The Retired Supporting Character Wants to Live Quietly

Chapter 20 – How to Counter an Elf’s Kyoto-Style Speech (2)

“Indeed, Professor Ismera! Your noble appearance matches the brilliance of your thoughts. Truly, elves are remarkable!”

“No… that’s not what I meant…”

Professor Ismera’s words faltered, her eyes widening in shock.

Feigning ignorance, I widened my eyes and asked.

“So, is there a deeper meaning to what you’re saying?”

“Uh…? Well… No… I mean…”

Watching Ismera flounder, Headmaster Kirrin tilted her head in confusion while I chuckled inwardly.

Elves consider themselves a noble race and never make outright rude remarks to others.

However, their sense of superiority is so strong that they subtly belittle other races.

Thus, when conversing with elves, one must be cautious. Their seemingly polite words often conceal a veiled contempt.

The best way to deal with such people is to pretend to be clueless.

The ideal response to their twisted and convoluted speech is to take it at face value with wide-eyed innocence.

It’s funny, though. While I was intentionally pretending not to understand, it seemed like Headmaster Kirrin genuinely didn’t get it.

Dark Elves are usually as devious as regular elves, but Kirlin is an exception. Adorable, really.

No wonder Ismera must have felt frustrated beyond measure since stepping into the Headmaster’s office.

Yet, an elf is an elf. She wouldn’t drop her facade.

So, shall we call it a day?

Now that she knows her subtle insults don’t work, she won’t try this nonsense again.

“Anyway, I, Dian the Human, have gained a new reverence for the elven race. Having someone here who is beautiful both inside and out is a great honor.”

“Uh… um… Th-thank you…”

Ismera, who seemed to be trying to say something, ended up stammering, avoiding my gaze.

Seeing Ismera like this, Kirlin’s eyes widened in surprise.

It must be her first time seeing an elf so flustered, just like it’s my first time seeing such an endearing Dark Elf.

“Shall we continue writing the report?”

“Oh, right.”

Kirlin, who had been staring blankly, hastily grabbed her pen, and I resumed my report on the Combat Department.

“And we’ve reinforced the infirmary’s capabilities by having the church send a Holy Priestess, which allows for more intensive field training.”

“Hmm… anything else?”

“We’ve established maintenance plans for long-unused outdoor training facilities, and they will be fully restored within a month.”

“Hmm… what else?”

“We’ve added advanced courses to the curriculum. We need specialized experts for these, and I plan to recruit some active duty personnel.”

“Hmm… recruiting experts…”

Keeping her eyes on the report, Kirlin continued to mumble ‘hmm…’ as she wrote. It’s quite cute, really…

A quick glance at Ismera showed that she cringed every time Kirlin went ‘hmm…’, but then quickly forced a smile whenever I looked her way.

“And please allocate more budget. We need to purchase various equipment and gear for the practical exercises.”

“You don’t need to request that from the Imperial Palace. We have plenty of budget ourselves.”

Kirlin answered confidently.

Now that I think about it, Kirlin did mention during one of her numerous requests for my help that she had saved up a substantial budget and I could use it freely.

How much has she been saving up?

“How much do we have?”

“Enough that it won’t be an issue.”

Hmm, I see…

“If there’s so much money lying around, Headmaster, how about we start a business?”

“A business?”

“Let’s build a shopping district within the academy.”

“A shopping district? What do you mean?”

I had been thinking about this for a while.

Our academy is almost the size of a small town, packed with various facilities and a significant population.

Students, faculty, maintenance staff, security personnel, and their families all reside here.

In modern universities of this size, you’d expect to see various franchises, but we have none.

We have some academy-run shops, but they struggle to meet the needs of the students.

Faculty members have to take carriages past the academy gates to the city for shopping, which is quite inconvenient.

Even I find it cumbersome to constantly ask Olysia to fetch things I want.

“So, we should allocate some unused buildings to host private businesses. Restaurants, bakeries, hair salons, shops, bathhouses, and so on. The academy would collect rent and a percentage of their profits. We can review their performance annually and replace any that don’t meet our standards.”

“My, what a novel idea.”

While Kirlin still looked puzzled, Ismera spoke up.

“Our head combat professor seems to be well-versed in business as well. You would thrive if you pursued this… business venture…”

Looking at her with a smile, Ismera flinched and averted her gaze.

She was implying that I should stick to my role as a professor and not dabble in business.

People never change their true nature, do they? Even after what just happened, she’s at it again, tsk tsk.

