Subscriber of the Gods Chapter 103 - In My Eyes, He's Just

He had suspicions. Since he had been doing unprecedented things ever since becoming a new teacher here. He wondered if he would also challenge the department competition.

But he dismissed that thought when entering the meeting today.

It was obvious. The significance this department competition carried was so heavy.

Up until now, there hadn’t been a single new teacher who tried to challenge this department competition.

No matter how ambitious, no one wanted to ruin their career right after joining.

That was why he thought even Ethan, who had been walking an unprecedented path so far, would refrain this year and challenge it next year.

However, the Principal’s thoughts were completely shattered.

“Teacher Ethan, you surely understand what kind of meaning this department competition holds?”

“Yes, I know very well, Principal.”

“Yet you want to challenge it?”

The other teachers buzzed, looking at Ethan with various expressions.

“Although Teacher Ethan has shown good results so far, isn’t challenging the department competition as a representative too early?”

“Becoming the competition’s representative means becoming the academy’s representative. Isn’t it too frivolous for a teacher who has just joined?”

“But given the results Teacher Ethan has shown so far, can we really say it’s because he’s new?”

“Still, experience is important. No matter how excellent Ethan is, the experience that comes from career can’t be ignored.”

“But if he has the skills!”

The teachers all shared their own opinions. Especially the Jeans or the New Wave Socials that Ethan belonged to strongly took his side, arguing that his skills made up for his lack of experience.

Just then the Principal banged his desk a couple of times.

“Quiet down.”

The teachers saw the Principal’s stern expression. It seemed like he also thought it was too early. After all, this wasn’t an issue that could be settled through morale alone.

“I want to hear your thoughts a bit, Teacher Ethan. Although the parent observation classes have ended, you’ve only seen the students for one semester so far. Yet who are you going to name as the representative?”

Everyone nodded at the Principal’s words. 

Ethan’s abilities were certainly outstanding. But the department competition was about naming student representatives, not teacher representatives.

The teacher’s role was to lead and guide the students through the process. 

After all, the students had to be at the center for both the department and academy competitions.

“We know very well that your skills are excellent. But this department competition isn’t an event you can participate in just because your skills are outstanding. As you know, students are the masters of this academy. They must be at the center of the department competition.”

“I’m well aware. That’s why from the beginning of the semester until now, I have been guiding students and observing which students have the potential to become the department’s representatives.”

Ethan spoke.

“Then answer me. Who are those students?”

All the teachers here knew Teacher Claudie and Teacher Duty’s students. 

Teacher Claudie’s disciple so to speak, Max Jurod the #1 ranked swordsmanship student, plus the two other elites of the Swordsmanship Department. 

As for Teacher Duty, there was Roanna the #1 ranked magic student, plus the Magic Department’s golden generation. 

They were formidable rivals. So the teachers were eager to see who Ethan would pick as his representative student for the competition.

“Could it be…Chen Garcia…?”

“I don’t think that’s the case, Teacher.”

Everyone looked at Ethan expectantly as he opened his mouth.

“The students I’ve chosen for this department competition representatives are Mason Yeld, Ron Bears, and Yuna Garnet.”

“….Mason?”

“Ron Bears? The worst ranked in the Swordsmanship Department?”

“Other than Yuna, they’re all problematic….”

“Shh, quiet down.”

As one teacher said, apart from Yuna Garnet, they were certainly problematic students. Hearing Ethan’s nominated roster, Duty subtly lifted the corners of his mouth. 

Claudie looked uncomfortable and glared at Ethan.

Martynas’s words floated up in his mind. 

About how Ethan wanted to lead and guide Mason, the student that Claudie himself had excluded. 

And now he wants to make Mason the grand battle opponent for the representative selection.

Could he really be trying to make Mason the department’s representative?

“Mason Yeld is a problem student, Teacher Ethan.”

Claudie said towards Ethan.

“Is that so? To my eyes, he merely looked like an immature student who hasn’t found his footing.”

Ethan’s words had meaning. Students were immature. And teachers existed to guide such students.

Of course that was idealism.

But since it concerned Mason, Claudie couldn’t help but frown. He had the experience of reaching out to Mason, only to withdraw his hand later.

So Ethan’s words felt like he was admonishing Claudie for that.

The teachers who roughly understood the context opened their mouths in disbelief.

“Uhhh…”

“Hmmm…”

The Swordsmanship Department teachers coughed awkwardly or made bewildered noises. Of course, the Magic Department teachers had very interested expressions.

In the Magic Department, Teacher Duty stood alone. 

His abilities were beyond doubt, and the other teachers firmly supported him because of their faith in his nurtured golden generation.

First of all, the goal wasn’t competition within the same department but continual supremacy over the Knight Department.

“There’s already this kind of trouble…”

“For our department, it would actually be good if Teacher Ethan represented us but…”

Because of the Magic Department’s golden generation students last year, Claudie lost in the department competition and failed to become the representative teacher for the academy competition. 

