It's Unusually Cold Today
Wait, how did things spiral out of control like this...?
“Orknodi! Are you all right? Can you breathe?!”
In the distance, the thundering twang of ballistas echoed across the flooded courtyard, punctuated by the horrific crunch of a battering ram smashing right through a dormitory window.
It was far too late to admit that I had just been milking it for dramatic effect.
All right. Mind made up.
I hardened my resolve. Releasing all tension in my limbs, I slumped down and let myself go completely limp, faking dead to the world.
I was unconscious. Yep, knocked out cold. Don't look at me; I don't know anything!
“How dare you lay hands on a candidate I’ve personally earmarked for the Hero’s party?! Unforgivable!!”
Even the Hero, who had just been passing by, flew into a righteous rage and charged headfirst into the brawl. The sophomores' boats were smashed to splinters, and the upperclassmen who had monopolized the fish were bound in heavy ropes and dragged away one after another like captured bandits.
“Oh dear. Is Orknodi going to be all right?”
“The poor child fell into the water and hasn't regained consciousness!”
“Fret not. I am a Saintess.”
The Saintess accompanying the Hero promptly sat on the ground, scooped my head up onto her lap, and rested a gentle, soothing palm against my forehead.
“Grant healing and sweet slumber unto this innocent lamb.”
She was actively reciting sacred incantations to treat me. If I stayed unconscious any longer through genuine holy miracles, I was going to be in deep trouble. Fluttering my eyelids in a careful display of drowsy weakness, I slowly, groggily blinked them open.
“Uhh... The light's so bright...”
“Orknodi! Are you back with us?”
◈ Acting EXP:+5
◈ Deception EXP:+5
◈ Naughty Child EXP:+2
...Yeah, okay. There was really no denying that I'd been a bad girl today.
“So you got lynched by freshmen, lost all your boats, got all your fish confiscated, and only just got let loose?”
“Those kids aren't normal freshmen! And the Hero jumped in on their side—how were we supposed to win against that?!”
“None of this would have happened if you hadn't put your hands on a helpless little kid! We told you to keep them on a tight leash using food, not beat up a child!”
Paper Company jumped up in indignant protest, but what was done was done. Everyone firmly believed he was guilty of child abuse, and it was far too late to turn back the clock.
Even the fellow members of the Red Teeth Mushroom Business Owners Association were glaring at him with disgust, subtly scooting away. There wasn't a single soul willing to take his side. Branded as the scapegoat for the utter failure of the freshman-crushing operation, he hung his head low, forced to shoulder the blame.
“Consultant... What do we do now?”
“Are we supposed to just give up on revenge?”
Cursing them inwardly as utterly useless trash, Bellocasio nevertheless offered his counsel through gritted teeth.
“It's too early to throw in the towel. Those freshmen might be clever in their own way, but there's a fundamental gap in experience between them and us.”
Bellocasio had no intention of abandoning payback. They still possessed means of retaliation they could exploit.
“Use the Squall spell. Whip up massive waves, capsize every single one of their rafts, and completely block off their water route to class on Thursday.”
“Whoa, hold on. Isn't that going a bit too far?”
“Delicate mana control over the Squall spell is way too hard for second-years like us. There’s no way we can selectively target our grudges while sparing the rest.”
“If we cast that, even the innocent freshmen will be dragged into it!”
“And you think the freshmen will thank you for your restraint?” Bellocasio sneered at the naive club members. “They already wrecked your boats, took your catch, and beat you black and blue. Your reputations are in the gutter; even your fellow sophomores are already looking down on you.”
There was no retreating now.
“If you get slapped with the label of ‘the guys who get beaten up by freshmen,’ how do you think your academy life will play out until graduation?”
Once you showed weakness in an institution like this, your remaining years were as good as ruined. Realizing the sheer gravity of their predicament, a venomous glint finally flared in the sophomores' eyes.
“I mean... Paper Company did strike first, but bringing out ballistas was way over the line!”
“And what about those punks who threw the battering ram? They lost it in the water, blamed it on us to the third-year teaching assistant, and now we've been slapped with a reimbursement invoice! I'm still seething over it!”
“Getting beaten down was bad enough, but there's no way in hell I'm living as a laughingstock until graduation!”
Boiling with indignation, the sophomores pledged their vengeance. Paper Company, bearing the unfair stigma of a child abuser, burned with the hottest fury of all.
The entire student body thinks I'm scum because of that brat. Just you wait... The next time I see that little pest, I'm beating her for real!
Following the massive ruckus at dinner, it was finally time for fifth period: Adventurer’s Night Operations.
We had made a pact to bolt without looking back the moment we heard the clattering bones of the Skeleton Instructor. Fortunately for our sanity, the one waiting in the lecture hall was Professor Sadako.
...Though it would have been considerably nicer if she weren't floating atop the water, her long black hair splayed out like tangled, dried seaweed, lingering motionless like a drowned corpse. Even without the skeleton around, Zhuang and Titocoga’s pupils vibrated at an alarming frequency.
“I really want to go back.”
“It's too scary...”
