The Insane Duplicate rarely changed expression no matter what happened, but even he seemed caught off guard by the students’ reaction.

What began as applause and cheering rapidly escalated into full-blown excitement.

“Let’s build a statue of the Principal’s Duplicate!”

“Remember this day! This is the day Saint Gonadaltes defeated the evil Verdus—”

Thud!

“Quiet.”

“Ah. Yes.”

The students instantly regained their senses, as though a bucket of cold water had been dumped over their heads.

No matter how passionately they celebrated seeing Professor Verdus hanging upside down, their minds cooled immediately the moment they were ordered to.

That was exactly what Einroguard students were like.

“Let me go, Gonadaltes!”

“Who granted you permission to address royalty so casually?”

“What? No— you gave me permission before!”

The Insane Duplicate did not torture Professor Verdus.

There had been mages like this even in ancient times, and torture had never worked particularly well on them.

For such mages, there were more effective methods.

Crack!

The Insane Duplicate shattered the artifact Professor Verdus had been working on.

Professor Verdus’s eyes trembled violently.

He looked like a beaver watching half-finished dam walls collapse into a river.

“Wh— wh— what are you doing?!”

“You still fail to understand proper etiquette.”

The Insane Duplicate casually picked up another artifact.

Snap!

The staff split cleanly in half.

Professor Verdus let out a piercing scream.

That staff had required six years and the cooperation of twenty-three mages to complete.

Even the students who hated Professor Verdus the most began to feel sympathy at the sight of the wailing beaver beastman.

The Insane Duplicate, however, remained unmoved.

Once again, Lee Han was reminded that the man truly was an ancient Archmage.

No matter how deranged an Einroguard professor Verdus might be, he still could not compare to a monster who had survived the brutality of the ancient age.

“I-I was wrong! I was wrong!”

After two more artifacts were destroyed, Professor Verdus finally learned proper manners.

The Insane Duplicate slowly nodded.

“Do not forget your manners again. A mage who teaches disciples must preserve dignity as well.”

Professor Verdus merely sobbed instead of answering.

The Insane Duplicate immediately reached for another artifact.

“I won’t forget! I won’t forget!”

“There will be no second chance. Mage. Remember that.”

The Insane Duplicate paused before continuing.

“And what exactly was that teaching earlier?”

“D-didn’t they teach like that in ancient times?”

Professor Verdus blinked nervously while studying the Insane Duplicate’s face.

Behind them, Lee Han found himself thinking the same thing.

...Wasn’t that actually true?

Come to think of it, he had heard that ancient mages often learned by observing and stealing techniques directly from their masters instead of receiving proper instruction.

Sometimes they even killed one another...

Crack!

“Noooooooo!”

The next artifact shattered instantly.

Professor Verdus wailed in despair.

“How dare you mock royalty? Which ancient mage taught disciples like that?”

“...Wasn’t that how it worked?”

Lee Han spoke without thinking.

The Insane Duplicate immediately whipped his head toward him.

His eyes radiated disbelief that his own disciple had uttered such nonsense.

“Even if disciples learn through observation rather than relying entirely on instruction, there are limits. How could a master abandoning disciples to focus only on personal work ever be called teaching?”

...That’s true!

The students unconsciously found themselves agreeing.

Thinking about it carefully, they had accepted the phrase that’s how ancient mages taught far too easily simply because none of them actually knew much about the ancient era.

Ancient people were still people.

Even if their methods were harsher and stricter, nobody would have considered completely abandoning disciples to personal work proper teaching.

“That is not a disciple. That is a servant. Or a slave. Mage, are you claiming you treated this royal disciple like a servant?”

“I-I didn’t treat him like a servant! I treated him very well!”

Professor Verdus shook his head frantically.

Naturally, the Insane Duplicate didn’t believe a word of it.

He turned toward the students.

“How did this mage treat the royal disciple?”

“He worked him harder than anyone else here.”

Sigunting answered immediately.

Even when it involved professors from their own school, Divination Magic School students always told the truth.

Crack!

“When did I ever do that?!”

Another artifact exploded into fragments.

Professor Verdus cried out tearfully.

Sigunting didn’t even blink.

Unlike students from other schools, Divination Magic School students had long since become accustomed to Professor Verdus crying.

“Swear an oath here. Mage.”

“Wh-what kind of oath?”

The Insane Duplicate didn’t bother answering.

He simply picked up another artifact.

Crack!

Professor Verdus began shouting whatever came to mind.

“I-I won’t run away after taking investors’ gold! Is that it?! I won’t ignore clients’ messages and make whatever I want! N-no? Then... I won’t ignore students’ projects?”

Crack! Crack! Crack!

“Professor! You’re close! Keep going!”

“I don’t know anymore! Help me!”

Professor Verdus desperately turned toward his most reliable and kind disciple.

Unfortunately, Lee Han couldn’t help.

Not while the Insane Duplicate stood there staring at him with icy eyes.

“Just a little further in that direction!”

“Even if students are idiots and fools... I won’t say it out loud?”

“No. That part should be said, Mage.”

The Insane Duplicate corrected him immediately.

If students were idiots and fools, they deserved to hear it.

Professor Verdus spiraled deeper into confusion.

That wasn’t the answer either?

“Try thinking of something you normally don’t do, Professor!”

“Uh... um... resting? Replying to letters? Writing exams?”

Crack!

“...”

“I’ll care about students the same way I care about my artifacts! Is that wrong too?!”

Only then did the destruction stop.

Professor Verdus burst into tears.

To think priceless artifacts had been destroyed because of these idiots!

