Daichi: Cheese's teaching methods are… unique. As are her chosen topics. But at least her tangents are educational!
Verity: We don't own this.
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Cheese stood at the front of her class, for a moment wondering what she was going to teach them today. She remembered what Miss Madeleine had taught her, but that class had been… different, in a way she hoped no class she ever taught would be.
Actually, that was an idea.
"Today, class, we will be delving into history," She decided, already pulling out her old notes on the subject- the most accurate resource when it came to this kind of thing. "Does anyone here know what an Enigma is?"
It was a user of Water Magic, Sorbet, who answered. "Enigma are creatures of Dark Magic that have been considered extinct on Kovomaka ever since a pair of wars fought against them eight centuries ago. Known powers include the summoning of dark spirits and possession."
"That is correct, Sorbet. After the second war, Enigma don't dare set foot on this planet. They may still exist elsewhere in the solar system, but they haven't returned here." Something she, as one of the ones to drive them out, was particularly proud of.
"Then why are we learning about them?" Pico, a user of Fire Magic, asked, though he didn't seem to be paying that much attention.
"Because the major players on our side from back then are still alive, and the strongest mages in the solar system?" Another student suggested. Huh. She'd known she was the strongest on Kovomaka, but if the rest couldn't compare to her friends… Actually, that made their disappearances even more concerning.
"...Partially," She decided, because in a way, it really was. "The Enigma were dangerous opponents, even for a class of absurdly talented teenagers- and we were teenagers, for the most part. I'm pretty sure Olive Tearclown was the only one of us who wasn't, but I'm not sure. It was a long time ago."
"You fought the Enigma?" That was Chai, the only salamander student in Will-o-Wisp. A lucky find, that one. Cheese would have to keep an eye on him. "Cool."
She couldn't help but smile a little at that. It had been a long time since the days of simple hero worship, but a lot of that was likely because she never left the school. Besides, of the two of them, Ganache had always been the more visible. Mostly because he could actually bring himself to speak in public. Social awkwardness had killed a lot of her potential for fame.
"I'm glad you think that. It wasn't that much fun for us, but war never is. We were thrown in head-first because none of the adults could be trusted. Back then, roughly a fifth of the Academy graduates had fused with an Enigma."
"Did that include anyone you knew?" Okay, so maybe allowing the students to ask any question they wanted wasn't the best idea. But if she didn't do that, they wouldn't be able to learn as much as they wanted. And given that one of them knowing some obscure tidbit or other had saved their lives more often than she could count, Cheese saw the benefit of letting them learn whatever they wanted. To a point.
"...Given the percentages, I'm not sure anyone on the planet had no Enigma-possessed friends or acquaintances." There. Let them make their own conclusions.
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Sundae was always the last to leave the classroom. She didn't really know why- she didn't think she took any longer than the rest of them- but even Mokka seemed to be capable of outspeeding her when it came to getting out the door.
But then, the others weren't Dark Mages. Things hadn't been the best for users of her element before the Enigma, and they certainly weren't getting any easier, even if a Nighthawk had been the face of the fighters from Will-o-Wisp. Add on a pair of overly paranoid parents, and she could consider herself lucky to be just mildly shy. If they'd had their way, she'd be just about incapable of trust.
But being the last to leave the classroom meant interesting things, starting with her almost running into Professor Pistachio on her way out the door.
Now, this itself wasn't a surprise. Professor Pistachio and Miss Cheese were known to be close friends, helped by the fact that they'd been classmates once- which meant that he'd probably fought the Enigma, as well. Something that she wouldn't have expected of him, even if combat magic was known as one of his specialties.
The canis closed the door behind him as he entered the classroom- something he really shouldn't have done, as students at Will-o-Wisp were born eavesdroppers. And Sundae was no exception.
She didn't have ears like Lassi, or simply sensitive hearing like Mokka. What she did have was the ability to cloak herself in shadow so nobody would notice her listening in- and, therefore, not think to jostle her from her spot by the keyhole.
Of course, Professor Pistachio and Miss Cheese had been students there as well- they knew better than to make themselves easily overheard. So she didn't hear as much as she'd hoped, but it was still better than nothing.
Even with how muffled it was, she could still make out some bits. Not that they made any particular sense. Eventually, she gave up and walked away.
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"She's gone!" The lightning spirit confirmed from his spot near the door. Cheese nodded gratefully.
"Thanks, Zappy. Okay, now that that's over with, we can actually talk. Go ahead." It was something they had developed long ago, a necessity for a teacher who encouraged her students to question authority.
"Well, first off, your students are insane," Pistachio started, which wasn't likely to be anywhere near the point, but after knowing each other for more than eight hundred years, they'd picked up some odd private traditions.
"Yes, we know this. Anything else?"
"...I'm worried. Ganache's the second or third strongest mage in the solar system without a doubt, but… Kale uses Light Magic. And if he actually called for backup…" A fair point. Their Dark Mage friend was naturally talented, and constantly driven to improve. His powers had eclipsed theirs the last time they'd checked, and that was two hundred years ago. There was very little that could pose a threat to him anymore.
To get to that level out of nowhere like Kale had… Kale, who had been a middling student at best, though interested in several disciplines of magic, and blessed with the ability to see spirits… There was only one way Cheese could think of to make that happen, and she didn't even want to think about it.
She sighed. "If that's the case, what are we supposed to do about it? The others might have branched out over the centuries, but we've never actually left Kovomaka. If the monsters out there took us by surprise, we'd never even find a single pirate."
"You could be just as powerful as him," Pistachio pointed out. Which was true. She was the world's best user of Lightning Magic for a reason. She had innately known things that even Lemon constantly struggled to grasp.
But that hadn't been enough for Mokka. And while Ganache trained harder to avoid such a thing happening again, Cheese had lost her love of combat. It was fine when she didn't realize the risk- nothing of the sort had happened to anyone currently on the team before- but the incident had ruined that. She would still fight if she had to, but there wasn't any fun in it anymore.
"But I'm not. And we have responsibilities." Sixth place was good enough for her. And, right then, she didn't have any real reason to leave.
What she had was a class full of students that needed her to grade their tests over the weekend. And so, that was exactly what she did.
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BlackGatomon: ...The level curve makes no sense, doesn't it?
Daichi: Once you realize magician lifespans are likely measured in millennia, standardising that kind of thing becomes sort of impossible, especially when dealing with returning characters. On the bright side, we should be leaving Kovomaka in the next chapter, and seeing some more of Sundae. Before she actually becomes a traumatized mess.
