Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Performance Submission (1)
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After that, I spent almost the entire remaining practical sparring time asleep.
I woke up exactly twice, both times to watch Artel and Yuria's matches.
I needed to check on their growth, after all.
The first one was Artel.
Artel was A-Rank, so she had a match scheduled today as well, and her movements clearly showed remarkable improvement.
“…Oh.”
“Artel, you’ve gotten way faster than during the placement period?!”
Yuria said, her eyes wide open.
“At this level, I’d believe it if you said you were from the Swordsmanship Department or the Martial Arts Department instead of the Magic Department!”
I nodded in agreement.
Yuria seemed genuinely happy about her friend’s growth.
At the same time, she watched the match with intense focus, clearly stimulated herself.
I fell asleep again…
And woke up once more when it was Yuria’s turn.
Yuria had gotten much stronger too.
She utterly dominated an opponent in the same upper B-Rank bracket—it was to the point where you could call it a one-sided beatdown.
She was at a level where she could hold her own in A-Rank right now.
“Yuria… you’ve gotten strong.”
Artel, watching from the side, acknowledged it.
I nodded once more.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t so much that Yuria herself had grown dramatically, but rather that Seolbaek’s cheat-level debuff ability had weakened her opponent, making her seem stronger by comparison.
But a gain was a gain.
Anyway, if both of them kept up this pace for the remaining month until the comprehensive evaluation…
I was confident they could reach the level I wanted.
“Everyone’s working hard.”
As I muttered in satisfaction, Artel added,
“Yeah. With the comprehensive evaluation coming up, the whole academy feels more fired up overall.”
“It’s motivating. I need to give it my all too.”
I nodded solemnly as well.
“Jeron, you too…?”
Artel looked at me with a slightly surprised expression.
“Yeah.”
I immediately crafted a fluffy blanket from my shadow cloak.
And this time, I even added a sleep mask before lying back down.
I’d give it my all to earn even one more Sloth Point per minute and second…!
“…So that’s what you meant by giving it your all—sleeping.”
***
As Artel said, with the first semester comprehensive evaluation approaching, the entire Stella Academy was burning with exam preparations.
This applied to second-year Lily as well.
She had to take her comprehensive evaluation around the same time as the first-years.
Of course, the location and content were completely different from the first-years’.
“Ehehe… It’s really almost done now….”
On top of that, Lily was in the final sprint to finish her report to prevent the club’s dissolution, making her already gloomy atmosphere even gloomier.
‘…Poor thing.’
So, every time I visited her clubroom, lounged on the sofa, and read novels, I felt a slight pang of guilt.
All I’d done was lend her Kerr briefly to help with her research and report writing, but despite being busy, she always made sure I ate whenever I came.
Even when I refused, saying I was fine, Lily shook her head and wouldn’t compromise.
“Please don’t refuse…! This is the only thing I can do for you….”
It wasn’t so much firm resolve as it was her pleading on the verge of tears, making it impossible for me to say no.
‘I wonder if it’s okay for me to accept this.’
Of course, feeling guilty didn’t stop me from continuing to slack off.
While living the life of a hopeless underclassman like that,
An opportunity finally arose where I could be of even a little help.
“It’s done…! I barely made the deadline…!”
After several sleepless nights, Lily shouted in a voice full of emotion.
Her report was finally complete.
“Oh, congratulations.”
“Sniff… I never could’ve done it alone. Thank you so much, Jeron underclassman….”
“…Shouldn’t I be the one thanking you? You wrote the whole report yourself.”
“No! It was possible because you stayed by my side… and because you obtained this incredible relic for me! If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have even had the courage to start.”
She clutched the report preciously and cautiously asked me,
“Then, after submitting this report, they’ll tell me to come to the club activity evaluation room for performance verification. Could you come then…? I know it’ll be a hassle….”
“Of course.”
And so, a time was set shortly after, and we agreed to visit the evaluation room then.
***
The day of the club performance submission.
Arriving a bit early before the appointed time, Lily opened the door to the evaluation room with trembling hands and stepped inside.
