Away from the training center, I headed straight to a secluded place.
I couldn’t see any students, perhaps because it was way past school time.
After looking around and checking that there were no people, I took a pill out of my pocket with my trembling hands.
'I thought I was going to die from holding it in.’
I put the pill in my mouth and chewed it.
With a bitter and pure sense that touched the tip of my tongue, intense mana spread through my mouth.
'Phew, I survived.'
As the energy from the drug spread and mana was being supplied to my brain, my slowly deteriorating body condition returned to its original state.
The ringing inside my ear, which I could hear faintly, also disappeared immediately as if I was turning off a radio.
I took a breath while sitting on a quiet bench.
The first signal had come when I stopped by the second training center.
My fingertips were shaking, and my head felt numb with a headache.
It was some kind of chronic disease that I had after I came to this world.
'I'd be in big trouble if I didn't have the pills.’
Still, I had thought it was bearable, so I was going to take the medicine right after checking up on the first training center.
I didn't expect a fight between freshmen to break out there.
No, should I call it a fight? One side's unilateral attempt to make an ambush can't be counted as a fight.
—School violence.
It was a situation where the victim and the perpetrator were clearly divided.
I intervened in between and managed to prevent things from getting bigger.
Afterwards, I had been talking about disciplinary action and such, but I felt the soaring wave building up inside of me.
Feeling my body's signal to put the pill in my mouth quickly, I had tried to take care of the situation fast and leave.
But there was a problem…
Who would have thought that she would insolently tell me that I was a fallen aristocrat?
For a moment, I didn't even know what she had just said to me and was contemplating hard on it for about three seconds.
I wondered if she really meant it, and all kinds of complicated and long lines were being prepared inside my head, but my communication skills were poor, so those might have been my last words.
However, the problem was that after I heard such an impudent speech, I couldn’t just go away as a professor.
'Why did she have to say that at that kind of timing?'
If she had just said it to herself without anyone else listening, I would have pretended not to hear it, but there were too many witnesses around her.
In the end, I had to say something to protect my authority as a professor, but I couldn't say anything plausible because my brain wasn't working well.
-Originally, what you did was an evident challenge to the professors' authority.
-You may be referred to the disciplinary committee in accordance with school regulations.
-You might get a penalty or be reported to the principal.
Well, I should have said these kinds of principled things, but they didn't come to my mind.
'So I just said whatever came to my mind.’
I was in such a hurry that I said whatever came to my mind in the best way possible so that my image didn’t get ruined.
—Even while I had said that, I was having a hard time keeping together my crumbling expression.
Maybe my face was a little distorted, and my eyes were a bit bloodshot.
'It won't be a big problem, right?’
Anyway, since professor Selena belatedly came, I left the rest of it to her and hurriedly left my spot successfully.
I got up from the bench while gulping down the pills that still lingered in my mouth.
I was glad it was just an early symptom.
If it got worse there, other people might have noticed my peculiarity.
'The pill, is this the last one?’
I sighed when I found out that the medicine bottle was empty.
I put the extra medicine in a bag that I had sent away; I didn't know that this would happen since things went awry in the middle.
'I'm meeting him next weekend… It honestly seems like it will be hard for me to hold out until then, so I'll have to write a letter again and tell him to come earlier.’
Otherwise, I’d have to rent a private pharmacy and make it my own space, but if I did that, I would be in trouble because it would be recorded.
‘Seeing this kind of situation, I'm not sure if I can last even five days.’
If I consumed mana, the period of five days would be shortened.
'I hope everything will go by safely until then.’
I went on patrol again, taking a light breath into my mind as it gradually became clearer.
* * *
* * *
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for your concern."
"Don't mention it; this is my job."
Lynne bowed to Selena, who took her to the infirmary even though she adamantly refused her offer and told her that she was fine.
Selena gave a warm smile and waved her hand, but Lynne meant her gratitude.
"That… Professor Selena."
“Hm?”
"What will happen to her?"
"You mean Dynema, right? Hmm. I'm not sure what will happen to her either. I just got in here as well."
"Oh, that's right...”
"But according to the pre-announced school rules, it's not a mere fight but a one-sided quarrel, so I think she'll have a disciplinary action even though she won't be dismissed from school."
It would be nice if the Academy took strong disciplinary action against someone who had great pride and high self-esteem like Dynema.
Even so, both of them were vaguely aware that they would not take such an action.
The weak punishment would play its part because she was a freshman who didn't know anything yet, but most of all, there was a Count’s family on her back, so they would let it slide.
"Why? Are you worried?”
"No, it's just… I'm curious."
To be honest, she didn’t feel sorry for Dynema after she had explicitly aimed at her and launched an attack from her end.
She would get what she deserved. It was rather surprising that she did not get expelled from school even though she did that much.
She was just asking because she felt upset.
"Are you concerned?"
“Pardon?”
"Your expression shows everything."
“Ah…”
Lynne nodded quietly. Her bobbed, gray hair swayed in tune with her movement.
"It's just… when I came here, it was more intense than I thought. I thought Sören was a place full of dreams and idealism."
“…”
"But after I talked to the aristocratic students then, it didn't seem like that at all. Although the person will be punished, there is no guarantee that something similar won't happen again."
"…I suppose so."
Selena agreed with Lynne's opinion.
Even though Sören said that both royalty and commoners were equal, such a promise had rarely been properly protected.
Even if the professors also became mediators among students in the most neutral way possible, they had nothing to say about the problems that arose when the students were mingling with each other.
Some professors from the aristocracy even showed some discrimination against commoners and secretly favored aristocratic students.
As a result, some people, who had a strong pride as aristocrats, looked down on the professors just because they were a commoner or from a fallen aristocratic family.
