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“Did you hear the news?”

“Who doesn’t know about it by now?”

“Wow, I can’t believe Max and Slos actually lost. That’s crazy. I know Mason is skilled, but he hasn’t trained for a long time, right? And Max is already the number one in the Swordsmanship Department.”

“Not to mention Ron Bears was the dead last. His grades must be at the absolute bottom?”

“Max and Slos were trained intensively by Teacher Claudie. They were his star pupils.”

“Then… does that mean Teacher Ethan is more skilled than Teacher Claudie?”

“Hey! What are you saying? Teacher Claudie is still better for now!”

“But he lost, didn’t he?”

“Well, that’s true but…”

News of this incident rapidly spread throughout the academy. That Teacher Ethan Whiskers, not Claudie Hyde, had become the winner of this department representative decision match was a huge issue among the students.

Who was Claudie? He was the teacher who had a firm grip on the Swordsmanship Department until now. Moreover, he was the pride of Ivecar, hailed as Claudie Hyde.

He must have been utterly determined to avenge last year’s humiliation this time around.

That Claudie Hyde had lost the department representative decision match caused a massive uproar within the academy.

And the fact that he was defeated by the newcomer Teacher Ethan Whiskers was a major contributing factor to the issue’s widespread attention.

“I can’t believe he actually lost to a new teacher.”

“No, but still, how did it turn out like this?”

“Could the Principal have intervened? This doesn’t make any sense.”

Teachers who weren’t present whispered among themselves, and likewise, students seemed doubtful that Max and Slos could have lost to Mason and Ron.

“Was Teacher Claudie’s skill just hype?”

“How could the number one and number three lose? Ron was even the dead last!”

“Are Mason, Ron, and Yuna really our representatives now?”

“I can’t accept that.”

“Me neither. How can they represent the Swordsmanship Department?”

The students’ reactions were quite severe. While they could accept Max becoming the representative since he was the number one in the Swordsmanship Department and participating in the exchange with the Magic Department, accepting Mason was another matter entirely.

“Mason’s just a delinquent!”

“How can a delinquent who managed to get in the teacher’s good graces a bit become a representative?”

Students who had previously been tormented by Mason could hardly accept him as the department representative so easily.

At that moment, Mason, who had suddenly appeared among the gossiping students, shot them a glance.

Seeing Mason’s gaze, the students who had been gleefully gossiping immediately fell silent.

But Mason approached as if he had heard everything.

This was bad. Thinking that, the students tried to immediately leave.

However, Mason was faster and stood before them.

“M-Mason…?”

The approaching Mason immediately bowed his head.

“I’m sorry. I won’t make excuses. I apologize for acting like a delinquent towards you all.”

The students were greatly taken aback.

If this were the usual Mason, it wouldn’t be strange for him to immediately call his gang and harass them.

“D-Did you just apologize?”

“Yeah, I don’t know if you’ll forgive me just because of this, but at least I want to take responsibility for what I’ve done.”

“What’s…”

“Why are you suddenly acting like this?”

One student asked.

“I want to live properly from now on.”

Mason gave a brief answer.

It was a short response, but his peers sensed sincerity in those words.

“I’ve only just realized how shamelessly I’ve been living until now. You may think it’s pointless for me to say this now, but I’m sorry.”

The peers couldn’t immediately forgive Mason on the spot. But they could sense his sincerity.

Afterward, Mason went around and apologized to every student he could remember.

And finally, he gathered all his former gang members.

“I’m sorry for until now.”

At those words of apology, even his gang showed strange expressions.

“Mason, you’ve really changed.”

“Is this all because of that Teacher Ethan?”

“Yeah, I don’t need to explain it to you guys in detail since you’re taking the same class.”

They too were well aware of just how remarkable a teacher Ethan was, the one who had changed Mason, since they were taking the same class.

It wasn’t just Mason who had changed. They had changed too.

It was simply that Mason had changed the most drastically.

Next, Mason bowed to Chen Garcia.

“The things I said back then crossed a line. I’ll properly apologize, Chen.”

“No, I’ve already forgotten about it. I know you didn’t mean what you said back then.”

Chen had also changed quite a bit.

Of course, Teacher Ethan was a frightening person, but at least by taking his class, Chen felt he could change too. He felt like he could become a better person than he was now.

Perhaps everyone here felt the same way.

“Let’s stop hanging around together so unproductively…”

Mason said.

It was a rather heartwarming scene, but then an unexpected visitor arrived.

“Mason, let’s talk.”

It was Max Jurod, who had lost to Mason in the department representative decision match.

“Oh! This must be Ethan’s private office!”

“As expected from Young Master Ethan. It’s incredibly spacious!”

Schudlen set down the items he was carrying.

He had been carrying a sofa and chairs over his shoulders.

With a thud, he set down his load, and Ethan immediately took charge.

“The sofa goes over here, so we can rest here. And the chairs go here, for the students to sit.”

Ethan moved the Hawk Head Crown he had been using as a substitute chair to one side and neatly arranged it as decoration.

“Where should I put this?”

What Yerica had levitated over with magic were dumbbells and barbells.

“With all these things filling the space, it looks more like a training ground than an office.”

“It serves a dual purpose. Hmm, put that slightly over there, I’m going to separate the spaces. If I set this up here…”

Ethan meticulously arranged the room with a serious expression.

