Professor Alder

In the Academy corridor.

Locke was thinking of a way to break the deadlock when the Academy's history teacher, Alder Franklin, suddenly appeared in the corridor.

Alder Franklin was around sixty years old. He had one eye, with a black eyepatch over his left eye and gold-rimmed glasses over his right.

There was also a student following the old man.

Locke recognized her at once. She was also from the Anjou Kingdom—the youngest daughter of Viscount Malkin from southern Anjou, Angel Malkin.

She had belonged to the same circle as the previous owner of this body at the Academy.

At that moment, Angel was chatting and laughing beside the old man, while Professor Alder spoke to her with a smile.

"Angel, I know you can't afford this term's tuition. I can't waive it for you either, but I can offer you an opportunity to earn money. After your last class every morning, come to my office and copy historical texts for me. Just one hour at noon each day."

Professor Alder smiled kindly. "The payment will be ten gold coins each time."

A look of temptation appeared on Angel's face.

Ten gold coins a day was naturally nowhere near enough to cover a semester's tuition at Aurelian Academy.

But ever since her family had cut off her financial support, even maintaining her former lifestyle had become difficult. All the friends around her had turned their backs on her as well.

So she really was short on money now.

"Professor, I'm willing," Angel said. "Thank you for giving me this opportunity."

"You really are a good person."

"I never realized before that you were so kind-hearted."

A smile appeared on Professor Alder's face. Then he looked up and spotted Locke Augustine. A surprised expression flashed across his face, and his gaze flickered.

"Strange. It's already been over a week."

"Could it be..."

Professor Alder's smile widened as he addressed Locke. "Locke, you haven't come to my office for three days. Have you run into some difficulty?"

"You're still welcome to copy historical documents for me for an hour every day. You did very well before."

"You're one of the most outstanding students I've ever seen."

Locke frowned, alarm bells ringing in his mind.

He knew very well that the reason he had transmigrated here was because the previous owner had copied documents for this old man, then died in less than a week, allowing his soul to cross over.

But the key was that no matter how Locke searched through the previous owner's memories, he couldn't understand how simply copying history books for the old man could lead to death.

Yet before his death, the previous owner had grown weaker, more powerless, and more exhausted with each passing day.

Until the final day, when he copied history books in Professor Alder's office in a daze. After returning to his dorm room, he suddenly died, and Locke transmigrated into his body.

Locke still hadn't figured out why copying historical documents for the old man was so dangerous, so there was no way he would work for Professor Alder again.

It was far too dangerous.

Locke forced a smile, trying to make his answer sound natural. "Professor Alder, thank you for the compliment."

"It's just that I've recently wanted to look for another part-time job..."

Professor Alder waved his hand indifferently. "Then you can keep working for me until you find one."

"It would be best if you started again at noon today."

"I'll be waiting in my office. I'm very satisfied with your work."

Locke's heart jolted. Sure enough, the old man had no intention of letting him go.

The man was probably deliberately choosing people from the Anjou Kingdom to work for him.

Locke hurriedly refused. "Professor Alder, once again, thank you for holding me in such high regard. But I haven't been feeling well lately."

Professor Alder smiled. "Feeling unwell doesn't affect your work. Young people always have to go through hardships and setbacks. I know you've been in a bad mood lately. I understand all that, but that's exactly why you should work even harder."

"Look, Angel will also be coming to my office at noon today to copy historical documents."

"Thank you, Professor," Angel said gratefully.

"I never expected that when I was in such difficulty, it would be an Academy teacher who gave me a helping hand."

At the same time, Angel looked at Locke with confusion and suspicion.

She didn't understand why Locke was refusing Professor Alder's kindness.

They had both lost their families' support. They were nearly out of money even for basic living expenses, and daily spending at the Academy was so high. If they didn't accept the professor's offer, could they really find a better choice?

Professor Alder nodded in satisfaction.

Locke glanced at the foolish girl, then stubbornly continued refusing. "Sorry, Professor."

"I really can't get away for the time being."

The smile had vanished from Professor Alder's face, replaced by obvious displeasure. He stared coldly at Locke. "Then, Locke, history is a required Academy course. Aside from your tuition, you'd better settle this semester's history course fees as soon as possible."

"I hope that by the next time I see you, you'll have paid the six hundred gold coins for the history course."

"Otherwise, there's no need for you to attend class anymore."

History, language, and swordsmanship were Aurelian Academy's three major required courses. If he didn't pay the fees for all three, he would likely be expelled from the Academy.

Professor Alder walked a few steps, then seemed to reconsider. "Of course, if you continue working for me, you can have another month to settle the fees for my course."

"If you change your mind, Locke, you can come find me in my office."

"I still think you do excellent work."

Professor Alder deliberately put on an angry expression, turned around, flicked his sleeve, and stomped off in a huff.

Angel hurried after him. After taking a few steps, she seemed to remember something, turned back, ran up to Locke, and couldn't help complaining and scolding him. "Locke, what's wrong with you?"

"You actually made the professor angry."

"The professor means well. Who else would give us Anjou people an opportunity like this? You really don't know what's good for you."

"You'd better apologize to the professor quickly. Things aren't like they used to be. You're no longer the son of a count, and I'm no longer some viscount's daughter."

After saying that, Angel hurried off to catch up with Professor Alder.

Locke watched her and shrugged.

Angel had originally been one of the students in his circle. Since she was only a viscount's daughter, she had spent all her time fawning over the previous owner of this body... But now that the Anjou Kingdom had fallen, she naturally had no need to flatter him anymore.

Still, he had originally considered giving her a subtle warning out of basic humanity, but it seemed unnecessary now.

Character determined fate.

With her attitude, if he warned her, she might very well turn around and sell him out to Professor Alder.

Locke began thinking. "History class is held twice a week. The next one should be in about three days."

"If I can't come up with a solution by then, I'll probably be expelled at the next history class, or forced to agree to keep copying history textbooks for Professor Alder."

"I need to find a way out quickly. Or figure out what to do after leaving the Academy. I can't return to the Anjou Kingdom—it's too dangerous there."

"Should I become a wandering noble?"

Locke glanced at the Synthesis Cube before him. It showed that there were still forty-five minutes until the synthesis was complete.

"Language class is about to begin. I'll attend language class first."

"The most important courses at Aurelian Academy should be the three major required courses, but even among them, there's a hierarchy."

"The most important should be language class."

"Then history, followed by swordsmanship."

Locke recalled that in other Academies, or elsewhere, teachers who taught grammar would certainly hold relatively low status.

After all, this era resembled the Middle Ages.

Among the knightly class, martial strength was clearly far more important than culture, so swordsmanship should logically have ranked above history and language.

But at Aurelian Academy, it was completely different.

At this Academy, the language teacher was not only the Academy head, but also held an extremely high position. His word carried enormous weight, and sometimes he even took over other classes.

So if the Outstanding Graduate slot had anything to do with a particular course, then by logical deduction, language class was the most likely to be connected to it.

That might be the direction for him to break the deadlock.