The Strongest Brother Lost His Memory-Chapter 61

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The next morning, when I stepped out for breakfast, Zahid was already there waiting for me, leaning against the wall with Fire by his side.

“Oh? Zahid, you should’ve said something if you were here!”

“You’d come out eventually if I waited.”

Zahid replied gruffly. Still, he grabbed my bag—stuffed full of books—and slung it over his shoulder without a word.

“Let’s go. What’s your first class?”

He changed the subject so quickly that I missed the moment to thank him.

I had to scurry to keep up with his long strides as I replied.

“Huh? Magical Nanoscience. The book for that one’s the thickest and heaviest. It’s the first class today, so I’m kind of excited.”

Zahid glanced sideways at me, then slowed his pace to keep talking.

“Oh, Class 2 had that yesterday. It was super boring and not inte—”

He suddenly trailed off mid-sentence.

“What’s wrong?”

“I messed up. That class’s teaching assistant is...”

“Oh, Assistant Theo?”

I smiled and gave Zahid a light tap on the arm, signaling it was fine.

Theo was Monica’s son—in other words, my cousin. If I remembered correctly, he was a year or two younger than Julian.

So among my three male cousins—Roystan, Ethan, and Theo—he was the oldest.

Monica was always nagging Theo to return to the Noart estate and start successor training like Roystan.

But Theo had held his ground, saying he wanted to become a professor at the Academy. He hadn’t even set foot in the Noart manor.

He was probably in his early twenties now, working as the youngest assistant here.

Since Zahid didn’t give empty compliments or say what he didn’t mean, I figured Theo might be good at research, but probably had zero talent for teaching.

“It’s okay. I don’t know Assistant Theo at all. Never even seen his face. He never visits the Noart estate. He just stays at the Academy and doesn’t care about the family.”

Of course, things weren’t going to go all that smoothly for Theo in the future... but for now, he had nothing to do with me.

“And Roystan told me... apparently Theo told him not to even acknowledge him at the Academy.”

Roystan had graduated second in his class in the previous year’s Academy cohort.

He’d only brought up Theo so he could brag.

“Seriously, he didn’t even say hi to me. Said he doesn’t want rumors that family members get special treatment. But still, I ranked second on my own, okay? Even if Theo acts like I’m just a fly buzzing around.”

If that was the case, then Theo was likely to treat me like a fly too.

Zahid slowly nodded at my words.

“Yeah... he seems like the type. Not that it’s a bad thing—just really rigid. One of those pure academic types. His tone alone is...”

“Hmm? What about his tone?”

“Just... go listen for yourself.”

Zahid’s face said he’d rather not comment since Theo was still my family.

Then he casually walked into Class 1 and plopped my bag down on an empty seat.

“I’m heading out now.”

“Okay. Thanks for carrying my bag.”

Just then—

“Zahid, Rosie’s seat is over here.”

Ray turned around from the front and smiled brightly.

“Rosie’s sitting next to me. We’ve gotten close, after all.”

Zahid’s face twisted.

“Yeah... I don’t really have any other friends besides Ray yet.”

I added in a downcast tone. Zahid ground his teeth once, then hurled my bag at Ray with all his strength.

“...Are you jealous, Zahid? That’s excellent. Keep going. Should I not sit next to Ray?”

“I’m not jealous, okay? My hand slipped. Sit next to him all you want.”

While we whispered back and forth, Ray casually caught my bag and set it beside my seat with a relaxed grin.

“Thanks. See you later, Zahid. Class is about to start.”

“...See you at lunch.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Without even glancing at Ray, Zahid said goodbye to me, then turned and walked off.

“Woof! Woof!”

<Marry that one! Sorry!>

Fire eagerly chased after him.

Watching them go, I gave a clumsy laugh and offered Ray an excuse.

“Uh, Zahid’s still kind of immature? Try to be patient with him. I’m doing my best too. He’s the youngest of us all, after all.”

