Wise University Life (3)
We arrived at the Southern Holy Sanctuary. After greeting the priests, we laid Ire down in the treatment ward.
“May the blessings of the stars be with you two students.”
The Outer Deities inside my head were busy retching—gweeeeh. The sanctuary was a place where stellar energy was concentrated. Since the Outer Deities couldn’t exert their power here, Ire would have to recuperate in this place until the situation improved.
I sighed as I looked at the unconscious protagonist.
“Let’s get our friend-or-foe identification straight, shall we?”
Zernya and I waited until my father arrived. With a gloomy expression, Zernya spoke.
“There’s nothing I can do.”
“Same here.”
“They said she’s in a coma. Do you think she’ll survive?”
“Why are you asking me?”
That was when urgent footsteps echoed from outside. Zernya and I poked our heads out to look. A man in a white coat was hurrying toward us.
“Who’s that uncle?”
“My dad.”
“Ah.”
Zernya, who had just taken a stack of Talullah, sank in her seat. I dashed forward, bowed to my father, and took his bag.
“Father, it’s been a while.”
“Idel, is that you?”
“Yes. The patient is over there—”
Father immediately washed his hands and entered the treatment room. After examining Ire, he spoke in a heavy tone.
“How peculiar.”
“What is?”
“There are over a dozen Outer Deities.”
The priests jumped in shock and began trembling. Father had diagnosed Ire’s condition with remarkable accuracy. He discovered that three factions were working together to devour her, and that her Fron levels were still not critically bad.
“The main cause of her unconsciousness appears to be external trauma, as if struck by a tool.”
Ahem.
“Is treatment possible?”
“We will attempt an unconventional method. Emergency care should be feasible.”
Soon Father began the procedure. It wasn’t the kind where he opened up Ire’s skull. It was medical arts using a Constellation. He employed non-destructive surgery with the Constellation he possessed to suppress the Outer Deities’ influence. It was an advanced technique that channeled the Constellation’s power in wave form to combat them.
“With this, we’ve overcome the immediate crisis.”
When I checked the status window, Ire’s Fron value had dropped by about two thousand.
Right after the surgery, Zernya watched Father wipe the beads of sweat from his brow and let out an admiring sigh.
“That was amazing.”
She turned to me and asked, “What kind of Constellation does your father have that lets him perform surgery like that?”
“Ophiuchus.”
“Ophiuchus… as in, the thirteenth of the twelve zodiac signs?”
“Correct. The thirteenth constellation.”
The Rheinland family didn’t earn its reputation as a medical powerhouse for nothing. That was exactly why I had called my father.
“By the way, where did your father graduate from?”
“Stellarium Medical School.”
Zernya’s face lit up with delight. She sprang from her seat and dashed straight toward my father.
“Senior! Senior!”
Just look at that sly vixen. What the hell?
It seemed there really was such a thing as chemistry between people. I never dreamed my father would adore Zernya this much. The feeling was apparently mutual.
“Humans place great importance on academic ties, regional ties, and blood ties, I’ve heard.”
Following Cartesia’s words, I thought it over.
Academic ties — both graduates of Stellarium Medical School, making them senior and junior. (O)
Regional ties — Adelbein (North) / Rheinland (South). (X)
Blood ties — The Adelbein and Rheinland families are related by marriage. (O)
“Unbelievable.”
Now that I saw it, Zernya’s sudden outburst wasn’t impulsive at all. It had been part of her grand scheme, leveraging academic and blood connections. On top of that, Father had apparently become a professor at the medical school starting this semester. The two of them would be running into each other far more often from now on.
After talking with Zernya for a full three hours, Father approached me with a somewhat relaxed expression.
“Idel.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Just what exactly have you been doing all this time?”
“Pardon?”
Had I done something wrong? I was certain I hadn’t done anything that would offend him.
“Because of you, the elders’ council is in an uproar.”
“What do you mean?”
“Several of the family’s senior members have changed their stance. They now insist you should be named the next head of the family.”
Ah.
To summarize Father’s words: Because of you, the entire power succession plan has gone to shit.
“This father of yours had hoped the Rheinland family would remain a house of healers. But it seems you understood my true feelings quite well.”
What are you suddenly talking about?
“There’s no use pretending. That’s why you brought that girl here, isn’t it? You claimed you needed to treat her, but in truth you brought someone you barely knew. That child told me everything.”
Wait a second. Something about this conversation feels completely off.
“To think you would have the judgment and audacity to summon your own father to a place like this. The timing was impeccable too. Right when you restored the Ether Belt and your value skyrocketed, you boldly set your sights on the position of family head.”
“Father, there seems to be some misunderstanding—”
“Misunderstanding? More like a masterpiece. You sly little jackal.”
