Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Netori or Die: Make Your Choice lol
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High above, I tore my eyes away from that seductive smile and analyzed the power binding everyone around us.
Is she manipulating gravity?
No, it feels a bit different... What is it?
For now, one thing was clear: the woman before me was ridiculously powerful.
At the very least, without the defensive technique I'd used against Prostia—Know Thyself and Know Thy Enemy—she was way out of my league.
She was the first person since Apiz to give me that vibe.
A lecturer at Prynar Academy.
Honestly, the familiar word "lecturer" hadn't made me think she was that strong, but seeing this witch up close made me reconsider.
"Hello? Outsider Dre. I've really been wanting to meet you."
"......"
"That makes two greetings from me."
I finally bowed my head upon seeing the witch's wry smile.
"My apologies. I'm Yedre."
"Oh my. So it wasn't Dragon after all?"
"......"
Who the hell started that Dragon rumor anyway?
"First things first—shall we deal with the noisy bunch?"
The witch, mid-sentence, glanced at the gentle silver-haired woman and blinked.
The gentle woman pressed her index finger to her lips with a shushing gesture and gave a troubled smile.
"The troubled one here is me, you see. Oo-hoo-hoo."
The witch touched her cheek as if truly troubled and looked at the people floating helplessly in the air.
"Do you kids even know who you've messed with?"
One of the girls shot back defiantly at the witch's words.
The red-haired girl who seemed to be leading this mess had gone pale.
The other girls hesitated but raised their voices anyway.
"Y-You should be the one asking that—do you even know who we are...?"
"If you're not at least from a marquis house or higher, I'd appreciate it if you kept quiet."
The witch's words were soft, but they carried weight.
Seeing the girls at a loss for words, the witch continued.
"You're not Academy students, are you? That's why you could pull something like this."
"What are you talking about?"
"You don't know what it means to mess with a Prynar Academy student—or a lecturer? Let alone..."
She glanced briefly at the gentle woman, then back at the girls.
"...even the Ten Great Houses wouldn't dare touch them lightly, and you lot think you can?"
You lot.
Humiliating as it was, no one could muster a response.
"Don't believe me? Want to test it? Tell me your houses. I can show you reality in a single day."
"N-No..."
The girls started exchanging uneasy glances.
They'd seemed passive earlier—looks like they didn't fully grasp the situation and got swept up in the agitation.
"I'll tell you this much: the Brave House's downfall wasn't unrelated to Prynar Academy."
"......"
"Won't talk? Fine, I'll investigate myself. Shall I peek into your heads?"
"W-We did wrong!"
Someone shouted loudly.
That set them all off, chattering in unison that they never expected things to escalate like this.
"That girl made us do it!"
"Yeah! If she—the one called Lorr—hadn't begged for our help..."
"Y-You guys!"
So the red-haired girl's name was Lorr.
But seriously, you all betray her the second things turn south?
What touching friendship.
"Is that so? You?"
The witch walked slowly—but surely—right up to her.
Finally face-to-face, right next to me, Lorr's pupils dilated in shock.
"I just..."
"I remember that face. Production department, right? Earl house... was it?"
"...!"
Lorr's face drained of color.
She clearly hadn't expected to be recognized.
But come on—even a lecturer would remember student faces.
Why make such a naive assumption?
"So you thought a Prynar Academy lecturer's name was beneath a mere earl house."
"N-No! We know exactly how great you all are!"
Her frantic flailing was kinda cute.
Even an earl house bows that low, huh.
Earls are a big deal, yet Academy lecturers outrank them? Enough to scare an earl's daughter?
The lecturer position must be way more prestigious than I thought.
Every time I learn something new, the status keeps getting upgraded—it's starting to feel suspicious.
What the hell did you get me into, Gold?
"I just heard that she wasn't qualified to be a lecturer..."
She glanced at me as she spoke, and the witch let out an oo-hoo-hoo laugh.
"So you thought it was okay since she wasn't an official lecturer yet?"
"That's not it! I-I mean, well... She's an Outsider, right?! Can't you understand?!"
What's an Outsider got to do with it?
She said it like the witch would obviously agree, but her eyes remained impassive.
"I'm not interested in squabbles between Outsiders and nobles. All I know is you insulted a man officially recognized as a lecturer on your own whim—and dismissed our entire faculty."
At the end of her words, the witch raised a finger.
It had turned red-hot, and I instinctively grabbed her wrist.
"Hm?"
The witch seemed slightly flustered.
Because I'd disrupted the barrier-like shield around her and snatched her wrist.
It was a bit rude, sure. But she'd tried to magic me first, so we're even.
She might get mad, so I pressed my advantage quickly.