“Hello….”
A professor with a tired expression looked at her from beyond the mountain of documents piled on the desk.
The professor set down her coffee cup and said,
“Cadet Lily Rowendel of the Occult Research Club?”
“Y-Yes….”
“I’m Professor Emily Cannes, in charge of club activity evaluations. Have a seat.”
“Yes….”
Lily sat carefully in the chair the professor indicated, extremely tense.
“Did you bring the relic you claim was found in the ruins?”
“Ah, that… Jeron underclassman… N-No, another club member will bring it shortly….”
“I see. Then let’s discuss the report first.”
Professor Emily pulled out Lily’s submitted report from the stack of documents.
She tapped the report as she spoke.
“First off, reading this report, it feels overly exaggerated. I can understand up to the part where you arrived at a site presumed to be the ruins of the Demon of Sloth based on occult investigations, but…”
The professor went through Jeron’s actions as described in the report one by one.
“You pressed rocks in order to find a comfortable one to lie on and the entrance opened, dodged incoming magic bullets while reading a book, subdued numerous moving statues with just a glance… And finally, stood there enduring a massive spell that destroyed the entire cavern? Honestly, it’s hard to believe.”
“B-But it’s true…! All of it really happened…!”
“There’s no video evidence or anything.”
“W-Well, I tried recording with mana capture equipment, but when we got out of the ruins, it was all just black screens….”
“Hmm, is that so? How convenient for the ruins.”
Zing.
The professor shot Lily a suspicious glance before sipping her coffee again.
“Hic….”
Lily shrank back like a frightened rabbit.
“And that relic sounds suspicious too. According to the report, it can freely change form and is made of a new material never discovered before… It’s hard to believe such an incredible artifact just popped up out of nowhere during occult research.”
The professor pinched her brow as she spoke.
“Sigh, Cadet Lily Rowendel. I haven’t seen the relic yet, but no matter how I look at it, the contents of this report don’t seem real. A club with just one president and one member making a discovery like this? And that member only joined recently….”
“Uuu….”
Lily trembled under the barrage of criticism.
The professor wasn’t personally attacking her; it was just perfectly reasonable skepticism.
Having grown accustomed to Jeron underclassman quietly staying by her side in the clubroom lately, facing this sudden coldness from an outsider triggered her long-standing social anxiety.
‘N-No… Not again….’
Her heart pounded wildly, and her fingertips grew ice-cold.
Her mana twitched unstably, reacting to her emotions and on the verge of rampaging.
But right then, an image of Jeron underclassman flashed in her mind.
The way he’d willingly gone to find the ruins for her, volunteering for the dangerous trials.
‘…Jeron underclassman.’
Thinking of him made her racing heart and mana calm down little by little, as if by magic.
“Anyway, time’s almost up… and that club member still hasn’t arrived.”
The professor glanced at her watch and said,
“If they’re late too, I’m afraid I can’t wait long.”
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
Time kept passing.
Lily waited anxiously, staring at the door.
She was a little uneasy knowing Jeron’s slothful nature, but the trust built up until now made her believe in him.
And right on the promised time.
The door didn’t open.
Jeron hadn’t arrived.
‘J-Jeron underclassman? W-Why…?’
“Hmm.”
As Professor Emily checked her watch and was about to say something.
Knock-knock.
A knocking sound came.
But oddly, not from the door—from the window.
“Hm?”
The professor approached the window puzzled and drew back the curtain.
And then.
“Hmm. This is certainly… intriguing.”
Professor Emily’s eyes sparkled for the first time, her previously tired and indifferent gaze now alight.
A white-haired cadet floated leisurely outside the window.
Flutter—!
A pair of massive shadow wings spread behind his back.
‘Jeron underclassman!’
Lily’s heart raced too.
Because Jeron had come right on time.
And because his appearance resembled the imagined depiction of the Demon of Sloth from myths…!
“Pardon the intrusion.”
Receiving their gazes, Jeron said sheepishly.
“This classroom is so high up, walking here was a bit tough…”