Infirmary Melees and an Unexpected Invitation
‘……Did I go too far?’
The female student who had lost her temper for a moment and hurled a fireball suddenly realized her mistake.
Even though he’d caught a vampire that she and the other students couldn’t handle despite ganging up on it.
They had worn down its stamina beforehand, and if she’d been at full strength herself, she could’ve taken it down too.
‘Ah, did I screw up again…….’
But worry was for those weaker than you.
Eugene’s hand moved. It shot out so fast it left an afterimage, shattering the fireballs in one go.
Boom boom boom!
“?!”
“Ow, hot!”
As the fireballs vanished, tiny embers splashed onto Eugene’s cheek, making him jump back.
But despite the reaction, there wasn’t a single burn mark on his cheek.
It had definitely hit him……?
‘No way…… what the hell is he…….’
In her eyes, Eugene looked like a monster. That thing was supposed to be a student like her?
The heat surging to the top of her head cooled instantly.
Instead, her father’s words came to mind.
‘Daughter. Never make an enemy of someone stronger than you. If you keep enduring without breaking like I did, you’ll snap eventually. Learn when to bend.’
She backed away step by step.
‘What did I…… what did I even say…….’
She’d probably said something nasty again in her anger?
Skill and personality were inversely proportional.
It was practically an unwritten law. Her face went pale as if she’d spilled water on a failed potion.
“N-No, um……”
“I’m sorry! I messed up!”
“??”
What the hell?
Eugene stared at her in confusion as she suddenly bowed her head and apologized.
No, you were just raging at me a second ago…….
Just then, a nurse passed by in the hallway.
The passing nurse froze, then whipped her head toward them.
“What’s that smell?! Did someone use magic in here?!”
Eugene glanced at the nurse.
Hmm, she looked pretty damn scary.
He unhesitatingly pointed at the girl.
“……This kid played with fire!”
“……?!”
“What did you say? Student! Come here.”
“No, um……”
“What?”
“……Nothing. Sorry.”
So damn annoying!
Skill and personality being inversely proportional was definitely academic consensus.
* * *
I decided to chat with the girl for a bit.
She seemed pretty pissed at first, but she’d calmed down now.
But another interrupter showed up.
“You!”
“?”
What? Déjà vu?
Someone passing by grabbed me. It was a green-haired boy with a flushed face.
“W-Who are you?”
“You don’t know me?”
“Why the hell would I know you? Kyaa! Pervert!”
“Y-You, crazy bastard……!”
Noble punk? I could tell from his speech alone.
‘One of the guys facing elimination because of me?’
Serves him right. Who told him to fall for my taunts?
I heard later they’d planned to gang up on me anyway, so it was karma, right?
“I’ll kill you!”
“Hey. Don’t talk like some backwater hick. You a noble or a beggar?”
“Shut up!”
Water surged up behind the furious male student.
Water attribute?
The rising water stream writhed like a snake. Its long body twisted and coiled.
‘Oh…… decent control.’
It looked pretty impressive on the surface. But was it actually effective in combat?
“Bite him!”
Nope, not at all.
I smacked the charging water stream with the back of my hand, disrupting the mana forming the spell.
The uncontrolled water splashed to the floor and dispersed into plain mana.
“……How the hell?!”
“Worse than that last one.”
“!”
The student I’d faced earlier was better.
At least she made me go “Ow, hot!”
But this guy?
“It’s a pretty spell. Why not become a designer? Oh, wait, you’d just piss off the other designers. They’d have to work with trash like you. Lacking skill, personality…… what do you even have going for you?”
“You, motherf……”
The taunted student’s eyes rolled back in rage.
Even more water streams rose behind him. But rushed in anger, they were sloppy as hell.
“Come on, more. Show me more.”
“I’ll kill you!”
“That line again? No originality?”
How the hell did third-rate villains like this ruin the academy?
I couldn’t wrap my head around it. They were so low-level…… it seemed unlikely they were the sole cause.
“Die, gah.”
“Just grow up.”
I knocked the guy out and tossed him onto a bed.
Whatever, he’d figure it out.
“What was that noise again……”
I bolted down the hall, dodging the nurse.
Man, why was this hallway so damn long?
It was huge to accommodate tons of students, so it felt endless. Plenty wide too.
“You! You’re dead—gah.”
“What the hell is with this guy.”
I smashed the forehead of the sword-wielding student charging at me.
Ah, Yahan or whatever that cocky sword rival was.
I chucked him back into his room and stopped in front of a familiar name on a door.
[Mosik Karma]
I opened the door.
“Mosik, you feeling bett……”
“Huff, huff…… Huh?”
