Life in Vain: Jobless Reincarnation

161 – The Hard-Working Teacher’s Wrath – I

It was completely out of the blue.

Roxy had been busy finishing up paperwork since the students and staff were out for a break. Since she also thought things might get troublesome soon since her magical instruments were starting to act strange, she wanted to clear her work load so that she could spend the time doing maintainance on them.

And then her door opened.

At first, she thought it was a student. Another one of those idiots who got dared to barge into her office for a prank.

On a second thought, she figured that it might be more idiots trying to build an alliance with the Magic Guild by trying to woo her.

But when she took the time to actually see who was there, she froze.

It was a familiar face. At the same time, it was completely different.

A handsome young man with bright green eyes that seemed like they could pick apart the mysteries of the world. Light brown hair that was neatly combed to the side. A pristine suit and diamond cane that reeked of nobility.

He took a single step in the room, carrying a haughty air around him as if he owned the entire world. At the same time, a pulse of mana emanated from him, triggering all of Roxy's magical detection artifacts.

Strong. A man that couldn't be categorized by any sort of metric. Someone who had the qualifications to act haughty like that.

But he took a single look at Roxy and his demeanor fell apart, replaced by shock, and then mild panic.

An expression that Roxy saw before a long time ago, and one that she couldn't forget considering all the trouble that came after it.

Then it clicked on why that face was so familiar, as well as who was standing there.

Rudy, her dear disciple. The genius who stubbornly called her Master when she didn't have the qualifications.

A surge of relief in her heart at seeing that he was safe after all. A faint tinge of guilt and embarrassment crossed her mind as she felt her heart race a bit seeing what a handsome and suave young man he had become.

And then fury when he immediately took a step back and shut the door.

It was a reflex. Seeing Rudy act like that, Roxy moved without thinking.

A brief part of her registered that Sylphy was there as well, all grown up. Another part registered that there was someone who gave off the aura of a God-Blessed child similar to Roxy's second student.

But most of her was focused on the child- No, on the man who rudely shut the door in her face and ran away like he was trying to escape responsibility.

"Well." Roxy crossed her arms and then let out a faint smile. "You mentioned something about an explanation, dear student. What would that be?"

Where were you all this time?

Where were the others?

Was your baby sister safe? What happened to you? Why were you all grown up now? Why were you with Sylphy?

All sorts of questions swirled around in Roxy's mind as she stared at Rudy.

Even so, she didn't ask them all. Instead, she waited. As always, she patiently endured her burning curiosity and let her disciple start talking before she said anything else-

"I smacked the human god in the back of the head, became a demon lord who's apparently the reincarnation of Saint Milis according to a couple hundred thousand people, and established a kingdom in the Magic Continent? There's a few other things that happened too, but I think that can wait a bit since you seem upset... Oh. And your parents told me to say hi?"

...

Roxy's eye twitched and her smile started to fade.

Rudy let out a nervous laugh. "...How have you been, Master? You look even more beautiful than I remember."

"...And it seems that you've inherited your father's bad habits, my dear disciple."

"Ahaha... I brought cookies though?"

"..."

-SNG-

A small cafe in the middle of Sharia. There, Stella and her big sisters, along with her big sister-in-law, were having a late lunch.

On one side of the table, Stella sat next to Ai... or rather, her half-sister Aisha.

On the other was Norn and Eris.

Norn sipped on a tall glass of fruit juice and then shook her head. Staring at Aisha, she said, "I can't believe that you're bigger than me now." She puffed her cheeks and said, "It's not fair. I'm the older sister."

Aisha smiled and said, "Well, I was always more mature."

"Was not."

"Was too."

Norn stuck out her tongue at Aisha and then went back to drinking her juice.

Eris shook her head and then looked at Aisha. "To be honest, I can't really believe it either. I mean, I expected Rudy to do some crazy stuff and Sylphy is Sylphy. But for you to grow up too... You look a lot like Miss Lilia now, you know?"

Aisha tilted her head. "Do I?"

"Mmhm." Eris nodded and said, "I think you're still a bit short up there though."

Aisha blinked and then turned bright red, crossing her arms underneath her chest. "I-I'm still growing! And I'm still bigger than Norn!"

Norn shrugged and said, "You can keep the big things. It gets really annoying to fight with them moving around anyway. Right, Big Sis?"

Eris nodded. "That's true." She frowned and then muttered, "I still don't get how Ghyslaine does it. Maybe it's because she's a Beast Race? I don't see how any ordinary person could fight like that..."

Stella puffed her cheeks and then said, "Could we not talk about stuff like that?"

The other girls blinked and then looked at Stella. After that, they shared a look.

Eris spoke up first after that and said, "Don't worry, Stella. Miss Zenith was bigger than Miss Lilia, so you'll be fine."

Stella's face turned red and she said, "That's not what I'm worried about!" She waved her arms around and said, "This! Aren't we supposed to have a big happy reunion? Why are you all so casual about it?!"

Eris tilted her head. "Hm? I mean, we knew that Aisha was fine though?"

Norn nodded. "Yeah. Dad sent a letter over already. We were going to go visit anyway before we found you and Rudy you know?"

