Chapter 151
Chapter 151
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 150
Chapter Title: Preparations for the Betrothal Meeting
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[Did you enjoy it?]
“…….”
[Did you enjoy it, I said.]
“…….”
[Come on, say something.]
After the festival ended, daily life had returned. The students were busy preparing for what could be called the end-of-semester finals for the second term.
Naturally, the professors were just as busy to match.
I, too, had been flipping through various books lately to review and create exam questions for the finals.
A Black Necromancer would probably be quite helpful in this regard.
[The festival was only one day, so how did you manage to meet four women?]
She was still sulking quite a bit from the last festival, when I’d left her behind to hang out with others.
I wondered if I should make excuses, but since I did need her help anyway.
“It was just coincidence.”
When I gave a curt reply, the Black Necromancer pouted, clearly dissatisfied.
[What a convenient coincidence, running into four women. And another convenient coincidence, seducing them? Seeing this, those rumors about you being a playboy must be true.]
“Cut it out.”
Getting annoyed as it dragged on, I snapped at her, and the Black Necromancer pouted again, this time flopping down sprawled across my desk.
Thanks to that, the exam papers I’d been working on were covered up, revealing the Black Necromancer’s midriff, which looked like it was clad in black stockings.
She must dress like this under her robe. Quite revealing, I thought.
“Ffu.”
[I’m dead, after all. But you do know this, right? While everyone else ages and falls ill, I’ll stay like this forever.]
“So what do you want me to do about it.”
With a sigh, I channeled mana into my hand and pushed the Black Necromancer away.
[Uwak!]
She rolled right off the desk onto the floor. Being a ghost, she wouldn’t get hurt or feel pain anyway, but her reaction was spot on.
“You definitely didn’t used to have this kind of image.”
She’d changed a bit into something more childlike while around me, but lately, I wondered if her mental age had actually regressed.
They said that while she was alive, she’d holed up in her lab with her mouth shut tight, solely devoted to researching necromancy—so maybe all those pent-up desires from back then were bursting out now.
‘I’ve heard she changes when I’m not around.’
Owen had told me that when I wasn’t at the academy and the Black Necromancer was with him, she was incredibly calm and cool-headed.
I got the feeling her true self was something she only showed me.
‘Why this woman, of all people.’
How did someone with this mentality become so obsessed with necromancy? Did she cut off all her ties just to chase its pinnacle?
Doubts welled up, but I didn’t voice them.
Just then, a knock, and Erika Bright entered the lab.
I was also getting her help with creating the exam questions this time.
Though, for that, it felt like we’d been spending a bit more time together lately.
“Take a break.”
In her hand was a box from that high-end dessert shop Pindenai and I had visited last time.
Owen, who’d been tapping away at a melodica, and Professor Per Petra, who’d also been working on exam questions like me, reacted first.
“Wow! Come on in!”
“Professor Erika! It’s so great that you’ve been coming by more often lately!”
Receiving their enthusiastic welcome, Erika gave a slight lift of her lips as she handed out the cakes, then came straight over to my side.
[You know what? Your fiancée’s gotten a lot closer to you than before.]
The Black Necromancer, who had poked her head out from under the desk after tumbling down, threw out that line as she looked up at me.
I pretended not to hear.
“How’s it going? Any progress? Need help?”
“Yeah, try solving this one.”
“Let me see.”
Erika leaned in close. Our arms touched naturally, but she carried on solving the problem I’d handed her as if it were nothing.
Even with Professor Per and Owen glancing our way, she didn’t hesitate.
For my part, I didn’t make a fuss and just waited for Erika’s solution. Having attended every one of my lectures without missing a beat, if she couldn’t solve it, the students wouldn’t either.
After a short while, Erika naturally took the pen from my hand and wrote down the answer.
“Correct.”
At my words, Erika nodded in satisfaction. She crossed her arms and immediately shared her thoughts.
“This calculation part might still be tough for the students. It’s quite different from standard magic formulas.”
“But it’s that important. A lot of them still don’t grasp the differences between elemental magic and black magic.”
“That’s your professor stubbornness talking, huh?”
She smiled, actually pleased by my response.
“Then emphasize this part more clearly in the next lecture. Tell them outright it’ll be on the exam, and they’ll study like crazy.”
“True enough.”
Erika really knew her stuff.
With far more years as a professor than me, her tips were invaluable.
