"W-W-Wha-What, Lord Gale!?"
"Wh-What are you saying! Is it okay for a teacher to use corporal punishment!?"
The two students surrounding him wailed.
"There's no way this counts as corporal punishment. Besides, he shot that magic at himself!"
It was clearly self-defense. What was he even talking about, attacking me, the teacher, even if I'm only a temporary one.
He might have always gotten away with anything because he's the son of an Earl, but I won't hesitate to fight back.
Besides, with the misuse of magic, he'll likely be suspended, though not expelled. I'll let it slide since it's his first offense and he already took his own magic.
"It wasn't a very powerful spell, so he probably won't be seriously injured. Take him to the infirmary quickly."
"Damn it, just you wait!"
"I'll definitely get you fired!"
"Ugh..."
Leaving behind their petty threats, the two lackey students took Gale to the infirmary.
Honestly, if this is how it starts, I'm worried about how it will end.
"It's gotten a bit quieter now that the noisy ones are gone. First, take your seats."
"..."
The students, having witnessed the exchange, quietly returned to their seats.
It seemed that silencing that brat from the Earl's family had some effect.
"Alright, let's begin the lesson. It's your choice whether or not to pay attention, but if you make too much noise and disrupt the class, my chalk will come flying without mercy."
Blackboards and chalk exist in this world too.
By the way, I'm not against some corporal punishment. Especially these days, children are too spoiled. I think it's better to thoroughly teach them from a young age that bad deeds are punished, as they did in the old days.
Of course, I'm completely against excessive corporal punishment or the "guts" mentality of making them run endlessly in the hot summer without letting them drink water.
"...Teacher Geek, I have a request."
Just as I thought I could start the lesson, a female student raised her hand.
She had reddish-brown, wavy, long hair and a dignified, well-formed face.
"Hmm, it depends on the content. Uh, what's your name..."
"...My name is Cyril."
"Cyril of Viscount Raquel? Ah, let me tell you first, I'll call everyone by their names, regardless of gender or status."
"..."
The other students exchanged glances.
After all, the school's philosophy is that status doesn't matter when learning magic. By the way, in this world, people are called by their given names, not their family names.
I seem to recall that in my previous world, people had to be addressed with honorifics regardless of gender recently. Or rather, perhaps it was forbidden to call each other by their given names.
"...Um, Teacher Geek, do you remember all the students' names in this class?"
"I do, Cyril. And let me correct you, I remember the names of all the students and faculty in this academy, not just this class."
"..."
Once again, the other students exchanged glances.
Ah, they must have found it strange that I responded to their names with their family names. I believe it's polite to at least remember the names of those who respectfully call me "Teacher." Well, at first, it might have just been a formality without any real respect.
In my previous life, my memory wasn't that good, so it took me a while to remember students' faces and names, but my body in this other world has excellent memory.
In addition, the magic in this world requires a lot of memorization. By constantly researching magic, my memory naturally improved.
"Some of you might doubt it, but you'll understand later. So, what is your request?"
"Could you show us your abilities, Teacher Geek? I enrolled in this academy, which has a long history of magic, with great expectations, but frankly, the quality of the teachers is low. Especially the previous teacher in charge of defensive magic, who was less skilled than I, a freshman. In that case, I believe it's better to learn on my own."
My head started to ache...
Not because of Cyril's words, but because of the quality of teachers that would make students say such things. Just as Anon said, everything seems to have changed since I attended the school over ten years ago.
Certainly, there are those who are young but possess considerable magical talent in this world, but it's utterly unacceptable for a teacher to be less skilled than a freshman in their subject...
"Is that so? That is indeed the school's responsibility. If you think it's more beneficial to learn on your own, then you should do so. Teachers aren't responsible for your lives after all. It's easier to just use teachers who are useful."
"..."
Cyril fell silent at my words, which were unlike those of a teacher.
In my previous world, I always thought that lessons should be taken seriously. Any knowledge can be useful in some way.
However, magic in this world requires talent, and there's a lot of misinformation. Moreover, it's intertwined with status, bribery, and politics, so incompetent and unskilled individuals sometimes end up teaching.
Compared to such dreadful teachers' lessons, Cyril's idea of self-study being better makes sense.
Cyril was the first to notice my amplification magic and protected her ears with magic. And when I entered the classroom, unlike the other noisy brats, she was quietly studying on her own. From experience, students like her tend to achieve great things on their own.
"However, I'd be offended to be lumped in with those incompetent teachers. Today, as it's the first lesson, I had planned a lecture. But let's make it a practical exercise for self-introduction."
I thought my previous reflection magic was enough for a self-introduction, but apparently, my predecessor was so incompetent that it made that seem insignificant.