The Most Evil Magic Using Chicken
The potion classroom had become a powder keg ready to explode at any moment, a volcano on the verge of violent eruption. Elenora Caldria and Irina Rosengart had barely managed to prevent the students from crashing into open conflict. Yet all they had really accomplished was forcibly dragging out the confrontation until after lunch.
Even settling the matter with just the two of them proved nearly impossible.
“Your Highness, we wish to hear what discussion is taking place as well.”
The neutral faction students, led by Semira, belonged to neither Elenora’s imperial faction nor Irina’s. They had stayed out of both camps. Precisely because of that, they felt a growing crisis—if the two major factions reached a private agreement, they would be completely shut out.
The students from viscount families and lower had already been excluded from the two major factions. Those left out of the sausage distribution from the very beginning now harbored resentment toward everyone without distinction: Elenora’s faction, Irina’s faction, and even the neutrals.
Even when simplified, the situation had devolved into a three-way standoff, and Elenora felt her head begin to throb. The classroom was thick with the students’ hostility, hatred, and raw fury. On top of everything, a sudden wave of hunger sharpened her nerves to a razor’s edge.
Why am I so hungry?
The emptiness in her stomach fueled her irritation. If only they had followed her original suggestion and distributed the sausages one by one from the start, none of this would have happened. Perhaps the current chaos had been inevitable the moment the lower-ranked nobles were cut out of the sharing.
Swallowing down her boiling frustration, Elenora Caldria fought to maintain her composure. Lunchtime was approaching; even the coarse black bread might help her regain some clarity. The thought of its disgusting sourness and rough texture rose in her mind, immediately followed by the intense, mouthwatering flavor of yesterday’s sausage.
Still, she had to force it down, telling herself it was medicine rather than food. She had to hypnotize herself into believing she was taking a bitter remedy, not eating a meal.
Irina was no different. Her emerald eyes were already heavy with fatigue and humiliation. The abrupt hunger tormented her even more cruelly.
I’m so hungry… Why is this happening so suddenly? Is it the stress?
Professor Egil’s hunger curse had been secretly cast over them, but in the midst of the chaos, no one noticed. Besides, they had all run more than ten laps around the training field in the previous class. After that much exertion, feeling ravenous was only natural.
“Let us head to the cafeteria first for the afternoon classes.”
“The coarse black bread is miserable, but… let’s eat it and continue the discussion afterward. Only then can we reach a proper conclusion.”
A temporary truce formed until lunch. Understanding that afternoon classes still awaited them, the students reluctantly agreed and poured into the cafeteria.
Filling one’s stomach with coarse black bread was pure torment, yet it was necessary if they hoped to survive the rest of the day.
They entered the cafeteria, claimed their seats, and watched as the coarse black bread and water were placed before them.
“Ugh! Coarse black bread again…”
“Damn it… I want sausage.”
“Hmph! Who said you’d get any sausage? We’d rather die than give you half!”
“Same here! We will never surrender our portion!”
Even as they lifted the coarse black bread with trembling hands and tried to force it down, the conflict over the sausages refused to die. Students from the swordsmanship department who learned of the situation late joined the fray, and the discord among all 195 students only grew fiercer.
Of course, even now Finit remained the public enemy, huddled in a corner and merely rolling his eyes.
As the students’ conflict reached its peak… a sudden, mouthwatering aroma flooded the cafeteria, stabbing straight into their noses.
“Wh-what is this smell?”
One girl set down her coarse black bread and shot to her feet. She sniffed the air frantically, groping at nothing. The rich scent of savory oil and salty seasoning swept through the room like a storm. The students’ eyes widened in shock.
“What… what on earth is that smell?”
“Is it meat? No, it smells like seasoning, but… has there ever been an aroma this savory?”
“Where is it coming from? What is it?”
Their sense of smell, heightened to madness by the hunger curse, reeled violently at the unfamiliar fragrance. The coarse black bread and water cups on the tables no longer registered in their vision. Students rose from their seats, twisting and turning as they desperately searched for the source.
“Students, you must all be terribly confused about what this smell is right now.”
Principal Albert’s voice carried a relaxed, leisurely tone.
“This is the aroma of a food called chicken that we have eaten. It was more delicious than any dish we have ever tasted outside these walls. Hahaha!”
Albert laughed heartily.
“Although there is no portion for you, after enjoying such magnificent chicken along with cool, carbonated beer, it felt rather cruel to leave you feeling nothing at all. Therefore, I have decided to show a little mercy.”
Albert spoke in a voice feigning benevolence.