I hadn’t realized it back when I was solving exam problems as a student, but now that I was the one making them, there was a lot to consider.
Raising the difficulty to a level the students could handle while still differentiating their scores wasn’t easy.
“Normally, you’d just reference last year’s questions from other professors in the same or similar fields to make it easier… but you don’t have that luxury, so it’s extra tough.”
No one would’ve given exams on black magic, after all.
I was well aware of that, so I had no complaints and kept at it.
I couldn’t convey the knowledge and answers I wanted using other professors’ questions anyway.
“Let’s eat first for now.”
“…Yeah.”
I wasn’t big on desserts, but given Erika’s gesture in bringing them, I leaned back against the chair and rubbed my eyes for a moment.
Before I knew it, Owen had brought cake and a fork to my desk. As I slowly reached for it and started eating, Erika smiled contentedly while looking around.
“By the way, where’s Pindenai?”
Pindenai’s cake sat there untouched. At the question, I hesitated briefly before answering.
“She said she had personal business.”
“Personal business?”
Erika tilted her head curiously, but when she saw I had no intention of elaborating, she didn’t press further.
I cut a small piece of cake with the fork and put it in my mouth. A subtle sweetness spread elegantly across my tongue. Knowing I didn’t like things too sweet, Erika must have picked something just right.
As I ate the cake, I changed the subject.
“By the way, did you send the letter to the Bright family?”
“Yeah, special delivery, so the reply came quick. They said to come right when break starts.”
“Got it. I sent one to my family too.”
A negotiation table disguised as a betrothal meeting. Still, we needed to fill the numbers, so I’d called in Darius.
Deia could handle territory affairs, so no issues there.
* * *
Robern Academy was just entering autumn with chilly weather settling in, but Northsweden already felt a step ahead, shrouded in winter’s chill.
Of course, even this was what Northsweden called autumn weather.
“Betrothal meeting?”
Matching the cold, Deia’s voice came out icy.
“Yeah, looks like Deius finally made up his mind.”
Darius laughed heartily, not even properly reading his sister’s mood, thrilled about his second son’s marriage.
But that attitude only grated on Deia more.
‘There’s no way that guy would get married.’
The Deius she knew—Kim Shin-woo—would never marry Erika.
With that conviction, Deia immediately saw through that he had some other plan.
She’d heard he’d even stopped that massacre in the eastern Marias Great Forest recently—maybe he’d felt the need for something then?
‘Something he needs from the Bright family.’
The Bright family, renowned overall as a magic powerhouse.
Everyone knew Erika Bright was an authority on light magic and had two papers published in the Millennium Library.
Her exploits stood out right now, but her two older brothers and the family head above her also commanded great respect in magic.
‘Definitely a useful family.’
They’d naturally bowed their heads during King Orpheus’s recent purge, minimizing damage.
With giants like the Zeronia family reeling now, they were one of the few houses still with power left.
‘Why hide it from us? He could just tell us everything.’
Deia felt a bit hurt, but Deius probably hadn’t said anything to avoid burdening them.
Her mind, however, was already spinning sharply.
‘I can’t let this opportunity slip.’
Verdi’s lady of the house, Deia, realized she needed to prepare in advance to handle the Bright family alongside Deius.
And for that, Darius was key.
“Don’t think of it as some ordinary betrothal meeting. Keep your head straight. You need to memorize everything I tell you about the Bright family.”
Neither of them could leave the territory empty-handed, so Deia naturally planned to stay behind.
Then Darius would have to remember and organize the info she gave him, then pass it to Deius.
Or so she thought.
“Hm? Now you want me to background-check the family we’re about to be in-laws with? Don’t.”
“…….”
“No need to make things awkward. It’s not like we’re grabbing weaknesses to shake them down.”
She knew Darius hated this kind of scheming ever since he’d atoned with Deius for Verdi’s past sins.
“Ugh.”
Deia smacked her forehead and sighed. Being clean and righteous was fine.
But he couldn’t be an idiot about it.
“Fine, just stay quiet then. Go, smile like an idiot, and bow.”
*I’ll grab them by the throat.*
Swallowing those parting words, Deia resolved to accompany them to this betrothal meeting herself.
“Hm, I suppose I should practice my smiles and etiquette again after so long.”
“Why not go and show off a nice axe dance while you’re at it.”
“Even you wouldn’t go that far. Have some common sense, Deia.”
“…….”
What a pain, seriously.