Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Manners
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“Hey, you empty-headed idiot.”
Splash…
It was the loud sound of a bucket of water being dumped.
My hair and Veronica’s hair drooped down, soaked at the same time.
“…I said use magic, magic!!”
Drip…
Water droplets gathered thickly, then drip… fell off.
[Dean, you made water anyway, so that’s magic, right?]
“No… ha….”
Veronica clutched her drenched hair with both hands and let out a hollow scream, having a fit.
See? It’s true, so she has nothing to say.
“Ugh… my head hurts.”
[It’s because you’re old, Dean.]
“If you wanna die young, keep yapping.”
[I almost said it.]
I very wisely chose silence.
Life is precious.
“What the hell am I supposed to do with this guy?”
Still, this was some kind of achievement.
I, who couldn’t even glimpse the ‘ma’ in magic, finally made something visible.
“I told you to use magic, not dump a bowl of water on me.”
[It was magic anyway.]
“That’s true, but….”
[Yeah, so we’re done.]
“You… fucking bastard.”
Veronica spews curses every time we talk.
Is her personality always like that, or is she just perpetually pissed?
“Fine, get out.”
[Dean, you’ve got a habit of cursing whenever your logic gets beaten. You should fix that.]
“I said get out?”
[Class isn’t over yet.]
“…….”
Veronica pressed her forehead.
A long sigh flowed from her tiny mouth.
“Ha… Talking to you makes my mental age drop drastically.”
[Dean, you’re over a thousand years old, so even if it drops, it’s still around my level.]
“You really wanna get beat?”
[Dean, you only curse at me.]
Veronica’s eyes widened, and she tilted her head.
Her expression… was as pure as a child’s.
“What are you talking about? I’m sweet, I don’t curse.”
…Oh, I see.
So what were those curses she hurled at me just now? Hallucinations?
“How could an ultra-special super cutie like me ever curse?”
Ah… so she can say “ultra-special super cutie” with a straight face.
Impressive. Really… in every sense.
[Then who was it that just said ‘fucking bastard’?]
“Must’ve been a hallucination?”
[So I’m crazy enough to hear hallucinations?]
“Yeah. You’re already crazy.”
… I had plenty to say, but I couldn’t deny it, so I stayed quiet.
Honestly, there’s probably 0.1% truth to being called crazy.
Hmm.
“Ha… why is my life like this.”
[Dean, isn’t it your dragon life, not human life?]
“Fuck, I’m screwed.”
[Ultra-special super cutie, right?]
“…Right, my dragon life is beautiful.”
Her tone and eyes are anything but beautiful—destructive, even.
“Yeah… my dragon life is pretty. Cute.”
Why is someone as unfortunate as me stuck in the radius of that pretty, cute dragon life?
[g-]
“Shut up.”
… I hadn’t even written anything yet.
Just one letter, swish.
[i]
“Shut up.”
[ㅇ]
“Ahem.”
Veronica cleared her throat unnecessarily to break the mood, then clapped her hands.
The shadows creating her clones made a ‘whoosh’ sound as they merged back into her main shadow one by one.
As the shadows gathered, S Class students had all assembled before I knew it.
“Alright, good work… I won’t bother announcing the final evaluations since the other professors will handle it.”
At those words, Serros shot his hand up.
“What?”
“Dean, I have a question!”
“Spit it out.”
“Couldn’t you just explain it yourself?!”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“I'm Busy.”
“Hmm… Got it.”
Serros nodded, and then Laphia, standing beside him, shot her hand up.
“…What now.”
“I have a question too, Dean.”
“What is it this time.”
“Why’d you end training so early today?”
“…I said I’m busy, .”
That tone.
Those utterly shameless eyes.
‘Hmm.’
Even to me, Veronica the quick-witted expert, it was obvious she was lying.
100% chance. She must’ve run out of steam arguing with me.
“…Okay.”
…Then Erwin slowly raised his hand.
“Goddamnit… what now?”
“I have a question.”
“…Ask.”
“When are you promoting us to second years?”
I wondered if I’d misheard and rubbed my ears.
And I wasn’t the only one—Rev next to me looked stunned too.
“…That again?”
Even at Veronica’s words, Erwin stayed calm.
…No, beyond calm, like he was claiming a natural right.
“I didn’t want to bring it up here, but every time I ask, you just say wait.”
“I said wait one year, didn’t I?”
“Over four months of that year have passed.”
“Wait eight more months, and I’ll bump you to second years.”
“…….”
At Veronica’s firm answer, Erwin just nodded without a word.
As if that confirmation was all he needed… satisfied.
“Uh, okay… I’m really leaving now? No more questions…?”
Before anyone could grab her, Veronica hastily tore open space.
Riiip… her body slipped into the rift… and moments later, space sealed shut.
“Hmm… Top student.”
Serros slung his arm over my shoulder slyly.
“I’m realizing anew, but Erwin seems crazier than you, Top seat.”
“…I hate to agree, but I do.”
Laphia nodded from the side, chiming in.
And… Erwin, standing far off, overheard like a ghost and approached.
“What’s the problem.”
“What’s the problem? Top seat, look at him… he's a total lunatic, right?”