“I shall grant every one of you the chance to at least smell it. Hahaha! Now, breathe in the aroma of the chicken and use that scent as seasoning while you enjoy your coarse black bread. Ah! These are recordings of us eating chicken. I hope you can at least gain some vicarious satisfaction from watching.”
Several more magical images floated into the air. Vivid recordings played of Ring and Ming, Serenity, and the professors savoring the chicken, beer, and cola that Kael had provided.
Ring, Ming, and Serenity tore into the chicken by parts, eating with pure bliss while drinking cola. Detailed evaluations of the flavor poured from their lips, mixed with gasps of delight. Professor Lucia, Professor Michaela, Professor Anna, and the others praised the chicken and beer with unrestrained admiration.
The students watching these images could not find any vicarious satisfaction as Albert had suggested. Instead, their faces froze in shock and utter despair. The savory aroma of chicken pierced their noses, driving their hunger to its absolute limit.
Yet on the tables before them lay only the tasteless coarse black bread.
“Ugh! I can’t possibly eat this!”
“Damn it! Smelling something like this and then telling us to eat coarse black bread?”
“Uwaaaaaaaaaa!!!”
A few students began screaming outright.
The moment they realized the mouthwatering smell filling the cafeteria was nothing more than an artificial magical scent… a despair so deep it felt as if their entire houses had crumbled swallowed them whole.
“Serenity…”
The girls’ eyes locked onto Serenity’s joyful expression as she happily devoured the chicken. Having become Kael’s slave, she looked utterly, blissfully content. After witnessing that scene, none of the girls could mock her choice any longer.
“Lord Kael… I will become a slave too… Please, just let me eat that…”
“Lord Kael… I beg you like this… Please show mercy…”
“Hic! Lord Kael… Lord Kael…”
Before long, several girls were clasping their hands together in prayer as though Kael were a god. They felt they would gladly strip off their underwear the instant he commanded it. Many had already resolved to sell themselves into permanent slavery and live the rest of their lives as Kael’s property.
They did not know the taste of chicken, yet the smell alone was enough to drive them insane. The way the meat tore so tenderly suggested it was no ordinary cut. And with every bite, Ring, Ming, Serenity, and the professors continued offering ecstatic commentary, causing the imagined flavor to grow more vivid and torturous in their minds.
“I want… I want to eat like that too…”
One girl spoke through clenched teeth, her fist so tight that her nails drew blood from her palm.
“Kael Aberwin…!”
Irina Rosengart gasped for air, grinding her teeth. Her hand had unconsciously moved to clutch her stomach. She too had fallen victim to the smell and struggled to suppress her craving for the mysterious food called chicken. Even when she tried to force herself to eat the coarse black bread, her hands simply would not obey.
“My lady… what are we going to do?”
Marina sobbed. Her gaze remained fixed on the magical images. She could not tear her eyes away from Ring, Ming, and Serenity eating the chicken.
“This smell is driving me crazy… I really can’t endure it… Hic!”
Yuliana nodded with a tearful expression. The savory chicken aroma was twisting her stomach into knots.
“I feel the same. My lady… how can anyone bear this?”
A male student shot up from his seat and screamed.
“Uwaaaaa!!! I’m so hungry I’m losing my mind!”
His voice echoed throughout the cafeteria. He clutched his hair and slammed his forehead against the table. The chicken scent had shattered his reason, reducing him to a mindless beast.
“How… could they commit such a wicked act…!”
Elenora Caldria was also gritting her teeth, fighting to endure. Clutching her abdomen, she struggled to preserve her royal dignity. Yet the chicken aroma kept stabbing at her nose, bringing tears to her eyes. She was unbearably hungry. Before her lay only the coarse black bread—an item she could scarcely call food, since consuming it was itself a form of suffering.
In such a state, the pervasive chicken scent became the most vicious torture imaginable. They knew it existed. They could see people eating it. They could witness the pure happiness on the faces of those who consumed it. Yet none of the 195 students—Finit had been excluded even from Elenora’s calculations—could touch a single piece.
“This is… torture…”
Elenora shuddered at the realization that such evil, cruel torture could exist. A deep fear toward both Principal Albert and Kael Aberwin, the ones who had orchestrated it, took root inside her. She wondered how anyone with a human heart could commit such an atrocity.
At this moment, the smell was a far more terrifying torment to the academy students gathered in the cafeteria than any physical torture that might crush their limbs.
“Chicken! Give us chicken!”
“Lord Kael! I’ll become your slave, so please give us chicken!”
The cafeteria had already descended into complete pandemonium.