24
Chapter 24
Daily life returned to the Academy after the Academic Festival ended.
The school bells rang, students filled the hallways, and the sounds of lessons echoed from the training grounds.
A sharp whistling sound echoed in the empty lot. Benny, holding a training wooden sword instead of his broken one, had been swinging it since early morning.
Sancta sat in the shade of a tree, quietly watching him.
Edelyn sat by the hallway window next to the laboratory, reviewing the structure of her Mana Storage. When she closed her eyes, a regular hexagon appeared clearly.
After sparring with Esme, she felt that her Mana Storage had become even more distinct than before.
'Now that I've seen the Archmage's magic, my Mana Storage feels different.'
Or perhaps she had just become accustomed to it through frequent use. Either way, she didn't think it was a bad thing.
There was one thing that had changed, however.
When students from other classes locked eyes with Edelyn in the hallway, they were the ones to look away first.
In the past, she was always the one to bow first.
Edelyn didn't dislike it. But she didn't necessarily love it either. She simply felt that things had changed.
The afternoon sunlight bathed the hallway.
#
Enoch's laboratory.
Enoch sat perched on his desk, taking a sip of his cold tea. It tasted awful.
'Why was I drinking this stuff back then?'
Morse was beside him, organizing documents. It was the administrative work she handled as an assistant. The sound of pages turning was rhythmic.
Enoch spoke first.
"The Vice-Principal has been nowhere to be seen since the festival ended."
Morse answered without looking away from her papers.
"Teacher Saphent is missing too. He left immediately after his B Class lessons."
Enoch sipped his tea.
"That's a good thing."
"Is it?"
"It takes time to scheme something. The fact that it's quiet now means they're preparing another plot."
Enoch continued calmly.
"But they won't be able to touch us for a while. They left too bad an impression on the VIPs during the festival."
Only then did Morse look up from her documents to face Enoch.
"Speaking of which, I heard something from the other assistants."
"What is it?"
"They said the VIPs didn't grant a single one of the Vice-Principal's requests."
Enoch's eyebrow twitched slightly.
"I heard they left the very day after the festival ended. By the time the Vice-Principal went to guide them, they had already returned to their own countries."
His lips quirked.
"Makes sense. Those people are all busy."
Enoch didn't look surprised at all. He looked as if he had expected this from the start.
Morse set the documents down on the table.
"Enoch."
Enoch turned his head.
Morse had approached him.
They were less than a hand's breadth apart.
Her golden eyes looked up at him.
"Thank you for protecting me during the festival."
Her voice was low and soft.
"You spoke up for me in front of Isael. You told them not to think about touching your kid."
Enoch slightly averted his gaze.
"I was protecting Sancta. Not you."
"I'm included in your 'my kid' too, aren't I?"
'I'm included, but the context is completely different!!!'
Just as Enoch was about to speak, Morse's hand grabbed his sleeve.
Gently.
"Could you do that for me too?"
"What?"
"Protecting me."
'I'm protecting her plenty. I hired her as an assistant, got her a place to stay, and I'm feeding her.'
While Enoch was thinking that, Morse's face was gradually drawing closer.
Silver hair brushed against the tip of his nose.
"Morse."
"Yes."
"You're too close."
"I know."
Morse took one more step forward and tightened her grip. A moist expectation lingered in her golden eyes.
Enoch leaned his upper body back in the chair.
"Isn't it sexual harassment for an assistant to do this to a teacher?"
"I looked through the regulations, and there was no such clause."
'She actually looked it up?!'
"Instead, there was a clause encouraging the formation of friendly relationships between teachers and assistants."
"...You can't interpret it like that..."
Morse sent him a seductive gaze.
"Do you dislike it, Enoch?"
Enoch didn't answer. Saying he disliked it would be a lie, and saying he liked it would be irreversible.
'What on earth is the right answer here?!'
Morse interpreted Enoch's silence in her own way and placed a hand on his knee.
"They say silence is consent."
"Who says that?"
"A romance novel in the library."
'Why are you reading stuff like that?!'
Enoch gently lifted Morse's hand and moved it away from his knee.
"This is a bit inconvenient right now."
"Right now? Then what about later?"
'Later? Why is there never an escape route...'
Just as Enoch was feeling troubled.
— Click. Creeeeeak.
The door swung open roughly.
"Teacher Enoch."
Long orange hair and that characteristically annoying expression. It was Rianna.
With a bundle of documents tucked under her arm, she scanned the inside of the laboratory. The distance between Enoch and Morse caught her eye.
A subtly close distance.
Enoch's upper body was still leaning back.
Rianna looked back and forth between the two.
"...What were you doing?"
Enoch straightened his posture and spoke.
"Ah. I was organizing documents."
Rianna's gaze shifted to the papers on the table. They were stacked far off to one side.
"...I see."
Her tone suggested she didn't believe him. However, she had no intention of pressing the matter.
Morse took a step back and smiled naturally.
"What brings you here?"
Rianna's gaze turned toward Morse.
"The new assistant?"
