The Academy is Doomed

Chapter 1

Amon exclaimed.

“That’s the Amonis Academy!”

A comprehensive educational institution founded by the Unified Emperor, Amonis the Great.

It’s a venerable academy that many noble children aspire to attend.

‘I, the second son of a rural noble family, will become a teacher at the Amonis Academy…….’

It was a unique opportunity.

‘Thank you, Father.’

A job his father, Baron Drake, had arranged through connections.

I wasn’t going to waste my first and last chance.

‘I will teach the noble sons well, earn their respect, make good connections, and raise a family of my own!’

Determined, Amon ran toward the academy.

He had walked and ran for days to get here, but the thought of a bright future in front of him energized him.

‘My journey has only just begun!’

Amon enthusiastically raced to the front gate, but soon stopped short.

‘But why is the Academy so cluttered?’

Desks and other equipment were being moved out of the academy’s main building and annex.

He grabbed a laborer who happened to be passing by.

“Is something happening at the academy?”

“What? Haven’t you heard?”

“What happened?”

The laborer said bluntly.

“The headmaster failed in his investment and lost all his money, going bankrupt!”

Tsk-!

Amon’s heart sank.

The academy had been ruined since his first day.

* * *

A fellow teacher who happened to be passing by walked him to the principal’s office and said.

“Didn’t you see the notice of suspension of operations?”

“A notice?”

“Yes, a few days ago? Through the warp gate and messengers, the noble scions and teachers were informed of the academy’s suspension of operations.”

There was no way a country estate had a warp gate.

‘Did I miss the messenger too?’

Well, it took almost two weeks to get here.

‘Even so, my father, who received the call, couldn’t have sent someone else to call me. He even sold the two horses he had for ceremonial purposes to buy my uniform and sword…….’

Baron Drake is poor.

He’s a ‘baron’ in name only.

His father, Baron Drake, farms the land, and his estates consist of small villages and rugged lands.

That’s why everyone in the village, including his family, was overjoyed when he was appointed to the Academy.

‘……The academy was ruined on my first day?’

My heart was pounding, but the teacher leading me to the principal’s office was laughing all the way to the bank.

‘Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.’

The teacher stopped walking and smiled broadly.

“This is the principal’s office.”

Please tell me it’s a joke.

“I’m going to go now, so have a good day.”

“What? Uh, where are you going?”

“I’m retiring today.”

The coworker-no, what had been a coworker-disappeared with a light step, and Amon narrowed his eyes.

‘You’re retiring.’

He smiled, strangely cheerful.

“Phew…….”

Amon sighed heavily and knocked on the door of the principal’s office.

A crisp voice answered.

“Come in.”

Amon’s eyes widened as he opened the door.

‘……Elf?’

A beautiful elf with green eyes stared at him.

He’d gotten the job at the prestigious Amonis Academy in a hurry, so he hadn’t bothered to check who the headmaster was.

‘The headmaster is an elf.’

The elf smiled.

“Are you, by any chance, Mr. Amon, the teacher who was supposed to start today?”

“Ah, yes.”

“I see. Well, well. Come and sit down.”

Amon nervously took the seat across from her, and the elf spoke.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Anar’el, the headmaster.”

“I’m Amon of……Baron Drake.”

“Yes, yes. Now, if you’ll excuse me, let me finish what I was looking at.”

The headmaster flipped open a magazine and began to read, ears perked.

‘……? Isn’t that the language of the elves, where text is not a common language?’

The headmaster said as he tapped his pen and read the magazine.

“Mr. Amon?”

“Yes?”

“Jowjow or Steel Slug. Which do you like better?”

“……What’s that?”

“Just tell me, in your own words, what you like better.”

Frowning, Amon blurted out.

“Steel Slug?”

“Steel Slug, then, for ten gold coins.”

Amon’s eyes widened at that.

“Is that a horse racing magazine!”

Anar’el’s ears pricked up in outrage at the near-scream.

“Horse racing! How could a noble Elf do such a barbaric thing?”

“Aren’t you?”

“Of course not!”

Anar’el said, her eyes shining.

“It’s racing snails!”

“What?”

“Don’t you know? It’s a race between giant snails across the world’s water, and it’s all the rage among the elves these days!”

At the sound of that nonsense, I remembered the story of the Academy’s failure due to a failed investment.

“I heard that the Academy went bankrupt due to failed investments. They even unloaded the luggage outside.”

“For now.”

The word “for now” made me swear, but I pushed it down.

“……What exactly is the situation right now?”

“Well, for starters, the imperial government has recommended that we shut down, which has caused most of the students and teachers to leave.”

“Most? Not all?”

“Yes, the nature of the academy is such that we don’t have to follow the imperial government’s recommendations unconditionally, so there are some teachers and students who stayed, so even though the academy is shut down, it doesn’t mean that the academy can’t continue its activities.”

So ‘for now’.

“So how many teachers and students are left?”

“Three teachers.”

“Four if you include me.”

“Three, including you.”

Why does the back of my neck suddenly hurt?

“Well, what about the students?”

“Two.”

I can’t help but shout.

“We’re screwed! How can there be fewer students than teachers?”

“Why are you yelling?”

“How can I not yell!”

I said, pressing my brows together.

“Well, yeah. I know the imperial family won’t be giving us any more money since we’ve been advised to shut down, but we should still have some money left over, right?”

At those words, the headmaster slipped the racing snail magazine behind her.

“……No way.”

