Chapter 17
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Practice Day
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It's practice day.
Even with the unexpected change of location, things were proceeding without any major issues.
Aside from a few who looked annoyed, the atmosphere wasn't bad at all.
It felt like an outing.
It reminded her of elementary school field trips.
Stretching out under the sunlight brought a strange sense of pleasure to her listless body.
“Yawn!”
Isel deliberately let out a gloomy sigh.
The practice day that should have been enjoyable felt somehow uncomfortable.
She exhaled a stuffy breath and moved her body aimlessly.
“It's a bit stifling.”
Her eyelids felt heavy.
She shouldn't have so firmly told him not to worry and that things would be fine.
It made her feel like a child who had broken a promise by not listening.
Sigh...
“I shouldn't think like this. Fun thoughts, fun thoughts.”
Since she was already here.
She patted her cheeks.
She pressed down on her cluttered heart and tried to refresh her mood.
Still, she couldn't shake off the lingering unease.
She glanced around, and the group gathered in the clearing was chatting away.
Isel had been looking for someone too, but Elin spotted her first and approached.
“Isel sunbae.”
“Huh? Elin? You got here early.”
“Yeah, I didn't plan to come this early, but...”
Elin glanced at the crowd huddled in the clearing.
The awkward vibe emanating from Elin made Isel nod, signaling it was okay to stop there.
“...It didn't seem like I'd be alone today, and I didn't want to get swept up in the crowd and miss you.”
“Really?”
Having witnessed that situation earlier, Isel already felt a bit of affection toward Elin.
Even if it hadn't been intentional, there was some guilt too.
If she were a rival, that would be one thing, but she wasn't...
‘We can get along, right?’
Isel looked at Elin.
“So, what did you want to explain?”
The supervising professor was lecturing again on precautions and the purpose of the practice, but neither Isel nor Elin paid much attention.
They had already memorized the relevant guidelines from the handouts.
They saw no need to listen to the repeated warnings.
“Um... that.”
Elin rolled her eyes and looked troubled.
Maybe there were too many listening ears around.
Isel nodded as if she understood, then watched Elin fidget with a fond smile.
Truth be told, Isel hadn't planned to participate in the practice.
There was a lecture scheduled, and the credits didn't seem worth skipping it for.
Unlike Elin, who had to attend due to basic natural sciences requirements.
‘If Professor Aiden hadn't refused personal tutoring... no, review sessions, I wouldn't have come.’
Isel closed her eyes and savored the fine weather.
Skipping the lecture was a loss, but since the professor had promised review sessions, she could afford a bit of a field trip vibe.
Of course, Elin's meaningful words about wanting to clear up a misunderstanding played a part too.
Isel's participation was half guilt from overhearing Elin being turned down, half curiosity.
She also wanted to get closer if possible.
‘The choice of location for practice feels off too.’
It could just be that the overlapping time slot happened to be practice...
Isel shrugged, telling Elin to speak freely whenever.
“Since we're here for practice anyway, we've got plenty of time. Just tell me when we find a good spot.”
“...Okay, got it.”
Once practice started, they'd scatter into the woods to gather herbs, so there would be more than enough time to talk.
The professor gathered the students and raised his voice.
“The reason for this practice is so you all can find these herbs in the forest, not just in plant encyclopedias...”
Elin let out a hollow laugh at his ever-enthusiastic tone.
“Why?”
“No, it's just... the professor seems so full of energy.”
Isel tilted her head.
She had noticed the professor's high energy since earlier.
Naturally, most students were only half-listening or pretending to.
Their interests were all on what food to eat for lunch.
Snippets of conversations about what they brought floated around.
Elin half-listened to the supervising professor as well.
The class was originally supposed to be in the artificially created forest of the magic tower.
If the magic tower hadn't suddenly closed that floor, this wouldn't have happened...
“Not bad at all.”
Isel shaded her eyes from the bright sun.
The Knight Department trained outdoors from stamina runs to drills, but coming out to the forest like this was rare.
Even swinging a sword by the manual felt unfamiliar against live targets.
“Maybe slice a slime on the way.”
“...Is the second-year runner-up of the Knight Department taking on slimes?”
“If it were magic tower practice, maybe, but there's nothing in the wild except slimes.”
You can't cut down what isn't there.
This was the capital.
Spirit Mountain sounded fancy, but it was just the academy's back mountain.
If goblins or such existed, the security guards would have dealt with them long ago.
Even if individuals weren't much, colonies could be troublesome and harm civilians.
That's why wild monsters were cleanly exterminated, unlike in the magic tower.
‘The magic tower doesn't really exterminate monsters; they breed them.’
They raise them for students to fight.
She remembered facing a few herself.
Midterms for the Knight Department at the magic tower.
They bring one or two goblins from an appropriate floor and set them in front.
There's a proctor, and a skilled emergency team ready to intervene if needed.
You fight under their protection.
