Chapter 320 - 252: Sweet Aftertaste

Philips slipped in carrying a teapot and found an empty seat in the back row.

...

The afternoon class ended early.

Just as Richard finished packing his bag and was about to leave the classroom, Pendleton rounded the corner at the other end of the hallway.

"Williams." Pendleton waved him over.

"Associate Professor Croft wants to see you in his office. Remember to bring that supplementary material."

Richard followed him, schoolbag on his back, to the door of the small room at the end of the hall.

Pendleton knocked three times.

"Come in," Croft’s voice came from inside.

Richard pushed the door open and went in.

There were already people in the room.

Croft sat behind his desk, a tin canister and several enamel mugs set out before him.

On the other side of the desk sat Edith Carter.

The girl was perfectly still, her hands folded on her lap and her back held ramrod straight.

She gave Richard a slight nod when she saw him enter.

Richard nodded back at her and sat down in the empty chair beside her.

Just as Croft was about to get up to boil some water, there was another knock on the door.

"Come in."

The door opened, and Isabella walked in first.

Following behind her was the associate professor from the School of Engineering.

Richard remembered his name was Grier. He had a bushy beard trimmed like a shrub, and his shoulders were so broad they nearly filled the doorframe.

The moment Associate Professor Grier entered, he seemed to take up half the space in the small room.

He greeted Croft in a gruff voice.

"Old Ke, this room of yours is way too small."

He tossed his coat over the back of a chair. "It’s hard to even turn around."

"Sit." Croft pulled two folding chairs out from behind a bookshelf. "Don’t complain."

Isabella sat down in the chair by the window, her gaze sweeping over Richard and Edith without a word.

Grier unfolded a chair and sat down with a CREAK. The folding chair let out a pained groan.

"Did this chair start working here the same time you did?" Grier patted the seat. "I bet it’s older than I am."

"It’s two years older than you."

Croft shook some tea leaves from the tin canister into the mugs.

"I’m not drinking your tea." Grier waved his hand as soon as he saw the canister. "I had a cup last time, and it was so bitter it took me a week to recover."

"If you can’t handle it, you just don’t have any taste." Croft handed the mugs to the two students.

Edith accepted it with both hands and murmured her thanks.

Richard took his as well. He took one sip and frowned. ’It really is bitter enough to make you question your existence.’

Isabella took a thermos out of her handbag.

She twisted off the lid, and a faint, sweet aroma drifted out—probably honey citron tea.

"You’re not drinking my tea either?" Croft glanced at her.

"Your tea matches your personality—so bitter it makes people admire you from a distance."

Isabella took a sip of her own citron tea, her brow relaxing.

Croft snorted.

"Alright." Croft picked up his own mug and turned his gaze to the two students.

"I didn’t call you two here today for a casual chat."

Croft turned his gaze to Edith.

"Carter."

The girl sat up even straighter.

"Yes."

"How many of the material packets I gave you have you finished?"

"I’ve finished all of them," Edith’s voice was soft. "But there are two I didn’t do well on."

"Take them out and let us have a look."

What followed was a special tutoring session for the two of them.

When they had gone over nearly everything, Croft finally spoke up.

"The two of you are in a similar situation."

"You’ve done what you could, and you’ve marked the parts you couldn’t."

"But we’re not just here today to talk about your performance."

He glanced at Grier.

Grier cleared his throat.

"You’ve attended my classes these past few days, so you’ve heard about industrial accidents and new types of weak points."

Edith and Richard both nodded.

"That’s all surface-level stuff. Today, I’m going to tell you about something deeper."

"This business about the war." Grier folded his two thick arms across his chest.

"The newspapers have been talking about it every day for two months now."

"You students probably think war is a matter for Hunters and soldiers, that it doesn’t have much to do with people in academia."

Edith remained silent, and Richard didn’t say a word either.

"But what you don’t know is this." Grier’s voice grew solemn.

"Long before the fighting even starts, the Scholars are already busy."

"Busy with what?" Richard asked.

"Seals." Grier held up a thick finger.

"Once all-out war breaks out on the Old Continent, the density of death will skyrocket in a short period of time."

"And what does that mean? It means the weak points will deteriorate faster, and all the existing Seal maintenance cycles will become obsolete."

"Some Seals that only needed to be reinforced once a year might need to be reinforced twice in six months during a war."

"But there are only so many Scholars and Secretive Ones in the entire Empire who can perform Seal maintenance."

Croft took over.

"Grier is talking about the big picture."

"As for how this affects you two specifically."

His fingertips tapped on the desktop.

"Once the war begins, all university preparatory and undergraduate programs will have to be downsized.

Money and personnel will be diverted to the front lines, and the number of spots available to stay in the academies and pursue research will be cut to an absolute minimum."

"Who gets to stay and who doesn’t will depend on your performance."

Isabella added.

"Those who stay won’t just be continuing their studies.

They’ll have to study while also working for the academic system."

"Much of this work was previously done by associate professors and lecturers."

"In the future, that won’t be enough. We’ll need undergraduates and graduate students to step up."

Richard listened in silence.

Grier continued.

"Those supplementary materials we handed out a couple of days ago weren’t just random assignments."

"The focus of every single problem was designed to simulate the types of tasks you might have to take on in the future."