Chapter 17: 17. Casually Introduced the Vice Headmaster as My Assistant In The Class

William thought about this a lot. It would be very helpful to have someone who knew how to deal with parents and school officials and understood how school politics worked.

And if she was as talented as the system said, she could help with real teaching once she got used to not working at a desk for years.

"Okay," William said, holding out his hand. "Fine... I lowkey needed that assistant if things get out of hand..."

"Welcome to the team, Assistant Instructor Blackwood." William smiled. "I should warn you that my teaching style is kinda different, and I tend to get into trouble a lot."

"So it’ll be some kind of a culture shock for you."

Catherine shook his hand firmly, and William noticed that her grip was strong, which made him think that her muscle memory hadn’t completely faded. "I knew about that already...."

"But any day of the week, complicated situations are better than boring paperwork." Catherine giggled.

William couldn’t shake the feeling that he had just signed up for even more chaos in a life that was already getting more complicated than he had thought it would be as they left the meeting room together.

Four smart students were vying for his attention, a plot was brewing in the academy’s halls, elite families were putting political pressure on him, and now a vice headmaster wanted to become his assistant to find her warrior identity again.

As they walked through the administrative wing, William said to himself, ’This is fine.’

’Everything is totally under control and not going to turn into a giant mess.’

Catherine looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Are you thinking about something right now?"

William lied smoothly, "I’m just thinking about tomorrow’s lesson plans."

"Of course," Catherine said, but her small smile made it clear that she didn’t believe him at all.

They parted ways at the intersection that led to their separate rooms. Catherine promised to take care of the paperwork for her new job, and William went back to his tiny basement room to think about how his life had become so crazy in less than forty-eight hours.

As he flopped onto his bed, the system helpfully sent him one more message:

[Warning: Managing many high-profile students while also getting attention from the administration makes things a lot more dangerous.]

[Be careful in all future interactions.]

William said to the empty room, "Yeah, no shit, sherlock..."

"Thanks for the warning that didn’t do zero help at all after I’ve already made all my plans."

He’d have to figure out how to train Catherine tomorrow without it being weird that the vice headmaster was getting instructions from someone who was technically her boss. He’d have to keep an eye on four students, each of whom was very talented in their own way and getting more and more competitive with each other.

And he’d have to do all of this while people in the academy, like parents plus administrators, and maybe even people who were against him, were watching. But for now, William shut his eyes and tried to get some sleep before the next unavoidable problem came knocking on his door.

At this point, he couldn’t be sure if he meant it literally or figuratively. It seemed like both were equally likely.

...

William woke up the next morning feeling a little more rested than the day before, which wasn’t saying much since he had spent half the night staring at the ceiling and wondering how his life had gotten so bad that he had to deal with five different women with different levels of combat trauma and personality problems.

The system had been quiet all night, which meant he didn’t get any surprise alerts about disasters or new students trying to kill him in creative ways.

"Small blessings," William said to himself as he got dressed and got ready for another day of pretending to know what he was doing.

When he got there, the classroom was already full, and the students were sitting in their usual places in the strange social order that had developed. In the middle sections, there were elite students in the back, there were also commoners, and in the front row, Lia, Kaela, and Ellie were clearly there early to claim their space.

Clara was already writing in her observation journal in the second row. She was probably writing about everyone’s body language or some other level of detail that was just as creepy.

"Good morning, Instructor," Kaela said cheerfully, as if she hadn’t spent the night before sending him more and more frustrated messages about getting more personal training time.

"Are you ready for another enlightening lecture?"

"Define enlightening," William said as he walked to the front demonstration area and pulled up the tactical diagrams he had made the night before. "Anyway... yes, I’m absolutely ready if you mean ’me explaining things you should already know but somehow don’t.’"

A few students laughed at that, and William saw that the mood in the classroom had changed from yesterday’s doubt to something more like real interest. People seemed to have heard about the parent meeting and how William had basically talked circles around rich nobles until they were sure their kids were in a special program instead of a mixed class.

William said, "Okay, everyone, calm down," and turned on the magical display board that showed 3D tactical simulations.

"Today we’re going to talk about advanced positioning and taking advantage of the environment."

"No matter what your specialty is, you should pay attention to this important stuff... whether you’re fighting alone, with a small group, or on a large battlefield."

He started the lecture by talking about things from his past life and how they related to the magical combat systems in this world. He had learned that the key was to discuss everything in a way that made sense to people who had grown up with magic instead of modern military rules.

He didn’t discuss tactical cover or suppressing fire. Instead, he talked about area denial spells and how to use terrain to make mana cost more.

The students were really paying attention, writing down what they heard, and asking smart questions. William could see that the top students were starting to understand why they were in this class.

They realized that having students with different skill levels meant they could see how theory applied in ways they had never thought of before. The students who were having trouble were getting help from explanations that didn’t assume they already knew advanced ideas.

Around forty minutes into the lecture, the door to the classroom opened, and Vice Headmaster Catherine Blackwood walked in looking a little frazzled. Her hair, which is usually perfect, looked like it had been hastily fixed, and her uniform showed signs of someone who had been dealing with administrative emergencies all morning.

Everyone in the class went quiet, and students looked at each other with confused and scared looks. When the vice headmaster showed up to a class without warning, it usually meant that someone was in big trouble or that there was a crisis at the school.

William smiled a little and waved her in. He knew exactly why she was there. "Ah, the perfect time to explain about this."

"So, everyone... I’d like to introduce everyone to Mrs. Catherine Blackwood." William smiled in such an awkward way. "Starting today... she’ll be my assistant instructor."

"And... she’ll be helping me run this class from now on."