Dynema's verbal abuse against Ludger just was a result of it.
"Yeah, I honestly think her words were too much for Professor Ludger."
Selena puffed up her cheeks with her hands on her waistline as if to prove she was angry.
Selena smiled softly while looking at Lynne, who opened her eyes wide as if she didn't know that the professor would say that.
"But Professor Ludger has passed it as a mere warning. We can't say anything anymore."
"Aren't you angry?"
"Of course, I'm angry, too. I'm just trying hard to hold it in, but I'm sure it was Professor Ludger whose mind was more messed up than anyone else."
“Ah.”
Lynne recalled the expression that Ludger had shown at that time.
She couldn't see it properly because there was a shadow casting on his face, but it must have been very scary.
Even Dynema's face turned ghostly pale after looking at those eyes.
He was originally a scary professor when he set the mood of the classroom, so she couldn't imagine how scary he would be if he was genuinely angry.
Nevertheless, Professor Ludger said that he would forgive Dynema's mistake only that time.
He must have been angrier than anyone else.
…Yet he endured it and let it slide.
He didn't let it slide just because he succumbed to the other party's family either.
On the contrary, it was more like a form of mercy to guide a student who was really lacking in many aspects.
And that was because Ludger stared at her coldly all the time instead of being intimidated by Dynema.
A person who showed such an expression would not step down just because of the other party's family influence.
To be frank, when he spoke to Dynema while saying that he was indeed a fallen aristocrat…
Lynne thought that his behavior was completely unexpected as she witnessed it.
—And also that he looked really cool.
"So I'm going to believe it for once. I'm sure what they did is wrong, but they're still young students, right? Just think that there's still a chance for them to change."
“Ah.”
Selena scratched her head.
"Hehehe. Sorry. I really sounded like an old lady, right?"
“No. Professor Selena is still quite young. Honestly, if we met outside Sören, I would have called you as though you're my older sister."
“Oh my~ Thank you for the compliment. You're a good girl, Lynne."
‘No, it's true, though?’
Selena herself may have thought that she was old, but according to Lynne, she was so young that she would look like her senior if she wore a school uniform.
Selena, who was beautiful and always smiled, had already been the target of some male students' love. It was just that she was not aware of it, actually.
She wondered if people in their mid-20s thought they were that old in the first place.
“Hmm. Older sister, you said~ It sounds good. I wish I had a younger sister like Lynne as well."
"I also wish I had an older sister like Professor Selena."
“Really? Oh my, you’re such a nice girl~”
“Heheh. Then can you give me some more points during the Spirit Studies class?"
"After I saw you working hard~"
Selena laughed while replying to Lynne's joke.
"Time's already passed by so fast. I'll go look around the rest of my patrol area. If there's something wrong with your body, you have to tell me, okay?”
"Yes, I will."
Selena left the infirmary while waving her hand.
Lynne, who was left alone, stared at her physical condition and got out of bed, thinking that she was fine.
'Come to think of it, Professor Ludger actually called my name.’
When she used the training center, she wore comfortable clothes in case her uniform got dirty.
Obviously, she didn't have a name tag then, so no one knew Lynne's name.
But Ludger Chelysie naturally called her name.
“Lynne,” he had said.
'Did he remember me from when I took his class?’
For Ludger Chelysie, she was just one of his 80 students, a commoner who didn’t even need to be noticed.
Still, Ludger remembered her name.
Suddenly, she remembered what he had said to Dynema.
'All students are equal in Sören.'
Just like a stone that was thrown into the calm water, the words caused a ripple in Lynne's mind.
If he had only spoken empty words, she would not have believed it and would have been rather disappointed.
But Ludger was not like that.
—His actions, his unwavering principle, his voice…
He instilled hope in Lynne for Sören.
'His first impression was obviously that of a scary professor.'
Even as he was a new professor, she hadn’t expected much when she took his first class.
However, she was surprised at once by the innovation of the source code shown by Ludger and realized that he was not appointed as a professor in Sören just by his words.
Even so, recalling the inconsiderate and audacious attitude that he pointed out to Flora…
She thought he was a tiresome professor in many ways.
'But he wasn't like that.’
When he was mediating the situation, he ended up only warning the student, even though he had been insulted.
He had even asked her if she had been hurt anywhere as he saved her.
He suddenly appeared at the moment of crisis and saved her. It was just a passing moment, but it seemed like she saw a prince riding a white horse in the fairy tales.
It made her heart throb.
'No, Professor Ludger wouldn't have thought much of me.’
Yeah, there was nothing more shameful than being all flustered by herself for no reason.
She was there to learn magic, not to look for that kind of dramatic encounter.
***
I was able to return to my accommodation comfortably because nothing unusual was found on my patrol after the incident at the first training center.
When I got back to the accommodation, I immediately mailed a letter to him.
The content of the letter was for him to come earlier because it was hard for me to wait until the next weekend.
And the next day…
The reply came early in the morning.
What was written inside the letter was simple:
The work he was dealing with ended earlier than he thought, so he would depart right away.
We will meet the next day on the weekend.
The place of our appointment was the industrial zone beyond the eastern business zone of Leathevelk.
I burned the letter, thinking it was a suitable place that was away from people's sight.
'Today is Friday. It's Saturday tomorrow, so I'll be able to go through the day.'
Students must have been at the peak of their excitement because it was the first weekend since the start of the semester, but would the same type of incident happen, similar to the previous day?
While thinking so, I heard a strange story from Professor Selena, who was having lunch with me.
"Did you just say werewolf?"
"Yes, werewolf."
Rumors about werewolves began to circulate in Sören.
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