34
He knew very well the nature of the children who had entered the elite institute this year.
'The nobles have made such a fuss sending their sons here,' he thought to himself.
He saw the absurdity of their rush to attract the Emperor's attention by any means.
“They're all jostling to form their precious networks, aren't they?”
But he was sure that such children would not join his lessons.
“I hate this kind of thing very much,” he said to himself.
At the academy, he was known for his difficult lessons and harsh nature.
He did not have any deep friendships with other nobles.
Therefore, Malles was confident that no one would sign up for his lesson.
But, apparently, one child had made a mistake in his judgment, as he received a notification that one student had signed up for his lesson.
“What a problem!”
He had planned to spend the year at the elite institute quietly, immersed in his research, and then retire with a generous salary.
But he wasn't going to let an arrogant noble child steal his time.
“So, I deliberately gave him an impossible task.”
Think.
The student was asked to solve fifty advanced mathematics problems within two days.
If the child were sane, he would shout, “The professor is crazy!” He ran away immediately.
Surely, he should have taken another professor's classes by now.
As Males imagined an empty and quiet classroom, smiling, he opened the door.
“Oh…?”
A cry of astonishment escaped him.
The hall he obtained was barren and miserable.
An ordinary professor's desk, a teaching podium, and five student desks and chairs, nothing more.
A few books he had brought himself were all that was contained in that dim, shabby place.
Dust accumulated in it, and he deliberately did not ask to clean it in order to expel that one student.
“But why does it look so clean?”
The hall was bright, without a speck of dust.
The desks that were scattered were rearranged into regular rows, and the blackboard that was covered in chalk dust was now completely clean.
It didn't stop there.
On the professor's desk, there was a vase containing freshly bloomed flowers, and from the open window the fresh spring breeze was caressing the place.
“Did someone in charge of cleaning stop by?”
Even if that was the case, he didn't expect the place to be cleaned so well.
It is true that he deliberately chose an old and secluded place, but, as a human being, he prefers cleanliness.
As he scanned the hall with satisfaction, he heard a voice:
“Hello!”
“…?”
He looked down to where the sound came from.
There was a little girl wearing an elite institute uniform looking at him.
"Who are you?"
“I'm Evie Alden. Are you Professor Malles?
Her voice was clear and pure, and the admiring look she gave him made him unconsciously nod his head and answer:
“Yes, I am Professor Malles. “Don’t tell me... are you the student who registered for the advanced mathematics class?”
“Yes, professor!”
Evie answered excitedly, smiling.
Malles felt confused.
He wondered who the idiot who had signed up for his lesson was, but he did not expect it to be such a little girl.
He was sure that the little girl would run away after seeing the first mission and not show up today.
But, instead of running away, she came to greet him!
“That's not true!”
In his confusion, he noticed his handwriting remaining on the blackboard, and regained his composure.
"calm. "I must send this child away to ensure a peaceful year."
The child was unusually small and thin for the children of nobles at the institute.
She showed none of the arrogance that characterizes the children of nobles.
But he did not allow himself to be affected. At this stage of his life, just before retirement, he did not have time to take care of a baby girl.
In a dry voice, he said to Evie:
“Okay. Did you bring the mission?
There was no way she could have accomplished it.
The problems were very difficult, taking an hour or two each.
Even if he was a student at an elite institute, he couldn't solve advanced mathematics problems easily.
He noticed a slight tension on Evie's face at his words.
Advanced mathematics was a challenge even for professional students.
How does a little girl get it done right?
“As I expected, you certainly didn't get it done. That's why she greeted me with such politeness and smiles.”
This wasn't the first time he'd seen students try to wriggle out of assignments with laughter and pleasantries.
A little girl is trying to manipulate him this way!
As Mallis prepared to scold her, Evie said in a low voice:
“I brought them, but there were difficult problems and I couldn’t solve them all.”
She took out her notebook and placed it in front of him.
Malis took the notebook and began examining it.
“It clearly didn't solve anything serious.”
After years of teaching, he knew well the students' ways: They would solve a few problems superficially and then complain about the difficulty.
But when he opened the notebook, his eyes widened.
The first page was crammed with equations, written in a neat, circular handwriting.
Unconsciously, he started tracking solutions with his eyes.
“Wow!”
A word of admiration came out of him.
The solutions were clean and perfect, as if they were ready to be published in a book.
His eyes quickly moved to the next solution, and it was perfect too.
After several problems, he finally found one that was not solved correctly.
Instead of feeling satisfied at finding fault, he felt sorry.
“Why didn't you solve this? "It uses the same equations as the previous problems."
“Starting from that problem, the Pythagorean equations had to be used together...but I haven't learned them yet. I read the explanation of the book but I did not understand it well...”
Evie's voice gradually became weaker.
She had spent a long time solving the previous problems, but she stopped at that point.
“Oh my God, this won't work!”
Mallis beat his chest impatiently.
Evie was afraid of the large professor's reaction, thinking he would get angry.
Will he rebuke her because she did not understand and entered the elite institute?
But Malles approached the office and said:
“Sit here!”
* * *
An hour later, Malles was explaining to Evie very gently:
“Look, baby, it's like this...”
He grabbed the chalk and started drawing diagrams and shapes on the board.
Evie watched and carefully transferred his drawing to her notebook.
“Here it ends. Did you understand?"
"Yes!"
Evie answered enthusiastically, bringing a bright smile to Malice's face.
If someone who knew him had seen him, he would have rubbed his eyes thinking he was seeing an illusion.
Malis, the sullen professor who was famous for making the academy's students cry, was explaining sweetly and smiling!
“If it's difficult, tell me, I'll explain again.”
“No, it's not difficult! Yesterday, when I read the book, it was complicated, but your explanation made everything clear!”
"truly? Who is that idiot who wrote the book?
Malles stopped suddenly, remembering that he had written the advanced mathematics book.
“Hmm, maybe I wrote it a little too complicated. But it was written for the academy's adult students. If I had known that a child like you would read it, I would have written it more easily.”
After his hasty justification, he picked up the chalk again.
At that moment, the bell of the distant clock tower rang, signaling the end of the lesson.
“Time is already up.”
They looked at Evie's face with regret.
The look in Malis's eyes seemed perfect.
“This is how a student should be!”
Instead of rushing out when she heard the bell, she felt sorry for her incomplete learning.
He looked at the book and said to himself:
“In one day, we almost completed the first chapter!”
It was amazing speed. At the academy, it took two weeks to complete one class.
But here, they came close to finishing it in one day.
“It's very quick to understand.”
Even though the lesson lasted more than two hours, Evie did not lose focus. Rather, her eyes sparkled whenever he explained something new.
This made Malice feel excited as well.
“How long have I not taught with such enthusiasm?”
He was used to seeing students plodding along, sitting bored.
But now, as he saw a student listening intently, asking about everything she didn't understand, and making an effort to understand, he felt his heart fill.
“This is the kind of student I wanted to teach!”
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