The End of a Tiring Monday

Every noble student at the academy went to sleep dreaming the exact same wish: that when they opened their eyes, the hard, unforgiving mattress and the absence of attendants would vanish, replaced by the warm, plush comforts of their ancestral castle back home.

It was a fantasy they clung to night after night.

And yet, here it was, actually coming true.

"Welcome home, Lady Titocoga."

"Waaaah, Grandpa Butler! I had such a horrible tiiiime!"

"My word. You must have suffered terribly."

Her family's old head butler patted her back, his wrinkled face soft with a benevolent, grandfatherly smile. The beds had been stiff, the food tasted bland and awful, and this had been terrible, and that had been miserable...

Faced with her endless stream of tearful grievances, the butler let out a helpless chuckle.

"Lady Titocoga, if I sit here listening to every complaint, the sun will set before you finish."

"B-but I still have so much left to say!"

"Let us save the rest for next time."

"Why? Can't you listen for just a little longer?"

"Because night has already fallen."

"Huh?"

"Look for yourself. Has it not grown dark enough outside to attend Adventurer's Night Operations?"

Titocoga recoiled, terror seizing her chest as she stared out the window into the pitch-black night. From behind her, a hand—cold and hard as a piece of desiccated driftwood—pressed against her back.

"G-Grandpa...?"

No. Grandpa's hands weren't this freezing. He didn't have wet, tangled black hair that draped over her shoulders. And he certainly didn't reek of stomach-churning embalming fluid.

Then what was this?

Who was standing right behind her?

As sheer panic paralyzed her, an unfamiliar woman's voice hissed an icy, bloodcurdling whisper directly into her ear.

"Class has begun. If you do not wake up, I will bury you in a grave."

"Eeeeeeeek!"

Titocoga jolted awake, screaming at the top of her lungs.

Standing directly behind her was the horrifying woman draped in a dripping white funeral shroud. Titocoga wanted nothing more than to lose her mind and bolt for the door, but before she could move an inch, unexpected reactions pelted her from the other side.

"Hey, would you hurry up and sit down? We're trying to get this creepy lecture over with so we can get out of here, not have you holding everyone up."

"Come sit over here!"

First, a petite girl wearing an eerie fox mask scolded her to take her seat. Then, right beside her, Group A's most notorious celebrity—the youngest top student, Orknodi—patted the empty desk next to her with cheerful, welcoming slaps.

"Uh, uhhh..."

Guilt-tripped into feeling like she was causing a public nuisance, Titocoga found herself sinking into the chair as if bewitched. Caught completely off guard between the professor using her light stand as a lecture lamp and the students listening with rapt attention, she was swept into attending the class whether she wanted to or not.

"Adventurers primarily operate during the day, acutely aware of the perils that darkness brings... Yet, depending on the time and location, nocturnal activities become unavoidable..."

"For instance, when an exceptionally lethal monster stalks an expedition through the shadows..."

"Or when a collapsing cavern forces an urgent subterranean retreat toward the surface..."

"Or when one is relentlessly pursued by endless swarms of undead beneath a sky stripped of its sun..."

"...Ah, how enviable. Just imagine how deliciously fresh the entrails of terrified, fleeing adventurers must taste."

Titocoga stared forward, a vacant, glassy smile frozen on her face.

Grandpa Butler... I'm coming to see you again right now.

Overcome by sheer, unadulterated terror, Titocoga passed out cold with her eyes wide open.

The moment I heard her name, intuition hit me like a truck. This kid's name resonated with something deep inside me!

Looking at the engraving stamped onto the brass frame of her lighting apparatus, my suspicion turned into rock-solid certainty.

Titocoga.

Tto-sog-a.

Tricked again!

This girl was practically born to get scammed!

I mean, really, who drags a heavy lighting stand all the way to the academy just because they want to look like a popular social butterfly?

That level of gullibility was on par with believing you had to take your shoes off before boarding an airplane, that soldiers bought assault rifles at the convenience store, or that stepping onto a college campus instantly handed you a romantic partner and a ticket to everlasting bliss. It ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was downright tragic.

And befriending a poor, naive soul like this was guaranteed never to be a losing deal.

Setting aside whether she would ever become popular, the performance of this lighting rig was frankly absurd. Compared to chugging stat-boosting snacks ten minutes before an exam just to eke out a temporary bump in Intelligence, basking in a beam of light for a quick stat buff was infinitely more convenient.

A buff that didn't increase your fullness gauge at all? This was an unprecedented, cutting-edge consumable that even hardcore veterans had never seen before.

"Starting next lecture, we will cover countermeasures for specific nocturnal crises and transition into practical hands-on experience. There are no required materials... However, I strongly advise against eating dinner beforehand."

"Why is that?"

"Curiously enough, students who attend this class have a habit of spilling various fluids. Spilling urine is tolerable, but I would greatly appreciate it if you refrained from vomiting..."

"..."

"All I did was dig up a few embalmed cadavers from the cemetery down the road. Are youths these days truly so frail of heart...?"

Hmm...

As expected, this professor was severely hazardous to one's mental health!

"Since today is merely the introductory session, we shall conclude here. Dismissed."

On the bright side, her classes were refreshingly short and to the point. That twenty-minute lecture had felt like two grueling hours!

"Orknodi. Are you coming back on Wednesday too?"

"Of course I am."

"You're actually scared out of your mind and just posturing, aren't you?"

"Are you scared, Zhuang?"

"Me?! As if! I'm not scared in the slightest! I just thought walking to the next class all by myself would be boring, so I was kindly inviting you along!"