“Never mind. Keep training hard.”
I quietly closed the door on his upper-body workout.
Don’t interrupt a man mid-workout.
‘Alright. Time to head back to my room.’
That scolding from earlier should be over by now.
I was a bit worried about the hostility she’d shown, but it’d probably work out.
‘At least we can talk now.’
One reason I came to this academy: to fix up the future heroes who’d save the continent.
No point forcing the hopeless cases. Raise the decent ones instead, and I wouldn’t have to suffer.
‘I’m a genius, after all.’
I nodded in satisfaction when someone blocked my path again.
“Okay, even Twitch wouldn’t call this déjà vu……”
“You.”
“?”
Blocking me was the first princess in patient garb.
Banasi, was it? Banana?
Should I ask her name? Nah, even I hesitate to mouth off to royalty.
Not because of their power, but because my friend Adria was deeply tied to them.
“What?”
Banasi narrowed her eyes and approached.
She was way taller than average for a woman—almost my height.
Meeting my gaze, she demanded in a forceful tone.
“You knew, didn’t you? That there was a boss inside.”
“No clue what you’re talking about.”
“I’ve already investigated everything.”
“Investigated what? Nothing to investigate. I just ran since you guys were after me, and that room happened to have the boss. Bad luck.”
“You think that excuse will fly?”
“I’m the one who doesn’t get it. What do you want? Is it okay to bully a mere student like this? I’m so scared my legs are shaking.”
Banasi glanced down at my legs, eyes narrowed.
Of course, my farm-hardened legs weren’t trembling from this.
“And this is abuse of power, you know? No benefit for you.”
“……Fine. I got heated. My bad. Forget what just happened.”
“Sure.”
She caught on quick and knew what to do.
Wasn’t a bad person…… maybe? Or was she?
‘Compared to the idiots I’ve met so far, she seems decent.’
Banasi took a step back.
“We’ll cross paths plenty anyway. We’ll talk then.”
Do we have to?
“But one question. Did you take down the boss?”
“Yeah. With a ton of extra help.”
“……Fine. I’ll settle for that. See you.”
How about never?
I hid my thoughts and bowed 90 degrees.
“Take care, Banana Princess.”
Shit.
“……What?”
“No, Princess. Just saying goodbye. Want a banana?”
I didn’t have any, but whatever.
Luckily, she didn’t catch on and spun around.
“……Enough insults. And my name’s Banasi. We’re fellow students here—no need for ‘princess.’”
“Got it. Bye.”
“……”
She stared at me like I was weird for dropping formal speech, then went into her room.
What is this, a dungeon raid?
I sighed, suddenly exhausted.
‘Tired…….’
Stomach growling again. I rubbed it and headed to the girl.
She sat on the sofa looking utterly defeated, like her soul had been sucked out.
“Hey.”
“……”
“Hey, hey.”
I poked her, but no reaction.
She wasn’t dead, right? I waved my hand in front of her face, and she finally stirred.
“Heh…… I-I’m a bad guy…… Disrespecting patients……”
……She’d totally lost it?
“Hey, hey. Snap out of it.”
I clapped in front of her face a few times, and focus returned to her eyes.
“Wh-What?”
“Snap out of it.”
“S-Sorry!”
“? I said snap out of it.”
“Sorry!!”
This was insane.
“Anyway, let’s talk.”
“Ab-About what…… I-I don’t have money.”
“……Don’t need your money. Something else. Where’d you learn magic?”
At that, light returned to her dazed eyes.
But no hostility toward me.
Instead, her face paled like I’d uncovered a forbidden secret.
Uh…… did I hit a nerve?
I changed the subject to lighten the mood.
“What’s wrong? Trained by some hidden master or something?”
Her already pale face went ghostly white.
……No way, for real?
‘Nah, this isn’t some novel…….’
Actually, even novels didn’t have “hidden master’s daughter” tropes like that.
I pivoted again.
“Ahem! Just kidding, obviously. Met a good teacher somewhere, right? Same as me.”
“Y-Yeah! Right.”
“Just curious about your skills. When you fought the boss, it was impre……”
Whoooosh!
A wooden sword flew from somewhere.
I caught it barehanded on reflex.
Twaaang……!
Even caught mid-flight, my arm trembled slightly.
What the actual fuck…….
Clap clap clap!
Then, the presumed thrower—a woman—approached.
One eye covered by an eyepatch, one leg obviously prosthetic.
‘……Not a student.’
My guess was spot on.
She clomped over and slapped a hand on my shoulder.
“You. Join my class?”
“?”
This was a professor?