Reviving a Bankrupt Academy: My Financial Battle

The midterm exams were over.

The students returned to the academy, and naturally, there was a lot of talk about the deserted island for a while.

However, rather than complaints or dissatisfaction about the midterm exams…

"I saw it with my own two eyes! The Headmistress threw a punch, and the Kraken just exploded!"

"I heard she folded the Kraken in half with a single finger earlier?"

"It's all the same! Hey, have you ever tried grilled Kraken legs?"

"…No."

"Don't talk if you haven't tried it. I want to explain how delicious it is, but I can't find the words."

Stories about the Headmistress and the Kraken.

"Did you really survive on a deserted island for a week? Is that even possible?"

"Well, it wasn't a big deal once I tried it. I feel like I can survive anywhere now."

"I heard you were crying and making a fuss."

"Ahem, shh! Where did you hear such nonsense! Did I give up midway? I completed it! I even received a special scholarship!"

"That's true…"

Tales of heroism on the deserted island, and so on.

Naturally, not everyone was happy, but there were many positive stories about the midterm exams. To be precise, the Kraken and the tales of heroism overshadowed the complaints and dissatisfaction about the exam.

In the end, the students who remained at the academy were more interested in the Kraken and the deserted island survival stories than complaints about the exam, and most of the dissatisfied students were those who gave up midway.

Especially since most of them were nobles who were raised in luxury, there was a possibility of problems, but.

"Father, I'm telling you! It was a ridiculous exam!"

"I already received a letter from the Headmistress about the exam. It was a very polite letter explaining the purpose and content of this exam and asking for your understanding."

"What?"

"It was certainly a radical method, but it's also true that the students from the Imperial Academy suffered serious injuries after being stranded. More importantly, the son of the Baron family next to us completed the exam, and I couldn't hold my head up at the Count's dinner party."

"Uh…"

"Considering who the Headmistress is and what kind of place Grandis Academy is! Do you think the most prestigious educational institution in the kingdom would conduct such an exam without thinking? You should be thinking about seizing the opportunity, and yet you're complaining like a weakling as a noble of the kingdom!"

"F-father?"

"Get out of my sight! Don't come to me with this kind of thing again!"

"Father!"

That too passed without much trouble, thanks to the arrangement prepared by the Finance Director.

The justification that the Headmistress, the strongest person in the kingdom and a hero, 'personally' wrote letters to each noble family, asking for their understanding.

The belief that there must have been a good reason for the most prestigious Grandis Academy to do such a thing.

And the fact that although there were many dropouts, there were also many who completed the exam, leading to comparisons within the noble society.

Everything went as planned.

"Although the costs for the feast, magic ship rental, travel expenses, and other miscellaneous expenses were higher than expected, they were mostly covered by the Kraken subjugation reward. As a result, compared to last year's midterm exams, we reduced expenses by more than half."

"Considering that we even enjoyed a vacation, it's a great achievement. How was the reaction to the exam?"

"Here are the results of the survey conducted on the students and their parents."

"…It was worth writing all those letters diligently. With this much positive feedback, we could even hold it annually."

"Of course, it's under consideration."

This was the reason why I desperately tried to protect the Headmistress's authority and the academy's reputation.

Subsidies? Donations? We could easily receive them if we just opened up about the financial situation and spoke honestly, or used the authority of the academy and the Headmistress.

However, even if we could put out the urgent fire that way, Grandis Academy wouldn't be the Headmistress's academy anymore. And there was a high probability that I, the Finance Director, would take all the blame for the past financial problems.

The royal family and other forces would constantly interfere in the academy's operations and pursue their own interests.

'It would be like burning down the house to catch bedbugs.'

With the bankruptcy crisis in three years, it wasn't just bedbugs, but the pillars of the house rotting away, but anyway.

For the sake of the Headmistress's dream, and for my own safety and future, Grandis Academy had to resolve its financial problems while pretending that there were no problems.

Naturally, this damn game was a mess, but there were still some cards I could play.

The existence of the Headmistress and the reputation that Grandis Academy, the most prestigious academy in the kingdom, had built up.