In polite society, people agreed to call that 'being terrified of going alone.'

As Zhuang desperately strained to pretend she wasn't shaken, Titocoga reached out and grabbed her by the arm. Zhuang stared down at the hand clamping her wrist through the eyeholes of her fox mask.

"Grabbing an assassin's arm... You have a scheme, don't you? Sealing one of my limbs so you can shatter my skull with that lighting stand in the opening—"

"Not even close!"

Titocoga shrieked defensively, before her voice withered right back into a timid, miserable squeak. "U-um... Wouldn't it be better if we just dropped this course together? Honestly, it's way too terrifying..."

Having somehow managed to retrieve her lighting rig from Professor Sadako, Titocoga was now desperately lobbying for a mutual drop. Zhuang's head snapped up as if she thought that was a brilliant idea, but after stealing a quick glance at my face, she huffed and kicked an innocent pebble across the stone floor.

"No way. If I were the absolute last one left, I'd drop it in a heartbeat, but I refuse to admit that any other student has more guts than me."

"Orknodiii. Let's all three of us drop it together. She says she'll drop it if you do!"

"Why would I? It sounds fun."

"You call that fun?! An undead professor is outright blasphemy! Whether in the Central Empire or the Southern Pantheon, that thing is an unholy abomination that would incite the wrath of every god in existence!"

"Professors award letter grades, but the gods don't hand out credits."

"?!"

Once you stepped into an academy, you didn't look at the gods to see how they felt—you watched your professors' expressions and milked them for credits and Points!

"Once you leave the academy, your reputation is going to hit rock bottom! What are you going to do then...? Are you planning to live inside this academy forever or something...?!"

"What a horrible thing to say! Don't you dare treat me like a graduate ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠student! I intend to graduate no matter what!"

That crossed the line, Titocoga. Apologize right this instant!

"I-I'm sorry! I don't really understand why, but I must have struck a nerve. I apologize!"

"Hmph. As long as you understand. Watch your mouth from now on."

After Fifth Period ended at nine in the evening, there was technically a Sixth Period that ran from nine until eleven at night... but taking classes that late stunted your physical growth. If I were a towering, two-hundred-and-thirty-centimeter titan-blooded male character armored in muscle and super-armor, that would be one thing, but for a hundred-and-thirty-three-centimeter Orknodi, losing height was an unacceptable catastrophe!

Consequently, after grinding through an exhausting daily schedule, I returned to the dormitory looking like a walking corpse.

"You trained diligently until late into the night, I see."

"I just got back from lectures."

"...Until this hour?!"

Isabelle gasped in pure horror, utterly appalled that any mortal could draft such an inhumane timetable. But suffering through four dense days was vastly superior to cluttering an entire five-day week with lectures.

Monday-Wednesday. Tuesday-Thursday. Friday-Saturday.

Most academy courses met twice a week on predetermined paired days. According to my optimization plan, cramming every single credit into Monday through Thursday meant three glorious, lecture-free days of pure grinding.

"Ughhh. I'm wiped out."

Tossing off my uniform, I stepped straight into the private shower attached to my quarters.

The warm spray cascaded down over my skin. Some might wonder what on earth a modern shower was doing in a fantasy setting, but when the developers asked players whether they preferred hauling buckets of freezing well water over their backs or turning a handle for steaming hot water, the player ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠base had embraced the luxuries of civilization without a single complaint. Appropriate quality-of-life conveniences were absolutely vital for an enjoyable fantasy life. Before it was a fantasy world, this place was, fundamentally, a video game.

"...This is depressing."

My frame was remarkably well-proportioned, but the height was just far too small. Even looking at my chest in the misted mirror, there wasn't a shred of erotic appeal to be found. Shaking my head under the water, I quickly wrapped up the shower and stepped out.

Whirrrrrr.

As I stood drying my hair with the blower—an enchanted magical artifact—a hollow voice suddenly drifted out from the wall.

—I'm bored.

The Answering Door. It had interpreted the whirring hum of the hair dryer as a spoken question and was using it as an excuse to vent whatever it wanted. It was a scripted anomaly event that triggered whenever the occupants of Rooms 111 and 112 failed to speak to the wall for an entire day.

"Big sister is busy~"

By the time I finished drying off and pulled on fresh sleepwear, the clock already read half past nine.

"Hwaaahm..."

Having taxed my brain to its absolute limits all day long, heavy yawns spilled out from my exhausted body unbidden.

—If you climb the central staircase to the second ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠floor of the Main Building at precisely 2:22 AM, you will arrive at a hidden room.

Desperate for any shred of human conversation, the door voluntarily spilled a hidden piece of confidential game lore just to bait the player.

"Yeah, yeah, I already know~"

Good little children went to bed on time. Collapsing into the plush, cloud-soft mattress felt like nothing short of pure paradise. Wriggling under the covers, I drifted off into a blissfully deep sleep.

In Room 112, Hestia lay in bed, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling.

Tick. Tock.

The steady, rhythmic turning of the clock's second hand resonated maddeningly in her ears.

—If you climb the central staircase to the second floor of the Main Building at precisely 2:22 AM, you will arrive at a hidden room.

She desperately wanted to sleep, but the eerie voice that had suddenly echoed through the wall was gnawing at her mind, making rest entirely impossible.

What on earth kind of room appears if you take the central stairs to the second floor at 2:22 in the morning?!

Tortured by the supernatural entity's unprompted revelation of heavenly secrets, Hestia was enduring her own sleepless night of torment.