‘Calling it fighting is a stretch.’
A test where even losing isn't the worst?
It's just one-sided textbook stuff.
Dangerous monsters get replaced with holograms.
Isel smacked her lips.
“Slimes hatch from tree sap and don't dry up, but they're not that hard. They get annoying in numbers, so I'll catch some while you're practicing.”
“...Go ahead.”
Elin nodded as if to say suit yourself, at Isel's implied glance of 'you sure?'
Truth be told, she felt like bringing her real sword instead of a training one and swinging it around.
“Then, please gather herbs without getting hurt. For mushrooms, don't touch them casually—if you're unsure, ask me.”
Isel and Elin moved along with the dispersing group.
“Got any spots in mind?”
“I did originally, but with the sudden change to the back mountain, I'll have to search.”
She planned to dive right in.
Elin grumbled.
It seemed like dissatisfaction over not getting the herbs she wanted.
“Not even sure if there are any herbs here to begin with.”
“It's just the back mountain.”
Isel spoke in a tone that said not to expect much, then sliced the slime oozing on the ground.
It was a size you wouldn't notice without looking closely.
If it hadn't trembled threateningly, she probably wouldn't have spotted it.
‘...That's weird?’
The translucent form convulsed and slumped after a spasm—easy to handle, but something nagged at Isel, lost in thought.
“Any other students from school been here? Like practice from other departments.”
“No? Haven't heard anything. If so, they'd do it at the magic tower, right?”
“Yeah, probably.”
She glanced at the jiggling, transparent jelly-like slime.
Whatever it was, it felt a bit off.
“But why?”
“No... it's nothing.”
‘Hasn't been managed recently, so why is the slime so small?’
They live off tree sap, so they should be bigger normally?
This looked like one born recently after someone swept the area clean.
She took in its collapsing form, then turned away.
It was just the forest entrance, she told herself, brushing it off.
But for some reason, the sight stuck with her.
Along with the professor's warnings.
‘I'm overthinking it.’
Probably.
No matter what, this was the capital.
Once they were deep enough into the forest that no other figures were visible around, Isel leaned against a nearby tree.
“Should we talk now?”
Elin scanned the surroundings and took a breath.
“Whew... sunbae. I don't like Professor Aiden or anything.”
“...Huh?”
“He gave me a slice of cake because I was sad about being rejected last time.”
“No, then why were you crying while talking to the professor?”
“I wasn't crying!”
“You were!”
They both shouted, then locked eyes.
Awkward silence fell from embarrassment.
Elin cleared her throat to break the mood and puffed up proudly, acting nonchalant.
“It's not like that. I just... couldn't get what I wanted, that's all.”
“What you wanted? The professor?”
“No! I told you it's not!”
Isel shot her a suspicious look, and Elin bristled.
“I have zero interest in anything with the professor? That blond professor always acts superior, judges people arbitrarily, talks like he knows everything about me—it's so annoying!”
She vented her anger, then realized her slip and gasped.
Isel's gaze sharpened...
“...They say strong denial is strong affirmation.”
“Ah, no, I mean it! He's a bit handsome, sure, but I'll never, ever! develop that kind of relationship with the professor. Absolutely not, pass.”
Well...
Elin squinted at Isel disapprovingly.
“But you seem to like Professor Aiden, sunbae.”
Isel's eyes widened round.
A look that said 'how did you know?'
But I knew it, Elin smirked slyly, lifting the corner of her mouth.
“You show it so obviously, how could I not know.”
“Me? When?”
“All the time. Just look at how you're glaring at me now.”
“......”
Caught off guard by the sudden reversal, Isel was about to deny it when—
She clamped her mouth shut, remembering her own slip-up.
‘Ugh... if not for that terrace cafe blunder.’
It stung too much to retort.
Elin threw in a 'see?' and hardened her expression.
She had been rummaging through the bushes for herbs mid-conversation.
“Sunbae, this.”
From the hidden bushes, something pale emerged.
A gelatinous form.
More solid than liquid, yet not quite— that thing.
“...A slime?”
It was a slime, sure.
Just bigger. Same appearance.
The doubt came because it was mangled beyond recognition.
Isel propped her chin.
This size was what you'd expect from neglect.
Unless the trees got diseased en masse, sap quality dropped, or some reason caused mass die-off, they'd maintain this size.
But exceptions exist, and generations turn over when lifespans end.
So she hadn't questioned it much, but...
“All small, or all big. Sizes varying per individual is weird. No natural predators here either.”
Predator-like monsters were cleanly handled by guards.
No way monsters flowed into the city center—this was blatantly abnormal.
This size distribution was more like the uncleaned outskirts.
“And these are claw marks.”
Not for eating, but...
Like it was shredded small for sport.
“Sunbae!”
The moment Elin screamed in horror, Isel's eyes widened too.
Awoooooooo—
A wolf's howl that absolutely shouldn't be here.
The hunter had sounded the reveille.