Father pressed firmly against my forehead. I was left utterly speechless.
Family head? I had zero interest in that. Just as the saying went, “Whoever wishes to wear the crown must bear its weight,” becoming the head came with heavy responsibilities and suffering. How was I supposed to handle business and asset management? At the very least, I had planned to entrust the family fortune to Seti.
“You were incredibly thorough. Still, I do not doubt your abilities.”
Father gave my shoulder a few light pats. Among all the conversations I had ever had with Arnold, this one carried the most warmth—yet it also felt more chilling than any other.
“How is your mania? Are you all right?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m referring to the incident on Alcatraz. You were attacked by an Avatar and fell ill, I heard. If you’d like, this father could perform another diagnosis—”
“I’m fine for now.”
“……Then I suppose my son truly was a genius after all.”
A shiver ran down my spine. Even though he was Idel’s father, there were moments when my heart would tighten with fear. It was a good thing we shared the same Rheinland blood. If he were a complete stranger, I might have wet myself.
“Idel.”
Pat, pat. Father lightly tapped my shoulder again.
“Get along well with that girl.”
Something, something was happening. An absurd misunderstanding was snowballing out of control. I turned my head and glared at Zernya. She was smiling with a sly, knowing grin. It looked like she had some scheme going with both Father and me…
“Haa.”
My head hurt. At times like this, I needed to relax by reading a research paper.
One week later.
I settled into a suitable PC room to register for classes. Since I had left Sonia in charge of watching Ire, I felt relatively at ease. I had even given her strict orders to beat the protagonist senseless and tie her up if she tried to run away.
I checked the time. 8:10. There was still plenty of time until the 10 o’clock class registration window. However, there was one problem.
“Ha, here we are again.”
Zernya appeared. She sat down in the seat next to me and immediately began grumbling like a cat whose Churu had been stolen. Her thuggish glare reminded me of the delinquent faces you’d see in a back-alley high school, which left me with a strange feeling.
“Of all the PC rooms, we end up in the same one. Coincidence? Or what?”
I sighed and focused on the screen. The important thing was whose class I would take for each subject. Even if it was an easy lecture like General Physics, if the professor’s teaching ability pierced the heavens, you were bound to learn something new. Fresh ideas, unique perspectives, insightful ways of looking at problems.
Click.
I added Professor Feynman’s General Physics class to my cart.
Click.
Zernya added the exact same class.
“Hmm, so you’re taking that section too.”
“Hey, you should just take the one for medical students.”
“It’s a common subject anyway. It doesn’t matter which section I take, right? Grades are combined too.”
“There are plenty of other good professors. Stop aiming for mine.”
“As if. Is he your personal property?”
It wasn’t just Professor Feynman that Zernya was after.
Click. Click.
General Chemistry, General Biology, basic coding, writing, mathematics—she was trying to enroll in the exact same schedule and same sections as me for everything.
“Aren’t you going to take any major courses?”
“Hmm, first-year pre-med students are basically the same as liberal arts students. Besides, even after registering for all this, I still have twelve credits to spare.”
Damn it, medical students could take up to thirty credits per semester. That was ridiculously unfair. Honestly, the physics department should get the same treatment. Back on Earth, I had tried living like a med student and took eight major courses every semester, yet I still had so much free time that I cried from the sheer luxury of it. Sob, sob.
The moment the clock struck ten, I swiftly snatched General Physics. Honestly, as long as I could secure Professor Feynman’s section, I didn’t care much about the rest.
“……Ha, got it.”
Zernya succeeded too.
“……Ha, I’m fucked.”
She still hadn’t been rehabilitated, it seemed. If she ended up in an arranged marriage at this rate, I wouldn’t be able to face Rustilla. At best, she’d end up like Father and Seti’s mother. At worst, both families would be wiped out in a neat 1+1 set.
[Registered Credits / Available Credits: 21/22]
“Aaaagh! This is so annoying!”
One credit remained. The universal rule of ‘3 credits = 1 course’ meant I couldn’t dump it anywhere.
“Guess I’ll pick up some required major courses now, hehe.”
Unlike the med students who lived in their own exclusive league, I had to shed desperate tears just to scrape together a single one-credit physics elective.
“Molecular Biology. One for now.”
Second-year—none available.
“Organic Chemistry. I should take this too.”
Third-year—none available.
“History of Medicine? It’s a second-year course, but the lecturer is a senior?”
Fourth-year. Fuck, there’s nothing!!!
There wasn’t a single tasty one-credit physics lecture available!
With trembling hands, I selected “Change Course Registration.”
[Undergraduate (College)]
Click.
[Graduate (Graduate)]
A mountain of options appeared.