My Disciples Grind, I Get 100x Their Progress

”Kiena beat up a student?”

Julian repeated back, in a nutshell, what the professor standing in front of him had just explained. He felt utterly exhausted, dark circles hanging heavy under his eyes, but the second Kina’s name came up, Julian snapped fully awake.

Hearing what the professor had just told him wasn’t what shocked Julian, what actually shocked him was that Kina had somehow held out for two whole weeks before finally snapping.

’...From what I know of her, Kina’s pretty sensitive and quick to anger.’

But knowing this, apparently she could still hold back when it really mattered. Sure, it eventually blew up, but there had to be a specific reason behind it.

Kina had a temper, sure, but she wasn’t the type to just go beat up someone’s kid without a solid reason.

”Given that, for Kiena’s own good, we’d like you, as her guardian, to apologize to the victim.”

The professor glanced at Julian for a moment, looking visibly uncomfortable, but eventually spoke up. ”I hope you’re willing to cooperate on this, because the student Kiena hit happens to be the child of one of the Academy’s current donors. If you’re not willing to cooperate, I’m afraid Kiena’s future here might have to...”

The professor didn’t need to finish that sentence for Julian to understand exactly what he meant. If the question came down to Julian’s own pride versus Kina’s future, Julian would gladly sacrifice his pride without a second thought.

Handing over his pride, right now, wasn’t something Julian considered particularly costly at all, so he nodded.

”Of course, I’ll cooperate and apologize to the victim.”

The professor let out a visible breath of relief, smiling, clearly more relaxed now. ”Thank you, then please, follow me.”

And so Julian found himself walking down the Academy’s corridor alongside the professor, who, as it turned out, was Kina’s homeroom teacher.

They walked on until they reached the classroom, where Kina sat beside a blind girl with pale blonde hair.

The moment Kina’s gaze met Julian’s, her whole body tensed up, and she clicked her tongue, looking irritated and clearly regretting something, before turning her eyes away.

Meanwhile, Roland smiled with pure satisfaction, as though he’d just gotten exactly what he’d been hoping for.

”Oh? So this is Kiena’s guardian?”

”Oh, wow, they’re both from the Slums, but they’ve got seriously impressive looks, huh?”

”What’s the point of that, she’s from the Slums, looks don’t mean anything when she’s probably carrying half the germs from down there.”

Hearing that, Julian couldn’t help but let out a low sigh. Even he, a grown adult, hadn’t escaped their sneering, so what chance had Kina ever had?

One glance at Kina’s desk was already enough to say everything.

”Quiet,” the professor said, and the whole class fell silent. He nodded, turned to Roland, and spoke:

”Come here, Roland.”

Roland rose, walking over with a smile that never once left his face, stopping right in front of Julian.

Waiting for the professor’s cue, Julian bowed his head slightly.

”...As Kiena’s guardian, I apologize for what happened.”

Roland’s smile widened, while Kina froze in place, her face darkening, fists clenched tight as she bit down on her lip, forcing herself to hold back.

Meanwhile, the whispers around the classroom only grew louder. The longer Julian spoke, the more satisfied Roland looked, until finally...

”That’s enough,” Roland cut Julian off after letting him talk for a solid two minutes. Then he glanced around, making sure every student in the room was watching him, and said:

”Words mean nothing to me. Get down on your knees, and this’ll all be over.”

”...”

The whole room froze, and a few students started murmuring about how ridiculous Roland was being, though they all wore the same eager smiles, clearly bracing for a good show.

’This kid... he’s genuinely awful.’

Julian finally understood. If Kina had run into someone like this, given how sensitive and quick-tempered she was, of course she’d eventually snapped.

Julian began lowering himself, fully prepared to actually kneel, but right then—

Baam!

The loud crash of something slamming down startled the entire classroom. Everyone turned toward the corner, finding Kina on her feet, her expression calm, staring straight at Roland.

”Student Kiena? What are you—”

The professor tried to say something to Kina, but Kiena cut him off with a crooked smile, speaking directly to Roland instead.

”I never would’ve guessed you could get this pathetic, young master Roland.”

’Kina...!?’ Julian froze on the spot, staring at her in confusion.

”What’s with that attitude?” Roland glared at her, showing not a shred of fear, only irritation.

”After trying to assault me and my seatmate, and after I fought back to defend myself, now you’re spinning it around like I’m the one who bullied you?”

At that, the classroom went dead silent for a moment. Of course, Kina had already said this exact thing several times before, and honestly, plenty of them already believed she was telling the truth.

The problem was simply that the student on the other side of this was Roland, the child of an Academy donor, someone they clearly couldn’t afford to cross. So even with Kina as the actual victim, what were they supposed to do about it?

Even among the professors, a few had deliberately accepted bribes, while the honest ones struggled to speak up at all.

Hearing that, Roland lost none of his confidence, saying openly, ”I have no idea what you’re talking about. I mean, why would I ever bother assaulting some girl from the Slums? That filthy body of yours isn’t remotely appealing.”

His lips curled into an ugly smirk as he pointed at Ilunia. ”Even she’s a better option than you, over there, I’d honestly pick her over you any day.”

Ilunia had witnessed everything that happened, she could serve as a witness, but the problem was that her word carried no real weight.

Kina had also tried beating the truth out of Roland’s lackeys earlier, but in the end, that had turned out to be a hopeless effort.

So, what was she supposed to do now?

Feeling her Master’s cold, utterly unreadable gaze on her, Kina felt her whole body start to tremble.

She bit down on her lip, forcing a smirk onto her face. ”Young master, why don’t you try becoming a clown instead? You lie so obviously, you’d fit that role perfectly.”

Several students clapped their hands over their mouths in disbelief, hearing that insult, while Roland’s fists clenched hard.

Kina didn’t stop there. She continued, ”Yeah, it’d suit you. You’re from Central, you’ve got a solid background, endless resources behind you, but in the end, you still lost to someone like me, just an ordinary girl from the Slums. If that doesn’t scream clown, then what does?”

Kina had decided to go for the personal attack. If she couldn’t win the argument on the facts, given her impossible position, then she’d shift it into an entirely different kind of fight.

”Hehe~ your face gets so adorable when you’re this angry. It really suits you, honestly, a clown without a mascot, since your own face already looks like the mascot itself—”

Kina’s words were finally cut short, after she’d successfully baited Roland into a genuine rage.

”Enough!”

Watching Roland’s fury boil over, the professor shot a glance toward Julian, standing there as her guardian. But all Julian did was stay quiet, watching the whole thing unfold, looking utterly indifferent to what Kina was doing.

Except his mind was fixated on one single thing.

’Assault?’ That was news to him. The way Kina had phrased it, something deep inside Julian started churning with real anger.

’...Kina did the right thing,’ he glanced at Roland. ’If anything, she should’ve beaten him within an inch of his life.’

After that, what Julian heard next was:

”You only won because you got lucky.”

Then...

”Fine, let’s prove it. Let’s fight. And if I win, you’re going back to the Slums, right where you came from.”

”And if I win?” Kina shot back with a smile, tilting her head in satisfaction, as though she’d just gotten exactly what she wanted. ”How about you get down on your knees and apologize to me and my Master?”