The Witch's Unquenchable Curiosity
The inside of the red curtain was more comfortable than I'd expected.
It'd probably come in handy for camping out later.
The floor was strangely soft, and a faint light glowed as if there were some kind of illumination.
As I slurped and dispelled the liquid sealing my mouth, looking around, Instructor Olivia let out a sharp yelp.
"Hold still!"
"Mmph!"
Instructor Olivia seemed on edge, gnawing at her nails.
What was the problem? Was it that I'd botched the lectures so far? Or that I'd ended them a whole month early? Or maybe that I'd lied about handling them well up to now?
It was her personal business, so none of my concern...
"You! How the hell did you charm that old lady?"
"Mmph! Mmph!"
I hadn't even said a word yet, and she was already treating me like a criminal.
Charm who? If anything, from the moment we met, Dean Han Myeong-sin had been the one showing interest in me.
And asking questions with my mouth sealed pretty much meant she wasn't interested in the answers anyway, right?
Instructor Olivia reached toward my face with her hand.
Mana swirled wildly inside her palm—it felt like it'd be dangerous if she grabbed me.
I tried to pull my head back, but it wouldn't budge.
This was... bad.
-Slurp!
"Huh?"
I reflexively summoned Thousand Changes.
The moment I did, the liquid covering my mouth vanished without a trace.
Unlike when I'd dispelled it manually with my hand, it didn't reappear this time.
I'd always thought of Thousand Changes as just a convenient medium for using my abilities, but apparently not.
There was a clear difference. What could it be...?
I stared at Thousand Changes in my hand, lost in thought.
Or trying to, anyway.
"What the hell did you just do?"
"W-Wait, let me go first... khek."
If Instructor Olivia hadn't grabbed my collar and started shaking me, that is.
Whatever had her so shocked, her grip was insanely strong as she rattled me around.
I flapped about like a flag in the wind.
"Hoo..."
"Feeling better now?"
It took quite a while for Instructor Olivia to calm down.
Thanks to her, my collar was already a tattered mess.
If I casually showed this to Dean Han Myeong-sin...
"Keep it secret from the old lady."
"What, the lectures I ditched? Or grabbing someone by the collar and shaking them silly?"
"Obviously the lectures. What are you even talking about?"
She didn't seem to care about the collar-grabbing at all.
The lectures, huh...
Objectively speaking, they fell short of Prism's standards.
"Falling short" was putting it nicely—they barely followed any curriculum, and wrapping up a month's worth a full month early wasn't exactly professional.
Still, I'd really liked her teaching style.
Way better than basic magic theory, at least.
You could actually understand the content.
"Those lectures weren't half bad..."
"Forget that—what the hell was that thing you summoned? What is it?"
"This?"
I summoned Thousand Changes into my hand again.
Its beauty calmed my mind every time I saw it.
And the texture felt amazing.
"Yeah, that! It casually undid my spell. What principle does it even work on?"
"Beats me..."
"Keeping secrets? Argh!"
Instructor Olivia snatched Thousand Changes from my hand in an instant.
Her speed was too fast for my eyes to track.
She held it, fiddling with it, her expression melting into a gooey smile.
Even witches couldn't resist Thousand Changes' texture, huh.
"Ha!"
After kneading it for a good long while, Instructor Olivia snapped out of it.
Though she was still fondling it.
"Wanna give this to me?"
"Huh? Thousand Changes?"
"So that's its name. You've got me curious now. Feels like it hides some special power."
It did have special powers hidden away.
But I didn't want to show Olivia any more of it.
Even in our short time together, I'd gotten a good read on her personality.
She'd be exhausting to hang around with.
Thousand Changes, you suit Vivian way better than her.
I unsummoned and resummoned Thousand Changes.
Instructor Olivia's eyes sparkled as it vanished from her hand and reappeared in mine.
"It can teleport too? No mana at all... This is getting more interesting by the second."
"..."
Backfired, huh.
In the end, I was released on the condition that I'd cooperate with her research on Thousand Changes.
The red curtain blocked any escape anyway.
From the feel of it when I'd unconsciously used Thousand Changes earlier, I could've probably shattered the curtain around us.
But showing that off would've piqued her interest even more, so I held back.
Honestly, it was unexpected.
I never imagined the instructor who'd slacked off through class with her "everything's a hassle" attitude would turn out like this.
