I clapped once again as the kids took seats in the classroom of the Black Rose.

It was built like a lecture hall, with the seats getting higher at the very back.

At the front was a wide blackboard covering the entire front wall, below it a wooden podium with a lectern studded at its edge.

The kids all seemed exhausted, the lot of them heaving, covered with dust.

As if they were guided by invisible guardrails, funnily enough, they took a seat in the order of hierarchy on their own.

The Second Prince of the Empire and the Saintess Candidate sat at the front, and as my gaze went to the back, their ‘ranks’ gradually lowered.

Only Iaso had not confided to this impromptu power display as she went straight to the back and glared at me.

My, would any of these royals take offense at getting dirtied like this?

Before the thought of student activism could rise, I decided to break the silence.

“It was a splendid display! You guys could all be admitted to the frontlines straight away.”

My every word bounced off the ebony planks as the focus of all the students turned toward me.

“Despite it being your first meeting, you all managed to keep your cool and even collaborated to take down the ogre. Splendid. I expected you all to flail around and barely get by, but my expectations were turned on their head.”

A brown-haired dwarf clicked his tongue and looked away. A few of them lowered their gaze.

Hmm… This was fairly interesting.

My eyes narrowed as I observed all of them.

“Of course, there is also some praise due. I am sure all of you know for whom.”

I raised a hand and pointed at the very back of the classroom.

Next to the only commoner student in the class, a girl with golden hair and oceanic eyes sat on her lonesome.

That’s right, at the very back. It was a hilarity that one wouldn’t see even during battles.

The one person who had taken command of everyone. Possibly the most competent of the bunch, something that everyone here had noticed…

Was also the scion of the weakest kingdom on the entire continent.

“Elara Danube, is that right?”

Everyone’s gazes switched to the girl at my words. A lot of them were surprised when they heard her last name.

It was that bad. Most nobles did not even see the Danube kingdom as someone to bother with. Except for some grains, they had nothing to speak of as their own.

At any moment, any other country could completely swallow that kingdom up, but the freedom alliance had become its saving grace.

Their influence and command were extremely small over the continent, so much so that we didn’t even have to take her hostage.

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“Leadership, battle aptitude, strategic planning, an open mind, a watchful gaze, and a listening ear, you have excelled in every aspect. In the end, when you gave up the honor of taking down the ogre yourself and acted as bait to ensure victory was the icing on the cake.”

As someone who had survived battle after battle, I could tell that she had the potential that could match the best commanders in the war.

Maybe even better.

It was truly hilarious to me. The single kingdom that everyone looked down on held the brightest star of the next generation.

“I’ll give you extra points.”

“Thank you…” the girl muttered a word of thanks. The others staring at her also turned away.

Now then. It didn’t seem like the students would open up this quickly. Before making friends with me, I’d rather they made friends with each other.

It was a little awkward. But I knew just the way to get them together.

I turned and picked up a chalk. As I spoke, I wrote my name on the blackboard.

“I’ll introduce myself again. Professor Ethan Kalenice, I am going to be the one in charge of this class and the head professor of the Black Rose department. You can come to me anytime you want anything. You can also ask me anything you want, anytime.”

“Professor!”

They didn’t waste time.

I turned around to find a blonde elf with her hand raised. She held a giddy, almost excited smile about being here.

“Yes, student Seren.”

Seren Eilfir. Unlike humans, young elves were usually forbidden from leaving the forest. For her, all of this was likely new stimulation, and considering their eventual long lives, the years in this classroom were no better than a small vacation.

“What do you teach?”

I remembered the conversation I had with Gladwin and the principal yesterday.

Since I was someone who had barely completed basic education in this world, I was not a very good person to be teaching.

All I could offer was the reality of the frontlines, and there were a dime a dozen people like me.

But amongst the ones on the frontlines, I did have a fairly unique experience that probably no one else could share. It was something I learned out of necessity, but it was safe to say no one knew it better than I did on this side of the world.

“I’ll be teaching all of you… demonic language and culture.”

Gasps rang out at my words. All of them were surprised at the sudden mention of demons.

Not only was I going to tell them about the enemy, but their culture.

The student at the very back, Atlas Whisper, seemed to be the most shaken of them all.

“B-but!” He spoke up. “Isn’t learning that… traitorous? People who follow the demons are all executed!”

“Not really?” I shrugged. “It helps to know what kind of insults those guys are throwing at your mothers.”

I turned back and re-wrote my name, this time, in the demonic language.

“The ones that we have fought against, given many of our lives against… Isn’t it good to understand them? So all of you can know why your families, your friends, your kingdoms sacrificed as they did?”

It was of utmost importance. Especially now that the war had ended.

Know thy enemy. It was an adage one couldn’t ignore.

Before the mood could change anymore, I clapped my hands together and snapped their attention back to me.

“Is that all, student Atlas?”

“A-ah… yes…”

“Alright, take a seat.” I reached down to my lectern and pulled out sheets of paper from a drawer. I cut it up in three piles and passed it to the students at the front.

“I’ll keep class simple today, all you have to do is write about the battle you just had.”

The students passed the papers back. Some of them started drawing lines and margins right away while others flailed it in their hands.

“But. You don’t write about yourself. Choose any one of your classmates and write something they did admirably, and something they could improve on.”

A hand raised again. This time, it was the lady Rosentea of the Scential Merchant family.

“Yes, student Rosentea.”

“How is this related to the subject matter?”

“Our end goal will be to translate this text, so write it sincerely.”

She nodded and sat down.

With that, I reached into my lectern again and pulled out a whole basket of cookies.

“This is for all of you! Take some cookies, they are delicious and fresh! You are free to talk and choose who you want to write about. No two people will write about the same person.”

Oh wait, there were twenty-five of us.

“Except… Iaso! You will write about the entire class.”

“What? Why!?”

“Because I feel like bothering you.”

“You meet me outside!”

Wow. Was she going to become a punk now?

I laughed while Iaso grumbled and got to writing. With a shrug, I waved the class off.

“Well then, I won’t make this awkward for you. Submit this in the next class tomorrow!”

I quickly rushed out of the classroom. Until the door shut, all of their gazes were stuck on me.

As soon as the gate closed, they all sighed and loosened up.

This much… should be enough to make them get along. I think.

If it doesn’t work, I can always try some other tricks.

Now then, to clean the ogre before someone else sees it.