“……I can pay it back.”

I snatched the magazine.

“What are you doing!”

“What do you think you’re doing, taking money out of the academy to gamble, and you’re the head of the academy?”

“Steel Slug, if Steel Slug wins, it’s worth fifty times as much!”

“You’re saying he’s not likely to win!”

The principal cried as I ripped up the magazine.

“Noooo!”

I said, glaring at the principal.

“Give it up. We can’t afford to spend operating funds on that kind of gambling.”

You’re crazy, solidly crazy.

“I need to win that so I can invest in…….”

“Invest? What the hell is that…….?”

A chill went down my spine.

‘This academy, the headmaster lost money and went bankrupt because he failed to invest!’

The worker said.

Yeah, the academy didn’t go under because of gambling.

“What, what investment?”

Yes, investments. If you do it right, it’s good.

I grabbed the headmaster by the shoulders and shook her.

“What investment? What were you going to invest in?”

“I was going to invest in a dragon banana orchard with my other money…….”

“……Dragon bananas?”

Isn’t that the finest crop that takes three years to sprout and twelve to bear fruit?

Anar’el exclaimed with a gasp.

“If we just wait 15 years, the Academy’s operating funds can increase tenfold!”

Fifteen elf years are different compared to fifteen human years.

“You punk!”

Amon, who finally realized why the Academy had failed due to investment, let out the screams he had been holding back while clutching his head.

* * *

‘This won’t work.’

He couldn’t answer the question alone.

‘At least I have two fellow teachers, so we can work together to find a way out of this mess.’

It was time to take action, even if it meant seizing power.

‘Staff room. She said there were other teachers here, right?’

I said, opening the door quickly.

“Hello……What is this smell?”

The smell of alcohol filled the faculty room.

In the center of it all, a middle-aged man was dozing off, rubbing his stomach.

‘……Is that my senior teacher?’

No, it can’t be. It can’t be.

It’s just some drunk who crawled in here and is sleeping.

I shook him awake with a shaky hand.

“Uh, hiccup, what?”

“You shouldn’t be sleeping here, you should go home.”

“Hmm, what do you mean, I’m a teacher here.”

“Oh, shit…….”

After enduring the ‘foot’ sound with superhuman patience, Amon realized.

There was no way the only teacher left could be sane when the imperial family had ordered the school to shut down.

‘Well, what about the other one?’

Amon washed his eyes and looked around, but there was no one else here.

That means the other one is my only hope!

I rushed out the door.

‘Anyone home? I’ve found ……!’

He arrived at the third classroom.

Amon walked in and immediately collapsed into a heap.

A woman who looked like a teacher was lying on the table, sleeping with a blanket over her head.

* * *

‘The headmaster and the teachers are all crazy.’

How happy he was when he was offered a job at the prestigious Amonis Academy.

‘I wish I could punch myself for being so happy.’

In retrospect, I think I heard a voice behind the bookcase saying, “Don’t go, don’t go.”

‘……Are students the only thing left?’

I fired up my happiness circuitry.

‘Perhaps a powerful nobleman’s child has stayed behind for some reason.’

If that is indeed the case, then teach him well, and I may be able to make connections.

‘Yes, that’s my only hope. It’s the only thing that will pull me up from this hellish cliff.’

Of course, even with his self-brainwashing, Amon didn’t have high hopes.

And Amon, who entered the dormitory where the two students were gathered, smiled brightly.

‘Of course!’

The two students, a boy and a girl in shabby clothes, were looking at him anxiously!

‘My life can’t possibly be going so well!’

But, Goddess of Fate, after all the times you’ve stabbed me in the back with unexpected circumstances, couldn’t you at least give me hope for once?

Amon, who had gone mad with despair, smiled gently and looked at the students.

“I’m Amon Drake, your new teacher. Are you the rest of the students?”

“Yes……sir.”

The two students looked over nervously.

I looked at them and asked.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Boris.”

“And, uh, I’m Chloe.”

“I see. Why didn’t you two go back?”

Boris answered in a small voice.

“I don’t have anywhere to go back to, my village disappeared two years ago.”

“Oh.”

A commoner’s child.

“Why didn’t you go back Chloe?”

“I came to study abroad from the Kingdom of Aran……”

“Aaaaah…….”

I felt like I was going to burst into tears at any moment.

The Kingdom of Aran was lost in a war last year.

It was impossible for a student to escape this despair.

“I see. Come here.”

Amon said with tears streaming down his face as he pulled them into his arms.

“There’s nothing to worry about now.”

“…….”

“Because the teacher is here.”

The children burst into tears, obviously distressed.

Amon patted them on the back and rolled his eyes.

‘Actually, I’m in a similar situation.’

A part of me wanted to leave and return to the estate but I couldn’t.

When I applied for a job at Amonis Academy, I stamped my name on a contract promising to faithfully fulfill the duties of a teacher for three years.

And if I violated it, I would have to pay a hefty penalty!

‘So…….’

Amon’s eyes lit up.

“You guys have nothing to worry about.”

“Hmph!”

I’ll take you with me to my estate.

It’s not the most affluent place, but it’s better than this place with the crazy principal and the crazy teachers!

When the students calmed down, Amon stood up.

He headed for the office of the crazy principal, muttering to himself.

“……This is the only way.”

There’s only one way out of this, contract or no contract.

Yes, the only salvation.

Amon laughed with a gleam in his eye.

‘Let’s put the Academy out of business.’