It was already too late. As if illustrating the immutable rule that all bets were final once placed, Professor Sadako slowly raised her waterlogged torso. Rising from the depths like a ghoul crawling out of an infernal swamp, she struck such terror into poor Titocoga that the girl froze stiff, like a water deer blinded by oncoming headlights, unable to even muster a shriek.
“You have arrived.”
“Good evening, Professor!”
“I heard... the freshmen and sophomores had a scuffle.”
For someone who looked like she didn't have a single colleague she regularly spoke to, Professor Sadako was surprisingly plugged into campus gossip.
“They started it, anyway!”
“Did you bring any corpses?”
“...Why on earth would we bring corpses?!”
“Pity.”
Professor Sadako sounded genuinely crestfallen.
“It would have been a rare, splendid opportunity to instruct you in Create Zombie and Skeletonization. How regrettable.”
“...We're here for Adventurer’s Night Operations, aren't we? We didn't sign up for necromancy summoner training!”
“I am aware. However, if one summons undead, all the tactical disadvantages and logistical inconveniences of nocturnal operations can be delegated to them. There is no harm in learning it... probably.”
“Probably?!”
The moment Zhuang spun around to sprint out the door, a skeletal arm burst through the stone floor and seized her ankle. When Titocoga tried to jump up from her seat, a pair of skeletal hands clamped down onto her shoulders, forcefully pressing her back into her chair. Having carried out this spine-chilling ambush, Professor Sadako murmured with absolute nonchalance:
“Wandering off in the middle of a lecture is forbidden... for your own safety.”
“T-This lunatic professor! What did you even rig around us?!”
At that moment, an undeniable truth dawned on all three of us: no matter what trouble we stirred up with the upperclassmen, the professors were always the scariest monsters on campus.
When the bell finally rang, our trio scrambled away in utter disarray. Watching the trembling backs of the fresh-faced first-years retreat, Sadako felt a rare twinge of pedagogical pride.
“I had no idea you were so accommodating. Taken a sudden liking to nurturing the youth?”
“...Professor Destroyer. You seem quite fascinated by Orknodi yourself.”
Even as Professor Destroyer materialized silently behind her, Sadako replied without a hint of surprise, her voice deadpan and mechanical.
“The girl is a genuine prodigy.”
“Is that why you placed the Nightmare of Struggle on her?”
“Well now. You noticed that?”
“Necromancers are quite well-versed in the mental sphere.”
Though professors had vastly different areas of expertise, true genius stood out regardless of the discipline. Orknodi was particularly exceptional in that regard; almost every instructor teaching her coursework had evaluated her performance with top marks or exceptionally generous accolades.
“You cannot monopolize her.”
“I never intended to. She isn't a beast I can manage entirely on my own.”
“...Coming from a former Hero?”
That was somewhat unexpected. Though Destroyer’s true depth of power remained an enigma even among the faculty, Sadako had known him through ties outside the academy prior to her appointment. She knew precisely what terrifying martial prowess he had wielded as a stalwart member of the former Hero party.
For such a man to utter words of inadequacy was startling.
“The reach of the Weihimhai Foundation is far beyond our imagination.”
“...Of all organizations, them?”
“The intelligence operative I dispatched went completely dark. It’s been quite some time since one of my limbs was cleanly severed like that.”
“...And your reason for sharing this with me?”
“When you require expendable limbs that can be severed without consequence, is there anything better suited than the undead?”
“I would prefer not to be dragged into messy affairs...”
“Come now, let us not be stingy between mentors who cherish Orknodi. Aren't you curious about her original teacher? The very first mentor from that foundation who molded her into what she is?”
The corner of Sadako's pallid lips twitched upward into a faint, crooked angle.
“Name the thralls you require.”
Morning arrived.
After throwing on my academy uniform, I took the flower seeds I had casually swiped from the flowerbeds yesterday and sprinkled them into the water bottle where my Mandragora was floating.
“Ptooh!”
The little prima donna of a Mandragora spat the seeds right back out, using its tiny root hands to pick each and every one out of the water and discard them onto the desk.
My grand scheme to feed it sweet-scented treats so that its elixir would naturally take on a floral fragrance had completely fallen flat. Tch. Who did this plant inherit such a picky palate from anyway? If it were truly taking after me, it ought to vacuum up whatever was put in front of it.
“Achoo!”
Maybe it was because of that swim yesterday, but the hallway felt exceptionally drafty. Looking around, though, I realized it wasn't just me—everyone was huddled within their cloaks, teeth chattering and shoulders shivering.
“Good morning, Isabelle. It's unusually chilly today, isn't it?”
“Of course it is. The lake froze over into an ice rink.”
“Huh?”
“Look outside.”
Isabelle gestured toward the courtyard window. Outside, freshmen were steadily marching toward class across a vast sheet of frozen water, using scabbards and magic staves as trekking poles.
“Waves kept surging toward the dorms, so Irene got pissed off and froze the entire surface solid.”
“Whoa... She must have a ridiculous amount of mana.”
“Well, it made the commute a whole lot easier for us. Come on, let's get going before the ice starts melting.”
Scattered across the frozen transit route were abandoned makeshift rafts and shoes whose soles were hopelessly frozen to the ice. Once the thaw set in, I’d have to grab Giselle and sweep the area to harvest all that sweet, free salvage.