Chapter 180: Proof 2
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 180: Proof 2
I distinctly remember getting caught by Professor Elicia while scaling the wall, but when I came to, I was back in the Special Class.
‘Did I get knocked out? Or is this… a regression?’
Was I finally evolving from a mere possessor into a regressor?
“So, you skipped class entirely because you thought people would pester you during the afternoon sessions?”
Guess not. Bummer.
“Yes! That is correct!”
If it were Professor Elicia, surely she’d hear my reason for running away and acknowledge that I might—
Thwack!
—or not.
“Whew…”
After delivering a sharp knuckle-rap to my head, Professor Elicia let out a deep sigh.
Maybe it was because a dragon was the one doing it, but no matter how many times I took them, I could never get used to her strikes.
‘It feels like my brain is rattling.’
“Didn’t we just have a counseling session? Surely you haven’t forgotten already.”
“Oh! How could I forget? My body still shakes just thinking about it. But that’s that, and this is this—do I really have to go to class?”
“Ha!”
Professor Elicia let out a hollow laugh, as if my words were utterly absurd.
“Loki, you are aware that I am a dragon, aren’t you?”
“Yes! I’m well aware. Honestly, you beat us like that every morning without even using mana; if you weren’t a dragon, what else would you be? To be fair, lately, I’ve been thinking that even being a dragon doesn’t fully explain it.”
Thinking about how someone as strong as Professor Elicia won’t be able to help when we face the final boss makes me want to cry.
‘It’s not just Professor Elicia, either.’
Duke Freya, Duke Adelian, and even the Emperor—none of them can help when it comes to taking down the final boss.
The only ones who can provide any help are the students of the Special Class.
It’s not for nothing that I’m trying to get the Special Class kids into the club to level them up quickly.
‘All the hidden pieces are mine.’
The things I couldn’t grab early on because I was too weak or they were too far away? I’m going to sweep them all up during club hours.
“This is a diversion to me. Helping the former Emperor and adventuring with Idra made it last longer than intended, but even this life as a professor is nothing more than a brief amusement.”
“Compared to what you did before, I suppose being a professor for less than half a year really is short. By the way, I’m curious about those stories of adventuring and helping His Majesty the Emperor. Could you tell me about them later?”
These were stories of the Emperor, Professor Idra, and Professor Elicia that were never detailed in the game.
‘I can’t miss out on this.’
However, Professor Elicia must have thought I was treating the situation like a joke, as she glared at me with an expression far colder than usual.
Those were not human eyes.
Slit pupils.
The apex of all living things.
A being for whom the entirety of a long human life is but a fleeting amusement. One whose every action stems not from mere arrogance, but from absolute confidence.
The eyes of a dragon, capable of inducing primal terror and seeing through a person with a single glance.
My body trembled.
It was a pressure that overwhelmed even the Domination the Emperor had used.
“Do you not understand what I am saying? Even if I were to kill you here, it would merely be the end of one short diversion. Even that would be forgotten by everyone once I’ve had a long sleep in my lair. Then, I would simply leave to find a new amusement.”
“……”
Professor Elicia. Killing me?
“Do you understand now? So please, just stay quiet—”
“Hahahaha! Hahahaha!”
My loud laughter echoed through the Special Class, where only Professor Elicia and I remained.
“Pfft! Hahaha! Ahahaha!”
I tried to hold it back out of respect for Professor Elicia’s serious expression, but I couldn’t stop the laughter from bursting out.
To be honest, I was pretty terrified a moment ago, but Professor Elicia’s witty joke snapped me out of it.
However, Professor Elicia frowned, as if what she had just said wasn’t a joke at all.
“What’s so funny? Do you think I wouldn’t do it?”
I covered my mouth with one hand to stifle the leaking laughter and waved the other hand frantically.
“Of course not. I know that if it were you, Professor Elicia, you could kill me without leaving a trace—no need to go through the trouble of sleeping in your lair.”
“Then are you not afraid of death?”
“That’s definitely not it.”
I’m working this hard specifically so I don’t die; there’s no way I’m not afraid of death.
“I just know.”
The reason I keep acting up in front of Professor Elicia, who could easily kill me, despite being terrified of death.