"Am I your colleague?"
"You are?"
"Equals?"
"We'll see going forward, but in terms of rank?"
"Then stay put. I'm the one they picked a fight with. So I'm the one who resolves it."
"......"
Right. We're both lecturers.
I'm not beneath her in any way.
Asita was making awa-awa noises beside me, but I don't see myself as lesser.
The witch stared at me for a moment, then chuckled and lowered her hand.
"Very well, Miss Lorr."
"Y-Yes! Yes!"
"Did Laiyet send you?"
"Th-That's..."
"......"
"Oh my, that's..."
I covered the witch's mouth with my hand to stop her. Lorr hesitated, then squeezed her eyes shut and shouted.
"I did it on my own! I just wanted to impress Lord Laiyet...!"
"......"
I glared at Lorr.
Last time with Laiyet, she'd glared at me like she wanted me dead even after she left first.
Yeah. Loyalty, huh.
"Colleague."
"Hm?"
She realized I meant her and pointed to herself a beat late. I spoke.
"Put the people down."
"Got it."
The witch didn't hesitate.
I could feel her respecting me, the victim here.
Snap. With a flick of her fingers, the floating girls landed lightly, while the men gasped gah! upon hitting the ground.
Looking over, their faces were ghostly pale—unlike the girls, they'd been under immense pressure the whole time.
Unable to move, just crushed—must've been terrifying.
Makes me wanna experience it myself sometime.
[That's the right idea...] .....
From now on, I'll ignore weird voices like that, hallucination or whatever.
"Miss Lorr."
"Y-Yes."
"I'll let today's incident slide. Of course, no blame for Laiyet either."
"Ah...!"
Her biggest worry had been fallout for Laiyet—Lorr's face brightened a little.
"But there won't be a next time."
"......"
"Next time, it'll end like Serton's earl house. Understood?"
Threat of total destruction—Lorr replied in a meek whisper.
"I'll keep it in mind. Thank you for your mercy..."
The moment Lorr admitted defeat, the girls kicked their collapsed escorts and fled outside.
Lorr, though, personally helped her own escort up as she left—guess her roots aren't total trash.
"Hmmm~"
The witch looked around.
All the customers were terrified. The shop was a mess.
She calmly puffed smoke from her pipe.
Then raised her hand and snapped her fingers.
Rumble rumble.
A wondrous sight unfolded.
Like time rewinding or reverse playback, the broken shop restored itself.
In under a minute, everything was spotless.
Snap.
Another snap. What now?
This time... a summoning.
She'd summoned cats.
A dozen or so appeared out of nowhere, filling the shop.
The cats rubbed against the customers, acting all cute.
The scared patrons instinctively petted them, and that's when the witch spoke.
"Sorry for the commotion. Food's on the house today—please enjoy yourselves."
Woooah!
The shop erupted in cheers.
Ow. She knows how to work a crowd.
With the chaos settled, the witch turned to me.
"Just like the rumors—you really attract trouble, Dre."
"Uh..."
Innocent here.
Most of the time, they start it with me.
"Shall we move first?"
"Pardon?"
"We have two VIPs—gotta treat you right."
"I see."
I replied with a complicated feeling, and the witch tilted her head.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing..."
After a brief hesitation, I repeated what I'd told Gold recently.
"In this country, are all the pretty people... just no good ones?"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ We moved to the VIP room.
Who'd expect a dessert shop to have one? But apparently, they offered beauty services too.
Women must love it.
Indeed, only women could use those services.
The VIP room wasn't flashy but cozy and comfortable.
No sooner had we sat than cake, tea, and cats arrived.
Asita immediately went waaah and petted the cat in front of her. Repelt was holding back desperately, on duty.
And the gentle lady... well, cats flocked to her naturally.
For reference, not a single one came to me.
.....
Fuckin' jealous as hell.
Do cats avoid losers like me?
The moment I thought that.
"Meow."
A rough-looking cat plopped down in front of me and stared up.
"......"
I reached out cautiously, but it just stared blankly, no dodging.
Success—I petted its head.
I'd braced for hissing, scratching, or it sauntering off coolly, but instead it closed its eyes blissfully.
O-ohhh...
With my other hand, I scratched its chin and stroked its head—it flopped over.
More pets? As you wish—I stroked gently, and it rolled fully, purring loudly.
Fuck. Cute. Fuck.
Chunky cat supremacy!
Without thinking, I leaned in close, eyes shut, nose lightly against its body.
Belly's off-limits, so careful now.
Then I felt eyes on me.
I looked up—everyone was staring.
"...Ahem."
I cleared my throat, straightened up, and composed myself.
Then the witch burst out laughing.
"Ahahaha."