"Yes. I am Morse, Teacher Enoch's assistant. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Morse bowed in greeting. Rianna scanned Morse from head to toe.
"...Hmm."
Rianna made a subtle expression. She was evaluating something.
Morse skillfully maintained her smile under that gaze.
A short silence fell between the two women.
Enoch tried to take a sip of tea, only to realize his cup was empty.
Rianna turned her gaze toward him.
"It's an announcement."
She pulled a sheet of paper from the bundle under her arm and placed it on a nearby table.
"The Vice-Principal's office wants this delivered directly to the person in charge of each class. I don't know why a teacher like me has to do this."
Rianna vented her frustration.
Enoch thought her complaint was perfectly reasonable.
It was inefficient for the C Class person in charge to personally bring a notice all the way to the F Class laboratory.
'The administration was a mess then, and it's still a mess now.'
Enoch said with an awkward smile.
"You've worked hard, Teacher Rianna."
"I appreciate you saying that, but I wish we lived in a world where this kind of work wasn't necessary."
Speaking so bluntly was very like Rianna.
"I've given you what I needed to, so I'll be going."
Rianna turned around. Her pace was hurried, just as it had been when she arrived.
— Thud.
Watching the door close, Enoch thought.
'She leaves as soon as she says what needs to be said. Rianna hasn't changed a bit.'
Morse handed the paper to Enoch.
"Here."
Enoch took the paper and read it.
Line by line.
He stopped. His eyes widened.
"A field trip???????"
Enoch held the paper and read it again. The content remained the same.
Field trips for each class are to be conducted.
Locations and schedules are at the discretion of the person in charge.
Maximum duration of 30 days. Academy budget provided.
'Was there something like this? I don't remember it.'
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't recall.
'Then again, it's only natural I don't remember since I was kicked out of the academy before my regression...'
"A field trip......."
Enoch put the paper down. His mind became cluttered.
Where to go. What to let the children experience. How much the budget was.
Enoch began to sink into deep thought.
Just then, Morse stepped forward in front of him.
"Enoch."
Enoch looked up.
Morse had a serious expression, as if she had made up her mind about something.
"I have something to tell you."
Enoch reflexively took a step back.
"No more skinship."
Morse's face turned red in an instant.
"It's not that!!"
She waved her hands in a hurried denial.
"It's not that!! I really have something to tell you!!"
Enoch looked at her with suspicious eyes.
"Really?"
"Really!!"
Morse pressed her cheeks with both hands, as if trying to cool down the heat. It didn't have much effect.
With her ears flushing red, she repeatedly opened and closed her mouth.
This time, she really seemed to have a different purpose.
"Alright. What is it?"
Morse took a deep breath.
"Please train me."
Enoch blinked. It was completely unexpected.
"Train you?"
"Yes."
Morse answered clearly, unlike the seductive tone she had used moments ago.
"Why?"
Enoch asked calmly.
Morse pondered for a moment before speaking.
"Because of the Academic Festival."
He remembered the moment Isael had rushed toward Sancta.
Until Enoch stepped in, she had been powerless to do anything.
"When my sister is in danger... I want to be the one to protect her."
Her honest, golden eyes gazed steadily at Enoch.
"You can't always be by her side, Enoch. I have to be able to protect Sancta myself."
Enoch looked at Morse.
The girl who used to protect her sister in the slums.
That girl was now saying she wanted to take a step further.
For her sister's sake.
'How admirable.'
Enoch smiled.
"Alright."
"What?"
"I'll train you. In a way that suits the Curse type."
Morse's eyes widened.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I had things to teach you anyway. Let's start soon."
Joy spread across Morse's face, and her eyes grew misty.
"Thank you, Enoch. Thank you so much!"
She lunged at him.
As Enoch sat in his chair, his head was buried in Morse's chest.
Her arms wrapped around his head, pulling him in tight.
She expressed her gratitude with her entire body.
A soft sensation and silver hair enveloped him.
'In the end, we're doing skinship after all...'
He wondered if he should push her away, but he felt Morse's arms trembling slightly.
Noticing this, Enoch decided to just let her be.
After a while, Morse pulled away on her own. Her eyes were slightly damp, but her smile was radiant.
"I'll definitely get stronger."
"I'm counting on it."
Morse wiped her eyes and returned to organizing the documents.
Enoch looked at the paper again.
Field trips.
Locations and schedules at the discretion of the person in charge.
'I need to train Morse, get Benny a new sword, Edelyn needs real-world experience, and I have to teach Sancta how to heal...'
One thought led to another.
'Since it's a field trip, we'll be leaving the Academy anyway, right? If I think about things we can do outside...'
Enoch's eyes sparkled. He murmured as he put the paper down.
"Yes! This could work."
His sinister laughter filled the laboratory.
Morse stopped organizing the papers and looked back at Enoch.
He was letting out a bizarre laugh.
She felt a sense of deja vu from when she first met him.
Morse smiled and turned her attention back to the documents.
Beyond the laboratory window, the afternoon sunlight stretched long across the room.