Greetings, Mister Principal

Chapter 192: Colleagues

Morale Support: Scherzo

Patreon: /ScherzoTranslations

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“These people are those who want the Review Committee to reassess their own theses. Such situations often occur in various regions of the magic associations. This time, they probably heard the rumors here and gathered.”

As Igor walked up the stairs, he explained.

“In reality, the theses that are rejected by the Review Committee are mostly genuinely lacking in content or have significant directional errors. The possibility of misjudgment is very low. So, naturally, these people don’t get what they want. Initially, we used to entertain some submissions, but later, we found that their theses were just nonsense. So, we stopped accepting submissions from these people.”

Why does this sound a bit like pseudoscience in this world?

Reiner followed Igor, and couldn’t help but glance out the window, observing the crowd separated by the distant mansion gate.

“You don’t have to pay attention to these people. It’s a waste of time to communicate with them anyway.”

The two walked on the soft wool carpet, silently arriving on the second floor. Igor skillfully led Reiner into a spacious and bright room. Several tables were scattered throughout, covered with various books and materials, resembling an office.

“This is where we work. Your desk is that one.”

Igor pointed to a clean and tidy desk near the window. There was no dust on it, and special ink, paper and pens were neatly placed on the desk, awaiting the owner’s arrival.

“Lord Percival will hold a discussion here later. You can familiarize yourself with the environment here.”

After giving some instructions, Igor returned to his desk. He seemed to be working on something, picking up a pen and circling on a paper.

Reiner didn’t rush to sit down. Instead, he looked around. There were nine desks in the office arranged in a three-by-three grid. However, excluding Reiner’s desk, there were only five desks actually in use.

Starting from the entrance, Reiner’s desk was the second to last near the window. Behind him was an empty desk, and in front was Igor’s position.

Beside Reiner’s desk, the three desks all had occupants. However, in the row closest to the corridor, only the first desk had books and materials.

“Hello, I’m Reiner Ian Gray, the assistant review committee member here.”

He greeted his neighboring colleague. This mage with a scruffy beard was burly, and three theses were being simultaneously reviewed on his desk. Feathers floated in the air as he quickly wrote with quills. However, the mage’s expression wasn’t friendly.

“Utterly foolish. How could those guys submit such theses… Uh, sorry, I wasn’t talking about you.”

The three quills in front of him all stopped simultaneously. The mage looked at Reiner and gave a somewhat ferocious smile.

“I’m Bel Christian. Familiar folks call me Big Bear… [1] Wait, Reiner Ian Gray? Are you the Skullcrusher Reiner Ian Grey?”

What’s with this title “Skullcrusher”?

A drop of cold sweat formed on Reiner’s forehead. It seemed that his reputation had seemed to have gone awry.

“Bel, Igor, Savros, it’s time for a meeting.”

Before the conversation could continue, a voice interrupted the dialogue between Reiner and Bel. A head popped in from the doorway, addressing the people in the room. He quickly noticed Reiner and slightly widened his eyes, then added.

“You too.”

“Let’s go, Reiner. Lord Percival doesn’t like tardiness.” [2]

Bel stood up. His towering height, three heads taller than Reiner, made him look more like a bear. He waved gently, and several theses flew out from his desk. Bel took them in his hand, then walked out of the office.

Reiner shrugged helplessly, picked up his notebook, and followed Igor to the adjacent meeting room.

The meeting room wasn’t large. In the center was a long table. Only after everyone else had taken their seats did Reiner sit down slowly beside Igor.

This seemed to have some semblance of the freshman orientation meetings back on Earth.

Reiner thought inexplicably, then saw a well-dressed mage entering the office.

He had five gold lines on his cuffs, evidently a fifth level mage. The man’s hair was neatly combed, and he wore glasses, looking meticulous.

Glancing around, he saw Reiner and showed a somewhat gentle smile.

“It seems our new member has arrived. How about introducing yourself first?”

He looked at Reiner and spoke with a demeanor of a leader.

Reiner stood up, then looked at everyone, saying in a calm voice.

“Good morning, gentlemen. I’m Reiner Ian Gray, serving as the assistant review committee member here for one week. I hope you can provide me with guidance.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he felt a slight change in the atmosphere.

“Is this the Reiner Ian Gray who crippled the entire pureblood faction?”

A mage sitting across from Reiner whispered. He scrutinized Reiner as if he couldn’t believe that the Reiner Ian Gray who caused twelve mid-level mages in the pureblood faction to have cognitive collapses was such a young fellow.

“Sorry for not informing you earlier. In fact, I only received notice a couple of days ago. Mr. Reiner Ian Grey will serve as the assistant review committee member, only coming to work during the monthly meetings. I hope everyone can cooperate pleasantly.”

Supervisor Percival didn’t show much expression, continuing to speak indifferently.

“Reiner, I’m Percival Olson. I am the supervisor of this review committee. Beside you is Igor, Igor’s next to Bel, across from Bel is Savros, next to Saphros is Hannah, and the last one is Roger.”

He rapidly introduced all the members, then sat at one end of the long table, taking out a thesis.

“Everyone, let’s start our discussion for today.”

It seemed that Reiner’s arrival did not bring about any changes in the supervisor Percival’s demeanor. He continued to work just as usual, like a precise gear.

“Uh, I have a thesis here, about an ecological investigation. The author is Bostan Baptiste, a third level mage from Immortal Throne. He has some new perspectives on species evolution.”

Hannah, the female mage, spoke first. She was the only woman among these people, with chestnut-colored curly hair, around thirty years old, and seemed a bit introverted. The emblem on her robe indicated that she was a member of Immortal Throne.

“I think it has some reference value, but it still needs a joint review by everyone.”

Saying that, Hannah unfolded the thesis and placed it in the center of the long table.

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T/N:

[1] In Chinese, the term “Bear” has some connotations with Russia.

[2] Bel uses an informal way of addressing Reiner.