'Even if it's the same feigning illness, no one would believe it if the last-place student in the entire school did it, but if the first-place student did it, there would seem to be a reason.'

Thanks to that, even with the deserted island survival midterm exam, something that would have turned other public or private academies upside down, there were no problems.

It was possible because of the Headmistress, who was extremely concerned about the quality of education and the well-being of the students.

Perhaps because of that, the Headmistress had a bright expression as she received my report.

In a way, it was a result that proved she wasn't wrong.

"The pushover, no, Sir Julius, when is he coming?"

"He'll probably be here within three days. He must be quite busy, but Kaern is a disciple Julius cherishes."

"Then we have some time."

"Time?"

"Now that the midterm exams are over, shouldn't we contact the bribed students, including Lisha, again?"

One of them did ask me to tell them about the exam content beforehand, but I refused.

They didn't seem too disappointed, as if they were just testing the waters, but still, you never know.

Bribery is the art of relationships.

In other words, bribery means that the artist, the Finance Director, has to go through a lot of trouble to paint a picture.

The other party? They're just the ones providing the paint for the picture. They just don't know that they're actually the customers.

'I need to go around the bribed students, receive bribes again or appease them, process the midterm exam-related approval documents that must have piled up, return a certain percentage of the travel expenses received from the nobles along the route to the archipelago with thank-you letters as per custom, catch up on the business administration papers I missed for a week, meet with the Head of the Food Service Department and Laura to check on their work, meet with the Head of Student Affairs and the Chief Examiner to listen to their stories since they must have had a hard time, meet with the Head of Planning and the Head of Academic Affairs for a meeting, and visit the illusion magic department to see if they're properly donating 40% of the investment.'

Okay, this much should be enough for today.

Still, perhaps because I slept and rested well for a week, I didn't feel overwhelmed even though there was a mountain of work.

This much was.

"Everyday life."

"Everyday life indeed."

There were also seven stacks of documents that needed to be approved on the Headmistress's desk, a week's worth, piled up to the floor, but this was also something the Headmistress did every day.

The Headmistress and I looked at each other and smiled.

After a short vacation.

It was time to return to our ordinary daily lives.

***

Ruth was sitting on the bed in his dormitory room.

Although he could have entered the best dormitory since he was a Rank 6 despite the restrictions, Ruth refused and rented an entire small dormitory with the money he earned from investing in the rock salt mine.

He wished he could be roommates with Mina, but according to the 'enrollment documents,' students of different genders couldn't live in the same room. It was only natural.

Therefore, Ruth could only sigh.

"…This is so inconvenient."

It was quite difficult. Living while hiding her gender.

It was also a choice made with a distant future in mind.

Wearing a chest binder and manipulating her Aura to disguise her skeletal structure was all to approach Professor Circe.

'For some reason, Circe only used men as test subjects in the Holy Kingdom.'

Professor Circe, a master of life magic and called a genius, but she didn't know if she gained that knowledge through human experimentation or if she started human experimentation because of that knowledge.

What was certain was that Circe had a rather strange preference for male test subjects.

'If possible, I wanted to take care of it at the academy, and even if I failed, since she knew me as a male, I planned to approach her as a test subject in the Holy Kingdom.'

But Professor Circe wasn't active at all, for some reason. I saw her briefly during the midterm exam, and she was clearly weaker than before.

Why was a Rank 6 mage demoted to Rank 5, even if it was temporary?

…As expected.

"There are too many things I don't know."

It wasn't that she didn't know anything. She knew how to reach Rank 6, about the rock salt mine, about Professor Circe, about Adam, and about the future of the academy.

But what Ruth knew was only the big picture; she didn't know anything about the process in between.

Because of that, didn't the rock salt mine start to collapse before several trading companies arrived?

It was even more so with the academy.

'I was just a perpetual last-place student.'

Before, she only focused on her own growth and didn't know much about the details or secrets of the academy.

She remembered the incidents that happened at the academy, but she didn't know much about their causes. She only knew that they would happen.

But even that 'knowledge' seemed useless now.

'What was the problem?'

Why wasn't Circe doing anything? Why weren't there any incidents like the professors' summoning ritual? Why did Adam meet Beatrice instead of Chloe?