“You can’t kill me, Professor.”
“What?”
Ah, that might have sounded like I was claiming to be stronger.
“To be precise, you have no intention of killing me in the first place, Professor.”
“……”
“You aren’t the type of person to kill someone just because they’re a bit annoying or you don’t like them.”
Professor Elicia snorted.
“……You speak as if you know me well. For someone who hasn’t even known me for half a year.”
Since I couldn’t exactly say I’d watched her for ten years in a game, I simply shrugged.
“It has been half a year. But it’s true that you have no intention of killing me, right?”
As Professor Elicia let out a sigh, her slit pupils returned to normal.
“First Idra, and now you… why do I only meet people like this? Sigh… Not a single thing in this diversion is going as expected.”
“Isn’t that just how life is?”
I started laughing again, finding it hilarious that I was lecturing a dragon who had lived for hundreds of years on the nature of life.
Hearing my words, Professor Elicia reached her hand toward my forehead.
Expecting another knuckle-rap, I squeezed my eyes shut in anticipation of the pain, but it never came.
Pat, pat.
When I opened my eyes, I realized Professor Elicia was stroking my head.
Wait, can you even call this stroking? My whole body was swaying every time her hand, which was pressing down on my head, moved.
“I-I’m getting dizzy.”
“I saw that student on the rooftop earlier—Johanna, was it?—stroking your head, and I wondered if it felt good. I’m not so sure.”
“Ack! You saw that?”
“I happened to see it.”
* * *
My plan to skip all the afternoon classes by naturally chatting with Professor Elicia failed when she personally threw me toward the next classroom.
Sepia, who was taking the class with me, asked quietly from beside me.
“So, you got caught by Professor Elicia while climbing the wall and have been getting scolded until now?”
“That’s right. I thought about just wandering around inside the Academy instead of leaving, but it would’ve been troublesome if I got caught by another professor. As you know, Sepia, I tend to stand out a bit.”
That’s why I took the gamble of scaling the wall, but of all people, I had to get caught by Professor Elicia. If it had been any other professor, I could have talked my way out of it.
“But couldn’t you have just gone back to the dormitory and slept instead of climbing the wall?”
“……”
Wait.
“Now that I look at you, you’re not just a pushover, you’re an idiot.”
“An idiot? That’s uncalled for! I’m going to get my feelings hurt if you keep saying things like that.”
The class Sepia and I were currently attending was Spirit Studies. Among the Special Class students, only Sepia and I were taking this course.
“You got a zero on the midterm written exam. That makes you an idiot.”
“Ugh! Using facts like a coward… That was just bad luck.”
If I had been lucky and guessed everything right, I would’ve gotten a hundred. So, it’s not that I’m bad at studying. I’m just unlucky.
“Didn’t you get a zero on the other pop quizzes too? Why don't you just pick one number and stick with it? Then you wouldn't get a zero.”
“I was going to do that, but Professor Elicia said if she caught me just picking one number, she’d pick my brain apart…”
“Total idiot.”
There was a reason why I, who wasn't even a spiritist, chose Spirit Studies.
“I wish every other class was like Spirit Studies.”
“I see now. You’re not an idiot who can’t study; you’re an idiot who won’t study.”
It was because Spirit Studies had a lot of self-study time!
To be more precise, the bulk of the class consisted of the professor walking around giving feedback while the students communed with their contracted spirits.
Me? I didn’t even have a contract with a spirit, so I had nothing to do.
Sepia? For Sepia, this time was like talking to a friend of ten years and saying, ‘The weather is nice today. What are your hobbies?’
And the only thing two people with nothing to do could do during class… was to chat quietly without disturbing the other students.
Honestly, when I said I wanted to take this class, I expected to be rejected by the Spirit Studies professor. After all, I was the only one in this classroom who wasn't a spiritist.
Although I wouldn't receive any points for the practical portion, I was allowed to take the class under one condition.
“Professor, my spirit keeps trying to go outside. What should I do?”
“To a spirit, which is nature itself, this artificial classroom must feel stifling.”
The kindly Spirit Studies professor looked at me as he spoke, and I habitually used my Illusion to instantly transform the classroom into a natural landscape.