WeTried Translations x Flame Comics

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 122: 17. A Muggle-Born Wizard’s Method of Managing Grades (3)

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* * *

Ivan stood at the lectern, his bored gaze passing over the countless eyes fixed on him one by one.

Quite a few students were also enrolled in his Demonfolk Ecology course. It was obvious they intended to coast through the semester with a five-credit general elective.

The students' thoughts, plans, and determination were not what mattered. Twenty-first-century education pursued universal education. In other words, it provided an equal educational system for everyone, regardless of student quality.

Even this primitive world needed the beautiful culture of modern civilization. As Earth's representative, it was his duty to spread it.

“You will learn survival techniques in this class.”

He continued, glancing at the few students who flinched. They were participants in the summer vacation camp.

“The most important concept in survival is choice and focus. Put another way, it is giving things up. You must choose what is directly connected to survival and abandon everything else.”

Ivan turned and began writing on the blackboard.

- Resources, body, comrades.

“When exposed to a hostile environment, an individual must abandon the following things in order to survive, in this order: resources, body, comrades. Resources are the items currently in your possession. Keep what is essential to sustaining life, discard unnecessary things one by one, and make your way to a safe area.”

“Your body. This is the final personal asset you may expend only after every other resource has been exhausted. In effect, it should be the last thing you abandon.”

“Comrades. A group with physical impairments has a better chance of survival than a single individual with all four limbs intact. If survival is treated as a task, efficiency can be maximized through the division of roles.”

Ivan turned away from the blackboard and looked back at the students. Their faces had gone slightly pale.

In a peaceful world, words like “survival techniques” and “comrades” might naturally be difficult to accept. Still, this was a necessary class if they considered the future.

Ivan gave a short nod.

“During the last war, the average survival time of soldiers who entered demonfolk territory was seventeen minutes. In this class, you will learn how to turn those seventeen minutes into seventeen days. Any questions?”

The room remained silent. Most of them had arrived at the same thought.

Do I really need to take this class?

But it was five credits... a general elective... and the Pass/Fail grading system was too tempting....

“If there are no questions, that concludes the course introduction. Next week, come dressed in clothes that are easy to move in.”

Before leaving, Ivan calmly looked over every student one last time.

‘Forty-seven people overlap with the first class.’

* * *

[Human Anatomy and Mana]

Ivan finished writing on the blackboard and addressed the students.

“There are mages, knights, and priests here, so I won't elaborate on mana. Anyone incapable of using mana should not be taking this class.”

Ivan said this while looking at the art department and music department students. Of course, nearly everyone present was a noble, and mana control was merely a basic qualification for nobles, so no one objected.

He nodded in satisfaction and continued.

“The human body consists of a skeleton, muscles, tendons connecting the skeletal muscles, neural networks, and blood vessels. With sufficient training, you can channel mana with different effects into each of those components.”

He drew a simple diagram of a forearm on the blackboard.

“Depending on how it is used, mana can replace every one of those components. In other words, even if a muscle is torn, a bone is shattered, or a nerve fails, you can continue moving by properly adjusting your mana.”

The students stared at him blankly.

It couldn't be helped. In this primitive premodern society, anatomy was practically at a primitive level.

(No.)

“In this class, you will learn how to use mana in place of each part of your body. From fractures and nerve damage, to eventually saving yourself while in cardiac arrest.”

“Cardiac... arrest...?”

One student murmured in a daze.

“Theory in this class will only be reinforced through practical training. Feeling the structure of the human body with your own body is more helpful than merely looking at a diagram. After five months of this course, you will be able to keep fighting even with broken limbs.”

The students' murmuring grew louder.

Isn't this guy insane?

Ivan paid such trivial noise no attention. He was a rational person, after all. It would be best if students who did not intend to take the class simply left. Teaching time was always limited.

Besides, fewer suspects would help with this operation.

“Any questions?”

“Um... how will the practical training... work?”

“A good question.”

Ivan silently nodded at the student who had raised her hand. She was small and trembling as she looked at him.

“We will use tested drugs to control sensation in specific areas, then train those areas to function again through mana. The Saintess will be present throughout the entire process, and we will only use drugs that leave no aftereffects.”

It was completely safe, even beneficial. Ivan felt proud of himself as a civilized man. In the twenty-first century, it was common sense to consider student safety when designing a course curriculum.

The fantasy-world students could not stop marveling at Earth's systematic educational process.

“Is that man really insane?”

“What do we do about this class? Should we just drop it?”

“But it's five credits as long as we attend....”

“What are the priests doing? Why aren't they taking that guy away?”

Listening to the whispers, Ivan quietly nodded.

“If there are no more questions, that will be all for today. See you next week. We will begin with the right arm, so come in clothes with sleeves that are easy to roll up. Yevgeny Novikov Karamzin, follow me to the professor's office.”

“Y-Yes, brother... Ah, no. Professor?!”

The moment Ivan left the classroom, confusion erupted among the students.

* * *

Since the Kallion air warship incident, Ivan had memorized the personal information of every enrolled student at Saint Yansk University.

There was no need to take attendance. By comparing the names registered for each class with the personal information of those seated there, it was not difficult to work backward and identify the absentees.

‘About twenty-three students are taking all three classes.’

Ivan studied the course registration list in thought.

That was why he had opened three courses. To identify a suspect group within a particular population, he needed at least three classification indicators.

There was always a demonfolk member or demonfolk infiltrator hidden in the classes attended by academy-story protagonists.

It was basic common sense. There was a reason the protagonists' classes always became caught up in terrorist attacks. Spies had been sitting in the classroom from the start.

Preparing three five-credit lectures was hardly any effort compared to the reward.

It was easiest to think of it as the instructor version of what even Hermione had been doing since elementary school. Unfortunately, this world had no Time-Turner, so Ivan had to use a more realistic method.

He had to reduce his free time, including sleep, to an absolute minimum. This, too, was a basic survival technique. It was not difficult if he exercised choice and focus to their fullest.

As a result, Ivan had finally gathered all the protagonists in one place and designed the perfect trap.

‘Isabelle, Oscar, Elphihara, Aesidis.’

He had succeeded in placing all of them in each of the three courses.

That was why he had made the course content identical to the previous vacation camp's training. He had ensured that Ivan's classes would be attractive enough to these students.

They had already experienced it, so the classes would not be difficult. With a total of fifteen credits on offer, no first-year university student could possibly choose otherwise.

(At least, that was how Kim Seonwoo saw it.)

And then there were them.

‘Eugene, Oswald, Yuri.’

Getting those three into the same classes was not difficult either. He only needed to order them to do so.

(Personal preference did not matter. They had the opportunity to attend such useful classes for free.)

Now, the protagonists from different departments had all gathered in one place. Under these conditions, a demonfolk infiltrator would have no choice but to sneak in.

There would never be a better opportunity.

And there were three such courses. Overlap between two courses was generally possible, but anyone taking three unrelated general electives at the same time was bound to be suspicious.

He had frightened them somewhat during orientation to reduce the number of false positives.

At the same time, he had prepared the curriculum to bring every student who took the classes up to a useful level of training.

So they could respond whenever war or an unusual situation broke out, and make it through academy-story staple events with the fewest possible casualties.

A trained agent never planned an operation around only one objective. This was an immutable truth.

And then.

“What about that one?”

“He's human, brother!”

“Hmm.”

On this side, they had the species-identification cheat code, the Status Window.

Eugene rubbed his hands together with a sly grin.

“So I'll be excused from the practical training, right?”

“Did I make that promise?”

“Gah.”

Ep17. A Muggle-Born Wizard’s Method of Managing Grades.

Footnotes:

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