“I didn’t expect you to take it this seriously. I thought you’d just set things up haphazardly.”

“It’s my office, you know. Many students will be visiting, and you two will be coming as well. More importantly, I’ll be spending the most time here, so I should arrange it to my satisfaction.”

Ethan continued adjusting the positions of the furniture with gestures.

After about an hour of tidying the office:

“Done.”

Ethan folded his arms with a satisfied expression.

The previously empty room was now quite decently filled with various items.

• Aesthetic score increased!
• Aesthetic score has reached 15.
• You have achieved an achievement!
• For achieving the [Sentimental Interior Design] achievement, you have gained a like.
• You gained ‘1’ like!

On top of that, he even secured a like through the housing system’s achievement.

‘Raising the aesthetic score is quite satisfying.’

It felt almost like his aesthetic sense was being acknowledged, which was subtly gratifying.

It was no wonder so many people got hooked on the housing system.

“It seems we’ve decorated it well. What do you guys think?”

“Should I speak frankly?”

“Go ahead, frankly.”

Just as Yerica was about to speak, Schudlen opened his mouth first.

“I think you’ve decorated it extremely well. Look, here is the office space, here is the exercise space. Great teachers like the Young Master need to get everything done in one place since they’re so busy. From that perspective, this is a very efficient and excellent office.”

Schudlen actively praised Ethan’s aesthetic sense.

“Schudlen, let’s eat some expensive meat later.”

“Yes, Young Master!”

“…Is this really okay? There are no curtains or decent artifacts, not even dimly lit artifacts…”

“Yerica, you can have some stale bread with it.”

“Ugh…”

Yerica looked at Ethan as if dumbfounded.

In the midst of this, she discovered a box that she had missed while decorating the office.

“Ethan, it looks like there’s a gift here?”

“A gift?”

There couldn’t be many people who knew that Ethan had been assigned this office yet.

Ethan immediately opened the box.

Inside were a few fragrant herb roots and a few potion bottles.

-This is compensation for the recent rudeness of the Sword Saint. These are ones I’ve been saving, so enjoy them.

“It’s a gift from the Principal. Oh, this is so expensive.”

It was a gift from the Principal as an apology for the incident that had occurred previously. They were all expensive herbs that could be used to brew potions to increase one’s mana to some degree.

Of course, they wouldn’t be as effective for Ethan, but it wasn’t a bad thing to have them nonetheless.

“As expected! The Principal must be completely enamored with the Young Master. If I were the Principal, I would be too. You have the talent to become Ivecar’s representative teacher.”

Schudlen had a proud look on his face, as if he had received the gift himself.

Knock, knock, knock.

Then someone knocked on the door.

“Teacher, it’s Chen Garcia!”

‘Chen Garcia? What brings him here suddenly?’

“Come in.”

Chen opened the door and entered. After entering, Chen glanced around the office and greeted Ethan and his two guards.

“I heard from the Principal that you’ve received your own office this time! You’ve decorated it so beautifully, Teacher!”

Chen had changed greatly, to the point where he seemed like a different person from when they had first met.

The once mischievous brat had transformed like this.

After being properly educated by Ethan once, Chen had completely turned over a new leaf while attending his classes.

He spared no effort in his training, trying to keep up with the Understanding the Sword Path class.

In particular, he studied hard to master the sword path that Ethan had revised.

As his father had said, Ethan was truly a good teacher.

“Please accept this. Um, my father asked me to bring it to you.”

“Originally, I shouldn’t be accepting things from parents.”

Chen blinked his eyes at Ethan.

He was so incorruptible.

As far as Chen knew, most of the teachers were receiving various items from parents, openly or discreetly.

Not only that, they even received financial support, and in return, they paid extra attention to those students.

Such things had become like an unwritten rule, so some parents naturally offered various items under the guise of sponsorship.

Of course, there were parents among the nobles who disliked such practices and never engaged in them.

Count Garcia was one of those nobles.

Nevertheless, he had told Chen to deliver this to Ethan.

“My father said he enjoyed the parent observation class. He made a bet on whether Teacher Ethan would do well or not at the observation class.”

“Interesting bet he made. I can probably guess which side he bet on and enjoyed.”

Chen chuckled.

Chen had also been the protagonist during the observation class.

“Then I’ll be going now.”

“Chen Garcia.”

“Yes?”

“I can see you’re making an effort.”

Ethan said.

“Keep it up like this.”

Chen was the black sheep of the Garcia family. But he didn’t become one because he wanted to.

Like Mason had changed, Chen had tried to change too. He also wanted to be acknowledged by his father, after all.

So he had worked hard on his own.

He had thought that no one would notice his diligent efforts.

But Ethan knew.

For a moment, Chen’s eyes reddened, and he nodded his head.

Who knew that having someone acknowledge you could give you such strength?

“…Yes!”

After the door closed, Yerica looked at Ethan.

“That student will never forget today, will he?”

Schudlen also nodded in agreement.

Author's Thoughts

Want to read ahead of the scheduled release? You can check the Novel page on the website (or press the next chapter button) and buy an advanced chapter with only 20 Honeys! (100 Honeys is only 5$! So you can basically read 5 advanced chapters ahead of schedule!)