Stella blinked. "Eh?"

Aisha nodded as well and said, "Right. Although I didn't expect you to still be so small, Nornie."

Norn huffed and said, "I would be bigger if Dad let me go into more time-space rifts with Eris."

Eris sipped on a glass of iced tea and said, "Growing up isn't that fun, Norn."

Norn frowned. "That's not what Sylphy says- Ow!"

Eris pulled her hand back from smacking Norn's head and said, "You shouldn't listen to that perverted elf. She's a bad influence."

Norn rubbed her forehead and then muttered, "You're not much better, Big Sis. Hitting people all the time like that..."

"At least I leave people alive. But anyway." She looked at Aisha and said, "So Miss Roxy is the Headmaster and Magic Guild leader? And you're already a teenager going to school at Ranoa Magic Academy..." Eris let out a wistful smile and said, "Time really flies, doesn't it?"

Aisha nodded and said, "It does. Especially since the whole world still seems to have distorted space time."

Stella looked at the others carrying on a conversation without her and then slouched down in her chair, crossing her arms.

This is why she hated grown-ups. Always chatting like she couldn't understand them.

At least Onii-chan treated her normally. Well, when he wasn't trolling her.

And speaking of Onii-chan...

Stella looked in the direction of the academy.

Didn't he say he was going to go see the headmaster? And if the headmaster was this Miss Roxy who was supposed to be his old teacher... And considering that her Onii-chan definitely seemed to be an eroge protagonist...

*drip*

Hm?

Stella looked up and noticed that the sunny sky had changed. Seemingly out of the blue, storm clouds had rolled in, slowly letting out a light drizzle of rain.

Eris blinked and then stared at the sky. "Weird. Wasn't it just sunny?"

Norn looked up as well and said, "Yeah." She shifted her gaze down to Aisha and said, "Does it always change weather this fast here, Sis?"

Aisha frowned. "No. It definitely doesn't."

<Oh wow.> Wata's voice echoed in Stella's head. <I didn't think you could use runes without mana like that to control the elements.>

Huh?

'Whoa! Is that fire mana mixing in with the water to make lightning?'

Wait. You can't just say stuff like that without explaining it!

*You should look away from the Academy, Stella. Also, close your eyes.*

Um... sure?

Stella didn't know what was going on, but since Wyn said it, she decided to do look away and close her eyes.

The moment she did...

*BOOM!*

...A bright white flash filled the air, quickly followed by thunderous explosion.

"Gah!" Aisha's voice.

"My eyes!" Norn.

"Dammit, Rudy!" Eris, cursing Rudy out as usual.

<It's a good thing that Rudy is immortal. I think that lightning strike could have taken out a couple of Spirit Kings...>

Stella opened her eyes to see what was going on. And then a familiar voice echoed from the distance.

"I SAID I WAS SORRY, MASTER!"

"SHUT UP AND LET ME HIT YOU, YOU UNGRATEFUL DISCIPLE!"

"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!"

"HOW DO YOU ACCIDENTALLY HAVE KIDS?! AND DEFY THE RULES OF MAGIC?! AND THEN MARRY TWO WOMEN WITHOUT EVEN ASKING ME OUT ON A DATE FIRST?!"

"Wait, what?"

"AAAAARGGGGGH! GET BACK HERE! AND DON'T YOU GO ANYWHERE, SYLPHY! YOU'RE NEXT! AND DON'T EVEN THINK OF RUNNING AWAY, ERIS!"

...

Eris slowly turned to look at Aisha and said, "...I thought you said that Miss Roxy was mature and sensible...?"

Aisha stared off in the distance, watching as a figure wearing a white robe flew across the sky while being chased by a woman wearing a pointed hat who was riding on a storm cloud. "Well..." She reached up to adjust her ribbon and said, "I guess the stress finally made her snap?"

-ENG-

Eos looked up at the stormy sky, watching her father be chased around by a mature blue-haired woman wearing a pointed hat. Lowering the ice treat she was sucking on, she looked over at Roland and said, "That's 'Blue Mama'?"

Roland stared at the sky and slowly nodded. "That's definitely her voice. Though... I don't think I've ever heard her that upset?"

Enoch took a bite from a cream-filled pastry and licked the bits of cream smearing her mouth. After also wiping the bits that fell on her chest, she tilted her head and frowned. "...You don't think she'll get mad at us, will you?"

Roland shook his head. "No. Even if she got annoyed at Dad or the other Mamas, she never took it out on the kids. Although..."

Eos raised an eyebrow. "Although?"

"...She was the most strict with us, so... We'll find out?"

"..."

"..."

Roland cleared his throat and said, "Anyway... the house I was talking about is over here. Dad said it started as a haunted mansion, so it should be fun to take a look at... and hide out until things calm down."

A bolt of lightning flashed and screams echoed from the distance.

"YOU'RE GOING TO HURT PEOPLE, MASTER!"

"THEY"LL BE FINE! NOW SHUT UP AND SHOW ME WHAT YOU LEARNED YOU SCOUNDREL!"

Roland looked back up at the sky and then muttered, "How the heck did Dad stay alive with three women when he wasn't as strong as Dad here...?"