On top of that, Duty who was the representative ended up losing to Freya Academy. So it was doubly disappointing.

The other teachers and students even said that if Claudie had been the representative, they might have defeated Freya Academy and taken first place.

So this year’s Claudie was quite a formidable opponent for the Magic Department. 

Plus the fact that Max Jurod, the #1 Swordsmanship student this year, was receiving good evaluations, which also contributed.

He had been outstanding across all of his classes so far, and achieved superb grades on last year’s final exams. So the Magic Department side had no choice but to be wary of Max.

In this situation, if the representative teacher was Ethan instead of Claudie, and the grand battle opponent was Mason rather than Max?

From the Magic Department’s standpoint, things couldn’t have turned out better.

That’s why the Magic Department watched the discord between the two with great interest.

“Now’s not the time for emotional fights, you two.”

At the Principal’s low voice, the teachers’ buzzing stopped. Claudie also heaved a short sigh, calming his emotions. 

As for Ethan, he had no emotional agitation from the start, so he pretended nothing was wrong as he adjusted his collar.

“As you know, only one teacher per department can participate in the department competition. The Magic Department has already decided on Teacher Duty, so that doesn’t matter. And two people have stepped up from the Knight Department, so only one can become the representative.”

In cases like these, one of the two teachers would be selected through competition.

“In the past, four to six people stepped up from each department. But recently, Teacher Claudie has been showing great results in the Knight Department so he became the representative.”

Ever since coming to Ivecar, Claudie had been the representative multiple times. Of course, that was because he kept winning the competitions. 

He even had a record of winning the academy competition once.

As Claudie dominated the Knight Department, it became natural for people to see him as the face of both the Knight Department and Swordsmanship Department representatives.

“This will be quite disadvantageous for Teacher Ethan.”

“Well he’s a new teacher challenging it, so it can’t be helped! Representing the department is serious business. You need absolute skill.”

“That’s right. It’s not easy becoming the department’s representative teacher.”

The Principal looked back and forth between Ethan and Claudie.

“No matter who it is, I’m sure they’ll be reliable.”

As far as the Principal was concerned, more competition was better. They needed strong, not complacent minds to achieve victory in the department competition, and later the academy competition. Without competition, there would be no victory.

And so it seemed the decision for the Knight Department’s representative would be settled through a competition between Ethan and Claudie.

Right as the meeting was about to conclude, Ethan opened his mouth.

“Principal, is it acceptable if only two people participate?”

“What do you mean, Teacher Ethan?”

The rules for deciding the representative were simple. The three student representatives would compete against each other in a battle to demonstrate their skills. 

Along with their midterm exam scores, the competition would be decided from that.

“For our side, there are only two students right now. Yuna is temporarily away for personal reasons. She’ll be back before the midterms but it looks like she won’t be able to attend the representative selection battle.”

“That won’t work.”

The Principal immediately refused.

“I’m not trying to change the rules.”

Ethan said.

“I’ll take one automatic loss.”

“Hahahahaha!”

The Principal laughed gleefully. One automatic loss he says. So it wouldn’t violate the rules.

“Fine. One win by default for one student then.”

The assessments of Yuna Garnet amongst the teachers weren’t bad. The problems were Ron Bears and Mason Yeld.

The Principal immediately saw through why Ethan had made this choice. And so did Claudie. Fury filled his eyes.

How funny does he find this?

It’s to end after a single loss.

So that there would be no more backlash.

“Then please take care of things.”

Ethan said with a smile.

Claudie knew very well his methods were aggressive.

But this was how he did things.

If you teach while living in ideals and dreams, being a teacher becomes mere self-satisfaction.

Rather than lessons for the students’ sake, they become lessons for the sake of pursuing the ideal teacher image he dreamed of.

That’s why when he saw Ethan, his mood soured.

‘Does he think I ran away?’

It frustrated him.

“Don’t worry Teacher. This time I’ll definitely become the representative. On top of that, they already have one automatic loss right from the start right? If I beat Mason, that’s the end.”

The student with short, parted hair that suited his sharp features and tall frame. 

While not seeming very gentle, from his gait alone one could tell he had a robust body. This was Max Jurod, the student who spoke.

“It’s too late for Mason. Unless it was in the past, he no longer has a chance to surpass me.”

The reason Claudie had reached out to Mason was because Mason had remarkable latent ability from his distinguished lineage. 

While his latent ability alone was considerable, if Mason put his efforts into other pursuits, Claudie could have taught other students better instead. 

On top of that, Mason was already broken beyond repair. Rather than fix him, Claudie judged it was better to extend a hand to new students with potential instead.

And so the student Claudie reached out for was Max Jurod. And as expected, Max rose to become the #1 rank in the Swordsmanship Department. 

From now on, Max would cement his position as the Swordsmanship Department’s undisputed #1 until graduation. The imperial knights even came to observe Max, so radiant was Max’s future.

Yet for some reason, Claudie couldn’t stop thinking about his conversation with Ethan.

-In my eyes, he just seemed like a young student who was lost.