Since we were bound to become close friends and allies, I wanted to speak up for him.

Ray just smiled as if it was nothing.

Then not long after, a tall man with brown hair and blue eyes entered the room.

“Good morning. I’m Theo Noart, in charge of Magical Nanoscience. I’ll be working with you for the next two months.”

At the mention of “Noart,” the students turned to glance at me.

But Theo didn’t so much as glance my way as he called roll.

This was our first meeting, and yet...

‘But somehow, I expected this.’

Theo began class without a single word of small talk.

“Alright, turn to page 3. In Magical Nanoscience, theory is less important than practice.”

He spoke in a flat, expressionless tone, every sentence ending in either “-da” or “-kka.”

“How you handle materials with precision is the most important part. The goal of Magical Nanoscience is to craft artifacts through material combinations to support magic. In short, ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) practical skills are everything.”

And just like Zahid said... his lecture was painfully boring.

“Since this is Class 1, let’s go a bit deeper than I did with Class 2...”

Theo was extremely grade-focused.

Midway through his explanation, he suddenly asked:

“Alright, where’s the top student? Read from page 5.”

Huh? That’s me!

I slowly rose to my feet, and Theo frowned. He’d called on “the top student” out of habit, then regretted it once he realized that was me.

‘Got it... Theo hates even the appearance of favoritism. Especially since he doesn’t have any emotional attachment to the Noart family.’

Well, considering he wanted to bury himself at the Academy for life, I understood.

But I was the one in trouble right now. I could handle everything else, but “reading and writing” was still a struggle for me.

Through sheer effort, I’d learned to read and write enough to get by. But unfortunately, today’s passage was about <Magical Materials>—and it was filled with names I’d never seen before.

Which meant I couldn’t just guess from context.

‘And of course, there’s Antata and Theol... the two most confusing ones...’

I figured I’d just mumble through any unfamiliar words and started reading.

“Um... the caution needed when handling the mineral Olaniasati is as follows...”

And that’s when it happened.

“What the hell? Ahahaha!”

Someone on the other side of the classroom burst into laughter.

“It’s Olaniasati, not Olaniasati! How is someone who can’t even read the top student?”

“Must’ve cheated or something, right?”

Cold sweat broke out down my spine. The whispers continued, clearly loud enough to hear.

“Wow, what’s up with that accent? Doesn’t it sound super rural?”

“Oh, you didn’t hear? She’s a bastard. Used to be an orphan from the Temple—they say she only showed up recently.”

I gripped the book tightly.

“Who’s talking during class?”

Theo slammed the lectern and scolded them.

“From now on, the second-highest student will read instead.”

Ray, who had just been drinking water from his bottle, cleared his throat and immediately stood up to continue reading.

Theo wasn’t taking my side. He just didn’t like the disturbance and shut it down without giving me another chance.

“Take careful note. There will be a pop quiz right after class. It’s just to test your sincerity, so the questions will be very simple.”

Theo announced flatly.

I sat back down and thought quietly.

‘This is...’

I remembered something Julian had once told me.

That he’d been worn down and hardened after joining the Noart Count Family as a bastard in his late teens and going through all kinds of humiliation.

Somehow, it felt like I’d gotten a glimpse of that world.

“The better someone is, the more they try to tear them down. It gets exhausting.”

“So what did you do, Julian?”

“Well, when that happens, Rosie-Rosie...”

He had also taught me what to do in a situation like this.

“Don’t give them an inch. Take the cockiest one and crush them completely.”

“...Huh? ‘Cockiest’? ‘Crush’?”

“Oops! Your dear brother just said something way too harsh in front of sweet little Rosie-Rosie! Forget it, forget it! Forget those words! I used to talk like that when I was a kid!”

“Then what should I remember instead?”

“Mm, right! Just remember: I never let anyone who openly messed with me get away with it. If you don’t hit back, the bullying only gets worse. They won’t stop just because you play nice.”

So according to that advice, I had to deal with that girl—thoroughly.