19 Chapter 19: Identity

Rio had just arrived at the faculty. His schedule for today was over, Class A or Arcuied's class, was the last class he needed to teach for the day. Now he was waiting for Eugene to come to the faculty, the matter about the club was left unfinished.

It seems Eugene isn't going to arrive any soon, Rio thought as he looked at the time in his stopwatch and tapped his fingers on his desk. He leaned his head on his chair comfortably. He wanted to relax for the moment.

While he was comfortably waiting for Eugene to arrive, he was reminded of the jolly noble colleague of him.

'She's not here yet?'

He turned his head on the desk besides him, and suprisingly, Samantha still had not returned to the faculty. Whenever he got to the faculty, Samantha always seemed ahead of him.

The faculty was a wide office room, it was the place where teachers are stationed for most of the day. Only at night do they return to their own dorms.

At this moment, there were already several teachers at the faculty room. He didn't know most of them, most likely because they were either teaching a distinctly different subject or they were teachers of upper grades.

This school had a total of four grades. Different grade years also had a different batch of teachers. At that matter, he was lucky that the body he occupied turned out to be a teacher of the main characters. He got to observe and watch them more easily.

Was it really pure luck? Or was there something deeper? Rio pensively though as his frowned deepened. There was just something amiss, everything seemed convenient. He had the same name, he was at one of the central parts of the novel, the academy, and to top it all of he was the teacher of the main characters.

And, how could he forget his friend that had a connection to all this. His name was…was..? Rio widened his eyes in shock. He abruptly grabbed his head, as he tried to think of the name of his friend.

However, no matter how much he tried to remember. It was an undeniable truth, that he had forgotten. He was terrified. Something that was deeply important in his mind, simply dissapeared without warning.

"Professor Rio?" A voice came out of the faculty room. Eugene stood at the door as he looked at the room, this was where he needed to have a chat with his professor.

Rio snapped out of his terror when he heard his name get called. He looked at the door, and he realized that Eugene had already arrive. He had to calm down.

Rio breathed deeply as he tried to calm his nerves, he would think about this matter later when he got back to the dorm. Not would, he needed to. He had about enough of the mental mind fucks.

"Come in." Rio said impatiently, he was frankly unnerved by memory dissapearance.

"Don't mind if I do," Eugene respectfully said with a smile. He was at a public place, like his father thought. Always be mindful of your surroundings. Though he could care less of what inferior people thought.

"So, why are you here?" Rio asked as soon as Eugene arrived at his desk.

"Professor, did you forget.." Eugene looked at Rio oddly. He noticed that the professor seemed unnerved and irritant, it seemed something happened. He continued, "About the club?"

"Ah," Rio paused before he nodded in realization. How could he forget about that? It seems his nerves were getting into him, "Right. The club."

Rio took out a long bond paper in his desk and checked the front page. This was the club creation form. The only thing he needed to do was sign a signature, and everything was good as done.

However, signing the signature also meant destroying his chances of ever staying unknown and low-key. Being the club teacher of the top geniuses this academy, was bound to incure the envy of some nobles and teachers.

After thinking of it through, he decided it was worth it despite the drawbacks. The ability to forge an even deeper relationship and further help the main cast of characters were an alluding prospect.

The stronger they were, the less he had to act, atleast that's what he thinks.

"Here, sign this up and send it to the student council afterwards." Rio said as he handed out the paper he was holding. He was gonna leave it to Eugene, he was competetent enough to manage it.

"Oh, sure." Eugene nodded as he took the paper, he turned his head and off-handedly asked a question, "How's Super Genius of Academy Club, as a name?"

"Cough, cough." Rio suddenly coughed in suprise at the question. He forgot that Eugene had a horrible naming sense.

"Is it that bad?" Eugene frowned in response. The name didn't sound that bad to him.

"Frankly, It sounds so bad and horrible." Rio said callously as he sighed.

"Now that's just rude," Eugene scowled in response. Surely it wasn't that bad, he continued with reluctance "Forget it, I will just ask Amber later."

A good decision, Rio thought silently as he looked at Eugene. The noble student was an enigma in many ways. He was seemingly nigh perfection most of times, but there were just things he was horrible at.

"Well, I'l go on ahead. Professor." Eugene said as bid farewell, hurrying to his groupd of friends.

Rio looked at Eugene's back as it left the room. Good grief, It seems he was going to be stuck with their group of friends.

Now that the club creation was over, he had nothing to do left. He would only need to wait in the faculty as night comes and he can go to the library at night.

He figured that if he had nothing to do, he might aswell research some things that were troubling him. Rio took out his laptop and turned it on. Pressing the web, he typed:

Mental Magic

It was a limited type of magic arsenal that was heavily restricted in public. The only two ways he knew of to have it, is you either join the government or you buy it from the blackmarket.

However, he was not interested at buying in the moment. He needed more information first to get a clue on the sudden dissapearance of his memory.

—

Rio walked around the hallways. It was night already. He had just got out of the faculty and was on his way to the library. He already had finished researching a fraction of what Mental Magic does, but in the end it still seemed complicated.

As he was walking, he noticed a standing man in the middle of the hallways. The man was neither young nor old, he had a mature and tense face. Rio already saw this man, and knew him. It was Director Guinevere.

"…I've heard you took it upon yourself to teach them," Director Guinevere said as he stood in the hallways, he continued with a hint of familiarty, "Rio."

The previously serene silence turned into an unnerving and tense atmosphere. Rio looked directly at Director Guinevere. How did the Director know him?

"…Indeed," Rio replied as he nodded. He tilted his head in confusion as he asked, "How did such a distinguished person come to know me?"

"Hm, I guess you're as guarded as always." Director Guinevere said with a smile, he continued with confidence, "I assure you that there are no people listening."

"…How can you be so sure?" Rio asked, staring directly at the eyes of the director. There was something going on. A much deeper relationship. But he had just come here and never interacted with the Director before.

Then, the only remaing answer is, Director Guinevere knew Rio Salem. The body he was occupying. Rio astutely realized as he calmed himself down. This was a dangerous moment, but also an opportunity. He could either get some information, or completely fail and expose himself.

"It seems you finally decided to give in." Director Guinevere said as he completely ignored Rio's question.

"…Is that how you see it?" Rio asked, non-chalant. The best way to lead a conversation when you didn't know anything at all, was to be as vague as possible.

"Are you implying you have a different motive?" Director Guinevere rhetorted as he chuckled. He continued, "Well, no matter. I trust in your capabilities anyway."

"You give me too much credit." Rio replied as he shook his head. It seemed that Rio Salem, the owner of this body, was talented and amazing enough for a figure like Director Guinevere to acknowledge him with such high praise.

"Do be careful, at the shadows lies serpents and roaches." Director Guinevere said cryptically. Those were troublesome opponents, not because of their strength. But because of their connections.

"Ah, just a minor problem." Rio said without worry. In all honesty, it was truly a minor problem, he just had to prove himself. In terms of knowledge, he was far superior to anyone in this academy by virtue of reading the novel. However, same goes with strength. He already planned to bring forth some advanced self-made skills in the novel to use.

"My, how confident are you?" Director Guinevere widened his eyes as he chuckled, he moved forward and left. Leaving behind few words in concern,

"Just be careful, all right?"

Rio looked at the hallways, listening to the footsteps of Director Guinevere. Everything became more complicated than before. The body he was occupying was seemingly important and talented at the same time.