she had seen in the Gifted Center’s books.

At the point when the remaining students were judged to have become somewhat accustomed to the Gifted Center, students could go outside once a month on weekends.

“Since all the branch families of the Terence family in the capital are gathering at the townhouse, they told me to come out and meet them… how noisy they’ll all be. My head already hurts just thinking about it.”

When Irene made a groaning sound, Ruska also spoke with a tearful face.

“I have to go home this weekend too. My older brothers said the swordsmanship training at the Gifted Center would be bland and told me to come out so they can spar with me.”

Ruska, who had three older brothers, lowered his head as he imagined himself being beaten like a training scarecrow.

Then he asked Arcel, who was quietly looking at a book.

“Arcel, what about you?”

“I’m thinking of going home too. There’s a meeting, and there are some books at home I want to bring back. There’s a festival in the park near the townhouse this weekend, so I think it’ll be a bit noisy…”

Arcel, who was answering absent-mindedly, shut his mouth when he saw Evi listening to their stories blankly.

The same was true for Ruska and Irene. At least Ruska opened his mouth to try and fix the situation.

“Uh, um. Evi, why don’t you go somewhere to play too? Like the festival Arcel mentioned… Argh!”

With a thud! sound, Ruska grabbed his shin.

Irene, with a gaze that asked, ‘What is this insensitive jerk saying?’, had kicked him under the table.

“Irene, you…!”

The moment Ruska tried to argue with Irene with eyes tearful from pain.

Tap!

This time, a foot accurately struck the back of his knee, causing Ruska’s body to stagger and slump down.

From behind such a Ruska, Arcel spoke with his usual expressionless face.

“Sorry, my foot hit you by mistake.”