Seeing Henie working so hard for him, Viktor couldn’t help but walk over.

Henie noticed someone approaching and, on instinct, looked up warily.

“Professor Viktor?”

Once she recognized him, she hurriedly stood up, adjusting her glasses nervously.

Viktor, who rarely showed any emotion, broke his usual poker face and asked her with concern, “Aren’t you tired?”

He knew Henie’s work was assigned by the school, but her level of knowledge clearly qualified her to be a new teacher at the Royal Academy of Magic.

Keeping such a talented individual as his assistant wasn’t just something that might later be exposed by society; it was something even his own conscience couldn’t bear.

“Not at all!”

Henie shook her head resolutely, her attitude firm.

“It’s an honor to prepare lessons for you, Professor!”

A naive and somewhat adorable young lady.

If it were the old Viktor, he probably would have squeezed this little lamb dry until there wasn’t a drop left. He would extract every bit of benefit and then discard her without a second thought.

That was the kind of person Viktor was.

If something benefited him, he would hold onto it tightly.

In reality, with Vega around, he didn’t need an assistant to help him prepare lesson content at all.

Since there was no one else around, Viktor decided to let this silly little lamb off the hook.

He considered his tone carefully and, in a voice that tried to mirror Viktor’s usual coldness, said indifferently, “You don’t need to write speeches for me anymore.”

Henie froze at those words, her body swaying as if she could barely stand.

She thought she must have made a mistake somewhere, a mistake so severe that Professor Viktor wanted to fire her.

“Professor, I can spend more time perfecting your speeches…”

Tears welled up in her eyes, her voice trembling as she pleaded with Viktor not to abandon her.

“Please don’t abandon me; I promise I’ll do a good job as your assistant!”

Viktor frowned slightly. He hadn’t expected Henie to react this way. He merely wanted her to get more rest and then fully utilize her talents independently at the academy.

But all she could think about was hoping Professor Viktor would give her a chance to correct herself and continue being his assistant.

It was as if… she was about to lose her job.

Vega ruffled its wings and softly explained in Viktor’s ear:

“Why do you think that is?”

“This child is merely an apprentice, unable to even cross the threshold of becoming a mage.”

Viktor suddenly realized this, feeling a pang of regret for Henie’s wasted potential.

In the game, the level of a magic apprentice was within the 1-9 range.

In other words, she was a novice.

The Royal Academy of Magic didn’t keep idle people around. To become a teacher here, the minimum requirement was to become a mage. Only then would the academy evaluate a candidate based on their teaching ability.

No matter how knowledgeable Henie was—even if she was capable of preparing lessons for the academy’s most gifted students—if she hadn’t become a mage, she wouldn’t be qualified to become a teacher.

From Henie’s perspective, Viktor now understood how hurtful his words had been.

Henie was just an assistant.

Even if he didn’t need her, only two outcomes awaited Henie: waiting for the next professor’s assistant position to become available or leaving the Royal Academy of Magic and facing unemployment.

If she became unemployed, no one would blame the academy. They would only think it was her own inadequacy that led to her dismissal.

She was highly knowledgeable and had devoted her entire life to learning, only to end up with nowhere to go.

But Viktor wasn’t one to offer comfort because he was a notorious, petty villain.

So, he merely left her with one sentence: “Alright, I take back what I said, Henie. You’ve done well and made no mistakes.”

“I’ll keep using you until you’re completely worn out.”

“So until then, don’t overwork yourself.”

Henie was overjoyed, nodding excitedly.

“Professor! I won’t let you down!”

Viktor was curious why someone as capable as Henie would willingly serve as an assistant. So, he asked her.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Surprised that Viktor would inquire about her background, Henie’s eyes briefly dimmed, but she still calmly replied, “I graduated from the Royal Academy of Magic, but I didn’t become a first-level mage by the time I graduated, so I volunteered to stay as an assistant.”

The rest of the story became clear.

Other professors naturally had their favored assistants, while she, despite her abilities, lacked the talent to catch anyone’s eye.

Until the academy hired a new professor—Viktor—she had no chance to work for this infamous genius mage.

After hearing her explanation, Viktor nodded and patted her shoulder.

“Work hard. The academy wouldn’t keep you around if they didn’t see potential in you.”

“I’m new here. Would you mind giving me a tour of the academy?”

Henie was flustered by his request but quickly agreed, hastily tidying up her desk.

“I haven’t had much of a chance to explore the school myself. Let’s take this opportunity to look around.”

Viktor said this, but he knew the place like the back of his hand.

In the game, he’d been here countless times, and he even knew about the secret garden behind the headmaster’s office.

He only said it to avoid overburdening her.

Especially seeing her writing lessons in front of him made him feel guilty.

It was his job, yet he was letting someone else handle it entirely.

Of course, alongside the guilt, he also felt a certain satisfaction.

Who doesn’t enjoy slacking off?