“So, headmaster, what do you think of my idea? No one loses out here, right?”

“It’s not a bad idea, but… this has nothing to do with education and training. What if the Imperial Palace objects?”

“How is it unrelated? It’s for the welfare of the students. If they eat well, dress well, and have fun, their grades will improve too.”

“Hmm, well…”

“If you’re really worried, just add a note saying it’s proposed by Professor Dian.”

“Write your name? That’s not acceptable!”

Kirlin shouted.

“What if you fall out of favor with the Security Chief?”

“Do you want to fall out of favor instead?”

“Eek!”

“Just write it. It’s really tough living here. If we can’t build a shopping district, I’ll quit.”

Hurriedly, Kirlin wrote my name down. I openly laughed at this, while Ismera frowned in disgust.

Afterwards, Ismera reported on the Theoretical Department, and Kirlin meticulously took notes and organized the report.

“Hmm, this is good… this looks fine… everything seems fine.”

Kirlin smiled as she checked off each item, verifying there were no errors or omissions.

“We’re all set. Thank you both for your hard work.”

I just realized that Kirlin’s smile is rather cute. Who would have thought that “cute” would be a fitting adjective for a Dark Elf?

# # # # #

After the meeting, Ismera greeted Professor Dian as they left the headmaster’s office.

“Well done, Professor Dian. I was deeply moved by your dedication to the academy’s advancement. (What? You suggested putting your own name as the proposer? You’re just beating your own drum.)”

“Thank you very much. (Yeah, whatever.) By the way, I’ll definitely ask Professor Waver to make some jerky for you. It’s really delicious. You haven’t thrown away the jerky I gave you earlier, right? (I know you’ll toss it as soon as you can, you sly fox.)”

Ismera, who had been planning to throw it away as soon as she got to her office, felt a twinge of guilt as she patted the pocket of her robe.

“I have it safely stored here. (You jerk.) But, Professor Dian.”

Ismera held up the packet she was carrying. It was the tea leaves that Kirlin had instructed the administrative director to give to her.

“Do you perhaps enjoy tea? (I’m never going to drink this garbage, so you might as well have it.)”

“Haha, I’m not really into it. That was a special gift from the headmaster to you, Professor Ismera. Enjoy it in your own time. (Nice try, but no thanks.)”

When Professor Dian politely declined the packet, Ismera had no choice but to accept it with a dignified smile.

“Well then, I’ll be off. Please join me for tea in my office sometime. (You know this means get lost, right?)”

“Oh? Really? I’d love to. I’ll definitely come by. (I’m not just saying that; I’m serious. Be prepared.)”

“I’ll be waiting. (As if you’ll actually come.)”

After parting ways with Professor Dian, Ismera stopped, gritted her teeth, and glared at Dian’s retreating figure.

Originally, Ismera’s primary target was Kirlin, and Dian wasn’t as significant.

However, after today’s regular report meeting, Dian had rapidly become Ismera’s new primary target.

She couldn’t stand how he, someone who got into the academy through sheer luck, meddled in everything and acted like he was in charge.

Moreover, his inability to understand anything she said and constantly changing the subject drove her mad.

I really… really hate him to the point of wanting to kill him….

Walking expressionlessly, Ismera pulled the jerky out of her pocket and threw it into the flowerbed.

“Good afternoon, Professor.”

“Hello. Isn’t it a lovely day?”

Just as she was about to tear open the packet of tea leaves, she smiled warmly at the students who greeted her.

This stuff would make a mess if I threw it here, so I’ll take it to my office.

Clenching the half-torn packet, Ismera walked with steps full of rage.

“Good afternoon, Professor.”

“Hello. You work so hard. Hoho.”

What? A shopping district in the academy? This guy was never cut out to be a professor. Now he wants to charge rent from merchants? Ridiculous.

Even with all his attention on teaching, it’s still not enough, and now he wants to play landlord? Insane.

The Imperial Palace will be furious and demand accountability from whoever proposed this madness, along with the responsible headmaster.

He must have thought it was a brilliant idea and wanted all the credit for himself, but it will backfire on him spectacularly.

That dumb Dark Elf is smiling, unaware she’s falling into the same pit with him.

I hope they both get ousted.

And a few days later, Ismera would hear news that would shock her to the core.

The Imperial Palace had responded very positively to the proposal and expressed their willingness to provide support for the project.

What…? What the hell is this…?

Just like the incident with the Duke’s visit, why do things keep turning out this way…?

What the hell is going on…!!