Pushing through the red curtain, I spotted Dean Han Myeong-sin casually flipping through papers at her desk.
"Did you two have a nice chat?"
"Yes, old lady. He's an intriguing cadet."
"I figured you'd take a liking to him. Get along well, you two."
"Sure thing. Hehe..."
Were my disheveled clothes and stretched-out collar completely invisible to her?
The two carried on like nothing had happened.
Something was unfolding regardless of what I wanted.
But with nothing pressing to do, and her research potentially benefiting me too, I decided to take the good with the good.
She wouldn't stop just because I said no anyway.
────◆────◇────◆────
Heading out of the Prism Main Building, I ran into a familiar face.
"Hey, Latynia."
"Good day, Shin Do-jun. Mind your address."
Latynia brushed past me after that curt reply.
Her stiff reaction was still hard to get used to.
"Latynia!"
I called out, stopping her as she walked away.
She turned back with a hardened expression.
"Didn't I just ask you to watch your address?"
"Fine, whatever. So, what about the report for the Understanding Other Races lecture?"
"Hm..."
Latynia swallowed hard.
Was she about to head straight back to the Rasertia Kingdom?
If so, no need to worry about lectures anymore.
But apparently not.
"I'll send someone over. Talk it through with them."
She left those words and vanished before I could respond.
I'd chosen my words carefully to probe, but got nothing out of it.
At least her composed speech and demeanor confirmed she was perfectly normal now.
Disappointing.
Shaking off the regret, I headed back to the dorms, but a persistent gaze clung to me.
...Way too obvious.
Pretending to turn a corner, I waited and pounced on my tail.
"Kyaa!"
I grabbed the stalker's collar.
The world spun, and I slammed into the ground.
Shaking my head to clear it, I looked up to see Instructor Olivia straddling me.
"Instructor?"
"You scared me! Don't just pounce like that."
Said the one who'd been tailing me.
She'd been with the dean when I left her office—why was she here?
"What the hell's going on?"
"You pounced on me. Why ask me?"
"I thought someone was tailing me, so I went for them. What were you doing here?"
"Well... haha."
She averted her eyes, looking every bit the suspect.
She'd lied to the dean so smoothly, but now she was all awkward.
The reason for the stalking? Probably this.
I pulled out Thousand Changes and held it up.
"This, right?"
"Yes! Gimme!"
Instructor Olivia snatched it at invisible speed.
Still insanely fast. Witch power, I guess?
She kneaded it curiously, then started testing all sorts of things.
Could she get off me already...?
"Um, Instructor? Mind getting off now?"
"It blocks mana on its own. Touching it disrupts the mana structure, dispelling the spell. No? Not just mana—rituals too. So it blocks external forces in general. Assuming that, then..."
She wasn't listening.
Lucky this was a back alley—no one had spotted us yet.
But if anyone passed by, it'd blow up.
A Prism instructor pinning a cadet...
Just thinking about it made my head spin.
Oblivious, Instructor Olivia stayed fixated on Thousand Changes.
Muttering to herself as she fiddled with it—whatever she was doing looked kinda scary.
I unsummoned it again.
The instant it vanished from her hand, she glared at me.
"What're you doing?"
"Can you get off first?"
"Oh, right."
She finally climbed off.
As I pushed up from the ground, she offered her hand.
I took it—soft and warm.
Then I saw her scowling face.
"Who said you could hold my hand?"
"You offered?"
"That... Thousand Changes? The thing you just had!"
"I'll drop by later. No one's running—why the rush?"
"Anyone would act like this with something so mysterious."
I wouldn't.
But saying that might lead to who-knows-what, so I kept quiet.
Instead, I split off a small piece of Thousand Changes and offered it.
"Sigh... Here, take this at least."
"Thanks!"
"And quit stalking me."
"Who said I was stalking? You think I'd do something shady?"
"..."
I stared, and she looked away.
She knew damn well what she'd done.
Her heart didn't seem bad, though.
Good thing, too.
If she went off the rails later, it'd be a nightmare.
"So you're done following me now? I'm going."
"I never followed you!"
"Yeah, yeah, got it~."
I started walking again.
Glancing back just in case, I saw Instructor Olivia still standing there, fiddling with the piece.
It reminded me of someone.