“Stop crying and resume teaching. If you teach the same way again, I won’t forgive you.”

“B-but Gonadaltes... sir.”

Professor Verdus almost addressed him normally before hastily correcting himself.

“What is it?”

“How exactly... am I supposed to teach?”

“...”

The Insane Duplicate looked at him with pure contempt.

Professor Verdus immediately began sobbing again and begged him not to destroy the remaining artifacts.

***

Fortunately, the remaining artifacts survived.

Instead, the Insane Duplicate left Professor Verdus hanging upside down and personally took over the lecture.

Lee Han was genuinely impressed.

Amazing.

The Insane Duplicate didn’t particularly enjoy teaching people he hadn’t acknowledged as disciples.

Even Lee Han himself had endured countless brutal— no, rigorous— trials before being accepted.

And yet now the Insane Duplicate was personally teaching students who had absolutely nothing to do with him.

He must have concluded that directly teaching them himself was easier than forcing Professor Verdus to become a competent instructor.

Professor. You may have lost... but in another sense, you’ve won.

Lee Han silently paid his respects.

Naturally, Professor Verdus himself was not enjoying the experience.

“Leave my artifacts alone! Leave them alone!”

As students swarmed around gathering the shattered fragments, Professor Verdus cried out in agony.

How many death threats from sponsors and investors had he endured just to gather the materials for those artifacts?

“Silence. Before I break the rest.”

“...”

Professor Verdus immediately shut his mouth with a miserable expression.

The students cheerfully collected the fragments anyway.

Those materials would be incredibly useful when crafting staffs ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) later.

“Senior. Why do you keep staring at Professor Verdus?”

Lee Han looked at Barglios of House Elvali in confusion.

The senior had been repeatedly glancing toward the hanging professor.

Was there some kind of problem with the restraint spell?

“Ah. Sorry. It just makes me happy every time I look.”

“...I see.”

***

“I figured it out.”

“...What?”

Diret lifted his head.

One hand still held a rice ball while the other clutched a quill pen, his face nearly pressed against the desk.

It was already annoying enough that his friend had followed him all the way to the workshop while endlessly wondering Why does the junior listen to you but not me?

Still, a friend was a friend.

“Diret, your hair is dark. The junior from House Wardanaz also has dark hair.”

“...Are you calling it ‘dark’ because you forgot the word black?”

“But my hair is silver. That difference may be why he doesn’t listen to me.”

“Indeed. A groundbreaking discovery. You should present it at the Imperial Academy immediately.”

Diret answered dryly.

Honestly, he wanted to present this hair-color compatibility theory to the Divination Magic Academy.

They would probably faint from happiness.

“...Were you mocking me?”

“Of course I was mocking you!”

Diret snapped in disbelief.

Princess Yukbeltire widened her eyes.

“But why? You’re not some insignificant mage, Diret. Why would you behave like that?”

“...Ugh. Fine. I’ll tell you what to do.”

Seeing his friend stare at him so innocently softened Diret’s heart slightly.

Princess Yukbeltire gave a small nod, as though graciously deciding to forgive him.

“Diret. You can be rude sometimes and waste a great deal of time, but at least you possess the admirable virtue of self-reflection.”

“...”

Diret silently discarded the quill pen he had just broken and picked up a fresh one.

Then he spoke.

“There’s a 【Staff Materials and Magical Amplification】 lecture today, right? Go help the professor and teach the underclassmen.”

“Why?”

“...Could you just do what I ask once?”

“I always do what you ask, Diret.”

Diret calmly reached for yet another quill pen.

Maintaining a level of patience no ordinary mage could possibly achieve, the top student of Einroguard’s dark magic school spoke carefully.

“Listen closely, Yukbeltire. Underclassmen naturally develop respect for seniors who teach them.”

“I’ve taught them before.”

“...Reluctantly filling in because the professor disappeared doesn’t count. You have to help regularly.”

“Did you do that too, Diret?”

“Yes!”

“Why would you do something like that? Everyone would’ve been more comfortable if you hadn’t.”

Princess Yukbeltire openly criticized him.

Because Diret had shown unusual kindness, other seniors had been forced to put in extra effort teaching underclassmen in order to maintain popularity.

“...Then you do it too. Go earn their favor.”

“Hm.”

Princess Yukbeltire considered it seriously for a moment.

Then she shook her head.

“No. I won’t.”

Crack!

Diret hurled the quill pen away before he could snap another one in half.

“Why?”

“Professor Verdus is teaching today. Since I usually have to take over whenever he disappears, I can’t waste such a precious opportunity carelessly.”

Whenever Professor Verdus abandoned the lecture hall, Princess Yukbeltire was the one forced to replace him.

She had no intention of wasting the rare occasion when Professor Verdus was physically present.

To Diret, however, this logic was complete nonsense.

You’re literally standing here wasting time talking nonsense right now...

“You can also learn a lot by teaching underclassmen.”

“No. I thought about it carefully, and there’s nothing left for me to learn from helping with 【Staff Materials and Magical Amplification】.”

“Hey. Leave.”

Diret was on the verge of throwing his friend out before he lost control and hit her.

At that moment, one of the underclassmen burst into the workshop.

“Senior!!! Do you know what happened today?! You’ll be shocked!”

“Ogoldos. Sorry, but missing bone collections happens more often than you think...”

“The Principal’s duplicate beat up Professor Verdus and taught the lecture himself!”

“!?!”

Diret was genuinely stunned.

But even his shock paled in comparison to Princess Yukbeltire’s.

She stared in disbelief and asked:

“Why didn’t anyone call me?”