No matter how much she thought about it, Ruth couldn't understand the reason.

And after experiencing the deserted island survival midterm exam, a huge change that didn't exist in the original timeline.

'First…'

She decided to keep her regression a secret.

The situation changing for unknown reasons was frustrating, and if things didn't work out, she was going to confess everything to Mina or Adam, but…

'That could be a problem.'

After seeing the 'past' Adam and the current Adam overlap on the deserted island, she changed her mind.

The future was already changing in ways Ruth didn't know. If she carelessly revealed her regression here, she didn't know what kind of butterfly effect it would cause. Since she couldn't be sure of anything, Ruth had to be cautious in this irreversible adventure.

Revealing her regression was the very last resort. Even she, who wasn't very smart, knew how much of an impact that action would have.

However, she couldn't just be irresponsible.

"…Let's find out."

Even if she didn't know much, even if she was a failure who couldn't save the world and Adam in the end.

This regression was definitely a miracle that wouldn't come again.

Ruth pulled herself together and set a clear goal.

──To find out why Grandis Academy collapsed.

If the academy didn't collapse and the Headmistress didn't die…

Surely Adam wouldn't fall either.

'First of all, it's not an internal problem.'

It couldn't be a problem within the academy. The academy was fine until Ruth graduated.

If it were an internal problem, it would be financial issues or internal strife among the staff, but the Headmistress was the wealthiest person in the kingdom and reigned supreme in the academy. There was no way a problem would suddenly arise. Even Ruth could be sure of that.

More than anything, it was unimaginable that the Headmistress, who could kill a Kraken with a single blow, would die from something like a betrayal by the staff.

The only thing she was worried about was Professor Circe's schemes, but.

'I can keep her in check.'

More importantly, even Professor Circe couldn't destroy the academy with the Headmistress in it alone.

There was only one possibility.

'An external enemy.'

After Grandis Academy collapsed, the entire kingdom was thrown into chaos, and since she was in another country at the time, she had to rely on rumors. As it was with rumors, she couldn't guarantee their authenticity, and the details were inconsistent, but.

There was one thing that was commonly said.

'They said that the Empire and the royal family tried to intervene in the academy.'

In other words, the conclusion was simple.

She would continue her academy life like this, keep an eye on Professor Circe, check on key figures like Mina and Adam, and prevent any external intervention.

Ruth, finally setting a proper goal, nodded firmly.

Of course, that didn't mean she had to do something right now. Rather, Ruth, checking the late hour, put on her chest binder again and slightly adjusted her skeletal structure.

'This is so uncomfortable.'

But if she didn't do this, she couldn't hide her growing chest and hips. Perhaps it was an aftereffect of quickly reaching Rank 6, but her body's growth was explosive.

At this rate, it seemed like it would grow to the point where she couldn't hide it with skeletal transformation within a year. Should she wear armor like the youngest knight? She let out a sigh and left the dormitory.

Even so, today was the day the general store suddenly discounted eggs. She didn't forget, as it was something she deeply regretted in her 'past' memory.

'Back then, I couldn't buy them because I didn't have any money with me.'

But now it was different. Ruth was a Regressor. Although she had a lot of money from the rock salt mine, she had to save as much as possible for the future.

The past, where she was so poor that she couldn't even buy discounted eggs, was gone now.

Ruth took a step forward to change the past, and…

"Hey, you."

"…Huh?"

"Ruth Spero, right?"

A girl with fiery red hair tied in a ponytail with a black ribbon and an annoyed expression blocked her path.

Ruth couldn't help but flinch at the sight of her face.

Because she was the one she personally killed in the previous timeline.

"…Chloe Piste."

"Of course you know me. Or rather, are you more famous? Anyway, I have something to say."

"What… is it?"

"You, I heard you talked to the Finance Director at the entrance ceremony. Right?"

"...."

"I'm looking into that person."

Chloe Piste. The girl who was originally close to Adam and left with him after the academy collapsed.

But now she…

…stood before Ruth with a completely different demeanor.

"I have something to ask you."

"Adam Keynes."

"About that person."