"......"
Damn.
Is this the power of chunky cats? Godcat?
Got me dropping my guard—impressive.
"I thought you matched the rumors, but seeing you now, you're pretty different."
"Uh, yeah?"
How the hell did my rumors spread?
Everyone dismisses me like trash, so forget Prostia—even the dragon-slaying didn't spread properly, but the bad rep did just fine.
So damn unfair...
"Still, seeing the one real lifeform follow you means your core isn't bad."
"One real?"
"Yeah. The others are controlled by fairies."
Snap. A yellow orb of light slithered out of the cat Asita was petting.
The cat collapsed like a dead battery and shut its eyes.
"The rest are constructs. Fairies puppeteering them—you could call it life, I guess."
"......"
"As you saw, my specialty is restoration and activity. Nice working with you, Dre of Ruin and Severance."
"...Pardon?"
What was that chuuni-ass nickname dripping with edge?
(Secret: I kinda like it.)
"Our fields are total opposites, so we should get along great. Right?"
"Uh, yeah."
I agreed since I had nothing else to say, and Repelt's lower lip puffed out.
Asita wore a strange expression.
Hiya.
This popular guy feeling.
Flat must feel like this all the time.
Feels so damn good.
"Belated intro: As I said, I'm Emilia, Prynar Academy's magic incantation department lecturer. Nice to meet you."
"Hello. Yedre here. Heard I'm soon to be a new student and lecturer..."
"Word gets around, huhu."
She's got mature charm oozing out.
Everyone I've tangled with so far—except Nila—was around my age, so my heart's kinda racing.
Pondering a topic, the quiet tea-sipper beat me to it. Surprisingly, the gentle woman whose name I didn't know.
"I have a question, Mr. Dre."
"Yes?"
"Why did you forgive Lorr?"
...?
Why bring that up now?
Is she mocking me?
Like, I was about to wreck them, but you showed up so I played nice?
If so, I'd shoot her a trash-tier glare.
But being cold-shouldered by a beauty... that has its own appeal...
Ahem.
"No grand reason."
"What was it, then?"
Every word drips with elegance.
I wouldn't be shocked if she were royalty.
"Lorr... she tried to stay loyal to the end. Seemed like she wasn't all bad. So I figured I'd let it go."
That's really it.
If she'd tried to save her own skin alone, I might not have.
"Ahaha."
The gentle woman giggled like tinkling jade beads. My heart skipped unwittingly.
Then she removed her bonnet.
Flutter.
Long silver hair cascaded like a waterfall.
Mystical and fragrant... I lost myself staring.
She's too beautiful.
Still wore large glasses, so not fully bare-faced, but plenty alluring.
No—plenty? It's overflowing.
A mature embrace different from Asita, Clarit, El... it stirred me deep.
"Mr. Dre."
Her delicate hand stroked my shoulder.
Whoa, with everyone watching—this is much appreciated...
"Not every beautiful woman in Prynar Academy—or this country—is bad, you know?"
"Uh."
Recalling my earlier words, she winked with one eye.
Then bowed and left the room.
Heart still pounding, Asita and Repelt sighed in relief.
Half relieved, half pissed...
Who the hell is she, really?
"Finally gone."
The witch giggled.
"Who is she, exactly?"
Judging by their reactions, definitely high-status.
Asita doesn't flinch at Ten Great Houses' daughters, yet this...?
Though with El or Clarit, maybe it's friendship.
"Who knows? You'll meet her properly soon enough—save the thrill for then?"
"?"
Meet her soon?
"She went out of her way to see you here—good things to come."
I had a guess, but...
Whatever.
There's a reason, probably.
As I thought that, the witch giggled again.
"You really love cats, huh."
"Uh, yeah."
My hand was petting it unconsciously. Owner privileges.
Never raised one, but they're cute.
"I'd love to chat more, but I gotta head to the main campus soon. Told our staff to handle this place—enjoy as much as you want. Come find me anytime for more talk."
[You can come alone.] ?
Her voice echoed doubly.
Speaking while sending a telepathic message?
...Alone?
I gave her a puzzled look, and she smiled seductively.
Tempting me? Nah, same pattern.
Show up like a horny monkey, and it's "help with experiments" or whatever.
Fuck that.
Not falling for it anymore!
This country's beauties are all bitches or taken. I ain't buying it.
I just need my cats now!
"Oh, right."
The witch, about to leave, spoke as if just remembering.
"Might interest an Outsider, so I'll tell you special."
"?"
What?
Not that curious.
Whether she knew or not, she finished.
"Word is, the Hero left the Holy Kingdom Narnia and came here."
...Hero?
Was there even such a thing in the setting?