… I wanted to slip away, but it was too late.
“Amusing. I’m not meant to be in the same place as you lot.”
“Then where do you belong, huh?”
“Where else? By my god’s side, obviously.”
For the record… Erwin’s “god” is Carnel.
Yoram’s student council president, Carnel.
The very Carnel I was praising wildly just yesterday.
“Wow… he’s a real psycho, Top seat.”
Serros backed away in genuine shock.
“I asked him what’s so great about the president, and he said it’s not ‘great.’”
“Hmph… How could one harbor such vulgar emotions toward a god?”
“Look at him… it’s not love, it’s obsession, worship… that kind of madness, right?”
“Love for a god? Harboring such vulgar, frivolous feelings is blasphemy in itself.”
And… Erwin’s gaze turned to me.
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
[ Erwin von Orpheus ]
Favorability: 【Blasphemy】
Status: 【Negative】
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ (-25/10)
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
Erwin makes a rotten face whenever he sees me.
He doesn’t even hide it—blatantly.
Every time, I sense madness, so I instinctively avoid him… damn, it’s annoying.
“See? What’d I tell you… Erwin’s floating in another dimension, a total nutjob…?”
“Agreed.”
“You don’t get it. Breathing by a god’s side is an honor in itself.”
“Bullshit.”
“Agreed.”
“…You’re not qualified to understand a god yet.”
Sneakily.
I activated 【Silent Step】 and slipped out of the training grounds unnoticed.
“I don’t care if you think I’m crazy. But mock the god… and I won’t forgive you.”
With that mad final words, I sped up and left the training grounds.
…No thought of looking back.
***
“This evaluation will be in teams of five.”
Delphine was explaining the evaluation to the students from the podium.
I was nodding off, only cracking my eyes open to listen.
Truth be told, I’d been dozing until Rev woke me.
“Teams are randomly assigned at the professors’ discretion.”
At “randomly,” all the students’ faces fell.
Including Rev next to me.
“Like the last assignment and evaluation, it’ll be a survival to seize points.”
“…….”
A moment of silence… then groans echoed.
“…Again?”
“Ah….”
“No points for us this time either.”
The students’ sighs spread like waves.
“Yoram doesn’t expect much from first-years.”
Delphine held up one finger.
Someone in the back yelled “Liar!” and got smacked by their neighbor.
“Only survival… To survive in Yoram, in this world, Yoram imprints the concept of survival firmly on you first-years.”
I rubbed my eyes at those words.
Honestly, demanding survival in Yoram felt like expecting too much already.
“Alright, announcement over. Teams are posted on the first-floor bulletin board.”
Students bolted up and thundered downstairs.
I stretched and stood.
Lev silently followed beside me.
“Hope they don’t trip running like that.”
…For some reason, Delphine was with us too.
“Mr. Adel , I heard you’ve made progress in magic.”
I flinched.
Where’d she hear that?
No way… Veronica already blabbed?
She always gripes about being busy, but has time to gossip about me.
[I can’t use proper magic yet.]
“At this rate, you’ll soon have your unique magic.”
[That’s impossible.]
It is.
Can’t she tell just from hearing?
Unique magic.
Magic born from one’s life, thoughts, philosophy—all fused.
Even Klaus in ‘Aka Calamity’ only got his in second year.
“Hmm….”
Delphine tilted her head, muttering.
“If what the Dean said is true, it will be by the end of this semester….”
[Huh? What’d she say?]
“Nothing.”
… I really didn’t hear.
“And you, Miss Lumière, are you Interested in unique magic?”
“…I'm not really into unique magic.”
“Oh… I was hoping you might be interested.”
More than that, Lev doesn’t even use polite speech with professors.
She seemed to before, but now it’s half-polite.
“Nya nya nyam.”
Neru was already sprawled on the clubroom carpet, munching snacks nya-nya.
I sat on the sofa and snuck one of Neru’s snacks, munch munch.
Lev sat naturally beside me.
Ever stoic.
That’s when it happened.
- Knock. Knock.
The clubroom door opened, and a male student peeked in.
“Is the Top seat here?”
I wiped my hands and walked to the door.
“Oh, you’re here.”
[What’s up?]
“Come to the Basic Spiritology classroom after lunch. Let’s meet the team.”
His tone felt off.
Is my hearing weird, or does it sound like a challenge?
***
‘Is this the place?’
After lunch, I headed to the Basic Spiritology classroom.
A faint light leaked from what should’ve been empty.
Someone’s definitely inside.
‘Why’s it feel ominous.’
My body was warning me.
I’d regret opening that door.
‘Still… gotta go?’
They’re my exam teammates… ignoring them would be rude.
I nodded bitterly and placed my hand on the door…
“Is this masked guy ever coming~?”
“He’ll come soon, Ricota-nim…!”
“Just… wanna see faces and bond a bit… Does he hate getting close?”
“I-I’ll go drag him here!!”
“Outta the way! I’ll go!!”
“M-Me too…!!”
I pulled my hand away.
‘Whatever.’
Not the fight I expected… but I don’t wanna go in.
I activated 【Silent Step】 and went on my way.
‘Yeah, screw manners.’
Since when do I care about manners?