Henie led him around the academy, tirelessly explaining various buildings to him.

Gardens, lawns, training grounds.

Viktor nodded along to everything, even though he knew the place was like his own backyard.

When they reached the Arcane Hall, he paused.

This was the place where players engaged in PvP battles, and they could also practice their magic skills here.

But at that moment, a commotion came from inside, sounding like a student argument.

Viktor frowned, suddenly understanding why school principals liked to patrol noisy classrooms during their campus years.

Troublesome kids need to be disciplined, and unruly students even more so.

So, he pushed the door open and entered.

...

Erica’s mood was at an all-time low.

She had intended to teach Viktor a lesson but ended up being lectured instead.

On top of that, she lost her most cherished hairpin.

It was a gift from her mother, which she had inadvertently sent into the void of a teleportation array.

To retrieve the hairpin, Erica came to the Arcane Hall to practice teleportation magic, hoping to undo the modifications Viktor had made to her teleportation array.

But it was clear she couldn’t do it.

After numerous failed attempts, each accompanied by an explosion from the array, Erica nearly lost her composure, ruffling her golden hair in frustration.

“This is so annoying! Why did it fail again?”

Growing more agitated with each attempt, Erica made a critical error.

In her frustration, she failed to cancel her teleportation spell, and the array’s endpoint landed in the middle of the Arcane Hall.

A student in uniform happened to step into her array.

The array activated automatically, emitting a bright red light…

Whoosh!

In a flash of red light, the student vanished!

Erica watched as the student disappeared before her eyes.

“Jack? Jack!?”

“Damn it, he’s been teleported!”

The faces of the accompanying students turned pale.

Panic flashed in Erica’s eyes—she had made a grave mistake!

“Damn it! Did I just send him to another dimension!?”

She frantically tried to retrieve the student using magic, but no matter what she did, there was no response from the teleportation array!

The unfortunate student, like her unlucky hairpin, was lost and unrecoverable.

The scene eerily mirrored what had happened in the classroom earlier.

Everyone now noticed Erica, who was in a panic, continuously casting magic.

The teleportation array in the center bore her magical signature.

And today, rumors had spread that Erica had already mastered teleportation magic.

At that moment, the students in the Arcane Hall erupted in anger!

“Erica du Cloye!”

“You did this! You teleported Jack away!”

“You did it on purpose!”

The students at the academy were divided into two factions: the nobles and the commoners.

The noble faction and the commoner faction were always at odds, with the nobles viewing the commoners as mere dogs who would one day serve their families.

Disputes between the noble and commoner factions were common, though they rarely escalated due to the academy’s emphasis on skill over status.

But now, in the eyes of the commoner students, Erica du Cloye—the star student of the noble faction and the duke’s daughter—had publicly humiliated them with her actions.

Noble families rarely visited the Arcane Hall, preferring to continue their studies at home under the tutelage of private family mages.

Only the commoner students, who relied on their average grades to gain admission, would come to the Arcane Hall to practice diligently.

Unable to surpass the nobles in wealth, they could only strive to surpass them in the path of magic.

But who would have thought that Erica, in her bad mood, would attempt to retrieve her hairpin and end up making such a grave mistake?

At this point, no one cared about the truth anymore; the commoner students only wanted an outlet for their grievances, a way to vent their frustrations.

“Erica, you need to apologize.”

"Apologize! And bring Jack back!"

Erica stood alone, unable to defend herself against the accusations from the crowd. She lowered her head, remaining silent.

All she could do was keep trying to teleport the lost student back.

But with the students' angry shouts filling her ears, her mind grew more muddled, making it impossible to stay calm.

She finally snapped, replying angrily, "I can’t do it!"

"It was a mistake with my magic! I don’t know how to bring him back!"

Her words only further infuriated the commoner students.

"You made our friend disappear and you won’t even apologize?"

"Nobles are despicable! They’ve finally shown their true colors!"

"Your noble lives matter, but what about ours? What do you think we are?"

Erica bit her lip and remained silent, her fists clenched as a wave of frustration surged within her.

Viktor! How am I any less capable than you?

What you can easily accomplish, I should be able to do too!

She knew she shouldn’t blame others, but after meeting Viktor, she realized she couldn’t measure up.

Viktor outshined her in every way, whether in knowledge or magical talent.

It was a talent so exceptional that even her own family praised it, something passed down through the noble ranks.

Once the seed of jealousy was planted, it was hard to uproot.

"Are you all so free?"

A cold, indifferent voice suddenly echoed from the doorway. The last rays of the setting sun cast a crimson glow on Erica’s exquisitely beautiful face.

Viktor leaned against the door, a strange raven perched on his shoulder.

His hands were tucked into the pockets of his coat, and his expression was indifferent, as if he didn't see anyone there.

"If you’re all eager to write an apology letter, feel free to continue arguing in front of me."